Revamped!
["Is MysteryGal5 really going to do a Ragnarök arc?" Yes, I am.
"Is she going to be copying the movie?" Not at all. I had this idea in mind before the movie was a thing. And it's going to be completely different.
"Will the arc be as amazing as the movie?" Probably not because I'm not the wonderful Taika.
Nobody asked these but I felt the need to answer them. And for the one reviewer who mentioned Magnus Chase, his book series was where I got some information].
Chapter 115: What Happened in Asgard Part Three
Seven Years Ago - Asgard
"What the hell is a Norn?" Sigyn asks in shock, unable to take her eyes off of them.
Thor, Jane, Freya, and Apollo bow their heads in respect for the Norns and Sigyn is still staring at them as if she had a spell cast on her. Sigyn couldn't blame them because they were so mesmerizing.
The middle Norn shifts her posture, making her look softer. Still, she seemed intimidating. They all did. They make Thor look approachable.
"I am the Present Norn," she announces. "I dictate the events happening as we speak. To my left is the Past and my right the Future. Together, we are the ones in charge of Fate."
Hearing that made something inside of Sigyn snap. Those entities are Fate and they're right in front of her. The ones who made the prophecy that she's destined to be killed by her cousin is right in front of her. She can finally look them right in the eyes.
"Why have you cursed me?!" Sigyn screams at them.
"It's all a part of the end," Present tells them.
"What do you mean?" Thor asks them, taking a step forwards to be closer to them but Jane keeps her grip on his arm for her stability. "Does Ragnarök really involve Sigyn and Apollo's deaths to win."
Everyone in the room, aside from the Norns, hopes to hear that everything Sigyn was saying she saw in the Serpent Crown was false. But given that the Norns came out of the crown, the answer isn't working in their favour. They have that sour feeling in their gut that they're not going to like what they hear next.
"The prophecy is true," Present states.
"The final battle of Ragnarök will change everything," Future says. "Gods and monsters will fight and a new world will be born."
"The final battle has been planned for a long, long time," Past continues. "For centuries, the gods have worked together and stayed together just to make sure it is planned for every detail."
"But this battle will be different than anything you have fought in before," Future adds. "Hela and her troop of the dishonourable dead will rise and make their conquest to clean the realms of its filth. Then, her mighty Midgard Serpent will emerge from the depths of the seas and earth and feast on its realm all while Asgard and its Bifrost will be set to flames."
"Midgard Serpent?" Freya questions. Nobody liked the sound of that, especially due to all the people there and most important, the ones they love in their realms.
"Dating back to the creation of Midgard, the ocean is occupied by a huge sea serpent placed by Hela herself, The Midgard Serpent," Present explains. "It is so large that it encircles the entire realm multiple times, being braided amongst itself and biting on its tail."
Apollo suddenly feels sick to his stomach, cold, and out of breath. To think that the end of the world was right at the core of where he has been living his whole life, waiting and waiting for the right moment before eating the entire realm.
"There can only be one champion who will win Ragnarök on our behalf, defeat the Midgard Serpent, and save the realms from destruction," Future says.
"We have chosen our champion long ago," Past declares.
"And our champion will slay the gliding and coiling Midgard Serpent on that day," Future says.
"Our champion is the brave Prince Apollo Foster of Asgard, son of Thor," Present states.
The Norns are the only ones applauding for him.
Those were the words he didn't want to hear, especially the word brave. Brave. Brave's people's legs don't shake. Brave people don't feel like puking. Brave people don't have to remind themselves to breathe. He looks up at everyone else as the Norns keep on talking with their words not processing through his ears. His mother is horrified, his father is stunned (and not proud which is what Apollo expected - probably the death concept that Sigyn mentioned is preventing that), Freya is shocked, and Sigyn nods in acceptance. She's the one who already saw this through The Serpent Crown.
"Apollo will fight the Midgard Serpent," Future states, "he will defeat it."
"But there are two costs," Present says, not showing any emotion towards this conversation going downwards. This, out of everything, will be the most dreaded part of the entire prophecy. "The fate of Sigyn Lokisdottir must be answered if not done so already and for Apollo to defeat the Midgard Serpent and end Ragnarök before it would be too late, he must be consumed by the Serpent. That will be how he perishes."
"Told you so," Sigyn says, not seeming as haunted as everyone else does. "We both die."
Jane immediately shakes her head, tears forming in her eyes. "No, no that can't be. I don't believe you."
"It doesn't matter what you don't believe," Present says.
"It will happen," Future confirms.
"When?" Thor asks, to get more information before their emotions get the best of them.
"When you are least prepared," Present responds.
"Ragnarök will come and try to destroy us," Future says. "You will never know when it comes because it will depend on our champion to start the battle."
Apollo can't stand any of this, especially since he's responsible for starting and ending Ragnarök. "No. Cancel Ragnarök. You made it so stop it! You can't make me start it, kill my cousin, and then die!"
"It is too late for a rewrite," Present says with no remorse in her voice.
"No, it's not!"
"There has to be another way," Thor bargains in desperation, not wanting to anger the Norns with Apollo's declarations.
"The power to crush The Midgard Serpent lives inside of him."
She cranes a graceful arm towards Apollo and to his surprise, a smile approaches her face as she beams proudly at him. Despite her face looking beautiful, it was utterly terrifying to him. Before him are the creators of Ragnarök and they picked him to be the starter, champion, and ender of it. How did that work?
Sigyn looks at the Future Norn. "What can we do?"
"You will be fine at the end, Lokisdottir," Future says vaguely.
"Don't you dare tell us that!" Apollo exclaims. "We'll be dead and you know that because you wrote it! I demand an explanation for this!"
"We only speak the truth," Present says. "Perhaps you are not ready to hear it."
"You never will be," Future admits. "When the details of one's destiny is revealed, they will shatter."
Apollo hesitates. "Try me."
Future takes a few steps, heading straight towards Apollo and his heart stops as he shudders back. Future's eyes are empty yet deep at the same time, containing no information yet it at the same time. She never loses eye contact with him, not even by a single blink.
"Your screams will turn into pitch, your dust to burning sulphur," Future starts with a grim tone. "The land you will walk will become a blazing territory. It will be quenched until the battle is done; nothing will rest until all is lost. You will die in battle just as a true warrior should. You are the God for this, Apollo Foster. Nobody is as good as you."
"Nothing is honourable about that!" Apollo exclaims.
"You, Son of Thor, are always listening but never understanding, seeing but never perceiving," Present tells him. "Your ears are dull as your eyes are closed. Understand with your calloused heart and turn to be healed. The sons and daughters of gods and goddesses who refuse to accept their destiny often lose their minds."
"Sigyn did," Past points out. There was no arguing about that. The moment Sigyn found out that her cousin was destined to kill her, she went insane and still is mad.
Apollo shakes his head. " … you're only an oracle. You have my life in your control and yet you choose to speak to me in riddles."
"Apollo," Jane scolds.
"You have a duty," Present says to Apollo as Future backs up to being beside the other Norns, "Not only to Ragnarök but to the Realms and people you vow to protect. Think about that before you make your decisions."
Before Apollo or anyone could get another word in, the Norns vanish. The Serpent Crown is nothing but a relic left on the ground and Apollo exhales shakily, not fully believing or understanding what just happened and what he was just told. It sounds like fiction to him but it's ironically too scary to have been false.
"Maybe if you calmed down and stopped being so rude, they would've given you the answer to their easy-to-solve riddles," Sigyn says with a small eye roll.
He says nothing to her snarky retort or action. Apollo, at Sigyn's side, doesn't fidget. His face is impassive, Sigyn's expectant. However, his calmness only unsettles Sigyn even more only because he was so close to throwing his axe at the Norns. His parents are uneasy, trying to keep themselves properly in front of the Norns so they could properly take in what they were being told. Freya, on-the-other-hand, is holding back her urge to panic.
Apollo is always calm, always cool, always brave. But it's like his eyes are starting to melt into a puddle or into a fire even bigger than when he learned that he will kill Sigyn straight from her mouth. He's scared. She has never seen him this terrified of anything which intrigues her.
"They can't make a comment about imminent death and just leave!" Apollo yells, running a hand through his hair.
"Well, they just did!" Sigyn exclaims, laughing a little.
"If we could get them back, we will," Jane says to Apollo softly. "Apollo, your father and I will schedule urgent meetings with our allies in the neighbouring realms to try and see if they know anything." She then takes her husband's arm worriedly. "Tell me that I'm dreaming, Thor, that this is all a nightmare and I'll wake up soon and find out that none of this happened. Our son … destined to die just like Sigyn for the Realms?! Why him?!"
"I don't know," Thor says, keeping his eyes on the Serpent Crown. He goes over and picks it up, immediately passing it to Freya. "Put this in the treasury."
Freya nods, taking the crown and not questioning it because of Thor's serious tone. She starts heading over and this time, Apollo doesn't stop her. He doesn't start talking again until Freya and the Serpent Crown are completely out of sight.
"That crown has no value," Apollo says bitterly, still looking at where he last saw Freya before she turned at the end of the hallway, "it shouldn't go in there."
"It's worth too much to lose," Thor responds, putting a hand on Apollo's shoulder.
Apollo shakes it off and looks at his father feeling purely offended. "So The Serpent Crown is worth having your only son to die?!"
"Don't ever say that!"
"My entire life is a lie!"
"It's not a lie, it's just more complicated than we realized."
Apollo shrugs apathetically. "So let's prepare for it. The Midgard Serpent is simply a monster to vanquish. The Norns said themselves that it will come when we're least prepared so if we train ourselves to stop Ragnarök, then it will never come. Their plan has a flaw. There are always flaws and loopholes that we can work our way around."
"Their only flaw was picking you as a champion," Sigyn tells him.
Apollo's dynamic changes as he turns to face her. "Excuse me?"
"Fate chose you over everyone in all the realms past, present, and future to be its champion and saviour," Sigyn argues, squaring him with her eyes. "And you want to rebel against that? To survive is to be selfish. Doesn't that mean anything to you?!"
"I can't do this."
"You think you're the only one dying at Ragnarök? Look, we're in this together and we have to options - let it consume us or face it."
"I get consumed either way!"
Jane cuts in the middle of them. "Alright, you two, that's enough!"
"Why can't we have our futures in our hands?!" Apollo exclaims rhetorically since he knows that nobody can answer him. "Why can we not control our lives?! This isn't fair!"
Jane puts her hands on his arms. "Apollo, you have to calm down. You being angry isn't helping anyone."
Apollo throws her arms off of him. "You can't be serious?! My life is on the line!"
"Do not raise your voice at me!"
Sigyn sucks in her breath, holding back a bit of laughter at Jane's sudden and unexpected outburst as Apollo mumbles an apology. To think that the tension between them is already so thick and they only knew about Ragnarök for such a short amount of time. How much worse when the day comes?
Thor exhales. "Alright, we'll see to this later. Ragnarök is much more complex than what the Norns revealed. We're worried about your fates when the future of the Realms is in the balance."
Sigyn feels a grin break over her face as she excuses herself. "Destiny is waiting…" she sings as she flutters further into the palace with nobody following her trail.
-o-
Sigyn ended up going to her father's prison cell to fill him in on everything starting from Vanaheim to the Serpent Crown, to the Norns and ending with Ragnarök. She felt the need to air it out to someone who wasn't there, who hopefully won't have any biases, and won't judge her for saying the whole thing with a small smile since his face is just his neutral uninterested poker face.
"Well, that's unfortunate," Loki says with a small shrug as he takes a seat on the lavish chair in his prison cell. "Who dies?"
"I die first and then Apollo," Sigyn replies, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. "Or maybe everyone in all the Realms if Apollo doesn't do the right thing and jump into the Serpent's mouth." She snickers to herself. "Death is prophesied in my name, that of a sorceress whose life will be taken by Ragnarök's champion."
"Once the Norns tell you something, it's the equivalent of words written in stone," Loki says.
"Apollo seems to want to strike that rock which I don't understand since it's sometimes better - or more honourable - to die on the battlefield than return a disappointment, right? Well, he technically won't have anything to return to if he wins the way he wants. I see the fight in his eyes. Surviving matters more to him than sacrificing, even if he's sacrificing himself for everyone else in all the Realms. Maybe Apollo would be fine with Ragnarök if he didn't have to kill me or, more importantly, be eaten by a giant snake. Valhalla sounds amazing, doesn't he know that?"
Loki laughs. "Sigyn, dear, that isn't how it works. You and Apollo would not be going to Valhalla."
Sigyn straightens a bit. "What do you mean? Valhalla is the realm of the afterlife for warriors who die an honourable death in battle."
"To go to Valhalla, your death has to be unplanned and selfless, spontaneous. Only Asgardians who have won the right to an afterlife in Valhalla belong there. Those ones have died gloriously in battle, proving their courage and heart. Your deaths, no matter how noble, are planned. Theoretically, you and Apollo have to die at Ragnarök."
Sigyn is speechless because knowing that they wouldn't be going to Valhalla changes the way she feels about this. Now, she has a better understanding as to why Apollo is against it: for his pride, having the way he dies written down - even if he saves the world - and not going to a paradise afterwards. What scares her about that is how Loki didn't seem to worry that his only daughter's death - something he tried so hard to avoid - now had a vague scheduled date.
Loki continues to laugh at her shattered ignorance. "That is why Apollo freaked out the way he did. You will both be in Hel."
[Remember when Sigyn had her first arc took place in Hel? Or if you read my in-process-revamp of Apollo's birth story, it now takes place in Hel.
I'm going out of town for the holidays so just in case I don't update for a while: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!]
