Chapter Text
And I thought Vidar’s temple was impressive.
As much as I’m not a fan of Loki, I have to admit, this place is very nice. It’s ornate without being over-the-top, but one might expect it to be gaudy.
It’s easily the most attractive building here. Not quite as impressive as the massive palace built into the mountain, but beautiful all the same.
It looks like the images I’ve seen of stave churches. The wood is weathered but still in perfect shape, a row of small windows set above head-height on the ground floor. The roof is decorated in shiny tiles, not the traditional wood ones that would usually match the interior. The shingles are in many different colors, all faded in the moonlight, but looking almost like a dragon’s hide.
It doesn’t hit me for a few moments that that was definitely done on purpose, Loki being the god of snakes and dragons, among other things.
The doorframes are engraved with knot-like designs, a common art style. A lot of Halfborn’s tattoos are done in a similar style. The metal braces on the door look like flattened snakes, while the studs in the wood look like horseflies. Funny.
They’re massive, tall enough to allow most “small” jotnar inside, and wide enough too. This amounts to each door being nearly 20 feet tall and 10 feet across. Guards are stationed outside the doors, nearly half a dozen all lining the sheltered area just in front of the wall, remaining under the roof. Their uniforms look much like the ones of the warriors we rode into town with. Each holds a spear and a shield, the shield instead decorated with an image of a snake swallowing its own tail.
As I look farther up, I notice a metal snake situated above the center of the entrance, jaw unhinged, pointing straight at us. We all stare for a minute as the symbolism of this snake specifically sinks in.
The longer we look at it, the worse it gets. The light dancing across the detailed work, it almost looks like it’s moving, shifting it’s head side to side as if sizing us up. Maybe this visual trick has something to do with the fact that Loki is the god of insanity?
Noticing us staring, I see Alex raise his eyebrows as we take it all in. “I don’t know what you want to do, but I’m going inside.” He pushes the doors open, completely silent despite their size, and the interior is even more impressive, even more so than Vidar’s temple.
It somehow manages to be the perfect combination of brilliant and modest, like a baroque painting in a gilded frame.
The windows I’d seen outside are on every level, the roof vaulted upwards like a cathedral, all the noises in the room being made louder and silent by it, merging into soft background noise.
I can already see several statues in the room, but the most noticeable is the regular-sized one in the center, facing the entrance. Considering his ego, I thought it would’ve been even a little bit bigger. The platform it’s standing on only adds a couple extra feet, but other than that, it’s about the same size as regular Loki.
Regular Loki is nearly my height. Which is kinda funny to me.
The statue is holding something in one hand, and I have to move around the statue to see it. A dagger held upside-down and tucked against his arm to hide it, barely visible, even with the high level of detail that all the statues in this country seem to have.
He’s smiling. Of course he is.
The other hand is extended forwards, palm up and open, as if helping someone up.
It’s ironic.
“What do you think?” A priest jolts me out of the rabbit hole my brain had disappeared into, standing right next to me.
It only takes me a moment to recognize the goði. It’s Unna, just with a slightly different, more masculine appearance. It reminds me of when Alex changes. Her face is just a little different, and her hair might be a bit longer or shorter, but you can still tell it’s Alex, and you can usually tell if it’s a boy day or a girl day if you’ve been paying attention.
There’s something about walking into the temple of the guy you helped re-imprison that’s a bit difficult to get over in a few moments.
It’s big. Hearth observes coldly.
Blitzen just sighs, frowning.
Unna remains silent, looking at each of us in turn. “Is there something any of you would like to say?”
There’s a lot we’d like to say, but we won’t because we don’t want to get executed.
He can tell we’re holding back. Alex silently abandons us, but Unna doesn’t seem to care.
I swear the statue is looking at us. Was it doing that a minute ago?
“Is this regarding the past or the future?”
“ Both. ” Blitzen grits out.
Unna continues staring at us. “Would you like to discuss anything?”
Alex rejoins the conversation at the worst time, sighing dramatically. “Don’t bother asking them, they’re just going to tell you what you already know.”
Unna nods, blank faced. “I figured as much. Is he right?” He turns his attention back to us.
“What?” Blitzen asks, confused.
“Are you simply going to tell me the same story I’ve always heard?”
Alex mouths a word at us, which even I can tell is no. He’s trying to help us.
Hearth shakes his head, Blitz quickly coming up with a new response, however weak it might seem. “We’re not Aesir. We’d tell the story differently.”
He considers it, finally caving with a smile. “I do love stories. Especially ones with a new perspective.”
Blitzen shrugs. “If you always hear it from an Aesir, I’m sure an elf, svartalf, and-” I see him briefly reconsider what he was about to call me, “ a demigod, will tell it much differently.”
Making it common knowledge that I’m an einherji might not go over well here.
Unna claps his hands together excitedly before turning away, gesturing at us. “This way! I know just the place!”