Hellraiser, page 6
"What has happened to Chi? I can practically see right through her."
A shiver raced through Hel. She clasped his hand to her cheek. "That is what happens when death comes. I told you your friends might die."
He frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "They might also live. Doesn't the boy have skills to resurrect if need be?"
How would he deal with the pain of loss? Would this build a bridge between them or cause him to shift further into madness?
"You care that much for them?"
"Before I knew you, I knew their friendship. My madness has me seeing a glory that has not found its way into our worlds, our reality, but their friendship helped me before there was you. Send him to them, or at least tell them that he can make her right again."
"Why should I do that? They will only seek to foil our plans, our advance. People work best when given a true motivation, even pain."
He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips.
"Because they have to keep fighting us. You think this is about my greatness, but it is about all of us. None of us will enter into that of our destined glory if we do not help those who will later save us from ourselves. No, send them to the necromancer. Then the prophecies can be fulfilled."
That would be too simple. The more he droned on about destiny, the more Hel missed being the cold fish. He sought peaceful ascension, but she wanted the realms to run red with blood.
"No, dear, I fear that we have too much to do to be distracted by their plight. We must prepare for the union of our powers. They have enough of the gods to help them figure out the paths they should take that does not infringe on us. This is a new age where we shall reign together. Surely you will not betray my trust on this."
The line was drawn in the sand when Siegfried opened the French-style doors. "Excuse me, my lady, I am sorry to impose, but the prince would not wait to speak with you."
There, stalking forward was her son, Erich. He stood tall, his muscles tense, his angled face filled with rage.
Lady Hel raised her hand. "What have you done, Mother," he demanded.
She didn't need to know of what he spoke.
"Whatever do you mean?"
"My girlfriend is stuck in the goddamn 1800s, and Uncle Fenrir just happened to be there to swoop her up."
"Erich, we should discuss this later."
"No, I wish to discuss it now." Erich clenched and unclenched his fist only to go flying across the room. She heard the air whoosh out of his lungs.
"You shouldn't talk to your mother like that," Harley said.
"I see you and the boy-toy made up," Erich said, pushing himself up from the floor. "I don't have any beef with you, man."
"Were you threatening your mother like a small toddler? That is not how a man behaves with a woman."
"Don't tell me how to talk to my mom."
"Erich," Lady Hel interrupted, "you might wish to hold your tongue and listen to your father."
Erich, barely on his feet, fell back against the wall.
She'd been holding that truth back for years from everyone, but this could not be denied. Erich needed to know, as well as Harley.
"Now, if you two could go have your reunion someplace else. Some of us here still need to rule." She waved, and the French doors opened, this time, on their own.
Once the room was empty, Lady Hel picked up the scrying mirror again and stared at the image of Sif. She was Verdandi's problem now, and no longer hers. She'd done exactly as was said. No, Sif would have to face off against the miserable nature of Verdandi.
After all, Lady Hel still had a wedding to plan.
12
Thor
Thunder shook the ground.
Activity didn't dissipate around them. Instead, the mutterings and questioning of those present—both gods and humanity stared on. If Odin was at a loss as to what to do, surely, they all would be.
From his vantage point, Thor observed his father's return. Odin in his fine battle armor, clenching his spear that glistened with magic.
“Where is she?” Odin returned from the gate empty-handed, with Vali, Heimdall, and an ethereal Chi in tow. His jaw was set. The thunder wasn't coming from Thor at all. Thor frowned. Where was Sif?
"She was last at the gate," Thor answered.
"It is surely interesting that as soon as she returns, both she and the queen disappear. Your mother would not simply leave this place unless threatened to do so."
Both he and Loki must have had the same question, as they looked at each other with an inquisitive stare.
"I knew your little friend would only cause us problems," Odin began. "She knew of her errors and escaped before I could catch her to question her, but her friends will tell me all that I know."
"Sif wouldn't do anything like that," Chi interjected, and Thor shushed her. Her interrupting the All-Father was likely to get them in more trouble than out of it.
"Father, they are friends of Asgard," Thor announced. He turned his hands upward, signaling the lack of harm or ill intent. However, his words fell on deaf ears.
"No, until your mother is found, and until I declare otherwise, the treachery runs deep." He cast a scathing glare at Heimdall. "She has made it that you forget yourselves, your responsibilities, to chase after what she deems fit. She is no goddess. She is but dreck that has caused this insurgency."
Nothing that his father said made sense to him. Why would Sif turn against them, when she was still weak and needed their help? The anger reverberated from him in thick waves. It stalked around like a warrior king of the gods, and there was nothing there of an old, wise man. No, instead, his strength mixed with rage.
“She will do everything to survive, even use your kindness against you. But no more,” Odin declared. “She is an enemy of Asgard, and consorts with the enemy.”
“You are making a mistake.”
“I don’t make mistakes, and instead, we shall find her and make her tell us the truth: where my beloved is held.”
“You can’t do this,” Loki interjected.
“Dear blood brother, do you dare get involved in our matters when I have shown you nothing more than kindness? This does not concern you.”
“Sif concerns me.”
“Then you, too, are a fool. Let me be clear in my reproach. If either of you help her, there will be recourse. I will not be crossed.” Odin turned away, back toward his steed.
“Does he mean to have the army convene?” Loki glanced at the activity. “What about the others?”
First the giants and now this? The giants must have only been a distraction, but Sif hadn't been here. She'd been with them fighting, subduing the dark elves. No, this wasn't Sif at all. There were forces at work that they weren't considering. “I cannot guarantee their safety here. Take them with you, back to Midgard, to your bunker.” They were dealing with a force that sought to play them like chess pieces on a grand board.
“The one set underwater.”
“Well, at least you know the ravens will not see you. Kara and I will stay here and try to make a safe path for all.”
“What happens once their powers are again combined?” Chi asked the question Thor had been wondering. Death in and of itself was something that no one could escape. He’d seen that with Baldr, who’d died and was still in Helheim waiting for the resurrection after Ragnarok.
Loki and Vali frowned.
“When they once worked in tandem,” he said, “they’d practically flattened any realm that stood in their way.”
Loki turned to Chi. “Do you remember learning of the crusades when you were younger?”
She nodded.
“That was part of the war spilling over into Midgard,” Loki continued. “It lasted for centuries in Midgard, and even the repercussions of that have never been erased. Imagine what might happen this time?”
Thor knew the humans had lived through wars before, but seeing a ghost frown gave him pause.
“Is that what happened?” Chi asked. “The wars of the gods spilled over into our world, causing men to fight against men? But why here? What do they earn by causing bloodshed here?”
Loki sighed. “The pantheons are built on blood, and the essence of the gods is advocated by that of bloodlust. Where there is faith, there is the history of war, as men fight for their gods and their ideologies.”
“Yeah, the gods of old are nightmares,” Vali chimed in.
“But that isn’t it. New gods are birthed, too. The faith of men can cause great good or great calamity,” Loki said. “But when Hel and the Alder king unite, then things have already progressed to the point of no return.”
“What needs to happen?” Chi asked.
“The black wedding,” Loki admitted. “It’s the ceremony binding them together, braiding their powers. During the ceremony, rings will be exchanged, as well as their sacred weapons. The rings will be placed on the hilt of the new sword.”
“At any point during the ceremony, is either at their weakest?” Vali asked.
“Yes, for the ceremony requires them to the mead of poetry, which will give them the power to solve any question, including how to ascend to the top of the pantheon, and remove Odin.”
“Blessed Mjolnir. This is all about a coup d'état?” Everyone turned to Thor. “This isn’t just about their love for one another, but to ensure that they topple the rule of the gods.”
Clarity dropped into this lap, and as he saw the smile spread across Loki’s face, he knew his mischievousness would result in a hell of a plan, like always.
He waved everyone closer. “True, but I might just have an idea.”
“But what about Sif?” Chi asked.
Thor knew that if he became too invested in the outcome, it could result in a civil war between the gods like none had seen before. “He means to set them loose on Midgard,” Thor uttered. “Sif will not be safe there, or here. Then you should go to her.”
“Are you sure?” Loki said.
“It is not the time to question my intentions. Of all of us, you, she will trust enough to help her.”
“And what shall you do?”
“Ensure that dear Father doesn't create havoc.”
Thor turned away.
He'd never truly questioned his father's intentions, but he knew Sif was innocent. She would never harm those who'd looked after her. But he'd have to handle his father delicately. The Odin of old was known for his temper of destruction and war. After all, Thor had gotten his strength from his father, only increased because of his belt. Odin was no weakling.
In the middle of this quandary, the only thing that could matter was keeping Sif safe.
“Load them up. We will scour the whole damn Midgard but bring her back here to answer my questions.” In a furious thunder, Odin jumped on Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse’s back, and galloped toward Valhalla. This was like blood in the water, a cause for the sharks to circle.
“The madness is spreading,” Heimdall stated. “There is a force involved that seeks to outwit us all.”
"Do you think it is Sif?" Loki asked.
Heimdall shook his head. “Sif is stubborn, hotheaded, presumptive, strong, kind-hearted. Surely you don't think she would do something to the queen.”
Thor nodded. Now the question was since it couldn't be Sif, who was at work in creating this plot, and how could he foil it?
A horn blew in the distance, catching his attention. Although away from the wall, perched on the hill, he had a great vantage point to see all that might be approaching.
The ground began to shake. The air grew arctic cold, and one lone javelin arced in the sky to cross over the wall and land at Odin’s feet.
From their position, able to see over the wall, they stared in awe at the soldiers draped in black garb who marched on Asgard. They were in different states of decomposition, but no one could overlook the skeletal horses they rode.
13
Sif
I made my way through this new world, where nothing had changed. The further I moved away from the Dark Elven border, the more things seemed like they’d shifted back to normal. Sort of like the moldy part of a piece of fruit. The disease of the elves didn’t have its hold here, and the everyday here was still unblemished to the nonobservant eye.
Music played, people lollygagged, and back on the college campus, students acted like this bubble was the end all, be all. They didn’t know the truth of what was out there, but I did. I knew that the dark elves might be contained now, but they would break free and come to enslave everyone—wasn’t that what tyrants did when given another chance? Wasn’t that what history taught?
I found myself wondering the campus grounds, unsurprised when I ended up at Prof. Mecklenburg’s office. He taught Nordic studies, and from all that, I could tell he truly believed in the Old religion. His door was ajar, and I waited before knocking on the wooden frame.
Inside, he sat tersely over a book, as if lost in the pages. Although it was his office hours, I noticed, I almost hated to interrupt him.
One could tell a lot from a desk. His laptop computer was closed and shoved to the left-hand side, while on the right, rested a stack of neatly organized folders in a colorful array of yellow, red and green.
He lifted his head and waved me in before I could make a sound. “Don’t be a stranger, Sif,” he said and rose. He straightened his striped orange polo and stepped around his desk. “You’ve missed a couple of the last few lectures. Have you been under the weather? Chi hasn’t been to class, either, so I assumed you both were quite ill.”
I glanced down at my scuffed shoes. If I told him that I’d been in Asgard, would he believe me? His small office was decorated with things Nordic, from the rune etchings on his walls to copies of Snorri’s poems he’d had framed. However, only if one looked closer would they see the cord wrapped around his neck on which rested Thor’s amulet.
“Things have been difficult these last few days, but I wanted to ask you about time.”
“Is this about your assignment, now overdue?” He went to sit back behind his desk, scooting his wheeled office chair over the brown, worn rug.
“No.” I plopped down. “Cosmology. What is time, and what can you tell me about it?”
“I’m not a physicist and theologians, philosophers, and scientists have been asking this question for centuries. Aristotle was more ex nihilo, out of nothing. Others believe there was something primordial there, of course, and science teaches the Big Bang.”
“And time?”
“Time has surely not been calculated the same throughout the billions of years, but the discussion I recently had with Professor Annisee is that time is now infinite, but not constant.” Professor Annisee taught physics. I’d been absent from his class for a while, too. “The only thing constant,” he said, “is that of energy. Energy emits a certain heat.”
“So, before there was time, what existed?”
He rose and walked over to his bookshelf and pulled out a tome, only to flip open a couple of pages. “The myths speak of fire and ice meeting. Science tells of a big bang that created the miracle of life—and belief on the causation of that itself is up for debate, but philosophy gives us the option of ‘out of nothing,’ with some material, and from a deity or god himself.”
“And when the universe came to be, so did time? All time?”
“This is my layperson belief, as I’m not an expert on thermodynamics and string theory, but something tells me that this is more of a crisis of faith than a question of science, and not on if energy is what is constant.” He leaned forward.
How wrong was he? I didn’t doubt my faith at all, but if I was indeed one of the sisters of destiny, one of the Norns, that also meant that there were things I needed to know.
“Worry not, but science will not answer your questions as to the magic around us. Magic is not just for the humans, but the trees, the birds, the wolf. Magic courses around us, a part of the spirit. The ancient people understood more of the cosmos than we sometimes do, as they saw it through a lens of possibility.”
“I am not a berserker or a shieldmaiden. I’m a woman in the twenty-first century, hoping the gods of old will hear me.” I couldn’t hide the frustration. He might not know what was happening out there, but I was more than aware of it. I knew that an enemy existed that sought to kill us all.
“Then you are praying to the wrong one, dear Sif. Even the gods can’t escape that of fate. We understand the Norse world through their myths, often disseminated and tinged with the Christian worldview that influenced some of the writings. But there are now philosophers, whom we can study like we do with the Ancient Greeks. If you truly wish to understand, then find the sacred, find your fury, only then will you discover your peace.”
I wasn’t going to get any answers here. Time was infinite, a huge loop that started billions of years ago, and the myths said nothing as to the Norns creation, just that of the first primordial beings—giant Ymir, and the great cow. None of this would help me. None of this would show me the way.
A knock on the door interrupted us, and he put up his index finger, signaling to whomever that he’d be only one more moment. “Magic is all around us. We only have to find a way to capture it, bend it.” He rose from his chair, signaling that our meeting was over.
Energy was the only thing constant since the beginning of time, always? I didn’t have time to try to find out. The dark elves were marching on us, and no one seemed to notice.
Before the end of our conversation could move on to my overdue term paper, and if I had some sort of virus, I thanked the professor and took my leave. It was crunch time, and I wasn’t sticking around to listen to his lecturing on my falling grades.
Maybe Ola might know something.
“Sif.” I heard my name called out behind me, as I hurried back toward my dorm. Where else could I go to regroup? If things were corrected, according to my tuition payment, this is where I belonged.
