For Honor.

There was a dense fog that blocked out everything… You couldn’t even see your hand if you had stretched it out in front of you. The fog not only clouded the vision, but also brought a chill that would freeze the bones of an ordinary man. This was the situation that Ulf Hednir had found himself in; clad in what he would typically wear to compete in a match, but his head and eyes darted back and forth as if to search for a break in the fog that would allow him to see his enemy, and there was no denying: there was an enemy. Ulf had found himself in a similar situation a couple of months ago; he recognized the growl. He scrunched his face, narrowed his eyes, but there was nothing to see.

A low growl seemed to echo, but it was no mere growl; its voice had risen and spoke in an ancient dialect that few knew. The words were spoken slowly, and most would mistake it as just a rolling thunder if they weren’t truly listening.


“Vis deg!” Ulf shouted.

A heavy breath was drawn in, and the fog drew back; Ulf turned where he heard the exhaling of the beast, but it moved swiftly… Ulf followed it for a moment before resisting the urge, and just continuing to follow it with his hearing. The rumbling from its movement caused the ground to quake, as if it were a natural phenomena.


The voice growled a second time. The quake grew closer, but as it drew closer, it also seemed to lessen… as if the beast were slowing down. A break in the fog opened up in front of Ulf, and before him was a towering beast; Jörmungandr, the world serpent. Child of Loki, and fated to defeat Thor, as well as be defeated by Thor, at Ragnarök. There were scars around its snout from the countless battles it had endured. Its own mouth curled into a grin, showing off its razor sharp teeth with venom dripping from its tongue; Jörmungandr slumped down over Ulf, almost going for an attack as its jaw lowered and came quite close to swallowing Ulf whole! Ulf raised his arms as if he would defend himself, even if he had to fight his way out of the belly of the beast, but just as Jörmungandr was about to-- it withdrew.

The sudden shift of its energy from attacking, to neutral, had Ulf confused but he still stood ready for the fight to ensue, even as the beast began speaking again.


Ulf, still in a tense battle stance slowly eased…


“Bevisende grunn.” Ulf muttered to himself, and watched as Jörmungandr uncurled and disappeared back into the same fog that once had blocked out all vision; it seemed to follow the serpent and the rumbling was less and less as it went further away. Whilst Ulf was still easing himself from the combat, a different enemy now stood behind him… The warrior behind him was wearing the traditional karuta-gane; its hand was on the katana hanging at its waist. Ulf sensed the presence of the unknown foe and slowly turned his head over his shoulder until his eyes locked where the eyes would be of the warrior…

The two were locked into a stare, and just as it seemed that the battle would unfold-- Ulf was startled awake by the buzzing in his Las Vegas penthouse. Ulf blinked his eyes rapidly several times… Interessant. Ulf thought to himself, as he shook his head several times to shake the image from his head; what was once a battle with the mighty serpent, one dream that he had had before, now turned into a clash of two warriors from different time periods. Ulf could hear his coffee maker beeping in the background indicating that his morning brew was ready.

---

“De prophecy had spoke of Ragnarök many… many times… Og en (one) thing det was always true was det de mighty Thor ville trade kills with de mighty Jörmungandr. Thor-- victorious-- ville die by de venom det poisoned Thor during deres battle.”

The recollection of the prophecy that Ulf had heard numerous times while growing up, and many more times since becoming an adult… It was something that Ulf had encompassed throughout his life. Fearlessness. Share the trait that Thor portrayed when he knew he marched to his own doom: fearlessness. Courage. Unyielding. Ulf nodded his head and considered his stance, and he knew that there was no doubt in his mind; he would share that trait. He had done so so far in his life, and there was nothing that was going to cause him to stray from it now. Not Arata. Not Shelldrake. Not Jay Crowley. Not even Jörmungandr himself.

Ulf, rather than being in the fitness center that was on the ground floor of the building that housed his penthouse, was in the Fusion Training Center; Marquis, Ulf’s agent, had given him access to the training facility at any time and would always get him whatever he needed for training. Ulf sat on the bench, winded, and was just trying to get a breather while he discussed the match that was ahead of him.

“It is amusing to me det dere call dere selv Jörmungandr after de fiercest beast det Midgard ville ever know. But der is something about de beast det de two of dere do not seem to manifest; det beast is fully capable of bringing death, destruction, og obliterating Midgard… on its own… yet de two of dere stand… together… Make no mistake, jeg er not discrediting dere in any vei. Jeg know det dere ville bring de fight det ville be worthy of talk… Jeg know det dere ville bring de fight det dere promised since signing with Project: Honor.” Ulf rubbed his hands together while contemplating the duo that created the team of Jörmungandr, what he would have to do to compete against them, but there was satisfaction in knowing that he could rely on Big Drip Productions to have his back.

“Du had an impressive, impressive, outing at de rumble event, Swindle Shelldrake… Du took de fight to hvem is your own partner in Arata Akasura, du eliminated de great--” Ulf raised a hand to gesture the great name of the following, “--John! Blade!” He brought his hand down right after, “Du ha de momentum. Du ha de talent. Du ha de potential. Og with en strong ally det du ville know has your back, der may be nothing det can stop du! It was your debut. Og du had a strong outing, nei en ville argue. It was en match, en night, det only one person kunne ha walked ute as de vinner, og… jeg did not even gå ute as de vinner, so hvem er jeg to talk? Vi saw more ute of du at de next event. Against Ace Sky. Du bounced back just like--” Ulf snaps his fingers together, “--det.” He says, and chuckles. He thought about his own luck in that regard, and there was no mistaking that as far as momentum went, the momentum swung in the favor of Arata and Jörmungandr. Jay Crowley, Swindle Shelldrake, and Arata Asakura were both coming off of victories; Ulf, while impressing people by eliminating two people from the battle royal to determine the number one contender for the Warrior Rising Championship, was still unsuccessful.

“De momentum is truly in all of dere favor… Vinne. Vinne. Vinne. But at de last Proving Ground, de three of dere did not step into de ringe with anyone det matched me! Dere did not step into de ringe with someone who has de full potential, de full capability, of hitting en single punch og having det be enough to put dere ute for de count of three.” Ulf slapped his hands together three times.

“Jay Crowley, de immediate partner of Swindle Shelldrake. De second half of Jörmungandr. Der is something about du--” Ulf shook his head slightly, “--det jeg do not fully like. Jeg er de type of person det goes ute to de ringe, og jeg do not look to hurt min opponents! Jeg do not look to inflict more pain than jeg absolutely have to… Jeg look to stand to have min arm raised as de vinner, og look forward to de next encounter! But du, du Jay, du er looking to… HURT. Someone. Now… let me ask…” Ulf bit his lip, and chuckled, “Er du going to try to hurt me? Er du going to try to break me? Greater fighters have tried, og greater fighters have failed! If du wish to try to break me--” Ulf spread his arms out, “--Here jeg am. Try.”

He brought his arms back down, and crossed them in front of himself, “But it is something det du vil absolutely FAIL at! It is something det du ha nei chance at doing. Because nei matter hva du do to me, jeg vil stand up. Jeg vil get back in din face. Og jeg vil challenge du to try again. Og jeg can see it now, jeg can see din face behind det mask of yours-- det smile behind det mask-- wiping from your face when du come to de realization of en thing… Og det is det jeg cannot be broken.”

Ulf paused for a moment, and smiled while nodding.

“Der is a truth to min selv. Jeg bounce back… Jeg come back stronger. Det is hva happened when jeg took a couple years off after debuting-- jeg came back stronger. Fiercer. Better. Two times of failures, og disse week-- failure is not an option. Disse week, dere see de see not only de wolf det signed with Project: Honor to explore. To venture. To see how jeg fare, og excited for each fare! Du… see… a wolf hvem has his eyes on a certain prey."

---

There was a “wolf” logo that had become the icon to represent Ulf Hednir as he streamed on Twitch. He was visible in the bottom-left of the screen with the logo both over his own camera, and on a dark screen behind him that shifted with details regarding his current stream. The latest interactions: new followers, new subscribers, bits, everything of the sort. The chat was exploding with people ranting and raving how Ulf was going to dominate his match, as well as sharing their own knowledge of the game that he had been playing. For Honor. Ulf, of course, played the Raider on the Vikings army, and the characters that stood across from him were primarily of the Samurai army. Kensei, Shugoki, Orochi, and Nobushi. Two of them fled away from Ulf, who held the button combination down to defend himself, but the other two pressed an attack.

“Bring it on!” Ulf shouted, as a howl could be heard in the background; his eyes shifted for a moment to see that he had a new subscriber. “Takk for de sub, ShldmdnValkyrie!” Ulf shouted before getting a more serious look. The passion inside of him could not help but bob and weave with the game’s avatar as he dodged, and blocked every which way. He pressed the button to attack several times, feigning one, and then hitting a stun followed by a heavy attack. The second attacker was already on top of him, and Ulf was able to press a button called “guard break” but kept it held as his avatar lifted the enemy avatar and ran him to the ledge and off of the map!

The chat exploded with people talking about how Ulf had ledged him, and the game chat was visible with the enemy combatant clearly angry that Ulf had used such a tactic.

“Det is hva jeg er going to do to Swindle og Jay at Proving Ground! Nei doubt about it!” Ulf said with a confident nod, “If de get in min vei from getting to Arata, jeg er only going to shove dem outside of de ringe og focus on Arata.”

Just as he made that bold statement, the enemy avatar that still stood across from him was the Kensei, the primary class of the Samurai clan in the game. The chat continued to rant on about the great battle that would ensue, whether they were talking about the game or the upcoming match was rather unknown, but either way… Ulf decided to play the aggressor against the Kensei but was quickly countered; he answered by using an unblockable attack, but with the right timing, Ulf was able to parry which eliminated a good amount of stamina from his enemy. After a short recovery, both of the avatars had gone for each other, this time the Kensei taking the first swing but a well-timed guard break from Ulf made him vulnerable to attack… But it was answered with another parry.

“Jævla!” Ulf shouted in his native tongue. He was in trouble after that parry, his own stamina drained, and he chose to continue a defensive stance until it had recovered. Ulf swung, but another parry, and this time the Kensei followed up with an immediate attack that drained his health. The attack persisted several times and Ulf looked to be in trouble!

That was-- until two of Ulf’s allies ran in to save him! The problem was the Kensei was able to build a revenge meter rather quickly because of their interference and he quickly handled the reinforcements then tried to focus on Ulf while the meter was still running. Ulf had to dodge, and block until it was time.

“Jeg didn’t want help!” Ulf insisted, knowing that he was in trouble from that momentum and despite the meter running out, the Kensei was pressing the attack in a combination of moves that made it difficult for Ulf, playing a slower character, to press any kind of offense. He had to wait for the right moment, and with a simple button combination, his avatar leapt forward and hit him with the pommel before Ulf began fighting back! The battle went for a few moments longer before Ulf sealed his fate. A sigh of relief escaped from Ulf, and he was all smiles. A random message came into the chat...



“BANGARANG!" Ulf answered before resuming to a more semi-serious conversation related to the game he was playing, "Han put on a great fight, but-- jeg persevered! Og now disse point is mine.” Ulf’s avatar stood in place as the contested point they had been fighting over changed over to belong to his team. The game resumed, but now Ulf got a bit more vocal for his audience.

“Jeg know det disse is a team game, og it is good for a team to be der in case du need help… But disse is de type of game det does not always make det best. It gives a benefit to de person det is battling with de odds against dem, og det is why it is sometimes better to just WATCH. Do not interfere! Do not get in de vei! All dere er doing by doing so is giving de enemy momentum, og a chance to end du with a single blow.

Jeg must say… det is hva jeg hope Big Drip Productions--” Ulf hesitated for a moment as a question flung in.



“--It is a team det is in unison, og jeg ha nei problem teaming with dem! But back to min point, jeg hope det if de see det Arata og min selv er in a heated combat… let us fight it ute. Let us fight. Let de fans see hva de er ready to see! Two WARRIORS! Battling! Let us fight!”

Many of the responses from the audience were standing by Ulf’s demand, but there were of course the trolls that were saying Ulf would need their help…

---

“De Bushido Code… a code det was famous amongst de Samurai of old Japan, det carried de ideals of hva a warrior should be. Og might jeg say…” Ulf said with a smile, “Close resemblance with de Nine Noble Virtues. Nine virtues det jeg ha hoped to acquire, og live by, in min own life. Courage, truth, fidelity, discipline, hospitality, self-reliance, industriousness, og--” Ulf paused for a moment as he thought about the key virtue that he most often longed for… One that he knew was similar in the regard of one of his three opponents. “--Honor.” Ulf said boldly, and proudly.

“Det is something det brought me to Project: Honor… de name. Hva is in de name! HONOR! Ever since jeg first became a professional wrestler, og even a professional fighter, det is de en trait det mattered more to me than anything else. HONOR! Make min selv proud. Make min family proud. Make min ancestors proud. Be respectful of min enemies. Show them de same respect det du ville want for din selv, even if de do not give de same respect back! We do not live in a fairy tale world where everyone has such a trait… It is a trait det, as time has gone, has been forgotten. People will constantly bury deres friends, even deres own family to get themselves ahead, og det is something det lacks all honor.

It lacks all of de virtues det jeg try to live by! But it does not stop me from living by dem. It does not stop me from trying to share de virtues with de rest of de world.

Det is hva jeg see in Arata Akasura. He-- is de reason det jeg er more excited to step into disse ringe, because jeg see a lot of min selv in him! How he acquires it is very different from how jeg do, but de same ideals. De same desire. Honor. He has not had an easy path since coming to Project: Honor, but it does not make him any less of a competitor-- his first match was against MYŌJIN. De nummer en contender for de X-Factor Championship. Disse is an individual hvem is just as explosive, og someone det vi cannot look past… He holds hva is called an X*Crown, which jeg can only imagine is something of great value because it means det he is not only de best of one company, but de best of numerous companies.

Arata took him to war, og sure… he was on de losing end, but det was a match det jeg truly believe kunne ha gone either vei. He had one of de strongest performances in de rumble event; he had de most eliminations! He was third place! Now, der er some people det ville argue det he was actually de runner-up… but hva is done is done, og der ville be no excuses. Third place. Most eliminations. Unsuccessful, but clearly proved himself as one of de people det ville take Project: Honor to de next level!

Much like jeg hope to do.

Not only has he fought de likes of MYŌJIN, but on de last Proving Ground… he stepped into de ringe with Daniel Ackerman. Now, vi all now det Daniel Ackerman has yet to acquire his first victory in Project: Honor, but det is not something det any of us take away from him. Jeg always keep an eye on de competition, og jeg er impressed by him! Jeg think det Arata and Ackerman put on hva was truly match of de night at Proving Ground! He is talented. But der is a reason det Arata did gå ute as de vinner. Because he is just as talented, if not more.

Der is a fire… der is a passion… der is a storm det Arata brings to de ringe every time he goes ute. Whether dere like him or not, dere must respect him. He goes ute to de ringe each og every chance he gets og everyone knows det he is going to bring it!

But det is not going to diminish min own storm… Du see, at Proving Ground, der is going to be another battle det is taking place. A battle between de thunder gods! Raijin-- og-- THOR. Each one has backed der own fighter, each one has backed der contender, og come Proving Ground… der er de people det stand beside dem, but det is de story. De battle of de thunder gods.

Jeg marched ute to de rumble with a head like a rolling cloud of thunder, og jeg brought de energy det jeg needed! Jeg had a couple of quick eliminations min selv before it just not being enough, but jeg still felt de energy… jeg still felt de fire… de storm… Cheers from de crowd electrified me, energized me, rejuvenated me, but despite min failure-- jeg returned. Jeg wanted to become de nummer en contender for de Warrior Rising Championship og with de same fire, de same storm, jeg went into de ringe og earned a couple of eliminations!

De problem… is det it has not been enough.
De problem is det jeg need to bring more!

Come Proving Ground, jeg er going to bring de biggest storm deg jeg can muster because jeg want disse… It’s not enough for us to fight each other in a six-man tag, Arata, jeg want to share de ringe with du og have a proper battle of de gods! Det is why jeg er going to look for de Thor Punch. Det is why jeg er going to summon de power of Thor to knock du right ute, to knock Swindle Shelldrake right ute, to knock Jay Crowley right ute! Jeg er going to--” Ulf raises a fist, and cocks it as if it were a shotgun, “Knock. Someone. Ute.”

There was a look of absolute determination on his face… Blooming with confidence. There was no doubt that Ulf wanted this win just as much as everybody else; he was sitting at two wins, and two losses since coming to Project: Honor after coming off of a six-month run of being undefeated in the industry… He needed to bounce back, and bounce back strong.

“Big Drip Productions is going to be in min corner! Og jeg know det dere know when jeg say-- trust me. Trust me to do hva jeg say jeg vil do. Disse is going to be de perfect match, og all of dere er going to see det! BIG DRIP PRODUCTIONS! DE LONE WOLF! Come together, for one--” Ulf holds a single finger up, “--night only! Og vi vil be victorious! SKÅL!”