"Victory or Valhalla," he replied, horrified. He knew the grand trial was bad, but he hadn't expected it to be that bad.

You nodded. "Every Trainee must take the grand trial," you reminded him and his expression dropped.

"Those ill-fitted, they're killed by the ghasts," Loki said softly.

You nodded again. "Not just those ill-fitted. Accidents always happen. The grand trial is brutal, which is why it determines our future," you stopped there, not needing to disturb him again with things that might've been. He didn't need to be scared for events that had taken place over 900 years ago. "We should leave her to her trial," you told him, gesturing to the girl at the altar. "Dinner should be served soon," you added. The Valkyrie overseeing the girl's trial nodded her agreement.

You began to lead Loki from the hall of trials. "That Valkyrie is overseeing her trial, right? Surely she can help her if there's danger?" he asked optimistically.

You shook your head. "No, the trial is alone. Completely alone. She's only standing guard to make sure no one disturbs the trial. Even if a trial goer meets a Valkyrie in the land of the dead during her trial, they won't speak to her or acknowledge her presence in any way. There are ways around it, of course. They won't acknowledge the girl, but they will pay attention to anything she shows or tells them. There's an... amulet... that all the trial goers carry which counts the number of ghasts the girl has killed as well as the number of days she has back. She shows it to any Valkyrie she meets so they can report on her progress to those worrying over her," you explained as you led Loki to dinner.

You smirked when you saw all the trainees fawning over your husband. You took your place among the Valkyrie, sitting by rank with Loki taking the seat to your left. "I know I'm attractive, but..." Loki started, staring at the young girls who couldn't take their eyes off of him.

You laughed. "I've told you before, Lohk. Almost every Valkyrie in training is trained here, not at the palace like I was. Most of them don't leave the city until after the trials. With how few men ever appear here, they likely haven't even seen a man in real life before," you teased him. He looked indignantly at you and nearly spluttered at being oogled at just because he was male and not because he was their prince. You laughed at his indignation. "You really hate Valkyria," you teased.

"I really, really do," he grumbled. "They tortured you here and the underage girls are staring at me, a married man, like a piece of meat," he whined the last part.

You laughed at him and kissed his cheek. "Poor princeling," you teased him. Dinner was served. It wasn't fancy, though your meals were nicer than the trainees. The braver of the trainees came up to him to practice their courtesies. You tried so hard not to laugh as he tried to be polite to them, but you could see it grating further and further on his temper. You finally told the trainees to leave Loki alone and reminded them that they had studies to attend to. They pouted, but couldn't argue with you since you outranked them and rushed back to their duties and studies.

"I could have done that," Loki grumbled.

You just smirked at him. "Anywhere but in Valkyria you could have," you agreed. "Inside these walls you have no power. The Valkyrie are free here, even from the oaths to the throne, even from following your Father's orders,"

Loki gave you a look. "Why didn't you come back here when Father exiled you?" he asked. "You could have hidden here in the city from his orders,"

You shook your head. "Remember, love. Remember that day. Odin didn't give me a chance to make it here. He practically dragged me from that alcove straight to the Bifrost and I was forbidden to return to Asgard. None of the secret portals between worlds come out in Valkyria. Believe me, I looked," you reminded him. You had searched and searched for a way back to Valkyria where your orders didn't matter, where you could find Loki again and tell him what happened, but you'd never been able to find a way here.

*

The second you got back to your room, Loki's nose was in your journal, devouring every scrap of information of the trials you had written down all of those centuries ago. You laid down to sleep long before he was finished reading.

You shouldn't have been surprised when you had nightmares that night. You hadn't thought of the trials in centuries, or at least had thought of them as little as possible, not as in depth as you had today when you had to explain them to Loki.

You stepped into the chamber for the grand trial as nervously as any trainee. You dragonfang blade was at your side. The Valkyrie in charge of the trial was waiting for you. "Are you ready to begin the grand trial, Daughter?" she asked you. Until you became a proper Valkyrie you were 'daughter' instead of 'sister' to the Valkyrie.

"I am," you replied more bravely than you felt.

She handed you the amulet on its chain which you fastened around your neck. "Then kneel before the altar and let the trial begin. Victory or Valhalla, little one,"

"Victory or Valhalla," you repeated. Those words would be a mantra over the coming weeks and what you had to keep reminding yourself. As did every girl who took the trials. The brave went to Valhalla. Those who died in glorious battle. If you died, it would be a glorious death. You would not mourn your death, but rejoice for you would enter the halls of Valhalla where the brave lived forever.

You were brave and would bravely fight the ghasts.

You would bravely die if that is what happened on your quest for Victory.

You did as she said, kneeling before the altar and drawing your blade, laying it naked across your thighs. You closed your eyes, concentrating and took one breath, then another before you stood out of your body, in the land of the dead. Your time had started, your quest had begun. You had a plan for how to tackle this challenge and were determined to stick to it. So you left the beaten path, the usual ways the Valkyrie led their charges to the different afterlives. The ghasts would be fewer there and it would take longer to find the hundred you needed to kill. You planned on killing the ghasts as quickly as possible, so you left the path and entered the wilds of the afterlife.

You ran into the first ghost just off the path and struck it down before it even had a chance to attack you. There was a method to your plan. Off the path, the ghasts were not only more plentiful, but were less expecting attacks. On the main path, they expected the Valkyrie to defend their charges. The further you got away from the paths, the less wary and ready to attack. They were just as vicious and brutal, but less wary. Any advantage against these creatures was needed.

The strain on your body to have your soul gone for so long was intense.

It hurt and you felt like it was going to pull you apart

But it was all part of the trial.

You cleared the hundred ghasts within a week, thanks to the couple of nests of them you'd found which had been brutal fights, but you'd taken out thirty of them in each nest. Very few Valkyrie would dare take on one nest, let alone two, but you had. You were determined to earn your place at Loki's side and you knew you were skilled enough to take them. You were also confident, not cocky, and you fought with both magic and steel. You were determined to get a high score, to get out of this with your position at Loki's side. You'd worked for it all of your life, but you had to earn it here and now.

So you slew the hundred ghasts in record time.

That was what was really scored during the trial, not how many souls you saved, but how quickly you slew the hundred ghasts. You killed them as quickly as you could, so you could win the position your heart desired.

After you slew them, you could focus on saving the souls. There were girls who made the mistake of searching out lost souls first, even though that wasn't what they were being graded on. Their hearts got in the way. It was admirable, but they tended to be the ones who weren't fighting for position. There were also girls who made the mistake of getting too tied up in saving souls that they neglected to kill the hundred ghasts in time.

What happened to them was even worse than what happened to the girls the ghasts killed. There was a limit to how long a Valkyrie's body could survive without her soul. The limit was 31 days. The trial lasted 30. If the trial goer did not complete the trial in time, her soul and body could not reconnect and both would slowly die. Most of the girls who got to that situation found a nest to ghasts to fight to try to finish the challenge in time.

Victory or Valhalla indeed.

After the first week, you spent your remaining weeks ushering the dead to the afterlives. You passed quite a few Valkyrie in that time and always stopped to show them your amulet. Per tradition, they didn't speak to you, but you saw the pride in their eyes. You were the pride of the Valkyries and you'd passed the trials, as long as you made it through the next weeks without an awful accident happening.

On the 30th day you were free to return home. You returned to your body the second the number on your amulet turned to 30. You were met with cheers of congratulations at making the high score. Draped between your mother and the training mistress, you were led to your room to recover from the trials before you went home the next day to swear your oaths.