Ragnarok - Loki and Sigyn

The last moments of Loki and his wife Sigyn before his torture brings about the end of the world. (taken from mythology)

Loki screamed out in the darkness and pulled against his bonds. He was becoming disorientated, his vision was blurring.

“I’m sorry, my love” Sigyn cried as she pushed the shell clumsily back into place. The venom had eaten into his bare chest over time and he was too distracted to heal himself now. The shell nestled in the dip it had created.

She ran her cracked and blistered fingers over his hair, smoothing it away from his clammy face. The skin on them had become infected by the venom as she’d emptied the shell time after time but she made no complaint.

His head lolled back at the respite she’d given him. It wouldn’t be too long before it needed to be emptied again but he took the time to close his eyes and breathe. His chest heaved painful, ragged breaths.

“How long have we been here?” he whispered in a hoarse voice.

Sigyn looked toward the cave entrance. The outside world was moving on without them, the only people they’d seen were the guards outside the cave and that had been years ago. Countless sunrises had passed over since and she’d began to lose track. “I don’t know” She said wearily, resting her head on his stomach.

They stayed like that for a while, listening to the soft slow dripping above them as her fingers played with his.

“Please go.” He begged.

“You know I won’t Loki so please stop asking me.”

He sighed and a silence fell over them both. Eventually, Sigyn felt the shudder and heard him crying softly.

“Please don’t” she said softly, raising her head.

“I don’t understand you.” His voice was strangled and broken. “He’s dead because of me. Look at him.”

He pulled at the bonds that held him to the rock, spilling venom down onto his stomach. The festering guts of their precious son were draped over his body and limbs, clinging cold and wet to him with magic. The cave stank of decay as the remains of the little boy lay at his feet, his blood long since soaked into Sigyn’s dress.

She refused to look at the flesh. Her son was gone and nothing was going to bring him back. Loki was all she had left now.

“You didn’t kill him, Odin did.” she said meeting his eyes. “He’s the one who should be sorry.”

Loki’s face contorted with bitterness. “He will be…” he snarled through gritted teeth. “I’ll butcher him for what he’s done.” He started to tremble with rage, tears running down his face. “I’ll butcher every one of them and when I’m finished, no one will be left in the nine realms save you and my children.”

The ground shook and shifted beneath them and Sigyn looked around in alarm.

“Loki, please… you have to try and calm down.” She warned, placing her hand on his stomach. There was deep rumbling in the distance and Loki knew that he’d been the cause.

He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on his breathing but the bitterness still clung to him. They’d murdered Angrboda in cold blood, taken their daughter and cast her out to live for eternity with the dead, thrown Jormungandr into the sea to wallow alone and they’d chained Fenrir to a rock deep underground to keep him from the world. That had been hard enough to bear but now… now they’d ripped Nari apart in front of him just to teach him a lesson.

When he’d first come here, he’d been trapped. Inconsolable with grief but unable to die from it; forced to relive Nari’s last moments over and over again in his mind. Remembering his screams turning into bubbling chokes, his eyes fading away as they turned him into flesh. He’d told his son to be brave, promised him that he would be saved; the worst lie of all.

Over the years, his raw grief had twisted into something else entirely. A writhing monster; a cold, dark fury in the pit of his stomach. They’d taken his family. Not once, but twice and Thor…. his supposed ‘brother’ in arms had walked away and let them. Too sickened to witness it but too cowardly to stand up to Odin and save the boy.

It had been prophesised long ago that a child of Loki would bring Odin’s reign to an end but that had been a grave mistake. It was Loki himself they should have feared all along. He wouldn’t stop until the world was engulfed in flames for what they’d done to his family. He would hunt Odin down and tear him limb from limb with his bare hands.

Sigyn was speaking but he couldn’t tell what she was saying, his head was pounding too loudly. He was so consumed with rage now, the edges of his vision were burning with fire as he writhed on the rock. The shell must have tipped completely because he suddenly felt a searing pain run down his body. The venom trickled across his skin, etching into it as he screamed out loud, tearing his throat into shreds.

The shell was removed and quickly replaced as Sigyn attempted to mop up the trickle with her blood soaked dress.

“Please Loki” she begged, seeing what was happening now. She knew this was the end. The ground around them had begun to break and fissure and the air was becoming hard to breath.

She jumped up on the rock and straddled him so he would see her. The venom on her dress was burning into her legs now. “I love you” she blurted but he wasn’t listening, he was screaming too loud.

She grabbed his face and held it still, forcing him to make eye contact. “I LOVE YOU” she shouted above the sound of crumbling rock. “I love you Loki!! I love you and I always will. Thank you..”

He looked into her eyes, her face etched amongst the fiery background and for a second he thought they would both be alright. His breathing shallowed, calm settled inside him and everything fell suddenly silent. He loved her and she was here for him. He smiled through tears and opened his mouth to speak but the vision of her simply blew away like dust in the wind.

He felt the blast of energy leave his body like it was tearing it apart and he screamed in agony. His body was coated in a fine mist of red as he felt himself hit the floor hard, knocking the air from his lungs. He rolled over and vomited, his lungs fighting for air as he heaved onto the barren ground.

Disorientated and exhausted he looked around and realised that the cave, the rock, the serpent, his son and his beloved wife had all vanished. There was nothing now; everything for miles had evaporated in the blast. He was lying on an open plain, vapour rising from him as Sigyn’s blood dried on his bare skin. His face twisted as he realised she’d gone. Heaving sobs wracked his body as he mourned her alone in the dark as the stars above him blinked out one by one.

Everything around him fell silent, smothering him like a thick, oppressive blanket until Heimdal’s horn sounded out in the distance, loud and booming in the darkness. Ragnarok…. this was Ragnarok he thought; the end of days.

The ground beneath him began to vibrate with the thuds of thousands of boots. Odin’s army was approaching and in the distance he could just about make out the light they carried with them.

He pushed himself up off the floor and allowed his armour to wrap around him, wiping the tears from his blood smeared face. This was the chance he’d wanted for so many years in that cave. He would plow through the armies of Odin to get to him and then he would destroy the Allfather with his bare hands.

“So it begins…..”