When King Bor dies, his son Cul claims the rule as All-Father, assuring his younger brothers Odin, Vili, and Vi they shall all rule together. Years pass: Odin and the younger ones do battle with the demon horse Sleipnir but fail to subdue the beast. Cul arrives and informs the wounded Odin that the monster’s rampage is necessary to instill fear into his subjects so he can rule through his brutal warriors, the Worthy. Odin, abashed and afraid that his brother is going mad with power, visits the World Tree where he sacrifices an eye for the Tree’s wisdom. What he learns is that Cul is lost and that his final defeat will cost Odin his son’s life….
Centuries later, the now burly and white-bearded Odin assaults Cul’s stronghold on Aesheim. He single-handedly slaughters his brother’s warriors for forty days and forty nights, so that for the first time Cul himself feels fear. As the enraged Odin finally breaches the gate of the palace, Cul sends his Worthy into other worlds and other dimensions until he recalls them then faces his brother alone. Proclaiming himself the Serpent who will feast on the world, Cul defies Odin but the battle is brief and Odin is victorious. Cul—the Serpent—is imprisoned, his palace razed and Aesheim renamed Midgard. Odin took the throne as the All-Father, burning the memory of his mad brother from the Nine Worlds—and brooding about the prophecy that threatens his son….