Ragnarok

Chapter 57 - Respite

One might have thought that a landscape composed almost entirely of fire would be nearly monochromatic, all yellows, reds and charred black. Instead, a surprisingly diverse range of colors flickered in greeting as the party made their way across the scorching terrain, from the yellow-white of forged iron to the blues and greens of chemical fires. The conflagration would sometimes condense into fountains, sheets or even walls of flame, requiring frequent detours into ever more dangerous territory. It was an oddly beautiful, highly mutable world, where even the erupting volcanoes upon the horizon seemed to be in a state of constant flux.

After several hours of travel across the blazing landscape, the party found themselves looking down into an ashen valley. The ground looked stable enough, despite the several inches of soot that seemed to be covered everything. At the far end of the valley was a massive, obsidian tower, windows aglow with the lights of watchful sentries. This tower would serve as the exit from their Muspelheim shortcut; however, it was also the most dangerous leg of the journey thus far. The tower itself was heavily guarded by all manner of fire beasts, not to mention demons, fire giants, and other similarly unpleasant creatures.

Fortunately for the adventurers, near the entrance to the valley was a stone ruin that offered a temporary respite from the dangers of Muspelheim. Many of the rooms had been opened up to the elements, but at the center was a windowless room with all four walls and ceiling intact. It was even fairly cool within the shelter, at least in comparison. "It is like finding a nice patch of shade on Mercury's hot side," Vladimir opined, as he settled down in one corner. "And best of all, it should be safe from enemy attacks. I don't know about the rest of you, but I could use an extra helping of borscht this evening."

Thorin nodded, setting up his own space near the entrance. "Eager as I am to get to Ragnarok and rearrange his scaly face for him, this is a marathon, not a sprint. We still have a couple of weeks before that overgrown tin can gets to Earth, after all. We can afford to take a couple of days getting through the Yggdrasil dungeon, as long as we get to the end boss before the real monster shows up knocking at our doorstep."

The banter continued for a while longer before the players started to log off, disappearing in pairs with their V.I. companions. Eventually the last two remaining were Thorin and Tyrion, each of them with their companion still standing patiently by their side. Tyrion had pulled off his greathelm, revealing a face that might have been Tony's great-grandfather's. His dark skin stood out somewhat in the Norse setting of Valhalla, but unless there were NPCs around to make note of it, neither of them paid much mind.

"So, have you heard anything from Mia lately?" Tyrion asked after a break in the conversation.

Thorin shook his head slowly. "I got a message from her shortly after she touched down on the surface, then another one earlier today before we logged in. Apparently she's somewhere in Peru, trying to help out with some kind of self-defense system. She didn't come right out and say it, but she implied pretty heavily that it involves some kind of alien technology. Ancient aliens, no less."

Tyrion snorted. "I remember my old man was all about those 'ancient astronaut' theories, used to go on and on about how aliens helped us build the pyramids and all that nonsense. I always figured it was a load of rubbish." He paused for a beat, glancing over at Tempest. "Though considering there's an alien planet invading our solar system as we speak, maybe it wasn't garbage after all."

"Just because we now know that alien civilizations do, in fact, exist," Avril replied, "Doesn't mean that all the theories about ancient aliens meddling with human history were also true. If nothing else, there are too many theories that contract one another. By necessity, at least a portion of them, if not all of them, must be false."

"But that doesn't mean they're all false, either," Tempest replied. "And I can understand why people might want to believe that they've been watched over by visitors from other worlds. If they were malevolent, it takes some of the responsibility away from humanity for their mistakes; if they had been benevolent, it means that someone's been watching over them, wanting to protect them."

The four lingered for awhile longer, discussing what theories they thought were particularly likely to be true and which ones were almost certainly hogwash. Eventually, though, the two humans began to show signs of weariness, and were gently but firmly nudged back towards the real world and their waiting hammocks by their virtual assistants.

"Alright, alright, I'm logging out," Tyrion said in mock frustration, rolling his eyes at Thorin in a 'What can you do' sort of way. "See you tomorrow, bro. We'll tear through that tower tomorrow like it's tissue paper."