Gram is no ordinary blade. It is a resonance-link, a living partner forged in myth and chronal fire—a weapon that chooses its wielder as much as it is wielded.
In Norse mythology, the saga of Gram begins in the fires of Muspelheim, the realm of flame in Norse legend. Odin, the Allfather, forged the sword in that primordial blaze, imbuing it with unbreakable strength and the power to cleave through fate itself.
He drove it into the great oak Barnstokkr, a tree so mighty only the destined could pull it free. Sigmund, son of Volsung, was that man.
Gram granted him invincibility on the battlefield, a whirlwind of victory against all foes.
But Odin, in his inscrutable wisdom, shattered Gram mid-battle, leading to Sigmund's defeat and death. The broken shards passed to Sigmund's son, Sigurd, who had them reforged by the dwarf blacksmith Regin.
Regin’s tale is one of greed and curse: he, his brother Fafnir, and father Hreidmar were ensnared by Loki's mischief. Loki slew their brother Otr (in otter form) for his pelt. To pay weregild, Odin and Loki filled it with cursed gold from the dwarf Andvari.
The curse drove Fafnir and Regin to murder their father for the hoard. Fafnir transformed into a dragon to guard it, while Regin plotted revenge.
Sigurd, guided by Regin, slayed Fafnir by digging a pit along the dragon's path and stabbing from below as it passed.
Roasting and eating Fafnir's heart, Sigurd tasted its blood, gaining the ability to understand birdsong. The birds warned him of Regin's betrayal, so Sigurd slew his mentor too. Gram's edge claimed dragon, dwarf, and destiny.
Sigurd met his end in treachery, buried in a mound with Gram at his side.
From that point, Gram disappeared from Norse mythology.
But, in the Eternity Man saga, the blade's story twists anew.
The Obsidian Men, sensing its chronal power—a threat that could sever their harvest—stole Gram from its ancient rest, hiding it in a void between realities.
Eternity Man, drawn by resonance, confronts the void and retrieves his "partner."
Gram is no mere tool; it's a symbiotic force, dimming when Eternity Man doubts, blazing when purpose aligns.
Together, they form one of the multiverse's most potent combinations: the fixed point and the edge that cuts time.
Gram doesn't serve.
It resonates.
And in the hands of a hero, it ends worlds.
Shards of fate fall cold
Odin pounds the iron white
Forged in Muspel’s primal fire
Hammer rings through night
Well of Urd roils with each blow
Edge cuts Norn thread
Oak tree in the hall
One-eyed stranger drives blade deep
Only wolf-blood can draw forth
Barnstokkr groans and heaves
Sigmund liberates the blade
Völsung line is born
Gram burns white-hot, keen and true
Severs fate’s threads, tears realms anew
Grey wanderer joins the fight
Spear of never-miss meets steel
Gram explodes like ice
Sigmund’s fate now fulfilled
Shards wrapped in widow’s linen
Legend sleeps in earth
Dwarf mends broken sword
First blade bends, second blade breaks
Third time dragon fire
Regin folds the steel
Seven times seven it screams
Anvil cleaves in half
Gold curse eats the dwarf
Skin splits, wings rip, fire breath
Fafnir coils on hoard
Greed made flesh and scale
Heart of dragon beats with lust
Gnita-Heath now burns
Pit beneath the path
Gram thrust upward through black heart
Dragon-blood baptism
Sigurd bathes, eats dragon heart
Bird whispers his betrayal
Regin’s head rolls free
Gram burns white-hot, keen and true
Severs fate’s threads, tears realms anew
Sigurd lies on slab
Gram rests on his still-warm chest
Mound sealed, chapter’s end
Last torch snuffed leaves dark
Silence swallows hero’s ode
No Skald sings Gram’s name
Black shadow creeps the mound
Steals Gram and flashes space
Stashed in a place that is nowhere
No past, no future
No way there or back
Only silence ... only dark
Time runs wrong way round
The Mound re-entered from within
Eternity Man steps where none could
Discovers null dimension
Tears a door that never was
Gram’s hilt in his hand
White runes blaze like dawn
Sword lifts itself in his hand
Gram’s first words ever said
“I was always yours
Cut the contracts, free the souls
Point me at the dark”
Lyrics and music by T Atkinson
Next:
Chapter 6: Somnolent
Copyright © 2025 T Atkinson. All rights reserved.