Ardra was sitting on the edge of a fjord in her battle armor, the wind blowing through her hair, her loyal companion Ragnar grazing the grass not too far away. She was drinking her tenth bottle of mead, the last nine empty bottles were thrown down the fjord. The mead started to get to her a little bit, she was feeling a little tipsy. 

Ardra chuckled remembering a time when she could drink as much mead as she wanted and not feel anything. She remembered the time when she was a proud warrior, a proud Valkyrie together with her sisters in Valhalla. She remembered when one of Odin’s generals, who served Odin for 700 years, died in battle she and her sisters took him to Valhalla. The celebration lasted a whole month. For a month, all the souls in Valhalla gathered and celebrated the general’s bravery, loyalty and praised his skills in battle.

However, that was ages ago.

Eons ago, as the First war with the Vanir raged on, it seemed that the war would not end for thousands of years. Roughly, a thousand years ago one of the battles ended quite brutally. Both sides lost many great warriors. 

The Valkyries descended from Valhalla, to collect the souls of the warriors who died in battle to take them to their final resting place, Valhalla. Ardra looked around the battlefield and saw a warrior, still alive, trying to get up. She walked up to him knowing he couldn’t see her. Beings from the mortal plain couldn’t see Valkyries, but Valkyries could see the mortals and the life force inside them.

Ardra saw that the warrior was in a lot of pain and that his life force was slowly fading away. At the rate it was fading he was going to die, but not on the battlefield. He probably had injuries that would kill him in his sleep, not here, not on the battlefield where he will have a chance to join his fellow warriors in Valhalla. His soul will go to Hell. 

Ardra looked around him and saw many dead warriors, he killed around 50 of his enemies, not for himself but for Odin. And what is Odin going to do for this man, he was going to let his soul go to Hell.

Looking at the man, Ardra felt pity for the man and the situation he was in. She extended her arm into the man’s body gripping his soul, pulled it out and took it with her. She mounted her horse and together with her sisters, she rode to Valhalla.

A few days later Odin heard about what happened on the battlefield. He was furious. One of the Valkyries broke the rules. After the battle was over, a Valkyrie took a soul from a man that didn’t die on the battlefield and took the soul to Valhalla. 

Only the bravest and most loyal warriors who die in battle go to Valhalla, the hall of the fallen, and are celebrated so that Odin can call upon them to fight by his side in the last battle at Ragnarok. The rest of the souls of mortals who don’t die in battle, go to Hell. 

As soon as he heard the news, he rushed to Valhalla to find the Valkyrie who broke the rules and made a mockery of him. He forcefully opened the doors of Valhalla shouting, “Bring her to me!!! BRING HER TO ME NOW!!!”  

Sigrdrífa, one of the Valkyries stood in front of Odin protecting her sisters. “Enough!!! We shall not do this here!!!” She turned around and started walking towards the end of the feast hall. Odin, with anger clearly visible on his face, followed her. The rest of the Valkyries followed after.

They entered Odin’s throne room. “Which one of you did it? Which one of you took the soul?! ”

Ardra stepped in front of him. She never liked how much power Odin had over her and her sisters. Every time she saw him, she wanted to punch him or sometimes even kill him, but she knew not all of her sisters felt that way. “I did it.” Ardra said trying to keep her voice as calm as possible but she could not hide the anger and contempt in her eyes as she was looking at him.

“You will pay for this! Your actions and breaking the rules damaged my authority and made a mockery of me!” Odin shouted at her furiously.

“Me, me, me! Is that all you think about you old fool?!” Ardra started circling around him. It looked like she was preparing for battle. “You don’t care about anyone else but yourself you selfish maniac. The warrior you sent to fight YOUR BATTLE killed four dozen of YOUR ENEMIES!” She gripped the hilt of her sword. “Yes, he was still alive, barely. He would have died in a matter of days, probably alone in his sleep, and BY YOUR RULES HIS SOUL WOULD GO TO HELL!!! ” She tightened her grip around the hilt of her sword.

“Yes, those are the rules! YOU DID NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO TAKE HIS SOUL TO VALHALLA!!! HE WAS ALIVE AFTER THE BATTLE WAS OVER!!! ” Such insubordination from a Valkyrie was unimaginable. Odin briefly looked at her hand and saw that she tightened her grip around the hilt of her sword. ‘What does she think she can achieve with that sword? I’m her god and she is a Valkyrie under my control.’ Odin’s eyes focused back on her face. Defiance and malice now filling her eyes.

“That man gave everything to YOU!!! He didn’t die because he was better than all the others that came at him. He killed and killed YOUR ENEMIES FOR YOU! He deserves to be in Valhalla, join his fellow warriors who have fallen in battle and be celebrated the same as them!” The situation was getting really intense, you could slice the tension in the air with a knife as she and Odin exchanged looks of rage, malice and indignation.

Sigrdrífa stepped between them trying to calm down the situation that was spiraling out of control. “Stop it! We can find a peaceful resolution …” Sigrdrífa was interrupted mid-sentence as Odin leaped at the treacherous Valkyrie pushing Sigrdrífa out of the way.

Ardra, her hand still holding the hilt of her sword, drew it quickly and pointed it at Odin. A condescending smile appeared on Odin’s face as he grabbed her by the neck with his left hand. She started swinging her sword hitting Odin’s left hand that was holding her but nothing happened. Every hit felt like hitting a stone wall.

“Did you really think you could hurt me with that little thing, my pet?” He asked her arrogantly. “I am your god. Now you will pay for your treachery and insubordination. ” With his right hand, Odin grabbed her helmet, the helmet that gave her the powers to take the souls of mortals to Valhalla and live here in the spiritual realm, and tore it from her head. The helmet started glowing in Odin’s hand and burst into a million light particles. “You are a Valkyrie no more,” Odin said throwing her against a wall.

Ardra fell down to the floor, tears running down her face. She lifted her head and saw her sisters standing around her, some of them crying, some looking at her in disbelief, some in disgust. Sigrdrífa was the only one that pushed the others aside and helped her get up. They walked over to Odin’s throne and Sigrdrífa sat her down. “You need to leave.”

“What? No! This is my home!” Ardra replied tears running down her face.

“No. You don’t understand. You need to leave because this is the spiritual realm. Without your helmet, you are now mortal. You will live longer than mortals but still, you are mortal and if you stay here, in the spiritual realm, you will disappear.” Sigrdrífa explained as calmly as she could. Sigrdrífa knew that losing a helmet was a big shock for a Valkyrie, she saw it happen once before. As a Valkyrie, she knew that it was the responsibility of the Valkyries to take care of a fallen sister, a Valkyrie warrior, as they care for all the other fallen warriors.

Her sisters helped Ardra get up, went to the stables to get her companion Ragnar and accompanied her to the mortal realm.

So, roughly, a thousand years have passed since that day.

Ardra was still waiting for her chance to set things right. The only thing she didn’t know is how long will she have to wait until one of her sources finally give her the good news. Being a Valkyrie for eons and a mortal for a thousand years helped her build a network of informants, in the spiritual and mortal realm, who kept their ears open and listened for the chatter about the start of Ragnarok.

Everyone knew that Ragnarok was the final battle where death awaits Odin in battle. Odin will die and be celebrated as his warriors were celebrated in Valhalla.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Well… A thousand years is a long enough time to design a different fate for Odin…

A few months of drinking mead, hanging out with Ragnar and waking up with hangovers passed. One morning, still hungover from last night’s twenty-four bottles of mead, Ardra heard a loud banging on the door to her cottage. “Agh…One sec.” She murmured. The banging repeated this time quicker ad louder. “Ok. Ok! One second!” Ardra shouted, put on some clothes that were laying around and opened the door. One of her informants from the spiritual realm was standing outside. This sobered her up a bit ‘This could be it. Finally! Please let it be it.’ Ardra told the informant to get in and looked around outside of the cottage trying to see if anyone saw him.

“So why are you here? Has there been any chatter?” Ardra asked ‘Please say yes… Please say yes…’ She thought.

“Yea! There has been chatter. At first, I thought it was a hoax, like the last two times, but this time it’s different. Baldr, the son of Odin is dead.” The informant said.

“What?! Baldr is dead? Wait… That’s the first sign of Ragnarok!” Her face lit up “That means three more years of uninterrupted winters, three more years of the gods fighting and squabbling and the three roosters will appear.” A grin from ear to ear appeared on Ardra’s face. The informant was looking at her as if she was crazy.

“Can I have my pay now?” The informant asked cautiously.

“Yes. Yes. Just a sec.” Ardra grabbed her bag, took a pouch out of it and gave it to the informant. “Keep your ears open for any information on the roosters. They will appear after about three years from now. I promise a good reward for the first one that brings me the information that they appeared.” Ardra said, still grinning like a small child that just got her first keg of mead.

“No problem. You can count on me.” The informant looked inside the pouch, seemed happy and left.

Three years later the informant was back, banging on the door. Ardra hurried to the door and let him in. “Did they appear? All three of them?” Ardra asked.

“Yes. Today, the first one appeared half an hour ago and the last one just a few minutes ago.” As the informant was talking, Ardra was getting dressed and putting on her white armor, hiding her black hair under a white helmet, grinning like crazy. “Can I have my pay now?” The informant asked.

“Yea. A thousand years of valuables are in this cottage, some of it is from the spiritual realms, and some from the mortal realms. It’s all yours, everything, even the cottage.” Ardra said as she looked out of the window, ‘I’m not going to need it after today.’ Ardra looked up at the sky. There was no sun or moon and that meant the wolves Sköll and Hati swallowed them. The final battle has begun.

“You are giving me everything? Why? Where are you going?” The informant asked.

“To the fields of Vigrid.” Ardra responded with happiness in her voice.

“But you are not a Valkyrie any more, you are mortal. Mortals can’t go there.” The informant was confused.

“I am a mortal, but Ragnar isn’t. He will take me there.” Ardra got out of the cottage, mounted Ragnar and he started to gallop. In a few moments, they both disappeared. 

They reappeared in the forest surrounding the fields of Vigrid. Ardra saw the final battle taking place on the field. She saw her sisters helping the gods in their battles. Even in their last battle, the gods couldn’t leave her sisters out of their mess. 

Thor was fighting the Midgard Serpent, Loki was fighting Heimdall, Tyr was fighting the watchdog Garm that guards the gates of Hell, and Freyr was fighting Surtr. She stood a bit further away looking for Odin and Fenrir. She spotted them near the ice covered lake and, avoiding the other battles, directed Ragnar in their direction. Odin was so focused on the battle with Fenrir he didn’t even notice them.

It was finally happening and she was finally here. This was her chance to change Odin’s fate so he can feel the same way she felt when he took her home and her sisters from her. This was her chance to see the despair and dread in his eyes as he realizes he is not going to die in battle as a mighty warrior and be celebrated like all the other warriors who died in battle were. He will die far away from the battle so his soul can go to the place it truly belongs in. 

Ardra, like everyone from the spiritual realm, knew that after the final battle Hell would no longer exist. However, there will be a new underworld, a terrible place, a great hall on Nastrond, the shore of corpses. All the doors of the hall will face north to greet the screaming winds. The walls will be made of writhing snakes that pour their venom into a river that flows through the hall. On Nastrond there will be the great dragon Nidhug, who will be there to feed upon the corpses of those who come to the new underworld.

When they came close enough, Ardra dismounted Ragnar and circled around Fenrir to get to the frozen lake. Ardra had an advantage, she knew the terrain of the fields of Vigrid like her own backyard. So many battles were fought here and so many warriors died here. She knew every inch of this place. Odin didn’t, he was standing a few feet away from the frozen lake and had his back turned to it. Every battle Odin fought here he spent sitting on his horse Sleipnir in his shiny gold armor just watching his warriors die for him and sending even more of them to their deaths.

Ardra pulled out her sword and began to break the ice of the frozen lake. Three years of uninterrupted winters made the ice thick but the trashing of the Midgard Serpent battling Thor made cracks in the ice. A Valkyries sword, infused with magic that made it unbreakable, had no problem cutting through it. The hole needed to be close enough to Odin and yet far enough that the lake was deep and cold enough for Odin to drown and die. 

As Ardra broke through the ice and made a hole she whistled. Ragnar jumped out of the woods and started attacking Fenrir, distracting him, he was smaller than Fenrir, more agile than he was so he easily avoided Fenrir’s attacks, kicking him here and there, as he got a chance. That gave her enough time to jump behind Odin, grab him by his eagle helmet, and pull him towards the river with all her strength.

Odin, taken by surprise, expecting a mighty battle with Fenrir, tried to turn his head to see what was happening. Ardra was holding his head, one arm holding a cloth over his mouth and with the other held his helmed tight, pulling him to the lake. Odin tried to chant one of his spells but she tightened her grip over his mouth and with all the power left in her body, she pulled him towards the lake, towards the hole in the ice she made.

Ardra came prepared. In a split second, she took the rope, another cloth, chains, and weights and started to bind him. She tied his mouth with the cloth, arms and legs with the rope, body with the chains and the weights all over him. She looked right into his eyes grinning from ear to ear. 

At first, in his eyes, she saw shock and confusion but as he recognized her, she saw anger. The presence of anger in his eyes made her happy and she started to laugh silently still looking into his eyes. The anger in his eyes turned into rage.

“Now now now… Calm down… Don’t you worry, you are going to die today but not the way you wanted. You see, you selfish maniac, the world and the realms don’t belong to you and don’t revolve around you. All your life you just took and took things from others, now I’m going to take the most important thing to you, away from you.” Odin struggled and tried to cast spells to set himself free, as Ardra dragged him towards a hole in the ice, but he couldn’t speak.

“So. As you can see, we are currently standing on ice. Ice on top of a very deep lake.” Ragnar was still distracting Fenrir close to the forest. Ardra could hear Ragnar’s loud neighs. She had to hurry, she didn’t want him to get hurt. “I went through all the trouble and cut a hole in the ice wide enough so that your fat body can go through.” Ardra crouched over him and looked him in the eyes again, still grinning from ear to ear. 

This time Ardra saw dread in his eyes as he realized he was not going to die in battle as a mighty warrior and be celebrated like all the other warriors who die in battles, he will die far away from the battle. Odin’s only comfort was that he could predict that Ragnarok is not the end of the world. That after Ragnarok a few of the gods will survive, a few of the worlds will remain intact, that the warriors and gods who died in battle will be celebrated and that a new underworld, Nastrond, will be formed instead of Hell for all the warriors that do not die in battle.

“mfff…ffmff…mffmfm!” He tried to speak but the cloth was covering his mouth too tightly.

“Yea… I know! I think you’ll actually like Nastrond. You will be surrounded by many others like you, you know… Thieves, murderers, and the like. I heard that they even get massages there from a dragon, Nidhug. Deep tissue massages, as in him nibbling on your corpse.” With a smirk on her face, Ardra stood up and grabbed Odin by the shoulders. 

“We better hurry. I think Fenrir’s onto our little bonding time here.” Ardra dragged Odin to the edge of the hole in the ice, grabbed his eagle helmet, tore it off his head, removed her helmet and put Odin’s on her head. “It’s a bit big but boy, I probably look handsome as hell!” Ardra said.

“MFFFM…FMFFFMMM….FFM…MF…FFM!!!” Odin’s face turned red from rage as he tried to scream at her.

“Well… I just wanted to thank you for giving Valkyries a long life, and I guess I’ll be seeing you in Nastrond one day!” Ardra just smiled at him condescendingly and pushed him into the hole in the ice. She stood there for a few moments until she lost sight of him sinking into the depths of the frozen lake. For the first time in eons, she felt free.

Ardra returned to the battlefield and whistled. Ragnar ran towards her. She mounted him and he started to gallop through the woods avoiding the rest of the battles on the battlefield.

Amidst the chaos of the battle, Sigrdrífa spotted a shiny object moving fast at the edge of the forest. As she looked closely, she saw Ragnar and her fallen sister Ardra, galloping through the woods, Odin’s helmet on her head and a smile that stretched from ear to ear, on her face.

As her fallen sister disappeared, Sigrdrífa turned around, looked at the battlefield and saw Fenrir running around alone. There was no sign of Odin, no sign of blood on the battlefield or the mighty jaws of Fenrir, there was just a hole in the ice covering the lake. She put the pieces together and realized that after a thousand years her fallen sister finally got retribution for the things that were taken away from her.

“We are free my sisters! Odin is dead!” Sigrdrífa called out to all of the Valkyries on the battlefield with a feeling of pride for her fallen sister in her heart and smile on her face.