Author's Note

Huge thank you to Shadowmane for his help on this chapter.

6: Sköll

Perhaps in hindsight, Twilight mused she probably should have anticipated just what kind of creature Sköll was. Shadows and mist, that’s one possible way of describing the being who was said to eat the sun.

It had started off simply enough, Twilight and Gilda flying head-on into this dense thick fog. They’d thought nothing of it at the time, the natural climate of the islands often brought upon these fogbanks.

But that’s when the trouble began. As the winds around Twilight and Gilda stopped dead, the air becoming as lifeless and cold as the waters beneath their feet. It lasted a few seconds, before they picked up again, bobbing and weaving through their claws and wings. The howls screeched with a sheer intensity that caused the two to clutch their ears shut, which only prompted the violent weather to throw them off of their feet, into the unknown veil of mist beyond.

Twilight found herself slammed against a cliff-face, and in the mist she swore she thought she saw the head of something canid, two sharp yellow eyes peeking out before this figure vanished back into the fog.

“Gilda?” Twilight called out, using her flames to light a path through the nearly choking cloudbank. “W-Where are you?” she asked, her voice trembling in fear. For the last few weeks, she’d felt Gilda’s presence by her side, a comforting warmth through the dangers of the wilds. Now she was gone, swept away by the howling winds. A bitter, biting cold. That’s what Twilight felt as she flew through the mist, narrowly dodging rocky cragged outcrops.

“So… You are the one who dares to step forth, into my domain?” A voice ruptured the silence around her, sounding almost like a demon from the darkest depths of Helheim. “Be it bravery or foolishness, a mistake nonetheless.”

“Sköll.” Twilight whispered. It could be none other.

“You know of me? Then you surely know what I am to do next.” He remarked, the winds around Twilight turning to invisible blades of ice. “What my destiny is in existence, and the consequences it will have on the world?”

“For just a moment, you defied that destiny. Sól! Remember her?” Twilight called out into the void. “She seemed quite taken with you, for what reason I have yet to learn. But from what she told me, you and her? You defied what you were created to do, sure you chased her but not out of malice. But out of love. Now, I don’t pretend to understand this whole predator-prey fetish you’ve got going on, but why did you…?”

“Destiny is merely for guidance. It is not set in stone, nor will it ever be. Prophecies can be faked. Prophecies can be denied. All that they serve to do is act as a signpost for the story to advance. But not all stories are told the same way now, are they?”

“Hard to argue with Sól herself isn’t it?” Twilight asked. “I spoke to her, actually. Me and Gilda. She loved you. So why did you go back to your old ways? Slaughtering the innocent? Are you really that intent on following the course you’re said to take?”

“No. However, the other gods are so determined to fulfill their roles and fight in Ragnarok. The Götterdämmerung. In a way, I am following their destinies, not my own. I will start their story and close mine off, liberating myself from the chains of destiny.”

“Destiny is merely for guidance. It is not set in stone, nor will it ever be. Prophecies can be faked. Prophecies can be denied,” Twilight replied, the head of Sköll circling around her. It was impossible to see his full form, and Twilight was glad for that. To be perfectly honest, she wasn’t entirely sure if she wanted to see it. It scared her, he scared her. “Did you not say this?”

“I did. And I am denying them the prophecy that I were to perish with Ragnarok. That is what they say, right? That the one who inflicted the war will fade along with the others? Not a chance. When it all comes to an end, me and Sólvwill finally be alone, free of everything. We can and will do everything we have ever wanted to. Together. Forever.”

“You don’t get it do you?” Gilda asked, flying out of the mist and Twilight felt a sense of relief fill her. “When the Götterdämmerung comes, and it will as soon as you eat Sól, Valhalla and all the rest of the realms of the Gods? They will cease to exist. YOU will cease to exist, once Odin slaughters you for killing one of his family.”

“He is but a god held within a mortal shell! I am more than he could ever hope to be!” Skoll roared, the winds throwing Twilight’s body to the ground and shackling her there. “Mortals should never question the gods. Be they good or bad. Seeing as how you wish to challenge my views, perhaps you would like to follow through with some physical resistance?”

“So why did you take to slaughtering mortals,” Twilight questioned holding her ground frightened as she was by Sköll and his power. “Do you really think them that beneath you? Mortals, yes, sometimes they stumble and they’re nowhere near your level but does that give you the right to kill them as you see fit?”

“I didn’t think. And they didn’t either. They KNEW they were beneath me, and yet they blindly continued. What is the saying you humans use? ‘I told you so’ or something?” He asked. “In any case, I didn’t choose to kill them. Instead, they walked into my embrace and accepted my blessing of a chilling end.”

“But… But Fenrir said-”

Sköll broke out into a burst of harsh laughter, high-pitched like the cackle of a hyena. “Fenrir? Fenrir, the fame-wolf? Dear old Hróðvitnir? What did you expect from the son of the God of Mischief?” Sköll laughed. “He lies and deceives like it’s second nature to him. I almost pity you, little lindworm. But you, like so many others before you have fallen for one of his lies and managed to be swayed to his line of thinking. What did he tell you? No, it doesn’t matter. He just wants to turn anyone against his family, all simply because they imprisoned him on that island. He, after all, is the one who will devour Odin in the end. Karma, really.”

“Y’know, you talk a whole lot for a guy who just has the power to control wind and snow. Why don’t ya actually try being intimidating for once?” Gilda scoffed. Twilight growled, she was hoping to actually try and persuade Sköll away from killing them.

“Perhaps you have this whole story of Ragnarok being misled. It shall not be I who brings about the start of the end. It shall be the rift that drives the gods apart once it is revealed that Odin cruelly cast out Fenrir and his siblings that will start Ragnarok. Once the bonds of trust sever, everyone will have their weapons poised at each others’ throats; with every strike rupturing the planet as we know it. You cannot stop this. I cannot stop this. No other mortal or god can stop this. So why wait for it to start?”

“So, that’s all this is? You giving up?” Gilda asked in disbelief. “You basically saying, screw it, why bother at all? I’ll just have to follow the whims of the father? You, with all your power, haven’t even thought of trying to challenge Ragnarok? The story has yet to be set in stone, it’s only just whispers and rumors in the minds of the Gods.” she stated, her eyes once more changing to that silver-gold mixture as she stared down Sköll like… like almost well, a falcon.

“Not rumors. REALITY!” Skoll burst out, the winds force-feeding themselves to Gilda as her body was filled from the inside out with air. “Call it nihilism, call it acceptance, call it whatever you wish, but this chapter will end!”

Gilda was thrown into Twilight, coughing up blood from the sheer force of the blow Sköll had given her.

“I… I tried to reason with you. I tried to talk. I want you to remember that. I tried to reach out, I tried to understand you, but I think that you understand your position perfectly…” Twilight whispered.

“Reason is lost upon a god. And hope is lost upon a mortal who dares to challenge one.”

“And I think you just don't care…” Twilight continued as Sköll went on.

“Your deluded dreams of peace and prosperity are over,” he stated, and Twilight continued to whisper to herself.

“I don't suppose it really matters now. You are a monster. That is the role you seem determined to play.”

“Now, it is time to wake up and face reality!” Sköll roared as needles of ice shot out of the mist and darted towards Twilight even as Gilda called out her name before slipping into unconsciousness.

“So it seems I must play mine. The one who stops the monster.” Twilight stated, before rolling to the left and unleashing a blast of pure hot purple flame. It pierced through the misty veil, but it quickly recovered and spiralled towards her, almost like a miniature tornado.

A wolf’s howl sounded, as more and more yellow eyes sprung out from the winds around Twilight and Gilda. They lunged out at the two of them, projections of a pack striking and thrashing at their prey.

“I am the hunter, and you are the hunter,” Sköll stated simply before Twilight grabbed Gilda in her claws and took flight darting through the icebergs with the pack nipping at their heels. “It all comes down to who hunts better…”

“Is this really how you want your love, the Sun herself, to remember you? As a killer?” Twilight asked, going into a swooping dive after setting Gilda out of sight. She then looped upwards, firing off another blast of flame into the pack scorching them. She then spun like a drill coating herself in a flame that turned from purple to an even brighter shade of pink, ripping through the remainders of the pack.

For just a brief moment, Sköll faltered.

“Twilight Sparkle. I know that she won’t. But why do you have any concern between me and Sól?” he asked. “This is not your fight. It never should have been, you should be far and away from here. For when the twilight of the Gods comes, it will shake the earth and I do not want innocent lives to be lost.”

“Because… Because I want to help where I can. Because I want to shake off the perceptions of my species, a race of killers who only dive down from the mountains and the skies to scorch and burn a town and steal its wealth. Ask yourself this, why is someone who barely remembers her own past trying to help someone who seems determined to play the role of a monster?” Twilight continued, dodging Sköll’s snaps and bites. “Because, simply because you remember your own past, and know what is to come. I know neither in my case.” Twilight stated.

“And what of your friend, Gilda?” Sköll asked.

“She… she is just someone who decided to come along with me, in my journey home. A guide through these lands. She’s been instructing me on how to avoid pissing off the Allfather, and any of his children. I am not a fan of Odin, for how he treated Fenrir. I can imagine neither are you. Your father’s family, tossed into realms they couldn’t possibly comprehend when they were only children and your father chained and bound to an island all because of what the Gods feared they could do. Yes, you’re a monster but only because you choose to be.”

Sköll probably would have spoken, and he had seemed to remove any ideas of hostility as he had been listening to Twilight once more. Sadly, this brief moment of peace was interrupted as a lightning bolt split through the skies and a powerful blow from a hammer struck Sköll. He roared out in pain, cursing in the language of the Gods and all Twilight managed to see before she was swept away by powerful winds was this figure, shrouded in lightning...