Ragnarok

Chapter 22 - Falling Stars

"So they're really naming the new Valhalla expansion after the new planet?"

Rei simply smiled at Micah, cocking a sapphire eyebrow. Her elven princess getup had a rather dry, British feel to both her body language, and her voice. "Technically, Master, it's rather the other way around ... or at least, we're mining the same source material. But yes, the expansion went full online a few hours ago. Up to this point, nobody's made it past Fenrir, Lord of Wolves... and that was well before they had gotten further than the most diffuse branches."

"Gotcha. So, since everyone's busy with launch stuff, why don't you get our daily workout done and I'll co-ordinate with the boys in Valhalla? It's all they've been able to talk about. To most of them, Sephirot is just another big news item ... though I do notice remixes of 'One Winged Angel' are trending."

 Micah was already in Augmented reality mode, and he was scanning a few trending topics on the Datanet in his HUD. He skipped quickly over the ever-present doomsday predictions and gossip of the System's rich and famous, focusing mostly on stories about the planned rendezvous.

"Again, Master, are you surprised?" Rei chuckled, giving her hands a prim little clap. Then Micah separated from his body, which went again into autopilot. Micah now floated beside his elven princess. He was hardly one to talk when it came to being a nerd, he ruefully noted to himself. His body began to walk off, as a halo of lightning appeared around Rei's head, and her hair began to change from sky blue into golden yellow. "Would you like me with you in Valhalla, my lord? I'm interested in the conclusions the others have reached."

"Sure, let's head off together." Impulsively, he took Rei's hand. She seemed to jump for a moment, as though she'd been lost in thought, then smiled and closed her now ice-blue eyes.

Together, they summoned the Rainbow Bridge, and leaped into Valhalla.

*     *     *

Thorin and Avril appeared in a clap of thunder, as befitting heroes of their stature. When they first appeared, Thorin noted that Avril's avatar had changed as well. There were still dragon motifs in her current armor, but it was much more supple and streamlined, and she now sported an impressive pair of angel's wings growing out her back, looking like feathers that might harden at any moment into steel sharpness.

Thorin wondered for a moment where she'd picked THOSE up, then supposed that Rei must have been grinding a few levels herself during downtime. The pointed elf ears were probably just a quirk of her transition, though she wore them well.

"The promised star children return," Lilith quipped at them from her place in Gunnar's lap. She smirked at them from across the table, once again in her more diaphanous formal wear. This was Lilith the strategist, after all ... though as always, her body was always part of that strategy. She was snuggled up against Gosta's bare chest, his war-staff propped against his padded hardwood chair. Phoebe was, at usual, on hand to make sure Lilith's goblet stayed at the appropriate level of fullness, and she smiled shyly at the glittering angel that had appeared in their midst.

"Like the new gear, Avril," Tempest said appreciatively, whistling at her new white-gold aura, as well as the reskinning. "I definitely need to gear up a few levels myself. If what we've seen in those early playthroughs is any indication, there's no easy way to get to Yggdrasil's heart, which is where we'll find that giant bastard that wrecked us after the hack." She squeezed her right hand into a tight fist, then grabbed a knife and drove it into the table. "Still owe that bastard a bit of payback. Dragonfire hurts even for one of my kind."