|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 2:59 pm
Valhalla kept his arms around Ganymede for as long as she seemed to want to be in them. He smiled softly down at her, sadly as well, and leaned close to press a kiss against her forehead and the glowing symbol of Ganymede.
He didn’t respond to her comments about Chaos, instead reflecting quietly on it as he gently rubbed at her back, hoping to offer her some comfort even as they were surrounded by centuries old death and rain and wind. Chaos was seductive, but they’d already overcome so much. They just needed to keep fighting.
“I hope someone brought them out of the weather,” Valhalla said, a strange sympathy filling him for Serge and Liesel. He liked to keep them separate from his own life, but he was very aware that their previous lives just set up for who they would become. They were incredibly lucky that they found each other. Out of however many died, they ended up being reborn just a few years apart, in the same city.
As they walked, Valhalla looked to the ground as well, and the heel of his boot hit something hard. He knew what it was without having to look. It was as though the magic resonated and called to him. Or more specifically to Ganymede. He gently tugged on her hand as he stopped to kneel down and pick the grass and dirt that had all but buried the piece of armor that had been abandoned.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 6:54 pm
Abandoned, or lost? Ganymede wasn’t sure there was much difference between the two, in this instance.
She knelt beside Valhalla, helped him dig through the dirt, exposing a golden vambrace to the elements, needlessly decorative, as most things belonging to Ganymede were. It was the only piece they found, buried alone, hidden by time more than anyone’s efforts to conceal it.
Ganymede remembered the moment Liesel removed it, dropped it himself when it was damaged by an enemy’s weapon, the forearm beneath it bruised and aching.
The metal was dented when she took it into her hands, but warm to the touch, its magic almost palpable, thrumming against her skin. As soon as she lifted it from the sodden ground, the vambrace vanished in a burst of glittering light, as if it’d never been there at all. But Ganymede knew, instinctively, that it was not gone. Something tethered her to its existence, and she was certain that it would appear again when necessary, brilliant and golden, as if made new.
“I wonder what will become of us, years from now,” she said.
As she stood to her feet again, Ganymede turned her gaze first to the fortress of Valhalla, then to the clouds, beyond which the stars twinkled and her moon loyally followed its orbit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2021 8:05 pm
He watched as the vambrace was unearthed and then disappeared in a flash of light, but he wasn’t at all surprised that it would do something like that. It seemed like it needed to be returned to its owner, and would be there when it would be useful.
Valhalla stood as well and wiped the rain from his face. His other hand reached for Ganymede’s again, and clasped it tightly once he found it.
“No matter what, we’ll find each other again. I’m sure of it,” he said softly, just loud enough to be heard over the wind and rain. They’d stood in that field in their last moments of life a thousand years ago. And they stood there today, hand in hand. There was no doubt in Valhalla’s mind that one day they may part ways again, but would find a way back to each other.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2021 12:26 pm
“I like to believe that,” Ganymede said, clasping Valhalla’s hand with her own.
There was never any guarantee, but fate worked in mysterious ways. Somehow, they’d found one another again in this life, met as civilians before they even knew who the other was, cared for one another and fell in love before the memories rose to share an older tale.
When they met their end this time, surely fate would lead them together again. It might take another thousand years, but… eventually, all would be as it was meant to.
With a smile still tinged by sadness, Ganymede gave Valhalla’s hand a gentle tug.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of the rain.”
Together, they made their way back to the fortress, which welcomed them inside like an old friend.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
