LOGINI drifted down, my feet touching the floor without making a sound. "You knew," I whispered. "You are the Allfather. You knew what they were doing to me. You knew they left me there.""I knew," Odin admitted, a deep, ancient sorrow lining his face. He walked to the edge of the grand balcony, looking out over Asgard. The golden spires seemed dimmer now, the sky tinged with an ominous, creeping violet. "And I knew that no matter what choice I made, the outcome would remain unchanged."“But the Norns would just not listen to me.” He added, “They wanted to save you, to protect you. That was why they did their best to keep you hidden from the dark forces.” “I had warned them. They can change everyone's fate, but to challenge the Ragnarok, it's impossible. And look what happened? No one tried to harm you but your own parents. No one had assumed that possibility.”"But the prophecy," I countered, looking down at my spectral, translucent hands. "The Norns said I was the savior. I was meant to
The howling of my mother’s grief eventually faded into a terrible, heavy silence. My parents did not return to Valhalla as triumphant champions, nor even as grieving nobility. They returned as prisoners of their own making, dragged back by the cold reality that the savior they had discarded was gone forever.I followed them, still tethered by the fading remnants of my earthly existence. The grand hall of Valhalla felt different now—no longer a place of warmth and glory, but a suffocating vault of judgment.Odin still sat upon Hlidskjalf, his single eye reflecting the dying embers of the cosmos. Beside his throne, Freya stood trembling, stripped of her pride, realizing that the sister she had outshined was the only shield Asgard truly had.My parents threw themselves onto the marble floor, no longer commanding or proud. They were broken."Allfather," my father choked out, his voice a pathetic rasp. "The prophecy... the Norns... Greta is... we can revive her. We can journey to Helheim! W
My father’s mouth remained open, the empty promises of titles and honors dying on his tongue. Beside him, my mother’s ragged breathing stuttered, freezing completely. The grand, echoing hall of Valhalla seemed to shrink, trapping them under the unblinking glare of the Allfather’s single eye.Where was I?A memory finally pierced through the thick layer of my parents' denial. It hit them like a physical blow.I saw the exact moment the realization struck my father. His face drained of what little color it had left, turning a sickly, translucent grey. My mother let out a sound—not a cry, but a sharp, suffocating gasp, as if the air in the room had turned to poison.The hounds."No..." my mother whimpered, her hands clawing desperately at the marble floor, leaving smears of sweat and dirt. "No, no, no... We left her... We left her at the southern ridge.""We thought the hounds and the dark forces would not waste their time on her!" my father choked out, scrambling to his feet, his dignity
The silence that followed the Norn’s revelation was different from before. It was no longer suffocating; it was crushing. It was the weight of a truth so absolute that it fractured the very foundations of the hall.My mother remained frozen, her forehead still pressed against the cold stone, but her breath came in ragged, shallow gasps. The brilliant armor she wore suddenly looked like a hollow shell, masking a woman whose worldview had just been violently dismantled."The... the Sun?" my mother whispered, her voice cracking. "A mere candle?""You dared to extinguish the light of the realm because you could not comprehend its depth," Urd said, her voice dropping to a harsh, gravelly whisper. "You looked at greatness, Martha, and you called it a curse."I stood a few paces back, my hands trembling against my sides. For years, I had carried the shame of that day. I remembered the sneers of the Victorious Valkyries, the disappointed sigh of my father, and the cold, unyielding disgust in m
The silence that followed Skuld’s words was not merely quiet; it was suffocating. It was the silence of a collapsing empire.My mother remained on her knees, her hands pressed against the cold marble floor, trembling so violently that the plates of her silver armor rattled like dying breaths. My father stood frozen, his face a ghostly, hollow mask. And Freya—the golden girl, the flawless masterpiece of our lineage—looked as though she had been struck by Mjolnir itself. She gripped her own arms, her chest heaving as her precious, stolen wings beat frantically, kicking up desperate, agitated gusts of wind that smelled faintly of my own harvested vitality."An... ordinary Valkyrie?" Freya whispered, the word tasting like poison on her tongue. "No. No, I am Freya! I am the elite! Look at my wings! They are gold! They are light!""They are a theft," Urd, the first Norn, rasped. She took a step forward, the shifting fabric of her cloak scraping against the floor like a shroud trailing over
The entire grand hall held its breath. My mother’s smile was radiant, a mask of perfect devotion as she gently nudged Freya forward. Freya stepped up, her spine straight, her posture screaming with the manufactured grace of someone who had been told her entire life that she was born to rule.“She is right here, Almighty Father,” my mother spoke, her voice trembling slightly with a mixture of awe and pride. “Freya is ready to accept your blessing and step into her destiny as the protector of Asgard.”The figure seated upon the throne of Hlidskjalf leaned forward. The golden armor gleamed under the palace lights, and his single eye focused entirely on Freya’s shimmering, golden wings. He raised his hand, a majestic gesture meant to signify the beginning of the divine tethering—the moment the golden girl would officially be granted the ultimate rank among the Valkyries.My ghost screamed, a soundless wail of pure agony. ‘Look at her wings! They stole my life to keep those wings bright!’B



