For five minutes the mountain rumbled, forcing Rurik to lean against the wall or fall over, as 'Eilin' was still in his hands. "What the hell is happening?!" he growled, his gaze panning around in a near panic as his recent trauma already resurfaced. "Is that dragon back?!"
"Calm, my love," Luna soothed, her hand on his chest. "It's just our host... Anyway, you'll see when we get there."
He felt himself rapidly calming down under Luna's touch. Inwardly, however, he cursed at himself for panicking. 'That dragon and its rider are still haunting me,' he snarled angrily in his mind. 'I can't let them affect me like this… I need to get rid of this fear.'
Luna felt his agitation and wanted to help but had no idea how. Only time and willpower could solve this, and while she knew he had plenty of the latter, she could do nothing about the former.
"Give it time, Rurik," she sighed, before pulling herself up until she was face-to-face with him, kissing his lips.
Her attention helped him calm down rapidly, until a sigh of relief escaped his lips. "I'm sure you're right…"
Having returned to normal, he started moving through the hallway again. "But don't think this absolves you of my question!" he suddenly grinned at her.
Luna pursed her lips and sighed reluctantly but told him anyway. "The truth is, that no, I'm not the one you're thinking off, but… I was a goddess, and you are thinking about the right pantheon."
Her admission caused Rurik to halt in step for a moment. It didn't matter that he'd already suspected her status, because to suddenly get confirmation that you're holding a literal goddess in your arms… was still a shock.
Luna inspected his expression curiously, wondering what his reaction would be. But then he simply continued walking with a confident grin on his lips. "Well, you've always been my goddess, so what's new?"
Some men might feel intimidated by learning your wife is a goddess, but not him. He shamelessly believed himself to be no worse. Besides, she'd chosen him, as much as he chose her! If that wasn't a confident booster…
She appeared relieved. Her body relaxed, and she smiled at him. "That's right… I am your goddess, as you are my god. Even if you aren't literally yet, we'll fix that eventually," she finished with a playful wink.
Rurik's eyes widened. "That… That's possible?!" he cried out in shock. Instantly, a flood of ambition filled his body, his eyes twinkling with greed. Even if he wasn't intimidated by Luna's godly status, he still wanted to stand on equal grounds with her. Besides, who could refuse that kind of power?
A small smile spread on his partner's lips. "Of course… did you think gods lived forever? We aren't that special, to be honest. Gods are simply hosts of divinities, and when they die, the divinity needs a new host."
She shrugged, "For example, I think she's still alive right now, but by the time I ascended, the roman moon goddess was already going by a different name. In the same way, I became host to the divinity of someone whose name is still remembered on Earth, but who isn't actually alive anymore."
Rurik's mind swam with the possibilities this brought… but then he thought of something. "Wait…" he frowned, "You reincarnated, which meant you had to die… so did you lose your divinity?"
"I did not…" she smiled mysteriously. Yet, before he could ask for clarification, she shook her head. "But listen, I know this is all very interesting, but it's not immediately important, and we're already halfway to our destination. I promise I'll answer all your questions when we have some more time, but let's stick to what's important for now."
Rurik's curiosity was burning… but he resisted, knowing she was right. "Fine," he sighed reluctantly.
He'd been walking for about fifteen minutes now, but his surroundings had changed very little. Occasionally he'd come across some intersections, but Luna simply pointed the way, after which he'd end up in a similar corridor.
"I suppose the most important thing, is to tell me how I get you a proper body? How do I make our reunion permanent?" he asked solemnly. He wanted his partner back.
"For now, grow stronger," Luna smirked playfully. But when Rurik rolled his eyes, Luna sighed and quickly explained a little more. "Basically, my original body is still alive in this timeline, and not yet a goddess… you need to find her. But, right now, she's already more powerful than you, and not even located in Midgard. So… you need to grow stronger."
Rurik blinked and tilted his head curiously. "Luna… how old are you?"
"Old enough!" she instantly answered with narrowed eyes, before waving her hand. "Next question!"
Rurik looked at the woman in his arms with amusement. Did she really care that much about her age? "Got a problem, Rurik?" she growled threateningly at his amusement.
"Oooh, scary," he grinned and chuckled. "Please don't harm me, lady goddess. I'll be a good boy!"
'Eilin' crossed her arms and looked away. "Hmpf, Hmpf, cheeky little shit," she grumbled, which only caused Rurik to chuckle more.
Yet, knowing they were still on the clock, he quickly moved on. "Anyway, you say grow stronger, but how? I'm… kind of assuming we're not talking about lifting weights here?"
Quicky forgetting her earlier frustration, Luna giggled and shook her head. "Hehe, no, it's a little more involved than that… But I'll let the one we're here to meet explain the workings of this world. If everything goes according to plan, him and his wives will take over your training."
Rurik nodded, more than willing to trust Luna on this one. 'I guess it's not yet time to rest on my laurels…' he mumbled inwardly but then started grinning. 'Thank the gods…'
With that topic done, he moved rapidly. "Okay, so… what do you know about those crones, and how this all started to begin with? How did we end up in the past? What do they want from me?"
A complicated, almost guilty expression passed over Luna's face. "The crones are… enigmatic. Even among the gods, very little is actually known about them."
She frowned thoughtfully and continued, "They are supposedly on our side in the endless war, and their actual strength isn't that high, but their power over fate and time is… frightening. I was honestly terrified they'd discover me back when they talked to you, but… I have to imagine they didn't."
"Endless war?" he couldn't help but ask. Yet, even before Luna answered, he shook his head. "Never mind, unimportant for now. Are you sure they didn't discover you? You know one of them pretended to be you at first…?"
"Very sure," she nodded with conviction. "They wouldn't have been so sure about the memory erasure otherwise. As for pretending to be me," she shrugged indifferently, "illusions usually shows you what you want to see. It's possible they didn't even know what you saw, or they knew I was your wife in that life, but nothing else about me."
She frowned thoughtfully and explained, "Even if you can read someone's fate, you can't just read their thoughts, look through their eyes, or even know what the fate bearer looks like. All you can find out are some abstract events in their life. I'm not saying we can rule out that they know everything, just… that it's useless to speculate."
Rurik sighed and nodded, "Fine… Forget the crones. What about this rebellious fate thing?"
Luna shrugged and explained as quickly as she could, "Basically, the world has a fate, just like any person. Most people's fates fit within the world's fate, or greater will, but a rebellious fate runs counter to it. Basically, you are destined to accomplish or do something that will disturb or even destroy the greater will and throw the world, or even several worlds, into chaos."
She could see the tension that entered Rurik's body, so she chuckled, "No pressure, of course. Also, you should know that, by traveling back in time across the same path as you did, my and Eilin's fates have also become rebellious, and basically entwined with yours."
Rurik's lips parted to ask more, but Luna stopped him. "I'm sorry, love," she said, pushing her hand against his chest. "We're out of time now."
In front of them was the end of this hallway: a massive, ornate door.