Ragnarok: The Fate of Gods by Jake La Jeunesse Page A

let their champion match his strength one-on-one. 
    Odd behaviour, but Zeke has no time to question it. 
    The monster snarls.  It flexes thick, dead-looking muscles.  Blood drips from pointed teeth.  Zeke holds up his sword defensively.  The demon leaps.  Metal hits bone, deflecting a set of sharp claws. 
    The draugr strikes again.  He blocks.  But the monster learns.  It catches the blade between its claws and twists.  The sword drops from his hands.  Without stopping to consider his foe’s intelligence, he steps forward and pounds the monster’s face with his fist.  The draugr falls back.  Zeke finds his sword. 
    Another draugr, eager to take his comrade ’s place, rushes forward.  The blade plunges deep into its gut.  The strong draugr rises.  Zeke pulls his sword hard.
    It doesn ’t move. 
    He holds the blade and kicks the draugr off it.  The blade slides free, but he stumbles backward.  He collides with the strong draugr, knocking it over. 
    Zeke regains his balance first. 
    Standing quickly, he stabs down.  His sword runs through the draugr, then into the earth.  The monster gurgles and coughs up blood. 
    Other monsters hiss and scream. 
    He glances quickly down at the corpse below him, but doesn ’t take his eyes off the hoard for very long.  “How many of your rancid friends did you invite to this party?” he asks between breaths. 
    Suddenly, a blinding light flashes in his eyes.  He pinches them shut for a moment, then opens them cautiously. 
    Before him stood a large malak, glowing pale white and armed for battle. 
    He was tall.  Humanoid, which was unusual for a malak.  And he had weapons.  The hilts of two broadswords stuck up behind his shoulders.  They were big.  The points stuck out far below the being ’s waist. 
    The monster stood silent for a few moments.  Zeke still held his sword defensively, though he knew he could do nothing against such a monster.  The katana would pass through the malak like air.  The draugr also seemed unsure of this new entity, almost scared of it.  They circled warily, but did not attack. 
    The malak turned to the hissing monsters around him. 
    The tall being stretched out a ghostly white arm.  The wind, just a mere breeze, picked up to gale force in a matter of seconds.  The sound roared.  A whirlwind surrounded the malak.  The wind picked up the draugr as if they were paper, although Zeke held fast to the ground with no effort.  Suddenly the monsters began to scream.  It was terrible.  Zeke had personally done in many of the creatures over the years, but he had never heard a screech so ghastly.  They were being tortured. 
    As they spun madly in the wind, their bodies seemed to expand.  They looked bloated.  The horrible screams became distorted, almost comical. 
    Then they exploded into a cloud of fine, brown mist. 
    The vortex narrowed.  The wind spun faster and faster.  Zeke squinted to see what was happening.  He felt the wind die down, as the vortex spun closer and closer to the malak’s outstretched hand.  Then the wind, draugr and all, stopped dead and vanished, as if it had all been swallowed by this creature’s palm. 
    It turned back to Zeke. 
    “A human with a sword?  Is he strong?”  No one had ever heard a malak speak before, but he was in too much of a panic to consider it.  He took a quick step back, still holding up his sword. 
    The malak pointed his hand forward.  Once again, the wind rose from nothing.  Zeke ’s hair danced on his head, but he was otherwise unchanged.  “Get away from me!” he cried.  He swung the sword, which passed easily through the malak’s ghostly body. 
    “ He can not be absorbed?  Is he the one I was sent to find?” 
    He didn ’t care what the malak was talking about.  “You have no business with me, demon!” he shrieked.  His voice cracked. 
    The malak tore the two enormous broadswords from his back.  “You will fight me.”
    Zeke