Revamped!
[I DON'T CARE ABOUT EXAMS AT THE MOMENT, THIS IS IN HONOUR OF THE RELEASE OF THE AVENGERS 4 TRAILER!
This arc was probably the hardest one to plan and write to date (although there is one in the future that will kill me).
Most of all, this arc was first planned to be ten parts and now, it's SEVENTEEN!
And now, you will finally know what happened in Asgard for the past seven years. Please be aware of the time headings at the start of each chapter and know that seven years ago would be around the time when Emily and Sigyn's stories ended, and Sigyn and Apollo would've just arrived in Asgard after their high school graduation]. [2020: This arc is also what was happening for Sigyn and Apollo during the events of SA].
[2020: I've been putting off this arc since it fucked me up when I wrote it. Forget that future arc, this arc killed me].
Chapter 113: What Happened in Asgard Part One
Seven Years Ago - Vanaheim
Sigyn stands right in the middle of Vanaheim grounds, seeing the battle happening between Vanaheim's forces against her own. She turns and sees a soldier heading her way with full force. Sigyn tilts her head as she watches him, pushing back a lock of her hair that fell over when she looked. She winks at him just as his mace stabs right through her phasing body. As Sigyn dissipates into a blur of her magic, Freya lunges from the other side and impales him with her sword.
Freya looks over her shoulder and sees the real Sigyn just a foot away from her fighting with her magic. They're the only two Asgardians here against a whole load of Vanaheim soldiers. Saying they're outnumbered is an understatement.
Sigyn holds out her hands and as they both glow with magic, so do two of the soldiers in front of her. She balls her hands into fists and throws them at her side, causing the soldiers to go flying. When she sees a group of them coming her way, she makes her glowing hands form a sphere that she thrusts at them, making them trapped in a vault of her deadly magic.
On Asgard, Sigyn developed a fighting style. She would infuse her magic into her hands to enhance her combat skills and allow her to parry attacks without suffering any damage.
Freya lunges at another soldier and their swords clash. The sound of metal against metal shrieks their ears. They draw apart, blades sparking. When he attacks again from above, Freya crouches and holds her arms crossed above her head to block him with her forearm gauntlets. Freya kicks forwards, knocking over the soldier in front of her. She takes his sword and whips it in the other direction. Sigyn fires a portal for it to fly through and it flies out of another one just across from them, slicing another soldier.
"Give me a boost!" Freya exclaims as she starts running in Sigyn's direction.
Sigyn cups her hands together without magic and crouches forwards. Freya steps up and climbs onto Sigyn's grip, launching herself into the air. Mid-flight, Freya holds her sword up high. Sigyn traces the outline of Freya's sword with her magic and when her weapon stabs the ground, it emits a growing force of Sigyn's power that annihilates any of Vanaheim's soldiers coming their way.
Once that calms down, Freya stands beside a monolith and Sigyn phases beside her. They glance at each another and Freya inserts her sword back in the carrier around her waist. It's silent around them, except for the sound of their heavy breathing.
"Let's complete this task and call it a day," Sigyn says with a bright smile. She stretches her arms behind her and bunches her hair into a bun. As she ties it with her magic, she hears Freya taking out her sword again. Sigyn turns back, letting her golden locks fall back down.
Another flood of Vanaheim's forces is coming for them.
"Get the artifact," Sigyn tells Freya, stepping in front of her.
Freya nods. Sigyn warms up her hands with her magic and is about to extend it upwards to make a wall, but stops herself when she notices it getting darker in the realm. Sigyn looks up and sees the clouds swirling. She and Freya shake their heads disgracefully as they step back to make room for the aftermath of the sparking lightning. As thunder roars, a portal shoots down from the sky, its wind blowing Sigyn's and Freya's hair back. Then, as expected, Apollo shoots down and lands on the ground, fully armoured with his axe in his hand. He glances at the approaching army and shrugs before turning around and seeing Sigyn and Freya giving him deadpanned and unamused expressions.
"You need help?" Apollo asks with a gleeful grin on his face.
"Leave your axe to the landscaping," Freya tells him.
"Your father sent us on a girl's trip which you weren't invited to, so go home," Sigyn says in more of an orderly fashion.
"Too bad," Apollo says as he turns back to the approaching army and starts to wind up his axe.
Sigyn watches her cousin and a mischievous idea blinks in her head, making itself evident on her face. Noticing this, Freya takes a step to the side. Before Apollo could unleash his power towards Vanaheim's soldiers, Sigyn makes a portal in front of him with one hand and uses her other to cast her forceful magic towards him so that he falls into it. Apollo reappears out of another portal just above the army and Sigyn roars with laughter. Freya joins in with her as they go to take care of them.
"Not cool!" Apollo exclaims as he continues to get trampled, preventing him from getting back on his feet.
"Should've been watching your back!" Freya yells back with a small laugh in his voice.
"Stand down, Freya! This is a family matter!"
"Can't hear you!"
Apollo replies but the sound of growing battle blocks him out.
Sigyn puts her magic in her pocket and cracks her knuckles. She rolls back her shoulders and starts fighting with her fists. She may have magic but she also has muscles in her sleeves. She grabs the arm of one Vanaheim soldier and throws him over her shoulder as if he weighed nothing. To her surprise, she gets knocked over to the ground. Sigyn rolls onto her back and sees a lightning bolt fry whoever sent her down before seeing Apollo extend his free hand out for her to take.
Sigyn accepts his gesture but notices his grip being too tight for a normal pick-up. That's because he wasn't helping her back onto her feet. He mimics what she did to that soldier and throws her right towards a brigade, sending them down in one swoop. Sigyn groans in annoyance as she stands back up to the sound of Apollo's hearty laughter. So much for getting his help…
"What a team we are," he beams happily. "This girl's trip is more fun than I thought it'd be."
Sigyn takes out her magic and blasts it at him.
"Don't forget that we're on a real mission and not a sparring session," Freya reminds them as she kicks over a load of soldiers.
"Then let's stop playing around," Sigyn says as she holds up her hands, creating a shielding dome around herself and Freya.
From outside the dome, Apollo slightly looks offended. "Well, that's rude."
"I like her way more than you."
"Fair enough."
Apollo winds up his axe again, allowing his elements to simmer to a boil and once he points it up to the sky, lightning strikes which gives him more power than he needs. He slams his axe on the ground and the earth tears apart, sending the army flying in chaos to the sound of thunder. Sigyn grunts as she holds her forcefield in place. (Despite her being the most powerful in all the realms, Apollo is the only one who could truly challenge her power.) Freya even hesitates on holding up her forearm gauntlets for extra protection.
Once everything settles, Sigyn finally lowers her arms and exhales. She along with Freya and Apollo look at the mess they (mostly Apollo) created and can safely say that the mission was successful so far.
Freya hitches her swords onto her hip again as she begins to hike up the destruction towards a monolith that survived the storm. She traces it with her fingertips, outlining the snake engravings carved in it. Apollo looks over and follows and on his way, Sigyn mocks his stance and flicks some magic at him. It shocks Apollo and he glares at her as she laughs.
"Thor sent us on a retrieval mission," Freya explains to Apollo.
"Your father didn't want to waste your superior abilities on such a mundane task," Sigyn adds just to mock him. "Trimming the royal hedges is your true calling."
Apollo rolls his eyes at her. "What did he want you to get?"
Freya shrugs. "An artifact of some sorts."
"That's vague."
Sigyn points at the monolith. "He said that we would know where it is when we find it."
Apollo readjusts the position of his axe in his hand, getting ready to blast the monolith and Sigyn holds her hand out to stop him.
"Now I know why Thor didn't invite you," Sigyn states. "He wanted the artifact as a whole and not an arts-and-crafts project. Leave your lightning for the battlefield and your axe for the royal gardens."
Sigyn holds her hands out, palms facing the monolith. She closes her eyes as they light up with magic.
"I want to be surprised at what it is," Sigyn whispers to them.
Apollo and Freya leave their eyes open because they have a general understanding that the artifact may not be friendly. They watch as Sigyn turns her hands and making them ready to cup something. Then, the artifact morphs into her hand. Sigyn opens her eyes and looks at the artifact, feeling Apollo and Freya looking over her shoulders so they could see.
It's a dark, muddy green circular crown made of weightless stone. Its design looks like it's made to look like one snake so long that it braided its body on itself like the monolith's engravings. Sigyn holds it up higher, this time gripping the crown at its sides with both her hands - noticing that the snake is more like a serpent with additional arms against its body and its face is the centrepiece which has its mouth opened and fangs out for display. She tilts the crown around, waiting for something to happen but nothing comes. It was ugly so maybe it had some value.
"Why would my father want gaudy jewelry?" Apollo asks.
"Vanaheim is the realm of future-telling," Freya says, "maybe it holds a prophecy. Maybe he thought it could be useful for you two."
Sigyn feels a spark inside of her light up as the magic in her fingers tingles. She's now intrigued mostly because she already has a prophecy of her own. That, and she and Apollo had that promise with one another to find a way out of their fates. Maybe the crown will tell them the answers they seek.
"Shall we see what the crown says?" Sigyn asks for show since she didn't need their permission. She licks her upper lip in temptation.
Before Apollo or Freya could stop her, she puts the crown on top of her head. For a moment, nothing happens. Then, almost like a glitch, Sigyn's breathing hitches and she bends over in pain, keeping her grip on the crown. Freya and Apollo ready their weapons in the last case scenario where they would have to use them.
"Sigyn, take the crown off!" Apollo yells.
Sigyn suddenly stops wrenching in pain. She rises to face them and her eyes are opaquely white.
"Let's get it off of her," Freya demands.
They both charge at Sigyn with their weapons but Sigyn screams, opening her arms and emitting a bright white light that blasts them back. They both fall on the ground and have to roll over to shield their eyes from its intensity. It feels like they're being cooked in their armour. That wasn't her magic at all. Freya helps Apollo up and the light is so bright that she's tearing up. Apollo's chest caves in and he suddenly can't breathe.
"Do what you have to do to get the crown off of her," he says to her in one exhale. "You won't harm her."
Freya looks at him and nods. She looks forwards at her. "Sigyn!"
Freya flips her sword in her hand, holding it by the pointed blade instead of its handle. She charges over and uses her weapon to knock the crown right off her head, making the light disappear. The crown rolls on the ground one way and Sigyn falls the other. Apollo runs over and checks Sigyn as Freya flips her sword back around to slide the crown onto the blade to hold it. Apollo checks Sigyn's shut eyes, happy to see that they're back to the normal green state with a pupil rather than the solid white form.
"How is she?" Freya asks.
"Unconscious," Apollo replies, "possibly concussed."
"That was probably my doing," Freya mutters.
Apollo takes a breath to calm down. "Why did my father send you both here? Why did he want this? What is that?"
Apollo points at the crown on Freya's sword. She spins it around so they could look at it from every angle again. That doesn't answer any of their questions.
"I think Sigyn saw a vision and the crown didn't want us to interrupt," Freya guesses.
"What could she have seen?" Apollo wonders. "Maybe a prophecy of some sort?"
Freya ushers her sword forwards. "Do you want to put on the crown?"
Apollo looks at the crown for a moment, considering to put it on himself, and then he remembers Sigyn's state and stops himself.
"No," he firmly states, "Sigyn will tell us what she saw."
"Are you sure?" Freya asks. "I'm not doubting my trust in Sigyn but the power of a true secret is that nobody knows it. And look at what happened to her? Look at how protected the crown was. Information can be just as powerful as armies and remember the fight we had to get it?"
Apollo stands, picking up Sigyn and keeping his eyes on Freya. He shakes his head, keeping his full belief that Sigyn will tell them everything she saw. She's had a past with secrets but if it was something so potent and dangerous, then she had to tell them. The last secret she had possibly as serious was her true fate of being killed by Apollo.
"We'll discuss this later," Apollo says.
Freya looks up to the sky. "Heimdall! Send us back!"
At a second's notice, the Bifrost's portal shoots down at them.
[I'm still on hiatus but I have this entire arc completed. I don't have the time to proofread and edit chapters to publish them.
Remember The Serpent Crown from the earlier chapters? That's important. If you thought that this chapter aka part one was intense, then you're surely in for the ride as this arc continues]. [2020: I should've listened to my own warning].
