#(the remaining monstrous or otherwise uninhabitable

[cxie]

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[imagine-loki]

A Warrior’s Life

TITLE: A Warrior’s Life

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter Twenty-Three AUTHOR: wolfpawn ORIGINAL IMAGINE:

Imagine Viking Loki coming to your village, raiding and pillaging, before deciding there is something about you that intrigues him and deciding to take you back to Asgard with him. There, you are forced to learn a new life and language, and though you hate what has happened to you, you learn that Loki is not as bad as you think.

RATING: Mature.

NOTES :  The Monstrous Hounds are Irish Wolfhounds, though they were not as large in the 1100’s as they are today, I put in the modern ones, as they are huge and amazing animals.

The headland in Ulaidh that you can see Vanaheim from - It actually exists, it is an area in Country Antrim that can be seen from Mull of Kintyre in Scotland.

In Norse culture, women dying in childbirth were equal to that of a man dying in battle, guaranteeing you your place in Valhalla.

The journey to Midgard seemed far swifter than the journey from Maebh noted, the wind, though it meant it was a cold one, was with them, leaving the Aesir to have to do little labour in their travel. Again Maebh suffered from sea sickness, but so did many others. They arrived at Vanaheim promptly enough at which time Maebh explained that a headland of Ulaidh would be visible from a particular area along the north of Vanaheim. She had travelled there as a child with her father, but was unsure as to where the exact location was, but some enquiries to those loyal to Asgard who had settled in the area led to its quick locating. From there the boats made their way to Ulaidh, prepared for whatever they would find.

As Maebh set foot on the sand of the Ulaidh beach, she sighed. It had been a long year since she set foot on Midgard land, and an even longer again since it had been of Ulaidh. Loki watched as she looked around, trying to assess the emotions on her face, when she noticed his staring, she nodded to him with a neutral look and started to join the rest of the warriors that were heading up the beach to the grasses.

The area was vast, but overall seemed to be uninhabited. One or two cottages seemed to be scattered along the area, notably, they were in disrepair and long abandoned. Other parts seemed to have the foundations of buildings, but they seemed to have been burnt or otherwise destroyed.

“Was it always like this?” Thor asked Maebh, who had been looking around with deep concern, then looking to him before shaking her head.

“No, this area was a good fishing area; also trade would come through from Northern Vanaheim around these parts. It was never densely populated, but it was not like this. Where is everyone?” she looked around again as though expecting the land to give her an answer.

“Well there are none here, so let us head on. Where is the woodland you spoke of?” Baldr demanded. He never referred to Maebh by name or title, other than as Loki’s wife when he spoke to others concerning her, he did not trust her, or like that she was being held so high by Thor, the soon to be king. Odin did not fully trust her, but clearly enough to permit her travel, much to Baldr’s protests, and weeks of dealing with her for to plan for the raid had shown him she was no meek girl to remain silent in a corner, but a formidable woman, and even more formidable fighter. He still saw her as the meagre thrall one of his men brought back, regardless of her birthright or her marriage.

Maebh merely pointed ahead to the large wooded area a few miles away with a condescending expression on her face that irked the commander. Loki smiled to himself as he watched the man become close to irate with the woman for simply showing how little he used his mind or indeed his eyes, by asking an obvious question.

“Let’s head on so.” Thor smiled as he walked forward, not wanting Baldr to react aggressively to their greatest asset, or indeed start a faction in the group. “Do you think we will meet much trouble here?” He queried.

“I doubt it, the area looks abandoned.” Maebh noted. “But it will be easier to see the full scale of it all when we get to the trees.”

After two hours, they arrived at said trees; Maebh passed her shield and sword to Thor and jumped up one of them before any could stop her. They watched her scale up half way before sitting on a large branch and assessing the surrounding landscape. “There is nothing, nothing for miles, it’s all gone.” Her voice was almost small, she was in complete disbelief, as she jumped down, she seemed almost in a trance. The group continued into the woods, using them as shelter and cover.

They travelled through the woodland for three days without sight of a person, but on the fourth, they realised they were nearing the outskirts of a village. Maebh and Loki listened to the conversations of those within as they passed. The group decided it was not worth their while exposing themselves yet, and passed by unnoticed. It seemed a simple village and they were guaranteed to meet resistance sooner than wanted if any of the villagers made it to the next town to warn noblemen and for them to send their defences.

The morning of the fifth day, trouble struck. Baldr had been by a stream with Rollo when a young woman and child spotted them; they were among the thick trees fleeing when Thor noticed them behind the men. Conflicted, he did not call for them to be killed, but to be captured; however they fled the Aesir without being detained. When the others found out, they knew they would meet resistance in the near future.

Sure enough, not long after midday, there was the sound of horse’s hooves and barks. Maebh listened wide-eyed. “I fear we have more to concern ourselves with than I thought.” She admitted, the other warriors looked to her. “They have hounds.”

“Hounds? With all due respect, your highness, hounds are not much of an issue, their bites smart, but no more than that.” Hogun stated.

“You have not met hounds such as these. They are larger than a foal, their long slender legs make them faster than you think they should be. They can dismount a man forcibly from his steed.” Silence and fear met her words.

“How are there hounds so grand?” Thor asked. “Can they be defeated?”

“Why did you not tell us of these beasts earlier?” Kollr demanded.

“I was busy worrying about their swords and bows, hounds are hounds wherever you are, a quick blade through them will end them, but they are capable of tracking and these ones are swift footed and large, adding to our woes. As for their grandeur, they are used to ward off wolves, and to aid in battle.” Was her explanation as she scanned through the trees for the grey beasts.

“You failed to mention there are wolves here.” Snarled Joakim.

“I would not have thought they would concern you too greatly, considering Asgard is nigh on infested with them.” She retorted.

“How will we deal with the hounds?” Thor enquired.

“Well we could try killing them.” there was no denying the thick sarcasm in Maebh’s words. Thor looked at her with a look of utter bemusement, a few of the others, including Loki, sniggered.

“Such humour is of little use to us at this time.” Thor reprimanded.

“Indeed not, but dead hounds tend not to follow scents.” Maebh stated dryly. “We are still too far from our destination to be caught in battle.”

“How many of them are there?” Baldr asked.

“I saw two, but there has to be more.”

Fandral and Volstagg aided Loki into a tree to see if he could spot their adversaries. “It is only a scouting party it seems, three of those hounds and four men, all on horseback, armed, but not heavily.” He informed them as he jumped back down. “Dear Freya those beasts are even larger than foals.”

“Could we pick off all four before one escapes?” suggested Maebh.

“How good is your archery aim?” Loki asked.

“I was too busy beating up my foes with my shield and sword I must admit, I should have spent longer on it.” she admitted. “But if we get ahead of them, and get two with the archers we have, and then we can force the other two to collide with Thor’s hammer and Volstagg’s battle axe.”

“You are one positively terrifying little beast.” Fandral said with a tone of incredulousness. Maebh smirked, her stance emitting her immense pride, and walked off to see where the best ambush point was. It was then that Fandral leant over to Loki. “I would not wrong your wife were I you Loki Odinson.”

Loki laughed. “I thank you for your recommendation my friend, but I learnt that lesson mere moments after meeting her first on these lands, when she had me pinned to the floor and a knife aimed to my throat.”

The blonde warrior’s eyes widened before a thought appeared to come to him, he glanced to both sides so that others were not within hearing distance, as it was only Hogun and Thor were close. “Tyr and Cnut?” he mouthed pointing to Maebh, Loki and Thor nodded.

“With precision unlike you would believe, though she had reason.” Thor stated defensively. The two men looked from the brothers to the younger ones wife with fear and respect for the woman as she returned to tell them of the best spot for an ambush.

As expected, her idea worked well, two of the scouts perished as soon as they were struck with an arrow and a spear. The other two attempted to flee only for Thor to knock one off his horse with a deadly blow to the chest, while the other met his demise as a result of Volstagg’s axe. The hounds lunged viciously at the closest humans, and one made contact with Pórr’s arm, cutting it open, but overall they remained unscathed. They hid the remains of both the beasts and the men before moving on, hoping it would have bought them some more time before they had to partake in a greater battle.

“Do they believe in Valhalla here?” Rollo asked after a moment.

Maebh thought for a moment, she knew better than to make derogatory comments of the Asgardian beliefs among so many of them. “Something similar, they call it heaven and they only have one God, who would send us all to Hel for what we are doing as we should be praying, not pillaging. Not to mention you are supposed to deny yourself most of life’s pleasures. Death in war does not guarantee you your place in their heaven as you have to kill in battle, and childbirth is seen as filthy and sinful, a mother killed by it is nothing of note and is not deserving of her place in Valhalla.” Even Thor and Loki were wide eyed at what she had said.

“Barbarians” She heard one voice say in disgust. One thing Maebh had noted in her time in Asgard was their overall respect for their women, especially regarding childbearing.

They continued toward their intended target, remaining in the tree line at all times to both keep an eye on where they were going as well as to keep out of sight. After some time they came to a lake, deciding to rest there within the trees for a while.

Feeling warm in the late summer sun, Maebh walked alone to the water’s edge and splashed it on her face and neck to cool down. Before long she was joined by another, looking to the side she noticed Thor beside her, mimicking her to wash the blood from his victim from him and his hammer. When he was done, he stood up again next to her and simply stared. “Whatever it is just spit it out Thor. It has been bothering you since we arrived.” Maebh stood and looked the large built man in the eye as she spoke.

“I am merely concerned for you here, you are far smaller than us and so many will not forgive you for your betrayal and will be more than happy to end your life for it.”

Maebh gave Thor a small smile. “Dearest Thor, you really are such a good man, and you will be a good king too, but I have had an arrow aimed at my heart since I was but a babe, I know I am small, but I am capable as well you know. I will survive, I always do. And now I have even more reason to because of Loki and Nafi.”

“My brother is reason enough for you to want to fight harder?” Thor smiled at Maebh’s love for his Loki.

“Do you not think the same of Sif, that the thought of returning to her is reason enough to live?”

Thor sighed and Maebh shook her head, the action did not escape Thor’s attention. “You know the reason for her indifference.” Maebh was unsure if it was a question or a statement. “Maebh, I beg of you to tell me.”

“I cannot.” She replied sadly. “It is not for me to say.”

“Please Maebh, I feel so lost of late with her, as though I no longer know her.” Maebh face filled with pity. “I beg of you, as my sister by Loki to tell me.”

“I am glad you see me as such Thor, but I cannot.” She replied once more.

“Is it that bad?” Thor looked downtrodden and defeated.

“No, it is not bad at all; at least to me I would not see it as such. I will strike a bargain with you.” Thor perked up to show he was listening. “I could never risk you going to Valhalla without knowing, so if I think your death to be a surety, I will reveal it to you, if I think you to live, well, you may ask your adoring wife upon your return.” Thor studied the kind smile on Maebh’s face. “Agreed?”

Thor could only chuckle at her ingenuity. “So I either have to wish my death upon myself to know now or have to wait; you know how to strike a bargain, but it is fair and I agree. Though it irks me to not know what is going on, it pleases me greatly that both you and Sif have become so close.”

“Good, now let us get out of sight, even by Asgardian standards you are large, here you are nothing short of giant, you stick out like a winged horse.” Maebh suggested, heading back to the relative safety of the trees.

“Do you realise, that were you to have lived the life that was intended for you, we would be on opposing sides on this day.” Thor thought aloud.

“Indeed, and I would imagine things would be very different for us both, my father had intended giving me the kingdom upon my marriage to Queen Maebh’s second son at around this age, so were you to have invaded here, it would have been in my kingdom, I don’t think I would have taken too kindly to that. I can only imagine the attempts at talks between our sides. It would have been quite a sight to see a man so large grovelling at the feet of a woman so small.” She grinned wolfishly as she sat at Loki’s side once more, causing her husband to laugh having heard a large portion of the conversation. Thor merely remained standing, unable to think of anything to say.

“I would not doubt it.” Fandral murmured to Thor.

“You truly fear me somewhat, don’t you Fandral?” Maebh smiled as pride seeped through her voice.

“Only a fool would not, you are the fieriest beast I have ever encountered.” Volstagg stated.

“Surely I am not so bad.” Maebh feigned hurt looking to her husband.

“They are merely envious my dear.” Loki smiled as she slipped his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.

“I think then that they must fear you somewhat also, for being the only one brave enough to deal with me.” Maebh added leant into the embrace.

[grimm-daire-blog]

I Can Feel The Fires Of Hell

During The Circle Is Anew

There was strong, irrational adrenaline flowing through Grimm’s veins as the Rebellion stampeded towards the Castle of Athoria. Having previously told Usai and the other phantoms that this wasn’t their fight, the thought and grand speech now seemed lost to The First Phantom. The Bersker state was to blame. Grimm’s eyes flickered with fire, a chaotic brew of reds and gray, and among his brethren he was the master, the teacher, the King of Purgatory. The chilling ghostly children of Athoria followed Grimm with hoots and hollers, using their telekinesis to bend trees and throw rocks, to raise the dirt into tornadoes around them as they flew through the air like maniacs, riding along the gravel as if it were an ocean of waves. Some brought along more humans to join in the traveling party, continuing to suck at them like vampires, enhance their beserker to unfathomable extremes that would otherwise be means for death by the hands of The Headmaster. Grimm had always taught his phantoms control, moderation, and rational expectations.

Tonight was not a dire exception, but the only exception.

A clergy of near a hundred ghost children swept through the large stone and brick gates hiding the castle from any typical entrance. The Knights that had remained to protect the palace attempted in quick rages to stop the flickering invisible students from ambushing first. But it was in vain. The phantoms swept through the first round of knights with dazzling and unfair advantages, picking the knights up by their armors and shooting them straight up into the atmosphere, then dropping them mercilessly to the ground. They landed in heaps of metal and exploded bloodied body parts. Then with sticks of matches they were set on fire. 

The blood from these knights was only consumed further, fueling the drug inside their bodies into monstrous commotion. The phantom children circled their leader in dance and adrenaline, bodies shaking and throats growling at what was to come. The opposing rebellion lead by Delaina Bloodruler would make their move next, as promised and agreed. The children of limbo took out their bloodthirsty and beserker state by setting more fires, destroying everything and anything in sight on the castle grounds. The barracks exploded in fiery reds and orange and the phantoms tossed their weapons and armor into the air for target practice. 

Grimm Daire, though affected by the thirst of the human blood, took pride in this outcome. Still, while his students played and the Bloodruler lead her people into the castle directly, Grimm could not help but think of what was to come, and who they now served.

Lucifer had not betrayed them. It was the Mad Queen, he understood that well. With Beelzebub missing, with Leeds and Seryth destroyed from Mahalath’s sickness, and the country of Athoria falling to its knees after a thousand years of it being his home, Grimm was unsure where his new loyalties would lie. Killing the Queen and going to England or to Oblitius Inferno seemed...misplaced. Belial would ever bow to another demon, even the King of Falsehoods who did all he could to keep the peace in England. 

He thought of England, wondered how the war was going...and what would be of the grand country once him and his students set foot on its soil. Would they even be welcomed and greeted by Jezebeth? Or would the country be consumed in fire...

Doubtful.

Grimm Daire’s thoughts were cut short by the rumble, the explosion, and the giant crack in the earth that erupted through the castle grounds. 

In mere seconds the fissure consumed several of his students who dropped deep into the land and were unable to gather their concentration to levitate back up. Grimm ran to the edge of the growing incision inside the ground and heard their screams from far below. Others began to panic as the earthquake shook the country with unbelievable strength. Smaller and unstable buildings began to collapse, the stone burying the phantoms and crushing them to death. 

“No...no!” Grimm heard a growing chaos not only from his phantoms but from the Rebellion nearby. Collecting who he could, he sprang to the air carrying two of them by their collars and assisted in levitating others, hoping to save who he could. But the blood of the beserker created delusions in his mind, awakening unreal connections and thoughts when it came to what was happening, and why. Ghost children from Limbo moaned to him, reaching for Grimm as he tried to swim through their outstretched arms. Don’t leave us! Come back! And their ethereal bodies swarmed the First Phantom in confusion. The students in his grasp were ripped from his connection. As Grimm searched for them through the chaos of the magic, Limbo consumed his conscious and vision. The magic from the spell weakened him greatly, causing Grimm to drop easily from the air. As Grimm collided with the ground his shoulder blade shattered into thousands of unfixable pieces and the pain trickled down his spine in temporary paralysis.

What’s happening! Run! Run! 

Through a haze of grey and twisted metaphors of Limbo, Grimm blinked through the stars of his fall. Blood escaped his ear with a ringing sensation that he thought would never go away. He felt hands on his body and when they grabbed at his shoulder Grimm screamed in pain, being brought back to the reality of the situation. Another blink cleared his mind from the fog and dismay of Limbo and back to the Earthen plane of existence. Fire. Destruction. The Castle of Athoria crumbled before his eyes.

We have to go!

Whatever phantoms had survived lost their energy and abilities, the blood from the humans proved to be, as always, too much for them to handle under pressure. It was taboo. They would be their own demise. Grimm allowed himself to be dragged from the ground and lead by whoever remained. They stumbled and crawled through the rubble and away from the castle and the giant fissure that Grimm assumed now stretched throughout the entire country. Several minutes later, they looked back at the Castle of Athoria on its glorious hilltop as it sat in demolition. “Let’s go,”

But where? What was safe anymore? Grimm lead those who remained towards the mountains of Night Haven. Perhaps the once city of the dead would be uninhabited now and a place of safety for the time being...Grimm was unsure. Together the small group tended to their human wounds and carried each other through the density of the forest. At a nearby stream, they drank to replenish their bodies,did what they could to cover their cuts and bruises. The downfall of the immortal phantom body. Grimm did not heal immediately like his opposing specie friends; instead, he cringed at the pain of his shoulder, or what was left of it, unable to move his arm or twist his back in certain ways. He was placed against a rock and water poured on his head to cool him of fever. 

Around them, the echoes of the continued earthquakes hit them in waves. The aftershocks shook the ground and the mountains moaned in response. Do we keep going? Grimm glanced around at those who had escaped the castle...they were weakened and broken, and their spirits had slipped as their Headmaster sat worthless and damaged. Another shake to the ground caused the first set of rocks to displace themselves from the side of the mountain. Together they watched as it rolled to the ground, gaining momentum, snagging other pieces of the loosened rock and taking it with them. Night Haven was not far; if they could make it up the mountain to the village where it had survived for so long the maybe they would be safe. 

They did not get the chance.

As if thinking the same thing at once, the phantoms of Crossing Over began to move as quickly as they could. Two carried Grimm through his pain, locking their arms across his shattered shoulder even though it tore at the open wound, ripped at his skin to expose the flesh and bone. Move, move! One giant rock propelled itself and landed on one of the phantoms, splattering them into the earth at their feet. They screamed, panicked, and hobbled away. Where to go? The aftershocks caused them to slip and fall, and even when a phantom gained some sort of strength to levitate, they quickly succumbed to the lack of concentration and the weakened state of their bodies.

The rock slide came too quickly. The mountain in which they ran from broke in several pieces and down the side of the mountain the rocks rolled, tumbled and gathered in massive heaps. Like an avalanche, it consumed the phantoms one by one, trapping them under its massive weights.

The phantom carrying Grimm dropped the headmaster and turned towards the rock slide. With whatever strength they had left, it used telekinesis to toss the rocks to the side even as they flew through the air in their direction, allowing for a small window and path to continue to run. Go! They yelled backwards at their master. Grimm stumbled several more steps before collapsing once more. 

“I cannot...” Grimm collapsed on his back staring up at the darkened skies. “Oh Lucifer, you await me I hope. Forgive this fool,” Blood poured from his mouth as the booming sound of the rocks landed around him and the screams of his people faded into the mixture of noise. Grimm gurgled on the blood, allowing a strange and misplaced series of laughs to escape his throat. “The fires of hell...I feel them...” A rock escaped the clutches of his friends attempted telekinesis and crushed Grimm’s lower half. As if he had felt nothing, the First Phantom only continued to laugh in misplaced confusion. Death crept at him and licked at his vision. “Lucifer...”

Blackness consumed Grimm Daire. The mountains cried and crumbled into heaping piles of debris. 

And the Children of Athoria eternally slept.