Prologue - 1
After Magnus Chase consecrated the grounds of Lyngvi in the name of Frey, constraining the Fenris wolf with a new pair of Gleipnir, the enemies of Asgard grew restless as their soon-to-come prosperity had been delayed by a puny mortal demigod. As a result, their attacks grew more aggressive and daring as they ventured deeper into their usual strike zone. More fire giants attacked Midgard and other worlds, infesting peaceful places like Vanaheim and battling the Vanir gods and goddesses continuously.
No doubt under the stupid commands of Surt and his fiery temper.
Of course. The gods always had Thor's hammer to rely on whenever they needed to instill fear into the giants. When used by a powerful god like Thor or Tyr, that hammer can rain down mountains as easily as Freya goes through her arsenal of accessories. Even though it is still missing - though Thor made it very clear that it was not missing officially-, the very essence of Mjonir can still be used to leverage the giants' weaknesses to their advantage.
But tensions were arising. Thor had not yielded his hammer for a long time. And the giants were getting bolder everytime they launched at attack. The number of their frontal assaults had increased exponentially over the course of three weeks. The thunder god himself was beginning to show disturbing signs of being overrun by the influx of angry fire giants, which, to Odin's concern, strengthened the rumors, lies, and trickeries that fueled the giants' motivation to stay aggressive. It was almost as if they believed that striking up more attacks will actually hasten ragnarok and kill the gods and goddesses in advance, give or take decades.
Which, under Odin's perspective, did not seem quite far-off the course.
Ice giants harassed the light elves of Alfheim as the realm's light did not affect them as much as it did to the children of Muspellheim. Their hardened, permafrost shells were capable of withstanding heavy curtains of nature magic that surrounded the realm of the light elves. However, the All-Father was not concerned. After all, Alfheim was powerful in its own way. The advent of futuristic technology had given birth to a new arsenal of weaponries and gears. It was true that the majority of the light elves abandoned their practice of rune magic centuries ago. However, with Mr. Alderman's security forces patrolling around the world of eternal sunlight, it was unlikely that the giants will be able to overrun Alfheim as quickly as they did other territories.
The attacks went on, with some of the ogres even expanding their base camps to the very outskirts of Nifleheim. Gradually, their forces were dangerously closing in on Helheim, where the goddess Hel resided in her frozen palace of eternal winter.
Odin shuddered.
Hel was no normal goddess. She was born as the youngest child between the god Loki and the giantess Angroboda. One might just assume that since the three siblings' bloodline is not godly, they would be inferior to the gods of Asgard in terms of their magical prowess. However, with the Fenris wolf biting off Tyr's hand and Jormungandr fated to battle the thunder god Thor during ragnarok, one can never be sure how powerful these three siblings might turn out to be.
Her ways were always mysterious. She did not show how formidable she can be, thus she never did anything remarkably worthwhile that would gain the gods' attention. All she did was gift Odin with his two ravens: Huginn and Muninn, and serve as the judge of the dishonorably slain.
Other than the fact that she had Baldur in her chambers, nothing about Hel emanated an open sense of danger or hostility. However, it was something about her presence that unnerved Odin everytime he came face to face with the death goddess. Her calm demeanor seemed to be hiding a much powerful persona, the one who would wreak devastating havoc if she were to run rampant among the Nine Worlds.
With this in mind, Odin always considered the undead goddess of the Underworld as the most dangerous out of the three. And that seemed to eliminate his concern for the goddess. He had a feeling that she can just as easily deal with those ogres as he would an instant coffee mix.
All these, with Loki gone uncharacteriscally quiet over the course of 4 months, caused Odin to strike up a meeting with Mimir for the first time since forever. He wanted to garner counter measures to ensure safety over the Nine Worlds, and he wanted Mimir's thoughts and ideas over this matter. Even though Odin was the god of knowledge himself, Mimir always seemed to have a different perspective; a breath of fresh air born from the Capo's strict objectivity.
So, after the final lesson of the rune magic where he taught the light elf Hearthstone, Odin asked his apprentice to lead him to Mimir's location. At first the elf seemed flustered, since he was relieved of his services to the Capo thanks to Odin himself. However, upon telling the elf that it concerned grave matters that involved the safety of all nine realms of Yggdrasil, Hearthstone seemed to understand.
Odin kind of wished he had his personal Valkyrie agent with him. Samirah al-Abbas had proven herself as a worthy hero despite her controversial lineage as Loki's daughter. She had helped the dwarf Blitzen to win the life-and-death contest against the Junior, earning a new pair of Gleipnir, and fought the Fenris wolf herself in order to buy time for the son of Frey to rebind that monstrosity. It took the lives of three good Valkyries that served the All-Father for decades under unrelenting loyalty. However, against all odds, the mission was a success.
He had to admit. Her heroic deeds made him rethink about his impression towards the children of Loki. After a millenia of gaining wisdom, knowledge.. insight, he was surprised a mortal could still widen his range of perception.
However, Odin had recently given her a challenging mission revolving around the giants in Jotunheim, a scout mission that required her to size up the giants' forces and their base locations. He heard that Magnus Chase had crossed paths with Utgard-Loki, which, hopefully, will lessen the amount of dangers his Valkyrie will have to face during her journey.
Odin was driven out of his reverie as Hearthstone coughed in front of him awkwardly, clearly trying to gain his attention.
Lord Odin. Hearthstone signed. The Capo usually resides within the realm of Midgard. There is a hideout that he frequently uses in Boston. My friend Magnus and Blitzen had been there once, and it is most likely that Lord Mimir will be there now.
After years of their faithful service, Mimir had given both Hearthstone and Blitzen an eternal free pass to his secret hideout in Boston. The severed head had stressed that the hideout was heavily equipped with an arsenal of modern entertainment, ranging from a karoke machine to a blissful collection of the latest Playstation 4 consoles.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Odin asked good-naturedly, giving Hearthstone a sideway smile. "We better get going, my elf."
I can contact the hotel staffs for the transportation. Hearthstone signed. It will only take a few minutes for them to arrive. Maybe then I can arrange a portal or..
"You have an All-Father by your side." Odin said, "you don't have to have a few minutes."
Then, with a flick of his wrist, Odin teleported both him and Hearthstone to Mimir's hideout in Boston. It was night, with the streets quiet and the lights turned off. The air felt refreshingly cool, like he'd just been through a hot, steaming shower and walked into an air-conditioned room.
Hearthstone literally gagged as he looked around and found himself in Midgard. Of course, most rune magicians will have to give their full concentration in opening just one portal that connects their current locations to the ethereal realm of the World Tree. Only then can they navigate their way through the branches that would hopefully lead them to their desired destination. With a little bit of unlucky, one might encounter Ratatosk, or Nidhogg, or.. Odin shivered at the thought of meeting those both simultaneously.
Anyway, that was how the standard teleportation magic worked. However, with Odin, things worked a little out-of-the-rules.
Lord Odin.. how? He managed to sign, which earned him a lopsided grin from the All-Father.
"Teleporting through Yggdrasil? That is easy. As for the location.. I am very good with minds, Mr. Hearthstone. I do not need to be the master of rune magic to see your memories, your mental portrayals of Mimir's hideout." Odin said, earning a look of pure admiration from the light elf. "Perhaps someday, when your mind becomes adequately attuned to the runes, I will teach you how to read other people's minds. Believe me, it is not difficult. You'll probably learn the trick yourself during the many future adventures to come.."
He was interrupted by a whooping sound that came from the dilapidated building that was supposedly Mimir's secret hiding place.
That was my friend, Blitzen. Hearthstone signed. I think he is playing one of those Playstation games that the Capo had bought him.
"More the merrier." Odin said lightly. "Let's meet my oldest friend for the first time in, well, forever!"
Odin had witnessed cleaner ogre caves than the stinking mess that was Mimir's secret hideout. Books were thrown in pretty much every corners of the room. The sticky yellow goo that might have once been a pudding decorated the floor between the array of game CDs and magazines. The karoke, or a damanged piece of rusted metal that might have once been a karoke machine, looked more like a molten chair than the machine that you were suppposed to sing to. Innumerable toothbrushes were found in the far left corner, creating an alien landscape that might have hosted a colony of ants from Nidavellir.
The smell wasn't much better either. A strange mix of a thousand espressos, banana lattes, and the city sewers pierced Odin's nostrils sharper than his spear Gungnir. Apparently, the smell affected the elf too. Hearthstone was fiddling with his hands as if to choose between saving his eyes or his nose, which sent a sudden urge for the All-Father to destroy this hideout and replace it with a garden from Folkvanger.
In the center of the room sat the dwarf Blitzen and the Capo, playing Naughty Dog's latest release for the Uncharted franchise. They seemed fairly immune to the general atmosphere of this place, which, to Odin's admiration, meant that they would probably survive sharing a bed with Thor and his unstoppable farts. Apparently, they were so busy firing an RPG at their imaginary enemies that they did not notice the new arrival. When the light elf coughed and waved, the two finally noticed Odin was standing on their doorway.
Which wasn't taken as good news at all.
The dwarf seemed to do a double-take as he eyed Odin's face. He looked like he was about to choke back a sob while at the same time trying to give his best hearty laugh. While Mimir was giving Odin an up-down eye, as if to authenticate the All-Father's essence, Blitzen the dwarf finally settled with laughing nervously.
"Not funny, Magnus." The dwarf said. "I don't know how you pulled it off. But if you're angry at me for not inviting you to our secret Playstation nights.."
Blitz, Hearth signed. The All-Father is real. He came with me to discuss important matters with the Capo.
"Lord Odin?" Blitzen stood up abruptly, which made little to no difference to his general height. "I.. ah.. I'm very surprised you would visit a stinking hole like this! This is no place for a god as mighty and noble as.."
Blitzen was interrupted by a hearty laugh from the All-Father, though something in his laugh told Blitzen that the All-Father agreed with the 'stinking hole' part.
"At ease, my dwarf friend." He said, giving the dwarf his best wink. "I come for my old friend Mimir. As Mr. Hearthstone has mentioned, important matters must be discussed regarding the safety of the Nine Worlds."
Usually, when you have the Lord of the Universe speaking about the safety of the Nine Worlds, it usually meant issues regarding the R-Day. Blitzen, picking up the hints that his elf friend was ferociously sending him, seemed to understand the gravity of the All-Father's visit. His surprise quickly morphed into a solemn expression as he began to pick up the fallen books, no longer interested in continuing his fervent Playstation momemtum. Whether he forgot it or not, the imaginary enemies had just killed Blitzen's character on the screen.
That scene was rather brutal.
"And I suppose this meeting is.. classified?" Mimir said in a raspy voice. Had he been gargling in river waters recently?
"Yes. And if you don't mind, I intend to go.. there."
Mimir seeemd to understand. His head vibrated upwards as if to give his best severed-head nod, though you can never tell with a bodyless god. Assuming that was an affirmative, Odin smiled as he channeled through the powers of the void in order to induce another teleporation magic. If he wanted a private audience with the god of wisdom himself, then the only suitable place for the meeting would be where the severed head was at his strongest.
That, ironically, was exactly the same place where Odin had lost his eye.
"Mimisbrunnr." Odin muttered. "I haven't visited that well for a very long time."
"Nor were you planning to." Mimir replied, his expression just as serious as Hearthstone's trying to clean the monster puddings on the floor. "I sense something amiss. You've got that I-am-planning-something-drastic look."
Odin blinked. "I don't have an I-am-planning-something-drastic-look."
Before Mimir opened his mouth to answer, a blinding shell of pure white light cocooned the two gods and teleported them straight into the planes of Ginnungagap. Without even leaving a trace that they ever existed, the secret hideout was left with a sudden influx of interminable silence. Odin's magic was a clean shot. Not a single speck of his residual rune magic lingered around, which, to Hearthstone's surprise, meant that his mastery over the runes were far beyond his comprehension than the elf initially thought.
Just how powerful can the All-Father prove himself to be? Can he, judging from the extravagant stories Hearth was told, recode the very reality itself as easily as he does other rune magic?
Hearth was about to indulge himself an additional round of Odin-Fanboying when his dwarf friend cleared his throat. When the elf eyed him, Blitzen had a nervous expression woven from his dwarvish worry lines that made him look much older than he actually was.
"Why would the All-Father risk coming back to the place where he lost his right eye?" He asked, "that's probably not a good sign. Is it?"
I think, Blitz, Hearthstone signed. Something massive is going to happen. Mimir and Odin.. those two had not convened a proper meeting since time everlasting. But today, the All-Father decided to come to Midgard himself to meet with the Capo. Today, the All-Father used his teleportation magic publicly, twice if you count climbing down the Bifrost.
"Something's gonna start." Blitzen concluded, earning him a weary look from his elvish friend. "Something bad. Something that might hasten the R-Day a lot faster than Fenrir, or Surt, in that matter."
If it hasn't already. Hearth signed.
"If it hasn't already.." Blitz repeated, as if pondering over what those words really meant on the inside. "If it hasn't already..."
They continued to clean the room in silence, waiting for the return of the two most powerful gods of the Norse pantheon.
To be continued!