Neo Chronicles
Episode 40: Broken Paths
Table of Contents
I don't even mind the fierce, harsh winds pounding up against me. The sight of dust, rock, and debris falling before me is enough to take my mind off it.
I did this. I actually did it.
I cover my mouth with my hands. I'm sure my wide-opened grin beams through. I'm so giddy over the whole thing.
The Morrigan said that mountain was twice as large as the largest mountain on Earth. I didn't bother to fact check her, but still. While standing at the base of it, I couldn't even make out where the top ended. It was pretty darn huge.
Was.
That's the key word here. It was huge. And then I broke it.
I broke it. I shattered it. I demolished it. It didn't even take that much effort. I placed my hands on its temperate, rocky exterior and just willed it to collapse. And it did. I did it. I made it happen. And I have the Morrigan to thank.
I turn to her as she walks towards me. The contrast her dark, black hair and black, feathered gown makes with her smooth, pale face causes her to stick out in this lush, green landscape.
“Well done, Lynn,” she says, greeting me with a hug. “Like I said before, the only true limits you have are of your own making.”
The Morrigan was one of the first spirits I was able to make out in this place. Before her, anytime I called out for something, all I'd get back in return were some fancy lights. Sometimes the lights would look like people, but she was the first one I could actually discern. I don't know if that means I have a close bond with her or what, but she's been here for me.
“I can't thank you enough,” I say in response. “Without your help –”
“Oh hush,” she cuts me off. I stare up at her as she smiles back at me. “This is all your doing. I'm simply showing you the way.”
“And what way is that?” Another voice calls out. It's hidden behind the wind. It's stern and strict, yet somehow light and soft. The winds cease as the voice carries on. “A way to destruction? A path to slaughter?”
The lush, rocky, mountain valley fades to white. Only I, the Morrigan, and this other woman remain. The Morrigan rolls her eyes at the sight of her. “Akka,” she starts out, “she came to us for power. Power, by its very nature is destructive.”
“Which is exactly why it is important to impart wisdom along with it.”
Akka stands in a beige, silk dress. Green leaves rest along her shoulders, hair, and leather sash. As she approaches, the Morrigan takes a few steps back. Akka's presence has an air to it. She moves the long strands of her long, blonde hair from her face. I can see her practically glowing. It's a soft hue, like a lime green.
I reflexively shrug my shoulders as I look at her and then at the Morrigan. The Morrigan places her hand on her forehead and sighs. “I don't feel like getting into this right now.” Then with a smile, she looks back at me and says, “Lynn, if there's only one thing that you remember from me, let it be this. There's nothing you can't do. That's not just a mantra of self-worth and willpower. I mean that literally. There is nothing you can't do.”
And with a chuckle, she looks back to Akka. Then her entire being is replaced by a collection of black birds, stacked together. The birds caw as they all flap their wings. I stand there, gazing in wonder as they all fly upward and away in different directions.
This isn't the first time the two have been at odds with each other. In fact, since getting here, I don't think I've ever seen Akka and the Morrigan not argue over something.
“Why are you two like that?” I ask.
Akka looks at me with a soft smile. The barren white nothingness of the floor becomes engrossed in dirt, twigs, and leaves. Shrubs sprout up from the ground, and trees seemingly materialize out of the air. Within the moment, I find myself in a forest.
“What do you really know of the Morrigan?” she asks.
I pause for a moment. “Not much. She's a spirit. Maybe a goddess. I know I can draw on her power.”
I stop to look down at the now fertile earth beneath my feet. I kneel down to scoop up a patch of dirt. The dirt sits there—sits within the palm of my hand—and I watch as a small plant comes to life.
“Just like I can draw on yours,” I say as I look back at Akka. “You're all spirits,” I continue. “And the fact that I'm able to see and interact with you means that there's some sort of connection between us.” I clutch the newborn plant tightly within a fist, then relax my grip as I let the plant and its dirt fall back to the ground.
After dusting myself off, I stand back up and finish, “Beyond that, I dunno.”
Akka walks past me. “Very well put,” she says. “Everyone has their fair share of deities watching over them, but only a select few have the capability to interact with us. I find it strange that you would choose to interact with the Morrigan before anyone else, but I know your intentions were pure.”
“There it is again,” I interject. I catch her look of surprise and then ask, “Why don't you like her?”
Akka smiles as she looks towards the blank, white, empty sky and watches as it turns into a light blue. “It's not that I don't like her. I just know her kind. She's rash and impulsive; quick to anger and quick to scorn.” She then looks back at me. “I'm afraid if you seek her aid and learn her ways, you may pick up on those some of those negative traits. That's no way to go about life. I just want whats best for you.”
I've heard this before. Not exactly from her, but the message is the same. Everyone apparently has my best interest at heart. I appreciate it, honestly I do. But my issue with that—my issue with them—is that they're really not in a place to know what's best for me. Jabari didn't. Emily doesn't. And I don't think Akka does, either.
“Speaking of,” Akka continues. “Shouldn't you be in school right now?”
“How can I possibly think of school at a time like this!?” I don't mean to snap, but I do. “I just found out that demons are real, and they're trying to kill us! I can't be in school and let that happen!”
“Demons have always walked among the living. They are merely dark spirits. Their influence over you is only as great as you allow them to be. Part of life is learning how to deal with them.”
“No, it's—well, yeah I get that, but it's not—they're literally coming from Hell! It's not just a matter of them telling us to do bad things! They're attacking! I've seen it, the Mystics have seen it, Jabari died trying to stop it –”
“Ah yes, the Yoruba man. Didn't he urge you to be cautious in your endeavor?”
“He urged me to stop.”
“Yes, that's right. Why don't you heed his warning?”
“Because I don't think I should. It wouldn't be right. I have the power to make a difference.”
“Others have that same power. Why make this your fight?”
“Because I have to.”
“That doesn't sound like much of an answer. Try again.”
I hear myself moan as I place my hands behind my head and look up at the darkening sky. A bolt of lightning cracks across the clouds. I pull my hands over my face, deeply exhaling.
“Look,” I say exhaustingly, “I don't know what you want from me. But if you're not willing to help, I'm fine with that.”
“I'm not your enemy here. Don't look at me that way. I'm here for support. I'll freely give you all the power you need. I just want you to know, for yourself, the why of things. Knowledge and wisdom is the greatest power of all. Seek your truth, find your truth, and share your truth. I'll be with you every step of the way.”
I turn my back on her and start walking. The sound of the leaves crunching and sticks snapping greet me with each passing footstep. Before I know it, the forest disappears. Piece by piece, atom by atom, it disintegrates until ultimately fading away into the white nothingness of the Axis.
I continue walking, but I'm not sure what direction I'm going in. The sound of thunder echoes behind me. Or is it before me? This tends to happen when I wander about aimlessly here.
Yeah, that's right. I'm in the Axis Mundi.
The echoing of thunder starts to match the echoing of my footsteps. Then the echoes start to sound hollow, almost like I'm walking on a wooden floor. I look down and the next thing I know, I'm standing on a wooden floor. It's the wooden floor of a boat. A ship. A longship. And I'm standing on the edge of it, looking out at a stormy sea with a dragon-headed shaped ornament guiding the way. A strong wind carries the ship's sail, causing it to move further and further away from the coast.
“When was the last time you ate?”
I hear a voice come from my left. I turn to find it coming from a tall, strongly built, burly man with red hair and a beard.
“I don't know Thor,” I answer, leaning along the starboard bow. “You tell me.”
“You have been gone a while.”
“I might not have been gone at all. Isn't that how the Axis works?”
“Time moves differently in the Axis, true. But it still moves. If it feels like you've been here for days, then your body will react in that way.”
“I am starving.”
Thor chuckles. “Then maybe it is best you leave.”
“So you're trying to get rid of me, too?” I reply with a smile.
There's a moment of silence. The two of us stare out into the violent sea. Lightning continues to wage war across the dark, cloudy sky. One set of bolts are his. The other, mine. The sparks dance with each other. The sparks strike against each other. The sounds they make are as rhythmic as they are dissonant.
I look at Thor. He's clad in his viking armor: mail underwear, leather plates and pads along his forearms, chest and shins, some sort of furry, caped robe of sorts, and of course his trusty hammer at his side.
He looks down at me and says, “You know, they both mean you well.” After staring at him blankly, he continues, “It's no secret what's going on in the world. We all want to aid you in your quest.”
“Really? It seems like the Morrigan is the only one who really wants to help.”
“Sure, she's a spirit of war. Actually three spirits. Since you seek to wage war, naturally her aid is the most appealing, but trust me, I've fought more than my fair share. I remember being just as brash and just as ready as she—er, I guess they—are. And over the millenia, I've learned that one cannot simply win a war with raw power alone. With power, must also come wisdom, and that is the message Akka means to convey to you.”
“But I get that. I'm not dumb. Of course I need to be smart with it, but at the same time, these demons are attacking now. I need to get the power first. I don't know if you get how strong these things are. If I can't put up something strong enough to stop them, then it's all over.”
Thor chuckles again. “I can definitely see why you went to the Morrigan first. And again, I remember being just like that. Always searching for a battle to fight. Always looking for a war to wage. Most of my followers were brutes and savages because of it, and I the biggest brute of them all.”
“No Thor, that's not what I'm saying. I'm not looking for a war. This war found me.”
“Fine, fine, the point still remains. Do you know of Loki?”
“Yeah, he's your brother, right? Adopted?”
“What? No. My parents never adopted him.” He chuckles at the sentiment. “But at times, we did call each other brother. I suppose there is a story out there that says something to that effect, though. I suppose that same story states that he was more than just a trickster, but actually a god of lies.”
He crosses his arms as he stares out ahead. The violent sea, reflecting in his gaze.
“That's the interesting thing about us,” he continues. “We are spirits. We've lived our lives, but our stories are told in myths. Some myths cross over into other myths. Who knows what's really true? I'm old enough to have forgotten more than I can remember.” He pauses for a moment. Then looks in my direction as he goes on.
“Take Akka for instance. The Finns call her goddess of the Earth. Yet here I exist as the son of the goddess of Earth, Fjörgyn. Are Fjörgyn and Akka one and the same? If so, then that would make me Akka's son. But Akka is married to a thunder god. His name is Ukko. Am I Ukko? If so, that would make me her son and her husband, and that's certainly not the case. I know this to be true, because I know Ukko personally. We've fought wars together. We've fought battles apart. Sure, both of us wield a hammer, but a hammer is a very menacing weapon. He and I are two different beings.”
He chuckles once more. “But then again,” he says, “there are those who like to jump between pantheons. Sometimes even reinventing theirs. I know those pesky Greeks are famous for it. Zeus in one myth and Jupiter in another. But I digress.”
After a more hearty laugh, Thor carries on. “There was a time when I, Loki, a young man named Thjálfi, and his sister Röskva traveled to the land of giants: Jötunheimr. There, we challenged in a series of contests.”
Thor points at the dark, cloudy skies above. I look up to see images form among them. The images are detailed, like drawings drawn out with lightning used as the ink.
“Loki boasted that there was no one alive who could out-eat him. So the giants brought out a giant named Logi. The two sat down at opposite ends of a very large trencher bowl and were told to race. Each would eat everything from their side until they reached the middle.”
As he speaks, the sky images match his words. They're presented as the pictures of a story to his telling.
“Loki consumed all the meat off the bones in a very swift manner, but Logi managed to eat all the meat, all the bones, and his entire side of the trencher itself. Then Thjálfi claims that he can beat anyone in a race. The giants chose a man by the name of Hugi and he ended up beating Thjálfi three times in a row.”
Then he raises both of his muscular arms up and draws them apart. The sky follows suit. I watch as the clouds separate. The storm's still as vibrant and lively as ever, but – Y'know, it kinda looks like he's making the clouds come together as a bigger canvas. He's extending his makeshift TV screen, allowing for a bigger picture. Then he speaks again, and again, the lightning follows.
“I agreed to a drinking contest, but after three large gulps, my body had said 'no more.' I had sought to redeem ourselves by performing a feat of strength. These giants had a large grey cat that was supposedly immovable. Naturally, I tried to move it, but try as I might, all of my godly strength proved useless. I could only barely move the feline's paw.”
He raises his hand with the flick of his wrist. The image changes once more, and then he leans forward on the front of the boat.
“Properly intoxicated, and still very heated from all of our losses, I challenged the giants to a fight. They were hesitant, claiming that it would be a disgrace for any of their men to sully themselves against me, so they got the oldest hag they could find—I believe her name was Elli—and had her wrestle against me. Embarrassingly enough she overpowered me. I sunk to a knee, and the fight was broken up.”
He goes silent for a moment. Casually looking up at the image of his younger self in the clouds. I look at it, then look back at him and ask, “What's this story supposed to prove? Every last one of you was overpowered. You all lost.”
“It certainly seemed that way at the time,” he responds. “After these contests, the giants bid us to leave, urging us never to return. Feeling as defeated as can be, we agreed. Only after we were far away from their lands did the truth come out.”
I catch him glance at me with a devilish smirk.
“See, as it turns out,” he says, “the contests were not as they had appeared. Loki did end up losing to Logi in an eating contest, but only because Logi was the spirit of wildfire itself. Can you imagine tying with a wild and roaring flame in a contest of eating? Can you imagine a non-speedster who could?”
I shrug my shoulders in response.
“And speaking of speedsters,” another chuckle escapes. “Poor Thjálfi, it is no wonder he lost his race. Hugi turned out to be the spirit of thought. Thought as in the instantaneous instant,” he pauses to snap his fingers, “of an idea. The fact that Thjálfi made the race as close as he did is a feat unto itself.”
He turns to the skies above again, and again the motion picture is presented among the clouds.
“And as for me? The drink I drank filled an entire ocean, and my gulps supposedly caused tides all about. The 'cat' I only managed to budge turned out to be Jörmungandr, a serpent large enough to ensnare the entirety of Earth within its clutch. And that old hag, Elli, was old age itself. So Lynn, in terms of raw power, my group and I had plenty of it, but the giants still managed to best us by using their wits. They didn't want us crossing through, so they made it seem like we had lost against their weakest when instead, we had actually tied, and nearly beat their strongest.”
The clouds reform as they were before. Still as intense as the sea beneath. The lightning no longer projects images, but behaves like lightning again.
“And that, my dear Lynn, is why you need not be so worried about power. The power will come. I, Akka, and the Morrigan will provide you with all the power you need to vanquish these demons, but it is up to you to learn how to use this power—your power—wisely.”
The longboat stops just short of the shore. It makes its way towards the harbor on the edge of the coast. The wild, rampaging storm has calmed to something of a whisper as Thor nods in the direction of the land. “We've arrived,” he says.
I look out at the harbor and see that its image stops right before sight reaches the horizon. I look back at Thor and ask, “Do I have to go?”
“I believe it would be in your best interest if you did,” he replies.
I step off the boat, and as soon as I do I see the image of the boat, the sky, and the sea behind me slowly break apart like pixels, fading into white. Each step I make from the harbor to the shore and on the main part of the land causes the path behind me to disappear in the same manner.
I find myself stepping through a door, and on the other side of that door is the slamming and clanging of locker doors being shut. The hustle and bustle of students clamoring to get to their next class immediately snaps my mind back to this reality. The door I passed through is no more.
