Okay so while I was taking my time transferring my journal so others can read it, a lot has happened. I've also gotten a few journal books from other people that I'll place in a way that makes sense. So when I get farther in the story and I describe myself being surprised to find out something that's in the journal it's because I didn't read it till later and I'm doing things somewhat chronologically. The first journal by someone else I'll put here and it's by our frenemy Vidar. Yeah, I know, we just met him at the end of the last volume of these. Yeah, I know that means it'll be a while before I describe a new location. Sorry. Anyway, on to the journal.

/

/first entry/

It's becoming a habit now. Much as my father before me I find myself writing down events and thoughts into journals as a way of sorting through them. I only hope I don't spiral into madness. I feel it may happen as I've spent the last fifty centuries dealing with the mundane needs of the people. Rebuilding a basic structure took only a decade counting the massive undertaking that was patching the great wall. We did the best with what we had, most of the old world fell with Asgard. No progress has been made in repairing the realm traveling ship or the Bifrost gate as we don't have any dwarven artificers to do the work. I have no way of reaching the other realms and keeping them under one banner as [my] father insisted. I grow frustrated.

/second entry/

I'd been pacing back and forth for a while before writing this. I just met the most insolent [illegible scribblings]! Some Midgardian or something that at least claims to be of Midgard just shows up out of nowhere. He apparently can travel the realms but claims to have no control over it. I can take anything he says at face value, I can't take any risks that could jeopardize my kingdom, my empire, my people. I'm not sure if it was the "noble" thing to do but I stand on my conviction that ordering his execution was the "right" thing to do. But that little [more unreadable scribblings] had to demand a trial by combat. I could use an excuse to blast the rust off my fighting skill but I doubt a mortal will be able to last long. Even just playing around I'll probably kill him in minutes.

/Third entry, placed in a different book/

[An entire page of angry scribblings]

That little [illegible] mortal maggot [illegible]. What in the actual All-Father's name [little angry scribble] Okay so the fight started out about how I expected. The Midgardian was completely out of his depth. He focused on evasion while getting in hits when he could. Kept insulting me and pissing me off the entire time. When I finally got a hit on the [squirrely] little shit he turned out to be surprisingly durable for a mortal. Then the little [I'm not translating what he writes here, but it's not very nice] had the gull to kick me right in the [family jewels]. I really shouldn't have worn my boots, but I feel nude without them. I used them to break the rules of the trial and that fact shames me. I gave him a solid punch to his sternum and sent him into a wall leaving him buried in debris. I thought that would be it, no mortal could get back up after that. But he somehow did. As he stood, going on a monologue, I was frozen in shock that he could stand and talk. He then ended his little space with a line I won't soon forget.

"There's one thing you're forgetting about maggots, something that makes them special. Maggots can learn to fly." The fight then got interesting as his body lit up in blue and purple energy and his strength rivaled that of an Aesir.

We battled on nearly even terms, although I could tell I was stronger he had no trouble keeping up with me and knock off the rust that I've been building up. I will admit, I was starting to enjoy myself. However things got nasty again when I checked my face and realized I was bleeding somehow. A mortal drew blood. "This is madness" I said out loud as I looked at the blood in shock. The Midgardian then shouted complete nonsense before kicking me in the sternum so hard it sent me into a wall. Play time was over, I was done messing around. I wasn't having fun anymore, I was simply sick of him and his shit. After a light struggle I grabbed him and jumped as high as I could. Then at the height of the jump I kicked off of the air to send myself and him downward at top speed. We struggled in midair and I shouted "Go to Helhiem". It sounded cooler in my head then out loud. He responded with "I'll take you with me" before getting the upper hand for long enough so I was facing the ground instead of him. Then, in a flash of strange light, daytime turned to night. [Translation note, that sentence doesn't rhyme when spoken in its original language.] I was slammed into black merky water and everything went dark. I awoke later in the care of [Lady] Hel in her realm. My bruised body laid out on a simple bed. I had been out for the better part of the day.

Hel addressed me coldly when I awoke. "I see my Silent Knight awakens. It's been a long time Vidar."

It had indeed been a long time since I had last seen the broken goddess. "I'm a married man now my Grim Blossom. I'm.... Sorry. Not for moving on but for.... Everything else."

"Oh so he speaks now. I see your throat finally healed, although not fully. You have nothing to be sorry for. The All-Father did what he does best. He vilified me as he did my father before me. Turned all of Asgard against me. You are not to blame for what happened."

"You were beaten, battered, bruised, and bullied. Tossed from a great height and left crippled and broken. Then when that wasn't enough he tricked you into being the warden of your own prison cell. I tried to speak up against what Odin was doing but-"

"For speaking against the All-Father he took away your voice so you could never raise it against him again. Vidar the Silent. Everyone was led to believe it was an accent that took your voice but I know better."

"What he took from me is nothing compared to what he took from you. Your beauty, your grace, your very womanhood. Because of him your family's bloodline ends with you."

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Hel looked down at the floor "There's a chance that wound can recover. But I've yet to find someone to fill the role of king here. My last love left a high bar to climb."

I chuckled "As did mine, but Vali is a great queen and wife. She... She makes me happy and having her by my side is the best support I could ask for. You've obviously gotten yourself your own idunn apple tree. So you have all the time in the worlds to find someone new."

"Get some rest for now. I'll let you know when the Midgardian wakes. Then you can get the fuck out of my realm."

I chuckled "For what it's worth, regardless of the circumstances, it is... Good to see you again."

She let out a sigh "we were just kids Vidar, you can't blame yourself. You also shouldn't still think of me as that little girl you used to give flowers to. We've both grown and changed. We fought on opposite sides of the biggest war of the realms. You really think we can get past that simply because of some childhood [puppy love]?"

"I don't expect it to happen overnight. But we are not our fathers. We should move on from the past and try to build a better future. We don't have to be enemies."

"For as long as you see the realms of Yggdrasil as your Empire, we can never be anything more. I must go tend to the Midgardian now. Find some way to entertain yourself."

/fourth entry/

I'd been killing time for as long as I can bear when I chose to check on the Midgardian myself. As I came to the door I heard Hel talking to someone in a strange language. I recognized the other voice as that of the Midgardian and burst through the door.

"I thought you were going to tell me as soon as he was up!"

"He's hardly in a condition to stand let alone travel realms. I'll let you know when he's ready."

"Despite what he managed to do the other day he is still mortal, that could take days, weeks even. I can't wait that long!"

"And why not?! What could possibly be so urgent that you need to get back? No one has realm traveled in fifty centuries till Hunter here, what threat could your kingdom possibly be under?"

"You wouldn't understand the pressure I'm under, restoring my world after it was leveled by Surter."

"Oh, so I would understand what it's like to run my own realm?! What the fuck you think I've been doing all these centuries, sitting on my ass?!"

"That's not what I meant I just... I'm sorry okay. But there has to be a way to speed this up. What about the Idunn apple? You have your own tree, surely you can spare one."

"You want me to put him through the trial? You have any idea of the risks of that?!"

"I do, but if any mortal can pass it it's him. You didn't see how he fought Hel, it was like... Balder when we used to spar. At first he fought more like young Loki when forced into hand on hand, avoiding hits as much as possible and getting in jabs when he could. When things got real I could have sworn.... The energy he was giving off, the way he fought...."

"What I saw was two battered and bruised bodies on a swamp shore with one engulfed in a blue and purple magical flame. You really expect me to put him through that again?"

"I expect you to get me home as fast as possible, if that means giving this man an apple then so be it."

"He's not one of us Vidar, as much as you'd want it there is no reincarnation. Though Odin could maybe put his essence into another he'd do it in a way his memory was intact. Same with my father. Even if he was somehow one of our dead brought back he clearly has no memory of it so you can't put that burden on him. He has his own will."

"Then let him choose."

"What?"

"You heard me. Explain the apple and its risks, let him decide for himself. From this point on I won't put my hands in this. I'll let go, I'll step back. I'll ignore the words my father left me with before he died and move forward in how I think is best. That means... Letting go of his war. Letting go... of you. Letting... Letting go of the Empire that has already fallen."

"That also means letting go of the burden of the sins of our fathers."

"Yes, it's a solid first step to a new order and a new alliance"

Hel nodded and let out sigh before explaining things to the Midgardian in his native language, or I assume that's what she did. He agreed to it after pausing to think. I then again had to pace about as I waited for him to go through the trial. When it hit him, what I saw. I couldn't help but think of the army my father raised this way. The number of Midgardians he put through this torment. Could I really overcome the sins of the past, the sins of my father? At the very least I could try and do better, to be better. But he made a similar promise to himself when he was young. A promise to be a better leader than Ymir the tyrant, only to become a tyrant anyway in order to overcome a calamity that he had foreseen. The realms would either be merged and the cycle would start over from before Ymir, or the cycle would be broken and we'd be invaded by things from beyond the veil. A decision he said was up to a crown-less king. One that is forced to pick between his own happiness at the expense of everyone, or a life of suffering so others could have peace. Such a heavy burden, and it seemed this Hunter, this son of Eric, would be the one my father had seen that would bear it. I couldn't help but wonder why him of all people? What makes him special enough to be the chosen one? As I write this I've come to realize something. Prophecy is [bull shit], and there is no chosen one. There are infinite possible futures, the one we get the product of our own choices. There is nothing special about Hunter, other than the fact that he might make the most important decision in the history of the realms. By some chance, by odds alone, for some reason he's the one walking the path. If there is a higher power above Yggdrasill, I pray it's on our side.

After his trial, he [taxied] me home. I gifted him Fryer's sword, he'll need all the help he can get.

I had already thought about taking action against the Nornir because of what my father used to say but the Midgardian added to my concerns. Once he was gone I tied Gungier to Mojnar and traveled to the well of urd where the three Nornir rested.

"It has been too long since we've had a visit. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I've come to do something my father should have done himself. I'm going to break the chains of fate and free the worlds of your manipulation."

"How do you propose to do that, you cannot carry an artifact into this chamber."

"I don't have to." I snapped my finger and called the hammer. Cut the rope and grabbed the spear. "As you know, this spear never misses its target."

"You think killing us will change fate? Our deaths serve no purpose. The only thing you'll do is cut out your own eyes into the future."

"There is more than one future, I'm done letting you direct what one we end up in to consolidate your hold over the worlds."

[Okay so.... Vidar goes into graphic details here and I'm not translating that. I'll just give you the highlights. Vidar tosses the spear and turns three old ladies into kabab. Because Gungier is serrated it pulls some of their insides to the outside. He then cuts out their tongues in some sort of ritual so they can never speak even in death before caving in all three of these old ladies' skulls. The first to with the hammer the last by stomping on it. After the grizzly description the entry just.... Ends. I'll be ending this chapter here.]