ic The Ikorni Saga

[Cubismo]

GM

 

The Nine Realms, The Branches of the World Tree 

Góa (March), Sól Hangs Triumphant (Noon)

 

Our saga begins as so many others have began before. There were three young heroes. One was a prince, another a princess,  and the third a faithful friend and mentor. From beyond the realms they would come to the mighty and all-encompassing World Tree Yggdrasil. For what cause you ask? A common one for a saga of young heroism. They intended to find a worthy foe and high adventure in the realm of the gods. But in what you ponder? In a dreki, of course! The great and fearsome winged fire beasts of Norse legend. And so they would travelling upon the rainbow light of the Bifröst and descend upon one of the smaller branches of the World Tree. From there they would begin their perilous journey to the fiery halls and mountains of Muspelheim in search of their blazing quarry. 

 

Or would they? There was no telling what kind of mythical beasts they would find and encounter along their intended path. Perhaps the Norns intend from something far stranger and wilder for this heroic saga... 

 

[Cubismo]

Ms. Thursday

 

"And. Here. We. Are!" Astrid exited the fading corona of the Bifröst's multicolored light and took in her new surroundings. On first glance it seemed as if the Rainbow Bridge had dropped them somewhere in the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest and not a great realm beholden to the gods. Dressed in her rocker chic best, Astrid took another step forward and performed the aged old sniff test on the off-chance that the bridge had accidentally sent her and her companions to the wrong place. The demigoddess took in strong scent of something ancient, earthly, and by this point, quite familiar.

 

"Oh, ja," she said turning to the nearby duo of Leroy and Dio. "Definitely aren't on Earth anymore. We're on the World Tree. Sometimes its hard to know for sure when you end on a part of the tree that doesn't have the cosmos' biggest canopies hanging above you, but the sniff test is always a dead give away. No forest or tree on Earth quite smells like this place."

 

Astrid smiled as she admired the view. It had been way to long since she last got to enjoy the rustic beauty of the World Tree. She and her two travelling companions were standing upon what appeared to be the surface of a wild and untamed forest floor. The timeless wildness was all around and beneath them. From the tall ash trees that seemed  to form an impenetrable wall of packed together greenery to the maze of thick vines that they stood. Even with the sun breaking through the canopy, the forest wasn't as chilly as one would except for a realm devoted to the Norse gods. That probably had something to do with Muspelheim, the Realm of the Fire Giants, only being a few miles away. That not to distant kingdom of literal fire and brimstone loomed in the distance, with puffs of volcanic ash being clearly visibly on horizon even from this distance. 

 

"Welp. Enough gawking for now. Gotta get a move on if we want to reach Muspelheim before the wolves chase Sól out of the sky. Dreki hunting at night doesn't exactly make for decent training. Trust me on that."

 

Astrid was on the verge of blasting off with Porrklubba but stopped herself before summoned the weapon's powers of flight. She was pretty sure Leroy and Dio knew the plan or already, but she supposed it wouldn't hurt to ask before they really started the hunt. "Oh, if you got any more last minute questions about the hunt or the realms feel free to ask. But try ask them while we fly, ja." And with that she was off the ground.

 

[Ari]

Dio craned his neck around to take in the sights, his legs already tensing and wings unfurling as he prepared to leap into flight. "Hey prince, think I could eat all this someday?" With a deep-seated chuckle, the young green dragon seized his and Astrid's mututal charge with his teeth, tossing him lightly onto his back. That and a hop and a swipe of leathery wings, and the two were in the air following the Aesir-blood.

 

"You have been admirably clear so far! We ambush a lone dreki and slay them!" Leroy called above the din of rushing air, squinting to see the volcanic territory steadily inching closer. "Yet there is one thing! will another dreki take vengeance?"

 

"I wouldn't think so." Dio's wings thudded as they beat up and down, carrying the two far above the slowly dwindling canopy. "These are evil creatures of chaos, it might not even be intelligent. Corruptions of the Earth-Binder's children are usually destructive, mindless monsters who eat each other as easily as anything else."

 

Leroy didn't look, or sound, nearly so sure, though he didn't talk for a bit after that, preferring to cling onto the rustling frill of webbed spines running down his friend's neck. In a rare concession to practicality, he wasn't wearing any jewelry, anything flowing and loose, or his hair long. 

[Cubismo]

Ms. Thursday

 

Astrid eyes were on the vast landscape below her, the grand sentinels and splinters of the World Tree rushing past even as she tried to spot some sign of their quarry. Hunting down dreki could be surprisingly difficult despite the fact that fully grown dragons tended to be rather colossal in size. Of course, that had more to do with the World Tree being chop full with hidden glens, deep valleys, and vast caves. Fortunately, Muspelheim tended to have a whole lot less to offer when it came to convenient spots and lairs for dragons to hide in, making it all the easier for Astrid and company to spot them. The only negative trade off between hunting in the World Tree proper and Muspelheim was that one was a fiery hell dimension while the other wasn't. Not that Astrid thought that would be that much of a problem. Leroy and Dio were tough and so was she. So as long as they avoided the flame geysers, sulfur rains and lava slides they'd be fine.

 

The Asgardian was ruminating on when exactly the phenomenon of sulfur rains became a mundane event to her when she heard Leroy and Dio discussing chances of their prey taking revenge against them. "Dio's right. Kind of. Not sure about the metaphysics or whatever, but dreki aren't that sentimental when it comes to people slaying of their kind, " she answered, slowing slightly in the air to get closer to the pair. "They aren't that smart for one. Most of them are dumber than dogs and act more like walking firestorm than animals. They're also super territorial and anti-social. Hel, they'd probably be happy that we got rid of some of the competition."

 

When Astrid was done with her explanation she turned her head to the side to see if that was a good enough of an answer for the two. She was basically their tour guide in a different dimension after all. The least she could do was make sure they weren't completely blindsided by the exotic craziness they would see here. When Astrid spied Leroy looking glum she immediately started talking again. "Don't worry, Leroy," she said cheerful with a reassuring smile. "This is kind of out there, I know, but we are here to show your fuddy-duddy folks that you're a real man. I still think them underestimating you is bull, but if this helps you and brings down the number of mindless fire-breathing monsters on the loose on the World Tree than I call that a win. And they are mindless forces of nature, Leroy. You call trust me on that."