"What the hell are those useless dwarves doing here, Belial?" Lucifer bellows.
His angry complaints echoes through the great hall, making the large marble pillars that hold the giant halls of the underworld in place tremor as they soar past.
"There are already enough rumors in all dimensions," Lucifer continues. "I will not tolerate them coming here and causing more slander, that my brother Elohim will use against me."
He slams opens the massive double metal doors with a dull thud and spots Brokk, who is serving himself a sizable brandy by the liquor cabinet next to the domed fireplace. His brother Sindre is spread out on a divan, his short legs and dirty boots resting on the exclusive burgundy velvet fabric.
"Good afternoon." Brokk raises the glass towards Lucifer and exposes a large mustard colored stain under his armpit before sculling the smooth amber contents. "We have some business to sort out," he continues, before releasing a noisy burst of air th
Indra inhales deeply as a bitterly cold darkness envelopes her as she enters Limbo. The ground is covered in an icy blanket and she can feel the cold seeping through the souls of her shoes, traveling up her legs. Indra can hear harrowing screams and terrifying growls, somewhere in the distance.As her eyes gets used to the darkness, Indra realizes that this world has neither a sky or a horizon. Far away, she can make out the serrated silhouettes of something similar to a forest, but she knows that it cannot be true, that there is only an empty black darkness.An outlineagainst the backdrop seems to be getting closer, its alive following her scent in the air.The creatures of this world know she's here. Indra can hear their raspy labored breaths and feel the hasty movement of large number closing in as the frozen earth trembles under her feet. She increases the white yellowish light in her eyes to maximum strength and shift her vision into night-sight.The
Indra makes a grand entrance into her friends' room. The crunching noise from the glass shards under her feet echo loudly through the small quiet dormitory in Asgard. The room is round in shape and has walls of roughly sawn logs, like so many other buildings in the world of the Viking.The two men shout when they discover Indra's figure. They jump out of their beds and dive for their swords, swinging them just inches from Indra's neck. She ducks and throws herself backwards into the broken mirror.Vimar is the first to realize that it is Indra they are attacking. He swings his sword again, and the long clang of steel against steel rings out as he stops his boyfriend, Brage, from handing out a fatal blow towards their friend."Damn it, Indra! We could have killed you," he screams, trailing a trembling hand across his forehead."I know, I'm sorry," she stutters, unable to move.They stand silently looking at each other for a brief moment, breathing h
"You've let me down, Laurin! You have let me down more than any other god or creature that has ever walked this earth!" the oracle Ophelia screams in a pitch so high that his ears become blocked."But dear sister, she ran away! It was impossible to prevent. And you knew she'd get her powers back. It couldn't have come as a total shock to you," Laurin insists. He knows it's his fault somehow, but he still can't help but wonder. If he could have prevented it? Indra's powers are both stronger and more unique than he could have ever imagine."But that she managed to escape from you so easily..." Ophelia strikes out with her hands, from where she’s standing in the middle of the gloomy basement. "That's what I can't understand, brother. And while you were asleep, too."So, it is down here that my sister keeps all her potions and magical spices," king Laurin thinks, casting a quick glance at the mighty scared wooden table in the middle of the room. It is over flo
After much persuasion, they convinced the god Heimdall to bring them into the human world. He was able to take them as far as the outskirts of Romania, but the rest of the way they had to manage on their own.As a child, Indra had visited her grandmother on the Swedish island of Gotland several times. At one point at the age of eight, she had persuaded her mother to bring her best friends Vimar and Brage to spend the summer holidays with her at grandma’s house. Indra knew to some extent how to behave among humans, but disaster had struck when her friends had been allowed to meet with ordinary mortals.Vimar had snuck with him his sword and axe, despite repeated lectures from Indra's mother, Rebecca, that such weapons do not exist in the human dimension and especially not around kids. On the first day, Indra's grandmother had taken them to a playground, but neither Vimar or Brage understood what to do there. Indra explained that you could play on the swings or cli
Indra remembers when Cain first started courting her. It was on her sixteenth birthday and her parents had organized a party in Odin’s great hall, in Asgard. All the Vikings had been invited to celebrated that she had become a woman.During the party, Odin had taken her aside and given her one of the jewelries that hung around his broad neck. It was a gold ring necklace, with beautiful patterns of thousands of tiny gold beads. The ring itself was hammered like braided rope and two small bullets met on each side, forming a perfect, closed circle.Odin told her that the neck ring was called Havorringen, a name she had to promise him to remember. He gave it to her as a gift to protect her from the dangers of both human and demigods. Indra also had to promise to never take it off. It was a promise she kept. Not even Lucifer had tried to take the neck ring off her in the months he'd held her captive and tortured.It was there in Odin’s Hall that Cain had
Cain gets up and walks up to her. He lets one hand trail along her back while the other grabs her breast."You're a very beautiful woman, Indra," he growls in a low tone, looking deep into her eyes.His words send waves of heat throughout her body that gather in her most privet parts. He bends down and lifts the thin slip over her head. As she stands there, naked and at his mercy, Indra becomes aware of how much larger his body is than hers. Her head barely reaches his shoulder and his veiny arms are almost wider than her waist. His hands are big and tanned against her pale skin and she can feel her blood rush through her as he moves his hands down towards her flat stomach.His erection presses against her waist and his pants can no longer hide his hardness. Indra stands there in broad daylight, exposed, vulnerable and fully aware of his caressing hand and the radiating heat that fills her core. The fact that he's still fully clothed makes her feel a little inse
Lucifer's demon-like form appears in the doorway. He's barefoot and smells like ash and smoke. His arms hang relaxed along his sides, the pale skin reveals all his defined facial features, from the bushy eyebrows and the powerful jawline and squared chin. His whole body radiates power.A warm breeze from the sizzling desert outside makes its way through the room and lifts his cape like black wings. His lifeless eyes bore deep into Rebecca's. She backs away to create more space between them."As beautiful as I remember you," he purrs, but nothing on his face reveals what he's thinking. She can only guess.Seven steps forward and stands in front of her and stares menacingly at his father."Where's our son?" he growls."You can have your son back," Lucifer replies, "but then I insist that you hand the girl over to me."Seven makes a sudden outburst and a flash of silver and gold flickers through the air. Rebecca gasps for air, as Lucifer pushes
Vimar fights against the rope, he throws himself back and forth with frustrated grunts where he is tied to the tree trunk.Brage grunts at him to be quiet so he doesn't attract the demonic creatures, Indra just looks at Brage and shakes her head at Vimar. She swings her legs and kicks him hard on the shin. He squeals and looks bewildered at Indra, before she nods towards the campfire and The Army of Cain that’s gathered around it."Shut up, you idiot. You're bringing them here,' she tries to mumble through the fabric in her mouth.Cain has forgotten one important thing when he captured them, and that is that Indra's powers are in her eyes – not in her hands that he has tied or her mouth that he has gagged. She tries to smile despite the cloth. Brage smiles back and immediately understands what Indra tries to communicate. Vimar looks confused and doesn't seem to have realized their plan yet.Brage is trying to speak through the cloth. "Just tak
A few months laterIndra looks out over the rose garden. The bright pink roses sparkle in the soft light of the sunrise, giving the morning mist a faint blush.This time of day is her favorite. She sips carefully on the hot coffee and sighs pleasurably. A light breeze caresses her face and she closes her eyes and listens to the crashing of the waves from the sea below, the sound is soothing for her chaotic thoughts. She's tired of being a pawn in everyone else's game. She had felt trapped for allowing herself to be that pawn. She had desperately and thoughtlessly tried to live up to other people's expectations without having a plan before acting.Now her immature attempt to be a fearless leader had to be over. She must think first and act only on well-thought-out strategies. Right now, she has one mission in her head, and that is to free her brother from Lucifer. And it's time to figure out how to get it done. Then she will take back Havor
The Oracle has observed the battle from afar. Now she sees her chance to be recognized as a God, instead of just serving the gods which she has for millennia’s. She has always predicted Indra's death – how her own brother would hand out the final fatal blow to his sister. The plan to persuade Lucifer to let Joar dance with the fairies had succeeded. She is very pleased with her plans, which in the end always turn out the way she intended. There are only advantages to foreseeing the future.Unfortunately, she can't predict her own future and it has always angered her. But maybe she can see her own destiny with the help of Indra's powers? The next step in her carefully calculated plan is to take them as her own. She would become ruler of the universe and all other dimensions. She would rule and everyone would bow before her and worship her as the rightful goddess she is.The oracle opens the box and the yellow-green glow fills the space around her. She brings
Indra is studying her army. She understands from the giant grey clouds rolling in from the West that the army of the gods is much larger than her own. She wished Frigg had succeeded in persuading Odin to come and fight alongside her, even though the prospects were always slim."Cain, we're going to need more help. Can you call upon your phantom army?" she asks, holding her breath.Cain smiles reassuringly. "They're already here." He bends down on one knee and puts his palm against the cold ground. A tremor passes in wave-like motions through the ground under their feet. From the underworld, hundreds of black shape less demons dig their way up, to stand by their ruler's side. Indra nods approvingly and turns to Enock."In which way can you contribute to this battle?" she asks gently.Enock walks up to the edge of the small freshwater snow lake, at the base of the towering mountain. He takes his pants off and neatly folds them in a pile, sits down on a rock
The gate in the north appears on the horizon. It's an impressive sight towering in front of them, it takes their breath away.The landscape is ancient and powerful. The gigantic mountains with their snow-capped white peaks and vast green landscape at the base create harmony, mystery and magic. It is difficult to take in the raw, wild and naked beauty that extends out in front of their feet. Indra thinks it looks like someone has taken a big bite out of the mountain to taste its exquisite splendor.But the gate in the north is not happy to share its secrets and Indra can feel the vibrations from its unwelcoming reception. As they ride towards the gate, Indra sees that several forest creatures have already made it there. Melia the fairy queen stands proud on her bridge of dense fog with her subjects around her. Further afield she glimpses the Forest Mistress Rana and by her side are Cain and Enock.She can see that Enock has finally put on a pair of loose-fitting pa
It is late summer, but the weather is chilly, as it is almost always in the northernmost part of the Nordic region. The midnight sun shines with its last rays and guides them through the mountain’s ranges. The winds that form powerful gusts across the open, barren landscape make Indra's frozen fingers cramp as she holds the reins."Where are you taking us?" Laurin whispers in her ear. His breath is warm on her skin and creates small faint tufts in the air around them."We're going to Abisko in northern Sweden," she says, smiling with rattling teeth."That explains why it's so damn cold."” Mm …”"I know a way to warm us both." He moves his hands tighter around her waist, pulls her closer to his chest and kisses her in the neck to emphasize his words. She shudders under his warm lips trailing along her neck, and she's about to turn around to meet his soft lips in a kiss, when Rubrum interrupts her with his soft voice inside
The mandatory alarm rings out loudly, as it always does in Asgard when something or someone unauthorized and not yet invited enters the Vikings dimension.The persistent high-pitched sound cuts through Indra's sensitive ears. Laurin lets go of her waist and writhes in agony from the intense sound. Indra decides to take a detour and show herself to Heimdall, so he can see that she is the one who has come home to Asgard again.Heimdall stands tall and blows hard into the Gjallarhorn to warn the Vikings, but then he looks up and sees Indra coming towards him. She pulls on the reins and Rubrum slides the last few meters until he comes to a complete stop in front of Heimdall."It's me. Heimdall, I'm here to talk to Odin.""Greetings, Indra, and welcome home! You've been missed." He smiles welcomingly."Thank you. I've missed you too.""Although you are welcome back, I am not sure Odin feels the same way about your new friends." Heimdall nods to L
When Indra opens her eyes early the next morning, her gaze immediately focuses on her backpack, which contents lays scattered around her."But who ..." She sits up and looks around. The others are fast asleep spread out in a circle near the smoldering fire. The fog is dense and damp over the green meadows. She looks down at her backpack and glimpses something in the open compartment that shimmers faintly in the soft morning light. It's the gift she received from the fairy queen Melia. How could she forget it?She picks up the gift in her hand and inspects it closely. It’s a thin light Byzantine silver chain with an intricate design with a rope-like texture. Each of the chains links passes through four others making the chain both strong and flexible. Indra tugs the chain gently and it immediately gets longer. She quickly ties it together into a lasso, gets up and looks at the sleeping men. Imagine how surprised they would be if she managed to catch one of the dem
Indra sighs heavily. The rain pours down over the barely visual dusk covered deep valley. Most of yesterday and almost all of this day they have been searching for the three demon horses across the vast open spaces. Indra has always been proud of her ability to catch wild horses in Asgard. With her sharp mind and great sense of hearing, she has been one of the best at tracking the beautiful wild horses. No wild horse ever escapes her, even in the thickest fog. Tonight, there is no fog, but the dark and persistent rain disrupts their repeated attempts to outsmart the demon horses.Something's moving at the edge of Indra's peripheral view. She casts a quick glance to her side, and there basking in the faint moonlight, stands Laurin as a motionless Greek statue. He's wearing a pair of loose-fitting pants that clings to his wet legs, his muscular torso is bare and glistens in the dull light. He is barefoot and ankle deep in mud, his body language shows his frustration at today's
Indra squirms in an attempt to get comfortable. The long and tiresome ride has left its mark on her muscles. She tries to scootch forward a few centimeters towards Viridi's neck, mostly to avoid feeling what's poking her in the back. She feels uncomfortable with Laurin's apparent excitement when there are so many people around them.Viridi stops and with a loud high-pitched neigh he informs. "We're at the witch." He tosses his large head and stomps impatiently with his oval shaped hooves in the rocky ground.Everyone looks up. The cliff of the mountain side is enormous. On the top of the mountain the gray shades shift in the light, carving dark contours into the rugged surface in the shape of a face. Tears flow through an endless stream from the eyes cut into the stone. In fact, it looks like the mountain is crying real tears.A little further ahead, below the mountain, runs an immense alley of green lush trees. Viridi stops."Are you sure this is what yo