Take heed and bear witness to the truths that lie herein for they are the true account of the end of the world.

Ragnarok is a term that sends fear down the spine of the bravest of the warriors. The twilight of the gods and the end of the world. It was foretold and is inescapable fate. As it came to pass, I stood witness to the destruction of the worlds.

I might start by introducing myself. I was called Ragnar by my parents in the golden city of Nidavellir. A dwarf by birth and heart, I happily toiled in the great forges of King Hreidmar. I saw things of wonder and death crafted in equal measures out of outlandish metals. But there was another calling stronger than the forge. War. Prince Ótr was murdered by wretched Loki and we answered our Liege's call. To war against the aesir we went. In the fields of Ida we clashed, and for seven days dwarf fought aesir.

In the seventh day, Odin demanded parley. It was decided that Loki would pay Ótr's wergeld. I never saw what happened because I perished in the sixth day, crushed under the hooves of Tanngrisnir. Our fierce stand against gods was not without reward. Many of us were admitted into the halls of Valhalla as Einheriar. We fought, drank and whored as it was our right for millennia. And then it came to pass.

Nidhogg killed the root of Yggdrasil firmly nested in Niflheim. Jormungand erupted from the oceans of Midgard, crying for the blood of gods. Fenrir broke his chains and came to fight and kill Odin. Skol and Hati devoured Sun and Moon going for the stars as their neverending hunger demanded. We marched out of Valhalla to fight the battle of battles.

I was sent to Midgard. There we found a changed land. In the eons that passed, the nations of men grew in power but not wisdom. A poisoned land, filled by the fruits of industry and craft not unlike our dwarven lands but on the surface. Our armies of eternal warriors were met by weapons of peerless destruction. Men were no longer the weakest race of the nine realms. They flew on metal birds, rode on metal horses that spewed fire and death out of their nostrils. Not only Einheriar came to do battle. Giants of frost and stone also descended from Nalgfar led by Loki from the land of the dead and men responded with great pillars of fire that obliterated all, laying waste to their own lands before surrender. Jormungand's death throes after being slain by Thor sent massive waves, drowning entire continents.

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But we trained for ages. We fought and killed in a chaotic madness where there was no longer right or wrong. And then I met my second death. A weapon of fire and light everlasting destroyed our band of Enheriar and I floated above the destroyed lands as a wayward spirit. And I could see it all as if it was my fate to bear witness to what happened. Amidst the chaos, my sight went far and wide. The wolf Garm was slain by the Aesir god Tyr and his cousin Freyr killed the fire giant King Surtr. None of the gods lived longer than their foes, mortal wounds claiming them in their moment of weakness.

Nidhogg's venom killed Yggdrasil and the great ash tree that held the realms together crumbled. The realms would regrow and live anew if the great tree stood but now they floated aimlessly in the sky. The great rainbow bridge broke, its shards falling like stars upon Midgard. Separated, the realms would crumble to nothingness. In Midgard, entire continents fell from the edge into the void.

The remaining gods, Baldr that escaped from Helheim, Modi and Magni sons of Thor and others returned to Asgard on the last portal and drove their realm to crash against Vanaheim, giving both some degree of stability. They were about to do the same to Alfenheim but King Oberon of the elves chose to side with Midgard. They wove a spell to bring their Realm closer to Midgard and in the backlash between Oberon's and Baldr's magic, Jotunheim and Myrkheim were attracted together. I witnessed the death of Oberon, his wife Titania, and several of the Aesir gods. In the lower Realms, Muspelheim and Niflheim joined on diametrical sides from Svartalfheim, morphing into a realm of fire, ice, death, and shadows. The son of Hela and Hodur ruled over these lands.

I floated around watching as the remnants of past glory were all but forgotten. More than three-fourths of Midgard were destroyed, crumbled into nothingness in the sea of the void and the rest became poisoned lands and waters. The daughter of the old sun rose after five thousand years and graced the land with her healing light. Stars were born after a long while. Very few men, elf, dwarf, and others survived, in the few pockets of land that could still bear life. They forgot their lore. They forgot their origins. They forgot their magic and technology.

My spirit floated between the Realms for ages, my fate is to witness and remember. Time eroded memories and poison alike. Without Yggdrasil, the realms stand no chance of being restored to their former glory. I pray that my words survive. You that read this book, please spread the word.