It was a sound Laufey never thought she would hear again. She hunched over a rock looking for the source. The Leviathan held behind her back. Through the tall red trees of the rocky forest a muffled cry echoes. A baby, no, older she thinks. A child? Perhaps somewhere in the middle?
She crawls forward to the sound. It had to be a trap from the cruel gods. A test? She had already attempted to wake herself up to see if it was a dream, a new vision. She didn't trust it. Still, it had been years since she had met anything aside from the creatures in the forest. Curiosity mixed with desperation drove her forward.
Hidden behind a large tree was a small toddler, crying into the exposed tree roots. The sobbing was weakened by exhaustion. She wondered how long the child had been crying? Laufey emerged from the shadows. Her feet crunching against the leaves caused a small face to turn around and look at her.
It was a little girl.
The girl stood up and lunged towards Laufey. She ran with her arms open, wrapping them around Laufey's legs as soon as she got close. Laufey hadn't experienced human contact in years, gasping, she shoved the child away.
The little girl yelped as she fell backward onto her bottom. Her hair flared in front of her face. The color of strawberries. She had an allure about her. Something inside Laufey wanted to immediately scoop the child up and nurture her. Take her home, feed her. She was so pure and perfect, almost, too perfect. She shook the wave of temptation away from her mind, remaining suspicious of the god's trickery. Laufey lifted her axe up and started looking around as the little girl sat on the ground sobbing quietly now. Her dirty hands rubbing tears away.
There truly is no one else around here Laufey realized. She sets her axe down and extends out her arms to the girl as an apology. The little girl immediately runs over to her, her wet face seeping through her clothing. Amazed by the undeserving trust in her, she must be so desperate.
Laufey opens her mouth to speak, but it had been so long. How does she make the sound again? The vibrations come out all wrong at first. She almost bit her tongue.
She tries again.
"What is your name?"
The little girl looked up at her.
"Ελένη"
Gibberish. Of course, she was too young to talk yet.
Laufey hugs her and wipes a tear from her face. She examines her features.
A birthmark in between her blue eyes. Her facial structure seemed, different. She was a humanoid, but, she didn't look like any of the other humans she's ever met. She was wearing a sky blue dress out of a strange thin fabric. What an odd way to drape a dress, so much fabric, yet it still left so much exposed. She wasn't that familiar with how parents dress growing children, maybe it would be easier for her to grow into it? She must have been cold, no cloth covered her arms and her shoes seem to only protect the bottom of her feet, leaving the top open to the elements. Laufey wraps her cloak around her. She looks down at her neck, a necklace. What is this? Strange shapes carved into it. Σπάρτη It couldn't be a language, she had known all of them.
The girl reaches up and tries to poke Laufey eyes. She quickly moves her head back from the hands. "No." She says sternly. The little girl reaches for her own eyes and points to them. She wanted her to look at her eyes?
"Eyes," Laufey says slowly. She blinks a few times. Laufey spent the rest of the day searching for any signs of her parents or a portal she came through.
Her back was starting to hurt, the little girl insisted she carries her the entire trip up the mountain home. Laufey finally set her down inside her cave. all the statues and paintings entranced the little girl. She ran away from her to look at them. She ran to and pointed at Loki. Laufey walks over with a small smile. "That's my baby." She says trying to seem friendly. "He, passed away, unfortunately." She stutters. "πεθερός" the little girl says. Laufey leans down but before she can put a hand onto her shoulder she runs off to another painting. It is his fight with Frigg's son. His arrow ready to fire, all alone he would kill the mighty god.
"This was, um, his brave fight with one of the gods. He slays the...-" The girl hits the wall angry. "Πού είναι το άλλο;" She mumbles.
Laufey stills as her eyes grow wide That's not a child's babbling, that's a different language. She points to Loki's picture. "You?" She points to the little girl. Perhaps she is like the world serpent. "Hel?" She questions. The little girl shakes her head.
She pointed to a crumbling wall that Laufey hadn't finished yet. Loki with the snake venom. She hadn't started carving Narfi's daughter yet.
"I'm sorry but I cannot finish the rest." She says. "My baby isn't alive... anymore." She adds in lying.
The little girl reaches out towards the runes spelling out Loki.
"Death cannot hold those with purpose." A voice echoed.
Laufey turns around. A woman. No, it is transparent, a ghost? A spirit from Hel she thinks. The body glows in the dim cave. A dress, similar in style to the one on the child, sprawling down her slender body, a breast spilling out one side. A snake-like ingot wraps around parts of her exposed arm. Jewelry? Her hair is pulled back from her face. In place of eyes, she has glowing light shining brightly. Laufey shoves the little girl behind her and summons the axe to her hands. "What illusion is this?!" She yells out to the woman.
"I was curious of the extent of your abilities. So it would seem you have your limits for how far you can see into what has not yet occurred. Or perhaps you are simply confined to this world alone?" The woman says walking forward. "You have spent so much of your life expecting everything before it even happens. How strange must it feel for you to be truly in the dark as the rest of us."
"Answer me Hel spawn! What magic is this? What is going on?" Laufey brings her axe in front of the woman's face, inches away from her body.
The ghost walks through the axe, unharmed. She bends down and looks to the little girl smiling.
"I've been looking everywhere for you. Your betrothed's family must truly indeed be worried."
"Betrothed?" Laufey said disgustingly, looking back to the small child.
"Yes, the man she is promised to is the second son of a great and powerful king. Much effort has been put into place to protect her. She is to be hidden away until finally, she is old enough to be married." The woman continues. "Tell me, was she with anyone when you found her?" Laufey lowered her weapon.
"No, she was left all alone in the forest. I searched, but I didn't find anybody else."
The ghostly woman reached out to the little girl. She clutched tightly to Laufey leg, trembling. The woman lowered her hands and stood up straight away. "I can not thank you enough, finding her for me as you did."
Laufey looks down to the little girl. "Why is she so special?" The woman stares blankly at her. She is unable to read her facial expression with no eyes staring back at her. Laufey sets the axe down and picks the little girl up. She hides her face in her breasts. Her fingers grip her arms so tightly it begins to hurt. She readjusts her onto her hip.
"Her beauty has cursed her. Men from different lands fight wars for her." Another smile crept onto her face, the smiles were chilling. "This isn't the first time someone has attempted to take her away. Not long ago A greedy king with a powerful army stole her for himself. The girl's brothers are from a land known for creating some of the most feared and powerful warriors this world has ever known. They fought and rescued her from the captors."
The woman turned her head to look around the cave, she didn't spend much time looking at each of the etchings on the walls. "You have my eternal gratitude for delivering this child to me."
Laufey lifted an eyebrow suspiciously. "I still don't understand where you fit into this?"
Once again, the woman was impossible to read. "I seek only to return her to her land. She is far from her home."
"Where is her home? Niflheim? Midgard?" She smoothly comes to her fingers through the strawberry hair of the little girl.
"No child. While your world is indeed vast with many realms, we come from even further away."
"Like the ones Tyr traveled to?" Laufey asked.
"Hmmm, yes you would know about his travels, wouldn't you? But as for an answer to your question, yes. We come from a far away world, unlike any realm you have ever journeyed to."
Laufey noticed she was still not answering her question. "Is she from the same land as you?"
A silence, several seconds longer from what felt natural. "No, and yes."
Laufey tightens her hold onto the girl.
The woman continued. "The girl in your hands, she is the daughter of a man very close to me."
Laufey started to suspect the woman, the way she spoke, the things she said, the things she didn't.
"You see, that girl is a goddess from my land."
Laufey froze.
A smile reappeared on the woman's face as Laufey bent down to promptly set the girl onto the ground.
"Once again, I thank you for finding her. I only wish I could reward you for keeping her safe."
Laufey walked back over to her axe and picked it up bitterly. "You have what you want. Leave my home."
The woman walks over to the small girl. Tears bubbling up in her small eyes before she lets out a whimper the woman places a hand onto the top of her head. The child vanishes. The woman turns to face Laufey with a smile.
"You have proved a reliable ally. I offer my assistance to you."
"Leave my home," Laufey says coldly.
The woman ignored her. "I worried you may have grown attached to her and struggle to release her."
Laufey set the axe over her right shoulder. "I was with her only a day."
Another unusually long pause came before she responded. "You must forgive me, a mother's love can attach itself to not simply her child."
"I am not a mother." Laufey quipped. "You have everything you need. Please leave."
"I can save you from your solitude." The woman says. Laufey moves her axe back in front of her.
"You have proven a woman with whom I can keep my possessions safe with. If you wish, follow and continue to aid me. I will reward you with all the power and glory deserving of you."
"Get. Out." Laufey snaps coldly.
The woman begins floating in the air. "As you wish. This will call upon me should you ever change your mind. No matter what I am indebted to you for this gift you have given me." A small golden object falls onto the ground.
She begins to disappear. "May our paths cross again soon, αδερφή."
Laufey walks over to the object she left. Then realizes she never asked the woman for her name.
She picks up the ring and examined it. An ear cuff. It had strange symbols. Αθήνα. She could feel no signs of magical energy coming from it.
She stood on the edge of her brother's fingertips. Looking out to her dead people scattered along the mountains below. Her feet inch closer to the cliff, the Leviathan in her right hand. How many times in the past 5 years had she done this? Gotten this close? She wondered if this would even kill her? She paused for a moment, looking down at her fate. It all began to swirl in her mind. Her failures, her losses, she thinks of the men and women she loved. These feelings normally brought her back to reality. They saved her. But today she had felt no emotions. There was an emptiness inside her heart, she wanted to find something, anything. But it was all lost in an endless maze, or gone forever. If she was stronger she would set off in search of these precious feelings... but she was tired. 'This was fine' she thought, 'I'll be with them.' She bends down to feel her brother's fingers with her own hands. The fingerprints were worn away from time and friction. Without seconds guessing herself, she plummeted off the edge of his hands. The wind felt so lovely against her face as she fell. It was as if it blew away a layer of dead skin clinging to her body. A layer that weighed her down too much. She only felt these lovely feelings for moments, before approaching the earth below came closer and closer. "Free me." She says before the ground consumes her.
She's, not dead? No, she must be, though this doesn't look like Hel. Strange white stone pillars surrounded her. The wind blew her hair in front of her face, lose strands slapping her cheeks along with harsh droplets of water. The scene was almost apocalyptic, screams of agony echoed in the background as tornadoes whirled overhead. The rains flooded the land, waves of water surged onto the banks of the small hill she stood on, threatening to wash her away. As long as there wasn't any lightning she wouldn't be scared. The glowing woman stood in front of her, eyes shining brightly on her emotionless transparent face.
"Serve me and I will free you. It is not too late!"
Laufey calls for her axe, it doesn't come to her.
"I know you want a second chance. I have that power. I can send you back, you can fix everything. Prevent that future before it even happens.
She reaches for her dagger. "Enough! Leave me be!"
The woman lifts her hand, the ear cuff she destroyed after their last meeting, floats out of the pouch in several pieces. It glows the same blue aura as the woman now. It reconstructs itself back together.
"I am entrusting you with something special to me. Once I am finished, simply return it and I will help you save your people." The cuff floats in front of her face. Laufey reaches out to grab it and throws it onto the ground stepping on it. The thin metal cracking beneath her boot.
"No matter what you offer, I am not helping you or any god! Go ahead, send me anything precious of yours, I will destroy it!"
A smile creeps onto the woman's face.
"You have already assisted the gods in a monumental way. For that, we can never ignore the debt owed to you. Until that day comes. You and I are bound." The ear cuff vibrates beneath her boot.
Laufey glares at the woman as she vanishes. The rain began to stop. Only the sound of wind can be heard. Something crashes down over top of her. She slams into the ground on impact, almost every rib feels broken. Whatever landed on her was breathing raggedly. Her vision fades momentarily.
A large hand slides underneath her shirt. It moves up underneath the base of her right breast but before it touches the fleshy mound it slides down to her hips and grips it tightly. She feels her hip bone fracture. Burning fingertips caress against the cold skin underneath her clothing. Slowly they trace painfully across her abdomen, she is being burnt alive. The weight of a body pushes down on top of her. As she motions to scream out in pain a mouth pushes against her own. It rips her lips open as it enters violently. Stealing the last remits of air from her lungs. She cannot breathe. Everything hurts. She reaches out in desperation and grabs hold of the thing over top her, she had to rip it off her. It was killing her. Where she expected to feel the skin of a human, there were only chains. Her vision shifts into focus, there wasn't a person over top of her at all. Just a pile of chains? The ends coiled around her body. The top wrapped around her neck loosely. It slithered down her shirt and around her breast. The other end had slipped down the waistband of her trousers and coiled around her upper thigh. She reaches underneath her clothing and pulls the hot chain off her body, it makes a jingling sound as it fell next to her.
Laufey sat up, bringing a hand to her mouth. The taste of rust leaves an odd lingering aftertaste in her mouth. It was, sweet? Similar to alcohol made from fruit. She looks around for the chains but they were nowhere to be found. A vision? A dream? Where is she? "I've been here." She thinks.
The world is overcast in a dark blue aura. She cannot see in front of her more than a few feet. Reaching for her axe next to her she tries to stand up but the gravity is too heavy. She falls back onto her hands and knees. Fatigue overtakes her.
"Kid?" A voice says. This voice, she knows it. "Holy shit, Kid!" She felt small hands grip her arms.
"Brok?" She weakly whispers. Then, sleep overtook her.