*Vol. 1: Tales of a God!*

Chapter 68 – Another Ordinary Day!

Hello there!

Here's the chapter of the week!

Enjoy it, peasants!

Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

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Location: Meeting Room / Palace of Asgard.

Pov. Third-person.

At this very moment, two divine supernatural beings were alone away from prying eyes, discussing something that would decide the future...

The Twilight of the Gods.

Ragnarok.

The end of one era and the beginning of another.

With the predestined death of several beings, all in favor of the survival of the few who were chosen by destiny to guide the future generation... At least that's what Frigg ended up teaching her children.

But nobody counted on one thing.

Thor.

Someone who unconsciously had the power to change fate...

In fact, the very term 'change' was incorrect.

The correct term boiled down to a single word...

Destroy.

In short, Thor had to unwittingly 'destroy' his own line of fate, forcing the Norns to weave in whatever direction the thunder god's will dictated.

All this is thanks to a small gift in the form of a mark located on Thor's back.

But while Thor may have the ability to change the future, fate always has a way of playing out...

Ragnarok WILL happen and that is not something that can be changed.

Thor was afraid of fate, not least because he was taught from an early age by Frigg to believe that everyone has their future written in stone by an entity equal to omniscience.

That's why when Thor heard about the fate of the gods in Ragnarok from Frigg, he immediately took action.

Planning and preparation time.

While there are those who believe that one finds one's fate in the path one takes to avoid it, Thor calls it only one thing...

Bullshit.

“…So, do you understand, little shit?” asked Thor, closing the last scroll and looking at Baldr.

Only to realize that Baldr was looking at him like he was crazy... Well, if anyone else heard of Thor's plans they would accuse him of madness and insanity.

In Baldr's mind, Plan A was the only reasonable one.

But the others?

“Have you… Have you lost your mind?!” asked Baldr, screaming and jumping out of the chair he was sitting in as he grabbed his hair and tried to rip it.

Baldr at this point was hyperventilating.

“Plan 'A' I can agree with, but the rest? It's complete madness! Ymir's beard, for plan 'B' Buri's arena, the treasure left to us, you want to desecrate it? Plan 'C' is just another version of plan 'B', but you're relying on Thoth's runes to do the trick for just a second! And let's not even talk about plan 'D'-!” shouted Baldr.

At that moment Thor lightly slapped Baldr's face, cutting off the complaints of the 'light of Asgard'.

“Control yourself! Buri's arena was built to fix itself, don't forget Buri was a genius so there's no need for all that fuss, I just want to 'change' one of the 'laws' of the mirror dimension for just five seconds” said Thor, crossing his arms.

“You want to change the very law of 'death' within the mirror dimension, you want to change it from mere phantom pain or at most coma in the real world to 'REAL death', brother, that's crazy! The time it would take to find the correct rune and change it without messing up the rest of the arena is ridiculous!” said Baldr.

Thor just ignored it.

“I am more than capable of finding and changing the 'death' rune, the biggest problem will be who will hold the change effect, because whoever holds the rune effect will be 'fighting' the repair runes in the arena," said Thor.

Baldr scowled, but then followed with his rage over his brother's plans.

“What about plan 'C'? Dimensional Gap, really? With the rune of Thoth to nullify Surtr's supernatural power for a second and hope that place's effect ends up killing Surtr?" asked Baldr in disbelief.

“Totally doable,” Thor said, smiling.

Baldr glared at Thor.

“… Do you have this rune in your hands?” asked Baldr.

Thor had fallen silent, considering the choice of words for his reply.

“...Yesn't... Well, I mean, I'm finishing the rune sketch, although I'm not sure if it will work now I guarantee it will be efficient in the future, during the execution of plan 'C'" said Thor.

Baldr just sighed and put his hand to his face, just a few seconds later Baldr took his hand away from his face and frowned.

"...Besides... Plan 'D'... You can't 'predict' his trajectory, Thor," said Baldr.

At the last statement, Thor's smile widened.

“That's where you're wrong, little shit, I have someone perfect to help me with the plan, after all, she can see the future, which means she can 'see' the path it takes, as well as time, through the visions,” said Thor.

Baldr was silent as he questioned who Thor could be referring to.

Until he remembered someone...

One Norna in particular who can see the future.

Skuld.

"... How do you hope to convince that particular Norna to help you?" asked Baldr, raising an eyebrow.

The Norns, although they live in Asgardian territory, only obey and respond to one being...

Fatum.

“… I admit that I'm still working on it… But I'll do my best to have Skuld do me this favor of just seeing 'his' trajectory, while we're at Ragnarok” said Thor.

Baldr was silent as he considered the series of plans Thor had demonstrated to him. As crazy and dangerous as Baldr was, he was starting to see and think about plans more carefully, until he remembered something that made him uncomfortable with a fact about Plan B.

“… Even if you change the arena rune to grant 'real death' in the mirror dimension… How do you intend to kill Surtr in just one second?” asked Baldr.

Thor thought for a while before smiling confidently.

“The plan will start when someone 'wakes up'; but don't worry, I hope plan A is enough, I just made several plans like countermeasures and precautions, I guarantee we will win,” said Thor.

Baldr faced Thor and sighed in defeat.

"Very well, I promise to take these plans of yours seriously at the next meeting with our father regarding Ragnarok, if that's all I want to leave... I need a nice cold shower to calm me down" said Baldr, standing up and waving for Thor.

Thor nodded happily, flashing a knowing smile.

“Yes, of course… I bet Nanna is also included in the 'ways' to calm you down, little shit” said Thor.

Baldr hurriedly walked out of the room, though Thor could see that Baldr's face was slightly red, signifying that the 'light of Asgard' was blushing after such overtures from Thor.

Thor laughed a little before losing his smile as he looked down at the parchments and started putting them away.

"... I'm glad I didn't mention Plan F," Thor said, muttering.

Of all the plans, Plan F was Thor's last resort, though there was no scroll.

Although the god of thunder doubted that the fight against Surtr would not lead him to use something so extreme. However, Thor had no idea of ​​Surtr's strength, he chose to ensure everyone's survival using plan F in the Dimensional Gap, keeping allies safely away from him.

As Thor thought about the reunion and the future of Asgard, a group was currently discussing the upcoming wedding...

 

- Location: Midgard / Thor's house.

“…And then there will be several white colored pigeons flying the moment you kiss each other, with my son Baldr doing you the favor of illuminating the place with an unearthly glow in the center of the wooded forest with hundreds of flowers around, after that, a feast shall be held — Ah! I don't know if our mead stores will be enough! I need to notify the palace to start mass production immediately!” said Frigg, as she paced the living room.

Meanwhile, Hel, Freyja, and Sif just watched the queen of Asgard with a look of uncertainty, after all, it was quite obvious that the queen was worrying too much, besides being the only one who was talking and giving ideas about the wedding.

Verdandi was also present, but she was silent, though she displayed a look of disgust or hatred whenever Thor's name was mentioned.

Skuld... Was on Hel's lap, swinging her feet carefree and drinking a glass of milk, while humming in response to the Asgardian queen's dialogue, until her eyes sparkled for just a few moments.

"...I strongly suggest not putting pigeons," said Skuld.

Frigg stopped and turned to Skuld.

“… Is something going to happen?” Frigg asked.

As soon as Frigg asked the question Skuld started laughing uncontrollably.

“Hahahahahahaha! Yes! Let's just say that some guests will make the pigeons not fly according to plan,” said Skuld.

What Skuld saw was something simple...

One of Thor's guests was Ra himself.

Ra, although the strongest god of the Egyptians, still had two protectors for political purposes.

Those gods were...

Maahes, son of Bastet and Anubis and consecrated as a god of war.

And Aker, god of the earth and personification of the horizon.

Both had the divine form with the heads of lions.

For Skuld, it was one of the funniest sights she had ever seen; that's why the youngest Norna liked Thor because every action of the god of thunder turned the future into a very unpredictable scenario.

And if there was something that future Norna liked, it was the 'unpredictable'.

"... Well, in that case, we can remove the pigeons, but now that you mentioned Skuld, could you tell us who is coming?" Frigg asked.

Skuld nodded with a bright smile.

“Deities and non-deities will come, some important some not, there will be mortals and gods celebrating the same celebration, while the  Thunder and the daughter of the earth are the hosts,” said Skuld.

With the exception of Verdandi, who sighed at Skuld's response, every other woman in the house looked at Skuld blankly.

"... Don't even try, that's the best vision you're going to get," said Verdandi, putting her hand on her face and letting out a defeated sigh.

Sif then looked at Verdandi.

“How do you translate that?” asked Sif.

Verdandi just looked at Sif and, for the first time since arriving at Thor's house, she cracked a small smile.

“I am the present, I have the gift of understanding the future that is shown so that it is possible to do everything differently, or repeat the same mistakes of the past,” said Verdandi.

Sif just stared and then leaned towards Freyja.

"... One is worse than the other... They say strange things," said Sif, whispering to Freyja, who nodded in agreement.

It was then that Skuld's eyes sparkled again, right after that the little girl jumped from Hel's lap and ran towards the door, opening it with a bright smile on her face.

“Welcome back, Red Tree!” Skuld said.

The being who was about to open the door was Thor, who had just returned from Asgard and was confused by the child's appearance in front of him.

“… Who are you, little one?” asked Thor, raising an eyebrow.

Skuld couldn't stop smiling.

"I'm your plan D!" Skuld said.

That answer made Thor freeze and stare at Skuld with new eyes.

“… Skuld?” asked Thor.

Skuld nodded in affirmation until her eyes flashed and she lost her smile and froze in place.

"... Oh no..." said Skuld, turning and throwing her arms up and grabbing the woman who had run to the door in uncontrolled fury.

"YOU!!!" the woman screamed.

The woman was Verdandi, and from the face, she was showing it was pretty obvious that the present Norna was irritated. Though Thor could see the woman, who was Verdandi, was irritated about him, and the god of thunder had no idea why...

“Do you have any idea what a mess you made?! Do you have any idea how much I had to work to clean it?! How calloused my fingers are from working so much!” shouted Verdandi.

Thor just stared at Verdandi in confusion.

“… I don't even know who you are,” Thor said, shrugging.

That answer seemed to piss off Verdandi even more who started to struggle from Skuld's grip.

“Let go of me Skuld! After everything I've been through in two thousand years, I need compensation!” Verdandi said, trying to break free of Skuld's grip.

The young Norn from the future had tears in her eyes as she tried to stop Verdandi from advancing on Thor.

“Don't do that sister! He will hit you!” Skuld said.

Hel let out a horrified sigh, not least because she knew her cousin's strength very well, after all, many seem to have forgotten that Thor was the only one who had the courage and strength to bring Fenrir to his knees.

Sif, on the other hand, was drinking a horn of mead while watching the situation as if it were a good show.

Freyja hadn't taken her eyes off Thor.

And Frigg, for the first time, came to the defense of her son.

“My son is not a barbarian!” said Frigg, summoning the silver-colored divine power and threatening the Norns.

Thor snorted in response.

"I wouldn't call myself a barbarian... I'm just in favor of gender equality..." said Thor, with a playful smile.

Frigg looked at Thor in rebuke, which made the god of thunder raise his hands in surrender, but he still wore the smile.

“…We'll talk later,” said Frigg, looking at Thor.

The god of thunder waved and then entered the house, moving away from Skuld and Verdandi and sitting on the couch between Sif and Freyja. Sif soon rose slightly and sat on Thor's lap while offering the drinking horn full of mead.

"Do you want some?" asked Sif.

Thor smiled and nodded in response, then Sif then handed the mead from Sif's hands and drank until it spilled, although Sif noticed that Thor ended up spilling some mead on his clothes and frowned as she tried to clean it up by slapping Thor's clothes.

"Be careful with your clothes, I don't know what you had in mind when you decided to wear clothes the color of snow" said Sif.

Thor stopped drinking and realized he was spilling some and wiped it off with his hand.

“... Sorry,” Thor said.

Faced with the exchange of simple dialogue, Freyja, who was watching closely as she was practically on the sidelines, did the only thing that displayed the mood of the goddess of love and beauty...

She ground her teeth in envy.

 

- Location: Future Ukraine / border with the territory of future Poland / Small village.

In a small village, with a maximum of 100 inhabitants, the inhabitants walked carefree, with each one minding their own business, be it exchanging goods or even enjoying the cold air of the late afternoon, with the beginning of the night being so close to forcing the inhabitants to return to their own houses to protect themselves from the 'hour of the wolf'...

For the night is dark and full of unknown terrors.

As people started to walk home, an innocent young girl named Alicja noticed something on the road...

A blond boy, with a thin and dirty physique, being covered by a tattered brown cloak to protect himself from the cold, extended his hands in a sign of appeal, commonly seen in people asking for food.

But what caught Alicja's attention were the boy's eyes...

Scarlet red eyes watched the people passing by in silence.

Until the eyes turned to her, causing the youngest young daughter of a farmer to freeze in place...

For Alicja, it was like she was in front of a hungry bear.

Until something happened that roused a farmer's young daughter from freezing fear...

“... Food to share?” asked the blond-haired boy.

It was then that Alicja saw that the boy held out his hands to her, reinforcing the request for food. But Alicja saw something else in the boy's eyes...

An emptiness.

As if he had been through worse.

"I... I don't have any food," said Alicja uncertainly.

The boy didn't seem to react for some time until he looked away to the other person passing by and asked the same question...

Only for the person to look in disgust at the boy and completely ignore him; but the boy did not seem shaken, demonstrating that he was getting used to the treatment.

Alicja, for some reason, felt she had to do something.

It was then that the young farmer's daughter took action and ran home as fast as she could, intending to return with something for the boy to eat...

On the way back, however, it was already starting to get dark and the girl noticed something disturbing in the village...

There was no one else on the streets.

Everything was in eerie silence.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, Alicja stopped running and began to walk carefully, always observing the surroundings, after all, the young woman had heard rumors of missing persons. Despite the fact that Alicja just wanted to go back to the safety of her home, the young woman, moved by determination, thought about the pitiful physical state of the red-eyed boy who had captured her attention.

It was then that the flapping of wings caught the girl's attention, who looked around nervously...

But she nothing saw.

More nervous than ever, Alicja forced herself to hurry, using the malnourished boy with red eyes who needed food in her hands as a motivational force, and thought of her parents, as well as her three brothers, who must be worried about her.

It was then that the sound of flapping wings was heard again, louder this time...

As if approaching.

When Alicja tried to start running, something grabbed her by her clothes and lifted her off the ground, dropping the basket of food spread on the floor...

The girl struggled and screamed as loud as she could... But it was no use when she was already high in the sky.

The wasted food lay on the dirty floor... Until a few seconds later a covered figure appeared and looked at the food on the floor and where Alicja was taken flying...

In the darkness of the night, it was just possible to see the ruby-red eyes.

Meanwhile, a few seconds of flight later, on the outskirts of the village, a dense and obscure forest was located, young Alicja fell to the snowy ground and whimpered in pain, both from the fall and the pain in her throat that burned due to the screams and the pain in her throat, and some parts of her body.

Young Alicja then noticed that there were tears in her clothing, which appeared to have been made by long claws.

“Well~ Well~ Don't you know that you should never go out at night, little one,” said a female voice, with a husky tone.

When the girl heard the voice, she immediately looked around in search of the source... But she found nothing but snow, thickets, and the darkness of the night forest.

The girl's desperate actions seemed to amuse the husky female voice.

“Hehehe... It's hard, isn't it? Away from others like you? Alone? You, humans, seem to fear nothing while the light is over your heads... But at the hour of the wolf?..." said the voice.

The more the voice spoke, the more nervous Alicja became, starting to shake and even her eyes filled with tears in utter terror, as she crawled on the ground to the nearest tree for support, where she realized she had sprained her ankle as soon as she felt a sharp pain at her foot.

"... At the hour of the wolf, you remember why you should be afraid... Afraid of the dark, or more precisely..." continued the voice.

All this time Alicja's breathing quickened.

“… Afraid of what it hides~” said the voice, getting closer and closer.

It was then that several leaves fell on Alicja, causing the girl to freeze in terror, not wanting to look up even though she knew something was probably watching her from the top of the tree.

"... It's a real pity, you're so young... But so full of LIFE~..." said the voice.

It was then that Alicja gathered her courage and looked up until she saw...

Nothing.

But a flutter of wings woke her up again and when she looked at the startling source, she saw only an owl perched on a branch, which lessened her nervousness a little, until she noticed something...

It was a very big owl.

Alicja screamed as the owl-like thing leaped from the branch and landed on the ground and slowly got to its feet, until Alicja noticed that the owl had female humanoid features, walking even like a normal human.

The creature then approached Alicja, while extending a clawed hand.

"Come here, little one... I promise it will be brief and painless, I just need a little... Of life" said the monster, this time more hoarse.

Alicja wanted to run but couldn't due to pain in her ankle; she wanted to scream but couldn't due to the pain in her throat and the fear that made her freeze in place...

She knew she was unlikely to make it out alive.

Alicja could only close her eyes and mentally apologize to her family for her naivety in going out while it was getting dark...

When Alicja felt the claws were only a few inches away she heard the female monster say something.

“*sniffs* Oh? *sniff* *sniff* Oh~! What a delicious smell! Smell of... *SNIFF” said the owl monster, as it sniffed the air.

It was then that the owl monster's head snapped to the left, towards Alicja's village, and groaned in satisfaction...

“Power~” said the monster.

It was then that  Alicja open her eyes again, turning to the same direction of the owl monster was seeing, and saw... A hooded figure began to emerge from the darkness of the forest.

Red eyes stared at the owl monster and Alicja.

Alicja realized it was the boy who asked her for food in the village, while the owl monster just watched the boy with desire.

“Oh~ You're delicious! Blood of gods! A little watered down, but still a delicacy!” exclaimed the owl monster, licking its mouth with its tongue and showing its two rows of teeth that looked like needles.

The boy remained impassive until Alicja squealed quickly as the creature seemed to have taken a new interest.

“Go get help, ple - *MMPH*?!” said Alicja, until she was interrupted when the owl monster reached out with one of its arms and covered her mouth.

The creature then flexed its fingers which looked more like claws, and cut Alicja's face a little, drawing a little thread of blood.

The young farmer's daughter froze as the creature looked at her in amusement.

“Honey… I haven't forgotten about you~” from the creature.

It was then that the boy chose to speak at that very moment.

"... Drop it, mongrel," said the boy, his red eyes glowing in the middle of the night.

The creature froze and cocked its head in confusion as it looked back at the boy.

“... Mongrel? What is that? Hmm... It doesn't matter now, actually, I don't know why I'm wasting my time talking to you humans, but I guess this is my year's loneliness fault without a partner... Oh well, let's get this over, shall we?” asked the creature, flashing a cruel smile.

A second later the creature tried to flex its claws again, seeking to slash Alicja's face first, as she was in the monster's range...

Alicja closed her eyes in fear and expected pain as she felt the creature flex the claws that gripped her face.

Until something happened.

*SLASH*

The slicing noise was heard through the dark forest, which made the forest go absolutely silent right after.

Until screams of pain were heard.

But Alicja realized that she wasn't the one screaming.

When the young woman opened her eyes again, she saw that the owl monster was holding the stump of the arm, which was bleeding fervently, while painting the white ground, immaculate by snow, with the dark red color of the creature's blood, while the creature's arm was holding Alicja was lying on the floor.

“AAAARGH! You filthy human! What're you?!” screamed the creature, as it looked at the boy.

It was then that Alicja noticed something strange...

A small white circle, edged with yellow dashes, was floating next to the boy, a phenomenon Alicja had never seen or heard of.

It was then that the creature roared in response and charged towards the boy, claws extended from its remaining arm with the intention of slashing the boy.

“When I'm done with you, I won't leave a drop of LIFE! I'll dry your body and throw what's left in the village center! Then I will—” said the creature, until it was interrupted.

When the owl-like creature got close enough the boy's eyes glowed again, as did the floating circle, and soon the sound of something flying at high speed was heard...

The creature was only an arm's length away from the boy, as it displayed its face with a fury look...

Until fury turned into shock when it felt a 'thread' divide its body.

Time seemed to slow down as the owl monster was split in half, separating into two halves that spewed organs and blood onto the snowy ground, and passed harmlessly past the boy, who stood in the middle as the two bloody parts of the monster passed him by.

Silence reigned in the forest again, as Alicja looked at the boy in complete surprise and even a little fear when she glanced briefly at the yellow circle.

The boy caught Alicja's gaze and then his eyes flashed again and the yellow circle disappeared in a blink of an eye. He then stared at Alicja until he uttered some words that would wake the girl up from the shock.

“…Please…don't talk?” asked the boy, sporting a worried look.

The boy was afraid of Alicja's reaction until another noise reigned in the dark forest.

*Grooww*

The boy grabbed his stomach.

Alicja, realizing the situation, soon shook her head, discarded her fears, and soon tried to get up, until she almost fell forward when she forgot that her ankle was injured.

But she was prevented from falling to the ground when she felt someone's arms holding her.

It was then that she was surprised when she realized that it was the boy who stopped her from falling, crossing the distance in the blink of an eye, something impossible for a normal human being...

Although Alicja was a little apprehensive, she remembered that this boy saved her and did not ask for anything in return; although at the beginning of the night it was Alicja who wanted to 'save' the boy by giving him some food.

Alicja then decided that she should trust the boy and would keep what she had seen a secret.

“... If you're hungry, can you take me home? I guarantee my parents will feed you after they find out you helped me get back home after a little accident,” said Alicja, gesturing to her injured foot.

The boy then looked at her injured foot and then at Alicja's eyes and nodded, it was then that they both started walking back to the village, while the boy carried Alicja on his back, despite the protests of a farmer's daughter.

It was then that Alicja remembered something...

They didn't know each other, or at least, they didn't know each other's names.

"I don't think we've ever had the opportunity to meet... My name is Alicja... What's your name?" Alicia asked.

The boy just said a silent word.

"... Gil," said the boy with red eyes.

"Gil... I like it" said Alicja with a smile.

As the two teenagers walked at night towards the village, they were awakened by Alicja's family who was frantically looking for her everywhere after recognizing the screams that Alicja had given when she was kidnapped, something appeared in the forest...

It was only possible to see a few features, but they were easily distinguishable by the shadow of deer antlers and glowing amber eyes.

It was Enkidu.

And he wore a wry smile.

"The further north he went, the more humble and selfless he learned to be... Perhaps the north is really good for us," said Enkidu, as he watched the two teenagers, Gil and Alicja, walk away.

Enkidu then turned his gaze to the treetops...

"... If you want to get them... You'll have to pass me," said Enkidu, narrowing his eyes.

It was then that in the darkness of the trees dozens of eyes appeared, with the moonlight illuminating the forest for just a few brief seconds...

Long enough to reveal dozens of owl monsters similar to the one that tried to kill the two human teenagers earlier.

They all wore a look that conveyed only one thing...

Hunger.

When the moon's glow faded, darkness enveloped the creatures again, and then all eyes darted toward Enkidu, who just snapped his knuckles in response.

"... They never learn..." grumbled Enkidu, already jumping at high speed towards the owl monsters, which were surprised by the speed displayed by Enkidu.

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Well, that's all folks!

Hope you enjoyed the chapter, peasants!

See you next week! I'll make an effort for the update to be on Christmas Eve!