"That's enough…

...children."

"!!!"

Hermod kicked himself away from Van's shield, rotating his body several times before gently landing on the ruined ground of Muspelheim. As for Vanya, she quickly retracted her fist as soon as she saw her father catching her fist.

This was the second time this had happened, and this was also the 2nd time that she did not even notice her father moving in front of her before it was too late. She had already seen the speed he was capable of earlier, but now that she was experiencing it upfront, it truly was quite a surreal experience.

Throughout her life, her speed had always been her strong suit-- something she knew she inherited from her father, and his father before him. She was told stories of how fast Hermes is as a bedtime story by her mother; as for her father, the only thing that her mother had told her was how they met, and their awfully brief romantic relationship.

At first, when she was growing up, she had a strange hatred for her father-- for not being there when their mother needed them the most, but after a few years, that hatred just grew to longing. Along with Ymir, the only people she knew in the first years of her life were Artemis and Athena-- in almost a literal sense, they lived in complete isolation.

They were the only people she had known.

All she had were stories-- she wanted to hear more about her father, but his story did not even last a year. She wanted to hear more about her mother's life, but that too reached an end. Vanya had an unnatural power, a power that she did not really explore to its fullest because of her also unnaturally weak body.

She was born with a sort of deficiency-- is what Athena called it. That is why she sleeps most of the time, even compared to other progenitors, only waking up once she fully recovers. Perhaps without her lineage; without her inheriting her father's power, then she would have already probably died.

After the tenth year after Ymir and she were born, Artemis and Athena finally decided to explore the almost barren world. Most probably have no knowledge of it, but the 9 Realms did not start as such, there were only 5 of them, and the distance between each of them was dramatically shorter than what it is now.

The distance was short enough… for her mother to create a tree that was tall enough to reach another Realm. A tree that is now known by a singular name-- the Branch.

In fact, most of their history had been obscured, or otherwise unknown. As soon as they stepped out to the light, war welcomed them. Vanya's memories of her earlier years had also slowly faded through time, but she could remember the four of them running, running from a war between the Aesir and the Vanir-- which were still considered as a single race back then.

The four introduced themselves to the world; and perhaps in a twisted turn of events, they also introduced the Aesir and the Vanir to the world as well-- as the Branch allowed their war to reach the other Realms. Their war expanded hundreds of years, and each time, they evolved into something more.

Their mother had always loved peace, and seeing innocent and primitive races being dragged into a war that they allowed was too much for her to bear. A war that was enough to destroy worlds, turning 5 into 9.

And so, they once again chose to live in isolation; just watching the beings of the world move without them. She had already forgotten how, she had already forgotten when-- but she and Ymir fell in love.

Artemis was opposed to it, of course, as she wanted to prevent the Olympian's incessant obsession with incest. But partly, it was her fault, of course, and she admitted it. She had isolated her children to the world with no one else to lean on but themselves-- she put them in the same situation as the Olympians.

And from Vanya, were born 6 children. 6 children that would then populate the Realm with the forest giants through the years to come.

She was unable to watch her children grow, however, as their birth took a toll on her body. She woke up, only to find hundreds of years later that a whole race was born from her-- a race that also hid themselves from the world, the Forest Giants.

Some of them hid, but not all. A few forest giants broke from their nest, slowly introducing their race to the 9 Realms. At one point, they were considered a myth, but as always the case, with time-- the world was finally shared with them.

They were able to create children with the other races, but none would have their tree-like features and would always follow the other race's characteristics. There was one bloodline, however, that always somehow persisted.

The bloodline of one of her 6 children, for some reason unknown to even Athena, was always able to produce a single offspring that would always be identical to her and Artemis, without fail-- the Bloodline of Vanya.

Throughout time and tradition, the women in that very bloodline were treated as shamans, priestesses, or princesses. They all shared the same face, even if another race gave birth to them-- even dwarves.

None of them could explain why, until now. They were a path.

A path that would one day lead her father to her.

She had experienced countless things in her lifetime;

The destruction of worlds;

The birth of a new race;

...The slow descent of Ymir to madness. Perhaps partly, it was her fault. She and Ymir shared an unexplainable bond, but each time she fell asleep, Ymir was left alone.

And each time she woke up, she woke up to a different Ymir.

Until one day, she woke up as a stranger to her own race.

And now, she woke up to her father-- but her mother and Ymir were gone.

She wonders the next time she falls asleep…

...Will her father still be by her side?

It was a weird sentiment for someone as old as her; but if there is one thing she had learned throughout her long life, was that yearning is love living eternally-- It will only grow stronger with time.

"You alright?"

"...I am, father."

Van could not help but slightly raise an eyebrow as he saw Vanya suddenly smiling at him weirdly. She had always held a sort of stoic expression on her face, the only time she had seen her smiling was when she woke up from her slumber.

So now, seeing her smiling at him after he stopped her from fighting, Van truly found it weird.

"Your fight isn't going to end any time soon, so I decided to step--"

Before Van could finish his words, Vanya suddenly saw her vision shift. She quickly scanned her location, only to find the direction they were previously at a few kilometers away from them-- with Hermod now standing there.

"Just stay here or watch Gerald's fight or something," Van muttered as he turned around,

"I'll be back in a few seconds."

"T-- Right."

Vanya could only let out a sigh as Van suddenly disappeared from his spot. She knew of Hermod, but never once really tested her speed against him. And now that she had fought him, she concluded that their speed was almost equal to each other.

Being equal to the fastest Aesir could perhaps be considered the greatest feat one could achieve in the 9 Realms, even for a Progenitor.

But that feat, however, was nothing compared to what her father could do. And so, in her eyes-- her father suddenly became the strongest being in existence.

"You're called Hermod, right?"

"..."

Hermod slightly flew away as Van suddenly appeared a few meters away from him.

"The way you look, did you get the inspiration from something… or someone?" Van then asked as he once again looked at Hermod from head to toe. And no matter how much he looked at him, he could not help but compare it to the way Hermes dressed in his visions.

"I believe that is not the concern of a dead--"

Before Hermod could finish his words, his eyes suddenly widened as he quickly moved his head to the side. Although it was faint, he felt a slight tinge of pain slowly fading from his left cheek-- he didn't need to touch it to know what it was because of the warm drop trailing from his face.

"Is the name Hermes, Evangeline, or Azrael familiar to you?"

Hermod then took in a short but deep breath as he slowly turned his head to the back, only to find the boy who was just talking with him to his front, holding what seemed to be his hair accessory.

"What… did you do?"

"I think I am the one asking questions now…

...copycat."