Another Loki, Another Problem

Chapter 3: Sisters by Blood, Bone and Soul

The cave was silent, the only noises to be heard were Sylvie's shallow breathing from her sleeping form, and the slow, gentle hiss entwined with cracks from the fire. Loki sat upright with a thin blanket wrapped around her, hugging her knees and staring deeply into the blaze. Processing the information she had just been told was no easy task.

Loki stared into the continuous astral of fire, fazing from her thoughts. It's soothing embers dancing with grace, feeding light to the cave and provoking the ghostly shadows. She admired fire. It's comforting beauty, the pleasant heat it bestows, the power. Oh, the power fire withholds. Behind its delicate exterior underlies a monstrous rage aching to be released, clawing at the ground for something to leach off and spread like a plague. Destroying houses, villages, cities and mountains. It possesses the aptitude to ensue chaos and extermination yet, can be controlled by a mere human. Loki thought it was unfair to keep such a delicate thing trapped, unfree to roam. Humans ridicule it, knock it off its high pedestal of fear, to lower levels like a chicken being kept in a coop. To believe to be a god for just a moment, being able to control power with such capabilities of carnage just for a taste, is a dangerous thing. Some humans believe that they sit next to Odín, too many. Yet, fire still takes out its natural course and claims many. It still turns monuments to ash, claims the lives of the 9 realms' strongest warriors, and great cities into desolate wastelands.

She felt connected to it.

But currently, she felt lost. Not the blaze she once thought she was, with power waiting for her to possess. Instead, she wanted to throw herself into the severing pit of flames. Leave this cruel reality she had to walk. Her entire family had been washed out. They were alive of course, but they weren't hers. The mother and father she knew were gone for eternity. Loki was now an adrift surplus, an insignificant thing that wasn't meant to exist. She was now a lower status than a worm, even though it had a place in the universe, which is something she no longer holds. It was a frightening thought. She wasn't even meant to exist. What had the young goddess committed to deserve such a cruel fate? How was she even meant to continue? The memory of her from every being had been evaporated. Not even that, but in fact, there a dozens of Loki's out there. Who all had to face the same doom as her. To be wiped from reality. It made her sick, as she was before. It was too much to process.

Loki also discovered that Sylvie, was in fact, a 'Loki'. Now she had to comprehend that the woman sleeping opposite the cave from her was... her. An older version of her. With the same blood, and genes. Just a different mind, carved from experience and past events. If she can survive for this long... surely I can as well.
Yes... I can. I'm still a Goddess. A flurry of determination warmed her inside, fuelling her with a fulfilling feeling of a purpose.

Crunch

Loki's back shot straight. In usual circumstances, this would be a noise to brush off, but these weren't said circumstances. A further three crunches from the snow followed. Loki felt her heart beating out of her chest. She listened again. She guessed there were at least 5 people outside, all with heavy footsteps, wearing boots perhaps? Leaning over gently, she shook Sylvie. Before the woman could reply after being woken Loki pressed a finger to her lips, pointing outside.

Sylvie's eyes wandered outside of the cave and nodded. She signalled for the girl to go to the outskirts of the cave, looking back pressed against the walls of the exit. Sylvie held her hand out for Loki to wait. She held her breath, and the fire went out like a flash of light. Her eyes were surrounded by an inky darkness, the only source of light being the gentle glow of the moon, brushing the entrance of the cave. The silence proceeded. It was painstakingly long. Every second felt fragile, one movement and it could all be over.