"Mom. Mom! I think it's working!"
Jessie? I opened my eyes. Everything hurt. It wasn't Jessie, it was Kyra. I slowly sat up. I wasn't in the cave anymore, but outside the mine. Above the mine, Filth was circling in the air like a black tentacled tornado. Kyra was sitting next to me, and Ami was standing nearby with her eyes closed and her hands lifted up. A raven sat on a tree stump nearby.
Ami stopped chanting: "Oh, I didn't actually expect that. I thought you were dead."
The bees must have whisked me away, meaning that the cave was considered too dangerous for me to awaken there. That was bad news. The good news was that the world was still in one piece. Beaumont, no Loki, had not finished what he had started yet. There was still time!
"We got here as quickly as we could," Ami explained, "I could feel the tremors in my head. It is all coming undone…"
"I have to stop it, I have to get back in!" I said.
"Yes, we're going to fight it… right mum?" Kyra asked.
"I don't think so," Ami said. "It is like a tapestry being undone, and I don't know how to fix it."
"Well, somebody must know?" Kyra said in exasperation. "We can't just sit back and watch the world end?"
I agreed with Kyra, but even if I got back in I wasn't sure how I would be able to stop Loki or fix the damage to the Gaia engine.
"Joseph would know. He was always the one who knew what needed to be done."
"Let's go and see Joseph!" Kyra and I said at the same time.
It wasn't that easy. Ami and Red hadn't spoken with the rest of the tribe in years. Ami was convinced that they would not be welcome, that they'd be turned away. Their family issues weren't my problem right now. I had a villain to stop, a world to save. And while Kira and Ami argued, I started running towards the Wakanabi trailer park. The raven followed.
The Wakanabi trailer park was overshadowed by a huge building site. Before the fog came construction on a casino had started from the look of things. Multiple trailers surrounded a building made from wooden logs that suspiciously resembled a tourist shop.
The people at the trailer park were all armed, but when they saw I was part of the living and not of the living dead, they let me pass without a word.
"I feel terrible for what happened to Ami, for what happened to our whole tribe," Joseph was soft-spoken, his old eyes looked sad.
"I don't blame her for not trusting us anymore. Her father was killed, did you know that? He stood up for our beliefs, he tried to stop the miners from digging too deep.
Some of us, we thought he was being unreasonable. That he was asking for trouble. That blood would be shed. And it was. Foreman put a bullet in his head, emptied the rest of his gun at us."
Joseph shook his head.
"The foreman was yelling like a man possessed, like something dark was inside him. His eyes were burning, his shadow… was twisted."
Joseph rubbed his eyes.
"After that, there was a rift in the tribe. Some left, others, like me and Red, stayed behind, but it could not be mended. It's a terrible thing, to have to choose between the people you love."
Tragedy permeated the island as much as the darkness did. Or perhaps it was merely cause and effect.
"I took the wrong path, and now it might be too late. But we have to try. Something in the land has been displaced. An oath has been broken. If we had kept our word, if we had maintained the wards that protect the mountain, this would not have happened."
"What wards are those?" I asked. "Can they be reactivated?"
"The wards were built by our ancestors and the visitors who helped them fight the darkness, the last time it fell upon us. Together, the two tribes created a seal that has protected us for generations. It has kept the darkness out and has kept the greater darkness locked in. We were chosen to protect and maintain it. For hundreds of years, they lasted. Until now. We have failed. We have to mend what is broken, but like our forefathers, we can not do it alone."
Joseph marked three places on my map.
While I headed for the nearest one, I rang Richard and filled him in. Now I was out of the cave, I wasn't so certain Beaumont was truly Loki anymore. I mean, it was a bit ridiculous, was it? A real living, breathing god? Beaumont was a skilled con artist and magician. All I had for it was his word and the magical transformation which could easily have been an illusion. I mean, the whole look he went for was a bit too on the nose, wasn't it? I decided not to mention it.
"Things are coming to a head, it seems. Beaumont can not be allowed to finish his work. Follow Joseph's advice and investigate these wards. Good luck!"
'Good luck!' That was it? No backup, no help at all? The fate of the world was depending on a woman in sensible shoes with a packed lunch in her bag, and no clue what to do it seemed.
The first ward wasn't hard to find. Three large runestones surrounded a stone altar, and the raven landed and perched on one of them. I waited for a bit, but he didn't speak. Perhaps it was just a raven. The altar was cracked, and the runes on it were faded. I put my hands on the altar and let my anima flow through them. The three runestones surrounding the altar began to glow. Undead warriors crawled out from underneath the earth, dressed in tattered pieces of Viking armour. Instead of attacking me, they stood by my side.
"Hey there," I said rather awkwardly, it felt impolite not to say anything. But they didn't speak. Soon the site was besieged by zombies, and while I channelled my anima into the altar, the warriors fought to protect me. After what felt like an eternity a golden beam of light descended on the altar. The zombies caught in the light turned to dust and the warriors disappeared.
The altar was whole again, and written on it in ancient runes was the name 'Odin'. (Yes, I googled it.) The raven cawed and flew away.
The second altar stood near the coast. The raven landed on one of the runestones surrounding the altar. I gave it a quick wave. It was following me, I was sure of it!
The altar was cracked clean in half. I placed my hands on it and started channelling anima. Again, Viking warriors rose up to protect me, from draugr this time. I tried to channel as fast as I could. Who was sending these undead and draugr to attack me? Was it Beaumont? Or were they just drawn to the magic?
Again, the altar was mended, the runes restored. A golden shaft of light beamed down on runes that spelt 'Frigga'.
The last altar was near Danny's skateboard park. The golden light was beaming down on it already, but the altar itself was broken. Was the light what was keeping the zombies away from the nearby area? Was someone protecting Danny? I wasn't sure, but I liked the thought.
The raven had flown ahead of me and cawed at me from his perch. I was running out of time, I'd better get a move on.
I put my hands on the altar, and undead warriors appeared by my side. The runestones glowed blue as I channelled my anima into the altar. From the corner of my eye, I saw Danny running towards me.
"No, go away, it's dangerous!" But it was too late, the first zombies were running towards the altar. Danny dodged them and slid down the hill, landing right next to me.
"What is happening?" he asked breathlessly.
"I'm restoring the wards to protect the island," I said. "I don't have the time to go into the whole story right now. I have to concentrate on this!"
The undead warriors fought off the zombies, but the altar remained broken.
Danny had an item strapped on his back when he arrived, and he was now holding it in his hands. To my horror, I realised it was a makeshift flamethrower.
"Danny, no!" I yelled, but a wave of draugr was upon us already. Danny grinned, and a spray of flames took down several of them. The others were disposed of by the undead Vikings. The warriors looked worse for wear after the fight, some were missing body parts and others had fallen and hadn't gotten up.
"Come on, come on!" I yelled at the altar. But it remained broken.
I could hear the baying of hounds in the distance. It sounded like the one Beaumont had sent to me in the basement.
"Stay by my side," I warned Danny. Not one, but three hellhounds appeared over the hill. The Viking warriors fought bravely, but fell one by one, only managing to take down one of the hounds. Danny, who wasn't a very good listener, was taking on another one with his flamethrower. It was keeping the hound at bay, but surely he could not take on two of them.
"Come on!" I yelled.
Suddenly the altar was whole, and bolts of lightning were coming down all around us, killing the hellhounds. I threw myself on top of Danny, knocking the flamethrower out of his hands, but none of the lightning was striking us.
I didn't have time to look at that moment, but it will probably not surprise you that when I checked later, the name spelt on the altar was 'Thor'.
Danny whooped, "woohoo, hell yeah! That was awesome!"
Then we heard more baying, deeper and even more menacing this time. Over the top of the hill appeared a Filth hound, a hellhound larger than the other three dogs combined and covered in Filth.
"Oh crap," Danny and I said at the same time. The raven cawed.
"Thor," I yelled," if you have any help to offer, now would be a good time!"
"What? Thor?" Danny asked, but he was drowned out by the sound of thunder, and a large bolt of lightning struck down. Behind us.
"You missed!" I yelled angrily, as I kept my eyes on the Filth hound.
"Uh, Sorcha, you might want to look behind you!" Danny yelled.
Thor? I turned around half-expecting a big blond beardy beefcake.
What was behind me, however, was almost as good. A beautiful square-headed hammer with a short handle stood upon the altar, crackling with static electricity.
"Is that… Mjolnir?" Danny asked in awe.
"Thanks, dude," I yelled up at the sky as I picked up the hammer. It weighed almost nothing in my hand, and without giving it a second thought I threw it at the Filth hound that was almost upon us. It went flying backwards as it crashed through the trees. Mjolnir appeared back in my hand, and I tossed it again. And a third time. After that, the hound didn't move anymore.
Mjolnir returned to my hand, stayed there for a moment, and when I did not throw it again, it disappeared.
I looked around at the altar, but it wasn't there anymore either. Well, shit. Had I only been granted three throws or something? Because that would suck.
"Hey Thor, Loki is still out there!" I yelled at the sky. But there was nothing.
"What? Loki is out there too?" Danny asked, sounding more excited than scared.
"Long story," I answered. "But I really could use that hammer right now."
I could see Danny had so many questions but, to his credit, he didn't ask.
"Can't you try calling it again?" he suggested in the end.
Okay, I could try that. How do you summon a hammer? Just by its name, I supposed.
I held my hand up high, hoping this would work or I'd end up looking like an idiot. The raven was still there, and I could swear it was judging me.
"Mjolnir, to me!" I shouted. There was the sound of thunder, and the hammer appeared in my hand. I tossed it at a nearby tree. The tree splintered into pieces, and Mjolnir reappeared in my hand. I tried to get a good look at it, but when I didn't throw it again, it vanished.
"I think it goes back to where it came from if I don't use it," I told Danny, who nodded as he had come to the same conclusion.
The raven gave a satisfied caw and flew away.
The wards had been restored and now I could wield Mjolnir I might actually have a chance at taking on Loki in combat. It was time to return to Joseph. I had done my part, now see if they had done theirs.