A new world materialized before Tachi. "The lost world of the Norns," he murmured.
When the rift closed, he scanned his surroundings. He found himself in the middle of a very dense forest. The air was humid, the light dim, barely filtering through the foliage of the immense trees.
Even the flora at ground level was extremely dense. 'This is a nightmare to walk through,' Tachi thought.
He moved forward with difficulty, stepping over huge roots emerging from the ground. 'Where the fuck am I supposed to go?' He walked in circles, staring into the distance in every direction, searching for something different, but nothing stood out.
Yet he could hear what sounded like running water, though the noise seemed to come from everywhere. "And fuck it."
He flew straight up toward the sky, extended his hand forward, and sent a burst of air above him, shattering the branches of a tree and allowing him to rise without getting hit by them.
He finally passed above the treetops and looked down. All he could see was a vast green plateau, yet he could still hear the water flowing. 'I can hear it even from this high. Must be a large river.'
He began flying over the area, but he was forced to lower his altitude, because the higher he flew, the more a fog seemed to form between him and the ground.
Tachi flew for several minutes. The fog wrapped around him more and more. He tried to disperse it, but it didn't move. 'It's an illusion. Otherwise I could clear it. It's hiding something, I'm probably getting closer.'
The sound of water grew louder, resembling a raging torrent. Tachi searched for its source until he noticed an irregularity beneath him.
Where he usually saw the plateau of branches, there was only thick fog. So he descended.
He passed through the gray cloud, and beneath his feet lay a massive pit, several hundred meters in diameter, descending even deeper.
Tachi examined the abyss, into which thousands of liters of water were pouring, coming from rivers that plunged into the forest surrounding the pit from all sides.
'Guess I'll have to go down there,' Tachi thought as he began to lose altitude.
When he entered the chasm, the sound suddenly changed, muffled, for no apparent reason.
He began to make out a lake at the bottom, which was expected, but in the center of it stood a circular rocky platform.
He flew to it and landed. He briefly checked Akyo's face, still unconscious.
Tachi walked across the stone circle, and at its edge was a hole, with stairs descending into it. 'This must be it.' Tachi began descending the steps, which led him beneath the rocky structure.
He noticed something strange. "The deeper I go, the light doesn't fade, it turns bluish."
He kept descending until the narrow corridor opened into a wider space. It was now hollow, and the stairs spiraled downward along the walls.
Most of all, he could see below a bright turquoise-blue light.
Tachi took advantage of the empty space to save time and flew straight down.
He stared at the light, which revealed itself to be a glowing, magical spring of water. 'The Well of Urd,' he thought. He landed and looked at Akyo. "We're here," he whispered.
As he stepped forward and began to kneel to place Akyo into the water, a female voice suddenly called out to him.
"Would you dare draw energy from our well without facing the consequences?"
Tachi turned his head, searching for the source of the voice. 'They're here,' he thought.
A second voice, older, more mature, spoke. "We know you, god of wind. We know who you truly are."
"Come out of hiding," Tachi demanded.
A mist rose before him, then dissipated, revealing three women. Tachi smiled. "There you are. Now we can talk," he said.
He stared at the three of them. "From left to right, Skuld, Verdandi, and Urd, right? Oldest to youngest."
The two younger ones turned their heads toward Skuld, visibly shocked by Tachi's audacity. Skuld's face tightened.
"We will not be talking." She extended her hand toward Tachi, releasing a whitish gas that reached him and enveloped him.
Everything went black around him. 'It's starting,' Tachi thought.
He straightened up and turned his head, searching for something other than the void surrounding him. Nothing.
He blinked, and the scenery changed completely. He was standing in the middle of a street. He could hear the hubbub common to all cities. People were talking and laughing, vehicles were driving, birds were singing.
He turned, and an old car was speeding straight toward him.
"Shit!"
He didn't have time to use his powers. He raised his arms to protect himself, but at the moment the car should have hit him, nothing happened.
"It went through me," Tachi murmured. He regained his composure and began analyzing the surroundings. Then the place struck him suddenly. "It's a memory, one of mine."
He began to walk, exploring the city. The air was dry, the heat heavy. The road was lined with tightly packed, colorful small houses.
Tachi smiled faintly at the sight. "It's been a long time." He heard citizens speaking Spanish. 'Might as well try something.' He approached two men in their fifties, sitting on the sidewalk and talking.
"Hey, old guys! What year is it?"
Surprisingly, the two men turned their heads toward Tachi. Then he heard a man shouting behind him.
One of the old men snickered. "It's them again."
"Thought they were seeing me for a second…" Tachi whispered. He decided to follow the distant shouts. He crossed the street, arriving at a public square filled with people. He walked through the crowd and turned into an alley.
Suddenly, a child passed straight through him.
Tachi turned around and only saw black hair flowing in the wind before hearing a man shout:
"Get back here, you little shits!"
He was chasing a second, younger boy with messy brown hair and heavy dark circles under his eyes. The boy shouted,
"Wait for me, Ricardo!"
Tachi's heart tightened. He lowered his head as he heard the first boy reply,
"Hurry up, Tachi, you're gonna get caught!"
Skuld's invisible voice whispered in his ear, "He was cute, wasn't he?"
Tachi clenched his fists.
Skuld continued, "You should follow him. Or he'll disappear."
Tachi murmured, "I lost him a long time ago."
Suddenly, the scenery shifted. The houses crumbled, the citizens fell to the ground, inert, the city drowned in fire and blood.
Skuld whispered, "You died that day. For the first time."
"Shut up!" Tachi shouted. He unleashed his power, destroying the entire city around him, until everything turned black once again.
"He died that day too," Tachi murmured.
Skuld's voice returned, amused. "Or so you thought."
A tornado formed around him, then dissipated. Tachi found himself face to face with himself, but younger. He had earrings, not the ones of a pillar yet.
He was crouched, staring at the ground. He was accompanied by two other men.
One was very tall, wearing a long black leather coat, with long curly hair and a goatee. The second wore more formal clothing, adorned with many golden ornaments. He wore a kind of crown over his light, square-cut hair with bangs.
The younger Tachi spoke.
"I've already seen this… this red, bloody like ash."
His voice sounded calm, but unlike the two other men, Tachi could see the face of his younger self.
His eyes revealed shock. He was sweating with panic. His hand was trembling.