Shadow of the Beautiful World

Our Majesty the King is leading an army, and the abnormal activity of the Jotunheim frost giants is already an imminent problem.

The calm and crisp voice of Queen Frigg echoed in the hall of the Astrologer Tower.

This is the most active place where the magical power of Asgard surges. The rune witches under the command of the queen decorate the queen's tower in a very imaginative way. On the top of the astrology tower, there are shining stars projected in accordance with the The running direction is running.

This is also the most sacred holy place in the minds of all astrologers in the entire Nine Kingdoms.

It is also the location of the largest library in Asgard, where secrets from ancient times to the future are recorded.

But now, in this place where only the most skilled rune witches should be able to enter, there are full of ministers and generals from the Golden Palace. There is no doubt that something important has happened here.

We have no doubt that the great God-King, my husband Odin, can bring Asgard another glorious victory, that is inevitable. But we also have urgent problems to deal with now, everyone, and this is what I want tonight The reason for calling you here.

The Queen of Heaven is leaning on her own ivory cane, her long golden hair flutters behind her shoulders, she was once the most beautiful and wise witch in the whole of Asgard, she was favored by the King of the God Realm and became his queen, this has passed Thousands of years.

Although the Nordic gods in myths and legends are immortal, in fact, although Asgardians can live for a long time, they are still not immune to the effects of birth, aging, sickness and death.

The once beautiful queen is no longer young, her face has been sculpted by time and has wrinkles.

But her wisdom has not weakened in the slightest. The passage of time has made her wiser and won the respect of everyone in the Golden Palace.

But now, the theoretical regent has a serious face, and she said to the golden ministers in front of her:

The spirits of the dead prayed to me, and in my sleep they announced a terrible truth to me.

Everyone, the dimension of hell is becoming chaotic, and the first thing this chaos affects is the cycle of life and death of the Asgardians.

It is our ancient tradition that the bravest and wisest of our people go to the halls of Valhalla after death, where they will be honored forever. But we cannot ignore the rest of the dead.

Tianhou moved the cane on the ground covered with mysterious runes, and when the tip of the ivory cane collided with the ground, ripples echoed like water waves.

They may not be good enough to enter Valhalla, but they are still our people. In return for our allegiance to the king, we should also defend their right to belong to the World Tree after their lives are over! That is the same It's our tradition.

Well, Asgardians have a different outlook on life and death than people on Earth.

They believe that the origin of all life in the Nine Kingdoms comes from the invisible but real World Tree among the stars. They believe that after the journey of life is over, all pure souls will return to the World Tree. So far, life and death cycle can be truly completed.

It will be sad for the soul who does not complete this cycle.

In the Asgardian concept, hell also exists. All the dead must enter Niflheim, which is the country of fog, which is the passage for the dead to go to the underworld. Goom will drive those souls into Hades, where they will be judged.

Asgardians are as afraid of the underworld as people on Earth. According to legend, there is a mysterious, unpronounceable god of death commanding it, and its specific existence is like a maze that can never be passed through.

Sinful people will be trapped in the left wing of Hades forever, where they will be tortured until their sins are paid.

Those who are innocent will be placed in the west wing of Hades, where there is a world of the dead shaped by the unnameable God of Death, where they will wait for the call of the World Tree.

The purest and greatest souls will live in the south wing of Hades with the best environment as a reward for the righteous.

Waiting there for the Valkyries to guide them to the glorious Valhalla, they will become the legendary heroic spirits of Asgard, drink the most mellow mead with their ancestors, hunt together, fight together, and enjoy glory together forever.

As for the north wing of Hades...

It is a mysterious and forbidden place, and even the worst Asgardians will not enter there, because it is not prepared for Asgardians at all.

No one knows what's there, or why Hades has a northern wing.

Well, the legend is magnificent, but the reality is cruel.

Few people know that the god of death who ruled the underworld of Niflheim and Asgard has disappeared, and the hell dimension in the Nine Kingdoms system is already in chaos.

Tianhou may know this secret, but she can't tell it.

Because it's not just a secret, it involves many, many complicated things.

Everyone!

Tianhou's deep voice echoed in the astrology tower, she said:

Asgard doesn't care about changes in the dimension of hell, as long as they don't affect the order of the Nine Kingdoms, then what those crazy demons and devils want to do has nothing to do with us, but now, the souls of our people are being killed This chaos, so we have to make decisions.

We need to find out what happened in the hell dimension... Most importantly, we need to ensure that our people can return to our traditions after death.

I invite you to come here to select a messenger to represent Asgard to the dimension of hell to investigate this matter.

He must be brave enough not to fear the chaos of hell;

He must be sharp enough to see the truth of things clearly through the fog;

He must be wise enough not to recklessly intervene in the changing hell situation, let alone involve Asgard in it.

diva said:

Asgardians never shy away from a challenge, but we never fight meaningless battles.

Tianhou's statement made all the old officials nod in unison.

Tianhou's words are very beautiful, and it sounds very comfortable to listen to, but in fact, at the moment when the great god Odin personally leads several legions to Jotunheim to suppress the frost giant riot, the Asgard God Realm has no power to simultaneously Hell is at war.

After all, there are so many generals in the Asgard army, but the situation that allows the God King to go out in person is definitely not that small.

Although Asgard is powerful, the enemies this country has to face are not just the family of the frost giants in Jotunheim.

All in all, this is the art of speaking.

Your Majesty Frigga.

A guy who was more than 4 meters tall, covered with a lush beard, and had a huge body, but his limbs looked extremely stocky stepped forward. His heavy steps made the ground of the Astronomy Tower shake with water waves.

This is a dwarf...

Uh, dwarves look like this, at least the dwarves who live in Nidaville, the dwarf kingdom among the nine kingdoms of Asgard, look like this.

Their facial features and limbs are similar to the short dwarves on earth, but their height is about the same as that of frost giants, which are pure dwarves.

The dwarves on the earth are the orphans they left there thousands of years ago. Because of the earth's environment and other factors, those orphans eventually became very short, only half the height of normal people.

The purebred dwarves born in Nidaville...in fact, each of them is a true giant.

In short, the rude dwarf, who seemed to be drunk, exclaimed in a rough voice:

Can't the gatekeeper, Heimdall, see the problems faced by those souls? Doesn't his eyes claim to be able to see everything that happens in the Nine Kingdoms?

I can see!

Heimdall, who was wearing heavy armor and a helmet with horns, and his eyes seemed to be wrapped in stars, leaned on his victory sword, and said in a low voice:

However, there have been some 'little' problems in the hell dimension recently. Those hell lords joined forces to arrange special barriers in several hell dimensions. They seem to be planning some dangerous things.

The Asgardian gatekeeper said in a deep voice:

According to some gossip, the endless, never-ending battle for the king of hell is about to start again, perhaps because of this reason.

What about Niflheim? And Hades!

The drunken dwarf seemed to be on the fence with Heimdall, and he questioned:

You can always see there?

Heimdall was silent for a while, he exchanged glances with Tianhou cryptically, and then said in a deep voice:

I can see that everything is normal there...

The problem is not in the country of fog and Hades, the problem lies in other places.

Perhaps, it's the border of hell that just reopened the dimensional channel... I heard that Belacus, the evil believer who made people feel ashamed, has died, and the cursed place has been replaced by a young queen...

Then let's go to the border of hell!

Just after Heimdall finished speaking, a loud voice sounded from behind the crowd.

Everyone, including the queen Frigga, raised their heads and looked back. Behind the crowd, Prince Thor, holding the legendary magic weapon Mjolnir, and his unlovable younger brother Loki, were standing Entrance to the Astrology Tower.

The young prince shook his iconic long golden hair. He carried his warhammer and strode into the astrology tower. He seemed to have completely listened to the debate between the Queen of Heaven and the ministers. He said loudly:

Since the problem lies there, there is only one thing left for us to do!

Thor walked to the front of the queen with a changed expression. He knelt down on one knee to his mother, put his warhammer on the ground, and said loudly:

My queen, I have applied to become an envoy of God's Domain, and I will go to the evil hell. I will definitely investigate clearly who is maliciously obstructing our people from fulfilling their own traditions.

This is an extremely vile provocation to Asgard's God Realm!

Thor said with a serious face:

Those culprits must be severely punished!

No! Your Highness Thor, you can't go!

Gatekeeper Heimdall was the first to speak out. He acted more emotionally than usual, more like a general than a statue obeying the orders of the god-king.

He said:

You are not suitable to be an envoy.

Why?

Thor replied:

Am I not as powerful as those hellish demons? Do you think I'd be intimidated by the drudgery of going to Hell? No, Heimdall, it's a difficult task that takes courage, I think No one is more suitable than me!

Yes, Thor is right.

Wearing a green armor and cloak, Loki, who dressed himself in a glossy finish, also chimed in:

All of Asgard knows the boundless courage of my brother, and the thunderbolt summoned by Mjolnir in his hand is the best proof of his courage...Thor has conquered the frost giants and those Restless intruder, now, it's time for him to conquer hell!

This guy is indeed the most famous dramatist in all of Asgard, and he talks like an ode.

But that's what Thor does.

He accepted his younger brother's praise frankly, and said to Tianhou and the gatekeeper:

Send me, Queen Mother, and I'll take care of this as easily as I dealt with the enemies of Asgard!

Thor! Loki!

However, Diva Frigga didn't seem to like the idea, she scolded:

Back off!

I'm discussing important matters with the ministers, you and Loki leave the Astrology Tower immediately!

The two of you are not allowed to participate in this matter. What Heimdall said is right. You are not suitable to be an envoy. This matter is not something you can do by swinging a warhammer and summoning lightning!

But, Queen Mother, I...

Thor wanted to say something more, but his mother who always loved him was extremely serious this time, and there was no possibility of any accommodation.

Back off!

Tianhou tapped the ivory cane to the ground, and there was a trace of inexplicable anger in her voice.

Immediately, several witches and wizards in robes and blue runes on their skin appeared from invisible places. They held staffs and surrounded Prince Thor and Prince Loki.

They represent the will of the Queen of Heaven. If the two princes still intend to disobey, they will be thrown out of the astrology tower in embarrassment the next moment.

In this tower, no one can stand against these rune guardians.

More importantly, using force here means disobeying the Queen of Heaven, Frigga, who is the ruler of Asgard when the God-King is going out now, and she represents the majesty of the king.

Come on, Thor.

Loki sensed an irreversible will from the queen's cold tone, he quietly pulled his brother's armor, and said softly:

Don't make the queen angry... let's go to the bar.

Thor looked back at his brother, he saw Loki wink at him, Thor immediately realized that Loki had another idea.

So he took a deep breath, stood up, apologized to his mother, and then calmly followed Loki and left the Astrology Tower.

They rode Pegasus back to the tavern where they drank before, and ordered two large glasses of mead. Thor drank the mead in the glass, then stroked his beard, and looked at Loki beside him, who was playing with the glass , said softly:

Defending the interests of the people is what a king should do. My brother, I know that you who are determined to become a king will not give up on this, let alone turn a blind eye to this kind of evil that hurts the people. Even if I kneel down and beg you, you It won't change your mind either...

So, as before, this time I still decide to stand by your side.

Loki took a sip of his wine, a gleam of light flashed in his sly eyes, and he said softly:

And it just so happened that a few days ago, when I made a bet with a nagging elf, I learned something from him...

About how to enter Niflheim and Hades.