Winter of Yggdrasil

Chapter 21

As they walked back to where the Bifrost had dropped them, Kenna kept turning the Titan's words over in her mind. What did he mean by the lost? And how could she be the prophetic child? She had fulfilled one prophecy already, how could there be two?

Ebony gasped suddenly and ran into the trees. Kenna watched as her mother stopped at a bush.

"Found some!" She called. She looked over at Avalon. "Can we have some?" Avalon nodded slowly and joined her. She picked one up and split it open with her nail. Dark red juice seeped out and a small tendril of black vapor escaped. Avalon waved it away and showed Kenna the tiny seed.

"They will begin to shrivel soon and the bushes will become wreathed in this smoke. If what you say is true. It is likely spreading from another forest."

Ebony pulled a bag from her pack and gently picked a few, dropping them in. She paused and stared into the thicket. "They flower too?" She reached in and grasped a black-purple flower. It opened up like a lily and gave off a sickly sweet smell. She placed it in the bag and drew the string to close it.

Kenna walked around the bush, looking curiously into it. A tree root was under it, traveling from where they had come. "This is connected to the root..." She murmured, looking back towards the Titan's clearing.

Avalon nodded, sighing. "Lot lives inside our root to Yggdrasil. But with the Night burning, it has begun to die. They're taking over it now and we won't have him or our bit of Yggdrasil for much longer."

Kenna stared up at the tree and then peered at the root taken over by the bush. "How long ago did this start?"

"About a month."

"He must be fighting it, for it only to be this far..." Merek murmured, coming to examine the bush as well. Kenna returned to the clearing behind them, hearing but ignoring the sounds of the others following. She climbed up a gnarled root and rested a hand on the trunk. There was no reply from Lot this time. But she felt something, something detached and yet running through everything around her. It was calm, familiar somehow, as if she'd felt it all her life, known it as easily as she knew the smell of Asgard's air and the sound of her mother's breathing.

"Yggdrasil." She whispered, filled with awe over the power of life she could feel. Something shivered and she looked around her. Something was wrong with it.

A cool hand settled on her shoulder and she looked up at Merek. "She's sick." He whispered. Kenna nodded, wondering what was going to happen. "Come. We're losing daylight."

They turned to the dryads and bowed respectfully. "Thank you." Kenna murmured for them all. Avalon nodded and turned with her family. They sank into the trees as one, disappearing with only the sound of branches creaking.

Rown sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I suggest we get these to Loki and head on to Muspelheim."

Ebony nodded and led them from the clearing. Kenna looked up at the tree. "Yggdrasil?" She whispered. The tree shivered and someone's gasp made her turn. Merek stumbled and set a hand against a tree, clutching his stomach. He shook himself and stood, following the others stiffly. Kenna frowned and looked back up. "I'm sorry, Lot." He replied this time, only with a strange rumble in the trunk of the tree. She sighed and ran after the others. They walked back to where they had come from and looked up.

"Heimdall!" Ebony called. The clouds opened and a light swallowed them up. Kenna looked around to find Loki pacing the Bifrost, waiting for them. He led them to back to the palace and into his workroom. Ebony fished out her bag and handed it to him. "We talked to a Titan in the forest."

"Lot?" Ebony nodded. Loki smiled. "You must have met Avalon then as well. How are they? Anything wrong there?"

Ebony sighed. "Lot is dying. The Night Fire are taking over his tree. Avalon seems alright."