The Ragnarok

Trying to Act like a Mortal

“Oh!” Lottie quickly scrambled to the door taking note of the guy still passed out on the ground, “Is he okay?”

“Oh yes.” The little skeleton of a girl answered, “He’s just tired from our long trip.”

“To tell you the truth,” Lottie began as she fumbled with her keys, “I wasn’t expecting new roommates.”

“Yes, well Jason Son of William was very generous in offering us this room.” the large man answered as he reached down to scoop up the unconscious one. 

“Jason son of-” Lottie snapped her fingers just as the door opened, “You mean Jason Williamson, yeah, he’s the landlord. Pretty nice guy. I guess he’ll be by later then. Did you sign the lease yet?” 

“He provided us with the keys.” The little girl twirled them in her hands, “We had only just arrived when you came back. We didn’t want to startle you with being inside after all.”

“Oh well thank you for that.” She tossed her keys onto a side table as she entered the house, “My room is the first one upstairs across from the bathroom. I’m not sure what Jason told you about the place yet-”

“He didn’t say. He just said you have three rooms.” The large man was starting to get slightly intimidating. There was definitely something that was bothering him, but Lottie not being one to poke into other business just shrugged it off.

“Sorry, I never introduced myself,” Lottie held out her hand to the little girl thinking she’d be much more welcomed with her, “My name’s Lottie, I’ve been living here for a few years.”

“My name’s Helen.” The little girl chirped, “That is my older brother Jordan, and the one he’s holding is Fen, he’s our eldest brother.”

“Oh so you are related.” Lottie sighed, she guessed right. Hopefully she could start to ease up a little knowing their names now. “What brings you here? School or-”

“I’m going to take Fen up to his room.” Jordan interrupted climbing the stairs. “We will be sure to keep out of your way.”

Lottie smiled but turned back to Helen when she realized Jordan wasn’t paying attention anymore, “Sorry, my previous roommates all moved out rather quickly, I’m not the best at being around others.”

“Oh no!” Helen gaspsed, “You’re doing fine. Jordan is just Mr. Grumpygills. He doesn’t like to travel and we’ve been on the road for a long time. Once he gets a bath you’ll see him perk right up.”

“Oh about that!” Lottie figured now would be a good time as any to just put it all out there, “I know I’ve had to live alone for a while and I don’t want you guys to think that you’re not welcome, just don’t get worried about the weird noises.”

“From you?” Helen looked her up and down. There was something odd about her, but weird noises weren’t this one's forte. Just off first impressions Helen had to guess fae, maybe as far as a descendant of the huldufolk. Nothing any of them couldn't handle, and if she was a huldufolk all the better for them. 

“Not me.” Lottie explained, “This is an old house, my old roommates couldn’t stand the weird things that happen in a house this old.”

Helen nodded and took another look around, “Don’t worry, I’m sure we will be fine.” turning back and flashing a smile she joined her brothers upstairs, “We will be much more welcoming in the morning trust me.”

Helen joined her brothers in what was going to be Fen’s room which was next to Lottie’s. It wasn’t big, and it had minimal amenities, but that was something they could fix with time. For now Fen needed her. 

“You were right Hel.” Jordan pressed his hand to Fen’s forehead feeling his temperature, “He’s burning up. What was Tyr doing to him?”

“Who knows.” Helen replied, “He’ll be better after he gets some sleep.”

“Do you honestly think Odin won’t find us here?” Jordan threw himself backward propping against the door to make sure no unwanted guests burst through.

“The girl’s fae, maybe much older, with Fenrir being next to her, her blood will hide him. If we’re lucky she’s a hidden one and all of us will be safe.”

“How’d you find this one?”

“I tested her out a while ago. She thinks she’s just some mortal, but if you spill salt in front of a fae they have to stop and count it.”

“How could that help us? She’s just some half elf at best.” Jordan retorted showing off his own knowledge about the creatures from old legends. 

“Yes,” Helen agreed, “Did you notice the spirits surrounding this house? They know she’s special and leave her alone. I think right now they are trying to decide if we should be allowed to stay here. If we convince them to let us then even Heimdallr wouldn’t be able to find us here.”

“What about him?” Jordan gestured to all of Fen scoffing, “How do you he’d going to react when he wake up?” taking a second look he decided to rephrase, “If he wakes up.”

“His spirit is growing stronger.” Helen answered, “He’ll be awake in the morning. I’ll use the chain to bind him inside the house. No one will be able to find him.”

“I still think you were stupid for taking it.” 

Helen dug through her bag producing a very long chain detailed with a bright silver that reflected all light around it, “Gleipnir is the strongest chain ever made. I would never leave it in their hands.”

“What could you do with such a thing?” Surely there was something Hel was keeping secret, she had planned farther ahead and Jordan ever knew. He and Fen seemed to just be along for the ride from the moment they left Asgard.

“I’m a witch at heart,” she smiled laying the chain on the floor as it slithered up like a snake climbing the walls and out the window, “The ghosts will wrap the chain around the house then with a simple spell I’ll cast, Fenrir will be prevented from leaving or revealing his wolf form. It was made through old pagan magic so the ingredients will transfer over. The chain was specifically made so that Fenrir couldn’t break it, to us it’s just a simple thread.”

“You felt it hurting him all these years though?” Jordan watched as the last pieces fell out the window, “What did it feel like to be trapped by such a thing?”

“At first,” Helen replied, “he was angry. Tyr tricked him after all. Once the reality set in that he was completely defeated, that’s when the fear set in.”

“Fear?”

Nodding Helen looked down, continuing to provide her cold icy touch to Fenrir’s forehead, “His soul cried so loudly, no one with the gift could ignore it. He struggled for days before the pure exhaustion took over. I guess it was then that they moved him. He doesn’t like the darkness you know, he prefers to be able to see the sky, Odin deliberately placed him where he’d be as far from it as possible. He was at Tyr’s mercy for so long he had just lost all hope.”

“Until you felt him getting weaker?” Jordan moved back to his sister’s side, “I know what you are feeling Hel.”

“We could have helped him sooner.” looking over to Jordan she longed to have tears falling down her face, “It shouldn’t have come to this. Their worries about us causing Ragnarok, we let this happen.”

“Don’t entertain those thoughts.” 

“But father-”

“Enough!” Jordan spat jumping to his feet, “Take care of him, I’m going to take a bath.” He turned and mumbled, “I’ve been out of the water far too long anyway.”

Lottie Jordan shout but didn’t dare get involved. It was clearly something that needed to be handled inside the family. They seemed like nice enough people, a bit odd, but what family wasn’t? She sat on the back porch with a warm cup of tea and a plate of cookies at the ready. The lights would start just after sunset so this was just time she spent enjoying the great outdoors. 

The commotion upstairs seemed to have died down and with the sun setting she was more than happy for the light show to begin. She waited just as she always had, but the lights never came. Instead a shrill voice echoed in her thoughts, “Snake.” it hissed, “wolf.” another call, “the dead.” a final swarm and the door behind her swung open. 

Startled Lottie jumped and lost control of herself falling off her chair. “Hello?” She called, hoping it was one of her roommates causing the ruckus, “Helen?” If it had to be any of the she had hoped it was the girl, she seemed to be the nicest of the three, though to be fair she wasn’t able to make a fair call on Fen.

With no answer she abandoned the porch to climb the stairs. The shrill hissing grew louder with each step, “Snake, wolf, the dead.” It was like a chant from a horror movie, the very thing people in those movies investigated right before they were killed. Lottie of course always felt safe in the house, whatever these voices were trying to curse it wasn’t her. 

“Jordan?” She guessed placing her hand on the door to the bathroom. It was plenty dark inside but she could hear the water running, could the ghosts be up to their tricks again? Odd for them to be so active with new guests, usually they’d give them a false sense of security before getting up to their games.

Her hand turned the knob but was stopped when a hand fell on Lottie’s shoulder causing her to turn around quickly letting out a squeak in the process.

“Sorry,” Helen smiled, “My brother’s in there, he likes to get baths in the dark.” Helen added an exhausted eye roll with her tone and placed herself between Lottie and the bathroom door, “Well try to keep it down. Sorry if we bothered you.”

“No no.” She tried to reassure her, but Lottie knew it was a losing battle, “I’m just going to go back outside. I like to stay up late so don’t mind me.”

Helen smiled back and finally released her hand from Lottie’s shoulder, “Likewise.”