Maya's shrill scream echoed throughout the entire forest.
And you couldn't blame her.
No amount of fiction, no amount of reading, watching TV, or video gaming, could have prepared her mind for the horrors of an undead. With a visage rotten to the skull, it glared at Maya with its one unfocused eye as ooze dripped out from the other socket.
Maya was appalled and sick to her stomach, but now something tugged at her ankle. Another zombie with yellow teeth and a maggot-ridden tongue grabbed at her with a skeletal hand and tattered skin.
Now she was beyond horrified.
"Maya!" Val cried out and ran towards her, though stopped by what Maya did next.
"Perish you son of a Draugr!" Maya was shouting at the top of her lungs, slamming the shield repeatedly against the zombie's head. "Die! Die! Die!"
Maya ended the poor zombie's afterlife by driving the shield's round but sharp edge against its decaying skull.
Huffing, her chest rising up and down, Maya gripped the shield hard in both hands. She slammed it into the zombie's head one more time for good measure—leaving it behind as a mushy mess.
"What in Hel's name was that thing? A zombie? Please tell me this isn't true."
"Maya. Calm." Val put up her hands and approached Maya slowly. "Breath. Slow. Draugr. Dead."
"So it was a Draugr?" Maya huffed again and looked once more at the undead Viking warrior. Its glassy eye stared back at her, and she kicked it away. "Seriously!?"
"There are more."
A dark whisper enveloped the forest. Green mist seeped out from the wet earth, falling over them like a blanket.
"I have a bad feeling about this—" Maya blurted out as two more hands clamped her around her ankles. "I knew it! Get away—"
Her screams died in her throat as three more lumbered into view.
Two of them were clad in a chaotic patchwork of worn leather and rusted chainmail, their weapons glinting ominously despite the corrosion. Swords, axes, and shields—decayed but still deadly—were gripped tightly in skeletal hands.
Albeit rusty, that was still too dangerous to deal with haphazardly.
"Grruuuuurrrr," one groaned into Maya's ear, holding her in place.
Maya gagged from the foul breath.
"Don't. Move," warned Val, eyeing the two Draugr approaching her.
"Didn't plan to, haha." A meek laugh was all Maya could manage.
"Calm. Undead. Dangerous." Val took a small step to the side. The Draugr followed her. "I. Deal. With. Them. Do. Not. Worry."
Call that a warrior's confidence. The enemies did not intimidate Val—unlike Maya, who was getting the hives from just their touch.
Maybe this will be over in a jiffy, Maya mused, observing Val with absolute confidence. She's a Valkyrie, after all. A bunch of zombies stand no chance against her—
Then the sound of a blade whirred in the air, and Maya turned to the source of the slash.
What was that sound? She wondered. I didn't like that.
Maya stared at the blood dripping to the ground from a gash running down Val's arm.
The Draugr moved inhumanly fast, barely leaving any room for Val to dodge or block the attacks. They slashed at her. They cut at her pants and shirt. In one instance, they almost carved up her face like a pumpkin, sending strands of blond hair flying.
"Val! What's going on?" shouted Maya, struggling against the Draugr's grasp. "Wasn't she a Valkyrie? She should be stronger than some undead."
"Sluggish," Val gasped and dodged another sword strike. "Not. In. Form. Slow… Tired."
Sluggish? Not in form? Maya knew Valkyries were supposed to be powerful supernatural beings, close to demigods or stronger. But why was Val struggling so much?
Something wasn't making sense.
Slow.
Maya thought back to how she found Val.
She had found her wounded with nothing on her except her ragged clothes, and her speech was impaired. Maya assumed it was because she had never lived in the modern world before.
But then, Val was panting. Her movements were sluggish and sloppy. She was still agile on her feet and delivering solid hits to knock out teeth or an iron helmet, but that was it.
Val won't last long. I need to help her!
—ˋˏ✦ˎˊ—
"Hey, rotten skull-head, let go of me!"
"Hhung?" The Draugr holding Maya grunted confused. When it looked at her, Maya rammed the back of her head against its jaw and broke it off.
Yet, it held on to her, wrapping its arms under her chest and lifting her up.
"Lemme go, you rotten whatever warrior! Go back to your pile of rocks!" Maya struggled as she screeched like a banshee. Her focus was on Val. "Let me to her!"
"Maya. Stop. I. Can— Argh!"
"Val!"
An axe grazed Val's collarbone, and the two Draugr closed in on her. Blood trickled down her shoulder as they pushed the Valkyrie down to her knees. Val spat blood at their feet and raised her head defiantly.
Their response was swift—a brutal kick to her chest.
"That's enough!! Let go of me!" shouted Maya, thrashing against the iron grip of her captor. Her struggle seemed futile, and desperation clung to her when Val choked on her blood.
Then, by sheer luck, she brushed with the edge of her shield she held accidentally against the decaying skin of the Draugr. It recoiled. Maya seized the moment, smacking the Draugr in the skull with a satisfying, metallic clang.
Thoroughly gonged against the head, the Draugr crumbled to its knees and held its steaming face. Maya stared wide-eyed at the wound and the shield. The Draugr's face was peeling off and disintegrating where she hit it.
The shield, this is it! Maya bonked it on the head one more time, incapacitating it for good. "Val, catch!"
Throwing the shield like an Olympian discus athlete, Maya failed spectacularly—she was never particularly good at sports. However, it hit one Draugr on the head and ricocheted against the other, knocking both out momentarily.
Maya grimaced. "That was not what I planned, I swear, but it worked, didn't it?"
"Yes." Val touched the shield. It disappeared in a dazzling white light, only to reappear strapped around her arm. She smiled. "Thank you, Maya."
Maya blushed at the words. Hearing Val speaking more coherently and standing confidently with her shield made Maya crack a smile.
"Go get them!" she shouted encouragingly.
The Draugr had recovered, but not enough to react against the Valkyrie's attacks.
Val sent one of them flying with an uppercut from her shield and kicked the other against a tree, breaking its spine.
"That's more like it! Woohoo!" Maya cheered for her as Val moved around gracefully in dives and jumps to avoid the attacks and struck the Draugr.
She hit the Draugr repeatedly with her shield, and they soon turned to nothing but ash and dust. Maya clapped. Val couldn't help but puff out her chest in triumph, though it soon dropped.
Maya wondered what it was about and saw Val unstrapping her shield and hurling it in her direction.
"Hgnh," groaned the Draugr behind her. It staggered, still reaching out with its claws at Maya as the shield stuck against its chest.
"Woah, stay back you, or—"
Maya was pulled back and into Val's arms. She stomped her foot against her shield, pressing it against the Draugr until it disintegrated for good.
"Finally. Hate Draugr. Annoying bunch." Val turned her head to Maya, who remained frozen in the embrace. "Thank you. For your. Help. Are you. Alright?"
"Nope, I mean, I'm good, I'm Gucci," mumbled Maya, turning red from embarrassment. "We might need to get you some new clothes, though. Not that I mind, but…"
Val looked down at her borrowed shirt and the new window it sported, revealing her cleavage.
Seeing how Maya was avoiding staring made Val laugh and hug Maya tighter. "I agree. Though. I. Like it. The new. Look. And. Your reaction."
"P-please, don't squeeze me so much," Maya was turning red from how close they were.
Val couldn't help but draw her in closer and blow into Maya's ear teasingly. "Can't. Help it. You're. Adorable."
Lost in their affectionate embrace, neither noticed a shadow slipping behind the trees.