Jötunheim

Chapter Eleven: Mimir
~BlackRoseRaven

“So we kicked Loki's ass, saved the entire universe, and it looks like we beat Mutt and Dad here, too.”

Antares sighed and smiled despite himself at Innocence, who huffed as she stepped away from Yggdrasil, shaking her hooves out as she complained: “What, it's true! Anyway, that's the last of it. I think we got all the chokeroot.”

“Even if we didn't, it won't grow enough on its own to be a threat to Yggdrasil. There's plenty already down here by the roots. Locke was using Nidhogg to trundle it around and the powers of the primordials to amplify it, but... I don't think we have to worry about that anymore.”

Antares paused, glancing back towards the plateau where they had buried Locke's body, and then he looked up curiously as Six asked: “So now you will head to Mimir?”

“Yeah. Uh... thanks, by the way. Your magic is scary.” Antares said with a small smile, offering a hoof.

Six only looked at his hoof for a moment, and then she shrugged and dropped it. But her hoof reached up and touched her own chest almost delicately, pressing against the metal plate that had slid closed over her crystal core. “It is not magic. The chaos particles are capable of vibrating at a frequency that disrupts magical effects. I generated plasma-”

“Yeah, yeah, particles, electrons, you're very cool.” grumped Innocence, before she scowled as she jutted her chin out and leaned towards the mare, asking grouchily: “Are we gonna have to kick your ass now or are you gonna let us get to Mimir?”

“My mission is complete.” Six said simply, and Antares saw her shift, preparing to leave... except then she hesitated.

He cocked his head, reaching up to quickly cover Sin's muzzle so she wouldn't spoil the moment as he asked: “What is it?”

Six looked at him for a moment, then shook her head and stated: “Classified.”

With that, the android leapt backwards, twisting neatly around in midair before she ran off down one of the larger roots of Yggdrasil, leaving Antares and Innocence alone at the base of the massive tree. Sin groaned, then slapped Antares' hoof away, grumbling: “I hate this place. I hate these people. I hate everyone and everything. Let's finish this and get out of here.”

Antares smiled a bit, and then he patted Yggdrasil's mighty trunk gently before he rested a hoof against it, closing his eyes... and there it was. Just there, in his mind, the tree showing him the way with a voice of not just nature, but the cosmos, a voice that had spoken destiny and seen a thousand futures and a thousand more pasts...

He shivered a bit as he nearly fell over, stumbling backwards and rubbing slowly at his head with a wheeze, and Innocence cocked her head as she asked with the faintest hint of concern: “You uh... not going to puss out on me now, right?”

“I'm fine.” Antares smiled at his sister, who huffed grouchily at him before he gestured with his head for her to follow, and the mare strode after him even as she scowled a little.

“You know, Mutt and Dad are gonna be here any second...”

“Yeah, but we're literally right around the corner. There's a trick, see.” Antares said as he drew his eyes along the wall of Yggdrasil, paying more attention to the trunk of the tree than the path of roots beneath his hooves. “You gotta know the secret knock, because Mimir technically isn't in Jötunheim at all. Remember, Morgan told us herself: Mimir withdrew from the Nine Worlds.”

They reached a space where Yggdrasil was bare of bark, and Antares smiled as he stroked over the naked wood before his horn gleamed as he leaned forwards, using it to etch several runes as he murmured: “But Yggdrasil's roots can reach anywhere.”

The World Tree rumbled, and then Antares leaned back and glanced over his shoulder as a root stretched upwards, into the air, forming a natural stair to the sky. The stallion grinned as he spun around and hopped onto this, following its ramping path upwards.

Innocence rolled her eyes, opened her mouth, and then simply gaped when Antares vanished from sight, staring dumbly at the thin air where the stallion had popped out of existence before she scrambled hurriedly after him, shouting: “What the fucking fuck is this shit?”

She leapt the root, then blinked in surprise as she passed through what she could only describe as a seam in reality, neatly coming out of the invisible tear and landing on a set of stone steps. Innocence blinked, looking dumbly back over her shoulder and down a long, curling stone staircase that dipped into what she first mistook for fog, but realized as they parted briefly, were clouds.

These stone stairs were jagged and broken, clinging to the wall of some kind of massive pillar that stuck out at a lopsided angle in thin sky. Innocence bit her lip as she awkwardly made her way up the stone stairs, looking up at an island floating eerily above, then down for a moment, at the ground angled below, gravity somehow not tugging her down into emptiness. She breathed slowly for a moment, then shook her head quickly out before she mumbled: “This is weird even by my standards.”

She followed the curling staircase up and around the pillar, until she found herself surrounded by brickwork and invading – invaded? – earth that had suffused what she supposed had once been a tower. A tower that had been launched like a rocket into buttcheek of a floating island...

She grinned, but it was nervous as she reached the top of the tower, and stepped out through a shattered brick wall onto an island... one, she saw, of many that floated nakedly through the air, in complete defiance of sanity and gravity, above an unknown world miles below.

Innocence strode across the weedy, dusty surface of the island to where Antares was standing and waiting with a smile outside a dirty, collapsed shrine. Once it looked as if there had been a scrying pool in front of it: now it was just a dirty wading pool, overgrown with strange flowers and luminous algae.

The shrine had likely once been beautiful, but paint had peeled, varnish had faded, and ancient wood had rotted away. The timbers had not withstood the test of time, breaking here, warping there; tapestries had torn and been eaten away by moths and insects, and spiders had replaced them.

But within, cradled by overgrowth and roots, was the head of a giant. A head, sallow and overgrown with moss and life, skin so old it had become bark. All the same, the head breathed, slow and sure, as if in contemplation of all the years that had passed since this withered hulk had been placed here-

“I came here. Of my own will.” Old Mimir said, exhaling dust and time, and Innocence blinked as Antares bowed his head politely. “Don't feign manners, boy. You're not here to visit an old man. You're here to whittle answers out of questions, and to prove yourself to the last person in all the realms you should worry about securing the approvals of.”

Mimir snorted, and demurred: “And to avoid embarrassment. Fie on you, horse. Slap your belly less and you won't have to worry about the same of it.”

“Eat a dick.” Antares blushed, then he shook his head and said quietly: “But yeah. We need-”

“You need, you need, you need.” Mimir's eyes opened, heavy and half-blind, like darkened, warped glass. He studied them, then meditated after a moment: “Yes, perhaps you do need, after all.”

Antares frowned as Innocence cocked her head, and Mimir sighed before he said tiredly: “Yes, my time in these realms is coming to an end. Ask your questions. Ask wisely. You will not have another chance.”

“You're dying?” Innocence asked dubiously, before she cleared her throat and added awkwardly: “That's not a question, by the way! Also how many questions do I get? Not a real question, just a... question about the questions but not-”

Mimir groaned and rolled his eyes, exhaling dust before he muttered: “I have been here for thousands of years. Long have I lived this existence, once cherished, until the time came to part with the realms, and I came here with what little power I had unto myself. Now, here I lay, as dusty and forgotten as the rest of the Vanir.”

“You were Vanir once?” Antares asked curiously, and Mimir smiled briefly.

“Freya is the only Vanir left now. A mare's body suits her better than a woman's ever did. The Vanir lived long before the Aesir. I suppose it is only right that the Vanir will die out before them, too.”

Antares frowned, and Mimir said: “Thor. Thor is cursed to live. He has outlived his offspring, and he shall outlive even his own usefulness. Poor, wretched Thor. In the end, rage will bring him home.”

“Uh huh.” Antares said slowly, looking uneasily at Mimir: there was no lie-

“I cannot lie, child. Not because of any vow or promise, but I am too old to.” Mimir chuckled, more to himself than them, then said: “Enough. Ask your questions. The Valkyrie is coming.”

Antares bit his lip, and then he started to grin, but it froze on his face as Mimir said softly: “Now is not the time for your camaraderie or your optimism or your childish heroics. This is not where things end. This is not where your family goes on and into the good sunset. This is where the sun rises on a scorched realm, and you must decide if you will hide in the shadows, or you will burn, like all the rest, beneath its pitiless light.”

“We don't hide.” Innocence said quietly.

“Then ask your question.” Mimir replied.

Antares closed his eyes and thought for a few moments, and then he grimaced as he looked up and asked the only question he could think of: “How do I save everyone?”

“You don't. You cannot. You will be fortunate to save yourself.”

“How can I save everyone?” Antares pressed sharply, and Innocence frowned uneasily.

“Turn back time.” Mimir derided. “And make it so they were never born. Perhaps, so that you too were never born.”

“How can I save everyone?”

Mimir was silent for a moment, and then he said quietly: “Do precisely what you are told. Never question, never fight. Then, perhaps, you will save them all. Except, of course, for yourself.”

Antares understood, looking down silently for a moment before he bit his lip, then he asked quietly: “Why?”

“Because that is the way it must be. Because that is the world you were left with.” Mimir answered, and Antares snorted in disgust as he closed his eyes.

Innocence shook her head, then bared her teeth before she shouted: “Fuck that! No, then we just change it, because it's our goddamn world and we don't have to live this way, with everything always ending up shit! Fuck you, Mimir: we're gonna change things, and it's gonna work out okay, and we're gonna save everyone along the way!”

Silence followed, punctuated only by the sound of her growling breaths, until Mimir chuckled quietly and said softly: “Perhaps you will fail. But at least now I can finally agree with Odin that you deserve the chance to try and pick up where our kind left off.”

Sin huffed and grumbled as she rubbed at her face, and Antares smiled a little before he asked: “Why the hell do you watch people jerk off?”

Mimir laughed at this, and then he answered wryly: “I have far better things to watch than you pleasure yourself, horse. No, my eye of wisdom sees through time and space, sees past, present, and future all at once. It is not that I wish to see or know; it is that I see you, as you are, as you were, as you must be, all at once, every moment of your life. Including those best kept in the privacy of your own home.”

Antares huffed, then Innocence asked grouchily: “Hey, what does that mean? You like... look at someone and you know all their secrets? That's creepy, dude. Don't look at people's secrets.”

“Then keep them secret.” Mimir retorted, before he said after a moment: “The Valkyrie approaches.”

“How do you know that if you only know what you see by looking at people?” Innocence asked irritably.

“Easily. Without even needing to look into the world, I merely have to look at her children, and they tell me everything I would ever need to know.” Mimir answered, and Innocence huffed as Antares smiled a little despite himself. “Truth is loud. Louder than lies, louder than disbelief. Truth makes itself known. That is all you must listen for.”

Innocence grunted, before both she and Antares looked up as a thundering of hooves filled the air, a moment before Luna blasted into reality through a portal, skidding to a stop before she winced at the sight of her two children. She grinned lamely as Scrivener came trudging through the portal behind her, before he winced at the sight of the two others, saying lamely: “This was Luna's fault.”

“Oh shut up, foul traitor!” Luna snapped, flicking her horn grumpily to summon a massive fist of blue flame and ice: a vulgar show of incredible power, not at all a trifling use of her abilities, as the huge fist of frost and fire flicked Scrivener over like a bug before it sharply veered around and flipped off Antares. “And that is for thee, foul cheat! Thou must have cheated, cheater!”

“I'd say you're projecting, but you did just literally portal into here in front of us, so this isn't even really gaslighting, this is just Luna got caught with her hoof in the cookie jar again and is frantically trying to figure out a way to blame Dad for it.” Antares said mildly, and then he grinned and dodged backwards when the huge fist slapped out and tried to smack him. “Hey, put those away.”

“I will put thee away. I will put thee back in my womb and poop thee out right this time!” Luna threatened, and Antares winced as Innocence stuck out her tongue with a noise of disgust. “Oh shush, both of thee. Thou art both my children and old enough to give a proper spanking if I so desire.”

Her summoned fist waggled a finger at them pointedly, and Antares and Innocence traded looks before Luna winced as Mimir said: “The boy sees your anxiety better than I do, Valkyrie. Stop lying. You insult both his love for you and his heart.”

Luna sighed, slumping for a moment before she grumbled, chewed at her lip, then awkwardly looked at her son as her hand made a placating gesture, the mare asking almost meekly: “Hast thou... asked thy question?”

“And I know my answer, too.” Antares said softly, and then he smiled a little as he walked over to his mother and silently embraced her, Luna closing her eyes and dropping her head against his shoulder as she hugged him fiercely back. “I love you, Mom. I'm not gonna let you be the bad guy. Not even if you want to.”

Luna smiled a little bit, holding her son close, breathing quietly as she kept him tight to her form before she murmured: “Stupid child. It is a parent's duty to protect their children, and take on troubles so that their children do not have to... even once they are old, and feeble. That duty never changes. Oh, but you would be so cruel as to not even let me die before thee, wouldn't thee?”

“Probably, if I had my way.” Antares admitted, and Luna huffed as she shoved him gently backwards before she finally dismissed her floating fist, shaking her head with a quiet chuckle.

“Stupid child.”

“Well, it's not just Antares who's stupid, you know. I don't want you to die either.” Innocence grumbled as she bulled forwards, shoving her brother aside to plow into her Móðer, and Luna caught her and hugged her firmly as she buried her head against her chest. “I don't want to lose you or Dad or even Momma. Even if you're all stupid liars.”

Scrivener smiled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, while Luna doted on her daughter, gently stroking her mane back as she soothed: “We shall not lie any more to thee, dear. On that, thou hast my promise.”

Luna paused, then looked up and asked wryly: “Mimir, as we have been asked to lay our cards upon the table, tell me thus: how many worlds remain in peril?”

“All of them. But I know you speak of the rotting worlds, the ones too close to Hell, or too close to Heaven.” Mimir paused, then said meditatively: “Seven. Seven more remain, jilted loose from the chain of realms by the destruction of the linchpin, World Without End. Other worlds drift, but may yet be secured... but that is too far in the future for even my gaze to penetrate.”

Luna nodded slowly, then she sighed a little before she looked between her children and smiled briefly, saying quietly: “And what of Loki?”

“The truth, or the shards?” asked Mimir. “For your children defeated the final shard of Loki only minutes ago.”

“Oh, fie and damnation!” Luna groaned, hammering at her head before she grumbled: “Some use that stupid robot of Thorn's was...”

“So Six was sent by you!” Antares paused, then frowned as Luna looked at him dumbly. “Sort of? Wait, she's not yours?”

“Six? Oh! The ander-droid, 'tis wondrous, is it not?” Luna gushed, clapping her hooves together childishly. “Thorn built it for us, to scout the way for us. 'Tis an... a what is it, Scrivy?”

“Thorn called it an artificial intelligence: he said that this 'AI' would learn and adapt just like a real pony could. He said this would be a good test run for it, if Morgan agreed. I guess she must have gotten worried and sent it after us.” Scrivener rubbed at his head and smiled awkwardly. “We really lost track of time.”

Antares groaned: that explained a lot. All the same, he felt a strange misgiving, before he winced when Innocence asked bluntly: “You didn't put a soul in a robot?”

“Sin!” Luna chided. “Thou insults me! As if I would put a soul in a robot. Or at least a robot as boring as that mare is. The ander-droid is not fun. Thorn programmed her to be very unfun.”

“We beat her up too.” Innocence said cheerfully, and smiled when Luna patted her proudly on the head.

“Good, although I am jealous, too. The ander-droid was supposed to find Loki for us and it seems thou pummeled both of them instead!” Luna chuckled, shaking her head before she looked at Mimir, and Antares saw the hesitation, the flash of understanding in her eyes, before she said kindly: “Come. Tell us more. I have all the time in the world for my daughter.”

Innocence allowed herself to be pulled around and away, and Antares smiled faintly before he looked at his father as Scrivener approached. They looked at each other, and Antares chuckled a little before he said softly: “We're both kind of freaks, huh?”

“At least your wings are useful.” Scrivener smiled briefly, and then he said quietly: “I'm sorry.”

“Hey. Don't be.” Antares shrugged a bit, looking at Mimir's head, but the giant had closed his eyes and left the conversation: all that was left was him and his father, standing awkwardly here, and Antares bit his lip before he muttered: “I... I hate that I'm powerless to change things.”

“You're not.” Scrivener said quietly, before he reached up and gently squeezed his son's shoulder, looking down into his eyes as he said softly: “For someone who can see so deeply into people, you sure seem to be good at missing how much you affect them. Now come on, Antares.”

“I can't save everyone, can I?” Antares asked, and Scrivener smiled.

“Why should you?” he asked, and Antares frowned, and his father shrugged as he said softly: “Sometimes you should let people save you. And sometimes, you have to let people take responsibility, or face the consequences of their actions. Otherwise you're not saving anyone. You're just stopping people from hurting themselves, from doing what you think is wrong... no matter how right they think they are.”

There was silence for a few moments, and then Antares nodded briefly before he dropped his head and mumbled: “Life is dumb.”

“And complicated.” Scrivener agreed, before he gently pushed his son towards Luna and Innocence, who were both smiling and waiting by a portal.

Antares took one last look back at Mimir... but he knew he had nothing left to say. So instead, he only smiled briefly and waved over his shoulder, then turned his eyes forwards as he followed his mother, his sister, and his father into the portal.

The portal crackled out of existence, leaving Mimir alone... but only for a moment before the shadows roiled, and a mare formed out of them, striding towards the head and standing silently in front of the fallen giant.

An eye creaked open, and Mimir smiled as Morgan bowed her head politely before she said softly: “It's an honor to meet you.”

“Is it?” Mimir questioned as he studied her, before he chuckled as another portal opened and a stallion swept through with a mechanical mare in tow, his eyes flicking for a moment to his own prosthetic limb as it crackled faintly with electricity. “Ah. But here we have the man of the hour.”

“Stallion.” Thorn Blackfeather corrected.

“It is just that sort of thing, Thorn Blackfeather, that will cause you to lose your way. You cannot cling to every minor detail and correct every imperfection. Sometimes, you must just accept.” Mimir paused, then said in a softer voice: “Your brother will never understand just how like him you are. What differs is your dedication, your determination, your unbreakable will... your arrogance.”

Thorn smiled briefly, then nodded as he and Morgan stood before Mimir, the great old giant studying them with his tired eyes before he said abruptly: “You know the truth.”

“Only because you just confirmed it.” Morgan smiled at the old, withered god-head. “I don't know how involved Loki and Hel were in this whole thing, and I don't know if this is what Odin meant to happen. But the Old Gods are gone, and we've replaced them with our own.”

“As you have also replaced the laws of this universe with your own interpretations. Helheim and Asgard and all the realms between the lowest low and the highest-on-high bow to the wills and rulings of you and yours.” Mimir said. “So much power, held and coveted by a precious few fortunate enough to be able to upend reality itself according to their whims.”

Morgan and Thorn were silent, before Mimir said quietly: “Your decisions have been made, as has mine. You know what must be done.”

Morgan bit her lip, but Thorn only nodded, resolute and unflinching. “I understand.”

“So do I. But...” And for a moment, it wasn't Morgan Heldottir, Queen of Helheim that stood before Mimir, but only Twilight Sparkle, questioning for the thousandth time her readiness, her ability, her worthiness before this mighty task. “Does it have to be this way? Can't we-”

Mimir chuckled softly, and then he murmured: “Your mother loved you very much, and I can see why, little one. How much have you seen? How much have you done? How have you remained so pure, so inviolate, in the face of so much pain and hardship and heartache?”

Morgan smiled faintly, glancing away, and Thorn stepped forwards as he said gently, not only to Mimir, but to his mother as well: “Because our intentions are not good, but rather to set things right. We are ready and willing to do whatever is necessary to set things right.”

“So were the Jötnar, and so were the Aesir after them. To do the right thing, Odin murdered the giants, and to fix the imperfection of the universe, Valthrudnir murdered Odin and all his gods, and then turned his eyes to your worlds. All to fix them. All to set things right, as he saw it.”

“Valthrudnir's ends were pure. His means were not. His greatest flaw, perhaps, was his inability or his refusal to recognize that.” Thorn answered. “We will not fail in that regard. We will accept consequences. We will weigh the benefit of the end against the cruelty of the means. We will carry the burden of our empathy and our understanding. We will do what must be done.”

His silent companion looked at him, and Morgan gazed at her son with both love and sorrow, and Mimir chuckled before he asked: “Alchemist, architect, animator... do you understand that you are already responsible for a generation of life you will never be able to witness, guide, or apologize to?”

“Then I'm glad I have more faith in the future generation than I do in myself.” Thorn replied.

Mimir chuckled again, then said softly: “Have faith, boy. I see greatness in your future.”

Thorn smiled briefly, then he glanced at Morgan. She hesitated, then nodded to him before dissolving into nothing but shadows that faded quickly from sight, and Thorn approached Mimir as the giant sighed, the great old head settling into the debris of his shrine as he murmured: “Even I have lost track of how much time has passed since last I slept. How much time has passed since I walked the green earth and touched the blue sky above, since I last felt sand and wash and waves. Even I cannot help but yearn for it... and wish for just one day more, where I strode through Vanaheim...”

Mimir settled, as Thorn stood before him, close enough that those great lips could have kissed him, that dusty breath washed across his body with every slow, calm exhale, as eyes fluttered closed, and the great old god relaxed...

And in a single moment, Thorn did what needed to be done.