Snow whipped in furious spirals as the first of Yggdrasil's warriors struck the earth.
They fell like meteors, golden light streaking behind them, before slamming into the mountainside with concussive force.
Snow exploded in geysers, shards of ice scattering like broken glass across the battlefield.
When the haze cleared, the shapes rose.
They were massive, each one shaped like a man but clearly no man.
Bark formed their torsos, twisted roots their sinew, and vines coiled as muscles along their limbs.
Leaves sprouted and withered with every movement, dropping green flakes into the snow.
Their faces were hollow knots of wood, save for the eyes, which were twin orbs of molten gold that blazed with unnatural intelligence.
Dozens landed, then hundreds. Each impact cracked stone, and soon the air itself trembled beneath their arrival.
The Blurred Man tilted his head back to the widening sky, and then down again, his wavering outline rippling around him.
