Twilight of The Gods
written by: Skylar Sturtevant
In the towering mountains of Jötunheim, the land of the giants, the birds sang; deer drank from the river that ran through the rich valley and pine trees lined the edge of the water that led the way to the green meadows. Much could be said about the overwhelming beauty of Jötunheim. More, however, could be said about its surprise visitor.
Loki, son of Laufey and Farbauti, sat against a large oak tree. His red hair flowed in the wind, like the embers of a campfire. It was wild and untamed, much like Loki himself. He was fair skinned and beautiful with a tongue as striking and sharp as his beauty. The sharp tongue of a serpent complimented the keen mind of the honorary god: the trickster god, the deceiver, and many more unflattering names that would stick with him. That hadn’t stopped him from being Thor’s trusted companion, however, and making a blood oath with the All Father, Odin.
None of the other Æsir knew the reason for this oath, not even Kvasir the Wise; but if Odin makes an oath with someone, he must trust them completely. Loki would often get the rest of the gods into unfortunate circumstances, but when he bailed them out, they’d be rewarded, with things such as Mjolnir and Gungnir, Odin’s spear itself. This made him the most complicated among the gods. No one could truly understand the motivations of Loki. His sharp tongue had gotten him into more trouble than the others, but that same tongue would trick the Jötnar to gain more favorable deals for the Æsir, save himself and his kin, and stop wars before they even started.
He felt slighted by the Æsir. Unsure of how they could do this to him, he sat along the mountain and bottled his anger. How could he possibly have known the gods would age without the apples? They never told him anything. When he’d stolen the apples from Idunn and gave them to the giants, the gods started to wither into old age. Thor directed his thunderous rage at Loki and since he knew his threats to be true, he returned the apples. He had changed himself into a woman and used his sharp wit to trick the idiots into giving them back, so he didn’t understand why they still banished him.
A snake slithered in front of Loki. The green serpent slowed to look at him. He had a peculiar familiarity with the creatures. They seemed to understand him when no one else did.
“Hello, my friend,” Loki said to the snake. His stomach grumbled.
Of course, it didn’t say anything, but it cocked its head, seemingly understanding the sentiment. Going around his boots, it went behind the tree. Several moments later, it returned carrying a rabbit in its mouth. It dropped it on the ground in front of him. Loki cocked his eyebrow and picked up the rabbit. It was a recent killing, its white fur smushed in showing it was constricted by the serpent.
“Thank you for this. You honor me.”
It turned and went away.
When nightfall came, Loki gathered some wood and started a campfire. He cleaned the rabbit, removing all of the fur and the meat from the bones. He put it on a spit and roasted it. The meat smelled delicious, reminding him of the feasts in Asgard. He shook the thought away.
When he took the rabbit off the spit, it gave a soft pop sound before he put it in his mouth. The meat was tender, a little gamey, but that was okay, it beat starving. Crickets chirped as he ate. The wind howled and the trees groaned beneath that howl. The green and blue aurora in the sky reminded him of home again. He hadn’t felt this alone in a long time. After he finished eating the rabbit however, he noticed another fire a little ways away. Curious, he walked over towards it.
Hiding behind a large boulder, Loki looked at a young woman kneeling and tending a fire. She was too tall to be a human and he didn’t recognize her as one of the Æsir or Vanir. Of course, she was a Jötunn, but she didn’t look like any he’d ever seen. She wore wolf pelt clothing with a necklace of animal fangs that dripped down her cleavage. Her ebony skin was like the shadow of the moon. It was the most beautiful onyx color Loki had ever laid eyes on. Her midnight skin contrasted the pale alabaster of her kin, yet, the darkness outshined them all.
It felt like an insult to say she resembled the cosmos when to look at her was like gazing at the stars themselves. Her beauty could rival Freya, the goddess of love, herself. Loki knew that he must have her. He walked over to her and introduced himself. He told her his name and where he hailed.
“Loki, son of Laufey?” she asked him.
“Yes. From what I have been told. It’s a long story. And you? What is the name of the one whose beauty rivals all of the Æsir?” Loki replied.
“Well, Loki Laufeyson, you are blocking my warmth.”
He looked behind him and realized he was in fact in front of the fire. He moved to the side.
“Of course, I apologize. I just needed to ask if you happened to have shelter.”
“I have shelter.”
When she didn’t elaborate further, he asked, “May I use it?”
“You may not.”
“Why not?”
She looked at him with contempt. Those obsidian eyes could have shot daggers at him.
“Begone Loki, trickster, kin of the Giant Killer. I know your tongue. You will deceive and then leave once you’ve gotten your desire.”
He was silent for a moment and then said “I am kin no longer. They have made that known. The Æsir have exiled me. That is why I am looking for shelter.”
“Does your treachery know no bounds? Is that why you have been exiled? You have betrayed your kin? The gods?”
Loki bit his lip and his eye twitched. Once he would have given everything to those gods and goddesses, then they threw him away like trash.
“The blacksmith hates what he cannot shape.”
“So you admit it?”
“I admit nothing but the truth.”
“I cannot permit the kin of the Giant Killer into the home of a giant.”
“Even if that giant is no longer among her own people?” Loki asked, prodding.
She looked away and tugged her braid.
“So you know what exile feels like. Like the people you once loved throwing you to the wolves. Can you find compassion for me, then?”
“I have compassion, Loki, but not the capacity.”
“You supposedly have compassion, yet, have not even told me your name.”
“The Jötnar have called me a curse. The bringer of sorrow, the messenger of anguish, Angrboða. I was labeled as a disgusting monster. A freak-a pariah among the giants. They took one look at me and cast me away, all because of this.” She pointed at the ebony skin on her arm.
“Why wouldn’t you do the same?”
“Well for one” Loki said, “I have nowhere else to go. Sending you away would be foolish. And for the record, I am no fool. And while on the topic, the ones who’d dare call you disgusting are the fools.”
She cocked her eyebrow and turned away.
“I have not laughed for a long time. You almost made me laugh with that line, deceiver. Tell you what. If you can make me laugh, I’ll let you into the cave.”
Loki contemplated what would make an exiled Jötunn laugh. Especially one that was named something as dark as “the bringer of sorrow.” He could do what he did with Skadi and the goat, or he could change into an animal and make her laugh that way. Instead, he employed a different technique.
Loki said, “Let me tell you the story of the building of Asgard’s wall. Long ago, the threat of the giants weighed heavily on the hearts of the gods. Their realm was left in rubble after the war with the Vanir. They sat atop the mountain on their holy thrones and thought about this. Eventually, time passed, and a master builder (who was really a giant in disguise) offered to build the wall for them over the course of several winters. In exchange, the hand of Freya would be given to him in marriage.”
“I know this story, Loki. It all ended because a mare tricked his stallion, Svaðilfari, into mating with her for days. This caused the builder to lose the challenge because he could not finish the wall without his horse to carry supplies. Why would this make me laugh?”
“Who do you think was the horse?”
Angrboða stopped tending the campfire. She dropped the stick she was holding. The giant shook her head in disbelief. She looked into Loki’s fiery eyes and squinted.
“You seriously…”
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” He said, chuckling.
“You’re a mother? To a horse?”
She hunched over and laughed so hard that she wheezed.
“So about that cave?”
***
Inside Angrboða’s home, hundreds of paintings covered the rock walls. They were beautiful renditions of the nine realms. The paintings had interlaced patterns showing past historical events. These included the stealing of Thor’s hammer, Odin hanging himself on Yggdrasil to learn the runes, and Loki making Skadi laugh by tying a rope around the family jewels to pay the blood debt for her father. That one brought back memories that he tried to shake off. He wasn’t ashamed of it, but he didn’t want to remember the pain of that one.
Angrboða nudged him. “Did you really have to tie your sack to a goat to make her laugh? You couldn’t have tried, I don’t know, telling a joke first?”
“In my defense,” Loki said, “she was pretty pissed before that. I’d say it worked pretty well.”
She smiled and nodded in agreement. Her teeth were illuminated by the ray of sunlight that peaked through the cave door. His stomach fluttered. She motioned for him to follow her. He blinked away his daydream and followed.
Animal pelts were spread across the ground. They ranged from wolves, bears, and moose. It was an impressive collection. She must have been on her own for a very long time, independently living off of the land.
“The bear you killed for your tunic must have been a magnificent beast,” Loki said.
“It was,” she said.
“And you killed it yourself?”
“I did.”
“Really?” He raised an eyebrow.
“Is that so hard to believe?”
“It’s impressive, is all. Beautiful women aren’t usually as skilled with spears as they are with words.”
Angrboða squinted her eyes and punched Loki in the chest. He hunched over and gasped for air.
“Motherf…” he wheezed.
“How about my fists? Am I skilled with those?”
“I like you”, he said after coughing his entire lung out.
“Go to bed, Trickster.”
“With you? On the first date?”
“Don’t make me punch you again.”
Loki laughed and she walked to her bed with a smile.
***
Over the next few weeks, Loki kept trying his hand at courting the giantess. He would bring her flowers that he had found in the green valley, and gemstones that he found by the river. He even turned into a bird several times and got the hard-to-reach ones on top of the mountains. Each time she would reject him and he wasn’t sure why. He thought he had tried his best to impress her. Loki had even acted more masculine.
He had hunted a boar with his bare hands. The beast was incredibly strong and he had to use some seiðr magic to kill it. He didn’t think she saw that part, so he pretended he had strangled it. He had carried it over his shoulders back to camp. It didn’t help that it was a boar from Jötunheim. It was almost triple the size of a Midgard boar and weighed a ton. He wished he had the strength of Thor but without his looks.
Loki dropped the massive boar on the ground and started the campfire. He pretended that his arms were just fine. Staring at Angrboða to gauge her reaction, he rubbed two sticks together and tried to start the fire. After several embarrassing minutes (and when she turned away of course), he whispered seiðr magic onto the logs, causing them to ignite with a single word.
“Done!” He shouted.
“Congratulations Firehair,” she said from her chair, “maybe next time you’ll get it the old fashioned way with the sticks or you can use flint and steel like everyone else. Isn’t magic a feminine thing where you’re from?”
Damn, he thought, she spotted me.
“Magic? You don’t believe me?”
“I trust the One-Eyed more than you starting that fire naturally.”
Feeling defeated, he sat on the wet grass.
“What will it take to impress you? I’ve been trying for weeks and this is the first time it’s ever not worked with someone.” He said.
She inhaled deeply through her nose. “You really want to know?”
“Of course. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. I must know what I have to do to make you love me.”
“Stop trying. Your honey tongue and good looks only work in Asgard. But here? I only care about who you are.”
He put the boar on the spit.
“I don’t understand,” he said, “I can be anyone you want me to be. I can be taller, better looking, darker skinned, even a woman if you want that.”
Loki demonstrated by turning into a beautiful midnight-skinned woman. She was bare from head to toe. She looked at Angrboða to see if she liked what she saw. She only shook her head.
“Apparently not into women, noted.”
Loki changed back into a man.
“You’ve lived as all of these people” she said. “You’ve changed your form so many times, becoming a fish, woman, horse, fly, and a bird. Do you know what it is like to be authentic?”
“Authentic? I’m always me, all of these forms are still me.” Loki argued.
“They’re masks you put on. Sure, it’s an impressive feature to most. But I don’t want you to wear masks. Who are you, Loki? Truly?”
“I..”
No one had ever asked him that question before. He didn’t know how to respond to it because he didn’t know the answer. He could say that he was the God of Chaos, the one responsible for every gift of Asgard, or the one always getting the Æsir into trouble. He could justifiably say that he was the deceiver of the gods, according to them.
The truth is that he didn’t really know who he was. He was a Jötunn adopted into the Æsir out of pity. They didn’t even consider him to be a god. On one hand, he wasn’t a giant, and on the other, he wasn’t a god. He was both and neither. He was a man of two worlds.
“I’m Loki. Son of Laufey.”
“I know your name. But what do you want for yourself? Are you content to live in your kin’s shadow?”
Loki gritted his teeth.
“I live in no one’s shadow, giantess.”
Angrboða tugged at her braid, he learned that she did that when she was annoyed, then grabbed Loki by the arm. Ignoring the boar on the spit, she dragged him to the forest of redwood trees behind her cave. With a wave of her hand, she transformed a lone tree into a tall, intricately-weaved, oak cabinet in the middle of the forest. It stood alone on the grass as if frozen in time. She guided him to the cabinet and opened the double doors. Inside, there were drawings similar to the ones in the cave, except he didn’t recognize these events.
There was a drawing of a celestial wolf running through the stars until it ate the sun, Thor battling a gigantic serpent atop a boat, and then, the last one. It was a painting of Loki. He was chained to a cave boulder, lying on his back. His arms were raised and locked above his head. A snake was bound to the roof of the cave with its venom dripping into Loki’s eyes. His mouth was stitched shut. The scene made Loki feel violently ill.
“What…what is this? What are you showing me?” he said to Angrboða.
“It’s the future, Loki,” she said.
“You have foresight? You’re a volva?”
“I am. You know, I didn’t need foresight to see you use seiðr magic yourself. Your kin hate you for using it, yet they let Odin use it, don’t they? They insult you for your birthright, yet allow him to use it? Why isn’t he called weak and feminine when he uses it but you are? I have seen the future where the gods will punish you for the last time for going against their will. Your ‘holy’ kin don’t want you to have dreams- your dreams disrupt their precious hierarchy. The hierarchy of them on top and everyone else under their feet. Don’t tell me that you haven’t noticed for yourself. You can’t be so blind.”
“If I am not now, the venom of that snake will surely blind me. Of course, I despise them for what they have done and what they will do, but if I revolt, I’ll be bound with my mouth sewn shut? Exiled for eternity while a wolf eats the sun? Do you expect me to revolt against them with that looming over my head?”
“You haven’t seen the full picture,” she said, “look there.”
She pointed at the bottom right of the door.
“A man riding on a boat? What of it?”
“That’s you. Riding your daughter’s ship to Asgard.”
“My daughter? I don’t have a daughter.”
“Yet,” she added.
“Loki,” she continued, “you want to win my heart so badly, so you put on these masks to impress me. You know what impressed me most of all? That a god would nurse a squirrel to health when he thought I wasn’t looking. That same god would later hunt a boar that he had no business trying to fight.”
Loki chuckled and looked away. She caressed his cheek and continued, “I know you cried afterward and thanked him for his sacrifice. Your compassion for lesser beings that the other gods and giants would have walked past makes you who you are. That person is worthy of love.”
Loki nodded and smiled at her.
She returned the smile and locked her green eyes with his. They were strikingly gorgeous.
“Plus, I know what it’s like to be a lesser being.” She said, sadness in her eyes.
“My love, you are lesser to no one.”
With that, she pressed her lips against his. The world flew by, the birds sang, and everything felt…whole for the first time in his life. Her lips were as soft as the clouds of Asgard and felt even more like home. She put her arms around his neck and he kissed her on the forehead.
The love of Loki and Angrboða began and the world would never be the same.
***
Several years had passed. Angrboða showed him the stars from the top of the tallest mountains of Jötunheim. Loki changed into different animals to prank her and make her laugh. Once he even turned into their kitchen table and scared her while she was eating. He laughed the whole time while she chased him around the house they built. He was madly in love and so was she.
Angrboða was pregnant with their children. Although Jötunn pregnancy worked differently than humans, in which the children were more independent at birth and could take different forms, it only took several months to happen. When the time came, she yelled for Loki to help her with the birth. After nine hours of labor, she gave birth to three children.
The first child was named Fenrir. He was a black dire wolf with red eyes. The second was a green serpent the size of the palm of her hand. It coiled around her hand in an embrace. He was named Jormungandr. The third child was a little girl. She was a Jötunn, so she looked older than a human baby, at around the same size and intelligence as an eight year old. Half of her face was a beautiful porcelain girl and the other half was an exposed skull as if she was undead. She was named Hel.
“They will call them monsters.” Angrboða said to Loki.
“Let them. They’re our children, not their play things. The gods would judge them for their appearance. They don’t deserve to see them and they never will. They’re greater than anything they could create. Our children are safe here.”
“Love, listen to me. I don’t know what is going to happen, but I don’t feel right. Perhaps I should do a reading and use my prescience. It will make us feel better.”
Fenrir howled and Loki patted his head. Hel stood in the corner by herself, kneeling over an injured bird. Loki kissed her on the head.
“Okay. If it will help ease your anxiety, I’ll go and get the firewood for a reading.”
“Thank you. Please hurry back.”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Loki turned into the form of a hawk and flew far away to the forest. The great ash tree that was needed for the ritual was many miles away from their house.
***
Angrboða waited for several hours with her children. She loved them with all her heart and always would. To hell with the gods and the giants. This was her home, here with Loki.
She tugged her braid. He said he’d be back as soon as he could. Where was he? Maybe something happened. This worried her more, of course, so she tried to sit down and calm herself.
Two ravens flew outside her window. She could hear their large black wings beating above her house. They incessantly pecked at the roof with their sharp beaks. The birds brought great fear to the giants for they knew what they represented. Some say they were symbols of death, others say war, but everyone agreed that two of them meant only one thing.
There was a knock at the door.
No! Not now! What could he want?
Then a second, louder knock.
“Where are the spawns of Loki?” An elderly male voice asked from outside the door. “I know they’re in there. I just want to talk to my family.”
Angrboða grabbed her sword.
Odin.
“Forget it, open the door, Týr.”
The door was kicked open and flew across the room. Dust clouded the room as three Æsir stood in the doorway. Týr, the hulking God of War. Thor, God of Strength and the bane of Giants. Odin, the One Eyed God of Wisdom and Death.
“You’re not welcome here, Æsir,” she said.
Jormungandr was wrapped around his mother’s wrist. He was coiled in a circle biting his own tail. Hel was watching from the back of the room with only the beautiful half of her face visible. Fenrir walked out from behind the corner. He had already grown twice his size in the few hours his father had been gone. He was different. He growled at the gods, baring his teeth.
“Ah yes, the wolf. You were the first to be shown to me. It makes sense that he would be the father of wolves. The only thing he’s good for is death and destruction. And the snake, he always did have a serpent’s tongue. But the girl? You’re sure that one is his? You must spread your legs to anyone that walks in your door if you’d be willing to bed the Father of Lies, Angrboða. What say you, Týr, feel like having a go at the giant?”
Her heart beat faster. This bastard was egging her on. She pulled on her braid and kept her anger in check for her children’s sake.
“Leave. My. Home.”
She gripped her sword with white knuckles, blood still covering her quivering legs.
“All Father. With all due respect,” Týr began, “we’re not here for the woman. You told us we were here to bring the children to Asgard.”
“Yes, yes, the children.” Odin said. “Take them. And make it quick. Maybe you can even keep the wolf as a pet, Týr.”
“How dare you?” Angrboða shouted. “Get out of my house!”
When they didn’t leave, she backed up and put her arms in front of her children as a shield. “You won’t take them!”
She grabbed them and they ran out of the back door.
Odin sighed.
“Thor? Do you mind?”
He grabbed his hammer from the table and slowly followed them out of the house as they ran.
“Loki! Where are you?” She shouted. “Loki, help!”
But no one came.
Thor had caught up with them. She had to fight for her children. They wouldn’t see their mother as a coward. She could take on Loki, but could she take on the Giant Killer? She took up her sword and shielded her children.
“You won’t have them!” She yelled.
“They’re safer in Asgard. All of us are. You know what they are. They’re monsters. They’d kill us all given the chance.” Thor said.
“You’ll have to kill me before I give them to you.”
She swung her sword at the God of Strength. It bounced off of his shoulder.
She did it again and the same thing happened.
He sighed.
“I don’t want to kill you, giantess.”
“You’d kill my children!”
“I’d never harm you or your children. You have my word.”
The word of Thor? That was more than she’d ever expected from the Giant Killer. His honor is more important to him than anything. She breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe for now. She stopped swinging.
She slowly lowered her sword.
“You…”
Angrboða was impaled in the stomach by a massive golden spear before she could get out the next word. She tried to gasp for air but couldn’t. With tears in her eyes, she fell to the ground and died while reaching out towards her children.
“What did you do that for? I was getting through to her.” Thor said to Odin.
“You were taking too long. Come on, let’s go.” He replied.
Thor looked down at the body of Angrboða, closed his eyes, and shook his head. He grabbed the serpent and motioned for the wolf and child to follow him. Reluctantly, they obeyed.
***
Loki carried the wood from the ash tree on his back. He had to take the form of a bear and drag it the entire way back because it was too heavy to carry as a hawk. He finally spotted his house in the distance. It took him three hours to retrieve the wood which is much longer than he had anticipated and longer than Angrboða expected. He hoped she was okay by herself with the kids but as he got closer, however, he noticed something was terribly wrong. The door was thrown off the hinges and there was blood spreading from the floor to the snow outside. He dropped the logs and sprinted as fast as he could. He shouted,
“Love! Where are you?”
No reply.
“Kids?”
No reply.
He slowly crept around the back of the house, following the bloody trail in the snow. The children were nowhere to be seen. When he finally found the end of the path, his heart shattered.
Loki’s screams of anguish split the world, known now as Pangea, into seven pieces of land. His anger raged through Jötunheim all the way into Midgard. With each scream, a volcano erupted on Midgard, devouring islands in their wake. This event is how Loki became known as responsible for every natural disaster in Midgard.
He cradled his wife in his arms and rocked her back and forth. Wishing for the nightmare to be over, he brushed her braid from her face and looked in her beautiful eyes one last time. He closed those lovely green eyes and put his forehead to hers.
“Goodnight, my love. Until we meet again.”
***
Angrboða, the Bringer of Sorrow, Mother of Monsters, woke up in Niflheim, the icy underworld. A dense fog covered the land, leaving a grayish-hue to the cold landscape. A spirit guided her through the icy gate- holding a lantern through the darkness. Snow covered the plains of Niflheim and squished under her boots as she followed.
When she arrived, she was greeted by a large circle of other witches.
“What is this?” she asked.
“The All Father has summoned a dead witch to give prophecy. Would you like to give it to him?”
She laughed at the irony.
“Does he know who is giving it?”
“He only knows that it is a witch with foresight. He doesn’t know it’s you.” The dead witch winked at her.
“I’ll answer, gladly.”
She went to the center of the circle and looked into the fire.
“You summoned me, Odin, to ask what I know of Ragnarök. The prophecy told you of the three children of Loki.” she started.
“They have. What do you know of them?” Odin asked.
“The serpent will engulf the entire world. Thor will defeat him in battle, but will take only nine steps before falling to its poison. Next, the daughter that you have cast into Niflheim will rule that realm and rename it Helheim. She and her father, Loki, will ride her boat of corpses and carry an army of the dead into battle against Asgard. He will then kill Heimdallr, just like your favored son, the God of Light. You will ask Hel to release Baldr and she will refuse. And finally, Odin, the wolf. Fenrir will break his chains and devour you. With all of your planning, you will still lose. This will complete the Twilight of the Gods. Tell me. Have you learned enough yet, All-Father?”
- Twilight of The Gods - October 10, 2024
- Ignore It - July 2, 2024
- The Black Death - February 4, 2024
