*** A TEMPORARY REALM OF EXISTENCE ***

RETURN: DAY 356

For more than fifty thousand years, Yggdrasil, the dimensional battle fortress of the first born of the True Dragons, Nidhoggr, had sat unmoving at the southern tip of Sudnel, one of the continents on the world known as Taereun. To many of the inhabitants of Taereun, Yggdrasil was known as the Labyrinth of Yggr and was believed to have been created by Yggr and belong to the Jotun Lords. A tiny fraction of the inhabitants of Taereun knew Yggdrasil was only under the partial control of the Jotun Lords. It had crashed in its current position because Woden and Yggr were barely capable of managing the dimensional travel systems at the time they found it in the deep Aether, far from any plane or realm.

Standing within a pocket realm that was naught but empty space, a man and a woman, who were far more than They seemed, watched the events taking place on Taereun and in the Aether surrounding Taereun's universe. Both were naked, but Their presence made anything as simplistic as clothing or the lack thereof immaterial.

The man was incredibly massive. His shoulders were broader than any normal human, and His musculature was so heavily developed that if His shoulders had just been a little broader He could have been mistaken for a Dvergar. Scars from wounds and torture covered His entire body. The worst of the torture appeared to be a flogging that must have torn most of the skin and flesh from the back of His body. It left Him covered with twisted black and grey scar tissue. Except for brands in runic shapes and the marks of some of His other torture, nearly every scar was from a wound that would have killed anything close to human. His face was hard and not particularly good looking. His green eyes, so dark they were almost black, and black hair only added to his menacing appearance. He was DEATH.

"Boran should have destroyed that during his war against the Dragons. Sinking it in the deep Aether was foolish."

The woman, who appeared to be more girl than woman, was a beautiful Asian, and the top of Her head did not quite reach the man's shoulder. Her body was extremely muscular, but She possessed nothing close the massively overdeveloped musculature of the man. As muscular as She was, She still seemed like a waif standing next to the man. Unlike a normal human woman with an overly developed musculature and no body fat, Her skin did not appear prematurely aged or dried out. She was perfect. Her beauty was that of a wild hawk, fierce and full of pride. Agate eyes and midnight hair hanging to Her knees reinforced Her natural allure. She was LIFE.

"If You had not cornered him, dear old Boran would never have been the one to take the forefront in the War of Slaughter."

Death scoffed. "Calling that the War of Slaughter was almost a joke. One of the Five Fathers of the Dvergar should know better."

Life frowned. "Boran was too shamed by his deeds to name the war. It was the younger generations of the Dvergar, the ones that never experienced the First Metaverse, that named it the War of Slaughter. You nearly destroyed Boran's Soul by forcing him to go to war against his creator."

Death's eyes appeared to be looking at something far beyond the bounds of Taereun. "Everyone has to make choices. With or without Boran's actions, the Dragons would have been DESTROYED. He decided that the Dvergar would not cease to exist along with the Dragons."

At Death's utterance of the word DESTROYED, the dimensional boundaries temporary realm where life and death stood shivered. If Death had not exerted his Power, the meaning contained within the NAME would have torn apart the dimensional pocket that could have withstood an entire galaxy of stars going nova at the same time.

Life's frown did not waver, but She did reply to Death's words. Her attention was focused upon Yggdrasil.

After more than fifty thousand years, Yggdrasil rose from its resting place, but it would be more accurate to say that it changed its position. In an instant, it disappeared from the sea and reappeared in the sky.

Yggdrasil was constructed from blackish-grey stone, but it was a stone that never originated in any Amalgamate realm. With the exception of massive teleport pads on nine of its faces and a number of gates that had nothing but solid rock behind them, the entire outer surface of Yggdrasil had once been covered with spires ranging from one to two miles in length, with a handful exceeding five miles in length. Now, many of the spires were broken off, and craters and holes littered the surface of Yggdrasil's underside facets. The melted and shattered remnants of the attacks appeared to have not weathered in the slightest since the damage was done. The damage from some of the attacks reached as deep as five or six miles into the structure of Yggdrasil, but even at that depth, there were no signs of internal compartments or passageways.

The longest spires on Yggdrasil's underside were about a mile above the water. In the sea below it, tidal waves rushed in to fill the void left by Yggdrasil's eighty mile on an axis form. The torrential mass of water rushing in from all sides sent huge columns of water rising high enough into the sky to splash against the ends of those low hanging underside spires, and much smaller tidal waves rippling outward from the epicenter.

As Yggdrasil remained motionless in the air above the southern ocean, two streams of Power began to flow out of its apparently solid surface. The first stream of Power was a deep, malignant black shot through with flecks and veins of disturbing purple and red colors. The second stream of Power was a brilliant, slightly greenish tinted, silver-white with a flecks and veins of green and brown. These two powers were Death and Life.

The Power spread around Yggdrasil creating a grayish cloud. As time passed, the cloud of Power condensed into distinct lines and geometric shapes that began to form a spell pattern. In some places, the spell pattern was constructed entirely of only Death or Life, and in other places, the spell pattern was constructed from the grey Power that seem to be a blending of Death and Life.

The spell pattern taking form around Yggdrasil was of such complexity that it boggled the minds of the False Names, who called themselves Gods, that were secretly watching. The concepts and realities contained within the spell pattern were beyond the scope of anything that they had ever encountered. Any mortals that tried to look upon it for more than a few seconds were killed or left with permanent damage.

*** A TEMPORARY REALM OF EXISTENCE ***

RETURN: DAY 357

"Dear old Boran has completed the pattern for the spell."

Death stared at the spell pattern for a long time, before nodding. "That Dvergar is a true Maker. His spell is a work of art. Nidhoggr may have intended the Dvergar for war, but they have a stronger connection to You than to Me."

Life smiles, but the expression is one of sorrow. "The connection is to the Life of the First Metaverse. I am not certain that my belief is correct, but after reading what I could find of Nidhoggr's writings, I do not believe that he originally intended the Dvergar to be the weapons of conquest that he used them as. Nidhoggr loved Life, his mother. His intention might have been for the Dvergar to be guardians to defend Her and Gaia. They were made during the First Great War, that first long, vicious war with the four Primals. He created Boran and the first of his blood line only a few millennia before Life had Her Soul ripped from Her by Chaos. Dear old Boran's love for Life, for Me by extension, may have been built into his very pattern by design.

"Nidhoggr's hatred for the Names, for not participating in the war against the Primals, spilled over into a hatred of Death. He changed after Life had Her Soul ripped from Her. Death of the First Metaverse, for all His Power, was not able to protect Life during the final great battle of the invasion by all four of the Primals, and Nidhoggr blamed the first Death for being uncaring of Life's welfare. I think Nidhoggr was insane for far longer than anyone realized, right from the end of the First Great War. In his madness, Nidhoggr thought that the first Death had cast Life aside, without ever seeing that Death was the one who suffered more than anyone except perhaps Life Herself.

"It was not until thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of years later he created the last three of the Dvergar's Five Fathers, and I think those last three were different from Boran and Lemur. There were differences in the patterns of the newer Dvergar. They were a darker, more brutal, race than the early Dvergar."

As Death put his arm around the shoulders of Life and drew her close to His side, She leaned her head against his chest, and the sorrow slowly dissipated from her smile.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"It is beginning. He is pouring Power into the spell pattern."

As the Power of Life and Death is drained from the Furnace of Life and Death at the heart of Yggdrasil, the spell pattern around Yggdrasil glows more brightly than the sun. Light ranging across the entire electromagnetic spectrum mixes with the black light of Death and the silver-white light of Life. Everything watching Yggdrasil is temporarily blinded by the brilliant flare, and many Amalgamate beings and creatures that were watching are permanently blinded.

BOOM!

In an explosive burst, the light around Yggdrasil disappeared, and in silence, Yggdrasil turned into rubble. Most of Yggdrasil had been reduced to little more than dirt and dust, but there were still many larger chunks of rock. Some of them were hundreds of feet across, with a few reaching thousands of feet in size.

With the Furnace of Life and Death gone and the technology that it powered destroyed, the detritus from Yggdrasil, once again, fell into the water of the ocean below. As a new island was formed, another round of tidal waves far more massive than the first spread outward from the remains of the once mighty, dimensional battle fortress of Yggdrasil.

To the west of Yggdrasil, there was a bay with a town that had several thousand inhabitants present when the rubble Yggdrasil crashed into the Southern Ocean. The little town was flooded and washed away by a wave nearly half a mile in height. The residents were killed, and their bodies were lost to the ocean waters. The little town was named Refuge, and it was the home to many of the Damned who had survived The Great Fuck Over. As the waters receded, nothing remained to show that sentient beings had once lived on the shore of the Bay.

East of the obliterated town of Refuge, there was a stretch of land a few miles in diameter that remained untouched by the tidal wave. On this piece of land a causeway had been built from a point to a gate in the surface of Yggdrasil to the land of the southern end of Sudnel, but only a fragment of that causeway remained, looking as though it had been cleanly sliced through by a knife. At the center of the untouched land, there was a small tomb, with an inscription on the stone slab that sealed it.

Here Lies

Talon

A Man Who Was Slain By

Those He Fought For.

Those He Defended

Stabbed Him In The Back.

Life stares at the tomb with a frown upon her face. "The Od protected the tomb of Brand's Dvergar body. What is that Power up to?"

Without any visible expression, Death, also, stares at the tomb. "The Od comes from Us. It started as an expression of Our subconscious will, even if it has since gained its own sentience."

"Why did You lie to the girl?"

A long time passed in silence.

"The Alfar sank herself in the use of the Umbra and left herself open to the Dark. If Brand had not had such an interest in her, she would've become a tool of the Dark before We ever knew of her existence. I would have simply destroyed her, but now, she will serve a greater purpose. She will be used by Me and help to DESTROY the Dark itself." Death's voice has a tone of inevitability to it.

Once again, Death's utterance of the word DESTROY threatened to break apart the temporary realm, where he and life stood, and he exerted Power to keep it stable.

Life's frown revealed her intense displeasure. "You manipulated the girl. I have seen what you intend to do with her. How many trillions have you already sacrificed and how many trillions more will you damn?"

"As many as it takes. You have been tainted by the Dark, and We have never found a way to undo it. If I destroy the Dark, you may be freed. Even We will not live forever. I cannot bear the thought of the Dark claiming your Soul, and I lack the will to DESTROY You."

For the third time, Death's used his Power to maintain the stability of the pocket realm.

Life smiled, but a shadow of endless sorrow lay in her eyes. "I would never ask that of You."

The eyes of Life and Death turned back toward the place where you Yggdrasil had floated before its destruction. At that point, hidden from the view of many of the watchers, including more than a few of the False Names, the artificial multiverse that had been contained within the Elemental stone that made up the outer shell of Yggdrasil still existed. For more than fifty millennia, the Jotun Lords under Woden and Yggr had been adding new pieces to the nine regions within Yggdrasil. There were hundreds of thousands of realms that had been captured within that artificial multiverse.

With all but a few of the watchers none the wiser, the artificial multiverse was moved from within the realm of Taereun to the Aether. Along the shores and islands at the southern tip of Sudnel, whether animal or vegetable, most living things had been killed, but in the turbulent waters, a new island had been born.

As Life and Death stepped out of the temporary realm that They had created and into the Aether, the temporary realm ceased to exist.

Within the Aether, both Life and Death watched the changes to the framework of Yggdrasil's artificial multiverse.

*** THE AETHER ***

RETURN: DAY 358

Yggdrasil's artificial multiverse was expanding and changing in both appearance and structure. The shadowy image of a tree had begun to grow at a phenomenal pace. It had been less than a day, but already, the growing tree had completely encompassed the realm of Taereun.

"The old Dvergar is creating a new Yggdrasil. That tree is alive, and I cannot see its death. He was not wrong when he said that he could create something that would last until the end of Our metaverse. It is like you were in the beginning.

"When I first saw You, I could not see Your death. For the first time in years, I could look at someone without knowing when and how they were to die."

As She watched the tree grow, Life smiled. There was an air about Her that was reminiscent of a child seeing a new plant grow from a seed for the first time.

As the shadowy tree grew within the Aether, it began to separate and organize the realms contained within it.

"Why did You tell the girl You could not remove the taint of the Dark?"

As Death turned His head to stare at Life, His cold green eyes showed implacable resolve. "The Alfar is unstable. If I told her the truth, I was not sure what choice she would make. By making her believe that she had no choice, manipulating her became simple."

"That girl is more like You in some ways than Brand is. She is as obsessive as You and would sacrifice herself for Brand as You did for Me. When I was killed, You came close to destroying the First Metaverse."

In silence, Death appeared to watch the expansion of Yggdrasil, but His thoughts were on a past trillions of years gone. The darkness behind His eyes was a weight that had once driven Him insane. Despite the length of the years from then till now, He had never revealed all that He had done or how much time passed for Him between Life's murder and Her resurrection.

"Because of what You have done, Brand is the one who will suffer, not the girl."

Even though there was no change to Death's stony expression, it appeared that He smiled. "That one is as twisted as I was when I was a mortal, but he is different from Me. I know that there is a limit to the pain I can bear. If I had not had the Baresark within Me, I would never have been able to withstand the pain that I had suffered over the years. Even though the Baresark is Me and I am it, there is enough of a difference and a separation between the two that when I retreat from the surface of My consciousness and leave the Baresark in control, it protects Me from the pain that would be too much for endurance

"Brand has no limits. He has no Baresark, and he does not need one. As long as he does not die, pain will only strengthen him. There will come a day when he will rise from the cauldron of his suffering and shake the foundations of all existence."

With Her face devoid of expression, Life stared at Death. "Despite Your attempts to hide it from Me, when Your Dick is inside of Me, I feel and see the nigh endless years of pain and battle that You lived through. Even with all the trillions of years that I have lived, there are still times that I lock myself away where You will not see Me and cry.

"That girl is not like Me. If You sentence Brand to walk the same path as You, he will never be able to resurrect her. He will never see an end to his suffering."

As Death stared into Life's eyes, His expression was solemn. "I know, but Brand is a creation of the Od. He is different from You and I. He is not tied to either Life or Death. Once We are gone, he can carry on the seeds of both Our Power. If We can find a woman with the same potential as Brand, the metaverse that follows Our own may be the one to subjugate the Primal Powers."

Life's eyes revealed real anger. "If You twist Brand into a shadow of Yourself during the time that I was dead, he will not be able to do anything. Because of what has been done to him before I knew of his existence, he may never be able to understand what it is to love. If he starts down the same path as You once walked, he will be consumed.

Life's face changed into a mask of sorrow. The hint of unshed tears dwelt in the corners of her eyes. "Brand could be Our child. When I look at him, I see my babies that I buried so long ago. I want Brand to be happy. I do not want to see him used, even by You."

Death turned his eyes back to the planes expanding from the artificial multiverse framework that had been contained in Yggdrasil's cracked shell.

"The time of Brand's death is upon him. He will die, and We will have a choice to either use him or let his soul pass on to the Od. That Alfar girl will die before him, and consumed by his rage, his growth will skyrocket and unlock his potential. His end will come before Boran has finished creating his Nine Great Realms. If We use him as We were used, Brand's life will be torture, but he will survive. He will rise above Us and carry on Our power."

Silently watching the expansion of the realms, Life did not reply.ly watching the expansion of the realms, Life did not rep