Midgar and the Temple of Tyr 2.268

Simply leaving the transfer room where the Yggdrasil representation was, Rosewisse and Viggo realized they were in Helheim. The anteroom that preceded the transfer room was cold and the blizzard seeped under the exit door letting the snowflakes through. The atmosphere was extremely icy to the point that Rosewisse began to shiver and Viggo activated his touki unconsciously. Viggo took Rosewisse's hand and transferred his touki, which made the cold tolerable. However, in addition to the cold and snow, both heard a hammer on an anvil, something to which Viggo was totally familiar. After all, in his family he had his father and mother, not counting Tsubaki and his aunt Mikoto, all blacksmiths.

Viggo frowned thinking of that blue-skinned dwarf who called himself Brok. Thinking about it, he may be another Brok and not that airhead that he created with his brother the mjolnir, but if that dwarf escaped, he knew he was guilty. Viggo and Rosewisse looked at each other, nodded, and advanced down a ramp of energy to the anteroom. Just like the time that dwarf spoke to them, he had his blacksmith workshop deployed in a corner of the anteroom. It had everything from a worktable to a whetstone of those that you step on a mechanism and the whetstone spins like a wheel. Viggo and Rosewisse saw the dwarf who called himself Brok hammering a red-hot steel blade on an anvil between the workbench and the forge. With each hammer he drew a good number of sparks. On the other hand, the ringing was constant and controlled, what Viggo's father would call a good rhythm.

—Hey, pair of!— said Brok —they're going to come or they're going to stare from a distance. I warn you, if you try to be clever with me, I have ways to defend myself—

—Ooooh, how when did you fix the shit you left behind by passing such a destructive weapon to a crazy murderer?— asked Viggo in a mocking tone as he approached Rosewisse holding his hand and sharing the touki.

—It's a weapon, fool, what did you want me to do? Leave it hidden for the rest of eternity?—

—Have you thought better of who you gave it to? I don't know, maybe someone less crazy? Maybe someone who didn't turn all Midgar into a world of death—

Brok gave a hammer to the metal that detuned all the rhythm he was carrying, raised his face and looked Viggo in the eye.

—Why are you standing before us, dwarf?— asked Viggo —helping strangers won't repair all the damage you and your brother did—

—I don't care about the damage— Brok said —I did what I did, just like everyone else. The only difference is that my shit is a little more noticeable than the others, but boy, I'm not the only one who has made big mistakes, now are you interested in doing business?—

—What kind of business?—

—I'm a blacksmith— replied the dwarf —of course, I offer weapons and armor—

—What do you want in return?—

—I smell Vanir magic in you, I know you're wearing a Valkyrie, but I mean Asgardian metals—

Viggo looked at Rosewisse, saw that she was bringing her Valkyrie armor except for the helmet. At the same time, Rosewisse covered her chest with her other hand and looked at him angrily. Viggo looked at the dwarf and clarified —Rosewisse's armor will not be sacrificed— he said.

—Of course not, what kind of Valkyrie would you be if you did? They are more proud and stubborn than my grandmother. What I mean is that you walk around with metal ingots, right?—

Viggo looked at Rosewisse and she frowned but nodded. They both looked at the dwarf and asked him —What could you do with a perfect Asgardian steel ingot?—

—One at a time, a couple of idiots— Brok said —and I couldn't do much. For quality armor you should be five ingots. For one weapon two and so on. One is none. So, if you want me to do something, you must have two things: materials and gold—

—You're pretty shameless— said Viggo.

—Say what you want, but when you're as good as I am you don't do things for free—

Viggo looked down for a few seconds and asked —Do you know where I could find minerals?—

—I don't know and if you're going out, keep in mind that it's terribly cold outside. You use magic, you can hold on for a moment, but be careful or you'll become an ice cream popsicle—

—One last question—

—What do you want now?—

—Is there anywhere I can find dwarf smithy manuscripts?—

Brok frowned and asked him back —what the hell does a god want to know dwarf smithing for?—

—My mother is a goddess of forging, my father is a great blacksmith, I want to have something of my own and not be in shadow—

Brok buffooned and said contemptuously —speaking of conceited people—

—Forget it— Viggo replied and guided Rosewisse to the exit.

—Hey, wait, you the Valkyrie— Brok shouted.

Viggo and Rosewisse stopped and looked back at him.

—What do you want?— asked Rosewisse with a frown.

—You, you're similar to someone, does the name Gondul ring a bell?—

Rosewisse narrowed his eyes and replied —It's my grandmother, why?—

—Then you have his wand—

—You don't care about that, it's something from my family—

Brok didn't answer but smiled in a friendly manner. Then he looked at Viggo and said —If you're willing to take danger for a little blacksmithing information, you can go to Niflheim, but it's very dangerous—

—Why are you saying it now?— asked Viggo, but Brok turned around and went back to work.

Viggo and Rosewisse looked into each other's eyes. It was not new knowledge, rather, they were expecting to find something interesting in Niflheim by the fact that Ivaldi had been there. However, they might now have a hint of what they might find. In a certain sense it was true what Viggo said, he did not want to be in the shadow of his parents, without considering that what they knew and how they did it, would take Viggo several decades to be minimally efficient. He didn't expect an easy or faster way with the dwarf blacksmithing of this world, but at least give his own style to his blacksmithing.

Viggo and Rosewisse walked to the exit doors made of metal five meters high and two meters wide each. Viggo let go of Rosewisse for a few moments, snapped his fingers between the doors, and slammed them open. The blizzard hit them head-on, and a cloudy, dark world lay before their eyes. Ahead stretched the same gold-plated, obsidian stone bridge as in the other kingdoms, but here it was frozen, with huge mounds of ice covering much of the way.

—Hey, damn!— shouted Brok from the inside —if you're going out, close the damn door and don't look at the scenery—

Viggo looked back and saw Rosewisse hugging herself. Viggo gestured for her to come out and she did. Viggo quickly let go of the doors, went out and hugged her transmitting his red touki. That brought enormous relief to Rosewisse.

—Thank you, I thought I was going to freeze to death— Rosewisse said quietly.

—I understand, don't walk away from me under any circumstances— replied Viggo —I provide the touki and you cast magic.

—Yes, I think so—

—Good—

Viggo took Rosewisse's left hand to continue supplying touki and she materialized her silver wand in her right hand. Then Viggo used his clairvoyance to link the existence of Rosewisse who as a Valkyrie emitted a type of energy and looked for the signal like that of Rosewisse. Viggo's clairvoyance soared through the skies like a bird, but it was unaffected by the strong blizzards and snow. Viggo's vision traveled along the bridge, but unlike the other kingdoms, it extended indefinitely into the distance. At the same time, snow and ice covered everything, obstructing much of the road. Viggo saw how the specters made of a matter like the green mist of Odin's ravens traveled across the bridge but remained stuck in front of a huge portal several tens of meters high and wide. However, that was not his goal, so he continued to travel with his clairvoyance and saw that the bridge had a connection with a mountain on the left side of the bridge, there was a cave, and, in that cave, you could see the entrance to the Odin chamber. Unlike other kingdoms, there was no great gate or diamond-shaped stone rune seal here.

Viggo closed his eyes and turned off his clairvoyance, looked at Rosewisse, she was fine and looked at him more at ease. The touki was too convenient in these circumstances.

—Do you think you can fly?— asked Viggo.

Rosewisse looked up, realized how strong the blizzards looked, and shook her head —it can be dangerous and I'm not willing to take that risk. Better walk, if there is no way, we will have to climb or something, but it is better than to take the risk of being pushed into the air and falling into the depths of Hel—

—I understand— replied Viggo, and they both began to walk, passing through the mounds of snow and ice that covered Helheim's long bridge. The landscape was always the same, ice and snow, with the only variation being that from time to time they saw some intangible specters pierce their bodies and move forward. During the first two hours of walking there were few times that this event happened, but as they moved away from the temple of Tyr the sight of the specters on the bridge was more frequent to the point that at one time they were counted by dozens.

On the other hand, the heroic statues of Tyr's temple bridge were changed to statues that mimicked the shape of wraiths and looked pitiful. All of them advancing with malnourished bodies, weak or in poses of supplication.

Finally, Viggo and Rosewisse arrived in front of the great gate with several tens of meters high and wide that prevented the advance of the specters. Viggo and Rosewisse continued to move forward and now they were the ones who passed through the bodies of the specters, but these then regained their shape as if they were clouds of steam or something intangible that was recovered. Arriving in front of the gates, Viggo brought his left hand to the surface and claped it; cold, solid rock, he thought.

Viggo and Rosewisse looked at the sides of the door, where there were large mountains of snow and ice. Viggo guided Rosewisse to the left and as he supposed, there was a way to pass to the other side. However, this raised the question: Why didn't the specters pass through here? It was a small cave one meter wide and two meters high, viable for anyone.

—It doesn't matter— Viggo muttered —come on, Rosewisse, the more later we get to Odin's chamber, the more we'll be out of all this cold—

—Yes, it is the best, but this will be painful— said Rosewisse, looking at the cave that cut through the ice and snow to the other side.

—In that case take off your armor, that way you will have less volume in your wings, and they will be more flexible—

Rosewisse nodded and faded her Valkyrie armor to only stay in a long one-piece dress and bare feet. If she hadn't had the touki layer on her body now she would be in shock.