[ January 4th ]

Bifrost spent a week after the change of the guard at her wonder. She’d noticed the Surrounding near her wonder glowed brighter, looked cleaner. The Bifrost itself looked quite whole, even the far off outcroppings. Transcendence had come with it’s own interesting changes; her armor glowed in places, and she felt alive and at home when within the Bifrost. There was one thing she couldn’t quite figure out, even as flickers of memories - of Prena, she suspected, flew in and out of her mind. Moreover, she still had something to do, she felt, but couldn’t put her finger on what it was.

If Heimdall was really the guardian creature of the wonder… where was he? She scoured the wonder, and the bridge, trying to find the guardian but could not find even a mention or note of him. No place he would have stood, no plaque, no statue that turned into a guardian.

The other mystery was the gold hair comb she’d found. It had had significance to Prena, but no indication of why or who it had belonged to. She pulled it from her hair, running her fingers along the comb. It wasn’t particularly ornate or extremely special. It was embossed with the Chronos symbol, and a few inlaid rose quartz crystals, but nothing overly flashy. Neither side held any other markings, nothing that looked like a name or an identifying marking. The books were of no help either; Prena did not have any personal diaries or written logs hidden away among the shelves.

“I wonder if Heimdall was lost to time, after the Silver Milennium…” she murmured, still running her fingers over the small quartz crystals. Bifrost walked idly, thinking about it.

Tink, tink.

She stopped and blinked. Did she just hear something? She waited, listening. No sound. The knight started up again.

Tink, tink. Tinktinktinktinktinktink.

What was that sound? She glanced around, but couldn’t see anything that would make such a metallic sound. No clockwork out here, it was all marble. It distinctly was following her though.

She and the sound continued on for a hundred or so feet, before Bifrost abruptly turned around, having not found anything along the road so far.

And walked right into a walking suit of armor.

She blinked down at the gold suit of armor, who was about two feet high, and reminded her of the gatekeeper of the Bifrost in the movie Thor. He carried a sword - more like a dagger for her - and looked up at her expectantly.

“You’re…. Heimdall, aren’t you?” The suit of armor didn’t exactly nod, but there was a slight up and down movement to his head. If he was Heimdall, where had he come from though… She tapped her fingers against the hair comb, and Heimdall shimmered out of existence.

She did it again, and he shimmered back.

(Bifrost did this several times before it clicked in her head.)

The hair comb held Heimdall, that’s why Prena gazed at it so. The Bifrost’s other guardian was housed conveniently in an item no one would ever suspect, to keep him hidden from Chaos. It made so much sense to her, once she realized it.

A memory flickered through her head, of Prena polishing Heimdall’s armor, and walking with him along the Bifrost. The memory was short and sweet, but meant more than she realized.

Heimdall was the one creature who kept Prena company her entire time as Gatekeeper. He was a best friend, as much as a golem could be. The hair comb had been a gift from a lover of Prena’s, and she’d bound Heimdall to it long ago. To honor the handmaiden she’d fallen in love with, and protect Heimdall.

And, in some ways, remind her of the cost of love.

Bifrost tucked the hair comb back into her hair, feeling it snug against her head.

The knight of Chronos walked back to the balcony and collected her things from the antechamber. She looked back at the Bifrost, the iridescent marble rippling in the light. She bid it farewell for now, and flickered out of existence.


[ WC: 686 ]