Goddess of Light

Chapter 22 ~ Start of the Riot

Thor charged into our bedroom; his sword raised in the air as a loud battle cry escaped his mouth. He waved his sword high into the air before bashing it into my own. We duelled with our wooden swords while Loki sat on his bed, reading some book.

We weren't really allowed to fight in our room, especially with no one watching us as we could both get hurt, not that we would ever really try to cause the other pain.

"That is enough!" We heard Father bellow from the now open door as we stopped what we were doing and quickly hid our swords behind our backs. We stood there, still, as our mother and father walked into the room scoping out the situation. "I thought I made it quite clear, that you are not to fight in your bedroom." He boomed, a little quieter than last time, having already caught our attention.

"I'm sorry Father, we were just playing." Thor pleaded as we simultaneously dropped our wooden swords to the floor.

"We won't do it again, I promise." I smiled, giving my father the cutest expression I could manage. I snuck a smirk at Thor, telling him that next time we had to be quieter.

"Ok, well it is way past your bedtime, so come on, into bed." Mother clapped her hands together as we jumped into our little beds.

Loki slipped his book under his bed as he sat up eagerly. "Do we still get a bedtime story?" Loki asked his eyes widened with anticipation.

"A short one." Mother answered as she raised her eyebrows at Father. He didn't really do short stories; he didn't know any. The ones he knew were of the courageous battles he had fought in, and they happened to be mine and Thor's favourites.

Mother walked around the three of us and tucked our bodies under the sheets and dimmed the lights. We all looked up at our father, waiting for him to begin.

"Long before the birth of light, there was darkness. And from that darkness came the Dark Elves. Born of eternal night the Dark Elves come to steal away the light. Millenia ago, the most ruthless of their kind, Malekith sought to transform our universe, back into one of eternal night. Such evil was possible through the power of the Aether, an ancient force on infinite destruction. The noble armies of Asgard, led by my father, King Bor, waged a mighty war against these creatures. As the Nine Worlds converged above him, Malekith could at last unleash the Aether. But Asgard ripped the weapon from his grasp. Without it the Dark Elves fell. With the battle all but lost, Malekith sacrificed his own people in desperate attempt to lay waste to Asgard's army. Malekith was vanquished, and the Aether was no more. Uh, that's the end, goodnight." Father finished rather abruptly.

"Is that it?" Thor asked, disappointed.

"I did say short story." Mother replied as they turned to walk towards the door.

"But Mother-" I started, begging for another story.

"Goodnight, my children. We love you so much, now please go to sleep." Mother cooed as she had half her body out the door.

Thor and I shrugged as we looked to Loki who had already rolled over to sleep. I then shuffled my body further under the sheets and closed my eyes.

***

Father led us towards the castle to the library, where I had spent much of my time in, last year. "There are relics that pre-date the universe itself. What lies within her appears to be one of them. The Nine Realms are not eternal. They had a dawn as they will have a dusk." Father spoke as we walked past the castle's model of Yggdrasil, The World Tree.

We reached the library and Father opened up one of the oldest books that was filled with ancient runes. "But before that dawn the dark forces, the Dark Elves, reigned absolute and unchallenged."