Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1 / EPILOGUE
Fourth of July - Sufjan Stevens
At 10 years old it was still hard to believe. Your dad had been desperately packing things that he ultimately left behind, he just couldn’t make his mind and was crying the whole time. This made you really uneasy, you could see, feel his pain, even though you didn’t really understand what was happening, you felt his desperation. “Baby I promise you everything is going to be alright.” He kept saying those reassuring words to you, while he looked for something he could not quite locate.
You sat in the couch of your living room, just hours ago you were sitting there with your mother talking, but talking about… what? you couldn’t really remember, even though you tried really hard. Your thoughts drifted away and you began observing your surroundings. The couch, red and soft, the chimney once lit with high fire, now just releasing smoke, the little wooden table at the center, decorated with dried flowers. You felt the odd sense that would be your last time seeing those things.
You were ripped from your thoughts when your father told you to follow him, he only carried one bag, he held your hand and took a last look inside your house before you two started walking towards the forest. You walked for about 2 hours in the dark forest until it was as far away as possible, you dad was still in distress and looking at every direction, like he was scared someone or something was following you.
You both finally arrived at a zone where the trees formed a circular valley, there was nothing but strange markings in the ground, you wanted to take a better look at it, but your dad suddenly picked you up in his arms, and shouted loudly some random words you didnt understood. “Heimdall open the bifrost!” he yelled. And with that, a sudden bright light surrounded you and your dad like a lightning. Everything around you looked like a multicolor wall, and you were moving so fast, but not really feeling it, it was a strange sensation.
The travel through the “Bifrost” as your dad said, was quick. You arrived at a dome-shaped room that was all made of gold, in the center there was a man holding a big sword. He greeted your father, “Welcome back, Iwaldi”.
Wait, Iwaldi? that wasn’t your fathers name, he is called Frank, what in the hell was happening now. “Welcome, my young lady” the tall man said looking at you. Your first reaction was to hide behind your father. Was this a dream? Maybe a party surprise? No. your birthday is not even close. What was it?
“Heimdall, sorry for coming like this, you have to help me, I didn’t think this would happen so soon, they took her.” Your father said, he had tears in his eyes once again. The man with the sword gave him a knowing look. “I know, I have been watching.” He spoke. “I can help you, but first you have to talk with All-father, he knew you were coming”. Your dad held your hand once again and started walking towards the dome’s exit, you were amazed with what you saw after that.
Before you was a long and rainbow colored bridge, it lighted up a bit when you stepped on it. This reminded you a lot of the bed stories your dad told you, about Asgard and the rainbow bridge. Wait, could it be? No, that was fiction.
“Dad.” you whispered, too scared to be heard by anyone else than him. “Where are we?” you asked. Your dad didn’t look at you, he just kept walking, too lost in thought, or too worried to be bothered with your question. You sighed slightly and kept walking.
In front of you was a golden city, with a big castle in the middle, the city didn’t look like anything you’ve ever seen in your 10 years of life, nor in tv even. At the end of the bridge two guards dressed in gold armor waited for you, they greeted your father and referred to him as Iwaldi, again.
They escorted you inside the castle and into the main hall, as they called it. The main hall was big, golden (as everything apparently) and the ceiling was so unnecessarily tall that for a minute you thought maybe there were giants in that strange city.
At the end of the hall there was a big chair on top of a set of stairs, where an old white haired men sat. He had only one eye, and held a big spear in his left hand. On his right there was a woman standing, she had long blonde hair and wore a teal dress that had gold details. She looked at you with a fond and sweet smile while you walked closer to them, you weren’t sure how to react. On his left there were two children, they looked to be your age, the first boy stood closer to the old man, he had blonde hair and wore red garments. The second boy stood one step down the other one, but he was different. He had black hair, a pale skin, wore green garments and kept looking at the floor.
By the moment you and your father got near to what you deduce was a throne, he knelt immediately. “All-father.” he said, with a fist to his chest. You just stood there.
“Iwaldi, stand up” said the old man. Your father stood slowly. “Im aware of what happened, and trust me, we want to help” he stated. “But you know well that men problems have to be handled between men, not gods” Your father looked confused, “But you-“ the old man didn’t let him finish. “I warned you. We all did. But the midgardian had you wrapped around her finger” he spited angrily. The woman on his right looked sad, “Odin, don’t…” she said.
“Then let her stay here, I know I was exiled but she wasn’t, she has nothing to do with what happened and she is asgardian too, so please, Im begging all-father, let her stay.” your father said choking tears. Wait, asgardian? me? no but, this is all fiction, my mother said that all the time, to not believe in my fathers tales or I’ll end up crazy like him, was it real all this time? you thought.
The old man sat in silence, surely thinking about your father’s request. After what seemed like an eternity he spoke, “The girl stays, but you never come back.” You looked up at your father, really saw him, for the last time. He had freckles, a big bushy beard he refused to groom, and big green teary eyes. He looked at you too, and knelt down to hug you. “We will see each other again, I will find your mom, I promise” he whispered into your ear, before standing back up. He did a little bow with his head and headed to the exit without looking back at you not even once. When the big doors closed you were left standing there alone in front of the old man.
“Do you know who I am little one?” he asked. “Did your father tell you the stories?” you looked at him unsure of what to answer, but now you where on your own, and nobody was going to respond for you. You took a deep breath. “Yes, I believe you are Odin, all-father.” you said calmly even though your heart was beating faster than a train.
The old man smiled softly. “Yes, that I am, here at my right is my wife, Frigga, all-mother and queen. At my left my sons, Thor and Loki, princes.” He said pointing each one with a finger. “In case you are still confused, you are now in Asgard, your father is an asgardian and your mother is a midgardian, hence, from earth, a human. That, little one, makes you a halfblood, half midgardian half asgardian.” He explained.
“Now Frigga will show you where you will stay, from now on, you will assist on classes with her everyday and she will teach you whatever you need to know.” He finished and signaled Frigga to get closer to you. The woman gave you a sweet smile and started guiding you to a door on the left side of the hall, before stepping through it you glanced back at the stairs, only to lock your eyes with the blue/green eyes of the black haired boy, who quickly looked to the floor once again.
The walk to your new room, or chambers, how they called it there, was short, when you and the all-mother arrived you didn’t quite know what to do so you did a bow like the one your father did earlier, before saying thank you and stepping into your room. Your first night was terrible, you couldn’t sleep, had nightmares and woke up crying over and over again. At one point you got tired of it so you went for a walk trough the castle, there were a lot of rooms, the floor was decorated with carpets that had intricate patterns and colors, and the walls were decorated with paintings that reminded you of the tales your father used to say to you.
You stared at the paintings for a while, until you decided you should go back to your chambers. When you arrived at your door, there was a tray in the floor with a cup of tea and a little note. You picked it up and brought it inside your room, “To help you sleep.” you drank it and laid in your bed, thinking about how your life just changed, until you fell asleep.