The Birth of Vaaja
For a long time, all was utterly still. Only the distant hum of the Weaver’s Loom of Wyrd drifted as a steady shroud across the voids. After all that exists had remained eternal and unchanging, something began to stir in the nest of Maduir, the primordial serpent, deep among the roots of the world-tree Yggdrasil. First, reflections of minute tremors rippled through Maduir’s spine, and rays of light bounced off its rune-carved back, piercing the dark void. When it opened its slumbering eyes, new stars ignited upon the canopy of heaven. When its spiral-coiled tail unfurled and struck the darkness, a resonant drumming thundered from the highest to the lowest, summoning all that exists forth.
The father of the nine worlds, Ukko the High God, opened his eye. His only remaining one, for he had sacrificed the other to Tyr, thirsting to drink wisdom from the latter’s well. He began to chant:
”Me he siel, mä hä tääl. Ryne aukhais, loru sulkhais.
Tuvas matalis, kannes korkhesis, liha luisevil,
veri vetävil, vaan Vaaja voimallisil.”
In that same instant, a sharp shard tore away from the trunk of Yggdrasil. As it plummeted, it impaled Maduir’s tail, and blood began to spray forth. The blood gathered into a pool, swallowing the shard beneath it. Maduir’s blood hardened the fragment and stained it as dark as the blackest night. The primordial serpent shrieked with such violence that three runes were ripped from its patterned back. In a shower of sparks, they burned themselves into the surface of the piece. Thus was born the Vaaja of the worlds.