Chapter One: Fight
The training grounds were full, weaponry carefully placed on stands and wracks around the outer stone platforms whilst dirt covered the circular pit that was for training only. No magic was permitted in such training arenas. Metal met metal. Shields were smashed with the blows of the warriors and Gods that fought within the arenas. The arenas were no place for those without practice.
Two females had already formed a crowd when the two took up their weapons and took to the arena. One of the teens with hair as black as the night tied up on the top of her head with a gold clasp bore a sword, the hilt resting in a strong grip with her right hand. Secured to her back was a shield that bore the scars of other battles already fought with. Her tanned skin rippled with muscles, a clear sign of early years of training and held herself as a victor. She was a tall woman, much taller than her opponent and bound in leather armour.
The second woman was the complete opposite, short in stature with no clear visible muscles. Her skin was pale, though surrounding both of her emerald eyes were a network of natural black vines that flew elegantly from the corner of each eye. Her silver hair too was tied back in a black clasp on the back of her head. She wore black and silver as her armour, though bore no shield on her back. A sword was held in her hand and two small daggers clasped to her belt.
A silent agreement passed between both teenagers, both instantly swinging into battle, their swords meeting, resulting in a shower of sparks that rained into the dirt floor. The silver haired woman was the first to draw back from the attack, her speed fast as she pulled a dagger, drawing her sword forward viciously to attack her opponent, bringing up her dagger when her sword was met by her opponents blade.
The black haired woman was quick though and her shield was drawn from her back, blocking the dagger and sending her shield into the unprotected stomach of her opponent.
"I wager on Sif," someone from the crowd rooted on the black haired woman after the last blow was dealt.
"They can read each other's moves, they trained from children together," a female responded from behind the trio of men that watched the fight. "I wouldn't count Valkaife out yet."
Sif followed up her onslaught, having already pushed the smaller teen back and swung down with her sword, the sword of her opponent falling from her grasp as she swung up to block. A small smile lit up Sif's face as she swung down for a finishing blow but was blocked by the twin daggers that Valkaife had pulled loose to block the sword, spinning to her left, knocking the blade out the way and pulling in close to the taller teen.
Sif knew her opponent well though and pulled away quickly, no bringing the fight to as such close quarters as her opponent liked. She knew from previous losses against her opponent and friend that Valkaife liked to bring the fight into extreme close quarters and use her short daggers to her advantage. Had magic been allowed and for Valkaife to do what she did best, Sif knew without doubt she would be at a loss.
Valkaife wasn't letting Sif get away from her easily though, using her speed she came down upon her opponent, making the first contact of the match with blade and flesh, nicking her opponents arm as she brought her dagger down. Her blade tore through leather and flesh, staining the blade.
Sif wasn't about to let a small cut stop her though as she pushed into Valkaife, cutting lowly to the unprotected Goddesses thigh. Pulling even instantly with the cuts both females had given one another.
"Valkaife wants it over fast, an interesting tactic," the female laughed behind the three males who'd stopped discussing victors.
"She fights fairly, did you not teach her that Lady Orethina?"
Orethina didn't reply, instead watched as Valkaife once more drew into close quarters, binding a dagger to her belt and using her hand and leg to pull Sif off balance, pinning the taller woman to the floor and holding a dagger to her neck.
The crowd broke out into cheers, both Sif and Valkaife hearing the cheering as the dagger was removed from the warriors neck and a hand held out to pull her opponent up.
"You fought differently," Sif spoke, her own way of offering her congratulations to the Goddess.
"Allow me to heal you," Valkaife's tone lulled Sif into a sense of security instantly as she pressed her lips to the wound she'd inflicted upon her opponent, her pink tongue darting out to taste the blood from the wound.
"Your blades were poisoned?" Sif wasn't shocked at the revelation, knowing Valkaife was a master of nature, thus a master of natural poisons.
"How else would I have beaten your strength?" Valkaife grinned in a mischievous way, drawing the poison out the wound and closing the wound with an ancient magic Valkaife had mastered.
Sif did question when Valkaife had overpowered her just how the smaller girl had done it. Much like the nature she guided the teen, Sif saw Valkaife as delicate as a flower when matched to her strength. Learning her daggers bore poison answered all the questions Sif would need answering.
"You both did splendid!" Tyr, God of War placed a large hand on both girls shoulders, pushing Valkaife slightly due to her smaller frame, though Sif remained sturdy at the heavy hand on her shoulder. "Sif, Hogun will be waiting your battle in arena six."
"Master!" Sif bowed before the man that trained her from childhood and through her early teens, taking her sword and sheathing it.
"Sif, I'll catch you tonight!" Valkaife waved after her departing friend and began leaving the arena herself.
"Lady Orethina has arranged another training match for you," Tyr halted his student.
"Have I not had my required three for the day?" Valkaife cocked her head to the side curiously.
"You misunderstand. Orethina will be waiting in arena eleven," Tyr allowed two younger boys into the arena as Valkaife took her leave, understanding showing on her face.
Arena eleven, one that no plain warrior of Asgard wished to be summoned to. Valkaife had never been summoned to the arena before. She'd watched many battle over in arena eleven, mainly Gods or those who had studied magic and sorcery. Those who could naturally use a form of magic. She recalled Freya and Eir in battle once, both Goddesses showing a spectacular show for the younger viewers of the match. Freya, the Goddess of battle found herself struggling against the Goddess of healing. Freya could inflict much but Eir could heal even more. The match was a standoff, leaving no victor and no loser. Eir and Freya had embraced once they had bowed to one another, accepting the draw before going off to feast the victory both had felt over a draw.
More recently, Valkaife had watched Orethina, Goddess of water befall a defeat against Mani, God of the moon. Orethina, the Goddess that had mentored Valkaife and kept her safe all her life, she was invincible in the eyes of the younger Goddess. How then, had Orethina fallen so easily before the God of the moon? According to Orethina, when questioned, Mani and his lunar magic meant he too could control Orethina's attribute in some form. Valkaife still hadn't understood that, then again, she only needed to know that water was the life source of so many.
"My lady," Valkaife bowed before her mentor, showing the respect Orethina had so rightly earned from her student.
"Valkaife, I have for you an opponent of great skill," Orethina gestured to the arena, word already spreading that a skirmish would commence in arena eleven and a crowd already drawn, including two faced Valkaife was not best pleased to see.
"What are they doing here?" her lyrical tone changing dangerously when she eyed the two Princes of Asgard that stood with the gathering crowd.
"My dear, I've chosen your opponent as Loki," Orethina gestured the young Prince into the arena. "Are the arrangements not to your liking?"
"The arrangements are greatly to my liking," Valkaife smirked, meeting her emerald gaze with the darker green eyes of the young Prince.
"The Allfather will be watching, show them your true skills Valkaife. Show everyone what you have mastered recently," Orethina commanded her student.
With a roll of her eyes, Valkaife entered the arena, her hands ghosting over the hilts of her daggers. The sword she once held forgotten back in arena two where she'd previously fought. She understood at Orethina's words just why she was pushed into this fight and against Loki of all people. Should she fight against a friend, she wouldn't cause damage or show any of her true skill. Against one of the Prince's, those that made her childhood a living hell as she was learning how to be the Goddess she needed to be, oh she could most certainly show her all.
Loki and Valkaife were not the only two that entered the arena, along with the two came a taller woman, her golden hair encircling her form in a gentle breeze as she met with the two in the centre. Her amethyst eyes gazed over each of the teens. She was Eir, Goddess of healing, one that had taught Valkaife the art of healing. The Goddess would be needed here over all other arenas for the skirmish.
"You both understand you can forfeit at any time?" Eir questioned, her lyrical tone putting Valkaife's adopted one to shame.
"Not happening," Valkaife didn't even look at the Goddess, her attention fully on the Prince that stood taller than her, that stupid smirk on his face.
He'd never through much of the young Goddess of life and nature. Not many did, most saw her as a gardener and nothing more. Orethina, Frigga, Sif, Freya and Eir were the four Asgardian's that had witnessed a little of what Valkaife could do. She was a secretive youth, most her magic remaining hidden encase a need would ever arise where her opponents would underestimate her, much like the current moment.
"Then I leave you to your fight," Eir spoke, making a swift exit from the arena, making her way towards Orethina who had found Frigga.
Loki carried a sceptre in hand, his weapon of choice, though it was nothing on the one his father carried. He was stood in the centre of the arena when Valkaife retreated slightly. It was clear to the young Prince that his opponent was taking the fight a lot more seriously than he was.
Her eyes caught sight of a familiar colourful bird that perched high above the arena. Her frown turned to a smile instantly. She was well looked over by Asgardian's and the Druid's to the western forests of Asgard.
The ground was hers though, and she started simply, feeling the magic that was drawn from nature surround her as she focussed it into creating vines from the floor and from the walls of the arena.
"I've watched you play with vines before, did Sif not fall to a familiar tactic?" Loki laughed at the attempt Valkaife opened with, using a well-known and well-loved move of his where he duplicated his form into many within the arena, all the Loki's aiming their sceptres at the Goddess.
"Turn the heat up then shall we?" Valkaife smirked, the black clasp that held her hair up breaking off as she thrust her hand upwards, visualising exactly what she wanted before she was overwhelmed by the magic she needed for such a shift. The ability the Druid's were known for, the ability that she had many forms of. She could shapeshift at will, though she had saved the form she grew now for special occasions. It was a mystical beast she had never shifted into before in front of Orethina.
The petite girl grew, the shift seeming effortless as she grew, scales forming across her skin, bones producing from her back and leathering wings extending. Her neck extended greatly, though that wasn't what had grabbed the attention, the shift happened too fast for any to visible see everything that happened to the Goddess. What the spectators saw was the petite Goddess grow into what could only be described as a fearsome winged beast known as a dragon.
Loki aimed at the grown dragon form of Valkaife and let loose a blue gust of pure magic energy, hitting the scales but doing no damage.
She laughed in the dragon form, aiming a breath of fire into the air. Arena eleven was known for its size, but even so, the Goddesses new form took up half the arena.
Her breath hot, she focussed on the images of Loki, blowing out a breath of hot air over all the copies, eyeing the only one that didn't flicker from the breath of air.
"Found you," she stated, bringing a heavy foot down and placing her foot down on the Prince.
He didn't avoid it, he didn't even realise a heavy foot rested on his until he realised she was shifting back to her usual form. Loki had not expected it. He was caught completely unaware at what the Goddess could actually do. The timid girl he had tormented and teased during their upbringing wasn't just some girl who enjoyed growing flowers. How had he missed her strength?
He came to his senses as the vines that she'd previously grown ensnared and entrapped him.
"Give up?" Valkaife was grinning, her silver hair now cascading over her black and silver armour.
"It would seem I have underestimated you," Loki responded.
"No?" Valkaife didn't get the answer she wanted and shifted once more, though his time it was to a much smaller creature, one that Loki had known well, after all he tormented Valkaife as a child with the illusions of snakes.
Loki was the master of illusions though, having illusions as the base of his study from being a child. He watched the snake form of Valkaife as she positioned her fangs near his neck, giving one final chance of forfeit before she'd inject the venom. He knew not what the venom would do from the form she'd taken, she was a master of nature thus a master of poisons and venom. She would know exactly what she was doing.
She'd underestimated him though, it was something she realised once she bit down and her fangs hit nothing but her own vines.
She had morphed form faster than she previously had, sensing with her sensitive tongue that magic was stirring behind her. Wings grew from the body of the snake quickly, scales changing to feathers as she took flight, not missing the blast of magic from behind. Her flight had being too slow to avoid the hit fully.
She could survey the ground from above though and saw her vines shrink into the ground. Loki stood confidently, watching Valkaife who morphed to her original form as she flew down, landing elegantly on two legs.
"It seems I have underestimated you," Valkaife offered back, "shall we fight as equals this time?"
Loki wouldn't mess this one up, Odin was stood watching the two, he wouldn't accept a loss to his opponent. She was still the little cry baby in his eyes and he wouldn't suffer a defeat against her.
Valkaife wasn't just the girl that grew flowers though, she made that much obvious when she opened, apparently nature wasn't just her growing flowers, it was so much more. She used the very core of nature, the life force that she could harness, focussing it into a ball of pure natural energy and firing at Loki.
He matched her blow for blow, both exchanging magic, forcing the walls of the arena to crumble with some of the blasts. Loki was soon to realise that the attack that caught the tail feathers when she was took the form of a bird had weakened her slightly already.
It was the daggers she had that he had to be careful of, he already knew from watching her and Sif fight that the blades were coated in a poison that could sap strength. She had both daggers attached to thin vines which she would fire with magic at Loki onto the draw them back when she missed.
For Valkaife's part, she was very careful of the illusions Loki would form, he could trick her on many occasions if she didn't stay focussed. She'd already aimed at illusions with her daggers and some poisonous vines she'd conjured from the ground, wasting precious energy and leaving herself possibly vulnerable.
Loki managed to get close enough to inflict a wound to her shoulder with his next illusions, leaving his opponent searching for the correct Loki whilst he attacked her, opening the wound and spraying blood.
Valkaife wasn't about to throw in the towel though, she had the wound strapped up with leaves quickly, vines surrounding the injured shoulder to secure the make shift bandage in place. She chose that moment to shift once more, taking the form of a wolf and leaping across the stadium in a large leap, knocking Loki from his feet and snarling in his face once she had the correct one and not an illusion on the floor. With a shift of her eyes to the side she brought down both poison coated daggers down onto Loki, piercing both his arms and jumping back, shifting into her usual form and standing triumphantly.
Loki had more fight in him though, the poison not taking instant effect and in the one moment of letting her guard down, thinking of the win Loki hit her with a blast sending her to the floor and coughing at the force behind the attack.
Both were unable to continue, Loki having poison rushing through his veins and Valkaife taking a direct hit from magic after already being weakened from the extensive use of magic, shifting and also the hits she'd already taken from the young Prince.
"Cease!" Eir called from the stands, entering the arena, instantly rushing to Loki, ignoring Valkaife for the moment who was rubbing away blood from her mouth from the lone full force attack.
Eir tended to Loki on the spot, removing all traces of poison from his blood stream, weary of the tangled vines that were currently still, but she wasn't as aware as Valkaife was of which contained poison and which didn't.
"First rule of combat?" Freya was on the scene with Valkaife, standing above the Goddess with amusement flashing across her delicate features.
"Don't turn your back on your opponent," she answered routinely. "In my case, let your guard down until it is over."
"Some enemies will be immune to poisons. Don't let them overwhelm you."
"I'd say don't use so much energy," Eir broke into the conversation, kneeling beside Valkaife and examining the bleeding first. She couldn't do much to the draining hit Valkaife had taken of pure magic, nor could she aid in the rejuvenation of Valkaife's magic.
"Nature surrounds us," Valkaife smiled, her gaze above on the bird above that remained perched, a sky blue eye meeting with her emerald eyes as she looked up. "I cannot harness magic."
Eir and Freya had heard Valkaife utter the same before, though neither understood her exact words. She had been tested for magic at a very young age and possessed a great deal of it. Valkaife had explained that it was natural energy and not magic, though that was nonsense to the Gods and Goddesses of Asgard.
She remained smiling though and allowed her eyes to close, her focus on the plants she had used to aid her fight, feeling for their own life force and draining them of it to revitalise herself.