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 Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 6:26 pm
Mary was starting to not believe in coincidences.
The city went dark and she was overcome with the need to see her Wonder.
She hadn’t been to the Bifrost in months, a year even. She had decidedly been avoiding Prena and her duty, sighting that there was too much going on in the present and on Earth to go. She had projects to finish, she had finals, and she had to fight with her mother to stay with her grandmother. Slowly the weeks turned into months and the Bifrost blissfully slipped from her mind. She felt a hint of regret for not going, but she had responsibilities on Earth she couldn’t ignore.
Mary was not Prena. She couldn’t just abandon everything because her duty wished it. She was a citizen of Earth first, guardian of the Surrounding second. Prena preached for her to give up everything and live on the Bifrost. Prena spoke of a time gone past, where the Surrounding was bustling, was alive. Prena was from a different world, a different time, and Mary just couldn’t conform her ideals to that. Too many years of being told by her mother to be what she wanted and not what Mary wanted. Too many years of being told she was wrong. Too many years of being unwanted. It rubbed her the wrong way to be told she ‘had to do this’ that ‘this was her duty,’ and she’d avoided her ancestor ever since.
But she couldn’t avoid it any longer.
She stared up at the sky, the stars vivid in the absence of the city lights. Bifrost slowly spun her signet ring around her finger, thinking. The ache in her gauntlets threatened to drive her mad. It was an ache that whispered sweet nothings and enticed her to go, to fulfill it. It promised power, it promised protection. At what cost, she wondered, staring at the heavens. What cost was she willing to pay for power, to quell the ache in her arms? The words fell from her mouth without much provocation.
“I pledge my life and loyality to Chronos, and the Bifrost. I humbly request your aid, so that in return I may give you mine.”
There was a rush of energy around her and she felt the cold of space settle into her clothing. Lavender eyes opened to see the Bifrost before her. It was as it had been before, a simple balcony with the control pedestal in the middle, carved from white stone that shimmered and changed color as one moved. She noticed things about it now she hadn’t noticed before, such as the bridge patterns inlaid into the steps, the Chronos symbol etched around the pedestal itself, and the weaving on the railing supports. Upon closer inspection, the noted that the railings themselves were etched into weavings as well, much like her gauntlets.
She looked around, expecting Prena to appear. The see through woman was nowhere to be found. Bifrost had the Wonder to herself.
She spent a good ten minutes inspecting her Wonder, getting acquainted with it again. She whispered quietly to it, and the road it was attached to, that she was sorry for her neglect. The silence that answered her was eerie and uncomfortable. She felt like a stranger in her own source of power, as though she didn’t belong.
She wasn’t the Bifrost it wanted.
A chill surged down her spine and she gripped the pedestal with both hands as she shook. Terror flooded her system, rooting her to the ground. It threatened to cloud her vision with tears and send tremors down her limbs. She gasped for air, trying desperiately to keep from falling apart. She stared at the pedestal, the impression in the middle, the trigger that started the Wonder. No, no she was Bifrost, gatekeeper of the Bifrost. She was the Bifrost Squire in charge of it. She could prove it! She could prove she was Bifrost!
She shook as she pressed her hand into the depression. “Bifrost… Bifrost… Bifrost… what is it, what is it, what’s the command, what’s the command I know this, I know I know this what is it!?” Panic set in then, as the command to open the Bifrost escaped her. She rambled off half a dozen combinations of words, none of which worked. What was it, what was it, what was it again? Why had she waited so long to come back, why had she avoided this?
She wasn’t any good; she wasn’t what her Wonder wanted, what her Wonder needed. She was just a weak little girl in the wrong body, in the wrong time, in the wrong place. She just, just needed to go back to being her mother’s Mary, the right Mary, the true Mary and maybe, maybe her Wonder would accept her again. Bifrost crumbled over the pendestal, hand still in the depression, as the tears spilled over. She wasn’t good enough, she wasn’t what it wanted, she just wanted to be what it wanted, what it needed. She just wanted to be good enough.
…Bifrost Sanctuary, Open…
“B-b-bifrost… San-Sanct-tuary, Open” she said, trying one more thing. This one had to work, it had to. It had to. Beneath her hand rippled a rainbow of colors. It poured down the pedestal and out the end of the balcony, like it did when the Bifrost was opened. She blinked up instinctually, hoping something had happened.
It wasn’t the Bifrost, persay. A very small house, maybe two hundred square feet, shimmered in the same white stone just off the edge. A small series of stairs led to the door. The open door, she noted. Through teary eyes she stumbled to the little house, and tumbled in the door. It closed softly behind her.
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Posted: Fri May 16, 2014 6:26 pm
She fell onto the first thing she came to, a large pile of cushions in a depression off to one side. The cushions and blankets were in the same magentas and golds of her uniform, and covered with the Bifrost symbol. She shook and buried herself in them, blocking out everything. See, see Momma she’d done it. She’d opened the Bifrost. She was the Bifrost’s keeper afterall. See, she mattered. See she was wanted.
See, Momma, see?
Time was hard to judge in Space, but sometime later she awoke curled in the blankets and cushions. She glanced around the small room, noting a kitchen, a small bath, and a desk, along with tapestries and a large map of the Surrounding. A bookcase took up the walls around the door, and a simple light hung in the middle of the room. The room was dusty and in middle disarray, but looked like it had survived the harshest of the Chaos attack.
“This room only appears to the knight of Bifrost. It otherwise does not formally exist,” said a voice next to her. She jumped, panic flaring in her chest again. Prena sat comfortably in one of the chairs Bifrost hadn’t noticed before. Her ancestor looked tired, but did not look cross with her. The woman pushed her blonde hair behind an ear. “The Bifrost serves everyone, but it’s gatekeeper the most. These quarters were mine, and are now your quarters, should you need them. Think of them as a safe haven, a place only you may dwell. You cannot bring anyone into these quarters, even your own comrades. It’s for you and only you.”
Bifrost sniffed and wiped her nose on her sleeve, looking around again. A place all to her own. She had a place to run to now, when she needed to. She really, really enjoyed this idea.
Prena continued, “I would have shown it to you before but I… came on too strong. I scared you. It’s clear, from watching over the Bifrost and our space of the Surrounding that things are not the same as they used to be.” She looked down for a moment before looking up at Bifrost again. “A new start, if we could. I cannot tell you everything you wish to know at once, but I will do my best to guide you.”
Bifrost blinked at her, watching the woman be very open and vunerable. It was odd, watching her. It was like watching herself in the mirror; as she watched, Prena shifted her legs from cross legged to an open stance and took on a much more masculine edge. While that was not the same, the act of not being comfortable in her skin was. The younger squire rubbed dried tears from her eyes and held out a hand.
“Mary, the new Bifrost Knight.” Bifrost gave a smile, her signature kind smile, and she watched Prena relax and smile back. Better, much better. “Has this always been here?” She gestured to the room.
“Two knights before me created it. Our line was one of duty-bound men and having a place to retire became necessary as the visitors to the Surrounding diminished. It’s otherwise been here as long as I can remember,” she replied, walking around the room slowly. “The Bifrost, like the knights and their weapons, has changed and molded itself to fit the times. It has always been a bridge, since the first of the line, but it has changed shape many times since then. Our weapons have not always been corded metal whips and shields. Sometimes they have been tower shields, sometimes they have been simple staves that open a bridge under someone with such force, and they’re flung in a direction. At our most powerful, we were very strong, Mary.” Prena finished her circle, standing in front of Bifrost and taking her wrists in her hands.
“Now, it seems our magic has weakened, our weapons diminished.” Her ancestor ran her fingers over the bands of woven metal and clicked her tongue. “To think they’d give you something you can’t even use defensively once the magic is gone…” She clicked her tongue again. Bifrost shrugged sheepishly, though noticed she didn’t say “you gave yourself” but “they gave you.” It wasn’t her fault her weapons were like this, apparently.
“My magic is useful enough. These have been aching lately though,” she said in refrence to the gauntlet. More than a year, to be frank, but she’d only been running around as a Squire for some months yet. Or was it longer now? Six, eight months? Nine almost? She’d been running patrols again only in the last few months.
“That is because they wish to reflect the power within them.” Prena smiled at her, holding the gauntlet. “You’ve grown stronger and your weapons wish to reflect this.”
Bifrost was stronger? She’d grown to squire, yes, but how was she even stronger now? She’d barely done anything. Prena chuckled softly and patted her on the head.
“Don’t worry, dear. The Bifrost deems you worthy of whatever you’ve done. It’s time for your weapons to reflect this.”
“What do I need to do?” she asked, pushing her insecurities away for now.
“Think about your weapons; think about what they manifest themselves as. I’ll handle the catalyst,” replied Prena, her fingers poised over the woven bands. Bifrost closed her eyes and focused her attention on the aching weapons. Her weapons were woven bands of metal, like the railings. They weaved around themselves like a chain and could be unraveled very easily. Not very long, but this whip only appeared on the right gauntlet. This was because she pulled the whip tight to cast her magic.
There was another use for this chain, but she didn’t know what it was. She just knew it had another use down the line.
She felt Prena dragging her hands over the bands of metal and warm sink into them. She opened her eyes to watch the bands glow and shift. It was odd to watch the right one unwind itself, until it dangled above the floor. Prena let out a heavy sigh as the light finished shimmering and she took a step back. Bifrost picked up the chain with her left hand, feeling its light weight and the fact it had the heft of rope more than metal. It was very odd.
“Magic can only do so much. Knights are bound by a code that denies bladed weapons, or something that could become one. That said, that chain can be useful,” Prena said, tiredness in her voice. Bifrost tilted her head. “Should you get behind someone, use it to choke them out. If you get good with snapping it like a whip, you can grab people’s limbs and jerk them off balance. It’s not going to do offensive damage by itself, though, and these really aren’t the “regulated” uses but it should help in a pinch.”
“So, rely on learning kick boxing or a martial art instead of the chain gauntlet?” she asked, winding the chain back into her gauntlet. Prena nodded.
“Some sort of martial art will be helpful, even basic self-defense. Rely on your magic as well to give you a breather, and then get creative if you can. Bifrost Knights are not meant to run the front line, but hold the line until people evacuate. We’re defensive based knights. Remember that.” Her ancestor sat heavily in the chair. She looked tired now, and Bifrost decided it was time to go home. Besides, the city was dark and she needed to figure out why.
“I’ll let you rest and I promise to visit more often. I was—”
“We all run from our destinies, Mary. Even me. I will await your next visit.”
Bifrost gave a bow and a smile and left the little house. Once her feet touched the balcony of the Bifrost, the house shimmered out of existence behind her. She looked at the expanse of space beyond it and closed her eyes. She had one last thing to do before she could go home. She stepped up to the pedestal again and placed her hand in the depression. Power surged through her hand and greeted her like an old friend.
“By my will Bifrost, open.” The words came naturally to her, as if she’d been doing it all along.
…Where would you like to go?
“Between Leo and Cancer.” It was, at that moment, the only two posts she could remember next to each other.
...Of course, milady Gatekeeper…
The road erupted from the end of the balcony, vanishing off into the distance where she could not see. A wave of relief went through her and Bifrost sighed. Good, she could do it. Good. She did it. She let the Bifrost close itself and stepped from her wonder.
With a lighter heart, and stronger weapons, the Squire vanished back home, resolving to come back sooner rather than later.
[ WC : 2,457 ]
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