Somewhere in the world a massive war raged. Not just the marauders and Vikings who walked around and burned the villages they came across. Ancient Norse gods ruled this world, though the most important of them weren’t in charge. Ragnarok ruled Hel for the time being, and Odin, Thor, and the rest were impotent to stop it.
Crisis had been a world about strategy and combat. It’d been her type of world, one where sorcery combined with technology to create the most unique experience within The Warp. Even Ganymede had been a world where there were missions and goals, though those were simplified due to the expansive nature of that realm.
Hel was simply about the thrill of the kill.
Over on the Nexus Tori knew of a board where kill counts in Hel were tabulated. Everything from style points to most kills in thirty seconds were ranked. There were rankings for buildings razed and burned as well. Oddly enough, there was even a lumberjack rating for those in the game who chopped down trees. Hel was a special world for very strange and twisted gamers.
Sergio loved this place, she recalled. Her former team leader had been an avid follower of the twists and turns of Hel, racking up one crazy kill total after bingeing for a full night on energy drinks and skittles. She knew his total was still up there in the Top 10 list, though not where. As much as she was loath to admit it, Sergio was born for realms like Hel.
“Tori?” a voice startled her. Tori looked back over her shoulder at Stacey, who was pointing down at the sacked village below. “Movement.”
Tori’s eyes focused on to the town and she nodded. A team of “Viking” marauders, complete with horned helms upon their heads, had just put the finishing touches on a bonfire that used to be a Norse longhouse. She realized it was a fair-sized group of gamers. For a brief instant she wished she had the plasma rifle from Ganymede still on her. Unfortunately, Hel was all about traditional sword and sorcery, not science fiction weapons.
“Yeah, not who we’re looking for, though,” Tori muttered and wondered, not for the first time, what had possessed the programmers to make Hel a slash-and-burn type of game. She’d be the first to admit Hel was a great player versus player zone. Whenever they decided to stop the arson and robbery at least.
“Tori, I hate to mention this, but what are we going to do if Loki doesn’t want to listen?” Tyler asked as the large man casually hefted a mighty battle axe onto his right shoulder. “I mean, I don’t want to kill him. If that’s what you meant. But it’d really suck to be eliminated by a god before we find Gargoyle.”
“I’m still working that one out,” Tori admitted. “I just hope he’s willing to hear me out.”
“Isn’t Loki insane at this point of Ragnarok?” Stacey asked.
“I have no idea,” Tori replied. “We might have to interrupt two gods and not one though, because I think Heimdall and Loki will be fighting.”
“Oh, this just keeps getting better and better,” Samantha muttered as she pushed aside a snow-covered tree branch for a better view of the village below.
Tori walked around the pile of ashes on the trail as she turned toward the Norse village, not wanting to know what else had been left on the ground. There were quite a few gamers here still, unlike in Kadashter, where it’d been eerily quiet. The forest around them was alive with activity, though she knew with her Moderator status on, the tournament players should leave her alone.
Her fur-lined cloak, reminiscent of the ones worn by Norse nobility, kept her body warm in the otherwise freezing temperatures as the wind picked up. The cold, Arctic chill cut through just about everything else. She was glad for it, as well as for the insulated leggings and thick boots. She was armed with only a staff in Hel, plain but for a small stone imbedded at the top. It was a practical hiking stick when called upon as well. In Hel, her codes alone sufficed. Such was the power of a priestess of Skadi.
She looked away from the valley and toward the high mountains in the distance. She knew from personal experience that codes ran along the mountaintops at random. Each of those codes represented a deity of Norse mythology, each strand a part of a greater being which made up the entire realm of Hel. Tori knew most of the gods weren’t able to come down to the gamers’ region, so if a hardcore gamer wanted to earn the gods’ favor, they had to traverse the peaks to reach them. It kept the world balanced, and prevented some of the other deities, most notably Loki, from wreaking havoc on the world.
That was during normal times, at least. For the tournament, Ragnarok had been unleashed.
“Something’s moving,” Tori murmured to herself as she watched the massive peaks writhe in the distance. She squinted but couldn’t see why the mountains were moving. That’s weird, she thought.
“What?” Shane asked as he turned and followed Tori’s gaze.
“The mountains are moving,” she repeated. She watched as the peaks seemed to unwind from themselves, uncoiling slowly in the frigid snow. Was the Chaos code changing the landscape? she wondered. She felt another gust of wind hit her full-on. It usually wasn’t a good idea to hang around when the code was changing things.
“You know, I was thinking,” Stacey interrupted as she turned, too, and watched the mountains. “This isn’t the real Hel normal gamers used to play in. The rules are different in the tournament worlds, right?”
“Yeah,” Tori nodded, not following her train of thought. “That’s what the programmers did. They activated Ragnarok.”
“We saw that in Ganymede,” Stacey continued. “What if... the Norse gods aren’t confined to the mountains, like they are in the real Hel? Ragnarok’s started, right? We don’t know where it’s at right now, just that it’s begun. What if we’re at the end stage?”
Tori looked closely at the mountains for another moment before recognizing the long, sinuously coiled creature unwinding itself from around the snow-covered peaks. She swore silently, turned, and began walking the opposite direction in a hurry. The others watched her leave. They were confused, and nobody moved. Tori looked back at them, not breaking stride as her pace quickened.
“If you want to hang around,” she began as an ear-shattering roar rolled through the valley, echoing off the high mountains in the distance. “That’s fine by me. But I’m not hanging around to get eaten by the Midgard Serpent.”
“The what?” Tyler called out. His brother, though, grabbed him by the arm and pulled as he hurried to follow Tori. Tyler resisted until Michael applied more pressure and used a bit of strength. Despite his massive size, Tyler knew that when his brother made the effort, he could move mountains. He followed Michael’s lead, unhappy.
“Jörmungand,” Michael grunted as he sped up. Shane and Stacey were hot on their heels. Samantha’s team was nowhere to be seen. “The creature which... never mind. Bad news if he’s coming this way, no matter what. He supposedly circles the entire world.”
“I know what it is,” Tyler replied angrily. He looked behind them and blanched as the terrifying vision grew larger with each passing second. “I also know it’s coming this way. Let go of me now! I need to run.”
Tori glanced back and snarled angrily. There was no way the creature’s release was coincidental. It’d been triggered by their arrival, which meant someone was watching them. She looked around but saw no one, as expected. Once again, Gargoyle seemed to be playing by a different set of rules.
“Damn him!” she screamed as the Midgard Serpent roared again, this time from a much closer range. She knew at the speed it was traveling, it’d soon reach them, no matter how fast they ran. And since she was now technically in a combat situation, the game prevented them all from logging off. “I’ll kill him myself!”
“Large talk from someone who is about to be eaten,” a deep, unearthly voice said as a cloaked figure stepped out onto the trail before them. She slid to a stop as the cowl of the cloak was thrown off, revealing a frightening visage. The man had red eyes, white skin, and long, black hair cascading to his shoulders. His lips were pulled back into a deathly grin, revealing sharp fangs whe
re his canines should’ve been.
“Loki,” Tori muttered as the Norse god began to laugh, the booming, evil sound forcing everyone in the group to cover their ears. Dealing with a Norse god, especially this god, wasn’t what she’d been looking forward to. Even if it’d been her idea to seek out his help. “Loki, we must talk. Before you fight Heimdall, we need to locate Hel.”
“Mortal, you currently stand within Hel,” Loki said, his tone smug and condescending. “It’s time for my destiny to be complete. The serpent can only be beaten by Thor or Heimdall, and the latter I must slay before I turn my attention to Old One-eye. See these burns upon my forehead? The All-Father has much to answer for, and this is but one small injustice.”
“I’d help you kill him myself if you’d tell me how to kill Hel,” she muttered under her breath. She hadn’t meant for the god to hear, but Loki looked at her with fresh appraisal and a manic smile upon his face.
“You seek the Mistress Hel herself?” Loki’s teeth flashed from deep within his pitch-black beard. “And you would help me kill Odin-father for mere information? I agree to your terms, mortal.”
“Uh…” Tori groaned softly.
“Nice going, girl genius,” Shane grumbled. “Now not only do we have to kill Hel, but we also have to help Loki kill Odin. Pretty sure we’re only helping Ragnarok occur and aren’t actually slowing it down.”
“My legions of unburdened dead arrive,” Loki cackled madly, his red eyes flaming as he looked at the group. He swept his hands toward the mountains behind the group, where the Midgard Serpent had lain. The mighty god focused solely on Tori for one moment, causing her breath to catch. “They crossed the oceans by the thousands, where my son lay for too long, upon boats of bone and skin. Do you not yet fear, Heimdall? Where is your trumpet to call your legions of light? Puny god, where is your army?”
“This boy is loco,” Stacey growled.
“What the hell are you talking about, Loki?” Tori asked, confused. Was there a glitch in the programming? Had the programmers gotten confused? Suddenly, as if a switch had been thrown in her head, she got it.
“Heimdall hasn’t blown his trumpet yet,” Tori stated as she looked back at the others. “Until he does, Loki has free reign to do whatever he wants. He’s top dog right now!”
“Yay,” Tyler applauded sarcastically. “Still not helping us deal with Gargoyle, or Hel, or whatever you’re calling him.”
“You don’t get it,” Tori said and excitedly turned back to Loki. “Lord Loki, we shall help you kill the All-Father if you assist us in killing Hel!”
“Why in the name of the ravens would I kill her?” Loki asked, astonished. “Know you not her importance to me?”
“Because…uh…” Tori stammered as she struggled to think of a good reason.
“Because it’ll be fun!” Tyler shouted as he lifted his sword into the air. “You like to have fun, don’t you?”
“Uh, not to sound like a bore, but isn’t Hel Loki’s daughter?” Michael whispered in Tori’s ear. She blinked, surprised.
“You know Norse mythology?” she asked him.
“I read a book once.”
“Fun,” Loki tapped his lips with a finger and smiled. “Everything is fun when you’re mad!”
“Oh crap, an angry Norse god,” Shane moaned.
“No, mad as in crazy,” Tori corrected. She looked back at the god. “Tell me of your children, Lord Loki.”
“Children?” Loki looked at them, confused. “I have the wolf, the horse, and the serpent. One will kill my father and the other, my brother. You have great knowledge about you. Surely you know of this?”
“Yes, right,” Tori nodded hastily. “Just checking to see how far gone you were.”
“Is he the Chaos code personified?” Stacey wondered out loud.
“Programmers screwed up and missed the importance of Hel,” Michael muttered. “This could work. It’s crazy, but we’re dealing with crazy.”
“Whatever it is, I think we have an agreement,” Tori stated. “You help us kill Hel and we will help you kill Odin. It will be fun.”
The god thought about it for a moment before he began to nod. “We are in accord. First, let us track down the All-Father. Then we shall slay the goddess.”
“I don’t think your ‘goddess’ has much of a chest anymore,” Shane muttered under his breath. Loki either didn’t hear or chose to ignore him. Tori, however, punched her friend hard on the arm.
“That’s for being a pig,” she growled.
“What the—hey!” Shane protested as he rubbed his arm. “I was just saying if Gargoyle is Hel, then he probably doesn’t have, you know, boobs? Being a guy and all?”
“Oh,” Tori said. “Okay. Sorry.”
“Sensitive much?” Shane shook his head. “Sheesh. C’mon, let’s find him and end this.”
“Sorry about punching your arm.”
“Eh, I probably deserved it for something else I might have done a long time ago.”
“Oh, so now who’s being too sensitive?”
“Guys?” Stacey interrupted them. “Once you’re done arguing, can we kill a god?”
Tori blinked. “Yeah, okay.”
“So where’s this god?” Tyler complained. He looked around. “All I see are mountains.”
“Well, according to legend, Odin lives in Valhalla,” Michael answered his brother. “So in order to get to him, we’d need to travel Yggdrasil, the Life Tree, which connects all nine planes of existence to one another. But since we’re in the midst of Ragnarok here, he’s probably around here somewhere killing giants.”
“You really should’ve been leading this realm’s team,” Tori said as she shook her head. “I had no idea.”
“No big deal,” Michael said with a shrug. “I like science fiction, but Norse mythology is really my thing.”
“Old Glapsvid is lurking about, skulking in the shadows like the coward he is,” Loki cheerfully told them. “He will not be fighting giants during Ragnarok. He sends my brother to do such things, and instead he will be awaiting his final battle.”
“Lame,” Tori muttered. “I was hoping he’d be easy to find.”
“Odin! Come forth and face me like one worthy of Valhalla,” Michael suddenly shouted into the air. “Come forth, lest you be a man who mounts goats and mates with sheep! The one-eyed god is afraid of a mere mortal! Uhhh…your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!”
“Seriously dude?” Tyler looked at his brother. “Seriously?!”
“What?”
“Is that a chariot being pulled by goats flying through the air?” Shane asked, interrupting the brothers. Tori scanned the sky and spotted what her friend was talking about immediately.
“Thor!” Michael cried out. Tori spotted two small objects flanking the chariot on either side and noticed the figure driving it wasn’t young at all.
“Those are crows!” She said in wonder. It was the first time since their arrival she’d seen anything like a normal animal.
“Ravens!” Michael corrected her. “That’s Odin, driving Thor’s chariot! Doesn’t anybody do their dang homework? Seriously!”
“We don’t have much time,” Tori told them. “Let’s get him!”
“So can you fly now?” Tyler snapped in an irritable tone. “Last I checked, he can.”
“We wait for him to land then!” she snarled in reply.
“I seriously doubt he’s going to land and let us fight him when he has the higher ground!”
“So then what do you suggest we do?” she demanded.
A sharp twang! interrupted their argument. A bright glowing streak of white light flew into the sky and struck one of the goats square in the chest. The animal screamed in pain and slumped in its harness. The chariot dipped to one side as the lone goat struggled to keep it in the air. It began to descend at a rapid rate and Tori suddenly realized it was going to crash right on top of them if they didn’t get out of the way.
“Move!” sh
e shouted, and everyone scattered.
The chariot hit the ground, and wood, metal, and animal parts exploded in different directions. To her, it sounded exactly like a car accident would, minus the screeching brakes. Metal screamed, wood splintered and broke, and the second goat was obliterated before it could even get out a cry of its own. Odin was sent tumbling across the ground, his massive form causing more noise than the chariot itself. He crashed through two small pines trees and ended his fall against a large, snow-covered boulder.
Tori looked over at Stacey in wonder. Stacey calmly nocked a second arrow and, after noticing Tori’s questioning gaze, explained.
“The game says I have the blessings of Ullr, whoever that is,” she said. “It turned an old code I had into…that. Aren’t you glad I carry ranged weapons?”
Tori nodded. It hadn’t even occurred to her there might be a need for striking an enemy from a distance. In her mind, fantasy was all about magic and swords. A bow and arrows, however, had changed the course of warfare long before. Now it might have saved their digital lives.
“I’d prefer some grenades but…ah, forget it,” Tori replied. “Nice shot.”
“Ullr is a Norse god of the hunt,” Michael said as he picked himself up off the ground and dusted off the powdery snow. “Great code, by the way.”
“I was aiming for Odin,” Stacey admitted. Tori grinned and grabbed her staff from inventory. The small crystal on the end began to glow green as she took it and expertly twirled it in the air. She saw Odin stirring and motioned at the others.
“Let’s do this.”
Tori and her team cautiously approached the great lord of the Norse gods, spreading out in a half-circle around the ruins of his borrowed chariot. The ravens perched on a tree branch nearby and watched their approach. She jerked her chin toward them.
“Stacey,” was all she needed to say. The gamer nodded in reply and nocked another arrow. Stacey pulled the string taut and released it. The arrow flew through the air and the crow on the right exploded in a cloud of black feathers. The other took flight and climbed high above them. Stacey tracked it for a moment before she lowered her bow.
Devastator Page 19
