The feasting halls hadn't changed. Long wooden tables with bench seats filled the room. Fur rugs, horn chandeliers, engraved wooden beams and a large fire pit in the centre of the hall completed the area. This was a place of peace, ale and food. We had successfully made many bargains of peace here, ending wars that had been battled for years. The tables were filled with drink and food, all hand crafted by the cooks. At the top end of our hall sat our table, over looking the rest. In front of us at the same table, would sit the Earl and his kin. We appointed a Earl, a second in command of the people, someone to care for them all as we slumbered. The people and warriors here were all immortal as well but needed care and a ruler while we were gone. Earl Bereke has been here since the beginning and has done a fine job. His family are warriors, born and raised. His wife was a shield-maiden, his sons helped to command our legions of warriors. I looked in front of my table to see where they should have been seated. Slightly to the left of the largest chair was the place where his oldest son, Vili, should have been sitting.
"Where is the Earl and his sons?" I asked. The boys quietened at my question.
"Vili has gone on a hunting trip, he will be back soon. His father is his companion for the trip." Keon said. My heart ached at the thought of not seeing Vili immediately. Vili had been a life long companion, a friend of mine. Though my mind often wondered at the thought of us, what we could have been if I was normal. Not a God. I was very fond of Vili, even though I swore never to love one being more than the other. Vili was an exception, I was drawn to him like a moth to a flame. We'd often hunt and train together, adventure together. There were times we would be gone for weeks, the two of us. But he never advanced or opened his heart to me, no matter how much I ached for it. I planned on revealing my feelings to him before we were sent to slumber, but he often disappeared right before we slept. My heart told me it was because he felt the same way, and that he could bare the loneliness of years without me. But my mind reminded me that this was not the case.
"Asgard to Freydis, are you awake?" Asked Keon as he shoved me.
"Hmm?" I replied snapping out of my day dream.
"Vili will be here when we get back, we need to be briefed." Keon said lifting my small body up and onto my feet. I grew agitated at the gesture but soon calmed after the thought of seeing Vili soon. We all begun our walk up the flights of endless stairs. I felt the gazes of the boys as we walked past the now destroyed elevator, it would have been much quicker to take. I held my head high, I was new to this technology. We continued our walk up the stairs, with a group it usually takes about 15 minutes to reach the floor we needed. It would normally be a breeze for us all, but after our slumber our legs and fitness had failed us.
"Didn't they install a mechanism so we didn't have to suffer like this? Oh right, Freydis destroyed it." Keon complained as he hunched over to catch his breath. I suppose it didn't help we were wearing our leather amours covered in fur coats and capes. And not to mention the weapons we all carried. We all took a moment to catch our breath.
"Tell me again why we couldn't just fly?" I asked through huffs.
"Because the townsfolk don't know we're awake yet, we don't want to scare them." Koba said. I moaned, there was so many easier ways we could have reached the top. Another 5 minutes later we all entered the large room at the top of the castle. We all walked through the doors and immediately found something to sit on.
"Its good to see you all made use of the new elevator. Oh, that's right." Joked a familiar voice. Sigi made her way over to where we all have crashed. She was one of the brightest people we have on the team. She works continuously to make new and better technology. She was an average height and build, she had bright red hair and a face full of beautiful freckles. Her brown eyes made her all the much prettier.
"Its good to see you too Sigi." I said with a smile and an out stretched hand. She took it as well as pulling me up off the seat.
"Come, I have so much to show you guys." She said with a bright smile. We all followed slowly, looking around at what she had built. The top floor was a large room, full of tables, workers and instruments that they all tapped with their fingers endlessly. At the furtherest end of the room was two large doors that lead to a massive covered area. We called this spot the flight deck.
"What are those?" I asked walking past a table of people working.
"Oh, that's a computer. We use them to store data, messages, keep tabs on the outside world. Its basically your gateway to the 21st century now." Sigi said as she strolled past them. Coming up to a large table covered in papers and a computer, Sigi sat down. We all sat across from her.
"Now, we have some pretty crazy technology now. Its insane how quickly things changed. The team and I have been working endlessly to create this for you guys. Its a liquid simulation we'll call it." She said with a smirk. I felt my forehead scrunch up.
"Simulation?" I asked puzzled, I looked around to be met with just as confused faces.
"Yeah, so basically you'll drink this liquid. Then you'll sit over there on those funny looking chairs. We'll hook up some little leads to your head and the simulation will start. What you will see is a briefing of the past few hundred years, something to help you all adapt to the new world." She said placing a clear cup of bright purple liquid in it.
"Its going to taste like ass, but this will help you guys out. Trust me." She said. We looked at each other and all nodded in agreement.
"Let us begin the simulation." I said confidently. Sigi lead us to a small area with strange iron chairs with cords hanging out of them. I instantly felt uncomfortable, this almost looked like a torture chamber.
"Right, just pick a seat, we'll hook you guys up and you'll be ready to roll." She said tapping her hand on a seat, inviting us to sit.
"What do you mean roll? I thought we were sitting." Ivarr said confused. Sigi laughed.
"You guys will get what I mean, sit down." She gestured. After we had all taken our seats she began to place the leads around our foreheads. After she was done she present us with the liquid.
"Now, drink this and just relax. This is going to feel strange, try to stay calm." Sigi said, handing us all a small cup of liquid. We all looked at each other one last time before downing the liquid. It burned my throat on the way down, leaving a numb sensation. My head fell back and went limp, by Odins beard what the hell in going on? Before I knew it my mind went blank and an over flow of memories and flash backs begun. Wars, new years eve events, presidents, technology, music, movies. So much invaded my mind, I couldn't keep up with it. Before I knew it I flung myself awake, to be met by the eyes of my companions and Sigi.
"Are you alright? You were out the longest." Sigi asked.
"That was... Really uneasy." I said holding my throbbing head.
"It's not the greatest feeling, now question time to test if it worked. Who created the popular app, Facebook?" Sigi asked.
"Mark Zuckerberg." I said instantly with no hesitation, surprised with myself.
"Well, your all up to scratch on that part then!" Sigi said happily. She gave us some time to recover before briefing us on the now apposed threat.
"So, some time ago we discovered a large heat signature evolving and growing. We sent some warriors to go investigate, they never came back. But we got some footage off the body cams, this is what we found." Sigi turned her computer screen to face us. I was amazed yet familiar with screen and its technology. She clicked a button and the motion begun. The two warriors were exploring dark tunnels that were poorly lit.
"Right now we are about 700ms under ground, these tunnels are everywhere. I don't know how to get out. They musky, dense. The air is thick and hot. We've been walking for at least 8 days and we haven't found anything.'" Said a voice on the computer, which I assumed was the man with the body cam.
"These tunnels are massive, I don't know how they haven't caved in on themselves yet." Keon said scratching his red beard.
"It seems to be getting hotter though, we must be getting clos... Wait, whats that?" Said a second voice of a man, but before we knew it the cam video had stopped.
"What happened?" I asked puzzled.
"That was all the footage we got. But, before the video went blank we decided to try something." Sigi said. She clicked a few buttons, making the stopped picture turn bright green and red. But the red outlined an enormous figure before the warriors, carrying a great sword. I knew the figure from the shape and the large frilled helmet.
"Dark knights." I murmured.
"Correct. We've been watching this spot in particular for sometime now. But the past few weeks its been growing rapidly, too rapidly." Sigi said.
"They've built tunnels underground, connecting to various parts of the Earth. They've been recruiting, quickly." She said.
"But how? We destroyed them years ago? We elected Earls for parts of the world and a tradition of teaching to be passed on through the generators to prevent this?" I said softly.
"Humans have changed, my Queen. They aren't what they once were. Greed and power consumes them. They're literally building path into oblivion." Sigi said with a sad look. The Dark Knights are a plague, infesting human bodies and taking them as their own. They pray primarily on the greedy, offering them everything they desire if they only give their body up as a host. But once their body is taken, they are forever lost. After we cured the world from the first plague, chose men and women who were the strongest to lead their people to a world of no greed. This was a gift, but also a method to prevent the Knights from returning. But its easy to see these methods failed, and this is the outcome.
"Well, we best not waste any time. I dare say the worlds leaders have no teachings of us anymore. To them we would be a fairy tail. Where do you suggest we start?" I asked.
"I suggest New York, its been a hot spot over the past month. I'd start there, but please take a day or two to absorb everything in. The world has changed and they truly aren't prepared for your arrival. Take your time, only reveal yourself unless its necessary."
We all exchanged goodbyes as we headed back down the stairs. We decided to spend a day with the townsfolk and exploring our realm. As we all started to make our towards the growing town, the townsfolk began to yell out to us in praise, children ran to the town to alert the others. We were soon swarmed with familiar faces, some small and new. Seeing our old friends made my heart feel warm, this was my home. The new children of the town hide behind their mothers, they had only heard stories and tales of the Gods who lived in the castle. Ivarr bend down to one of the children, offering them a small flower. Everyone soon swarmed us. I looked back at Rokii though, who had not left the shelter of the shadow by the castle door, he watched from a far. But that was Rokii, he had never been one for crowds.
After we had seen our people and socialised, we all made our way back towards the castle.
"I'll meet up with you all later, I have something I want to go see." I said as I peeled off with the others. They nodded, knowing not to pry just just. I by passed the stables and picked out a steed to carry me on my short journey. Far to the north of the realm it was always covered in snow, many centuries ago Vili and I found a cave there. A small place we called our own. A 2 hour ride and I was there, I could have made it in 15 minutes if I flew but I decided not to. I pulled my large white cape closer to my body for warmth, the temperatures dropped significantly low in these areas. I tied my horse to a post near the front of the entrance and absorbed the site before me. The cave was situated in a large stone wall that looked like a crashing wave, it was towards the top of the cliff so we had to climb. It was covered in ice and sharp rocks, making it look inhabitable and that's exactly what we wanted. I slowly began my climb up the cliff, my feet remembering exactly where to go. The occasional slip would remind me to slow down. As I neared the entrance, I saw a flickering glow of a light. My heart started to pound. Vili? I thought to myself as I started to climb quicker. I reached the entrance of the cave and climbed inside. As I stood I saw a large mass of black fur sitting by a small fire, Vili's cape, he was humming a quiet tune. I looked around the cave, he had added new drawings to the walls. A fresh kill of wild boar sat by the entry way, he must have been on his way home from his hunting trip. His bloodied axe sat next to the boar. As I begun to walk towards Vili, another sound pricked my ears. The sound of a woman's quiet humming, I stopped dead in my tracks. Vili's cape moved in an odd way, and then another head popped up next to his, resting her blonde head on his shoulder. My heart quickened and my body went numb.
What is this... I thought to myself as I backed slowly out of the cave. As I backed from the cave I bumped into his axe, making it crash and bang onto the floor. Both heads turned to me.
"Freydis?" Vili asked jumping up, flinging the woman from his arms with an thud.
"Ow Vili!" She yelled. I backed up further until I was at the entry way, still dumbfounded. Vili almost ran towards me with open arms, but I jumped from the entry way and to the snow covered ground. I landed with a loud thud, sending my horse into a frightened bolt. Well, there's only one way home now.
"Freydis! Stop!" Vili yelled from the cave, but I started to run. There was only one cliff steep enough for a jump and it was a good 800ms away. Vili could catch me on foot, but once I changed and took to the skies he could not. I heard another thump on the ground, Vili was chasing me. It pained me to run from him, but to see another woman in his arms fueled a raging fire within me. I had to jump. My tired legs powered through the snow, Vili not far behind.
"Freydis stop running!" Vili yelled, but that powered me through. 100 metres away I felt the rage of changing engulfing me, my body was ready. Anacalongon was ready to resurfaced and see the world. As the cliff near so did Vili, reaching out to catch me he caught my cape ripping it from my body. I tore my weapons off before the cliff and before I knew it I leaped into the air and fell towards the freezing waters below. But before I hit the water, Anacalongon had taken over.