Dan has a vision, and sees in his mind the figure of the Voice Within.

Your staff is broken. And with it, my presence will leave you. You are a Cast Out, Dan. And cast out you shall remain, unless you take action.

Seek out Lorehaven. You will know which road to take.

The Voice Within fades, and Dan is left alone in the darkness.

The giant, in trying to lie down on top of Eva and Tamsin, let one mildly important fact slip its dull little brain: giants are neither flexible, nor do that bend against wounds. The gashes Tamsin made with her sword, and its stiff spine, force it to sit down more than lay down, a movement which shakes the ground a bit and probably upsets Tamsin and Eva's grip on its back, but which also fails, in a most spectacular fashion, to crush them.

Fenrir reaches Odin, his jaws snapping, and swallows the gallows god.

Balder arrives in Loki's cave, Sleipnir just beginning to sweat from his long and rapid journey. "Atrus, the all-father desired that I convey his regrets, and the knowledge that while your life could be spared, it is not worth it to allow Loki to reign. This must end, and quickly, so that Loki does not have an advantage from which to take power." Balder draws a sword and approaches Atrus with it. Atrus closes his eyes and waits.

((In that case, Eva made no attempt to leap at the SITTING giant's throat.... ))

Tamsin's grip slips and she hits the ground, rolling to lessen the damage... however, her left ankle gives an unsettling pop and burns with an unhealthy fire (even in this weather). Though it is her practice to keep her mouth shut and teeth clenched, she can't help but give a muted cry.

Eva races around the giant's backside, though the ground shakes under his sitting. She spots Tamsin and skids to a stop, nervously waiting for her to mount up while watching for the giant's hands.

Tamsin makes a pained face as she gets to her feet and makes the nessicary steps to get to Eva, gripping the bone-saddle with strength equal to her pain. She makes it up into the saddle and wordlessly steers Eva back, out of range of the giant's hands.
"Go," she orders simply, determined, holding the sword at a forward-side angle and locking her arms.

Eva lays her ears back and growls, then charges the giant's backside , hurling herself and her rider against the giant's back to give Tamsin's sword some thrust.

Dan senses Balder's presence, but does nothing. His jaw aches, throbbing from the poison. He is suddenly very tired, and feels hollow inside.

Bip glances at Balder, then Atrus, then frantically to Dan. He doesn't understand all of what Balder said, but he can tell from the way Balder holds the sword that he intends to hurt Atrus.

He stands protectively on his friend and master's chest, puffing his fur and arching his back.

He snarls, baring his needlelike teeth.

"Tay WAY!" he growls.

If Balder continues to approach Atrus (as he undoubtably will), Bip will attack.

Tamsin's sword strikes true, and the giant staggers, moaning loudly.

Balder does indeed continue on, ignoring Bip (easy since he's already dead) and grabs Atrus, who does not struggle.

The contrasting smells of stale death and pure life waft through the room. Dan finds himself shaking involuntarily, and then words pour from his mouth, the same voice(s) which confronted Odin in the shop at Tamyr. You would slay an innocent, God of Light and Purity? Prevent Loki from ascending to the throne which is rightfully yours, Baldr son of Othinn? The fig thrown by your brother comes full circle, blind one. Born in darkness, end in darkness!

As the voices reverberate throughout the room, choking darkness like thick fog floods the cave, a veil of utter blackness, completely obscuring sight and sense.

Tamsin rips her sword out as quickly as it was thrust in. She continues to hold it in both hands as if exhausted.

Eva, already smelling a hint of impending death from the giant, carries Tamsin away from him quickly, away from the action.

Bip lunges onto Balder's arm, seizing the god's wrist in his tiny teeth and biting down as hard as he can. He flails his body, scratching at Balder's perfect skin with his nails.

As his furry body twists in the air, small tears fly from his face.

He will not let go. He will not stop attacking. He will protect Atrus with everything he has.

Outside Asgard, Loki's forces take new ground. The battle rages.

Somewhat rudely, Balder ignores Bip. With a calm complacency only the dead could muster under Bip's onslaught, Balder strikes.

Ygdrasil shudders.

Atrus' head wobbles, and then falls off.

There is no more.

Blackness covers everything.
There is no blackness.
White light sears the eyes of all.
There is no light, no eyes.
With a lurch and a thrust the world shakes and dies.
All is stillness.
There is no all.
There is no stillness.
There is only what was, and what is not.

Ragnarock whistles through the air, chattering and singing wildly, but silently.
Ragnarock burns all it sees, freezes all it touches, moves everything and effects nothing.
Ragnarock has come.
Ragnarock left.

Somewhere, in the pantheon of dead gods, Odin looks on and is pleased.
There is no pantheon of dead gods. Odin never was.
To have been, and not to have been. To be, to cease.

The balance clicks into place.

In a cheery, gorgeous valley, tucked away in a land welcoming of all and thriving on the trade of many, is a small town called Tamyr. There are many small shops with every item from every place you can imagine. The sinister things keep to the darkness, and the darkness keeps to its place. It is the crossroads of the worlds, the beginning of journeys, the end of voyages. Those who escaped Ragnarock are welcomed by it.

None truly escape Ragnarock.

OOG: It's been great folks. And now it's been done.