Like a dream within the deepest sleep, consciousness floated through the boundless void.
Hades was enveloped by a vast and primordial suction force, passed through strange passages, and was finally abruptly 'thrown' into a new web of laws.
'Hades' opened its 'eyes'.
The first thing that entered its perception was a penetrating chill.
Primordial cold and thick, gray-white mist enveloped it like a living thing; vision was compressed to the limit, barely able to make out the frost-covered, barren ground beneath its feet.
The air was filled with saturated water vapor and the scent of ancient ice fields, as well as a kind of... primordial energy pulsation of a world just beginning.
Almost at the moment of awareness, the wisdom shared with Metis began to analyze and compare at great speed.
The laws of the world of Chaos blurred and alienated here, yielding to a completely new set of world rules.
"Niflheimr." Metis's consciousness whispered within its 'mind'.
With a hint of understanding and questioning, she said: "Land of Mist, source of frost... This is... a new world, just formed from a 'sacrifice'..."
A stream of information silently intersected and was analyzed within their fused consciousness.
They 'saw' fragments of the world's creation—the primordial giant Ymir was killed by Odin and his brothers.
His body became the world, his blood merged into the endless ocean...
Niflheim, where they now were, lay opposite Muspelheim—the land of fire—one of the primordial places where life was born from the interplay of ice and fire, and also the realm where death and silence should reside.
The 'bait' they had cast, this genderless avatar, was now quietly taking root in this land of thick, year-round mist and cold.
The avatar instinctively absorbed the primordial power and the faint breath of life hidden within the icy mist of Niflheim.
"Odin..." Hades's will seized upon this key name.
The God-King who traded an eye for wisdom and created the world from the body of his grandfather.
Alright, this was the cold resolution of Hades and Metis towards the northern system of fate:
"Norse mythology..." Hades understood which world he had entered.
Metis was not idle; she was busy concealing and analyzing this world.
With Metis's analysis, more fragmentary information was gathered—the one-eyed God-King not only created the world but also tirelessly pursued knowledge and power, trying to control everything.
And one of his most important current goals was the source of infinite wisdom, Mímisbrunnr, which lay beneath the roots of the World Tree (Yggdrasil).
Odin was heading towards the well.
This key message instantly brought Hades and Metis to a consensus.
On this new board, Odin was the most active and dangerous player.
He thirsted for wisdom and tried to see and control his own fate.
And the most fundamental and thorough way to stop him, or gain an advantage in this world, was not to compete with him directly for the well, but to... directly cut the very threads of fate he was trying to peer into.
Their consciousness locked onto the core of the northern world's fate system—the three goddesses who weave, measure, and cut the threads of fate, the three Norns.
They were not of the Æsir (Odin's tribe), but more transcendent beings, living at the Well of Urd and controlling the fate of all living beings and even gods, including the God-King Odin.
"Fate must be in your own hands," Hades's will was cold and resolute.
Passively allowing fate to be woven by others was something he could not tolerate, especially after personally experiencing the shackles of the 'Moebius' reincarnation.
Metis analyzed: "As long as they exist, any variable can be suppressed by the spindle of fate in its cradle. Our 'variable' identity is very likely to be discovered and 'cut off' by them the moment we gain sufficient influence on the world."
The conclusion was obvious.
Before Odin gained the ability to spy on, or even interfere with, fate, their own existence must be completely unconstrained by the spinning of fate.
Kill the three Norn goddesses.
With the target set, action began.
The fused will of Hades and Metis guided the genderless plant avatar and began to move through the boundless mist and frost of Niflheim.
According to information obtained from analyzing the laws of this world, the Well of Urd, where the three Norn goddesses resided, could be reached via the root system supporting the World Tree of the Nine Realms.
And one of the enormous roots, as they had expected, plunged deep into the ice and mist of Niflheim, absorbing the water vapor and primordial power of this place.
In the piercing gray-white mist, they quickly sensed the existence of the root—it was not a plant rhizome in the ordinary sense, but a wooden structure like a winding mountain range.
Its surface was covered in unmelted ice and pale moss, radiating an ancient and majestic breath of life, sharply contrasting with the deathly stillness of Niflheim.
It descended from above through the unfathomable mist and plunged deep into the ice field, as if connecting to the foundations of the world.
Although their avatar was not easily detectable in this place shrouded in thick mist year-round, with almost no active beings, they always strived for perfection.
Climbing directly up the roots of the World Tree in plant form might still attract the attention of ancient beings or chance passersby.
"Need a layer of camouflage," Metis's consciousness flowed.
In this world, where giants were one of the ancient primordial races, the form of a giant was undoubtedly the best choice.
They were huge and powerful, and whether the Æsir or the Vanir gods were accustomed to the appearance of giants.
With a movement of their will, the icy mist and water vapor around the avatar began to converge and solidify.
This stemmed from Hades's understanding of form, combined with Metis's delicate control over energy simulation.
The avatar mimicked the rough skin texture of a giant, like a mixture of stone and frost.
The avatar's figure rose within the mist, its silhouette becoming sturdy and powerful, ultimately forming the silent image of a frost giant, carrying a faintly cool air.
The depths of this 'frost giant's' pupils still flickered with Hades's cold light and Metis's wisdom, but everything externally was perfectly integrated with the backdrop of Niflheim.
The camouflage complete, the 'frost giant', transformed from the avatar, extended its large hand, covered in simulated ice-rock, and firmly grasped the cold and rough root system of the World Tree.
Its enormous body began to climb calmly and steadily up this colossal passageway towards the unknown world above.
The thick mist slid beneath them, and the cold wind howled over their simulated bodies.