The Thralls Of Asgard || A Test

[x-firestar.livejournal.com]

The hunt for Frost Giants goes awry when Loki appears on the scene to mess with the trio.



Molly's sword glowed orange, steam billowing off of it in the presence of the super cooled air. Being underground in the dwarf mines made it easy for the temperature to stay cold. The dwarven village, and most of its inhabitants, had nearly been frozen solid by the Frost Giants who towered over the roofs of the structures. Dwarves and Frost Giants had been enemies for many centuries, along with almost everyone else. It was not in the nature of the nine realms to be peaceful. Most of the time it was only an uneasy truce, save for a couple of the worlds.

Without fire to provide light, the only glow came from Molly, Ty, and Tandy's weapons, which were treated with Asgardian technology to remain heated, easier to cut through the ice covered skin of their foes.

Scanning the area, Molly searched for a sign of movement out of the corner of her eye. She was still small, making it easy to hide. The Frost Giants had a disadvantage if they wanted that. But they didn't.

"I don't see the leader yet," she said. If they could find and capture him, the other giants would be less effective. They depended on the leader for orders. Otherwise they wandered around aimlessly, causing chaos.

Tandy had been able to converse with the dwarves that hadn't been frozen over in their own tongue. They had given an account of what happened and about what time and which direction the Frost Giants were moving. After telling them to hide, she nestled herself next to Molly.

"He would be more towards the center." She whispered. "That is what one of the Dwarves said." She nodded towards the center of the Dwarven mines. "It will be difficult to get close."

Ty looked up at the rocky ceiling and around the dark cavern. "If we're careful and quiet, we can be just another shadow," he said. A finger of darkness slid up the haft of his ax and smothered the light of the blades.

"They know they gotta protect him," Molly said. It was a tactic of war. Or chess, which worked a lot like war, surprisingly.

Molly grinned at Ty. "Sneaky ninja mode. I like this plan. Sif says we gotta keep as many alive as we can. They might have info we need. Sooo...how bout we figure out how many there are, try to take out the leader if we can, and get him to get the others to stand down? If not, we'll have to take 'em out one by one," she said, then curled her nose.

"Yay."

"Yay." Tandy whispered with Molly. She didn't like the idea of going up by the Frost Giants one by one.

Her eyes scanned the area again,"Okay, stay low. Ty can help. The shadows can hide us." She looked quickly over at Tyrone. She wasn't sure how his hunger was doing, but she knew what to do if it was. "Ready?" She whispered to the both of them.

Ty teased out some shadows to mute the light of the other two weapons. Then he moved closer to a wall so it was just a gentle adjustment to cover their movement. "Let's go."

"And lo," a nasal voiced replied instead, "They wrote that the Bravest Children Three of Midgard, cloaked in shadow, moved to assault the fierce forces of Jötunheimr."

The green glow of a staff materialized from the shadows from what had looked to be just another wall to their opposite side. The dim magical light outlined a figure in gold armor, a green cape, and a helmet with telltale curving horns. "Alas. All the noble smiths could find of them was scattered frost."

The trio may have moved to reply, but Loki held up a hand as if not finished. "Did you know that Frost Giants have extraordinary hearing? This is extremely important to consider when you plan to be entirely overdramatic in a cave." He grinned and raised his voice in emphasis, "Things echo."

Ty flattened himself to the wall, pulling the women closer in what might be a vain attempt at cloaking their presence. He barely dared to breathe.

Loki raised his eyebrows incredulously. "Pathetic. Nott did a poor job, but we must always consider the student before judging the master. Poor boy. Shall I test your companions instead?"

He waved his staff dismissively, and one by one a hundred floating lights winked into existence to bathe the area in light. There was a distant rumbling noise as what was undoubtedly the Frost Giants moved to investigate the new glowing beacon.

Tandy looked up and tilted her head - that voice. "Shit." She whispered trying to pinpoint where the voice was coming from, noticing the green staff glowing from the shadows. What was Loki doing here? Narrowing her eyes and gritted her teeth, as she felt herself being pulled by Ty to he wall. "Don't listen to him, he is a jerk." She said to Tyrone - clearly she was annoyed with their cover being blown.

When the floating lights blinked to life, Tandy wanted to take her sword and whack Loki - might be a bad idea but it was the thought that counts. "Guess we are fighting." Tandy lifted her sword and turned towards the sounds of Frost Giants coming their way.

Molly nodded simply, knowing hiding probably wouldn't have worked anyway. It was Loki. He was the god of sneakiness. But hey, they tried. "Yep," she said. She'd mostly been the poke it with a sword kinda girl anyway. "Remember the mission!" Loki probably knew the mission but if he didn't, she didn't wanna advertise. He probably had 'God of Evil Stuff' as a title too.

The low rumble of approaching feet preceded the slow creep of ice that formed along the walls and the floor of the cavern, jagged, crystalline evidence that the giants were closing in. Icicles formed rapidly, thickening and lengthening from the ceiling as the first of the giants came into sight.

Loki, for his part, had no reaction but to shake his head disappointingly at the youths. "Baldr's ward cannot even diffuse a simple light spell. Mentors these days. Looks like we must result to a show of," and his disdain was clear as his attention moved to Molly, "Brute force."

The giants, now seeing their new prey, attacked.

Narrowing her eyes at the Frost Giants, Molly readied her sword. There was no need to mask the glow any longer, so it illuminated her face. As the giants shot toward her, Molly took off running at them, then used her much smaller size to baseball slide underneath one of them so that she was in between the two of them.

Jumping up, she brought up her sword to block an attack from one of the giants who was wielding a sword that was covered in ice. The air sizzled and steam rose up as the hot sword met the icy one.

"Y'know, if you're that bored Loki to go picking on us, you should probably...." She swung her sword again, her eyes blazing purple as she knocked the ice sword out of the frost giant's hand.

The giant that was behind her attempted to grab her but she ducked out of the way and he wound up hugging his buddy.

"Get a hobby. Like..."

She twirled around until she was in front of the two temporarily hugging giants, then used a nearby fountain to boost herself off of and kick the two of them into one another.

"Dancing. OR I dunno, beer making. Cause this is gettin kinda old."

"Tsk, tsk little pest," Loki chided as if they were sharing tea and cookies on a sunlit porch, "I am only concerned for your place in our realm. This is a test. Consider me your examiner."

The frost giants stumbled, one of them roared, and then they hit the cavern wall. The entire world seemed to shake from the impact and several enormous stalactites fell from the ceiling, embedding themselves in the gravel and rock perilously close to Tandy and Ty. As the first two giants broke apart another three walked toward the fray. They paused for a moment, red eyes glowing slightly, before ice grew at an astounding rate from their skin, sheathing their hands in ice. It formed an ax on each of their hands, one side razor sharp, the other perfect for causing blunt force trauma.

Ice formed on the ground with each step they took as they began moving forward - they were slow at first, but they quickly gained in speed, hurtling toward the group of people. They payed Loki no mind at all, rapidly moving past him in favor of the seemingly easier targets the mutants presented.

Tandy steadied herself as the Frost Giants came into view. She lifted her hand and unleashed five daggers on the one that directly in front of her. It yelled out in pain as they pierced the skin.

Jumping to the side as she ran passed the one she hit with her dagger and raised her sword to the lights that Loki was so kind in creating. "Molly. Ty. Shade dem eyes." She muttered the Asgardian Spell and the lights began to glow brightly.

The giants, blinded, let loose a very satisfying collective roar of frustration that shook the cavern walls. Ice continued to creep everywhere, now more frantically, all save for a circle around where the figure in gold and green stood haughtily. He did not blink at the lights, but instead raised a now-glowing staff and began to murmur his own spell.

The lights pulsed brilliantly, but then faded in hue and intensity as the original spell's power, now supplemented by Tandy's own inner light and magic, was snatched back and rewoven by Loki.

Ty used his ax with both hands, attempting to lop large parts off of the remaining two frost giants in his way. He followed up with solid blows from his own shadow, the only thing he could touch in the face of Loki's light show. He tried to make his way toward the trouble-making god. He had not idea what he'd do when he got there, but whatever Loki was doing couldn't be good. He wasn't exactly known for his generosity. He had no illusions about being a hero, but he could definitely be a distraction while the other two finished their own opponents.

The ice blade on one of the frost giant's hands shattered beneath Ty's ax, sending almost sentient pieces of frozen liquid scattering about them. Instead of lying dormant, though, the ice slowed in its tumble across the ground, halted, and began to grow. The fifth and final frost giant hadn't moved forward with the others when they attacked. Instead, he hung back and knelt, observing the battle while his brethren occupied the humans and Loki focused his attention on siphoning the bright girl child's light for himself.

As the giant facing Ty fended off the blows of the young man and his shadow, the fifth giant pressed his palm to the frosted ground, red eyes narrowing, and began casting a spell of his own. The growth of the ice in the cavern increased twofold and an ominous rumbling began, almost as though the earth itself had begun to tear apart in the face of the freeze overtaking it.

As Ty had to start fighting the ice as well as the giant, he almost missed the one working magic. Ty glared between the two, and sheathed his ax in its holder on his back. He crouched low to the ground to maximize the density of his shadow, and shot it out to encompass his opponent's head. The frost giant clawed at the shadows as he tried desperately to draw in another breath.

The giant seemed almost to be suspended in the air as the shadow writhed around him, his curled fingers and jagged nails, the bits of sharpened ice lingering on his hands — none of them did any good. Several infinite seconds dragged by as the giant's struggles slowed and then finally ceased altogether, his hands dropping limply to his sides and his knees giving way completely.

Mere meters away the giant who had suffered five light daggers through his back and arms struggled to his feet, the blackened skin where Tandy's life force had struck him cracking and peeling. He was weak, grunting in pain, and the fifth giant directed the ice toward the glowing girl. Freezing her where she stood might not help his compatriot, but it would be very satisfying, indeed. The small armored one with the glowing sword still maneuvered nimbly between the first two frost giants who had appeared. He could deal with her later.

Tandy looked to see the direction of the ice coming towards her, she bolted forward getting out of the ice's path. Already another spell was muttering on her lips, though her light couldn't create heat, Baldr had showed her how to use Asgardian magic to make it. She unleashed five more daggers laced with heat towards the giant that had unleashed the ice path. She didn't have to look to make sure they hit, it was second nature to her. She continued to run towards the ice giant with her hand glowing, ready to strike.

The giant directing the ice, though, saw the daggers of living energy shooting toward him and pushed both hands down, into the ground, then up with a violent shove. He threw shards of ice up in a splintered wall between himself and those bits of light, letting the ice and the rocky debris it carried absorb them.

Stumbling, the light-injured giant extended a hand and spread his fingers wide, shattering the ice ax on his hand and sending the pieces flying toward Tandy.

Instincts and many hours of training kicked in as Tandy fell to the ground in a slide to try and avoid the flying shards. She came back up as the last of the pieces flew by her, only scraping her cheek. Her hand connected to the giant's skin and she let the burst of light enter, with just enough to send the giant into unconsciousness. She slid to a stop and turned to face the fifth giant that had blocked her attack.

Meanwhile in Molly's neck of the woods, the two giants that she had knocked down were determined to not stay down. And one also decided to copy their friends and form an ice axe as well. He whipped around and attempted to cut her head off with the axe, but Molly quickly ducked. This, unfortunately, left her open to the other one, who relied on brute force (and a giant ice club) to send her careening into a nearby dwarf house via the roof.

"Not cool!" came the reply from inside, before she dusted herself off and came out the front door. But they were waiting for her, and they pounced, giving her no time to fight back, aiming punch after punch, and kick after kick.

The suspended lights suddenly dimmed as the stolen magical essence from all spells cast were absorbed in a swirl of neon green energy into the trickster's god staff. This left the battlefield temporarily bathed only in the glow of the children's enchanted blades save for Loki himself. He cut an intimidating figure, merry troublemaker replaced with the true accuser and tricker of gods, and his smile was sinister.

His voice broke the moment of silence with the solemnity of a spell-in-motion: "Lásabrjótur, I bring thee, that of the unlocking, to punish found out of place in this realm. I call thee, Molly Grace Hayes. I call thee, Tandy Reese Bowen. I call thee, Tyrone Johnson. I banish you to where you belong."

Tiny lines of light traced themselves into the ground at the sound of his words. The rune at its center was a fork-tipped square containing three skewered circles. As Loki called each teen by the name given years ago to Odin in Valhalla, they were added to the spellwork. The light continued to spiral into a crazy knotwork of sigils and the necessary sort of spell notation that cursed travelers, promised bedbegs, and wished that it would be either extra cold or extra hot on the other side.

It was beautiful.

It was dangerous.

It sealed with a shock of light, and suddenly the world seemed to shrink into the void it created, pulling the three teenagers and anything nearby into Midgard.