Beneath The Darkness

The Seven Sins

    Shadow

    I heard muffled voices and flashes of light. When I awoke I was in an unfamiliar room. I slowly sat up and saw a man sitting at the edge of the bed.

    ''How do you feel, boy?'' He asked in a gruff voice.

    ''I must find Havi. My mother-'' He cut me off.

    ''I know. I brought you to him. Now that you're awake, I will bring him here.'' He stood up and walked out of the room. He came back a short time later with another man. I looked at the new man in the face. His face was wrinkled and worn with a long grey beard and one eye.

    ''Do you know who I am, boy?'' He asked in a booming voice.

    ''Alföðr.'' I said gently. He gave a loud hearty laugh, like the sound of snow falling sown the mountain side.

    ''Not quite. While I do bear his name, I am not exactly the Odin you've heard about. I will explain another time. Now my dear boy, what do they call you?'' he said.

    ''My mother called me Hymir, son of Lokisdottir.'' I replied.

    ''Why do you dishonor your father by not giving his name?''

    ''I don't know who my father is.''

    ''Hmm, I see. As the son of Lokisdottir you are welcome in the Aesir clan, as is your birthright. But why did Hel send you to us alone?'' he asked.

    ''I had beaten and stabbed the Jarl in a fit of rage. So she told me to run and find you.'' I replied.

    He turned to the other man. ''Then she has returned to Niflheim before Fimbulvetr. Have him train with Mimir  and the einherjar.'' he mumbled.

    ''As you command, Havi.'' Then Havi left us alone in the room. The man turned to me, ''Sigrún, you may come in now.''

    A young light haired girl about my age came into the room. '' Hymir, this is my daughter, Sigrún. She helped take care of you while you were unconscious, and she will be helping you become acquainted with the rest of the clan.''

    ''It is a pleasure to meet you, I am Sigrún Huginnsdottir. I welcome you to the Aesir clan.'' Her voice was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. Then she took my hand and helped me stand before leading me from the room.

    I opened my eyes to the dark ceiling. Misery rolled onto her other side exposing her back to me. I pulled the blankets up to cover her bare torso. I got up and grabbed my pants, pulling them on. I stood and walked out to the balcony. I ran my hand over the raven tattoo on the right side of my head, down to the valkyrie wings on my neck beneath it. I hadn't thought of Sigrún or the clan in centuries, so why now of all times.

    There was a knock on my door. I walked over and opened it top see Lucinda, the werewolf queen, standing there looking agitated.

    ''Your Highness, to what do I owe the pleasure of your late visit?'' I asked.

    ''I had a dream. That girl is gonna betray everyone and it's going to end with her dead.'' she said.

    ''Please, come in. Can I get you something to to drink or eat?'' I stood aside to let her in.

    ''You're not having another lust fueled orgy, are you?'' she asked looking passed me.

    ''No. It's just Misery and she's sleeping. Please?'' She came in and went to the living room and sat down. ''Drink, food?''

    ''Just some water. Thank you.'' she replied.

    I went and got her a glass of water. I set it down on the table in front of her and sat down. ''So tell me about your dream.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Jenny

    I woke up before the sun rose so I decided to wander around the campus a bit. True to what Shadow said, there were students roaming around so early in the morning. As I walked around I saw an older woman leaving one of the buildings. I realized after I got a good look at her face that it was Queen Lucinda rushing away. I looked to the door she came out of and saw Shadow watching her leave. He turned and looked at me. When our eyes met his smile disappeared and he turned around and went inside. Confused about the situation I went back to my room. After Franky and Juliette woke up and got ready we had a quick breakfast before we went to room five-sixteen.

    When we arrived outside the door, we heard voices and laughing. I knocked on the door and it got quiet. After a couple seconds Misery opened the door and let us pass.

    ''Ah, here they are now.'' Shadow exclaimed when we walked in. There were three other people in the room, aside from Shadow and Misery. There was a man sitting in a chair working on a laptop, with his short spiky hair and sharp feature he reminded me of Franky. A women sat in the chair next to him with fiery looking hair and two large horns swept back from her forehead and curled back around her ears. Her solid black eyes stared at me lifelessly like they were trying to look into my soul. Across from them, sitting in another chair, was a young woman around my age. She had close cut blond hair and deep purple eyes. The look on her face was on of indifference.

    ''Guys, this is Fury's daughter and the next Sin of Gluttony, Jen. And her friends.'' Shadow said. ''Jen, this is Levi, the Sin of Sloth. Malice, the Sin of Greed. And Ava, the Sin of Envy.'' He pointed to them in order. ''I'm the Sin of Lust and Misery is the Sin of Wrath.''

    I waved at them meekly. I sensed something behind me so I turned around and came face to face with Ava.

    ''She looks and smells like Fury. But I sense no magic in her. Is she truly the child of Fury?'' Ava said in a monotone voice.

    ''Yes, my darling child. We already took a DNA sample and compared them.'' Shadow replied.

    ''I don't think she will last long if she doesn't awaken the magic within her soon.'' Ava said still monotone.

    ''Ava, what did your mother and I tell you before about being nice to your cousin?'' Shadow said.

    ''Yes, daddy. I'm sorry daddy.''

    ''It's okay, sweetheart.''

    I just stood there confused about what just happened.

    ''Jen, what's the matter?'' Misery asked.

    Without looking up from his laptop Levi said, ''She's confused by the exchange that just occurred. I don't think it's registered in her mind that Ava is yours and Shadow's daughter. Furthermore, with everything that has happened to her in the last twenty-four hours, it's a surprise that she hasn't had a mental breakdown.''

    ''Mmm, fair point. Then I guess we just let them go to class and pick this up later.'' Shadow said. ''Run along to class you three, I'll see you at the end of the day for my class.''