The Goddess of Fate

It was night in Asgard. Under the dim moonlight, a vast bank of dark clouds shrouded the sacred mountain. Gloomy black mist and dark vapors swirled around it, obscuring everything from view. The Golden Palace should have been a sacred sight, all golden roofs and magnificent splendor, but now it lay listlessly shrouded in mist, like a haunted realm.

Brunhilde sighed. "It seems a great deal has happened in Asgard while we were out on patrol. I can barely recognize the sacred mountain or the Golden Palace."

Behind them came the thunderous galloping and howling of wolves, along with the pursuing cries of other monsters.

"Quick!" Thor picked up his pace.

At last, Kirk and the others reached the foot of the great tree. A clear spring wound past in a gentle stream, nourishing the World Tree. In its midst lay the Well of Fate.

Beneath the tree was where the gods gathered to discuss affairs. In Norse Mythology, the gods came here every day to sit beneath the World Tree and talk over the affairs of all living things.

This was also the home of the renowned Norns: Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld.

Their duties were chiefly threefold. First, they spun the Fate Gold Thread here and wove the Web of Fate. Urd governed the past and spun the thread, Verdandi governed the present and drew it out, and Skuld governed the future and cut it.

Everything in the world was subject to the Web of Fate, passing through birth, growth, flourishing, decline, and death. Even the exalted Main God Odin could not escape the power of fate. Thus, though the Norns supposedly lived in Asgard, Odin did not rule over them. On the contrary, whenever he faced a major decision, he came to consult them politely.

Their second duty