6
#6 - Nine Worlds
The next morning, Forseti arrived at the apothecary and retrieved the healing stone from the furnace.
The furnace temperature wasn't high, similar to those found on Earth, allowing Forseti to reach in directly without needing tools like clamps.
The healing stone was wrapped in special medicinal paper. At that moment, El entered from outside, holding a few herbs in her hand.
"Forseti, up so early?" El looked mildly surprised to see him.
Forseti smiled sheepishly.
In the past, Forseti often overslept, and El would remove the healing stone from the furnace for him to prevent its medicinal efficacy from diminishing due to prolonged heating.
El set down the herbs and immediately began preparing medicine.
While Forseti was adept at herbal medicine, Cousin El was the true genius. Most advanced medicines in the store came from her, and Forseti had learned much of his knowledge and skills from her.
The term "advanced medicines" referred primarily to treatments for severe illnesses among the Aesir.
Though Asgardians were immune to nearly all diseases, the universe was vast, harboring some terrifying illnesses that even the gods couldn't resist.
For instance, there was a person in town suffering from the incurable "God Cancer" (a nod to a character in the comics). He spent thousands of large gold coins monthly on medicines here, nearly bankrupting himself just to survive.
El was currently occupied with making medicine to alleviate this godly cancer.
As Forseti continued making healing stones, he grew increasingly absent-minded, as if pondering something perplexing. Finally, he leaned over to El and asked, "El, are Asgard's 'year,' 'month,' and 'day' similar to Midgard's?"
The Midgard, also known as Earth, lay at the center of the Nine Realms.
Since arriving, Forseti had sensed that Asgard's measurements of time—year, month, and day—seemed remarkably close to those on Earth. But he hesitated to trust this intuition fully. After all, such coincidences seemed improbable in reality, possibly beyond what even novels dared to depict.
"Why the sudden interest?" El inquired.
Forseti replied, "I overheard something. I'm not sure if it's true."
El shook her head. "They're not just similar; they're identical."
"For real?" Forseti was astonished.
El chuckled. "Remember what I told you before? Did you forget?"
"Um... I think I forgot." Forseti strained to recall but came up blank.
El sighed softly. "Asgard's calendar is based on Earth's year and month."
"Why base it on Earth?"
"The Midgard's position is unique. It's the center of the Nine Realms and a stable, standard planet. Asgard experiences no seasonal changes, so Earth serves as the reference point for formulating our calendar," El explained patiently. "A realm like Jotunheim remains cold and dark year-round, thus relying on the Midgard for its calendar."
El paused, adding, "Despite its ordinariness, the Midgard's special location grants it significance. Many forces across the universe focus on it."
Forseti blinked, contemplating. Could this explain Earth's tumultuous and bizarre nature?
It seemed plausible. Otherwise, why would all six Infinity Gems, each possessing cosmic power, have connections to Earth?
"El, have you been to the Midgard?"
"No," El replied with a shake of her head.
Forseti pressed further, "What about 'day'? Is Asgard's day length similar to the Atrium's?"
"It is. Not only that, but the day-night cycles across the Nine Realms are very similar," El confirmed.
"Why is that?"
"It's the rhythm of the World Tree. The Nine Realms all branch off from Yggdrasil, and their day-night cycles are synchronized with the World Tree's rhythm."
The term "Nine Realms" referred to nine distant celestial bodies: Asgard, Jotunheim, Vanaheim, Muspelheim, Alfheim, Nidavellir, Svartalfheim, Hel, and Midgard (Earth).
Narrowly speaking, these were the Nine Realms, though broadly, they included affiliated realms associated with these celestial bodies. For instance, Asgard, despite its small size and few towns, governed many affiliated planets across the universe. Asgard resembled more of a capital or palace than a mere country.
Although scattered across the cosmos, the Nine Realms were interconnected by Yggdrasil, boasting intricate relationships that unified them as a whole.
However, Forseti knew Yggdrasil as a metaphor; there was no literal tree linking the nine celestial bodies.
"The World Tree's rhythm?" Forseti questioned skeptically.
El shrugged helplessly. "Don't give me that look. I don't know the deeper reasons."
...
Ten days passed.
"Forseti!"
A familiar voice called from outside his window—it was Skorch, looking for him once more.
"Come on up," Forseti invited through the window.
Shortly, Skorch ascended from below, entering the room with a mischievous grin. His first question was, "Are you still not considering it?"
He referred, naturally, to Amora—a topic he had broached repeatedly in recent days.
Forseti waved it off, unwilling to discuss it further. Instead, he opened the "Sacrament of Kings" and pointed to a line of text, asking, "Skorch, how do you interpret these words?"
Skorch glanced with a puzzled expression. "This is clearly blank paper."
"Look closer."
Suspicious, Skorch leaned in for a better view, then shook his head. "This isn't funny, Forseti... You weren't very humorous before, but at least you didn't crack cold jokes like this."
"Alright." Forseti smiled and closed the holy book, feigning it was merely a jest.
In truth, he did this to verify his suspicion. It seemed confirmed now—besides himself, no one else could see the text within the sacred book.
The two conversed in the room for a while longer. Then Forseti suddenly suggested, "Skorch, let's head to the open space to spar."
"Spar? About what?"
"Combat, of course."
Skorch looked surprised. "Seriously?"
Though both teenagers, Skorch was notably larger than his peers, nearly an adult in stature.
Despite carrying a bit more weight, Skorch remained a formidable presence compared to the slender Forseti. The outcome of a sparring match between them would likely be predictable.
"Absolutely." Forseti nodded, eager to test his progress in learning Paladin martial arts over the past few days.