Chapter VI
In this chapter, there is a reference to the Nordtljós. This is the Norse name for the Northern Lights, or Aurora Borealis. As has been explained by Professor Alv Egeland of the University of Oslo, the first known written description of these auroral displays in Norse Literature was in the handwritten Konungs Skuggsjá (Speculum Regalae or King’s Mirror) in 1200 AD, which described the dancing lights in great detail. In Norse legend, the lights have been associated with the heavenly bridge, Bifrost, which links the earth and Asgard. It was believed that this bridge would collapse into the sea when the Midgard Serpent was loosed at Ragnarok. The Cthulhuvida again presents a slightly different version as well as pre-dating the King’s Mirror by two centuries.
VI. The Catch
Just at that moment, something took Thor’s bait. The giant’s boat jerked, then rocked from side to side. The waves started to foam as if they were being whipped from below. Then the rope went taut. The muscles in Thor’s arms bulged as he began to draw in the line.
Far below, the head of HeavensRiot had struck Great Cthulhu, awakening him from his eldritch slumber. The great Cephalopod snapped at the bait, drawing it near with his many tentacles and swallowing head and anchor whole. Feeling the bite of the hook, he drew back fiercely, trying to free himself.
The two gods held steady for a moment, beads of water springing from the line drawn between them. Then, slowly, with a strange hissing sound, Hymir’s boat began to move across the waters. Thor braced himself against the stern, looped the line over his shoulder and pulled.
Cthulhu had stirred himself from his ocean bed. He was awake, but the stars were not right and there was Pain. He was very familiar with Pain, but never before as a recipient. He raced to escape, as R’lyeh started its premature ascent.
In the boat, Hymir was staring in horror at the sky. There was a distant shrieking as the Nordtljós spread though the fog like a gleam of oil on the waters. They gave a cold, colorless light, like tarnished silver, blotting out the scattering stars.
They were now racing across the waves, drawn by their as-yet unseen catch. Ahead in the distance, Hymir saw a spire rising in the moonlight. “Veorr, I have sailed these seas my entire life and I have never seen that tower before. I don’t know where this monster has taken us.â€
“Just hold tight, my giant friend, and we’ll soon tire this tadpole.†Thor braced his feet against the bottom of the boat and leaned back against the pull of the cord. Beads of sweat were freezing across his shoulders and falling to the deck like hail.
A shudder went through the boat as they scraped something beneath the waves. “Now I have him,†cried Thor. “All I need is somewhere solid to plant my feet and I’ll pull him aboard.â€
Hymir was not comforted by this boast, as he knew that to loose Great Cthulhu from his sunken tomb was to hasten the end of the world they knew. He had no wish to call Ragnarok down upon their heads.
As the land rose beneath them, the waves grew choppier, and the wind howled. They were drawn nearer and nearer to the Monolith rising towards the gibbous moon, as Thor reeled them nearer and nearer to their prey.