Big Dog [ONC 2022]

17

"Isn't it beautiful, mummy?" The whisper from Hertha almost made Runa jump. "This is where Big Dog looked after us."

Runa didn't know what she had expected beyond a normal cave. She had seen stalactites and stalagmites, before, but that was from outside. Now she saw the cave in all its glory and she knew she had passed beyond, into some other place that was not the island. A harsh silence had fallen all around and she looked over her shoulder at the cave mouth they had passed through.

A sheen of some invisible force rippled across the entrance to the cave. Like some kind of window, or a shield. The fury of the storm outside did not pass that barrier. Not any part of it. Not the rain, nor the winds. Not a sound. Instead, she heard the musical tinkling of a waterfall descending into a pool of moonlit silver, though there was no Moon within the cave.

The cave, itself, stretched out before them. Larger than the cave could possibly be. Larger, even, than the island itself. She could see a landscape before her made of all the colours of the seasons. Vibrant, lush greens of trees and plants. Flowers of every colour. And other trees that held the aged, browning leaves of Autumn. In another area, snow covered hills. It looked like a country all of its own, with rivers flowing through it and all manner of animals and birds calling the cave home.

"Do you like my creation, Runa Gunnarsdottir? I take visions of the most beautiful parts of Midgard and fashioned a facsimile, to revel in the life that it holds."

Odin's head snapped around, eyes narrowing as he looked towards Runa and then he turned back to the looming form of Fenrir. He looked around at the interior of the cave and showed no signs of appreciating its beauty.

"If you are going to talk, Fenrir, do so that we may all hear." The All-Father's empty eye socket turned back to Runa, as though the god could see with his missing eye. "Do not hide your words to a single mortal. Speak and know that though you have fashioned this fortress, the All-Father has power enough to shatter it and drag you back to your duty."

Fenrir turned away, lifting his great, black head as though sniffing the air. He padded to one side and watched as a deer bounded from within a stand of trees, only to stop at the sight of the newcomers and pounce away in fear. Runa heard Stigr gasp at the sight and she marvelled at how well her children had taken to the situation.

They did not stand together, huddled in terror. They held hands, pressing themselves against Runa, but they did not appear in the least bit scared. She felt pride in her children, but couldn't help but think they didn't understand everything that this place, the gods and the chaos beyond the cave mouth entailed. They didn't know the survival of the world depended on this moment, this place and these gods.

"Do you not see, All-Father? I have taken the beauty of this world and it fills my immortal heart. Should Ragnarök come to pass, all of this, all of the beauty of the world outside will end. How can a god wish for that?"

"In a thousand years this world will flourish again. It is but a blink of an eye to the universe. A nothing." Odin made a dismissive grimace, waving a hand to take in the entirety of the cave. "This is ephemeral. Fleeting. In our way, we are nothing more ourselves. Our time, long in mortal years, an instant in the age of creation, must end, also."

Stigr had started to fidget and Runa leaned down to calm him, but her movement caused Thor to clamp his hand upon her shoulder. The pain made her release Stigr and he ran forward, even as Thor's crushing grip forced Runa to her knees. Hertha ran after Stigr, but not to stop him, as Runa had hoped. They both ran until they stood between Odin and Fenrir, barring the All-Father from 'Big Dog'.

"Why?" Stigr shouted up to the figure of Odin, who towered above Runa's little boy. He brandished a little fist up at the god. "Why does your end have to mean the end of everything? Can't you do it somewhere else? Can't you just stop being stupid?"

"If you are gods, why do you have to do what stories say you have to do?" Hertha placed her hands on Stigr's shoulders, stopping him from getting closed to Odin. "How can gods have no choice in something? Either you are gods, or you're not."

Odin glared at both children, his one eye almost flashing in anger. Then he roared with laughter, throwing his head back, his shoulders and beard and braided hair all shaking in time with his laughs. Thor's hand lifted from Runa's shoulder and she ran, once again, to her children. After a while, the All-Father's laughter faded and he dropped to one knee. His size diminished until he were no taller than a normal man and placed a hand on each of Stigr and Hertha's shoulders.

"Because, children of the North, we are forgotten. We shall soon fade into nothing and Ragnarök is our last, final chance to die with dignity and honour." Odin sighed. He patted their shoulders and then propped himself upon his knee. "That is our choice and our burden and our inescapable destiny. We are forgotten and we cannot claim our place in Valhalla if we do not earn it."

"I haven't forgotten you. Mummy hasn't forgotten you." Stigr reached behind him, tugging upon his mother's sleeve and pulling her forward. "How can I forget someone who's right here in front of me?"

"Do you see, All-Father? Do you see? I chose this place to fan the dying embers of faith. I chose this family because they had belief waiting to be reignited. They have belief and that belief will spread. We are not forgotten. Not yet."

Odin scowled, the scars upon the skin of his lost eye furrowing and deepening. He looked up towards Fenrir and then made deliberate stares into the eyes of Stigr, then Hertha and finally into the eyes of Runa. His hand cupped Runa's cheek and then fell away as he turned to look at the interior of the cave. This place that represented what Fenrir found beautiful in the world.

He regained the great height that he had before and he placed his fists upon his hips. For long moments, he said nothing. Every so often, he would glance over his shoulder. To Stigr. To Hertha. To Runa. Then he would look away again, taking time to deliberate upon what he had heard. Somehow, the words of Stigr had struck a chord within the god.

"No. No! This is madness, father!" Silent for so long, Vidarr stepped forward. Even greater in height than Odin, especially in this cave, Vidarr looked ferocious and filled with anger. "They are three! Only three! They cannot begin to replenish the faith in us. I will not have my glory denied by the words of children and a weak woman!"

Vidarr changed his course, turning towards Runa and her children. He raised his hand, balled into a fist and Runa pulled Hertha and Stigr into her arms, protecting them, shielding them with her own body, but she need not have worried. From above, great, black jaws with rows of towering, white, sharp teeth clamped upon Vidarr's arm and tore it from the god's arm socket.