Yggdrasill

(Odin POV)

I am standing on the roots of Yggdrasill and making my way up. I knew this day would come eventually. I did not expect it to come this soon. I am just over 200 years old. A child in our terms. And yet here I am, looking for wisdom and the power of Runes. I know what my last incarnations did. I know what I sacrificed to Yggdrasill ... but that is not me. I am different from the last versions of Odin. I am beyond him. 

The Odin Force manifested next to me and looked around.

"Yggdrasil, the World Tree. So you came here after all ... for power?"

"Aye and for wisdom. I want to know whether things have changed or if the World Tree even has the capabilities to understand me and predict my actions."

"Bold words ... I like it."

I walk up the roots of Yggdrasill. Yggdrasill, the world tree, is an energy field that supports and connects the Ten Realms. The roots and the branches of Yggdrasill connect all the worlds. It binds the cosmos as it grows. 

It is represented as a tree; the roots and branches of the tree each connect a different realm such as Asgard, Jotunheim, Muspelheim, Alfheim, Vanaheim, Nidavellir, Svartalfheim, Niffleheim, and the earthly realm of Midgard through which all the connections pass.

At its base are three wells: Urdarbrunnr (Well of Fate), from which the tree was watered by the Norns (the Fates); Hvergelmir (Roaring Kettle), in which dwelt Nidhogg, the monster that gnawed at the tree's roots; and Mímisbrunnr (Mimir's Well), source of wisdom, where I am going right now. 

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I finally reach the well of Mimir. Interestingly enough, the well is still called such, even when I never severed Mimir's head and sent him here. But I am not one to judge. 

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"We have arrived ... finally.", I say and look up at the tree. It was an impressive sight and feeling. 

"What are you going to sacrifice? You know that you can't use powerful tools or artefacts."

"I know. If that would work, I would have dumbed the Eternal Flame or an Infinity Stone down here. It has to be something that is personal and valuable to me."

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(A/N This is something I don't know, so I simply made it like this. I hope you don't hate on it.)

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"So what is it going to be?", the Odin Force asks me.

"This ...", I say. I bring both of my hands to my face and then ... carve out both of my eyes. I don't scream and there is no change in my expression. I drop both of my eyes into Mimir's Well. I can feel the Odin Force's happiness at my bold move. 

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With my arms still inside the well, I feel it filling up with water and begin to drink from it directly. As I drank the wisdom of the past opened by the clarity of Mimir's well. I saw the beginning. The beginning that set off the entire cycle of Ragnarök ... Ymir. The cosmic giant the first being ... who was slain. 

I saw my Buri, my grandfather's past, I saw Bor, my father's past and I saw my own past. Or rather pasts, plural. I saw my past incarnations and my sacrifices to stop Ragnarök. I saw my training and the war I fought with the Frost Giants. I saw my fight with Set and Ouranos and finally ... I saw them.

"We have lost Ragnarök time and time again. And it comes in different forms. I am having a deja vu ...", I say and then have to laugh at the irony. 

"Hahahahahahaha ...", I laugh heartily. To think that a century ago I fought Set for the exact same reason as I would fight those who sit above in shadow ...

"But I'm not finished ... not yet.", I say knowing that I still have to do something. 

"No, not finished... not yet.", the Odin Force agrees. 

"To complete my task I must cast aside my very life! I must be reborn!", I say knowing what is coming. The Odin Force nods and continues. 

"Birth requires the sacrifice of life - to be the planted seed or the blood of the mother's womb! You must cease to be! You must be remade!", I could hear the excitement from the Odin Force. It was me and essentially that was my own excitement. 

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"Munin, Hugin, come to me.", I say and I feel my ravens land on my shoulders, "You will be my eyes. With you, I have sight beyond sight."

Munin is memory and Hugin is thought of all the worlds. I now see all that my two ravens have seen and remember. Both of them are still young, so they haven't seen that much just yet. But this will increase the older they get. And they won't ever die, they are a product of the Odin Force. I created them. 

I walk the final steps up Yggdrasill towards the branches. In my past incarnations, according to my meta-knowledge, I hung myself for nine days and nights, until I was at the brink of death. A sacrifice of myself to myself. But the me now is different. I will go beyond that. I will go beyond the brink and into the maw of death itself!

And so I did. 

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I hung from the tree seeking hidden knowledge. The knowing of the runes. Magic called 'Seid' by the Norse could divine the future and cast spells upon the now!

Here I hang. Each day brings me closer to death. With each day, I gain more and more knowledge of runes. The magic of the runes and wisdom from the well of Mimir give me the power to know the past, control the present and guide the future!

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Now I can see through the veil of time, past the knowing of the gods! I gained knowledge of the science of man that hasn't even been invented yet. I see all things, animals and minerals. I see beyond quantum structures, beyond cosmic architecture and into the nothingness. I see the relationship between man and god, child and father, creator and destroyer. 

Only after destruction can there be a resurrection. Now I know what has to be done if I want to stop this cycle. 

The runes show me the future of all things. Of every man and beast, every leaf on every tree. I see every deed, seen and unseen, every battle lost and won. I see the end of all things and the part I play in it ... the part I SHOULD play in it. But I know ... I make my own destiny. I will use this to my advantage. You messed with the wrong Odin.

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And so I die and go to Hel. The land of the sick, weak and doomed. Everything is cold there. I can see many others frozen and suffering. 

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And then I see someone approaching. A woman ... Hela. The goddess of death. This is her domain, or normally it would be. But I am Odin, the All-Father. I also have a divinity of the dead. 

"Mine.", Hela says as she stands before me. 

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"To think that I would gain such a powerful one this early. What happened to you, Odin? You are far too early."

"Hela, I presume. I sacrificed myself to gain knowledge, to gain power ... the power of runes!"

"Runes?! You drank from Mimir's well and killed yourself. Are you insane?! You can't leave now, no one leaves from here."

"Is that so? Well, I understand that you believe that, since you haven't seen someone like me. But I am Odin Borson, the Sky Father, the All-Father and the future King of Asgard as well as the strongest one there is and will be!", I say and as I say this my weak and frail form begins to slowly gain colour and starts to shine. 

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"No!"

"You say no one leaves from here? You say this is the end for me? And who decided that?! I make my own rules, Hela. Never forget that.", I say and then disappear from this dimensional. 

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When I open my eyes again, I am in a desolate plain beneath a forgotten sky, void of stars. It is just black. Outside the realms, outside all realities. I look up and see five figures sitting there. Three seem to be male and two female. All of them were white silhouettes and exuded power. Power beyond what I knew them to be, but I knew where that power came from.

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"We witness your deed, Odin, Lord of Asgard, King of the gods who has travelled beyond death. You are worthy of our notice. We give you our blessings.", the one in the middle said with a booming deep voice that would have made the fabric of reality tremble, had we been there. 

"Those who sit above in shadow ... I can see you now. I see through you. I have sight beyond sight, your shadows no longer cloud my eyes, elder gods of old.", I say.

"If you know who we are as you claim, what shall you do with this knowledge? You cannot understand what you have no context for and we are beyond you. You are nothing more to use than-"

"Than a toy is to a child. Children, that is all you are. You sit and watch, you laugh and smile at our lives and deaths ... you fee on us. I know you."

"And we know you. We know your fate. You are no threat to us.", another one says, to which I smile. 

"How amusing to find you here. Gaea told me about you. How sad to see you here, feeding off of the energy released by Ragnarök. You sit here and watch my kind live a never-ending cycle. But those times are over. I have become something you have never even dreamed possible. Your little 'threads', which you have the fates spin for you ... I will show you just how frail they are."

"We know all the outcomes past, present and future."

"Wrong! This time, you aren't dealing with the Odin of old. I have seen your weakness. A fatal flaw that you missed due to arrogance. Those Who Sit Above in Shadow can not predict what someone would do when influenced by mortal man, and thus can not keep him bound by his strand of fate. Which is exactly what has happened to me."

"Really? This could be interesting."

"Aye. It will be interesting. Watch closely how I will take everything from you, that you hold in high regard and then ... when everything has been revealed ... I will come for you as well. You shall know the wrath of Odin!", I say and then open my eyes.

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I use my understanding of runes and teleport back. I know where I want to go, so I appear right where I left. At our house in Aesheim. 

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In front of me stands Gaea, hands folded and waiting. I can tell that she was tense but knew I would return. I smile when I see her in the same spot as when I left. 

"I'm back."

"I see that.", she says and then embraces me. We stay like that for a moment and I press my forehead onto hers. In a flash, all of my memories from what happened are sent to her head. She opens her eyes wide in recognition and gasps lightly. 

"It's them."

"Aye. Your fellow Elder Gods which you sealed away in Utgard."

"What happened? I only saw what you did, but what happened to them, to do something like this?"

"As you saw, when I talked to them, they are the ones who have fate weave the cycle of Ragnarök. They feed off of the energy which is released by Ragnarök. Does that remind you of someone?"

"Set and the dinosaurs. To think that they are so alike."

"Yes, you seem to be a special case."

"So what now?"

"Now I do what I told them. I will weave my own fate and thoroughly mess them up. They have no power over me anymore. This means that everything I do will cause a ripple of such a magnitude that fate can't contain and when I have done what I said, I will destroy the Loom of the Fates and break the cycle for good."

"And them?"

"I will hunt them down. Just like I said I would."

"Good."

I can see the future. But not even the runes can understand and predict me. I am beyond clairvoyance and that is good to know.