LIGHTNOVELONLINE 43. Journey Into The Mystery
Third Person PoV:
Location: Asgard
Asgard is a small other-dimensional planetoid that differs significantly from Earth. It is a flat landmass suspended in space, devoid of rotational or orbital motion around a sun.
Despite experiencing intervals of night and day, the concept of changing seasons eludes Asgard.
Gravity on Asgard appeared to emanate from beneath its surface, maintaining a clear top and bottom. Remarkably, the landmass's edges remain uneroded, thanks to an enigmatic force.
This same force prevents water bodies at Asgard's boundaries from spilling into the void and secures its atmosphere.
Hence, Asgard was often described by outsiders as floating upon the "Sea of Space," navigable by Viking longboat-like Asgardian ships, though the nature of space within this dimension remains mysterious.
As a realm of mighty warriors, talks of battles, singing, training for wars, and having otherworldly feasts were an everyday affair. This was true for everyone in Asgard and whether they were a child or an adult was irrelevant.
But recently this joyous atmosphere did not seem to exist anymore as unsettling silence enveloped the realm. Well, except for the soldiers and workers tasked by the all-father to conduct investigations scurrying about. Especially near the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf.
Someone had caused panic to spread throughout the Nine realms. The world tree Yggdrasill had been toyed with by the perpetrator, even if only for a few moments. But, Asgardians knew better than to think this was a one-time accident.
It was more likely a prelude to the chaos that would come in the future. Such incidents have happened in the past and will definitely happen again in the future. Asgardians knew better than to ignore this incident.
This was especially true for Odin, the Wise King of Asgard, Ruler of the Nine Realms; the All-father. He sat upon the majestic Throne of Asgard wearing battle armour with a blue cloak and an eyepatch covering his missing left eye.
Gungnir, the Spear of Heaven, held tightly within his hand which he slammed onto the floor with a thud. The sounds of the Asgardians present went quiet immediately, a testament to his supreme authority.
"Are you suggesting that despite the considerable time that has passed since the incident, there have been no outcomes for the investigation?" Odin bellowed. He was deeply disappointed by this result.
Everyone had their heads down. No one was willing to answer this question. At least, until Loki spoke up:
"I have spoken with Heimdall, father. Based on some of the things he said, perhaps we can draw some conclusions."
"Go on. Speak what you have to offer, Loki." Odin looked towards his adoptive son and demanded.
"Yes, father. Apparently, the Enchantress has vanished from his sight while lingering around Yggdrasill. Now, I don't think she was the cause of this incident but was likely trying to investigate it just as we are. As you know, she rarely leaves the Nine Realms for the vaster universe." Loki replied.
"So, what do you make of this? Do you mean to say that she found the instigator and was captured or killed?"
"It's a possibility, father. But, Heimdall did not detect anyone attacking her either. She simply vanished. If someone deliberately captured her, then they had to be very powerful to do all of this under our eyes and evade being discovered. It does not seem very likely."
Loki did not look optimistic about this guess. He would rather believe that this whole thing was an accident, but of course, he would not say that to Odin.
The other Asgardians also seemed to concur with this. Doing all of this under Odin's watch was not something that Asgardians could believe easily even if they had evidence in front of their eyes.
"What do you think is the likely possibility?"
"Amora likely entered another space hidden from Heimdall's eyes. I don't know whether she planned for this or it was accidental, but that space is likely the stronghold of the perpetrator." Loki answered.
"Why do you think so?" Odin questioned.
"This is just a guess without much backing it, but this is not the only incident being hidden from Heimdall's eyes. Places and things he could see the previous day suddenly became invisible to him.
Just days prior to this incident, Heimdall saw some primitive beings on Midgard trying to cause large-scale destruction by erupting volcanoes but they were all mysteriously frozen without any sign of who used such magic.
Those primitive beings who were causing this eruption also disappeared due to unknown space magic used by the mysterious sorcerer.
All of these incidents have a perpetrator skilled in the manipulation of space. Perhaps they are the same person.
Even if that person happens to be an unrelated wild sorcerer who took pity on the humans that were killed by these primitive beings, it does not hurt to check out just in case as we do not have other leads." Loki carefully worded his suspicions.
Truthfully, this whole speculation was just something he casually whipped up right now in order to show his competence to his father. He did not really think about this for very long but as he said, they had no other leads.
As others were not willing to provide any input, Loki decided to take advantage of this and create a more positive image for his eventual takeover of Asgard.
If by some chance whatever he said turned out to be true that would simply be a cherry on top, but he did not have any such hopes.
"Hmm, these incidents have no strong connections. Midgard has multiple sorcerers and witches besides those from Kamar-Taj who act wilfully. Regardless, as you said we have no leads so we might as well inspect Midgard. Send the Einherjar to investigate." Odin ordered.
He too did not think much of this and gave the order simply as he did not want to miss any leads. As the Asgardians became restless to start working on their next order, Thor entered and spoke up:
"Father, the preparations to meet the Norns have been completed. We can depart at any time."
"Excellent. We will leave immediately. Loki, you will come as well." Odin spoke and got up from the throne, adjourning the court.
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"Why are we searching Midgard anyway? How could this primitive planet house a sorcerer capable of causing such chaos?" An Asgardian warrior spoke up, disdain clearly evident in his voice.
Asgardians looked down on Earth dwellers and mortals in general. The statement spoken by the warrior also resonated with the other Einherjar. They had just been dropped off on Midgard by the Bifrost.
They witnessed the frozen pools of lava stretched as far as the eye can see. The ice did not seem to melt despite having the pools of lava trapped inside it. This created a weird atmosphere of the cold ice glistening red in colour due to the lava.
They really did not believe that a sorcerer from Midgard was capable of this. They also did not know about Kamar-Taj and its formidable sorcerers. This platoon comprising of new soldiers was at the height of ignorance.
As far as they were concerned Asgard was the best and nothing else mattered.
All of them would much rather spend this time training in order to defeat the known enemies of Asgard. The leader replied:
"This is the order of the All-Father. All we have to do is obey. No disobedience is allowed."
After hearing this, all the Einherjar buried their dissatisfaction as the All-Father's order was supreme. This also highlighted their previous thoughts at the same time.
After all, if this sorcerer from Midgard was the culprit, why would Odin send their group of new Einherjar. All they could hope for now was to finish their mission quickly and head back to Asgard.
Too bad none of them noticed multiple tiny white spiders that were completely hidden listening to their conversation.
These were just some of the mini spider clones spread all over the world for surveillance sending back information to Shiraori's main body.
'Contact the body-in-charge immediately and notify that we have got some pesky flies buzzing towards our web.'
One spider clone signaled another with the secret phrase, used whenever potential intruders approached the Olmec settlement, Nazarick's stronghold or the 'web'.
'Roger!' Another clone replied while making a salute.