Chapter 129 – The Old Man

  “This local cemetery is making waves in its community after deciding to expand its acceptance to all faiths and religious beliefs. It will now be expanding its last rights and services to the following denominations…” – Local news report on a cemetery in Maine.

  “Odin” Jay replied to the strange man in a flat tone. Kurt was initially confused because of how Jay had pronounced the name, making a ‘thn’ rather than ‘din’. It took him a second to recall how one of the guys in his platoon, who been into Norse culture, pronounced the names strangely. Or in this case, as Kurt now realized, properly.

  That forced Kurt to take a second look at the man standing a few yards away. Other than being an older man, there wasn’t anything outstanding about him. Yet, the second look drew Kurt’s eye to the mans face and the strange reflection of one eye. It seemed to reflect light slightly differently marking it as either an illusion or a prosthetic. Before he could make a decision on the matter, Odin spoke again, breaking the few seconds of silence.

  “Thus you name me?” He raised his eyebrows slightly.

  Jay scoffed, still maintaining his arms crossed posture. “We would be here all day if I listed every alias you have. Why have you come?”

  “As ever, my reasons are my own.” Odin replied smoothly.

  “And that reason needed you to come now and not later? Also, how have you stopped time?” Jay was pressing the issue, and Kurt becoming less and less sure if he was OK with this confrontation happening while he was on the same continent. He was starting to feel a pressure that wasn’t quite normal as the two squared off.

  “I know many a spell to change the passage of time, oh Lord of Balance, you would do well to know them and better still to learn them.” His voice had a sort of rhythm to it that Kurt couldn’t place but sounded like the god was reciting something.

  Squinting slightly, Jay’s nostrils flared. “Don’t try to pull me into your prose, old man. You might have more divinity than me, but I can still send you packing along that bridge of yours. Homefield advantage and all that.”

  Odin stared for a moment before unclasping his hands and stuffing them in his coat pockets. “Very well, Jahamet. How is it I find you on this field, standing in conflict with myself?”

  “I don’t see how protecting one of my people is being in conflict with you, especially given the circumstances.” Jay retorted.

  Casting his gaze over Kurt, the god assessed him. “I hold no malice toward him so long as he is not of the great wolf’s line. As you well know, I value the relation between wolf and raven but that cursed god-spawn is separate. Does he, the one before us, fall from Fenrir or from my wolves, Freki and Geri?”

  “None of the above.” Jay said, surprising Kurt by answering.

  That seemed to surprise Odin too because, for the first time, his expression shifted with more than his eyebrows moving. “Oh? Perhaps from Hati? Or would it be Skoll who leads his line?”

  Kurt was suddenly filled with indignation at the assumption he would be from such… simple origins. He growled slightly, gaining the attention of both the men standing below him. Seeing Jay’s questioning look, he nodded toward the demon before falling silent again.

  “Kurt is not of your pantheon, oh Fjolsvid.” Jay answered, clearly offending the man with the name. “He is the scion of Lycaon and The Lupus Rex. He carries the Avatar in his soul and now walks our road.” That wiped the sneer off the old man’s face and his expression became warry.

  “Truly?”

  “I swear it on my knowledge.” Jay intoned.

  Odin then turned back to Kurt and nodded deeply, bowing his head before looking back up. “A man should know his limit and when he has wrong another. To make amends least the slander fester.” He chanted before pausing. “I do apologize, Kurt Rosk, scion of Lycaon, Lupus Rex…” he paused as there was a flash in his false eye socket. “Walker of the road, Twice-Cursed and Thrice-Blessed, Realm Walker and Half-Born.”

  As the man spoke, Kurt felt a strange resonance. It was like his soul rang with each title that he heard. The way the old god looked at him made a chill run up his spine. What was even worse was that he felt like there were parts missing from the list of names and he wasn’t sure he wanted to hear the rest.

  “To what business do you attend?” Jay asked after Odin finished speaking.

  The old man turned once again to face Jay. “I came for that.” He pointed a strong yet scared hand at the two orbs floating over the dead werewolf.

  Immediately, Jay shook his head. “It is not my bargain to make.”

  “I don’t want what is of the scion, his sanguine legacy is his own.” Odin said after stuffing his hand back in his pocket. “I would have that which is not of this world but of our dealings and hubris.”

  That was when both Kurt and Jay looked again at the two orbs floating in the air over the corpse. One red one, more solid than effervescent. The other was small, barely the size of a marble and looked like a matte black marble.

  Kurt recognized that one was the gift, that part of him which resided in every wolf. Something he felt a connection with ever since accepting his place as Lupus Rex. The other smaller, more sinister one was the curse. That was the part of the lycanthropy which caused his kind to fall, becoming no more than feral monsters. That left him with one question.

  Shifting his bones, facial muscles then vocal cords, Kurt got the attention of both men who turned with looks of concern and disgust at the sound. “What do you want with it?” He asked bluntly, not bothering with the strange formality of the other two.

  “My reasons are my own. One should keep his desires in trust, least others covet them out of spite.” Odin said, his tone once again neutral.

  “That’s a new one.” Jay muttered before clearing his throat and speaking up. “We answered your questions of ancestors in good faith. Reciprocity is the smallest of balanced actions.”

  Pausing for a moment, Odin blinked then nodded before turning to Kurt. “Despite my lack of sight, I still seek knowledge. I did not need sacrifice to know its value.”

  Kurt must have looked very confused because Jay leaned over and whispered as loud as he possibly could. “That means he wants to study it.”

  “What do you offer in return?” Kurt asked, making his words slightly more formal which caused Jay to stifle a chuckle under a cough.

  “That of equal measure can be given.” Odin answered sagely.

  “Equal knowledge based on your findings.” Jay immediately said, cutting Kurt off before he could say anything.

  Odin stared at Jay for a few heartbeats before nodding once. “An accord then. Call upon me for payment no sooner than this day becomes again.” With that, Odin stepped forward, producing a strange glass ball that he separated into two halves which he quickly used to scoop up the tiny marble of darkness. At the same time, Kurt stepped forward and instinctively grabbed the ball of red and it disappeared into his hand, absorbed by his own divinity.

  The old god backed away quickly, depositing the ball in his pocket before shooting a very curious look at Kurt. “Acquaintances are made this day, Kurt, Scion of Lycaon. We will meet on this road or another.” He then turned around and kicked at the snow, sending the tiny ice crystals into the air before stepping through it. When the rainbow shimmer of the falling snow disappeared, the world began moving again and Odin was gone.

  Kurt looked at the raven which was still sitting in the tree. It had been moving as they talked but refused to leave its branch. Now, the large bird bent down and picked up something from where its branch met the tree and fluttered over. It landed a couple feet from Kurt, looking up at him before hopping sideways toward him. It then dropped whatever it had picked up and tapped its beak on his foot.

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  Looking down, Kurt saw it was a watch, minus the band. Carefully he crouched and picked up the comparatively tiny bit of metal and glass. It seemed to be in good shape, and he looked back to the raven which stared at him before clacking its beak and making another ‘qwork’ sound.

  Knowing that ravens and crows traded, Kurt tried to think of what it would want. He decided to make two offers and see which it liked better. He reached up into the fluff around his neck and yanked out a good portion of the fluffy fur, getting a thumb sized bundle. He then grabbed a bit of the flesh from the feral werewolf’s throat. Holding them out, he offered them to the bird, one in each hand.

  The raven tilted its head, looking between his hands. It hopped over to the meat, looking at it and tapping it with its beak. It then hopped over to run its beak through the bundle of fur. It seemed to hesitate only for a moment before tapping his hand with the fur.

  Kurt opened the hand, helping the raven get the bundle in its beak. The bird hopped back and looked at him, its eyes flashing in the sun reflected from the snow. “Good trade.” Kurt said, and he would be damned if the bird didn’t nod back and give him a little bow before flying off.

  “Kurt!” Kristi called, running down the hill with Val right behind her. “What the hell was that?”

  Quickly shifting back, Kurt summoned his clothes back on himself, not bothering with the snow on his feet from before his boots appeared. “What was what? The raven?” He asked in return, not sure where the confusion was coming from.

  Val skidded to a stop right next to him a moment later. “No, we came running after you and only made it halfway down the hill before the fight was over. Then you just seemed to straighten up and look into the woods before suddenly shifting like ten feet to the left.”

  “And I swore I saw another person here too. An old man I think?” Kristi added.

  Jay cleared his throat behind them. “Ahem, that would be because time was kinda frozen for a minute outside of a very isolated area.”

  Kristi narrowed her eyes while hefting her machinegun. “What do you mean stopped?”

  “I guess that stopped isn’t the right word.” Jay admitted, looking at the top of the hill where the officers had just started up their snowmobiles again to come down to meet them. “It was more like it was accelerated for us. What took us a few minutes to live through was actually a microsecond for everyone else.”

  Not letting the issue go, Kristi pressed on. “Then who was that? Why did he fuck with time and why are you not more upset?”

  “That was Odin. He wanted to have a chat and collect a sample. And being a mysterious old prick is kinda his whole schtick.” Jay answered while counting off on his fingers.

  “Wait. Hold up.” Val said, storing her rifle in her ring while looking over at the four officers headed their way. “Odin, like the god?”

  “The one and the same.” Kurt grumbled. “Guy spoke in prose for almost the entire thing. It was annoying.” Then he looked to Jay. “Wait, you’re old. Why don’t you talk like that?”

  Smirking at the blunt question Jay waved his hand. “Mostly because I get out more and haven’t been cooped up with a bunch of other old farts for the past thousand years.”

  Val looked like she wanted to say more but stopped as their guests arrived. “Heads up, it’s the rozzers.”

  “Kurt!” Henry shouted after slipping off his helmet. His normally pale face flushed red from the helmet pads, making him look like a peach with orange fuzz over red skin. “Are you OK?”

  That was a change in tone that caught Kurt by surprise. His previous relationship with the officer had been more than a little standoffish and they had an uneasy truce at the best of times. “Uhh, yeah. I’m fine.” He caught Jay’s eyes for a moment and saw the demon mouth the word ‘pamphlet’. That explained the sudden shift in the chiefs opinion.

  “Real quick, before I take off.” Jay got everyone’s attention. “What do you want to do with the, umm, remains?” He gestured at the headless werewolf corpse.

  “Hammond had no next of kin.” Chief Henry said, casting a forlorn look at the still mostly wolf like body before them. “But I don’t want to see his remains desecrated or used in some fucked up experiments or whatever you Order people do.”

  Jay summoned a portal, opening a ten-foot-wide aperture right next to the still steaming remains. “Portal to the void. If you find it acceptable, you can send him through, and the void will consume his body.”

  “His soul has already passed on, I saw it leave.” Kurt added.

  One of the officers behind Henry stepped forward. “And how do you know that? You don’t exactly look like a priest!” His tone was accusatory and angry, filled with something that Kurt was recently acquainted with. The man was making Kurt’s instincts perk up and he decided to follow them.

  “Shut the fuck up, Stevens.” Hissed the other officer next to him.

  “Come here.” Kurt said in a very no-nonsense tone. When the officer didn’t move, Kurt decided to use a little more force. “I said COME!” he felt a little… something, in the words. It felt like he put his intent into them and they suddenly had more weight.

  The man flinched but otherwise began slowly walking forward, head bowed and his feet shuffling through the snow. When he was within arm’s reach, Kurt followed his instincts and extended his hand. He touched the officer’s forehead with his palm and wrapped his fingers over his head.

  He could feel the little ball of cursed energy, that feral madness which every wolf had. It was like he could almost grasp it if onl-. The man began to whimper and Kurt realized he had been squeezing. He eased his grip but still followed that grasping instinct and pushed with the only other thing he thought to use.

  Kurt flexed his divinity backed aura and pushed it into the other wolf. He forced it toward what he thought of as a cancerous growth of aura. The little infestation of curse didn’t go without a fight and he felt like he struggled for ages as he encapsulated the mass. After what seemed to be several hours, he finally pulled, yanking the little glob out of the young officer.

  Once exposed to the air, he let the black marble of curse energy dissipate into the environment. He felt that it wouldn’t cause any harm to anything and his instincts were telling him that it was a uniquely targeted curse. It only affected werewolves and couldn’t harm anything else or even reinfect anyone. “Sinister little piece of shit.” He muttered as he saw the last little bit fade away.

  “Wh-w-w-.” The officer, whose name was Stevens, mumbled before promptly falling flat on his butt.

  “I took the curse away. You were about to be overwhelmed by it and now you wont.” Kurt answered simply. He looked around, seeing that nobody had moved much and noticed that barely any time had passed at all.

  “How d-did y-y-you…”

  “Because, like it or not, I am the living embodiment of the werewolf god.” Kurt tried not to be snippy with the officer, but it was hard after he essentially had to be an executioner, priest and deity all in one go. “Have the Chief set an appointment with me if you need to know more.”

  “Unless there is anything else?” Jay asked. When nobody responded, he opened a new portal, this one was his familiar style with a defined edge and a sort of pattern inside. “I will be taking my team back to their vehicle. That portal will stick around for another two minutes so better get the body through it sooner than later.”

  He followed after Kurt and the girls as they stepped through and found themselves in the parking lot near the car. “I will meet you at the house to debrief. Penny should have already recalled the other team and your squad of werewolves.”

  “Thanks, see you in about an hour.” Kurt muttered before he climbed in the car with Val and Kristi.

  The kitsune was in the passenger seat this time and looked over at him. “So… you met a god?”

  “I guess I did.” Kurt answered a moment later. He saw Kristi leaning in from the back seat. Her attention was focused on the side of his head with such intensity that he felt he might combust.

  “Well? What was it like?” Kristi prompted him. “That can’t be a normal thing even with your unique circumstances.”

  “Honestly super underwhelming.” Kurt admitted that he figured a god would be an awe-inspiring presence that he wouldn’t be able to even look at, but Odin seemed… so normal it was weird. “He was just some guy. If Jay hadn’t told me who he was I wouldn’t have looked twice.”

  “That’s just how Odin is.” Val said from the passenger seat while stripping out of her jacket. “Apparently, he likes to roll incognito these days. If you had met one of the more, exuberant deities it would likely have been different.”

  Kurt looked at her with a confused expression. “How could you know that?”

  “Ever since my own little divine intervention, I have been doing some research.” Val said as she slid her outer snow pants off and let her tails poof out. “I was digging through the recent reports of the active gods on Earth to get some insight.”

  “Odin is an active god? I would have thought that he would be outed sooner than now with the veil broken and how popular that religion had become.” Kurt was wondering how he could get his hands on those reports. That would be useful information to have.

  Val pulled up her tablet. “He is probably one of the more active ones. He deals in information, secrets, rare items… Honestly its all over the place if the reports are to be believed. He also changes his face and appearance all the time.”

  Kristi asked. “Then how do people know it’s him?”

  “Mostly because he tends to speak in prose, always has a false eye and names people he deals with.” Val scrolled on her tablet as she read from it.

  “Oh yeah, he did that with me.” Kurt said absently while waiting for the right moment to pass a semi.

  “Did what?” Val asked, her ears flicking in annoyance. “I listed three things.”

  “All of it.” Kurt admitted and took his chance to go around the log hauler. After he passed, he continued to recount the interaction. “He had a fake eye, was heralded by ravens, spoke in prose and listed a bunch of names for me.”

  “Wait… a bunch?” Val asked while scrolling more. “Were they names or titles?” She asked after looking up again.

  “Uhh. Titles?” Kurt guessed, they sounded like titles to him. He quickly recounted the list of names that the god had given him.

  “Oh. Oh shit.” Val was staring intently at her screen as she read.

  “What!” Kristi nearly shouted while trying to read over her shoulder and wedging her head between the seat and the ceiling.

  Val began quoting from whatever she was reading. “’It is generally known that Odin has many faces and names that he freely uses, and they can be considered part of his many aspects and personalities. From firsthand accounts and questioning other Aesir, we know his proclivity with names applies to those he deals with. If he names someone, then it is considered that he recognizes them and will generally not disregard them completely. For those he names and lists titles, see addendum on blah-blah… it means that he recognizes the person as a peer or an otherwise honored person.

  “’On the few accounts recorded by those he had recognized, their lives were ones of upheaval and unusual events. It was also noted that 87.5% of those individuals later encountered other deities under a myriad of circumstances.’” Val finished reading out loud and continued on her own for a moment.

  “Anything else on the subject?” Kurt asked after a few minutes of silence.

  “No but you might get more from Jay.” Kristi answered.

  Kurt nodded. “Yeah, I get the feeling they have a history.” He was looking forward to grilling the demon when they got home. After he made lunch that is.