RAGNAROK IS COMING

— Missing A Heart —

"This week might just kill me."

Eritrea scoffed at the tall, golden goddess of a creature beside her, arms crossed and face screwed as they both faced the looming tree. Rinka was her name, and she was the epitome of a glass half empty.

Creatures- long, short, scaled, flesh, spiked, everything from animal to beast and giant to dwarf- had been arriving in waves since early this morning. Arriving for the most principal event in the last and next half a decade. Radox's Gathering.

The main venue was the Academy of the Firsts, Radox's most integral and important palace. A castle nonetheless but a grandeur of architecture.

It nestled behind the explosion of Yggdrasil's branches, sheltered in a mushroom head of leaves that touched so far into the sky it was only the lowest of branches that the eye could see. The bark of the tree wrapped around itself, twisted around like a rag a maid wrings of water; as if Yggdrasil twirls around and spreads its arms to welcome and protect. The main part of the Academy is hidden under its bough but from here one could see the small floating islands that seem to have been ripped from the earth to gather around the Hometree like the moon is drawn to the earth. There are nine of those small islands and each one is a different section of the Academy, but that is not where these creatures were headed.

Eritrea and Rinka had been sitting cross-legged on the mossy ground, watching the tree swell with visitors, arriving by beast and boat all morning. There was an entire lake- and a massive one at that- to separate them, yet Rinka was having a hard time making those final steps. To step onto the boat bobbing patiently at the edge of the wharf and glide to a place as familiar as her own hand- but to do so without the rest of her heart, it was feeling very close to impossible.

Eritrea elbowed the girl; and with the number of golden jewels strapped to every limb and joint, she jingled like a bell. "You can do this, love. We can do this."

She faced the pale little elf and warm sadness melted her bones.

"Yes, we can," Rinka said, a tear and conviction stringing the words together as she linked arms with Eritrea. "You, the twins, Doc and I. We can do this."

A cold shadow draped over Rinka first, blocking the sun and covering her in a shiver, and then another over her sister and the effect was instant. Too long it had been since she had felt the cool presence of the twins. The two females sprung from the grass and took a brother each in their arms, crushing themselves in a hug that had never happened in the centuries the four had known each other.

Eritrea felt Harbotta stiffen at first, unused to such affection before his arms slowly came up and around, engulfing the small raven elf; she had never realised just how tall he was until she was directly below him. Harbotta nestled her into his chest and she felt his chin on her head. She could hear the thump of his heart like a hammer, and the cool of his skin was a welcome touch against the scorch of Yggdrassil's sun.

When she pulled away there was an imprint of her rose-scented lip balm on his otherwise flawlessly white shirt. Harbotta offered her a small smile that seemed foreign on a face that only ever scowled and glared murderously. He had a lovely smile, she thought.

"Sorry about your shirt," she muttered, wiping a tear from her lashes. He only shook his head and a single navy-black lock of hair freed itself from behind his ringed, pointed ear.

Harbotta held out a dark hand, an offering that someone should have marked in history. "Come, we would be best to attend dear Aurora's speech."

Eritrea nodded, swallowing the lump quickly forming in her throat. She glanced at Rinka who had already mopped away any pretence of aching in her heart and now had her head flung back, mouth open and laughing unabashedly at a scowling Silver. She had his forearm clutched in her hand, clinging to him for balance as she barely breathed beyond the howls tearing out of her. Even snorting and crumpling Rinka was still the most beautiful being Eritrea had ever seen. Skin smooth and brown, tall and muscled in the most feminine of ways. In a way, Eritrea loved to see the female fight, the way her muscles were like flawless cords of deadly weapons hidden in a diamond-like the ones she adorned.

Eritrea sighed and took Harbotta's hand.

The twins, identical in every way but the most subtle of ones, nodded at each other before vanishing, a girl each on their arms.

...oOo...