Record of Ragnarok Fimbulwinter #1 The Beginning of the End

As the meeting of the gods wrapped up, Brunhilde and Göll hastily head down the halls of Valhalla, preparing for the uphill battle which lay before them. Göll however, still harbored some concerns within her. “Sis, are you sure that we can even find a human who can beat a god, let alone 13?” she asked timidly, “Also you didn’t tell me this was your plan before this, do our other sisters not know either?”

“Göll, I couldn’t outright tell you all the final plan, but we are valkyries, and defending humanity is our eternal duty.” Brunhilde declared confidently, "Besides, I wouldn’t underestimate humanity, there are some very powerful individuals who have come from the many years of human history.” Göll simply nodded in agreement, despite being the youngest, she too was privy to their duty as guardians of humanity. “Now, I already have a general idea of who I want to be fighting, all we have to do is to decide the order and track them down.” As the duo headed further down the halls, they were intercepted in the hallway by Freya.

“Brunhilde, what the fuck are you thinking?? Ragnarok? Challenging the gods? You know they put that law in there as a joke right?” Freya scolds Brunhilde, yet still with remorse within her eyes. “Look I am the queen of the valkyries, and I do not want to see humanity destroyed either, but there is no way humanity could stand up to them, and should you lose, all of you will go down with humanity.”

Brunhilde simply looks her queen in the eyes, face as stoic as ever before replying “My queen, I am well aware of the risks, I am also aware of the seemingly insurmountable odds. However I believe that humanity could be saved. Their doomsday needn’t be today.” She gestures to Göll who is hiding behind her older sister, attempting to avoid the angry gaze of her queen. “We have to get going, humanity’s vanguard must be chosen.” The valkyrie sisters begin to walk away from their queen, before Brunhilde turns around and speaks up, “Oh and Freya, please, do not fight in Ragnarok. Even if the gods command you to do so. This is for your sake.” Afterwards the sisters proceed to walk away.

After a few minutes and passing many rooms, they arrive at their destination. “This is it Göll, the akashic records.” Brunhilde opens a door into a large room, and in the center sits a table with holographic images of a multitude of humans being cycled through. However, this was not what caught Göll’s eye first.

“Sisters! You’re all here!” Göll quickly rushed towards her fellow valkyries, running into the open embrace of the largest valkyrie there. “It’s been so long since we’ve been all here together,” she stated excitedly, but her mood dropped just as quickly as it rose, “But having to reunite under this circumstance is truly disheartening.”

“It’s alright sister Göll, we all knew this was coming, and our roles as protectors of humanity. It’s only inevitable we fight for them to have a chance at survival.” the fourth valkyrie sister Randgriz spoke, eliciting nods and mutters of agreement from her sisters. This seemingly calmed Göll down, and after all eyes fell on Brunhilde, who was leaning over the table, flicking through the mass of holographic headshots. “Well sister, have you decided on who is going to represent humanity first?”

Brunhilde however, continues to flick through the photos, silently muttering to herself about each human she flips past. “I need to somehow take this shortlist of around 50 humans and narrow it down to 13. And from there somehow select the first representative.” Brunhilde spoke aloud to her sisters, yet not turning to look towards them, “Come, all of you, perhaps you can provide some assistance and insight.”

As the sisters gathered around the table, Brunhilde laid out all the candidates out for them to see, and quickly opinions and suggestions began to be expressed. “That Qin Shi Huang fellow looks interesting, being the first emperor of China and all, he ought to be a rather strong first pick.” Alvitr suggested.

“What about Arthur Pendragon? King of the Britons? I mean he wielded a nearly divine weapon in life already, as well as having been assisted by the great mage merlin, he is practically made to defend humanity.” Thrud chimed in.

“Leonidas seems promising. Leading an army of 300 men against a force of nearly 300 thousand is impressive. If anyone is to be the vanguard of humanity, he’ll definitely be one of the best picks.” Geirölul excitedly declared, riled up for the thrill of battle.

“I personally think Shaka the great Zulu would be perfect as well, having also stood up to a larger and stronger army.” Randgriz added, albeit in a more meek and quiet manner than her boisterous sister.

“What about him?” Göll pointed towards the portrait of one man, “Isn’t he considered one of the gods? He might be our best chance.”

“As much as I’d agree with all your points, we’re still thinking too small for our first fighter.” Brunhilde regretfully states, “Yes, kings and emperors are great, but we need something larger than them. God or not, these men ruled over but a small chunk of land limited to their own kingdom. We must think past that.”

As if on queue, galloping could be heard approaching the archives, and not long after the grand doors swung open, revealing a man standing besides a black horse. “Rulers they might have been, but I highly doubt any of them have ruled over as much land as me. You need your vanguard correct. Allow me to fight first.”

With all the valkyrie’s eyes on him, a grin forms on the face of Geirölul, “I can work with this, Brunhilde, let me go first as well, I’m sure we’ll show those gods where they belong.” This caused a hearty laugh from the man and him to grin back.

“Yes, this will work, you will be our first fighter then!” Brunhilde declared, rallying her sisters to prepare for the battle ahead.

The Council room of the Gods

The doors to the council room swing open, as Freya enters the hall where most of the chief gods gathered. Despite the lower number of gods compared to the meeting hall, the room was almost deeper in chaos. Amaterasu sits cross legged in her seat, eyes closed, yet visibly seething with rage, Huitzilopochtli is on the opposite end of the room, practically standing on the table, cackling and theorizing which humans he’d be able to kill, Ra sits beside the lax Jade Emperor, the former barely holding back his aura of heat, being once more robbed of the chance to eradicate humanity, while the later uncaringly lounges around, annoying the sun god.

Towards the back end of the room, Zeus sits in a large throne-like chair, a contemplative look on his face betrayed by the glint of excitement behind his eyes. On his flank sits Odin and Hades respectively, with the former seated silently, while the latter is deflecting questions from Olorun, attempting to figure out all the logistics and reasoning behind allowing Ragnarok, and Shiva simply attempting to coax the roster considerations out of him. Finally, closer to the door and besides the raving Aztec eagle god, The Dagda sits jovially watching over the chaos, while a more stoic Anu sits beside him, still processing the gall of Brunhilde to suggest ragnarok, as well as the sheer and utter lack of professionalism being displayed by the chief gods in front of him.

As Freya closes the door to the council room, Odin spots her enter, and he nudges Zeus, causing him to look up from his contemplative state, before loudly clearing his throat, resulting in all the gods in the room silencing and settling down into their seats. “You all know why we’re here, correct?” Zeus asks, and he is answered by a collection of nods, by the present deities. “Good,” he continues, “We need our first fighter. We can figure out a roster afterwards, but right now, someone has to go first.”

“Freya,” Odin abruptly says, “The valkyries are your duty, this mess is partially on you. So you will go out there and fight in the first round, and deal with the insolence of your valkyries immediately.”

A couple of objections from the more battle hungry members of the council are expressed, but subtly gestures of agreement or neutrality comes from all the other gods present. Freya feels the weight of all the gazes upon her right now, the expectation to fight against humanity, and in the first round no less. Still standing, her head faces the ground, remembering what Brunhilde told her mere minutes ago, ‘What could she have meant?’ she wonders to herself, ‘Why was Hilde so adamant about me not fighting? Can I even go against the chief gods?’ The valkyrie queen takes a deep breath before raising her head, and she speaks, her voice slightly quivering with nervousness, “I will not be fighting in Ragnarok.”

Odin’s eye widens at the act of defiance from a god under his pantheon, flying into a rage, “Freya! You dare defy the divine order from the chief gods? You have no reason not to fight, so you shall be fighting tomorrow.” Odin, now standing up, grabs the edge of the table and cracks start to form around the point he holds onto. “Leave and get ready for combat, unless you want to be punished alongside those humans.”

Freya curls her hands into fists before once again stating, this time with more intent and resolve, “I can not, and will not fight in Ragnarok. You will have to find another vanguard.” Her hands still shake from the baleful gaze of her husband, as well as the serious gazes of all but a few of the gods around the room.

In response, Odin begins stomping across the room towards Freya, “Freya if you do not agree to fight by the time I am here I swear I wi–” But before he could get too far, the doors swing open behind Freya, and a man donning a blue tunic beneath steel nordic armor, fur padded shoulder pads, and a large greatsword strapped to his back.

“Halt Odin, let lady Freya abstain from fighting should she want to, it is her right.” The man spoke up, “I shall fight in her place should you all allow it. Humanity will face justice by my blade, to see if they are worthy to stand before us gods.”

Odin stops in his tracks as Freya and the rest of the gods turn towards the man. Odin then turns away from Freya towards Zeus, and reluctantly gives him a nod. “Very well then, if there are no objections, it is decided. Our first fighter shall be you, Tyr, the lawbringer!”

(Hello again, another shorter chapter to start off, but hoping to write longer chapters soon. Thanks for reading <3)