A NOT so Welcomed Guest

Chapter 10

Ephus - A demigod possessing the power to repower the gods

Quinn Markov - human wife of Ephus

-----------------------------------

Norse Deities
--------------

Odin - War god, main god of the Norse gods

Frigg - Wife of Odin, promoter of marriage and fertility

Freya - a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr.

Thor - a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of mankind, hallowing, and fertility.

Loki - a mischievous god who can shape-shift and can take up animalistic forms.


Valkyries
---------
Göndul - War Valkyrie

Geiravör - Spear-vör

Geirdriful - Spear-flinger

Geirönul - the one charging forth with the spear

Geirskögul - Spear-skögul

Guðr - War or battle

Sveið - vibration or noise

Svipul - Changeable

Þögn - Silence

Þrúðr - Strength or power
-----------------------------------

Why, Ephus thought, was Thor acting like a child? He was sure that Thor was happy to be dealing out some revenge, but really.

For the fifth or sixth time, Thor asked if Ephus really thought that Loki would be this stupid.

It will Thor, as mad as he is. I'm surprised he didn't attack himself, returned Ephus' thoughts.

I was,... well I was wrong, here they come now. Thor thought as he took out one last ice giant. A broad smile on his face, he took off at half speed.

That's good, Thor, just lead them here. Ephus thought, then turned to everyone there. "Alright, he's on his way back, places, I just hope I can get more than three. The more I get, the weaker he'll be. He's already lost quite a bit when he lost the dark elves and stone giants."

All seven of the Valkyries, Odin, Frigg and Freya went to their positions they'd been in before.

Thor flew to the edge of Ephus' shield, stopping, allowing the Valkyries to almost reach him. A moment later, Thor vanished, confusing all the female warriors.

Thor appeared within, smiled and nodded to Ephus. Ephus returned the nod, then concentrated. For a moment nothing happened, then there were four flashes. First a red-headed female, then two blonde females, lastly a raven-haired female appeared.

Ephus nodded as he looked at each of the four females. Only confused a moment, they turned their angered attention on Ephus. It was at that moment that Göndul stepped out.

"So, you are serving the false leader. Odin is free, so there is hope," Göndul said.

The red head snarled, "it is you who serve a false leader, I...," the red head started. She then could only stare as both the blonde females dropped their spears, staring at Ephus. "What is wrong with both of you? Geirdriful, Geirönul, retrieve your weapons. We four can end this threat too..." she stopped again as the raven-haired not only dropped her weapon but was moving as if drawn to Ephus.

"It appears that you are the only one who is against me here. Why not give up, nothing will happen to you," Ephus said.

"Bah! I am more than enough to end your existence human," The red head said.

"You are wrong, Geiravör," Göndul said as she deflected Geiravör's spear.

"So, you are a coward, as the great lord Loki said. I will..." Geiravör said as Ephus motioned Göndul back, drawing his sword.

An almost evil smile crossed the red-headed Valkyrie lips when she saw Ephus step forward. "It is hoped that this mere human defeating you, does not damage you."

"It is you that should worry about defeat," Geiravör said.

Ephus only smiled as he started almost timidly. Within a mere minute, the Valkyrie was hard pressed to keep from being hit by Ephus' sword. Moments later, the Valkyrie's spear went flying across the room, Ephus's sword at her throat.

Ephus stared deep into her eyes, a small whimper escaped her throat, then she started to tremble. "I accept my defeat, end me that I do no further damage to the name Valkyrie."

Ephus shook his head, Geiravör had suddenly gone almost limp as her eyes finally cleared. "L...Lord Ephus? I offer my life to you I have shamed..."

"You have not shamed us, sister Geiravör," the raven-haired Geirskögul said.

"Sister, I was defeated in armed combat, by the code I must..." Geiravör started.

"No sister, the code is for when we are in combat with an enemy. Lord Ephus is no enemy of us or Asgard," the raven-haired Geirskögul said.

Odin walked out a moment later with the other seven Valkyries. "It is good to have as many of them back," Odin said. "Lord Ephus? I hope that this plan of yours works. I have to admit that Loki's power has indeed fallen greatly. I just hope that it is enough to defeat him."

"Oh, believe me, I have seen his type before. The more power he loses, the more desperate he will become. Next thing we need to do is to take a few of the items of power I can feel he is holding on to tightly. Well, that and keep whittling away at all the numerous allies he has," Ephus said.

"Yes, that I can believe, but what of these Titans that you mentioned? Those from Zeus's realm?" Odin asked.

Ephus thought a moment then nodded to Odin, "Though they at present have no physical body, they still have a great deal of power. When I last faced them, I was slightly below their levels, now? I'd say I am barely past them. You also have to remember that there are about forty-two of them. Though, I believe only about eighteen or twenty are actually bad."

Odin's eyes went wide a moment, "I hope that you have some kind of plan to combat them. Loki and the fire and ice giants are a force to be dealt with. Though, now you say that there are enemies that are stronger? Plus, there are more of them than us at the moment with the power to destroy all of us."

"Oh, I have a plan, though at the moment, we have to wait for several pieces to move into place," Ephus said as he looked at the twelve Valkyries, " a few have already gotten there."

Odin started to grow angry, then, remembered what Ephus had already done in the short time he'd been there. He shuddered as he remembered the words of both Frigg and Freya. They were a force he didn't really want to go against if they were angry and united.

Ephus watched as Odin shuddered. Hmm, he thought, wonder what that is about. "Is there a problem, Odin?" Ephus asked.

Odin turned to stare at Ephus for a moment, then slowly nodded. "I have only one wife, as I understand, you have more than four." Here Odin shocked all there as he bowed to Ephus, "You are indeed powerful, to handle all of them."

Ephus lifted Odin from the floor, "first I do not handle them as you say, they are more partners to me than anything else. I have learned the error of my ways trying to keep things from them." Here Ephus shuddered much like Odin had. "I have also found that if they know? Things go much easier, less painful later on."

Here Ephus looked at Freya and Frigg, who had very large grins on their faces. "Apparently we have an extremely intelligent male with us," Frigg said.

Odin looked at his wife Frigg, then Freya. Finally, he nodded his head. "Yes, I agree with you my Frigg, the halvgud Ephus, is indeed wiser than I had at first thought."

Thor walked up a moment later, slapping Ephus on the back. Thor looked at his hand as it slightly throbbed, a broad smile creeping on his face. "Ah! It is good we have as strong an ally as the Warrior Ephus!"

Ephus could only roll his eyes, warrior? No, he just had the power to survive was all. Though, he could still feel where Thor had smacked him. He was going to have to strengthen more. These Asgarian gods were far stronger than he thought they were.

The simple fact that he could draw in more than three of the Valkyries, showed that his power was actually growing. True, he had smacked Loki around, plus it was a little easier each time, it was still harder than it should be.

"So, warrior brother, what next? Lure more of the Valkyries to us and our side?" Thor asked, a smile on his face.

"No, not like we have, even as stupid and angry as Loki has been, I am sure he has caught on," Ephus said as he thought over what had happened so far. Then again, Ephus thought, Loki was just as quick to anger as he had been the first time he had angered Loki. Could he be that stupid?

The fifteen beings watched Ephus when he went quiet, then they were worried when he suddenly got an almost evil smile. Then with the smile, they saw him start to nod his head. "Alright Thor, one more time, though we're going to do it a little differently this time," Ephus said.

They all listened with rapt interest, even as Thor began to smile hugely, his eyes shining in delight. "A most devious plan warrior, Ephus," Thor said as he slapped Ephus on the shoulder.

Ephus rolled his eyes again. Thor most definitely liking the idea far more than he should. Odin and Frigg caught Ephus' eyes roll as both of them smiled. "Do not worry Ephus, he is far tougher than he appears. The fact that he likes the idea,speaks volumes about you," Frigg said.

Ephus nodded, "I am glad, though I am afraid that he will take risks that he doesn't need to."

Thor turned toward Ephus, "I am elated that you are worried over me, Brother. I will not fail you. I will be far more alert this time."

"Good, though I believe I can anger him one more time. I feel that Loki will try to capture you this time. If I can take more of the Valkyries, I feel we can remove a good bit more of his power. Hopefully enough to actually weaken him," Ephus said.

"Perhaps I could..." Thor started.

"No, you are powerful, though against the Titans? I am afraid you don't have enough; I can barely take three of them and that is through trickery," Ephus said. "For now, let's weaken him, then we'll attack another way."

All of them there, nodded in agreement. As of yet, Ephus hadn't been wrong.

Ephus looked at all of them, then nodded to Thor as he and Thor vanished.

Inside the Asgard fortress, Loki was pacing in extreme anger. This godling, Ephus, was becoming more than an irritation. Twice now he'd been embarrassed by him. Just the thought caused Loki to erupt into another fit of anger. How dare a mere godling make him look weak and stupid? He should...

"Do what? You little pissant of a god? Having to have the power of others in order to take over. Plus, the fact that Odin is not only free, he now has Gungnir in his possession," Ephus said as he sneered at Loki.

"You lie! I have not felt its power here. Too bad you are not actually here, then I could show you true power!" Loki spit.

Ephus smiled as he walked up to Loki. "As I said before," Ephus said as he drew back a fist. "You talk far too much."

Ephus put all the power he had into the punch as he caught Loki's chin, "what!?" Loki managed to get out, before he was flying across the room at an extremely rapid pace. Smashing through several walls, crumpling to the floor at the end.

Ephus smile at the long gold chain he'd taken from Loki that he was holding in his hand. There was a sudden shout, "He is actually here, get him!"

Ephus waggled a finger at them as they bounced off his shield. "Like him, I see you are just as dumb."

They all came at him again, bouncing off though, this time he saw that the leaders weren't thrown back as hard.

There was a growling roar from where Loki had gone through the walls. "See, you're too stupid to realize I was here, was."

With that, Ephus faded as Loki came flying back out, passing through where Ephus had been. Hitting the opposite wall at full force, Loki stopped cold, hitting the barrier that was there. "Where are you, you coward!"

"Coward? Tsk, tsk, tsk, all these allies. What? Afraid to face me alone? You should be, you haven't the power or the brains to beat me," Ephus said as he started to laugh. "I mean really, you couldn't even tell that I was actually here, pathetic."

"Where are you!? I'll destroy you!" Loki screamed as the building started to shake.

"Well, if you want an ass kicking that bad? I am outside, watching Thor destroy most of your fire and ice warriors," Ephus said.

Loki screamed, then vanished, appearing outside searching around for Ephus. Ephus laughed as he was with the others in Freya's home. Thor had just destroyed the last of the fire and ice warriors, when Loki spotted him.

Loki screamed again as he flew toward Thor, "So Brother, I get to finally destroy you," Loki said with a cruel smile.

"Ha! Think again, Brother," Thor said as he knocked Loki's sword away. "I am far more powerful than you think I am."

Loki tried again to slice through Thor's defenses, again to no avail. Loki then reached out, his eyes growing wide when he felt that Thor's power was very high.

"Impossible! All of the Asgardian god's power was far weaker than this," Loki said in shock.

Thor started to laugh at his brother, "these other gods have obviously addled your mind. I would have thought you had heard of Ephus. His repowering of the Egyptian and Greek gods, that and they are united to help him. They are all completely repowered, really brother," Thor laughed again, "you haven't a chance."

"You are wrong brother," Loki sneered. "I have more than enough power to defeat all of you here. The one called Ephus, will easily fall to my blade."

This, of course, made Thor laugh even harder. "You have truly deluded yourself, these other gods have you obviously dazed and confused. I am sorry, Brother, that you feel so much less than you are. It will be a shame to defeat you."

Time to go, Thor, came Ephus thought. The Valkyries are coming at you from three sides.

Good, returned Thor's thoughts. "Too bad I can't stay," Thor laughed as he took off far faster than Loki thought he could.

Immediately, he was swiftly followed by a mass of winged females. Hmmm Thor thought, they seemed to be faster than before. I am on my way; they are faster than they were. Will that be a problem? Thor's thought reached Ephus.

No, I don't think it will, just don't let them catch you, returned Ephus thoughts.

Shouldn't be a problem, replied Thor. He looked back, seeing his brother Loki still where he'd left him.

What's wrong, Brother? Too afraid to come after me? Afraid I'll beat you? With that, Thor sped up a bit, then started to laugh at Loki even harder.

Loki almost screamed again as he took out after Thor and the Valkyries. Because he was going far faster, Thor reached Freya's home in little time.

Pulling his sword and hammer, Thor had an almost silly grin on his face. Loki had almost caught up to all of them, then growled when Thor vanished. Loki was going as hard as he could when he slammed into the shield around Freya's home.

Loki slid to the bottom of the shield, then his mouth dropped open as one, then three, then two more vanished. Reaching out, he could see all five standing before Ephus. They should gut him, he thought.

Ephus looked at the five females, one a red head, the other blondes. He took his sunshades off, which seemed to affect three of the blondes.

"So, you are the one that is defying the Lord Loki. We... Þrúðr? Þögn? Svipul? What has happened to you? Take up your weapons!" The red-headed female almost snarled. "We will take him and the rest here for the Lord Loki, Sveið."

The last blonde looked at the other three blonde females, they were kneeling before the male. The red head started to move toward Ephus ,when she noticed that the last blonde was staring at the male. Ever so slowly, she took a step then paused, falling to her knees, bowing her head like the other three.

"Sveið? What has happened to you? Why are you bowing to the enemy of Lord Loki? Bah! I will destroy him then all here!" The red head said.

She started to swing her blade, then was startled that it was blocked by a familiar blade. "You will not harm Ephus, Guðr, he is far too powerful for you," Göndul said.

"So, my war sister, bitch, has betrayed Lord Loki also, I will defeat all of you," Guðr said.

Göndul stepped back as she nodded to Ephus, sneered at Göndul, then swung high trying to chop down at an angle at Ephus.

"Kill him, my servant. Kill him! Your reward will be great indeed," came Loki's voice from the air.

"Ah! there's the little coward now," Ephus said as he laughed.

"I will kill you! No one insults the Lord Loki!" Guðr shouted at Ephus.

"Geez Loki, even when you have total control your sword skills suck!" Ephus sneered at the female Loki was possessing.

It was at that moment that Guðr had her first look into Ephus' eyes. Loki could feel his influence start to slip. What was this power that the demi-god had? He tried to hang on harder, though it only slowed his loss of control.

Guðr was breathing hard as Loki started to get closer and closer with his strikes. Damnit! Ephus thought he has her in a damn iron grip. Not sure if I can release her before she carves me up. Time to change strategy.

The next series they started, Ephus pressed her far harder than before. Finally, he knocked her sword loose, staring directly into her eyes. First, the first time since they started, Guðr hesitated.

Loki was screaming as he held on as hard as he could, he felt a quarter of his control slip. The female was actually starting to think on her own.

"Give it up Poki, Loki, you can't win, you can't take the realm, you've lost half your allies, I'd say you're done." Ephus said.

"I am far from... where am I?" Guðr said as she looked around confused. One look at Ephus and Göndul. She immediately dropped to her knees, her head bowed. "Lord Ephus, I have lost, please take my life. I no longer have my honor, I..."

"Since you were not defeated by an enemy, I'd say your honor is intact," Ephus told the red head before him.

Guðr started to open her mouth, then saw Göndul shake her head no. "I thank you lord Ephus, I wasn't sure that I would be allowed to live."

Ephus shook his head, this still took getting used to.

_______________________________________________________________


In the rock quarry, Quinn was starting to breathe hard. They had her going at it for a few hours now.She was starting to feel tired, drained.

So far, they had established that she had destructive energy power, she also had only half control over it. Bast, Serket and Thoth were still pushing her to see what she could do.

They continued for another half hour before Quinn started wishing that she was home. Finally, she almost fell exhaustion flowing through her body. Shaking her head, she didn't want to do it anymore.

Suddenly, Quinn saw what appeared to be a door open beside her. With a touch of her hand to her son's playpen, she pulled the door toward her and vanished.

Bast looked at the other two a look of shock and fear on her face. "Thoth? Where is she? I didn't feel her shift, it was a lot like Ephus. Can you feel her?"

Thoth concentrated a moment, then nodded as he waved a hand. They all appeared in the living room of Ephus family home.

Quinn had collapsed on the sofa, she'd fallen asleep as soon as she appeared. Thoth lightly touched Quinn's forehead, then sighed.

"I am afraid that we pushed her far too hard. I just hope that Brother Ephus isn't angered by this. She has expended a great deal of energy. I am afraid that it is rebuilding much, much slower than Ephus' power," Thoth said.

"Is she in danger? She does have control, to a point," Serket said, then looked at the others. "I see," she said as she dropped her head. "We have no way of properly training her, our power is nothing like hers nor Ephus."

Bast nodded, "I am afraid that only Ephus can help her. I just hope he can return before it's too late."

Thoth nodded in agreement, as he turned to Serlet, who had a look of confusion. "She is far more powerful than we think. I just hope that Ephus can help her."

"If she is indeed as powerful as you think she is, we should contact Ephus. We should..." Serket started.

That's just it, we have been trying. As of yet no response," Bast said.