Phoenix Orientem [Fanatsy/Mature - Open]

"Perhaps." He looked around slowly, seeing an abandoned small house off in the distance to the north. "We'll need to be out of sight for it, though. Never know what is watching on the outside." He reached up, running a hand through jet black hair. "We all need dirt on our family, I guess." He wondered how long it would take for them to find out where he was. "Even with the portal I am going to make, a month will pass here before we make it out the other side. Sure you want that?"

"Well could you maybe create a portal and bridge us to maybe the castle?" Hero asked. He closed his eyes and growled to himself. "I'm going to make fun out of this misadventure. It's going to take us months to get back to the Britannia!" he grumbled.

Achron walked along with a relaxed gait, even as his mind was going faster. "I learned sedir magic from Freyja. I managed to get a favor from her after someone took off with her feathered cloak. She gave me the onyx pendant I used to get to the realm in the first place. As for what my limitations are... I do not know. Having this body, being a shifter... it has changed my magic somehow. I've had to be discreet about when and where I use it, so I haven't really tested it out."

Hero shook his head at him and snorted. "I know how these liar revealed stories go...Baldr! I don't want this biting me in the ass later!" he grumbled to himself. He raised an eyebrow at him blessing the crop, but he then followed him putting his hands behind his back. "Just what are the limitations to your magic exactly? You did just make a portal to hel didn't you?" he asked.

Achron smiled faintly when a couple of the workers came over and looked at him closely, talking quickly about how normal he looked. Switching hack to their normal language, he spoke to Hero so the workers wouldn't understand them. "Just go with it, kid. It will make our passage back home much easier. Not like Sun will actually get angry. Guy does this all the time, actually. Likes to go around in disguise. Gets bored easily." Turning his attention to the crop, he made a movement with his right hand, and a faint wind carrying his sedir magic rolled over the entire crop, sinking deeply into the soil. "There you go. May your crop grow healthy and quickly." He spoke to the workers, before looking over at Hero. "Let's go."

Hero looked back at him strangely when he was speaking to the locals then he grumbled to himself. "Asia?" he muttered before his eye twitched as it finally registered. "Do I look like a monkey!?" he shouted. He grumbled and pointed to himself. "I'm a wolf! The big bad wolf! I destroy things!" He scowled at him. "What do you think you are doing?" he spoke to him lowly.

Luckily his sedir magic had kicked back in when he jumped from the root, so the magic had molded his form to fit the area that they had landed in. Standing up, Achron brushed himself off and looked at the workers when they called Hero that name. "Ah... Asia. Interesting place to spit us out at...." Taking in a deep breath, he slowly let it out. "If you guys would do us a favor, and don't tell anyone he was here? He's traveling... in disguise. Promise to do that... and I will place a blessing on the crop. It will be good for two more seasons...."

Hero followed him and jumped from the root, but where the root spit them out at appeared to be somewhere very foreign indeed. They somehow ended up in the mountains far in the East...very far in the East. He looked around and noticed that they had ended up in some rice patty. The farmers stared at them stunned looking up at the sky from seemingly where they came. They spoke in some strange language, but he reverted to human form they freaked out. "Sun Wukong!" They shouted.

Achron snorted, hearing a secondary scream behind the yell of Hero’s brother. “Now they are!” He did not want to run into that woman again. When he had first awoken in his new life to his old memories, he had snuck off to the place where Loki was chained and had run into the man’s wife. He had almost died, as the endless years of holding the bowl that would collect the venom before it fell onto the God’s face had chipped away at her sanity, and the woman blamed him for what happened to Loki. Feeling a pulse coming from the endless sky that surrounded the tree, he sighed. “Well, time to jump, kid!” He turned and jumped from the tree’s root without a second thought, knowing he was going to end up in the right realm. He didn’t know where they would end up in that world, but it was better than for them to get caught by those chasing them individually.

"No one is fucking chasing you!" Hero shouted before they finally reached Yggdrasil. He growled at the blue tiger ferociously. "You are making this so much more complicated!" he scolded him. As they made their way through the roots, he could hear Hati shouting, "You're so dead Hero! You hear me!?" Hero started running faster. "Let's go faster!" he yelled not wanting to get punched in the arm by his bigger brother.

Achron kept moving without words, taking forms of all kinds of small creatures, keeping his body semi-corporeal in a effort to blend in. “I took a risk using that damn thing in the first place, Hero! If I went back through that portal, I would be leaving a trace. It’s easy to lose others when you go through the world tree’s roots.” He stumbled at one point, his form returning to human, flickering back to his original form back as Baldr. Ignoring the pain that was becoming all too real, he forced himself to adopt his humanoid blue tiger form. “Not much farther....”

The maiden mouth hung open not sure who this man was, but she nodded slowly watching him take off. "You lost?" she asked. Hero finally rushed into the room and did not see Achron. He saw the maiden, and he asked her. "Did you see some short mortal walking around here?" he asked. The maiden pointed in the direction but corrected him, "He's not short"

"Fuck!" Hero shouted before he ran after Achron. He actually shifted into his giant wolf form to gain some ground on him. "What are you doing!? The portal was much closer!" His monstrous voice boomed.

Achron winced and had to push back the old memories from his old life as he walked into the room. Looking at the man laying there, he felt the spot over his heart starting to burn as the old ghost pain from that moment of his death so long ago started to resurface. Sorry, Lucien. Should have kept a closer eye on you. He jerked when he heard Hel’s voice off in the distance. Feeling one of the maidens turn towards him, for just a split second, his old form flashed around him. “Take care of him, will you? His child is waiting.” He turned and took off, taking his chances in the deeper part of Hel’s realm in an effort to get to the branch of the world tree that connected to this realm. I shouldn’t have come here....

"Hey! I brought your dog back!" Hero shouted to his aunt while he pointed down a corridor. He was giving a diversion for Achron to go check on Lucien, which Garm ran straight towards Hel with his tail wagging. He jumped onto her knocking her down and slobber licking her face. Hel was laughing at her dog's greeting. Hero walked over to Hel with his arms crossed telling her, "Uh, so, Hati stuck me with walking the dog again. He's about half empty" he told her. He could tell that his Aunt was pissed. "Where is he!?" her voice boomed. It was easy to mistake overhearing this as she was actively looking for Achron. Meanwhile, Lucien was lying in a bed covered in bandages with maidens breathing life into him. He looked somewhat emaciated not having looked to be fed for weeks. He was in very terrible shape.

Achron let out a harsh laugh. “Yeah, a puny mortal can wield sedir magic.” Achron made it a point not to react when Hero almost slipped up and called him by his old name. The longer he was hidden, the better. He had been managing for over a hundred years now, and he wasn’t completely back to his old strength. That was not a fight he needed to happen, or a topic to be brought up at the moment.

Stepping out of the other end of the portal, he looked to the large gates that looked up in front of them. “It won’t take her long to know we are here. Where was Lucien?” He said, looking over at Hero.

"Who said getting to hel was easy? We got to finish walking Garm until he empties his bladder" Hero said. "Hero! You walk him! You made us wait this whole time" Hati barked at him. Hero growled back at him. "It was only an hour...technically Bal...err, Achron made you wait. Why don't he walk him?" he protested. Hati punched Hero in the arm so hard that it sounded like thunder. "Ah! Why'd you do that for?" he whimpered. "You're the reason why we're here! And don't make me punch you again!" Hati grumbled. Skoll snickered at him. "I'd like to see that puny mortal walk Garm" He added. An idea popped in his head, and he took the leash walking with Achron into the portal. Skoll and Hati both stared at Achron confused. "Is that Baldr?" Skoll asked. "No, he's a deadman!" Hati remarked.

"Dragonslayer sword, kid. Not taking any chances with that snake." Achron muttered, walking along with Hero. When they met up with the other two, Achron raised an eyebrow when Skoll sniffed at him, and he shook his head. "I was born in these lands. Not likely." He looked over when the tree burst into flames, and he let out a heavy sigh. "Oh boy...." He muttered, looking over at Hero when he said they should avoid the world tree. "Of course we couldn't do it the easy way." He glanced at the other two and the dog for a moment before he pulled out a onyx pendant of a crow with a hagalaz rune on it. "What a pain." He muttered. Using a quick bit of sedir magic, the pendant glowed for a moment and he tossed it on the ground, where it became a black doorway. "In we go."

Hero glanced back at him oddly. "Who are you, Thor? I hardly think you'd piss off Jörmungandr" he grumbled. He crossed his arms over his chest giving it slight thought. "Hmmm, do we want to go through the front door or the back door?" he muttered. He looked back at Achron and asked him, "Any thoughts?" They finally caught up with his older siblings Skoll and Hati. Hati was holding a leash tethering Garm panting drooling all over the ground. "Well!? Hurry up!" Hati shouted. Skoll stared at Achron closely and sniffed him. "Do I know you?" he asked. "Garm! No! How much blood did you drink!?" Hati shouted. Garm lifted a leg to urinate onto a tree causing it to burst into flames. "Hey, at least we'll find this place again. Just follow the fire" Skoll remarked. "I hate walking him! He takes literally forever to walk! Maybe if Auntie didn't overfeed him he wouldn't need to lose the weight" Hati griped. Hero snickered to himself. "We probably should avoid Yggdrasil" he remarked.

Achron looked at the sword when it was thrusted upon him, and he made a face. Pulling a long golden cloth out of his pocket, he wrapped the entire sword it in, attaching it to his belt. "Yeah, let's keep that hidden for now. I don't need your uncle seeing that thing. Last thing I want to do is piss off the World Serpent. I'd rather keep my head where it is, and my jewels intact." The man used a bit of sedir magic to make himself look completely different, and no one around seemed bother by it. "Now... Do we go the way by the world tree, or a direct path straight to Helheim?"

The person who made the comment went quiet when Sera spoke to him. "N-no, you heard who his father is...you heard where he stuck your brother! Are you going to make a deal with a demon?" he asked. "You know I can hear you all!" Hero's voice echoed through the castle corridors. The crowd all gave the one guest an intense glare. Hero waited for Achron outside, but he got bored after five minutes. He found a zweihander sword snuck in some outcropping of granite. He was not aware of the customs in the lands, and he went over to pull the sword out of the stone. The blacksmith so happened to be looking in the direction and pointed at him to his apprentice wanting a good laugh. Some other merchants saw him and went over to warn him about risk of back injury or crippling himself. Annoyed, he grabbed the sword flexing his muscles and pulled it out causing farther of a commotion. "He pulled it! He pulled it!" they all shouted. He inspected the rusted blade noticing he bent the blade slightly. He then spotted Achron and quickly came over to him handing him the sword. "I found you a dragonslayer...you're welcome" he grumbled not seeing what the big commotion and panic was all about. "Let's go!" he shouted impatiently not wanting to stick around much longer.

Achron made an annoyed sound after Hero left. "What a pain in the ass... Must be a family trait." He muttered, before looking over at Sera. The woman was staring where the door had been, and had an unreadable look on her face as she thought. After a long time, she let out a sigh. "I will do whatever I have to, to ensure the people's freedom..." She looked over at the person who asked her the question. "Or do you profit so much from the war that you don't want it to stop?" Achron coughed behind a hand as Sera stood up. "Someone needs to get the door fixed. Today has been... taxing. I am going to bed." She turned and swept from the room, and Achron chuckled before he left the palace. He needed to get ready.

"I'm guessing that you did some fucked up things in life then? Or was it guilt by association?" Hero pondered. He cleared his throat and clapped his hands together. "Great! I'd love to find out what else freaks you out!" He told him before he gave the queen a flirtatious wink. "I will be back for you" He told her. He waved her off and turned to head out of the room. The crowd were still gobsmacked over a god of destruction crashing the coronation ceremony and arranging a marriage with their Queen. "You don't plan to marry that wolf...are you?" One of the guests finally asked after Hero was well out of the room.

"Of course I am! Are you kidding me?!" Achron shook his head, looking annoyed at the thought that he was afraid of Hel at all. "She can be real nice to the decent people who are sent there, but because of my status when I was alive, I got a front row seat to what she does to people who fucked up in life." He sighed, placing his hand across his face. "I know what you are doing, Hero! I'll pretty much be your meat shield! But... I am bound by Oath both to Lucien and Her Majesty to return him home, and I will do so... even if Hel freaks me out."

Hero gave grinned gleefully. "I didn't take Lucien there with you in mind. I took him there because that's where no one would go looking for him. Judging by the look on your face, you wouldn't go there to look either" He boasted giving a little chuckle. "You're not scared of her are you?" he teased. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "I guess only I can bring her brother back from the afterlife, a deed honorable by a hand in marriage" he spoke overdramatically. The crowd was dumbstruck how this man spoke unaware of Hero's macabre sense of humor. Probably why he was on Hel's good side. "Don't worry your highness, nothing bad will happen. I got Baldr...I mean Achron here to help me" he told her.

Achron’s form shifted subtly when Hero spoke of where Lucien was, and he let out an ancient curse under his breath. “Well, fuck me!” He hissed under his breath, and Sera looked over at him quickly. “Achron!” The man reached up and raked a hand through his hair. “Well, isn’t this another kick to the ass. You know, my rebirth wasn’t Hel’s idea. So me strolling in there to get Lucien isn’t going to go well for me.”

“But you’re-“ Achron stopped Sera mid sentence. “Hel sees past physical forms, directly to the soul. I may be able to hide from my father and the rest, but not from her.”