Son of the Hero King-Chapter 380: INTERLUDE 15:THE MAD TITAN

[XXXXX Years Ago]

It was a scarlet world. Be it the sky above, the clouds fluttering with the wind, or even the ground below, cracked and desolate as it was, everything as far as the eyes could see was plunged in a deep scarlet of different shades combining to form a dystopian sight.

In that world, water did not exist, there was no vegetation, and all the beasts that roamed the ground were distorted beings that seemed to be born out of one's worst nightmares.

It was a world filled with the aura of chaos; nay, it was a world that seemed to be chaos itself given form and substance. It was a world without rules where the only rule, if it can even be termed as one, was survival. A dog-eat-dog world where survival of the fittest was the only way of life. The

In that world, three women stood together, hunched as they held threads and sewed… Nobody knew what it was they were sewing, nobody knew why they were doing such a thing…

The three women's looks were extremely similar. When they stood together, one had the impression of watching three pictures of the same person in different moments of their life.

They were the Norns sisters. The sisters of Fate. Born from Chaos itself with the innate power to see the Past, Present, Future, and everything in between, manipulating events per their wishes. A very frightening power that made it so that, despite being relatively weak by themselves, no one dared to even try to take advantage of them.

Each of them had their own personality.

Urd ("That which happened") was the oldest and calmest of the three sisters. She would always have a calm and serene smile no matter what the situation was. She had seen the world for what it was and had transcended the mere worries of everyday life. Her power allowed her to observe the past.

Verdandi ("That which is happening") was the most worrywart among the three sisters. Anxiety was common for her. She could not change the past and neither could see or influence the future, she could only observe the present as it was, in all of its entirety and all of its beauty and ugliness. Hence, she was constantly ravaged by the worries of what would happen after and what happened before.

Skuld (“That which should become”) was the most carefree and Chaotic of them all. If Time was like a tree. Then the Past represented the roots, the Present the trunk, and the Future, represented the numerous branches and even more numerous leaves that made up the beautiful structure of an evergreen conifer.

She could see all the futures nearly at the same level as the goddesses despite being a mere King as such she was considered as the most dangerous of the clairvoyant trio. But her personality also made her the most harmless amongst the lot.

At least this was the consensus reached by the other Titans over the years of observing them from afar.

What they didn’t know though was that the Skuld they knew was no more.

She had changed, for she had met her destined one.

———

On that day, just as they were spending their time idly as they always did, Skuld had a seizure and fainted on the spot.

The two sisters were understandably worried. The power to see the future was the most dangerous out of the three they possessed together and they knew that every time Skuld used that power she had the chance of losing herself in the flow of time and becoming braindead with her soul scattered into oblivion.

For three days and three nights, Skuld stayed unconscious, causing them to become even more worried for her even going as far as entering full-on panic mode. They began to wonder if it was the end of the road for their dear sister.

But on the fourth day, she unexpectedly woke up and her words were all the more shocking for the other two sisters of hers.

“Let’s surrender to the side of Order.”

Everything was so out of the blue that even the ever-calm Urd could not help but show a bewildered expression on her face as she gawked at the calm visage of her sister. She spat out such shocking words like it was the most natural of things that her brain had simply short-circuited at that moment.

Verdandi, as prone to lunacy as she was among the sisters, though was much more vocal with her words and reactions.

“So it finally happened. Skuld went crazy! Big Sis, what do we do now!?”

Verdandi was nearly on the verge of tears as she shook Skuld, desperately trying to make her come out of whatever spell of madness she had pitted herself into. Skuld couldn't help but smile bitterly at her sister's frantic behavior, but there was nothing she could do. She was resolute in what she spoke and would not, could not revoke her words.

In the end, though, Urd was the one to ask the most crucial question,

“What did you see?”

Verdandi immediately calmed down, hearing Urd's calm question. Out of the three of them, Urd as well as the Leader and the strongest. But the one who gave them direction had always been Skuld. The one who could scry the most beneficial aspects of what was to come.

They knew that her carefree attitude was just a precursor, a ruse, a veil that hid one of the deepest and most vigilant minds in all of existence.

Skuld showed a lost expression at the question Urd offered to her. She honestly didn't know to form a coherent response. But at the end, she only showed then a bright smile before speaking in the most calmest and steadfast tone she could muster…

“I want a better future.”

A few days later, a piece of explosive news shocked both the side of Chaos and Order as the greatest strategists on the side of Chaos, the Norns Sisters, left their camps and surrendered to the beings of Order.

This action was like a rock falling into a lake, causing great ripples in the flow of the war between both sides.

People on both sides knew the power of foresight the sisters wielded. For them to join the side of Order, did this not mean they had foreseen the defeat of the side of Chaos?

Like the domino effect, this simple piece caused an effect that spread through all places, shaking the confidence of those on Chaos' side while bolstering the force of Order with renewed vigor.

Even those who decided to stay neutral in the conflict chose to join the cause of Order.

A few thousand years later after they joined the side of Order, Tiamat, the Dragon Empress, chased down Surtr to the depths of the Abyss.

A few more years after that tumultuous event, the Sins and Virtues goddesses, managed to seal Ymir.

The war ended.

Order had triumphed.

But… did they really…?

———

A few thousand years had swiftly gone by after the victory against Chaos. The world was seemingly at peace and the Norns sisters were living peacefully in the Astral realm, deep in Yggdrasil’s territory.

Though they were limited in what they could do and where they could go, the sisters had no complaints whatsoever.

They would spend most of the time asleep and Urd, who had befriended Yggdrasil, would sometimes play chess with him to spend an idle yet beautiful time.

It was a calm life.

But for Skuld, this was nothing more than a simple and pure form of the most agonizing torture.

More than ten thousand years.

No, for far more time than that, she had been waiting. Waiting for the moment she dreamed of every day.

She had seen hundreds of thousands of different possible futures. Analyzed how the situation could go in more ways than she could count. Made contingency plans for her contingency plans and made more contingency plans for them also. She had the time, and she knew that what she tried to accomplish had to be done perfectly.

She knew she was slowly going crazy over the long periods of waiting and planning and yearning for that crucial day… but she was in such a position that she could not even show her madness to anyone. No one would understand and even if they understood they could do nothing for her.

She wanted to see him.

She wanted to hug him.

She wanted to make him hers.

She wanted to save him from his untimely fate.

Desire. Fear. Expectation. Despair. Madness. A constant cycle. An emotional paradox. An ardent love.

All those emotions were constantly badgering her sense of self, threatening to completely destroy it in its roots.

But then, one day, she received the news she had been waiting for.

“Skuld. It seems like the Dragon Empress wants our help.”

Skuld’s heart lurched at the news Verdandi sent to her.

This was it. This was the moment she had been waiting for.

Fighting to keep her expression in check, she stood up and followed her sister. While showing her usual excited smile,

“Let’s go! I always wanted to visit that territory again after Lucifer's death.”

———

When Skuld entered the domain, she looked around in order to keep herself calm.

She had waited so long for this.

Now she just had to wait for a few more seconds.

She had already prepared everything. She would act mysteriously and obtain his curiosity. After all, Sol was always so curious about the world around him. Which included the people encapsulating it.

She would slowly build up their relationship from there.

At least, this was what she thought she would do.

But the moment her eyes landed on him.

All her plans vanished like smoke vanished in the air.

“Darling!”

Before she could even express a proper greeting, Skuld ran past her sisters and everyone else before jumping in the arms of the golden-haired boy who had just opened his eyes.

This was their first meeting in this reality.