As Ymir wandered the vast Universe, he contemplated his existence and his place within creation. For an untold number of years, Ymir drifted through the cosmos, alone, and lost deep in thought. It was only when he chanced upon a vast cliff that Ymir was shaken from his pondering.

Ymir, oblivious in his meditative state, had wandered to the edge of the new Universe. He now stared into the Abyss of nothingness through which Chaos was spreading. Yet, in this nothingness, Ymir was surprised to see...something.

Floating, just beyond the edge of Chaos, was a sphere. Intrigued, Ymir reached out to pluck the sphere and was surprised to find that the sphere was cold. He wasn't even sure he'd known what cold was before he held the sphere, but now he was sure. The sphere was cold. It was freezing. And it was...clear?

Ice. With a sudden laugh of delight, Ymir found a name for the wondrous substance in his hand. But where had it come from? The Abyss? That didn't seem possible. But Ymir was sure that ice didn't exist in the Universe before.

Perplexed, Ymir sat and stared at the sphere in his hand. To his horror, the sphere began to melt. Ymir panicked. He didn't want to let the sphere go for fear that it would drift off again into the Abyss. But if he continued to hold onto it, it would melt away in his hand.

In desperation, Ymir decided to give consciousness to the sphere. If the sphere was conscious, reasoned Ymir, then it would know to stay put. Carefully, Ymir shared some of his power with the sphere.

To his delight, the sphere gained consciousness and gently lifted from his palm, hovering before him. Once again, Ymir laughed at the novel phenomenon before him. He watched as the sphere began to grow and stretch. Intrigued, Ymir watched this strange dance before coming to a realization. The sphere was changing, but it wasn't random. The sphere was changing...into him?

With a start, Ymir realized that he was looking at a perfect copy of himself, made of ice. Ymir reached out his hand and saw his ice version mirror his action. He danced this way and that and laughed as his mirror copied every move.

Ymir delighted in his new companion and decided that he would stay for a while to play with his newfound friend. But, as soon as he had made this decision, the unthinkable happened.

A wave of heat and energy unlike anything Ymir had felt before washed over the Universe. It rocked Ymir to his core. But it had far more dramatic consequences for his friend. Ymir watched as his ice clone rapidly began to melt before his eyes. With a cry of despair, Ymir reached out to grab hold of his friend.

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In the end, he was only able to save a fraction of the ice from destruction. Weeping, Ymir pleaded for his friend to return, but the consciousness inside the ice was now too weak to make a new form. In desperation, Ymir began to form the ice himself, kneading, and sculpting it until he had a tiny version of his friend once again.

Fearful that his friend might melt again before his eyes, Ymir scraped dirt, stone, and metal from his own body and formed it around the ice. The new creature resembled Ymir a little less, but seemed to be more sturdy than before. With delight, Ymir named his little creation Odin.

To his surprise, Odin spoke to Ymir. He thanked Ymir for giving him form and for saving him from melting. He was grateful to Ymir, but he was also sorry. He could not stay.

Ymir was confused.

"Why will you not stay with me, friend?" Ymir asked. "Surely, now that you have a body of stone, you need not fear heat anymore?"

Odin replied that he could not stay because he did not belong. He was not from "here", he explained. He was from "elsewhere" and felt that he must return.

Again, Ymir was confused. Elsewhere? How can there be an elsewhere? A place beyond the Void?

"In a way," Odin replied. "Where I come from is both beyond the Void and within the Void. It exists, but it doesn't. And I must return. I have no home in this Universe. I cannot stay."

Ymir was distraught. If he could make his friend a home in this Universe, would he stay?

"Perhaps," said Odin. "But a home in this Universe would be difficult. It needs to be stable. Stable enough to fight off the pull of 'elsewhere'."

Ymir considered this. He drew forth his great power and created a patch of ground for Odin to stand on.

"Would this be stable enough?" he asked.

"It will not," Odin replied. "It needs to be more stable. And you must hurry. I can already feel the pull of my true home and I cannot resist it for long."

In a panic, Ymir called on all his power to create something, anything, stable. He tried disks and cubes, pyramids and cones, but nothing seemed to stabilize. Ymir curled up in despair, exhausted from his efforts. Yet, as he did so, he felt something curious. A pull coming from his center. It seemed to want to form a ball. A sphere! Of course, thought Ymir. A sphere is stable!

But, with regret, Ymir realized that he was already spent. He had expended too much effort on his previous attempts. However, Ymir would not give up. With one last effort, he curled into himself, pulling matter around him to form a giant sphere. Here was a structure big enough and stable enough for his friend to live.

Here, on Ymir himself.

Ymir declared that this was his last gift for his friend. He had expended all of his energy. He had nothing left to give.

And with that, the great Ymir closed his eyes.

And rested...