"She is Odin's heir!"
Soren's expression shifted sharply, the revelation twisting through him. Heimdall continued.
"One of Odin's children, his firstborn. Long ago she helped him conquer the Nine Realms, but her ambition grew beyond even his. In the end, Odin banished her and sealed her away."
Soren exhaled slowly.
He had always known the God Realm hid secrets behind its shining walls, but even he had not expected something like this.
Hela, Odin's daughter. Odin had her erased from history.
"Then I still don't understand," Soren said, brows furrowing. "If she is Odin's daughter, and now Odin has fallen… why would you fear her return?"
"Would she not protect her own people? Her birthplace?"
Heimdall's golden eyes hardened like tempered metal.
"She is the Goddess of Death. Wherever she walks, death rises with her. Her strength is tied to it and drawn from it. And here, in Asgard, her power is greater than Odin ever was."
"In the prophecy of Ragnarök, she is the harbinger. The one who brings the doom of gods."
"…"
Heimdall's next words came with an old sorrow. "This was once only a matter for Odin's family."
"But now… now it endangers the entire realm. If we fail to act, Asgard will fall. Every god with it."
Soren finally understood.
He nodded once, grimly. Odin had prepared as best he could before his end, sealing Hela away, constructing hidden shelters, making contingencies even as time eventually claimed him.
For all his faults, he had been a ruler who looked beyond himself.
Evacuation around them continued in frantic waves. Soren raised a hand. With a single precise motion, he twisted the air and a small, elegant portal snapped into existence.
Its frame shimmered with intricate spatial sigils.
"This portal leads directly to Everlife's." Soren explained. "If the worst happens, use it to move Asgard's civilians to Earth."
Heimdall's eyes widened with relief and gratitude. In such dire times, this miniature lifeline meant salvation… perhaps Asgard's last.
"Soren… this is invaluable," Heimdall said, voice thick with emotion. He bowed deeply, solemn as a temple bell. "You are a benefactor of Asgard."
Soren waved the acknowledgment off. "I came here seeking Freyja, actually. Do you know where she is?"
"I do." Heimdall quickly provided the coordinates, but then hesitated… before sharing another heavy truth.
"When Thor and Loki attempted to return through the Bifrost, Hela intercepted the beam. She shattered the path. The transmission veered off course, and both were hurled into an unknown region of space."
Soren stiffened. "An unknown region?"
"Yes." Heimdall nodded grimly. "Too far for the Bifrost to lock onto."
"Their exact position cannot be calculated. But one thing is certain, both Thor and Loki still live."
The words were both comfort and burden. Somewhere in the vastness of the cosmos, the princes were adrift.
Thor and Loki were alive and that lifted the weight pressing against his ribs.
But at the same time, a bitter thought followed.
If I hadn't come seeking the Soul Gem… if I hadn't needed Odin's and Thor's help…
Perhaps Thor would never have left Asgard.
Perhaps Odin would not have exiled himself.
Perhaps none of this would be happening.
He swallowed hard, the guilt settling like a stone in his chest.
Once he found Freyja, he vowed, he would seek Thor, wherever he had been cast into the cosmos and help him through the crisis threatening Asgard.
Heimdall had told him Freyja's current location.
Muspelheim, the world of flame. Once ruled by Surtur.
After parting from Heimdall, Soren did not leave Asgard immediately. Instead, he turned toward the golden city, slipping between realms like a shadow.
The power of space rippled softly around him, twisting light and perception until his presence vanished entirely.
Not a single guard saw him pass.
And deeper within the realm… the aura he felt earlier had grown into something terrifying.
The more Soren learned about Hela, the more unsettling the truth became.
The Goddess of Death.
A being whose power was endless within Asgard's borders.
It was reminiscent of the strange supremacy Soren had once seen in the museum's sealed artifacts, except Hela's influence dwarfed everything he had ever encountered.
Curiosity tugged at him.
He approached the deeper districts of Asgard with the utmost restraint.
Someone that powerful would notice even the slightest intrusion. Soren kept his energy suppressed to a thread, his body hidden within layers of distorted space.
Rising silently into the air, he hovered high above Asgard, using his enhanced senses to sweep across the city.
… He saw it.
A vast field stretched below, and upon it stood an army unlike anything living.
Corpses, scores of them arranged in rigid formation… every one of them unmistakably dead.
There was no heartbeat and no spark of life.
Yet in the hollow sockets of their eyes, faint green light flickered, hungry, dripping with a deathly will so potent that even at a distance Soren felt it tug at his mind, as though testing the edges of his sanity.
One word formed instantly in his mind.
Undead.
In front of that lifeless legion stood a single figure.
A woman tall and breathtaking in her deadly poise.
Her beauty was wrapped in the scent of iron, blood, and ancient malice.
The air bent subtly around her, as though even the wind feared to touch her cloak.
Hela.
Soren looked only once… just long enough to trigger the interface of the medical hall's system.
[Target: Hela — Goddess of Death]
[Power Rating: S+ in this world]
[Asgardian Domain Bonus: Pseudo-EX level]
"…!"
Even S+ alone demanded caution.
But pseudo-EX…
Pseudo-EX meant.
Virtually invincible while standing on this soil.
He could feel the threads of power binding Hela to Asgard, weaving through every stone, every vein of gold, every heartbeat (or lack thereof) in the realm.
Defeating her here was nearly impossible.
And if he fought her with his full strength… half of Asgard would be annihilated in the first strike.
No.
This was not the time.
Not the battle he had come here to fight.
After a long, tense moment of deliberation, Soren slowly withdrew, peeling his presence away from the death-soaked air until he was once again nothing more than a ripple of space.
There were other tasks waiting for him…
Freyja.
The Soul Gem.
Thor's survival.
Hela would have to wait.