Freyja Found Auraline in Muspelheim

Amber mist was a fog across the Barri Wood. The scent of Hawthorn burning wafted the crisp morning air. Freyja had slept in the cliffs watching for the arrival of her Valkyries. She would not give up hope. The distant sound of drums signaled that she was not alone. She wore, but a thin shift, and realized she would soon freeze if she didn’t find her sweaters. A snow moon had swallowed up the night before, the goddess looked forward to an Asgardian celebration.

She sat, alone high in the cliffs under a milky round moon with Valhime. Her Black seemed anxious, her long scaley tail restless along the jagged rock. She had the urge. It had been a while since she had ridden, and now the night was clear with celestial lights to lead the way.

“Yes, let’s ride, Valhine,” she smiled, “maybe to the south we shall venture this night”.

The goddess rose, her bare feet navigating the height of the cliff, and her hands lifting her gown. Climbing from clawed leg, up onto the dragon’s smooth scaley back, Freyja settled herself firmly behind Valhime’s neck. Then without a care, they were lifted away from the mountain at Vanaheim and levitated out over the Sea of Space toward Gymirsgard. Both sighed with pleasure as the gentle darkness eased through them. Freyja could see the lanterns in the distance along the coast and almost hear the music of the hanging chimes which the oriental coastline.

Pressing southward, she spied fires, many of them, not like the festive, ones which burned near the forests in Vanaheim…no, these raged with anger like furnaces! Reading her dragon’s mind, she worried that it was not always this hot.

“Is there a place we can land, my friend? Just to see that the Fire Giants are in control?”
Valhime veered inland and landed easily away from the madness. Freyja slid from her perch and looked around from the hilltop there. There was no one, and yet she felt a demonic presence. Suddenly she heard a blood-curdling scream from within a nearby makeshift hut. They landed on a volcanic plain of sorts…there was no sign of water or plant life, yet still, the fires lit up the desolate land. Freyja knew they were in Muspelheim. Traces of demon and fire giants were apparent.

Freyja’s emerald orbs narrowed as a young red-haired girl ran out of the hut.

“Come! I can help you!” Freyja yelled…and. suddenly the ancient jewels around her neck glowed… the magic of it lured the young girl. “Come! Climb up with me!” Wasting no time…the girl ran to the dragon, clearly without forethought.

Whatever it was she was running from must have been worse than a black dragon and a fiery-haired goddess..! Soon they had escaped the land of burning inferno, the dead and dusty lands to the south. A soothing, mist over the sea and the familiar winks of the moon worked like magic to settle the strange girl’s horror. There would be plenty of time when they returned to Vanaheim to hear her story.