00; Spear of Heaven

There are nights Baekhyun wakes up to siren wails scratching the drums of his ears. They sound the same all the time – desperate, frantic, in rush to tell him something; a name perhaps. 

There are nights Baekhyun wakes up to dreams – or rather nightmares – of ‘J’s scribbled in crimson blood on the broken glass of bathroom mirrors. They look the same all the time – fresh, disgusting, in rush to show him something; a name perhaps. 

There are nights Baekhyun wakes up to the feeling of sharp nails digging in the crown of his head. It hurts just as much as it would if he does it himself and Baekhyun believes they want to scar him with something – symbols he has yet to decipher. They feel the same all the time – bitter, filled with grief, in rush to make him acknowledge something; a name perhaps. 

It doesn’t take too much thinking for Baekhyun to understand what this all is about. He knows it. He has known it since the day he was born. It’s written in golden signs on the path he has to walk so that no matter where he goes, he shall not forget, not for even one second, what the destiny has prepared for him. 

This is his calling – calling he has long feared of.

It’s his time now to take the last step and climb on the podium only to embrace the prideful title of a protector. It’s his time now to ensure the safety of the world he lives in – safety that has been discharged on his shoulders like some old pair of worn shoes. 

Baekhyun is far from delighted. 

He will fail. He always does. 

#

“I can’t understand why the Gods would choose someone like you?” comes the brash scoff from beside him, smell of blood on dirty fingers following right after like thunder follows lightening. There’s nothing left for Baekhyun to retort, so he just lies back on his chair and sighs. “Look at you! You can’t even take out a bear, but Fenrir?” the laughter Baekhyun is so well accustomed to becomes less annoying the more he listens to it because, simply put, he stops caring, bit by bit. “Yeah, I supposed so. Look at your arms! What are you? A girl?” 

Baekhyun blinks; once, twice. This man he needs to confront each day of his pitiful life does nothing but bring some kind of color into the vacant void that Baekhyun is, at a point or another, forced to call social life. It’s not like he’s actually socializing either – he just listens because Park Chanyeol is hilarious to listen to, and to be honest, Baekhyun should thank the guy for not allowing him forget how their language sounds like.

“I bet on your dirty boots you’ll run away the moment you take a glimpse of it,” Chanyeol turns to give him a daring raise of an eyebrow to which Baekhyun just blinks again, face as stoic as ever. It’s not like he’s too full of himself to answer the other. It’s just that it’s tiring – putting up with Chanyeol. “Come on, let’s have a deal,” he leans an arm closer to Baekhyun’s forehead and pokes him just a little. The latter frowns at that. “If you manage to kill Fenrir, I’ll give you my Aphrodite,” he waves his M1 Garand in the air like it’s some precious Egyptian jewel and maybe it is; one can never know.

Baekhyun has never liked guns. He supposes it’s in his blood, after all. He is more found of sharp blades and uru handles. Chanyeol’s gun is way too big to allow Baekhyun to be fast. His spear instead molds along with his body when he moves. It’s almost like dancing; Baekhyun’s dance is a bit different though – it sings death.

“If you fail, however, I get your polearm” he bites his lips, eyes never leaving the beauty that dwells in Baekhyun’s weapon. The shorter of the two cannot blame him because he knows, too, how alluring the metal brought back from their ancestors’ homeland is. It’s rumored to be cutting through anything. Baekhyun can confirm it, as well. “If you fail, you die anyway, right? So I can easily claim the polearm as mine. You won’t miss it.”

There’s a sudden twitch at the right corner of Baekhyun’s mouth which Chanyeol fails to overlook. He grunts at that before he mumbles “What? Do you believe you can actually manage to get it over with before the Ragnarok feast?” There’s surprise in his voice. Baekhyun grins a little more.

“Do you?” he simply whispers back, not sparing the other any other glance. He hides his spear behind his back, letting it wave in the winter air along with his jet black hair, sometimes fearing of keeping it so close that it even cuts his split ends, too.

“You can’t do it, Byun!” Chanyeol calls after him, voice muffled a little by wind blowing through bald branches. “You will fail! You always do!”

#

You’d think one granted with the huge honor of inheriting Vidar’s quest would be looked up to – adored, but that’s not how it works for Baekhyun. 

Along the years, many have complained. “Why him?” they would ask. “A 15 years old boy will never be able to achieve something good out of all of these.” Baekhyun has to recognize, too, back then he was afraid of even touching a knife, but slice someone’s throat with it? Terrifying! It’s been 3 years since it all has begun though and he has learned how to let the scared kid he once was to come to light never again.

He’s an unlucky man; he has always been. Odin’s offspring are given from 20 to 71 years to chase their prey – that’s how the choosing usually works. But again, Baekhyun is an unlucky man and he has had the misfortune to be chosen at the age of 15, when all the wails and nightmares and pain have begun. 

He was 15 – only 3 winters away from the Ragnarok feast. 

Nobody wants a dead friend. People mourn enough. Nobody wants one more reason on their list to do it for that’s why he has no friends. They are selfish; scared of losing someone who may become dear to them. But let them believe, Baekhyun often tells himself. Let them believe he won’t succeed and let them be horrified when he will. 

He has been looking for Fenrir since the day Vidar has talked to him. The son of Odin was just a voice, somewhere at a corner of Baekhyun’s mind, and he commanded for Baekhyun to be gifted with a destiny, together with a legendary weapon and that’s how from dust and winks of translucent glow, Gungnir has been reborn. 

A spear like none has been seen before – of thousands of lives and thousands of places. A spear that has seen more Fenrir eyes than Baekhyun will ever be able to. A spear that has witnessed the Great Odin himself and every step he took. Such a priceless gem of an unspoken beauty fallen in the hands of a wretched child. The pity!

Baekhyun lets the hem of his coat caress the flawless snow like a bride’s trail caresses the ground she steps on. The boy doesn’t follow to marry a someone though, but rather a life – an easier one. That’s all he ever wishes – to walk without orbs to judge him and pray for him to not have such a miserable death. For dying by frozen veins is nothing near painless and people know that very well. 

There aren’t many that haven’t met success in finding and killing Fenrir – perhaps there are none – yet there are also none that were given only 3 years to do so. Sometimes, to push the negativity away, Baekhyun calls himself lucky. He has been given 3 winters until Ragnarok’s feast to kill a feared demon and if he succeeds, he becomes a legend himself, doesn’t he?

“You’re leaving?” the old man calls from where he sits on the bench, hand full of grains he feeds to the winter pigeons. “Where are you going? You’ve finalized your research?” 

Baekhyun just smiles at him – the smile of a boy – genuine and bright and the man’s gaze softens at that. “I did,” he whispers, eyes falling on the birds. “I won’t disappoint you, father.”

But the man laughs and pats his son on the shoulder and it gives Baekhyun confidence. “Remember, boy, you don’t always have to do what you’re told to,” his words hold worry and Baekhyun senses it “sometimes, all you need is to listen to yourself and decide what is that you want to do.”

Baekhyun nods, his gratitude passing unspoken, and lets the man squeeze his shoulder some more. 

He’s not that weathered – this father of his – yet the years of fighting for a peaceful death start to show. His beard is whiter than when Baekhyun was only a little child and longer too. He believes perhaps the man has no more time to think of his appearance so he doesn’t bother to cut it. His forehead is wrinkled, aftermath of mourning his wife all this time up until now. 

She died giving birth to Baekhyun. What to expect when bearing a curse, anyway?

“Make yourself proud, Baekhyun,” he speaks in a soft voice, causing shivers to creep all over the boy’s skin. “Don’t think about me. I’ll be content with whatever choice you make if only you believe it is the right one.”

#

“You know, I’m jealous.”  

Baekhyun rolls his eyes when the seat beside him finally occupies. The train has finally reached the first stop since he got in and surprisingly, it’s nobody else but Park Chanyeol who has decided to darken his departure. Baekhyun wonders where Chanyeol is heading to but he decides he shouldn’t question. He will find out later anyways, after he succeeds his mission.

“You never smile for me like that. Your dad is one lucky man,” Chanyeol raises one eyebrow, index finger pushing the tip of his pointy cowboy-like hat higher. 
Baekhyun snorts, his Gungnir securely held in between his thighs. He gives Chanyeol a look at which the taller only beams down to him. “You’ve got a fever?” he quietly asks, gaze moving back out of the train’s window. The winter goes worse and he supposes it’s just right since February has knocked to their door only 5 days ago. 

“What makes you say that?”

Baekhyun inhales deeply, lips parting just a little bit. His mind is elsewhere, wondering what his Fenrir is going to look like. Is he powerful? Will he try to kill Baekhyun before the boy has a chance to proceed otherwise? “You’re not insulting me,” he mumbles. Park Chanyeol laughs, his voice booming like a loud bass and Baekhyun slowly closes his eyes at that and tries to ignore the noise. It’s hard though seeing how Chanyeol is just right next to him and probably laughing too close to Baekhyun’s ear, too.

“I’m just trying to be honest now,” the giant shrugs, tightening his warm coat around his chest. There’s fur on his shoulders and Baekhyun remembers, from what Chanyeol bragged at him about, that it’s golden-tail wolf fur – some berserk spirit Chanyeol has shot to death from around 200 feet away. Baekhyun believes it’s not that far. His spear can reach further than that. “This is most certainly the last time we see each other anyway. Why not say our ‘goodbyes’ nicely, like well-behaving children so I can remember you for the wonderful person I believe you are and not for the prick you actually act like?”

Baekhyun snorts once more, spinning Gungnir in between his thighs and Chanyeol frowns. “I won’t die, Park.” But Park only sighs, already used to Baekhyun’s stubbornness. “Also,” the shorter one raises his voice just a tad bit, head turning around and eyes locking with Chanyeol’s. “We’re not friends. There’s no need for you to remember me as a wonderful person.”

“We’re not friends because—” the train honks just then, signaling the reach of another stop, yet Baekhyun can’t remember how many they have passed. “—you always push me away, Byun. But,” Chanyeol launches forward and grabs on his heavy-looking backpack which he swings over his shoulder “If you’re that confident you can make it, we will continue our discussion some other time. I’m off to visit some…” Baekhyun doesn’t overlook the way Chanyeol’s thumb caresses Aphrodite’s trigger before he throws his arm past its stripe and hangs it over his shoulder too “relatives,” he finally breaths out, greeting the gloomy-looking boy beside him with snow white teeth and a low chuckle. Sometimes Baekhyun finds Chanyeol a little bit too sadistic. “See you when I see you or not see you at all,” he waves with way too much enthusiasm than Baekhyun can handle and finally gets off, leaving the other sigh in relief and turn his attention back outside at the white terror that awaits him soon.

He thinks there is a glint of regret in Park Chanyeol’s eyes when he takes the last step down.  

#

If Park Chanyeol calls himself a gunslinger, then Byun Baekhyun shall be a gladiator. 

It’s sad sometimes, when he wishes the Great Odin would have assigned him a better ability – something different from body combat. Baekhyun wishes he was given an orb, or perhaps a tomb, since sorcery is way easier and more powerful than running around with a spear at hand and sharpening your reflexes so you won’t possibly end up with a bleeding ear. Yet he has always been an unlucky man, so he supposes he should be grateful he at least was given something instead of mourning over how unfair the deal is.

The old stories say Gungnir used to be nothing more than an object Odin would focus his power in but the old stories are old and now, thousands of years after, Baekhyun sees the spear has been somehow upgraded. The boy supposes it has been a need since no offspring inherited anything near at least a quarter of Odin’s power. 

The polearm has been granted by now the ability to sense danger and alert its wielder, that’s why Baekhyun is not surprised when Gungnir turns a glowing blue and he hears rustling through the snowy bushes around him. He stops short in his tracks and closes his eyes following to only listen. There are growls – silver-soled wolves’ growls – and Baekhyun just sighs because he knows how protective these creatures are over their owned land.

“You’re not welcomed here, outsider,” an old one’s voice comes echoing in the forest’s loneliness. Baekhyun looks over and sees blue eyes. A killer, he thinks, but never once does the thought of running away cross his mind. “By the heavy weapon on your back I understand you are a hunter,” the old wilding steps out in the evening’s dim light, his paws leaving deep traces in the snow. “Your kind killed many of mine, outsider.”

“I’m here to cause no harm,” Baekhyun calls. His eyes scan his surroundings. 2, 3, 4, 7 – easy to take down. 

“You are here to murder,” the old alpha snaps back at him. With every step he takes, Baekhyun’s muscles tense. His arm is ready to launch backwards and grab a hold of Gungnir any time now, but he decides it’s safer to wait. If he cannot make peace with words, later on he shall do it with violence. 

“I’m here to visit some relatives,” he spits, voice muffled just a little by the rustling that keeps going on. 

“Figures,” another wolf yells from behind him only to have his pack leader smirk in return. 

Baekhyun is aware he can never pull the act as well as Park Chanyeol does but it has been worth the try. He shrugs, head moving to the side to watch another animal’s eyes. They are also blue and so are the wolf’s beside it. The boy sighs when the entire pack steps out of the shadows and maybe he’s cornered and has no way to run to, but he isn’t planning to do so anyway.

“Be smart, old man. Let me end my business and I’ll be out of your territory sooner than you expect.”

The alpha has none of it and the next thing Baekhyun knows, white fur is rushing towards him. He is quick enough to dodge the attack, jumping over the creature with ease but another one comes so the boy is thrown to the ground. He punches it in the gut, only to send it flying back to where it has come from. 

“Draw your weapon, hunter!” the alpha screams as it runs towards Baekhyun with a speed the kid has never seen before. He is quick enough to parry the wolf’s claws with his spear though and he pushes against the creature. They are so close he can smell the blood coagulation on the tips of its fangs. Baekhyun groans. It’s not a pleasant smell. “Odin’s offspring,” the pack leader hisses through his gritted canines, disgust readable in his words. 

Baekhyun ignores it and kicks it backwards with all his force. He jumps out of the way when another one comes rushing for his arm yet it misses him. Rustling and panting are all his ears can hear beside the angry hisses and groans. Baekhyun stays silent though because a random pack of snob wolves doesn’t deserve his interest and so he spins high in the air and falls in the snow dragging two wolves down with him, sharp end of weapon stuck in both throats. He is quick to get back to his feet and strikes the black one jumping over him. The blade pierces straight through its mouth and the wolf screams in pain, blood painting Gungnir’s uru in crimson.  

That’s 3 out, Baekhyun mumbles to himself. He parries the next blow with his weapon’s handle yet the animal still lands a scratch on his shoulder. He kicks the wolf in its chest, throwing it to the ground. The alpha is now fuming with anger over the loss of his brothers and Baekhyun thinks perhaps he has crossed a line for killing them. 

“Enough!” the old wilding yells, and at that the rest 4 of his pack retreat towards him. “You shall regret this, hunter.” Baekhyun watches him with expressionless eyes and it angers the alpha even more. “I’ll strike you when you expect less. I’ll take away things dear to you,” he growls. The blue of his eyes burns, color deepening little by little. Baekhyun isn’t impressed though. Those who act without thinking shouldn’t be feared. 

“There’s no such thing, old man,” Baekhyun bites back a scoff. “You’re free to take whatever you want. Unfortunately for you,” he advances forward “there’s nothing to satisfy your desire.” 

#

It had first begun withugly ‘J’s painted on broken glass. Baekhyun would find himself in front of a mirror, blood dripping on the side of his forehead and index finger glued to the curly end of the letter. He has written it.

But as nights pass the letter would fade too, slowly, and unbelievably slow, only to be replaced in a few days by another; and then another and one more different one and that’s when Baekhyun realizes it’s a word, or a sentence, or something just like that. 

First it is the ‘J’, but then his finger circles an ‘O’ that little by little changes into an ‘N’ and in the end turns into a ‘G’. Baekhyun would go day after day murmuring the letters and only by the arrival of his 16th winter he thinks of spelling them as a whole; ‘JONG’.

The siren wails are usually accompanied by hushed whispers – sounds Baekhyun cannot understand. They seem to be talking about a ‘da’. Baekhyun has researched the meaning behind it nights, days, weeks, months – he is lost. It makes no sense. And no, it doesn’t, not until he wakes up with pain in his chest – nail-digging pain – and the sound he makes just there sounds a lot like an ‘E’ and so he puts them all together and he gets it; ‘JONGDAE’.

He lets his father know about it and the man enlightens his mind and makes Baekhyun realize that it’s the name; Fenrir’s name. 

It’s in the night of his 18th birthday when he wakes up with a woman’s voice screaming inside his head. At first, Baekhyun is frightened. She scares him. She’s crazy. She reminds Baekhyun of the first time he has dreamed of the flames of hell. He sometimes wonders if there is where he is going to burn if he fails but then Baekhyun realizes, Goddess Hel’s territory is a place of snow and blizzards and roaring wind and Baekhyun knows – he is not to burn, but freeze. What’s the difference though? He has tried to find it. He has put his hand in fire once. He has kept his hand in freezing cold water once too. After a while, they both feel the same. 

She has screamed a word – that woman. She has screamed ‘KIM’.

It takes Baekhyun 8 months to find him. He has checked all men named Kim Jongdae he could possibly find and in the end, he has stopped to the 751st one. Gungnir has glowed that night – so bright and powerful, causing Baekhyun to shiver at the icy color. 

Far deep in a small village at the middle of a forest known under the name of Luvgard; that’s where Fenrir is hiding – away from hunters’ eyes and among clueless peasants.

Baekhyun is surprised those humans are still alive. 

Now, one month later, he’s here to take him down.

Fenrir’s house is somewhere further than the others’. The boy assumes the monster isn’t a fan of interacting with meaningless human beings so he keeps himself away. What to expect though when there’s an entire history behind you that comes back every 71 years to hunt you down? 

Baekhyun is glad for being away from the villagers for he needs nobody to see how he slices the greyback’s throat open. There’s no need for traumatizing innocent people, after all. He knows it himself – how it feels like to live with images of wildings being killed in front of your eyes when you want none of it to happen. Chanyeol has made sure along these 3 years to help Baekhyun accustom to the terrifying sight. 

He jumps in through the back window and groans when he realizes Fenrir is either stupid for keeping it open or already prepared and waiting for Baekhyun to show up. The room is dark, only lightened by the moon shining through proud firs. He slowly opens the door with lots of care to not make any unwanted noise. The wood still creaks under his boots but he shakes his head and keeps going. 

The hallway is not big. It’s not even as big as the one Baekhyun has back at home. The hunter supposes it’s alright though since he is just inside a village house – Fenrir’s house – so he softly sighs and turns a corner only to be greeted by bulb light coming from the room across of him. 

He then sees it – the monster that has turned his life into a living hell. 

It doesn’t look like Baekhyun expected it to do. It’s just around his own height with what looks like little of strength on those arms of its. Wearing a white apron that’s securely tied to its back, Baekhyun supposes Fenrir is way too caught in whatever it’s doing to actually sense there’s a stranger inside its house – a stranger that is there for the simple reason of killing it.

Baekhyun’s fingers slowly but tightly wrap around the middle of Gungnir’s handle and he steps forward, step by little step. He stops breathing for a while, afraid the creature might feel it. He watches as Fenrir brings a spoon up to its mouth only to have hairy, silver ears pop out of nowhere afterwards and wiggle like it has just tasted some heavenly food. Baekhyun frowns, not knowing what to take it as, and his frown deepens when he sees long wolf tail waving in the air. 

Fenrir sets the spoon back to its side and proceeds to turn around, probably launching for some other ingredients but Baekhyun brings the back end of his spear forward and hits the creature in its chest only to send it stumbling down. 

The greyback opens his mouth to say something but Baekhyun beats it to it. “The welkin shall turn into a sea of spears and my Gungnir shall lead them all;” he calls, blood boiling in his veins “pierce your soul and send it to the coldest part of Niflheim.” 

He smells the fear. He feels the way the monster freezes under him. He sees its lips parted, like silently screaming for help. He sees brown bangs covering wide open eyes—yellow eyes. Baekhyun’s face falls. 

His heart pounds in his chest with every second that passes. This is it – t