Postcards from Asgard- Retelling the norse myths.

Welcome Steemians, I have always been fascinated by Norse mythology So I have been recreating the Myths in a classic story form. In part one i will begin with the creation myth and then move to the stories of well known gods like Odin and Thor, and some of the lesser known gods. PART ONE- CREATION

In a time before Midgard or man, before giants or even gods, there was only Ginnungagap. A great void with no beginning and no end. The void was inconceivably large, there in could exist a billion universes. Up and down did not exist, nor did North or South, no East or West. Light and darkness were absent here. There was no sound, there was not even silence in Ginnungagap. Nothing but endless space. It is not nor perhaps can ever be known the process of creation. After all... how could something be formed from nothing? It is our great fortune that the ancients have passed down the events as I will do my best to unfold.

It is said that millions of eons before the birth of the universe as we know it, there came to be two regions in the void. There was Muspellheim, the land of fire. In fact, Muspellheim translates to the home of the destroyers of the world. It was a name befitting this truly horrific place. Nothing existed in Muspelheim save black burning rocks, seas of lava, and skies of dark choking smoke. There were great winds that blew raging fires and sparks. Thick, smoldering volcanic ash covered everything whilst the ground split and cracked spewing forth towering flame.

Muspellheim was home to no one at first, then no one knows when, it was home to only one being. This was the much reviled and always dreaded fire demon Surt. He was the first being. Surt lived in the very center of this horrid realm. The demon would spend eons forging his great burning sword, in preparation for Ragnorok, the twilight of the gods. Then Surter will burst forth from Muspellheim and lay waste to the universe.

The other region, Niflheim, was every bit as large and desolate. It was frozen and cold. The winds in Neflheim never ceased blowing, casting torrents of rain and hail. There were endless snowfields. Great glaciers, and mountains split, and cracked from the frozen earth. The rivers and seas were born in Neflheim. Some flowed from Hvergilmir, the primal river. Still others stemmed from the freezing depths of the eternal spring known as Elivigar. It’s dark cold waters spilling out and filling the northern parts.

The rivers and seas of Neflheim were incredibly treacherous. Massive whirlpools, tidalwaves and glaciers crashing together like the jaws of some great beast. It is also to be noted that these waters were not pure, they were polluted with streams of black poison that would rise to the surface creating huge sheets of black ice. This foul tinge would hold dire consequences in due time... and it spread throughout the northern part of Ginnungagap.

Over countless eons the lands of fire and ice spread across the void until they crashed together. When the Cold air of Niflheim met the burning fires of Muspelheim water exploded into the air and when it fell all across Ginniungagap. The cold water of Niflheim mixed with the ash and clay of Muspellheim they formed the body of a giant. Life had not yet truly begun in Ginnungagap however as this giant lay prone and unconscious for eons. He would come to have a name, and this name was Aurgelmir. Though his children would call him Ymir. He was the first of the mountain giants.

Credit-Milivoj Ceran

                                 To be continued...