The Throne I Left

Someone screamed and then everything Johan could hear was the ear deafening sound of air whistling in his ears. He clung to the nearest thing he could reach and threw out a ribbon, not catching anything-

Then he hit the ground. He choked as all the air in his body was pushed out of him at the impact.

He groaned. What just happened?

He opened his eyes only to see purple ones looking back. For a second they just looked at each other. Then it hit him.

Johan let go of his death grip on Note’s arm like it burned him. He struggled to sit up, eyes flying to where bright moonlight shone in through a big hole in the roof, dust and debris raining down around them.

Johan could still hear the distant shouts of soldiers, but just as quickly as the hole had opened up beneath them, it closed. Roots and plants braided together and suddenly they were left behind in complete darkness.

“I got it.” Note said and Johan felt him sit up beside him. “Signe?”

“Yeah-” A whisper came from the darkness followed by an angry groan. “Yes!” Signe repeated, much louder this time, her voice cracking halfway through the word.

Johan's heart was still pounding. They had gotten away, but for how long? Anyone could have seen them fall into this…whatever was this place. The air around him was cold and clammy, almost freezing, and every breath he took was filled with dust. Johan tried to calm down as he looked around, but he could see absolutely nothing in the darkness.

He searched the ground for his backpack, then immediately started rummaging through it. He should have a torch somewhere…

There!

He quickly lit it and got to his feet as the flame flickered to life.

“A cave...” Johan muttered and Note came to stand next to him as he looked around. They were standing in a circular room with dark stone walls all around, the yellow light from the torch reflecting off the water that was running down the walls in random streams.

“We need to keep going.” He said, turning around. There wasn’t any obvious way to go. One side of the room was completely shut off, so Johan followed the streams of water to the other, the sound of dripping getting louder as he did. Then he hit the edge.

He stopped, looking down. The floor didn’t continue any further. Instead it opened up into darkness. The water kept running right off the edge and Johan crouched down, trying to figure out how far the drop was, but even then the bottom was too far for the torch’s light to reach.

Johan eyed the edge suspiciously before looking around once more. It was the only way, but how would they get down? There was nothing around to tie his ribbons to.

Note kicked a rock over the edge. Johan watched as it disappeared into the darkness.

Plop

"There's a pool of water right below us?!" He burst out, jaw dropping in indignation. “This has to be a joke.”

How bad luck could he have? He looked at Note, but only got a gloomy expression back.

He sighed and helplessly looked around the small room, but still didn’t see anything that could help them. Who knew what would be in that water…

What if it was just a pool with no way out of it?

“Well…gentlemen first.” Johan said and gestured for Note to go. It was only fair, Johan could get him back up if it was necessary.

“You’re also a man.”

Damn.

“Swordsmen first.” Johan shot back with a grin. Note glared at him.

Suddenly a long groan came from behind and Johan turned to see Signe sitting up from the floor. She met Johan’s eyes.

“Oskar.” She said, voice loud and clear and very impatient.

Johan hesitated, eyeing the ceiling. “Let’s get down first.”

“We can talk as we walk.” She said, pushing to her feet and striding past them to look over the edge. “Me first.” Then she stepped off.

Johan’s jaw dropped.

“No!” Note jerked forward, trying to catch her but he was too late. They watched her disappear into the darkness.

For a second it was quiet, then they heard the splash. There was the sound of

“It’s fine! It’s shallow, just jump!” Signe yelled up after a moment. Johan didn’t even have time to let out his relieved breath before he heard the second splash and looked over to see that Note was gone.

Johan tok a deep, anxious breath, then dropped off the edge.

“Don’t do that. Please! Don’t do that!”

Johan landed in the ankle-deep water just in time to watch as Note slammed into Signe, wrapping her into a tight hug. Shocked, Johan met Signe’s wide eyes where they barely were visible over Note’s hunched shoulders. She looked horrified. She raised an eyebrow at him, but Johan had no answer. He was just as confused.

“Uh...Note?” Signe asked, wide eyes turning to the hugger, her arms twitching by her side, clearly unsure about what to do. Alarmed, Johan was about to go separate them when Note hissed.

“Never die again.” Note hissed.

Wait what?! Were they having a bonding moment?!

“You’re my sister- don’t- don’t ever do that again!”

Johan’s hands flew to his mouth. Signe met his eyes again and this time Johan could see her mind coming up blank. “I...don’t choose when to die...”

“You did once! Never again! Say it!” Note stopped hugging her in favor of holding her shoulders, staring intensely at her face. Signe grimaced.

“What universe did I wake up in?” She whispered to herself, side-eyeing Note.

“Hey! Don’t shake me!” She yelled and pushed Note away, crossing her arms cautiously, her eyes scrutinizing. “But no. I’m not planning on dying again. Anytime soon. And you guys better not either!”

A smile grew on Johan’s face. Note looked reassured and nodded.

“Sounds good.” Johan said.

Signe snorted, eyes flickering between the two of them. “Well. What are we waiting for? Let’s keep going.”

So they started walking. Johan took the lead with Note coming up right beside him, trudging through the ankle-deep water that had already soaked through his shoes, leaving puddles behind when they finally got to dry ground.

The cave turned out to be very long, changing from big and roomy to slim and narrow, and it soon turned from flat ground to slowly descending downwards as they walked. At one point all the water made it so they were mostly sliding instead of walking.

The whole time they walked in silence.

Johan had been expecting Signe to start asking questions the second they started moving, but surprisingly she stayed quiet for a long time, trailing behind them almost in a daze.

It was Note who spoke first.

“Why did they do it?” Note asked, his voice echoing against the walls.

Johan met his eyes for a second, then turned away. How was he going to answer that? He had spent countless sleepless nights wondering the same thing. Yet the only answer he could ever find was-

“They didn’t want change.” Johan finally said, bitterness in his voice. Note stared at him, take aback.

“Neither of us wanted to be in Heaven in the first place!” Note hissed, then fell silent, turning to glare at the path ahead instead.

Johan didn’t have anything to say to that. Becoming a deity was not something someone chose to do. Most people didn't even know it was a possibility until it happened to them. Usually it was seen as a blessing, sudden immortality was apparently something a lot of people wanted. ‘Usually’ being the key word. Johan had never seen anyone take it quite as badly as his current two travel companions.

When Johan didn’t reply, Note shifted.

“You didn’t die.” It wasn’t a question. “You’ve aged.”

“Yes, that is what happens when time passes.” Johan said drily.

“You got out then. Good.” Note nodded to himself.

Johan bit his lip. “Only because you noticed them when you did.”

Johan met Note’s eyes and for a long moment they just looked at each other. Note was exactly the same as that day. If it wasn’t for the ruined clothes and all the dirt, it could have been like nothing had happened.

Note’s eyes grew sad and Johan ripped his gaze away to stare ahead. Note had no reason to be looking at Johan that way. He didn’t need sympathy.

“We’re back.” Note said softly.

Johan didn’t reply. They shouldn’t have died in the first place.

“How long has it been?” Note asked after a second.

“Four years.”

CRACK

Johan’s head snapped to Signe who was still behind them. A crack was forming on the ground beneath her right foot as she stared at him with wide, wild eyes. A mix of grief and horror on her face. “It’s been four years?”

Johan watched, completely frozen as she eventually turned her head to look back in the direction they came from.

“Oh.” Note said quietly. “That’s a long time. Why did you come back?”

“I had a vision.” Johan said simply. Note’s eyes widened in surprise.

“You got your powers?!” Note burst out, practically jumping in his spot, a big smile spreading on his face. Johan tok a step away in alarm, then felt the corner of his lips pull up.

“I wouldn’t say I had anything to do with it.” Johan said with a small laugh, suddenly face-to-face with a very excited Note. “I saw you breaking out of the ground. So I came to get you.”

Note’s eyes grew soft. “Thank you. I can’t imagine what would be happening to us right now if Envy got us. I can’t believe they turned on us like that.”

“Congratulations, Johan.” Signe said, smiling at him, though she still looked a bit off. A strange warmth bloomed in him at the words. Still, Johan glanced back at her, unsure of how she would react to Note’s words.

“And you were right to get us.” She continued, a little tense. “I don’t believe Oskar would have done anything to me. But…I can’t say the same about every other sin. You made the right choice, Johan. Thanks.”

She gave him a sad smile and Johan ducked his head. This was harder than he thought it would be.

Silence fell. The next thing he saw was the cave opening up into a larger room. Much bigger than the small tunnel they had been walking through, the roof was at least three times as high, and the walls much wider. The first thing he noticed was the big pool of water, completely black in the darkness.

However, Johan faltered. It was a dead end.

"We're stuck." He said flatly, then sighed deeply. He bent over to rest his hands on his knees, disappointment flooding into his body.

"What do you mean we're stuck?" Note's antagonizing voice came from behind him, his mood predictably soured. Johan felt too tired to let it get a rise out of him, instead he simply straightened up and gestured around him.

"Just like I said. Stuck.” He dragged out, meeting Note’s grumpy glare straight-on.

Note and Signe both walked past him into the room and Johan tiredly let his arms drop to his sides, eyes wandering around. Then he noticed something.

“Wait.” Johan narrowed his eyes, was that an opening in the roof? “Maybe there is a way out.”

In the darkness it was hard to see even with the torch, but when he moved the light around he could see the glistening edges of something on the roof.

“Can you reach out?” Note asked, looking expectantly back at Johan.

“I’ll try.” He said and let his ribbon unwind into one hand. With a good throw he might be able to catch it on something. Before he could even start, Note interrupted.

“Signe?!” Note asked alarmed.

Johan whirled around to see her standing in the water. His eyes widened. A tall, man-looking creature towered over her.

Its skin was glossy like water, and completely black even in the dim light, its hair thick like seaweed. It had no features on its face except for big, circular, glowing blue orbs where its eyes would be.

It reached out.

Johan didn’t even have time to process what was happening before it was gone. A bright white light lit up for only a second before the creature crumbled, disappearing into nothing but a small white pearl.

Signe glanced back at them in shock.

“That was a nøkk.” She informed, eyes wide.

Johan nodded, speechless. He watched as the pearl hovered in the air for a moment before it settled on her earlobe-

And as if nothing happened, Signe went back to whatever she had been doing.

A nøkk. Johan eyed the water for a long moment. Talk about picking the wrong fight. Well. He shook his head, turning back to the roof. He threw the end of his ribbon, but it only caught something for a short second before sliding off and falling right back down.

“Weird. There weren’t any earlier.” Signe wondered aloud, splashing in the water.

What was she even doing? He had no idea.

Johan glanced at Note. Unsurprisingly he seemed unhappy, arms crossed and a moody expression on his face as he stared at the water suspiciously.

Johan threw his ribbon once more. This time it got outside, the wind picking it up for a second, but there was nothing in reach and Johan wasn’t able to catch it on something before it slid and fell right back down again.

It took a couple more tries but eventually he managed to get it secured on something.

“Got it!” He pulled on it with a nod. It seemed safe enough.

“Wah!” Note’s scream was quickly followed by a loud laugh from Signe and Johan turned to see him laying on the ground, another nøkk hovering over him. Note kicked it away. “Why is it attacking me?!”

Signe laughed, then abruptly stopped as another suddenly appeared beside her in the water. She reeled around. “What the-!”

Johan didn’t wait, instead he quickly grabbed Note with one arm and launched them up and out of the cave before sending the other end of the ribbon down to pull Signe up with them.

His feet hit the ground and he gently sat Note down as Signe flew past, landing with a yelp on the grass behind them. Johan knelt down to look back into the cave.

He watched in horror as more and more nøkks appeared in the water, dozens of glowing eyes staring back at him.

Signe had just been in there! It wasn’t even that deep, where were they coming from?!

“You need to stop doing that.” Signe groaned from behind him. “I just died, be a little kinder to this old lady, won’t you.”

“You’re nineteen” Johan snapped, but turned away from the cave.

“Technically I’m twenty-three.” She shot back as she sat up.

“You were dead for four of those years. They don’t count!”

She made a face at him but Johan just made one back.

He looked around. They were on a small flat area of grass near a forest, a tall mountain towering over them, and almost right beside them there was a steep drop many meters down into water.

They seemed to be on an island, the ocean stretched out in all directions as far as the eye could see, and the only other land was far, far away in the distance.

An island.

He sighed.

Well, hopefully it was inhabited.

“Dear lord.” Note yelled, horrified. Johan’s eyes widened. Nøkks had appeared in the ocean now. Hundreds of glowing eyes were watching them, and more were quickly emerging. “It’s a nest.”

“Don’t let them pull you under.” Johan said tensely and backed away from the edge, grabbing Note’s arm and harshly pulling him along. Signe would be fine, but if Note went under it would be difficult to find him in the black water.

Johan started walking.

“There’s so many.” Signe breathed. Then she surged closer, falling into step with them. “Something bad must have happened for there to be this many. This is not normal. They usually live in solitude, and never in oceans.”

“Maybe you should do something about it.” Johan suggested with a frown. Something was itching at the back of his mind. Did he forget something? Didn’t he hear something about nøkks recently? Hmm…

Well whatever, if it was important he would remember it.

“How bad are we talking?” Note’s voice piped up, alarmed. Signe made a thoughtful noise.

“Ehh.” She hesitated. “Pretty bad.”

Johan passed the corner and froze.

“There’s a village!” Signe said, surging past him for a better view.

Straight ahead was a village. It was nestled between the thick forest and a long shore stretching along the island. It was low, at most only a couple meters above sealevel, in what must be the only flat area of the entire island, the mountain extending far in the distance behind it.

A bell rang in his head. Nøkks and a village on an island. This couldn’t be the giant from Solstad’s village, could it?

Johan glanced between the village and the ocean.

Two boats bobbed gently in the black water by the docks.

Johan relented and turned to the others. “I think I know this place.”

Note shared a conflicted look with Signe, and Johan looked back over the village. The houses, the big hall, the firepit. All of it, and only one answer came to mind. This was the right place. “I met the chief. It’s safe…They have a house we can take.”

His heart pounded. This would be the solution.

Signe pursed her lips, calculating eyes running over the village. Finally she nodded. “Let’s get to work then.”

They entered the village without seeing a single person. It was completely empty in the pitch black of the early morning.

“This is gonna be so cold.” Signe groaned and started jumping up and down, getting her blood moving. She took a deep breath.

Then she stepped into the water. Johan watched as nøkks launched for her as she waded down the beach, but each and every one of them lit up in a flash and disappeared just like the one in the cave had.

After a few flashes of light, Johan heard people starting to emerge from their houses, but he didn’t look back. Gasps and shocked cries sounded around him. People yelled as another nøkk went for her, and then fell silent as it disappeared in another flash of light.

The further out Signe swam, the more people came outside and a crowd quickly formed around them. Soon people started whispering. They seemed to have noticed Johan and Note by now, but nobody said anything to them, instead they kept their distance, murmuring lowly.

A door slammed open and suddenly a loud voice boomed through the air. “What is going on out here?!”

A big man sped out of the closest house, a woman following close behind him. Johan looked back then.

It was the giant!

As he saw Johan his step faltered, shock appearing on his face. Johan smiled and waved.

“Chief! There’s a girl in the water!” Someone yelled, and the giant seemed to break out of his shock. His face paled as wide eyes snapped to the water.

Johan followed to see Signe floating still in the water, slowly turning around to look at them. She had reached her destination.

“Get a rope! Pull her in!” The giant ordered, pushing Johan away and storming closer to the water, but the nøkks stopped him from getting in. He flinched back, breathing heavily. “Get a rope!”

Johan watched as Signe was pulled under.

His heart pounded and gasps went through the crowd. The water moved, big black shadows surging under the surface and creating heavy waves that crashed against the shore as all the nøkks went towards where Signe disappeared beneath the surface.

Johan tok a slow breath. This was going to look so cool.

“She’s dead!” A man yelled and the giant let out a choked breath.

“She’s fine!” Johan yelled through the chaos, trying to calm them down. But all it did was draw attention to himself. The giant’s eyes settled on him and Johan watched cautiously as his face twisted from horror to rage.

“You-” The giant stormed over and grabbed Johan's cloak, both of his hands fisting into the fabric and jerking him into the air. He felt his face harden as he came face to face with the angry giant.

“Wait for it.” Johan whispered, giving the giant a smile before looking back to the water.

It started.

From deep in the murky, black water came a bright light. It started faint, just barely there, but it steadily grew stronger, shining brighter and brighter until it reached right beneath the surface.

Then it exploded.

White light lit up the world around them. The crowd yelled, cowering back as night turned to day. Johan’s eyes burned and teared up, but he didn’t look away.

And then it was over.

It only lasted for a moment before the light faded away, leaving everyone blind in the darkness.

Johan’s feet hit the ground with a jolt as the giant let go of him, and he quickly backed up as the man staggering.

Signe broke the surface.

Silence fell as she threw her head back, gasping in air and Johan let out a breath he didn’t know he had been holding.

That was so awesome! A big grin grew on his face as he shared a look with Note.

Signe started swimming back.

Slowly she walked up the shore, her long hair and white dress trailing behind her, held back by the water. Her eyes glowed bright green and hundreds of small, glinting pearls decorated her body, curling around her like jewelry.

“Jotun...” Someone whispered and Johan sucked in a breath, biting the inside of his cheek. He glanced at the giant, watching the shocked expression on his face, speechless as Signe stalked back to them.

Her bare foot hit the dry sand and finally she took the last few steps back to them, using Note and Johan as a cover, and quickly wiped water from her face.

The spell was broken. Johan shook his head with a snort at the smug look on her face even as Note coughed and elbowed him.

Together they turned to face the villagers.

For a long moment the silence dragged on. Then someone ran to the water.

“The- The nøkks are gone! The water is clean!” With that the rest broke out of their stupor. Murmurs and whispers started up again. The giant met Johan’s eyes in shock, not looking away even when someone ran up and whispered into his ear. Johan watched as he glanced down at her, then quickly looked back at them.

The giant raised his arm and the crowd fell silent.

“The nøkks are gone!”

Suddenly the crowd surged into action. Horns blew, and roars and cheers quickly filled the air. Johan’s breath left him as people surged forward, heavy hands clapping his back and shoulders, laughter filling his ears.

He looked around to see Note and Signe experiencing the same and a laugh was forced out of him, his skin buzzing in exhilaration.

It was the right choice.

“Silence!” The giant roared and the crowd drew back.

The giant eyed Johan for a long second before he directed his attention to all three of them.

“You cleansed our water free from those monsters. You saved the village and I thank you for that.” He reached to his heart and gave a small bow before continuing. “Whatever you wish for, we will do our best-”

“Just the house, thanks.” Johan cut in with a smile.

“Just…the old house?” The man asked, shocked.

“Yes.” Johan nodded, smile staying in place. The giant shared a look with the woman beside him, presumably his wife. Johan glanced around him and quickly added. “And some clothes.”

The couple shared yet another look before booming laughter took its place.

“Of course! The house is yours! Clothes we have in excess!“ He gestured for the closest crowd, a group of middle aged women. “Please find some warm clothes for our heroes.”

The whole crowd dispersed into action. Now that they weren’t the center of attention anymore Johan quickly shrugged his cloak off and draped it around Signe, unsurprisingly she was shivering in the cold morning air. She gave him a small smile and wrapped it tighter around herself.

“Thank you very much for what you have done for us.” The giant spoke quietly now. “My name is Odin, I am the chief of this village. I don’t know who you are, adventurer from Solstad, but I hope I will. I will do my best to welcome you all into our village. We owe you our lives.”

“Leif!” The giant called out and a tall man around their age came jogging over. “Can you bring our saviors to their new house?”

“Of course!” The man, Leif, smiled widely at them. “I would be honored to.”

Odin laughed and turned to the people. “When our heroes have rested and the sun has set, we will celebrate! Now, get to work!” Odin yelled loud, fist up in the air and cheers erupted all around them.