23 Back

(Odin POV)

I open my eyes after years and immediately see Gaea sitting next to me and smiling. 

"It seems like we always meet like this.", I tell her.

"It does seem that way ... I missed you.", she says.

"I missed you too. Come here."

We embrace and kiss for a while and I use the two Forces for the first time here to increase the flow of time for us. This gives us as much time as we need to quickly finish up here. We haven't seen each other for years, so we are entitled to some us-time. 

"How is it?", Gaea asks me. 

"Mindblowing. It quite literally broadened my horizons and pushed me beyond what a normal Asgardian would ever hope to achieve. I gained quite a few abilities."

"What kind of abilities?", Gaea asked only half serious since I could sense her desire. I was the same. I might not have felt the passage of time inside the Speed and Still Force, but now that I'm back I realise just how long it's been. So we do what husband and wife, who love each other and haven't seen each other in a long time do. 

.

We spend two weeks in bed together. That's right, two full weeks in bed and doing what immortals do. I look at Gaea who has fallen asleep after two weeks of going at it, non-stop. She really is happy that I'm back and finally wants children. I agree with her. We put it off for long enough. I focus for a fraction of a femtosecond and watch what happens during the time I was not here. 

I see Gaea's desperation in trying to get the Titans to free their siblings the Hecantochires and the Cyclops. Gaea is so powerful but she doesn't interfere out of respect for the creatures. She values free will highly and while I agree with that sentiment, I am not a mortal. I understand the necessity to put your foot down and say what has to be done, with force if necessary. 

The Titans turned out as bad as I expected. They don't really care about the mortals who are slowly turning into the apes that will become homo sapiens as we know them. They drink, eat, f*ck and go around killing those they don't like. It is standard Greek Pantheon stuff, I suppose. 

I see something else, the first pregnancy of the Titan Queen Rhea and Cronus. So the first child will be born. I can also see the first host arriving ... but before that, I can see someone else arriving that will cause the First Host to arrive in the first place. 

Zgreb the Sorrower is on his way. Or he will be soon. And when I say soon, I mean in a few centuries. 

I kiss Gaea and then close my eyes. I can sense that someone is trying to talk to me and that someone is quite an important someone. So I close my eyes and let everything happen. 

.

My consciousness is taken away. I watch as I pass various barriers of the Universe until I reach outside the normal Multiverse and appear before the cosmic beings. Some of the very top rosters that exist are present. Eternity, his sister Infinity, the Stranger, mistress Death, Eon, Mistress Love, Master Hate, Order, Chaos, the inbetweener and of course the Living Tribunal all appear before me. 

[Picture]

All of them look at me with interest and I observe them as well. My runes are not very useful here. But I no longer only rely on runes or the Odin Force. Well, that is not exactly right. I have done something that I call 'Boundless inner Universe'. This is an inner universe of mine that is made up of my powers, thoughts and soul. I fused all of my 'forces' with this inner world after creating and becoming the embodiment of the Speed Force and Still Force. 

"Well Ladies and Gentlemen what can I do for you?", I ask everyone present but mostly directed at the Living Tribunal. He is the one that called me here and he is the one that calls the shots around here. 

"Odin Borson, you have been called because there has been a disturbance in the makeup of realities. Every Universe in all of time and space there have been two new fundamental and Universal forces born. And you are the epicentre of this birth.", the booming voice of the Living Tribunal was heard. 

"That is correct and so?"

"So he is the one that caused all that change? I don't see it. How can he create something like that? It is even beyond my control and your's as well Tribunal.", a cold and slow voice says. I turn around and see a woman wearing purple and blue linen. 

"You must be Death. You should be the first one to understand that one should never judge something or someone by his or her looks...", I say remarking upon the fact that she is a walking corpse or a skeleton. 

"Quite brave of you. No one speaks to me like that and lives."

"And yet here I stand."

"Hehehe, I can already see it happening. The chaos that will come will be glorious.", a crackling voice says. 

"I am not happy about that. We cannot allow something like that to remain in the hands of a mortal. We should take control and have order return.", Master Order comments. 

"I can feel your love, dear Odin... What a wonderful love you have. It is strong in your heart. I hope that both of your love will bear fruit.", a blond woman with a happy expression says to me. 

"Thank you, Mistress Love."

"Hmmm ... I sense no hate in your heart. How is that possible? Every living creature has hate for something. But you ... not even for those Olympians which you look down on ...why?"

"Why would I hate something weaker than me? I only pity them.", I answer him.

"Pity? Why pity, if I may ask.", the Inbetweener asks me. 

"Certainly. I pity them for they will have to deal with me in the future."

"Oho, quite arrogant of you."

"Not arrogant. I am simply stating the facts."

"What shall be done now?", the Stranger who has been watching the entire time asks the Living Tribunal. 

"Due to you creating and turning into two fundamental forces of the Multiverse across all of time and space, it has been decided that you, Odin Borson, shall ascend to join us amongst the cosmic beings. This however is not mandatory, since there is nothing I can do about you."

"So you're saying it would be what you want for me to do, and you would force me if you could."

"Affirmative. Since that is not the case, I cannot force you and the decision is in your hands."

"I have no interest in joining you. I am not interested in upsetting the balance of the Universe or taking control of it. Any power that I amass, is purely to protect my family, Asgard and Midgard since that is basically my wife. Of that you have my word. And Odin doesn't give his word lightly.", I say and look at the Living Tribunal. 

"Understood. You may return now.", the Living Tribunal says and then I feel myself shoot back to my body. 

.

That was an interesting encounter. I could feel their powers and started to understand at what level I now stand. I have just been asked to join the cosmic entities and declined. This tells me that I have reached their level of power. Where I stand exactly isn't certain yet. But what is certain is that I am now essential for the Multiverse and all of time and space. 

Should I be destroyed, and that is still possible, then that would have unimaginable consequences for all of the Multiverses. The First Firmament up to the last, now 7th Cosmos would cease to exist. But not just that. these two forces go beyond just that. They have permeated the Superflow, the Exo-Space and the beyond ... 

I can now take the time for my family and ... politics. Oh, dread. I already see what will happen and I am not happy about it. But no matter, I am prepared and that is all that matters. 

.

.

(3rd Person POV)

The years ticked by and life took its turns and the situation in the ten realms got a bit tense. Odin understood why. Of course, he did. He saw it all. The Jotuns and especially the Frost Giants were getting restless. All those years that have passed since Asgard defeated them have caused them to forget what a powerhouse Asgard truly is. 

But they weren't the only ones. The competition between Vanaheim and Asgard has increased in recent years. As the years passed by, the Vanir began to get increasingly jealous of the Aesir. To placate this jealousy, Odin smartly allowed the Vanir as well as those from Nidavellir and Alfheim to send their children and attend schools in Asgard. 

This of course meant that those who joined would never use the knowledge that they learned in Asgard to harm Asgard. Appropriate contracts had been set up and they were accepted. This lasted for a few decades but after a few decades, Freyr the leader of the Vanir, stopped sending any children to Asgard to learn. 

He had come to understand that none of what they learned, could used against Asgard. Freyr in his delusions, thought this to be Asgard not willing to part with their knowledge and holding the Vanir on a tight leash. At least that is what he claimed. Odin didn't bother with responding to such accusations. He knew that Freyr used this chance to cause dispute and profit from a weak Asgard. 

Odin tried one last thing. He went to Vanaheim in person this time and visited Freyr. 

.

"What brings you to Vanaheim, Odin?", Freyr asks not bothering with titles and decorum. So Odin does the same.

"Freyr, I have come to you in hopes that we may stop this senseless dispute between us. I hope that the Aesir and Vanir won't walk separate paths as they do now and instead join and form an even stronger force."

"So you suggest ... to unite the Vanir and Aesir?", Freyr asked in disbelief. That wasn't what he had expected Odin to suggest. He hoped that Odin would part with some secrets or give them gifts to placate them, but none of that happened. 

"Aye, that is what I would like. I already have met a young man called Heimdall who is a Vanir and his gift is remarkable. He has come to me and asked to serve me. I would love that but I assume that you will use this to paint another bad picture of me."

"What?! You come here and accuse me of something like that? I refuse this! I won't allow the Vanir to unite with the Aesir. We will remain independent and never bow!", Freyr refused Odin's proposal.

"But what you could do, is to remove these pesky contracts that our children have to sing all the time."

"I can't do that, Freyr."

"You understand what this means, don't you Odin? This means war!", Freyr says.

"Listen to yourself. 'War'? Come on, the Vanir and Aesir can surely work this out. We, Freyr can certainly-"

"Odin. The Vanir will not bow. We will not yield. We are the equals of the Aesir, if not higher and just because you believe yourself to be more than you are, it doesn't have to be the case!"

"I have heard enough of this. I hope you rethink your position and not act rashly. Because if it's a war you want, we won't back down. I will take my leave, I hope we can solve this peacefully, Freyr. Farewell."

This was the beginning of a war. A war that would be called the Vanir/Aesir war. And it would have quite serious repercussions. For Freyr for all his hubris knew that he wouldn't stand a chance against Odin on his own. He needed power and other was only one place that he could get that.