All Ragnarok had broken loose. That was the only possible explanation. Damon had killed one of the frost giants and triggered Ragnarok, the end of the world. It would make sense, too. He was an Elf; the Elves and Giants were enemies in the old legends she'd learned from the Crone when she was a girl. Maybe it hadn't been Damon's intention to start Ragnarok, but one couldn't fight one's dharma.
Denizens of Hel itself screamed out in the dank night air and walked through the darkened streets of a city black as despair. A monolithic structure stood starkly against the moon, but all that came from it were more screams from the damned and dying. The whole scene made the hairs on the back of Karuka's neck stand on end, but not as much as the realization that she was a witness to the end of the world made her heart sink into the pit of her stomach.
An' even th' gods are t' die.
That thought put a new element of terror into the night for her. If the gods themselves had perished or were perishing, she had no one to call out to for power; she'd lost her most effective method of fighting such creatures. She was outmatched here with no hope of redemption.
Everything was coming to its final end.
She didn't notice Damon calling out to follow him, nor did she notice him wander off towards himself, of all people. She was too busy pondering her own situation; a lone, powerless human girl stuck in the middle of the end of the world - Armageddon, Ragnarok, the Kalki Yuga - whatever any culture wanted to call it. All she had was a sturdy staff and a sense of hopelessness trying to overwhelm her typically brassy attitude.
'Tis th' end of the world. Can't fight it. Th' gods themselves haven't th' power t' stop it. Th' gods themselves are dead.
Brown hands gripped shining red wood tightly as this realization finally hit home, and Karuka's head bowed under a sense of crushing despair. The gods themselves were dead and powerless. And with the dead and rotting walking the night and attacking frightened people, it seemed that the true power here was not in the hands of the living, nor of any power that wanted to call itself godly. The night belonged to Death and Death alone.
Chaos reigned as Death's mad jester, dancing on the bodies of Karuka's childhood gods - gods that couldn't even protect the order they'd set up since time immemorial.
"So damn 'em."
The words came out with a vehemence that startled even her. But how often had she been able to pull herself through? How often had her gods really intervened for her? She couldn't recall a single instance.
"So damn them," she said with a sudden clarity drowning out all but the very last of her Irish lilt. "Damn them and let us all die."
Hefting her staff once more, Karuka started walking forward, into the swarm of damned creatures. She was damned. They were damned. They were all damned; it was Ragnarok. And she was going to go down faithless and fighting.
"Let us all die, and the universe with us! Let it turn to ASH, and let it be reborn godless!"
Out of Character:
>>>And even the gods are to die.<<<
>>>It's the end of the world. Can't fight it. The gods themselves haven't the power to fight it. The gods themselves are dead.<<<
"So damn them."