Odin stood there, in the echo of that light, the black being's voice still burning through his mind. He furrowed his brows. "So…" He said slowly, voice breaking the silence that hung between them. "We are still in the Second Phase of creation?"

The Towering Black Being's flames stirred, a slow ripple moving across its body like thought made visible.

We are.

Its tone was patient, vast.

But now the universe itself wishes to continue. It grows restless, like a seed pressed too long beneath stone.

Odin frowned, his gaze drifting to the horizon where rivers of fire bled into mist. "Then why doesn't it?" He asked. "If the universe desires to move, what holds it back?"

The black being turned its head, slow as mountains shifted.

Because the First Origin still exists.

The words rolled through the air like thunder beneath the earth.

Odin trembled as his brows drew closer together, confusion stirring beneath the weight of revelation.

His presence, the being continued. Enforces preservation, stillness, and the inability to evolve into all of creation.

Odin's eyes widened slightly, his heart hammering once, sharply. "You're saying…"

You will never be able to change the giants. Being said quieter, but heavier. As long as the First Origin walks creation. You will never protect the other realms. You will never stop the cycle of destruction and pain while the First Lifegiver still moves through the world.

Silence fell on the place once more.

Odin's hands clenched at his sides. He could feel his nails bite into his palms. The heat of the fire realm pressed against him, dry and suffocating, but his mind was elsewhere.

On Ymir's vast shadow, on the way, their voice always carried the stillness of time.

If what the being said was true, then the cause of all the stillness… He was also the one who brought life into being and watched over everyone.

Odin gritted his teeth, he didn't speak, and simply turned around. Then he began walking away, while the fire crackled around as he headed back to the icy realm.

The black rocks beneath his steps broke, but he didn't seem to notice them. Behind him, the Towering Black Being made no move to stop him, its light dimmed before its form slowly sank back into the rivers, into the molten core of its own realm.

As its presence faded, its voice brushed the edge of his thoughts one last time.

Even fire must rest when its purpose is spent. But I will be here, depending on your choice.

And then it was gone.

The sound of his own breathing filled the space it left behind.

Odin's gaze turned northward. He could see the faint shimmer of ice in the far distance, beyond the shimmering veil of heat.

The journey back across the place was long, and though no time passed in that void, it still felt endless. He walked through the border of extremes where flame hissed into mist, and light turned to frost.

When he crossed into the icy realm again, the cold struck him like a wall. The warmth fled his skin in an instant, but the silence here was immense, the kind that pressed on the soul.

Ahead, he saw her.

The great cow, Adumala, her vast white form glimmering faintly with blue light, stood near the towering ice mountain. Her tongue moved slowly, patiently, across the frozen surface, carving life and memory from the glacier itself.

Odin approached, the crunch of ice beneath his boots the only sound.

"Adumala." Odin said softly.

She turned her massive head toward him. Her pale eyes blinked once, reflecting the faint light, and then they softened at the sight of him.

"You've seen something." Adumala said softly. "What is troubling you, Odin? I never saw you this lost before, never saw you with that expression… As if you were about to give up."

Odin exhaled. "Yes… I've met something, a being in the realm of fire. It was towering, reaching the same height as Ymir, it called itself the will of fire itself."

Adumala paused her licking, her gaze deepening.

"I know whom you speak of." She said, her voice slow, almost mournful. "That being existed before even Ymir… before me. It is the embodiment of the fire realm, the first consciousness ever to awaken, and the will that taught existence how to change."

Odin looked down at the ground with a frown. The frost around his feet shimmered faintly as he shifted. "He showed me things such as how the mists that flowed from the rivers of Niflheim. The sparks that came from the fire realm. How they met, which led to Ymir's birth."

Adumala nodded, resuming her slow movement along the mountain's side. Each lick revealed faint light beneath the ice, shapes frozen in time, faces, memories, and echoes of the beginning.

"The mists you saw…" She said softly. "Flow from the eleven primordial rhythms. Each river carries a sound older than thought, they are the veins of creation, the first energy."

Odin looked up sharply. "Rhythms?"

Adumala nodded. "Yes. They are called Svöl, Gunnþrá, Fjörm, Fimbulþul, Slíðr, Hríð, Sylgr, Ylgr, Við, Leiptr, and Gjöll. Each has its own essence, its own character, its own movement. Together they helped shape this icy realm as it began to compose itself."

Odin's eyes widened. "Those rivers…" He whispered. "The ones the other giants avoid. Those are the same ones that birthed the mists, and the ones that helped bring Ymir into being."

Adumala inclined her head. "Yes. They hold the power over the icy realm itself, but their knowledge and strength are too vast. Only Ymir and I can bear them without dissolving into their current."

Odin's brows drew together again. "Then… Can you control them?"

Adumala's long breath passed through the area. "Control?" She repeated softly. "No, we don't need to control them. We carry them within, and they are part of what makes us more than the others. Each rhythm flows through us, and in that harmony, we are closer to the heart of the universe than those who came after."

Adumala's voice softened. "It is one reason we are placed above all other existence."

Odin looked down, his expression clouded. The air around him felt colder now, pressing into his skin. "So it's true." He murmured. "The frost giants are bound by what birthed them. They cannot change, and neither can the world, so long as the First Life remains."

Adumala did not respond immediately, and she simply watched him.

Odin let out a long sigh before he chuckled bitterly. "Everything he said… It's true, isn't it?"

Adumala's gaze softened. "It is."

He clenched his fists, trembling slightly. "Then what am I supposed to do? My dream, and what I've been trying to achieve for so long… it was impossible in the first place! My brothers were right… It was pointless, trying to create a chance is meaningless… The world is locked in chaos, and will continue circling itself forever."

The great cow turned her head, her horns glinting with frost and ancient light. She watched him for a long time before speaking.

"Odin." Adumala said at last, her tone quiet. "There is a way."

Odin lifted his gaze, hope flickering faintly behind his exhaustion. "A way?"

Adumala nodded slowly. "A way to bring about the change you desire. But it is not a gentle path."

Odin straightened slightly. "What do you mean?"

Adumala's eyes met his calmly with hints of sorrow. "It will break you." She said simply. "It will tear at your heart and reshape who you are… You won't be the Odin you are now, and may become something different… But it will help you to achieve what you want, help you break the order of things. After you become something creation has never seen."

The cold deepened while the air between them grew still.

Odin's voice was barely above a whisper. "What would that make me?"

Adumala's answer came like a sigh of wind over ancient ice.

"The First Sinner of Creation."

Her words lingered, heavy and soft, echoing through the vast emptiness around them.

Odin stood motionless. His breath came out in trembling clouds. Somewhere behind him, the ice cracked faintly, the sound sharp and lonely.

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