“We think a demon named Mara might be here,” said Skuld. “Belldandy
and Urd are worried that she might try opening the Hellmouth or
something.”
Buffy’s eye’s narrowed. “Mara? That’s the name Angel mentioned to me
last night.”
“Who’s Angel?” inquired Urd.
“That’s yet another long story,” replied Xander. “One I’d really
rather not hear.”
Buffy’s retort to Xander was cut off by Giles. “Yes, I remember
Buffy asking me to look into that name this morning. I haven’t had time
yet, but if I recall correctly there may be some information on her in
this book.”
Urd opened her mouth to say something but Belldandy gestured to her
to be quite. Urd looked as if she would argue for a moment, but then
nodded.
“Ah, here it is,” announced Giles. “Mara, sometimes refereed to as
Mahler. A Norse demon from the realm of Niflheim. Supposedly she’s very
fond of nasty tricks and was a favorite deciple of the god Loki.”
“Oh, Loki, I know this one!” exclaimed Xander. “He was the Norse god
of Mischief. He runs around in this funky yellow and green outfit and
wears a helmet with these whopping huge horns on the front and is always
saying stuff like “Curse mine half brother, Thor. Yet again his
interference has fouled mine schemes. But I shall have my vengeance upon
him anon!”
Giles tried very hard not to roll his eyes. He failed. “As amusing
as that was, Xander, I do not think it wise to believe everything you
learned from reading Thor comic books as an actual lesson in mythology.”
“Uh, yeah, I guess so,” conceded the young man. Then Xander perked
up a bit. “Wait a second. How did you know that stuff was from the Thor
comics?”
Giles flushed slightly red but he regained himself. “Well, er, I was
a child once myself. And the do sell American comic book in England…”
“Our stuffy book guy Giles was a comic fan?” grinned Xander. “This
belongs on the front page of one of those British tabloids. Right next
to the story and Prince Charles’ secret wedding to the three-headed
clone of Elvis.
“Hey, what books did you read?” rambled the Scooby Gang member. “No,
let me guess. You liked Green Lantern. You seem like the Green Lantern
type.”
Giles was now looking very embarrassed. “Actually, I preferred the
Flash. However, to bring this back to something remotely relative, I
will enlighten Mr. Harris here will real facts on Loki.”
Urd somehow surpressed a groan. This Giles guy talked *way* to much.
Plus, just the mention of Loki’s name brought back a lot of bad
memories.
“Loki was one of the Aesir, the primary pantheon of the Norse gods.
He was the god of fire as well as a shapershifter and trickster. He was
also responsible for the death of Balder, the god of light.
“As punishment for killing Balder, Loki was chained to three large
boulders; one under his shoulders, one under his loins and one under his
knees. A poisonous snake was placed above his head. The dripping venom
that lands on him is caught by Sigyn, his faithful wife, in a bowl. But
every now and then, when the bowl is filled, she must leave him to empty
it. Then the poison that falls on Loki's face makes him twist in pain,
causing earthquakes.”
“That’s kinda romantic,” said Buffy.
“And sad,” added Willow.
“Poor Sigyn,” whispered Belldandy. “I remember the day Allfather
Odin sentenced Loki. She cried and begged Odin for mercy for her
husband. But all of Asgard was stricken over Balder’s death. They wanted
Loki to suffer for what he’d done. Sadly, because of her love for him,
Sigyn was forced to suffer as well.”
“Try not to think about it, sis,” advised Urd. “I know it’s tough,
especially since you used to be close to Sigyn before all that happened.
But we’ve still gotta find Mara. She’s looking to pay us back for
destroying the Lord of Terror and she just may be using the Hellmouth to
do it. We can’t let that happen.”
Giles’ face suddenly lost quite a bit of color. “Did you say the
Lord of Terror?”
“Yep, she did” confirmed Skuld. “Mara managed to free him a few
weeks ago and he went and possessed Urd. It took everything Belldandy
and I had to stop him from destroying the universe.”
Urd burned her hands in her face. “Thanks, Skuld. Thanks for letting
strangers in on the worst experience of my life.”
“I’m getting real tired of saying this,” began Xander “but could I
have an explanation. Who or what is the Lord of Terror? Other than the
name of a movie that probably had Vincent Price in it.”
“The Lord of Terror is a legendary demon,” informed Giles. “A demon
said to have fantastic power. Power enough to destroy all of creation.
It’s also said that when Lord of Terror returned to the Earth he would
possess skin of bronze.”
“Nevermind my long legs and tone body,” joked Urd. But then her face
darkened somewhat. “As much as I hate to admit it, what Skuld said is
true. Lucky me, I was the one the Lord of Terror wanted to use as a
vessel to destroy the universe and then remake it in his own image. As
it is, we’re fortunate that all that got destroyed was the Makuhari
Messe Convention Center. Never mind the mess all that left the Yggdrasil
in.”
Buffy arched her eyebrows. “Makuhari Messe Convention Center? Isn’t
that the place you told me about this morning, Giles?”
“Indeed it is,” confirmed the Watcher. “So it wasn’t mass hysteria
and such. It really was the Lord of Terror. Facinating.”
“Uh, question,” said Willow as she raised her hand tentatively.
“What’s a Yggdrasil?”
Everyone looked at Giles. The Englishmen looked at them confused for
a moment. Realization then hit him and he reached for his book. “The
Yggdrasil , also called the World Tree, is the giant ash tree that links
and shelters all the layers of the universe. It is guarded by the Norns
who pour water from the Well of Fate into its branches to prevent
decay.”
“Now that is a perfect example of why you should never believe
everything you read in books,” muttered Urd. “I’m a goddess, not a
gardener. Before I got stuck here on Earth I was the System Operator for
Yggdrasil.”
“‘System Operator?’” repeated Willow. “You mean like with
computers?” The young witch felt her curiosity raise. Just what kind of
computers did goddesses use?
“And I was the debugger,” added Skuld. “Of course, Yggdrasil bugs
are a lot tougher than normal computer bugs. For one thing they look
like rabbits with eight legs and they move really fast. It takes real
skill to fix them.” Skuld then gave a quick demonstration of what she
meant by ‘fix’ by giving her hammer a test swing.
“Do you mean to tell me that the Yggdrasil is…a computer?” demanded
Giles. The Watcher had again gone a bit pale.
“Yes, it is” confirmed Belldandy. “The ancient people of the
Norseland described our system as best they could using things they
understood to explain what they didn’t. Essentially, the Yggdrasil is
the computer that runs the operations of the universe.”
“The universe is run by a computer?” boggled Buffy. “This doesn’t
mean that Bill Gates is God, does it?”
Xander was also having a hard time buying this bit of news. “Isn’t this
the part where they’re supposed to ask if we want to red pill or the
blue pill?”
Willow, unlike the others, had no problem with this news. Computers
were cool. Except when there’s demon with its eyes on you living inside
one. “So did you work on the Yggdrasil too, Belldandy?”
The goddess shook her head. “No, I was in the Goddess Relief Office.
The job of the GRO is mostly to grant wishes to people deemed worthy.
People like Julian.”
Xander rubbed his temples as if he had a headache. “Okay, I now
declare no more learning. It’s Friday, school’s over, I don’t want to be
within 300 yards of a fact until Monday.”
That was when Giles giggled. “Of course, the universe is run by a
computer,” he said. “That explains so very, very much. London drivers,
Eddie Izzard, people who won’t stop talking during movies, those
dreadful Australian soap operas, spam, why it’s so hard to get a good
scone in this country, even the French.”
Everyone stared at Giles as he continued to ramble.
“What’s wrong with him?” asked Skuld.
“Giles doesn’t like computers. Big time,” said Willow. “I guess
finding out the universe is run by one was a bit much for him.”
“Buffy, Giles is going bye bye. Maybe you should do something,”
suggested Xander.
The Slayer nodded her head. “Right. Do something. Like what?”
It was then that the library doors flew open and Oz hustled in “Hey,
guys, we’ve got trouble. I just--” The musician stopped short as he saw
the newcomers to the Scooby Gang.
“Who invited the werewolf?” asked Urd.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Picture if you will an ordinary hand-held video camera. Now picture
what said camera would look like if it grew legs, a tail and wings. If
you can imagine that, then you can picture the creature that was
currently peering though the library windows.
It had been positioned there since before Buffy and the goddesses
had arrived, the lens that served as its eye recording all. Now the
thing felt that it had seen enough. With a few flaps of its wings the
creature pulled itself into the air. It then flew off silently into the
Sunnydale night.
Yeah, I know, lots of talking heads and no action. Sorry, but I
think a scene like this was really needed to make sure everyone was on
the same page. Don't worry, things will heat up next time. Mara finds
out the Scooby Gang and the goddesses are working together, and you'd
better believe she's not going to take that laying down.