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The small group arrived in the Vault of Æsir’s Insight, a massive underground chamber carved from blackstone, veins of golden energy snaking along its walls. At the center of the room stood a monolithic structure, ancient yet alive with pulsating runes. Floating around it were luminous shards of unknown material, seemingly suspended by magnetic forces. The air vibrated faintly, resonating like the hum of distant thunder. Above them, a celestial map projected the Yggdrasil, with glowing points marking each Realm.
“By Odin’s beard…” Thor whispered, his voice echoing in awe.
Loki stepped forward, his sharp eyes scanning the mechanism. The structure’s design suggested a puzzle: three distinct pathways of glowing energy flowed from the central node toward locked gates. “A relic of the Old Æsir, perhaps? These pathways… they need to be aligned to activate the mechanism.”
As he spoke, a disembodied voice interrupted: Mimir, the all-knowing head tied to Thor’s belt, groaned into awareness. “Oh, what’ve you dragged me into this time? That’s the Conduit of Knowledge, a nexus for energy between Realms. Only the smartest and strongest have ever activated it. Shame you’re all idiots.”
Thor frowned as he approached the mechanism and confidently scrutinized the setup, tapping Mjolnir against his palm. “We’ve got two levers here—surely we just pull them at the same time to force the thing open?”
Mimir snorted. “Brilliant plan, laddie. Except for the part where doing that could destabilize the energy field and turn us all into stardust.”
Loki smirked. “So brute force is off the table? What a surprise.”
Thor growled. “And your clever schemes won’t help much either if you start poking at things without thinking.”
“If you’d care to think for once, brother,” Loki interrupted, crossing his arms. “You’d see that by doing so the conduits would short-circuit. Did you even notice the fragile stabilizers? They’re practically screaming, ‘don’t yank the levers’! That is but the basic understanding of the Æsir’s science—”
Thor groaned. “Science? What do you know about science? Don't think your dabbling in illusions makes you knowledgeable—”
Loki rolled his eyes. “By all means, smash things with your glorified club if it makes you feel clever.” He interrupted, waving a hand dismissively.
“Oh, I’ll make use of my glorified club, all right. Right up in your—”
[Y/N] groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Are you two always like this?”
Mimir, swinging lazily from Thor’s belt, chimed in, “Aye, lass. Ever since Loki figured out which end of a book to read and Thor decided his hammer could solve everything.”
[Y/N] sat cross-legged near the mechanism, massaging her temple as the brothers continued their increasingly heated argument. The fluctuating energy in the room had been grating against her senses since they entered, causing an incessant throb in her head.
“This headache is going to kill me,” she muttered, leaning forward. The mechanism’s pulses seemed to align with the pounding in her skull, which only made her temper shorter by the second.
Mimir, still hanging from Thor’s belt, joined the fray. “Ah, lads, the lass is lookin’ ready to throttle the both of you. Perhaps settle on a plan quickly?”
“Not until he listens,” Thor retorted, pointing Mjolnir at Loki.
Loki scoffed. “Listening to you is the very thing I avoid. All of your solutions consist of using your brawns and praying to the Norns in your favor—”
[Y/N] stepped closer to the glowing conduits, ignoring the brothers’ escalating argument. Her attention zeroed in on the streams of energy flowing through the air—patterns reminiscent of electromagnetic waves.
“These aren’t just conduits,” she muttered. “They’re circuits. And they’re incomplete. The energy flow looks like… an alternating current?”
Mimir perked up. “Well done, lass! The levers aren’t the solution. Those streams are a bit like circuits—they need to harmonize their frequencies before the gate opens. But it’ll require a powerful catalyst to complete the alignment.”
[Y/N] glanced back at the brothers, but they were still fervently bickering behind her, engaging in their ridiculous ego-measuring contest and completely oblivious to her find. Her eyes shifted to the hammer hanging loosely at his side, and a spark of inspiration struck.
“Enough!” [Y/N] shouted, leaping to her feet. Her headache spiked, sending a sharp pain through her skull that made her wince. With a long sigh, she walked over and stepped between them, plucking Mjolnir from Thor’s hand—ignoring his startled exclamation—and examined the weapon. “This should do it,” she murmured to herself.
“What are you—” Thor began, bewildered. Loki stopped mid-sentence, his jaw dropping slightly.
[Y/N] waved the hammer in front of Thor’s face. “I am done with you two arguing like toddlers over a toy. I’m solving this now.”
Thor blinked, dumbfounded. “You—you just… What?”
Ignoring him, [Y/N] closed her eyes and focused. The headache’s throbbing synced with the mechanism’s pulses. With a deep breath, [Y/N] summoned her ability, light flickering across her fingertips. She felt the flow of electromagnetic energy in the air and channeled it into her palms, concentrating her auroral power into its core. She wrapped her other hand around Mjolnir’s handle and let her power flow into the hammer, merging with its thunderous charge. The runes on the weapon glowed brighter, surging with both electricity and magnetic pulses.
The hammer’s runes glowed brighter as energy coalesced around it. [Y/N] spun around and hurled Mjolnir at the central shard. It struck a magnetic conduit, sending a ripple of synchronized energy through the air. The conduits flashed, aligning perfectly. The entire mechanism hummed to life. Its central node spun, beams of light illuminating a previously hidden door.
Mimir gasped. “Oh, now that’s clever. Infusing her aurora with Thor’s thunder—two forces complementin’ each other. Brilliant, lass! Makes these two look even more like glorified toddlers.”
Mjolnir returned like a boomerang to her hand, where it hummed softly, crackling with residual energy. As the door groaned fully open, she turned and tossed the weapon back to Thor, who caught it in stunned silence, his jaw slack.
“Here’s your toy back,” she said sharply, her headache still simmering. Without missing a beat, she reached for Mimir, yanking him off Thor’s belt. “And I’m taking this. You clearly don’t need more distractions.”
“Hey! That’s—!” Thor spluttered, pointing helplessly at the empty spot where Mimir once hung.
She strode toward the now-open door but paused when she realized neither of the brothers was following. Turning, she found both staring at her, mouths slightly agape.
“What now?” she asked exasperated, raising an eyebrow.
Thor’s voice was barely a whisper. “You… wielded Mjolnir.”
Mimir, tucked under her arm, piped up cheerfully. “Aye, lad. And she did it without makin’ a fuss about bein’ ‘worthy’ or swingin’ it around like a child with a toy.”
[Y/N] gave them both an impatient look. “I’m the supposed Guardian of Yggdrasil. Electromagnetism, lightning, the whole cosmic gig—come on, did you really not think of this outcome? Honestly, Thor, your bar for surprises is embarrassingly low, even for you.”
Loki’s lips twitched with a hint of amusement. “She makes a fair point, brother. Perhaps we should rethink who’s the real hero here.”
Thor opened his mouth, closed it, then finally said, “But—”
“But nothing,” she interrupted, heading toward the door. “Now, are you two coming, or do I need to hold your hands too?”
Mimir, swinging cheerfully under her arm, added, “Don’t worry, lass. Holdin’ their hands won’t help. They’re a lost cause.”
Loki choked on a laugh, his eyes dancing with mischief. “Remind me to never argue with her when she’s annoyed.”
Thor huffed. “I’m still processing.”
Mimir chimed in smugly, “Oh, lad, you’ll be processing for a long while. She’s got a knack for keepin’ you off balance.”
[Y/N] sent them a smirk over her shoulder. “Glad you’re finally catching on.”
And with that, she led the way through the newly opened door, leading the trio through the doorway into a chamber even more dazzling than the last. It was filled with crystalline data spires pulsating with light. The air thrummed with power. At the center stood an ancient artifact—a sphere of radiant energy floating above a pedestal.
Loki stepped forward cautiously. “That’s an Æsir core. It holds fragments of Asgardian knowledge and energy, enough to power Yggdrasil’s branches… or destroy them.”
She shot him a skeptical glance. “So, basically, we came all this way to babysit a bomb?”
He chuckled darkly. “Oh, it’s far more interesting than a bomb.”
Suddenly, the chamber began to quake. Mimir groaned. “You lot might want to hurry. That energy field doesn’t like being disturbed. Time’s running out.”
[Y/N] stepped forward, rolling her eyes. “Great. Another day, another death trap.” With a flick of her wrist, auroral light sparked in her hand, preparing for whatever came next.