The child looked at Elina and said, after he had begun to grow bored with the place and with the lengthy conversation:
"What do you think about leaving? I'll show you one of Asgard's greatest powers."
Elina thought for a brief moment, then remembered that Odin had not ordered her to remain in the house. He had only asked to be left alone and had given her no other instructions preventing her from going out or wandering around.
So she looked at the child and said with a faint smile:
"Why not? Let's go and do that."
The moment she finished speaking, the child looked at her with obvious excitement. Then he bent slightly toward the ground and said confidently:
"Climb onto my back. The place is a little far away, and you won't be able to reach it quickly with your current strength. If we go on foot, we'll be very late."
Elina looked at him with clear annoyance. She did not like his confident tone, as if he knew the limits of her strength better than she did. In the end, however, she did not argue with him. She sighed silently and climbed onto his back without any further discussion.
The moment she settled on his back, the child shot forward at incredible speed, like an arrow released from its bow. He raced out of his father's home and headed toward the dense forest. The trees rushed past them at astonishing speed, and the wind struck Elina's face, while the child moved forward with ease and confidence, determined to show her the great power he had spoken of.
Elsewhere, Odin was silently watching what was happening.
He shook his head and said in a tone that mixed annoyance with admiration:
"That fool is trying to deepen Elina's feelings toward Asgard... He truly is my son. If he were always this clever and didn't cause trouble all the time, he would be perfect without a doubt."
Odin sighed as he thought about his son, but before he could lose himself completely in his thoughts, he heard another sigh coming from behind him.
He turned and found Poseidon standing there, shaking his head and gazing at the sky as if contemplating the secrets of existence. Then Poseidon said in an affected philosophical tone:
"Life... isn't that so, brother? It always surprises us with people, and time is the only thing that reveals who they truly are."
Odin looked at Poseidon with a blank stare—a stare that clearly said:
"What are you talking about, you fool?"
Poseidon immediately understood the meaning of that look. He swallowed nervously, then quickly changed the subject and said:
"Did you see what Hades is doing? He's disobeying you behind your back and claiming he hasn't done any of the things you ordered us to do."
Odin was silent for a few seconds, then said in a low voice that carried enough threat to terrify anyone:
"Leave before I change my mind and give you even more tasks."
Poseidon's eyes widened in shock. Then he suddenly dropped to his knees before his brother, grabbed both of Odin's legs with both hands, and began to cry as he pleaded desperately:
"Please! Please don't do that! I was only joking! You know my personality... I love fun and jokes!"
Odin looked at his brother with completely cold features, then said sternly:
"Let go of my legs before I show you how I deal with irritating people like you, brother."
Poseidon lifted his head in shock, then quickly stood up while still crying and said in a desperate tone:
"But Hades isn't doing anything useful! He wants to train the small children and leave the babies to me! I've never done work like that before! Please, make him change his decision."
Odin looked at him calmly and said in a voice that carried no sympathy at all:
"Your words will change nothing. If you want to train the children while he takes care of the infants, then go and tell him that yourself. It is none of my concern. I have matters far more important than your petty disputes."
The moment he finished speaking, he vanished in an instant, leaving Poseidon alone.
Poseidon continued staring at the place where Odin had disappeared for several moments, astonishment written across his face. Then he slowly scratched his head and muttered under his breath as he tried to process what had just happened:
"So... I have to make Hades change his mind, is that right?"
The moment he said that, a cold and cunning smile appeared on his face, and his eyes widened with obvious mischief. Then he said in a low voice, as if speaking to himself:
"It's very easy for someone to fall into a hole on the island... or tumble from a high cliff... and miss the children's training session. Then I would be the responsible and kind person who loves children, and I would train them myself, while leaving trivial tasks like taking care of babies to someone like Hades, who doesn't care about the children's schedule in the first place."
As soon as he finished speaking, he disappeared as well, while thoughts and schemes crowded his mind as he tried to devise a way to ensure that Hades would be late for the children's training the next day.
Meanwhile, Odin was flying high through the sky, heading to the place where his son had gone with Elina so that he could watch over them and make sure everything was proceeding smoothly.
Suddenly, his ears caught Poseidon's final words, and he immediately understood what his brother intended to do.
Odin sighed deeply and said in a voice that carried a mixture of exhaustion and resignation:
"I only hope they don't start fighting again... That would be truly annoying."
Then he shook his head and continued flying through the clouds, as if fate were determined not to grant him a single moment of peace.
A short while later, the child and Elina stopped in the heart of the forest before a sight unlike anything she had ever seen in her life.
There stood a gigantic child in the most literal sense of the word, towering before them like a mountain. His body appeared to be made entirely of hardened volcanic lava. Cracks across his form glowed with a molten red light, and a scorching radiance seeped from those fissures, filling the air with awe.
The moment Elina laid eyes on him, she froze completely.
Her thoughts came to a halt, her eyes widened with fear and astonishment, and she said in a trembling, broken voice:
"Wh-Who is that enormous giant? How can something like this exist in the world? This... this makes no sense!"
Her voice shook noticeably, and her hands trembled as she instinctively hid behind the child who had brought her here.
The giant, who was in fact the mighty child Surtur, looked at Elina and then at the child he knew well.
This child was Odin's son, who had grown accustomed to visiting him frequently in recent times without his father's knowledge.
Surtur stared at Elina with his glowing eyes, then said in a deep voice like the roar of a volcano:
"Who is this little girl? Is she food?"
Elina gasped in terror, and all color drained from her face.
Odin's son, however, was shocked by the question. He waved his hands quickly and said with obvious nervousness:
"No! No! She's not food! She's a child my father brought to Asgard, and she's one of us now. We can't eat her, understand?"
Surtur continued looking at him for a few moments, then slowly nodded, as though he had finally understood.
"Very well... Since she is one of you, she is not food."
Then he tilted his head slightly to one side, looked at the child with clear curiosity, and asked:
"Why did you come here? Did something happen? Has a war begun?"
The moment he uttered the word "war," his eyes blazed with tremendous excitement, and a wave of heat rose from his body.
It was obvious that he was extremely enthusiastic about the idea of battle.
Although he was not allowed to participate in wars because of his young age, that had never stopped him from dreaming of great battles and imagining combat and victory.
But his blazing excitement vanished in a single instant when he heard Odin's son's reply.
Pointing to Elina, who was still hiding behind him, he said simply:
"No, there isn't any war. I only brought Elina here so she could meet you."
(Author's Note):
Hello everyone! Thank you for your continuous support of this novel; your comments and interactions mean the world to me.
Stepping away from our story here for a moment, I wanted to share another project I've been working on with great passion. I have started publishing a webtoon (comic) on the Webtoon platform titled "Me and the Wolf."
It is a [Comedy / Fantasy] story about a miserable young man and a cunning wolf who is constantly getting him into trouble! If you enjoy my writing style and the way I build scenarios, I promise you're going to love this comic.
I would be so grateful if you could go check it out, subscribe to the series, and let me know what you think in the comments there!
🔍 Search on the Webtoon app for: [Me and the Wolf]