The Sorcerer and the Stargazer part 35
Temple of Ascension, Elysian Sea, Vanaheim
It pained Max to leave Liz yet again. But if he were to examine the Granolith, if he were to break this deadly standoff he would have to leave her.
And leave her without telling her his love. For it would take but one tiny distraction and it would all be over.
Getting to the Granolith wasn't easy. The very air had begun to glow and fluoresce with the magic that was filling it. One glance out the window and he could see that the sea itself was glimmering. The environment was desperately trying to absorb the backwash from the enormous energies that had been summoned.
He ran into the room he had left Tess and saw the little dragon, still curled up on the her body. But now, the dragon was rubbing and cooing at a large sapphire. The same sapphire that Kvar had planned on trapping Liz's soul.
He shook his head.
No time.
He came across the large inverted metal cone. It was spinning sending filaments of energy out into the world. It had been made to shelter the last Alfar, to protect a tiny remnant of them from the destruction fated for them by Ragnarok.
And now it was here. Now both of his peoples' faced extinction because of the greed of one man. Kvar had much to answer for.
A nice deep bog would settle him. Deep enough that even his fylgia could not get purchase. At some point he would either go mad or accept death.
It had been the fate of necromancers and evil wizards for millennia amongst the Alfar.
Well Kvar could be next.
But first they must stop him.
Max stared at the Granolith. It had never been made for the purpose Kvar was using it for. It might be possible for him to short out Kvar by redirecting the Granolith to its original purpose. Shielding the local area.
Starved of power, Liz should make short work of him.
But Max could already feel as the power summoned was literally vibrating the Temple in imminence. He had to act now.
Max reached out and placed his hand on the Granolith. A cone of blue passed from his hand into the cone. And it began to move faster. And faster….. And faster….
Max hoped on the God of his adopted parents, and the gods of his ancestors that he had done the right thing…..
-Scene Break-
Across the worlds
Eyes were dragged heaven ward. For the sky began to glitter with the Aurora Borealis. Everywhere. Bright enough to be seen in daylight.
The silence was deafening as the world waited. No bird sang, no child laughed, all was quiet, lit by an eerie glow.
-Scene Break-
Upper Observatory Deck of the Stargazer, Southern Lebanon, Midgard
Mira watched as Signy took a few hesitant steps across the Observatory. The desire to join her sisters in death had faded. Her heart was filled now with a duty to save her people. And to repay the girl she had stolen from.
The girl from whom she had consumed a piece of her soul.
How could one begin to pay back such a thing?
She sat next to Marcus Frostfire as he watched his lover Karyn Haraldsdottir help Signy take those hesitant steps.
He turned to her and said, "One day soon we will shall walk in the sun like they do. I look forward to that day." He closed his eyes for a moment. "I have promised Karyn that our marriage will be in the full light of day. We shall study the ritual together you and I."
Mira only nodded. They still sat in shadow. For they remained Dokkalfar still. And the touch of the sun would scorch them.
She looked through one of the many diamond cast windows. "What is that?" She pointed to the ribbons of eerie light creeping across the sky.
"It is beginning. We must go. We must get to the Medical Center." He looked over to Karyn. "Dearest, we must go now. It has begun."
Mira was afraid she knew what he would answer, but, but it had to be asked. "What, Magister, what has begun?"
"The End of the World."
-Scene Break-
Inside the Stargazer
Maria was amazed at the sudden boom of people wandering through the network. How had this happened? How had she lost control?
She still maintained a firm grasp on the Stargazer, but already she had to discuss options with the other ships. With the mirrors of her mind.
It should be soon. The door should open soon, and the enemy would pour out.
And Maria would kill them.
She did not expect to survive. Liz had had trouble with one Jotun, Maria did not expect to do much better. Of course Maria planned on going in guns blazing.
No one lived in the Middle East anymore anyway, not since the spasm that had rendered much of the area into glass craters. What was a little more radioactive debris?
But even so, there was one target she had in mind.
Surt. He was supposed to cast a spell, to summon fires from the heavens. Fires that would burn out the world and kill the last remaining people. If she could kill him, if she could stop that….
Maybe, just maybe more of the Earth would live through this. After all, Earth was just a way point for them. Their real target was Asgard. If she could make them hurry through Midgard, maybe she could limit the damage.
She felt then as part of the ship went silent. It was just a tiny corner, centered on the Medical Center. One room.
But as her attack had taken Stargazer out, she could feel it spreading. They had planned this. Planned it well.
Maria was not going down without a fight. She never had, and never would. Certainly not now, not when so much was riding on her success.
The girl she had always pictured Stargazer as flashed in front of her. "Hello Aunt Maria."
"I will not be stopped. The plan must go forward."
"And what of your friends. What of Liz and Max and Alex?"
"They would understand. I didn't want to jeopardize them anymore than I had to. Tess can, can bring them to safety."
"And what of Michael? He remains here on this ship. What of your unborn child, the one you sent me to care for? Are you so eager for them to join you in death?"
Maria was stunned. She had not forgotten them. There was no way to forget them. Or Kyle.
All of whom remained on the ship. She had planned to send them away, to send all of the humans away on shuttles. To be safe with her mother and father on the moon.
But she'd delayed. Sending them away would be goodbye. And she, she just thought she would have more time.
She had to hurry! She had to evacuate them now!
But Maria felt as the momentary shock had let them through some critical nodes. She was losing control.
No!
Stargazer smiled at her sadly, "I'm sorry Aunt Maria. Thank you for everything. Thank you for a taste of life, for a taste of humanity. But we can't let you do this. We love you."
Maria struggled. But it was in vain. She felt as bit after bit of her consciousness was taken from her. As her mind became more and more limited.
And then there was darkness.
-Scene Break-
Temple of Ascension, Elysian Sea, Vanaheim
Liz was beginning to tire. The sheer amount of power that was hovering just beyond sight was unnerving.
She wasn't really sure that if she won she'd do any less damage than he would. And he might crack this planet like a china plate. She could have tried to equalize the flow of power that was rippling from their contest. But she could not spare even a shred of attention.
One false move and there would be a calamity.
She could only hope that he was beginning to weaken himself. Or she would lose. And this island would be obliterated.
Would she be able to rebuild her body from such destruction? She wasn't sure. But she suspected that he would be able to. Why else would he try something so foolish?
Wait, wait, was he weakening? She felt the power assaulting her beginning to weaken. There was a field that was forming around the island.
And it was beginning to interfere with her Spin Generators. She could feel as it became less and less stable.
Both of them were losing control!
'NO!'
-Scene Break-
Elysian Sea, Vanaheim
There was a reason the Ascension Islands were unpopulated, why it was only a pilgrimage site and not a full settlement.
There were prophecies about the place. About what would happen on its gentle shores come the End of days.
And the Vaenir heeded such things.
For where Ascension Island once had stood there was a ball of chaotic magical energy stretching for more than ten miles in extent. And it was growing. It was controlled by two extraordinary minds, each using a device of immense power.
The human mastery of Space and Time fought against the Alfar mastery of Light and Life.
How long this could have continued, who can guess.
But another had joined the contest, using the Granolith for its designed purpose. Protection.
Within the sphere Ascension Island flickered out of existence, no longer on Vanahiem, but elsewhere. Safe.
But the energies that had been summoned, the immense power had to go somewhere. And the minds giving it some level of containment were gone.
It was completely out of control.
So it exploded.
Vanaheim might very well have ceased to exist in that moment. But the gap, the hole that once had been Ascension Island let much of the power seep through to all of the other worlds.
The explosion was felt everywhere. All at once.
-Scene Break-
Across the worlds.
Where the skies had given but a moments warning, the ground began to shake. And then it began to heave as every single fault line on every world triggered.
All at the same time. Everywhere.
Many who had survived the devastation of these later days fell as their safe and secure areas were shattered by the massive quake.
Massive waves coursed across the seas of every world inundating every low lying coast everywhere.
But worse was yet to come.
For this quake broke every bond and shackle.
Above the din of the cataclysm the world was facing was heard a howl.
Fenrir was free.
And in his hidden mountain prison Loki broke free, and with a single kiss for his dutiful wife Sigyn he left. There had been a time when he had been considered one of the Aesir, as the must cunning if not the wisest among them.
Those days were gone. He had but one mission.
To see Asgard crushed beneath his heel.
With a careless whistle he set about his work.