"Mmh, interesting..."
"Huh? So not generations... just one generation back. But why is it so weak?"
Sage lay outside awkwardly as the monkey stood on top of his stomach, staring intently at his chest.
"So..."
"Don't speak. Vocal vibrations mess with my view."
Sage went silent. The monkey finally stepped down and began writing something in a small notebook.
"You were saying?"
"Who are you? What are you? You're not wearing the necklace. How are they not affecting you? You said Demons dont get affected by it, are you a Demon?"
"Oh right..." The monkey chuckled. "To think we've signed our souls to each other and we don't even know each other's names."
Sage smiled briefly at that, but it disappeared as quickly as it came.
"I'm a spirit demon. Mind demons don't work on me because I'm already dead, essentially. While they torture the dead too, it's far worse for the living. And since I'm a demon in my own realm..." He shrugged as if that explained everything. "Name's Baelor. Yours?"
"Sage." He paused. "Sage Styrmirson."
Baelor looked up from his notes. "Styrmirson... sounds familiar. Nordic too. You don't look Nordic though."
"It's my father's name. It's all I know about him. I recently found out he's a giant. Don't know much about my mother's side either."
"Can't say I've heard of him... though the name sounds familiar. I'll try to remember." He adjusted translucent glasses that had appeared on his face while reading his notes.
"So what exactly are these mind demons? I can see you just fine. Why can't I see them? Can't we just fight them off?"
"Not possible. Mind demons aren't actually real in a physical sense." Sage opened his mouth, but Baelor raised a hand. "They're more like... a property of this place. Like air. The moment you step into this realm, or any territory they inhabit, you're vulnerable. Can't see them, can't touch them, can't fight them. Your only option is to get out alive. But honestly, they're the least dangerous thing here."
"You keep saying that. You said the same about those flesh hounds. But this place seems quiet enough."
"That's because we're inside my formation. When I first got here, I set up protective barriers around this area. Outside of it?" Baelor shook his head. "The plants will try to eat you. The air itself can kill you. This whole realm's been twisted ever since the Divine War."
"The Divine War?"
"Long story. I'll explain later." Baelor turned back toward the tree house. "Right now, we need to prepare for the journey."
"Wait. What about the seal?"
Baelor stopped and turned back, his expression serious. "That's... complicated. It's a divine seal. Someone very powerful put that on you, or more likely, on your parent. The gods don't place those casually."
"Can you break it?"
"Not here. Not with what I have. But..." He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "There might be a way. We'll need to gather some things first. Let me get my supplies and we'll move."
He started walking again, then paused.
"Fair warning though, breaking a divine seal isn't just difficult. It's dangerous. These things are designed to be permanent. Whoever sealed your bloodline didn't want it undone."
Baelor took his sweet time inside the tree house.
While Sage waited, he stared out at the crimson wasteland and clenched his fists.
"Hold on, mother... I'm coming for you. We'll be together again." His voice dropped to a dangerous whisper. "As for Móði... I'll make him wish he'd never been born."
Rage began building in his chest like a furnace, but suddenly the necklace pulsed with soft light. Cool energy flowed through him, dampening the fire of his anger until it became a cold, focused determination.
"Hey kid, what's your weapon of choice?"
Sage glanced toward the door. "Anything that cuts deep or hits hard."
"Practical. I like that."
It wasn't bravado. His mother's training had been relentless, years of sparring with every weapon she could find. Swords that sang through the air, hammers that crushed bone, spears that pierced armor, axes that split shields. She'd made him master them all.
But if pressed to choose? A spear for reach, an axe for power, a sword for versatility.
Baelor emerged empty-handed and sealed the door with a gesture.
"Time to go."
Sage frowned. "Where's your gear?"
With an exaggerated flourish, Baelor waved his hand. A battle axe materialized from nothing, perfectly balanced, with a wide crescent blade and a smaller spike on the reverse.
Sage's breath caught. He'd seen this before. During the fight, both Móði and his mother had summoned weapons from thin air.
"Storage magic," Baelor explained casually. "Handy trick."
Sage hefted the axe, testing its weight. The craftsmanship was exceptional.
"So where exactly are we going?"
"To retrieve a heart."
Sage raised an eyebrow. "Whose heart?"
"You'll understand when we get there." Baelor gestured toward the wasteland. "We'll take the safest route I know. Though 'safe' is relative in this place."
They stood at the edge of Baelor's protective barrier. Beyond it stretched an alien landscape of red stone and twisted shadows. Sage's pulse quickened, and his grip on the axe tightened.
The necklace glowed softly, steadying his nerves.
"Ready?" Baelor asked, shifting into his bird form.
"Can't you become something I can actually ride?"
"Where's the fun in that?"
The bird launched into the air, leaving Sage to follow on foot into the nightmare realm beyond.
Sage looked around. The area did seem eerie, so he didn't doubt what Baelor said about it being more dangerous than it seemed.
He realized that if they encountered anything, it would be his first real fight without his mother or Hati by his side.
As they walked, he couldn't help but imagine life after he brought his mother back. They'd find a quiet place, somewhere far from gods and their ways.
Maybe a small cottage by a lake where she could tend a garden again. She'd look at him with something other than that distant expression she always wore. She'd actually talk to him about things beyond training and survival. They'd have breakfast together every morning, and maybe she'd finally tell him stories about when he was little, stories she'd never shared before.
He'd be stronger then. Strong enough to protect her this time, and by then, Móði would be nothing but a bad memory, dead by Sage's own hand. No one would ever hurt her again.
They'd live peacefully, just the two of them. Maybe she'd even tell him about his father, about the parts of her past she'd always kept hidden. Maybe she'd actually let him get close to her instead of keeping him at arm's length like she always did.
And Hati... maybe there was a way to bring Hati back too. The three of them could be a real family. Hati would chase butterflies in their garden while his mother actually relaxed for once. They'd all sit by the fire in the evenings, safe and warm and together, really together, not just existing in the same space.
It would be perfect. Better than it ever was before. After everything they'd suffered, they deserved that much.
"Kid, you're smiling," Baelor called down from above. "That's... unsettling given where we are."
Sage's smile faded as reality crashed back. The crimson wasteland stretched endlessly around him, and somewhere ahead lay whatever horrors they'd have to face to make his fantasy real.
But it would be worth it. Every danger, every sacrifice, it would all be worth it to have her back.