City of IF

[misterbiz]

The halls were filled with cheer and laughter. There was the sound of the fire burning in the fire, mugs clinking together, and the sounds of dozens of jaws tearing into a feast fit for kings. It was a good day. Men and women dressed in furs ate, drank, and made merry. These men and women were revered by lesser beings as gods. Their worship had decreased over the years but they hardly noticed. What was a couple thousand years to gods? As the men drank, golden mead spilling into their beards and the women feasted, wiping the juices of meats away with the backs of their hands, one figure sat alone from the merriment.

He sat with his back to the fire pit, his eyes focused on the main table. His eyes shone a bright blue as he examined the people at the table he excluded himself from. At the center was an old man, his flesh weathered and his hair wizened. A single stretch of cloth was wrapped around the spot where one of his eyes should be. One on side of him was an elegant woman dressed in a dress of crimson and gold. The other side of the leader held a man with short blonde hair and a thick golden goatee.

“Pay them no mind, dear husband,” a soothing voice cooed into his ear.

“They are fools, Sigyn,” he responded. “Down in Midgard, winds blow. The snow is gathering. The storm is raging. Fimbulwinter has begun and all they care for is their food and drink. They know what is coming. The Norns have decreed it.”

“Yes, my husband. They know. They are well aware of The Norn’s prophecies. What better time is there to drink and be merry. Once this Fimbulwinter ends, the battles will begin. Why not try to find peace now?”

“Because it is foolish. Look at Baldr,” he said, gesturing toward the blonde man sitting beside the cyclops. “It is foretold that I will be his downfall. Odin’s favored son, the god of war, and I will bring him down with an arrow of mistletoe. So why drink? Why not burn all the mistletoe on Midgard and the rest of the realms? Why not crush me before I can? Anything would be better than dining like a pig.”

Sigyn ran her fingers through the mess of black braids that hung from the top of her husband’s head. He turned and locked eyes with her. She smiled softly at him for a moment before letting out a soft sigh.

“Oh, dear husband,” she said. “It is because it is futile to go against the wishes of The Norns. They weave destiny together. So even if Baldr were to try to take precautions against you, nothing would work. In the end, you with your mistletoe will break the spell upon him and you will be his downfall.”

The figure looked at her for a few moments before rising.

“No,” he said, before rising. “The Norns have no sway over me. I will not be some pawn to a few old witches. If these fools refuse to act, then I will have to in their stead.”

“Loki,” Sigyn said, standing to meet him. “What are you going to do?”

“Simple. I’m going to defy The Norns. I will not cause Baldr’s death. I may have sired Fenris and Hel, and Jorgumunder. But I refuse to be used in some cosmic game to end the world.”

“How are you going to stop Ragnarok, dearest? It’s end is set in stone. Even you pointed out the Fimbulwinter is occurring. How do you propose to break prophecy?”

“Simple,” Loki said, smiling wide. “I’m going to introduce something new. In all the stories, it’s all death and destruction and rebirth and us fighting and mortals running and screaming and hiding. So I’m going to find a mortal. A simple mortal to do as mortals do best. Write a new Edda. Chronicle the epic of Ragnarok. If I’m right, their existence in events will throw The Norns plan out the window and we, my lovely bride, have a chance of surviving and being heroes instead of villains. If I’m wrong, then perhaps someone in the next cycle will read the new stories and be better.”

Sigyn’s soft smile vanished from her face as she reached up to caress her husband’s cheek, gently stroking the high cheekbone. She leaned up and planted a kiss upon his lips. Without a word, she gave him a nod. He looked once more to the table of the gods before storming out of the hall and heading to the bifrost bridge. It was time to find a mortal and prove that was more than just the trickster of the stories.He wasn’t a monster. He was a God. And perhaps, when all was said and done, maybe a hero as well.

[Vishal Muralidharan]

Nice! And I must say it's great to see you here again :D

Voted for the novelist. Excited to see where this goes!

[Lebrenth]

Interesting concept! Fighting prophecy with a new prophecy of our own invention. I'm thinking we should lure in the bartender to Asgard as a side-gig... Tell her we need a bartender for an event and let her in before letting her know why we're interested in her. A new poetic edda could be an interesting way into culture... perhaps a series a poems to revitalize poetry as an art form telling the new Norse myth.

Looking forward to future chapters, misterbiz!

[Emperor]

Excellent work Biz - as always. Great potential here.

Quote: ...sounds of dozens of jaws tearing into a feast fit for kings I don't know why specifically but this part of the line jumped out at me. In a good way.

Quote: Because it is foolish. Look at Baldr,” he said, gesturing toward the blonde man sitting beside the cyclops. “It is foretold that I will be his downfall. Odin’s favored son, the god of war, and I will bring him down with an arrow of mistletoe. So why drink? Why not burn all the mistletoe on Midgard and the rest of the realms? Why not crush me before I can? Anything would be better than dining like a pig. cadence and tone You set the tone, cadence and speech of Loki so well here. It just draws you in and gives him tangible flesh at the same time.

[Novelest_Ninjagirl]

Whoops, my vote went and made a tie. If there is a tie, will you tie break it, or will Loki just go 'fuck it' and grab us two protagonists?

I definitely agree with the positive things the others have said! I like the way the mood is set, and how quickly you've characterized both the gods, and how the gods views might differ from a humans.

Imma point out a couple things that did stick out to me while I was reading.

Quote: There was the sound of the fire burning in the fire

I don't know if this was an accident, was this supposed to be fire and fireplace?

Quote: One on side of him was an elegant woman dressed in a dress of crimson and gold.

This is On one, right?

Hope you don't mind me being fiddly, I'm excited to see more!

[ten11]

Tie broken.
That was a good first chapter. The whole scene, with all the Asgardians (or whatever collective noun would be appropriate) feasting together, even those who were going to kill eachother, before the incoming apocalypse that they all accept as inevitable, and Loki being the only one to refuse their fate and fight against it, was engrossing. It's a very effective hook to a story.

[Chinaren]

Aha! Broken the tie!! And winning. :cool:

[misterbiz]

Lexx let out a deep breath which gathered and hung in the air in front of her for a couple of moments before drifting away. She stood huddled close to the wall of her building, trying to summon the courage to start her trek. She pulled a cigarette from its pack and hung it limply between her lips. She pulled a lighter from the pocket of her leather jacket and lit the packet of carcinogens that was destined to give her the energy to get moving.

She had been meaning to quit for the longest while. But every time she thought about it, there was another reason that she felt like the next day was a better day to throw away the packs. With a deep drag, she let the smoke out, watching it become entangled with her breath in the frosty air before drifting off into the ether. She placed the cigarette back between her lips and started walking.

The snow on the ground came halfway up her calf. Thankfully, there were some people who were still decent and scraped out some semblance of a path on the sidewalk. A path that would most likely be gone by the weekend. The snow was slow as it descended upon by the city but it was relentless. Lexx had played video games with similar enemies. Games where you fought hordes of the undead. They weren’t scary alone because they were slow. But their undying relentlessness and the fact that their numbers kept multiplying is what made them a menace. and it was those qualities that let the snow seep into her psyche and make her so uneasy. It was hard to believe that just two weeks ago was the Fourth of July. A day once celebrated with cook outs but now spent inside. Fireworks replaced with fireplaces.

She smoked her cigarette as she walked, letting the smoke fill her and give her some type of heat, even if it was just in her mind. After the cigarette, she waited five minutes before lighting another one. The sound of the tobacco lighting and burning was deafening in comparison to the rest of the sounds going on in the city. The snowfall had everyone else scared too. Scared to leave the warmth of their homes. Scared to drive. This was a city. A hustling, bustling metropolis. They’ve faced winters before. It was always easy to deal with. But this weather was wrong. This was a snow that no one knew how to properly confront. They tried several ways of managing but now, the city was running on the fumes of its former self.

Lexx pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the directions to the small cafe that she was invited to to discuss the possibility for actually getting written for some of her writing. Just a few more blocks.Just a couple miles until she could get out of this god-forsaken cold. Her stomach grumbled loudly, begging for the sustenance that she had forgotten to give it earlier. She had emptied three cups of coffee but as for solid actual food, she was fresh out. Grocery shopping in a blizzardy wasteland was a tricky thing to do.

She had almost deleted the email right after reading it. After all, getting a random message inviting her to write a biography that was described as “the most important biography ever written.” There were several reasons that she considered ignoring the request and pretending like she had never seen it. There was the primary reason that she was a novelist by choice and was being asked to write a biography. Granted, she was still an unpublished novelist borrowing money from her family when she needed it but the thought of trying her hand at non-fiction was a terrifying one. She also didn’t appreciate having to traverse through this white hell just to get to the meeting.

She lit one cigarette after another. Each one offering her at least four minutes of warmth. That warmth could have been little more than a placebo. Either way, she appreciated it. Four minutes of heat and five without. Lexx repeated this pattern six times before she crossed the street. She didn’t bother looking either way before making her small trek across the road. There was no one coming down the road. She would have heard them a long time before now. Across the street, she went down the block and rounded the corner to face a large park that she wasn’t entirely sure had been there the week before.

The park was vast, at least a couple of city blocks wide and and multiple miles long. Despite its size and her questions about its previous existence, the thing that stood out about the property was the distinct lack of snow. There was a healthy level of frost but no piles of snow like the ones in the street and on the sidewalks. It was a clean patch of frosted green. She stepped into the park and looked around. The trees were thick and tall and despite the frost that clung to their leaves, they still looked remarkably healthy. Months of cold had not affected them in the least. She was definitely going to have to talk to the groundskeeper to figure out his secret. Her horticultural abilities were lacking enough that she was surprised that the grass wasn’t wilting beneath her feet.

There was a single path through the park, so it was fairly easy for Lexx to maneuver her way through the park that was starting to resemble a forest more than a city park. After about two miles, she stopped short. The path before her made its way through the trunk of a massive tree. The tree trunk was larger than any she had ever seen in person before. The closest thing she had seen was images online of roads that allowed you to drive through giant, old trees. She didn’t think that she would be able to just walk through one.

The bark was grey and each branch that she could see was probably bigger around than three of her. Its leaves, in bright yellows and reds and whites, were bigger than her hands. She let out an impressed whistle and ran her fingers through her hair. With a deep breath, she pressed forward. On the inside of the tree, there were luminescent mushrooms that shone a brilliant teal color. It took a full cigarette before she popped out the other side.

Just a couple of feet ahead of her now, in the center of what looked like a forest clearing was a small little cafe. She made her way cautiously to the front door and peered in the little window. There were three people on the inside. A leggy blonde that stood behind the counter dressed like a stereotypical diner waitress, a skeletal looking black man with a bright orange beard sitting at the counter conversing with her, and a woman with long black braids clad in black leather, seated at the first table from the door.

With a deep breath, she pulled open the door and stepped inside.

“Ah, Ms. Lexx,” the woman at the table said, gesturing for her to sit. “It is quite an honor to meet you.”

“Hey,” she said, sitting down and studying the woman. She was deathly pale and had bright almost unnaturally blue eyes. Everything she wore seemed to be made of leather. There was a thin black leather tunic that were tied up the sides with golden thread and exposed a decent amount of cleavage, leather pants decorated with golden images, and leather boots that went up halfway up the mysterious stranger’s calves. The stranger was leaning back in her chair, feet balanced on the table, and as Lexx studied her possible employer, she noticed that the chair was perched precariously on one leg. That was talent if she ever saw it.

“I’m supposed to be meeting a Mr. Laufeyson,” Lexx said. “Something about writing the most important biography ever written.”

The black man let out a loud, hearty laugh which prompted the braided woman to cast a look over her shoulder. She refocused her attention on Lexx and opened her mouth to speak but paused, she looked down and seemed to be examining the full bust that she had. A frustrated look crossed her face before she looked up to meet Lexx’s gaze.

“I should have thought of that before deciding on this get-up, huh?”

“Told you,” the blonde behind the counter said, a soft grin appearing on her face.

“Always gotta remember what you were planning on lookin’ like, Lo,” the black man said.

The woman took a deep breath and let her eyes close. She let the breath out slowly as she did, Lexx watched as her entire physical appearance changed. Her considerable bust shrank, she grew a couple inches, her facial structure changed slightly, and a goatee grew. When all was said and done, the busty woman was gone and in her place was a man who could have been her brother.

“Much better,” he said. “Mr. Laufeyson at your service.”

Lexx leapt up from her seat and backed up toward the door. Her mind was spinning. What sort of freak project did she just walk into. The blonde came up from behind and saw a small basket of apples down on the table before planting a kiss on the top of the strange man who was seated and facing her with a lopsided smirk.

“Told you that you’d scare her with that,” the blonde said.

“Yes, Sigyn,” he said. “You are always right.”

“Please, sit,” the strange man said, standing up and adjusting his outfit which seemed to fit him perfectly. “Order some food, Sigyn can cook whatever you wish. Have one of Iduna’s apples. I am quite curious as to what they would do to a mortal. Ask me whatever questions you wish. I apologize if I frightened you with my shifting.”

“Maybe you should ask why he’s always walking around as a woman,” the black man stated. “And why he’s always such a whore when he does. You hear about the horse?”

“This is why Ivaldi stopped talking to you, dwarf,” Mr. Laufeyson snapped turning around.

A dwarf, Iduna’s apples, Sigyn. Lexx’s mind was reeling. It was then that it hit her. It had been a while but she still recognized the names from tales. Norse gods. She swallowed and tried to decide what to do. Was she losing her mind? Were they crazy? Should she run? She could stay and try to figure out just what the fuck was happening. She leaned against the door and tried to get her thoughts in order while Mr. Laufeyson argued with person that seemed to be a couple feet taller than she thought a dwarf would be.

[Kalanna Rai]

Go along with it. This isn't real. Clearly she slipped and cracked her head on something and this is just her brain's death throws, might as well enjoy her hallucinations before she dies.

Also, bad Loki. If you want human cooperation you gotta get with the modern and ease them into it. Don't just start out with the shifting.

[Key]

Way too scary. Whatever's going on, we want to figure it out far away, in a safe place.

That said, they might grab us if we ran. Politely make excuses and try to leave. If they refuse to let us go, at least we'll know we're a captive.

[Novelest_Ninjagirl]

Interesting chapter, Biz! Definitely enjoyed the snowy preamble before we got to the meat of the subject. I did notice a few things, though.

Quote: Lexx pulled her phone from her pocket and checked the directions to the small cafe that she was invited to to discuss the possibility for actually getting written for some of her writing.


Maybe it's just cause I'm reading this at 11 at night and my brain is broken, but I kept stumbling on this sentence. My best guess is that the red word was supposed to be 'paid'?

Quote: After about two miles, she stopped short.

Sheesh, she already walked for ages to get here, and then walked two miles down the path? I commend our author for not being a fruit fiction-pop, like I would have at that point.


Quote: The blonde came up from behind and saw a small basket of apples down on the table

This could easily be writing style, or it could be a typo for 'set', and I'm not far enough into your works to determine which. If it's the former, then don't mind me!


As for the DP, hrm. I can't speak for Lex, but my instinct whenever confronted by mysterious people I'm intimated by is to be polite. Laugh, smile, nod, get more information, see how scared I really should be. ((For me, the answer is usually 'not at all you dingus, you have social anxiety', but let's ignore that for the sake of Lex's situation.)) So that's my suggestion: Be polite and try to get more information. Beats going straight back out in the cold, right?

[Lebrenth]

Novelest_Ninjagirl wrote: I commend our author for not being a fruit fiction-pop, like I would have at that point.

... A what? Please explain fruit fiction-pop.


misterbiz, good chapter! I enjoyed the descriptions of color that stood out in the winter night. I also enjoy how we're introduced to startling details without raising an alarm... like the fact it's snowing in July, like the bio-luminescent mushrooms, like the unusual characters in the cafe. The nonchalant undertone makes it all feel really chill and cool... literally and figuratively.

For the DP, I say buy in now. Weird things have already started happening in her world, why not be on the inside of it? Could make for interesting writing. Calm down, have a seat, ask more questions.

[titanholding1]

I've been meaning to read up on nordic adventures thanks for investing in them. I think something like an intervention into Loki's plans should happen, I don't really but the obvious has been said. Looking forward to more.

[Novelest_Ninjagirl]

Lebrenth wrote: Novelest_Ninjagirl wrote: I commend our author for not being a fruit fiction-pop, like I would have at that point.

... A what? Please explain fruit fiction-pop.


A popsicle. But fruity. and fictional, as she's a character.

... It was a choice. There's a reason I shouldn't be on this site at night. XP

[Lebrenth]

Your explanation makes me smile :) I thought it was some kind of new lingo that I was too old to understand.

[Chinaren]

I like Bizzy!

I think she'd freak at first but, hey, she's curious right? And she's a cool cat. So curiosity and cat...

Totally unrelated... my new laptop just arrived! Woot.

I'll be back... on a bigger screen!

[Lebrenth]

Chinaren wrote: Totally unrelated... my new laptop just arrived! Woot.

I'll be back... on a bigger screen!

Hooray! We've missed you!

[Chinaren]

...bigger screen!!! :D