45 XLV. Iss

Hjalmar grabbed her by the hair, lifting her off the ground.

While holding her crown with one hand, the other grabbed the young woman's face, clutching her cheeks.

"This is her, am I right?" he asked.

Dag tried to remain impassive, but from his face the anger he was feeling at the time transpired.

He didn't answer.

"She comes from Earth, like you, my young friend," Hjalmar chuckled.

"What?!" exclaimed Dag in disbelief.

It was the first time he had encountered a landman under slavery. And how did Hjalmar know he was from Earth?

"Hahahah," Hjalmar chuckled.

Dag grabbed the bars of the cage and waved them forcefully.

One of the nails that held the cage fixed on the ground broke off.

The man next to the King became frightened and stepped back.

"His Majesty, I'm afraid this cage is not strong enough to hold the prisoner" said the man, worried.

Dag kept watching Hjalmar, full of rage.

The cage had moved, maybe there was some hope. Dag had to wait: he would try to free himself as soon as those men had moved away and he remained alone.

"Don't be afraid. The prisoner won't be freed. His skills won't take effect until he's locked in there" Hjalmar said.

"What?!" thought Dag, impressed by that statement. He would try to use Earth Stomp trying to break through the base of the cage, but now he knew it would be useless.

But how was that possible? How could a simple iron cage prevent him from using his abilities?

Dag couldn't understand why.

Maybe Hjalmar was just lying to discourage him.

Suddenly, the "King Of Bones" left the girl's face.

"Look at that beautiful little body," he said, tucking a hand under the girl's robe, which began to squirm unnecessarily.

Dag began to get angry.

"What the fuck are you doing? Let her go! She has nothing to do with it!" he yelled.

Hjalmar was doing everything he could to make him as angry as possible, he was doing it on purpose. Dag had to try to keep his composure.

He took a deep breath, pretending not to mind the scene in front of his eyes.

Hjalmar kept beating the girl's body. First her breast, then her underbelly. She could not free herself, the grip on her hair was too strong.

Dag still tried to remain impassive, but he couldn't.

He crossed his arms and tried to use Earth Stomp to break the cage.

Nothing happened.

He checked his arm.

His runes were still all there.

"But how..."

"I told you, silly little boy. Your skills have no effect in there" Hjalmar interrupted.

Just as he spoke, a shady figure lunged through the left door.

A hooded man with a curved back entered the room at a slow pace, helping himself with a long stick, at the end of which there were several human and animal skulls.

Hjalmar stopped talking and turned to the hooded man.

"Come on, my trusted advisor, father of all shamans!" he said.

The closer he got to the cage, the more Dag could feel an aura of negativity orbiting around him.

More than just a human being, he seemed like a magical being.

"You won't be able to get out of the cage in a hundred years," the man said, with his high-pitched and hoarse voice.

"That cage is capable of suppressing the strength even of the greatest warriors of Skjold. It's one of my most beautiful creations" he continued, approaching the cage and grabbing one of his bars.

Hjalmar left the girl who fell to the ground terrified and sat on the floor, staring down.

Dag stepped back.

Focusing on that figure, he noticed that around the man appeared a yellow aura. A similar one, but of a deep red appeared around Hjalmar.

Dag tried to figure out what it was.

It was the effect of Niva!

Days earlier he had tried to learn that skill, but he had not yet succeeded.

At that moment, he felt like a pinch on his arm: it must've been the rune that was affecting his skin.

Although the cage held back his attacking abilities, perhaps it was different for Niva, being a non-offensive skill.

Dag tried to remember what did he read on the scroll of that skill.

Focusing on the enemy's breath, he would see around him an aura of a certain color, directly proportional to his strength. The visible aura came from the type of air exhaled from the lungs of the opponent in question.

The color scale ranged from blue for enemies with "common" strength level, to green for those with "heroic" strength level, till red for those with "legendary" strength level.

All the intermediate shades were also covered.

Dag strove to remember all the details of the skill, to better understand what kind of warriors he had in front of him and if he could defeat them.

Judging by the red aura around Hjalmar, it had to be really powerful.

Alone, he would never be able to beat him.

For the shaman, however, the story was different: he had a yellow aura around him, that was, intermediate between green and red.

He was as strong, yes, but not as strong as his ruler.

As Dag made his remarks, Hjalmar said, "He is Myr, Chieftain of the Renegade Shamans," pointing to the man with the hump.

"Thank you, my lord. The name of a lesser being like me should not even be pronounced by your noble mouth," the man replied, making a slight bow, slightly leaning against his stick.

Then he turned to Dag and said, "I know the Clan you're a part of, kid. I know every skill, every trick, and secret. Thanks to the Iss rune I've imprinted on this cage, your Clan's offensive and defensive abilities will have no effect."

"Iss?" said Dag.

"The rune of isolation. Inside your new prison, the bond between you and the Thor God ceases to exist. Without that bond, you can't tap into the source of his power," Myr concluded, chuckling in delight.

Dag was stunned.