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Zakhar found himself surrounded by an icy knife of frigid air. Around him rose an expansive granite cavern, its craggy surface illuminated dimly in a glacial blue. At his feet were smooth stones that sloped gently to the edges of a small frozen lake, of which the surface reflected as black obsidian. Of sound, nothing but the hollow echo of nothingness reached Zakhar’s ears. 

His body set to shivering. Not from the cold, but from the pair of eyes that stared silently back at him. They were eyes of total darkness, like pools of oil in a dark room. None of the ghostly light that illuminated the rest of the cavern reflected in those eyes, as if they sucked it from the very air around them. 

The eyes were also massive; set wide apart some twenty feet into the slate-gray face of a giant wolf. Zakhar stood rooted in place, his body shaking ever more violently as his gaze continued to take in the creature that affixed him with its ebony watch. He followed the line of the muzzle down to the large nose, cross-hatched with old cuts and puckered pink scars. The wolf’s mouth was opened into a wide and terrifying maw which was affixed agape by a sword of monumental size, its point pressing into the wolf’s upper gums, while the hilt dug into the space between the lower fangs. Dark rivulets of crimson blood flowed around the weapon, ran down the wolf’s jaw, and across the stony shore before oozing into the frozen black lake. 

Continuing back along the wolf’s body, Zakhar say the faint glimmer of a gold chain that wrapped itself tightly against the massive creature’s flesh, and continued on to anchor around a boulder that seemed large enough to be the very root of a mountain. 

Zakhar’s observation was interrupted by a loud snort of air from the great wolf’s nostrils. So forceful was the blast that Zakhar had to take a step back to steady himself from falling. As he did, he immediately fell to his knees, bending his white head forward, and pinning back his ears in utter submission. 

For a long moment the werewolf knelt there, not daring to look up into the inky eyes of the god-wolf. 

[b][i]Rise[/i][/b], came a voice, thick, forceful, and otherworldly inside of Zakhar’s mind.

The voice in his head startled him, and an involuntary whimper passed Zakhar’s lips as he lifted his head. From his vantage point, the missing front canine tooth of the god-wolf was conspicuous, and a shiver of recognition rippled across Zakar’s white fur.

Upon quaking legs, Zakhar stood. As he did so, he raised his hands, opening the fingers to present the [i]Solas na gelaí[/i] to its rightful owner.

Another snort of air came from the god-wolf, and his black eyes widened in surprise. Though the curved piece of bone had shrunk from the time it had been removed, there was no mistaking it. A ripple of triumph washed over the gray coat like a tidal wave, and the cave rumbled with the movement.

[b][i]Release me! Release me, child![/i][/b]

Zakhar recoiled once more as the voice filled his mind. He did not speak a reply, not trusting his voice in the presence of the Rökkr. Instead he merely bowed his head, and began to walk unsteady steps along the lake shore, towards the wolf’s body, and the golden chain that encircled it.

From the corner of his eye, Zakhar watched the rippling of muscle from beneath the gray fur, and he saw the tremble of flesh with each beat of the god-wolf’s heart. Never in all his life had he felt so small, so insignificant, so totally powerless and afraid. 

When he reached the chain, Zakhar stopped. He stood there, shivering with his tail tucked between his legs. With every ounce of his courage, Zakhar willed his hands to move. He reached up, and in one hand he grasped the illustrious golden chain, and in the other he held the tooth of the god-wolf.

As he brought the tooth closer to the chain, he seemed to fight an invisible force, one that tried to repel the approach of the fateful piece of bone. Zakhar strained against this force, his jaws clamping with exertion. He could not fail the god-wolf, not now, not so very close. 

With a final mighty effort, Zakhar roared, and thrust the tooth against the chain. Instantly a loud crack echoed in the cavern, and Zakhar was flung backward, skittering upon the surface of the frozen obsidian lake. 

Dazed and disoriented, Zakhar looked back to see what was happening, and through the haze of his fuddled mind, he was astounded. The golden chain was unraveling, like so much wispy thread, it fell from about the god-wolf’s body. Another mighty crack of thunder filled the air, and Zakhar shifted to see the sword splinter and shatter within the god-wolf’s mouth.

The whole cavern began to quake then. With shuddering deftness, the god-wolf lifted himself from his stony bed, and bucked against the boulder that had held him. With a lift of his massive head, his black eyes closed just as an ear-splitting howl erupted from his jaws.

Fenris was free. 

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