Post by Mr. C on Jun 15, 2009 22:52:52 GMT -5
XVI. – III.
“It’s here.”
Snarling, bloodthirsty and evil, Garmr the guard-dog of the underworlds ran forward, ready to gobble up both of our Midgaardian warriors. Many moons prior Midgaard time, Brett Cross and Glaeg were tricked by the evil Loki in to attempting to find Oleg, Cross’ father in England. Once there, the two were dragged under in to the realm of the undead, Niflehelm and held captive. Then, while “The Norse Hammer” and his sidekick fought through skeleton warriors and corpse creatures, Ragnarok slowly crept up on the worlds above. The demons of the worlds above unleashed their wrath upon the world and a terrible winter fell upon the lands. Just as the Norns had foretold, Ragnarok was upon the worlds of Yggdrasil.
But unknown to the chaos above, stood the warriors in the dark world of Niflehelm. All around blackness stretched for an eternity, with patches of tormented undead continuing back with it. Lakes of fire, and an unworldly smokey haze were the accents to the evil scene. And at the center, the queen of the underworld Hel unleashed the beast Garmr upon our heroes. Standing as tall as any of them, but with a mouth dripping with blood-red spittle, the black hound Garmr galloped forward and lunged at Brett with his jaws open wide – ready to chomp down upon the skull of The God of Midgaard. But, as soon as he was close enough, Brett flourished his blade and slammed the mighty Brandrwulf in to the side of the beast’s head. The blow divided the guard dog’s lower jaw from the side of its head and tore open a jagged divide in its throat with the same swing. Garmr crumpled affront Cross in a gorey puddle just as quickly as it had come upon him – just like that, Cross and Glaeg had fought all the way to the queen.
“Hel!” Cross barked out as he flicked the blood from the ornate cutting edge. “Hel, let us go! Our fight is not with ye, I do not wish t’continue t’desecrate your realm with the blood o’ these pitiful souls.”
“You are the pitiful soul, Cross. Ragnarok has already begun! Even if ye leave now there’s no chance ye will save the worlds. No, Cross. Instead I will keep you two here. The two greatest warriors Midgaard can offer will be souls under my care. You will become one of my undead army just like so many other greats before ye.”
Then, with a scowl upon her perma-frowned face, she raised her hand to signal forth the hordes of undead. But before she could swing her hand forward to issue the order, the air was broken by the sound of a horse’s whiney. Clapping against the cobbled brimstone, the horse and rider came in to the scene, the sounds of the savior heavenly - especially against the dull groans of anguish that filled the air prior. And there sat the shining Aesir Hermod, seated upon Odin’s fastest steed Sleipnir.
“Release them, Hel.” Hermod called out as he pointed out his magical staff Gambantein toward her. Upon Sleipnir he sat tall, Hermod the Nimble adorned in the finest golden armor in Asgaard and the steed outfitted in no less as well. In the dim and dreary realm of the underworld, the duo shone fiercely, heavenly. “They’re not your souls t’keep and ye know it.”
“Ah, but brave Hermod, they are indeed in my realm. Does’t that not make them my souls? I could very easily kill them off and add them t’my army. I could have the two greatest warriors of Midgaard on my side. I could even have ye if I wanted, Hermod the Nimble. You are trespassing as well! Indulge me, why should I let them go?”
Hermod padded the horse forward, next to Cross and Glaeg who stood strong and at the ready. They were still high on the adrenaline of the adventure to this point and would lash out at a moment’s notice. They were more than willing to keep up the fight. Hermod glanced down at the fallen beast Garmr, and as if it placed the plan in his mind, he looked up to the Godess of Niflehelm with a kind-hearted smile. For, Hermod was called Hermod the Nimble not just because he was the fastest god of them all; he was quick of mind, too.
“I know of your past, Queen Hel. I know of who your mother and father are. All of the Gods above know’t, and have known it. But sadly, we also know about how you were treated. Loki, in his desperation to hide his folly treated ye poorly. In a way no God should be treated. And, isn’t that what you are, Queen Hel? A God, too?”
Hermod continued to pad the horse back and forth, moving to keep her attention. He relaxed Gambantein to remove any notion of hostility. Right now, he was weaving a very careful tale and one that Hel seemed receptive to as she relaxed as well, and cocked an eyebrow to his statements.
“Aye, go on brave Hermod…”
“You were cast aside, cast down to Niflehelm t’rule the underworld as Queen of the Dead. So, I ask ye Queen Hel, through all of this why are ye still helping your pitiful father? What ‘as he done for ye? He brought ye in to this world of pain and tormenting, he hid ye and he even joined in on the torment himself! While I claim to know well your story, alas I cannot possibly know the depths of what ye went through. Nay, Queen Hel, ye know better than all of us the trials ye went through, so why aid ‘im? Instead, release these two so they can get the revenge ye must wish so ‘ard for. Allow them to hurt Loki just as he has hurt ye.”
Hel paused after the story and her brow furrowed in to a frown on her already scowled face. The lines about her face deepened in sadness and thought as she looked down at the ground. She thought hard on the story, and as she did Cross looked up to Hermod. For a warrior, for a man who fought so bravely to get to this point, he was truly going to settle this ordeal with words? And such a pitiful attempt at them, too. This plan would surely never work – if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself and you have to do it forcefully. That’s what Cross has known and practiced for all of these years. But, no sooner did the thought come to Cross’ mind than did Hel raise her hand and cast open a portal for the three of them to leave through.
“Go quick, you fools, before Loki discovers my treachery. Ruler of Niflehelm or not, I do not want to invoke his wrath. Go, do as ye claim. Defeat Loki and turn the tides of Ragnarok. Undo the tales of the Norns. Go now, before I change my mind.” Hel turned her back on them and headed off towards her throne in quiet submission. Hermod smiled down upon the two of them as if to say “was that so hard?” and then galloped out of Niflehelm with Cross and Glaeg in tow.
“Thank you, Hermod the Nimble.” Cross said to his savior as soon as they got through the portal. He shook the Aesir’s hand as did Glaeg and the two of them looked out in to the state of the world Midgaard. The ground was covered in thick snow, and it had no signs of letting up. It continued to fall heavily about them, blizzarding down from a sky of hellish fire. The entire scene was completely unnatural; the world truly had been turned upside down by the tides of Ragnarok.
“Thank you, but, where do we go from here? Now that Ragnarok has fallen, we must fight out against Loki’s tides of undead, right?”
“Indeed, Hammer. We must. But, you and Glaeg must save Midgaard alone. All of the Aesir right now are needed in Asgaard. There, the demon Fenris has freed himself from his captive state and is wreaking havoc. I must return and save Odin from the prophecies of Ragnarok before it is too late. What I recommend for you, brave warriors, is return to your home. That’s where you’re needed most. From there, you’ll be directed further.”
Hermod beamed down at Cross and Glaeg once again as the two of them turned to look out in to the horrors of Ragnarok once more. Their home town was where they were needed? What does that mean? The two of them both had a sinking feeling about the voyage, but they nodded grimly. As if given the okay, Hermod pointed his staff out at the waves, and a large ship rose from the waves, as if sinking in reverse.
“Good luck, friends. We up in Asgaard are entrusting the safety of this limb to you two. Make us proud, Hammer, the God of Midgaard.” Hermod spoke with his beaming smile still painted on before wheeling Sleipnir about and taking off, flying through the sky on invisible wings back towards Asgaard. Hammer and Glaeg watched him fly off for a few moments before they smirked at one another and headed off towards the ship.
“Let’s go save the world, then, Glaeg.”
Cross knows all too well that from time to time, things do not always go the way you’d like. Many times, even with help, your path can be changed for the worse. These past two weeks, it’s been the first time Cross has lost two matches back to back ever in his career. The first time he claimed he’d get revenge and did not. Lincoln got away having had his number twice. But, can Cross really feel too badly? It’s not he who was pinned – instead it was the Hardkore Champion Jack Bull who has been having his own troubles as of late. This week, though, Cross must enter in to the tides of war with Jack Bull at his side once more. With luck, this time the two of them will work better together.
This week, it’s contenders versus champions. Jack Bull will have to face his future Pain in Vain opponent this week in Diabolik. And Cross? Why, he has his hands full too as he takes on the continued thorn in his side Chance Fusion. No matter what Cross tries, he has had absolutely no luck in extinguishing the threat of Chance Fusion. And Jack Bull? He’s not exactly had the easiest time with his number one contender either. This week, with any luck, the two of them would learn where they fell apart last week and fix it come time for this week. Together, they’re a dream team. Together, they hold 2/3rds of all the gold in EUW, and these two have yet to hold singles titles. Together, they should join to be the two Gods they really are. But we just have to wait and see if they can work together.
But, Cross? He knows he could demolish any and all of the men in this match, he’d even wager that his opponent Jack Bull would be among them. No hard feelings towards the guy, but he did cost them the match last week, he did ruin Cross’ claims towards revenge and make him look a fool. It wasn’t Cross that faltered, it was his HardKore partner. So this week, whether Jack Bull learns the ropes of tag-teaming or not, Brett Cross plans to step up his game, because Pain in Vain is approaching fast. Lessons learned aside, Cross still feels far more comfortable handling business himself and right now that’s what he needs to do. He needs all the momentum he can get to take on the thorn in his side Chance Fusion. To defend his Pure Title. To prove for the first time that he truly does wield Brandrwulf not as some cheesy gimmick, but as the true God of Midgaard.