Chapter 6

In the great hall, a realm beyond Midgard, Vanaheim, Jotunheim, and even Asgard. The place where life originated. A location where great warriors unite after death, welcomed by the gods themselves, silent steps are taken.

Calm and unhurried, each step was taken slowly towards the center of the great hall, where runes surrounded the place, runes engraved on the walls and columns made of the purest and brightest gold.

Great jewels embedded in the enormous columns that ascend towards the ceiling as if there were no end.

At the end of the hall, a throne.

The brightest, most beautiful, and majestic in the entire place.

The place where the Allfather, on days of celebration, when brave warriors arrive, is present.

In the center, surrounded by enormous benches and silver tables, tables adorned with various golden horns, dragon horns, as they say, and trays made of the same material as the furniture and, like the benches and tables, the trays have their own runes, there is a great altar where the strongest and most beautiful purple flame in the entire realm burns, the flame of life, Ymir's heart.

The individual extended his hand towards the flame.

"Do not do that, brother."

A firm voice that conveyed power, an electrifying power that seemed to course through his body in an instant, stopped him from continuing.

"Brother...?"

His long black hair moved as he turned his head. He turned towards his brother, his green eyes meeting the blue eyes ahead.

"Father is wise and merciful, you know. If you stop this now, he will surely forgive what you are doing now and even what you caused in Asgard."

"Forgive? He will forgive me?"

Covering his mouth, he tried to contain himself but couldn't. His laughter echoed throughout the great hall. His eyes gleamed.

"That trash is in no position to do something like that. He never was."

"How can you say that about our father? What has he done for you, no, for us, other than giving the best upbringing a god could receive?"

"Then you don't know... No, how could you know? You, who care about nothing but fighting. The god of thunder, so proud of his divinity, but as pathetic as any other mortal, nothing more than a dog of our father."

"What..? Loki, you..."

"Forgive me, brother. The conversation is good, but I still have something to do. However..."

"Loki..."

Blue lightning illuminated the entire hall. Lightning dominated the place.

"Remove your hand from the flame; this is my final warning."

The runic hammer in his hands covered by even more powerful lightning. His body covered in electricity. His eyes shining. There was a blue glow that for many meant certain death.

"Tell the old man that the end is near and he can do nothing. My revenge, tell him, will be to take from him what he loves most."

"If you even think of doing anything more to Asgard, Loki, I swear..."

"Asgard...?"

Loki laughed again. But the gleam in his eyes did not return. They seemed dead, morbid eyes.

"You really don't know him, or pretend not to? Tell him that the one who will now hold the world's distinction will be me, and no one else."

"What are you..."

Thor tried, but it was too late. The flame had disappeared, and Loki was no longer there; at least he could no longer find him.

"Until next time, brother. But what a pity, the next time will also be the last..."

"Loki!!"

Lightning tore through the skies. Even outside the great hall, the glow was visible. The result of a god's fury being released all at once.

***************

With the purple flame in one hand and a small sphere with a faint blue glow emanating from its octagonal prismatic faces in the other, Loki appeared in an immense sea of ice.

"Even a portal wasn't fast enough to escape that lightning... A god of thunder, indeed."

Smoke emanating from the left side of his face.

His burnt flesh and destroyed eye slowly regenerating as he raised one hand.

The sphere rising towards the sky, its glow intensifying more and more.

The blue light covered the entire sky. A magnificent, yet frightening sight.

'He spoke with such certainty that this little toy would indeed work... to think something created with a mere hand movement could contain an entire pantheon... If one of them is so monstrous, imagine its creator. I understand why they all accepted that idiotic game without contesting. Despite the fact that they are also participating...'

After a massive bang, light followed by lightning coursed through the entire force field created by the sphere.

"They arrived much sooner than I expected."

After the first blow, sequences were made without rest. More lightning, birds turning into black smoke upon hitting the force field, and dozens of other attacks caused a simply spectacular vision for those inside the dome.

"Are you really going to do this?"

A woman appeared beside him.

One side of her face as beautiful as any other goddess, but the other with a corrosive aspect, as if in constant decomposition. She wore a long black dress that extended past her feet.

At no moment did she touch the ground.

"There is no turning back." Loki looked to the side, meeting her eyes for a brief moment. His long black hair blowing in the wind. "You know this. All of you know."

A bit further away, observing everything from behind, two colossal beings remained crouched.

A serpent with green and shining scales and eyes so large that its body extended to the edge of the energy dome, wrapping around itself at the end.

The other, equally colossal, a black-furred wolf with red eyes and flames dancing constantly in its gaze, its paws curved, in size, resembling the surrounding ice mountains, even lying on the snow, its ears easily touched the dome that reached the skies.

"From now on," Loki said, his eyes scanning the surroundings, "Ragnarok is officially declared."

As the attacks on the barrier continued, hundreds, thousands, no, millions of beings emerged from the ice desert that was that place.

Some as large as mountains, others with stature and physiognomy similar to humans.

Some, though not even close to the originals, resembled dragons—smaller, certainly, much smaller.

Their bodies more lustrous and resistant than the purest crystal, extended, along with their wings, to dozens, some to hundreds of meters: very different from dragons, indeed, whose irises, even in the smallest existing specimens, were so large that countless stars could fit in them.

***************

"What?!" exclaimed a young man on the phone, "It's not even a week since you left home, what do you mean by marriage?!"

"Don't ask me," replied the girl of desolate beauty, "I was also..."

Something fell beside the bench where she was sitting. The generated wind blew her hair to the side.

"Is it serious, Lior...? — while fixing her hair, she put the phone in her pocket "What are you doing here?"

"Marriage?" the young man adjusted his clothes, messed up by the wind, and sat beside the girl—beside his sister. "That's crazy!"

"I know..."

"Who is the idiot who would marry you?"

"What? ...Repeat."

"No..., what I meant was that you hadn't mentioned anything about this before. I didn't even know you had a boyfriend."

"And I didn't."

"So who... 'Lior looked around, people gathered around the place where they were "Alyia, are you wearing your mask?" he asked.

"Yes, but I think it's not working very well."

He looked at his sister's face "No, it's certainly working."

"Yes, but yours isn't.' Alyia said "You aren't even wearing it."

"What? No, of course I..." Lior ran his hand over his face for a brief moment, seemingly searching for something, something that wasn't there "Damn..."

So many people looked at them with desire, the longing to possess them evident in their eyes.

Especially Lior.

In those people's eyes, he did not seem human, a man.

To some of them, he was just a large, succulent piece of meat, which they would do anything to possess.

While for others, he was like a large, shiny treasure, the most precious of all, which they should keep away from everyone and everything and protect until the end of their lives.

Alyia sighed.

With a raise of her hands, the people around them fainted, in moments, all those dozens of people fell to the ground.

And with a snap of her fingers, she and Lior were no longer in that simple park.

They were now in the living room of a huge apartment, whose view showcased a famous river of the city they were in, the Han River, and, next to it, the hunters' association building of that country.

"Thinking about it... you said 'didn't have'?" Lior lay on the large sofa, crossing his legs and resting his head on Alyia's lap "What did you mean by that?"

"Exactly what you are thinking. Now I have a boyfriend."

"Is it the same guy from the marriage?"

"Yes." Alyia began to gently run her fingers through Lior's golden hair "I was a bit curious about his reaction when he saw me and also about something else..."

"Although it works, the mask doesn't make us look horrible, as you are insinuating. Even with it, you would still be irresistible to 99.9% of the world's population, so it's not strange he feels attracted to you."

"Really?" Alyia smiled "And are you included in that percentage?"

Smiling, Lior responded, "Why do you think I said 99.9%?"

"You..." After lightly pulling her brother's hair, Alyia sighed. "But it's not just the attraction. Besides the marriage proposal, the way he acts when he sees me is really surprising. And when you see him, you'll understand why I'm so curious."

Lior was confused.

He opened his eyes and continued to observe Alyia, trying to grasp what she was implying.

"Well, I don't see that marriage proposal as voluntary," she said.

"So you forced him to do it?"

"Don't be an idiot!" With her free hand, Alyia flicked Lior's forehead. "...I don't know why, but whenever he sees me, he seems completely paralyzed, as if he can't think straight. To me, the marriage proposal was a consequence of that."

"Did you see each other when you weren't wearing the mask? If so, that would explain his reaction."

"No, I was wearing the mask, and the first time we met, I was soaking wet, but even then, the effect was the same."

"I don't get it. Does water make you uglier? Do you melt like ice?"

"Seriously?"

"Sorry, but..." Lior stood up and faced Alyia. "I'm still trying to understand how he went from being seemingly paralyzed to proposing marriage. I'm also curious about how you ended up with a boyfriend in the midst of all this. I should have brought Teodoro with me; he's the one who knows how to read minds, not me."

"The most powerful and capable man alive, huh... well, forget about that and go chase that rat away for me."

"No, that's not necessary. But since you obviously don't want to go, I'll go open the door."

"...Why is he coming here?"

"What do you think? You knocked out an entire park full of visitors."

"...He wouldn't come from China to Korea just for that."

Getting up from the couch and walking across the large room, Lior headed toward the large white door.

"Long time no see, Yang Kai," he said as he opened the door.

"We saw each other last week," replied the young man with long, spiky black hair. "And does this belong to you?" he asked, lifting an unconscious man by the neck.

"Is this serious?"

"Sorry, I'm joking." As his neck was released, the man began to slowly vanish as he fell to the ground. "I came here for another reason. I need a little help from you."