"We... talk...", the creature that resembled Odin answered.

Its head tilted to the side and for a brief second it seemed like it was about to snap and break like a glass figure. There was a kind of expression on the see through green face but it did not appear to be real.

More like a mask that tried to appease the ones who looked at it.

Your eyes narrowed.

Even though this was a situation that everyone would have liked to avoid, you felt no sense of danger. It wasn't a threatening atmosphere despite the fact that it was the Allfather's clone who faced you.

But no matter what your mind told you, you didn't feel threatened.

Something inside this creature seemed to hold back. As if the ravens were still there, enslaved yet trying to split up and become individuals once more.

Although they weren't really individuals in the first place.

The tip of your tongue peaked out to wet your lips that felt like they were close to breaking apart. A hint of iron spread inside your mouth.

Blood.

How much were you bleeding?

What was going on with your body?

"Will you... kill?", you asked with narrowed eyes.

The creature turned its head. There was a crack that went right through the right eye. Almost as if it was damaged.

"We...", the creature stopped, looked around in confusion and looked back at the water to its feet again. "We want to... break free..."

Unsure if it was a good move, you took a step towards it and stopped once more to keep at least a little bit of distance.

Your grip on the knife remained.

"You are enslaved.", it wasn't a question.

"We... we're never free... We are... in pain...", it took a step towards you.

Even though it wasn't a smart move you backed away immediately. This move came to stab you in the back.

Irritated by the sudden movement, the clone reached out and managed to grab you by the arm.

The touch ate away on the fabric of the bandages. It was like a touch of pure acid.

Burned smell mixed with a fizzy feeling on your skin. In mere seconds the fabric turned black and curly while your skin felt like it peeled off your flesh.

Everything smelled burned yet foul. Rotten even.

Pain struck your limbs and made them freeze. You tried to break free but as you did, the touch of the clone made something on your arm tear.

At first you thought it was just the bandages. But as you finally managed to escape a trail of liquid gold was left on the pale green hand.

Almost immediately the suffering struck and you fell to your knees. With a scream on your lips, you twisted and turned while the water splashed around you.

Gold ran down your arm, that was now fully freed from the human skin, dripped onto your clothes and created a puddle of colour on the surface of the water.

You couldn't move. All there was was this raging burn that licked across your arm, seeped into your flesh and made your bones crumble.

It was the worst feeling you ever had the pleasure to experience. Tears blurred your vision while you felt the urge to crawl away from the creature as it tried to approach once more.

You dreaded to feel the touch once more.

"We... suffer...", it sounded like thousands of voices spoke to you at once. "Let us... help..."

Soft waves surrounded you as you kept on crawling back until you hit the cave wall right behind you. The cold water was soothing as it came in contact with the wounds.

Yet again, it was so indefinitely strange. There were no visible injuries on your skin, at least no cuts or deeper wounds that could have drawn blood the way it did.

It was as if your body was bleeding out without damage. And it also felt like you were injured like never before. The eye just didn't see.

"Get away from me!", you hissed as you forced yourself back to your feet.

Blood of gold ran down your arms while the last bits and pieces of the bandages dangled down your arms, burned into the flesh.

Cold rocks dug into the curve of your spine.

The clone kept on approaching, it's hand stretched out, urging to touch you once more. Longer. To cause more pain.

A mirror of its own suffering.

"We... are in pain...", the voices echoed so much that it made your ears bleed as well. "We... tear us apart... Tear off..."

Your legs froze. Your mind failed to find an escape.

All you could do was remain motionless as those palish green hands roamed your body once more and caused you to scream like thousands of Odin's spears pierced your flesh.

Blood poured down your limbs in masses, melted into the crystal clear water and made it shimmer like a treasure.

These strands of gold were taken by the flow of the water, gently caressed the tiles that were covered by centuries of dust and were pushed off the edge to combine with the waterfall.

From this point on, the bright rays of the sun were reflected and made the entire mountain shimmer with a mystic glow of gold and screams.

Tears rushed down your cheeks, reddened your eyes while your legs trembled with pain and your fingers twitched with agony.

This was like a mark of the Allfather that burned through your flesh and bones, like an iron that had been placed into fire before punishing a crime.

For the very first time in many, many eons your tongue slipped and words of your giant language escaped your mouth.

Saliva ran down the corners of your mouth. Your eyes twisted all the way back into your head until just the white was visible.

"We... suffer...", the voices whispered with a hint of pain of their own. "We... will part..."

The pain crawled from your limbs all the way up to your shoulders and into your brain where it caused desperation to grow.

With the last bit of power that was left in you, you managed to raise a foot and get it between you and the strange creature of green.

Yelping, you pushed it off with a shaky kick.