The story's full summary: A multi ship, multi cast story.
To rule over all had never been his desire, Lezard only wanting to escape the anguish of his heart by dominating hers. Lenneth within his grasp, he had never dreamed of what the power of Creation would demand of him. Or of the lengths the other Gods would go to, to see that power back in it's rightful seat. Forced into a role he had never wanted, there comes the many trials and tribulations of triumph.
They had survived so much, Odin, Dipan, Lezard and his twisted world tree. Only to be cast out into a world that had fallen into decay. With Creation's days numbered, and no chance for success, Alicia, along with Rufus, Arngrim and Brahms are on a journey. A journey to find the souls of two sisters that might help them set back all that is right. There's a romance brewing, along with temptation, Alicia having to fight off the hungers of her undead nature, for to give in, is to lose her one and only chance to be cured.
Silmeria and Hrist's souls are out there somewhere...while Loki waits in the shadows, for his chance.
Don't own the series or the characters. Make no money off of this story either. Done purely for recreational purposes and as a creative outlet!
-Michelle
There was the labored sound of panting, those desperate breaths a harsh rasp for air that seemed to drown out all else, the agitated swish of the silver blue braid at her back, the slam of her armored foot falls striking against the pavement, and the rapid beat of her own heart. She felt it though, that pounding inside her, the woman's chest tight with that panicked emotion. With that fear, each sliver of that potent terror, driving her forward. Each and every step determined, the woman never faltering, moving as though she could outrun the despair that was bubbling up inside, moving as though there was still some slim chance of escape.
She had been running for what felt like days, like weeks, maybe even whole years. An entire eternity of this never ending pursuit, the chase extending across realms and through time, with countless lives lost and irreparable damage having been done. Having born witness to it all, she had never once stopped, not even at the loss of her sword. She had fought and clawed her way through the soulless, those monsters that populated this otherwise desolate world, learning well the taste of despair, losing her hope bit by bit, and still she had persisted. Over and over, past the dormant volcanoes, through the withered forest, and finally to this land of ice. She'd have crawled on her hands and knees if that is what it would have taken, the packed snow and shards of crystal an endless sight that extended in all directions.
It had to be here! That thought repeated in her head, again and again, the desperation inside her growing. Moving through her and translating into a wild energy, her steps almost clumsy as she pushed through the remaining reserves of her dwindling strength. Her ragged breath became even harsher, the woman one step closer to hyperventilating. She kept up that relentless pace, past the snow covered monuments, and into the bitter chill, fighting against the wind that would have thrown a lesser being back.
"There!" The energy sensed, the hope that had been dying then exploded inside her, lighting her up with its warmth and relief. She all but fell to her knees, clawing at the tightly packed snow with her bare hands, feeling the shock of it, the icy discomfort, but she kept on digging. Deeper and deeper, until it lay revealed, the tiniest sliver of a shard that could have been just another piece of ice, if not for all the power within it.
Her hands shook, the shard held almost reverently between them. It gave off a warm glow, it's power pulsating faintly, but it was more than enough. It couldn't do do anything more than act as a gateway between worlds, but that would then buy her some time. To rest and recover, and more importantly regroup. Then and only then would she stand a chance at mending the rifts etched into destiny anew.
With that heavy breath barreling out of her, she then closed her eyes as though in prayer. She brought the shard close to her chest, feeling it pulse in time to the throbbing beat of her heart. It was responding, resonating with her desires, and when her eyes snapped open, the cobalt blue color positively blazed, the shard reacting, sending out the last waves of an immeasurable power. Those ripples tingled upon her skin, seeping in past the shattered remains of her armor, all that warmth and vitality a most welcome caress. With that energy came the queerest of sensations, a kind of wrenching pull as the world around her began to shift.
She didn't fight the pull, all her trust and her hope placed in this single shard's power. The white around her took on a hue of color, such bold golds, and earthy browns. There was even a splash of vibrant green, life itself in full bloom. She let herself be embraced by it, by that warm power, and then the cold slap of reality hit her hard.
"No…." A protest whispered out of her. "NO!"
It was the Heavens in all their twisted grandeur, that golden shower from up above, the leaves of a gigantic tree. It's branches extended in every which way, forming a twisted canopy of it's limbs, with just barely enough space for the light to seep through. That light that of a moon made fat and full, which hung in a sky that she knew would never change, never lighten, the perpetual twilight upon her.
Beneath the canopy of that tree, was the remnants of a battle field, blood having splattered and dried, sculpted into a pattern she knew all too well. It left it's wound marred deep into the ground, the faded remnants of a power that made her skin crawl to remember.
With that shudder running through her, she then forced herself to look away from the spell's remains. To the stairs to the south, that led down a far too familiar path. To the world that was ever so terrifying in it's warped attempt at beauty, that perversion a mockery of all that was balanced and light in the universe. It was dark, and it was forbidding, and she wanted nothing more than to turn from it. But the stairs to the north were NOT an option, not with what-WHO they led to.
With the softest of moans, she started to get up off her knees. Staring out at the world when the only light was that of the gold leaves falling off of the tree, she saw that grotesque creation spread out, extending even further than she had remembered of it, the land and it's monsters taunting her with the inescapable nature of her circumstance.
Her grim expression nearly crumpled, and with it that last remaining bit of hope, the shard abandoned, the last of it's power completely exhausted on her desperate attempt to escape. Her breaths continued to come out in uneven pants, her body so tired and beaten down, all that endless running and fighting catching up with her at last.
"Now do you see?" She refused to startle at that quiet voice from directly behind her, the woman continuing to stare out at the world that was seemingly without end. "The futility that there is in the act of running from me?"
She didn't dignify that with a response, merely curling fingers into fists, when strong arms suddenly enveloped her. The tremor that made her body shake wasn't outright fear, but ANGER, the hopelessness of the situation birthing a violence inside her.
"Will you try again?" The man asked.
"Yes." She hissed, and felt the arms tighten around her even more.
"Lenneth." Her name sighed out of him in an almost chastising manner. "Lenneth, why must you persist in such foolishness? You know there is no escape. Not in this world, this reality I made for us both."
"I WILL find a way." The woman, Lenneth, answered, with a stubborn set to her jaw.
"Why waste so much effort and energy? There are other, far more pleasurable endeavors to be had." His voice had gone husky, the man breathing out his words against her ear.
"No." She shook her head with that answer, ever defiant, ever determined. "I'll not give you what you want."
He sighed then, as though the words she had spoken had inspired his pity. "I've an entire eternity to change your mind….here….in this world where there is only you and I."
That was what made this world of his, ever more terrifying. Not it's endless nature, the inescapable roads that all led back to here, not the monsters with their blood lust and relentless hungers. It was that desire, this world both a paradise and a hell, created with one thought, one person in mind. Her, Lenneth the entire reason for this world's warped existence, the woman, the GODDESS, the motivating force that had driven this man to such extreme lengths.
She continued to look straight ahead, to the south, determined to run this world's gauntlet all over again. He kept his arms around her, as though to take this one remaining choice from her. That embrace squeezed tight around her, letting Lenneth be aware of the solid mass of male muscle behind her.
"Le...Lezard!" His name was squeezed out of her in protest, his lips having touched upon her skin. She couldn't stop the involuntary reaction then, doing a fitful squirming in an attempt to escape him, and still the man held on. She felt his growing excitement, felt it being pressed against her body, Lenneth choking on an infuriated scream. She trashed about, actually kicked back her legs, to suddenly find herself set free.
She had no sword, and still went for it's place upon her hip by instinct. Her hands grasped at empty air, the woman spinning around, that fierce glower lost to her confusion to find the man was gone. Only his laugh remained, that sound and that of the words that hissed out of him with a sigh.
"Very well. I will be here waiting." He said. "Waiting for the precise moment when you are tired enough to fall."
"That will NEVER happen!" She shouted to the sky.
"Never is a long time to ones such as we." He pointedly reminded her. "But run Lenneth. Run as far and as fast as you can….I'll still catch you in the end."
She let out such a scream, all her fury and fear in that expression, trying to drown out the smug sound of him. He just kept on laughing, that mocking note to his voice, giving way to that feral response, Lenneth spinning, making a stumbling bid for the south staircase. Her weary body burned with it's exhaustion, her legs barely having the strength to hold her upright, let alone to move. She still kept on trying, taking those shambling steps forward that sent her flying downwards. The laugh that mocked all of her efforts, followed, the lower levels of this world filled with that sound for day upon days.
The Heavens were in chaos, the Gods that presided there all caught up in an uproar of fights and fear, each desperate for that of their own survival. The world that they ruled over was falling into ruin, Yggdrasil's decay spreading to each and every corner of the nine realms. Wars had broken out, famine and despair touching upon everywhere, even down in Nifleheim. With no stabilizing force, Asgard itself would soon follow, the islands maintaining their equilibrium but for how long?
It was a pure and unrivaled hell, this nightmare of destruction carpeting the world. The preordained Ragnarok itself, paled in comparison, for little if anything stood a chance of surviving this, this unlawful and mindless devastation. He found it to be absolutely glorious, reveling in the chaos that had bloomed on the heels of Odin's usurper.
The world full of it, all that despair and utter lack of hope, all that desperation and greed, and he was drunk off it, off the misery of them all. The humans of Midgard, the elves of Alfheim, and all the people of the realms in between. The Gods however, were a different story, their brand of panic a special flavor that he now savored. He practically shook with satisfaction, practically purred with his contentment, the laugh inside him barely able to be contained.
It made him wild, and it made him giddy, both halves of his nature alive with the chance presented before him. The opportunity that he had already made moves to take. The power was almost within reach, just a few pushes, and then? Then he'd be the one in control, Creation remade to suit HIS image. So hot and eager for that moment, that glorious start to his reign, the Gods themselves, so high and mighty would be crushed beneath his unforgiving heels. Both Vanir and Aesir, it mattered not just what side they allied themselves as, nothing would spare the Gods from his revenge.
"Loki!" A wasp sharp voiced snarled out his name. "Are you even listening!?"
It pained him to have to continue to simper and fall in line, especially to this bitch of a Goddess, but then destiny had not yet aligned so completely in his favor. To survive long enough for THAT, Loki would have to cater and play the devoted fool, so as to be far removed from suspicion.
"Ah, a thousand pardons, Lady Freya." He gave the slightest incline of his head. "I was merely thinking on all that we already know, on any and everything that might be able to help answer our need."
She was the golden Goddess, clad in form fitting emerald green, an imperious look to her face, as she glared down at him. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, fingers drumming an impatient beat against her flesh, Freya floating just out of reach. She wasn't as untouchable and as perfect as Freya normally could be, the Goddess absolutely besides her with despair. With the loss she had suffered, Odin's abduction, her lover's possible death, hitting the blonde haired woman hard. That unflappable female was now a study in pain, her jade eyes made turbulent with it, and still she tried to think of herself as better. Better than those humans that felt so much, and better than Loki with his mixed blood.
She wasn't. NONE Of them were, as they were now all learning, reason and rationale given way to panic and the very feelings that they had mocked the humans for. They'd learn humility next, might even be made to grovel, but the one thing they would never have is that of Loki's forgiveness.
"Then...what answer if any, have you stumbled upon?!" Freya demanded.
He gave an even lower bow, as though begging most sincerely for her forgiveness and tolerance. "None yet...none that can make any sense of what has happened."
"Damn him!" Freya snarled, dismissive now that Loki had proven of no use. "Damn that man and his insufferable magic!"
"I just don't understand how a mere human could make off with our Lord and Master!" grumbled the bearded God of Thunder, Thor. "How could he have attained such power!?"
"Silmeria was helping him no doubt!" Another God, one with red hair as fierce as the darkest of flames, now spoke. "Odin should have moved to neutralize her the second she became a threat, regardless of the Lord of the Undead's interference!"
"Careful now..." Warned a female, a Goddess with blue eyes and the palest of yellow to color her long hair. "Brahms is no idle threat. Even wounded..."
"Even wounded should have made no difference. Finish them both off, says I!" The red haired God of War pounded a fist against a crystal that had floated by. It had cracked, but did not outright shattered, as though even this God had lacked his full strength to do more.
"Tyr!" Freya snapped out his name. "There is no use lamenting what should have been done...we need concrete answers that can actually help us!"
"You mean SAVE us." Loki couldn't resist the taunt, even as every eye was brought upon him, that of every God and Goddess turned to glare his way. "Trying to pretty up the truth won't change the ruin that we face. Without a way to stabilize the realms...well...I'm afraid even we Gods won't last very long." He shrugged his shoulders with that. "If only we had a power source..."
"If only we had Odin!" Was the cry that the other Gods took up. "If he and Gungnir took their rightful seat on the throne of Creation, the chaos would be pushed back. Diverted long enough for us to reclaim the divine treasures, and use them anew as the cornerstone foundation of this world!"
"Have we had ANY luck in locating the four?" Freya asked the question, though that tired look in her eyes spoke that the answer was one that she already knew. "Any at all?"
"No." sighed the Thunder God, Thor. "We know of WHO has the divine lance, but we don't know where that mortal went with it...or with Lord Odin."
"The Dragon Orb has been missing, ever since Hrist betrayed us." added Tyr. "She cost us not just one, but two valuable power sources, in helping those vermin abscond with Brahms."
"What of the Sylvan bow? And Levantine?"
"Not a clue." admitted the Goddess with the pale colored hair. "The elves whisper of theft, and turn a mistrustful eye to us. While the Vanir make claims of a great beast having swallowed down the demon sword."
"We will keep looking." Freya decided. "Send out all remaining einherjar, to every last corner of the realms. I don't care how many have to die, it is a sacrifice worth making, if we can find a way to save this world!"
"What if saving the world requires a different kind of sacrifice? What then?"
"Eir, you know I'd pay almost any price to restore order to this world..."
"Any?" questioned Loki sharply, seizing upon the green clad Goddess' words. "Even if it meant exploring other avenues?" He paused a beat. "Ones that would see that A Creator was restored to the throne?"
"Of course! I want that more than anything." snapped Freya."I want Odin back, hale and hearty, and safe!"
"What if that Creator wasn't Odin any longer?" Loki posed the question to the gasps and outrage of the room.
"Don't even joke about that!"
"I am NOT." Loki assured her. "But neither will I turn a blind eye and hide from an unpleasant truth. The facts as they are, Odin displaced, his body and his power taken, along with the divine lance. And with it, his life perhaps forfeited, to satisfy one madman's desires, whatever they may be."
"I will NOT accept that HUMAN in Odin's place!" Snarled and seethed Freya, gold energy sparking off of her body. The jade of her eyes had narrowed, pure hatred in that look. "Nor will I allow anyone else to!"
"We might not have a choice…." It was Eir who had spoke up then, her voice soft and without reproach, as though trying to gentle the harsh truth that the golden haired goddess tried to deny with every fiber of her being. "If things keep on as they are….not even Gods will survive."
"We WILL survive." insisted Freya. "This is not our Twilight! It is merely a...set back."
"Some set back." muttered Loki with a snort, though inside he was fine with Freya's stubborn inability to be reasoned with over this. It just bought him more time, time to plot, to plan, to scheme and to do, Odin's power out there and within reach. He just needed the right tools, to find and catch it, to not only seize hold of that strength, but to make it a part of himself.
Soon. The words whispered in his head, though Loki knew even a second more was too long a wait, when his ultimate triumph was nearly at hand. Till then he'd keep playing the role, that of the weak mixed blood that he was, craven and cowardly with no right to dare dream of attaining something-anything more.
She knelt over the hastily put together fire pit, the dry leaves and broken twigs eager for a spark of any kind. They were left waiting, the sharp rocks being ground together again and again, her breath escaping her in a frustrated sigh.
"This was a lot easier with magic." She grumbled to herself, and the thought was laced with a pain and a bitterness, the remembered feel of betrayal still strong in her mind.
"Yeah, I suppose Lezard did come in handy with that." Some more wood was added to the fire she had failed to build, the gathered twigs and fallen branches almost mocking her with their presence. "But I much rather deal with some cold, then have to worry about a knife stabbing into my back!"
"Rufus." She wondered what expression her face showed him with all that conflicting emotion churned up inside her. The green haired man smiled and knelt down beside her, though he made no move to take the stones from her. "We'll have a lot more to worry about than the cold, if we don't get that fire going!"
"Don't worry so. The monsters all know to stay away." Rufus gave a meaningful jerk of his head, in the direction of one of their comrades, a man who was as tall as he was wide, so completely rippling with muscles that he was looking very much like the physical embodiment of the strength needed to wield the long sword strapped to his back.
She stared at him, at his profile, his long dark hair, pulled back in a messy pony tail. He had a grim glower on his face, and a map laid out before him. His one finger was tracing along the lines, learning the runes there, the roads and the cities, and more importantly, the paths not often traveled on. It was a great deal of concentration that the Lord of the Undead gave that map, the hundreds of years he had spent hibernating inside his current host's body, leaving Brahms woefully unprepared for all the changes to the land the humans, their many wars and their bid for civilization, had wrought.
He had much to learn, and not enough time to do it all in. Ironic that, given that the man, the vampire, should have had all of eternity at his feet. Instead he was made victim, hurried and harried by the blight and devastation that was fast spreading over Midgard. Brahms felt the weight of it, they ALL did, this world gone mad and made desperate in these last days of surviving.
"The monsters know..." She began carefully, resuming her efforts with the stones. "But without the fire to hide the true reason behind their sudden wariness, we'll risk bringing suspicion down on us."
"Heh...like anyone will care enough to notice, Alicia." Rufus was far too relaxed and unconcerned for her liking. "Everyone from humans to elves to giants, are too busy panicking, too busy trying to make the most out of what might be the end of ALL our days."
"No, the princess is right." It was another large man, with enough muscles and scars to rival the impressive form of Dylan that Brahms currently wore. "If we're not careful…."
"Not you too, Arngrim!" groaned Rufus.
"You know as well as I do, that THEY are looking for a power source. One they won't hesitate to launch a full out offensive to take from us." The warrior known as Arngrim chided the green haired elf.
"Is his power really that great?" Rufus asked, after sneaking a surreptitious look Brahms' way.
"Strong enough to save Asgard for a time." It was Brahms who had answered, his sharp ears picking up on that not so whispered conversation. His eyes remained on the map, the vampire king intent on his self appointed studies, trying to commit as much knowledge as he could, in as a short a time as possible. "The rest of Creation however, wouldn't be anywhere as lucky."
No one questioned it, not that strength, and not the idea that the Gods would be so selfish as to sacrifice the rest of the world, so that their own hides could be saved for even a short amount of time.
"You know who will be looking for us." Brahms continued. "You know the lengths they will go to, to seize a power source…"
Alicia shivered at that. "We are all in danger. From them and from that madman we once called friend." She was almost vicious then, the way she slammed together the stones, grinding them together, until that one reluctant spark fell from that clash. The twigs and the leaves eagerly caught hold of it, the princess working the stones harder, more furious sparks coming to join the first in the pit.
She felt no joy in her heart to hear the crackle of the newly lit fire come alive, not when the pain was still too raw, and too deep. Even weeks later, the sting of that betrayal was as fresh now as it had been then, all that hurt and confusion alive and inside her. She was torn, Alicia mourning the friendship, while hating the man, unable to accept, to reconcile and understand his many twisted choices. Everything from stealing Silmeria, to letting Dipan's fate play out to a t, Lezard had run roughshod and wild over destiny, all in the pursuit of his own lust.
Alicia couldn't forgive him for that. For Dipan and for Silmeria, for the world that had fallen into decay as a direct result of that madman's doings, the princess actually hated Lezard. She thought he might hate them too in turn, given the way he had expelled them from his twisted world tree. Leaving them to die a slow death in a world that was rotting.
"He won't get away with it!" Alicia muttered fiercely to herself. She was staring at the fire, feeling as though it was a mirror to the burning resentment inside her soul. That force just one of the many that drove her forward, Alicia determined to not only save this world, but that of Lenneth's, destiny needing to be set back on it's correct course. No matter the cost, she'd pay it herself, to ensure it was a world that not only survived, but one that thrived under Lenneth's rule. A Creation where Alicia's friends would be welcome and safe, where Rufus would never again need fear for his freedom, no one able to take that from him.
It wouldn't be perfect, but then no world was. Not even Lenneth's could lay claim to THAT. But hers was one born of a benevolent heart, the many beings of existence given free reign to make and choose their own fates, rather than toil under the heel of the cruel and uncaring Gods. Lenneth's world was as close an existence as possible to a world free of the selfish dictates of Odin and his lessers. The kind of world that Lezard had claimed was only possible under HIS rule. All that he had asked for in return was complete obedience and turning a blind eye to all of his evil misdeeds. That had made him no better than Odin in Alicia's mind, Lezard in fact even worse for the wanton destruction and violence of his actions.
He was a force to be reckoned with, as a human and as a God, his magic and his divine strength a potent and lethal combination. As Alicia now was, even with being that of an undead, left her with not a single chance of succeeding. Those odds weren't much improved with the three men at her side, but then that is why they were on this mission. This journey to find the help that might just give them the hope needed, Silmeria and her sister Hrist's souls, still out there somewhere. They just had to find them...
To Be Continued…
And so roughly begins Triumph's Tribulation, which is a revamped and re-imagined Lezard's Triumph. I know I answered that Tumblr ask saying I wasn't probably gonna work on LT ever again, and I kinda am not. Lezard's Triumph is a very bare bones basis for what became Triumph's Tribulation. Hoping to remove a lot of the elements I was unhappy with. Ironically what I was unhappy with the most, was most of the Lezard Lenneth side of things. I liked a lot of the Alicia Rufus side, though some of it I am not sure how to work into this version...or when….like when they got married. But I hope I could fit that in some way some how! XD
I've been excited to work on this for months, but had been stuck on how to get it started. My initial attempt was a Loki POV traversing Lezard's world tree, to spy on the in game events...but I kinda really hated that attempt. Like this one much better, though I am not too thrilled with the third act, the Alicia POV…..X_X
Also can't promise fast updates, as this is not the me of 2006, and I just don't have as much time to write as often as I did back then. Plus OSVP is my number one priority as always. But sometimes it's good to take a break from those monster sized chapters!
On a frustrated side note, does anyone know what this site needs to recognize line breaks that divide the segments of this chapter? Whatever I try, it removes….tis aggravating!
-Michelle
