Within one of the golden chambers of Valaskjálf, the air hung heavy with dread.

Thor lay upon a bed of runic silk, his once-golden aura now dimmed to nothing. His skin was pale, his breath shallow, and no thunder stirred within him anymore.

Around him gathered the Æsir gods, most of them, their faces a mixture of disbelief and sorrow.

Sif knelt beside her husband, tears glistening down her cheeks as she clutched his cold hand. "All-Father… how could this happen?" she whispered, her voice breaking. "How can Thor, the God of Thunder, be reduced to this?"

Frigg gently placed a hand on Sif's shoulder, her calm voice a frail attempt at comfort. "Be still, child. The All-Father will find a way'

But Odin said nothing. He stood silent at the foot of the bed, his one eye fixed upon the goddess of healing, Eir, who was still examining Thor's body with hands that glowed faintly with divine light.

The silence stretched until Odin finally spoke. "Eir… your thoughts?"

Eir didn't answer right away. Her brows furrowed deeper the longer she looked, the faint glow of her palms flickering as if uncertain.

When she finally spoke, her tone carried unease. "…This is difficult, All-Father"

"Explain," Odin commanded.

Eir exhaled slowly, her gaze falling to Thor's lifeless chest. "There is nothing for me to explain, All-Father," she said quietly.

Murmurs rippled through the gathered gods, confusion, disbelief, yet none dared interrupt.

Eir continued, her voice trembling slightly despite her composure. "If there were a cause, I could mend it. A curse, a seal, a corruption, anything. But there is nothing. No wound, no magic, no trace of divine tampering"

She paused, her expression tightening as she placed a hand over Thor's heart.

"It's as if… from the moment of his birth, he was never a god at all"

A sharp intake of breath spread through the chamber.

Eir looked up, meeting Odin's eye. "All-Father, whatever your son faced, it was no ordinary being. To undo divinity itself… to strip a god of his essence without killing him, that is something far beyond our power. If there is a way to restore him…"

She hesitated, her voice lowering to a whisper.

"…then only the one who took it away can do so"

The chamber fell silent again. The weight of her words pressed down like the sky itself.

Odin's fingers curled slightly around Gungnir's shaft. His single eye gleamed, not with anger, but something darker. Thoughtful. Calculating.

He leaned closer to Eir, his voice slow and heavy with restrained fury. "You mean to tell me… that Thor's godhood has simply, never existed?"

Eir met his gaze, her lips trembling but her resolve unbroken.

"It's not that it was stolen, nor sealed," she said softly. "It's as if the concept of divinity itself was rewritten. His body no longer remembers what it means to be a god"

Silence gripped the room. Even the air refused to move.

From the corner, Týr, god of war, finally spoke. His voice, though calm, carried an undercurrent of dread. "Rewritten? That is not something even we can do, not without unraveling the threads of fate itself"

"Yes," Odin replied, his tone grave. "Which means this being wields a power that can alter the very foundation of existence"

He rose, the shadow of Gungnir stretching across the chamber walls like the echo of countless wars. The flame-light dimmed as though bowing to his command.

"Summon Heimdall," Odin said at last, his voice ringing like steel. "If such a being walks Midgard, we will find him... and erase him before the balance shatters"

"... And what of Thor?!" Sif's voice cut through the tension, sharp with desperation.

Odin's gaze softened, only slightly. "He will live," he said, though the words tasted uncertain even to him. "He will live… but he will never again be what he was-"

A voice interrupted.

"I can fix him, you know?"

The words were casual, almost lazy, yet they rippled through the air like a thunderclap.

The Æsir froze. For a heartbeat, none could even place the voice.

"It's easy~" the voice continued, playful, almost mocking.

Then it became clear. It was close. Too close.

Every god turned toward Odin, and there, standing beside him as though he had always been part of the gathering, was Taufik.

Long, dark hair framed his calm expression; his blue eyes gleamed faintly, reflecting the golden light of the chamber. He stood with the quiet ease of someone who did not enter, but had always been there.

The Æsir instinctively stepped back. The air itself seemed to recoil.

Even Odin, for the first time in a long age, did not move. His grip on Gungnir tightened ever so slightly.

"You…" Odin's voice was low, careful, and deliberate. Not born of fear, but something deeper, almost like respect he did not understand. The kind of reverence one gives to a storm one cannot control.

The young man smiled faintly. "You've been busy talking about me," he said, tilting his head, his tone light, almost amused. "I thought it'd be rude not to drop by when you're making such bold assumptions"

His gaze drifted toward Thor's motionless body. The shift in his expression was subtle, a small, calm smile that somehow carried the weight of inevitability.

The air itself began to bend.

A pressure, invisible yet suffocating, seeped through the chamber. Even gods found themselves struggling to breathe. Reality shuddered, protesting his existence.

Then Taufik looked back at Odin, that same serene smile still lingering.

"Relax, Odin," he said softly. "I didn't kill your son"

He lifted his hand and shadows rippled from his fingers, coiling like ink through water. The golden walls of Asgard dimmed, the light bending toward him.

"I merely…" he continued, his tone almost gentle, "…reminded his body what it feels like to be human"

He glanced around the chamber, eyes meeting each god in turn, Eir, Frigg, Týr, even Heimdall at the far edge of the room, each instinctively tensed beneath that gaze.

"Want to try?"

The words were soft, almost playful. But they carried the promise of annihilation.

Týr moved first.

The god of war didn't hesitate, his hand flashed to his sword, and divine steel sang as it cut through the air. His instincts screamed too late.

Odin realized the danger an instant before the strike.

"ENOUGH!"

He stomped Gungnir against the floor.

A blinding surge of runic light erupted from the spear, swallowing the room in a flash of gold and shadow. The chamber, the walls, the gods, all dissolved in a swirl of collapsing space.

And in the next heartbeat... They were gone.

The Æsir's throne room vanished, replaced by the vast, storm-shrouded plains of Vigrid, the field destined for the final battle.

The sky above churned with thunder and dark clouds; the air itself thrummed with divine energy.

Taufik stood at the center of the battlefield, his long hair swaying in the growing wind. He looked around slowly, the faint smile never leaving his face.

"Ah," Taufik murmured, his eyes glinting with curiosity. "You brought us here, Odin? A good choice. It's a nice place to die, isn't it?"

He looked around at the endless plain, the scorched earth, the swirling clouds, the silence heavy with prophecy. His expression softened with mild amusement.

"But…" he continued, turning slightly, "isn't this Vigrid? I thought it only opened when Ragnarok began"

"Ragnarok has begun," Odin replied, his voice echoing as he stepped forward from the mist, Gungnir gleaming faintly in his grasp. "You stand now in its aftermath, the Age of Roots phase"

"The Age of Roots?" Taufik echoed, blinking in faint surprise. "And Ragnarok has… phases now? Wow. You gods really turned it into a franchise"

Odin's gaze narrowed. "Enough chit-chat. Tell me, stranger... what is your intent in Yggdrasil?"

Taufik sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with a faint smile. "Ah, not fun. You sound just like the others"

He looked up again, his tone softening, yet every word carried the quiet certainty of truth. "Well, if you must know, I'm here for something simple. I'm searching for my way back home"

Odin tilted his head slightly. "Home? Where is that?"

"…The core of the universe," Taufik said, his eyes distant for a moment, as though looking through time itself. "Earth. You're familiar with that name, aren't you, Odin?"

At that, the All-Father fell silent.

Something stirred within him, memories buried so deep that even the Norns' threads could not reach them.

The echo of an age when he was still young, when curiosity outweighed wisdom.

He remembered a journey beyond Yggdrasil's roots, to a world not yet consumed by divine order. A planet where Angels and Demons waged eternal war, and where gods from foreign skies once gathered under a single firmament.

Earth.

The Core of Creation.

The last breath of the Creator's hand.

"…Zeus?" Odin said quietly, almost to himself.

Taufik smiled faintly. "So you know Zeus, huh?"

Odin's grip on Gungnir tightened. "What are you to him?"

For a moment, Taufik said nothing. His gaze drifted skyward, as though searching for something lost in the stars. Then he chuckled softly, not mockingly, but with a strange, nostalgic warmth.

"…Hmm~" he hummed. "You could say…"

His expression darkened slightly, the wind curling around him like a living shadow.

"…I'm Zeus' grandfather" (Well~ Gaia is his wife)

The words struck like thunder.

Odin froze. Even the storm around Vigrid seemed to hold its breath.

The All-Father's eye narrowed, not out of disbelief, but dawning realization. He looked again at Taufik, really looked, at the weight behind his presence, the way the world bent ever so slightly around him.

And for the first time, Odin understood why the fabric of Yggdrasil itself trembled when this stranger arrived.

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