Loki's Mark

Chapter Eight

I slept half the day away, and when I finally awoke, I felt like a ship adrift with no anchor. I took a quiet walk around the neighborhood and then made myself something to eat, staring out my bay window as I ate my meal, watching the day slip by. I didn't even notice when I drifted off again, and when I woke for the second time it was already dark. I guess I was more exhausted than I thought.

After a shower and another meal, I found myself pacing my apartment. I tried to read, but I couldn't focus on any of my books, and that led to more pacing. Finally, frustrated, I kneeled before my altar. Maybe meditation would help. I hesitated as I reached for the candles, wondering if the neighbors would start yelling for old time's sake. Then I remembered that they had moved out, and the house next door was empty for right now. Smiling, I reached forward, then stopped. What?

Confused, I reached over and picked up the top journal. It'd honestly been three weeks since I'd even touched them, or thought about them, and they'd been sitting on my altar gathering more dust. What stayed my hand was the fact that I could now read the runes without even trying. It felt like the words were leaping off the cover, burning bright and begging to be read. Trepidatiously, I picked up the journals and my notes, and took them over to my bed. Eyeing them warily, I went into the kitchen to make myself a cup of tea.

Once finished, I stalked back into the bedroom, set the tea on the end table, then crawled up on the bed. Frowning, I pulled the books towards me. I carefully picked each one up and flipped through it, to see if it was just the covers, or if I could read all of the text that easily. The words and thoughts were just as disjointed as they had ever been, but I could indeed read them with no issues now.

I spent the next couple hours skimming through the books, consulting back and forth between the different codexes to follow the story properly. Once I had read the final word, I laid the last book down on top of the others, and I frowned. Outside of the few things I had gleaned, I hadn't picked up anything new, even with being able to read it easily now. I growled in frustration, feeling tears of pure rage slip from my eyes as I bent over the books to try and calm myself back down, before I threw them across the room or ripped them to pieces. What the fuck was I supposed to do now?

Angrily, I dashed the tears from my face, and grabbed the top book with my still wet fingers, only to have it sear my hand. I dropped it with a cry and scrambled off the bed, as a misty light enveloped the stack. The light grew so bright I had to cover my eyes and turn away, before it disappeared with a clap. I turned back, and stared in disbelief at the single volume that now sat on my bed. It was about the size of two and a half of the journals combined, and the cover only held one single, complicated rune that I didn't recognize.

It took me a moment to crawl back up on the bed, watching it as I moved like a dog watches something it thinks might bite. After several moments with no activity, I reached forward and picked it up, holding it for another moment. Once I finally opened it, the first page was blank. Then, the next page. And the next page. Pulse racing, I started rapidly flipping through the pages, only to find that they all were blank, every last one of them.

"No. No, no. No no no. No, no you can't fucking do THIS TO ME!" I screamed, tears flowing freely down my face. Sobbing, I touched the rune to my forehead, and then I dropped the book with a shocked gasp, as I was sucked into the world of my nightmares.

I was actually there this time, though, and things were no longer murky or muddy. I could see things clearly now, and I spun around rapidly, trying to figure out what was going on. The tableau unfolded around me just like it always did, but there was no sound, yet. "What's going on?!" I demanded, nerves frayed and feeling as if I was about to have a mental breakdown. Out of thin air a woman appeared beside me, who placed her hand on my right shoulder. She placed her finger to her lips.