Chapter 9) Consequences

//Leave comments with your opinion about the chapter.

A few minutes after returning to Helheim, Hela reabsorbed her Divine Avatar and headed towards the river of death, where she intended to continue her training and await a more deserving mortal to release her.

She had no desire for mortals to blindly worship her. She found the idea repulsive. Instead, she believed that a worthy mortal should possess talent or intelligence. Otherwise, once she bestowed a portion of her power upon them, they would not survive long and be of little use to her.

The recent mortal had been near death and deluded himself into thinking he could outsmart a god. Pathetic and useless, he was swiftly dispatched by Hela.

Upon reaching the river, Hela was taken aback to find a soul suspended in the current. More accurately, it should have floated downstream, but it remained stationary in the middle, refusing to move any further.

"Fascinating."

Hela created a chain to ensnare the soul using her divinity and pulled it ashore. She held the soul in her hand, examining her discovery with curiosity.

"The color is a dark gray, and the size is small—likely because he is a mortal. Hmm, what is this? Fragments from different dimensions? It seems he drew his power from various realms. Interesting."

Hela rarely worked directly with souls, but as the Goddess of Death, she often encountered them in her vicinity. However, she had only examined a soul this closely a couple of times before. One instance was when she led her army to Muspellheim, where they encountered a formidable fiery dragon. That day provided the most delicious campfire dinner she could recall.

The dragon's soul had been substantial and possessed a distinct red hue. However, she was somewhat distracted at the time, and the dragon's soul swiftly dispersed into the earth. She had not paid much attention to it then. Even now, when reflecting on that event, she still struggled to keep souls from dissipating into the world.

"What kind of soul is this? Let's find out."

Infusing the soul with some of her divine energy, Hela immediately gained access to a wealth of memories belonging to a mortal named Amon. She witnessed his childhood, his journey of learning magic, and the events that led him to his current state before encountering her.

Releasing the soul from her grasp, it dimmed significantly and descended back into the river, sinking to the depths below. Hela sat down on the ground, catching her breath.

"Damn it, my divinity has never been capable of accessing all the memories within a soul. When did this ability develop? Not only do I absorb the soul's knowledge, but I also absorb its will. If I'm not careful, my ego will dissolve."

Hela remained seated, sifting through her memories while strengthening her will and ego.

"Damn it, this world has too great an influence on my divinity, and I despise it."

Asgard.

Standing at the entrance of the rainbow bridge was Heimdall, a black man peering into the distance, holding a blade in his hands. As the first guardian of the divine kingdom and the second strongest warrior after King Odin himself, Heimdall fulfilled his sacred duty of vigilance, keeping watch over the nine realms to ensure no threats approached their gates.

Adorning his belt was a magnificent horn, intricately decorated with golden runes. Gjallarhorn, an artifact that would sound a warning throughout all of Asgard in the face of impending danger.

At that moment, Heimdall focused his gaze on the darkest of the nine realms, Helheim. He could have sworn he detected spatial fluctuations within that realm, but Hela, the Goddess of Death, remained imprisoned, showing no signs of escape. If anything had happened, he would have noticed immediately.

"The King requested that I report any anomalies, but there are no further spatial disturbances, and Hela is still serving her sentence. If I go to report now, I might miss other lurking dangers in the nine realms. Hmm, well, since nothing has occurred, perhaps the King doesn't need to know. After all, the Frost Giants seem to be up to something, and I cannot afford to be distracted by mere suspicions."

Heimdall shifted his gaze to the icy world of Niflheim, searching for any potential threats, ever ready to alert the King and be Asgard's first line of defense.

In the halls of the Divine Palace, King Odin, ruler of the Nine Realms, sat in his regal stature. Despite the relatively short time that had passed since his daughter's imprisonment, he appeared weary. His hair had grayed significantly, and faint wrinkles marked the corners of his eyes.

Before him, his courtiers engaged in heated debate, discussing the division of spoils from the recent war and deciding how the nine realms should be governed. Some advocated for establishing military camps across the world to swiftly crush any opposition if necessary. Others proposed a more peaceful approach, focusing on trade agreements and ruling over the realms following the example set by the dwarves.

Svartalfheim, the realm of blacksmiths, housed the primary forge powered by a star. This world was once inhabited by both dwarves and dark elves, until Odin's father, Bor, waged a massive and bloody war, eradicating the dark elves. Now, Svartalfheim belonged solely to the dwarves, Asgard's staunchest ally, who forged weapons, armor, and legendary artifacts for them.

"That will suffice. We shall leave the primary nine realms untouched, but allocate a few warriors to oversee the lower realms, ensuring our power is unchallenged."

"Yes, my King!"

"If it is your command."

"We shall obey."

With respectful bows, the courtiers departed to carry out Odin's instructions, leaving the great King of the Nine Realms alone on his throne.

"Midgard remains a realm of sorcerers and celestials. Niflheim still retains control over its main artifact, the Casket of Winters, making it impossible for me to send full-scale warriors there for constant supervision, let alone the other realms."

Shaking his head, Odin lamented that despite emerging as the victor of the recent war and being the nominal ruler of the nine realms, his authority only extended over Asgard and the lower realms.

Frigga was sitting in her garden and was sad because she had imprisoned her daughter in the world of the dead with her own hands and could not help her escape her fate in any way.

"I'm sorry, Hela, but I'm a bad mother. I couldn't help you and now you have to spend the rest of your life imprisoned in that world. I, I hope you can forgive me."

Frigga started crying again looking at the picture of little Hela. Who, at a very young age, already carried an iron sword with her.