Ch37.1 Lorna: Silver Memories (Scene 1)
10:44, March 1, 2284
Booth 71, Café Aurora, 7F, Helios Hall, No. 12, Aurora Plaza, Öresund District, Lund, Sweden, Nordic Commonwealth Territory
Sigrún sat alone in a corner booth of Café Aurora, fingers tapping nervously against her coffee mug. The café hummed with quiet conversations as she waited for Thorin Høggsson.
Her platinum blonde hair fell past her shoulders, framing pale skin and blue eyes that kept darting toward the entrance. She'd wrapped a gray scarf around her cream blouse, trying to feel less exposed.
But before she could deliver what Harald had entrusted to her, she had to deal with the man sitting across from her.
"So, how much do you need?" Finn Lindberg asked, eyeing her with obvious interest. He wasn't really her classmate—just a dropout with a rich father who gave him enough money to frequent campus Leased Lilies. Normally, Sigrún would never talk to him.
But today, she needed money to survive this semester before she could leave Earth.
Finn leaned forward. "Hey, Ulrich told me your mother was a whore too. That true?"
"Yeah, people paid her for sex. Got a problem with that?" Sigrún shot back, noticing how they looked similar—same pale skin, blond hair, blue eyes. 'Two Nordic stars destined to intertwine,' as classmates always said. The thought made her stomach turn.
"I guess her daughter took after her," Finn smirked. "Anyway, how much for the lease?"
"Just enough to make it through this semester," she replied casually, adjusting her black shoulder bag.
"Hmm." Finn pretended to think. "2000 Atomic Dollars per month. Non-negotiable."
"Too low. Cost of living here is 3000. I'm not stupid." Her finger traced the rim of her coffee cup.
"I thought Professor Omdal was giving you money?" Finn narrowed his eyes.
"My pa... he hasn't called since I left Oslo," she murmured, touching the pendant at her neck. "He paid for tuition, but everything else, I'm on my own."
"Fair enough." Finn pulled out a holo-contract, covering the title with his hand. "3000 Atomic Dollars per month."
"I won't be here forever. I need to save enough to get off Earth when I graduate."
"You better know how to moan in Jǫturmál when we hop in bed, then," Finn laughed, passing her a stylus. "4500 ADs monthly until the end. After classes, you come whenever I call, and we do it HOWEVER I like."
"Deal." Sigrún reached for the stylus, but Finn grabbed her hand.
"Try to tell anyone, or leave Earth before the lease expires..." Finn warned, "and I have ways to make you suffer."
"I understand..." Sigrún lowered her head before looking up with fake confidence. "...min herre [my master]," she added, biting her lip in feigned seduction.
"Now that's a good Lily." Finn grinned, running his fingers through her hair. The touch made her skin crawl.
Ignoring him, Sigrún signed the document and set down the stylus. "I need to meet someone else at 11. Do you mind?"
The contract glowed on the table: 'Leased Lily - Sigrún Fjeld in service to Finn Lindberg: 03/01/2284 to 03/05/2287'
"Fine by me." Finn collected the contract and stood. "Looking forward to our time together."
Sigrún stared at the wall, grateful the booth hid her from other customers.
After Finn left, she sighed deeply, her heart pounding with shame and anxiety. She finished her coffee as tears began falling. One escaped, then another, until she was quietly sobbing.
A few minutes later, the door chimed. Her next appointment had arrived.
The table's communicator beeped. Sigrún pressed the button, and a hologram of a silver-haired man appeared. "It is I, Thorin."
"Please come in," Sigrún said, wiping her tears with a napkin.
The door opened to reveal Thorin Høggsson—an imposing figure with wisdom in his weathered face. His silver-streaked dark hair was swept back, and piercing green eyes scanned the room carefully. He wore traditional robes—brown over white, with a metal belt—that made him look like a sage, though his broad shoulders showed a warrior's strength.
Thorin entered and took Finn's seat. "Are you alright?" he asked in a deep voice.
"I'm fine, Thorin. I just..." Sigrún sighed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a vial of shimmering liquid. She passed it to him. "Pa told me to give this to you."
Thorin examined the vial carefully before looking back at her. "Did Harald tell you about his plan?"
"No?" Sigrún couldn't hide her exhaustion after the past two days.
"So you don't know what's in this vial? Why Harald gave it to you?"
"'Måne kaller på måne.'" Sigrún recited. "That's what he wanted me to tell you."
Thorin nodded, a tense silence growing between them.
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"What do you know about Europa?" he finally asked.
"It's the Nordic Moon. I'm planning to go there after I save enough," Sigrún replied, fixing a strand of hair that had fallen across her face.
"Is that why you signed with Finn? Trading yourself for money to get off-world?" Thorin's eyes narrowed.
Sigrún felt judged. "How did you..."
"Saw him leaving. Only reason he comes here after flunking out." Thorin shook his head, looking out the window.
"Well, it's my right to decide what to do with my body, isn't it?" Sigrún shot back, her face hardening.
"It is," Thorin slumped in his chair. "But if you were my daughter, I'd disown you."
"Good thing that's none of your concern." Sigrún gritted her teeth.
"Europa isn't just where Nordlings settle. It's where Harald keeps his experiments, on the southern pole." Thorin's eyes fixed on her pendant. "That jewel is dangerous. Give it to me."
"What? No." Sigrún clutched her Pendant of Mánagrát protectively.
"Both the Pendant and the vial are part of Harald's plan." Thorin held up the container. "To fight evil with evil, if you will."
"Tell me what they're for, then." Sigrún demanded.
"I will, but first, give me the Pendant. I promise to explain why you shouldn't have it."
"Only if you promise me safe passage off Earth. And a ride to Europa."
Thorin scoffed. "I can't. My organization doesn't have the money."
"Keep the vial, then. The Pendant is mine!" She stood to leave.
Thorin rose quickly, surprisingly fast for his age. "You don't understand what's at stake. That pendant has power beyond your comprehension."
Sigrún backed toward the door, still holding the pendant. "I don't care. It's the last thing my father gave me."
"Because he knew you would guard it with your life," Thorin's eyes seemed to glow. "But did he tell you why?"
A chill ran down Sigrún's spine. "Do you know?"
"The pendant is a fragment. A piece of something from beyond time, but should've stayed buried." Thorin stepped closer. "Your father has been creating things on Europa, and the artifact under Osram is key to his plan."
"And?" Her eyes narrowed.
"The Fenris is not the only Radi-Mon horde known to man. There are many others across the Five Realms and beyond, each with their agenda. One such horde was meant to serve Harald. But complications drove him to create..." he gestured to her amulet. "...that."
"You're lying," Sigrún whispered, uncertainty in her voice.
Thorin shook his head. "Meanwhile, the vial you gave me contains genetic material from his Europa creations. The pendant—if certain conditions are met—allows full control over them." His hand moved to his belt. "He's building an army."
"My father wouldn't—"
"Reveal his plan until it nears fruition." Thorin interrupted, "Harald Omdal. The Archmage of Buskerud. A man who wants to restore the Nordling culture." His eyes fixed on hers. "On his own terms."
The pendant suddenly felt ice-cold against her skin. The blue gem began pulsing with her heartbeat. "So what if he does? Who are you to judge him?"
Thorin's expression softened slightly. "Because I too love our people. His methods would turn us Nordlings against the rest of Five Realms."
"Then tell me. What are his methods? Why must you stop them?"
"I've told you some, and I will told you more. But first—" His hand shot out for the pendant.
Sigrún reacted instinctively, her hands moving in a familiar pattern.
"Corpus meum leve ut pluma!" The Ordovox words came instinctually. The air shimmered with silver-blue light as her body became lighter.
With a step backward, she floated beyond Thorin's reach.
"Sigrún, stop!" Thorin commanded. "The pendant is your prison. It'd only bring you agony."
The jewel pulsed more intensely, sending cold waves through her body. But she wouldn't give it up.
"So long as it glows, I know my pa is alive." Her sapphire eyes watered with tears, she shot back. "Do you know how important it is to me, especially now?"
"Yes. Yes!" Thorin repeated, growing impatient as he paced closer. "It may even be used to defeat the Fenris Horde. Before replacing it with a new threat."
"Scutum Lunaris!" Another spell left her lips, creating a silver barrier between them. Thorin's hand hit it, sending ripples across the energy field.
"You cast just like him," Thorin said, with mixed admiration and dread. "The Archmage's daughter indeed."
"Stay away from me," Sigrún warned, backing toward the exit. "Whatever Pappa's done, whatever you think I am—I don't trust you."
"The Radi-Mons he's breeding, Sigrún," Thorin called as she reached the door. "They can sense the pendant. Sense your blood. They were made for you."
"That's ridiculous. Pappa wouldn't save me from Sven just to have me become like him!" she shot back.
"No. The Fenris Horde is flawed. Harald's creations are different. But wrong in a different way. Radi-Mons shouldn't be man's slaves."
Dizziness swept over Sigrún. Outside, snow fell more heavily, swirling in strange patterns. For a moment, she thought she saw faces in the flurries—inhuman faces with too many eyes.
"You're lying," she whispered, but the pendant grew colder, and she knew something was watching her. Something ancient and hungry had noticed her.
She yanked the door open and ran. Thorin's voice followed her:
"Sigrún! The children of ice won't stop until they find you! Don't let them!"
Sigrún ran, her heart pounding. As she burst into Helios Hall, people moved aside—but not quickly enough. She crashed into someone tall.
"Careful there," a familiar voice said, hands steadying her.
She looked up to see Sven Solheim smiling down at her, his eyes unnaturally blue against his tan skin. The same Sven who would someday become the monstrous Skarn.
"You alright?" he asked, his voice strangely echoing, as if speaking from past and present at once. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Sven..." Sigrún whispered in disbelief.
Behind him, through the windows, the snow wasn't falling naturally anymore—it swirled, forming massive serpentine shapes that writhed against the glass like living things trying to break through.
And in Sven's eyes, she saw something else: a red flicker, tentacles, a future not yet happened.
The pendant burned against her skin. The world began to blur—her father's voice came—
"Sigrún, go! The vial – take it to Thorin. Tell him 'Måne kaller på måne' – Moon calls to moon."
"But Pappa—"
"There's no time, Synne." His eyes flicked to Sven, nearly transformed, then back to her. "The vial. The pendant. Both must survive."
"She could be magnificent, Harald!" Sven's roar shook the windows. "Like I!" His chest split open, showing chitinous plates. "I'll show her what we can become together!"
Two tentacles breached the barrier. Harald strained, silver light blazing from his hands. "Keep both safe. Promise me."
"I...I..." her words failed.
The Pendant of Mánagrát grew cold against her skin, its blue light fading to darkness. Her father... gone?