Chapter 33 — Odin's Trial
Crow POV
"Odin, you stand trial today for your crimes against the world. As a proxy for the United Nations, I will be presenting this case."
The man's voice rolled through the marble courtroom, polished and rehearsed. He straightened his stack of papers, just enough to give the cameras time to find his good side, then turned so the flags behind him framed his shoulders.
"For those who aren't aware of who this man is," he went on, "this is the Explorer who destroyed the lives of his fellow Travelers. He severed our connection to potential Astral worlds we would have been capable of using for Earth."
He paused, letting the accusation sink in as he swept his gaze around the room.
"Declaring wars against gods who offered paths to Divinity. Attacking any Travelers who agreed to their deals. Even taking the final action of sealing us away from the future."
His tone hardened on the last words. Then he shifted his attention up and left—toward the balcony where the student section sat.
Right where we were.
If it had only been a guess that the government was aiming at our generation, that look killed whatever doubt remained. This wasn't just about judging Odin. This was a warning:
Walk his path, and we'll put you in his chair.
Down on the main floor, Odin only grinned, amused by the performance. The expression was small, but it was enough. Whispers rippled through the crowd—outrage from the non-astrals, uneasy silence from the rest.
The seats closest to the floor were packed with regular humans, faces flushed with heavy emotions that only got worse with every line of the speech. A couple of women were already crying. Odin's grin didn't help.
Even the Explorers and Travelers from the Society wore grim looks, jaws tight, shoulders squared. Only Dad—Baldur—and Mom, Artemis—sat with faces as cold as stone.
"Yet it would be an injustice," the proxy said, softening his voice, "to ignore the legacy he has left to humanity. I'm sure we've all seen the videos circulating on the internet concerning the creation of the Odin Diaries."
The room's mood shifted. Curiosity crept in at the edges.
"Where this same man broke the taboos that keep us from becoming beasts," he continued. "The Society's reckless action of releasing such dangerous context has already sown chaos."
My hands tightened on the railing in front of me. So that was their angle: Odin as the demon, the Society as the irresponsible handler, the Diaries as forbidden scripture the public was never meant to read.
"Your honor," he said, turning back to the panel, "the only request I make of you and the jurors is to take into account what he's been through. We are hoping Odin will agree to write more of his knowledge for humanity. Not to edit or change his older versions, but to—"
The doors at the back of the courtroom slammed open.
Every head turned as the "guest of honor" stepped through, flanked by the most wanted group of men in the nation.
Thor led the way in his iconic navy-blue armor. Lightning crawled lazily across the plates, his face hidden behind his helmet, only his eyes visible through the visor—blue, bright, and dangerous.
Tasey took the rear, minus his usual grin and loud energy. He looked like a blade someone had finally decided to use.
Between them, Agni walked at a measured pace, one arm guiding the woman at his side.
My grandmother.
The world seemed to hitch. Conversations died. Even the cameras forgot to move for a second as they escorted her down the aisle.
They walked straight past the diplomats and politicians. Straight past Dad and Mom. For that moment, even kings and war goddesses didn't matter.
Only her, and the man in shackles at the center of the room.
Grandma lifted her head as they reached the cleared space near the witness stand. Her eyes, old and sharp as any god's, locked onto Odin's.
"Was it worth it?" she asked.
The words came out so smoothly it sounded like she'd practiced that one line for years. Tears slipped down her cheeks, but her voice didn't shake. No one dared to interrupt—not with Thor and Tasey standing like guard dogs at her shoulders, daring anyone to try.
Odin exhaled.
It was a long, slow breath, like he'd been holding it since the day he walked into the Sea alone. I felt something ease in the air with it, a pressure I hadn't even realized was there. His eyes glistened, but no tears fell.
"No," he said quietly. "If I knew the fate of me and Tyr when I was eighteen, I would never have gone. I would never have told him to leave when I first found him drowning in madness."
He glanced down at his shackled hands, then back up.
"I was selfish," he said. "Thinking I could lead him to the same path to Divinity. I paid for that mistake… and maybe I'm still carrying that lingering wish."
The courtroom was dead silent.
He let the words sit there, then lifted his head again, gaze drifting over the rows of elders. He nodded to my uncles in the Explorers' section. Even Huginn's aura, usually sharp enough to cut steel, softened as he raised his war hammer and brought it down once on the floor. The dull boom rolled through the hall.
"To the elderly gathered here," Odin said, louder now, "that was my only request before agreeing to this trial. To give you the closure I can't give everyone."
He straightened in his seat.
"I'm not strong enough to bring a soul back to life or pull one from corruption," he said. "But for my brothers and sisters who followed me through the Sea, I offered their fallen souls a place to rest—as the guardians of Earth with me."
Then he placed his hand over his heart.
Astral energy swelled, deep and old. A golden ball of flame pushed itself out of his chest into his palm, bright enough that the nearest humans threw up their hands to shield their eyes.
He lifted it, pressed a gentle kiss to the burning surface, then raised the orb high.
Every Traveler in the room snapped to full alert as a horrifying aura slammed into us, dense and immense. The chamber trembled. Non-astrals felt only heat and goosebumps. The rest of us felt something ancient look straight through our cores and take inventory.
The golden sphere cracked.
From its heart, birds burst forth—golden, radiant, screeching in voices that sounded like steel scraping against the sun. They shot upward, wheeled once beneath the vaulted ceiling, then dove.
Heat rolled over us, the kind I'd only ever felt near active Tears and jet engines at full throttle, then faded as the orb itself dimmed, its shine bleeding away. It shrank down and dropped neatly into a waiting hand near the front row, taking the form of a simple pendant.
Grandma's fingers closed around it like she'd been expecting it all along.
All around the floor, the birds slowed as they neared their targets, folding in on themselves, collapsing into pinpoints of light that settled in front of the non-astral elders—Odin's old comrades and handlers, the ones who'd never set foot in the Sea but had lived under its shadow.
No one spoke.
Then Mom's voice shattered the silence.
"Odin! What the hell did you trade?!"
Artemis was on her feet now, no longer the cold war goddess watching from a distance. Her aura spiked so sharply that weaker Travelers in the balconies flinched and grabbed the railings.
Lines spiderwebbed across Odin's skin and armor, thin cracks where golden light pressed against the surface, trying to burst out.
He only smiled, faint and tired, and lifted one finger to the largest fracture. A small flame bloomed at his fingertip and moved along the crack, sealing it shut. The light dimmed, contained again.
A laugh slipped out from the left side of the floor.
It was soft and broken and somehow relieved all at once.
For a second, my eyes slid right past her. Then my vision adjusted, like I was finally focusing on something that had been there the whole time.
A curtain of astral mist shimmered and peeled back, dissolving into the air.
Aunt Crystal.
She'd been sitting there since the start, hidden behind a magical veil—camo subtle enough that most of the room hadn't even registered her. Only the real monsters and the gods in the front would've seen her the entire time.
Baldur moved the moment the veil fell.
He didn't hesitate, didn't look surprised. He just stepped away from his place beside the panel like he'd been waiting for this moment from the second he walked in.
"He made a deal with Death," Crystal said, laughing again, eyes locked on Odin. "Of course he did… he always—"
Alexis sucked in a breath beside me.
I felt her aura spike, raw and panicked, as she started to step forward.
My hand shot out, grabbing her wrist. On her other side, Thomas moved in sync with me, bracing a hand on her shoulder. Between the two of us, we pinned her in place before she could throw herself over the railing.
"Lex," I hissed under my breath. "Not here."
Her eyes were already glassy, fixed on her mother.
Crystal's own aura surged, wild and jagged, the laugh turning into something close to hysteria—
—and Dad reached her.
He appeared at her side in a blur, his movement so smooth most of the non-astrals probably thought he'd just "stepped quickly." One clean strike to the side of her neck, all precision and no anger.
Crystal's laugh cut off mid-sound. Her eyes rolled back as her legs gave out.
Dad caught her before she hit the floor, lowering her gently onto the bench as if she were made of spun glass. He brushed a stray lock of hair away from her face, or maybe that was just my imagination filling in the details. Then he straightened, his gaze burning into Odin.
"You—" he started, voice low.
"I did," Odin said, cutting him off without looking away from Grandma. He didn't raise his voice, but it carried to every corner of the room. "I couldn't accept letting everyone's souls go to the Void."
He glanced around at the elders, at the birds of light now resting like invisible weights over their heads.
"I'm a dead man walking already," he said. "I'm just here to finish the things left over from our time in the Sea."
The courtroom suddenly felt too small.
The UN's carefully written charges, the speeches, the cameras, the jury—all of it shrank in my mind, dropping to the level of background noise.
From where I was standing, hand still locked around Alexis's wrist, Thomas's grip still tight on her shoulder, it was obvious:
The world thought it was putting a man on trial.
But Death had already made her deal.
And the only reason Odin was still here… was because he refused to let his people go alone.
"How long do you plan on cosplaying as a lawyer, Loki?" Looking over to UN lawyer as if he's tired of the entire show.
As the pressure in room increased as if the entire world was watching this room after Odin's words. While the shadow of man danced freely from its body. Only for the body to collapse like a stringless puppet.
"You still refuse to let me finish. You're crimes go deeper then that don't they? After all I've only listed the crimes committed in front of mortals." Watching the shadow break through the surface as black armored man pulled himself free.
Carrying a black blade that's only wider in size than Thor's warhammer that's already covered in lighting. As uncle Tasey fist were covered in his iconic purple flames. Even Baldur and mom have backed up uncle Agni as they put up a barrier around my grandmother.
Odin's gaze only harden further as if he expected this. His clenched fist quietly releasing as the pressure rolling off this man felt like pure chaos. The wall the shadow danced along produced more shadows that carried on the dancing.
As if a full party was being held within the shadows of the walls.
"The slayer of Tyr, the Savior of Astral Worlds! The blessed one by the concepts! The closest thing to ascending as a pure vessel into concepts!
Yet you ruled that fate from your brother! You slayed him to retrieve the Order Divine Spark you gave him! You Forsaken him to gallows of the void!"
"Even now you would run from accountability by handing over your role to a bunch of fire birds! The Tombs of power that were left for you! You would once again die before using! Just eat them already!" Feeling the room pause as everyone focused on the birds that flew around the room. Mainly Odin as of shielding him.
"What the fuck is he talking about Odin! That's clearl-"
"Don't say it. You'll only give him power over his identity. He won his battle against myth parent. This is the opposite that sat tacked onto him before you and Him first found me.
I can't say much but know that it's in the dairies I left you personally. He is for all intents and purposes within Death's realm. This is the monster who latched on to your husband Artemis. I failed to complete my promise to you.
I also failed to realize that I locked the Astral Gods out. But not one of us or a demon using our identities like this Enlighten Chaos being. Do not say my brother's name or title in its presence." Seeing everyone hold their breathe as we felt a barrier land across the stand forcing everyone to hold breathe as if the oxygen has been removed.
"Well we need answers Odin! You're clearly too weak to handle even a Demi-god like us! This is the concept given a broken vessel? There's not much we can do besides dealing this place off with all of us!" Seeing Uncle Baldur yell at Odin who only chucked in response.
"Nothing. You don't do a thing. This nasty little one seems to forget the unspoken rules concerning Chaos with the Astral Sea. He also forgot to find Gaia and question if she had a God King already." Grinning as we watched the shadow that forcing half its body out the shadows. Pause as if its armored helmet head sensed something. As it lifted its head up.
Felling my body follow the motion only for Odin's words to resound across the room.
"Mortals are not to look at their God King!" As the pressure doubled forcing all our heads back level. Catching only a glimpse of the very shadow that was trying to crawl out attempt to run back. As a skeleton hand fell from above.
No ceiling falling or damage. Just a skeleton hand the size of the building reaching for the gang of shadows. Yanking all of them in one go as it held them for minutes.
As if it something was judging or counting how many it had. Before crushing its hand and pulling back up. Only for golden brown ball fell to Odin's hand.
"You didn't just trade your life for another key?" Watching Artemis focus eyes locked onto the ball as if something clicked in her mind. While Baldur and Thor just watched with tensed stances.
"Yes and it's for his little Prince of Death. My little copycat if we were around during his growth. I see my nieces and nephews of my other brothers in the crowd hiding but they'll understand this isn't my gift to give away. Take it. It's his legacy just as much as that Cosmic Screw up who keeps breaking every plan." Seeing him chuckle as his eyes focus on my group of four. Knowing he was talking about me.
Knowing that's the title the society had dubbed me with in files after fighting the Death knight. As Lily eyes were crying buckets of tears next me. Her love for heroes and the cracks that threaten to break through only to be stopped by flashes of flames.
"Odin can I research everything!" Feeling her inner pride at Odin efforts as if she's responding to my uncles own efforts.
"That's always been the point. Just like these loyal followers who I've released back into deaths grace after saying goodbye to their loved ones. Those were for the future and the next generation who'd follow behind Tyr.
He requested it and it would be wrong to take back that lifeblood of the next generation. Within my time back here, I've heard of the astral studies department. Tyr and Artemis idea given form…. Yes a honor in his memory using my knowledge.
A elder brother can't ask for more then that you remember it was his efforts and willingness to request such insanity of his elder brother." Seeing the flames slowly fade out as the birds have all gathered around him. As they slowly screech silently as their bodies vanished along with Odin's. Who followed his last words.
-The Brothers road trip
*Ding!
Jumping up from my sleep to my phone vibrating on chest as I looked around in panic. Darkness replaced by daylight of the morning sun as the horizon passed by swiftly.
Looking up at the road sign signaling the split of the highway. Remembering I'm helping my little brother move across the country. As my eyes focused on the signs as old memories of short term friends.
Traveling across this little region. Gathered from different parts of the country and using my car to take trips to new adventures as young men. Solo trips to see Teresa who was leaving out the nation after issues back home while I was away.
Even the heartbreak that fell through the void in the time since I've seen this city sign as we took the other route.
"You're up? What got you staring so hard?" Listening to even and youthful voice ready for his own version of my own trip I just relapsed.
Yet where I fell. I expect him to use that example to walk past. As my own mind thinks about the latest failure I ran into yet again. Another year, another failure.
"Just thinking about the old base. Old friends, and the road trips I took after to Teresa. Nothing to really talk about besides me hitting a TRIPLE BLACKJACK on my last 10. As my buddy Gandolf decided to spilt my last twin Jacks. Only taking half the earns as I watched God give me a triple ACE on the three Jacks!!! I tell you little bro I'm God's creation when placed under fire!! Don't you think so Tyr?" Seeing him look over from his driving. His normally stoic face reveal a rare smirk at my win.
"How'd you land in that situation? I thought we couldn't gamble while in the schools?" Questioning my acts after just graduating his own school working with tanks. Similar to my ending at the aircraft school at the very end on pure paperwork when they couldn't get me to fail again on 3rd strike.
Going six months straight with no failures after the 2nd and the first paperwork when caught with my phone after my mom got injured the night before at work. Only to let my class who I was using my resources to aid knowing most weren't capable of getting aid. Swallowing the ideas so I don't let it poison our conversation.
"Dude, our parents are cops and that's never stopped me or you. Haha seriously from the largest casinos to smallest ass creeks with three women with two buddies. All the way to a weekend of arcades five hours away from base.
Even going to the northern mountains to find a giant lake we heard about. Just dudes vibing and having the time of our lives. Thankfully I'm the only one to catch everyone's attention so I'll accept that ending. Wasn't for me and I typically broke rules just to see if punishments were real. Don't be like me Tyr. You got a shot to set yourself up." Seeing him nod as I checked the messages seeing a photo of me asleep mouth open as our family laughed at it.
Even our older sister was laughing. As we decided to go ahead and swap soon for my turn.
*Rummmmm
"Pay attention dumbass!" Hearing Tyr jump up in the back as I turned his stupid truck through the mountains. No visibly besides the headlights as we started our descents.
"A stupid maro just swung past me on the corner going 90. Just shut up and go back to sleep my little princess and let Dad handle the night like you forced on me." Seeing him already rolled over when o glanced back. Knowing he's asleep as I refocused after close to five hours of driving.
Pitch black conditions and going through the mountains for the second time of my life. Not this one. I did it once this year after the first failure of the year.
Coming the opposite side of the country as I made decision to cut loses and take the lose at face value. First crapping myself on accident putting myself in the mountains during those hours.
Here, I'll consider that training. No stopping after he decided to drive through the night but really me. As I navigate the ending portion of this trip. Refusing to let even sleep claim me tonight as even Death can wait.
I'll get him to his next journey. Regardless of the results when I return. I'll send him off on this goodbye trip. Something I fought every family member down for. And I won't be the reason he doesn't make it.