Norse Gods - Chapter 1
The room was quiet. The only living thing currently there, was an unconscious female, lying on a bed.
Then the girl let out small groan and slowly opened her eyes. She blinked a few times and looked around in confusion. She didn’t recognize the room. At all. It wasn’t her room, or one of her friends, that was for sure. Where the hell was she?
Before some crazy theories could start to run in her mind, the door opened and inside came another girl. The newcomer looked around 17, with semi-long black hair and dark brown eyes.
“Oh, you are awake now?” the newcomer smiled.
The first girl blinked, “Not to be rude… but who the hell are you?!”
The second girl chuckled.
“Are you sure you want to ask that question first?” she took a small mirror from the table, “And not: who am I?”
Confused girl took the mirror, looked in and froze. She was starring back at her reflection and didn’t recognize it. Well she kind of did, but it was different from her memories of her face. It was weird.
“From now, you can call me Freja,” introduced herself the second girl, “And in case you are wondering about the similar looks… in this reality we are sisters.”
The first girl nodded, but then looked up in a snap, “What do you mean “reality”?!”
Lori shook her head, “I will explain, but you have to come with me. And… from now on you are Astrid. Astrid Jenkins.”
Freja then took a bag from the floor near the door and looked at Astrid, “Now come, we have to hurry. We have some Norse gods to save…”
Astrid followed Freja outside, stumbled a little, but Freja caught her.
“Where the hell are we going? And why are we in such hurry? What did you mean by Norse gods?” she demanded.
Freja looked at her, took her hand and started to drag her further away from the house they were.
“H-Hey!” Astrid tried to stop, but it was to no use.
“Come, we have to get out of here as quickly as possible,” Freja said, “Or at least before the parents of the sisters’ bodies we got, come back.”
Astrid blinked, “Oh my god… our pa-… parents of these girls! How will we explain?!”
“We won’t,” Freja stopped and pulled down Astrid’s sleeve, revealing bandages on her wrists, “Because I really don’t want to talk to people who are responsible for this.”
Astrid stared at her wrist. Then Freja tugged her to follow her again, this time meeting no resistance.
- - - - -
They didn’t talk until they got onto train, for which Freja bought tickets. They got compartment all to themselves.
Once Freja sat down, she smirked at Astrid, “Now you can ask whatever you want.”
Astrid bit her lower lip. She had so many question, that she didn’t know, which one to ask first.
“Who are you?” she asked slowly.
Freja smiled, “I told you, my name is Freja Jenkins. The name of this girl was Katherine Banks and her sister Juliette Banks. My name from the other world is not important right now…”
“What do you mean other world?! And where are we?! What do you want from me?!” Astrid couldn’t stop the onslaught of questions.
“Other world as in the world from which we came. It’s another reality. Every decision that is made, makes another reality and we moved between them. Or I moved and you kind of tagged along with your latent psychic powers,” Freja started to explain, “I didn’t expect it, so it got my powers out of whack and we ended thousands of miles from my intended place and in completely different body…”
All Astrid could do, was stare at the other girl with blank face. Then she blinked a few times, as if trying to dispel whatever illusion she was seeing. But it didn’t help. Freja was still there. Not even pinching herself did help.
Astrid leaned back with soft: “What the hell…”
Freja patted Astrid’s hand, “I know it’s a lot to take in. One doesn’t travel dimensions everyday. And I can’t take you back right now… but I think you will like it here.”
Astrid let out strangled noise.
“How about I teach you how to use your powers?” Freja smiled, “Won’t that be fun?”
“Fun? You call being told, that you traveled dimensions, fun?! Wait… what powers?” Astrid was now on verge of hysterics.
“As I told you… your powers unconsciously latched onto me, as I was leaving your home dimension, and that’s why you are here now,” Freja said calmly, “That’s why I want to teach you, how to use your powers properly. And maybe you might be able to travel dimensions on your own. Well… if you…”
“Oh my god… there is more?!” Astrid groaned and hid her face in hands.
“Well… the problem right now is, that we both stole bodies with pasts and background. Not that those girls wanted them anymore, but… still, there are two souls in each body. One is you and me, and the other are souls of those girls. So until one soul wins and makes the body its “home”, there will be some flashbacks from both sides and changes, until it settles into the shapes it’s supposed to have,” Freja sighed.
Astrid blinked, “What? What changes?”
Freja tilted her head a bit, revealing a strand of blonde hair, “Look. Freja Jenkins isn’t supposed to be black haired. So as my soul is settling into this body, it changes to reflect onto the body. I have flashes of memories that aren’t mine, that are trying to overpower me, but I won’t lose myself. And you try to do the same. Always remember who you are and you should be fine. If not… you will cease to exist and only the other girl will stay.”
Astrid gulped and nodded. The thought that she would disappear just like that wasn’t all that appealing to her.
But she didn’t completely understand what did Freja mean by seeing other memories than her own. She didn’t feel any different than before.
But just in case, she closed her eyes and in her mind repeated all she knew about herself. She was brunet with brown eyes, 175cm tall. She had one younger brother and together with their parents lived in a house in…
Astrid furrowed her eyebrows. Something didn’t feel right. She could picture her brother just fine, and she clearly saw the house in her mind. But somehow she couldn’t those two things put together. And wait, she didn’t live in house. Neither the it was their summer house. And the neighborhood wasn’t right… and… and…
Astrid started to hyperventilate and gasped, when she felt something cold, but comfortable touch her forehead. She opened her eyes and saw Freja looking at her with concerned eyes, while one glowing hand to her forehead.
Wait, glowing? Astrid blinked, but the glowing didn’t disappear. After Freja told her that crazy story, Astrid should have expected it, but still. It was the first sign of any magic. She couldn’t tear her eyes of the soft white light emanating from Freja’s hand.
“You shouldn’t think so hard on it,” Freja said calmly, “Just focus on things like your family and friends… anything else is unimportant.”
Astrid blinked, “How did you..?”
“I can literally see what you are thinking,” Freja grinned.
Astrid gaped at her.
Freja’s grin turned into soft smile, “That and this.”
She reached into Astrid’s hair, and separated one strand. It was now blond at the top and original black at the bottom.
“It started to change, when it stopped because you were confused,” Freja explained, “Remember, just think of the important things and the unimportant can be damned for now.”
Astrid nodded, but bit her bottom lip.
“Still…” she said slowly, “It’s a bit weird to be in strange body… wont their family and friends miss them?”
Freja stared at Astrid unblinkingly.
“Astrid,” she said quietly, raising her arm and pulling on the sleeve, revealing bandages underneath, “Surely you know, what is underneath. They tried to kill themselves… they DID kill themselves. We took over the bodies, just as they were dying. Those girls are technically dead. Nobody will miss them, because they are dead. And now we are here. One more thing… don’t try to access memories of that girl dying on your own. I blocked that part until you are mentally ready to “live through death”, okay?”
Astrid nodded again.
Suddenly Freja grinned like madman.
“And now…” she started in sing-song voice, “time for a crash course…”
Astrid was confused again, “What crash course?”
“On your latent powers or course, you silly,” Freja said still grinning, “Don’t worry, I am the best teacher around.”
“Isn’t that because right now you are the only teacher around?” Astrid asked innocently.
“Details,” Freja waved her hand in dismissing motion.
Then she leaned closer, “Now don’t be scared, I just need to find out, what and how powerful is in there…”
“How…” Astrid started, but then Freja’s eyes started to glow and suddenly the world exploded in white light.
Astrid was left in a gasping mess.
“Sorry, I went too hard on you,” Freja said sheepishly, “But it was interesting… trip.”
“You said you were good teacher,” Astrid moaned.
“That wasn’t actually teaching,” Freja said flatly, “That was reaching into your soul and searching it.”
“That doesn’t assure me,” Astrid growled.
“No… but this might,” Freja took Astrid’s hand into her own.
Then Astrid’s hand started to tingle.
“Now close your eyes and just feel it,” ordered Freja, which Astrid quickly followed.
It was such strange feeling. A hot and cold at the same time. Tingling, but not hurting. Spreading around her body, but still going for one particular point in the middle.
“Do you feel this?” came Freja’s voice from great distance, “Then hold onto that feeling.”
Right after that the tingling subdued, but Astrid tried to hold onto it, search for it, pull at it. It After what seemed like hours and seconds at the same time, she didn’t have any problem to literally grab at the tingling. Astrid even felt a bit brave and tied to move it a bit in an attempt to figure out, what does it do, what her powers were.
“Whoa,” came Freja’s voice from distance, unfortunately it broke Astrid’s concentration, who snapped her eyes open.
Freja, who was still sitting in front of her, was trying to get her hair under control, which was impossible, because they were literally standing. There was so much static in the air, that one could hear the cracking.
“Interesting,” Freja murmured, her fingers going through her hair, which refused to comply.
“D-Did I do that?” Astrid asked shocked.
“Of course,” Freja nodded. “Now that you know what to feel within yourself, let’s move onto more conscious ways to use your powers… Just a little spark would do,” she smirked as she snapped her fingers victoriously.
For a few seconds Astrid stared at her companion in confusion. Then it came to her and she snapped her too, but nothing happened.
“Feel the energy inside you,” Freja whispered.
It took Astrid few more tries to make a visible spark. It was really fascinating to watch the electricity dance around her fingers, not hurting her. Just the thought of it being her own doing excited her enough to do it again and again.
The next few hours were filled with Freja’s explaining, as she was trying to teach Astrid as much in their limited time as she could, and Astrid’s training.
Suddenly Freja leaped towards the window and looked outside with concentration.
“What it is?” Astrid asked, but Freja held out her hand to silence her.
“Shit,” Freja pulled away from the window and started to gather their things.
“What happened?!” Astrid demanded.
Freja stopped and looked at her, “Well, it seems we had less time than I thought… Give me your hand.”
Hesitatingly Astrid gave Freja her hand, who took it into both of her hands, slowly breathed in and out. Then Freja’s eyes started to glow again, and this time small red sparkles started float from Astrid’s hand, slowly forming into a crystal above the hand.
When the blood red crystal was fully formed, Freja moved one of her hands with outstretched finger in a line near the crystal, creating ribbon like choker that attached itself to the crystal. Then she murmured string of words, that Astrid didn’t understand and another three crystals, this time they were pure white, formed and linked together with short chain.
“If I had more time, I would teach you some magic too, like flying or so,” Freja said as she caught those two items she created and presented them to Astrid, “But we have had run out of time, so these trinkets would help you for now. This choker with ruby is synced to your sould and will help you fly. And this bracelet is full of my energy that will release on command ‘skjold’ into a shield. You can use it three times before it needs to be recharged.”
Astrid took the two presents, but before she could ask any question, Freja magically shrunk their things, put them into her pockets and left their compartment.
“Put them on and hurry!” Freja called to her, so Astrid quickly did so and followed her supposed friend.
Freja walked to the end of train wagon, where beside the toilet was ladder leading up onto the roof, which was usually used for maintenance. Without a word, she climbed it, opening the small trap door and pulling herself onto the roof.
When Astrid saw that, she couldn’t help but yell: “What the actual fuck?!”
The only answer was an impatient: “Hurry!”
So Astrid climbed onto the roof, immediately getting slapped by the strong wind rushing around the train.
Freja was standing there, looking in the direction the train was going, so Astrid looked there and what she saw literally knocked the breath out of her. She was looking at some big city, and it was clear day, but right there, in the middle of the city, there was a dark cloud right above one of the skyscrapers. She would have said that it was from some fire, but it was so concentrated and didn’t move, that it couldn’t be that. Rather it seemed that something was falling down from it.
“What the hell is that?” Astrid asked.
“You will see, once we get there, and flying is much faster way to do so,” Freja said and grabbed Astrid’s hand.
“Flying? I know you gave me that crystal, but won’t you give me even some basic instructions?” Astrid tore her eyes from that dark anomaly and looked at Freja.
“Just imagine yourself flying,” was the only thing Freja said, before she yanked Astrid’s arm and started to run towards the roof’s edge.
Astrid panicked, as she didn’t have time to even try to start to process what Freja said, but they were already in motion. And then finally came the step and suddenly Astrid was falling into nothingness.
She shut her eyes and let out a blood curling scream.