Destroying My Own Novel

“Is there a reason why you gathered us here?” Freyja asked as she sat at the table with Loki and the others.

“I want to know when are you going to make Thor the new head of the Chariot Arcana,” Mykel asked as he smoked his cigarette and sat on top of the table in front of Aphrodite.

“It’s not that simple, and he hasn’t met the requirements to become a head of the Major Arcana,” Freyja answered as she sighed. “The first thing he needs to do is to gain authority level at least up to level 2 before he can be a candidate,”

“That won’t be a problem, I have at least sixty Recipients and I can share some of them with him. It would be a blink of an eye before he realized he got up to level 2,” Mykel replied. “What else?” Mykel asked.

Hera stood up and walked around the table as she stared down at the floor. She then stood right in front of Mykel and slowly put her hands on his chest.

“The Chariot Arcana members already have someone to replace Odin’s position. If there’s more than fifty percent that voted for it, the candidate will be the new head without our votes,” Hera said as she stared Mykel in the eye.

“Who is it? The new candidate?” Mykel asked.

“Candidates, not candidate,” Loki said as he rested his head on his right fist and stared at Mykel. “Skadi and Poseidon,”

Mykel raised his eyebrows and was a bit surprised when he heard Skadi’s name. Although Skadi wasn’t a benevolent Goddess, what Loki did to please her in Norse mythology would be a good opportunity to befriend her.

“What are the chances of Skadi getting the position?” Mykel asked.

“Seeing by how little the Gods from the north compared to the south. Maybe less than Poseidon,” Loki answered. “Are you thinking of making her the new head? What about Thor?”

“Hold on a minute, Mykel,” Hera said as she put her hands on Mykel’s face as she gently made him look at her. “Poseidon can become our ally too, so why would you prefer Skadi over him?” Hera asked with her eyebrows furrowed.

Ares, Aphrodite, Athena, Dionysus, and the other Greek Gods stared at Mykel curiously.

“Before you can give me a reason why I should reconsider choosing Poseidon over Skadi, let me give my insight about him,” Mykel said as he crossed his arms.

“Poseidon has unstable emotions that often resulted in violence, and that’s not a good sign for becoming a leader. His greed, envy, and competitive side toward Zeus has been proven that he’s short-sighted and a big failure in my eyes. Not only toward Zeus, but toward a lot of the Gods, including Athena which he tried to take Athens from her,” Mykel answered as she stared Hera in the eye without averting his gaze.

“Wasn’t he the one that failed you to seek revenge over Zeus? Wasn’t he the one who tried to beat his own brother just to pursue his ego? He’s basically the bad version of Zeus, he lacks in everything,” Mykel explained as he looked them in the eye. “Having Poseidon sit on the Heptagon would only boast his ego, and who knows what will he do with that power,”

Hera couldn’t deny it, and neither the rest of them.

“Don’t make the same mistake just because he’s someone close to you. Just because you’re close to him, doesn’t mean you know everything about him. Everyone can change, even Zeus was easily moved by Hades’ motive,” Mykel continued. “Just imagine what will Nyx do once Poseidon sat on the Heptagon. Do you think she won’t make a move on him? After all, she knows about the conflict between you the Olympians,”

“But what about Skadi? We know nothing about her, and you can’t guarantee that she wouldn’t do that either, right?” Hera asked.

“I don’t, but if she decided to do that, it would be easier for me to handle it rather than having to fight Zeus and the rest Olympians that would help him protect Poseidon, because Skadi doesn’t have anyone that would have her back to protect her,” Mykel answered. “Loki is close to Skadi and it would be easier to keep her on the right path. Now, what about you? Do you think you can make Poseidon listen to you?”

Hera showed a bit of dissatisfaction on her face, but then Mykel grabbed Hera’s cheeks gently.

“This is for the best, for all of us. I’m not showing any favor toward anyone here, and I’m not trying to dismiss your opinion. Just for this one, I want you to agree with me, and if I made a mistake, I will take all the responsibility for it and you can hate me or be angry at me for not listening to you,” Mykel said calmly with his eyebrows raised.

Hera smiled a bit as she shook her head. “I understand,” Hera said as she nodded her head.

“How about we all go and pay a visit? I believe Hera and the others are curious about her. It’s right to see her in person and judge what kind of person Skadi is,” Mykel said to Loki.

“Of course!” Loki said with a smile as he stood up, he then snapped his fingers and a portal opened.

They entered the portal and went to Loki’s palace in Jotunheim. Skadi lived on top of the icy mountain where the snow couldn’t melt. It was said that the place she lived in was a dreary place that there was nothing but snow.

Loki guided them to the mountain, and it was colder than Niflheim. Hera and the other Olympian Gods shivered because of the chill wind.

“Does she really live in this kind of place?” Aphrodite asked Loki and Freyja.

“Yes, and unlike us, she doesn’t have a palace or a place to sleep. The whole mountain is her home, and she could sleep wherever she wants. She’s a loner,” Freyja answered as she looked at the cliffs made of ice around her.

“What kind of person is she?” Dionysus asked.

“She’s the bravest person I know. She’s harsh and cold, but she’s actually kind,” Freyja answered. “She traveled all the way up to Asgard on her own to seek revenge because Thor killed her father. Her bravery impressed us, the Aesir that we allowed her to join us in exchange for abandoning her blood feud as Jotun,” Freyja continued.

“Basically, Skadi and Loki are the same, they both were brought and accepted by the Aesir to live in Asgard by them,” Mykel said as he walked right next to Loki.

“She sought revenge, but why did she decide to join?” Hera asked.

“Ask Loki for that,” Freyja started to chuckle softly.

Hera and the others furrowed their eyebrows with confused looks on their faces. Loki on the other hand sighed and appeared not to want to talk about it. Mykel looked at Loki and smirked with his eyebrows raised.

“The point is that she wanted us to make her laugh in exchange for not killing Thor. I did make her laugh, that’s all I can say,” Loki said.

Loki looked up and hummed as he stopped walking. Everyone looked up and saw what Loki was seeing. A giant woman with bright brown hair and blueish pale skin with blue face paint. She was around fifteen feet or 5 meters tall, stood on higher ground, and wore armor made of crystal as white as the ice stared at them.

Giant wolves surrounded her as they wiggled their tails and stared at her with admiration. She was holding a blue bow that was made of crystal as well.

“That’s her, Skadi, the Goddess of Winter. My beloved friend,” Freyja said.

Skadi walked down and started sliding down the steep ground. The wolves were following her from behind with excitement and started howling, and then she stopped right in front of Freyja as she put her bow on her back.

“It’s been a while, Freyja,” Skadi said in her low voice.

“Wow, she sounds manlier than you are, Loki,” Hera said.

Skadi glanced at Hera and she started smirking. She then looked at Loki with her eyebrows raised, then looked at his crotch.

“How were your testicles, Loki?” Skadi asked as she chuckled.

“Stop, it was hundreds of years ago, and yes, they’re fine,” Loki answered.