Ragnarok comes Beautifully

It had been cold for some time, rain slicking the dirty and grimy streets of New York, and other cities like wise around the world. It was unusual to say the least, that a world once declared in a crisis state due to “Global Warming”, would suddenly plunge into such a frost-bitten state. The trees with held their joyous blossoms when Spring Time came, and the birds stayed South, though in reports from the South, they claim the birds had all…vanished. It was a baffling mystery, to say the least, that the beautiful world would turn so ugly, for no known reason. It had been that way for three whole years, and now, after such a time, many failed to see the oddity in the world’s climate change. The world, once so divided, now shared one common factor.

Rain, sleat, and snow.

When it rained in Japan, so did the water pour from the sky onto California. When the Saharas were battered with frozen water, so fell the plague onto China, and like countries. No place was different than another…

“Hey, Alexius!” The sound of rain boots stomping through deep puddles resounded through the not so busy New York streets. Barely a ghost of the town it had once been, New York stood all but abandon where it had once been a thriving city. Most people opted to stay indoors these days.

“Hmm…?” Alexius, a senior at the New York Film Academy, which he’d entered for no reason other than the fact that his long time friend, Celi Gish, had enrolled as well, turned to greet his friend.

The only thing he’d failed to over look in his oh-so-brilliant plan to stay close to the bubbly blonde was that she, unlike himself, was over flowing with theatrical talents, where as he had barely a scrape of ability in his entire body, and as such, could not enter on the scholarship on which Celi had. Which was why, as he turned to greet her, he was turning away from his shabby, run down apartment, which barely kept the rain out, and liberally allowed all the heat to escape, and wearing last years jacket.

“Hello Celi.” His greeting was tired and half hearted, as it should have been.

“I was up all night long writing your scene, are you ready to,” he coughed, preparing himself for a dramatic scene, “wow and amaze the teacher, darling?”

Celi laughed, pulling his hand away from his forehead, and nodded.

“I sure am, Alexius.” Patting her hair, which she’d taken meticulous care in curling and managing, she sighed. “I am so ready for this. This could be my big break! I’ve been waiting for this for….years!”

Releasing his arm, she skipped a few paces ahead of him, her black jeans absorbing the water of the puddles she jumped into.

It was times like these that Alexius would look back on fondly in coming months, times he would not want to forget.

Later that night, as Celi and Alexius were walking home, speaking idly of their play, which had gone off without a hitch, they were joined by their friend, Mark. Their conversations shifted between acting, to television, and finally settled on the topic of the current weather, which brought about an odd theory by Mark.

“You think it’s what?” Celi laughed, doubling over and clutching her sides.

Mark sniffed, glaring at the overly-energetic blonde, for whom he had no taste, and answered through clenched teeth, “well Celi I was talking to Alexius, but since you so kindly asked, I’ll tell you.” He straightened his glasses, pushing them farther up on his nose.

“I think it’s global cooling.”

This sent Celi into another burst of laughter, her cheeks tinting pink.

“S-So you’re saying, that first, humans caused big bad global warming and now we’re responsible for global cooling!?” She stifled her laughter, and stood straight, a smile still tugging at her lips as she muttered.

“Man, we humans sure are making a mess of things, eh Alexius?” Nudging the brown haired teen, she blinked, realizing his attention was else where.

“Hey, whatcha lookin’ at Lexi?” Always the first to create a nickname for a friend, Celi had a penchant for finding the one thing a person did not want to be called, and using it whenever she could remember to toss it into a conversation, which, luckily, was rare.

Alexius, however, had not heard her, for at present, his mind was focused on the image of a young woman.

As she walked slowly down the street, a dress of pure white linen clung loosely to her thin frame. Her hair, which was rain slicked and stuck to her shoulders, was a black so dark it seemed made of the night time sky, and her bewitching eyes, hidden behind dark lashes, were the color of the stars in that night time sky. Her skin was dark, a shade of brown that seemed almost golden under the glow of the street lamps. She was, confused and disheveled though she may be, a rare beauty.

“Wow…” breathed Mark as he looked at the girl, “She’s beautiful…You think I have a chance with her?”

Celi snorted, pushing Mark to the side, “As much chance as you had with me when we first met. None with a side order of get lost!”

Ignoring Celi’s rather rude push and remarks, Mark began walking towards the woman, who watched his approach with fearful eyes. She seemed to scan the area, looking for an alley she could dodge into, sending Celi into yet another outburst of laughter.

“Oh my God! She’s terrified!” Celi wiped a tear from her eye, and ran to the woman before Mark could reach her.

“Don’t worry girlie, Mark may look like a serial killer, but I’m pretty sure he couldn’t rip a piece of paper in half if his life depended on it!”

Alexius trudged towards his group of friends, checking his watch idly, noting that they were, by now, at least ten minutes late for their class. Sighing, he stuck his gloved hands back into his pockets, and smiled at the woman, who was looking from Mark to Celi apprehensively. She set her silver eyes on Alexius, and whimpered, whispering a word in a language that none of them under stood.

“I’ll be darned! She doesn’t speak English!” Celi shouted, gaping earnestly.

“No…English?” The woman asked suddenly, drawing everyone’s attention away from Celi, who was busily listing off all the possible languages the woman could have spoken, and back to her.

“That’s right, English…Do you understand?” Alexius asked, for the first time communicating directly with the woman, who simply shook her head and shrugged.

In the back of his mind, Alexius was aware that Celi was still guessing.

“Italian? No….Um…Swedish….Definitely not…Erm…Norse-“

“Norse!” The woman mimicked, looking intently now at Celi, who blinked.

“You speak…Norse?”

“Tala…Norse.” She confirmed, nodding.

Celi pulled out a book of Norse to English words, and everyone sighed. Just like Celi to have the most random book with her for no particular reason. Seeing everyone’s glances, she laughed.

“What? It came in handy!” She flipped through it, and found a page. Then, mustering her best accent, she spoke.

“Eiga staddr dveljask?” She glanced back at Alexius and Mark, translating, “It was as close as I could come to ‘do you have a place to sleep’….What I said was ‘have place stay’…”

The woman shook her head, “Neinn heim…”

“Oh, poor deary! She said she had no home! Well, don’t you worry about that, you can stay with Alexius tonight!"

Alexius gaped, "What! No...no way..."

Celi turned to him and pouted, one of her arms slung over the mysterious woman's wet shoulders. "Ah...c'mon...we can't just leave her outside..."

With much dismay, Alexius finally agreed. Little did he know that he had just entered into the biggest journey of his life.