Family Stuff

Seth returned home after an exhausting day. Night was falling, and he was resting on his bed inside his tent.

He reflected on his day, now having a sub-divinity. There are two types of divinities: sub-divinities, such as wisdom, magic, and war, which are more common, and the divinities of birth, which are much more powerful and often unique and special. For example, Odin was the 'god' of the sky, hence called the Father of the Sky, with sub-divinities of war and wisdom. The divinity influences the person who possesses it. He recalled Odin's story.

Odin earned his war divinity on the battlefield, like many other Asgardians. For a warlike people like them, there must be numerous Asgardian who have The Conceptual Power of war and combat, or is it the other way around? Is Asgard filled with impetuous warriors because of their long lineage of war divinities? It doesn't matter... I set aside this riddle of which came first, the chicken or the egg, and delved back into my memories.

Young Odin was consumed with rage, fighting for the throne against his brothers and killing them, even his father Bor. He sacrificed his right eye to transform their divinity into energy for himself, thus creating Odinforce. He then encountered Angrboda, a power-hungry witch who desperately wanted to be queen. He married her, and a few years later, Hela was born. Odin wanted to conquer the nine realms and trained Hela relentlessly, receiving no love from Odin and very little from Angrboda, who used her for manipulation. Hela became the executioner of death, eventually developing that divinity. They conquered through violence, leaving behind hundreds of thousands of corpses, many of them innocent.

They eventually conquered the nine realms, but Hela wanted more. She wanted the entire universe to be under Asgard's control. Odin, in a rare moment of reason, dissuaded her. She disagreed but accepted. She fell silent and never broached the subject again, undoubtedly waiting to become queen. Upon Angrboda's death, killed by the Dark Elves, the only person who loved her even though she manipulated him with her love, she traveled to the territory of the Dark Elves with her companion and wolf Fenris, decimating numerous villages. Odin learned the news and went there, witnessing thousands of corpses of innocents who knew nothing of war. Odin approached her, trying to calm her and bring her back to Asgard. But Hela told him that if he was too weak to conquer the universe, she would do it alone, with her death divinity. She resurrected all the villagers she had killed, turning them into her personal army, a thousand revenants becoming her servants, the Berserkers.

Odin tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't listen. So, he decimated her army with a storm, destroying them, reducing them to dust. But her Berserkers rose again, regrouped, and returned unscathed. Hela fiercely attacked him and deemed Odin too weak to be the king of Asgard. She tried to kill him and steal his divinity, just as he had done to his father and brothers. It was a fierce battle, with the earth cracking, even space becoming unstable. Heimdall could no longer see the fight, only hear the exchanges. He understood that neither he nor anyone else could intervene in this battle. He ordered the Einherjar, the army of Asgard, to stand ready to protect Asgard if Hela won the fight.

Heimdall was right to be concerned; Odin was slowly losing the battle. He couldn't stop Hela or even kill her. You can't kill death. And even if he could, he didn't know if he would be capable. She was his daughter, his flesh, and blood. He shaped her into what she had become. He raised her and made her an instrument for Asgard. She should have been a beautiful and innocent princess, not a weapon. If he could undo all the harm and damage he had caused her, he would let her necrosword pierce his heart.

But he knew it wasn't that simple. He had to defeat her and win if he didn't want to provoke a second war with even more unnecessary deaths across the nine realms and the universe. As he realized, in the worst way possible, his mistakes, his responsibility, he developed his wisdom divinity, which saved him, the nine realms, and the universe. He thought better, showed intelligence, insight, common sense, and judgment. He decided to imprison his daughter in Hel, a barren and humorous land of the nine realms, and tied her life force to the lock of Hela's prison, condemning himself in the process, slowly poisoning himself with the corrupting energy of death. Asgardians, especially the royal family, were supposed to grow stronger with age, but in Odin's case, it was the opposite—he weakened over time until his end. On the other hand, Hela couldn't escape and was bound until Odin's death.

Odin emerged from that battle, filled with wounds but wiser than before, with a partial victory.

He had just sealed Hela at the cost of his life force, which diminished each year—a half-won victory.

Normally, Odin believed that only Ragnarok could kill Hela, but that changed when I was born. I'm sure that's why he's so insistent with me. He's counting on me to stop Hela once and for all and maybe even prevent Ragnarok.

Defeating Hela will be a challenge but not a problem. At the rate I'm training, and if my divinity is as powerful as Thor's, which would be an insult to Imagny, I will be an unstoppable monster when the Marvel plot begins in less than 1000 years.

"I'm not worried about Hela, but Ragnarok... It's a prophesied cataclysmic event marking the end of an ancient Asgardian cycle and the beginning of a new one. Even with the Infinity Stones, it will likely be irresistible," Seth thought.

["With our divinity, it's difficult but possible,"] Imagny suddenly said, hearing Seth's thoughts. Normally, she couldn't do so without Seth's consent, but he allowed her to read most of his thoughts so she could give her opinion or interact with him. Seth considers her his assistant.

["Really?"] Astral asked mentally, surprised.

["Our power, if properly mastered and pushed to its maximum, will even frighten cosmic entities..."]

"Wow, I'm getting more and more excited to discover my divinity," Seth thought with rare excitement, envisioning his future.

He was lost in his thoughts when his sharp instincts sent him a sense of urgency. In an instant, he got up from his bed and grabbed a stone from his bag, throwing it where his instincts warned him.

Two people appeared, and a hand caught the projectile with incredible speed. The runic stone opened, releasing a thick cloud of smoke. Seth was already in a corner, prepared for this precise moment. The tent was now filled with smoke, making it impossible to see through. Astral was about to move with her two daggers towards the intruders when she heard:

"If you don't mind, Frigga..." said the characteristic voice of Odin. A small hole appeared and sucked all the smoke in.

Seth let out a sigh of relief, and the smoke dissipated.

Frigga, Seth's mother, was wearing a beautiful summery dress that paid homage to her beauty. Surprisingly, Odin was dressed casually, without his usual armor or crown, without his spear. It must have been in a dimensional pocket.

"You have excellent reflexes, not bad, my son," Odin said in a stern voice but with a hint of surprise. After a few words and an embrace with his mother, Frigga.

"What brings you here? I doubt my absence has been unbearable for you..." Seth said with his usual indifferent face.

"Haha, I came because my genius son not only obtained his first sub-divinity but also became the youngest in history to do so..." Odin said, his smile and joyful voice clearly displaying his pride.

Frigga, sitting beside him on the throne, shook his shoulders and said, "Congratulations, my child."

"This accomplishment worthy of the greatest deserves a great reward. Is there anything you desire? I would like to wait for you to unlock your divinity before asking the dwarves of Nidavellir to forge a true weapon for you like Gungnir or Mjolnir, but if you wish, I can ask them to make you a good uru dagger for now," Odin said. Odin had made Mjolnir for Hela after they conquered the nine realms, but such a weapon takes time. It wasn't completed back then, and fortunately so, because otherwise Odin, wise or not, would have perished if Hela had possessed that masterpiece from the dwarves.

Seth pondered; he wanted the Tesseract, but he couldn't risk altering the future, so just uru daggers, he thought.

["Ask for a large block of uru material capable of taking any shape, with stabilization and quantum particle transportation runes, and the ability to switch between liquid and solid states,"] Imagny told him, her strange request surprising him.

["What would that be used for?"]

["I've already told you, finding special and unique materials, as well as mastering the runes, will be of great help in developing and improving our divinity."]

Seth sighed and decided to follow her guidance; after all, he didn't really need a better weapon at the moment.

"I have a request; I want a large block of uru with runes of [...]," Seth said.

"What a strange request, are you sure?" Odin said.

"Yes, I'm sure," Seth said indifferently.

"Hmmmm." Odin was probably considering what Seth would do with it. In Astral's eyes, the only thing he could do with such material was to start building his own destroyer, but that would take time. He would need rare materials and would have to learn forging. Odin knows Seth well enough to be certain that once he embarks on a project, nothing will stop him.

"Alright, I'll have the dwarves take care of it. It should arrive soon," Odin said.

"No, I won't need it for another 15 years. Tell the dwarves to take their time and do a good job, it's important," Seth declared with a hint of seriousness in his indifferent demeanor.

"Okay, I'll go with that. You've done well, my son. Keep it up, make me proud, and make sure Asgard is proud to have such a promising future king," Odin said with a smile. Seth was very tired; he just wanted to rest and didn't bother telling Odin for the thousandth time that he wouldn't become king.

"Oh, I almost forgot. To come here, I had to seek the approval of the Elf Queen, Aelsa Featherwinen. I didn't lie to her, so she knows about your presence. She will surely meet you soon. Goodbye, my son." And he left through a portal.

"Tsssk, I'm sure he could have come up with another excuse; he did it to train me in diplomacy, for when he thinks I'll be king. Old sly fox," Seth muttered. His mother heard him and laughed. He spent two hours with her, telling her about the week he had spent here, as briefly as possible as a social outcast. Then she gave him a lesson on runes, hugged him, and kissed him before leaving. He was really tired, so he went to bed.

A few kilometers from the forest lies the capital, Ljosalfgard. In the city stands the royal castle, and inside the palace, a restless queen, Aelsa. Aelsa is a beautiful woman in her twenties, with white hair, green eyes, and an aura of grace.

She was slightly worried when Odin requested a meeting without an apparent reason. Although Odin was known as a wise king, she would never forget the bloodlust that preceded his wisdom. She was then surprised when he wanted to visit his son with his wife. The prince was apparently hiding under a false name among the integrated children of Asgard.

She wondered why the prince was hiding under a false name. If he was as skilled as the rumors claimed, he should be very good at combat, and Asgardians, especially the royal family, were the type to show themselves. She pondered a reason and what she knew about the prince from the rumors, and the only thing she could deduce was that his mother Frigga must have insisted to Odin that he should make friends without his reputation preceding him. She would have done the same for her children, she thought.

The promised prince, Astral the impenetrable and the prodigal prince, the rumors and gossip surrounding the prince were widespread. She wondered what he was really like.

She contemplated what she should do.

"My queen, I have investigated as you requested, and I'm certain I have found him..." said a royal guard kneeling before her. She gestured for him to rise.

"Tell me," Aelsea said. She was seated on the throne platform, with only the guard delivering his report and two soldiers guarding the throne room door present.

"There is a boy named Seth who matches the description of the prince: solitary, impassive, extremely skilled in combat. This morning, he obtained a war divinity, which is likely a good reason for His Highness of Asgard's visit. He is five years old, just like the prince. He's most likely the prince," the guard said, pausing at the mention of the divinity.

"A war divinity at the age of 5!!! It's unheard of, what a monster..." Aelsea thought.

"Alright, continue monitoring him from a distance. I will meet him later."

Aelsea wondered if the child would be like her sister.

Author's note: I know Odin's story and Hela's story are not the same as in the comics or movies, but those are a disjointed mess that makes no sense. I created my own, improved version, adding a coherent and meaningful plot that doesn't change the key points but modifies the details. Some may not like it, but I believe many will enjoy it.