[VALHALLA RESURRECTION PROTOCOL – LIFE 1 OF 3]

  [WARNING: CONTINUITY UNSTABLE]

  [LIBRARY INTEGRITY: 62%]

  [REWINDING: …]

  [TIME SUCCESSFULLY RESTORED]

  I gasped. My eyes opened to a blinding white. Snow whipped past my face, and my sword was back in my hand. I looked down at my chest frantically, prepared to see the spear still there. But there was nothing. I was standing, breathing, and somehow, no longer dead.

  A horn blared. I had grabbed my chest, heart hammering as my hands shook, still recalling my death, as breath came fast and shallow. Trying not to panic, I looked around me. The battlefield... it was familiar. I heard voices and looked behind me to see that the same frost-steel warriors were forming a shield wall alongside me once again, and the same ashen sky stretched overhead.

  I realised that the same Valkyrie was already flying off into the distance, engaging another foe whilst being chased. The fire Giant was still hidden behind the ridge, and the charge hadn’t started. Exactly as it had been, except this time, he was back.

  [LIVES REMAINING: 2]

  [REWIND DURATION: 20:03]

  "What the hell is happening..." I whispered to myself, staring at the floating text in front of me. My voice was whisked away on the wind. No one responded. I was sure this wasn't a game anymore; I had died without a doubt. But now I was here again. How is this possible?

  Somewhere deep inside me, something cold stirred. It wasn't fear, I think, not yet at least. I gritted my teeth, trying to slow my anxious breathing, but the horn blared again. It was the second horn blast, I remembered what that meant; I started turning even before he arrived.

  "Einherjar!"

  The same shout with the same voice.

  "Get your blade up!" Eirik barked, thundering toward me again in his battered frost-steel armour. "You want to die before your second breath?"

  My heart almost stopped. It was the exact same words. "I'm Kai," I replied, almost automatically. "Get into position!" Eirik shoved me back into the shield line again, just like before. But this time, my feet were braced correctly, and my sword was already up in the guard position.

  As the heat on the ridge shimmered, the Fire Giant appeared once more. Behind it were the same burning rune-covered berserkers and the same hounds. The same horror as before. Chains, hooks, and way too many eyes. I knew how this played out. My fingers tightened on the sword hilt as the shield line braced for the charge. "Why are you helping me?" I asked again. "Because you'll be dead in ten seconds otherwise." I had wondered if Eirik would say something new. "Kai," Eirik growled. "You do know how to fight, right?" This time, I nodded.

  The enemy charge began; I held my position, trying to remember the order of events from last time - I was determined not to be a hindrance to my allies this time either. The first wave came fast. Hulking warriors draped in ice-caked furs rushing towards us, bodies glowing faintly with activated runes. A berserker swung a heavy cleaver in an overhead swing, bellowing his rage at me. I sidestepped the blow, stepped into his attack, and thrust my sword straight into the man’s side. It wasn't perfect, I nearly messed it all up when my attack bounced off his armour, but it was enough to put him down for good as he was vulnerable to the attack of the shield warrior next to me. I turned, scanning the remaining shield line beside me. The younger Einherjar was beside me again, shouting curses at the berserkers, with his light armour reflecting the light, and thankfully, still alive.

  I remembered him dying, struck down while trying to fill the gap in the line I had created. That had been after the shield warrior beside me fell. This time, I pushed forward to engage the berserker who had tricked me and cast down my fellow warrior. I deflected his first swing and counterattacked, only grazing his chest, but forcing him to retreat momentarily. As I celebrated my success in saving his life, a new threat emerged: a set of spears. They soared from behind enemy lines and caught onto the shields of the warriors. However, the young warrior had been caught clean in the throat, and the spear had pierced his shield just enough to kill him. He dropped instantly.

  My breath caught in my throat as my mind whirled. Had I only delayed the inevitable? Was it fate for that man to die, no matter what I did? Was I also destined to die again!?

  Another opponent surged toward me, forcing me to shove the thought away. My blade locked with theirs. A clash of sparks as his sword and mine ground together, I was no match for his strength, so I let his weapon slide past me. After that, instinct took over. Blocks, parries, footwork. I wasn’t the best fighter on the field by any stretch, but I wasn’t a complete dead weight anymore.

  Eirik fought nearby, efficient and brutal with his axe and shield. “Good work,” he nodded towards me with the quickest of glances. The ground trembled. The Fire Giant had started to move. I looked at the ridge, and it wasn’t just advancing. It was running!

  My stomach dropped. I shouted over the chaos, “Eirik! The Giant is going to jump!” He didn’t react; he couldn’t, being busy dealing with a pair of leaping hounds. “I’ve seen this already! He’s not just attacking. He’s going to crash into us. We must-” It was too late. The ridge shook beneath the pounding of his molten feet. The Fire Giant launched himself forward in an impossible gravity-defying arc, blade blazing above him like a second sun.

  The impact of his landing was like a certain thunder god’s hammer. Ice shattered, shields exploded. Warriors were flung aside like toys in a tornado. I was no different. Once again, I hit the ground hard and rolled, this time narrowly avoiding a planted banner pole. My ears rang. The air was filled with snow and heat waves. Somewhere behind me, someone was screaming in pain.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  I coughed, trying to clear grit from my throat. The snow wasn’t just cold now, it bit into my skin with every second, frost searing through the gaps in my armour. I didn’t have the same level of adrenaline running through me this time to ignore it.

  The battlefield stank of burned leather, boiling blood, and scorched fur. Sulfur hung in the air; some spell, maybe, or just the Giant’s presence melting the ice around us. A war horn in the distance faltered, then resumed. The sound of pain and panic rose again like a tide.

  Then came the growl; low, guttural and all too familiar. The hound. It charged from the periphery of my vision, just like last time. But this time, I had prepared my sword from the moment I heard the first growl. The beast lunged. I ducked, stepped aside, and lashed out. My blade struck its shoulder, cutting deep. Hot ichor once again sprayed the snow. It howled but didn’t fall. It attacked faster than I expected, raking its claws toward my less armoured legs. I jumped back, barely avoiding the knife-edged claws. My heel slipped again on the damn half-melted snow, and I nearly went down.

  The beast came again. This time, I didn’t retreat; I caught the swipe of its claws on the flat of my blade. The impact jarred my bones, but I held. I pushed myself away, pivoted, and swung my blade toward its chest. The creature reared, dodging my swing. As it came back down, its tail snapped forward, chains whipping through the air. Its hook caught onto the edge of my pauldron and yanked. I stumbled, nearly pulled off my feet by the force of the hook, almost causing me to drop my sword.

  The hound pounced onto me once more, and I went down under its weight. My back hit the snow; the beast crushed me, claws scrabbling at my armour. I used the same trick as before, but wedged my blade between its jaws this time, desperately holding it back as my fingers were nearly caught in its deadly teeth; as time passed, panic began to creep in.

  Old gaming instincts shouted in my head, as if any of it helped now. No solution came to my mind. My life now was just slavering jaws and raw weight pressing me down, attempting to take my life. The scent of blood and ash filled my lungs. I couldn’t hold much longer. What was taking Eirik so long!?

  “Back to Hel, beast!” Eirik roared, throwing his axe into the creature’s flank. It shrieked and tried to twist away from the axe now embedded in its side, chains dragging behind it, causing the snow under it to go flying. I rolled to my knees, panting, determined to kill the beast. My sword was still in my grip. I surged forward with Eirik. Together we attacked; his shield blocked its claws as it reared back, I caught it across the neck as Eirik held it in place. Unable to fight both of us, the beast finally gargled its last and collapsed. Its blood hissed into the snow as the body shuddered one last time.

  We stood for a second, panting. Eirik glanced at me, eyes narrowing. “You’re slower than you look.”

  “Trying my best not to make dying a habit.”

  Eirik looked confused for a moment before he chuckled briefly.

  The battlefield raged on around us, but this time, I was still standing, no spear in my chest this time. Then all the hairs on the back of my neck stood up, and I dropped to the ground. A split second later, a spear whistled through the air where I’d been, burying itself in the snow with a violent shudder. Eirik raised his shield to deflect a hand axe that had followed the spear, “Ambush!”

  A hulking berserker raider riding a truly massive hound charged toward me, already reaching for another spear. But Eirik was already there; he sprinted forward and leapt, bringing his axe down in a brutal arc. The weapon slammed into the hound’s skull, smashing it. The mount buckled and collapsed, sending the rider tumbling with a snarl. Snow exploded around us.

  I didn’t hesitate after seeing Eirik’s charge. I lunged in as the berserker rose, swinging at the exposed side of the man’s. Sparks burst as my blade skittered off his armour, deflected by his sudden, desperate twist to put his armour in the way of my swing, unable to penetrate. The raider roared and swung back at me with an axe he had drawn from his back, but Eirik was there, his shield redirecting the blow.

  “Together!” Eirik barked. I struck again, aiming low this time, wounding the side of the berserker’s vulnerable knee as he was forced to block Eirik’s attack. The berserker faltered after changing targets to deflect my next blow; he was then unable to stop Eirik as his axe indefatigably matched his desperate attempts to dodge, burying itself in the raider’s shoulder with a satisfying crunch.

  The berserker collapsed to the snow. I stood there, chest heaving, staring down at the corpse as Eirik collected his axe. That was the man who caused my death. Eirik said something to me, but the sound barely registered. My pulse was roaring in my ears. Seeing I wasn’t listening, Eirik moved to reinforce a barely reformed shield line of Einherjar nearby.

  I don’t know how long I stood there, but eventually I realised I was standing there aimlessly. I turned and followed the sound of Eirik’s shouts just in time to join another fight and block a sword swipe from a lesser berserker bearing down on me (Literally the same as a berserker I learned later, just smaller and with fewer tattoos). The blade grazed my arm, cold metal slicing through my skin. It was nothing but a shallow cut, but it burned nonetheless.

  I gritted my teeth, slid around a clumsy strike, and tried to shoulder him off balance. The lesser berserker stepped back against my shove, parried my clumsy follow-up swing, then barged a shoulder into my chest in return. I skidded across the snow, scrambling to regain my footing and balance. I barely blocked the next strike as he chased after me.

  The fight was getting clumsier and more desperate. I redirected the head of his axe with a grip on both ends of my sword (stupid, I know, but it was the heat of the moment, and I did have gloves on), ducked under the wild follow-up, then tackled his waist to bring us to the ground. We grappled as we fell, losing our weapons. After clawing and swinging our fists at each other to try to gain the upper hand, he eventually got his leg under me and kicked me off with a roar, but not before I got a good punch right into his cheek. I managed to get up first from his helpful lift, and reached for my blade, which was still half-buried in the snow, and pulled it free just in time to block another blow from his axe, the force jolting my arms and forcing a gasp from me.

  Fortune favoured me this time: he momentarily stumbled due to stepping in a small icy depression created by the heat wave from the Fire Giant. With a cry, I lunged and stabbed my sword into his now-exposed weapon arm. Blood began to pour from the deep wound, but he refused to give up, swinging at me while still impaled by my sword. I was forced to let go of my sword; otherwise, I was going to get injured or worse. I jumped back. The berserker staggered, bellowing, then yanked the sword that had pierced through his arm to allow him to swing his axe properly, an incredibly stupid decision in my opinion. With the blade now removed, the wound that had been plugged by my sword burst open; his life gushed out in a pulsing torrent as he gawked in horror at his arm.

  He turned to charge towards me, clearly intending to take my life before he died. I had nowhere to run to - being in the middle of a heaving battlefield. I backed up slowly, giving myself as much space from him as possible. I decided if I was going to risk my life again, I'd at least try to dodge his weapon swings, rather than run aimlessly. He was now on a timer after all.

  Rather anticlimactically, before he even got close enough to do more than one weak swing with his axe, he went limp and dropped to the ground right in front of me, clearly fainting from blood loss. I stood over him, panting, my sword still laid out in the snow a bit behind the body.

  I waited a full minute to be sure he was dead before I walked past him and picked up my sword. My hands were shaking again, and I was pretty sure it wasn’t from the cold.

  “If this is a game, the developer needs to be arrested.” I was still trembling, but alive. The spear had missed this time, and I had defeated a berserker completely on my own.

  I had changed my fate.