One year ago, in the continents held up by the massive world tree Yggdrasil that grew from the world of Cres, one man answers his summons, and approaches the well of Urd where three gods idle. Urd, Verdani, and Skuld, all taking the appearance of women, one young, one middle aged, and one old, awaited the man.

“He has already arrived.” Urd, the youngest in appearance, spoke.

“He stands before us presently.” Verdani, the middle aged in appearance followed.

“And he will fulfill our wish.” Skuld, the oldest in appearance said as though it were already done.

“Norns, I have heard your summons, and answered.” The man kneeled to the three.

“There is a creature not of this world,” Verdani begins, straight to the point.

“It came through unconventional means, the meddlings of a detestable god,” Urd continued.

“You will destroy it. It calls itself… Veloth. It’s power is great, and you will enter a warring continent to fight it.” Skuld finished.

“So, to destroy this creature, I need to conquer Midgard?” The man surmised from the information given him.

“Indeed, you shall gather the Jotun, Vanir, Aesir, Dark Elves, Light Elves, and Dwarves, but leave behind the dead of Niflheim. In conquering Midgard, you will also come into conflict once more with the demons of Muspelheim.” Skuld confirmed.

“Show us that power, Odin, which you used in the past to unite the 8 continents dwelling upon Yggdrasil.” Urd encouraged.

“That is all, you may go.” Verdani Finished.

The man known as Odin nodded, and briskly turned to return to his eight legged steed, Sleipnir, to speedily make his preparations.

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Hahnu’s perspective:

I watched as my mighty Lord Veloth poured impossible amounts of various manas into a magnificently drawn rune circle. The very circle was crafted by Lord Veloth to summon… something. He was pretty vague in answering what exactly he was trying to summon, but he made great strides, in merely a year, in gaining each of the prime mana elements, control of his mana, and especially in his runecrafting.

While Lord Veloth had failed in his summoning multiple times already, only with a click of his tongue, he would proceed to alter and repair the rune circle to perfection. At this point, the rune circle was very complex, and even the missing blood mages of Pandemonium would be baffled at its inner workings.

The rune circle shimmered many bright colors, the air in the large room the principle of the academy granted Lord Veloth wavered and felt thick with mana, almost as though you could swim through it.

Abruptly, a large cracking sound emitted from the circle, as though multiple bolts of lightning struck simultaneously. It was loud and deafening. Viridi, standing to my left, covered her eyes as though she saw a sudden flash that I and Sival, to my right, could not. The air felt like it had cleared, similar to when one who was in a cave exits, and is hit with a breath of fresh air.

“FUCK!” Veloth roared as he struck the ground, causing a tremor. It was the first time I had seen my Veloth so troubled. Even when the Guardians of Order had pestered him for half of the year, he had remained calm, only steadily increasing the level harm to them until they decided it was too dangerous to get in his way.

“FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!” Veloth roared again, striking the ground with each word, causing even greater tremors in the ground. There was nothing within the circle, meaning that this was another failure. Veloth seems very distraught, so i'll go comfort him before the other two catch on. Or so I thought, but then came a knock at the door to our backs.

“I-I’ll get it, Lord Veloth.” I called out to him as I turned with displeasure at the chance I missed. I cracked open the door to the building and looked out to see a royal messenger who looked haggard, as though he had run all the way from the castle.

“I…” He wheezed, taking a moment more to fill his lungs with just enough breath, he continued, “I am looking for Lord Veloth? It’s an urgent summons, from our liege, Kel’thul.”

“I see… You have delivered your message. I will tell him.”

“N...No, I must tell Lord Veloth directly to be sure.” he persisted.

“Lord Veloth is… in an unpredictable mood at the moment. Trust me, it’s fine to leave the message with me.” I said as I closed the door in his face. This wasn’t good. Veloth’s mood really was unpredictable at this stage, his frustration finally having caught up with him, and instead of being able to continue his work, he had to travel to Pandemonium.

I looked worriedly at Veloth, who was crouched and muttering something to himself.

“L-Lord Veloth?” I hesitantly called out to him. He raised his eyes to look in my direction questioningly. “An… urgent summons… from Lord Kel’thul…”

Sival and Viridi turned to look at me in surprise, then simultaneously whipped their gazes back to Veloth.

“I see… Well, in the end, this free time and preferential treatment did come at a price. I guess I need a break from this anyway. A fresh new perspective after coming back to it later may give me an answer.”

Ah, Veloth had calmed down already. The frightening atmosphere of before had dissipated. Sival and Viridi made a fuss about Veloth leaving the academy.

“Then come with me.” was his answer. It took them only a moment of thought, before they agreed. Damn, it seems they will still be getting in my way. Regardless, I will make Veloth mine.

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