Anpiel explained to Tania, Ana, and Rodrigo everything he knew about Denmark and its king.

  Loki had appeared there a year earlier and had managed to poison the mind of Prince Sweyn, inciting a civil war against his father, King Harald—who had attempted to spread Christianity throughout the Nordic kingdoms.

  At that time, Denmark was completely engulfed in that same civil war. Since that realm, like the other northern kingdoms, lay outside the jurisdiction of Lel, identifying fugitive gods or malakim in those regions was extremely difficult.

  Although Odin had granted permission for Christianity to spread among his people, he had no real intention of preventing its eventual extinction. To him, it was a win-win situation—if Christianity failed, he could excuse himself before lord El, claiming he had merely “respected” the will of his people.

  For that reason, lord El had requested Ana and Tania’s aid in stopping Loki. Both goddesses had earned an impressive reputation in the divine world for their extraordinary power, so a god like Loki was not expected to pose much of a threat to them.

  However, there was also the matter of Ragnar?k—the cataclysm foretold by the Norse prophets, which Odin himself had supposedly witnessed when he drank from the Well of Wisdom.

  It was said that, at the end of time, Loki—imprisoned for killing the god Baldr—would escape along with his three children and wage war against Asgard, the realm of the gods. In that final battle, both Loki and his offspring, as well as the gods themselves, would perish. The event would mark not only the end of the divine order but the destruction of the world itself, for Yggdrasil, the cosmic tree that sustained the universe, would burn completely—taking with it Midgard, the world of humankind.

  The Vikings believed that those who died in battle would become Einherjar, chosen warriors who would ascend to Valhalla—the gods’ grand banquet hall—to aid Odin in the war against Loki’s forces. Because of that belief, the violence of the northern realms had grown exponentially.

  Although Odin had never admitted it openly, in Lel it was widely believed that the Norse All-Father had secretly been sending out his Valkyries—his personal guards—to stir the Vikings into attacking Christian lands, burning their monasteries and villages. After all, the Norse religion seemed little more than a convenient excuse to glorify killing; the only way a warrior could reach Valhalla was to die fighting.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Odin’s legacy of violence stretched far back, even before Lel came to dominate most of Europe. During the era of the Roman Empire, the gods of Saturnia—that is, the Roman gods—had clashed several times with Odin and his armies, though at that time he was known by another name: Wotan.

  When Lel ultimately took control of the Roman Empire, Odin’s forces were completely defeated. His people—the Germanic tribes of Europe—eventually converted to Christianity under the supervision of lord El, and a peace treaty was signed between Lel and Asgard: a pact of non-intervention.

  Yet with Viking hordes now ravaging Europe, it was clear that those treaties had been broken.

  Even so, Odin had never publicly admitted that his followers had “religious” reasons for attacking Christian lands—or even the Muslim kingdom in Spain.

  Because of this, Lel had claimed victory over Asgard through the rule of Emperor Otto I of the newly formed R?misches Reich. With that, Odin agreed to join the coalition of nations loyal to Lel, and in theory, religious violence was supposed to cease. By then, the conflicts between Christians and Muslims mattered little to the realm of the gods.

  Still, Odin’s Valkyries continued to descend to Earth, urging warriors to invade Europe. When encountered, however, they were easily defeated—since a Valkyrie, ranked among the malakim, posed far less of a threat than a god commanding such an army. These Valkyries never admitted to serving a higher power, always claiming to act on their own—but this time, it wasn’t mere Valkyries. It was a god. And a powerful, feared one.

  Ana mentioned that she had fought and defeated several Valkyries who were rallying Vikings in Ireland, though she had never faced a god directly. Still, she considered it entirely possible that they might encounter Thor, Odin’s mightiest son.

  The fact that Loki was their opponent made things somewhat easier, as the trickster god could not use his full power while in exile. But if Odin himself had been the one to release him, that would be a far greater problem—a possibility Tania quietly suspected but chose not to voice.

  Why would Odin free an enemy and give him power enough to destroy his own peace treaty with Lel? The theory made no sense, and yet the entire situation reeked of mystery. If Loki was such a dangerous entity within the Norse world, shouldn’t Odin or Thor have already captured him?

  And again, the question of Ragnar?k returned.

  Could it be that Odin and Thor feared their own fates—knowing they were prophesied to die in that final battle? Gods so brave and unyielding… hiding like cowards in Valhalla while Loki roamed free?

  There was no doubt something hidden beneath it all.

  Still, Tania chose to dismiss her doubts. She trusted that with her power and Ana’s combined, they would be more than enough to subdue the Norse god. These were her orders—and orders had to be obeyed.