Part 1: Ragnarok (prologue)

Frigg, queen of the gods of Asgard, held her beloved son Balder as he took his last breathe in her arms. This was the second time she’d had to watch him die. A soul-chilling wind whipped around her with the stench of the dead on its back. Loki and his army of giants had destroyed the rainbow bridge and broken down the gates of Asgard, paving the way for their monstrous allies to wreak havoc in the once-glorious home of the gods. They had known this day would come—they had all known. But what can even the gods do in the face of fate? Why had she been cursed with the ability to see a future she could never prevent? Her sons all dead. Even the mighty Thor. Soon her husband would fall, then the rest of her people. Everything would be gone. She raised her voice to the blackened sky. “Why? Why has fate cursed us so?”

“Heed our words

Aesir Queen

is this the only future

you have seen?”

Frigg turned to see the three Norns--the mysterious women who see and know the workings of the universe. Her voice was rough with anguish. “Words! Just more words. Leave me hags! What good are your cryptic pronouncements now? We have lost.” She buried her face in Balder’s chest and wept.

“You saw this day

that is true

but what other visions

came into view?

Fear and anger

have made you blind

more futures than this

you blocked from your mind”

Frigg’s laughter was bitter. “More futures? This isn’t bad enough? This is the end—the end of everything. There is no more future.”

“That is because

you were afraid to see

what comes after

this melee

Many places

outside of time

all possibilities

some harsh, some sublime

You have the ability

To open a door

your special powers

can make them whole once more

Beware!” The Norns vanished into the thick smoke.

Frigg sat up, a glimmer of hope dawning on her face. “You mean we could go somewhere else, somewhere wonderful?” Frigg looked at her hands, seeing the power of her life force running through her veins. Of all the gods, only she had been given the power to see not only into the future, but into other worlds and futures as well—places where all the many choices not made in her world were given form and consequence. Other strange and wondrous realms like dreams. She could take them all to one of those idyllic worlds where Loki and his evil did not exist, to a time when they all still lived. She looked into herself for that insight. When she found the world she wanted to focus on, she reached out with her power to encompass her friends and family and pull them in. But her efforts did not go unnoticed.

Loki was near death, blood oozing from his chest. Only his refusal to let the Asgardians win and the power of his daughter Hel, ruler of the dead, kept him from slipping away. He turned to his daughter, his voice raspy. “What is that witch, Frigg up to? I can barely see…”

Hel concentrated, tasting Frigg’s magic with her own. Suddenly she turned to Loki with horror. “She is weaving a warp gate! If it works, she will be able to transport all the cursed Asgardians into another realm out of our reach.”

Loki cursed in outrage, coughing up blood. “They can not win! Do something to stop her! Use my remaining life force if you have to! I will not have Odin gloating over my dead body. If I must lose, so must they.”

“I cannot close the warp she has opened. But perhaps…”

“I know that look. You have something truly evil in mind.”

“Oh yes, father. We can curse her working with one of our own.”

“Can we follow them in?”

“No. She has keyed her life energy to her people—only they can travel through her warp. And I am certainly unable to heal our fallen allies, as she can and will with her own time-and-space-altering powers. My god energy comes from the land of the dead. I cannot heal or restore. But I can turn her blessing for the Asgardians into a curse indeed.” She took her father’s limp hand, holding his gaze with her cold eyes. “Father, the battle here is over. But I promise you this—they will suffer and you will be whole once more.”

“But you do not have the power to restore health.”

“No, but Frigg does.” Hel stood up and stretched out her arms. Dark energy crackled around her. She slowly began to siphon off some of Frigg’s energy and poison the rest. Frigg was more powerful than she, however, and the strain was terrible. Hel knew her efforts would kill her. But she was determined to be the small lever that would topple Frigg. The Agardians had been as much a thorn in her side as they had been in her father’s. She mocked Frigg, shouting at the top of her lungs to be heard over the gale. “Enjoy the small feeling of victory you have. It will not last. I cannot close your gateway. But with my last breath and my last scrap of magic, I twice curse those you would save. They will never see the land of plenty you have in mind for them. With the taint of my magic, those that survive will be trapped in a realm not of their liking. They will know no peace, no comfort. And by the double working of my magic, Loki will not die. I cannot heal his body, but his spirit will drift in peaceful slumber until the time is right for him to return to Midgard as its ruler. Your pitiful gods will suffer in that inhospitable hole, all the while knowing that my father will one day be reborn to enjoy all that you have lost.” Hel laughed like a madwoman at the panicked look on Frigg’s face.

Frigg tried to stop her, but it was too late. She could feel her warp shifting. As the gods of Asgard were drawn into her, Frigg could feel them being thrown out into a world of fire and barrenness. She was going to die, and with her death, doom the others to a horrible fate! Why had the Norns led her to this path if…

Everything went black. Everything went white.

“Neither side loses

neither side wins

the world ends

and the world begins.”