Chapter 14

Beneath a Broken Sky

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

Mike let out a sigh of exasperation, then sat back in the old recliner he had pulled over to face Freya/Jack. They had leaned forward, sending waves of frost across their couch and through the air. A thick, magical aura pressed against him, making his danger sense flood his veins with ice.

“Look, there’s something about me you need to accept,” he replied. Off to the side, Holly had taken shelter behind the kitchen counter. Yuki, on the other hand, stood right behind him with a supportive hand on his shoulder. “My magic isn’t elemental in nature, despite the whole lightning thing I do. It was always based on sex and intimacy of some sort. It’s where I draw power from. Anytime I try to pull that strength from somewhere else, well...” He felt a tinge of pain in his right forearm, a reminder of the potential price he could pay. “It doesn’t end well.”

“You expect me ... us to believe that you need to have your dick sucked the whole time you work your magic?” Freya sneered, then crossed her eye to look at Jack. “And what do you think?”

“It sounds suspicious, but...” Jack looked away from Mike, her cheek flushing. “I mean ... if that’s how his magic works...”

“It is.” Yuki stepped around the chair and sat on the arm, one of her tails tickling Mike’s nose. “Look, I’ve been where you are. You’re all anger and impotent rage right now, and it doesn’t help that Jack has a weird ... attraction to Mike.”

“Wait, what?” Mike asked, but Yuki shushed him.

“As I was saying, is it strange? It is. He did something similar to save me, and you are in far worse shape.” Yuki crossed her arms. “So what’s it going to be? We put a lot of work into saving your collective butt, and this is the solution we came up with. Mike has been busting his balls in dreamland learning how to fix you. If you turn us down now, then I’m of a mind to be done with you. We’ll leave you here and try to fix the North Pole without your help. You’ll spend the rest of your days fighting over whose turn it is to wipe your own ass.”

“Language!” Holly protested.

“My apologies.” Yuki looked at Holly, then back at Mike. “Now, in Jack and Freya’s defense, Mike, you probably could have spent time building up to your announcement that you would need to be fu ... having sex with someone while you work your magic.”

“That’s not what I said,” Mike countered.

“You sat in the chair and told her ‘You’re not gonna like this,’” Holly said. “And then followed it up with ‘I need to be constantly aroused in whatever manner necessary while I work on you.’”

Mike winced. The elf wasn’t wrong. He had been going over the plan in his head and had truncated it quite a bit before speaking it aloud. “You’re right. I’m sorry everyone, it’s been a long day, week? However long it’s actually been. Jack, Freya, you know about how a small piece of the women I’ve been with live inside of my head. All that knowledge is there, but I have no direct way to access it while awake. However, I found a work around when I helped Yuki, because Naia can contact me directly in order to help me with sexual activity.”

“Go on.” Freya looked doubtful, but she at least wasn’t shouting at him.

“Anyway, your case is more complicated. Naia knows soul magic, but you’re not just a soul, you’re also a magic being. Now Ratu is a naga who specializes in transferring enchantments and manipulating magic. She also knows a thing or two about divinity. Problem is, she’s not here to see it. That’s where Lily comes in.” He pointed to his eyes. “If she spends enough time concentrating in the Dreamscape, she can see what I do and project a version of it on her skin that Ratu can see. Then Ratu can speak with Naia, who can pass it on to me, but only if I’m doing something sexual to keep her summoned. It will be like having a team of people doing the work and not just some guy who figured out he could do it a few days ago.”

“Which, if we’re being honest,” Yuki interjected, “wouldn’t make a lot of sense. Did you think he would just figure out soul magic after a couple of days in a burst of brilliance? He gets lucky sometimes, but not that lucky.”

Freya and Jack contemplated this for a bit, their soul shifting back and forth as the two sides again fought for dominance.

“It’s not like he’s asking you to be sexual with him.” Holly had come around the corner of the counter. “I’m happy to do it.”

“I might fight you for it,” Yuki said, narrowing her eyes at the elf. When Holly took a step back, the kitsune softened. “Easy, I’m only teasing.”

Holly laughed nervously, then turned her attention to Freya/Jack. “We can even blindfold you or something if you want.”

“Shouldn’t,” Mike replied. “I’ve been informed that having direct eye contact will greatly improve the process. That saying about eyes being the window into the soul has some truth to it, and will make things that much smoother. But we could use one of the blankets from the bed or something to cover up whatever is, well, happening.”

“I am not afraid of sex,” Freya declared.

“Neither am I,” added Jack.

“Please, you’re probably excited about it.” Freya rolled her eye. “I can sense your excitement even now.”

“Ladies.” Mike held up a hand for silence. “Please. If you’re okay with this, I want to get started as soon as possible. I’m about to try untangling and repairing a soul that is thousands of years old. This will take some time.” Ratu and Naia had theorized it could take more than one attempt, but they risked the possibility of doing more damage depending on when he stopped. It made the most sense to power through it in one attempt, and Mike had already chugged a couple cans of soup and had set some water bottles nearby in case he got thirsty.

Freya’s eye snapped toward Mike. “I distrust you. Understand that I go along with this plan only as a means to an end. Should you succeed, I will help you retake the North, but what happens next will be decided by how generous I’m feeling.”

“Stop, you’re embarrassing us.” Jack looked away, giving the goddess a wall-eyed look that almost squeezed a laugh from Mike.

“It’s fine,” he told them. “If my intentions are dishonorable, I’m sure you’ll make sure my world freezes or something.”

Yuki chortled, then pretended to cough, turning away to hide her smile. He was glad someone appreciated his humor.

“Then it is settled.” Freya relaxed in her seat and stared at him. “Fix me, Caretaker.”

“Fix us,” Jack corrected.

Mike opened his coat, revealing that he was naked underneath. Jack appraised his member with an arched brow, her eye snapping back up when Freya called her out on it.

Holly, ever the eager helper, knelt on the floor and, per his instructions, did her best to give him the absolute worst blowjob ever. She used teeth to nibble his foreskin, slapped his cock against his thigh, and even tried to blow into his cock.

What the hell is going on out there? Naia’s presence blossomed in his mind as Holly held his cock like a microphone and blew across the top of it like she was trying to play notes across an empty bottle.

Mike sighed in relief now that the nymph was with him. How is the connection? he asked.

It must be fine, because Lily won’t stop laughing. He heard the mirth in Naia’s voice. Tell her to move on, please.

“Commence Operation: Soul Edge.” Mike groaned when Holly made an honest attempt to take him into her mouth. The plan for now was to have her and Yuki swap out, keeping him aroused and in contact with Naia until he finished fixing Freya and Jack. He would take credit for the idea, but Amymone was the one who had come up with the name for it.

The soul of the goddess appeared before him, and he noticed it was more twisted than ever. Based on what he already knew, he suspected that Freya had officially become the dominant personality, but not enough to gain control of their body. The soul itself was stretched thin in places, under tension and ready to snap.

Shit. This is bad, Naia told him.

Looks that way, he replied. What’s the best way to proceed?

Give Ratu a moment, she’s discussing some ideas with Tink.

Tink wasn’t part of the plan, he said.

You’re right, she wasn’t. But she’s here now and talking about something called a hypercube and tensors. Apparently this soul has some foundation in upper level mathematics that she recognizes, and she wants to help.

Mike smiled at the thought of Tink essentially giving a college lecture. He assumed such an event would conclude in a graph that made a big dick.

You’re getting distracted, lover. Naia’s voice was barely audible, so he looked down at Holly. The elf had pulled up her shirt and was using her breasts to stroke his cock. It took a couple of minutes, but he felt Naia click back into place and then resumed his work.

Manipulating Freya/Jack’s soul began with a cursory inspection, which revealed packets of golden light tangled in the web-like structure. Ratu instructed him to lightly tug at a few places to see what was underneath. At some point, Holly switched places with Yuki, who rubbed his stomach with her hands, then used her claws to tease the sensitive flesh of his thighs.

It felt like nearly an hour had passed before he made his first adjustment, but it was probably only a few minutes. He used his magic like tweezers to pluck at a green and golden thread wrapped around the outside of Freya/Jack’s soul that was stretched like a rubber band, then shifted it around the other side of the construct. Almost immediately, some of the narrow edges of the soul rebounded as if they had been tied down.

The goddess cried out, frost forming around her hands and feet. The temperature in the room dropped, and Yuki pulled as much of Mike’s robe closed as possible.

Ripples cascaded through the soul before him, and it eventually settled. Ratu and Tink consulted for a few more minutes before Naia instructed him to grab a particularly thick thread and untangle the colors within. He broke out in a sweat during the task, his concentration staving off the orgasm that built up inside him as Holly joined Yuki in sucking on opposite sides of his shaft.

When the colors untangled, the soul snapped and flooded the room with residual magic in the form of floating lights that drifted to the floor and snuffed themselves out. Determined, Mike kept at it, making more adjustments. As he continued, he noticed that the density of the soul seemed to increase as gaps filled in with threads of light that had been smothered out of sight. Sometimes Jack or Freya would comment, and he couldn’t help but notice distinctive colors that formed in the soul as a result. The longer he worked, the more he realized that Jack and Freya didn’t comprise the majority of the soul. In fact, there was a tight ball now visible in the center like a dying star. Every thread he manipulated was connected to that glowing golden ball of energy.

That’s a good sign, Naia told him. Ratu says that we’re looking at something akin to what makes her a goddess, or used to, anyway. It should be a lot bigger, apparently.

What does Tink say?

She’s going on about white dwarfs and nuclear fusion. Zel is now talking about astrology. Naia paused. She’s now mad at me for saying astrology instead of astronomy. Give us a minute.

Mike sighed, then turned his attention to his lap. Yuki looked up at him with a grin, his cock firmly planted between her breasts.

“How long have we been doing this?” he asked.

“Are you complaining?” She lowered her chest, allowing the head of his cock to pop free of her boobs. Somehow, she managed to tease the tip of it with her tongue. “The hardest part has been dealing with your magic.”

“How so?”

“We’ve been using it to tell when you’re getting really excited. That usually means it starts jumping all over the place.” Yuki winked at him. “Holly is taking a break out in a snowdrift as a result.”

Mike snorted in amusement. The front door of the cabin opened up and Holly walked in, completely naked. The elf took a swig of hot cocoa, then slammed it down on the counter before swapping out with Yuki again.

“Here.” Yuki helped him drink some water as Holly gave him a handjob. His cock was slick with glittery precum, which the elf rubbed all over her chest.

“Do you think I have the world record for edging?”

“Nope. Time is stopped. Might have the record for most orgasms in a single second, but not edging.”

Mike half expected a snarky response from Jack or Freya, but the goddess was now staring blankly into space. He had no idea what the process felt like from their side, but they were still breathing and their soul was circulating light and magic.

Okay, so here’s what we have. Naia’s voice snapped him back to the task at hand. The consensus is that what we’re looking at is the part of Freya and Jack that used to be an actual goddess. It’s like a dead star, or something of that nature. Ratu has a theory that it could be reignited with enough magic. Once that happens, it’s likely that her soul will be able to fix itself.

So I’m going to jump-start her?

That’s the hope, Naia confessed. Lily agrees, as well. Apparently even the most damaged soul carries with it a memory of what it should look like. The others don’t have anything else to add.

So we need a power surge?

He felt her grin inside of his mind. I think you know what you need to do.

Mike watched Freya/Jack carefully as he explained the plan to the others. The goddess didn’t react, it was almost as if their mind was someplace else entirely. Holly, excited to help him with the process, pushed him back in the recliner and mounted him.

His magic, which had been little more than a background crackle, turned into a full blown sizzle. He didn’t pretend to understand if he had held off multiple orgasms, or maybe it was just the same one over and over, but his magic flooded the room first with sparks, then motes of light that hovered nearby. Holly let out cries of delight as the motes vanished into her skin, then came at least twice before the pressure building up inside Mike finally released.

In that moment, he targeted the core of Freya/Jack’s soul and sent all his energy outward.

The ensuing bolt of sexual lightning rattled the cabin, and the motes of light spun faster and faster around them. Holly was flooded with magic, letting out a final cry of delight before her eyes rolled up in her head and she passed out. The elf lay against him, happily leaking his cum as the core of Freya/Jack’s soul sucked up all the energy he had sent into it. Golden bands of light had formed and were circulating through the core like giant rings.

“Here, I’ve got her.” Yuki casually lifted the elf, who giggled in her sleep. The kitsune disappeared into the bedroom with Holly and returned with a grin on her face. “Poor thing couldn’t handle it is all, she’s fine.”

Mike sighed in relief, and turned his attention back to Freya/Jack’s soul. It occurred to him that the motes of light still hadn’t disappeared, which was strange. Didn’t they usually vanish once he was done?

Freya/Jack’s soul made a sound like a bell, then sent the energy it had absorbed back out into the room. The motes of light turned into balls of lightning that expanded outward, knocking over furniture and pulling cabinets open. It was like the cabin had suddenly come to life and was voicing its displeasure at them.

The goddess let out a cry, both of their voices overlapping with each other. Mike covered his ears, his attention drawn by movement in the kitchen. One of the lightning orbs caught the top of the tree and circled down to where the ornament hung, the mist within swirling as a pair of dark eyes appeared.

“Oh, shit,” he muttered as the tree fell off the counter. The ornament fell as if in slow motion, then shattered on the ground. Dark mist swirled about, eagerly soaking up the ambient magic before crawling inward towards where he and the goddess sat. In the corner of the room, he saw the Ghost of Christmas Past rise from the fog, its child-like face neutral as the mists circled Freya/Jack and moved up to her soul.

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Mike had no idea what this spirit intended, and he sent his own magic out in an attempt to swat it away. The mists casually danced around his feeble attempts, eventually reaching the core of Freya/Jack’s soul. A ball of golden light appeared in Christmas Past’s hand, then streaked across the room like a comet where it buried itself into Freya/Jack’s core.

Her soul exploded outward, like a fractal unraveling. He wrapped his magic protectively around those delicate threads, determined to hold them together them, but it was like trying to hold an umbrella in a hurricane.

At first, he thought her soul was becoming larger, but then he realized that wasn’t the case. He was being pulled into it, his consciousness yanked towards the now fiery core in her center.

Alright, Santa. Let’s see what you have planned for me now. The outside world disappeared as he was sucked into that golden light.

Jack stood on the edge of a cliff, a shattered crown in her hand. Down below, the ocean churned, the corpses of humanoids and monstrous entities scattered among the waves and rocks. A particularly large beast with the head of a whale made passes at the chum, opening its cavernous maw wide to swallow the dead. The sides of its mouth were smooth, but the top of its head was heavily dimpled like a raspberry. Each of the pimply nodes dotting its flesh opened to reveal neon yellow eyes that narrowed in her direction.

She cried out, backing away from the ledge only to crash into somebody. They went down together in a heap, tumbling along a steep slope of grass stained with blood and a black ooze. The dark fluid reflected iridescent patterns that hurt her eyes, and random bits of creatures were strewn across the landscape.

When Jack came to a stop, she stood and turned to face the other person.

“Ow, fuck me.” Mike was on the ground, a busted spear sticking out of his thigh. He grabbed it by the shaft and yanked it free, a shimmering aura appearing around him as the wound closed up. His clothes were stained with blood, grass, and that black fluid.

“What have you done? Where are we?” Jack raised her hand, summoning ribbons of energy that coalesced into floating shards of ice.

“Chill out, Elsa, this isn’t what I had in mind.” He stood, surveying the landscape. “Something else happened in the meatspace and I’m trying to figure out where we are.”

“Mike.” She said his name like a warning, causing his attention to snap onto her.

“Do you sleep?” He did a couple of leg raises, then patted the thigh that had been stabbed. “Because if so, I think this is the Dreamscape. Well, yours, specifically. Mine isn’t so ... disturbing.”

“No, I don’t sleep,” she snapped.

“Well, that was my best guess, and...” he tilted his head as if listening to something. “Interesting. I can almost hear Naia, and she sounds upset. This isn’t the Dreamscape, but something similar.”

“We’re ... in my head?” Jack touched her forehead. Was Mike reading her thoughts?

“In your soul, apparently. Mind and soul are very different.” He looked down at himself and clapped his hands. The stains on his body vanished. “Last thing I remember was my magic overloading and it connected to that damned ornament.”

“Why would that matter?” she asked.

“Ghost of Christmas Past was inside. Last Christmas, technically. Had a small ball of divinity, not sure what that’s about.” He looked back up the hill. “Which, if my memory serves me, means that I’m supposed to be here. There’s something he wants me to see.”

“Who? Santa?” Jack scowled. “Seems like something that dick would do.”

“Right? Dude could have just sent out some emails, would have been way easier.” Mike looked up the hill and tilted his head. “Was he there, before?”

Near the top of the hill, a large man stood, his gaze fixed on the ocean. Thick white hair adorned broad shoulders, and the stranger was shirtless, his back covered in fresh wounds and old scars. The wind picked up, and the man’s white beard billowed away from him.

“Is that Santa?” Mike asked. “What’s he doing here?”

“No, Santa never looked so...” Jack didn’t know how to describe it. The figure on the hill was like a magnet, pulling her toward him. Those thick shoulders rippled with power, and the man’s hands looked as if they could squeeze a confession from iron itself.

“Appealing?” Mike finished. When Jack looked at him, he held up his hands in defense. “Hey, dude looks like a badass. Unless he’s a total butterface, I would easily rate him as an eight out of ten from the back alone.”

“I find nobody appealing,” she spat, and then strode up the hill. Of course, this was a lie. Ever since she had been in Mike’s care, she had found herself easily enamored by him. It hadn’t made any sense, at least not until she learned that he had soul swapped with a nymph. Regardless, there was a presence he carried, one that felt intimately familiar. Freya had chastised her openly for it, but Jack suspected that the goddess might feel the same way.

“I’m literally inside your soul right now,” he said from right behind her. “I can tell when you’re lying. It makes the air taste like mustard.”

“Mustard?” She turned and frowned. “What the hell?”

He shrugged. “Don’t look at me. It’s your soul.”

Shaking her head, she continued back up the hill, slowing to navigate the slippery parts. Above them, the figure stood stoic and motionless, a spear with glowing runes carved into the head clutched tightly in his hands. He was leaning forward on it, using it to support his weight. The remnants of a golden helmet lay at his feet. It had been designed to look like a bird, but one of the wings was missing and the bird’s head was bent backward, folded flat against the helmet’s brow.

“You live.” The figure turned to reveal a heavily scarred face. One eye was nothing more than scar tissue, and tears leaked heavily from the other. “Have you any word of your sister?”

“Sister?” Jack paused, causing Mike to bump into her. She felt a slight jolt of electricity at his touch, her heart briefly surging. “Freya has a sister?”

“No idea, but that’s definitely not Santa,” Mike remarked, moving next to her. “But he’s not part of you, either, in case you’re worried. This is a memory. They feel sticky.”

“Sticky?”

“Yeah, cause it can’t be changed.” He moved closer to the man. “He seems to be waiting for you to say something.”

“What does he want me to say?” She moved next to the stranger and stared out at the horizon. There had once been a fleet of boats there, but now there was naught but shattered timbers.

Wait, how did she know that?

“Any news of my dear Frigga, please, I beg of you. Even if it’s bad.” The man moved toward her and extended a hand to touch her shoulder. Jack flinched away, but was surprised when a golden figure emerged from her body and stepped into the touch. It was a different version of herself, with long hair and vibrant skin. The crown was clutched in her doppelganger’s hand.

“I fear she may have fallen.” The doppelganger bowed her head in reverence. “Both her army and my own now lie in ruin. The invaders could not be stopped and I barely escaped myself.”

“They have taken everything from us but our lives. I fear even those may not be enough to satisfy them.” The man spat at the ground in frustration.

“Odin,” Freya whispered, wiping the tear from his cheek. “We must flee. My sister, she may yet live. If you do not survive this day, you shall never know for sure.”

“My place is here,” he told her, his fingers tangling in her hair and lingering. “That you and the others may have a chance. For if we fall this day, there must be someone else to guide the humans.”

“There’s a chance the invaders will fail,” she replied. “Other plans have been put in action. The gods themselves, they might—”

There was a loud rumble, followed by a crack of thunder that knocked Jack and Mike to the ground. Rolling onto her back, Jack looked down the hill and gasped as the distant clouds parted to reveal the largest tree she had ever seen. Its thick branches were decorated with sparkling star fields, the leaves adorned in gaseous nebulae and star clusters. One branch had been snapped clean off by a being made of twisted shadows that leaned forward to reveal a hideous face that—

The whole world scrambled, and Jack clutched her head, looking away from the entity up above, a being whose body surpassed the stars. Behind her, Mike gagged repeatedly, and she turned to see that blood was leaking from his eyes and nose.

“Mike?” She reached for him, but he swatted her hand away.

“Don’t touch me!” he gasped, the air around him distorting. She could see it now, the magic of Mike Radley, whipping around him like a hungry storm. For a few seconds, she feared that he would burst apart as the air shimmered, but eventually settled.

“Are you ... okay?” She was afraid to move any closer.

Mike sniffed, then spat blood onto the ground. She noticed he kept his gaze away from the giant tree in the distance. “Yeah, I’m fine, it’s just ... for a moment, it felt like I was being pulled apart and my magic ... sorry.”

Odin and Freya seemed troubled by the sight of the hideous face, but weren’t affected otherwise.

“That cursed thing would consume us all,” Odin said with a growl. “A being from outside time and space, capable of bending reality to its will.”

“How are we supposed to battle such a creature?” Freya asked. “Its army shattered our own, drove us out of Alfheim. And for what?”

“To treat the gods as a midnight snack.” Odin spat on the ground. “This is not Ragnarok, there is no glory here. To die at the hands of such a beast is to cease to have ever been, to be wiped from time itself.”

Freya put a hand to her mouth in horror. “Surely that can’t be true.”

“Aye.” Odin touched a spot below his missing eye. “I can feel their absence, yet know nothing of them. Should this beast succeed in its task, then this plane and all of its denizens shall cease to be. Even now, those we have defeated return all the stronger for it.”

The Norse god nodded down the hill, and Jack saw that the glittering black fluid was forming into a pool that thickened around the middle as something tried to come through the other side.

“I should have listened,” Odin whispered. “When the others came to me and warned me of this. For though I am all-seeing, I was still blind to the truth.”

Freya embraced him, holding him tight. “You were not alone in your blindness.”

“But you may yet have a chance.” Odin pushed her away. “Maybe you can catch up with the others?”

She shook her head. “It is too late for that. They are already with the Architect and are safely away.”

“Then you must flee.” Odin turned his gaze on Freya. “Hide yourself, and await our return.”

“And what will you do?” she asked him.

“Those of us who remain will have to be enough.” Odin curled his lip and raised his spear. “For in the beginning, we said let there be light, and it was good.”

The fluid formed into a being that made Jack’s heart race. She couldn’t focus on any part of it as the creature shifted beneath her gaze.

“Until we meet again!” Odin pressed his forehead to Freya’s, then let out a war cry before leaping through the air and bringing the weapon down onto the beast that had formed. All along the hillside, the red blood had turned black and crawled toward the apex, approaching Freya’s feet.

“I take my leave,” Freya spat, throwing her crown down the hillside where it was consumed by the darkness. With fire in her eyes, she turned her gaze to the ocean below the cliff. “But know that I shall return. Father! My fate is in your hands!”

The goddess turned to the cliff and leapt, the memory now crawling in slow motion. A tendril of light connected Freya to Jack, and she was ripped through the air and off the cliff with the goddess.

Mike snagged one of Jack’s outstretched hands, and the three of them fell together toward the crashing waves below. Golden light formed around Jack and Freya as the distance between the two of them shortened until they merged.

When they hit the water, it shattered like glass, each piece reflecting a different memory as she and Mike tumbled through darkness together. They were spiraling out of control now, but Mike kept a tight grip on her wrist.

“It’s your soul!” he shouted over the howling winds. “Nothing in here can hurt you!”

Of that, Jack wasn’t sure. She could feel Freya’s heart weep for her missing sister, for the loss of her brother Freyr. It had all started with a crack in the base of Yggdrasil from which monstrosities poured. The beings had been easy enough for her children to slay at first, but the incursions had steadily become more violent as the beasts multiplied.

The spirits of the dead in her care had been devoured before her eyes, filling her with a boundless wrath. It was the source of her anger, the rage that had been yanked to the surface by the Krampus. It was like the bastard had known exactly how to manipulate her.