"Jormungandr, or should I say… Meng, in your eyes, what exactly is fate?"
Meng, this name was rarely heard, but for the Great Serpent, it held a special significance…
It was the name it had used in its previous life when it was still human.
The eyes that had been closing slowly opened once more, then indifferently gazed down upon the tiny, dustlike Loki before it.
"Oh? Interesting, you know my former name?"
Beside Loki's ears, the Great Serpent's deep voice seemed to be laughing, though it was hard to discern whether that laughter was filled with intrigue or something else.
Quietly observing the immense monster before him, whose body was almost entirely hidden beneath the seabed, with just its exposed, colossal head forming a majestic undersea mountain range, Loki's face remained impassive as he calmly said,
"Of course I know, because you were originally a soul I pulled from another world…"
As he spoke, Loki's face showed a strange expression, like the mocking look of a child whose prank had gone unnoticed.
But as he laughed, he began to weep, that handsome face seeming to both cry and laugh, filled with profound sorrow and melancholy.
"The world knows that Odin once journeyed to the Well of Wisdom, sacrificing his eye to the Wise Giant in exchange for boundless wisdom, but what no one knows is that… I, Loki, the god of mischief, had secretly followed Odin that time and drank a mouthful of water from the Well of Wisdom."
A strange smile curled the corner of his lips.
After calmly revealing a secret that would shock the world, he seemed to pay it no mind and continued to murmur,
"I learned of the coming of Ragnarok, and I wanted to prevent that fate from arriving, so I used Runes to pull a human soul from an unknown other world, intending to change everything."
"This soul merged with the soul of my child, forming an entirely new being, a strange existence that should not have appeared in the tapestry of fate…"
"A monster that is neither human nor god-born."
As he spoke, he lowered his head miserably, his vacant eyes filled with a hint of confusion.
"I had thought, if a strange piece suddenly appeared on the orderly chessboard, at the very least, it should bring some change to the game…"
"Odin and I both sensed that future and both strived to change it, yet we seemed like insects trapped in a spider's web, the more we struggled, the more deeply we were ensnared…"
"I sensed the danger to you three siblings, so I acquiesced to Odin's actions, but I didn't anticipate that my forbearance would lead to you either being imprisoned or exiled."
"I tried to seek a chance for redemption from Odin, constantly striving to make him release you, but you, out of resentment, let the atmosphere of hostility and hatred intensify, causing Odin to find you even less trustworthy."
"Unable to accept this outcome, filled with bitterness and rancor, I then goaded the god of darkness Hodr to kill his brother to vent my anger…"
"Haha, fate… so this is fate? It's truly fate's mockery of me."
At the end, he couldn't help but laugh wildly, as if lamenting his own wretchedness and powerlessness.
He gazed upwards, the ocean waters still azure as ever.
But in his eyes, that azure ocean before him seemed to have transformed into a vast, sky-blotting spider web, slowly descending, while he was like that tiny, struggling insect, striving to break free yet powerless to do so.
To struggle?
To not struggle?
What awaited him was nothing but his inescapable fate.
In the distance, the Great Serpent indifferently looked down upon him from on high, not speaking.
And Loki also did not seem to expect the Great Serpent to respond. After his laughter ceased, he was silent for a long while before slowly speaking,
"Jormungandr, in your eyes, what exactly is fate?"
Loki no longer addressed the Great Serpent as Meng. Both he and the serpent knew that the human called Meng was merely a part of the Great Serpent's soul. The Great Serpent was Meng, but also Jormungandr, the two merged into one to be the Great Serpent.
For the Great Serpent, "Meng" was like its childhood, while "Jormungandr" was its adulthood. Both were it, yet neither was the entirety of it.
"Fate, huh… what an intriguing question."
The Great Serpent's deep voice slowly reached Loki's ears.
Its voice carried an inhuman coldness and indifference from start to finish, making one genuinely feel an inexplicable terror. Possessing human thoughts, yet having the perception of a beast, the Great Serpent's inhuman traits weren't merely due to its immense form, but because deep in its soul, it was no longer human, but a thorough monster through and through.
Whether human or divine, they pondered questions with a nearly similar mindset. Perhaps the humans born from the gods' hands, endowed with souls by Odin, were more akin to the gods to begin with. But the Great Serpent was not. It was a monster.
And at this moment, this monster was using its unique perspective as a monster to examine the question Loki posed.
"In my previous life, or perhaps when I was still only human, someone in that world once said: 'What you can change, and what you cannot change, are both fate.' At that time, I felt he was quite correct."
And hearing the Great Serpent's words, Loki keenly sensed one thing.
"You felt? Then that means you no longer think that way? Then, in your eyes now, what exactly is fate?"
Looking down at Loki before it, the Great Serpent's vertical pupils showed a hint of scornful laughter.
"Fate?"
"Nothing more than the delusions of weak, powerless crawling things. There has never truly existed any fate."
The deep, inhuman voice surrounded Loki, the sound like thunder, carrying thick ridicule and disdain.
"I too was once a tiny speck of dust and can understand that dread and fear towards the mysterious unknown. Powerlessness, despair, terror, unease… all sorts of emotions intertwining, the worms powerless to control their own futures, only able to drift with the current, bemoaning their own misfortune and viewing it as fate."
In its words, the Great Serpent didn't deny that it was once human, just as it didn't deny that it was also once a tiny, insignificant worm. Because this was fact, and the arrogant, contemptuous Great Serpent would not deny this fact.
"Worms love to fantasize. Because they are weak, they desperately try to find all sorts of methods to make themselves appear strong, thus constructing nations, ethnicities, cultures, customs, histories…"
As it spoke, its deep voice laughed for some reason.
"When has there ever existed any nation? When has there ever existed any ethnicity? These are all nothing more than imagined communities built upon fantasy. What truly exists is nothing more than independent, unrelated, even mutually unacquainted individual humans."
"Such a simple and clear reality, even the most ignorant beast can realize this. But these tiny worms think otherwise. They fantasize the existence of some intangible connection called a nation or ethnicity, letting them be seen as a whole rather than individuals. Using a thing called morality and law that has never truly existed, they pretentiously rule the other worms, dominating their spiritual worlds… All of this is merely so they can unite together, making them appear stronger."
"However, a worm is ultimately a worm, weak and powerless. Facing the unknown and mysterious, they completely expose their feeble nature, viewing the futures they cannot control as fate, bemoaning their ill-fated destiny."
The Great Serpent's pupils were filled with thick ridicule.
"Fate is nothing more than the worms' lamentation towards the futures they cannot control. It has never truly existed."
And quietly gazing at the Great Serpent before him, Loki smiled and said for some reason,
"Fate has never truly existed… Is this the world in the eyes of a monster? But alas, Jormungandr, at this moment I feel the shackles called fate that cannot be cast off."
"Shackles? There have never been any shackles to begin with. You have always lived freely in this universe, able to go anywhere. When have you ever had any shackles? What traps you is merely your own thoughts."
The Great Serpent's scoffing laughter reached Loki's ears.
Very clearly, the Great Serpent completely disagreed with Loki's view. The difference between the two was the perspective of two completely different lifeforms, two different worlds.
"If you too were bound by that inevitable fate, what would you do then?"
Loki didn't argue, instead asking with a tone carrying some hidden meaning. He stared intently at the Great Serpent before him, his gaze seeming to have seen through something.
The Great Serpent understood very well what Loki was asking.
According to that fate, it should die in it, right?
"Even if there truly were chains of fate, I would cast off those chains. Let us witness what power that 'fate' holds."
Accompanied by a scoffing laugh, the terrifyingly cold vertical pupils carried a hint of madness and ferocity.
"Cast off the chains of fate…"
Muttering as he looked at it, after a long silence, Loki turned his head and looked towards another part of the ocean. There, all sorts of lights flickered faintly.
Gazing there, he seemed to be talking to himself,
"There, is where the old sea god Aegir is hosting a grand feast. The gods sorrowful over the passing of the god of light Balder will all head there. If I go now, I suppose no one will welcome me…"
"Forget welcome, they'd probably furiously tear you to shreds."
The deep, mocking voice rang out.
Loki paid it no mind. Before him, countless futures appeared in his eyes. Ever since drinking from the Well of Wisdom, he often could see those visions foretelling uncertain futures.
Apart from that inescapable, unchangeable, fated Ragnarok, all futures were uncertain.
However, in the prophecies this time, they were all various harrowing fates befalling him, just like the Great Serpent's mockery. If he went there, he'd have almost no chance of escaping unscathed.
But he quietly observed those visions of the future, his silent face revealing no expression as he continued to murmur,
"I want to go there and try, to make one last effort… to see if I can change Odin's mind."
The Great Serpent didn't answer him.
Already feeling annoyed by this "stubborn worm", the Great Serpent chose to continue sinking into slumber.
But Loki also didn't expect the Great Serpent's answer. Because these words weren't really meant for the serpent to hear, but for himself.
"Why did I come here? Perhaps I've always known…"
His handsome face was as calm as still water, carrying a hint of determination. He took a deep breath and softly said,
"Even if I am an evil god… I am still at least a god. Even if that is my fate, I want to try facing my destiny head-on… even if it destroys me."
Unknowingly, Loki's fists slowly clenched. Then, he flew towards that place flickering with myriad lights.
In the distance, the Great Serpent indifferently watched that vanishing figure, then slowly closed its eyes and sank into slumber.