Lunar Schism [Private]

Fen stopped and glanced back at her coldly, but he still said nothing. His ears perked up sensing a portal opening up, and he looked up at Loki shooting Morinth in the back. He was wanting no more interruptions and Loki was one of the last he would want to see. The children were traumatized with the near fight between gods, and the eldest fell to his knees again feeling weak and helpless. Fen walked up to the giant wolf presuming that it was Morinth in a transformed state. When he got near the children, they could see that he was a very large man, and his yellow wolf eye peered down upon them with judgement. His eyes paralyzed the children in fear, which he put his hands over their hearts. After a flash of light with every heart touched, they collapsed in a debilitating crippling pain. They were transforming, and it was not like what it was like before. "I have unbound the wolf within. Either you accept the wolf as yourself and become a Berserker, or you'll fight a losing battle be consumed and be forever a wolf" he told them. The elder was horrified and panicked. "What!? But I want to be human!" he shouted. Fen shook his head. "You said you no longer wanted to be a slave to the moon" he said as he crossed his arms over his chest. "An attitude like that will make the wolf see you as unworthy of partnership. You have five minute before you all with turn into wolves. You'll have until sunset to accept your fate" he said before the eldest roared at him. "You bastard! Why would you do this to a bunch of kids!?" he shouted as he grabbed onto Fen's arm digging his claws into him. Fen kneed the boy in the gut and looked down at him. "I did what you asked. It cannot be undone without maiming your soul" he told him sternly. The eldest looked back seeing that the youngest had already turned into wolf pups. They cried out to the wolf scared and hungry. Fen looked towards the wolf and told her telepathically that the younger someone is, the more likely it was for the wolf to be befriended and merge harmoniously with their host.

Morinth let out a low sigh, making an upward motion with her hand. An invisible energy picked the eldest up, setting him on his feet. "No begging. The Norse learned many things from their gods. Stand, fight, win." She then turned her gaze to Fenrir's retreating back, and she shook her head with a sad and slightly disappointed look on her face. "She watches you, you know. They both do. They watch, to see what you will do." Something rose up in the back of her mind, and she raised her right hand, lighting crackling around it. She could feel a presence, something that was clearly not afraid of Fenrir or herself. Out of nowhere, a burst of energy hit her back, and there was a loud cloud of smoke that enveloped her and the children. "Slow, hm?" Loki's taunting voice echoed around them. "You Celts are so proud. You hold so many titles, and yet... you are the weakest of all, aren't-" The voice halted as a pair of glowing red eyes pierced through the smoke, and there was a dark laugh. "So that's how it is, huh?" The smoke drifted away, revealing a red and black wolf with black mist steaming from its fur. It stood six foot five at the shoulders, and it was turned sideways, using its body to block sight of the children. "Humph. I will leave you alone... for now." The voice faded, the feeling of the god's presence fading along with it.

Jackie listened to her carefully and nodded quickly before she rushed off to Morinth's home. The eldest looked at her uncertain if this was a trick or if she was actually going to help them. "Take us to him! We need to see him!" he shouted. They were taken into the dark forest on the edge of town that seemed to go on forever. Something strange was picked up from the eldest. "Why do I feel like I've been climbing a mountain? We haven't gone up that high have we?" he asked. He had no idea that Fenrir's power was so great that the air pressure could drop to half an atmosphere, which this was his way of being hard to detect by scent as the low pressure drew all the winds towards him and formed an updraft dispersing his scent to the heavens. Having knowledge that his aura behaved like a hurricane made it relatively easy for Morinth to find him; however, finding him was uncertain as the low pressure could be naturally occurring. They noticed the wind at their backs were growing stronger and dust and debris were being kicked up. It stung their exposed skin like it were being sandblasted, and some got choked up and blinded when they looked back. Fenrir knew they were coming, and he was making it clear he did not want to be disturbed. "What on earth? Is that a tornado?" he shouted as he pointed ahead. The little ones coughed and shielded their eyes with one hand and clutched onto their bigger pack mates afraid to be blown away or lost in the disorientating hostile wind. Suddenly the tornado expanded and dilated rapidly ripping the trees from their roots and stripping them of leaves before hurling them for miles. At the center of it all was a colossal wolf the size of mountain staring them down ferociously and baring his teeth at them. He was not happy with Morinth in particular for bringing them to him, but he recognized they were only kids. With that, the winds subsided and the giant wolf dispersed into a cloud vanishing, and at the center of the the destruction was Fen looking at them coldly. The children were all deathly afraid of him, and the eldest was having second thoughts about even speaking about killing him. He fell to his knees and clutched the dirt in the ground. "Please forgive use Lord Fenrir. Please help us! We don't want to be slaves to the moon anymore!" he pleaded. Fen looked at him aloof and crossed his arms as if waiting for a reason. The eldest said nothing more, and Fen turned his back to them walking off.

Morinth looked at them all and she gave out a light sigh, before turning to Jackie, leaning in to whisper to her, "I need you to go to my address. Go into the room with the black door. That is Harrison's room. Inside his bedside table is a small black box that holds a pendant, a dark blue scale on a chain. If I don't return by daybreak tomorrow, run your finger along its edge. Just a single drop of blood should do it." She turned and looked at the eldest, silent for a moment. "You will not engage him. Understand?" She said in a soft but firm tone, her eyes sharpening. "Do not let your beast instigate anything. I can take you to him... but I cannot guarantee that he will show hinself, or even talk if he does."

Jackie looked at the children sympathetically, but she was worried about their parents trying to kill Fenrir. Morinth beat her to the punch however when she mentioned that killing Fenrir would not change anything. "She's right! Killing him might end up making things worse! He might be the only one who could help you" she told them. The kids all sank their heads down low, and the eldest one glared at them. "That should make it more important that we get to him first!" he said. Jackie sighed out in frustration. "Fenrir lost his mate and child! He's in no mood to talk to anyone!" she told them before she looked over at Morinth worried. "What if they transform?" she whispered to her.

Morinth blinked slowly when the little boy piped up, and her first thought was to laugh, but they all looked so... sad and tired, that she swallowed the laugh and let out a soft sigh. "The problem is not Fenrir. Killing him will not make any of you human again. All that will result is the death of those that attacked him. Your out of control, bestial nature is not the fault of who the originator of the werewolf species. No, the way the beast rampages is a curse. A mind trap set upon the first werewolf children by a certain god. This person despised anything to do with Fenrir, and they wanted to do their best to make the god miserable as possible. To taint his name. What better way than to curse those he blessed with the form of a wolf.c

The little one was a bit of a tomboy, but she also outgrew her old clothes. She wore some of the clothes that one of her pack mates had outgrown or had no use for. She hit behind her big brother knowing that this woman was a goddess. The others were caught off guard with clothes materializing on one of their littlest ones, but their leader did not flinch. "No! We must see him now before the evening. We are tired of being slaves to the moon! We are tired of being the pariah of society!" he told her. "Fenrir created werewolves" a little boy said. "Our parents are going to kill him to become human again" the little girl added.

One of the young ones caught her eye, and a little used part of her instincts flared into life, and she gave the diminutive little thing a smile. "Why do you hide yourself under the guise of a different gender, little one?" As the young human slid behind the tallest of the males to hide, she caught a glimpse of a Celtic rune behind the right ear, and she smiled sadly. She let her power gently flow out, and her clothes slowly turned into a long black gown, her hair turning jet black, the markings on her skin glowing a very fainy, soft blue. "It is alright, little one. My name is Morrigan." She looked towards the one who had accidentally bumped into Jackie. "I would not want to bother him right now, children. He is not in the receiving visitors mood."

Jackie was very confused at this little bit of information. "How come I haven't heard of it if humankind made it up? Wouldn't it be common knowledge? Isn't it true that English borrowed many words from the Vikings? I mean where did the story of the big bad wolf come from?" she asked. She was getting more and more intrigued with Fen the more she thought about gods, but that thought was interrupted. "Oh sure! I'll go with you" she said before she cleared her throat. "Hey! You wouldn't be able to teleport there would you? You're a goddess right?" she whispered to her.

Meanwhile a band of ten misfits were wondering down the streets, which they were very young. A couple of them appeared to be worn and dirty while others was more clean and presentable. One of them bumped into Jackie as she walked out of the restaurant, and she gasped looking over at Morinth not sure what to say or do. The others in the group could sense that Morinth was not human, and their leader broke the tension. "We don't mean no trouble...we're looking for Fenrir. Do you know him?" he asked.

Morinth chuckled under her breath as she stood to her feet and stretched her arms high over her head with a yawn. "They are called that by humankind. Told through word of mouth stories through many old Nordic tribes, human kind came to see Fenrir as far more intelligent that the old stories told. When the Brood surfaces, humans decided to call them Fenrir's Brood." She shrugged. "Humans were, and still are, very weird." Morinth closed her eyes, and made a face at the image that came into her mind at those words. "I'm not sure. Even gods' powers evolve, and its been so long since the last time Fenrir surfaced, I'm not sure if he has developed new ones or not. The Shop is in the next town over. Do you want to ride with me, or should I ride with you?"

Jackie listened to Morinth and her conversation on the phone, while she quietly pulled out her phone to check for any text messages or updates on her social media. She stopped and lowered her phone. "the high council?" she asked. She began to wonder to herself. "Well, it won't hurt to try at least" she muttered before she got up and flattened the wrinkles in her dress. "Fenrir's brood? I don't even see any werewolves around him. You make it sound like he's an organized mob boss" she said with a little chuckle at the end. "Do you know what kind of powers this guy has? I know he has a good set of lungs" she joked about his ability to blow over buildings.

"She challenged Fate, and changed it for Many." Morinth said in a low boice before her cell rang. Pulling it out of her back pocket, she answered it in actual Gaelic, her gaze staring off at something unseen as she listened. "I suspected as much. Listen, thank you Garrett. Really, I mean it. I know you are sacrificing much to keep an eye on your older brother. Tell Lucina I said hi, okay? Keep me posted on his movements." Pocketing her cell, she glanced at her watch, mapping out her schedule in her mind. "We can try, but I don't guarantee he will listen, or even show himself. He's on a path of revenge, very laser focused. Those high class werewolves known as Fenrir's Brood are Enforcers of the High Council for a reason. They get it from him. Enforcers are strong, quick-thinking, and have a capacity for rational thought much higher in were form than their cousins."

"Hmmm...sounds like a prankster" Jackie muttered after finishing her maple bar. She thought about how the headstone, and how it would look. She paused for a moment staring at her feeling a lot of pressure put onto her. "Um hmmm, that's going to be tough. I would want to put Greatest Friend, Best Lover, and Perfect mother...or something like that" she said thoughtfully. She snickered to herself. "I would have said that she changed the world" she added before she finished her coffee. "Should we go find Fen and see what he thinks?" she asked. She bit her lip and looked up at her smiling. "I just want to keep bugging him to see if he's alright, you know?"

"All... Loki did was freeze him. If Axle's mind completely shattered, he would be of no use to him. So he pretty much froze him in place." She finished off one of her tarts and sighed. "If we take too long... Loki could completely take over Harrison. By then... the best thing would be to take him out. End the suffering." She looked at her when she asked about Scotland, and she smiled sadly. "There was a statuette of mine in a local museum in Edinburgh. Someone was claiming it kept moving around, and one of the guards even got hurt." Her thoughts were brushed free of negativity when she mentioned Jessica's grave. "I selected a rare black marble for the headstone. I need to let the markers know what needs to be written on it. Thought you could help me with that."

Jackie's thoughts were shifting from Fen to Morinth to Harrison then back to Fen. "So what's the deal with that seal that Harrison put on Axel?" she asked before she took another sip from her latte. "Why did you send him to Scotland?" she asked. She then trailed off and looked back down at the table. "I didn't sleep much either. I had no idea that Jessica was dating a god. I don't even think she knew" she said to herself. She looked up at Morinth and smiled. "Oh, so what did you make to put on her grave?" she asked.

Morinth let out a low sigh, sipping at her coffee. Her thoughts were everywhere, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. She knew Loki would let Axle loose eventually, but if he managed to do that, Harrison would be lost. "Harrison." She muttered, feeling really bad. "I never should have sent him to Scotland." She muttered angrily. She reached up with her left hand, rubbing gently at the back of her head. "Maybe I am reading too much into it. The past twenty four hours have been ridiculous. I didn't get any sleep and I am so stressed."

Jackie nodded really quickly and her grin grew wider from ear to ear. "Yup! When I bite, I'm not going to let go" she said before she took a bite out of her maple bar. Her goal was to try to find Fen someone because she did not want the world to end. She did not know just how powerful Fen was, but from what she read, he could consume the sun and moon. How a human could do that, she thought it may be an exaggeration, but she was not about to ask him to transform into a wolf that size. "Well I would just do nice things for him. I'm not asking you to throw yourself at the guy" she said with a light nervous laugh. She frowned and whimpered. "Hate you? Why does he hate you? You probably did him a favor by reviving Axel...especially if someone contacted him" she said.

Morinth chuckled lightly at the woman's persistence. "You are like a hunting dog with a scent. I have a feeling that you will never let that go." Taking a bite from the four mini tarts that was brought for her, she watched as a finch flew past, chirping out its little song. "I lived through the Ice Age. We all did. Ragnarok, though... It still rankles me that old bastard is trying to force Fenris to fulfill a stupid prophesy. Why does he have to suffer because his father is a colossal fucking dick?!" She muttered before letting out a low sigh, managing a small smile. "I can't just... slide into an empty place like that. He is still grieving and besides, he hates me right now anyway." She practically whispered under her breath, feeling a strange sense of... sadness?

Jackie giggled and waved her hand at her. "I know her. She would want Fen to be happy. If she knew that Fen was as depressed as he is, she would do everything she can. She very persistent that way" she said before she took a sip of her mocha. "I don't find it unethical. I believe its fate. Cupid is shooting arrows at you, but I think he's going to need something a little stronger" she said before she gave her a wink. "That's why the girls call me Cupid's little helper" she joked. She looked at her hand looking at the wound. "What would you rather? Go through an Ice age? or go through Ragnarok?" she asked.

The woman got a stormy look in her eyes, her thoughts turning down a dark path. "He wouldn't dare. He knows everyone dies at Ragnarok, even him." When Jackie smirked and spoke her piece, Morinth managed to look offended at Jackie's words while looking embarrassed beyond fuck that she was so damn perceptive. "No way! He just lost his mate and kid, and besides, Jessica was my client, and until Axle is ground beneath my stiletto heel, I wouldn't even think of fraternizing with my client's other half!" She looked down at her hand when Jackie put her hand over hers, and sighed lightly. "No he doesn't, but.... I cannot afford to not listen. Many, many millennia ago, there was a fight between the Celtic gods and the Norse gods. We called it the Lunar Schism, and it is what caused the last Ice Age."

Jackie scratched her head trying to get her head around what she said and what Odin wanted. "Are you for real? Why would he want to interfere with Fen? Is he trying to start Ragnarok? Tch, I bet that it wasn't Loki who interfered was he?" she said before she trailed off a bit. "Do you think Fen knows?" she asked. The waiter came with the drinks and pasties before he went off to tend to the other customers. Jackie took notice of Morinth's behavior, and she grinned evilly. "You know...I think that he could make a good match for you. You shouldn't be embarrassed about being attracted to the guy" she said as she reached out to touch her hand. "Odin doesn't have power over Celtic deities does he?" she asked.

Morinth let out a low sigh, and looked at Jackie. "Since you have seen all this, I will tell you something. If you see a raven with one eye, call me. That is one of Odin's birds. Probably Muinn. Odin sent a projection of himself to my place last night. Told me to, stay away from the wolf. Old bastard doesn't want anything or anyone connected to Loki to be happy. If I can give Fenrir a bit of friendship in these dark times for him, dammit, I will. Just because I am a Celtic goddess and he is a child of a Norse god, doesn't mean shit." After a moment, she realized how she sounded there for a minute, as she coughed behind a hand, glad for the arrival of her coffee as it allowed her to hide her embarrassment.

Jackie closed her eyes and sighed. "A lot of the girls have similar backgrounds and circumstances. I lived in a super religious family. When my parents found out that I was bisexual, they kicked me out, and I was forced to live with different friends. I almost went into prostitution, but I got hired at Knockers when I turned 18. I got exposed to the supernatural when I met Jessica. At the time I thought her boyfriend was very charming, elegant, and smooth. His true sadistic selfish personality came out, and he became a dictator with her. I've had a boyfriend like that once, and I told her that there were guys who were better than that. She was afraid that whoever she tried to move on to, he would kill them. I was so happy to see that Fen was so good to her" she said before she laughed to herself. "Jessica said that she bribed him with food. A little bit of jerky here, some peanut butter there. I think she didn't realize that maybe it was her. When I was around the two, she was always touching him...giving him those puppy dog eyes and giggling. It was like she worshiped him" she said.

Morinth's hands tightened on top of the table, but she managed a slight smile. "She reminded me of myself is some ways." She looked down at her hands with a frown. "She handled her past better than I did. My parents died when I was young. I was abused when I was sixteen. I move ten different times in a single year when I was twenty one. It wasn't until I met Harrison and he taught me about my powers that I got it together... somewhat. Jessica, though... She was so happy. Being free of Axle seemed to give her a rush of fresh energy. She filled the room with her presence, and I was... relaxed. I can see why her loss affected you so much. It's also easy to see how she calmed that bestial nature of Fenrir's."

Jackie sighed pulling up the menu to her face, but she looked over it at Morinth. "Do you think he'll come back? Should we be worried about an unstable god of destruction?" she asked lowly. She frowned and looked down at her menu. "Well what do you know about him? I don't know what to believe anymore" she asked before she took a sip of water. She saw the waiter and smiled at him with her perfect white teeth. "I'll have a triple mocha latte and maple bar" she told him. The waiter wrote down their orders and left them to themselves. Jackie looked up at Morinth and giggled. "You know, you remind me a little of Jessica. I can tell by the way you work. Very ambitious and calculative" she said thoughtfully.