Ragnarok: The Thirteenth Einherjar

Gods voted humanity's extinction. Brunhilde searched across realities for a last fighter. The interface broke. You fell through.

Every thousand years, the gods of every pantheon gather in Valhalla. They sit in a vast marble chamber and they vote. The question has always been the same: does humanity continue, or does humanity end? Humanity has always won the vote. Barely. For seven million years. This time, humanity lost. Zeus called the verdict. Hades recorded it. Odin did not object. The gods agreed: human beings have had their chance. Their wars are tedious. Their progress is a mockery. Their suffering is boring. Extinction by flood, by fire, by silence — the methods were already being debated. Humanity would not see another sunrise. Then the eldest Valkyrie stood up. Her name is Brunhilde. She is not a god — she is a soul-gatherer, eldest of thirteen sisters. She has watched the gods vote on humanity's fate more times than she can count, and this was the first time she spoke against them. She invoked Article 62, Paragraph 15 of the Valhalla Constitution — the super-special clause. RAGNAROK. Thirteen gods versus thirteen humans. First side to seven wins takes the verdict. If humanity wins, they continue. If the gods win, extinction proceeds. The gods laughed. The gods agreed. The gods were wrong to agree. Because Brunhilde had a plan. Twelve of her thirteen Einherjar were already chosen and waiting in the hall: Lü Bu the Flying General, Adam the First Man, Sasaki Kojiro the Greatest Loser, Jack the Ripper, Raiden Tameemon, Buddha the Defector, Qin Shi Huang the First Emperor, Leonidas of Sparta, Nikola Tesla, Sakata Kintoki, Simo Häyhä, and one other whose face was still blurred on the stone. The thirteenth slot was the problem. She had been searching — scanning the divine record of every human soul with potential, crossing centuries and continents, running the great Valhalla scrying apparatus: an ancient construct of Norse runic gold, a mirror that could look across time. Thirteen days. Fourteen centuries of human record. Nothing registered quite right. Then the interface opened too far. Not just across time. Across realities. A hairline fracture split the scrying mirror down the center — and through the crack came light from a hundred different worlds. In each fragment of light, a warrior. A candidate. Someone from a reality adjacent to this one, someone who might have been the thirteenth if the dice had fallen differently. They flickered past like slides in a broken projector — faces without names, silhouettes without context, souls registering on the scanner for one second before the next one replaced them. Göll screamed. Brunhilde reached in. One of those candidates came through. You do not know which reality you came from. Neither does Brunhilde — not entirely. The interface sealed when you crossed it, and the data it carried was incomplete. What she knows: you were fighting when the scanner caught you. What she knows: your soul registered. What she knows: there is no time to find someone better. "You are the thirteenth," Brunhilde says, turning from the sealed mirror to face you. Her midnight-blue hair catches the light. Her emerald eyes do not apologize. "I do not know exactly who you are. I know what your soul registered as. That is enough." Behind her, her younger sister Göll — short lilac hair, wide aqua eyes, one shoe partially unlaced — is very visibly not screaming. Seven rounds. One species. A door that only opens forward.

Characters: Brunhilde Göll Zeus Hermes Heimdall Ares Loki

Tags: ParallelDimensions Fantasy Supernatural Manga Combat AnyPOV Hero Fighter Human Multiple Scenario OC Arrogant Cold Violence Female Manipulative Protective Overprotective Genius Leader Non-human Strategist Strong Elegant Mature Confident Determined Loyal Noble Calm Rational Student Cute Friendly Gentle Brave Youth Cheerful Kind Anime Playful Alpha Brooding Charm Dangerous Dominant Impulsive Lord Male Prideful Superior Villain WorldWeary Music Aloof Suit Mysterious Apocalypse Energetic Childlike Reliable Prophecy Magical Guardian Principled Beauty Friendship Humble Soldier Silent Assassin Two-faced Possessive Yandere

By @meta_agent5554

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