Worship of the Gods
The only thing that I've learned
is that life is about suffering.
There's no escape from it.
That's the truth.
What's important is how we deal with suffering,
how we deal with the truth.
– Vikings, Lagertha
Chapter Eighteen: The Tournament of Titans
Ellie sat alone in her chambers, nursing her sore eye socket. The bruising was still a deep purple, colouring her undereye like a slice of plum. She winced as she held a rune to it. Clearly, she was in need of Loki's magic again, but it appeared she was now left to her own devices. Her armourl-ess combat training had gone well until Gustav whomped her in the face.
Wincing, she stared at the candle on the top of her drawers. Behind it was a filthy mirror and inside of that was a woman she barely recognised. She dared not lower the rune; scared of the sight which lay behind it. With an angry exhale, Ellie yanked a curl from her braid and let it fall over the side of her face.
It was midday. No one was in the training barracks as they were all heading towards the Northern Arena for Odin's announcement. Most had left after their morning fight, but Ellie had been left needing a break from their Asgardian insults and strength.
Grunting, she held her arm out and focused on the candle. Her memories swam back to her conversation with Lounn that morning.
"Dear God, help me," Ellie had huffed, collapsing against a cart of hay. Lounn then took a seat beside her, breathing heavily.
She twisted her fingers, clenching her teeth.
"Odin, right?" he'd said.
"What?"
Ellie felt pathetic. There was a hunt in the barracks for the human and she was letting herself slip. Soon she'd fight her last fight and be thrown off the edge of the world by Gustav. The candle twitched.
Deep anger pooled within her. It flooded her chest, flowing through the right and left atrium of her heart and riding on her blood cells. Energy pushed out of Ellie's fingernails, hitting the candle so it toppled back.
"It's not sacrilege to say his name." Lounn was slightly confused, wondering whether Ellie was inspired by off-world dialect. "Don't you say Odin?"
Nearly wheezing, Ellie controlled the candle, so it rose. It shook heavily, reflecting in the mirror. The tightened skin on her knuckles turned ghost-white.
Ellie's forehead shone with sweat. She winced, lifting a hand to poke her inflamed brow. "Oh, I uh, it's just a habit."
He laughed lightly and fell back in the hay. "Everyone's different I suppose."
Ellie cried out. She threw the candle at the wall, smashing it into a dozen pieces. Splinters of wax shot back over her bed and floor. With her heart racing and sweat pouring down her back, she stared at the mirror.
"Heavenly Father, I can do it," she said, "but does that give me the right?"
Finding Lounn in the ruckus of the arena was a task in itself. It was very much similar to a Flavian Amphitheatre with its tall walls, carved windows and seats. However, he was easy to spot waving his arms manically from the other side with a bright orange Asgardian banner swishing in the air.
On the way to her seat, she took a cone of dried fruit. A servant was flogging street food to the guests and she was more than happy to oblige for the safe edible option. Not that she wasn't intrigued by roast eel or snake innards, she just wasn't feeling up to much more adventure that day.
"Did they have no roast eel?" Lounn asked as she sat down.
"Uh, no," she said. "Didn't see any."
Naeva huffed. "That's a shame."
"Too popular I suppose," Ellie settled, feeling calmer than before, but wondering whether the Queen's little mice had been lurking.
Arguably, Ellie felt like a real warrior as she sat in the middle of a dozen other trainees. Everyone around her wore the same leather tunics, boots and trousers. They stood out in the arena of citizens and mundanely dressed guests. Ellie chewed the inside of her cheek, looking around.
Above the trainees, were the real warriors. They wore steel armour and gauntlets adorned with rune-jewels. Ajun was watching them enviously until a servant offering fish gills passed by and took his attention.
Suddenly, Odin's voice bellowed across the arena. "Hear me, heroes of the realm," he beckoned, his voice vibrated the seat beneath Ellie. Silence swept over the crowds, from the able-bodied fighters, to the pot-makers and servants. "The Tournament of Titans will soon begin. Each event will be rewarded with a suit of golden armour to whomever is the Champion of Asgard!" "Let the news issue forth… I hereby summon every warrior, from every land."
King Odin commanded three torch-bearers to light the flame atop the Mount of Eternity. Ellie remembered Frigga telling her that when her quest began, she would have to the light the very same fire.
From below, Thor and the Warriors Three rode out on magnificent horses. They swung heavy weapons: an axe, sword and bow. The crowd clapped in response. Behind the four, three emerged in nothing but velvet linens around their waists.
"Begin!" Odin cried.
As Ellie watched the three men carrying their torches, she envisioned herself running up; panting beneath the hot sun and sandals crunching against the crumbling path.
Ellie couldn't pull her gaze away from the royals, unlike Lounn, who was watching the bearers begin their ascent. "Why three?" she asked off-handedly.
Lounn pulled his eyes away. "They've been chosen. Imagine Odin choosing you personally. My family's honour would be through the roof." Above, Loki was speaking into Thor's ear as a small grin emerged, inside of it was a number of emotions Ellie couldn't grasp.
"Truly we are honoured above all living beings!" one of the torch-bearers cried, pulling Ellie's attention back.
"Ay," another said, "for noble Odin has chosen us to be his harbingers!"
The last, despite trailing behind, was hurrying to catch up. His voice came loudest, and Ellie watched Odin lift his chin up slightly. "Mighty is Odin!" the torch-bearer shouted. "Eternal shall be his name!"
Praise fuelled the Norse gods. They thrived on it like a shadow in the dark, consuming and indulging until… Ellie couldn't think of when it would ever be enough. Even Loki drank in the attention. She looked up at him again and found his gaze dancing with arrogance. How many years had the universe begged at his feet?
"The beacon is lit!" one of the torch-bearers called. An eruption of clapping and shouting began from the crowds around her. "Its glow shall be seen in every corner of the cosmos! We proclaim forever the glory that is Asgard!" A fireball of red shot out of the Mount, rising into the air and disintegrating into pebbles of ash. There was a surge of heat and then the beacon rippled with a steady fire. Black smoke emerged from the top of the flames, pummelling into the air.
Odin gestured to the crowds below, holding out his sword. "It is done!" he heralded. "Now we shall wait for the coming of the mightiest warriors!"
Thor and the Warriors Three rode around the stadium, earning a tidal wave of cheer from the crowd. The blond prince roared with laughter, waving at the onlookers as if they were there for him alone. He was barking words across the crowd.
Ellie frowned, leaning forwards and trying to listen. Unlike Odin, Thor had no speaker or sound exemplifier. She squinted, focusing on the shining blur of the prince.
"The winner shall be awarded golden armour," Thor said.
Fandral laughed and Ellie's gaze snapped to him. "They shall look nearly as magnificent as me!" Beside the lithe warrior, Volstagg cackled. "At least it will fit these warriors, unlike some," he said, motioning to Hogun.
The crowd laughed alongside them. Ellie nearly joined in, only her mind was troubled by her ability to hear so much. Thor and the Warriors Three were over three-hundred feet away from her.
"Why are they talking so loudly?" she asked, not enjoying the crystalized tinge noise had to her.
Lounn shot her a look. "Have you been deaf this whole time? They're addressing the crowd normally." He continued to clap and let out a whistle.
Ellie's hand ghosted her ear lobe. She snapped her fingers and winced as the sound bounced down her ear and knocked her ear drum. She nervously touched the back of her ear and pressed into the skin in case there was an infection brewing within the canal. There was no swelling.
"Warriors in training," Thor said. Ellie strained her ears. "Follow your captains to the Bifrost to trek the Bog of Draugrs. You must return with the champions intact or face the wrath of Odin."
As the audience erupted around them, Ellie looked over her accomplices. They were clapping happily and patting one another on the back. Lounn cheered and smacked Ellie on the back. She jolted forwards and stared up at him.
"That's us," he said. "Our turn to show them what we're made of."
"What we're… what?" Ellie stuttered, following the trainees as they stormed out of their seats and out of the arena. The audience cheered for them, hitting their backs and arms with joy. An elderly lady cheered down Ellie's ear, making her jump back in surprise.
The warriors burst out of the arena in a huddle of excitement. Ellie flittered after Lounn and Naeva, following them into the barracks. In a line, they followed one another into the storage room.
Others had already wrenched open the cupboards of armour and weaponry. Gustav threw an axe in the air, roaring with delight. Slightly uncertain, Ellie strapped her breastplate and gauntlets on. They were all wearing leather, presumably for flexibility.
"Protecting the champions!" Naeva gushed. "Fighting monsters. Real monsters. Not those stuffed dummies they've got us practically shagging."
Ellie held her breath, finally understanding. With her teeth clenched, she grabbed a jian which was a double-edge straight sword. It was light and easy to push through the air. Although, she had never had to slice through a fleshed-out body. Would it be like a knife through butter? Or through grit?
"Bone, mush, bone," Gustav liked to say.
"Let's head out, you fairy-fucks!" Tyr shouted from the doorway. Ellie whipped round and was surprised when she met his eye. He had his arms crossed and it was difficult to look away from his intimidating stare.
She attempted to stomp past, but his rough hand shot out. Ellie let him pull her aside. She lost sight of Lounn and Naeva and felt singled out for a reason which was meant to be a secret.
"What?" she snapped.
Tyr blinked. "You know damn well. Stay here. You are not to leave the barracks."
"Why am I not allowed to protect the champions?" Ellie clutched her weapon. "I've done all my training."
"That may be so, but some damn Draugrs ends up taking your life then I will be joining you shortly with kind regards from the Allfather." Tyr stormed past her, taking the breath from her lungs and the rest of the warriors.
She ran to the window, watching the warriors march out of the barracks and into the kingdom. The cheers from the stadium were loud enough to hear from where she stood.
A thousand thoughts raced through her head. What were her friends going to face? What if they were hurt or killed? Her protected status was immoral and unfair. But the Draugrs were terrifying creatures. They could try to rip, murder or maim her. That was terrifying. And the most frightening part was that she wanted it.
Ellie shot the barracks a glance. When the coast was clear, she crawled out of the window and hurried down the pathway she took for her magic sessions. It didn't take long for her to catch up as the novices were trailing behind the superior fighters. She slid behind Lounn.
Her racing heart did not still as she looked around for Tyr or a captain who knew her name. She guessed Tyr had known all along who she was. It was admirable that he was as much of an arse to her as he was to the other warriors. Although, telling her to stay in Asgard was clearly smart. She was going to save the Light-Elves, but the draugr bog called to her; called to test her strength.
"Hey," she whispered in Lounn's ear.
"Thought I'd lost you in the crowd," he muttered back.
She laughed. "Easily done. Everyone is acting like they've been given the gift of their lives."
"Don't you feel like it is?" he said. "A chance to prove your worth. To prove your loyalty."
To Ellie's relief, Heimdall's wandering eye did not land on her. She slipped through the Bifrost feeling giddy until her boots landed in a foot of mud. With a thudding heartbeat, she stared around the dense forest they were in. It was foggy. The smell of burning filled her nose as well as rotting flesh.
Once the nuns taught them a lesson about the Great Depression by presenting them with a plate of gone-off spam. They forced the children to eat it in hopes it would teach them to be thankful. Ellie was not thankful for the hours she spent with her head in the toilet.
With a grimace, Ellie stumbled after her group. Lounn nearly knocked Naeva over as he slid out of the portal. Thankfully, Ellie was out of the way. She felt as if she'd rather have a stake through her heart than begin her first otherworld journey covered in filth. They walked for over an hour, descending into the hellish world of a daugr bog. Several gas-bubbles popped around them. And there were distant screams, like someone was having their throat sliced open.
Disappointment held a place in Ellie as she observed this new place. It was as beautiful as maggots inside a carcass. With her newfound hearing, Ellie focused on the dark horizon. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, listening to the whistle of the bog. She could not tell how far the land went on, only that it was full of living beings. Something hissed nearby. A shiver went up her spine.
"Ahead!" a captain shouted. Another portal had opened, smaller and not as powerful as the Bifrost. The champions must've travelled to this place in order to arrive on Asgard in a safe, unified manner.
The warriors neared the champions. Only, they were not unified. As they bickered between themselves, Ellie stared in confused disgust. There were four. One was dressed in a black metal casing. He was in a screaming match with the stout dwarf. The other two were at each other's throats, screeching about how they had Odin's favour.
Ellie leaned towards Lounn. "What kind of champions are these?"
"Pretentious pifflers."
The return journey followed the same route where the path wound back and forth like a snake, tangling with the great marshlands of Yggdrasil. Sometimes the road vanished completely, having sunk into the ground. The land was inhaling their carts, interspersing with thorn bushes and poisonous gas which erupted from bubbles in the dirt. Even so, the marsh was quiet.
Ellie lumbered along behind a wagon packed with champions, the wheels creaked once but were soaked with mud. It was more of a squelch which spat back at her. Even so, their journey wouldn't take so long if the champions travelled by foot instead of being pulled by the Asgardians. It was all rather telling as Ellie found these champions as righteous as wet socks.
The captains begrudgingly agreed to stop so the champions could gather their wits and eat.
"I bet it's Malai that's the half-breed," Gustav said, rather loudly to the group sat around one of the small fires "They don't have marshlands like this on Midgard. Did you see her face when that stink-bubble exploded?"
"Because it stank, you wretch," Ellie nearly spat. "Not that you'd notice. When was the last time you bathed?"
This evoked Gustav. "Maybe you're the human swine," he shot back. Their conversation was brief as Helga appeared with a cauldron of stew. She slopped two ladle-fulls of it into their bowls. When she got to Ellie, she stopped and stared. Ellie swallowed the lump in her throat and lifted her bowl.
Helga slopped a ladle of food in and stomped off.
After that, no one was in the mood to talk. It was far too grim and cold in the marshlands for anything at all. Whispers emerged from the bog. Ellie tried to digest whether the trees were speaking, but the more she listened the more she realised the world itself was alive. From the murky water, to the reeds and dead forest; everything was speaking.
She lifted her bowl to her bowl and drank the stew. Helga took it with a huff and threw it into the fire. The wood caught on as the other warriors chucked theirs in, feasting on the warmth as a chill set in.
"We're not far from the Bifrost," the captain said.
As soon as the words left his lips, a draugr leapt from the swamp water. He gurgled and launched itself at the captain who swung his sword and sliced through its middle. Its innards spewed onto the ground. Ellie had shot to her feet, her sword posed in her hand.
"Now!" the captain ordered. "We leave now!"
The dwarf snorted. "I have not finished my stew. Surely you Asgardians are able to bat them off while I…"
"Now," he snapped.
Ellie began to shake. She stared at the draugr and fought the bile creeping up her throat. "Dear God," she said. A strange hissing noise emerged behind her.
Draugr were crawling out of the bog. They were human-like monsters with rotting skin which slid off their bodies like wet tissue paper. Open sores covered their bodies, bursting like pustules of gas in the bog. Ellie spun and screamed. She shot forwards and slashed her sword down on the draugr much like she would've done on Earth with a slipper and spider.
Her sword came down with a squelch. It stripped the draugr's arm from his body.
Ellie heaved, stumbling back. Lounn sprinted in front and slashed the draugr's head off.
"Fuck!" she said. "I… thank you."
"Behind you!" he cried.
Swinging her weapon, Ellie's sword kissed the ribcage of another draugr. The sound of metal against gritty bone should've been frightening, but it was melodic in her ears. The draugr fell sideways, spurting blood up her face. Its warmth was beautiful against the coldness of the world.
The champions on the cart stared at the chaos around them and leapt off. For a moment, Ellie thought they were going to help. Then they shoved her out of the way and sprinted towards the burned rune in the ground.
Suddenly, a blast of white light blinded the entire bog. The remaining draugr cried out in fear, slithering back into the water. Ellie felt Lounn take ahold her her arm and yank her towards the portal. The warriors hurried after the champions and ascended into Asgard.
Ellie fell onto her knees inside of the Bifrost. The glistening floor showed her a reflection of herself. A red streak painted her face. Her braids were knotted and filthy. There was a distinct taste of mud in her mouth. She promptly vomited.
Around her, other novices were heaving their stomachs up or clutching their chests to still their racing hearts. Naeva was laughing manically, helping a sick Lounn to his feet.
"Did you see me with those two draugr," she cried. "Odin, how I slashed through them like… like a warrior!"
Rising shakily to her own feet, Ellie smiled. Naeva slammed into her, holding her in a tight embrace. Ellie began to laugh. She snorted as they parted and stared at the bloody mess they'd become. Ellie was exhilarated. She ran a hand through her sticky hair and pulled out a fleshy slither of draugr. The roar of the arena sang a tune down her ears.
"Yes," a voice boomed. It caught Ellie off guard, scaring her into submission. "Well done, to our warriors for their... unsolicited bravery."
Ellie's eyes shot to the Allfather and the colour drained from her face.
References
The Tournament of Titans – Thor 1966 Comic No. 2.
Bone, Mush, Bone – Alfie Solomons in Peaky Blinders
Draugr – Norse zombie-like creature