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Only half listening to the tale, Eir’s eyes alighted on a pair of men.
And they were indeed a pair. Even though they didn’t touch each other, the shapes of their bodies fit seamlessly together such that the very air around them seemed to pulse with their aura, warding back any who might intrude upon their private space.
One black. One gold.
A striking duo. Both with beauty to rival the gods. Each so different from the other.
Fated Mates, Eir recognized, her gaze holding upon them, captivated despite herself.
She’d never seen such a couple in the flesh. Gods did not mate for love. And even then, their love was a fickle, ephemeral thing. Boredom inevitably dulled even the most lasting bonds. No god was faithful to their lover by body, heart or soul, never mind all three at the same time. Forever.
Humans were better at the emotion. Perhaps because humanity invented it in the first place.
The drama and passion of it all. The desperation and hunger. Made more intense by the brevity of their finite lives.
Yet, as Eir looked upon this pair, sheknewwithout knowing why, that nothing in all the nine worlds could ever break them apart.
They were significant somehow.
As an agent of Fate, she understood this, even if she did not comprehend it. She would keep an eye on them justbecause.
They were an anomaly in this time and place.
“…and the Red Witch of the North shook with the force of her premonition, as if Odin himself spoke through her mind,” the Skald was saying to a crowd gone quiet, held captive by his tale.
“Her body went still, and her eyes rolled blank. She opened her mouth to speak the words in an ancient tongue that no one present had heard before, yet despite that, understood. She said:
A queen becomes Queen
A slave becomes Mate
A King falls in flames
A winner loses in games
A queen gives way
A Mate displaced
A Champion reborn
A King transformed.
A stone heart in fire
A soul dances higher
When True Love reveals
And old wounds heal…”
Eir stopped listening after that, as the enraptured audience of the Skald peppered him with questions.
What did the witch’s prophesy mean? Who was the Queen, the King and the Champion?
Little did the humans know that these verses could probably be applied to anything, based on the listener’s interpretation, their experience and context. They depicted the cycle of age-old struggles. Whether it was slaves fighting for their freedom, rulers challenging each other for power, or wars started by greed, lust, misunderstanding, or betrayal, all under the guise or misconception of “love.”
Eir had witnessed the never-ending cycle over and over again. Countless times. Even when the world ended at the prophesized Ragnarök, it would begin anew in the aftermath.
