Chapter 74: Chapter 31: Valkyrie 1
Skadi.
The three Norns of Nordic mythology, also known as the three Goddesses of Fate.
Both Nordic mythology and Greek mythology have triads of goddesses representing fate, and in Nordic mythology, they are Urd, Verdandi, and Skadi.
These three Goddesses of Fate represent the past, present, and future.
These sisters not only control the fate of humans, but also predict the destiny of gods, giants, and dwarves. Their appearance is seen as the end of the golden age of gods. Before the outbreak of Ragnarok, their main tasks were weaving the Net of Destiny and drawing water from the Well of Urd to irrigate the World Tree.
On the eve of Ragnarok, Odin ventured alone to the Well of Destiny, where he saw the three Goddesses of Fate with veiled faces silently sitting beside the withering World Tree, with only a broken net beside them,
after that, there are no more records of the three Goddesses of Fate.
"Is it just you alone?" Su Ziyu slowly walked over and said, "What about your sisters?"
Waited for me for six thousand years?
Skadi’s words made Su Ziyu suddenly understand many things; he had come to this world not by chance, but by necessity.
Diana, the woman who first appeared when the Space-Time Monitor System was activated, must have done something with the Hourglass of Time earlier, marking this plane, which is why Su Ziyu appeared here. She even told the Goddess of Fate before her that her successor would arrive one day.
Arriving on this plane was Diana’s arrangement, and unsurprisingly, she was the previous Space-Time Inspector.
"They are dead." Skadi said indifferently.
The Goddesses of Fate embodying the past and present are dead, leaving only the one representing the future alive.
"Come with me." Skadi stood up.
She casually tossed aside the broken net in her hand; she tried to mend the Net of Destiny for six thousand years but could not fix it, and the future remains shrouded in fog, even as the Goddess of Fate she cannot see hope.
Skadi walked towards the quaint wooden house in front.
Su Ziyu hesitated for a moment but quickly followed, as only the Goddess of Fate before him could answer many of his doubts.
Inside the wooden house.
Skadi carefully opened a black metal box, then she held a black magic cube in both hands and presented it to Su Ziyu, saying, "This is left for you by Diana."
"She said you would know what to do once you see it."
The unknown black magic cube.
Just as Su Ziyu touched it, a stream of data in his mind stirred slightly, with a flood of data runes rushing into his mind, continuously filling in the missing information. Su Ziyu felt a surge of pressure on his spirit, the massive data flow making his brain feel like it is about to explode, and worse, he heard countless cries, curses, and roars, a cacophony of endless hatred.
Vision grew blurry.
Su Ziyu felt his soul soaring, and it seemed his whole being transformed into void, consciousness flying towards the sky.
He saw a green barrier.
It protects this world.
Quickly.
Su Ziyu’s consciousness passed through this barrier, and a terrifying apocalyptic scene unfolded before him.
Most striking was the still-burning wreckage of the World Tree.
The heavens and earth it supported were shattered, with terrifying storms at the edge of the cosmos gnawing at the ground piece by piece, lands crumbling into oblivion, as if everything would eventually be consumed by the void. The land was pockmarked with countless skeletal remains, the most eye-catching being an unimaginably colossal snake carcass; Su Ziyu could not see its boundaries, only its giant bones nearly encircling the whole world.
——"Midgard Serpent - Jormungandr!"
One of the most famous monsters in Western mythology.
Rumored to encircle the world, the dreadful serpent whose leftover bones after death left Su Ziyu utterly shocked, unimaginable how terrifying it would have looked alive.
His consciousness grew faint.
Time seemed to undergo chaos.
Suddenly, a battlefield so fierce it defies description appeared before Su Ziyu, with bodies piled in mountains and oceans of blood everywhere. Flames like red lotus burned torridly on the World Tree’s wreckage, with giants, divine races, humans, elves, and dwarves’ skeletal remains strewn across the ground.
He saw the body of the Midgard Serpent - Jormungandr, its enormous form instilling dread.
He saw countless giants and Heroic Spirits fallen on the battlefield, giants all over ten meters tall, and an even more imposing Fire Giant stood like a mountain even in death, making one fear to approach.
He saw Odin’s remains, the Thunder God’s bones, and the bloodied Fenrir Giant Wolf, as well as the corpses of myriad monsters and warriors of divine race.
The sky crumbled, and the earth collapsed!
The fiercely burning World Tree was collapsing bit by bit, the countless corpses of divine races, giants, and terrifying monsters existing on this silent battlefield for an unknown length of time.
Until a massive black dragon unfurled its wings from the roots of the World Tree.
——"Desperate Black Dragon - Nidhogg!"
As the black dragon devouring the World Tree emerged, countless giant snakes surged up from the depths of the earth, ravenously swallowing the dead gods’ bodies, even engaging in mutual slaughter over the flesh!
The Desperate Black Dragon - Nidhogg’s colossal body circled the sky.
Then it flew towards the edge of the cosmos, disappearing bit by bit into the abyss of the void, leaving behind only shattered heavens and earth.
But this was not the end.
Su Ziyu saw those giant snakes devouring the World Tree’s roots undergo some eerie transformation, consuming surrounding flesh and blood, even including their own kind. A giant snake swallowed Odin and Sol’s corpses, its body suddenly enveloped in lightning, flesh burning and healing, the body gradually rotting and twisting into an indescribable flesh monster.
More giant snakes scoured the land for flesh remnants left after Ragnarok.
Aesir Race, Vanir Race, Frost Giants, Fire Giants...
Dozens of giant snakes were voraciously chewing on the Midgard Serpent - Jormungandr’s bones, continuing to eat for an interminable time, their bodies expanding little by little, until they all transformed into colossal creatures dozens of kilometers long!
The era of giant snakes had descended.
As these giant snakes ceaselessly devoured divine flesh, from the World Tree’s remains flowed a sullied black mud, infused with countless vile thoughts, grievances impossible to reconcile, suspicion, jealousy, greed, violence, fratricide, and filial betrayal, all gathered together, spreading virulently from the emerging black mud.
The giant snakes ruling the post-Ragnarok world were also consumed.
Su Ziyu saw countless souls awaken, their minds already twisted, merging into the giant snakes’ bodies in darkness, undergoing some terrifying unspeakable corporeal mutation together.
This world was cursed!
Black mud seeped into the ground bit by bit, bearing the boundless hatred that sparked Ragnarok, carrying myriad malevolence, the cursed souls of gods, all merging into this world.
.........