Dark Lord Inc.
an excerpt

Zephyr Windwalker hovered around the Lady of the Elven Dead, Queen Vega Ravron. He was everywhere around her, he was the very wind which blew. “You question is intriguing, Vega, but I do not understand why you came to me with it.” The voice came from nowhere; it was mere whispers on the wind.
“You are the most knowledgeable being on this world, Zephyr, and perhaps the only being in the universe unaffected in any way by the Great Flood,” Vega stood on a high mountain peak, though she did not know which mountain. All she did was say a quick incantation and throw a mixture of different kinds of magical powder in air, and then she appeared there. It was the same thing everyone did when they needed to consult Zephyr Windwalker.
“I was still affected by the Great Flood, but not to a large extent. For me, it was an annoyance more than anything.” The voice was unattached, like it was an observer of the world rather than a participant of it.
“Still, you are known as the greatest of all Lore Holders, correct? Perhaps, even, the only one left,” Vega said. She spoke into the wind as though she was talking a normal person. That was because she was.
“No, there are many of us left. The Lore Holders ascended as I did; something which is inevitable when so much knowledge is gathered in one mind. I am, however, now the greatest among my Guild.” The voice spoke with a certain assuredness about it. This was a voice which would never lie, and would only ever find joy in the learning and teaching of new things.
Vega raised an eyebrow. She had no known there could be so many from a single Guild still alive, but a Lore Holder would never, under any circumstance, lie. No Lore Holder ever had interests for itself.
“Do you intend to further question me, Vega, or have you already spoken your peace?” Zephyr asked.
“Yes, I need to know the answer to my question,” Vega said. Though he was driven by the desire to gather and disperse knowledge, it was damned hard to get anything immediately useful from Zephyr Windwalker. Vega remembered that the other Lord Holders were like that.
“I asked why you came to me and not the Lore Holder Incendia Firestone; Incendia Firestone holds more knowledge of artifacts than I do; I hold more of history and of races.”
“I knew not that Incendia or any other Lore Holder was still alive, and I would not have known how to reach them had I even known of them,” Vega said. She had quickly learned that using the word “know” in its different forms made talking with Zephyr a lot easier.
“You do, in fact, know a few of the remaining Lore Holders, but you do not know that they are Lore Holders and only one would divulge information. Ever since Damasacrus’ betrayal, many of the Lore Holders have taken to only gathering knowledge and do not give it out. Such actions go against the very ideal which founded the Guild of the Lore Holders, and I shall not embrace it.” Zephyr said. The “betrayal” which Zephyr spoke of was probably Damasacrus’ act of destroying the Bifrost Bridge; Vega could easily see why the Lore Holders, or anyone else for that matter, would think of that as a betrayal.
“You still have not answered me, Zephyr. I need a powerful fuel for crafting a magic weapon of the highest quality, or, better yet, a weapon that is already made.” Vega asked again, that was a lot of trouble just so she could ask the question again.
“Both kinds of things exist today in this world, and both exist on other worlds as well. Which would you choose to know of?”
“The ones on this world, of course,” Vega said. That was an odd question to ask, but Zephyr was a Lore Holder after all.
“On this world, there are only a few such things as most were either destroyed or banished by the Great Flood,” the voice said. “The Dark Lord holds the many of them, there are only three accessible to you.”
“Only three?” Vega was stunned by such an answer, how could there only be three artifacts? Vega remembered when there were thousands!
“Yes,” Zephyr said, Vega realized he was answering her ‘Only three?’ question. Why couldn’t he be so simple with her other question?
Vega sighed, again. She had expected to be able to choose from dozens, or even hundreds, of artifacts. “Very well, tell me of these three artifacts.”
“One is a stem from the world tree, Yggdrasil. The Stem is weak compared to the others, and would not well fulfill your purpose. The second artifact is the chain Gleipnir, the chain which still binds the wolf Fenrir. Taking the chain from the great rock Gjoll would result in the freedom of Fenrir, who would ravage the world and force an alliance comprised the Dark Lord, Dinobul, and yourself. The third object is the javelin Gungnir, which belonged to Odin before he lost it in the flood. This object is well hidden and is much sought by the Dark Lord.” Zephyr finished.
Vega thought about what Zephyr had said. As the Lore Holder had pointed out, a stem from the world was completely useless for her purposes. The chain Gleipnir would be useful, but as Zephyr had also pointed out, taking the chain would release Fenrir onto the world, which would be problematic. Still, she needed to ask about that.
“Zephyr, what would happen if I removed the chain Gleipnir?”
“An alliance between yourself, the Dark Lord, and Dinobul would be forced. I do not know what the outcome of this alliance would be, but I expect that the Dark Lord would use it in order to trick and kill both you and Dinobul. The Dark Lord would likely then use the chain Gleipnir and restrain Fenrir once more.”
Vega sighed, again. Vega should have expected such an answer. That only left Odin’s javelin Gungnir, which Zephyr said was very well hidden. “Zephyr, do you know where I may find the javelin Gungnir?”
Zephyr, for the first time Vega had known of, hesitated. “I believe so.”
“Is it in a place where I can retrieve it?” she asked again, Zephyr’s hesitation troubled Vega.
Again, the Lore Holder hesitated. “If I am correct about the location, then you can retrieve it.” Zephyr second hesitation really trouble Vega. It was as though the Lore Holder did not want to tell Vega Ravron of the location of Gungnir, but felt obligated to. That would explain why Zephyr had avoided the question when she had first asked it. Such a conclusion bothered Vega more than anything, why would Zephyr not want her to know how to find a weapon to kill the Dark Lord with? Those questions could wait, and would wait, for later.
Vega gathered herself. “Where can I find Gungnir?” she asked.
Zephyr hesitated for a third time; this time was the longest yet. “The spear was washed away by the flood, but it did not fall into the bowels of the earth with the rest of Midgard. Gungnir sits at the top of a canyon deep within the sea, at a place known to the modern humans by the name of Challenger Deep. This is knowledge passed to me by other Lore Holders, for I cannot reach to the bottom of the sea. I know not what is at the bottom of the canyon, but I do know that there is something.” Zephyr finished.
Vega thought long and hard about what Zephyr said. “Thank you,” she said. She muttered a quick incantation and broke the transportation spell. She was back at her sanctum. There were various dusts and powders on the floor, but that could wait. She had a javelin to find.