28: The Party

[1st POV]

If one were to ask me to describe Asgard with only one word, I would without any hesitation say, Golden. Asgard is a realm filled with gold, almost everything is made of it, as if it was an extremely common material. But unlike when you were still a kid playing Minecraft and built a house only out of gold blocks to make it seem like you were rich to no one as the world would later get forgotten, Asgard was truly majestic.

Asgard was an eccentric realm, with a crazy amount of details, every building was different and that brought some sort of mysteriousness to the grandeur of Asgard. I was walking around the streets, and everything was eerily quiet. The shops that should have been full of people were empty, and even the proprietors seemed to be missing. A frightened aura propagated itself in the air, and with my divine hearing, I could hear the scared breaths and whispers of the Asgardians around me.

It seemed like they were not happy that I was there, and some even had a sword in their hands, as if that would change anything if I decided to attack them. At that moment, I remembered Odin's voice, "if you want to, you could join my son and his friends, they are having a feast."

The reason for that might not be clear, but maybe it could still be fun, and maybe I could learn some things from them, especially if they were drunk. I vanished from the street, and the common Asgardian population let out a deep sigh as they saw my disappearing figure.

I appeared in front of what seemed to be an unproportioned hut, but it was much stronger than it looked, as I could see some runes protecting the building. The door opened, and I was greeted with the sight of Thor and his friends looking at me with an awkward expression.

"Hades..." I heard a distant voice whisper with shock. It seemed like that person knew me. I looked around at everyone who was looking at me with distrustful expressions and remembered that everyone knew me, they were not chained like Fenrir.

After a few seconds, Thor, who had enough of the ambiance, raised his hand, in which there was a drinking horn, and shouted "It seems like we have an honorable guest here, so let's show him how we Asgardians celebrate!"

Other screams rang out, and everyone started drinking, and laughter boomed all over the room. Some played music while what seemed to be Viking waitresses walked around giving out horns. Thor went toward me, and around him were two women holding out horns from which Thor drank. "So have you come to join us, Hades?" he asked with his eyes falling to the women on his sides.

I nodded while taking something to drink from a passing waitress, "Thanks" I said with a smile as she simply walked away, no doubt a bit overwhelmed. "Yes, Odin proposed that I join you," I told him before taking a sip. "I see, then don't be shy and come drinking with us all!" he walked away to the middle of the crowd. "I won't" I responded, finishing the horn and teleporting it away.

As the night wore on, the festivities in Asgard only continued to get wilder and more intense. With most Asgardians well into their cups, their behavior became more and more unpredictable. Thor led the charge, shouting and laughing as he chugged mead from his horn.

The other gods followed suit, drinking and singing in raucous celebration. The music grew louder and more frenzied, and the dancing grew wilder as the gods moved to the hysteric beats. Some of the gods even began to engage in daring feats of strength, lifting the others and commenting on who threw someone the farthest away. The room echoed with the sound of clashing metals as the gods brandished their weapons, testing their skills against one and another in drunken states.

I stood back, against an isolated wall, observing the growing chaos. I took notes of the strengths and weaknesses of each god, making mental calculations of what they might be capable of in a fight. I was particularly intrigued by Thor, who seemed to be the life of the party and the center of all troubles. Despite the dangers of being in the same room as many drunken gods who seemed to have aggression problems, I was still calm. With my powers, I would easily be able to defeat them if they ever tried something against me.

However, as the night went on, I found myself drawn into the revelry despite my reservations. I took part in some of the strange and absurd competitions that the gods had devised, and I drank until my memory started to become hazy. I also took advantage of the opportunity to discreetly gather information from the others, observing their behavior and conversations as they became more inebriated.

Despite their wild and abandon behavior, the Norse gods were truly strange. They seemed to be constantly on the brink of inciting war, and it was a wonder that they had survived this long. I couldn't help but feel that a war between them and the rest of the world was inevitable.

But despite my misgivings, I found myself having a good time, laughing and drinking with the gods. The party continued well into the night, and before I knew it, I was completely caught up in the moment. The last thing I remembered before everything went black was the sound of clashing metals and the sight of the gods stumbling and rolling on the ground, their voices echoing in the room.