I tweaked my Kaleidophone for about the tenth time, altering some of the intrinsic spell sequences before snapping it all back together.
For some reason, it wasn't working properly. The last time this happened, supposedly, was when I was fighting Kronos, but that was for presumably a specific reason that wasn't applicable here. But it did give me some idea as to what was going on.
In general, I was a bit hampered with my use of the Kaleidoscope here.
I was fairly sure that the Norse realms in general interfered with my normal use of it. There were some variables that weren't accounted for in my normal calculations that were screwing everything up. Which was odd considering that I went in and out of the Colored Rooms and Yomi with relative ease, yet sitting here, I couldn't even 'connect' to another Kaleidophone without some effort on my part.
Finally, after some time, a hazy image of Izzy appeared on the other end of it.
"Wilhelm, is that you? Why does it look like you have a bad signal? Is it even possible to get a bad signal with these things?" Izzy asked.
"Some kind of interference on my end, I haven't quite figured out the cause yet. But I noticed as soon as we entered the Norse Realms, my Magic got a little screwy."
"Hmm, it might –"
The screen went fuzzy and I smacked it a few times before she reappeared. "Sorry, can you repeat that?"
"I said, it's probably the Tree."
"Yggdrasil?" I questioned. "That….is probable." I agreed.
"Wilhelm, the Tree is the same as a Primordial. What do you think would happen if you went inside of Tartarus and tried this?" She responded.
"That's…..a very good point." I did not consider it from that perspective. We're literally standing upon the back of a Primordial Entity that existed in several different layers of the perceivable 'world'. The Branches of Yggdrasil were both solid and illusionary, many of them didn't even exist within our perceivable view, but extended through different dimensions, both higher and lower. It's entirely possible that we're completely covered by the Branches of Yggdrasil and we can't even see them, which would lend itself as to why my use of the Kaleidoscope was hampered. "We ran into an immediate issue that needed your input. What do you know about Hel?"
"Hel is a good person." Izzy frowned. "I hope nothing happened to her, I would be….upset." Her tone was sharp, and obviously not directed at me.
"Apparently, we were told she betrayed Asgard. Everything went to shit here before we even arrived, it's full on War. Draugr are bolstering the enemies' armies by the thousands." I gave her a very brief overview.
"Draugr? Those undead zombies?"
"Basically, yeah."
"That's not something she would do. Why would she...that doesn't make sense. It's fairly easy for us to raise dead minions like that, but most of us find it extremely distasteful. Hel, even if she for some reason went that route – which she wouldn't, her realm in particular houses things much better than simple zombies. The Wraiths and Aberrations that fill her realm are enough to be a significant army in and of themselves and they are far superior to mere zombies."
"Zombies are bad, but ghosts are A-okay?"
"It's not like that." She huffed. "That's how she receives them. She houses not only the old, but also those that died dishonorably and all that. They aren't going to be happy little spirits existing in paradise."
"Noted." Yeah, that still didn't make sense when she explained it that way.
"I can try to reach out….but it's not like she has one of these things and our communications are usually reserved for once every century or so….." Izzy trailed off.
"I'll tell Odin your thoughts."
"Please be safe."
"I am confident in my ability to run away." I smiled.
Izzy snorted. "Come back safe and sound and I'll let you do what you want with my legs."
She was half joking, but that was certainly a way to motivate me.
"I'll be safe." I reassured her without adding humor.
Her beautiful smile was honestly all the motivation I needed to keep my idiotic ass alive.
I shut the phone off after we said our goodbyes, putting it away.
I pushed myself up back to my feet and stretched my back, looking up at the giant fucking tree branch I was standing on.
It was hard to honestly comprehend how massive this Tree actually was. It was awe inspiring just being able to put a hand on it like this.
My idle thought faded, and I began to walk back to where the others were.
Odin was moving left to right, almost as if dancing, and he was making sounds akin to music. There were no words, but it felt sincere, so no one was interrupting him.
"You're back, any news?" Jinn perked up.
"Izzy agrees that it's probably bullshit." I simplified. "And has he been doing this the entire time?"
"Mhmm." Atalanta grunted. "His movements are too systematic for it to be random. No idea why he's doing it though."
Yeah, well, Odin did a lot of things without explaining them to the rest of the class.
Other than telling us he was taking us to see Mimir and taking us to this branch of Yggdrasil in particular, he didn't explain anything else.
We left the Valkyrie and the Einherjarr pretty quickly, and by now, word definitely got back to Asgard about our presence. Odin was intentionally staying away from Asgard at the moment, that was certain. But I had no idea what he was doing.
He just started basically dancing and singing.
"There is meaning in his actions." Thorum nodded. "The Elder would not do this if it was not important. Song and Dance are used in my home as a way to honor the dead and the Ancestors as well as to celebrate."
It only took a few more moments before the Tree Branch started trembling and Odin finally stopped what he was doing. The portion of the Tree where the branch connected to also vibrated in place before parts of it receded like vines being cut away.
It then revealed a passage, a connection between two points as on the other side, the entrance was filled with a bright light that shined through.
"Oof, too old for this shit. One of my best and worst ideas was to have Bragi seal this entrance with his Song and Dance." Odin cracked his back. "Sorry about that, I sealed all the major entrances to the Mímisbrunnr, the Well."
"The Well where you performed the Ritual and hung yourself?"
"Mmm." Odin confirmed with a hum. "It's also where the Head of my old friend is." He glanced at the others as he casually strode through. As soon as we all passed the entrance, the vine-like appendages of the World-tree slowly began to reclaim the doorway, sealing it shut once again. "Mimir was the God of Knowledge, Wisdom, and Logic. He was my greatest Counselor and one of my oldest friends. There was a mishap many years ago, and he….lost his head. I couldn't bear to part with him, so I preserved his head and attached it to the well and Yggdrasil itself. It preserved him and provided an unforeseen side effect. Like one of Apollo's Oracles, he can give a Prophecy under the right conditions and see the future."
"My friend." Thorum leaned in. "Does he mean a literal head?"
I nodded to Thorum who took it in stride. This was new stuff to him, but most of us here were aware of the legends in some regard.
"Anyways, this is a special place, I took great effort to seal off any major passage after my son wandered here once and nearly bludgeoned poor Mimir to death with his hammer thinking some asshole reanimated his head." Odin let out a laugh as he jumped off a Branch of the World Tree, landing upon another. "Careful, the Tree here is more solid than other places, but some of the branches are illusionary, and it changes depending on the season. Follow my footsteps." He warned.
We went left, yet we came out from above where we were a moment ago. Top became bottom, and direction appeared to be immaterial in this place.
Yet, following Odin, he seemed to know the proper path to take. Eventually, we reached a somewhat open area with the World Tree spiraling upwards, and a small pool of water at the base of a piece of land.
Odin came to a stop, unmoving.
Thorum lowered his head and muttered a small prayer in respect.
The others shared similar looks at him and no one spoke as silently stared at what was before us.
Mimir's head was intertwined with the Roots of the World Tree, hanging just above the pool of water. However, there was no light in its eyes, no life to be found anywhere in his decapitated head.
A dagger protruded from his forehead.
And a message was etched into the trunk of the World Tree that the Head rested against.
'First to the finish line.'
"Mimir…." Odin said softly.
And for the first time, I saw the Wise and Ruthless War God shed tears.
There was no need to say who was responsible.
Odin trudged over to him, putting a gentle hand onto the head of his fallen friend. "Thank you for staying with me all these years, my friend." He finally slumped down against the tree, falling to his butt.
It was strange and uncomfortable to see Odin like this. In my mind, he was always the one who pretty much knew the most in the room. Despite his antics and the mischief he probably got up to, he was intelligent and reliable.
But, I couldn't exactly fault him either. I was much worse than him when I lost someone important. Being a God did not protect one from the pain of loss.
What was I supposed to say?
Odin closed his eye, taking a deep breath. He slowly pushed himself up off the ground. "Forgive me for the unsightly appearance. My fellow Gods, they know me as ruthless. To my children, they know me as their parent, to Asgard, they know me as All-Father. For my oldest confidant, this is the final act of mourning I can send you off with as no one else was allowed to see the all-mighty God of War vulnerable. You who knew the Old Odin at his best and his worst. May we meet again in the next life." He smiled nostalgically.
I walked up and put a hand on his shoulder. "What's the plan? You brought us here to hear from him, yeah?" As much as I wanted to be polite, we were on a timetable here and he knew that just as much as I did.
"I should have expected this." Odin said softly. "Loki truly intends to end everything. Perhaps I held onto some small hope that things could have ended up differently." He looked up to the message carved into the trunk without blinking. He then grabbed onto the dagger sticking out of the head and ripped it free in one motion. Once more, without his expression changing one iota, he pried open the head's mouth and used the dagger to cut out the tongue.
Then, he dropped it into the pool of water.
I wanted to question what was going on, but the pool shimmered as a rainbow-like mirage appeared above it. And a faint image of the same head formed a vague reflection.
I looked down into the pool and there were strings of tiny runes running up and down the length of the tongue. They didn't appear until his tongue touched the water.
"Loki is good, but he isn't all knowing." Odin snorted. "Mimir would have left a message and all he could do was speak and drink."
"You always were as cunning as you were cruel, Odin." The faint image replied. "I swear, cutting out the tongue of my head? Do you have no shame?" It said rather humorously.
"Mimir." Odin's expression softened.
"I'm sorry, my old friend. It seems that I'm heading off before you. You probably guessed who was responsible."
"Yes."
"I don't have much time, my Magics won't last long and I need everything I have left to give you my last words."
"Tell me what wisdom you have one last time, Mimir."
The projection's eyes glowed a brilliant color and he began to speak.
"The fire of the end falls from the skies."
"From the deepest pit, corruption spreads, and the Mother Tree dies."
"The Queen of Death bound in chains."
"The Wolf stalks the worlds, yet the Old King Remains."
"The Serpent of the three answers his call."
"With friends and enemies alike, coming from afar."
"Fate has been unraveled, and the end is uncertain."
"A box long forgotten is revealed, and a False Beast is stirred from behind its curtain."
The image became even more blurry after speaking those lines. "I leave the rest to you, old friend." It slowly faded away into nothingness and the ambient Magics dispersed.
"I hate prophecies." Atalanta sighed. "They're always cryptic."
"It's an unfortunate side effect of peering into fate and the future." Odin breathed out. "But it was his last Prophecy, so much if it is a lot more clear than usual. Most of what he says is usually dribble that I can't make heads or tails of, but he did good this time." He spoke with a hint of pride.
"What's the plan, Odin?" I asked.
"Plan." Odin stroked his beard and a wide grin appeared on his face. "The plan is that I'm not going to make a plan."
"Pardon?"
"Loki knows me all too well. He knew I would come here right away, and he took out one of my closest advisors." He swept his arm around. "He anticipated what moves I'm going to make."
"A difficult opponent then." Sasaki Kojiro nodded. "Forced into a game of chess, yet your opponent made several moves before you could even see the board and remove some of your pieces beforehand."
"Exactly." Odin confirmed. "That's why, you're going to make the plan." He pointed at me. "Loki can predict what I'll do, he can't predict what you'll do."
"That's…..either smart or utterly stupid."
"Why not both?" Odin offered. "If Loki wants to be smart, let's be stupid." He laughed, making me think he lost his mind in grief. "So, brat, call it. What's the plan for everything."
I let out a long sigh. I could understand his logic, if it could be called that. "This doesn't mean you're not helping. I can't do this all by myself."
"Well no shit, I'm not going to leave the fate of everything in your 20-something year old hands." He deadpanned.
I had the urge to kick him now.
"Asgard is being pulled every which way if I understood what the Valkyrie from before said." I stated.
"Yup." Odin continued to stroke his beard. "It seems as though all our forces are forced to certain positions and our enemies are numerous. Not to mention she didn't mention anything about those we were here to look for originally, so it's safe to assume they're doing something else."
Jeez, everyone was seriously looking at me to make a plan…
I rubbed my temples. "We need more allies. Would calling in other Gods be bad?"
"It's unlikely to work. Let me ask you something, when you called your cougar, did she offer to come herself?"
"No." Now that I thought about it, she never offered. Which….it's not like I expect my girls to drop everything to come with me for something, but it was more so the situation? Like, it's a normal thing to offer help when things are dangerous or what have you.
"Don't take it the wrong way, it's just not something other Gods can really interfere with lightly. Ragnarök is our twilight, if they come….it could turn into theirs as well. It's not a simple matter of them 'dying' either. Just…." Odin trailed off. "It's complicated."
"Noted." I could somewhat understand where he was coming from. "My Norse Mythology is a little rusty, but isn't there the Eagle King sitting at the highest Branch?"
"Hræsvelgr" Jinn added.
"Thank you, Jinn." I smiled. "Right, Hræsvelgr, why isn't he helping? He should be against Ragnarök."
"Arrogant assholes." Odin harrumphed. "And there may be some minor bad blood between them and Asgard." He looked away. "Regardless, they won't move away from the highest branch of Yggdrasil unless it's literally on fire."
"And what about Ratatoskr?"
Odin scowled. "Like Hel that thing is going to help. It's a cowardly little bitch who would happily watch someone burn to death and mock them the entire time. Sure, it won't piss on your remains afterwards, nor would it set you on fire, but it would love to watch the world burn for its own amusement."
"Would it be useful?"
Odin begrudgingly nodded. There are three beings born from the World Tree when it first appeared. The Jotun of the highest branch, The Eagle, Hræsvelgr. The Squirrel who can run anywhere amongst the Branches, Ratatoskr, and the Serpent that feeds upon the roots at the furthest end, Níðhöggr. Honestly, any one of them would be helpful in their own way."
I took a breath and rubbed my temples again. "Achilles and Atalanta, you both are going to head to the highest Branch and try to convince Hræsvelgr to aid Asgard."
"Sounds good." Achilles nodded.
"We don't have anyone to lead you….but Atlanta, think you can navigate it?"
"I am one of Artemis's Huntresses, I can reach the top of a tree." She snorted.
"Any advice for them, Odin?"
"Hræsvelgr is arrogant in regards to his speed. If he were a God, he would be the God of Wind as he controls the Winds of the Nine Realms, and he is the fastest being within these realms."
Achilles's grin grew wider. "I think I can manage something."
"Jinn, Thorum, and Sasaki, you three are going to head to Hel to rescue Hel." Jeez that sounded awkward to say. "It's clear she's doing this against her will and or is a prisoner."
"You can easily get there by just heading down. No matter where you are within these realms, if you keep heading down, you will eventually reach Hel." Odin stated.
"Aye, we shall do so with haste!" Thorum pat his chest.
"A worthwhile endeavor." Sasaki smiled.
"Oh, I can't wait to meet one of Izzy's friends!" Jinn said excitedly.
"Odin, we have two goals. Convince Ratatoskr to help, and then head down to the roots of Yggdrasil."
"Ah, you realized too?"
I nodded. "The oracle mentioned the 'Deepest pit', that's probably where Loki set up one of his nasty surprises."
"We'll need to find Ratatoskr first." Odin hummed. "Otherwise, I only know one other route to the Roots and it takes awhile to navigate. And we don't have that time. Not to mention, Loki is sure to realize what we're up to if we do that."
Our advantage right now is that he doesn't know we got an Oracle about the situation.
We probably would have never ventured down into the Roots of the World Tree otherwise, so it's a good place to set up shop for something bad.
And going to Asgard was a bad idea unless we want to lose this one advantage we have at the moment.
"Thorum, take this." I handed him a specially prepared Talisman. "Rip that and it should open a path long enough for you to call our Dragon Friend with your shout if needed." Otherwise, it wouldn't be able to reach Meridia's realm.
"Aye." Thorum nodded with thanks.
"Achilles, Atalanta." I reached out, and touched their own storage items. "I restocked you, don't worry about wasting anything, use whatever you need to."
I looked over and Sasaki held his hand out and I did the same for him.
"Jinn…" I looked at my woman. Someone whom I was sending off into a dangerous situation and my heart ached. I held my hand out and produced one of my treasures. I held Dawnbreaker up for her. "Take it, please."
"Will." Jinn whispered. "Fine, I know you're not going to let me say no."
I knew that Meridia wouldn't mind. Meridia, despite never explicitly saying it, cared about Jinn. She wouldn't mind if I lent Dawnbreaker to Jinn to protect her. And she was going to somewhere where there are probably millions of Undead entities.
Lastly, I gave it a thought, and let Sir Wiggles and Lady Wiggles come out, putting them both into Jinn's arms. "Them too."
Jinn rolled her eyes. "Alright, but that's it." She pouted a little. "Thank you."
"Stay safe." I leaned over, giving her a quick kiss.
Looking at the others, I clapped my hands. "Odin, how long should it take to traverse up and down the Tree?"
"Either way should take no more than a day and night, thereabouts."
It would be much easier if we had armies on our side when finally arriving at Asgard, especially if Loki's people were amongst the ones running things.
"In three Days, reconvene at Asgard." I stated.
[***]
I hated leaving Jinn alone, that was the main thought running through my head as Odin led me across several more branches of the World Tree.
I forcibly pushed those thoughts away by fiddling with a few Talismans. Scribbling away some things on them, modifying them for my purpose.
"What're you doing?" Odin finally asked.
"Picked up a new spell recently, Haven't had much time to practice it. But I can sort of cheat it with some Talismans." I replied. "Might need it later, and we weren't doing much else at the moment."
I had a strange feeling about the next few days, and it was best to be prepared just in case.
"Well, we're almost there."
"Well, that didn't take long."
"It's not like he was hiding." Odin shrugged.
Jumping off the branch we were on, we landed on another, and there was a large hole in the trunk of the tree, like almost a traditional hidey hole for any critter that wanted to make a nest inside.
"He's in here?"
"Maybe." Odin shrugged. "He has dozens of nests, and he can go anywhere within the Nine Realms at his leisure. Even Loki can't navigate as easily as he can and Heimdal constantly gets annoyed about how Loki escapes his eyes with his secret paths."
"So….what should I expect?"
Odin slowly frowned. "If I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me. I'll let you get your own first impression." He took his walking stick and started banging the tree branch. "Get out here you stupid squirrel!"
"I don't think he's here –"
That was until a roar that almost sounded like that fake Godzilla that Izzy and I beat up shook the surroundings.
Okay…..that didn't bode well.
"Odin!" It roared again.
"Shut up and get out here you stupid rodent!" He roared back.
Two glowing eyes appeared in the shadows of the nest. The creature stepped out and the tree branch shook.
It wasn't because he was a massive monster like the Giants from before.
Frankly, he was only probably two to three times the size of a normal person. At least in length and height.
The most notable thing was that he was obscenely obese.
"What.the.fuck." I stared.
"Yeah, told you."
"Did he eat a Giant?"
"He didn't always used to be this fat." Odin sighed. "It's kind of concerning actually."
"Hey, I only put on a few pounds!" The obese Squirrel hissed. "Odin, what do you want you tiny-dicked asshole?"
"Says the one who can't even see their dick!"
The Squirrel let out a rabid scream in response. "Screw you, I'm leaving. Have fun getting an enema by Surtr's flaming sword."
"Wait, we actually have something to ask you –"
"Fuck you, and fuck your Asgard. I'm gonna laugh as Loki dry fucks your asses!" The Squirrel actually began to sink into the Branch of the World Tree, and I now understood why it could traverse anywhere it wanted.
It could literally move within the Tree itself.
"Wait!" I kicked Odin to the side. "At least hear what we have to say."
The Squirrel actually stopped, its eyes still above the branch. And slowly, it started rising back up. "Hey wait, you look familiar." Suddenly his eyes widened, and he let out a gasp. "You're Lucifer Junior!" It exclaimed.
"…..what?"
The Obese Squirrel popped out of the Tree branch and literally threw itself forward until it landed mere feet from me.
Let me tell you, it looked just as bad up close.
Its body jiggled as it sat back up and reached into its…..sack. It had a sack like a kangaroo on its stomach. And it started pulling things out and throwing them to the side until it found a large piece of paper and a pen.
"I'm a huge fan, can I get your Autograph?" He held them up.
"…..what?"
[***]
A/N
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