21: Journey Toward Asgard
Hades walked through a thick and dense forest. He gazed at the dark green leaves that were touched by a few gleaming sunshine, bringing out a calm and reposing beauty to them.
The sky was made of a light blue color while it's cloud were the shape of fantasy. The sky seemed calm and peaceful, Hades could see the form of some gods and famous mortal etched in the clouds.
The glorious sun slowly disappeared as it made a circle around the earth. The night started to wake up with a dusky light trying to cover the sky.
The branches and leaves on the ground crackled as Hades stepped on them.
The animals in this forest seemed not to notice the god walking in their home. They ran their gaze riveted on the ground searching for food to conserve, as the conditions to live will become much harsher.
He continued his walked and pervaded many territories. He walked under the flickering weather. He walked under the rain, under the snow and against the wind. Days and nights passed, following their predestined path.
After some time Hades stood high on a brown mountain. In the horizon was an enormous gulf that seemed to mark the separation between realm, and pantheon territories.
He jumped and after a strange fall he continued his journey.
He walked till he found another place. It was cold and snow fell with some sort of mysticallity.
In the horizon, Hades could feel some sort of strong energy. And far away in the depth of the universe he found a tree. It stood proudly as if it was the center of the world.
The tree was white with the reflection of the sun, that never reached it. It's branches were infinitely long and seemed to reach the heavens. It root grew in all directions while making a path toward other realms.
But the strangest thing was the atmosphere around it. It felt like it was out of the universe but as if it was the universe itself. It presence greatly reassembled Khaos but it seemed to have some small difference. Hades could not entirely feel it's power so he could not compare it with Khaos. Thought he also can not fell the entirety of Khaos' power.
Hades had naturally an idea about what this was. Ginnungagap, the Norse Khaos. The Egyptian and Norse and some other pantheons also have their own Khaos, but it is not as famous as the Greek one.
But as it seemed to not want anything with him, Hades also did not invoke Ginnungagap.
At that moment a squirrels climbed down the Tree. He looked at Hades and asked "What's a god of corpses doing here?"
Hades squinted his eyes and thought 'god of… corpses?!'. He recognized the Squirrel, if was Ratatoskr who roamed the world tree trying to bring it down by enraging a dragon on the roots and an eagle on the top.
The god of the dead responded "I am just here to visit, a few being and then go to Asgard.".
"Oh and how do you plan to do" said the squirrel playfully while his claws were out.
"Well I am going to climb that tree." Responded clearly the god.
"Oh, Well you're Greek after all, you probably have experience climbing on those branches" mocked Ratatoskr.
A small chuckle escaped Hades' mouth after all it was true for most of the Greek gods, though not him. Hades responded "I am a god, I do what I do and what I want is to visit Asgard and only another god can stop me from doing that."
The squirrel then asked "And why do you think I am no god. After all I am immortal and with but simple words I can provoke wars between you primitive beings."
Hades looked at him and with a movement of hand he simply said "you are no god".
Ratatoskr laughed and answered "Are you trying to Jedi trick me, dear Padawan".
Hades face froze for a second before it became normal and he thought. 'He knows Starwars... That means that he can see the 'future' like primordials or he has a time divinity like Kronos… He is strong.'
The god of the dead then playfully responded "You underestimate my power". He tried to make doubt appear in Ratatoskr' mind, so that he though Hades can also see the future. Which he can but only a bit and not on the level of primordials.
The squirrel took a step back and said with an elegant voice while showing Hades the way. " Have a good journey, great Sir, god of creepy places"
Hades started walking to the tree but before teleporting he asked "Are you sure, your not Loki or a son of his"
However he teleported before hearing the curses Ratatoskr sent him.
Hades arrived on a beautiful Island. The water surrounding him was dark blue and seemed isolated from the ray of the sun. The sand was extremely light and almost white. There was many trees, some thick and dark while there also stood some palm tree. There was also some sort of white fog that seemed to hide this island from the rest of the world.
Hades looked skyward, he could feel a gaze aimed at him. It seemed to be around the same power level as Zeus. This gaze seemed wise, and considering all that Hades knew about the Norse pantheon he figured out this was Odin.
Odin was probably watching if Hades wanted war or to prevent him from doing anything bad for the Norse pantheon. Hades looked at him and smiled before uttering "don't worry I won't do any harm".
The god of darkness then walked toward the center of the Island. And there he saw it.
A gigantic white wolf, with sharp fangs, drool flowing out of his mouth. An aura of destruction and hunger. Golden chains on his feet.
Hades looked at him, his eyes glowing even more than normal. He approached the angry wolf and…
Patted him while saying "Good dog". Fenrir became confused angry though he kinda liked it, but he would never say this out loud.