Dragons of Asgard 3 by Logan Jacobs (first ebook reader txt) 📗

“Why is it so dark?” Eira asked.

“Have you never been to this realm?” I asked. “I figured if anybody had, it would’ve been you.”

“No, this is my first time here,” she answered. “Haven’t you all been here before?”

“Once,” I said. “But we were in a dwarf’s home, so we didn’t see the outside of the realm.”

“Maybe it’s just night time right now,” Asta suggested.

“That’s possible.” Kas nodded. “Realms have different day and night hours sometimes.”

“Yeah, but something tells me it’s not,” I said. “I don’t know what it is, but I just feel like this is how this realm is all the time.”

“I get a bad feeling from this place, too,” Kas agreed. “Which is odd since I felt fine when we were in the dwarf’s home.”

“Yeah, but just because he was nice doesn’t mean this realm is,” Asta pointed out.

“That’s true.” I nodded.

“Not to mention, we could be in a dark part of the realm,” Eira said.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” I said, and my eyes widened with surprise.

“I’ve been in dark parts of realms before,” the redhead said. “Just not this one. It’s so difficult to see.”

“Oh, I have a spell for that!” Kas gasped. “Everybody, join hands.”

The strawberry-blonde grabbed one of my hands, and Asta grabbed the other.

Kas lowered her head and spoke in the old language, and after a few seconds, red sparkles lifted from the ground and swirled all around us. As Kas spoke, my vision improved dramatically, until it was almost as if it were daylight out.

“There,” the Valkyrie said after a couple moments. “All done.”

“That’s incredible,” Eira said with a shake of her head. “I should have requested a sorceress in my warband. These spells of yours seriously come in handy.”

“Thanks.” Kas smiled. “It helps having Asta and Rath here, too. I can pull from their energy to make my spells stronger.”

“Well, whatever you’re doing, it’s working,” the redhead said, and she looked around. “I can see everything.”

“Me, too.” I nodded. “Thanks, Kas.”

“You’re welcome,” the strawberry-blonde replied sweetly.

The world around us was cast in a new light, and I saw we were surrounded by large mountains made of both earth and stone. There were no trees or foliage at all, which only added to the eerie feeling of the realm. Smoke billowed out from random spots in the ground as if we were nearly to the core of the world and magma was going to spill out any second.

The place was eerily reminiscent of the realm of fire Kas and I had gone to the first day we’d traveled through one of the portals in the countryside. We’d run into a strange snake woman who’d tried to eat us, and we’d been lucky to get out alive.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up just thinking about it, and I couldn’t help but feel as though we were about to get attacked again.

“It looks like there should be a road just to our left,” Kas said as she tilted the map in her hands.

“Let’s go,” I said, and I followed the strawberry-blonde across the large rocky area we were on to a dirt road that was much smaller than I’d expected.

The road was only wide enough for one person to stand on it, but then again, I figured dwarves didn’t need a road nearly the size of the ones we had in Asgard or Alfheim.

“Which way?” Asta asked once we made it to the tiny path.

“This way,” Kas said as she pointed to the right.

“We’ll follow you,” I told the sorceress. She was the best when it came to using the enchanted map, and besides, I wanted to make sure I was on high alert. This realm didn’t seem as friendly as it had the first time we’d visited, and I didn’t want to get caught off guard by any monsters that might be lurking in the area.

It was more likely we’d get attacked by dwarves, but I didn’t want to take the risk either way. Nearly every realm we’d gone to had monsters of some kind, and I had to assume this realm was no different.

Besides, we were in the middle of the dark part of the realm, and though we were following our map to what I could only assume was the runaway dwarf’s home, at the moment, I didn’t see anything around us. There were no signs of civilization nearby, aside from the road itself, and I knew well that roads could go many miles without seeing people.

Usually, the areas without people were the ones where the monsters would lurk.

I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword as we walked, and Blar tensed on my shoulders. The little blue dragon had clued into the fact that I was uncomfortable, and he was on high alert now with me.

We were all quiet as we made our way down the small road. Kas walked a couple of paces ahead of me, and Asta and Eira were next to me on my right. I could hear the girls’ breathing, and I knew they were just as on edge as I was.

Blar’s talons tightened on my shoulder as he surveyed the area slowly.

I still didn’t see any signs of civilization, but then again, dwarves were masters of disguise, so one of their homes could be right in front of me, and I’d never notice.

“The map says we’re here,” Kas said after a few minutes, and she stopped and turned around to face us.

I looked around, but all I saw was mountains and hills around us, and the small road in front of and behind us.

“There’s nothing here,” Eira said before I could.

“Is the map wrong?” Asta asked.

“I don’t think so.” Kas shook