I scrambled to get to my feet just to hunch forward and empty my stomach all over the floor. All that tossing and turning, all the while, everything around me spun like a raging hurricane. Every muscle in my lower abdomen tightened again, and the rest of my dinner decorated the dark and lifeless floors.
First, Loke's laughter taunted me as I fell to my knees, but as I continued, hunching over and clenching my stomach, he stopped. Mumbling something I didn't even bother to hear as his steps walked away behind me. Eventually, there was nothing left, and I managed to get myself up again on shaking legs and look around. We arrived in what looked to be a massive cave, and from the amount of water dripping from the ceiling and trickling down along the walls, I would say we were currently beneath the sea or something.
That, though on its own, made my stomach jerk, but I held that burning stomach fluids down. Swallowing and swallowing while I studied the cave. With small steps, slowly walking in a circle, I understood this place wasn't just massive; it looked like it could house a whole village! But, there was nothing here. No chairs, tables, beds, nothing at all. Before I made the turn all the way around, did I realize it wasn't completely empty.
Of course, he had a throne! A massive chair was the only decoration in the open space, placed at the very end with a massive black stony wall towering behind it. Small streams of water danced down over the rough and uneven surface. There were no lamps or even fire to see, but still, there was light here. Looking closer, I saw the small, white blinking light in between rocks on the wall, even on the roof above me. They looked like stars, giving this cold and vast space some magical feel to it.
My attention traveled back to the throne and Loki. With a bored and lazy posture, his feet dangled over one armrest, and his back leaned against the other. Reminding me more of a rebellious, spoiled teen boy disrespecting his father's throne while his away.
"What are we doing here?"
"Waiting,"
Loke's head slumped back, staring at the blinking lights far above us with a deep sigh. Then what was I supposed to do? Just walk around here in the dimmed light looking at water streams, lights, and different rocks? Walking up to the massive chair, I halted in my tracks a couple of feet away, and my eyes widened in shock. The morbid decoration made the throne from the Game of Thrones look like a toddler's furniture. Skull after skull built up the massive back of the chair. Human skulls, animals, and ones with horns and unnatural outgrowths.
Bloody weapons were stuck in between them here and there, an ax wedged between a massive bone I had no chance of recognizing and a skull; its edge blinked as the light from the walls next to it hit the sharp point. Squinting my eyes and taking a step closer to see, I swear it looked like the blood on it was still wet, still flowing down the handle. And sure enough, as I came closer, I saw the drops fall and land with a splat on an old little leather drum sticking out from the massive wall of skulls and bones.
With a shriek, I fell right on my ass and crawled back, staring at the skull that stared back at me. Its eyes moved, looked at me, and even followed my moves as I crawled away.
"What the hell is that, Loki? What is this place!"
"Calm down; it's the middle passage. A little boring and empty, but nothing to worry about. Everything passing here is only heading one way, and it is not used much nowadays. This is where warriors are separated from the weak and
Cowardly. The ones that died an honorable death were separated from the ones who died of sickness and old age. This is the passage connecting three realms, the human realm, Valhalla, and the Hall of Hel."
He shrugged like it was the most obvious thing, but I still could not look away as I scrambled to my feet again!
"What about those who stay behind?"
I heard my own voice echo off the walls, like a low whisper growing with each time it hit the wall. Confused, I looked around, but Loki got up and plastered a fake smile on his face while brushing away invisible dust from his shirt.
"Nobody stays"
My heart almost stopped.
The voice was raspy, and a brush of cold wind brushed against my neck. Every muscle in my body screamed for me not to look, to not turn around, but I did anyway. Slowly tormenting myself to see who had that chilling voice.
"Ah! Nida! So good to see you !"
Loki rushed past me to meet the woman now staring back at me. Her yellow serpent-like eyes assessed me from top to toe, not even bothering to acknowledge Loki and only pushing him aside and walking right past him. Her movements were smooth over the floor like she was gliding or flying over the rough surface.
All thoughts and words disappeared as she stopped only a little step from me. I thought her hair waved as she walked over, but now I realized as she stopped, her hair still waved, floated in the air like she was standing beneath the water, and the invisible streams played with it.
" I said, nobody stays!"
Pulse rushed in my ears as I watched her long thin tongue flicker while she spoke-long and split, like a snakes. I should look away, but I didn't. Like an idiot, I nodded, staring at her. Strange enough, she looked beautiful, despite her snake tongue, serpent eyes, hair moving like it was its own creature, and almost blue-black lips. Down her arms, over her shoulders, and up her neck, a scale-like pattern with shimmering dark green lining and shining light green decorated her almost white skin.
"Can't it speak?"
The question was clearly directed to Loki, and I found myself again, managed to pull myself out of that frozen state of blurring haze.
"It? I am an IT? Then what the hell is she?"
My voice echoed off the walls, and the silence that followed made my chest tighten, threatening to let me suffocate as punishment for my own stupidity. My breath became ragged and sharp as I watched the woman almost lean back and look me up and down again. Oh god, I said it out loud. Oh god, what the hell is wrong with me?
"I'm Nidhogg, but I prefer Nida. So you do speak."
"Of course. Didn't you just hear me ask about the ones that stay behind?"
I heard myself speak again, but that confidence and that harsh defensive tone. That was not me, so far from what I felt right now that I began to wonder if I could be possessed without even knowing.
"Such a sharp tongue..."
Without even taking her eyes off me or breaking posture, she continued, obviously talking to Loki now,
"I want it."
My eyes widened and snapped in the direction of Loki, who shrugged.
"Can't do that, not now, at least. It is not a deal I can make as of now."
Her light laughter set me out, and to my surprise, she smiled at me this time. A light sparked in her eyes, but she said nothing more about it, just slowly nodded for herself.
"Nida, stop stalling. I didn't bring her for you. Did you bring the roots?"
"Of course, and where is my payment, dearest little god?"
Rolling his eyes and looking away while he took out a little leather pouch from under his shirt, he acted like he hoped she never asked for it. But still, he threw it in her direction, and it landed right next to her feet.
"Very well, let us clean your blood."
Her smile grew up, just like Loki's had earlier. Curling way too high for it to look natural, revealing sharp canines and her flickering tongue. I int even have time to scream; her hands reacted at incredible speed, grabbing my cheeks and pulling me up to her face. Her cold breath brushed against my cheeks while she whispered,
"This will hurt!"
Her mouth opened wide, showing rows and rows of knife-sharp canines. Several jaws, piranha, snake, and monster were all I managed to think of before she jolted forward, and they all pierced my skin. Like a chainsaw ripping my skin, knifes piercing my flesh, the last thing I felt was her ice col tongue brush over my throbbing skin as her jaws bit down even further.
The Norns were the Norse goddesses of fate, represented as three sisters named Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld. They lived underneath the world tree, where they wove the tapestry of fate.
Nidhogg (or Níðhöggr - meaning 'curse striker') was the dragon-like creature who gnawed away at the very roots of the Yggdrasil - the World Tree (the tree that held the various worlds of the Norse cosmos) In Norse mythology, Nidhogg was the primary malefactor among the many serpents and giants; and as such, his name meant - 'he who strikes with malice'.