Interlude: Enigma of Primordials
A/N: think of this as in the style of the intros for Thor and Thor: The Dark World. Very possibly my fav chapter to write thus far, and the information here is crucial for the rest of the story, so read. And yes, I posted it a week before my schedule, but I'm impatient and I felt bad leaving you on a cliffhanger with Thor starting to tell this, more on the last little sentence there in future chapters.
Odin is actually pretty good at telling accurate bedtime stories.
"Eons Ago, before my father, or his father before him, or any of our ancestors ruled Asgard, there were two primordials. There was simply Life, and there was Death. Life, wanting to expand, caused the Big Bang, the creation of the universe as we know it. Life dissipated, splitting its power into six parts. Those six parts gravitate towards each other, and away from the rest. They are known as the infinity stones, the ultimate control of the powers of life. If they are ever joined, they could grant the wielder the power of life, and ultimate control of it. However, as life was a primordial being, it wasn't like us, not like any race. But it was still sentient, and so are the stones. Its wielder's purpose determines their power, and one must hold their loyalty to have the ultimate power. These stones are scattered around the universe, some hidden, some used. Some give their loyalties, some do not. But to wield them forcibly is a gargantuan task, and requires great power and force of will. Infinity Stones, the ones with control of Power, Time, Mind, Soul, Space, and Reality. The forces of life.
But then there is Death. Death is a primordial being, but it is different from Life. For all they are complete opposites, they are not quite that. Death, death did not dissipate. Death did not split its power, infused its force into the universe to create beings, every single one, ever, infused with the power of life, as you and I. Death stayed, and death may be the one true immortal, but not even so. But death is also limited. For all death is an ultimate power and a primordial like Life, Death cannot control the entire universe. They are balanced out by each other, for there can be no light without darkness and no darkness without light. Death cannot influence the world directly, so death created its own artifacts. They are like the infinity stones, yet different.
One is a simple stick, a branch of an elder tree, the first elder tree, created by the conjoined forces of Life and Death before Life split. The simple stick has no power of its own, but the elder stick can alter and amplify any power of its user. It is an Artifact of Death because it has the power, too, with a simple wish, a command from its wielder, to cause the death of any. Any but its rightful master, Death. The stick chooses its loyalties, but it will obey any who wield it, though its true loyalty is near impossible to gain, for only one with the mark of death can do so.
The second one is but a simple stone, picked up by death from the riverside. It is known to none but Death itself from which river, or which stone. But the stone has the power to bend the power of death, for its wielder to commune with those who have passed on, no matter who they be or where they are. The stone, its loyalty is the easiest to gain, for it will not show itself to any but those it deems worthy of its usage, those that have, with their own might, sent others into the arms of Death. The stone was lost, for all there are many who could use it, finding it is still a quest for even the mightiest warrior. But its power is addictive, and it was hidden long before our time. The only clue we have is that it was hidden in the land where one would look last, but where some would look first, a world where the stone's addictive lure could entrap the most yet none at all. The stone was last seen in the hands of a one named Peverell, said to be passed down through his line and his offspring. Who they are and where they hail from, I do not think any but them or Death know, but if any do, I am not one of them.
And the third artifact. The third is a simple stretch of cloth, made from Death's own cloak, or so the stories say. The cloth can both summon death, or hide one from it. It is the most fickle of the three. The cloak will hide itself in plain sight to all it does not deem worthy, as a simple, albeit well-enchanted cloak of invisibility. But if the cloak does not deem one worthy, there is nothing extraordinary about it. But, if it were to ever choose a wielder, there are few boundaries the wielder could not cross.
But even with those artifacts, together, if they were ever joined by a wielder of all three, that would not be the greatest power. The power of all three together could rival the power of all six infinity stones, which could topple the universe in a snap if one had their loyalty, but would never go more than halfway if one did not. For that is the enigma of the primordials, life is best at causing death, and death is best at giving life, for as the primordials are two sides of the same coin, they hail from the same coin nevertheless.
Together, the Artifacts of Death show one, its wielder, an audience with Death itself, Death does not speak, does not think, and cannot act, and Death can choose. So one day, if the artifacts are ever joined, the one who does, if they be worthy before Death, would have a flow parallel to their veins. Like your mother has magic flowing parallel to her veins as a sorceress, or like the frost giants have ice flowing parallel to theirs, the light elves with light in theirs, or the berserkers with strength, activated by rage in them, or Midgardians have their unique substance of adrenaline flowing with their veins, the one who holds the blood of death is said to hold its power, after the power of the three artifacts, which, together are called Death's Hallows. If one is to be deemed worthy by Death, to have the blood of Death flowing by their veins, they would become, not like some stories say, the Master of Death, but its avatar. The Avatar of Death would be Death's influence on the physical world, worlds, all of them, a being with their own massive power, aided by that of Death. And if the Avatar of death were powerful enough, they may even be able to rival Life itself.
But Death and Life, they are not good or evil, they just are. They are the ultimate forces to affect the vast ever-growing neverending infinite universe, yet they are also those that can affect it the least. For while life dissipated, its infinity stones regularly affecting the course of humanity, Death is a natural constant, ignored by the universe at large, but still there, ever-present. If one ever taps into the power of death, however, my sons, hope to all that is mighty that you do not have to stand in their way. For there is no Avatar of Life, only the combined force of all the hundreds of trillions of lives in the universe."
Odin finished explaining to his awestruck sons. Or he hoped it was awe because he did not want to admit the possibility of the expressions on Loki and Thor's faces being fear, not that the awe on Hela's face when he had told her, leading her to try and gain death's favor and ultimately lead to her banishment was any different. Maybe Frigga was right, and he should choose more whimsical topics for bedtime stories for his children.