Hello, my friends, we are back with a new chapter. How are you? I am well, and I hope you are too. I was able to get a new computer, and I won't promise that I will be back with many chapters, but there will be updates from time to time. Remember, if you can support me on Patreon, I would be very grateful.
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The hall trembled.
The energy sustaining the seals cracked like crystal under pressure. Vidar stood before the massive rune suspended in the air, its carvings glowing a crimson hue. It was the final barrier, the last vestige of control Odin had left in that forgotten realm to contain his firstborn.
Vidar took a deep breath. His gaze remained steady, power vibrating in his chest, and he raised his arm. With a simple gesture, the rune shattered into a thousand fragments of dark light. A muffled rumble swept through Hel like an invisible wave, shaking the very roots of the underworld.
The chains binding Hela broke one by one, releasing a metallic echo that spread across the realm. The symbols engraved upon them faded like ashes, and the atmosphere changed. The eternal cold seemed to dissipate for an instant, replaced by a new darkness… alive, pulsing.
Hela collapsed to her knees, gasping. For the first time in countless eras, she felt the weight of her own body without restraints. Her trembling fingers touched the cold stone floor, and a sigh —laden with fury and delight— escaped her lips.
Then she laughed.
A hoarse, deep laughter that rumbled like a storm across an empty field. The goddess of death raised her head, her dark eyes glowing with a near-demonic intensity.
"Free…" she whispered. "Finally… free."
Her black hair whipped like tongues of shadow, and her power —as ancient and potent as death itself— began to flood the chamber. Vidar watched her with calm, neither fear nor doubt in his gaze.
"I warned you," he said in a grave tone. "No one will stop us now."
Hela slowly rose to her feet. Her garments, torn and dust-covered, began to mend themselves as if responding to her will. Her presence expanded, dimming the flames of the torches. She walked toward Vidar and studied him for a long moment.
"You're a fool… and a rebel. I like that," she murmured. "You did what no other god dared to attempt. You freed me not out of compassion, but ambition… and that, brother, is what I've always admired in those who reshape fate."
Vidar nodded, his gaze unwavering.
"There are no more chains in this realm for you, Hela. Only what we'll build."
Somewhere in Asgard…
Odin straightened on his throne.
A sharp pain pierced his chest, a spiritual pang that made him clutch his spear, Gungnir, tightly. He closed his eyes and searched through the threads that bound his will to the oldest seals. But there was nothing left.
The bond was severed.
He opened his eyes, and a look of genuine concern crossed his face. Not out of fear for his own life, but for what he knew was coming.
"Hela…" he whispered.
Thor, standing by his side, frowned at his father's reaction.
"What's wrong, Father?"
Odin didn't answer at once. He stood, his face hardening as never before.
"The prison of Hel… has fallen."
A murmur swept through the golden hall. The warrior gods exchanged uneasy glances. None could remember the last time Odin had worn such an expression. It wasn't anger… it was worry.
The All-Father closed his eyes for a moment and murmured to himself:
"Who… dared…?"
Back in Hel…
Hela spread her arms, reveling in the new freedom she had reclaimed. The energy of the underworld once again recognized her as its rightful sovereign. Every corner of that plane knelt before her return.
"Do you feel it, Vidar?" she said, turning to him, her voice brimming with pleasure and vengeance. "This place is mine. Every soul, every shadow, every cursed memory… all answers to me once more."
Her laughter mingled with the distant rumble of the walls.
"Odin must have felt it," she added with a sinister smile. "That old bastard must be cursing the moment he failed to exterminate me when he had the chance."
Vidar stepped closer, his expression unshaken.
"Let him tremble," he said coldly. "For what's coming isn't revenge. It's rebirth."
Hela looked at him, a glint of complicity in her eyes.
"Rebirth… I like it. Tell me, brother… what shall we call this new order you intend to forge?"
Vidar raised his gaze, his golden eyes glowing like twin dark suns in the gloom of Hel. He thought for a moment, hearing in his mind the words etched into his spirit for centuries… the ones he had dreamed of long before awakening.
"We will call it… Wandenreich."
The echo of that name seemed to rumble through the very foundations of the underworld. The shadows stirred. The earth trembled. It was a forbidden name, long forgotten even among the gods, but its meaning was absolute: The Invisible Empire.
Hela smiled, satisfied.
"Wandenreich… sounds perfect," she murmured.
She stepped closer and placed a hand on his chest.
"Make me your sword, your shadow, your queen if you wish. But promise me this… that the world we'll mold will be built upon the ashes of the old. That we'll make every last one of them beg before their end."
Vidar took her hand and gripped it tightly.
"I promise."
And together, the two exiles walked into the darkness… not to hide, but to forge the Wandenreich from its depths.
To be continued…
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