Chapter 22 – The future of Ásgarðr!

Here is the new chapter!

Enjoy!

*Any images in this chapter don't belong to me! It belongs to their respective artists/creators!

Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!

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- Timeskip: 1 day after Thor's journey in the land of the dead.

- Location: Ásgarðr / Main Palace / Throne Room.

Pov. Third-person.

In the throne room of the Aesir realm, Loki, Frigg, Njord, Skadi, and Odin, who was sitting together with Frigg on his famous throne, the Hliðskjálf.

These people were arguing about the future of the next generations.

"Odin... You are my king, and I respect that, you have won the war fairly and honorably and established peace for the first time between us, the Vanir gods, and you the Aesir gods... You need to consider what I'm asking carefully, so that this peace may exist for many generations to come... As it stands now if by chance we die, another war may break out, and it will be OUR own extinction due to OUR numbers!" explained Njord, leader of the Vanir gods.

"I thought your son was the 'god of peace' Njord, but does it look like he's also hungry for power?" Loki asked with a slight edge of sarcasm.

Odin frowned.

"Loki! Have more respect for our allies! Don't make such accusations, even if it's 'just a joke' for you, we're talking serious business!" said Odin, with finality.

Loki then held up his hands in surrender.

"I just think brother that this situation is... 'Peculiar', after all, they are asking for too much," said Loki, explaining.

Skadi then rose from her chair in a rage.

"'Asking for too much'? We want to establish a lasting peace! And we seem to want this more than all of you here!" shouted Skadi pointing to Loki and then to Odin.

Loki then smiled.

"Control your wife, 'leader' Njord... After all, Jotuns are quite prone to doing shameful things in search of unnecessary conflict~" said Loki.

"You are a Jotun too!" replied Skadi.

"It's true... But I didn't grow up among savages like you~" replied Loki.

Skadi grimaced.

"You bastard!" screamed Skadi already creating an ice spear.

"Oh~... Do you really want to fight, Skadi? Such limited behavior and thinking… As expected from a wild one," Loki said with a tone of disappointment.

But you could see a mocking little smile on Loki's face.

"THAT'S IT! I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE AND HANG YOUR SKIN ON THE BRANCHES OF THE NEAREST TREE AND OFFER YOU TO LÆRAÐR!" shouted Skadi.

Before Skadi could leap towards Loki, Njord had grabbed her arm.

"ENOUGH!" shouted a voice.

It was Odin, and he was angry.

"Loki if you're going to create unnecessary conflicts, you'd better leave, if you choose to stay silent! And you Skadi, my brother speaks some truth... You are asking too much..." said Odin, with a frown.

Loki chose to remain silent, but Skadi...

"Odin! Please understand! As much as Frey does not seek conflict, the other Vanir gods are not like that... Old blood, Odin... Old blood means settling scores. Some gods lost cousins, uncles, parents, siblings, lovers, sons, and daughters during the last war against the Aesir, and I'm sure there are some Aesir who lost someone too. Frey and Freyja are pretty much alone, Njord and I managed to keep the other gods in line because we fought in the last war too, but Frey and Freyja didn't... And they are the future leaders, so we need to secure their position," said Skadi in supplication.

It was then that Frigg decided to speak at this point.

"And this is how you intend to secure their position as leaders?… By marriage? What kind of guarantee do you have that this idea will work?" asked Frigg.

Njord then decided to explain.

"We can only respect force… It's the only thing that will keep everyone in line. No one in their right mind will question Frey's leadership if his brother-in-law is the future king of Ásgarðr as well as being the most well-regarded and beloved god by all his people... It would be long-term suicide," explained Njord.

"My son will not be a 'guarantee'!" shouted Frigg.

Frigg quickly rose from the throne and walked towards Njord.

"Have you ever thought about how this 'idea' can go wrong?! Furthermore, even if we accept marrying Balðr with Freyja, what stops the rest of the Vanir gods from 'silencing' Frey and putting his sister in power? Huh?! This marriage proposal is ridiculous! It can go very wrong! I will not let my son be killed because of 'old blood'... I also lost my father in the war against you, but Odin and I ruled over the Aesir without a problem," said Frigg crossing her arms.

It was then that Skadi could stand it no longer.

"Of course you ruled 'without a problem', who doesn't remember the 'blood eagle' that King Odin used to do with some of his captured enemies?! No one is crazy to challenge Odin knowing very well what he has already done during the war!" shouted Skadi.

Odin then chose that moment to speak calmly.

"This is what happens in a war. For every 'blood eagle' I made, I saved 10 of my people from an unnecessary fight... In a war, if both parties have equal numbers of soldiers, the greatest weapon is the 'fear' you cause in your enemy... But now that the war between us is over I have let you keep your titles as leaders of the Vanir, and your status as prince and princess... That was my way of starting to ask for forgiveness for what I did..." said Odin silently.

The room was silent until Njord began to speak.

"*sigh* I understand that, Odin... I also had to use 'fear' as a weapon... We, Vanir gods, have a long history with you Aesir. But you have to see the reason... If we have succeeded in uniting the Aesir and Vanir royalty, there will never be a risk of future conflict, in addition to ensuring the peace between the Aesir and Vanir," said Njord.

For a moment the room seemed to have gone silent once more, it seemed that all the gods present were considering Njord's words.

"If we do… Our kids never married for love," Frigg said.

"If we do, then… No. But again, we didn't have that privilege of marrying for love either," said Skadi.

And it was true.

Odin and Frigg were married for politics.

Skadi and Njord? Politics too. A Jotun with the leader of the Vanir gods.

And Loki and his current wife, Sigunn? A political marriage to allay the other gods' distrust of Loki, marrying him to an Aesir goddess.

"As much as they don't marry for love... Just like us, they can learn to love each other over the years..." said Odin.

Loki then raised his hand, the intention was clear... He wanted to speak. Skadi, when she noticed, frowned.

Odin then nodded but gave him a warning look.

"I understand that you want to propose this marriage to avoid bloodshed... What I don't understand is: 'why' Balðr? He's a good fighter and has a talent for magic I admit, but he's far from instilling fear in others, he's more loved than feared... And for this specific situation, it's not the best choice," explained Loki.

Skadi and Njord were confused.

"Could you explain then Loki?" asked Njord.

"Our aim is 'to quell any future rebellion' and, as my brother has already commented, 'fear' is a good weapon when both parties are 'alike' in strength... After all, you're better to be feared than loved when you want to end some rebellion quickly. Unfortunately, for this situation, Balðr won't help; his first title is 'the god with the gold heart', he's too innocent... He's too... 'good'. So it won't work... Balðr is loved but not feared" explained Loki.

Skadi seemed to think.

"...So who do you suggest?" asked Skadi.

Before Loki could respond, Odin interrupted him by summoning Gungnir and hitting the ground with it, drawing the attention of those in the room.

"This meeting is finished... Because it looks like I have an unplanned visit" said Odin looking at the throne room door.

The gods then looked towards the door, and initially did not understand... That's when they remembered the capacity of the throne of Odin.

This meant that Odin saw something coming towards the throne room.

Skadi then spoke.

"... Are we under any attack my king? Any invasion?" asked Skadi, ready for combat with an ice spear in hand.

"…No…It's just…My son" explained Odin nervously.

The gods were confused, why would one of Odin's sons come to the throne room now? Besides, couldn't the guards or the Valkyries stop Odin's son from interrupting this important meeting?

It was then that Loki, noticing Odin's growing nervousness, asked a question.

"Odin... Who, EXACTLY of your children, is coming here?" asked Loki suspiciously.

Odin turned towards Loki and smiled.

"It's your 'favorite nephew', brother," Odin said with a smile.

Loki widened his eyes.

"…I'm out of here," Loki said.

But before Loki could make any teleportation circles, he was interrupted by something.

*BAM*

That was the noise the throne room doors made as they fell to the floor after their hinges were smashed from the wall.

It was then that the gods saw a figure with his boot raised in a kicking position.

The funny thing is that the figure was bound by ropes of energy, an immobilization spell used exclusively by the Valkyries, the ropes were tied on the leg, arm, and neck.

The figure revealed itself to be Thor, with a frown.

It was pretty obvious that he was pissed.

Thor then smiled when he realized who was in the throne room.

"Oh? Well, you're here too 'Uncle' Loki…" said Thor as he entered the throne room, ignoring the energy ropes that were tied him up

As Thor walked, he dragged by force the three Valkyries who were trying to immobilize him with the energy ropes.

The three Valkyries were trying to pull Thor... but they were failing spectacularly.

Thor continued walking, closing the distance between himself and Odin until he stopped a few feet away.

"I want to have a 'little talk' with you, Dad, and Uncle Loki… A talk about 'family'," Thor said, narrowing his eyes.

Thor then snapped his knuckles.

It was at that moment Odin knew he would know a pain not so pleasurable...

During this moment, Skadi got an idea as soon as she saw the 'strongest Norse god' and smirked.

"Yes… If it's him… It might work," Skadi whispered to herself.

- Timeskip: 9 years (Current Age: 3890 BCE / Age of Thor: 110 years)

- Location: Miðgarðr / Thor's House.

Pov Thor.

A few years had passed since my adventure in the land of the dead and, by extension, Niflheim.

I came back with what I wanted plus so much more.

A being capable of killing gods... Became my guard dog!

Also... I made a new friend.

I knew Hel had a difficult childhood.

But I had no idea it was so bad... I still offered her to come with me and Fenrir to Midgard, but she insisted on staying in the land of the dead... According to her, it was because she already felt that was her 'home'.

So I stopped persuading her to move... But I assured her that I would visit her whenever I could, plus I expected her to visit me in Midgard.

It took a whole year, but finally, after I visited her several times, she came out of the land of the dead and visited me in Midgard... She only stayed for 1 hour, but I made it worth it. And the result is that we saw each other frequently over the years, I still tried to look for Jörmundgander to get him to talk to his little sister... But it seems the bastard left the coast of Midgard after my last fishing trip.

Also... I had a nice 'conversation' with Odin and Loki.

I couldn't be more disappointed and decided that I would get a 'little' revenge later. Well... Besides sending them both to the healing chamber at the end of the 'conversation'.

I felt bad for the Valkyries cleaning up the mess in the throne room afterward... But I didn't feel bad for the spilled blood.

Regarding goats, when I came back from my quest in the land of the dead, I started 'testing' the goats and ended up discovering that, at full speed, they could be faster than Skíðblaðnir itself! When I discovered this detail, my mind quickly started to think of new possibilities... But to 'preserve' the safety of the goats, I chose to make a simple 'vehicle'.

The goats would be the 'engine'.

The vehicle?... A carriage!

And soon I will do the first test drive!... But I had to put the 'ultimate vehicle' project aside for good reason...

The reason? Well... Another member of the family was born.

It was a miracle that Frigg had gotten pregnant with Odin in less than 100 years and there were a lot of celebrations in Valhöll.

Of course, I also celebrated... And overdone the mead again.

And... Because it was such a big celebration... The party went on for 3 days non-stop.

In other words... For 3 fucking days I drank mead non-stop.

There is only one word, to sum up how I 'behaved' during the celebration...

'Wild'.

Initially, I didn't intend to drink too much... So on the morning of the first day of celebrations, I didn't go overboard.

It was on the afternoon of the first day that shit hit the fan.

The reason was simple... Hérmod.

My brother found out, because of an extremely drunk prince Vanir, that I had forged the brisingamen... And he thought it was a good idea to take advantage of me being drunk and have me sign a contract to forge a gift.

His goal? Offer the 'gift' as a dowry and negotiate with Njord for Freyja's hand in marriage.

I didn't even notice that the fool was slowly increasing the amount of mead that I was consuming until it was too late.

When I woke up, I thought it was the second day of celebration... Imagine my surprise when I found out that the celebrations were already over... So the three days of celebration had already passed.

How did I find this out? Well... I had another 'surprise' in the morning after the celebrations.

The first surprise of the day?... It all started when I woke up on my bed in my old room in Ásgardr's palace... Along with Sif, lying on my chest, and two other women, whom I recognized as two waitresses from Valhöll... We were all wearing our 'birthday suit'.

Well... Yay?

I mean... It wasn't a totally bad way to wake up, but the problem was that the headache, caused by the hangover, cut off my mood.

What can I say?... I had the worst hangover of my life.

Does that make me an alcoholic?... Hmm... Maybe... Yes?

But again, these were human values... But now I was a god, so I didn't know if alcoholism could be considered something 'awful'.

But putting the hangover aside, it was a…satisfying morning?

Anyway, while I was trying to get out of that position I ended up waking up the two waitresses from Valhöll, who silently apologized and began to dress quickly and leave the room.

They didn't even let me say anything...

Sif, however, remained asleep.

As soon as I finished getting dressed, I left the room and looked for a nearby waitress to ask them to deliver some food to my room for Sif.

Later in that day, I ran into Sif, also hungover, and we ended up talking about how we ended up in that situation.

According to her, who was less drunk than I was, it all started when Vali was turned down by a waitress.

My brothers and I were sitting together because it was an important celebration, and as soon as Hérmod saw Vali fail in his attempt to 'court' a waitress began to laugh and quickly scoff at Vali's failure, saying that perhaps he would be more successful if he tries 'court' with men.

Váli didn't take it well.

In fact, according to Sif, he even tried to 'court' the same waitress more 'insistent'... I knocked him out and then asked the waitress to not serve at my brothers' table again during the festivities.

According to Sif, Hermod complained to me, saying that I had exaggerated... And, according to Sif, I replied that he should go suck a dick instead of talking shit because then he would be using his mouth for something more 'useful'.

Hermod did not take my mockery well.

And he said that I didn't know how to 'court' and that he would never find a woman in bed and began to question my 'preference'. My drunk self, by some miracle, ignored him... For a while.

He didn't stop mocking…until I lose my temper.

I turned my face to the closest woman, who ended up being Sif, and asked, 'Hey… Me and you, let's fuck?'

Was it primitive?... Absolutely.

And, as Sif was already a little drunk, she 'went with the flow' and replied: '...Okay'. She accepted and we ended up in my room.

The two waitresses?... They showed up when Sif and I got hungry or thirsty during our 'physical activities'... And they stayed because Sif had invited them.

The ironic thing is that, according to Sif, one of the waitresses was the same waitress that Vali tried to 'court'.

Fortunately, Sif told me that I didn't fall for Hermod's scheme, so no contract to forge anything.

So, in short, it was an interesting party?... Yes, in a way, it was kind of interesting.

Anyway, after a few months, the newest member of the family was born.

His name was Höd.

And, unfortunately, he was born... different.

He was blind.

My family was disappointed... After all, we WERE a warrior society.

A warrior born 'disabled'?... He wouldn't have a very good childhood... So I decided to help him in some way.

The best way I found?... I will create something that will help him a little during his life.

As soon as I got back to Midgard, I started working on my little gift to Höd...

The Iron Nanny! The most competent nanny in the world!

I was also thinking about my little brother Balðr's centenary, so I had to busy myself with finding the items to forge these things.

Initially, I was thinking about creating a bow for Balðr... But I stopped to think about that because he doesn't really like using weapons... Balðr prefers the classic.

The fists.

So I decided to give him the 'classic weapon' that would only become popular a long time later.

The weapon? A custom Knuckles (English punch).

Nothing can beat the classic.

I also decided to give him my old fishing Drakkar, the same one I used when fishing Jörmundgander. I had no more use for the Drakkar, as I could build a better boat.

After some time collecting items and building gifts, I was finally done!

Balðr's boat was a simple Drakkar... With some runes like the 'always at sea level' rune, and storage for the fishing loot.

The Drakkar didn't have much fishing equipment... In fact, it only had one fishing line.

It was my spare fishing line... Made from the spinal cord and muscle fibers of a Grootslang.

In my opinion, it was the perfect gift!

Anyway, there was only one thing missing...

"I already said you can't go…" I said looking at my stubborn little partner.

"*whining*"

It was Fenrir... The stubborn one didn't want to let me go.

While I wanted to bring him, I wasn't sure if he would behave.

After all, he still had a 'primitive' mind.

If Fenrir saw Odin or Loki… I'm pretty sure there would be 2 more bodies in the quota of the 'god slayer'.

"Don't worry cousin, I can take care of him!" said a voice.

I looked towards the voice and saw Hel, she was visiting again, and by coincidence, it was the same day as Balðr's centenary.

By the way...

"You can't," I said in finality.

Hel looked surprised.

"But then... *sigh* If I can't stay, and since you seem to be on your way out... Then I must return to the land of the dead," said Hel, her shoulders slumped.

"... What do you mean? You're coming with me," I said.

This seemed to have surprised Hel.

And it looked like Fenrir had understood the basics: His younger sister can go, but He doesn't.

And then he began to bark in indignation.

"*Woof! Woof!*" barked Fenrir.

"Ugh... Alright! You can go too, but you won't leave my side!" I said, in a warning tone, to Fenrir.

Whether he understood what I said or not, he didn't show it.

I just hope it's a no-kill party...

Hmm…

I then remembered something important.

Hel's answer.

When I looked at Hel again, I could tell by her expression... that she was afraid to go.

"...I don't know cousin... It's been many decades since I went to Ásgarðr... I don't know if it's a good idea to go with you, maybe it's better if I stay here or go back to the land of the dead..." explained Hel.

So she was afraid to go to Ásgarðr...

"While it may be my brother's centenary party... I, as a prince, have every right and MUST be there... Just like you, as a princess of Ásgarðr, have EVERY RIGHT to be there. Don't worry... You can stay close to me if you're not too comfortable with the eyes of others" I said.

It was a struggle to make Hel act more confident.

But it was to be expected from someone who has been alone for a long time.

So I had to give a 'little nudge' in the right direction.

If no one from Ásgarðr approves of Hel's presence at the celebrations... Well... I want to see them try to unjustly expel her from the party, with me next to her...

"Okay… I'm coming with you. But don't leave my side, okay? Please…" asked Hel, still a little uncertain.

"I swear, and besides me, you will have your older brother as Ásgarðr's scariest bouncer," I said pointing to Fenrir.

Who chose that moment to scratch behind his ear with one of his paws… He seemed to be enjoying the feeling because he had his tongue out as he scratched.

"Hahaha... What a 'scary bouncer'!" said Hel, looking at me.

"I'm still training him…" I replied grumbling.

Nice time to do this Fenrir... Perfect timing...

"*sigh* Here…" I said to Hel, pulling a small package out of my storage necklace.

As soon as Hel took it she asked as she looked at the package.

"... What have inside?" asked Hel curiously.

"Inside the package in your hands is a miniature Drakkar inside a glass bottle... This is the gift YOU will give to Balðr," I said in finality.

Hel looked startled and now held the package as if it were the most fragile thing in the world.

"No! I can't! What if I break it?! Besides that, It was you who did it! If I gave this for Balðr… It will look like I did it!" said Hel as she tried to give me the Drakkar back.

I just pushed the Drakkar firmly into her hands.

"I won't deliver it! I already have another gift for him, and as you are going to participate in the festivities you MUST bring a gift, especially if you are family! Also, it's not quite 'lying' you're just going to offer him the gift, it's not like you're going to say you made this Drakkar. And don't worry about breaking the gift, the glass that is protecting the Drakkar will absorb the impact and it will break, but it will leave the Drakkar intact," I said assuring Hel.

She then nodded.

"Right... So let's go now?" asked Hel, with a small smile.

She seems to be more excited.

Well... Compared to the fear she'd had before, that was a good sign.

"Yes, come on... I'll teleport us to the rune of Ásbrú (Bilröst / Bifröst) here in Miðgarðr" I said.

Next stop, Centenary of Balðr!

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Well... That's it, folks!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Until next time, and don't forget to leave your comment!

*Subtitle:

Ásbrú = is the Bilröst (Bifröst) bridge.

Læraðr = Tree located on the roof of Valhöll.

The next chapter will be out on Wednesday!... Probably? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯