Game On

Chapter Eighteen: "The Cult Of Ouroboros"

Sean cautiously made his way to the house, slipping into the kitchen and closing the door a bit anxiously. Mark shooed Lulu from the kitchen, encouraging her to get ready. Which she happily rushed off to do. The moment she was gone from earshot, Sean told Mark in a shaky but quiet tone of voice. "Mark... I'm not sure we should go today. I thought I saw... Someone was out there." Moving closer, Mark peered out of the window of the backdoor, asking casually. "Are you sure? What did they look like?" Shrugging, Sean mumbled out. "I didn't get a good look. Does it matter? With everything going on right now... Mark, I'm not sure we are safe..." Mark ran a hand through Sean's hair comfortingly. Pulling him closer into his arms, Mark told him gently. "We don't know who it was. Midgard is full of creatures and people. Let's try to relax and have some fun." Sean shifted uncomfortably, telling him gruffly. "I'd have more fun if I didn't feel like I was being hunted..."

Mark kissed the top of his head, then told him lovingly. "I'll protect you. Come on. Don't make me drag you outside." Shoving Mark innocently, Sean muttered out weakly. "Caveman..." Mark patted his arm, leaving the kitchen to call for Lulu. He didn't want to go but forced himself to follow Mark outside. They headed down a beautiful stone staircase with Lulu excitedly pointing out everything she saw along the way. The view was gorgeous with the trees limbs that hung over the stairway along the mountain side like a curtain. They startled a few deer resting in the tall grass and eventually came upon a grassy meadow that overlooked a massive lake with a distant channel between two mountains that lead to the ocean. The water was a crisp crystal blue that shimmered in the light and a little wooden dock led out to a wooden fishing boat. Stopping a little ways from the dock, Sean laid out their blanket and set the picnic basket on it. For a moment, he couldn't help but take it all in. The air was clear, and the lush trees made the grey mountains so inspiring to look at.

Easing down to sit on the blanket, he watched Mark take Lulu to the dock. Retrieving the fishing poles from the boat and helping her set them up. Mark glanced back, trying to beckon him over, but Sean merely shook his head. He wanted to relax a little. After his battle with Billy and stressing over the unknown stalker, he just wanted to take a moment for himself. Lulu sat with Mark on the edge of the dock, their distant voices cheery enough that it made him happy to watch them. Stretching his legs and wings out, he enjoyed the soft chirping of birds, until something cold moved across his neck and a feminine voice hissed into his ear. "Ljosalfar. Light Elf. You truly are as radiant as the tales say... and I'd guess just as deadly." Staying very still, he stared off at Mark's back and let her words sink in. She hadn't called him by his name but by his race. Was she an NPC? Trying to remain calm, he asked the person softly. "What do you want?"

The woman's free hand grabbed the back of his neck, before darkly replying. "This is a sacred place. Beings like you don't belong here. You, Ljosalfar, consider yourself gods... tampering with the light of Alfheim. Your presence here will anger him." Sean blinked, turning his head slightly when he asked nervously. "Anger who?" The woman dug her nails into the back of his neck to hold him firmly, before removing her dagger to point out at the lake. Sean didn't see anything out there but found himself fascinated by her dagger. It was curved and pale like a sharpened bone in the design of a fang. Along the blade was circular symbol that he swore he had seen before. He just couldn't recall where. When she brought the blade back to his neck, she whispered with slight amusement. "What's wrong, Ljosalfar? Are your eyes failing you? Can't you see him? He's hard to miss." Sean stared at the water blankly. There was nothing he could see that was out of the ordinary. Until he saw movement in the water.

Straightening up, he started to yell for Mark, but her hand covered his mouth to silence him. His strangled cry was enough that Mark turned his head in his direction. Seeing him, Mark launched to his feet and yelled out. "HEY! Get your hands off him! NOW!" The woman didn't let him go. Her soft chuckle plaguing Sean's ears. Raising a hand, Sean pointed at the creature slowly rising from the lake behind Mark. The rush of water rolling off of it like a waterfall, making Mark's face pale. While Lulu started to scoot back away from the edge of the dock toward the grass as she stammered out. "M-m-m-mark...? I caught something... big. You can tell it that I don't want it and release it back. Right...?" Sean exhaled all the air in his lungs as the creature snorted water from its slitted nostrils over Mark and Lulu. It's narrowed slitted white eyes glaring at them before a forked grey tongue flicked out from between its grey scaly lips. The woman lowered her hand from Sean's mouth and single name slipped from his own lips. "Jormungandr." The world serpent.