Chapter 7


Urd surprised me by touching me gently, her fingers just resting against 
my hand. Looking up, I saw the sympathy in her eyes, and right now that 
was a big help.

"You know, we are going to have to get to the bottom of this?"

I managed a shaky half-smile back.

"I know, I want to find out just as much as you do - if not more!! Just 
be careful, won't you? I break easily..."

She grinned back, patting me in reassurance.

"Don't worry, I'll restrain my little sister. She isn't as good at 
dealing with people as with technology, sometimes she forgets people are 
only human, and gets rather _enthusiastic_ about her projects. Anyway, 
we'll start right away, I'm sure we can get some information off the 
system that will tell us more."

Our discrete discussion as to what experiments I was going to be 
subjected to was interrupted suddenly by a loud gasp from Belldandy. All 
of our eyes jumped in her direction, where she stood, rigid, her eyes 
looking at something, one hand half raised as if to try and touch 
something, but whatever that was it wasn't in the room.

"Keiichi is in danger - I must...

With that brief and enigmatic, if presumably accurate, statement, she 
leapt across the room, gathering up her skirt as she almost leapt at a 
large mirror.

Despite my knowledge of the series, I started, moving forward abruptly 
in a hopeless attempt to stop her, my mind visualising her slamming face 
forward into it. Just as well I was far too far away to get to her. When 
her outstretched hand touched the mirror it...rippled, is the best way I 
can describe it. As if the solid glass had been replaced with a vertical 
pool of mercury, delicate coloured flows like an oil-film rippling away 
from where her fingers touched the surface momentarily, before her hand, 
and then the rest of her, flowed into the mirror.

It was a most disturbing sight. I stood there, looking stupid as my 
attempt to stop her halted abruptly, then collected myself with an 
effort.

Turning, trying to look not too embarrassed, in a rather hopeless 
attempt to make it look as if I hadn't meant to try and stop her anyway, 
I saw Urd grinning, and Skuld hunched up slightly as she tried not to 
burst out laughing. I sighed.

"It's all right for you, YOU see her do that all the time!!"

This time, Skuld did start laughing. I merely hmmphd, and looked out of 
the window till she stopped. When the hilarity at my expense had reduced 
somewhat, I looked back.

"So, when do we start investigating this?"

Skuld frowned slightly, darting a quick look at her eldest sister.

"Well, we really should wait until oneesama is back. We work far better 
together than separately, and this looks like being a difficult problem
to solve. Still, I'm sure she'll be back as soon as Keiichi is out of 
danger."

She grimaced a little at that last. I guess she wasn't exactly happy at 
the way Belldandy rushed off, leaving everything to see to Keiichi.

"Does she dash off like that a lot?"

"Far too much. She's always rushing off after him..."

Skuld stopped talking suddenly, looking a trifle embarrassed, as if she 
hadn't meant to start talking about how she felt about her sister's 
private life in front of a stranger. I looked at her curiously, 
wondering if such outbursts were normal, or if in fact the situation was 
getting to her. If it was, I had a bad feeling it was more serious that 
they seemed to be indicating to me, if it could affect the judgment of a 
goddess like that.

I coughed, trying to break the awkward silence.

"So, I guess it's a result of that 'Universal Force' thing in 
application?

Skuld nodded vigorously, apparently eager to change the subject, and as 
always happy for a chance to lecture someone, even if it was on 
something I suspected she would rather prefer did not exist.

"It makes them stay together. Not all the time, obviously, but most of 
the time. It's OK when Keiichi is not doing anything unusual, but if he 
gets into trouble of something oneesama is forced to drop _everything_ 
and run after him. And he's such a CLUMSY mortal, he's always getting 
into some sort of problem, and poor oneesama gets run ragged clearing up 
the problems he gets into, sorting out the mess he makes of things, 
never able to do what she wants...!!"

I looked a bit embarrassed, listening to her go on. And on. And on... I 
wouldn't quite describe it as ranting, but she did seem to get rather, 
well, overexcited about the problems Keiichi apparently caused her 
sister. Behind her, I could see Urd's eyes raised to the ceiling, in a 
'Oh-god-not-again' sort of look...

************************************************************************

Interlude

The woman walked slowly and carefully, as always, wending her way 
between the leprous stalagmites whose sickly greenish glow lit the 
subterranean chamber. Finally she reached her target, a large man 
sitting on a pitted and scarred rock, his chin in his hand as he gazed 
fixedly into a pool of water on the floor, the faint glow of the magic 
from it lending his scarred face a fearful aspect as it illuminated 
it from beneath.

"Hello, father."

He didn't turn or even acknowledge her presence in any way, his total 
lack of movement making her certain he'd known of her presence all 
along, but hadn't considered her worthy of disturbing whatever he was 
doing.

"Well, daughter? Have you carried out my designs as I instructed?"

Inwardly she seethed, angry at the way he considered her nothing more 
than a thrall for his bidding, but her voice was steady, completely free 
of any emotion as she answered.

"I have. Belldandy's pet is being kept occupied, her bond forcing her to 
look after him rather than looking deeper into matters we would rather 
her not look at yet. And without her steadiness, her sisters are too 
careless to discover anything useful."

The man bared his teeth, in what might, if you were very casual with 
your use of language, be called a grin.

"Good. Serves the slut right, taking a human to be her lover. Well, I 
suppose it saves on batteries..."

She smiled politely, to make him think she had appreciated his 'joke'; 
such matters had little moment in her kingdom and to her, but at the 
moment she wanted to keep him happy, his temper since he had been 
released was  - uncertain.

He looked at her, and grinned again, one finger absently rubbing the 
deeply entrenched scar tissue on his face.

"Well, since she's so enamored of him, I think I will start off my 
revenge against them by using him a little more - creatively.

"Creatively? In what manner, father?"

"I think its about time I brought Tyrfang to join me. He's been working 
on the roots of Yggsdrall long enough, it doesn't need any more work on 
its systems. Anything those fools discover now will be too late to help 
them, and I'm sure he'll want to be in at the ending. So, keiichi's body 
will make a fine demon portal, don't you think?

She smiled with the living half of her face.
"Of course, father. How suitable."
<yes, father, keep up your plans of destruction. The more souls you send 
to my kingdom, the more powerful I will be...>

He laughed, kicking a pile of dead snakes to one side as he jumped down 
from the rock.

"At last, Norns, I shall start my revenge against the gods with those 
who presumed to set my destiny..."

************************************************************************

Well, Skuld finally ran down. I must admit, I was rather impressed with 
her ability to castigate Keiichi and blame him for all the problems her 
sister had without once having to swear at all. Although some of her 
terminology did strain my recently-aquired Japanese, I had a feeling I 
wasn't understanding all the cultural references.

"So, ladies. Will Belldandy be back soon?"

Urd looked thoughtful.
"I don't know. I'd have thought she'd be back by now, I think I'll check 
and see what's holding her up."

With that, she started to gaze into nowhere, her eyes unfocessed. I 
assumed she was either talking to Belldandy or seeing what she was up 
to, so I waited as patiently as I could. Finally she blinked, and looked 
at us again.

"I'm afraid it will take longer than we thought. It seems Keiichi is 
having a number of problems, and she will have to stay with him until 
she feels he'll be safe on his own."

Skuld let out a DEEP sigh.
"Typical. I don't see how that hentai managed to tie his own shoelaces 
without oneesama to do it for him... Well, I guess I'll log on to the 
system, and start seeing what I can find. Then we can all go through it 
as soon as she returns."

For some reason, there was something about all this that was raising an 
itch at the back of my mind. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I had a 
feeling that something was wrong. But I didn't want to say anything yet, 
I was probably just still twitchy after what had happened to me, and, 
anyway, I was sure that the Goddesses were far more capable than me at 
detecting trouble.

Skuld walked off into her room, her little mech following, while Urd 
looked at me slowly.

"Will you be OK, I have a few things to do until Belldandy gets back as 
well? "

I nodded, actually I was grateful for the opportunity of a little time 
alone, after all that had hapenned.

"Sure, Urd, I'll be fine. Actually, I'm a bit tired..."

She smiled.
"Fine, then. If you really need one of us, or something happens, call."

I nodded, and settled myself in a chair.

"OK, I'm not going anywhere."
 

I leant back in the chair, sighing softly as I tried to relax. Looking 
out through the window, I could see the shadows lengthen slowly across 
the temple courtyard as the afternoon wore on.
I shivered slightly, not from the cold, but more from the total 
unreality of it all. I still couldn't quite believe it all, a part of me 
kept telling me that I was dreaming all this. In a way, this seemed to 
help a little, managing to stop me from teetering over into a full-
fledged case of shock that, in view of what had been done to me, I felt 
I richly deserved. This was turning out to be one hell of an October 
31st...

I wriggled myself a bit more comfortable, the peaceful temple scene I 
was watching lulling me, as I drifted gently into sleep.

I don't know exactly when I realised when I was asleep and dreaming. I 
knew at first I was dozing, my mind watching but not taking in anything, 
my sense of time vague, events passing but not being remembered, then a 
longer interval and I was looking at a scene, similar to one I now 
remembered having dreamt of the night before...

Again, I was standing in a scene of devastation, the light unreal, the 
colours odd, semi-monochrome, an icy ghost wind blowing through my 
bones, the edges of my mind whimpering slightly as I looked about, not 
wanting to see but too scared to close my eyes.

And again, the scene played itself out as before, the events made much 
more frightening by the fact that I KNEW the people, the area. This was 
the Tarikihonganji temple, now destroyed, a pitiful ruined shell, set in 
the part of Tokyo I had briefly seen, and the bodies were those of the 
three goddesses I had met.

This time, however, the drama played itself out further. 
As before, I watched the manic figure destroy Belldandy, and then turned 
to look towards him.

Slowly, with the solid, inescapable certainty of a glacier, the man 
turns, until he is staring me straight in the face. If it wasn't for 
those eyes, I might even be able to see what he looks like. But those 
glaring, hate-filled, eyes dominate everything, staring at me, 
seeming to drive an icepick into my brain. I try again to move, 
desperate now, only wanting to get away, but I seems immersed in 
jelly...

The man starts to smile. Not a pleasant smile, more like a starving 
shark that's just seen a helpless swimmer appear on his lunch menu. 
The terrible, staring eyes start to glow with a baleful wildfire, as if 
small flames were flickering in the depths of them, growing stronger, 
fiercer, devouring. Making one final, frantic effort, I tries to hurl 
himself backwards, just as the figure starts to laugh again, a manic, 
shivering wolf-howl of anticipation and terror...

This time, nothing happens. The figure does look at me, as I am unable 
to tear my eyes away from those that feel like they are shredding my 
brain and body, a million microscopic flaying knives that whisper as 
they tear me away, leaving nothing but bare, polished bones behind.

Behind the figure, I have to watch as a huge wolf starts to form in the 
air, its charnel breath puffing about me as it solidifies, the ground 
quaking as it settles to the terrified earth, shoulders reaching up way 
above the surrounding buildings, eyes glowing with the hellish molten 
fire of a volcano that is about to erupt and destroy the villages 
clustered about its base.

I open my mouth, and start to scream...


With a horrible jerk, I started in my chair, the spastic motion nearly 
sending me falling out of it. Shaken, I looked up to see Urd's concerned 
face, her hand resting gently on my shoulder. I could feel my heart 
pounding, and cold sweat on my face and neck.

"Are you OK? You cried out, and you don't look very good..?"

I shivered in reaction, then looked at her.
"Thanks, Urd. No, nothings wrong... I guess it must be some sort of 
response to what's happened..."

She looked down at me, fingers absently stroking her chin, as she 
frowned slightly, her eyes slightly unfocussed as she seemed to be 
looking at me, but not quite at my body.

"Are you sure? Nothing else, no nightmares, anything like that?"

I tried to remember what had happened before her touch had woken me, but 
I couldn't recall. Just flickering fragments of something, that slipped 
away and vanished as I tried to grasp them.

"No, Urd, nothing. I guess I'm just tense."

I tried to smile reassuringly, as the last fragments of memory trickled 
away, leaving me feeling hollow and cold. Something about my comment to 
her about no nightmares seemed wrong, somehow, but I couldn't put my 
finger on what it was...

Urd hmmmd, and gave me another long, close look, but didn't seem to see 
anything special. At last she frowned slightly, and patted me gently on 
the shoulder.

"OK... well, we'll be eating soon, Belldandy and Keiichi will be here in 
a short while."

I nodded in thanks, and stiffly got up, stretching and rubbing the side 
of my stiffened neck as it protested the odd angle at which I had fallen 
asleep in the chair. As I did, I didn't see Urd look at me again, her 
expression very thoughtful, and not at all reassuring...

(to be continued)