[Realm: Álfheimr]
[Location: Outskirts]
Echidna was old.
Not merely ancient in the way mortals used the word—years stacked upon years, centuries pressed together—but old in the way reality seemed to remember her. She had existed long enough for the world to change its rules around her, long enough to watch civilizations rise, rot, and collapse back into dust while she remained.
Experience clung to her like a second skin.
As the Mother of Monsters, experience was inevitable. She had given birth to nightmares that would define eras, creatures whose names alone shaped myth and fear. She had seen her children hunted, worshiped, sealed, butchered, and feared in equal measure. She had watched heroes grow bold on borrowed courage and Gods grow cruel behind thrones of light.
She had challenged the Olympians once—truly challenged them—and lived.
