Past Friends

Part 154: Ragnarok 1/3

You had just finished taking out the last of Hela's guards inside the city, searching for any stragglers, sending them off to meet everyone at the Bifrost, while killing any undead bastards you could find. Luckily, there seemed to be no one left and you headed off towards the bridge yourself when you ran into Frigga, and you embraced her, so happy she was still alive. Your smile disappears as you see her expression and you ask what was wrong, did anyone get hurt, did she need you to heal anybody, you got more frantic as Frigga once again hurried you to Odin's Treasure Room. She still wouldn't tell you a thing until you arrived, but to be fair, you were both running so fast that you probably wouldn't have been able to speak even if you tried. 

"Mother, what's going on?" you asked all teary-eyed as you had never seen Frigga look so sad, not even when old you were forced to leave Asgard so many years ago. Frigga, through several tears, explained that Ragnarok needed to be started and to do that, Surtur's crown needed to be reunited with the Eternal Flame, but her voice trailed off, unable to continue. There is silence between you for a moment before you took your mother's hands, telling her everything will be fine, while handing her your wedding ring, "give this to Loki, tell him to hold onto it until I find my way back". Frigga was about to explain to you that this was most likely a one-way trip, but by the look in your eyes she could tell you understood exactly what it meant and although you were sad, she could see that you were determined to do what needed to be done. 

"This isn't goodbye forever," Frigga said as she pulled you into a tight hug, and you smiled before responding with, "yes, until the next life, hopefully, it won't take 1000 years this time 'round". You both laughed for a moment, half-heartedly, but it was still nice to hear, you had to admit, before telling your Mother to go with the others, as you were certain they would need her. As Frigga walked away you called out to her, "thank you for everything, Mom... you need to tell them for me okay... I wouldn't have done it any differently, for every moment with them was perfect, even the loud and messy ones, I wouldn't have changed a thing, except perhaps, I would have loved to have one last dance". You tear up as you say your final farewells to Frigga, telling her you would count to sixty, hopefully, that would be enough time for her to get out and back to the others. 

 You took a deep breath and started your countdown the second Frigga was out of the room, each number slicing your heart open, cutting deeper and deeper, as you tried to process everything. You reached sixty and picked up Surtur's crown with it seemingly morphing to roughly fit your head as if it already knew that you possessed the Eternal Flame. You took a deep breath as you put the crown on, and it changed even more so, to fit your head properly, resembling more of a traditional crown, reminding you a bit of the helmet Loki often wore. With one final deep breath, you let yourself heat up, releasing the Eternal Flame from inside you, letting it flow, grow, and consume you entirely. You whispered "goodbye Loki, until we meet again", as you felt something new, something you had never felt before, it was hard to describe but the closest thing you could think of was that feeling of a bug crawling on/under your skin. Except it felt like a million little insects moving all at once, it made your skin crawl, but before you could worry about it too much, you started to disappear. 

You opened your eyes to find yourself in a rocky, cavernous place, full of fire, ash and smoke, with rivers and waterfalls of lava casting an intense finite amount of light, leading to quite a few dark corners and spots where who knows what could be hiding. You came to the conclusion that this must be Muspelheim, the Realm of Fire or at least some version of it as it didn't feel real, merely a very vivid dream; as what lay near the edge of what you could see appeared to be smokey, and cloud-like, only shifting back into place as you gazed at it. It was freaky, to say the least, and you didn't know what was scarier, the thought of this place being filled with some form of life or it being completely devoid of any and all living things. There wasn't a lot that could be heard from anywhere but you did sense something, you weren't sure what was and you made your way towards it, feeling very scared of what it could be but nonetheless curious.  

It felt like hours had past but you still kept moving, knowing you had to find Surtur when it occurred to you to maybe call out to him to see if he would answer. You called his name, multiple times, getting louder and louder each time when finally you heard from behind, "greetings child" and you turned to see Surtur, Asgard's Destroyer. He was tall, at least a dozen feet or so and appeared to be made of volcanic rock, with firey light protruding between the cracks, indents, and contours all along his body. His appearance reminded you very much of how you looked during your own transformation when you permanently fused with the fire crystal's power, as you appeared similar, if not a bit more feminine than Surtur, as he had quite a muscular and wide masculine frame. 

"Why didn't I think of this earlier?" you thought, chiding yourself on being so stupid, you should have been calling his name from the beginning, as starting Ragnarok was that important. "Hi... I'm Y/N, Holder of the Eternal Flame..." you curtsied as you introduced yourself, before continuing, "I believe there is a task you need to complete". "Yes child, I do, I am Asgard's doom, I will...," Surtur begins but you cut him off, "I know, I've heard it before, Loki and Thor told me all about it, let's just skip the small talk and get down to destroying Asgard". "Right down to business, I like it," Surtur says as he grabs you with one hand, literally picking you up like a doll and you struggled for a moment, freaking out slightly before giving in. You take a deep breath as Surtur pulls you to his torso, the outer layer of volcanic rock starts disappearing and you could see through into his firey core, and you stare into it, knowing there was no going back. You stand up in his palm and step forward, looking up at him for a moment before leaping in, completely fusing with the Fire demon Surtur, and with that, Ragnarok had begun.