15 God of Stories

(A/N What happens in this chapter is influenced by the source material, but it has my own interpretations and creative freedom added and mixed into it. If you disagree with it, then you shouldn't have read fanfiction about this. Please don't hate on this, I need to give our MC a certain level and place him in the myriad of powerhouses in the Universe.)

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(3rd Person POV)

Odin has gained the power of runes. He was now able to do everything that would come and could now create plans accordingly to ensure, he and his people would not die and prosper. Why didn't Odin kill 'those who sit above in shadow'? He could have done what Rune King Thor did and simply destroyed the Loom of Fates to kill them ... The answer to that is no. While he could have destroyed the Loom of the Fates and Yggdrasill, the only thing that would have done ... was halt the cycle. 

Odin knew this. He understood that this wasn't the way to go about this problem. Because as long as there are gods, as long as they go to war with each other, at the end of it all ... they will be the final victors because they feast on that energy. Odin knew that in the end, he wouldn't achieve anything, that's why his plan changed and he knew that to beat them, he would simply have to take from them, what they so desired. Ragnarök.

And for that reason, Odin knew that even though he was now, Rune King Odin, even though he now held unbelievable power over runes, he was still not strong enough to truly deal with them. But he will be. He knows things that not even the runes could show him. His 'meta-knowledge' might not have as much information as Odin has through the runes, but it has specific knowledge like where and how Odin could gain more power and continue to grow. 

.

"They can't be killed ... not right now. Isn't that right ... Loki?"

"Oh? You knew I was here? And here I thought I had this all figured out.", the surroundings of the throne room where Odin was just sitting started to change and what he saw was a seemingly different planet with Loki standing in front of him smiling. 

"How did you know, Father?", Loki asks with a smile. 

"Do you think I wouldn't realise the difference between my own reality and another one? You underestimate me, boy."

"Haha, I guess so. But aren't you too young to call me boy? I am far older than you."

"Didn't you die?"

"Touché."

"So what are you doing here, Loki? Shouldn't you not even exist yet, for a long time?"

"I read some of this universe Loki's story."

"And?"

"And ... I'm not very happy with it. You don't even plan to adopt me anymore. I am wounded oh All-Father, greatest of all the gods, protector of the nine realms~"

"Don't sass me, child. Now speak!"

"Well, that's all that I wanted to ask. I wanted to know why you won't adopt me anymore. Do you hate me that much?"

"Why would I have any feelings towards someone that I haven't even met? I know what I have seen and that is enough reason to change my future approach. I won't kill Laufey and instead, deal with the problem differently. You will be raised by your birth father."

"..."

"..."

Both of them simply looked at each other. Well, that might not be correct. Odin had his eyes closed. He planned to create a blindfold for himself but didn't have the time yet. He was snatched before he even got to Asgard. 

"I feel like you aren't telling me everything, as per usual."

"Why do you want to know everything, that can be a bother."

"Always lecturing me and telling me what I'm doing wrong."

"...", Odin didn't say anything to that, because he knows that Loki understands that that's not what happens. But Odin doesn't explain himself when it's not necessary or when he doesn't want to.

"Alright alright, I know. But aren't you at least a bit sad about not adopting me? You have seen the love that you would hold for me in the future. Aren't you eager to feel that?", Loki said and was twirling his staff while walking around.

"It is as you say. I have 'seen' it and not 'felt' it. I am indeed eager to see my children and teach them about the cosmos and its dangers and wonders, but that is not something that someone else decides for me. I write my own stories. My fate is my own, similar to you but not exactly the same.", Odin says.

"And here I thought I would write the stories.", Loki smiled mischievously. 

"Indeed, the God of Stories, Loki Laufeyson, is a powerful man. A very powerful man, but you won't find any stories to tell with me. I make my own stories.", Odin says.

"I refuse to believe that. You are very arrogant, Father. It is time that someone teaches you some humility, now that you're still young. I have seen your impressive fights with Set and Ouranos, but I am on another level. So show me ... show me what makes you so different, Father!", Loki says and the entire world around them changes. 

All the colours get drained and Odin finds himself in the void of space. But no matter where he looks, he only sees distant stars. No matter how far he would go, his position wouldn't change. This wasn't the universe as he knows it, this was a story, told by Loki and made to test Odin. But Loki was foolish if he thought that he could teach Odin humility. Odin made sure to be prepared for as much as he could, he never stopped training and didn't look down on mortals and future humans. He was not the usual Odin. He was more. 

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Finally, Odin opened his eyes. They shone light blue and gave Odin nigh limitless information about his current situation. He looked at the runes in this 'reality' and started to learn about this reality he found himself in. But something interesting came to his attention as he was doing this. 

"Hehe, don't bother, Father. My magic has bound you to this place, to the rune 'Raidho'. The rune of journeys, but the rune is reversed, its meaning changed. An unwanted journey. Plans disrupted. The rune of crisis."

"Impressive. Truly Loki you have done the unthinkable. You have changed the meaning and therefore the powers of runes completely. That is something that not even the Beyonders could do. Fascinating.", Odin says. 

This was truly powerful and unimaginable. Loki restructured a fundamental law of existence and changed the meaning and power of runes to his liking. This was akin to taking the Reality Stone and then deciding that it's no longer the reality stone but the time stone. No, it was probably more than that. But instead of having fear, as Loki expected, Odin was fascinated and interested. This was a chance to learn for him. A chance to get where he wants. 

"You seem awfully calm, Father. You do understand what it means that you just said, right?"

"Of course! This is a chance for me. A chance to grow and understand what I am witnessing right now."

"Oh and how would you benefit from this?"

"Even if you changed the meaning and power of each rune, it is a simple matter of understanding what means what now. You changed the meanings and powers, not take them away. I suspect ... not even you can do that.", Odin said with a light smile as he looked around with his eyes wide open, taking everything he could in.

"You understand that this is a limitless amount of things you would have to check, right? You would never manage that, Father. Not even you who have gotten the power of runes. You would rather kill yourself."

"My will cannot be broken and I haven't set myself any limits, so why would you think I would allow you to do that for me?"

"You will die! Your brain will explode! Don't do this!"

"...", but Odin didn't answer him anymore. He was far too absorbed in this.

.

To explain what was going on we have to understand two things. 

First: There are limitless numbers of runes and each rune has its own meaning and power which comes together with that meaning. It is impossible for a god, no matter what to truly understand all runes at once. That is why Odin and Thor, in the comics, had to die first to be remade to hold such knowledge. Now after Odin got the power of runes, reality and existence started to make sense to him and he began to understand. 

That is the power of runes. He could view the past, see the present and guide the future. It is all seen by him and that is done through the power of runes.

Second: Loki changed the meaning and power of each rune to suit him. All of the infinite runes have been changed. 

What Odin argues is that no matter what Loki does, he can only rearrange and change the meaning and power of runes and not make them completely useless/powerless. So in order to profit from this situation, Odin is taking all the runes he can see in. He is 'downloading' all the runes once again and memorizing their meaning and power one after the other. 

The reason he can do that is because he has infinite storage in his mind. He has unbreakable and boundless willpower and is free from limits. He can do anything he sets his mind to and spends enough effort. By understanding the new meaning of these runes, Odin won't gain the same power as Loki has right now, but he will come one step closer to understanding what Loki did and how he did it. 

And when he fully understands how Loki did it, he will be able to do it as well. 

.

Loki watched in horror and disbelief as Odin deciphered the meaning and powers of each rune one after the other. Not only that, he was getting faster the longer he did it. It was like learning a new language. But instead of having 26 letters, it has infinite. And as soon as you understand all the letters, he can use them however he wishes. 

This has turned from Loki, trying to test and understand his father, to a learning experience for Odin. The God of Stories was baffled and his jaw hit the ground as he saw Odin going at it. He saw Odin take in massive amounts of information and understand more and more the longer this process went on. And not only that, Odin was having a blast. 

After an unknown amount of time, the process by which information flowed into Odin's mind seemingly exploded and the Odin Force manifested itself in Odin and protectively coated his entire being. This Odin Force was no longer the normal simple force that every other Odin possessed. It had been turned into a part of his Noble Phantasm and therefore it was heavily influenced by Odin's beliefs and imagination. By going through this process, Odin learned more and more about how Loki managed to change the meaning and power of the runes and the Odin Force was directly influenced as well. 

It was growing alongside Odin. 

And then ... suddenly ... it was over. 

.

"I see now ... stories. I dare say, simply divine.", Odin muttered.

The light had died down and both Odin and Loki were back where they started. Loki looked at Odin in disbelief. The time that had passed, couldn't be expressed in words but Odin had indeed managed to understand and memorize all the new meanings of the runes. But not only that ... Odin had made his first step towards understanding the power that changed them. He was one step closer to the secret ... of stories. 

"What do you think you accomplished here, Father? You achieved nothing. I think about it and ... *snap* .... it once again changes.", Loki says. 

"Aye, you can change the meaning again. But I can also learn them all over again.", Odin says as he opens his eyes again. The runes had once again changed their meaning and powers but this didn't deter him, he would simply learn them again. It was only beneficial to him.

Loki looked at Odin and understood something. He was learning faster! He understood the principle! And as soon as he understood that, he immediately broke this story he had created and sent Odin back to his reality. If this would go on, Odin would understand his power of stories and that would be dangerous ... very dangerous.