ORIGIN (#3, Gods Among Us)

Chapter 1 - Something Wicked This Way Comes

Eleven Months Ago (Asgardian Calendar)

Two large ravens flew through the dark cave. The narrow passage was too short for a person to stand, but the birds navigated it well enough. Twisting and turning, their wingtips brushed the jagged sides in the narrowest portions as they made their way toward the light. When they burst out into the bright afternoon sunlight of the Asgardian Realm, their wings angled in the direction of the glittering city visible in the distance.

Blue-black feathers shone as the ravens soared on air currents above the towering redwoods covering the mountains down to the lake. Swooping to fly parallel with the waves lapping at the shore's pebbled edge, the birds soon passed over cultivated fields with livestock and sturdy redstone cottages. The closer they came to the brightly shining city, the more densely and sleekly built the dwellings, with pathways between and numerous Asgardians going about their daily lives.

 Conversations blended into a murmur of sound as the ravens flew over the city's shield wall, with its defensive towers and vigilant guards in their gleaming white and gold armour. The palace, with its many garden terraces, lay directly ahead, and angling for it, the birds found perches on a tall maple, resting as they watched and listened. Roosting in various terraces around the palace as the sun lowered in the sky, they waited.

Night fell. Cool breezes from the lake blew over the terraces. Fireflies danced above the flowers and carefully tended shrubs, little flashes of light illuminating the darkness.

Still, the birds waited.

The city surrounding the palace grew quiet. Midnight revellers headed home from pubs to sleep off their excesses.

The birds waited.

With nothing but quiet and stillness in the darkest hours of the night, the ravens alighted from their perches and flew into the palace. Only the whisper of air on their wings betrayed their passage as they moved through the halls, descending to the lowest levels deep underground. After coming around the last corner before two guards standing at a barred double set of doors, the birds shifted into two beautiful women, clothed only in their skin.

The guards' mouths dropped open, eyes widening at the unexpected sight that left them too slow to respond to the threat. Faster than they could recover, their throats were slit, blood spraying the dark grey walls as they grabbed at their wounds, before dropping to the floor to gasp and bubble out their last breaths.

Taking on the appearance of one guard, Badb waved a hand at Nemain, disguising her in the image of the other dead man. Nodding to each other without a word said, they sliced off the guards' hands and placed them on the two security pads on either side of the door. The hum of the electrical field invisibly protecting the entrance to the dungeons shut off, and the barred gate retracted. After pushing the doors open, the two elves entered the dark corridor leading to a maze of cell blocks.

At the topmost guard station, they killed the five guards before the men knew they were there. With throats slit, blood spray covered the security screens as the guards fell at the women's feet. Still in the appearance of the dead guard, Badb wiped the pilfered hand across the screens, pulling up each cell block to find the prisoners they sought.

"Of course. The lowest level," she muttered. "Good, we get to kill more of them on our way down."

Nemain grinned. "You always bring me on the finest trips. No wonder we're best friends."

Badb laughed, her expression dark with savage glee as she shifted back to her own appearance encased in black and red fitted body armour. "Help me deactivate the alarms so we don't have to wear their disgusting skins." Working together, the two friends flipped through the security station, shutting down systems.