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 Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2024 2:07 pm
Bilskirnir didn’t know much about his Wonder yet. He might have been there a time or two, but he hadn’t had any memories or met any ghosts, so he wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to do there. Since Valhalla didn’t really harass him about going, Bilskirnir tended to put it off. He knew it was important, that the Wonder itself was his responsibility, but he was a bit lost on where to start.
They appeared in what seemed like some sort of village square. A steady rain fell, though Bilskirnir knew it wasn’t one of Jupiter’s more powerful storms. So far, there was no thunder or lightning.
Various buildings surrounded them in different stages of disrepair, some notably worse than others. The largest building stood directly in front of them, and this was where Bilskirnir began to lead Enceladus and Aragon.
“I think it’s sort of like an armory?” he said. “You know, where they made and repaired weapons and had stockpiles of stuff for… hopefully not too many wars. Val says Jupiter was usually pretty chill, but maybe some of their allies weren’t.
“Er…” He paused to glance at Quinn. “Maybe you’d know more about that than me or Val.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2024 7:20 pm
Aragon was still trying to process everything. He thought he was slowly understanding it. He was a knight, as was his brother. And there were aliens that lived a thousand years ago and some ended up in stasis and some remained awake but somehow survived. And there was an evil organization trying to steal energy and starseeds, which were essentially one’s soul.
There was also something about talking cats. And magic. Like the glowing orb that told them to fix their Wonders, which knights were apparently supposed to be taking care of.
This was fine. This was about as challenging to handle as his training at the firehouse. He’d seen some pretty unbelievable things that EMS get called to handle, anyway. Aliens and outer space? Sure, he’d go with it.
He smiled pleasantly as he listened to his brother, but glanced curiously at his housemate. They’d met before, of course. As civilians first, and then again when he’d picked up the watch he now wore around his wrist and hand, like some kind of weird glove.
“Looks like it could have been an armory. At least it looks like what I’ve seen in movies,” Aragon admitted cheerfully, at least grateful that he was being brought along for this so he could learn.
Enceladus sneered and eyed Aragon with suspicion. He seemed too ‘chill’ to have just been awakened. To have just learned about the magical side of the universe that existed. How was it that Bilskirnir trusted him so easily? Sure, they might have been flesh and blood, but that didn’t always mean he should trust them. Sometimes, those closest would betray them the easiest.
He didn’t mind that it was raining, though. He happened to like feeling the water on his face and in his hair. It wasn’t the same as when he first was put into stasis, but that wasn’t the point. At least it wasn’t too cold there, either.
“You’re very suited to be a knight of Jupiter,” Enceladus scoffed and crossed his arms stubbornly across his chest. Of what he knew of the world and its Wonders, Bilskirnir certainly fit the mold of Jupiter knight.
“I didn’t get to travel very often, but people from Jupiter who visited Enceladus were usually cheerful. I didn’t hear about any large scale issues they had, although I don’t suppose they would share that with an outsider.”
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2024 7:29 pm
Bilskirnir puffed up with pride to hear that he was suited for Jupiter. He liked it here so far. The weather was amazing, in his opinion. He almost wished for one of the bad storms, just so he could watch and listen and see how they compared to storms on Earth, but he supposed it was for the best that all they had to contend with right now was normal rain. He wouldn’t want Enceladus or Aragon stuck in the worst of it.
“Wish I remembered what it was like, like Val does sometimes. I don’t even know if I’m one of the ones like him. Supposedly some knights have ghosts at their Wonders?” Bilskirnir said this like he might not be certain, but also like he thought it was cool.
He led Enceladus and Aragon inside out of the rain through the nearest door, which seemed like it might be the main one since it was fairly sizable and faced the square. Inside was sort of dark and dreary, but not as damp as outside, except for a couple of spots where the roof was leaking or windows had broken.
From subspace, he summoned a couple of flashlights, keeping one for himself and passing the other to Aragon.
“Careful where you step, I don’t know how structurally sound this place is.”
The first room seemed like a lobby of sorts, with various pieces of armor and several different types of weapons on display. Bilskirnir shined the light around but figured he probably would have seen the Code piece without it if it had been in this room. Even if the Code piece was small, he thought it might be sort of glowy, like the one on the moon.
“Have you ever met the Code before?” he asked Enceladus.
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Posted: Sat Apr 20, 2024 7:30 pm
While he was perfectly used to getting wet in his line of work, Aragon couldn’t complain about getting inside and out of the rain. He was expecting much worse, based on what his brother told him that he’d heard of Jupiter’s weather. Even from science class, Jupiter seemed to be filled with more powerful storms than this.
He couldn’t help but smile with amusement, thinking that Bilskirnir might be a little disappointed.
“Ghosts?” he repeated, although he felt a little silly for always repeating what his brother said with just a little more surprise or concern than he’d said it. “I’ll have to keep an eye out when I go to mine,” he hummed thoughtfully to himself. He knew he still had to make a visit. He had to find a ring as well.
“You said there hasn’t been anyone here for… several hundred years at least?” Aragon looked around with surprise. “It looks like it must have been well maintained, or well built. I’ve seen more modern houses crumble under less.”
Enceladus scoffed when asked if he’d ever met the Code.
“No,” he frowned, although Bilskirnir should know him well enough by now to know he wasn’t angry with him. That was just his way of being annoyed by other things. “That’s a Knight thing. There’s no reason for Senshi to meet the Code,” he sneered.
Mostly, he was annoyed that there was something out there messing with the power in the universe. If something could cause something as strong as the Code to need help, then what did that mean for the rest of them?
It wasn’t like he hadn’t been frozen in ice for the past several hundred years.
Still, he looked around, unable to stop himself from being curious. If it was fixed up, it could be a nice place. Armory. Whatever it was.
“So do you know where to find it?” he asked, already curious about the hearth where weapons were likely made. Or maybe that was the place they made food, he wasn’t sure.
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Posted: Sun Apr 28, 2024 9:55 am
“I think around a thousand?” Bilskirnir answered Aragon, once again like he wasn’t totally certain. To him, a thousand years sounded like an awfully long time, almost incomprehensible. Sure, there was stuff on Earth from that time, too, but… the thought that there’d been life out in space back then was wild.
Not that it wasn’t any less wild now.
“Ganymede’s met the Code,” he pointed out to Enceladus. “And she’s like the Senshi of all Senshi or something. As far as I’ve met, anyway. Unless being a Princess makes her important enough for the privilege.”
Bilskirnir wasn’t totally sure how that worked. Valhalla and Ganymede had tried to explain it all to him, but he suspected even they weren’t sure about some things. But they knew that Wonders typically existed on worlds that also had a Prince or Princess, so it didn’t seem too far-fetched to Bilskirnir that those Senshi might have opportunities to encounter that Code that a normal one might not. But also Senshi could go to the moon too, and as far as he knew there wasn’t anything stopping them from having a chat with the Code piece there.
That wasn’t the point right now, though. He had to focus.
“I have no idea where the piece here is, but… I should be able to sense it, right? So…”
Bilskirnir wasn’t used to the silence and tranquility one usually thought of when it came to meditation. He took a big breath in an attempt to calm himself down—not that he was nervous or anything, but he was excited, and anticipation had a way of getting the heartrate up. He closed his eyes to see if that helped.
“Here, Code Code Code Code Code,” he beckoned to it like one might call a beloved pet. “Where you at?”
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Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2024 8:16 am
Aragon couldn’t help but laugh at his brother’s antics. If Bilskirnir wasn’t trying to concentrate, he might have joined in to help. It wasn’t as though any of them understood how the magic of Codes and Knights worked. Even their tag-along Senshi wasn’t sure.
Still, it was difficult to even comprehend that they were on another planet. A thousand years was definitely longer than Aragon could process.
“Maybe a little less talking will help you concentrate,” Aragon suggested with a pleasant smile. He wasn’t judging! He knew how his brother was, and he never wanted him to change. But if they were going to make any progress in finding the Code. Ah, well… it was just a start. They would figure it out eventually. Enceladus scoffed, shivering a bit as he rubbed his arms as he looked around. While he doubted calling it like that would work, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t just said he had no idea how to find it.
“Well, next time why don’t you invite Ganymede since she’s so great,” he grumbled, pretending that the flush to his cheeks was because he was just chilly and not because he was embarrassed that he’d basically been told he should know more than he did.
He only knew as much as he was allowed. He hadn’t exactly been exposed to a lot of things while growing up. And now? He was lucky to be alive. Although what was the point of being alive in the first place if there was nothing for him to go back to? Everyone was dead, and now there were things screwing with the rest of the magic in the universe.
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Posted: Sun Dec 29, 2024 7:24 am
“Less talking? You saying I’ve got a big mouth?” Bilskirnir joked, opening his eyes long enough to send Aragon an amused look, smirk sliding into a grin. “‘Cause I do. Means I’m good with my mouth. Like I’m good with my hands.”
Enceladus’ grumbling was taken in stride. Bilskirnir already knew how prickly his alien friend could be. Being alone for a thousand years probably hadn’t helped him relax, even if he’d been asleep for most of that time.
Whatever. It made sense of Bilskirnir. Stasis was different from sleep, right? Not as restorative. Enceladus had simply been stuck as he was, unconscious.
Focus, Bilskirnir told himself.
He closed his eyes again. This time he kept quiet, stretching out his senses for anything worthy of his attention. If he could sense auras he should be able to sense the Code piece, right? Maybe. Magic could be strange. Bilskirnir took a deep breath and released it before his thoughts could go wild again. He held himself still. It was just him, the sound of the rain and the wind, and the quiet creaking of the floor when either Aragon or Enceladus shifted their feet.
Bilskirnir fell into motion again a few moments later. Through the lobby, into a hallway, down a few corridors he didn’t recognize. Some doors hung off their hinges. Others were closed. They had to step over debris and avoid sections of the floor that had rotted through or fallen away. He had no idea where they were going but some sixth sense told him they were on the right track.
They ended up in the forge.
“It’s here,” Bilskirnir said.
Then they saw it—a small glowing ball fluttering around erratically, zooming across the room like it was scared of something, or confused about where it was, out of place and unprotected.
“Hey, it’s okay.”
Bilskirnir tried to reach for it but the Code piece flitted off to the side. So he closed his eyes, took another deep, settling breath. Meditation might not be his strong suit, but he could do his best. The Code was in distress. Bilskirnir wouldn’t have wanted to leave it this way even if he hadn’t been aware that something larger was at play.
It took a long time. Bilskirnir was almost distracted by muffled clanging sounds and the sense that something else was in there with him—not the Code, or Aragon and Enceladus. Maybe memories. Maybe ghosts. Maybe both. For a few moments he felt at home there. He knew this place. It called to him as if from a distance.
Eventually, Bilskirnir opened his eyes again. The Code piece floated slowly just within reach, glowing bright in the dark. Bilskinir opened his hands and cupped it between them.
“Looks like I’m not completely useless,” he said.
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