<A> A Place More Vast and Distant Than The Heavens

[A Wandering Esper]

This was a desolate world that he had found this time. In a way this suited him just fine - he liked the relative silence of such places. It also made dodging mortals easier most of the time - survivors tended to band together, after all, and thus it was easy to avoid such settlements.

Ankou would continue to wander, as he often did. The air was crisp and cool, but it bothered him done. Spirits trailed him, compelled by the low, faint sound of his voice, and to many he might as well have been one of those himself - a long lost warrior wandering the plains, a large spear resting on his back.

The Spirit Guide would eventually pause. There was something familiar here...  

[midnight_medea]

It was the early hours of the morning, dim inside their shelter. Outside it would still be mostly dark, the overcast skies gradually fighting to lighten. The party of rievers were asleep all but Iyes.

She had woken with a start and had been unable to get back to sleep. There was something ... something she could not put her finger on. The North woman stared through the darkness, her sword resting on her lap. If there was something coming, some danger she would be ready for it.  

[A Wandering Esper]

The nagging feeling was a familiar one - valkyrie. What would be harder to figure out would be the source of said feeling, and he would walk for a few minutes more before he found the woman, and was able to pin-point who exactly this one was.

Saangrigor. One of the most violent and efficient of the valkyrie, the one who did not hesitate where the kinder ones would have stayed their spears. This might be slightly difficult, she had always been more loyal to...

To...

He paused in the distance, just barely in her sight. Loyal to... ? No, not Nergal... Then to who ? Try as he might, the rest of that thought, of that memory, would not surrender itself.  

[midnight_medea]

The movement in the snowy white distance caught her eye. Iyes frowned a little and stood, drawing her sword as she did. It was probably an animal she thought as she stepped closer to the door of the barn and stared out. No, there was definitely something out there. Something ... unsettling.

"What are you doing?" Alva whispered from behind her. She had heard the movement and had stood too.

"There's something out there, I am going to see what." Iyes replied, stepping out into the cold morning air. She heard Alva's footsteps behind her but kept walking.
"Who is there?" She called out, staring hard at the cloaked figure in the distance.  

[A Wandering Esper]

It was the sharp voice that brought him out of his thought - it seemed like he had been found, after all. "A traveler."

It was not a lie, not completely at least. "I mean you no harm, though I would appreciate a moment's rest." If he could get close enough, then Sanngrigor would get a good look at Gungnir and perhapd start to remember - or at least be willing enough to have her memory jogged.  

[midnight_medea]

Iyes gave a snort of laughter.
"A traveller? Out here?" She replied, stepping closer, her sword ready should she need it. Though something was holding her back, there was something familiar about this hooded man, something very familiar. Her eyes went to the weapon on his back. A pain, as sharp as a knife pierced through her skull, there was a flash the glint of the blade in battle, an epic battle of the living and the dead. Iyes blinked and focused on him.
"Where did you get that?" She asked, pointing to Gungnir, her other hand going to the granite stone suspended round her neck, it felt cold to the touch where it usually felt warm.

Alva watched the exchange, her own sword ready. There was something not right about the man, was he a ghost? No one in their right mind would be out there alone, still Iyes would deal with him. It was why they kept her around."  

[A Wandering Esper]

Something not right, indeed. It also seemed like his excuse was not going to fly, but it had gotten the woman where he wanted. More surprising than her asking about Gungnir was the stone she wore around her neck. Now that he saw it, he felt it quite easily - this was one of the divine. Who, well, he could not say with the stone in such a state. It was clear enough that there was no bond in between the stone and Saangrigor.

"That has always been mine, though it had exchanged hands more times that I like to think in the ages past." He would carefully take a step forward - if either women decided to strike at him, they would find their blades unable to break his skin. "What else do you remember, Slanngrigor ?"

And who was this other person he could not quite remember, the one this valkyrie had been so loyal to ? The fact did not bother him - there was likely a reason as there tended to be - but being unable to identify who or why was nagging at him.  

[midnight_medea]

Saangrigor, the name rang in her mind like a thousand church bells. She saw him now, felt the divine in him, his name ... it was on the tip of her tongue.
"Battle." She replied simply. That was what she could remember, she could smell it, taste it. She glanced past him, to the spirits that were drawn to his aura.
"The dead." There were more of her, sisters, they worked together, guiding and protecting. "Her and ... you." The name came to her then. "Lord Ankou?"

"You know him?" Alva asked, rather confused by the whole scene. She was ignored as her servant appeared to be lost in her thoughts and memories.  

[A Wandering Esper]

Well, it seemed like there would be no need to reach out within that one to pull the lost memories to the surface. This suited the Spirit Guide enough - having to do so with Byrnhildr and the gathered audience there had been awkward enough for him.

"Yes." He said, simply. She ? Who was this she... ? "You mentioned a she... Who are you talking about ?"

With some luck, Sanngrigor would remember what he could not. The other woman would be watched closely. "Yes, she is one of mine. A valkyrie."  

[midnight_medea]

Saangrigor breathed the freezing air in deeply to try and clear her head. It was all a blur.
"Underworld." She sheathed her sword and glanced around herself at the landscape they were stood in, the stone at her neck grew colder. She placed her hand around it. "Where are the others? Hildr, Skuld, Eir?"

Alva continued to stare at the pair of them, they may as well have been talking gibberish. Valkyries? She glanced back to the barn, hopefully the others wouldn't come to investigate. She didn't want a fight for once in her life.  

[A Wandering Esper]

The mortal woman seemed quite confused, but perhaps it was better if she did not understand. Though there had to be a reason Slanngrigor had lingered with them...

Hmm. The presence of the god-gem was an unknown variable in this whole thing. Underworld.... ? That would have made sense... if Slanngrigor had not clearly said 'she'. Try as he might, he could remember a thing about the one who would have been his brother's other.

"Is it her stone you carry, isn't it ?" He leaned forward to take a closer look. Black granite, it seemed like... "I have not found them all yet. They are with me at the pantheon." She was certainly in for a surprise when she saw Byrnhildir... Oh, dear.  

[midnight_medea]

"Pantheon." Saan shook her head a little and reached up to take the stone from around her neck. Since when had they resided at the pantheon. "My new self found it as a child." She replied, handing it to him, "I suppose it called out to her, me whoever." The Valkryie looked back to Alva. "Alva Hrith, this is Ankou, the spirit guide, a god. Lord Ankou, this is Alva Hrith, a raider and thief." She smirked a little and looked at the stone. "How can She be a stone?"

Alva raised an eyebrow at Iyes' words. A what now?
"A god?" She muttered incredulously. "Impossible."  

[A Wandering Esper]

Alva's retort caused Ankou to raise an eyebrow. He had to admit this was an expected reaction, though not one he was used to getting much anymore. Those near the pantheon believed, and he tended to shift and remain hidden when he reached out.

"I could easily prove myself to you, but I would doubt that you would appreciate the experience." None of the things he could do were things that mortal in general found.... pleasant.

Still, he would let his wings come to sight, hinting that there was indeed more to him that met the eye. "As for her state... Most of us come back in such a shape. She will need a host, however... A mortal strong enough to carry her back to life."

Perhaps this little raider. There was one way to know for sure - his gaze would travel from Saan to Alva, indicating that she should show her the stone.  

[midnight_medea]

As Ankou explained, Saan was already thinking along the same lines as him, she followed his gaze to Alva and gave a nod of understanding. A host, she would be a good one for the goddess, she could fight and she had strength.

Alva watched the man unveil his wings. Her free hand went to her mouth and she almost dropped her sword. How could that be? She swallowed hard. Surely she hadn't died in her sleep or anything.

Saan turned to face Alva and held the stone out towards her.
"This is ... "She paused a moment to recall the name, it was there, just as his had been ... though maybe. She might not remember the true name but she remembered a name Alva had told her before. "This is Regniana, or that is what your people call her. Goddess of Underworld, the fallen. She faded?" Saan looked to Ankou for confirmation, she could remember that a little perhaps. "Now she is within this stone and she needs a mortal to aid her rebirth." In her hand the stone was definitely reacting. Saan looked back to Ankou. "She wants her."  

[A Wandering Esper]

The wings would then vanish again, just as quickly and effortlessly as they had became visible. No use catching too much attention, after all.

"Yes. All of us did." It was fact, though not still not something he liked to admit. "What remains of the deity is gathered into a stone by the Twin Crown, and we seek the mortal who carry within the traits we lacked before. You seem to be the best fit for her."