🌳 Yggdrasil: The Cosmic Tree That Holds It All Together

Tales from The Immortal Gazette - As recounted by Alice, Loki, and Rumple (with flair, fire, and far too much meddling)
A Story from the Roots of 4EverMore

In the beginning, before the ink dried on the first whisper of a god’s name, there was Yggdrasil.

Not just any tree. No, darling - this was The Tree. Vast, ancient, myth-woven, and alive with more secrets than even Rumple could tease out. It stood at the center of the cosmos - a colossal ash tree whose branches stretched across the Nine Realms, holding worlds in a tangled embrace that defied logic, gravity, and good sense.

🌌 The Worlds It Held

“Nine Realms? Pfft,” Loki scoffed, polishing his dagger with a grin that spelled trouble. “Try infinite. But nine makes a nice story.”

Each world nestled within Yggdrasil's reach had its own flavor - frostbitten Niflheim, fiery Muspelheim, god-glam Asgard, and human-hectic Midgard. They spun in and around its branches like cosmic ornaments on a divine holiday tree, while its roots plunged into the deepest mysteries of life and death.

And the tree? It felt everything.

When gods wept, its bark cracked. When mortals screamed, its roots trembled. When Ragnarok came knocking, Yggdrasil didn't fall - it shuddered, groaned... and held.

🐿 Gossip, Goats, and Guardians

Let’s not forget the wild entourage that called Yggdrasil home. There was Ratatoskr, the shade-throwing squirrel who ran up and down the trunk stirring drama between the dragon Nidhogg at the roots and the eagle at the top.

“Honestly, that squirrel’s got a future in tabloid journalism,” Alice muttered, sipping her herbal tea. “He’d make a mint at The Immortal Gazette.”

Then there were the four stags nibbling at the leaves, and a goat that... well, don’t ask. It's Norse mythology - weird is the default setting.

🌿 The Tree That Endures

When Ragnarok roared through the realms like an unstoppable wildfire, burning gods and monsters alike into mythic ash, Yggdrasil endured.

Scorched, yes. Cracked, bleeding golden sap? Absolutely. But fallen? Never.

Because within the hidden hollow of its roots, Lif and Lifthrasir - two fragile humans - hid, trembling in the dark, hearts still thudding with hope. And it was Yggdrasil that shielded them. Nourished them. Carried the spark of rebirth through the smoke of annihilation.

🌠 Now and Forever

In this new era - this echoing age of stories retold and legends reshaped - Yggdrasil still stands. Maybe not as a tree you can climb (unless you’re dimension-hopping), but as a living symbol of cycles, survival, and sacred stubbornness.

“It’s more than bark and branches,” Rumple whispered once, one eye twinkling and the other very much on fire. “It’s memory. Memory of everything that was, and a whisper of what could be.”

So when you gaze up at the stars, or lean against a tree just a little too ancient, listen. There’s a rustle - a murmur in the wind - that might just be the voice of Yggdrasil, telling you the story isn’t over yet.

Not by a long shot.

🪶 Scribed under stardust by The Immortal Gazette's Wildest Trio:
Alice, Queen of Ink & Lore
Loki, Resident Chaos Consultant
Rumplestiltskin, Trickster-in-Chief, Mayhem Division