396

Hella's News

Outside the spaceship window, another vessel came into view.

The shape of this spaceship struck a chord with Forseti. Almost immediately, he recognized it as the standard design of the Aesir Corps!

Forseti was naturally impressed by the Aesir Corps of sakaar, renowned for crafting their ships from metal parts fashioned by Hela herself.

This particular ship, likely belonging to the Aesir Corps, had just completed refueling on a nearby planet and was slowly accelerating to depart.

Forseti swiftly turned his spacecraft around and sped towards it.

After a brief chase, he positioned himself directly in front of the other ship, compelling them to open their hatch and allow him entry.

"Who are you?" The crew inside the spacecraft were on high alert and visibly anxious. Witnessing Forseti maneuvering in space had made it clear he wasn't an ordinary being.

Forseti surveyed the crew and noted many were from sakaar. His excitement grew as he hurriedly asked, "Are you members of the Aesir Corps from sakaar?"

The crew exchanged bewildered glances upon hearing his question, eventually one of them ventured cautiously, "How do you know?"

"Is Hela on sakaar?" Forseti interjected eagerly.

"Yes..." The crew member hesitated, taking a step back, "Do you know our Queen?"

With confirmation received, Forseti stood dumbfounded.

Hela was actually on sakaar!

While Forseti had considered the possibility, he had dismissed it. sakaar wasn't an ideal place; it was a super junkyard with abnormal temporal flows. There seemed no reason for Hela to return there.

Moreover, Forseti couldn't locate the space channel connecting sakaar. The gateway he initially used to reach Vanaheim had long vanished. Furthermore, the Eye of Allsight seemed to offer no insight into Hela's whereabouts.

"How has Hela been on sakaar during this time? Since she returned until now," Forseti pressed on.

"Um..." The crew members exchanged uneasy glances. Finally, one spoke, "Her Majesty has been well. Several decades ago, after the reckoning of sakaar, she returned and resumed leadership of the Aesir Corps. Under her guidance, we overthrew Grandmaster's oppressive rule..."

Listening intently, Forseti nodded slowly. "Why did you leave sakaar?"

"We're tasked with gathering intelligence from beyond. sakaar is cut off from the outside, so we dispatch special fleets through wormholes to gather information," the crew member explained.

"Do you have a way to enter sakaar?" Forseti inquired decisively.

"Yes, we do."

Forseti pondered briefly, then declared, "I'm coming with you."

"This..."

Without waiting for their response, Forseti continued, "Wait here. I'll be right back."

With that, he turned and returned to his own spaceship, summoning two symbiotes. "Can you two return to Klyntar Star on your own?"

"In theory, yes," Mustang replied. "Even in my current equine form, I'm capable of piloting a ship."

Venom appeared puzzled. "Why? Don't you want to visit Klyntar Star?"

"I do, but I have more pressing matters now," Forseti explained.

Venom fell silent for a moment. "Okay."

"Eddie, we'll meet again, I'm sure." Forseti patted Venom reassuringly before departing and rejoining the Aesir Corps' vessel.

Watching Forseti leave, Mustang sighed in relief. "Thank goodness he's gone. Imagine returning to Klyntar with an alien; we'd never hear the end of it from our kind... What's gotten into you, anyway?"

He eyed Venom suspiciously.

Venom slinked towards the ship's viewport, silently watching as Forseti's vessel faded into the vast expanse of stars.

"You're not going to miss that guy, are you? He's the reason you look so ugly." Mustang prodded Venom.

"Miss him? Who do you take me for!" Venom retorted animatedly before abruptly leaving the viewport.

The wild horse shook his mane indifferently and made his way to the pilot's seat. Awkwardly manipulating the console with his hooves, he mused aloud, "Let's head home quickly. Who knows how long it's been? What's Klyntar Star look like now? Oh, and remember that riot he..."

Venom paid no heed to Mustang's words, instead sneaking a glance out the viewport. But Forseti's ship had already vanished, lost amid the boundless starry sky.

...

Kamar-Taj.

Nierdi sat in her chamber, idly twisting a strand of snow-white hair between her fingers—hair that was once hers.

Despite being the most formidable sorceress in the history of the Ancient Sanctum, the mightiest human on Earth, and an entity akin to the gods themselves, she remained confined within a mortal shell. A few decades were enough to render her aged and feeble, her hair now a pallid hue and her skin creased with time.

Foreseeing her imminent decline amidst the relentless march of age, Nierdi's thoughts were tangled.

She desired to prolong her life, possessed of the means to do so, yet fretted over the potential repercussions of defying natural law.

Throughout history, Supreme Sorcerers had all chosen to perish as mortals, including the founding Sorcerer Supreme Agamotto. Reverence for natural law was embedded in every incantation within the ancient tomes.

To continue or not to continue?

Gazing at the strand of white hair, Nierdi's expression wavered. After a prolonged silence, she resolved—she chose to extend her existence.

Nierdi retrieved a tome: "The Book of Cagliostro."

This ancient grimoire delved into the intricacies of time manipulation, chronicling a dimensional entity beyond time—Dormammu, the Dark Lord endowed with boundless arcane might.

Flipping through the pages of the "Book of Cagliostro," Nierdi drew a deep breath and began reciting the incantation inscribed therein.

A profound incantation issued forth from her lips, traversing boundless time and space, reaching towards an indescribable realm of darkness.

After several repetitions, an ominous consciousness stirred, and from the distant darkness came a reply: "Who calls upon me? Who summons the darkness?"

---