Life Dies In The End

Chapter 70

I was quickly met with the smell of fresh air and dew. The sun made the meadow have a new sense of freedom to it. Before, the freedom of the meadow felt like lunacy, but now it felt calming. It felt like home.

I turned back to look back into the room I had come from only to find the door gone and in its place was the ever expanding grassy wilds. The only spot they didn't expand was where the man sat with his back to me. Beyond him was a cliff leading to a river below.

He had been doing the same thing last I saw him. Watching the waves and enjoying the company of his sons. Then he left for good and I hadn't realized how much it hurt until later, after Ela had followed in his footsteps.

I started towards the man. He wouldn't be here unless there was something he needed to say to me. Unless there was something important I needed to know. I reached his side as his eyes stayed locked on the sky.

"Father?" I spoke softly as I inched closer to him, cautiously.

Last time I had seen him I tried to kill him, the time before that he banished me. There was no telling how he would react to me being here, to seeing me again. I doubted he would be happy to see me, but as he realized my presence he didn't seem to change demeanors while he spoke.

"Daughter," Odin kept his eyes forward but patted the seat next to him. "Sit. I've been waiting for you."

I looked at the spot next to him. Was this a trap? No, surely not. Odin's traps were a lot more harsh and out there, compared to subtle and hidden. But why would he want me to sit next to him? Did he not remember the past two times we saw each other?

"You have?" I sat down on the rock next to him cautiously, keeping a few inches between us, just in case.

Of course he had, but still something about that sent chills down my spine. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Was he here with an ulterior motive? He wouldn't have come if he didn't have reasoning, but what was that reasoning?

"I knew you'd be coming sooner or later." Odin looked towards me.

My eyes locked with his as I tried to read them, in hopes of finding out if he was happy or not to see me. I owed him an apology anyway. What I had done was wrong. Whether he accepted my apology or not was completely up to him.

"Father, I owe you an apology." I started only to be cut off by him.

"You were only doing what you had thought was right." Odin sighed as he looked away from me. "Just like I had. What I thought I did was right. I realize now I was too harsh on you daughter. I failed you as a father."

Odin stopped as he looked back towards me, his face showing true remorse, something I had never seen on his face before. It was an emotion I was unsure he had ever felt before, but now I knew he and I had both made mistakes. I took the wrong path and he felt guilty for not guiding me on the right one.

"I'll stay with you," I spoke softly, unsure of what I was even saying. "I'll make it up to you. Show you that I've grown and that I'm not the same."

"I would love that, Eir." Odin smiled softly as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "But you can't stay. You're still needed on Earth."

"And how can you be so sure of that?" I scoffed softly. "Most of Earth's problems were because of me."

I had been a burden on both Asgard and Earth. It was better that I was dead. Someone like me always brought problems and caused catastrophic events to happen. It was who I was. A curse, a jinx, bad omen. Call me what you want, but that's what I was and always have been.

"You give yourself too much credit." Odin shook his head. "Humanity is to blame for their own problems, with or without you it would've happened anyway." Odin looked off at the waves lapping against the cliff. "There is no life without death, daughter, remember that."

There is no life without death. What the hell did that mean now? Ever since I was little he told Ela and I we were two sides to the same coin, but now she was gone. There was no more death. Only a broken life.

"But Ela's gone," I looked towards him, puzzled by his words. "If that were true then she would still be alive. We were the two sides to a coin, you always said that to us."

"I never said you were the same coin." Odin looked back towards me, as I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "You and Hela were indeed each other's opposites, but that didn't make you different from each other. Both of you were the same goddess. There is no death without life and no life without death."

His words cut deeper than a knife. I was the same as Ela. We were the same goddess. Why would he do that? Why would he make us the same and not tell us? We weren't that same. We couldn't have been. Ela and I were different when it came to our abilities. He had to be mistaken somehow.

"You mean Ela and I were the same goddess all these years?" I looked to Odin for the answer. "That's impossible isn't it?"

"Not according to your mother." Odin looked to the sky as he continued to speak. "The day we adopted you, I didn't want to but Frigga had a vision the day before about Hela and you. Hela would grow and her magic would pull her down the wrong path, there was no changing that, I didn't want to see that." Odin looked back towards me fondly. "Then there was you. The light in the storm. Frigga told me there was a way to save Hela from that path, you. That if I raised you properly and made sure you knew right from wrong, you'd help guide Hela." Odin paused as his face filled with pain. "Of course your mother wouldn't tell me what to do, if she did it wouldn't have happened. Without her guidance, I failed you and you followed Hela down her path."

Odin glanced away as everything set in. Everything that happened, happened for a purpose. Ela wasn't evil, she was misguided. I was meant to save her, but I didn't. I fueled her rage. I paved the path she walked down. It was my fault, I was supposed to stop her.

"Frigga later told me there was nothing I could've done to stop Hela." Odin broke the silence as he looked back towards me. "That it was her choice now. That it was up to both of you to choose." Odin smiled softly. "I'm happy to see you choose the side of good, daughter. I'm proud of you for turning against your own family in order to find the right path."

Odin placed a hand on my shoulder. He was proud of me. Yet another thing I never thought the man could feel towards me. I thought I was a disappointment. The failure child. I was wrong all these years.

The silence was broken as a door appeared in the middle of the meadow and swung open. Through the door was a familiar sight. The same place I had always ran away too when I only wanted to be with one person and one person alone. I looked at Odin, pulling him into a quick hug. He laughed softly, causing me to pull away. He smiled as he looked at me.

"I couldn't have asked for a better daughter." Odin rose to his feet as I followed. "She's waiting for you Eir." Odin gestured to the door and a figure far off in the distance. "Rember, you're still needed on Earth. Your brother still needs you."

I stepped towards the door cautiously before reaching it. I turned to face Odin one last time. I'd go back to Earth. I wasn't sure how, but I wasn't dead yet. I just needed to figure out how to get back, that's all. Maybe the person through this door could help me. I smiled at Odin one last time, before stepping through the door and it closing behind me.

My eyes locked on the familiar face before me as she picked a flower from the garden the door had taken me to. She rose from her spot and looked towards me, a sad smile spreading on her face as she spoke.

"I missed you, sister."

~~Hi, Fallen_Angel here. Have a good day and be good people.~~