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Despite Harry having several other demands on his time, creating a method to force the communication open between the two paired mirrors took Harry a bare two days. To do so, he had to create what was basically an amplification array for his half of the pair, which would open the connection between the two via brute force without immediately turning the other mirror into so much slag.
He couldn't simply just add more power to the signal: that would result in the aforementioned slag. No, that power had to be controlled, interweaved in a way so as to let more power be added into the 'communication system' as it were without overwhelming it thus needing the array to act as a circuit breaker of sorts.
During this time Harry also began to teach Illyana, assigning her several spells each day to learn, small things like which he had first learned at Hogwarts. They were mostly chosen to aid her in controlling her magic in addition to aiding in her visualization, which was the key in practically every kind of spell work. He also started to teach her calligraphy, which would be a major help if she was became interested in runes.
Eventually the amplification array was done and Harry sat in the center of his now cleared work room. Ororo stood behind him outside the amplification array leaning against the wall with Emma, who had just arrived, leaning her head against the black woman's shoulder as they both watched Harry put the final touches on the array. To Emma's eyes the runic array was a series of strange scrawls set in odd shapes around one another like a jigsaw puzzle on the floor. To Ororo it looked much the same, except there were also several glowing lines in the air hovering apparently randomly around the mirror that were either corralled or guided by the array, which had its own internal power shining from the runes.
"Do you think whoever is trying to control the Asgardians will be able to attack us through this spell?" Ororo asked.
"No, I think whoever it is are extremely limited in how they can act on Earth. I doubt it was always so, but it certainly is now or else they would've struck at us after we found Thor's hall based on how quickly they cut Hela off from us. The mental plane might be a different story since they seem so adept at mind magics and control, hence why I've been researching legellimency and other mental attack and defense magic. In fact, I doubt they have anything that could attack Hela in her own halls physically. I think Niflheim would be like Mephisto's realm, a place where she could turn anything and everything against any attacker."
"What exactly are we expecting once you forcibly open this communication?" Emma asked. She of course had not met Hela or her wolf guardian so her focus here was purely Ororo and Harry's welfare. She didn't wish the goddess ill by any means but as of now she was just a stranger to Emma and thus of little importance.
"No idea, hence why I brought up the castle's wartime defensive arrays before starting on this." Harry said, shaking his head, his fingers twitching eager to get this over with.
The normal defenses of Camelot were immense, powerful and varied. Once you brought them up to a wartime footing though that magnified their strength a hundred fold, fueled by the ley lines beneath Camelot to such a degree they could have seen off an attack by Harry himself, Dr. Strange, or their nonmagical equivalents. And the sentient feeling the castle occasionally gave off magnified too, becoming wary, watchful and protective, something every magic user in the castle was aware of now.
Harry set the mirror down its center, his hand hovering over it as his other moved to the rune powering the array. "If Hela's under attack of some kind, I might be able to use this to trace an apparition straight to her, though that would be dangerous." He mused thoughtfully.
"Understatement of the century," Ororo chuckled dryly. "A blind jump like that across dimensions? Even if you have an anchor on the other side, that would be very dangerous, which you don't, unless you can somehow turn the other mirror into one…"
Harry nodded then without preamble began to channel power into the array on the floor. Ororo and Emma too fell silent, watching closely, while Emma gathered herself for a fight. She couldn't feel the arrays around her, watchful, waiting like a massive dog just waiting for a hint of danger to its master to lunge for the throat and so prepared her mental arsenal in case of another event like the time he'd drained the yellow gem in the RoR. Emma had proven less than helpful then, she was determined to do better now.
The magic built and built, disappearing into the siphon that the magical mirror had suddenly become, until the screen of the small compact mirror went first glaring white, then gray, then… "Is that fur?" Ororo asked, somewhat nonplussed. Emma was equally bemused at the distinct lack of disaster.
There was a yelp from the other side, and a growling voice rumbled something that none of those in Camelot could make out, but which was probably a curse if the vicious tone was anything to go by. The voice became more intelligible as the fur moved, and was soon replaced by a snout and then an eyeball peering down into the depths of the mirror, or rather up from their perspective.
"I thought this thing important, but I did not expect it to actually attack me! And now what is going on? Strange seidr users, including a man of all things for the shame of it, using it to try and spy on my mistress? Fear not little wizards, I will be there to eat your souls soon enough!"
"Garm?" Harry asked, somewhat confused both by the giant guardian wolf having the mirror and his not seeming to recognize them let alone the threatening tone. "Why do you have the mirror? Where's Hela?"
The wolf's one visible eye narrowed, with suspicion and he flashed fangs for a moment at the mirror. "You seem to be far too familiar with my mistress' name mortal, although…" the giant wolf seemed to pause, sniffing at the mirror. "The magic on this is familiar. What is going on here? How can it be familiar without me having any memory of it?!"
"Wait," Harry said holding up a hand, outrage and sudden comprehension filling him as the dread that had built up in his gut whenever he thought of Hela gained vindication. "Wait. You have no memory of me, I don't look familiar at all?"
"No," the wolf, said leaning back slightly to show an angry if perplexed frown. "But your magic smells familiar, and that should not be. I'll be the first to admit I am old, but I am not senile. I remember every seidr user that has crossed my path, the tastes of their souls if I have had the pleasure, the scent of their magic, the appearance they took. Your scent is familiar, I have a memory of that scent, but nothing to go with that memory, neither good nor bad. This is… troubling."
The one visible eye narrowed again. "If you had anything to do with changing my memories, my mistress will know the truth of it, and her vengeance will be the stuff of legends!" The image seemed to vibrate for a moment, his anger making the mirror on his end shake.
As the wolf spoked Ororo was staring at Harry in horror, and Harry was barely keeping his growing fury in check. Even Emma now understood what was going on here. Memory modification she thought against a goddess and her sworn servant? That's both disturbing and scary.
"I swear on my life and magic that I had no part in changing your memories most fell of wolves," Harry said, holding up his hand. He let a brief cascade of magic appear after the initial splash of his oath, and hoped that both had been visible to Garm on the other end of the mirror. He really had no idea about the senses the defender of the halls of Niflheim had, but hoped they were up to that task.
Thankfully this was the case, and the wolf's gaze went back to normal and he backed off somewhat, now staring down into the mirror quizzically rather than aggressively. "Very well, I'll accede you had nothing to do with my memory of you being modified. But why for are you trying to contact my mistress? And do you have any idea why I do not remember you?"
"We were trying to contact your mistress because we consider her an ally, and a friend." Harry gestured behind his back to Ororo, and she swiftly moved through the runic array, careful not to disturb any of it to stand with him in the pickup range of the mirror on the ground.
"We recently required the aid of your mistress and you to combat an outbreak of Draugr." Harry said. "And we wished to thank you and the lady for that aid."
Harry hoped that was safe enough, and that maybe the dire wolf was not being watched as closely as Hela obviously was by this point. If I had just modified the memories of a goddess of Death I would for sure be watching her just in case I wasn't as thorough as I believed, Harry thought grimly, his fingers clenching and unclenching at his side until Ororo's hand snaked into his own gripping tightly.
Emma too moved to just join them, putting her hands on Harry's shoulders from behind and moving into the runic array for a moment to stare at the Wolf.
"Interesting," Garm murmured absently, staring from one to the other. "That would explain why I had such an odd case of stomachache a few weeks back. The question then becomes, do you have enemies or does my mistress who would wish for you to not communicate?"
"I'm very much afraid your mistress is the one with the enemies in this case. I have my own homegrown ones of course. In fact they seem to pup every time I turn my back, if you'll excuse the expression." Harry replied dryly, hoping get a laugh out of the now extremely agitated wolf.
It worked, and the wolf chuckled, and seemed to calm down somewhat. That still left them with a giant wolf with some serious concerns but at least he wasn't looking at them like prospective prey. "Who then has the power to modify our memories? I am but an old wolf, but my mistress is the goddess of the dead!" Garm said, growling the words.
"I don't know Garm, but I'm going to find out." Harry said savagely, as Ororo nodded firmly at his side and Emma looked on. He scowled as the mirror on his end began to vibrate and shudder, and he saw smoke appear in the pickup. "Dammit! The mirrors can't take the amount of magic I had to force into it to let us communicate without you actually opening the communications from your end. Not good, but you're positive that your mistress never mentioned Harry, or Ororo? She called me a 'little seidr man', and could have called Ororo the Chosen of Gaia."
The most dire of wolfs shook his head. "I've never heard of those."
"We'll have to figure out another way to communicate, but for now keep our talk to yourself. I hope that your enemies don't realize that you were able to keep your sense of smell at the very least, and we can hopefully build on this." Harry said quickly.
"I still do not entirely trust you seidr user, you meddle in that which men should not." Garm growled shaking its head at the situation. "However, I will keep this a secret for now, for my mistress' sake, not yours. So long as my mistress does not actively ask about the mirror. But if my mistress' and my memories really were modified, we will have to place our faith in you mortal to getting them back."
At that point the mirror in front of the three lovers shattered, exploding into a thousand pieces in the center of their array, melting even as those separate pieces ricocheted all around the room and away from the three as Ororo swiftly threw up a barrier of air.
Harry simply stood there for a moment, staring at the shattered, burnt stone underneath where the mirror had previously been, even as the magic of Camelot repaired the damage. Then a seeming shiver of power began to pulse out from him, his eyes flaring with magic light as his anger began to get the better of him.
At his side Ororo quickly pulled him into a hug, her arms going around him as Emma did the same. "Calm down! You'll do no one good if you lose control of your anger!"
Harry gritted his teeth, but nodded tightly, a tight grim movement of the head that did nothing to reassure her that he was any closer to peace. " All right, you're right."
His thoughts despite his anger were almost lucid, but Emma still winced at the amount of anger, no fury, she was feeling through their telepathic link. She even had to reach out to Jean, who felt the same thing up in orbit, telling her what was going on.
Harry knew none of that, his thoughts on the matter at hand. Someone is getting desperate, operating openly now, uncaring that I might discover this regardless of their work on the Asgardians. There's something almost contemptible about that, as if so long as the Asgardians are under their control they have nothing to fear. Well asshole, or assholes whichever the case turns out to be, we will just fucking see about that!
After a few seconds of fulminating silence Harry regained control of himself and smiled down at Ororo. "I'm fine now, but I have some… research to do. I'll be in Room of requirement if you need me, but remember to knock please, and if you'd tell everyone not to disturb me unless it's urgent I would appreciate it."
Ororo nodded, moving away slightly. She watched as Harry left, thinking that he probably was also going to blow up some steam in one of the room's many iterations. She was fine with that idea, so long as he made certain to check that the
rest of the team weren't currently using it. She sighed faintly as she felt the wards return to normal under Harry's direction, and shook her head moving toward the door to find the other magic users in the castle and tell them what was going on as Emma followed her.
Harry did in fact need to blow off some steam. He used one of the ROR's iterations to let out one blast of magic which turned what had once looked like a mountainside into a deep gully, but after that he turned his mind back to more serious matters.
That didn't mean he was not still angry of course, but his anger was now a focused, deadly thing. He spent several hours simply researching mind magics, both the defense and offense of said type. As a sort of aside of his strange mental defense, Harry had never bothered with this area before, and had to play catch up now.
His battles against the Elder Gods via their connection to their gems however aided him in this, and he quickly began to build up a number of attacks spells. Only attack spells. Harry figured unless he tried to forge the connection himself no one would be able to find his mind thanks to his Invisible Cloak defense. Of course they might be able to hit me with the mental equivalent of area of effect spells once I start attacking, but I can create further mental defenses behind my cloak.
After those few hours, Harry turned his attention to other matters. In one hand he held the remains of Dani's medallion, and in the other a bottle of the memories of the dance and the fight against the Draugr. Following his commands the room around him changed into a blank stone, almost jail-like room, and he set the two items down on a bench which appeared underneath them before moving into the center of the room and beginning to work on another runic array.
It was generally speaking the same sort of array as he had used the mirror, but there were a lot of differences even so. The two mirrors were connected as they had been created to be, tuned to the magic of one another so as to be the equivalent of two ends of a rope.
This array however was based upon sympathetic magic, alike in appearance but not in reality to that of the mirror. Moreover, this was not an attempt to communicate, but to find the other object of the sympathetic magic.
It wasn't Hela that Harry was searching for. He had nothing of hers that he could use in that search, not even the geode she had initially given him and he had used in the sombel could be used in that fashion. No, he was using something a bit more… fundamental to the Asgardian faith in an effort to find a way to their realm in its entirety.
Dr. Vorlus had mentioned the world tree Yggdrasil, the tree that held all of the different dimensions of the Asgardian religion, the root of the world before but it's been so long, and such a busy time since I first came to this dimension that I forgot where my 'wand' pieces came from. I hadn't realized until now how important my 'focus' being a part of such a thing was. Huh, I wonder if it's really luck or fate that I have been getting tied up in all of this Asgardian business.
Still, if I can find Yggdrasil, I can teleport to it, and if I can do that, I can go from there to finding Hela, or possibly bring whoever took her memories down on me where I can hopefully destroy them. Either or really. That he would destroy them was not a question at this point, it was simply a question of how to go about it and how long it would take. If Harry decided he needed more power he still had an Elder God gem to drain, and he figured that if the things had a corporeal body his anti-demon spells would work just as well against them as they had against Mephisto when they rescued Cynthia Von Doom.
It took Harry the rest of the day and well into the night, not that Harry actually noticed, to create the array and then to pull the piece of the world tree which Death had infused into his magical core along with the Mkraan crystal out where he could cast spells on it. This was not a mental representation as he had done when faced with the Phoenix Force in Jean's head, this was the real thing, and taking it out involved quite a bit of cursing and pain.
But when he had the piece in his hand he could feel the familiar magic already working, the piece of wood calling to its like across the dimensions. Sighing he gestured with his other hand, creating a Patronus, its massive solid-light form appearing next to him to take a message to Ororo and the others. "Love, I think I've found a way to get to Asgard. Get the team kitted out, I think it's time we start striking back at whoever is trying to control them…"
Moments later Harry looked around the room at the team they dissembled for this. Ororo, Magma, Dani, of course, Colossus, Banshee and Paige, ostensibly under her new code name Skinner.
Not Morph, he out with Mystique, Betsy and Irene creating a paper trail for their covers before their arrival in Cairo, the city Mystique and Dennis had picked out as being the next most likely site of a possible flare-up between unpowered and mutants. Not Nikolai either. He had been seconded to the retrieval teams over the past few days to help Shiang to train them to a higher degree of combat skills, including Wendy.
Nor was Wyatt there, he had been busy with the Fantastic Four on something which had seemingly come a head late last night. Someone had apparently attempted to teleport into the Baxter Building, something powerful enough to force the defensive computers to shut down all the electronics within as they automatically routed power to the defensive shields. Whatever it was, Reed hadn't asked for help, so Harry was more than happy to leave them to it.
They had however sent Franklin and Madame Harkness to Camelot for now. When she showed up that morning, she had muttered something about morons traveling through some kind of stream or something like that, which Harry resolutely did not inquire further into. He was doing enough juggling at present, and knew he could trust the FF to see to their own issues.
"All right, I don't know how this is going to work, this teleportation is not going to be easy by any means I'll warn you all now. Has everyone had their stomach medicine?" This was not a joke. Apparating from one place to another was tough on most stomachs the first few times. Apparating across dimensions would no doubt be even more irritating.
As everyone nodded grimly Hedwig alighted on one of Harry's shoulders, and Harry quirked an eyebrow her, smiling faintly as he reached up to stroke your chest.
"I still can't believe you're not letting me go," Jean said from where she leaned against the wall staring at Harry and Emma who had joined them for this operation, a frustrated and worried scowl on her face. "If whoever was trying to control the Asgardians were doing so on the mental plane, a telepath will not only a good idea but necessary."
"We've talked about this Jean. This is going to be a dangerous mission even my and Emma's part in it," Harry said as Ororo moved over to pull the redhead into a hug. "And I refuse to let you put yourself in danger again."
"Harry please!" Jean said, nearly pleading. "I'll be covered in as many protective spells as you can layer on, I'll be wearing my Phoenix guard, I'll have my powers, I will be as safe as possible and you could need another telepath along!"
"And how long did those spells last against Exodus?"
Jean flinched at the unfair question one hand going to her stomach unconsciously. The truth was they hadn't lasted very long at all, telekinetic assaults like that seemingly could match or somehow undermine magical defenses just like a magical attack could, only not quite. Worse they might be fighting something on the astral plane, where Jean was a more defensive minded individual then she was on the physical. She could match most people there, but she didn't have the experience in pure mental combat Emma did.
"Fine," Jean growled, knowing when she was defeated, hugging Ororo back before looking crossly at Harry. "But if all of you don't come back, I swear to God I'm going to…" She trailed off, trying to think of threat dangerous enough to appease her, and just shook her head finally. "You all just better come back," she finished lamely.
Ororo and Harry both laughed, while Emma simply wordlessly moved towards her, pulling the redhead into a hug before Harry joined them. After a moment however he turned back to the rest of the team who had been talking among themselves, letting the family get their farewells out of the way. "All right, let's do this."
The team nodded, stepping into the apparition circle as Harry stepped into the center of the room and began to once again bring out the wand of Yggdrasil wood which had welded itself to his magical reserves. Touching it lightly he gestured everyone to touch his shoulders and hands. He sent his thought into the wood, then out to the rest of the tree, finding that connection between the pieces and pulled them all along that connection.
A second later the team alighted on a massive wooden branch of some kind, larger than a freeway, with dozens, thousands of smaller branches sticking up and out in every direction, a veritable forest rooted on an even larger tree branch. That was all anyone had to time to see, before the vertigo of the teleportation hit them.
Even Harry felt it, falling to one knee and gasping lightly while Hedwig left his shoulder, zooming off into the foliage, her stomach having dealt with the change easily. To one side Ororo had gone down to both knees, pitching forward to smack her forehead into the ground groaning, while others had simply collapsed where they were like marionettes with their strings cut, their hands going to their stomachs as their bodies tried to deal with the suddenness of travel from one point in one dimension to another.
Emma had the worst of it however. She rolled on the ground, hurling her last four or five meals up and Harry quickly got over his own issues, reaching forward to pull her hair back out of the mess, cleaning her face, back and front with a series of small cleaning spells while she continued to heave up despite the stomach medicine she, like the rest of the team, had taken half an hour before.
Turning his attention inward while the team slowly recovered, Harry began to reabsorb the piece of the Yggdrasil into himself, wincing occasionally at the pain of it, but it needed to be done. At this point Harry thought he could control his magic well enough without even that focus welded to his magical reserves, or his soul, whichever term it used, but he wasn't about to take chances. Besides, it'd been a part of him for so long, it would feel wrong to try and separate it from him permanently.
As he did though, he caught a glimpse of the world tree itself in its totality, not like an image in his head, but an impression of the tree. It had a kind of sentience, he could feel it all around them unseen and unheard but there, omnipresent.
It was unconcerned with their doings, unconcerned with anything mortal, god, or anything else could do. It was ancient. It was here before the beginning, it would be here for the end. It simply was, and it continued on its way, it's thoughts ponderous, thinking on the passing of the year, the seasons bits and pieces of it occasionally felt, unable to even care about the tiny wights making their way through its branches. It was an awe inspiring and admittedly humbling experience to go through for Harry, and while he would always remember this moment of awareness beyond himself, he had to admit that he was glad when it faded and he was 'just Harry' again.
Beside him Ororo recovered quickly, standing up and doing a mental checklist of her body for a moment. Yep everything was there, an important thing to check when using Harry's apparition rather than her own teleportation power spells. With that done she began to move from one team each to the other, rubbing backs or stomachs and generally trying to help as much as she could.
From where he was doing the same to Emma, Harry asked, "Can you still picture Camelot? Do you think you can teleport back?"
Frowning Ororo placed her hands together as she concentrated bringing up the area of effect teleportation spell that Gaia had taught her. Just because she was the goddess of Earth's chosen didn't mean Ororo couldn't use her magical powers away from the planet, or even like this in another dimension. Eventually she nodded. "I believe so, yes. It would take it out of me, and I think our arrival would be just as bad as using your spell to get here was, but we could get back yes."
Harry nodded then looked around as the rest of the Custodes began to recover, slowly pushing themselves to their feet. As he watched Dani muttered, "thank God I didn't put my helmet on yet," wiping her mouth and backing away quickly from where she had thrown up a bit.
Now that they were awake they began taking in the environment or at least making a valiant attempt to. The massive tree limb they were on caused several shocks as did the proliferation of other branches leading off it. The sheer size of the tree itself, it's tree trunk barely visible from their starting point past Harry's shoulder, was simply mind-boggling. It was almost like, from their vantage point, trying to take in the entirety of the Great Wall of China from only one position along its length, it was simply that huge.
The foliage itself also looked odd to those who knew anything about such things. The leaves looked like pine in some areas, beech in others, oak in a third. It was as if, Dani mused, all three types of tree were coming together in this one tree, or perhaps, as if those three trees were offshoots of this one tree. "Yggdrasil," she said aloud, as if tasting the word, shaking her head at everything, tapping Sigyn's Gift at her hip, her thoughts confused and disjointed even to her, a mix of anticipation and awe.
At that point Hedwig came flying back from her jaunt, alighting on Harry's shoulder and pecking at him for a moment. "Preck, preck!"
"Really?"" Harry said, one eyebrow raised and the bird nodded her head fiercely. "Hedwig thinks that we should move away from the tree trunk for a moment, she says the view from out near the edge is something we need to see."
They all nodded agreeably, thinking that a short walk through this forest on a tree limb would be interesting, not really understanding the sheer size of the tree yet, even Dani. So they went walking along or climbing over the obstacles in their path as they wended their way through the dense foliage, the largest of which towered over their heads like a Red Oak, and the smallest of which was a bush that even Emma could step over.
"It looks like wood but it's so big!" Dani murmured to Magma, the size of the tree below and all around them finally registering.
Behind them Piotr suddenly shook his head, a dirty joke having gone through his mind at those words. I've been spending far too much time with Nikolai lately.
"I know," Magma said, having heard her boyfriend's snort and wondering what had caused it but putting that aside for now. "I mean it's the scale of things, a mean look at that," she said pointing ahead of them at a small dip in the land, bark rather, which looked as if it could swallow a car.
But as they grew closer, they realized it was just a knot in the tree branch, nothing more nothing less. They all hopped down, then climbed back out the other side, then under or through some intertwined branches.
Soon after that the foliage began to decrease all around them, and the tree branch they were on also began to shrink noticeably, slowly becoming only as large as a one way road.
"For some reason," Ororo said as she moved side Harry, "I'm getting the impression that time isn't moving like we think it is here. I can't put my finger on why."
"That's because your mind can understand the width of the branch, but not so much Yggdrasil I think. Our minds aren't able to see the entirety of Yggdrasil, we're just seeing what bits we can through the lenses of our perception. I'm hoping that it also has its own small separate time. I really, really don't want to return to Earth and find we've been gone for years and that my kids are 15 and don't know me or anything like that," he said dryly, as they finally pushed past the last bit of branch blocking their view of the world beyond Yggdrasil.
For a moment, words and thoughts failed them. The others trooped up behind them falling silent in turn as they stared out over the vista before them.
Above and in front of them there was nothing, a starless rippling void with flashes of varicolored lights zooming around the firmament. But that was only the backdrop to the foreground of this picture. They stared around them, the sheer scale of what they were seeing, what their minds could handle of the reality was just overwhelming.
Around them on all sides and behind them stood the tree. They couldn't see the top of it, it made mountains look small. No, Piotr mused as he took in the image with an artist's eye, even the largest mountain on earth would disappear beside this behemoth. It was like staring at something the size of the Earth itself, only not as if you were from outer space, but standing atop its surface. It was a very odd, humbling, feeling.
Below them, they could see a vast ocean of some kind lapping against the farthest roots of the tree, each of them like the roots of mountains. A flare of light from down there drew the eye for a moment, and Harry frowned. Going from the description of the various beasts of the Asgardian faith, that was probably Nidhogg the dread wyrm, eating at the roots which continually regrew as it went.
"We'll be staying away from that," he said, his mastery of the obvious making some of those coming back to themselves snort dryly. And I'd rather we not run into that squirrel, Ratatat or something? I've never liked tale-tellers, and that one sounded like one of the worst sort.
High up in the branches and to the left of their current position was a globe of some sort held in the branches of the tree as if it was a bird nest. Its dimensions were no doubt impressive, but against the backdrop of the tree itself, even that felt like it was small and fragile, a giant snow globe perched on a massive oak tree. It was only when you stared at it closely enough that you realized that within that globe encased what looked like a continent. Scale of course for the interior of the globe was impossible at this far removed, but it certainly looked immense even from here.
It was a continent of high mountains, tufted with ice that they could see from here only as white specks on top of brown and green. Snow featured heavily elsewhere, coating the small continent in the globe white, against the backdrop of the deep blue sky interspersed with clouds, moving around the globe's upper reaches and reinforcing the snow globe comparison in everyone's minds. There looks to be from here they could make no other details out of it, but Harry nodded his head slowly. "That would be Jotunheim."
To a diagonal down from their current position and somewhat closer to that first globe, Harry could barely another realm. This one looks like it was on fire from one end to another, and Harry knew that to be the home of the fire Jotun. They had originally not been giants at all in Harry's estimation, but rather elementals of fire, who somehow mated with regular Jotun to create an entirely new race. They could survive heat and fire at that would kill most people, and they cared not for anything else.
"I think we need to move closer to Asgard which should be near Jotunheim from what the stories say," Harry said after a moment, frowning hard as he planned out their imminent journey. "I don't see Jormungundar from here, nor can I see Niflheim, which I imagine would be in another globe like that somewhere else in this mass of tree."
"Should we fly there?" Ororo asked dubiously, feeling rather out of place what with being the comparative size of an aphid to Yggdrasil. "I can't seem to feel the air here despite our being able to breath, but we could use our magic."
"No, we need to go silently here, that means using as little magic as possible for now until we're ready. Whoever is controlling the Asgardians might be on the lookout for anything unusual, though I can hope the tree's aura will have covered our arrival." Harry replied, frowning. "Not to mention smaller, more home grown threats like other magic users able to sense our use of the art."
"Then I am with you in your hope that this tree has its own time field Harry," Ororo said with a chuckle, a rather wan one considering what they were talking about, but the rest of the team looked game enough.
"Let's go people," Harry said, cocking his head back the way they came. "We've got a job to do."
Dani led the way now, her senses on full. After all, a tree this huge might have its own internal ecosystem, which meant predators. But fortunately they didn't meet any. They heard birds in the distance yes, the fluttering of gigantic wings more than once echoing through the leaves, but no bird appeared saved Hedwig to bother them, sitting down onto Harry's shoulder complacently a few times two, chirping to herself in an amused sort of way to Harry's ears.
Little did Harry realize at the time that she had actually had a run in with the eagle, Veðrfölnir. A bird of great wisdom and age, it too was caught in the geis which had overwhelmed the Asgardians. Unlike them, as a beast he was beneath the notice of their oppressors. They had an interesting discussion in bird language, but despite his ability to see practically everything that went on in any of the lands connected to the World Tree, Veðrfölnir had nothing to add to the Custodes information about their targets.
How long they trekked before they reached the tree trunk no one could say, but they came out into a somewhat more open area on the branch to stare up and up, and up into the darkness high, high above them. It looked like a mountain cliff side made with wood instead of stone. It was rather daunting frankly, and they stayed there for a moment staring at it until Harry chivvied them along again, taking out the bag of holding wherein he had prepared some ropes and other climbing gear specifically for this part of the operation, having had the feeling that any journey involving something called the World Tree would involve unholy amounts of climbing
The others soon followed his lead tying them together with Piotr in the lead, following after Harry as he began to climb up the massive trunk. The two of them were the strongest by a significant margin and worked as anchors to the others as they climbed.
As they climbed time again lost all meaning, and more than once they had to stop and ask themselves 'is this really happening', 'are we really making any progress here?' Only the rumbling of their stomachs told them time had passed since they first arrived here, and the slow shifting of the view around them.
They kept on going until they came upon a much smaller branch, only wide enough for a few houses to sit comfortably laying out there while pulling out some food from their various bags of holding. Eventually Harry got them moving once more with small sips of Pepper-Up potion doing wonders, and looked at Dani for the next set of directions. Dani pointed in the direction, the medallion tugging her along. "It's still upwards but around the tree trunk somewhat from our current position."
The trek continued, with Emma, Ororo and Paige losing their grip occasionally, only to be saved from falling by the rope tied to them all and Piotr and Harry's strength, his Magia Erebea at barely two percent now but up to this easily.
A while after that, again no one knew how long, their minds simply couldn't quite comprehend the sheer scope of things here, the medallion began to tug in a different direction, straight around the tree trunk from where they were rather than upwards and around. They now turned sideways, and 'soon' reached a branch which allowed them out onto its surface easily enough.
This was one of the more massive branches, even larger than the branch they had arrived on. They literally could not see the far end of it from where they were, it disappeared into the dark ahead of them well out of sight of even Dani with her mask on. Harry sent Hedwig that way, then looked at Dani who led them out along the tree limb.
Eventually the medallion began to point slightly down, turning that way more and more as they went, as Hedwig returned to report to Harry that it'd taken her approximately, even Hedwig was having trouble with time here, a few hours flight to get the other side of this branch. Since she could cover all of England from one side to another in that time that gave him a decent idea of how large this tree branch alone was.
"It's just too big!" Magma groaned, holding her head and closing her eyes. "A tree just can't be this big! Nothing can be this big!"
Piotr took his girlfriend in his arms, murmuring into her ear for a few moments as he continued to move her along with the rest. Eventually Magma seemed to recover, but that wasn't the first or last freak out moment the team had. As they exited out onto the far end of the branch they had to stop and take in the view once more.
The branch they were currently on actually wasn't the branch that truly held the globe containing Jotunheim, but rather one connected to Asgard as Harry had hoped. It did however push into the globe from one side, very high up in the air, giving them a literal God's eye view of the continent the globe contained. It was vast, looking the size of the American continent from space, only their viewpoint was slightly closer. It was surrounded by an ocean, and contained several mountains like Jotunheim but also dense forests and valleys that made the area much more inviting. The ocean was somewhat shallow and thin across in places in comparison to the continent.
And in that ocean was the team's target. It moved and undulated, its sides as large as hills, a monstrous serpent ringing the entire 'world' from one end to another. It swam along in that vast ocean as it chased its own tail, its head only vaguely discernable from this high up. The reason for that was that there wasn't enough room for it do anything else. It couldn't turn, it couldn't dive as the water was too shallow for that, at least for its massive bulk. It could barely turn its head at all, trapped in a prison it had grown into.
Magma shook her head. "You know Harry I don't remember this kind of thing being discussed when you recruited me. I am almost certain I would remember you mention the need to fight a giant sea serpent that looks large enough to eat Nova Roma whole."
"Funny thing, I don't remember being recruited at all so much as forced into the heroing business, odd that," Harry quipped, his eyes never leaving the monster below.
"Ugh, let's just get this over with, before my brain goes kabloowey thinking about it." Paige groused, staring down at the thing. She was with Amara on this one, fighting to protect the equality movement and helping Harry's vision of things to come was one thing. Facing beings out of another faith's myth and legend was something quite beyond the Kentucky native.
Nearby Ororo breathed in the air, only realizing that none of them had been breathing or needed to for their trek through the braches of Yggdrasil. She hovered in the air for a brief moment, then looked over at Harry and Emma who nodded at her. She leaned in to kiss them both briefly on the lips then moved towards the team, who nodded in turn as Banshee too took to the air. "Good luck you two. We'll be teleporting directly back to Earth as soon as we find what we're looking for, and we'll meet you there."
As Harry nodded Ororo stepped back off the edge of the tree trunk branch, hovering in the air. Piotr nodded at Harry and Banshee flew over to him, lifting the youth into the air as he transformed back into his normal fleshy body while Ororo used her mutant power to create a powerful wind to pick up the other team members.
Harry and Emma remained there, staring down at them until they were tiny dots due to the distance.
Far, far below them Ororo touched down, having some trouble getting her feet on the wet, wriggling mass of Jormungundar's scales. The others landed soon after, with Paige having the most trouble keeping her footing. "Alright we're here now, and we need to figure out what to do." Ororo began as she looked around them, staring at the massive ridge scales to one side gleaming in the light, only now wondering where said light was coming from.
Putting that thought aside she shook her head. "Banshee and I will scout down that way, while the rest of you start moving in the opposite direction. We might get lucky and find Sigyn's body hidden somehow on Jormungundar's back, but I doubt it. If not, we might need to find a way inside him…"
OOOOOOO
Back up with Harry, Hedwig set herself on Harry's shoulder, as Harry pulled out a piece of parchment and began to write out a note. Emma looked over his shoulder, reading the message and then giving suggestions, which Harry used on a new copy.
Lady Hela, you might not know my name, but we have met several times as you went about your business to your mistress on Earth, and when you passed on to me a gift from her. In return, I gave you a gift of an ever-changing book in blue binding, and a near-bottomless bag of chocolates. If you still have those items, I beg that you see them as proof of my words.
I mean you and your realm no harm, I never have, and never will. But some other force wishes you to have no memory of me, keeping us apart for their fell ends. I know not why, but I refuse to let them have their way any further. Please, deign to receive me so that we may discuss restoring your memories to you.
Yours sincerely, Harry Potter
This had to get Hela on their side, or at least be willing to listen to them. If it didn't, she would have no reason to let them through her realm's magical defenses, which would make speaking to Hela in person incredibly hard. Worse, breaking through those defenses would undoubtedly give a bad impression or make them outright enemies, with how passionately Harry knew Hela kept the integrity of her realm's borders. Despite that, Harry was willing to do so to help Hela regain her memories.
Hedwig chirped softly once, rubbing her head against Harry's for a second, then twisted around, and launched herself from his shoulder. Before she entered the foliage above them, she was gone from sight, slipping into that between-space that she used to go long distances.
"Do you think it will work?" Emma asked softly, staring after the white owl.
"I wouldn't be willing to wager either way," Harry said, sitting down for a moment and pulling out two Pepper Up potions, tossing one to Emma, and downing a second for himself before they settled in to wait.
OOOOOOO
OOOOOOO
"All right," said Piotr, in irritation as Ororo and Banshee alighted beside the rest of the team. "We haven't gotten anywhere, have you two found anything?"
Ororo shook her head sadly, hovering in the air above them. "We didn't see anything, though we had to hide near the end of the beast's length, lest it spot us as it came along its route. "I'm afraid we'll have to go into the belly of the beast quite literally."
"I wish Shadow Cat was here," Dani muttered, flicking Sigyn's Gift over her fingers for a moment in knife form before placing it back on her belt.
"So we have to find his mouth?" Piotr asked then smirked. "Unless you think it better to find the egress…"
"Do not even think about finishing that sentence," Magma said, her hand flaring into her energy form for a moment in front of her boyfriend's face. Yes they were technically in the shit with this mission but Amara would be damned if that was made literal!
"Yes dear," Piotr said with a chuckle, taking her hand.
She actually blushed but shook her head and pointed ahead of them. "Let's move."
A few moments later she realized she had actually given that order rather than Ororo, and looked up at the weather goddess, but Ororo catching her glance simply chuckled, clapping silently for a moment. After all, when Harry, Jean and Ororo were not around, someone had to step up, and more often than not that was Magma at times like this. Dani and Piotr were willing to give orders in the crunch, but it was always Magma in the times between or before combat.
About an hour's travel or so brought them, with Banshee and Ororo keeping pace alongside in the air, now to the front of the beast. It was huge, about as large as an aircraft carrier from one end to another, with massive horns growing out from the back of the rising spike at the back of the head. They couldn't see its eyes from this angle thankfully, and the thing's ears were actually quite small in comparison to the bulk of the beast, bent back against the beasts head as it swam along.
Yet over the sound of the waves and the splash of the creature's passage, they could hear it growling and grunting to itself in a language that was either wholly its own, or some derivative of an animal's language. Ororo and the others couldn't make heads or tails of it.
As one, they turned to Dani who shuddered slightly. One of her hands was in contact with the beast's scales, of course, and thanks to her powers of animal empathy, she could get a decent impression of the beast's personality. "You don't want to know," she said shaking her head, pulling her hand away from the beast and putting her gauntlet back on. "I wish I didn't know. All it thinks about is feeding, eating, growing larger and hating the Asgardians with a depth that is disturbing."
"So how are we actually going to go about doing this?" Paige asked, looking even more worried than before.
They stood there for a moment or rather most of them stood there for a moment while Ororo and Banshee continued to hover above them then they watched as the giant sea serpent ate what looked like a family of orca like a human would eat those little sausages on sticks. Ororo looked at them, and Magma got it first. "No!" she said, shaking her head quickly. "Not a chance."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Paige groaned, shaking her head as she too got what Ororo was thinking.
"It's the only way," Ororo said philosophically even though her lips were twitching.
A moment later, as a large shoal of fish, not whales but fish of the same size, appeared. All of them jumped into the ocean one after another, where Ororo encased them all with a globe of air via her mutant power, with some difficulty it must be said, With Banshee's aid creating sonic-based disturbances in the water forcing them forward they found themselves in among the huge fish, and then sucked into Jormungundar's giant maw along with the fish.
As soon as the jaws snapped shut behind them all Ororo hit each teen with a bubblehead charms to allow them to keep breathing, while the current carried them along. Slowly the current petered out, depositing them on a sort of fleshy shore.
Ororo shook her head, dissipating the bubblehead charm on her so she could wring out her wet hair for a moment as she stared around, only to gag in agony as the smell hit her. "By the Goddess!"
She quickly conjured up another spell, hitting her nose and killing all sense of smell. The others had to go through the same moment, the bubblehead charm interfering with the charm to kill their sense of smell.
"That's a new one," Paige said after she shook her head, grateful all sense of smell had just been taken from her, she didn't think an ocean's worth of Listerine could make a difference here.
"It's from one of the books in the library. Harry and I have been amusing ourselves on our dates occasionally going through it. There are some quite humorous spells in there."
"Entertaining like a whoopee cushion under your rear, or amusing like 'laugh this one off'," said Piotr. He had a healthy respect for magic, especially prank type spells thanks to his little sister, as well as the tales Harry had shared with everyone about the spells protecting Buckingham palace.
"Both actually," Ororo replied drolly, looking around while the Russian winced, making a note to not go into the library with his sister in the near future.
It looked as if they had simply washed up into a cavern of some kind, at least at first, a large cavern at that, as wide across as the main hall of Camelot which Ororo was thankful for. The sides of the cavern were a pulsing red and black mass, with striations, or veins, in purple against the red and black of the flesh. Everything pulsed, and there was actually light here too. It came from moss or perhaps some kind of lichen dotting the walls here and there and all across the ceiling.
It looked just as red as the rest of the wall, and had little suckers on it here and there, which Ororo pointed out in particular. "That looks almost like some kind of Venus fly trap crossed with moss, I would suggest we not touch it."
"Duly noted," Piotr said, happily transforming into his metal form.
Next to him Paige tore off her previously wooden skin, watching in amusement as the two men turned away from her respectfully. "So well-trained," she murmured, smirking slightly, but there was also some genuine gratitude. She'd flashed enough people to last a lifetime.
"Go on with you lass," Banshee said, ostentatiously staring down the tunnel ahead of them, which got only slightly thinner at the farthest edge they could see from here and remained relatively well lit by whatever luminescent liken covered the walls. "You're young enough to be my daughter."
"And I am rather happily in a relationship," Piotr said, shooting a glance toward Magma who smiled at him, a faint blush on her cheek from the look in his eyes at that moment. Nearby Dani rolled her eyes behind her mask but otherwise didn't react to the moment of overly cute romanticism.
"Children," Ororo said, clapping her hands together softly. "I believe it's time to get a move on."
Paige finished, and strode forward with Colossus in the lead, with Banshee and Ororo flying above them, Magma and Ghigau behind them. Dani had her rifle out and locked into the full auto position. It was a plasma rifle this time rather than her gauss rifle. She figured in close confines like this the higher rate of fire from the plasma weapon was the better option. She was still concerned about what she would happen if she hit the side of this beast's innards and did any appreciable damage, but the damage would be much less with the plasma weapon. Though she had to admit that was more out of the need to make sure they could escape rather than any concern for their 'host's welfare.
Mind you in terms of scale, it would be like being bitten by tiny mites, I suppose. She thought for a moment, then was brought back to the here and now rather abruptly.
"Movement!" Piotr shouted from the front as the guts they were currently in seems to enlarge for a moment and then he shouted, "Oh boshemmoi!"
The words were barely out of his mouth before he disappeared under what looked like a giant slug of some kind that had just descended from the roof of the cavern, its coloration allowing it to blend in perfectly with the walls of the cavern. Several more followed it, sliding along the ground towards the interlopers. Their mouths were wide circles, almost lamprey-like, and seemed to be dripping acid or something similar.
"Banshee, Storm take them out at range if you can, I don't think we want to know what'll happen if those leaches touch you!" Magma shouted, throwing a ball of tectonic energy forward, watching it sink in then explode splattering all of them with bits and pieces of slug or whatever it was.
In response Ororo launched a lightning blast down the corridor, and several of the giant slugs popped and sizzled as they were struck by it. Banshee launched a sonic scream at a few on the right side of the passageway, the blasts of sonic force exploding its targets.
Near the front of the column Paige was forced to take a more hands-on approach, her small club slamming around and splattering them, the blowback nearly covering her entire body in gunk. "This is freaking disgusting! Why is it always me that gets slimed, huh!?"
Colossus heaved himself up, holding one of the slugs over his head before hurling it into a few fellows. "Look at it from my perspective, yes?"
"I really don't want to," Paige quipped, her club destroying another slug. "What are these things doing here anyway?"
"Some kind of symbiosis I presume," Ororo said, conjuring up some water to splash at them all to wipe away the grime thankful that the creature's skin and exterior immunity to magic would hopefully covered the signals of her own magical spells. That was what Harry had theorized anyway when they had planned this venture.
"That means it might not be the only time we'll run into them, great~…" Dani muttered, skating up one side of the wall for a moment through a few fronds of the lichen, being very careful not to let it touch her. She was wearing a full body suit but even so that just seemed as if it was a bad idea.
Magma nodded. "Paige, keep at the back, Dani covered the top half, Ororo and I will be in the center and watching our flanks and providing heavy fire. Piotr, you lead off."
OOOOOOO
"Argghh, whatever did I eat?" the giant wyrm muttered to himself, feeling the activity within him but unable to understand it right away. He scowled, closing his eyes momentarily and sending his thoughts into his own body. He wasn't after all a normal sea serpent or draconic creature: he was the son of a God and a Jotun of surprising magical strength. That came with some abilities that were well beyond his physical ones.
He began to sense something was amiss within him. The normal denizens were disturbed, and there were interlopers within, thinking and feeling beings had somehow entered his body without him being aware of it!
But what are they after? He thought curiously as he followed their progress, eating a pod of whale sharks almost absently as he did so.
OOOOOOO
The group of somewhat intrepid explorers had run into several more parasite-type creatures, though none of them had been able to slow their progress overmuch. What did slow their progress however was attempting to discover which way to go whenever the gastric tube they were following split off or divided.
At present they were standing in front of a fork in the tunnel, where said tube broke into four. One branch went down, another two going to both sides while a fourth went near straight up. "Which direction should we go, and don't anyone even think about saying 'let's split up', that would be incredibly stupid." Magma said, frowning and thinking hard as she stared in one direction and another.
"You'll not be going anywhere intruders," said a voice from all around them. "Though I have to wonder what mortal morsels thought they were doing entering my stomach so willingly."
"Wonderful, the bogget's aware of us now?" Banshee muttered, looking around them. "Is it just so loud we can hear it, or is it projecting its voice inside itself somehow?"
"Projection. If it was simply volume the walls would be vibrating," Ororo replied absentmindedly as she stared around at them. "As to what we are here for oh greatest and chiefest of calamities, we are here to retrieve your mother, Sigyn's body."
"That line sounds familiar," Piotr mused, while Paige and Dani both broke into quite giggles and Banshee gawked at Ororo as Amara frowned, coking her head in turn. The sheer surreal nature of this whole mission was getting to them all somewhat.
"We will do so, regardless of whatever obstacles appear in our path." Ororo went on, smirking slightly at the youngsters. "I would suggest you aid us, but given some of our information-"
"Fooolls!" Jormungundar's voice bellowed again from all around them, fury increasing the volume of the mental projection. "My father's wife was given to me to guard by my lords, Those Who Watch Above in Shadow! They have given me power, given me leave to eat all that I may! You will not have her so easily!"
Ororo fell silent, making a note of the name of their enemy, and the plural nature of it. Are we dealing with a coterie of Elder Gods then? That is a most disturbing thought.
"Aye, and how do'you think yer gonna be stopping us Moby Dick?" Banshee quipped.
All of the other Custodes turned to stare at him, aghast. "Why the hell did you just tempt fate like that?" Paige asked for them all, looking like she was about to slap Banshee.
Before Banshee could refute this statement from the two side paths came a horde of humanoid looking creatures. They were all massive, as tall as Piotr and his Colossus form, and built along the same lines, but hairy, looking almost like Neanderthals, wielding blades of steel and heavy clubs of dark iron. Others looked more hairless and scabby, with varying facial disfigurements.
"Trolls!" Snarled Dani, Sigyn's Gift coming up in bow form as she put an arrow to the string. While it wasn't a complete racial trait for trolls to be enemies of man and god in the Norse tales, Dani could not imagine this lot to be anything else.
This was proven by the attacker's warcry. "Slay the intruders for our Lord Jormungundar!" The lead troll shouted bringing its iron club down in a blow to smash into Piotr's own weapon, a staff of Orihalcum armor which had recently been added to his combat gear.
The metal of the staff withstood the blow easily and Colossus grunted, turning the blow downwards to slam into the ground of the corridor. The other end of his staff came up to slam into his attacker's jaw sending him sideways into the wall before thrusting out to smash with rib breaking force into the next attacker sending him screaming backwards.
"Ghigau, Banshee, take to the roof, give us some overhead cover fire, Magma, back up Colossus, Paige take the other flank, I'll be behind you!" Storm ordered, quickly taking command.
Not being as strong as Colossus, Paige was pushed back by the initial rush, her club flashing out to smash against both weapon and flesh of the first few attackers to reach her. The next wave however fell back screaming as Storm's initial lightning attacks reached them.
Then she got nasty, bringing both mutant and magical assaults to bear. The Trolls had a lot of innate magical defense, but didn't seem to have as much against the very elements. Several of them found themselves frozen to the flesh of the cavern beneath them then shattered along with it for several yards, which apparently caused Jormungundar pain by the bellow which shook the massive beast's innards. Others fell, sheered in half by wind blades or scorched by lightning blasts to their faces.
None of the team's earlier jocularity was in evidence now, simply brutal professionalism. Colossus and Skinner held the hordes back, digging in their heals, aided in doing so by their armor in his case and being magically affixed to the ground of the corridor by Storm in Skinner's. Their job was just to hold the horde off while the others did the killing.
Ghigau's arrows caught trolls in the face taking out eyes and going through them into brains or exploding as they impacted before she once more changed to her plasma weapon. Her rate of fire increased, though her attacks didn't individually do as much damage, and this allowed her to use grenades or one shot runic stones, which also didn't do much damage alas. Magma's tectonic energy balls struck and cored through her targets, and she too used grenades of various type along with her powers.
But it was surprisingly Banshee's shrieks which did the most damage. In the tunnel his sonic scream's powers were magnified, rupturing eardrums and driving many of their attackers to flee through the rest of the horde, disrupting the charge towards the invaders while the defenders, protected through various means, were unharmed. When his strikes actually hit they didn't do as much physical damage as the others, but that was immaterial to the amount of splash damage he was doing.
Soon his contestant screaming and the amount of wounded and dead began to tell and the initial charge's impetus petered out before slowly reversing, the majority of the survivors falling back down the corridors.
Through the horde however, larger than average troll and dressed in green plate armor thrust his way forward, in one hand holding a short hafted mace of some kind of bright metal which strangely looked like the same which made up Colossus' metal form. "Intruders, you will fall to the might of Ulik!"
"I think not!" Colossus growled, moving forward for the first time, his metal staff smashing into the troll's mace. The two of them exchanged blows while the rest of the battle continued to ebb away, the corridors filled with dead or dying trolls. "I can handle this my friends, why don't you…"
He stopped as Ghigau dropped from straight above the troll, Sigyn's Gift having transformed into a stiletto. The blade slammed into Ulik's back right where the neck met the shoulders, severing his spine. The near-bird of prey mask glared at the large Russian as the metal feathers going down Dani's back seemed to almost bristle. "Please tell me you weren't going to say something stupid about going on without you while you engage in some kind of duel out of the Homeric tradition?"
"Um, no…?" Piotr muttered, staring down at the troll now gasping his last at their feet then up at Dani, feeling that he had missed out a chance to prove himself there somehow.
"Children, can we move on please?" Storm growled, pointing her plasma at first one then the other offshoot of the main intestine, worried Jormungundar cold somehow get in touch with these watchers from the shadows and get some kind of aid from them.
As Banshee chuckled the others fell into line, moving down the hallway, now having to conjure their own lights as the luminescent lichen started to disappear. As they went, Magma smacked her elbow against Dani's. "What's wrong with Homeric tradition?"
That wasn't the last time they were attacked. They ran into several small skirmishes, one flood of gastric acid, and another pitched battle against another group of trolls and small giants who looked mutated and stunted. This one was somewhat more serious because they came from several different conjoining hallways, and the larger stomach sack or whatever it was allowed them to use their numbers more effectively. This forced Dani to break out her gauss rifle, the rounds punching through several trolls at a time to dig deep into the beast's flesh beyond, even piercing the giants.
The pain from these relatively small internal wounds to extremely sensitive innards caused Jormungundar to scream and writhe, the movement of course causing his innards to thrash. Dani grinned, and Magma, having just nearly been impaled suddenly smirked, and began to deliberately fire her energy blasts past the crowd of trolls. While Piotr moved to protect her from the close in assault, the energy balls seared into the sides of the stomach and Magma shouted over the din of battle. "Storm, sticking charms!"
The gyrations caused by this assault dumped many of their attackers to the floor where the Custodes, even Banshee, tried to finish them off despite their fellows, and Banshee's sonic assaults once again threw the trolls into retreat despite Jormungundar now shrieking at them with his disembodied voice to stay and slay the mortals even as he physically cried out in pain at the wounds in his guts.
Eventually they wound their way through the beast's body to another, smaller stomach sack. In it, set in the center of a small pool of steaming gastric acid, was Sigyn's body.
Sigyn's body matched the description Dani had given of the goddess' spirit, incased in a thin film of crystal or diamond of some kind. Her hair was a shade somewhere between dirty blonde and true blonde, tied in an intricate braid, though there was no cloth on her head to show she was married, and there was a large patch of blood on the side of her head which had seeped out to clump in her hair. Her hands were crossed on her chest and eyes too were closed.
She wore a long skirt of grey tied around her waist by a yellow and white braided rope, the skirt shorn off by a blade on one side, while her blouse was burned on the other side. Her skin beneath this burnt hole showed a severe burn scar, but one that had long healed. Another small scar from a blade of some kind just barely showed over her neckline.
Reverently Piotr stepped forward, lifting the body in its strange film of diamond out of the pool before moving back to the others. "So, what now?"
Ororo pulled a small emerald from her own bag of holding, gesturing the others around her. She then concentrated, activating the portkey embedded in the gem. A second later they were back to where they had started their trek, standing on the shore where Jormungundar's attempt to eat them had dropped them.
As she began to also conjure up a small metal boat, Piotr gave Skinner the body to hold for a moment as he pulled out his long range weapon, a heavy plasma cannon which was marginally more powerful than one of the main weapons of the Hellion. He pointed it ahead of them while the others boarded the small boat.
"Banshee, start screaming your loudest," Ororo ordered. "Let's see if we can get this beast to open his mouth.
Paige also brought out a heavy plasma gun from her own bag of holding. She wasn't a very good shot, but with this kind of weapon she didn't need to be. "Why aren't we trying to just blast our way through straight up or something?"
"Our weapons could do a lot of damage to Jormungundar's flesh, but not his scales or bone." Ororo replied. "Hence why we might need Banshee to get this beast to open its mouth somehow. After that, I will teleport us directly to Camelot."
"Besides, even if we could break through his outer scales, that would no doubt kill Jormungundar. And I think enough people have died today." Piotr said quietly from his position at the prow of the ship.
From behind her helmet Dani gave him a look that flatly disagreed but she didn't argue for the moment. If they were luckily they might not have to fight the beast again, after all, it's utility in a land battle was nil. But since when had they been that lucky?
Without another word Banshee began his attack. The ship moved forward against the faint 'tide' of the beast's mixed saliva and sea water for a time as Banshee ramped up his scream, adding decibel levels and range as he went.
Just as they began to see huge, monstrous teeth in front of them the scream proved too much for Jormungundar. Or perhaps it was the somewhat itching sensation of his own mouth beginning to vibrate because of the assault that made him bellow aloud opening his mouth. At the same moment his large tongue whipped back and up from where it had hidden beneath the small lake of saliva and brackish water along the bottom of his mouth.
Dani, Magma and Storm took it under fire immediately and the tongue writhed away, burned away in places or shot through. Unused to the pain , or any pain before this battle, Jormungundar kept screaming as Piotr and Paige opened up and Banshee flew ahead of them out of the still opened mouth.
He flew up in front of the massive beast's snout then down its flank to where he hovered right beside one of its largest ears. There he began to scream his loudest scream, and Jormungundar writhed in agony as his eardrum burst, screaming a bestial cry of agony that made Banshee ironically want to cover his own ears.
Propelled by a magic spell smashing back down into the water like a rocket she small conjured ship followed him swiftly despite Jormungundar's best efforts. Ororo held on for dear life then shouted into the team's communicator. "Banshee, get over here!"
Banshee retreated landing on the boat just as Ororo concentrated her magical power. A second later a globe appeared around her, enveloping the team, their prize and the boat before slowly collapsing. When it did, they were gone, and Jormungundar's bared mouth slammed into the ocean they had just left, a scream of rising anger, pain and fear shrieking out between his teeth.
OOOOOOO
Hela frowned thoughtfully as she stared down at the eylandəvbarnœska, one hand rubbing her chin as she thought and felt what was happening. The island was a near paradise. Trees grew naturally or in supremely unusual shapes on the isle, with slides scattered across the landscape, running streams and bright light everywhere. It was home to the small racing multi-colored lights of the souls of children going about having fun and healing as they were slowly returned to the wheel.
Each day here corresponded to a day of their past life gently erased. When the process ended they would return to the Wheel, and eventually to life.
Yet there were more children there then should be by last census, which meant something had gone wrong at some point. They were all mortal souls, with only a few of them being real believers. The others were simply innocents, the kind that any death God or Goddess could and indeed were exhorted in no uncertain terms to gather to the Sunset Realms of their various universes so that they could be returned to the Wheel as soon as possible.
Yet there were far too many of them, and Hela should have been involved in taking them. But she couldn't remember doing so, indeed, neither could her trusted servant, Garm.
Speaking of Garm, he looks as if he is on edge these days for reasons I cannot understand. Hela thought to herself as she turned away from the island, popping slightly into the air and disappearing from that position to land on the other side of the small inland ocean that separated eylandəvbarnœska from the rest of her realm.
Tapping down she continued to walk, making no mention of the strange dichotomy between the appearance on the island and here. The majority of Hel was gloomy to say the least, the main realm of Hel being dotted with bogs, dark cold dales, and even darker forests. But since many of the dead here had penitence to make before they went back to the Wheel, that was all to the good in Hela's opinion. And those that weren't wanted to simply rest or ponder their past choices which suited the ambiance of some sections of her realm.
It is as if Garm knows something is wrong, but cannot figure it out. The fact that he does not share his worries with me is also concerning, though I must admit I have been rather distant of late. My thoughts on the Shining One have taken my attention far too much. Hela sighed shaking her head as she moved from one realm
to another, one step between the next and she was facing the halls of Niflheim. The lights came on as she entered, and she found Garm waiting for her as always at the entrance. "Mistress is all on the Isle well?"
"All appears well good wolf, despite the numbers of souls there." Hela replied, reaching up to scratch below his chin for a moment staring into his eyes. "And yet things are being hidden from me. Those souls disturb me greatly. They are where they should be, but where did they come from? What great battle occurred that so many children's lives were lost, and why can I not remember it?"
"I know not mistress, I…" Garm broke off turning his head rapidly to the sky, his eyes tracking movement.
Hela turned in that direction, and saw an owl swooping down towards them. It was the white of new fallen snow, with bright yellow eyes Hela saw as it came closer. But for a moment Hela had to restrain herself from lashing out at the creature. Owls like that were a sign of Athena, one of the Greek goddesses. Supposedly of knowledge and learning, she was also an ugly minded bitch at times, in particular to mortals who outperformed expectations in one of her contests like all the rest of that pantheon.
But she stayed her hand because the creature held a small parchment rolled up on one of its feet. "How quaint," she murmured dryly, not moving to take the parchment or provide the animal a perch for a moment before cautiously extending her arm.
The owl hovered in front of her for a moment, staring into her eyes. Those yellow hunter's eyes were far more intelligent than most owls Hela had seen before, and there seemed a power in them too. As Hela looked at the owl however it, or rather she, Hela felt, was looking back at her measuring her in some fashion. After a second she chirped in a sorrowful manner before alighting on Hela's outstretched forearm.
"And who do you belong to my dear?" Hela murmured, rather entranced by this interesting and unique method of getting in touch with her and the beautiful bird in itself. She took the parchment from the bird's outstretched claw then watched bemusedly as it left her forearm to light on Garm's, head peering down at him. The animals seemed to communicate for a few moments, with Garm becoming agitated for some reason. That sight made Hela pause in opening the parchment. "Garm?"
"She smells familiar mistress but I cannot place it," Garm said shortly, while wondered if the owl had any connection to the strange magic users who had attempted to communicate with him before. "I do not like this."
"More issues with memory," Hela murmured in irritation, opening the parchment. She read a few lines in it, her eyes clouding over with anger as she crumpled it in a tight grip before looking at the animal that carried it to her.
"I know not what this mortal seidr is," she said spitting the word as if the word tasted foul which indeed it did after all, magic was a woman's place in the realms of Yggdrasil. One of the admittedly many reasons she could not stand Odin was because he used it without caring of it not being his place. "But I'll have no truck with him or his degenerate ways! Whatever is going on, I will handle it myself, especially since it could all be a trick for him to enter my realm. You would not believe the amount of times mortals try to win a soul on death gods or goddesses, I'll not allow that here!"
The owl stared at her, and Hela shook her head violently. "That is my final word! No matter how soulfully you look at me, owl!"
The owl chirped twice. "Preck, guah!"
"She says it's not going to be the final word mistress, and her name is Hedwig," Garm supplied, looking worried. "Mistress, she smells familiar, but not in a bad way, could her master be an ally of some kind?" He hinted without making any mention of the mortal seidr who had contacted him via the small compact.
"I do not have these tokens he mentions, nor any such memory of them," Hela said sharply. "A book bound in blue, such a thing would standout too easily for me to miss, and I do not even know what this chocolate is that he mentions beyond a bit of the new trade from Earth being that type of foodstuff, but I certainly haven't had any of it. It is more likely that the owl is not a combatant of some kind hence you have no negative memory of him."
The owl chirped, then launched itself from Garm's head, disappearing with a strange shifting motion in the air that Hela felt almost as much as she saw with her eyes. "She said they'll be back mistress."
"Yes Garm I understood that thank you," Hela replied dryly, shaking her head and dismissing the event, although she didn't throw away the parchment surprisingly enough, putting it on a space near her throne. "But if any mortal magic user thinks they're strong enough to overcome the defenses of my realm, they're welcome to splatter themselves in their attempt."
OOOOOOO
Harry grimaced as Hedwig relayed what had happened, standing up and staring into his familiar's eyes for a moment memorizing the front entrance to Hela's halls. "Right, hard way it is."
Hearing that Emma reached out and took one of Harry's hands then she blinked. "Wait, is this going to be as bad as getting here was?"
"Don't know about that one." Harry simply shrugged, eager to get this over with. "We shall see."
"Wait, wha…" Emma began and the two were gone, disappearing into both an unknown situation and an unknown welcome.