Generations: Broken Prophesy Story

Chapter 16

“Loki!!!”  Chaser lunges between the trickster and Nyota, spreading his wings, his sapphire glow shines brighter than in his fight with Ahadi.

“Oh do calm down, Butt-Biter.  If I really wanted you harmed, I would have left you alone the first time you showed up in Berk.”  Loki runs a hand through his copper tresses.  I mean it was glorious to watch you skewered like a boar on a spit, but for some reason Odin, Freja, Frigia and Thor all want to see you healthy.”

“Why are you here then!”  Chaser growls through clenched teeth.

“Well,”  Loki slides down the face of the boulder he was perched atop, landing lightly on his feet.  His pacing takes him past the growling dragon, to stop in front of a vaguely Loki shaped crater in the wall of the cove.  Tipping his head he reaches into the years old debris to pluck out a single brass button, “Hmm…  That’s where that wound up.”  Turning on his heel, he faces down the pair of dragons, “Oh yes…  Well, that’s the thing.  The aforementioned quartet directly blessed your parents, and while I AM a god of magick and trickery, their combined power trumps my own.  So I can’t directly interfere with them…  But YOU…”  He dances over to the dragons, stopping in front of Chaser.  Leaning in and tweeks the young dragons nose, earning him a snarl for his trouble.   “Ah ah ah…  Don’t bite the hand that offers aid…  Or something like that…”  He waves his hand with a dismissive gesture.  “Mortals…  SO…  Here is the deal, YOU two need to find out what happened to your village, your parents and friends and undo it all.”

“Oh?  That’s all?”  Chaser’s glow fades as he watches with wary eyes.

“Yes, ‘That’s all’...”  Loki mimics Chaser’s voice perfectly.  “I even have a plan to get you into the village without you getting run through, or otherwise bruitalized.”

“You still haven't explained why…  Why help us?  You hate dragons.”

Loki laughs, his belly laugh goes on so long the two dragons have to wonder if he is going to be alright.  “Yes!!!  Yes, I hate dragons.  I hate the eternal source of my torment…  But I love my freedom more.  After our last meeting, Odin took ‘pity’ on me.”  He nearly spits the word.  “And I have been doing ‘tasks’ for the Aesir and Vanir both.  They think that if they keep me busy I can’t cause mischief.  And we all know Odin is a lazy bastard.”  Once more waving dismissively as he dances around his audience.  “If you pray to him for assistance he withholds it because you need it, and offers aid to those who don’t because they won't use it.  Explain the logic there, eh??   But I digress…  He won’t get involved personally, so he tasked me with giving you aid.  So here I am, and here you are…”

Chaser’s eyes narrow, “You mentioned a plan to get into the village?”

Both dragons are shocked into warryness by the glint in Loki’s grey eyes.  “Oh yes!!!  The plan.”  With a snap of his fingers, Loki vanishes in a cloud of grey smoke, his laughter fills the cove along with the growing haze of smoke.  The wispy grey fog quickly fills in, becoming thicker as it expands to fill the cove.  In mere moments neither dragon can see each other.  “Chaser!”  Nyota shouts.

“Here!  I’m here…  Ugghh, I…  I don’t feel…”  In the thick haze, Nyota hears a heavy ‘thud’ followed by the wet sound of flesh tearing.  

“Chaser!!  Chaser!!  Answer me!!”

*****

    

Nyota gives a ‘bark’ of plasma, the flash reflects off the thick billowing cloud of smoke, but to her inner-eye the sound paints a clear picture.  Just a few paces away lies an unmoving mass she recognises as Chaser.  Moving carefully, she comes nose to nose with the ruined shape of her once mate.  Like an overripe fruit, his flesh had torn from head-to-tail along his spine.  The smoke begins to clear, as she stares into the hollow ‘shell’ of dragon hide and scales.  Sunlight finally penetrates the grey haze as she sees movement from within the husk.  Something soft, pink, and completely un-dragon like claws its way through her mate's flesh.  Charging a blast of plasma, she will end whatever horror killed Chaser.