His Queen | Book 1

Forty Six: The Succession

White owls and black crows haunted her. They screeched and cawed and left a trail of feathers to follow. So she followed. Sigyn finds herself in the halls of Asgard. Walking. The golden halls stretched out never ending.

Then she is in the halls of Vanaheim. The sudden change took her by surprise. She see's her fathers throne empty and barren as are these halls.

Harsh winters hail outside and she is in Jotunheim fighting the snow. The white abruptly stops and ahead of her is a barren waste land with fallen ruins and sand and black suns. She keeps walking - following the feathers - the land is now on fire but she doesn't feel it burn. Her dress burns and she can feel the heat.

Lava runs around her feet like small river streams that fork into two. She steps over that. Then the world is bright illuminating an ethereal glow to everything. The plants glowed like the heavens and the water reflected into her eyes. There are creatures here; Light Elves. They resembled her father greatly. White hair, pale skin, blue eyes. Tall and lean and cursed with ethereal beauty. Even they glowed.

Then the feathers took her down a dark path through the foliage of lush trees and bush. An obsidian palace erected in the distance mounted on a hill. Bellow are deep chasms of darkness and pikes of obsidian. They looked sharp and deadly. The sky is dark and an eternal eclipse hailed over the land. It is barren and dry here.

And she knows she is looking at Helheim.

"Beware the false prophecy, sister."

Sigyn turned so fast, her foot slipped. "Nanna!" and she is falling. The pit of her stomach reached her throat and she cried out.

And then the throne of Asgard is before her. She is standing on the first step. She has never been this close to the throne in her dreams before. She was miles away or at the other end of the hall. But it was still so far away. The eclipse of Helheim is still in the sky casting dark shadows over the gold of Asgard.

She heard a cackle of an old women. "That will not be yours." her grandmother steps out from behind the throne. Sigyn is stuck where is. She cannot go back and she cannot ascend the stairs. "Don't look so confused."

Her grandmother's face turned into Nanna's face and in place of her old rags is Nanna's golden gown. "You know your destiny and you still choose to ignore it. You cannot escape what is about to come." her sisters speaks.

"Sister?!" Sigyn called. "Are you in Hel?"

Nanna shook her head. "We are neither here nor there." her voice isn't her voice.

Sigyn's eyes turned wide. "You are the Norns!" It wasn't her sister like she hoped. They are only using her face to connect with Sigyn. "Why are you showing me this?"

"Do not let the veil shield your eyes, child."

Then it was Hnoss standing there. "All things happen for a reason."

Then it is Gersemi. "It is not your time."

"I don't understand?" pleaded Sigyn. "I don't understand!"

The one turned into three and all of her sisters are standing in the shadows of the eclipse that dawns over Asgard. And they spoke as one voice. "Do not be bewitched by what is to come. The succession is a false livelihood. You will not rule- not this day."

It hits her hard and Sigyn realises she can't breath. Her eyes open and she resurfaces in the bathtub gasping for air. She grabs the ledge and pulls herself to it still confused and dazed. It took her so quickly to fall beneath the water when the vision took over.