The morning after the ceremony, the guests found themselves in their respective rooms. They didn't remember the ceremony ending nor did they recall retiring to their rooms for the night. Most of them just attributed the mass black out to be due to the copious amounts of alcohol that had been ingested. None had abstained from drinking, so there was a certain logic in the conclusion.
Lynefra woke from her sleep, alone. There was no fox in her bed as usual but there were some outfits that had been designed by the spirit layed out on her bed. Each outfit was provocative in its own way, though thankfully, the outfits weren't incredibly revealing. The girl had no memory of the fight between the gods and the incarnations of the horsemen of the apocalypse, or of Loki's explanation and transformation into something that was quite fearsome. She had been stuck in the time dilation. She also wasn't aware of the appearence of Divinus and consequently had no memory of the discussions between Syble, Lystall, and Loki that had taken place after the sudden apprearence of her previous self. Even if Lynefra had been aware of all the events that had taken place the previous night, it didn't matter now.
Syble had left fight after Loki's lesson and subsequent answering of questions. He had trouble digesting all the new information, especially the information about how under certain circumstances, gods normally weaker than him would be able to completely obliterate him. Lystall took the news much better, and even had a certain eagerness to try and apply some of the things she had learned regarding a god's powers. She had already been drawing power from things beyond just herself for a long time, as a chosen goddess she could draw power from the faith of the people who worshipped her and she had also been unknowingly drawing bits of power from the races who feared her. Her special affinities with the power of healing and the concept of purity gave her confidence that she'd be able to harness a power similar to what Loki had described.
Not wanting to be accused of having an unfair advantage over other gods, Lystall had informed the other gods who called Pandora home of the new information. Most had tried to reach out to Loki to hear first hand what he had said and others had sought him out in order to try and get information about the outside Universe and the older gods. All the gods of Pandora knew Lynefra had some special identity in her past life but they didn't know exactly who she was before and it seemed Loki held the answers to their questions. To their dismay, however, Loki had left Pandora and the Paridoxica secor of space. They may have tried to give chase if they had known where he left to, but they didn't.
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You know you are not welcome here, an aged voice declared as Loki crossed through a golden gate.
Yes, I am aware but there are some things it would be beneficial to know, if you allow me passage, I will offer the knowledge I have as an apology for some of the misdeeds I have committed, Loki replied.
A young man appeared before Loki, his skin was glowing a slight orange color. The Young man had blonde hair and blue unfocused eyes, it wasn't the kind of lack of focus that implied stupidity, but the kind of haze that spoke of the place of his thoughts, they weren't in the present. There is no need, the young man's voice was filled with arrogance.
Loki narrowed his eyes, Hello Apollo. I suppose you've seen what happened?
Yes, the young man replied. I, Apollo, am a god of oracles. I know of the reappearence of Divinus but now he is lost to us and I fear the child, Lynefra, might now be lost to us as well.
What do you mean?
Go back, protect the girl. Go while there is hope.
Hope of what? Loki didn't like being on the receiving end of cryptic messages but Apollo didn't answer him. Damn Oracles and prophecies. Would it kill them to be a bit less vague?
As Loki prepared to return to Pandora, another young man walked up to him. "Hello Loki." The voice sounded friendly enough but hostility was in his eyes.
Baldr! How are you? Loki smiled at the man. Still not mad about the whole spear made of mistletoe are you?
What do you think? The man replied, Odin has told me to accompany you.
Oh? What for? I didn't think you enjoyed babysitting.
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Loki, tell me something, the god identified as Baldr started, If we, with all our power, couldn't even look at Divinus without having our souls incinerated, nevermind a God's soul, what do you think would happen to a Divine Soul? Or a mortal's body?
I get what you're trying to say, but the Divine Soul you speak of had already merged with only a fragment of Divinus' power. It doesn't matter, and her body is one of the strongest mortal bodies. Perhaps only an ancient dragon would be stronger physically than her.
Loki..the fragments aren't any weaker than Divinus himself was, Baldr explained. The fragments held only certain aspects of Divinus' power. Different emotions per se.
It still merged with the new soul though.
Did it? Did her personality completely change? Or were there only subtle changed in her personality? With how powerful Divinus was and how many years he had been around, don't you think his personality would have completely overwritten the young girl's?
The realization dawned on Loki. So you're saying - Loki stopped himself, Apollo said Divinus is no more but destroying something like Famine wouldn't be enough to even hurt Loki, let alone a fragment of Divinus.
Divinus probably stopped the complete merge, he was most likely unwilling to completely merge with the girl's soul because he feared it would destroy her. He manifested to protect her family and took her form because he was mostly merged but unleashing all his power would most likely do some damage to her soul, let alone her body channelling all that power.
Yes but she matured..she's of a race that's incredibly durable. The Gravity of the situation was slowly setting in for Loki but he didn't want to admit it.
Yes, her own power was probably something that could rival even you if she knew how to use it but Divinus wasn't just a god or just one of the first gods or even the most powerful god. Divinus could draw power from everything in existence. Just for once instant, drawing even all the power from a dead planet would probably burn even the strongest of mortals out.
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As Lynefra sat up her head suddenly felt like it was being split apart. "AHHHH!" She screamed in pain and tears started falling down her face. The earth trembled slightly once, and then stopped but the pain in her head didn't. The pain was so intense that it rendered her unable to move and she shut her eyes in a feeble attempt to hide from it. Eventually, someone came to find her only to see a fifteen year-old girl lying in the fetal position, slowly rocking herself back and forth. Her sobs had been reduced to a barely audible groan.
"Lynefra!" It was Altresca. "Lynefra, what's wrong?" This was a first for Altresca, she had seen Lynefra in emotional pain, she had seen her angry, but she had never seen her in pain. Altresca climbed into bed with Lynefra and pulled her into a cradling hug, as if trying to take some of the burden away, whatever the burden was.
Eventually the pain dulled to a bearable amount. "h-hungry," the girl said with a weak voice.
"haha, let me get something for you then," Altresca said, under the impression that whatever was wrong with Lynefra had passed, and she walked out of the room.
As soon as Loki returned to Pandora with Baldr, he was under siege from the local gods. Questions about how to tap into universal and natural powers, questions about the race of Giants that Loki had admitted to creating, and comments of disbelief. Some of the gods just didn't think Loki was actually as strong as Lystall had claimed he was.
Loki, we really don't have time for this, where is Divinus? Baldr stated in a flat tone as some plants formed a cocoon around the two Norse gods. He hadn't forgiven Loki for the spear that killed him.
I'm trying to find the girl he reincarnated into. She has a very unique energy but it's not at the Academy, Loki replied thoughtfully, I can't find her on the entire planet. Did someone take her away? Loki looked at Baldr, You've always been more sensitive than me, try looking for Veorful's aura.
Veorful? She's here? Odin said she was on her way to the edge of the Universe with one of her sons, Baldr said in slight surprise.
Nevermind what Odin said, before she left, she gave Lynefra a fragment of her soul.
So? You've met the girl before haven't you? Baldr retorted in anger. "Nevermind what Odin said.." Only you would have the gawl to say that.
Baldr, please.
Baldr blinked in surprise. Asking nicely wasn't in Loki's nature. Fine, he relented. Not good. Baldr's expression turned unsightly.
What? The god of rebirth never made faces like what he was making now, it left Loki with an ominous feeling. Baldr didn't reply, he just moved in the direction of the Royal Academy of Dulsa.
As the two gods swiftly made their way to Lynefra, Cirwyn and Traigar were walking down the hallway to Lynefra's room with haste. Altresca had seen them in the dining hall while fetching something to eat for her sister and told them of how Lynefra had been in pain earlier. They arrived to find Lynefra's door closed. Traigar reached to open it but Cirwyn stopped him.
"Darling, she's a young lady. You shouldn't just open the door, what if she's changing?"
"Huh?" Traigar replied, "She doesn't have anything new I haven't seen before. I changed her diapers too you know."
"You fail to see the point," Cirwyn shook her head as she knocked on Lynefra's door. "Lynefra, are you decent?"
There was silence for a few seconds then Lynefra's reply answered her mother, "Who is it?"
Her voice sounded different but Cirwyn couldn't quite place the difference. She opened the door a crack and peaked inside to make sure her daughter wouldn't be embarrassed if Traigar saw her. "Did you have too much to drink last night? I'm your mother."
"I know that," Lynefra replied. "Who's Lynefra?