《The Saga of Fróði Jötunbróður》


 Chapter 1: Angrbodas Loyal Son

    My story begins in Jotunheim, the realm of the Ice Giants, it is a cold realm of tall trees and even taller mountains, it was the refuge of Bergelmir, son of Thr¨²dgelmir, and the first king of the giants when the blood of his grandfather Aurgelmir spilled forth from his corpse and became the very ocean of Midgard and I could give less of a fuck about it because my real home lies in J¨¢rnvier, known as Ironwood to the men of Midgard.


    It is a great forest inhabited by female Jotnar and giant wolves who have made it their sanctuary, to protect themselves from Thor¡¯s furious wrath, I care not for the Jotnar women seeking to protect themselves but I do care about the giant wolves as most of them are descended from Hr¨®evitnir, my eldest brother and through them my mother Angrboea. In fact, it is with two of his pups that I am playing with right now.


    Their names are Skoll and Hati, which means "One Who Mocks" and "One Who Hates," respectively. These are unusual names for a mother to give to her children. Usually, I am not one to go against the wishes of a dying mother and though she was a nameless she-wolf, she died giving birth to my brother¡¯s children, and for that, so she deserves at least that much respect.


    Anyway, as I was playing with my nephews in the snow-covered forest of J¨¢rnvier, I noticed that the old and world-weary eyes of my mother Angrboea, the former leader of the settlers of J¨¢rnvier watched us, perhaps if she were younger she would have joined us, but that is no longer possible.


    As I thought of my mother¡¯s age, an old woman appeared and it seemed that time had stopped, in that brief moment only, my mother and I knew that she was there, we did not need to ask the old woman her name, all beings knew her, instinctually, she is the fate of all living beings as they live their lives, she is Elli, she is old age and no one escapes her forever, only Aesir cheat her by eating the golden apples of Idunn to stay young escape her, then as quickly as she arrived Elli disappeared and uncomfortable thoughts flooded my head.


    I knew that at some point I would have to bury her and tell my siblings of the news which would be the first time that I would meet them after they had been separated across the nine realms by the Aldaf?er.


    I know that it will be an awkward conversation but as the Nornir have weaved it to be, it will be had and I have prepared for it as best as I can.


    But my mother has not yet reached Hel and though she is no longer in her prime, I still learned a great deal from her and with the skills that she taught me in her younger years I would certainly lead an easier life than most would ever live.


    First, she taught me how to defend myself. Second, she taught me how to use magic. Last but not least, she taught me about the mysteries of the soul. Each of these skills are important, and they all have moments of focus in my story, but now is not their time.


    Right now is the time for play and under the light of the yellow Ever-Bright, driven by Sol across the nine realms and pulled by her two horses, ¨¢rvakr and Alsvier and Dagr who brightened the nine realms upon his white stallion Skinfaxi pursued her, and those two were among the many beings who are unseen to most except the rare few who have the talent for magic.


    Of course, I carefully watched my nephews while we played and patiently waited for them to ask who the young boy on the white horse was, who that woman in the sky was, what they were doing, and why they were there. But the questions never came, which saddened me, as I could not be a mentor to my nephews.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    However saddened I was, I did not let it distract me from spending time with my nephews and I continued to play with them though they mostly played with each other, both of them trying to reach the impossible goal of getting tired, of course, I failed but I can proudly say that I last longer than any man of Midgard and perhaps even some of Aesir and Vanir, so I simply watched them play until the pups had completed their once impossible task of getting tired and they had fallen asleep and it seemed that our exhaustion was the only sign that time had passed.


    And with a smile on my face, I carried their heavy bodies to a cave, the very same cave where their father had once lived when he was younger, or at least that was what Angrboea told me, of course, due to my late addition to their family I cannot prove nor disprove what she told me and since she has been with him the longest her word is the closest thing to the truth and if it is not then I would have to get the answer from Hr¨®evitnir to it. While I do not dislike taking her at her word due to her experience and age, there are just some things that I want to confirm for myself.


    But that did not matter as after I had left the pups to sleep in peace in their father¡¯s cave, I found myself going back to my mother who when I last saw her was in front of the hut that she had made for us to live in, watching us but when I got there it was like she had vanished but I know my mother better than that.


    Whenever she wanted to be by herself she would vanish in the middle of the snow and as the concerned son it was my duty to find her but in my current human shape and the environment we lived in it would be impossible. Still, I can change one of those things and it is not the environment.


    I took a deep breath and braced myself for pain as I changed my shape into that of a wolf but my attempt did little as my loud human screams that echoed through this forest had slowly transformed into quiet wolfish whines.


    I quickly coughed up a small amount of blood, revealing my inexperience with this skill and also staining the pure white, otherworldly snow with my blood. Shortly after that, I used my newly enhanced sense of smell to find her. I found a trace of her, and I followed it for such a long time that the pale light of the hastener driven by Mani, Sol''s brother, lit my snow-covered path.


    Soon, even the pale light of the hastener grew too dim to see, and The Lightless, mother of Dagr and known as Nott to the men of Midgard began her journey over the nine realms upon her dark horse Hrimfaxi blanketing the nine realms in darkness. However, I did not need my sight; I only needed my mother''s scent to find her. Still, this trekking made me wonder what she could be doing, and I quickly discovered the answer to my question as I grew closer.


    I hid behind a tree, watching my mother walking up a small hill reaching the base of a large tree, and stopping as soon as she had reached her destination, and she put her hand on the tree to catch her breath which was curious as while this journey was a tiring affair for me but for her, it should have been a stroll but if she was this exhausted, then it was once again a reminder of her advancing age.


    But soon, all thoughts of her age flew to the wayside as I watched her slowly enter a trance, in which she would gain a glimpse into the fate that the Nornir has woven for all beings, perhaps changing it for the better.


    This powerful ability is called seidr, and it is one that women seem to have an unnatural ease learning, probably because in most rituals a distaff, which is a tool for spinning fiber into yarn which is used to make clothes but my mother is so skilled in this magical art that she does not need mediums anymore though since I am not as skilled I will need several mediums to attempt what she is doing without risk.


    Though unskilled as I am, I have a figure that I aspire to be like in ¨®einn the Aldaf?er, the most powerful being in all the nine realms caring for my mother has stifled this foolish dream of mine somewhat, but still I take the time to increase my skills whenever I have the chance.


    But that is irrelevant as my mother always escapes into a defenseless trance whenever she uses seidr. I would have to protect her from whatever wild, dumb beasts dwell in the forest, and with a sigh, I came to realize that I truly am a loyal son.

 Chapter 2: Meeting the Mother

    As I watched my defenseless mother''s form, I looked upon Lightless'' beautiful shape as she rode through the sky upon her dark horse Hrimfaxi. When she went out of my view, I looked upon the darkness she left behind. It did not take long for me to acknowledge that there were no stars in Jotunheim only pure darkness, this was my normal, I had not known any other, and if I did see the stars, perhaps in my infancy then I definitely would have remembered because my hugr or mind in a simpler word is stronger than most ordinary beings at the very least.


    Nevertheless, I stood close to her and watched for any unnatural changes to her hamr or body to the untrained as she descended further into her trance, I have seen none so far but it is only wise to prepare for the worst, Still, the deeper she went the more concerned I grew not because I thought that she could not go farther than I could, no, I knew for a fact that she could go farther than I could even in her advanced age, I am concerned for the strain upon her hugr such an endeavor would entail.


    And despite my pessimistic attitude, I have to at least pretend to be positive as I suspect that my constant thinking about her is what is keeping her focused on returning to the waking world, yes, me, her son of course I would be on her mind when she performs seidr, not any of her other children, no, no only me.


    Anyway, my pathetic lack of self-worth aside, I doubt my mother would want to know the only child she has left thinks so lowly of himself, so I will escape to other thoughts for now, like what goes on in the land of ¨¢lfheimr and Nieavellir, home to the elves and dwarves, respectively.


    Frustratingly little is known of the elves of ¨¢lfheimr, which gives me the perfect excuse to make up whatever bullshit I want to believe, and while that is freeing it is infuriating because I genuinely want to about them, but anger is without explanation, is useless so I began imagining a scenario of sorts to further explain my frustration.


    There is a house atop a hill, I know where the house is, I know what it looks like, and I know the name of the owners, I even know what the owners of the house look like but I do not know what goes on in that house, I have heard of what goes on in the house but whenever I try to ask anyone and begin even the slightest investigation, it is as if the universe has taken a vow of silence and refuses to even acknowledge the existence of the house, so if the universe seeks to hide the house from me, I will imagine the version of the house that I can understand but the house is still there waiting for me to find out mor about it.


    The anger stirring within me right now is but a fraction of the anger I have whenever I think about ¨¢lfheimr but I calmed down upon realizing that its brother realm Nieavellir is more well known, of course not much is known about that realm either but at least I have a clearer understanding of what the dwarves do down there.


    Nevertheless, despite my wandering thoughts and the amount of time that passed, it is genuinely unsettling how long my mother has been in this state and if I did not know any better, I would have thought that she died, soon after Dellingr, father of Dagr and husband of Lightless, arose from the horizon bringing the dawn with him and at that moment my mother woke up from her trance.


    Of course, it was a slow awakening, as she had been using seidr for a very long time, so she was getting used to controlling her hamr after being in a still position for so long, but while regaining control of her hamr, It seems that her hugr had been somewhat retarded as when she turned to me she looked at me as if she did not realize who I was even though this was not the first time that she had seen me in the form of a wolf.


    Then she looked at me more closely, and her eyes suddenly widened with clarity as she asked me, "Hr¨®evitnir, is that you?" I did not hesitate to immediately put a stop to whatever misunderstanding she had, and since I could not speak to her, I shook my head as a sign of disapproval, not that I could fault her for misunderstanding because, for whatever reason, my wolf form greatly resembled that of my lupine brother though several sizes smaller.


    My mother seemed to misunderstand my expression as she continued speaking to me under false impressions. "Since the Aesir have been kind enough to release you, let us go hunting as we did before they took you from me." Seeing as I could not convince my mother of anything else, I decided to go along with her delusion, if only to give her some semblance of what she once had.


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    So I used my sense of smell to find game. After a short journey, we found that our nearest game was an unintelligent bear cub playing with it''s sibling, we could easily take these cubs as our prize and eat it but for the role I was playing I needed to go after a bigger prize and that was their injured mother, a far more dangerous beast and when injured it is even more so but playing my brother''s character I licked my lips in anticipation for the challenge. However, when I turned to my mother, she frowned for reasons unknown to me.


    Then immediately my mother chanted a galdr or spell to the ignorant to weaken the bear and in quick succession she chanted another galdr to bind the sow in place and and much like when she performed seidr she needed neither ritual nor medium to accomplish this task, only her voice and that was a level of prowess that I aspire to reach but right now I had a role and that was to kill this bear and that is what was i did, i reached the sow in the blink of an eye and soon i gave the killing blow but before we could make leave with our haul a stranger appeared from the brush.


    The stranger stood before me, his youthful visage hinting at the remarkable young man he would become in adulthood. He had a lean, athletic build that suggested both agility and strength. He wore a fur cloak that not only protected him from the cold but also revealed his weapon at his left hip, which was a finely crafted sword that hung steadily from its hilt, which was adorned with intricate designs that caught the light, while a bow rested casually on his left shoulder, its polished wood glistening under the sun. His hair was a striking shade of gold, and his green eyes reminded me of lush plant life of other realms, the complete opposite of Jotunheim''s dead plant life.


    The boy looked at my mother with a cold expression on his handsome face. and when he turned to me, his face remained frozen, but from his eyes, I saw a hint of both recognition and surprise. Still, the boy spoke to us with a mature voice and tone that did not match his young age "I have chased this sow for several days, dealt many injuries to it with my arrows and yet you were ones to deal the final blow, so please let us come to an accord and divide this creature amongst ourselves v?lva, though I suspect that beast of yours will take the majority of it."


    I immediately stood in front of my mother and growled at the young boy, the boy frowned and said, "It seems that your beast did not appreciate my attempt of banter and i understand that it was bad but if your beast goes further than growling or barking, I will take it as an attack upon me and as you can see v?lva, I am well equipped to defend myself in combat so chose wisely, woman." The boy put his hand on his hilt to show his seriousness.


    I continued growling, as that is what my brother would have done in this situation, but my mother put her hand up telling me to stop, and that is what I did. Then, looking at the stranger, she said with her voice revealing her exhaustion. "Forgive me stranger, my child only sought to protect me from wild beasts and he doesn''t yet realize that you are not one of them and as for the sow, it is only just your reward for such a difficult hunt, and besides there are plenty of beasts in the forest of J¨¢rnvier to feed us all so please pardon us and we will leave you be."


    "Thank you, v?lva," the boy said, carrying his prize away with surprising strength as he walked into the snow before he disappeared into it.


    This encounter effectively killed our hunger as we built a small fire that burned brightly. We gathered around it, enjoying each other''s company in silence until she finally said, "You can reveal yourself now, Fr¨®ei."


    Of course, I instantly changed back into my comfortable human form, and then I immediately started coughing blood. Seeing this, my mother had instantly chanted a galdr that dulled my pain until I did not feel it anymore. I still coughed blood, but it was bearable, and I could manage at least a conversation before I grew tired.


    "How long have you known Mother?"


    "Since I when I suggested we go hunting."


    "And you did not see fit for me to dispel the illusion."


    "I wanted to enjoy what I once had long ago," she said with a hint of regret in her voice, as if asking for forgiveness.


    "So what did you see, mother, while you used seidr?" I said, switching the topic.


    "I saw many things, my child. I witnessed you becoming a great sorcerer, comparable to the Allfather himself. I saw you embark on magnificent adventures across the nine realms, wielding a magnificent staff while slaying monsters and undead abominations. I saw you married and happy with your partner, even though you never had children. I saw you meet gods, elves, dwarves, and giants along the way. I glimpsed you at your peak, a wondrous being with hair as white as snow and blue eyes reflecting the deep ice of Niflheim, although that was far into the future."


    "And what of you, mother?"


    "I saw my journey end, surrounded by my children in both flesh and spirit, happy as I could ever be."


    "The Nornir are kind to weave such a beautiful fate for you, mother," I said as I slowly fell into Nott''s comforting embrace, but before I fully fell asleep, I heard my mother say.


    "No matter how kind fate may seem to us, my child, never forget that Evil is the Decree of the Nornir."