CHAPTER 40: "FEEDING FRENZY" "VIKINGS WAR IN VALHALLA"

BY WILLIAM WARNER

CHAPTER 40: "FEEDING FRENZY" "VIKINGS WAR IN VALHALLA"

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The March to Stavanger. We did not waste another second. Emily, my friends, and I rushed out of Aalborg’s city gates and angled southwest, cutting across uneven terrain toward the distant coastline. My black Viking armor moved with unnatural fluidity, each plate adjusting seamlessly with my stride. Though forged of reinforced alloy and layered with Wraith-infused circuitry, it felt nearly weightless upon my body. Whether it was the futuristic engineering woven into its design or the Immortal strength flowing through my veins, I could not tell. I did not pant. My breath remained steady. My tongue never lolled from my wolf snout in exhaustion. I felt inexhaustible—driven by purpose rather than fatigue.

Behind us, mortal Viking warriors thundered forward in disciplined ranks. To my surprise—and pride—they kept pace with Emily and me. Their armor clattered, boots pounding against earth and root, yet their formation held firm through brush and rising hills alike.

As we pushed through the dense jungle, Emily’s voice cut through the rhythm of our movement. “where are our secondary forces going?”

Without breaking stride, I answered. “I've split them off into an aerial assault force.”

Above the thick jungle canopy, the faint roar of engines vibrated through the humid air. Through breaks in the foliage, I glimpsed the silhouettes of our Drakkar Dropships slicing across the sky. Their angular hulls shimmered in reflected sunlight as they soared northward, preparing to intercept the Shiver Fleet from above.

We gained ground quickly, creating a final ridge before bursting into a wide clearing.

There, in the distance along the coast, rose the vast city of Stavanger.

Its skyline pierced the horizon—towering spires adorned with Viking iconography, interwoven with Scandinavian symmetry, industrial frameworks, and gothic arches. Smoke already curled upward between the structures. The ocean beyond reflected the shifting shadow of the hive ship overhead.

We paused only long enough to assess the unfolding catastrophe.

Our Drakkar ships streaked across the sky, firing concentrated laser bursts down into the advancing Shark People below. In response, the enemy unleashed pale green arcs of electricity from their bioforms, bolts snapping upward toward our aircraft. Several buildings already smoldered from impact strikes. From the heavens, the Shiver Fleet continued deploying drop pods—organic capsules raining into the city streets with sickening precision.

The ground trembled faintly even from this distance.

I turned toward my peers, the urgency in my voice matching the scale of the threat.

“this is what we're going to do. I'm going to have you gather as many citizens and take them back to Aalborg. While a small force accompanies Emily & I while we access the orbital cannon to shoot down the main Hive ship, once & for all.”

There was no hesitation. They understood the gravity of the task.

We descended into the city at once.

The moment we crossed into Stavanger’s outer district, we were met with the ferocious veracity of the Shark People. They poured through avenues and scaled building facades with clawed limbs, snapping jaws reflecting fires that burned along the streets.

At a fortified street corner ahead, a group of Viking warriors had established a defensive position. They knelt behind reinforced barricades, firing plasma rifles down the main thoroughfare. The rifles spat bright blue bolts that illuminated the smoke-filled air, striking Shark People who clawed relentlessly toward them.

Their relief was visible when they saw us emerge through the haze.

Our forces surged forward immediately, reforming into a shield wall. Interlocking shields slammed into place with disciplined precision. Axes swung in brutal arcs while plasma fire streaked overhead. The Shark People crashed against our formation, but we held firm—steel and strategy overpowering frenzy.

Serenity stepped forward, lifting her hands. A violent gust spiraled outward from her command of wind magic. The blast hurled Shark People off their feet, slamming them against stone walls and scattering them across cobbled streets. Disoriented and exposed, they were swiftly overwhelmed by our warriors’ axes and rifle bursts.

The immediate threat subsided, but I felt the tension in the air. More would come.

I stepped toward the warriors who had been holding the corner.

“expect more frenzies to show up. Do you know where the civilians are being sheltered?”

One of them answered without delay.

“They're underground in the barracks. Shark People don't like to travel underground. They prefer to feed on the surface."

I considered his words carefully. The enemy was unpredictable.

“I wouldn't be so sure, yet I don't want to risk their lives by evacuating them... So, I'm going to split our forces both accompanied by us Immortals. One force stays here to prepare a counter offense, and the second force goes underground to defend the barracks doors.”

The warrior nodded firmly. “sounds like a plan!”

I raised my war horn and blew into it. The deep, resonant note rolled through the battered streets of Stavanger, echoing off gothic spires and shattered glass. At once, our warriors moved to reposition—half fortifying the street for counterattack, the other half preparing to descend toward the underground barracks.

The city trembled under the distant shadow of the Shiver Fleet. The next phase had begun.

Droid L-84, Emily, and I stood firm as the second wave of Shark People crashed into our defensive line. The street behind us led directly to the underground barracks, and I now fully understood why the established Viking warriors had chosen this exact position to fortify. It was narrow enough to funnel the enemy, yet wide enough for our shield wall and riflemen to operate in disciplined precision.

The Shark People surged forward in relentless frenzy, their serrated maws snapping, their bioluminescent appendages flickering pale green in the smoke-filled air. The cobblestone street trembled beneath their charge.

Emily moved first.

With a controlled motion of her hands, she summoned silver crystals from deep beneath the city’s foundation. The ground split with sharp cracking sounds as jagged formations erupted upward in a violent bloom. Dozens of Shark People were impaled instantly, lifted into the air and pinned in grotesque stillness. The crystalline barricade expanded outward, creating a glimmering wall of razor-edged obstructions that blocked the advancing horde.

Behind the crystalline barrier, our Viking warriors raised their plasma rifles and fired in steady rhythm. Blue-white bolts streaked through the gaps between the crystals, punching through Shark People who clawed desperately at the barrier. The smell of scorched alien flesh mingled with ozone and dust. For a moment, our strategy worked flawlessly.

But the hive adapted.

From beneath the writhing bodies of their fallen kin, smaller shark bioforms emerged. They scurried low to the ground, slipping between the narrow crevasses of the crystalline barricade. Their bodies were compact and horrifying—centipede-like legs propelling them forward with unnatural speed. Their heads resembled cookie cutter sharks, circular maws lined with rotating teeth. Like the larger hive creatures, they bore the same dark gray and white coloration, slick and uniform, unmistakably of the same monstrous origin.

They crawled like a living carpet of snapping jaws.

I raised my chainsword and pointed its crackling edge toward the swarm. Red lightning burst forth from the blade in violent arcs, striking the scuttling creatures and blasting them apart in flashes of crimson light. The electrical discharge illuminated the street in brief, blinding pulses. Still, more poured through the cracks.

Despite my efforts, they kept coming.

The Viking warriors reacted without hesitation. Flame throwers roared to life, spewing torrents of fire across the ground. The advancing bioforms shrieked as flames engulfed them, their centipede legs curling and blackening. The firelight danced across armor and crystal alike as the last of the crawling swarm was reduced to smoldering remains.

Then—silence.

Only the crackle of dying flames and distant battle echoes filled the air.

I turned to one of the Viking warriors holding position beside the crystalline barricade. “Where's the orbital cannon, and is it safe?”

He steadied his rifle and answered firmly. “Just take the street past the blockade... We'll be fine here.”

I gave him a nod of gratitude. “Thank you.”

Without delay, Emily and I rushed forward. The barricade of crystal and debris blocked the direct path, but there was no time to maneuver around it. I swung my chainsword in a wide arc and drove it forward. The energized blade smashed through the obstruction, shattering crystal and splintered stone alike. Fragments scattered across the street as we burst through.

We sprinted toward the orbital gun platform.

Smoke drifted overhead, and the distant shadow of the Shiver Fleet loomed against the sky. When the cannon came into view, I felt a flicker of relief. A shimmering energy shield enveloped the massive weapon, forming a protective dome around its structure. The translucent barrier glowed faintly blue, deflecting stray debris and distant bio-electric strikes.

For now, it was safe from enemy fire.

Emily and I slowed only slightly as we approached the base of the orbital cannon, knowing that what came next would determine the fate of Stavanger—and perhaps the entire universe.

Emily and I forced open the reinforced gates of the orbital gun’s operational facility and rushed inside. The heavy doors screeched along their tracks before slamming against the inner walls. What greeted us beyond was devastation.

Dead Viking warriors lay scattered across the metallic flooring, their blackened armor reflecting the flickering emergency lights overhead. Among them were the torn bodies of Shark People, their gray-and-white forms twisted and broken. The air smelled of plasma discharge, scorched metal, and alien ichor. Consoles sparked intermittently. Warning lights pulsed red against the steel interior.

Emily stepped forward slowly, surveying the carnage. “something happened here already?”

I nodded grimly as I stepped over a fallen warrior, my boots leaving faint prints in drying blood. “I see that. What a mess.”

The gates sealed shut behind us with a heavy mechanical thud, isolating us inside the operational complex. We advanced deeper into the facility, navigating around shattered barricades and damaged control panels. The hum of the orbital cannon reverberated faintly through the structure, reminding me of the power that still lay dormant above us.

My comms unit crackled to life. “William, this is Alrick from earlier. We were facing a shark frenzy, they stopped their assault, and are now heading towards your direction.”

I tightened my grip on my weapon. “Great, how are our forces holding up underground?”

There was a brief pause before his voice returned. “we lost communication with them.”

The words settled heavily in my chest. “I want you to take your forces and defend the barracks gates. We'll finish the job up here.”

Before the channel closed, Droid L-84’s synthetic voice cut in. “Are you sure that's a good idea?”

I continued walking toward the central hangar corridor. “There's a reason for our confidence. Our tolerance to the venom. If you're still concerned, feel free to override the sentry guns guarding the operational outpost, and make them operational.”

There was a short pause. “understood.”

The comms line went silent.

Emily and I entered the enormous open hangar where the orbital gun towered at its center like a metallic titan. The cannon’s barrel extended upward through a massive aperture in the ceiling, aimed toward the heavens. Sentry guns lined the upper walls, swiveling with mechanical precision as their targeting optics flickered to life.

The defenses were active.

We wasted no time climbing the platform stairs that spiraled around the cannon’s base. Each step echoed sharply in the cavernous chamber. I reached the primary console and slammed my gauntlet against its activation pad. The screen flared to life, projecting tactical overlays of the upper atmosphere.

The Shiver Fleet filled the targeting display. I locked onto the massive hive ship.

The orbital gun hummed as its capacitors charged. Energy coursed through the cannon’s conduits in brilliant streams of contained plasma. A moment later, the weapon fired. A concentrated beam of searing energy blasted upward into the sky, punching through cloud layers toward the fleet.

The hangar trembled from the recoil. But below us, the frenzy had arrived.

Through the reinforced outer walls, we could hear the thunder of countless bodies charging. The sentry guns opened fire immediately, unleashing streams of plasma at Shark People who scaled and crawled across the facility’s exterior. Their claws scraped against steel. Their electric appendages crackled violently.

Emily and I drew our plasma rifles and joined the defense, firing down into the breach points until our barrels glowed red and overheated. Smoke curled from the vents of our weapons as warning indicators flashed across our visors.

Then the walls buckled.

More unusual Shark bioforms surged forward—larger, heavier creatures with raptorial appendages resembling those of a mantis shrimp. Their forelimbs struck the reinforced walls with explosive force, each impact reverberating like a battering ram. Steel warped. Bolts snapped.

With a final shattering blow, the wall gave way. The creatures poured inside.

Emily and I leapt down from the platform without hesitation, landing amidst the chaos. We engaged them in melee combat, blades and armored fists colliding against claw and tooth. Bodies fell around us in heaps. Despite killing thousands, despite the mounting pile of deceased Shark People, they kept coming through the damaged breach.

We had no choice.

I raised my chainsword and unleashed torrents of red lightning into the frenzy. The energy tore through their ranks, illuminating the hangar in violent flashes. At the same time, Emily focused her magic on the shattered wall, summoning crystal formations to seal the breach. Silver growth spread rapidly across the broken metal, fusing the gap shut.

It was working. Until something larger forced its way through.

A Stethacanthus bioform emerged—its backward-bent legs stomping heavily against the floor. Four clawed arms flexed beneath a broad, blunt shark head. From its trumpet-shaped dorsal fin erupted bursts of pale green electricity that arced wildly through the hangar. With a violent lash of its tail, it struck Emily, sending her crashing across the floor.

She lay still. Rage surged through me as I stepped between her and the beast.

The Stethacanthus lunged. We collided in a brutal melee. I remembered my first encounter with such a creature—how its venom had once crippled me. But this time, when its jaws clamped onto my armor, I felt nothing. The venom had no effect.

The battle turned savage.

The creature suddenly spat a stream of corrosive acid. The liquid struck my chainsword, and before my eyes, the blade vaporized into smoking fragments. Yet the acid slid harmlessly off my graphene armor, leaving no damage.

Disarmed, I relied on strength alone.

With a powerful kick, I shattered one of its backward-bent legs. The beast collapsed forward, roaring in fury. I seized its lower jaw with both hands and tore downward with all my Immortal strength. Bone and cartilage snapped. The Stethacanthus fell lifeless to the hangar floor.

The frenzy faltered soon after, retreating under sustained fire from the sentry guns and the continuing blast of the orbital cannon above.

I rushed to Emily’s side and helped her sit upright. “Thank you,” she said.

“Are you alright enough to keep fighting?”

She nodded, her gaze shifting upward toward the open ceiling. “Willy, look!”

We both turned our attention to the sky. High above the city, the Shiver Fleet burned.

The orbital cannon’s plasma fire had struck true. The massive hive ship and its escort vessels were engulfed in flames, their organic hulls tearing apart as they plummeted from the upper atmosphere. Trails of fire streaked across the sky as the fleet fell, crashing into the distant ocean in thunderous explosions that sent towering plumes of steam into the air.

The shadow over Stavanger lifted. For the first time since the invasion began, the sky belonged to us again.

The burning remnants of the Shiver Fleet still smoldered across the distant ocean horizon when Emily and I turned toward one another. For a brief moment, the chaos faded. We embraced—armor against armor, breath steadying, the tremor of battle slowly leaving our limbs. I helped her stand fully upright, ensuring she was steady on her feet.

“Let's go & save your people.”

Her visor tilted slightly as she answered.

“you mean our people?”

The words struck deeper than any blade. Behind my visor, emotion welled unexpectedly. A tear nearly slipped from my eyelid before evaporating against the heated interior of my helm. Emily lowered her visor as well, and for a heartbeat, the battlefield outside the hangar ceased to matter.

Then the war resumed its rhythm.

A drop pod slammed down behind us with a heavy metallic impact. Steam hissed from its seams as it opened. I stepped toward it and retrieved a grim axe resting within its containment rack. The weapon was magnificent—its blade etched with unique engravings that shimmered beneath the hangar lights. A damascus graphene pattern rippled across the metal in dark waves, and golden lightning energy crackled along its edge, dispersing in brilliant arcs whenever I tested its weight with a swing.

“better late than never.”

With renewed purpose, Emily and I left the hangar and exited the operational facility entirely. Outside, the pale green sky loomed overhead, stained faintly by the dying smoke of the fallen fleet. We passed the former barricade, now reduced to heaps of dead Shark People, their bodies stacked grotesquely along the shattered street.

We wasted no time making for the underground barracks.

The deeper we descended, the louder the clash of combat became. By the time we entered the subterranean cavern, the scene was already chaotic. The vast underground chamber echoed with the snarls and screeches of a formidable shark frenzy. Viking warriors and my Immortal peers held their ground before the reinforced barracks gates, shields braced, plasma rifles flashing in rhythmic bursts.

The Shark People clawed and gnawed at the defensive line, their dark gray bodies slick under the cavern’s dim lighting. For a time, our forces held them back with remarkable discipline.

Then a Mantis Shark bioform lunged forward.

Its raptorial appendages snapped outward with explosive force, striking several warriors and knocking them off their feet. The creature reared back to advance toward the barracks gates, but before it could close the distance, I surged forward. I seized its tail and yanked it backward with brutal strength. The creature thrashed wildly, but my grip held firm. In one decisive motion, I brought the grim axe down. Golden lightning flared as the blade cleaved through its disgusting shark head cleanly.

The body collapsed at my feet.

Something ignited within me then. I entered my own frenzy, carving through the swarm with relentless precision. Each swing of the grim axe unleashed arcs of golden energy that split armor-like hide and shattered bone. Shark foes fell in dozens, then in hundreds, their bodies piling across the cavern floor.

Then Emily’s voice cut through the roar of battle. “Everyone, stand back!”

Our warriors withdrew just enough.

Emily summoned every ounce of her magic. The cavern trembled as an unseen force lifted the entire shark horde into the air. Dozens—then hundreds—of Shark People hung suspended, writhing helplessly above the stone floor. Their claws scraped uselessly against empty air.

In that vulnerable state, Emily struck.

Silver crystals materialized violently from within every shark foe’s belly. The formations burst outward, impaling them from the inside out in a horrific display of shimmering brutality. The suspended bodies shuddered once before falling lifelessly to the cavern floor.

A pool of red blood spread across the stone.

Serenity wrinkled her nose in the aftermath. “yuck Emily, there's shark shit everywhere!”

Alrick stepped forward through the smoke and debris, his armor scarred but intact. “What's the word on the orbital gun?”

I rested the grim axe against my shoulder, its golden energy still faintly crackling.

“that shiver fleet was battered to bits. I think it's safe for our civilians to come out now.”

Cole moved to the massive barracks doors and gripped them with both hands. With visible effort, he forced the gates open manually. The heavy metal doors groaned as they parted.

From the darkness within, civilians began to emerge—families, elders, children—blinking against the cavern lights. They rushed forward, offering gratitude to my Immortal friends and me. Many turned as well to the common Viking warriors, whose shield wall and discipline had made this defense and counterattack a success.

The underground chamber, once filled with screams and fury, now echoed with relief.

For the first time since the invasion began, hope filled the air.

Relief still lingered in the cavern air when my endothermic scanner pulsed sharply inside my visor. A cold silhouette moved against the warmth of living bodies. My gaze locked onto an odd old man standing among the civilians—his posture too rigid, his heat signature subtly wrong.

I stepped toward him and raised my hand. “Halt!”

He froze immediately, panic flashing across his face. But the scanner’s warning did not fade. Without hesitation, I extended my wrist blade and drove it into his gut. The metal slid through flesh with mechanical precision. The figure convulsed and collapsed to the stone floor.

As his body hit the ground, the illusion shimmered. Beneath the wrinkled human facade, gray-and-white flesh revealed itself. A disguised Shark Person.

Alrick stared at me in disbelief. “Why did you kill him?”

I retracted the blade calmly. “you should use your endothermic scanners more often.”

Realization struck him instantly. “Oh,” He turned sharply toward the warriors under his command. “use your endothermic scanner, and check for any shark person in disguise!”

Immediately, helmet visors flickered as scanners activated. Warriors began sweeping the cavern, ensuring no more infiltrators hid among the rescued civilians.

Before the tension could settle, Droid L-84’s audio emitter crackled to life. A new comm signal came through. He answered it aloud.

“What is it?”

The voice of a Cybrawl pilot responded urgently.

“There's a massive shiver fleet heading towards the world of Verdant. Permission to use Cybrawls weapons system on the enemy?”

There was no hesitation in the pilot’s tone. Moments later, the same voice continued, strained and rising in alarm.

“Wait... Now they're turning their attention towards us!”

The transmission dissolved into static. The speaker fizzled into silence. Droid L-84 turned his metallic head toward us.

“Apparently the fight isn't over, and we should go back to Cybrawl.”

A weight pressed against my chest. The Shiver Fleet had been shattered here, yet another arm of the hive stretched across the stars. Verdant. Cybrawl. The war was expanding.

I felt there had to be more we could do. But how do you defeat an enemy that defies logic? An enemy that evolves, adapts, disguises itself, and spreads like a plague across worlds?

My thoughts returned to Skogenheim.

I remembered the unusual data we uncovered there—how Dragons had evolved alongside the Shark People. How Ikeem’s studies revealed that the talking trees were not mere flora, but bio atteni—living biological transmitters capable of communicating across vast interstellar distances.

A living network. An ancient signal system.

An idea formed. “There's something I have to do before we head back to Cybrawl.”

I stepped toward a fallen Shark Person carcass. Its flesh still twitched faintly with residual nerve impulses. Kneeling, I squeezed its thick gray tissue, forcing dark red blood to spill into a small vial I retrieved from my belt. The liquid steamed slightly as it filled the container.

Emily approached me, watching carefully. “what are you doing?”

I sealed the vial and stood. “I plan on sending in the calvary. Death from above... I'll explain on the way to Aalborg.”

Her eyes searched mine for a moment before she nodded.

I turned to Droid L-84. “stay here, try to fortify this city. After we re-establish communications with Cybrawl, we will be able to send fortification materials to your location.”

The droid’s optics flickered in acknowledgment. “sounds like a plan.”

The cavern, once filled with chaos, now carried a different tension—the sense that this battle had only been one movement in a much larger symphony of war.

Verdant was next. And I intended to answer it.

Emily and I did not slow as we departed Stavanger. We cut across the terrain toward Aalborg with relentless speed, armor humming softly with residual energy from battle. The pale green sky above seemed calmer now, but I knew the war had only shifted—not ended.

When Aalborg’s towering silhouette came into view, we did not head toward the gates. Instead, we veered toward the capital garden at the heart of the city.

The garden was eerily quiet.

Conifer grass swayed gently in the wind, its emerald needles whispering beneath our boots. The bog near the center reflected the sky in distorted ripples. There, beside the water’s edge, stood the black talking tree—scarred, splintered, yet still faintly alive. Its bark was charred in places from the earlier invasion, and one of its great roots lay torn and broken near the marshy soil.

I approached it slowly.

Kneeling, I picked up the broken root. The torn end still glowed faintly where life had once pulsed through it. From my pouch, I retrieved the bioluminescent tip Ikeem had cut off earlier—the living fragment of the tree’s neural network. Carefully, I pressed it back against the damaged root. The moment they touched, a dim blue pulse flickered along the bark.

The connection reawakened.

Then I removed the vial of Shark blood from my pouch. The thick red liquid sloshed inside as I raised it. Without hesitation, I drank it. The taste was metallic and bitter, burning faintly as it slid down my throat.

I removed my helmet and set it aside. Cool air brushed against my fur. I then took the tree’s sharp, needle-like root and positioned it at the base of my skull. With a steady breath, I drove it into the back of my head.

Pain flared—sharp and immediate.

Emily stepped beside me and steadied my shoulders as I lowered myself to my knees on the conifer grass. The world blurred. My mind stretched outward as if drawn through invisible threads. I was connected.

The garden vanished.

I stood within a luminous void filled with shifting patterns of light—organic constellations forming and dissolving in endless cycles. I felt both distant and grounded, hallucinating yet strangely energized. Power hummed through me, not draining but expanding.

From the vast blue glow before me, a shape emerged.

A dragon.

Its scales shimmered deep sapphire. Its snout resembled that of a crocodile—long, armored, and ancient. From the back of its skull rose a magnificent gold crest that flared like a crown of flame. Its eyes burned with intelligence older than any star.

It regarded me carefully. “Why are you here?”

I stood before it without fear. “The shark people are overrunning our universe. We could use some dragon might.”

The dragon’s nostrils flared, releasing a plume of azure vapor. “Would you willingly guide the rest of my brood to a feast? How do you know us dragons like the taste of shark flesh?”

I felt clarity wash over my thoughts. “The universe is like a gut with its own immune system. The Shark People are like hostile bacteria, while you Dragons are a more benign bacteria. You essentially cleanse & defend this universe from illness.”

The dragon’s golden crest shimmered brighter. “Then let our collective power make you a strong individual.”

Its jaws parted.

Blue plasma ignited within its throat—intense, radiant, unstoppable. The dragon unleashed the blast directly at me.

Instead of incineration, I felt a transformation.

The plasma entered my being like liquid fire, coursing through veins, bones, and spirit. It was not destruction—it was empowerment. Raw, ancient power surged through me, filling every fiber of my Immortal body.

Outside the hallucination, my physical form reacted.

My eyes and mouth glowed with burning blue plasma. The air around me crackled with heat distortion. Emily held my shoulder firmly as my body trembled with contained force.

I lifted my head toward the pale green sky.

From deep within my chest, I roared—a dragon’s roar that shook the capital garden and sent ripples across the bog’s surface. Blue plasma erupted from my maw in a concentrated beam, piercing upward into the heavens and vanishing into space.

The surge subsided.

The luminous void faded.

The dragon dissolved into starlight.

The needle-like root slipped from the back of my head as I disconnected from the Talking Tree. I inhaled sharply, awareness returning to the garden. The conifer grass bent beneath my knees. The tree’s bark glowed faintly, then settled into calm stillness.

Emily knelt before me, her eyes searching mine. “What happened?”

I rose slowly to my feet, feeling strength unlike anything I had known before. “Help is on its way.”

Far beyond our sky, across the dark between worlds, something ancient had heard my call.

Emily and I wasted no time after leaving the capital garden. The gates of Aalborg opened before us, and we moved swiftly through the city toward the airfield. The ground crews had already begun reorganizing after the earlier assault, and several Drakkar Dropships rested upon their landing platforms, engines humming in readiness.

We boarded one without hesitation.

The ramp sealed behind us as the engines roared to life. The controls responded smoothly beneath my hands, and within moments we were ascending through Verdant’s pale green sky. The city shrank beneath us, its spires gleaming faintly in the filtered light. Clouds parted as we accelerated upward, breaking through the atmosphere and into the cold vastness of space.

Stars stretched endlessly around us.

In the distance, Cybrawl came into view—its artificial curvature illuminated by a clean, vibrant atmosphere engineered to sustain life. But surrounding it were multiple Shiver Fleets, their monstrous silhouettes circling like predators around prey. Bursts of pale green energy flared against Cybrawl’s surface. Sections of the artificial world flickered where bombardments struck.

It looked as though the enemy had already made an impact.

We increased speed and began our descent.

As we breached Cybrawl’s atmosphere, the transition was turbulent. The sky glowed a rich, engineered blue as we pierced through the protective layers. Suddenly, dark shapes swarmed toward us.

Flying Fish.

These shark bioforms were sleek and vicious, their fins extended like bladed wings. They slammed against our ship’s energy shield repeatedly until cracks of distortion rippled across its surface. Some forced their way through, colliding against the hull. Others latched onto the engines, their bodies writhing as they clogged the exhaust vents.

Warning signals flared across the console.

“prepare for a landing!”

The Drakkar lurched violently as engine output faltered. Smoke trailed behind us as we lost controlled thrust. I angled the nose downward, steering us toward the mangrove swamp region below—a dense stretch of towering roots and shimmering water channels.

We crashed hard.

The ship plowed through branches and tangled roots before skidding to a halt in thick mud. Tree sap splattered across the cockpit canopy, glowing faintly in the artificial sunlight.

For a moment, everything was still.

Then we emerged from the wreckage.

The air was humid and heavy with the scent of sap and brackish water. Twisted mangrove trunks rose around us like skeletal pillars, their roots arching above shallow pools. The wrecked Drakkar hissed behind us, engines disabled and hull scorched.

I surveyed the unfamiliar terrain.

“We're ways away from any checkpoint.”

Cybrawl’s artificial world, once pristine and controlled, now felt wild and unpredictable beneath the shadow of invasion.

The war had followed us here.

And this time, we were far from reinforcements.

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CHAPTER 40: "FEEDING FRENZY" "VIKINGS WAR IN VALHALLA"