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The great golden hall of Asgard, once filled with roaring laughter, now fell into an unsettling silence. The echoes of Thor's booming mirth and the chuckles of the Asgardian warriors still lingered in the air, but they died quickly under Seph's quiet yet firm gaze.
He finally closed the screen. The images of the pastāor rather, what should have been the futureādisappeared.
Yet, the impact remained.
Seph exhaled softly and turned toward the assembled gods and warriors. His voice, though calm, carried a weight that settled heavily on everyone's shoulders.
"This was supposed to be the future," He began, his eyes drifting over Thor, Loki, and the rest. "But now, it might not happen."
Thor, still wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, furrowed his brows in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Seph folded his arms and glanced around the hall. "Rather than just treating these moments as a mere joke, something to laugh at and forget, you all should be paying attention."
His gaze hardened. "Each of those scenes pointed out a weakness. Not just of Thor. Not just of Loki. But of all of you."
The air in the room grew heavy and laughter was gone.
Odin's expression turned contemplative, and Frigga straightened in her seat, absorbing his words.
Loki, still seated stiffly from his earlier humiliation, lowered his gaze.
Seph took a step forward, his presence commanding.
"Rather than laughing and dismissing what you've seen, you should learn from it. Grow from it. Become better from it."
Thor clenched his fists, his mirth fading entirely.
Loki swallowed, his usual arrogance replaced by an uneasy silence.
Seph continued, "I have taken away some of the important life moments that were meant to shape you. The experiences that might have forged you into stronger, wiser people."
He met Thor's gaze. "But that doesn't mean you can't still learn from them."
Then he turned to Loki.
"And that doesn't mean you can't change."
Loki stiffened as the words cut deeper than he cared to admit.
Seph took a deep breath before delivering the final truth.
"And do not misunderstandāwhat you saw on that screen will still happen. But not to you."
The silence deepened.
"Those events will take place in another parallel world," Seph explained, "a world where I was never there. A world where you, Thor, will still be cast down to Midgard to learn humility. A world where you, Loki, will still wage war, face defeat, and meet the consequences of your choices."
Thor shifted uncomfortably.
Loki's fingers curled around the fabric of his tunic.
Hela, standing beside her mother, narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
Seph's gaze softened slightly. "If Hela, the Goddess of Deathācould change, could walk a different path now and become someone new, then why can't you?"
No one had an answer to that.
Odin let out a long breath, his deep eyes unreadable. Then, he spoke.
"ā¦Seph."
Seph turned to him.
"Come with me."
Odin's voice held no hostility. No command. Only a quiet, unspoken urgency.
Seph nodded.
With that, Odin rose and led the way to his personal chamber, his three children following behind.
The golden chamber, filled with ancient scrolls and relics, was silent as Odin finally turned to face Seph directly.
Here's an exaggerated and more in-depth version of the scene, with more detailed conversation and deeper reactions:
His gaze was deep, searching.
"ā¦Can your presence stop Ragnarok?"
The words left Odin's lips with a weight that pressed against the air itself.
The Twilight of the Gods. The End of Asgard.
The moment he had spent centuries preparing forādreading.
Seph sighed, his eyes reflecting something ancient, something beyond their comprehension.
He could see the worry behind Odin's strong exterior. The cracks in the Allfather's unshakable image. The fear. Not of battle, nor of death, but of the inevitable.
The knowledge that no matter how powerful he was, the end was coming.
A silence stretched between them, thick and suffocating.
Then Seph smiled.
A sad, knowing smile.
"Every existence that has a beginningā¦ will have an end." His voice was calm, yet laced with something that sent a chill down their spines. "Even if I save Asgard today, even if I prevent Ragnarok from coming tomorrow, there will be a day when even I cannot stop its fall."
A cold wind passed through the chamber, but it wasn't from outside.
Thor's jaw clenched, his hand tightening into a fist at his side. Hela's expression darkened, shadows curling subtly at her feet. Loki's fingers twitched, his breath unsteady. Frigga said nothing, but the sorrow in her eyes was as deep as the ocean.
Odinā¦ closed his eyes.
He already knew. He had always known. And yet, hearing it from Seph's lips made it feel so much more real.
Seph's voice softened, but the weight of his words never lessened.
"You know this, don't you?" His gaze locked onto Odin's. "You have always known the cycle of life and death... The Cycle of Beginning and End."
Odin exhaled deeply as if he had been holding the burden of that truth for far too long.
Seph turned to Thor and Loki, his expression unreadable. "I will not lie to you. My presence may change thingsāalter fates. Some battles may be avoided. Some lives may be spared. But there are limits to even what I can do."
Loki's breath hitched slightly, but he quickly masked it with a scoff. "You're telling us that even someone like you has a limit?"
His tone was dry, but there was an edge to itālike he was grasping at something.
Hoping for something.
Seph didn't answer immediately. Instead, he turned away, looking toward the Asgardian sky through the window. The light of the cosmos stretched infinitely, but to him, it was just another thing that would one day disappear.
"I cannot stop the final result," He murmured. "The complete destruction of the universe."
Thor inhaled sharply, stepping forward.
"Then what's the point?" He asked, his voice raw with frustration. "What's the point of fighting against fate if in the end, nothing we do matters?"
Seph tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable.
"What's the point of breathing, if one day you will die?" He countered. "What's the point of loving, if one day that love will end?"
Thor stiffened, caught off guard by the words.
Seph's voice turned distant, almost wistful. "Becauseā¦ that is an essential event. The end of a world is not just an endāit is the catalyst. It generates the power needed to give birth to a new universe."
Odin's eyes darkened. He had spent lifetimes trying to understand the cycle of existence. And yet, standing before Seph now, he realized he had barely scratched the surface.
"A loop." Loki's voice was quieter this time.
Seph nodded slowly, his gaze distant, almost sorrowful. "Wellā¦ not entirely."
His voice was calm, but beneath it lay something heavierāsomething vast, something ancient.
He exhaled, glancing at each of them before finally speaking again.
"You might not realize thisā¦ but there are countless versions of you. Millions, perhaps even billions, spread across infinite parallel worlds."
Odin's eye narrowed, but he remained silent, listening.
Ā¶Ā¶Ā¶
The titles of the next three chapters! (š„Spoilerš„)
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Chapter 88: Burden of Eternity
Chapter 89: Court Trial
Chapter 90: A New CEO
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