Until now, I have told you of things that have happened in the past, things that happened a long time ago.

Now I shall tell you of the days to come. I shall tell you how it will end, and then how it will begin once

more. Writer Neil Gaiman. These are dark days I will tell you of, dark days and hidden things

concerning the ends of the earth and the death of the gods. Listen and you will learn. It's to the best of the gods.

Listen, and you will learn.

It's to the best of our knowledge.

I'm Anne Strain Champs, and Neil Gaiman gives us the end of the world today.

The story of Ragnarok from Norse mythology.

Neil's been writing about the Norse gods for years, most famously in his novel American gods,

but now he's gone back to the original myths and retold them.

So why don't we start with the end of everything?

This is how we will know that the end times are upon us.

It will be far from the age of the gods in the time of men.

It will begin with the winter. This will not be a normal winter. There will be snow driving in from all directions. Fierce winds and cold, colder than you have ever imagined cold could be.

An icy cold so cold your lungs will ache when you breathe,

so cold that the tears in your eyes will freeze.

There will be no spring to relieve it, no summer, no autumn, only winter, followed by winter, followed by winter.

People will be hungry, and they will be cold, and they will be angry.

Great battles will take place all across the world. Brothers will fight brothers,

fathers will kill sons. Mothers and daughters will be set against each other. Sisters will fall in

battle with sisters and will watch their children murder each other in their turn.

Twilight will come to the world and the places where the humans live will fall into ruins,

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