11 Little Sister Hel

[NIDHOGG. Unknown time. Unknown place.]

"Go away you stupid gnats!" Nidhogg threatened as a fled from the ongoing assault of a hoard of dragons.

He quickly turned his head to spew forth a ball of lava. The closest pursuing dragon was engulfed and despite its high resistance to heat, was nonetheless melted in second due. This was because Nidhogg's divine breath attack far exceeded the heat of normal magma. Instead producing temperatures equal to those of a supernova.

Another dragon used the opportunity to launch a bite attack on Nidhogg's blind side. Sinking its teeth into the flesh of Nidhogg's neck. Unfortunately for the assailant, Nidhogg's blood was a divine poison. The unfortunate dragon exploded into a cloud of gore as the poisonous blood near instantly spread throughout its body. However, the bite inflicted by the recently deceased dragon remained forcing, Nidhogg to waste energy in healing the affliction.

Although these dragons would normally be ants in Nidhogg's eyes, his current weakened state had reduced him to a mere one hundred meters in length and a reduction in power that scaled with his new size. Thus, an ongoing and coordinated attack from over a hundred dragons, was not something he could simply shrug off. Instead he was forced to flee or eventually succumb to superior numbers and once more die.

"The universe is so unfair," Nidhogg bemoaned his fate.

He had accepted a request to challenge Tiamat the self-labelled Mother of All Dragons. However, he hadn't expected his foe to be on a level equal to himself. Worse still, she cheated. Calling forth an army of dragons to assist her. Not only these irritating chromatic dragons, but even epic, legendary, mythic and divine dragons.

Nidhogg had died three times, before managing to escape. His only consolation was that he had eliminated Tiamat's husband. A particularly vile divine dragon who called himself Apsu the Lord of the Dark Waters.

"I'm almost safe," Nidhogg celebrated as he approached the World Tree Yggdrasill.

There was no way that Tiamat's forces would cross into the dimension controlled by the fierce Asgardians. Nidhogg would be safe as soon as he reached his home dimension.

A pleasant, tingling sensation spread throughout Nidhogg's body as he entered his birth dimension. He quickly shifted into his humanoid form. A one meter tall, winged lizardman. Although this lesser form was not one he favoured due to its short and chubby stature, Nidhogg still undertook the transformation so as to hide his normal body's diminished size.

CRAKOOM!

The loud sound of thunder rang out as a group of enemy dragons was obliterated as soon as they materialised in Nidhogg's birth dimension.

"Hee. Hee." Nidhogg chuckled. "Stupid idiots. You can't get me here."

Nidhogg decided to travel to his home at the roots of the World Tree. He'd spend a few decades recovering by chewing on the roots of Yggdrasil. Once he got his strength back, he'd challenge Tiamat again. Though this time he'd bring a few friends of his own.

"Pah!" spat Nidhogg. "Mother of All Dragons my foot. Wait till I tell Jormungandr and Fafnir. They'll think it's hilarious. But first I'll go pay a visit to my little sister and see how she's going."

Nidhogg opened a gateway to Helheim, realm of the dishonourable dead. To visit his adopted sister. The world of Helheim was cold and dark. A place of unending sorrow and torment for those cast down here. Usually the never ending lament of the damned would fill the air with wailing and crying. However, now the world was empty.

Nidhogg extended his mystical senses to search the furthest corners of the gigantic world and was disconcerted to find there wasn't a single inhabitant present.

After a second scan, Nidhogg located an obsidian box that pulsed with magical energy. He immediately rushed over to it and found a scroll lying on top. Quickly unfurling the scroll, Nidhogg began to read what was written.

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Dear Big Brother Nidhogg,

If you have found this letter, it means I died. Ragnarok occurred again and I led the armies of Helheim to attack Asgard. No doubt I died in glorious battle. Hopefully I kicked Thor's pompous ass, because there's no way I'm letting Fenrir hog all the glory this time.

I will place part of my essence into a sealed magic box. Which I'll leave next to this note I'm writing. It will probably be a few centuries before I can recover enough to create a physical form.

However, I promise that as soon as the next cycle begins, I'll definitely take you to that world I found. It was such a cool world with this thing called an internet, which contained knowledge that rivalled Odin's library.

Anyhow, it would be great if you could avoid bringing trouble to the Nine Realms while me and the other gods recover from our epic punch up.

Lot of love from Little Sister Hel.

********************

"I missed Ragnarok again," Nidhogg lamented.

He began to fret. After Ragnarok, the World Tree Yggdrasill would enter a cycle of rejuvenation. During this time, Yggdrasill would draw nourishment from the lesser beings residing within it, who had managed to survive Ragnarok. All entities below the mythical realm, would be consumed.

Nidhogg usually didn't have to worry about this, since he was a divine dragon. However, after suffering from three consecutive deaths, his level of power had greatly fallen. Now he was only comparable to an epic dragon.

If he stayed in his birth dimension, then his very soul would be extinguished. Unfortunately, if he left the protection of the World Tree, then he'd be hunted down by Tiamat and her armies.

"Crap!" snapped Nidhogg. "I'm going to have to inhabit a divine idol and rest to gather my energies."

Divine idols were mortal made items, which had been used to send sacrificial energies to a divine being. Most of these were in the form of sacrificial alters and weapons. Because they had formed a link with a divine being, these items ended up containing a minuscule amount of divine power associated with that being.

Nidhogg had never focused on building any religions around himself. However, his presence alone often induced mortals he encountered to worship him. So, he was sure that there were at least a few hundred divine idols he could send his essence into to hide and rest.

The only problem was that Tiamat might actively seek those divine idols in order to destroy them. To safeguard his existence, Nidhogg would need to fragment his essence into multiple divine idols. Hoping that Tiamat would find something else to do before she managed to locate them all.

"Alright," said Nidhogg. "I'll disperse my essence into as many divine idols as I can."

After deciding on a course of action, Nidhogg did a quick tour of the Nine Realms linked together by Yggdrasill. Since it would be a long time before he could lay his eyes on his birth world again. Then he returned to Helheim to write a note.

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Dear Little Sister Hel,

If you are reading this, it means that I have died. I was seriously wounded in a titanic battle with divine dragons from another realm. It's a shame you weren't there to see it. The battle was truly epic, with flames, volcanoes, lightning, lasers, and everything. In short, my battle made Ragnarok look like a name calling contest between pre-adolescent children.

Anyway, I'm off to disperse my essence into multiple divine idols. It'll probably be a while before I can return. I promise next time I won't miss Ragnarok again.

Lots of love from Big Brother Nidhogg.

********************

When he'd completed his letter, Nidhogg lay down and closed his eyes. After a few hours of concentration, his body dispersed into hundreds of specs of light of varying size. These specs of light slowly disappeared as they teleported themselves into the hundreds of divine idols dedicated to Nidhogg, which were spread throughout the universe. One of these items was a round jagged rock, which held pride of place in a certain gnome chieftain's treasury.