Chapter 0: Genesis
Genesis
Loki - The Trickster and the Archangel Gabriel.
The comet blazed across the heavens. On earth man called it an omen from the Gods. In the land of the Jotunn, the giant Fárbauti courted Laufey. As the lovers slept a star fell from the comet’s tail and its light fell upon the giantess and filled her womb. It wrapped itself around her unborn son and took him for its human form.
Loki was born. He was the eldest of their three children and with powers greater than either of his brothers, Byleistr or Helblindi, could claim. He was both light and darkness and a master of disguise and mischief. He was admired for these qualities amongst the Giants. The Asgar praised or despised him, depending upon how useful he was to their needs.
The Asgar God Odin feared the prophecies foretold about Loki’s children by the Giantess Angriboda and had them bought before him. Hel, Loki’s daughter, he cast down to rule the Underworld. Jörmungandr, the world serpent, he cast into the black sea and Fenrir, the Great Wolf, he bound by magic woven by the dwarves of Svartälfheimr. Loki vowed vengeance and bided his time.
***
When a distant cousin from the lands to the east visited Asgard, Loki became much enamored. Kali walked among the nine worlds with Loki as her guide and she laughed at his stories and exploits finding them admirable for their audacity. The god Balder also found favor with their cousin and Kali seemed pleased by his flattery and fine manners. A great feast in honor of their eastern cousin was held and in the chaotic confusion Loki was not invited. The Trickster God’s anger was fueled by his jealousy of Balder and the banishment of his children by Odin and he set in motion the events that led to Balder’s death.
At Balder’s funeral pyre the goddess Frigg, sent a messenger to Hel, ruler of the underworld to plead for the return of Balder. The daughter of Loki and queen of the dead replied that if all things living and non-living wept for Balder, she would release him form death. Loki disguised himself as a giantess and refused to weep, sealing Balder’s fate and his own as the Asgar Gods turned against their one-time ally.
***
They trapped Loki in a net as he tried to escape in the form of a salmon. Maliciously the Gods changed his son Vali into a wolf and had him kill his twin brother Nari. Loki was bound to a rock with the enchanted entrails of Nari. In an act of final defilement the Gods placed a serpent above Loki and poison dripped from its fangs upon body. Sigyn, Loki’s wife took pity upon the jealous god and eased his pain by collecting the venom that dripped upon his body in a bowl. When it was filled she would turn to empty it and he would suffer. The old beliefs said that when Sigyn emptied the bowl, Loki was left to writhe in pain and that was how earthquakes and landslides were formed.
But the old ways were more oral than written. Even then not always the same tale was told. So who can tell if the one they punished as Loki, was indeed the trickster god. For the star that fell upon the sleeping giantess and blessed her womb contained the grace of the Archangel Gabriel.
Tired of the bickering amongst his angelic family he fell from heaven when God finally cast out Lucifer. The newly created embryo did not reject Gabriel’s grace and it lay dormant deep within the Trickster God’s subconscious.
As Loki, Gabriel could give vent to the anger and frustration felt towards his angelic family. He could punish those humans who displayed the same senseless arrogance and blind obedience of Lucifer and Michael.
One does not spend time immemorial the son of Creation’s first and most powerful dysfunctional family, without picking up a trick or two from ones siblings. Lucifer had long ago shown Gabriel how to clone one’s self from thin air. So, when his actions as Loki finally broke the patience of the Asgar, Gabriel left his clone Loki to suffer and left the lands of the North.
He made his way to India where he wooed Kali for a time before continuing to wander the Earth as The Trickster. In this roll he stayed until the actions of two mortal brothers forced his return to the divine family he had long ago abandoned.
Loki's Daughter.
Helheimr, nestled by the ice realm Niflheimr is shrouded in mist from where cold rivers meet the fires and warmth of Muspelheim. It is timeless. Untouched by the world above or the world beyond. Here Hel reigns supreme. Her mansions are guarded by high walls whose height is lost in the eternal mists of her realm. Her throne room is carved from glacial ice. Her servants administer silent care to the souls who find sanctuary within Hel’s Keep.
Content with her allotted task in the universe she has never sought power beyond her realm. The world turns and Death’s reapers take the dead and always, always, come the souls of the inglorious, the forgotten and the insane to Hel’s realm where she welcomes them with quiet solemnity.
***
Balder walked the hallways of Hel’s keep and his warmth bought steam from all he touched. He did not flinch at this the way he used to, when Loki’s trickery had imprisoned him here instead of letting him walk the halls of Valhalla and enjoy the temptations of Freya and the Valkyrie. For many years he had held Hel as liable as her father. However, in the course of centuries watching this particular Mistress of The Underworld, he had come to realize that she was as much a victim of Loki’s trickery as he. So they existed together in the cordial companionship of fellow prisoners.
Until Kali returned. One evening as he sat down to dine with Hel, another placing was set and a woman of dark skin and clad in a fire red dress sat alongside him to dine. Hel introduced her as a distant cousin from India, Kali, unaware the two had previously met. Kali stayed a week and when she left, Balder followed. Hel did not stop him.
***
In the center of Hel’s most private chambers was a large glacial pool, its water black as a midwinter’s night. It is a mirror into the other realms of the dead. Through this pool Hel could communicate with the other Gods and Goddesses of the Underworld. On occasion they could even trade favors or souls. Hel remained neutral to most of the politics of the divine.
The world turned and more people began to worship the one known only as God. Hel watches as one by one the Pagan Gods and Goddesses faded into human memory. For those content to return into the oblivion of the universe, Death would release the souls of their followers into care of the remaining Gods and Goddesses of the Underworld and in this way many came into Hel’s Keep.
Other Pagan Gods or Goddesses become perversions of their former selves and carnivorous monsters. For these fallen idols, sooner or later, their paths cross with those of the Winchester brothers or other Hunters. Then, there is only silence and the souls of their followers fall into what Christians call Hell. The realm of The Devil, sometimes called Lucifer, The Morning Star and brother of Gabriel, sometimes called Loki.
***
Hel moved slowly around the glacial pool. She longed for news of Balder. It had been too quiet without his presence and it occurred to her that perhaps she cared more for him than she realized. Baron Samedi, boastful as always, ‘podcast’ what was to be a victorious alliance between the older Pagan Gods against Lucifer, whom they thought of as Christian upstart.
Loki suddenly appeared and attempted to dissuade them from fighting Lucifer. Kali confronted him, tricked him then revealed his true identity as the Archangel Gabriel. She killed him with his own sword, or at least thought she had.
Hel walked away from the pool indifferent to the news. She supposed she should feel sorrow but it didn't seem possible that Loki should die so easily. As if to confirm this Hel heard water ripple and turned to see her father stepped out of the pool.
part 2