I do not own the Ah! Megami sama / Oh! My Goddess series
"Peorth!"
The goddess in question blinked as she heard Skuld's angry shout. Currently, she was in the middle of playing another game of Jenga, mostly to familiarize Lind with an earthly game. The Valkyrie was spending too much of her free time in combat exercises and that defeated the whole purpose of taking a break. Laguz, on the other hand, had gone back to watching TV since the sights and sounds coming from the device were a completely foreign experience for her.
"What have you done this time?" asked the Valkyrie she removed one of the wooden pieces from the tower. Lind's hand and eye coordination had proven to be excellent due to her training, although handling items with such care had proven to be a much greater challenge than she originally thought.
"Nothing, of course!" replied the brunette goddess. "Why are you even suggesting that I'm involved in anything at all?"
"Because she seems rather angry with you?" countered the combat expert.
"That doesn't prove that I've done something wrong!" objected the rose goddess.
Before the blue haired Valkyrie could respond, the door flung open, revealing the fuming Norn of the future pointing an accusatory finger at their scantily clad guest.
"You stole my mangas again!" she shouted. "Why can't you keep your hands off my collection, Peorth? Go get your own, if you like to read them so much!"
"What are you talking about?" asked the insulted goddess. "I only read them, that's all."
"So you did get into my room! Thief!" shouted Skuld in triumph while still pointing at Peorth. "Give them back!"
"Hey! I keep telling you that I'm innocent!" protested the rose goddess. "I put every single one of them where I've found them; in the correct order, too."
"Well, they're nowhere in sight, so you're just..." trailed the young goddess before she paused, remembering that Peorth had a first class license.
"A lie?" asked Peorth, tilting her head. She couldn't help but smile as she realized that the younger goddess would finally realize that she was not responsible for any theft.
"If that's the case, then who did it?" Turning their heads, the quarreling goddesses stared at Lind, who had remained quiet throughout that exchange. "Tell me, when did you last see them?"
Scratching her chin, the goddess of the future clearly recalled that she had finished the latest volume of her favorite manga while Keiichi's parents were still talking with the couple. After that, during the one of the short breaks between the Uno matches, she went briefly in her room and put it in the lowest shelf before she returned back and resumed playing with everyone. There was nothing out of place back then, and even more importantly, Sigel had been in her room and working hard during that time. It was next to impossible that somebody had managed to sneak in and steal them.
If nothing, it just left more questions than answers. The real mystery was why would anyone be interested into her manga collection in the first place. It was true that Peorth had done the same thing in the past, but Skuld now doubted the rose goddess' involvement in this particular incident. 'Hey... Hold on a second... The past? Urd's been in my room just a minute ago and she was standing in front of...'
The young goddess had finally realized who must've been responsible for this heinous crime. Not a moment after her precious oneesama was gone and her other sibling was back to her usual antics. It also explained why she was acting so weird while she was talking with her as well. Pleased that she had found the thief, she turned around and rushed to her sister's room.
"Urd!"
The rest of the goddesses blinked as they witnessed Skuld switch from one target to another.
"Good grief! Mood swings, sudden loss of concentration, unpredictable behavior... She must have started to hit puberty by the looks of it," said Peorth with a sigh.
"Why are you talking about yourself in third person?" asked the puzzled Valkyrie.
"Hey! That's mean! It's been a long time since I've gone through that rebellious phase!" objected the offended brunette.
"Are you sure about that? You still seem to be a lot unconventional," pointed out Lind.
But Peorth had enough of her friend's attitude. Slamming her hands on the table, she leaned forward and stared down at the Valkyrie, narrowing her eyes. "It's about my clothes again, isn't it? I've even added a skirt to appease you, but it looks like you only consider your combat uniform proper attire!"
"I never said anything about your dress code! Not this time at least!" countered Lind in an effort to calm the other goddess down a bit. Perhaps she had gone too far with her comments, and in all honesty, she didn't mean to upset her like that. "Although..."
"Oh, yeah?"
"That skirt is not really effective at the moment, given how you've leaning over the table..." trailed the Valkyrie, unable to stop herself from putting her foot in her mouth. "Laguz's face have gotten as red as a tomato from the view."
"Huh?!" Turning around the rose goddess noticed the blonde's expression, before she lowered herself in a sitting position on the floor. "Seriously! How old are you, anyway? You sound like a kid that just found out why gods and the goddesses look different."
"In her case, I suppose that it's more of a case of cultural shock. She's from a different era, after all," explained Lind, since the lake goddess had yet to regain her composure.
"Humph! You act as if you're innocent. Out of all the celestials, you're the one that made most comments about my appearance. Even to the point of bringing the subject up during an emergency," said Peorth raising an eyebrow at the Valkyrie, who suddenly started to get embarrassed.
"I was only stating the obvious! As for that other incident, it's a way to decrease stress levels before a threatening situation!" objected Lind, trying to explain herself for her choice of words from back then.
"You could've chosen another subject, like a joke or something..." muttered Peorth as she crossed her arms.
"I'm a warrior, not a comedian. At least I tried... Besides, those parts of yours were literally in front of my face," said Lind.
"Excuses... You were totally doing it on purpose." The rose goddess paused for a second to collect her thoughts. "Say, Lind. What's so wrong about my outfit anyway?"
The Valkyrie blinked at what appeared to be a rather obvious question in her opinion. "I suppose it shows a lot? I mean, it's still technically legal to wear in Asgard, and while I've even seen some goddesses dress in similar fashion, I think you're one of the ones who's pushed it the farthest. Doesn't it cause issues for you?"
"Well... I won't deny that you're right to a certain degree, but it actually saves me from trouble and not the other way around," explained the brunette.
"Huh?! How?"
"It keeps annoying people away from me. Especially those that want to get a bit too friendly, and while they seem to be nice, they don't like taking no for an answer," said Peorth. "I've really gotten tired of those people..."
"Um... I don't seem to get it..." wondered Lind. "How does that even work? I mean... why would your clothes keep them away? I thought that it would be the opposite?"
Peorth simply shook her head. "You tend to forget where we're coming from, Lind. Celestials are a bit too obsessed with their silly view of perfection and all those accompanying stereotypes that go along with it. Anything that deviates from that is undesirable or at the very least not a primary target. It's like... reverse psychology to a certain degree. The more you seem to invite them, the less interested they'll be."
"Why would you want to do that?" Lind couldn't help but feel a bit curious about the other goddess. Based on the way that she normally behaved, the Valkyrie had assumed that her intentions were quite different from what she was hearing. "I thought that you wanted to attract more attention to yourself."
"I do indeed seek that, but only if it's really about me, not some first class goddess stereotype. I'm sick of all the necessity to act like some idealized poster girl once you get that license, instead of being yourself. It wasn't always like that, but lately it's really bad. I mean... it's not a requirement or anything, just something that became increasingly popular to the point where it's gotten out of hand," explained Peorth.
"Is this why you had a grudge against Belldandy?" asked Lind.
"Yes... If I have to admit... That wasn't my best moment..." said Peorth with a bit difficulty, trying to pick the right words. "You'll be frightened to see how many of the newer first class goddesses act similarly Belldandy, while they're nothing like her at all. They feel that doing this will get them popular and allow them to fit in better, but what it really does is to fill our ranks with hypocrites. Unfortunately... I had mistaken her for one of that bunch and automatically assumed the worst."
"Yes, I think I've heard about that," admitted Lind. "So, your clothes are not just a fashion statement then?"
"You're correct. I have no intention of doing the whole 'perfect goddess' routine, and if they don't like me the way I am, then I haven't actually lost a real friend," replied Peorth.
The Valkyrie remained silent for a while in deep thought. It was true that a lot of celestials were doing their best to meet the expectations of their peers, but wasn't aware that several were faking it. Then again, as a member of the Fighting Wings, she had encountered troublemakers that seemed to be otherwise perfectly harmless. Maybe, Peorth was not so wrong after all, although she may have been a bit too paranoid.
"But I thought that first class goddesses and gods were not supposed to lie."
Turning to Laguz, who had been quiet up until now, Peorth simply shook her head. "Not really. Well... we can't tell a straight lie, but... there are limitations to that rule. In plain words, I can mislead people or assume a fake facade as long as that restriction isn't broken. You'll be surprised how far you can actually go. If you want to know, Loki is the best example of a first class god that regularly deceives others. He's not the worst, though, as crazy as it may sound. At least he never tries to make you think that he's a great guy, unlike some others..."
"You know him?" asked Lind, who became curious for her friend's affiliation with the annoying god.
"He's the primary supplier of parts for the main control mechanisms, even though he had lost the position of Yggdrasil's head technician. I'm a system administrator, so it's natural that we've met on several occasions," said Peorth with a shrug. "As crazy as it sounds, he was better than his replacement. Regin is just too full of himself, even though he barely managed to get that job."
"I find it hard to imagine anyone that's actually worse than Loki," said Lind.
"Believe me, if you ever happen to spend more than a couple of minutes with him, you'll see what I mean. Too much of an ego for the limited set of skills he has. At least Loki's antics were funny in a weird sort of way. Unless you happened to be the target..." explained the brunette.
"That's the first time I've heard somebody prefer Loki over anyone," said Lind, still having some trouble to accept her friend's opinion about that troublemaker.
"Maybe... But once Regin took over, system errors increased by a tenfold and as for the bugs... I don't even know where to start!" Peorth was indeed unhappy with the way that the Councils have entrusted such an important position to such a buffoon. It was certainly not helping her or anyone's work any better, as the system was indeed acting up a lot lately and despite the recommendations from her fellow administrations to replace him, nothing was done.
"Is it really that bad?" asked the Valkyrie.
"If the unstable heart of a single goddess is enough to cause a bug outbreak, then what do you think?" countered Peorth, without any attempt to hide her sarcasm in her voice.
"Then why aren't the Councils doing anything about this? Or even Tyr-sama?" Lind was baffled at their leadership's indifference at such a critical issue.
"Because everyone knows who's the best god for the job right now, but they refuse to admit it. As for Tyr-sama... Loki is his adopted brother and may be worried that the others would accuse him of displaying nepotism," explained Peorth.
Lind had a few issues with all that given that the system's integrity was supposed to be paramount. Surely there had to be a better way of dealing with this matter instead of ignoring it. "I understand what you're saying, but I can't believe it! They're just going to leave it like that?"
"Most likely, yes. It's so frustrating that some fellow admins started applying for other positions in the hope of getting away from it all. That's how I started granting wishes anyway," said the rose goddess. "But even talking about this topic is giving me a headache. How about we go and buy some ice cream? Chrono mentioned a good place to get some soft served once, so what do you think?"
"I don't see, why not... But it could've been better if we wrote our reports before we did that," said Lind. It's not that she didn't want to give her friend a break, especially after the unkind comments that she had offered earlier. The Valkyrie just wanted to make sure that they wouldn't get themselves into trouble by indefinitely postponing their obligations until it was time to return.
"Aw... that's not fun..." complained Peorth as she deflated a bit from the idea of having to deal with her chore right now.
"I did get a discount coupon for a new place while I was shopping. How about checking it tomorrow?" asked Lind, hoping that that would lift her friend's spirits.
That seemed to bring back the smile on the brunette's face. "Hey, that's not a bad idea, Lind!"
"Um... excuse me... but what's ice cream?" asked Laguz. She had heard about it before, but didn't think it was important enough to retrieve the information from Yggdrasil. However, she was getting a bit curious now, given that several goddesses had mentioned it.
"That's it! You're coming with us too!" said Peorth in a determined voice.
"But... I can't get far from my lake!" objected the blonde goddess. "It's my energy source! I have to remain within a certain distance from it."
"We can provide you with energy for a while and extend your operational radius considerably," said Lind. "We're both first class goddesses, after all, so no worries. You can leave everything to us."
"R-Really?"
"Yes! And besides, It's a perfect opportunity for you to get out of the temple as well!" said Peorth. "Once we find something for you to wear, that is."
"Here we go again..." muttered Lind under her breath.
XXX
"Well, what do you think, Elegance? I feel we have a winner."
Striking a pose, Urd turned a bit to let her angel get a better view of her new lingerie, even though it was technically for Belldandy. For that very reason, the goddess of the past had picked a white one with a few floral patterns on it and while it provided enough coverage, there were some semi-transparent bits. All in all, it was much better than the others she'd seen in her catalog.
'I agree, mistress. It's something that Belldandy might actually wear. Perhaps not her first choice, but not something that would be uncharacteristic for her.' The angel smiled back at her host, feeling that their little raid had proved to be a fruitful one. Even better, they had already managed to return those manga while Skuld had gone into the living room. It was sheer luck that they ran into the perfect design so fast, and without any solid piece of evidence, the young goddess couldn't accuse them of anything.
Of course, sometimes in life, even the best laid plans can fail and this was no exception. Yanking the door open, the youngest of the Norns marched inside.
"Urd! What do you think you're..." started Skuld before she finally noticed her sister's state of undress, "...wearing?!"
"What does it look like? I'm trying on something nice," said Urd with pride. "Like what you see?"
Skuld let out a groan. She was supposed to be the kid and yet her eldest sister was acting like one. "Are you bragging about your body again?"
"No, silly. I wanted your opinion about what I'm wearing," explained Urd with a smile. "I already know that my body is fantastic, so why would I even bother asking?"
"Grr... Showoff!" spat Skuld. "Besides I'm not here to look at your stupid underwear, I want my manga!"
"Oh, come on, Skuld! Just give me an honest opinion for once, will you?"
"Fine, fine!"
Taking a better look at her sister, the young goddess couldn't find anything negative to say. While it fit her form perfectly, there was the eerie feeling that she had somehow seen this particular design before.
"Wait a second! That's from my manga!" Skuld was surprised that she hadn't realized it sooner, but the difference between a gray scale, hand drawn image and real life was enough to throw her off for a while.
"Bingo! I thought it was a smart idea. I suppose you agree?" asked Urd.
"Um... Well, I can't say that it doesn't fit you... It's actually good," started Skuld. "But why did you have to use my manga as a source material? I mean, there have to be easier ways to come up with something like that, right?"
"That's true. Unfortunately the catalog I had available was a bit unsuitable for the kind of look I was going for. I wanted an enticing design, not a downright... well... immodest one," explained the goddess of the past.
"Since when did you care about things like modesty?" asked Skuld, rolling her eyes.
"How mean! I just want to make sure that my baby sister's innocent eyes won't see anything too naughty!" responded the goddess of the past, even though it felt more like a taunt.
"Grr! I'm not a kid!" protested Skuld, stubbornly refusing to accept that accursed title. "What's so outrageous about your other lingerie, anyway? I'm more than old enough to know anything about them!"
"That's a pretty bold statement from someone so small," said Urd while giving her the top of her sister's head a gentle pat.
"Well, show me!" insisted the youngest of the Norns. "I bet it's nothing really impressive, anyway!"
"Are you sure about that, Skuld. It could be too racy for someone so..." trailed Urd.
"Say young, and I've got a bomb with your name on it..." muttered Skuld.
"Don't say that I didn't warn you!"
With a puff of purple smoke, Urd was now clad in another white lingerie, but far skimpier than her previous one, showing a lot more skin. Despite that, Skuld had often seen her sister wear similar looking ones and couldn't understand what the big deal about it was. She simply assumed that the elder goddess was just pulling her leg like usual or forgot the fact that she had actually gotten more mature over the past few years.
That was until she took a better look on Urd's panties. Blinking a few times to make sure that she wasn't just imagining things, the goddess of the future started laughing so hard that she was holding her sides, trying to control herself.
"I can't believe it! How did you manage to fail at something so simple as materializing your own attire? That's the most basic stuff!"
Urd was expecting a reaction from her, but this one actually baffled her. Checking herself, she tried to spot what was off, and despite her best efforts, found absolutely nothing.
"Hey! What's so darn funny about me?"
Skuld struggled to regain her composure as she pointed at what she had thought as obvious.
"There's a hole in your panties, silly! That's the best failure you've had in months!"
"Uh... Skuld? That's actually part of the design..." said Urd, finally realizing what her sister was laughing about.
"Huh?! No way! You're just making stuff up, liar!" protested Skuld, still thinking that the other goddess had somehow messed up one of the simplest application of their powers.
"Oh really?" asked Urd. "Take a look at my catalog. See?"
Turning to the right page, the bronze skinned goddess handed the magazine to the younger goddess, allowing her to compare the item in the image with the one she was actually wearing.
"But... but... why would anyone want something like that?!" asked a surprised Skuld.
"You'll have to wait until you're a bit older and I'll tell you," answered Urd with a knowing smile. Meanwhile, she was just happy that she had proven her point and took the catalog off her sister's hands, before she got the chance to see anything more... daring.
"Urd!"
"Trust me, kid, it's for your own good."
"Fine! Have it your way! Nobody cares anyway!" said the frustrated inventor as she reached in her pockets and retrieved Keiichi's watch. "Here, take it! It's finished, so go deliver it whenever you want. I'm taking my manga back to my room!"
Urd remained quiet for several seconds after her sister had left. Usually, in these kind of situations, Belldandy would do something to appease the youngest of the Norns. This time though, she was alone, as the goddess of the present was on her trip with her husband.
"Don't even say it, Elegance," warned Urd as she felt the upcoming comment.
'Way to go, mistress...' said the dichromatic angel.
"I just told you..." started Urd, but decided to drop it, letting out a defeated sigh. It was true that she liked to tease others, especially her youngest sister, but it sometimes got a bit out of hand. "I guess that since I'm the one who made this mess, it's my job to fix it. Meanwhile, come back, Elegance."
'Yes, mistress. And... good luck...'
With the angel back into her form, Urd changed into one of her usual everyday clothes. Tucking the watch in one of her pockets, she headed for Skuld's room.
XXX
Skuld was trying to make some repairs to Banpei's frame, but it seemed to be almost hopeless. She had recovered some pieces to create her mini Banpei before they had left for Niflheim. Unfortunately, once Hild restored the house and everything in it, those missing parts prevented her robot from getting back into its original shape. The whole frame had to be scrapped for sure. Thankfully the main unit was intact, so his brain was perfectly fine, although she had to rebuild his body.
That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, though. It'd been a while since she'd given him an overhaul and she already had some interesting ideas on how to improve his battery time while keeping the rest of his operations unaffected.
She had come across some new raw materials and wanted to try them out on her robot. Using a sturdier aluminum alloy could make him withstand more punishment before he broke. After seeing Mokkurkalfi's robot, she felt that improving his durability was necessary if she was to deal with her again in the future.
It was that moment that she heard a knock on the door. Unlike the last time, she knew exactly who it was.
"Go away, Urd! A kid like me doesn't have anything to do with you and your torn panties!"
Entering the room regardless, the eldest of the three sisters took a seat next to Skuld.
"Hey! You didn't have to shout that! What if the others heard you?" asked Urd.
"Big deal! Only kids shouldn't know about that stuff, right?" countered Skuld in a sarcastic tone. "Besides, what's the worst that could happen anyway?"
"Wanna give any funny ideas to Peorth?" asked Urd back.
"Uh... I... see your point," answered the young goddess. "But really, what is it this time? I'm busy."
"Well..."
"Yes?"
"I wanted to apologize," said Urd, until she noticed her sister looking around. "Hey, what's up?"
"I think I have a recorder somewhere..." said Skuld as she searched through her various devices that were scattered all over her workbench. "This is way too good to let it pass like that."
"Oh, give me a break, Skuld! What's so impressive about me saying that I was wrong?" objected Urd.
"Because you never do it?" countered the younger goddess.
"Is that what you really think? Well, in that case, you're sadly mistaken. I may not like to do that, but it's not the first time," said the goddess of the past.
"That's hard to believe..." muttered Skuld, wondering if her sister was lying or not.
"Not really... If you want something even better, then I wish you could remember back when you used to call me whenever you wanted something," said Urd with a smile.
"Huh?! I did that?" asked the baffled goddess of the future.
"Yes, when you were very little. It was hard for you to ask for Belldandy to come, because you couldn't say her name and always ended up screaming up for me. Even if you messed mine, too," explained Urd with a chuckle.
"Really? What did I call you?" asked the now curious goddess.
"Urth," replied the Norn of the past. "And when you finally started to say for your oneesama's name, you got it wrong as well. I believe it was Verthandy or something like that."
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" It was more of a rhetorical question than an actual one, knowing that her sister really liked to mess around with others.
"Oh, of course!" said Urd with a big smile. "I can sit here and tell you all those embarrassing stories about your early childhood, if you want."
"Well, I don't. Besides what's the point? Do you think that I'm going to forgive you like that?" asked Skuld as she narrowed her eyes.
"Um... Yes?"
"No."
"Okay, what do you want?" asked a reluctant Urd.
"Well, you take me for ice cream tomorrow and we're even," answered Skuld. "Deal?"
"Ugh! You're so greedy! But... It's fine, I guess," said Urd while scratching her head. "Besides, we need to drop by to take a look at Whirlwind. We're starting work there the day after tomorrow."
"Yay! Ice cream!" cheered the happy goddess of the future.
Urd could only shake her head, but at the same time, she felt a bit better.
XXX
Niflheim, several millennia ago
A group of war gods were navigating the subterranean caverns of the Infernal Realm in hopes of reaching the point where the World Tree entered the demons' realm, destroying the systems that connected the Nidhogg computer with the roots. So far, it was the most ambitious plan that they had come up with and also the most dangerous one as well. Just creating the portal took them decades of research in order to figure out a way around the demons' security countermeasures and its actual construction was even worse.
However nothing compared with the task they had at hand. Reaching their destination from above ground was far safer, but there was absolutely no way that they could remain undetected by their enemies for long enough to get anywhere near that restricted area. This was seemingly easier, but the real issue was that even the demons were afraid to enter the realm of Nidhogg, the Infernal Dragon, and his army of snakes.
In all honesty Odin wasn't sure that this plan would even work, but if it did, the demons' access to the World Tree would be severed and with that, the gods could take this opportunity to finally bring an end to their ambitions. With Fafnir as the Daimakaicho, it was possible that his shortsightedness and stupidity might prevent them from responding properly to this situation for just the right amount of time to allow the gods to win this war for good.
Alongside the Daitenkaicho were his two brothers, Vili and Ve, who insisted to accompany him in his sons' place. The latter had been deliberately left behind, just in case the demons launched a surprise attack while he was out of reach and in radio silence.
So far, there was no sign of any resistance and that only troubled the god. At first he was considering the possibility that it may had been their lucky day, but something was clearly wrong. This place was supposed to be crawling with Nidhogg's minions, and yet, they hadn't encountered a single soul so far. The other god's reactions were somewhat similar judging by the tension that was apparent in the air.
It was Odin's duty as their leader to make a decision on whether to press forward or call the mission off and return back to Asgard. Unfortunately, the portal they had used wasn't a stable one and at best it could be only opened once more to allow their safe return. Beyond that, they would have to redo their efforts once again, providing that in the meanwhile, the security exploit they had utilized wasn't patched by the demons.
Despite his uneasiness, he was hesitant to waste this opportunity. It might've been the only chance they had and having to live knowing that it was ruined because of a bad feeling could come and haunt him.
"Sir! We're almost at the dragon's chamber. Should we proceed?"
Odin paused for a moment, as the spotter ahead of the group was looking for his permission to enter the lair of the most dangerous thing known in existence, Nidhogg. Their actual target was much higher, but the only known way according to the stolen info they'd got from the demons required them to enter the chamber. Any other path lead them further away and digging to it was not an option. Any activity like that would attract far too much attention. If the serpents didn't get them, then the demons would.
Feeling the pressure on his shoulders, the leader of Asgard nodded. "Yes, we didn't came this far to turn back now! Carry on!"
Entering one after the other, the group was awestruck by the sight before them. The sheer scale of the cavern was immense and the hanging roots from the ceiling just gave it an unreal feeling. Most importantly, though, the sight of the suspended Nidhogg at the ceiling was truly terrifying. They were all war gods and still, they could help but shudder a bit as they watched that monster. Thankfully, it was not going anywhere, so they started to carefully to the other exit at the exact opposite side of the chamber.
That's when everything went horribly wrong. The spotter that was ahead of them simply vanished in a blur and his poleaxe was flung across the rock floor, followed by an explosion that pushed the gods back a bit, causing the whole room to reverberate from the echo.
"A sonic boom? Underground?" asked Vili in shock.
"Up there!" shouted Ve, as he spotted the unlucky scout and the creature that was holding his lifeless body in its jaws. As the celestial body disintegrated into tiny white particles, the dragon, who had decelerated to a slow glide, landed on top of one of the roots that resembled an upside down tree branch, right above them.
"Nidhogg?! Why is that thing even... Fall back! We're out of here! Open the return gate! Now!" shouted Odin. While that was only a small avatar form of the actual dragon, it was more than five times taller than them and ridiculously more powerful. They had encountered this monster a few times throughout their history and aside from managing to put it to sleep, nothing else was remotely effective against it.
"We can't, sir!" shouted Hrym, who was the god tasked with carrying the compact form of the portal.
"What do you mean we can't?" asked Odin, over the noise of the other gods' offensive spells. A desperate attempt to keep that abomination either busy or at least entertained by looking at the bright colors of the explosions that otherwise failed to even scratch it.
"It's gone! The magic that hold the gate together is already expended! We have to rebuild it from scratch!"
Odin paled at the news. That wasn't supposed to happen until they passed through for the second time. Unless something or rather someone did that on purpose to trap them in the room. There was indeed a being so powerful enough to do such a thing. The Infernal Dragon itself.
"Fall back to the previous section of the tunnels, we have to get away from that damn monster!"
Just as the rest of the gods were about to follow the order, the dragon let out a horrible scream before it launched a ball of dark energy at them. Shattering into tiny pieces that turned into long needles, they rained down on the hapless gods that tried their best, but mostly failed, to get out of their way.
While Vili and Ve had managed to remain uninjured, Odin had one of those needles right on his face, disabling his right eye and Hrym was struggling to get the one that had embedded onto his left shoulder.
The rest were not nearly as lucky, though. They were hit by multiple ones and in seconds, the dark energies that emanated from the malevolent spikes.
Odin had barely managed to contain the energy within his injured eye, thanks to his own extensive knowledge on how to deal against all types of curses and poisons. As the Daitenkaicho he was almost certain that one of Fafnir's cowards would most likely try to assassinate him and he had been prepared for the worst.
Hrym, on the other hand, wasn't and most of his efforts had only slowed the infection but failed to stop it as it leaked to the rest of his body.
But the majority of them had received too much energy to even survive, and their lifeless bodies simply collapsed, leaving their weapons lying on the cavern's floor.
The leader of Asgard fell on the ground as he used most of his own energy to save himself. Still, he expected this to be his end as the dragon was unlikely to let them go like that. He could hear Hrym's own struggles not far from his location, while his two brothers were attempting to get the dragon to chase them to the other side of the chamber, a noble but probably suicidal move.
As he remained on the floor, he managed to take a glimpse of a group of demons approaching from the far exit that they were previously attempting to reach. It was getting hard to see anymore, but the leader of the group seemed to be a female Eldjotunn with platinum hair.
'Why is the leader of Muspelheim here?' wondered the wounded god. 'Then again, Hild had always poked her nose on other people's business...'
Then the world went black.
XXX
Niflheim, Hild's quarters, present
Odin woke up from his short nap, cursing a bit under his breath.
"Stupid dreams..."
Heading towards the bathroom of the guest room where Hild kept him hidden, he washed his face, before looking at the reflection at the mirror. Most of his face was perfectly fine, except his right eye. No matter what he tried to do, there was apparently no way to make it look normal anymore. A dark red cat-like iris in the middle of a completely dark orb was staring back at him from the mirror and he hated it more than anything else. Even if he were to lose it, it would regenerate back into that form.
On the other hand, Hrym must've had a much harder time, as his inability to stop the infection turned half of him into a demon. By comparison his eye was not a big issue, though he still used his visor to hide it from others. Not that he had many visitors anymore, but he still felt better this way.
Feeling refreshed, the former leader of Asgard turned his visor on, trying to see if anything happened during his nap. Despite its ghastly appearance, his right eye was still perfectly functional. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that some of those persistent dreams were somehow its fault.
He didn't had access to Yggdrasil anymore and the only thing that Hild allowed him was a basic news feed from the Nidhogg supercomputer. Far from ideal, but much better than having nothing at all. Isolation could be very hard on anyone, even though gods and demons could handle it much better than any mortal. The latter could start to go crazy if left alone for too long, although there were some exceptions amongst them.
Content that nothing major had happened, he switched the feed to the one he got from his two spies and wasn't terribly pleased by the sight.
'That's the guy that married my granddaughter? What kind of standards do those kids have these days?' wondered Odin, not particularly impressed by the captured video from the airport. 'At least Tyr seems to be trying to do something... It took him all this time, but he's starting to get the hang of it... maybe... Oh well, I'll have to wait before I make my mind, especially about the mortal. He seems like an idiot, but everyone has a bad day or two...'
Determined to get another sample of his interactions with his granddaughter, he switched from the recorded feedback to the real time one.
The only problem was that the seemingly frightened pilot was not the mortal he wanted to see. It appeared that the two ravens were right next to the cockpit of a military jet and stared at the baffled mortal who tried to understand how a pair of birds could keep up with his aircraft.
Activating the microphone of his visor, the god didn't sound to be amused by his servants' performance.
"What in Asgard's name are you guys doing?"
'Caw.'
"What do you mean they're sleeping on their seats? You're nowhere near them!"
'Caw, caw.'
"I know that it's a long flight, but keep in visual contact! Don't wander off on your own."
'Caw!'
"I don't care if it's boring, you feathered traitors! Get back to work or I'll kick your sorry tails. You'll have your fun after you're done! Now move it!"
The two ravens heard enough and abruptly accelerated, before they took a sharp left and moved to intercept the 747 that was en route to Hawaii. At more than twenty times the speed of sound, it wouldn't take too long to catch up.
"It's so hard to get good help anymore..." muttered Odin as he turned the visor's display off to go make some tea. Perhaps that would help him calm his nerves down a bit.
That's when his personal communicator informed him of an incoming call, a rare thing given that almost nobody even knew of his whereabouts.
"It is I," he answered with an amused tone in his voice. That had been his typical line whenever he had to identify himself during calls, back when he was the Daitenkaicho.
"..."
"Hm... Annoyed you say? That doesn't sound good. Have you found a scapegoat, yet?"
"..."
"I see... It's unfortunate, but only a temporary setback... Ah, there is a plan B. Good."
"..."
"I know. I haven't decided anything yet. I don't want to make any mistakes on such a matter. But I've reached a conclusion about that other one. You were right, deal with him."
"..."
"That's a bit much... but... I suppose he deserves it. I won't miss him for sure."
"..."
"Fine... Have it your way."
"..."
"Very well. I'll contact you later if anything else happens."
Taking the kettle with the boiling water out of the fire, he filled a cup and dropped a little paper bag that contained some tea leaves and waited.
'Well... Let's see what's going to happen. In the meanwhile, maybe I should try to find something interesting on the TV...'
AN: I would like to offer my thanks to WhoIsAtlas for proofreading this and making the needed corrections.
Additionally I would like to thank everyone that has offered their feedback and support both here and on the Goddess Relief site.
There are several things I'd like to note for this chapter.
Peorth's true personality is a bit of a mystery, so I had to base what I wrote on some of the tiny amount of information we had about her. She seemed to be rather certain that Belldandy was just acting hypocritically in the past and as a first class goddess, I don't think that she was lying about it. Rather, she actually believed it for the most part. That really brings the question of why. My interpretation is that some goddesses and gods (especially the younger ones), do try to act like as if they're perfect to make themselves more popular and successful. Peorth is sick of this and not only goes against the trend (as evident by her unconventional attire), but developed a dislike for those type of goddesses and accidentally mistakes Belldandy for one of them.
Regin (or Reginn) , was a dwarf in Norse myths and his two brothers were Fafnir (before he became a dragon) Otr. He was the foster father of Sigurd as well. In this story, he's a god and currently in charge of Yggdrasil's (the supercomputer) head technician. To avoid any confusion, he's not associated in any way with Fafnir, who in this story was a former Daimakaicho.
The part about Skuld's way of calling her sisters when she was very young is a reference to the canonical names of the three Norns. They were actually called Urth, Verthandy and Skuld.
The flashback partially explains how Odin and Hrym found themselves into the demons' hands and a few things about their situation. Of course, that's only part of that story, but it will have to do for this chapter. The dragon mentioned in this chapter is a smaller version of the actual Infernal Dragon. Just like the gods and demons, it can create little versions of itself and this is one way to get out of Yggdrasil's binds. The result of Nidhogg's attack was that Odin had one of his eyes transformed into something that he tried to keep out of everyone's sight and Hrym ended up as a half demon, since he failed to contain the energy in time. I know that Odin had sacrificed one of his eyes in the Well of Mimir in the Norse myths in exchange for knowledge, but given that immortals in this story can regenerate lost parts, his eye became corrupted but not damaged. No matter what he does it won't return to its original state and neither Hrym can become the way he used to.
Also, the demoness at the end of the flashback is indeed Hild. The incident took place a short amount of time before she staged her coup and got the Daimakaicho's position. Until then, she was the leader of Muspelheim.
Finally, the weapons that Ansuz had noticed in chapter 8 were indeed the ones left there from that ill fated mission, after the dragon had decimated Odin's team. They were stacked along the rest of the stuff that the creature kept in his lair.