Ragnarök

Ragnarök was the final of all godwars between channelers and Atharim. This epic battle saw the ending of the Age of Gods and the downfall of the final channelers, whom would be completely absent throughout the next Age until the rebirth of Nikolai Brandon at the beginning of the First Age.

Given the importance of this war, many prophecies were laid in the years preceding it. Odin, ruler of the norse pantheon of gods, was particularly concerned about society’s survival in the aftermath, and did all he could to prevent the worst outcome — even consorting with the gods of other pantheons. Notably he imprisoned or banished the three monstrous children of Loki and Angrboda, each foretold to bring cataclysm to the final battle due to the aberrations they presented in the Pattern.

Jormungandr is banished. Hel is thrown physically in a dream prison. Fenrir is bound in unbreakable chains.

Yet three signs will still signify the beginning of the end:

• The death of Baldr, Odin’s favourite son.
• Three years of uninterrupted winter, in which mankind became so desperate for food and other necessities of life that all laws and morals faded away, leaving only the bare struggle for survival.
• The chains on Fenrir breaking.

Ragnarök is finally triggered when Loki escapes banishment and returns to our world to seek his revenge. He and his three children, exactly as foretold, are instrumental in the rising up of the Atharim against the ruling gods. Odin had spent centuries building his defences, including the Valkyrie and the warriors of Valhalla. Against them came Loki with Hel’s army of undead, Jorm and his dread following, and the fire giants led by Surtr, himself armed with the blade given to him by Angrboda.

Jorm and Thor wound each other fatally. Freyr is slain by Surtr with his own sword. Then, amidst the chaos, the sun is suddenly swallowed when Fenrir breaks loose from his chains. With him the trolls in their basalt prisons all spring free at once, ripping dangerous holes in the dreamworld as they descend upon the battlefield in pitch darkness. Their swarm is unexpected, and even the Heroes called forth from the Horn are not enough to change the tide. Fenrir’s jaws devour Odin, and he is slain in turn by Odin’s son Víðarr.

Heimdallr, guardian of bïfrost, has been locked in battle with Loki since blowing the Gjallarhorn. They finally deliver one another mortal wounds, and each die at the others’ hand.

Amidst fire and blood, the world sinks, leaving nothing but the void.

But not all perish. Two of Odin’s sons live, as do Thor’s. The world rebuilds slowly as it enters the Seventh Age, but the time of Channelers has come to an end. Loki is the last.

The world of dreams remains deeply wounded by Fenrir’s escape. Its guardian dreamweavers are all dead, Heimdallr the last of them, but for a soul that exists in the dream always, after it tethered itself in the Second Age. Dreaming is a forgotten talent for the Age that follows, and she spends it alone, slowly fixing the damage done.