Chapter Five: Urd's Secret
"File corruption at 77 per cent and increasing!" Urd kept on typing, tuning out the frantic voices of her cp-workers. No way I'm goin got let a scrawny virus do this to my system! Suddenly, her display blacked out. When it came back on, she faltered; the garbled mess on the screen was totally unlegible. The goddess of the past soghed as the last file vanished from the screen.
Urd slammed her fists into her keyboard. "Yggdrasil functions returning to normal!" Crono announced, a tinge of wonder in her voice. Peorth glanced over at Urd and shook her head. "No backups. The files are gone."
The TV and camera flashed, and Urd and Peorth appeared in the temple's living room. "So much for that," Urd sighed. "How much did we loose?"
"Every single file and reference. According to Yggdrasil, neither the Megami no Kenshi nor Tomaas Riatavin ever existed." ´Peorth closed her eyes and flopped onto the couch. "Mind if I stay here the night? I don't geel like going back right now."
Urd nodded. "Sure." Before she left the room, however, she turned at the doorstep. "Peorth?"
"Yes?"
""How do you know Tom?"
The raven-haired goddess shot her friend an enigmatic smile. "It's a long story." For one of the few times Urd had witnessed, Peorth smiled fully and earnestly, a sight Urd found as beautiful to watch as Belldandy's smile. "And a very pleasant one at that." Urd grinned as she remembered the quiet, withdrawn young man who had been her mentor, and who – somehow, despite his calm and dedicated nature – had incured the wrath of the gods.
Gosh, sometimes I wonder how he ever managed to draw so many women to him... Urd thought with a grin. If it was a potion, it was one heck of a drink.
"Urd! How did your work in Yggdrasil go?" Urd snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of her sister's voice. "Oh, Belldandy. We managed to get rid of the problem. No harm done." In fact, great harm done, Urd mused, but couldn't bring herself to tell Belldandy.
"Good! I'll have breakfast ready soon, and I'm sure you two want some rest." "Huh? Breakfast?" Urd and Peorth stared at each other, then at the clock. It was 9 in the morning. Wow. That took longer than I thought it would, Peorth noted. "Thanks, Belldandy," she finally said and leaned back against the couch.
When Belldandy had left, Urd turned back to face Peorth. "You still haven't answered my question," shge smirked. "What question?"
"How you and Tom met." Peorth grinned, both at the memories and the lecherous look on Urd's face. "At breakfast," the goddess promised.
Breakfast was unusually quiet. Urd was too tired to fight with Skuld, Skuld was glancing between Urd and Peorth confusedly, having picked up part of their conversation in the living room courtesy of "Mr. Ear". Belldandy and Keiichi enjoyed the silence.
"So, Peoth. You promised us a story..." Urd noted. The head of Yggdrasil leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, submerging herself in her memories.
"A long time ago I was assigned to the Earth Help Center," she began. Urd chuckled. "It wasn't that long ago, Peorth."
"Maybe not," The goddess of roses smiled. "Ayway, Kami-sama called all of the executives of the EHC to an audience. He introduced us to a man – Tomaas Riatavin, of the Megami no Kenshi." Skuld shot a bewildered look around when Belldandy let out a gasp of surprise, and even Urd looked shocked.
"What are the Megami no Kenshi?" Keiichi asked. He could tell it was something unsettling for the goddesses. "The Megai no Kenshi are an ancient order of warriors – mortals, sworn to eternal silence. Masters of their bhlades, their task was to protect Heaven and the goddesses."
"Mortals?" Skuld interrupted. "Yes, mortals. Ones who excelled at the trials of their lives. Tomaas Riatavin was one of them. We were told he had been assigned to the Earth Help Center, althought at the time we weren't too sure exactly what he had been assigned there for."
Skuld arched an eyebrow. "How can mortals protect Yggdrasil?" Peorth chuckled. "At the time, I asked him the same thing, whether he was an immortal that he could fight demons." She leaned forward conspirationally. "He said, by giving it all, and doing our best, every day. And he was one of the best."
Urd smiled. That sounds like Tom, all right. "Then, it happened." Peorth drew their attention to her tale again. "What?" Urd, too was wondering what the goddess meant.
"One day, Yggdrasil crashed. The doublet system was down temporarily, and the demons took advantage of that. They started siegeing Yggdrasil. The Megami no Kenshi were called in to fight alongside the Valkyries. What was shocking was that the demons...went for specific targets." Peorth's expression had become sober.
"They had started attacking gods and goddesses selectively. What was frightening was they succeeded in crippling or killing most of them." The goddess shuddered. "It...included one of Kami-sama's daughters. The Megami no Kenshi were assigned to proctect the most probable targets once we figured out their strategy. Tomaas and his team were supposed to protect Kailera. She was a prodigy goddess...much like you, Belldandy." Peorth glanced down at the table.
"They were ambushed. The Valkyries were all kept in Yggdrasil to guard it, and Tomaas's team got slaughtered by the demons. The few that were left standing tried to protect her, but got knocked out by a lightning strike. When the smoke cleared, only Tom and another man had survived. Shortly thereafter, we got Yggdrasil back online. The harm was done, though." Belldandy and Skuld had paled. Keiichi looked like he was on the verge of blacking out, and Urd sat there in shocked silence.
"Kami-sama didn't take the death of one of his daughters lightly..." The words hung in the air. "Tomaas got transferred to some faraway place...the Gate of Time."
"The most strenous and loneliest job...It's called graveyard of the fallen, and for a reason..." Urd whispered. Belldandy's eyes widened. "Oh my..." Keiichi shared a bewildered look with Skuld. "There are rumours about the Gate of Time," Belldandy told him. "It is an important piece of Yggdrasil, it controls the flow of time. Maintenance of the time stream is a very delicate and very dangerous matter. Any number of things might emerge, and temporal paradoxes must be prevented...at any cost." She looked up at Peorth. "And it is a solitary assignment. The Gate of Time is located very far away from Yggdrasil, and assignment to it is seen more as a curse than a blessing. Many good people went there and went insane because of the time flow and the loneliness."
"Tom got ssigned there as the ultimate punishment, for letting a goddess die," Peorth said. "Then...if he was sent there...how do you know him, Urd?" Keiichi asked.
"When Urd was born, Kami-sama was looking for a mentor. One who could teach her right and wrong, but more importantly, how to fight. He knew she had demon blood in her...and that she needed to learn to keep it in check." Peorth looked up. "Tom was the best choice. Celestine and I vouched to bring him back. We hoped he hadn't gone insane in that time." She smiled. "And he hadn't. Though he was reluctant to do so, compared to the other choices, Tom seemed the best."
Urd's face adopted a faraway look, much like Peorth's, as if she, too, were bathing in her memories. "And he was the best," she said. "Never once will Tomaas Riatavin let you down – or fail to surprise you. Even though he was mortal at the time...it wouldn't surprise me if he had found a way to cheat time." Urd smiled. "He said he'd always be watching me...who would have thought he meant it literally?"