The first thing he ever experienced was the sensation of two hands on his face. Before that, there was nothing: No pain or joy, no sadness or euphoria, he could barely consider himself a coherent thought before he was sprung to life.

His eyes opened, and suddenly his world of smoke and darkness was whisked away in lieu of a bright, unfamiliar environment. The first thing he saw was a man with dark, curly hair, his face mere inches away from his own.

The stranger's eyes were closed in concentration with his head dipped down, as if he were doing his best to remember the answer to a long-forgotten riddle. With his eyes opened and air now in his lungs, the surrounding sensations suddenly grew overwhelming. He gasped in alarm, startling the stranger away from himself.

In an attempt to get away, he had found that he was already lying on his back on a sandy shore. He scooted himself backward, away from the stranger, but stopped as more thoughts flooded his brain.

Merely one moment ago, he was nothing, but now, he was capable of thought, touch, smell, sight. He drew in ragged breaths as his head whipped from one direction to the other, trying to piece together where he was.

Unfortunately, since he had only just been born mere moments ago, he had no landmasses in his memory to base any guesses off of. All he knew was that he was on a shore of some sort. He still was on his back on the sandy surface as he looked out to the horizon. Before him was an endless expanse of multicolored liquid, swirling and swelling violently in different shades of red, blue and purple.

Beach, he thought to himself.

Along the sandy beach was an assortment of sharp stones, smooth pebbles, and large pieces of wood that had more than likely washed up on the shore. Where the wood, came from, he had no worldly idea.

Before he could make any other deductions about his new environment, someone's laughter filled the air. He saw that it was coming from the stranger who was previously clutching his face with his fingertips.

"What'd I tell you?" He asked.

It was at that moment he realized that the stranger wasn't alone.

Two figures stood to his side, gazing at his body curiously. The two of them were draped in white robes while the other one was in blue.

The stranger turned to the two others with his arms spread as if challenging them to say something that would accurately describe how seemingly momentous this occasion was. "What'd I tell you?" He repeated, laughing even more. "I told you it could be done!" The stranger continued to sing praises of what he had accomplished, leaving his companions annoyed in the process.

He ignored them. Allowing the three of them to bicker amongst themselves, he pushed against the ground to sit himself upright. Pushing again, he found himself standing up, arms held out on both sides to keep his balance.

With the surface beneath him shifting and uneasy, he slipped and fell onto his back again.

The stranger, the one in blue who had just been celebrating some achievement, ran over to him, only just now remembering that there were four of them now and not just three.

"Oh, sorry, I'm quite sorry. I should have realized how new all this must be to you." He gave a small chuckle. "We should know," he said, gesturing to the others. "Vili, Ve and myself experienced the same thing not very long ago."

He watched the man with his eyes, observed how the man spoke with his mouth.

He's talking, he thought again. With his mouth.

Reaching a hand up to his lips, he let his suspicions rest as he confirmed that he too had a mouth. Opening it for the second time in his brief existence, he said, "Standing is hard."

The man in blue burst into laughter yet again. Once he caught his breath, he held out his hand reassuringly. "Not to worry," he said, still fighting a fit of giggles, "you-you'll get used to it."

"Alright, Odin," one of them, Vili, he thought, called out. "You've had your fun. Say goodbye to your pet and let's get going."

The stranger, no, Odin, held his chin thoughtfully. "Pet?" He repeated, outraged almost. "Pet?" He stood up to his full height confrontationally towards his brother. Even when lying down, he could tell that Odin's stature wasn't nearly as intimidating as he thought it was.

"My brothers," he began, gesturing to the body on the sand, "we have just achieved the first most- no, no, no," he dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "The second most impressive miracle since arriving. This is life we've just made. Living, breathing, intelligent-"

"He literally just told us that standing is hard."

"Were you an expert on your feet the minute after you gained consciousness?" Odin challenged Ve. When he got no response, he hummed in affirmation, his point made. "What I'm trying to say is we didn't make a pet. We made life. Capable of choices. Action. Discovery," he added that last part as if it were an added bonus that he hadn't originally thought of before.

Still on the sand, the man pointed at the three of them one by one. "Odin," he started. "Vili. Ve."

Odin nodded excitedly. "Yes. Yes, that's right."

The man pointed at himself. "What am I called?"

"Yes, yes, I was just getting there." He assured him. "Let me see now . . ." he said, scratching the whiskers on his chin thoughtfully. After a few moments of deliberation, he snapped his fingers. "I've got it." He reached down and helped the man to his feet, keeping him steady until Odin was positive he wouldn't fall over again. "Henceforth, you shall be known as Ask, named for the ashen limbs of the world tree with which you were created."

The man, Ask, looked along the beach again, finding more pieces of driftwood along the shore. He pointed to one closest to him. "That is me?"

"No," Odin told him. "You are you." He touched Ask's chest with his pointer finger. "No one else in this realm or any other will ever be you." He gripped his shoulders firmly with both hands, his face close to his yet again. "And you have a monumental responsibility, young man. For all of this," he gestured behind Ask, prompting him to look, "has yet to be found."

Ask hadn't realized it up to this point, but he had only viewed the world in front of him, not behind yet. Behind him was a foggy, intimidating void. The sands of the beach met gray, unwelcoming grass. Beyond that, not much else was visible save for the silhouettes of a few trees.

He preferred the view in front.

"I understand that this is a lot to be asking of somebody who was just created, but I believe," he patted his shoulder comfortingly, "that you're up to the task. You are to discover everything you can of this world as my brothers and I continue our journey. Can you do this for me?"

His tone was hopeful, fatherly, as if he were giving a peptalk to a child to complete a menial task.

Ask looked at Odin, then his two brothers, noting the cumulative difference between him and them. "By myself?"

Odin's eyes widened. "Oh. Yes, yes, companionship. You will surely need counsel from another at the very least. Uh, let's see." He let go of Ask's shoulders and looked down at the sand, scavenging for another piece of wood. "Aha! Here we are." Gripping a piece of driftwood in both hands, he hoisted it out of the sand. Once it was fully exposed to the outside world, he let it drop to the ground, dusting his hands off in satisfaction.

The piece of wood was just a little shorter than Ask was with four branches jutting out of it from random sides. Odin waved his brothers over. "If you'll please." The two of them crouched down and placed both hands on the wood and closed their eyes, whispering beneath their breaths. Ask gasped and stumbled backwards, catching his footing in time before he fell again as he saw the bark from the wood begin to peel back unnaturally.

The branches shifted so that there were two on each side, the colors changed from an earthy brown to a fleshy pink and tan. Before long, another being was lying on the beach, identical to Ask yet different in every way. The hair on this one was considerably longer, and the figure to it was more delicate and fragile looking than his.

He had only been alive for a few moments, but words flashed endlessly in his head, identifying those around him with accuracy despite never having seen them before. He knew he was a man, and this new person was a woman.

Once they were done, Ve and Vili stood up and let Odin do his part. Just as he had with Ask, he gripped her head with both hands and touched his forehead to hers, whispering another word under his breath.

Unlike how Ask came into existence, she opened her eyes peacefully, as if having just woken up from a fulfilling nap. Pleased with himself yet again, Odin stood up and held out his arms to her, presenting her to Ask for the first time. "There you go," he said with confidence. "One companion. An eternity is a mighty long time to spend by your lonesome, which is why I'm grateful for the company of these two," he gestured to his brothers, who seemed unimpressed with his words.

"Now," he continued, "you two behave yourselves. Don't get into too much trouble without us. And we'll be checking in on you from time to time. I expect great things from you, ya hear?"

Not knowing what else to say, Ask simply nodded.

"Wonderful. We'll let you get acquainted." Odin playfully nudged Ask's ribs with his elbow. "Get to work populating Midgard, now," he said with a wink. He nodded to his brothers. "Gentlemen." With that, the three of them walked along the beach.

"Wait!" Ask shouted.

The three of them turned around, almost annoyed.

"What was the first?"

Odin furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"You said I was the second most second miracle you've done. What was the first?"

Odin's face lit with understanding before shaking his head and waving his hand noncommittally. "Nothing to be worried about. Let's just say," he looked up to the sky as if it would present the sentence he was trying to search for. "Let's just say that without him around . . . you and Embla there are free to search these lands without fear."

Offering no other explanation, the three of them continued walking until they were too small to see.

Without noticing, his companion, Embla, attempted to rise to her feet, stumbling and falling back as well. Ask ran to her side. "Are you ok?"

Her face showed no traces of pain. "Standing is hard."

. . .

It took them some time after the two of them had found their footing to realize that neither one of them were clothed.

Having only realized that was a difference between the three brothers and them, Ask and Embla suddenly grew self-conscious of showing themselves while they were modestly covered. They used this as ample motivation to venture into the fog and discover what could be used to remedy it.

Ask had thought that Odin and his brothers could have spared time to create a set of clothes for them, but then quickly thought against it. They were busy after all, scouting the realms and supplying them with life, just as they had with them mere hours ago. Finding a means to clothe oneself seemed reasonable enough in the long run.

Before long, the two of them had covered their bare torsos with large bunches of leaves, tightening them to their bodies with vines.

Now clothed, Ask and Embla set off to fulfil their duty: discover and populate Midgard.

Traversing over the strange landscapes proved a harrowing exercise, but a thrilling experience all the same. Ask wasn't sure he'd enjoy it nearly as much had Embla not be with him.

The two of them, he thought, became a formidable team. One discovering something, the other identifying it and naming it. Most of the time, Ask found that it was Embla who was keen on the names, whether it be of a plant, animal, body of water, she confidently named what she saw.

Ask had thought of these names too but was too slow on the draw to say them aloud before Embla beat him to the punch, a habit of hers he had come to adore and yet be irritated by at the same time.

"And this," he began, pointing at a small rodent, who was nibbling on a piece of game it had hunted while looking up at him with large, vulnerable eyes, "is a . . . uh . . ." he trailed off mid-thought.

"A field mouse!"

Embla's excited declaration from behind him scared the critter away, deeper into the foliage.

Ask dropped his head back in exasperation. "I was going to get that one!" He insisted.

"You say that about every new animal we come across. If you know it, just name it!" She laughed. Once her system was free of giggles, Embla continued into the forest, leaving a stunned Ask behind as she disappeared.

"Embla, wait! Remember what happened last time!" He took off after her, pushing his way past leaves and twigs and bushes.

When she was finally in view, he stumbled to a halt.

She was standing still, her form crouched low and her arm outstretched to something that he wasn't able to see. Adjusting himself as quietly as he could, he saw that her fingers were only inches away from tapping the snout of a large brown animal with glowing blue antlers. The curious animal whiffed at her hand, its nostrils flexing with every sniff.

"A stag," they both said at the same time.

Before long, Ask didn't even notice the stag anymore. His eyes focused solely on his partner, admiring her profile and tenderness. He had come to appreciate this about her, how she was almost able to approach any animal due to the air of trust that she seemed to exude from her body, as long as she didn't scare it off first with her equally excitable nature.

Ask remained silent as Embla touched the stag's nose delicately, as if it were made of glass, letting her fingers brush along its soft fur in admiration.

A cawing noise from above them disturbed the peace, startling the stag, and sending it running into the forest. Embla let her arms droop in disappointment, clearly not yet done admiring the majestic animal. Both heads looked up to where the sound was coming from and saw a large black bird, about the length of Ask's forearm, perched on a branch.

They've seen lots of birds during their time exploring Midgard and named each and every new one that they spotted, but they knew this one all too well. This raven's eyes were glowing a bright and unnatural gold, and it peered down at them unflinchingly as if saying 'quit lollygagging!'.

Embla rolled her eyes in response and walked back over to Ask. "Persistent, isn't he?"

Ask tilted his head in curiosity. "Odin? Or the raven?"

"I'd accept either answer, thought I was referring to his feathery henchman there."

"CAW!"

"You know it's true!"

Ask held out his arms to calm his partner. "The All-Father has sent a few of his birds over a lot more frequently than he used to, that's true," Ask admitted. "But he did also say we have a job to do."

"What? Explore these lands and report back to him?" Embla asked incredulously. "If he has birds spying on us, making sure we're doing what he wants, why doesn't he just use them to explore and leave us out of it? It doesn't make sense."

Ask could feel his heart beating faster, his anxiety growing. It always seemed to do that whenever Embla had anything critical to say of the person who created them. He had run out of excuses that Embla found logical and was unable to quell her nearly as well as he used to be able to.

Mainly because he had had similar thoughts, but he was also subsequently too afraid to act upon them. Questioning the decisions of the person who gave them life seemed an ample way to get them into trouble.

"I know, I know. But please just-" A rustle in the bushes silenced his plea. The disturbance was also enough to startle their feathery babysitter from his perch and into the air, disappearing from sight.

Shortly after the rustling began, an inhuman and agonized cry of pain reached them, making them both flinch and cover their ears for a split second.

Embla, recovering the quickest between the two of them, let go of her ears and took off in the direction of the wailing. "Embla, wait!" Ask knew it was pointless to try, but he called out to her on instinct. She was lost in the foliage before his cry was finished.

Ask started after her, following the sound of her footsteps and rapid breaths. He stumbled to a stop when she reappeared before him, frozen in shock with a hand over her mouth. Following her gaze, Ask looked down to see the stag that she had just been admiring moments ago maimed and bleeding, lying on its side. No evidence suggested that it was still breathing, its chest was stock still.

Four slashes raked across its ribcage, creating a river of crimson that pooled on the ground. The glow of its antlers merely a dim blue now.

"Oh," Embla breathed out.

Ask held her, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. While keeping her close, he kept his eyes alert, looking for the creature responsible for this.

"We need to leave," Ask whispered.

Embla was about to refute, hoping to stay and mourn longer, but another rustle was heard from the bushes.

Not wanting to wait and find out what did this, Ask grabbed Embla by her hand and pulled her along behind him in a sprint. She seemed to not have any qualms about his idea as she began running to keep up with him.

A roar followed by a low growl was heard from behind, motivating their decision to keep moving.

Ignoring the sharp sticks and rocks that cut their ankles and feet, they ran until they were met with the face of a steep cliff, a cluster of rocks lying at its bottom. Ask looked left, and then right, looking and hoping for a place to run off to, but neither option provided enough cover.

Not looking down, he didn't notice as his foot brushed against the pile of stones. He only looked to the rocks when he heard them clicking together on their own accord, rising in the air and forming a glowing blue archway. He was about to ask Embla if this was her doing, but she answered him by looking just as stunned as he was.

The rustling in the forest drew closer, as did the heavy beat of its footsteps.

Making a unanimous decision by sharing the briefest moment of eye contact, the two of them jumped inside, deciding that this risk was worth taking.

Before either of them knew it, they were no longer in the forest of Midgard. They suddenly found themselves surrounded on all sides by an ethereal expanse of blue, standing on a complicated network of what appeared to be branches in all directions.

The branch they stood on appeared to continue in a ring, and in the center of the ring was the single biggest tree they have seen in their existence.

There was no need to name this one. They already knew what it was called.

"Yggdrasil," they both said.

Looking down at their chests, a blue symbol neither of them recognized glowed, making the aura of the tree appear brighter as well.

Memories of Ask and Embla's creation flooded back in Ask's mind. He remembered Odin digging the driftwood from the sand and how he and his brothers had shaped it into the woman he loves. A technique they no doubt used to create him as well.

Before they could speculate on the tree even more, another archway appeared before them almost invitingly. The two of them stepped through, expecting to return home, but were instead greeted by a blisteringly cold breeze.

Wrapping their arms around themselves, Ask and Embla looked around and saw that nearly everything here was a frozen tundra. "S-s-s-snow," Embla chattered out through clanking teeth.

Struggling to move while the cold bit their skin, they eventually found another pile of rocks. Just as they hoped, the rocks reacted as they had before, creating another archway and sending them to the tree, which in turn, sent them somewhere else. This realm was gifted with what the previous one lacked: warmth.

A sigh of relief escaped them both at the same time as they stepped through the portal and into the warm air. Unlike their previous destination, snow wasn't covering every consolatory thing. Rather, it was a diverse landscape of deserts, jungles, and large bodies of water. A few hours' worth of exploring led them to yet another portal. This portal brought them to another realm.

And the process went on.

Their assignment given to them by Odin all but forgotten, Ask and Embla traversed through the realms with exhilarated abandon, naming everything they saw and pointing to every new thing that came into their field of view.

Before long, they ended up back in Midgard, worn out from the adventure they had unwittingly set out on. Ask and Embla walked back to their hut they built by the lake and fell asleep in each other's arms.

They could have stayed that way forever had someone not cleared their throat in an annoyed manner.

Blinking their eyes blearily awake, the two of them looked up and found a familiar man standing at their feet, arms crossed and his face unimpressed. A raven perched on his shoulder. "I see a distinct lack of a . . . populace, despite clear intimacy between you two."

They couldn't help but blush at Odin's frankness. "What we do and at what pace we do it at is of no concern of yours," Embla insisted.

"See, that's where you're wrong, young lady. Everything in the nine realms, everything, is my business."

Nine realms, Ask thought to himself.

Odin left their side and began walking towards the shore. "And, you see, what this 'business' is lacking is people to carry it out. Yes, I made you two, so I could most definitely make more, but I have no time to do so. But, more importantly, where's the fun in that?" He paused, as if giving them a chance to answer. "Nowhere, that's where. That's why you two were made: to create more people and have fun while doing it."

Neither Ask nor Embla could look each other in the eyes.

"I have given you an entire realm to explore and populate, so why would you ever feel the need to wander off, huh? Isn't a whole realm ripe with unexplored wonders enough for you?"

Embla shook off her embarrassment and glared at the bird on Odin's shoulder, thinking very hard how fun it would be to change its name from raven to tattletale.

"All-Father," Ask began uneasily, "we humbly beg your forgiveness, but it was-"

Odin held his arms up, silencing the man. "Hey, hey, I get it. The urge to see new things, it's exciting. What I don't get is why can't you do that here?" As he spoke, the sun shone its rays over the horizon, kissing the sands with the first burst of warmth.

Looking over to the horizon before looking back at the two of them, Odin rolled his eyes. "Look. It's a brand new day. Let's start with a clean slate, shall we? You two go out there, have some fun, then whenever you're ready, you'll come back here and uh," he trailed off, pounding his two fists together in a crude way while make tsk noises with his mouth. "Start up that populace, eh? I'll check in on you soon."

Without waiting for a goodbye from them, a flurry of ravens appeared out of nowhere and created a whirlwind around Odin. In another moment, they were gone, the All-Father with them.

Both Ask and Embla rose to their feet, uncomfortable at the prospect of having the All-Father watch their every move.

But one exchange of glances between them gave them both the comfort they needed afterward.

. . .

Svartalfheim. Jotunheim. Midgard. Helheim. Alfheim. Muspelheim. Niflheim. As the two of them ventured through the realms in search of a way to free themselves of the All-Father's control and watchful eye, they discovered the names of each of them.

Out of all the realms visited, Embla found that her favorite was Vanaheim.

Ask watched in adoration as Embla would waltz through the jungles and plains, taking in the rays of the sun and soaking in the warm, humid air. Every once in a while, she waved to a new animal friend which the two of them would then name shortly after it scampered away.

The only realm they had yet to visit was Asgard.

Odin made sure that entry to the realm of the gods was as difficult to access as possible. Even with Ask and Embla's connection to Yggdrasil, they found themselves unable to so much as peek into the realm. Not that they truly wanted to in the first place. In a gambit to free themselves of the All-Father's control, heading to his home turf seemed counter-productive.

Many trips to each realm was made every day, and almost every day was met with some form of disappointment. No matter where they were, they agreed that it was best to head back home to Midgard by late evening to be there long enough to convince Odin's spy that they had been diligently exploring Midgard while he was on his routine check-up flights.

During their explorations, it was hard to keep their morale high in the face of so many failures. Midgard offered little to no solutions, seeing as how that is essentially the prison they are attempting to escape from.

They had been hopeful upon entering Svartalfheim. The inherit ingenuity and resourcefulness of the Dwarves seemed promising enough to yield results. Disappointment crashed upon them hard when they found that when they weren't drinking themselves into oblivion, the Dwarves were notoriously difficult to work with.

The primordial realms of Muspelheim and Niflheim had little to offer, and their sole occupants seemed to only have eyes for each other. Something that Embla and Ask could relate to.

Alfheim had little to no helpful qualities, seeing as how the two dominant peoples were at constant odds with one another.

Jotunheim, however, offered promise.

If Vanaheim was Embla's favorite, then Jotunheim was Ask's. He appreciated the similarly warm climate as well as the breathtaking views that were virtually waiting for them around every corner.

What made them hopeful were their interactions with the realm's natives: the Jotnar. Giants.

It was quick for them to realize that they shared just about the same amount of love and admiration for the All-Father as the two of them, though their reasons were far more personal. Ask recalled how Odin danced around his question about the god's 'first miracle' upon his awakening. Dread and disgust pooled in his stomach when they told him of the death of Ymir.

Judging by the look of Embla's face, she shared his feelings.

The Jotnar were very generous with their knowledge of magic, gifting them all they wanted to know with every visit they paid them. Ask and Embla lost track of time as they traveled back and forth between Midgard and Jotunheim, experiencing the changes both realms went through over the natural course of time. Midgard became extensively more populated, and Jotunheim's magical prowess grew as well.

Finally, Ask and Embla discovered a spell they hoped would complete the puzzle they've been assembling for countless centuries. A way to finally hide from Odin and his oppressive influence.

The Jotnar, grateful for their company and kindness throughout their visits, gifted them with a blessing as they left the realm:

"May your souls shine together in harmony in the Light of Alfheim."

Another added with good humor, "But not too soon!"

Ask and Embla walked along the branches of Yggdrasil, hands tightly entwined with one another. With her free hand, Embla held a notepad to her face, mumbling under her breath as they walked.

"Nervous, Love?" Ask asked, snapping her out of her reverie.

In partial response, she gave his hand a squeeze. "Not at all," Embla reassured him. "I've just been thinking."

"About?"

"Where we're going to be staying now. We can't hide from Odin in Midgard. We're going to need a new home."

Similar thoughts had crossed Ask's mind as well. He was going to offer his two cents before stopping himself, a knowing smile growing on his face.

"As if you don't already have one picked out."

Embla laughed, closing her notepad and slipping it into her belt. "Am I really that obvious?"

"No. I just know you that well." Ask squeezed her hand back. "Besides, I think Vanaheim is a gorgeous place too."

"And I have the perfect place picked out."

The two of them entered the portal before them and crossed into Vanaheim. A grassy plain greeted their bare feet as the familiar rays of the sun kissed their skin. A stream flowed lazily by not far from where they stood, offering a refreshing drink to the wildlife.

As night fell, the two of them sat beside a fire, the light of the flames illuminating both of their faces in flickering dances. Embla read and reread her notes, making sure the materials before her were correctly measured out.

"Love," Ask said comfortingly with a hint of exasperation, "you've quadruple checked. I think you'd notice if you were missing anything."

Embla sighed, nodding in agreement. "You're right. You're right, I'm just-"

"Nervous?"

She nodded in confirmation.

Ask reached out and gripped her fingers. "If this doesn't work, we'll try something else. And if that doesn't work, we'll try another until we get it right. We will escape from Odin and discover everything that these realms have to offer."

Embla smiled gratefully, nodding again. Breathing slowly to steady her nerves, she gathered the materials the Jotnar gave them and placed them in a pot before her, mashing them together with her fist until they formed a powdery substance.

Placing the pot on a spatula, she held it out over the flames, taking delight and reassurance at the glow it offered.

Taking another breath, Embla said, "Rítoo."

A ring of golden smoke fanned out from the fire, engulfing the two of them in its essence. They both gasped in alarm, taking in copious amounts of smoke inside their lungs. Ask and Embla's bodies recoiled and spasmed as they fell into a fit of coughs, pounding on their chests and clutching their throats in desperation.

Finally, the coughing fits subsided long enough to allow them to refresh their parched throats from the nearby stream. Once they both finished releasing the residual smoke from their lungs, they assessed themselves, looking at one another curiously.

"Did . . . did it work?" Ask inquired.

Embla patted herself all over, trying to feel if anything was different. "I'm not sure. I think the only way to truly see is to just . . . wait, I guess?"

And wait they did.

The first several weeks were spent in a cautious state of optimism, both of them keeping an eye out for Odin or his pet flying tattletale. Those weeks turned to months. Those months turned to years. Those years turned to decades. Before long, they both came to the same conclusion:

Odin couldn't find them.

By the time they had reached this conclusion, their previous campsite used for the ritual had turned into their first home away from home. Natives of the realm joined them having also taken an interest in the peaceful location. Before long, it had become a bustling community of friends, families and neighbors.

Their guard officially dropped, Ask and Embla fell into routine with this community, joining them for fun singalongs at the local tavern, exchanging gifts for their holidays, grieving with one another after the loss of one of their own, it was a peace they had only hoped they'd ever feel.

The idea came to Ask in the middle of the day to pay a long overdue visit to Jotunheim and properly thank them for their assistance. Embla was only too happy to agree with his sentiment.

Once they arrived in the realm, any excitement they previously felt turned to dust.

Dead. All of them.

Everywhere they looked, they found the fallen form of one of their previous friends, scorch marks and blunt trauma evident on their bodies.

The two of them left immediately, holding each other as they did, unable to look anymore.

Arriving back at their home in Vanaheim, the two of them secluded themselves for several weeks from the rest of town, processing what they had seen. While accepting the fact that they may never recover fully from it, they both took comfort in each other's steadfast company and companionship, knowing they'd be there for each other whenever needed.

Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to keep the gods at bay forever.

. . .

That evening started out the same as almost every other evening in Vanaheim:

The sun was beginning to set, just touching the horizon. Peddlers and vendors from local shops began to close down for the day, each of them nodding in acknowledgement to one another and wishing safe travels home.

Embla decided to turn in early for the day. Drawing all the curtains closed, the only source of light in the room came from the soothing hum of four fireflies that were hanging in a jar in the corner of their room. Now in her nightgown, Embla stretched her arms, yawned, and put herself to bed. Before long, the sun set further down, though it only felt as though she had just lost consciousness.

This was a fact she didn't particularly appreciate as she was jostled awake by Ask.

"Embla! Embla, my love. We must leave. Now!"

Embla grumbled and shook his hand off of her shoulder. "Ask, darling, today was very trying. Could we-"

"It's the Aesir. They're here!"

Any rebuttal she may have had died in her throat upon hearing that. She sat up ramrod straight in bed, eyes locked with Ask and hoping against hope that he was joking. It was clear by his face that he most certainly wasn't.

"Odin?"

Ask shook his head. "No. Just Thor. I guess he's been at the tavern for almost the whole day. He may not know we're here, but we have to leave. Now!" He more than likely didn't need to whisper, but doing so made the reality of them being found by the All-Father seem less likely.

Without any other arguments, Embla rose from bed and followed Ask to the front door. Neither one of them had to say what their destination was. They both knew that they were headed for the Yggdrasil gate at the end of town. They only hoped that they could avoid Thor long enough to reach it.

Their hopes were crushed the moment they stepped outside.

At the end of the street to their right, the gargantuan, staggering form of Thor stumbled along unsteadily. His face was beet red and he was singing some drinking song loud enough to rouse the neighbors. Everyone in the immediate vicinity had similar ideas as them. They watched as they all evacuated their homes and made a break for it in all directions. Everyone was crouched low, as if that would decrease their chances of being spotted by the god of thunder.

To be honest, that was probably unnecessary. He didn't seem to be sober enough to find his own fat belly with both hands. Still, that was a risk no one wished to take.

Thor stumbled along the street, still singing jovially with Mjolnir swinging in his grasp, almost as if it was leading the way for him.

Ask closed the door so that they could still see outside just a crack. He leaned into Embla's ear. "When he gets far enough down the street, you and I will cross over," he instructed. "We can stay behind him and find a way-"

"Who's that?"

Ask blinked. "What?"

"Who's that?" She pointed outside.

Ask followed her finger and blinked at what he saw.

At the other end of the street stood a tall woman, probably coming up to Thor's chest. She wore a modest tan tunic and had a fair complexion. But what the two of them noticed most about her was her firey red hair that went down to the small of her back.

On her back hung an ax, its blade glinting in the last remnants of sunlight. It was engraved with markings and patterns too small to see from this far away.

She stood stock still, hands clenched into fists at her sides and a glower on her face. Her eyes were only on Thor.

The god of thunder continued his drunken escapades, inching his way closer to the woman. Finally, she began walking towards him. Then she sprinted. Then she ran to close the distance between them until she was close enough to grab his free arm with both hands. Spinning in a circle, the mystery woman flung Thor into a nearby house as if he weighed nothing at all.

Now wielding her ax, the woman jumped into the house in pursuit.

Too stunned to move, Ask and Embla stood slack jawed. From inside their house, they could hear the muffled sounds of a skirmish escalating between them.

Ask shook his head finally. "Whoever she is, she's keeping Thor busy. Let's go!"

Embla found no reason to argue this burst of fortune either. The two of them exited their home and made a break for it down the street, the opposite way of where the two combatants vanished.

Hand in hand, Ask and Embla were already almost out of breath as they ran as fast as their feet could carry them along the dirt road. They stumbled to a halt as the wall of a house to their right exploded, spitting out the mystery woman. She rolled to a halt on her stomach on the road before them, her ax nowhere to be found.

From the hole in the house, booming laughter could be heard. "BWAHAHAHAAAGH!" Thor bellowed, still very drunk. "I love a woman who can fight back!"

The woman rolled out of the way just as Thor leapt from the hole and slammed Mjolnir onto the ground. With alarming speed, she rose to her feet and pinned him with another glare, this one filled with an extra dosage of disgust and hate. Whoever this woman was, it was clear she had no love for the Aesir. Let alone the one right in front of her.

She held out her hand, and seconds after that the ax flew from the hole and into her awaiting hand, knocking Thor's skull as it passed.

Now dazed, the woman began swinging her ax relentlessly, slicing at Thor with every swing. The more she made contact, the brighter the blade glowed a cool hue of blue. Embla and Ask were nearly hypnotized by the phenomenon until Embla snapped out of it and tugged on his arm.

"This way!"

The two of them cut between two homes and emerged on another street, this one leading to a dead end. Ask pointed to the nearby hall. "We can cut through there," he said, still out of breath.

They entered the hall and quickly made their way to the other side where another door awaited them. Before they could reach it, thunder boomed outside with enough force to be felt in their chests. Thor crashed through the ceiling and landed before them, electricity sparking all around him. Whatever wounds the woman had given him had been sealed thanks to his godlike healing, though he still writhed on the ground. This was more than likely due to the alcohol still in his system, they thought.

Ask held Embla behind him as the woman came from the same hole in the roof, ax poised high and ready to embed it into his gut once again. Before she could, Thor expertly raised his large hand and caught the handle, stopping it from slicing into him.

Thor laughed again. "Despite how much you despise me, I hope you realize how much fun I'm having!"

The woman sneered. "Is that what you said to Hrugnir?" She pressed harder into her attack, but Thor remained unphased.

In one motion, he ripped the ax from her grasp, got up to his feet and slammed the butt of her weapon into her forehead. She yelped in pain and gripped her now throbbing head, turning away from him for a moment.

That moment was all Thor needed. Wrapping his massive arm around her, he spun in a circle and flung her out the exit before leaping out to follow, both weapons still in hand.

The force of his exit caused the building to rattle. Ask and Embla held each other steady as debris and columns fell in front of them, blocking their way out. They both turned around and ran back out the way they came before the whole building toppled to the ground.

Panting furiously with their hands on their knees, both of them made sure the other was ok before breaking out into another sprint, working their way out of the dead end street and onto the next one. Though they couldn't be seen, their battle could still be heard as they continued to evacuate, passing by frightened children with their parents as they fled as well.

Everyone in the assembled crowd flinched and cowered down as another crack of thunder echoed through the plains. Thor flew through the air again and landed on a nearby roof, sending an avalanche of debris down below. His adversary soon found her way onto the roof next to him, swinging her ax down.

Instead of gripping the handle, Thor parried her swing with Mjolnir as he climbed back to his feet. They both swung their weapons at one another with frightening speed and bloodlust, clanking them together as if they were swords. "How about Thamur?! Did you have fun killing him too?" She cried out.

Thor laughed as they continued their rooftop battle. "Lady, if there was a Giant involved, it's safe to assume that I enjoyed it immensely!"

"RAUGH!"

The woman pressed her attacks, overwhelming the god of thunder with her speed until he was forced to leap across the street and land on a neighboring roof.

With one hand, Thor aimed Mjolnir at the woman and sent a bolt of lightning her way. She leapt in time to avoid the strike, allowing the rooftop to take the blow for her. The building erupted into flames and sent flaming charred bits of wood everywhere, blocking the crowd's way forward.

Landing on another roof, the woman wasted no time in setting herself into a solid stance and gripped the ax with both hands, holding it straight out in front of her with the blade pointed directly at Thor across the way. The ax glowed bright blue again before a solid beam of blue and white exploded from the blade, hitting Thor with laser-like precision.

The onslaught continued, preventing Thor from countering the attack. His body began to pale and his movements slowed, as if affected by the cold beam.

Summoning a bolt of lightning, he interrupted the icy beam and threw Mjolnir across the street. It crashed into the roof beneath her feet, sending her plummeting inside.

The fire from the building began to spread. Soon, several nearby buildings were ablaze, motivating the crowd to find another way out. Ask tried to drag Embla along with the crowd. "Come on! Follow them!"

"No, Ask!" She insisted. "There are too many people. It will take too long! Follow me!"

She tore her hand free from his grip and ran the opposite direction of the panicked citizens. "Embla!" Ask shouted before following her. "Embla, wait for me!"

Without them noticing, Thor flew overhead and landed inside the building the woman vanished inside of. Moments later, Thor leapt from the same hole and used lightning to keep himself airborne, twisting left and right in search of his foe.

In a blur of lightning, Thor flew over the town, zapping lightning intermittently at buildings in vain attempts to flush her out. "Come out come out wherever you are," he called out in a singsong tone, though annoyance was working its way into his system.

He flew around the town several times, sending lightning down at the ground more randomly than before, forcing Embla and Ask to dance around where it struck.

Embla paused before the entrance to another alley. "This way!" She waved with her arm. "We can get there in time if we-"

"Look out!"

Ask reached her in time to push her out of the way as Thor landed on the ground where she was standing and bounced to a halt, now blocking the escape route Embla had found.

As Thor was flying overhead, he failed to see the ax flying his way. It embedded itself deep into his shoulder, forcing a cry of pain and shock from his lungs as he began to lose altitude. Once he had landed, the woman appeared from behind, shoving her way past Ask and Embla as if they weren't even there.

The woman held her hand out, calling the ax back to her yet again. With lightning fast speed, the woman holstered her weapon and used both hands to heft the god of thunder back to his feet. Without so much as touching the ax's handle, it rose from its resting place and began to spin in a circle so quickly, it appeared to be merely a blurry blue circle.

Said circle began revolving around the four of them, trapping them inside a cage of cool winds and slicing blades. Ask pulled Embla tightly to him, turning his back to where the blade was spinning, his face buried in the crown of her head.

As the ax continued its frenzied revolutions, it struck Thor. Each passing glance in a different spot, making it impossible to block. He swung his hammer blindly in hopes of striking it out of the air but was never able to make contact.

Closing the short distance between the two of them, the woman began to pepper Thor's belly with a barrage of punches, each blow earning a breathy grunt from him in return. Each impact on his body made it sound like somebody was tenderizing meat with their bare fists, which, in a way, was what was happening.

Rearing her arm all the way behind her, the red-haired woman punched Thor's gut with enough force to knock him backwards, off balance. On her command, the ax swooped low and swept his feet out from under him, sending him airborne for a few brief moments before she raised her leg over her head with alarming flexibility and slammed her heel into his stomach. He landed on the ground so hard he cracked the earth beneath him.

The woman called the ax back to her, still all but oblivious to the literal captive audience behind her. Her eyes were only on Thor, and her vision was red with hate. Ask and Embla dared not move, their eyes covered with each other's bodies.

Raising her ax above her head, the woman swung it down, aiming for the top of Thor's skull. His wits somewhat about him after that brief reprieve, Thor found enough time to lift Mjolnir and block her swing with its face.

Using his free hand, Thor pushed himself back to his feet, once again towering over the woman as he enforced his weight into the hammer. The woman showed no signs of intimidation as she pushed right back. Their feet locked in forward stances, they began to dig into the ground from all the energy they're forcing into their attacks.

The air around where the two weapons were connected began to ripple. Lightning crackled and popped around them and the air turned cool in their lungs. Any trace of joy and enthusiasm that Thor was expressing before was now replaced with complete annoyance and rage, his face twisted in anger and frustration.

The two of them yelled at the top of their lungs, pressing impossibly harder into their attacks.

Embla raised her head from Ask's chest. "That's it! If we can make it back to the hall, we can cut through-"

She wasn't so much as able to breathe out her next word as the world exploded around them.

A massive bolt of lightning came from the sky and touched where the two weapons were fighting for supremacy. The moment the bolt hit the ground, it sent a shockwave across the plains so massive, it extinguished the inferno that had built in town, only for every single building in its wake to be completely obliterated afterward.

Both Ask and Embla were flung backwards like ragdolls. The world around them was sent into a whirlwind as Ask tumbled on the ground. Mercifully, he finally came to a stop.

Moments later, Embla landed with a thud right next to him.

There was an obnoxious ringing in his ears that almost prevented him from raising his head. Fighting the dull ache in his head, Ask was able to barely lift it off the ground and view the destruction around him through squinting eyes.

Had he not lived here for a large portion of his life, Ask could never have even been able to tell that there was once a town here at all. Every building had been reduced to nothing but splinters, most of the debris having blown away in the blast. The grass and dirt were charred and damaged, whatever was left of the grass pressed down to the ground, lifeless.

Bodies lay about. Everywhere.

Everywhere Ask turned his head, he could see the body of somebody he had only just said goodnight to a few short hours ago either poking through debris or lying out in the open, their bodies contorted unnaturally.

A bright light made him close his eyes momentarily. Holding out his hand in front of him, he was able to allow his eyes to adjust enough to let him see the plains' newest addition:

A lightning bolt. Frozen. Reaching down from the sky until it touched the ground, several little fingers and branch-like extensions protruding from the main body. The lightning bolt served as the epicenter for the destruction, as everything surrounding it was either destroyed or blown away entirely, at least as far as he could tell.

Ask blinked several times, willing the ringing in his ears to stop. As he blindly reached out in front of him, his hand swept over Embla's hair. He let out a breath of relief that he didn't have to travel far to find her amidst the destruction.

"E-Embla," he coughed out through aching ribs. He called her name again when he got no response.

He inched his way closer, expending what little energy he had left. "Embla. Please get up. We have to hurry if-"

He stopped short when he brushed her hair away from her face.

Embla lay on her side, lifeless. Her eyes remained open but couldn't look at anything. She was on her side, her arm extended out to him as if trying to reach him. A deep gash was cut in her ribs, allowing a crimson river to flow out and pool on the ground underneath her.

Lying beside her was Thor's hammer Mjolnir, its handle pointing at the sky. It must have gotten blown out of his grasp and landed beside them.

Ask's voice was shaky, panicked but unable to fully release itself. "Oh," he breathed out. "Oh no, please."

Naturally, nobody heard him.

He was unable to form any thoughts at the moment, let alone any words. All he could do at the moment was wrap his mind around one thing and one thing only:

The only good thing that the All-Father has ever done was give life to Embla. True, it was only a ploy and manipulative strategy to gain his loyalty, but he was still able to spend his entire life with this wonderful woman.

At least, his entire life up to this point.

Going against his instincts, he shook her body lightly, hoping against hope that that would jumpstart her somehow. He flinched away from her when he saw movement in her face.

A light began to shine behind her lips. With wide eyes, he watched as four impossibly small whisps of light floated out of her mouth and spiraled around each other, bobbing up and down almost playfully. Without having to be told, Ask somehow realized that those were the pieces of her soul on their way to find the Light of Alfheim, just as the Giants said they would.

He fought against the urge to reach out and grab them, knowing that it would accomplish nothing. All he could do was watch as they drifted away and hope that they'd be able to find some semblance of peace . . .

Any hopes for that were dashed less than a second later.

Mjolnir began to twitch and move on its own. Ask watched in silent horror as it floated in the air and soared back to the lightning bolt, scooping up Embla's soul fragments as it passed.

Following the hammer's trajectory, Ask saw a meaty hand pop up from underneath a pile debris to catch it. Thor clumsily clambered his way out of the pile and wobbly gained his footing. He stood tall, catching his breath and leaning his head all the way back, groaning as his body began to feel the aftermath of his battle now that the adrenaline had worn off.

With both hands on his back, he leaned and popped several vertebrae loud enough to be mistaken for distant thunder. He then stood tall and proud, a small smile on his face as he let out a slow exhale, taking pride in his victory by forfeit since his opponent was nowhere to be seen. Whispering something under his breath, Thor held Mjolnir above his head and allowed it to lift him in the air and fly him away. His sparking lightning disappeared moments later in the sky.

All of this happened in a blur to Ask. None of it was processed fast enough to allow him to so much as raise his voice to stop the god of thunder. Not that there would have been anything he could do to stop him in the first place.

He remained lying there for several more minutes, too stunned to move or speak. Moments later, more debris shuffled and shifted as the warrior maiden clawed her way out of her pile of destruction. Unlike Thor, who popped out calm and collected, satisfied with the battle, she clearly was not finished.

She brandished her ax above her head with both hands and roared in anger, stumbling her way forward until she stopped next to the frozen lightning bolt. Her hair was completely disheveled, making her hair look like an out-of-control inferno.

The woman looked left and right, trying to find her foe. Once she deduced that he had fled, she slammed the ax on the ground and cried out in frustration, huffing and panting once her lungs were spent. A few minutes of fuming later, she suddenly stopped and observed the lightning bolt, looking at it as if she hadn't noticed it there when she emerged.

Her eyes traced down the length of it from top to bottom. Once she reached the bottom, she looked out to the town and gasped. In her fury and anger at having been denied a chance to continue their battle, she clearly hadn't even realized the damage she had caused.

She dropped to her knees, hands over her mouth, eyes wide and watery. Ask could hear her from where he lay. "No . . . no, I- I didn't mean to-" She rambled, not comprehending the level of destruction she had just been the cause of.

Ask watched as she took her ax and ran off, disappearing into the night.

After she left, his thoughts caught up with him. Nobody was around to hear his cry of anguish.

He took care of her body shortly after.

Though her soul had just been unfairly denied peace, doomed to an eternity of observing Thor's bloodthirsty actions firsthand, her body didn't have to be resigned to a cold fate.

He placed her body on a raft, wrapped in blankets until she resembled a cocoon. Setting a lit torch inside the raft, he set it off on the nearby stream, watching heartbroken as the flames caught on, devouring her body and the vessel as it floated calmly away.

Afterwards, he knew of nothing else to do other than to return home. He lost track of time of how long he sat on his bed. Days. Months. Years. It didn't matter in the long run. Without Embla, there was no point in venturing out into the realms.

A creak in the ceiling drew his attention upward.

He looked up in time to see the hook installed in the ceiling meant to suspend the jar of fireflies gave out and allowed the jar to plummet, shattering to pieces on the ground. The fireflies, miraculously alive after all this time, seized their chance at freedom and flew away, no longer trapped in their glass prison.

Unsure how or when exactly it started, Ask's mind became a whirlwind of ideas. For the first time since he could remember, hope bubbled in his chest.

He rose from his bed, eyes wide in discovery.

Embla is trapped. Mjolnir is the prison.

Mjolnir must be destroyed to buy her freedom.

But how?

Certain that he'd find zero answers here, he set off into the realms, one destination in mind.

He reached the caves back home in Midgard, finding a familiar suit of armor that he and Embla stumbled upon lifetimes ago.

The Travelers.

If their misguided missions assigned by Odin were good for one thing, it was tracking down tools and finding good uses for them.

Before long, he undressed the corpse and put the armor on his person, ready to set out into the realms and find his answer.

I don't know how long this will take Embla, but I swear to you that you'll be free soon. No matter what it takes.