Episode Thirteen: Hunted: Scene 22

“It’s pretty hard to explain,” Thruor admitted. “But I’ll try. Every sentient being, from Odin and the other pantheon heads down to Father Will’s cat is some aspect of reality understanding itself.”

“I think I’ve heard philosophers say that.”

“Mortals…and I say that, not humans, because there are other beings like them in the expanses of reality…be they dwarves or beings on worlds orbiting other suns…are how reality observes itself.”

“Now we’re getting into quantum physics.” I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t get that stuff.”

“Okay. Let me try it more simply. Mortals watch the universe. Gods shape it, but we shape it in some way according to how they watch it. Is the Earth flat?”

“No.”

“But maybe it was when they thought it was.” Thruor grins. “Actually, that’s not quite how it works, but the universe becomes more real the more they watch it, and we…stop it going off the rails.”

“What does that have to do with demons and free will?”

“Demons are in that layer between mortals and gods. So are angels. So are, say, most of my sisters.”

“You’re…”

“I am Thor’s daughter and a goddess. I ride with the valkyries because right now that’s what my nature leads me to.”

I nodded. “I…”

She put a hand on mine. “You will not be one of my sisters.” She continued before my face could fall too far. “The Norns have not woven that into your destiny.”

“So I don’t have the choice.”

“No, Jane. You already made the choice when you came into existence. We choose our nature, we reach out to what we want to be, even though we don’t know it right away. That’s the difference between us and mortals. You are part of reality.”

“A part that can still get killed.”

“We…we of Asgard and Vanaheim…choose to live within the same cycles of nature we created. We choose to be, in a measure, mortal, and cyclical. What happens after Ragnarok?”

“Baldur takes over and…the cycle starts over.”

She nodded. “Exactly. So, whatever you become, you chose, as part of the universe, to be Loki’s daughter, chose your destiny and created yourself.”

“I have parents.”

“Who guided that creation, triggered that spark. That is how gods are birthed, Jane. As sparks of reality, nurtured. And you exist for a reason.”

“And demons?”

“They have chosen to be evil, and once they chose that path? It is very hard, Jane, for a god to change.”

And that, unlike what Father Will had said, I could get behind.

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