Chapter Text
Prologue: The Princess Returned
The lost princess of Vanaheim has returned.
While the Asgardian nobility whispered amongst each other, one guard quietly snuck away, sprinting across the rainbow bridge towards the stables. Lanterns swayed in the soft evening breeze, their glow faint against the vast cosmos that surrounds Asgard.
He burst inside, startling Corey. Horses shifted in their stalls, tossing their manes as though sensing his urgency.
"Saddle my horse, boy! By order of the Allfather."
Corey raised his brow but didn't question him and bridled his horse with quick hands. As soon as the saddle was secured, the guard pulled the reigns from Corey's hands and swung into the saddle.
The horse snorted, hooves clattering as they thundered from the stables. Corey peered out the barn door, his gaze following the guard straight into the open fields toward the forest.
The further the guard rode, the more the light faltered. Cobblestones gave way to broken muddy paths, then to roots that clawed up from the earth. Mist gathered low, swallowing the sound of hooves. The air grew damp and heavy, thick with the scent of pine and something older, unspoken.
At last, through the trees, the ruin revealed itself. An estate stood at a forgotten corner where Asgard bled into Vanaheim. Its walls strangled by ivy, its windows frosted and blind. It looked as if it hadn't been inhabited for centuries. The iron gates sagged on their hinges, groaning and screeching as the guard forced them open.
He dismounted, leading the horse through the overgrown courtyard. Inside, the air was still, suffocating. Dust swirled in the faint glow of fire deeper within. The hearth burned steady, too steady, as though waiting.
And she was.
A figure sat in a high-backed chair by the flames, her form half-veiled in shadow. She did not move, did not speak, only watched.
"Speak." The woman said.
The guard dropped to one knee, head bowed low, voice shaking as it left him.
"My lady... the whispers were true after all. I thought nothing of them at first, just mere rumors like they had been for a millennia, another trick of Prince Loki's. One of his schemes to unsettle the courts. I did not believe. None of us did."
He swallowed, his words faltering.
"But it is no trick. The Allfather himself confirmed it and announced it to the court. The babe... the princess of Vanaheim... she lives."
The silence stretched, broken only by the crack of the fire. Then, slow as a blade being drawn, her lips curved into a smile.
"So, the babe survived after all," she murmured, her voice soft as ash. "Let them cling to their prophecy. I will be her undoing."