Categories > Cartoons > Class of the Titans > Ragnarok
Ragnarok
Disclaimer: I don't own Class of the Titans. But I do own my own character interpretation of the Norse gods and my own general characterization of the Greek gods.
Pairings: see chapter one.
Warnings: Some cursing. Rather mild.
Author's Note: Hey, bet'cha didn't expect this to be updated so soon? Well, regardless, Happy New Year, and I hope this chapter will do for now.
Also, there are many takes on the names of the ancient, especially the Norse gods/mythology. So you'll be seeing many of them, so right away if you don't recognize a name, or you think it might be misspelled, it's probably just another way of writing that name that I'm more comfortable with.
Chapter 2: Visitors
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(Secret Wing: New Olympia High)
Archie muttered some curses to himself as he struggled to get the toga on properly. It was a few sizes to large, and he was fighting to get the belt on without having the front fall open and leave him practically half-naked. Chiron had left him with one of Ares' smaller robes and then trotted off to see to some other matters. Finally, he gave up with fighting the fabric and just tried tucking in as much as he could without making himself look bloated like so many of the gods seemed to be. A life of luxury would be nice, but he secretly loved having to fight huge monsters to save the world, plus it kept him nice and skinny.
He left the toga when he only had a deep 'V' neck, a tad too deep for what he preferred, and tightened the belt to be safe. He left Ares' armory and decided his best choice would be to go to Chiron's room and from there most likely to Hera's office. He ran into Athena on the way, and she smiled briefly at his attempt to do up a toga and without saying a word, reached forwards and readjusted the top so that it fit much better. He sighed thankfully, though the blush on his cheeks also showed his embarrassment.
"Chiron told me you would probably be having trouble," Athena smiled.
"Yeah, well, clothes nowadays are a lot easier to figure out than these ancient ones," Archie shrugged.
Athena nodded, but it was easy to tell her thoughts were elsewhere, "Come with me now. We have a few things to discuss and some more for you to study."
"Like what?" Archie asked bluntly, mentally slapping himself for being an idiot. But in the least, why was he studying when his friends were sick and he was supposed to meet someone that he had to 'dress up' for?
Athena flashed him a wry look over her shoulder, grey eyes glowed in a somber manner, "What do you know about Norse Mythology?"
(Wild Land: Iceland)
The landscape, once covered in snow and ice and rock, was now teeming with new life as the forests finished growing. Snow fell from above and settled quickly on the ground. Slowly, the woods were beginning to freeze, cracks already heard in the trunks of some of the trees. Down upon the forest floor, a pale hand suddenly shot out of the snow.
Shaking, the Titan pulled himself out of the ice that had buried him, cursing and spitting in languages man has never known. Not too far away, a larger giant was pulled himself free of the snow.
"Blast, you fool! Now it will take ages to find Fenrir!" Cronus howled at the taller god beside him.
"Forgive me, Cronus, but it is rather difficult to find things that have been hidden from you, especially when you have not been home in many-a-centuries and Gaia is set on stopping you," Loki snapped, sarcasm dripping form his voice.
Cronus growled, showing his teeth, as he rose to his feet, "Damn you, Mother!" he cried, "Damn you!"
"Stop it you idiot. If we are going to find Fenris, we don't want Gladsheim-knows-what Gaia has released into the world after us!" Loki snarled, his features already changing.
Cronus took a deep breath, "Very well, what do you suppose we can do now?"
"I will call on my followers, they will help us. They will spread the word that Gotterdammerung is coming!" his voice was becoming raspier, deeper. Loki fell upon all fours as his features changed further. His face elongated, fur grew all over his body, his knees reversed and his teeth grew long and sharp. When at last he had taken the form of a wolf, he threw back his head and let out a howl so loud that it called to the whole earth.
Cronus looked around as if he expected fiends and goblins to materialize out of the frosty air, but nothing came.
"It didn't work," he said bluntly.
Loki, who had now changed back to his more humanoid form, put a finger to his lips,
"Ssshhhhh, listen," he said quietly.
Cronus tilted his head slightly, listening to the winds and the cracks and moans of the woods. Suddenly, a smile formed on his face.
In the distance, he heard howling.
(Secret Wing: New Olympia High)
Archie scanned the books, hardly understanding anything.
"So can you tell me now why I have to do a crash-course in Norse Mythology?" he asked hopefully.
Athena sighed and shook her head, "No. But can you tell me who Odin is and why he is referred to as 'Odin One-Eyed'?"
Archie, without looking at the book, closed his eyes and took a breath, "Odin is considered the boss- chief," Archie corrected himself when he felt Athena's unwavering gray eyes on him, "of the Norse gods. He lost, no, he gave up his right eye-"
"Left eye," Athena pointed out.
"Right, he gave up his left eye to gain a ton of knowledge by drinking from the... from the... from Mimir's Well," Archie looked up at Athena, waiting to hear how badly he'd done.
She nodded slowly, "That'll do for now," Archie sighed in relief, "and now tell me about Loki-"
Without warning the doors flew open and two unnaturally large wolves burst in the door, barking and spinning and leaping. Archie sprang form his seat with a loud outbreak of curses. Athena had her sword drawn and was standing protectively in front of Archie.
"He calls! He calls!" one of the wolves cried.
"Listen, listen to his voice! Heed his words or die!" the other sang, both were talking in an almost drunken-like stupor.
Both wolves were definitely not normal wolves, if the speaking hadn't already clued that in. They were both rather plump, with thick, bushy light grey fur. The first one to speak had lighter fur than the other, Archie noted. Their fangs were sharp, and brilliantly white, and their eyes (the lighter one had blue eyes while the darker one had green eyes) were momentarily glazed over as they listened to some imaginary voice.
It was moments later when Archie felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, it wasn't that he was spooked by these wolves, just briefly startled and now wondering who they were. He was already going through all the mythology (Greek and Norse) that he knew to find the answer.
Suddenly a high note, like a shriek or scream cut through his head. Archie cried out, clutching his temples in agony, and fell to his knees. He could hear it, whispering things in his head, calling... calling... calling-
"Archie!"
Athena's voice cut through that terrible screaming. Archie jerked himself out of the sound and realized that it was gone. The wolves, now panting, were calm again and seemed to be coming out of their daze too. Confused, the two canines sniffed the air, looking around with their poorer eyesight. They registered Athena immediately, and Archie swore he saw them smile when they caught scent of him.
"So... one hero awakens..." one growled.
The darker one opened his mouth to speak, but then snapped his jaws closed and whipped his head around to face the door as a black mass of feathers and cawing burst through the doorway.
"Stupid, stupid, silly wolves! Now that you have answered they will know where we are! Stupid, stupid wolves!" the raven squawked, perching on the chair beside Athena.
"What do you want, Hugin," she said slowly. The raven looked at her, cocking its head sideways almost as if she'd grown a second head. Archie was about to make a comment on the fact, but then something clicked in his mind.
"Wait... two wolves, a raven, all this studying on Norse Mythology," it finally dawned upon him why he'd been subdued to cramp-studying sessions for the past while, "n-no way! Do you mean...?" he trailed off, because loud footsteps were heard outside the door. Another raven cawed outside and slowly a large figure entered the room. He surveyed the characters within with one eye and smiled.
"At last I get to meet a Hero," he said.
(Kingdom of Hades)
Slowly, the Warrior approached the man standing in the field. Around him, all faces were turned upwards.
"What is it that you see, friend, that you have all of Elysian looking at the heavens?" Achilles wondered.
A twitch in Odysseus's lips brought a grin to Achilles' face.
"You sly beast!" he gave the brilliant strategist a shove. After a strange disturbance, like a wave of clarity upon their minds, Odysseus had taken it upon himself to stand in a field, away form the others, and stare at the sky. After some time, others had noticed and begun watching for what he was looking at. Some poor souls even claimed they had seen something in the skies.
Another ripple passed through their minds and this time Achilles and Odysseus staggered.
"What is happening to Gaia?" Jason cried. He'd obviously overheard Achilles' finding out Odysseus's trick because of the crimson in his cheeks. Many of the other heroes were murmuring, wondering among themselves why they could feel Gaia shifting even in Elysian Fields.
Suddenly a shout went up and all faces turned skywards again to see large boulders crumbling and falling towards them. A mad scramble ensued to get out of the way. Rocks and stone fell all over, like it was raining an earthly death upon the already-dead heroes. After what seemed like too long a time, the shaking stopped and the rocks did not fall any more. Theseus pushed a large slab of granite off of himself and Narcissus, the latter complaining about how his poor pool had been disturbed by the shaking.
And yet, what a wonder to behold to heir tired and weary eyes! The very air before them had cracked and burst, revealing a fresh new world of adventure, forests, women, fights...
and Life.
"Come, brothers, we are privileged once more to breathe the living air and fight for our honor! May we take great pride in restoring our names in the new world!" Achilles cried.
"Onward- to Life!" Jason bellowed, feeling all but old and despaired like when he had died.
Taking pity on the poor soul, they even dragged Narcissus outside with them.
(Secret Wing: New Olympia High)
To describe Odin as tall would be an understatement. He was a giant! He was extremely skinny and stood at least eight feet tall, clad in battle armor. Long black hair hung from under his helmet, not obscuring his good eye or the sight of the empty socket of the other. His gaunt face was covered in a beard that ran around his lips and fell of his chin in a black bush. He held a straight and sharp spear in one hand, and his skin was pale and nearly snowy white. Must come from living up in the north.
Realizing that Odin was watching him, Archie quickly bowed, not really knowing what to do. Odin, Head-Hauncho of the Norse gods was standing in the Greek gods' library, this was definitely not something that happened every day.
"Ah, beautiful Athena, would you mind showing me to a room where I may become more acquainted with your hero?" Odin asked with a sincere smile. Athena huffed, and Archie guessed that something had maybe happened between them (thousands of?) years ago.
"Come along, Archie," she said flatly, and walked past Odin without giving him a second look. Feeling somewhat meek, Archie waited for the Norse god to go, but quickly the one-eyed giant waved a hand, indicating he should go. Archie didn't feel like disobeying for once and quickly hurried after Athena. He felt strangely humbled by the large god, not just because of his size, but because while these gods had lived a long time- they weren't immortal. They were holding back the destruction of the earth, Ragnarok, they called it, and in the final battle when the sky would fall on the earth and winters like no other would cover her surface, many of the Norse gods would die. He wondered what they might be like, knowing you were going to die but not running away. With a brief glance at his heel, Archie realized that that must've been the same dilemma his ancestor had gone through, and, if history repeated himself, might be his final decision too.
Athena led them to a room Archie hadn't seen before, mind you the group of kids didn't run around like headless chickens- peering into every room and memorizing every hallway of the secret wing. She stood at the doorway and allowed the mortal and the larger god to enter.
Inside was an array of bright colors, which took Archie a moment to see as a large, well, backyard. The porch was white and ended at the grass line; brightly colored flowers dotted the landscape and fell away onto an ocean of clouds. With a gulp, Archie recalled that the portal in the Janitor's closet did more than take them to the secret wing of the school; it actually took them across the world to Mt. Olympus, the ancient and current home of the Greek gods.
Odin made himself comfortable on a soft-looking chair; Archie noticed that he'd shrunk some to fit into the seat. Quietly he sat in a chair opposite. Odin rested his spear on his knee and flashed Archie a rather fake smile.
"So, you are one of Hera's new heroes," it was more a statement than a question.
Archie paused a moment before speaking, something he'd never really done before, "Yes. I'm the descendant of Achilles, my name is Archie." Good thing the others were still out, Archie was sure he'd be hearing about it forever for being so polite.
Odin grinned, "And I'm sure you know about me by now, Archie," Odin was quite for a moment, and Archie felt unnerved under his only bright blue eye, "you look like him," Odin said after a moment.
"Like who?" Archie found himself blurting out before he could think. Mentally he slapped himself.
Odin let out a laugh though, "You humans never cease to amuse me. Ah, Achilles was one warrior I should have liked to have in my Halls, but he only believed in your immortal gods here. He would never have seen my Valkaries even if they were standing before him."
Archie was somewhat awed that his ancestor was wanted by another god, of a different religion.
"So tell me of yourself, young Archie, what is your world like now?"
"Well, uhh, last time I was out there, it was... going crazy," Archie kicked himself for lack of words, "there was a huge earthquake, and fires everywhere and people were dieing. I was attacked by some guy and he punched me right in the eye," Archie pointed to the dark skin around his right eye for evidence, "I have no idea even if- oh god! The city! Cronus will be-"
Odin held up a hand and Archie felt the words jam in his throat.
"Peace, boy. Right now speak with me, we will come to the topic of your city soon. Right now Munin and Hugin are flying the world and will report back to me."
Archie nodded slowly, though he'd much rather jump up and run back through the portal, toga and all, and see the damage for himself. Archie closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counting to ten before he exhaled. When he could still feel his blood boiling, he repeated the calming method a few more times before feeling content. Right before he opened his eyes, Archie felt an odd scraping over his ankle brace. Curiously, he opened his eyes.
The lighter of the two huge wolves was teething his brace. With a shout, Archie kicked at the wolf, throwing himself and the chair backwards. Odin burst out in a chuckle, though it didn't seem all that happy at all, and Archie scrambled further away from the wolf, who was still eyeing him thoughtfully.
"Geri, leave the child alone," Odin told the wolf in a light manner. The lighter-colored wolf, Geri, looked form it's master to Archie and then back again,
"But I want it!" it whined.
Odin let out another chuckle, "Don't worry, Geri will not harm you."
Archie stared at the gods as if he were mad. This... huge... beast, wanted to chew his leg off!
Geri padded forwards and nudged Archie's brace again, "I want it," it griped.
Archie pulled away, still eyeing the wolf, and picked up the chair and sat back down, folding his legs underneath himself. He looked up at Odin, who was smiling broadly, and Archie felt a smile spread across his face and, for some reason that might have been nervousness, anxiety, fatigue or adrenaline side-effects, he found himself laughing.
When he had regained more control of himself, feeling somewhat embarrassed over his outburst, Archie looked up at Odin's grimly happy face.
"Ah, laughter is a joy I fear the world will be void of soon," the god sighed wearily.
This perked Archie's interest.
"What do you mean?" he asked while trying to push Geri away from himself.
Odin took a deep breath, "Young one, now is the time to tell you why I am here."
(Hephaestus's Workplace: Secret Wing)
Neil awoke with a start. He'd had a terrible dream that he'd had to flee a crumbling house, getting dust in his hair and fearing for his life, had to run around outside in the freezing, freezing cold in his pajama's without any preparation and watched the ground swallow people whole, before falling unconscious on a mountain and now... he'd woken up here. Briefly he checked to make sure he still had every perfectly-tanned limb.
Horrified, he found the dust and grime that had accumulated under his nails while climbing that mountain, which he had decided just hadn't been a dream. A grunt from beside him startled him greatly, but he felt safer when he saw Jay bolt upright beside him, looking around worriedly with wide, brown eyes. Neil was quite thankful that at least he didn't look as grungy and raggedy as Jay, but still greatly felt the need to take a shower.
Jay ignored the fact that he probably had a terrible case of bed head, and tried to remember all that had happened previously. He recalled the terrible run to the school, and the cold- oh no! He whipped his head to the left to find Neil fussing over his nails, meaning he was just fine. On his right were Theresa, Atlanta, a space, Herry and Odie.
Okay, his mind calculated as he looked at the furrowed brows and cold sweat, running in the cold meant they were all somewhat sick, so... he looked around and found them in Hephaestus's workshop, so they gods were trying to get them better right away. Archie was missing- but Archie didn't get sick so he's probably woken up by now and left.
Ignoring Neil's protest of loosing the warm blanket, Jay threw off the blanket covering him and pushed himself to his feet. He staggered and grabbed a nearby pipe to steady himself. Tiredly, he wiped sweat from his forehead and looked back at the group.
"Keep an eye on them," he told Neil, "I'll be right back."
And then he stumbled off through the steams and pipes until Neil couldn't see him anymore.
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Wow, another update? Already?
I was nearly done this chapter anyways, haha. So Ragnarok, after who-knows-how-long, finally gets an update.
Some notes on this chapter:
Odin's Ravens- Hugin and Munin are said to fly around the world every day and report back to him. Hugin stands for Thought and Munin for Memory.
The Wolves: It is also said that Odin doesn't eat, and instead gives all his food to his wolves, Geri and Freki. Freki can be translated to 'Ravenous' and Geri to 'Greed'
So hopefully that'll help explain why Geri 'want's Archie brace... everyone greedy wants shiny things...
Feedback would be great!
Demenior
Disclaimer: I don't own Class of the Titans. But I do own my own character interpretation of the Norse gods and my own general characterization of the Greek gods.
Pairings: see chapter one.
Warnings: Some cursing. Rather mild.
Author's Note: Hey, bet'cha didn't expect this to be updated so soon? Well, regardless, Happy New Year, and I hope this chapter will do for now.
Also, there are many takes on the names of the ancient, especially the Norse gods/mythology. So you'll be seeing many of them, so right away if you don't recognize a name, or you think it might be misspelled, it's probably just another way of writing that name that I'm more comfortable with.
Chapter 2: Visitors
00oo00oo00
(Secret Wing: New Olympia High)
Archie muttered some curses to himself as he struggled to get the toga on properly. It was a few sizes to large, and he was fighting to get the belt on without having the front fall open and leave him practically half-naked. Chiron had left him with one of Ares' smaller robes and then trotted off to see to some other matters. Finally, he gave up with fighting the fabric and just tried tucking in as much as he could without making himself look bloated like so many of the gods seemed to be. A life of luxury would be nice, but he secretly loved having to fight huge monsters to save the world, plus it kept him nice and skinny.
He left the toga when he only had a deep 'V' neck, a tad too deep for what he preferred, and tightened the belt to be safe. He left Ares' armory and decided his best choice would be to go to Chiron's room and from there most likely to Hera's office. He ran into Athena on the way, and she smiled briefly at his attempt to do up a toga and without saying a word, reached forwards and readjusted the top so that it fit much better. He sighed thankfully, though the blush on his cheeks also showed his embarrassment.
"Chiron told me you would probably be having trouble," Athena smiled.
"Yeah, well, clothes nowadays are a lot easier to figure out than these ancient ones," Archie shrugged.
Athena nodded, but it was easy to tell her thoughts were elsewhere, "Come with me now. We have a few things to discuss and some more for you to study."
"Like what?" Archie asked bluntly, mentally slapping himself for being an idiot. But in the least, why was he studying when his friends were sick and he was supposed to meet someone that he had to 'dress up' for?
Athena flashed him a wry look over her shoulder, grey eyes glowed in a somber manner, "What do you know about Norse Mythology?"
(Wild Land: Iceland)
The landscape, once covered in snow and ice and rock, was now teeming with new life as the forests finished growing. Snow fell from above and settled quickly on the ground. Slowly, the woods were beginning to freeze, cracks already heard in the trunks of some of the trees. Down upon the forest floor, a pale hand suddenly shot out of the snow.
Shaking, the Titan pulled himself out of the ice that had buried him, cursing and spitting in languages man has never known. Not too far away, a larger giant was pulled himself free of the snow.
"Blast, you fool! Now it will take ages to find Fenrir!" Cronus howled at the taller god beside him.
"Forgive me, Cronus, but it is rather difficult to find things that have been hidden from you, especially when you have not been home in many-a-centuries and Gaia is set on stopping you," Loki snapped, sarcasm dripping form his voice.
Cronus growled, showing his teeth, as he rose to his feet, "Damn you, Mother!" he cried, "Damn you!"
"Stop it you idiot. If we are going to find Fenris, we don't want Gladsheim-knows-what Gaia has released into the world after us!" Loki snarled, his features already changing.
Cronus took a deep breath, "Very well, what do you suppose we can do now?"
"I will call on my followers, they will help us. They will spread the word that Gotterdammerung is coming!" his voice was becoming raspier, deeper. Loki fell upon all fours as his features changed further. His face elongated, fur grew all over his body, his knees reversed and his teeth grew long and sharp. When at last he had taken the form of a wolf, he threw back his head and let out a howl so loud that it called to the whole earth.
Cronus looked around as if he expected fiends and goblins to materialize out of the frosty air, but nothing came.
"It didn't work," he said bluntly.
Loki, who had now changed back to his more humanoid form, put a finger to his lips,
"Ssshhhhh, listen," he said quietly.
Cronus tilted his head slightly, listening to the winds and the cracks and moans of the woods. Suddenly, a smile formed on his face.
In the distance, he heard howling.
(Secret Wing: New Olympia High)
Archie scanned the books, hardly understanding anything.
"So can you tell me now why I have to do a crash-course in Norse Mythology?" he asked hopefully.
Athena sighed and shook her head, "No. But can you tell me who Odin is and why he is referred to as 'Odin One-Eyed'?"
Archie, without looking at the book, closed his eyes and took a breath, "Odin is considered the boss- chief," Archie corrected himself when he felt Athena's unwavering gray eyes on him, "of the Norse gods. He lost, no, he gave up his right eye-"
"Left eye," Athena pointed out.
"Right, he gave up his left eye to gain a ton of knowledge by drinking from the... from the... from Mimir's Well," Archie looked up at Athena, waiting to hear how badly he'd done.
She nodded slowly, "That'll do for now," Archie sighed in relief, "and now tell me about Loki-"
Without warning the doors flew open and two unnaturally large wolves burst in the door, barking and spinning and leaping. Archie sprang form his seat with a loud outbreak of curses. Athena had her sword drawn and was standing protectively in front of Archie.
"He calls! He calls!" one of the wolves cried.
"Listen, listen to his voice! Heed his words or die!" the other sang, both were talking in an almost drunken-like stupor.
Both wolves were definitely not normal wolves, if the speaking hadn't already clued that in. They were both rather plump, with thick, bushy light grey fur. The first one to speak had lighter fur than the other, Archie noted. Their fangs were sharp, and brilliantly white, and their eyes (the lighter one had blue eyes while the darker one had green eyes) were momentarily glazed over as they listened to some imaginary voice.
It was moments later when Archie felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, it wasn't that he was spooked by these wolves, just briefly startled and now wondering who they were. He was already going through all the mythology (Greek and Norse) that he knew to find the answer.
Suddenly a high note, like a shriek or scream cut through his head. Archie cried out, clutching his temples in agony, and fell to his knees. He could hear it, whispering things in his head, calling... calling... calling-
"Archie!"
Athena's voice cut through that terrible screaming. Archie jerked himself out of the sound and realized that it was gone. The wolves, now panting, were calm again and seemed to be coming out of their daze too. Confused, the two canines sniffed the air, looking around with their poorer eyesight. They registered Athena immediately, and Archie swore he saw them smile when they caught scent of him.
"So... one hero awakens..." one growled.
The darker one opened his mouth to speak, but then snapped his jaws closed and whipped his head around to face the door as a black mass of feathers and cawing burst through the doorway.
"Stupid, stupid, silly wolves! Now that you have answered they will know where we are! Stupid, stupid wolves!" the raven squawked, perching on the chair beside Athena.
"What do you want, Hugin," she said slowly. The raven looked at her, cocking its head sideways almost as if she'd grown a second head. Archie was about to make a comment on the fact, but then something clicked in his mind.
"Wait... two wolves, a raven, all this studying on Norse Mythology," it finally dawned upon him why he'd been subdued to cramp-studying sessions for the past while, "n-no way! Do you mean...?" he trailed off, because loud footsteps were heard outside the door. Another raven cawed outside and slowly a large figure entered the room. He surveyed the characters within with one eye and smiled.
"At last I get to meet a Hero," he said.
(Kingdom of Hades)
Slowly, the Warrior approached the man standing in the field. Around him, all faces were turned upwards.
"What is it that you see, friend, that you have all of Elysian looking at the heavens?" Achilles wondered.
A twitch in Odysseus's lips brought a grin to Achilles' face.
"You sly beast!" he gave the brilliant strategist a shove. After a strange disturbance, like a wave of clarity upon their minds, Odysseus had taken it upon himself to stand in a field, away form the others, and stare at the sky. After some time, others had noticed and begun watching for what he was looking at. Some poor souls even claimed they had seen something in the skies.
Another ripple passed through their minds and this time Achilles and Odysseus staggered.
"What is happening to Gaia?" Jason cried. He'd obviously overheard Achilles' finding out Odysseus's trick because of the crimson in his cheeks. Many of the other heroes were murmuring, wondering among themselves why they could feel Gaia shifting even in Elysian Fields.
Suddenly a shout went up and all faces turned skywards again to see large boulders crumbling and falling towards them. A mad scramble ensued to get out of the way. Rocks and stone fell all over, like it was raining an earthly death upon the already-dead heroes. After what seemed like too long a time, the shaking stopped and the rocks did not fall any more. Theseus pushed a large slab of granite off of himself and Narcissus, the latter complaining about how his poor pool had been disturbed by the shaking.
And yet, what a wonder to behold to heir tired and weary eyes! The very air before them had cracked and burst, revealing a fresh new world of adventure, forests, women, fights...
and Life.
"Come, brothers, we are privileged once more to breathe the living air and fight for our honor! May we take great pride in restoring our names in the new world!" Achilles cried.
"Onward- to Life!" Jason bellowed, feeling all but old and despaired like when he had died.
Taking pity on the poor soul, they even dragged Narcissus outside with them.
(Secret Wing: New Olympia High)
To describe Odin as tall would be an understatement. He was a giant! He was extremely skinny and stood at least eight feet tall, clad in battle armor. Long black hair hung from under his helmet, not obscuring his good eye or the sight of the empty socket of the other. His gaunt face was covered in a beard that ran around his lips and fell of his chin in a black bush. He held a straight and sharp spear in one hand, and his skin was pale and nearly snowy white. Must come from living up in the north.
Realizing that Odin was watching him, Archie quickly bowed, not really knowing what to do. Odin, Head-Hauncho of the Norse gods was standing in the Greek gods' library, this was definitely not something that happened every day.
"Ah, beautiful Athena, would you mind showing me to a room where I may become more acquainted with your hero?" Odin asked with a sincere smile. Athena huffed, and Archie guessed that something had maybe happened between them (thousands of?) years ago.
"Come along, Archie," she said flatly, and walked past Odin without giving him a second look. Feeling somewhat meek, Archie waited for the Norse god to go, but quickly the one-eyed giant waved a hand, indicating he should go. Archie didn't feel like disobeying for once and quickly hurried after Athena. He felt strangely humbled by the large god, not just because of his size, but because while these gods had lived a long time- they weren't immortal. They were holding back the destruction of the earth, Ragnarok, they called it, and in the final battle when the sky would fall on the earth and winters like no other would cover her surface, many of the Norse gods would die. He wondered what they might be like, knowing you were going to die but not running away. With a brief glance at his heel, Archie realized that that must've been the same dilemma his ancestor had gone through, and, if history repeated himself, might be his final decision too.
Athena led them to a room Archie hadn't seen before, mind you the group of kids didn't run around like headless chickens- peering into every room and memorizing every hallway of the secret wing. She stood at the doorway and allowed the mortal and the larger god to enter.
Inside was an array of bright colors, which took Archie a moment to see as a large, well, backyard. The porch was white and ended at the grass line; brightly colored flowers dotted the landscape and fell away onto an ocean of clouds. With a gulp, Archie recalled that the portal in the Janitor's closet did more than take them to the secret wing of the school; it actually took them across the world to Mt. Olympus, the ancient and current home of the Greek gods.
Odin made himself comfortable on a soft-looking chair; Archie noticed that he'd shrunk some to fit into the seat. Quietly he sat in a chair opposite. Odin rested his spear on his knee and flashed Archie a rather fake smile.
"So, you are one of Hera's new heroes," it was more a statement than a question.
Archie paused a moment before speaking, something he'd never really done before, "Yes. I'm the descendant of Achilles, my name is Archie." Good thing the others were still out, Archie was sure he'd be hearing about it forever for being so polite.
Odin grinned, "And I'm sure you know about me by now, Archie," Odin was quite for a moment, and Archie felt unnerved under his only bright blue eye, "you look like him," Odin said after a moment.
"Like who?" Archie found himself blurting out before he could think. Mentally he slapped himself.
Odin let out a laugh though, "You humans never cease to amuse me. Ah, Achilles was one warrior I should have liked to have in my Halls, but he only believed in your immortal gods here. He would never have seen my Valkaries even if they were standing before him."
Archie was somewhat awed that his ancestor was wanted by another god, of a different religion.
"So tell me of yourself, young Archie, what is your world like now?"
"Well, uhh, last time I was out there, it was... going crazy," Archie kicked himself for lack of words, "there was a huge earthquake, and fires everywhere and people were dieing. I was attacked by some guy and he punched me right in the eye," Archie pointed to the dark skin around his right eye for evidence, "I have no idea even if- oh god! The city! Cronus will be-"
Odin held up a hand and Archie felt the words jam in his throat.
"Peace, boy. Right now speak with me, we will come to the topic of your city soon. Right now Munin and Hugin are flying the world and will report back to me."
Archie nodded slowly, though he'd much rather jump up and run back through the portal, toga and all, and see the damage for himself. Archie closed his eyes and took a deep breath, counting to ten before he exhaled. When he could still feel his blood boiling, he repeated the calming method a few more times before feeling content. Right before he opened his eyes, Archie felt an odd scraping over his ankle brace. Curiously, he opened his eyes.
The lighter of the two huge wolves was teething his brace. With a shout, Archie kicked at the wolf, throwing himself and the chair backwards. Odin burst out in a chuckle, though it didn't seem all that happy at all, and Archie scrambled further away from the wolf, who was still eyeing him thoughtfully.
"Geri, leave the child alone," Odin told the wolf in a light manner. The lighter-colored wolf, Geri, looked form it's master to Archie and then back again,
"But I want it!" it whined.
Odin let out another chuckle, "Don't worry, Geri will not harm you."
Archie stared at the gods as if he were mad. This... huge... beast, wanted to chew his leg off!
Geri padded forwards and nudged Archie's brace again, "I want it," it griped.
Archie pulled away, still eyeing the wolf, and picked up the chair and sat back down, folding his legs underneath himself. He looked up at Odin, who was smiling broadly, and Archie felt a smile spread across his face and, for some reason that might have been nervousness, anxiety, fatigue or adrenaline side-effects, he found himself laughing.
When he had regained more control of himself, feeling somewhat embarrassed over his outburst, Archie looked up at Odin's grimly happy face.
"Ah, laughter is a joy I fear the world will be void of soon," the god sighed wearily.
This perked Archie's interest.
"What do you mean?" he asked while trying to push Geri away from himself.
Odin took a deep breath, "Young one, now is the time to tell you why I am here."
(Hephaestus's Workplace: Secret Wing)
Neil awoke with a start. He'd had a terrible dream that he'd had to flee a crumbling house, getting dust in his hair and fearing for his life, had to run around outside in the freezing, freezing cold in his pajama's without any preparation and watched the ground swallow people whole, before falling unconscious on a mountain and now... he'd woken up here. Briefly he checked to make sure he still had every perfectly-tanned limb.
Horrified, he found the dust and grime that had accumulated under his nails while climbing that mountain, which he had decided just hadn't been a dream. A grunt from beside him startled him greatly, but he felt safer when he saw Jay bolt upright beside him, looking around worriedly with wide, brown eyes. Neil was quite thankful that at least he didn't look as grungy and raggedy as Jay, but still greatly felt the need to take a shower.
Jay ignored the fact that he probably had a terrible case of bed head, and tried to remember all that had happened previously. He recalled the terrible run to the school, and the cold- oh no! He whipped his head to the left to find Neil fussing over his nails, meaning he was just fine. On his right were Theresa, Atlanta, a space, Herry and Odie.
Okay, his mind calculated as he looked at the furrowed brows and cold sweat, running in the cold meant they were all somewhat sick, so... he looked around and found them in Hephaestus's workshop, so they gods were trying to get them better right away. Archie was missing- but Archie didn't get sick so he's probably woken up by now and left.
Ignoring Neil's protest of loosing the warm blanket, Jay threw off the blanket covering him and pushed himself to his feet. He staggered and grabbed a nearby pipe to steady himself. Tiredly, he wiped sweat from his forehead and looked back at the group.
"Keep an eye on them," he told Neil, "I'll be right back."
And then he stumbled off through the steams and pipes until Neil couldn't see him anymore.
00oo00oo00
Wow, another update? Already?
I was nearly done this chapter anyways, haha. So Ragnarok, after who-knows-how-long, finally gets an update.
Some notes on this chapter:
Odin's Ravens- Hugin and Munin are said to fly around the world every day and report back to him. Hugin stands for Thought and Munin for Memory.
The Wolves: It is also said that Odin doesn't eat, and instead gives all his food to his wolves, Geri and Freki. Freki can be translated to 'Ravenous' and Geri to 'Greed'
So hopefully that'll help explain why Geri 'want's Archie brace... everyone greedy wants shiny things...
Feedback would be great!
Demenior
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