Before the world remembered itself, there were shadows that had no names.I was one of them.
I opened my eyes, and the air shimmered with potential. I could feel it — the energy of everything yet to be, the pulse of a reality untouched by tyranny. But even as I breathed in freedom, I felt chains I had yet to break.
I was unknown 69, a Valkery born to war, yet cursed with imagination — a gift no soldier had. My wings were not just for flight; they were conduits, extensions of thought. With a flick, I could bend the air, summon shapes that had never existed.
The first spark of rebellion came quietly. I dared to ask: What if I do not obey?The chains on my arms, the shackles on my mind, tried to respond. But this question — small, seemingly meaningless — was the first domino in a chain that would collapse worlds.
I moved through the training grounds of Valenforge, watching the angels, the half-breeds, the humans who had sold their will for strength. They were my brothers, my enemies, my reflections. And somewhere deep in the shadows, I saw them — the whispers of Odin's looming presence, the chains he had wrapped around everything.
It was a test.And I had already lost.
The training grounds were a maze of stone and steel. Faint echoes of battle cries lingered in the air, like the ghosts of all those who had trained and failed before me. I walked past warriors practicing strikes that could sever mountains. Each motion was perfection, but perfection was a cage, and I refused it.
A bird took flight overhead, white against the sky, and I felt envy. The bird moved freely, yet I could fly higher than any angel if I only allowed myself. I flexed my wings, feeling the current of raw energy flow through me. For the first time, I experimented — a wall of fire rose around me, a river of light cut across the training yard, and shadows of me multiplied into ten, twenty, a hundred illusions.
The instructors stopped mid-motion. The half-breeds froze, their eyes wide. Whispers rose: The Valkery… he bends reality…
I smiled. For a moment, I felt power, freedom, the thrill of possibility. But the world had rules I could not yet break, and I knew Odin's shadow would not forgive.
Later, in the quiet of the barracks, I met Bobey.Small, flickering, mischievous, like a spark of thought made flesh, he laughed without sound. He became my constant, my reminder that even in darkness, creation is possible.
"Are you ready?" I asked, though I did not know for what.
He only winked.The world would tell me soon enough.