Thor smiled genially at the eager Dracula. Even the blood prince who was usually nonchalant and cared little for anything couldn't hide the curious look on his pale face. The allure of truly understanding one of the seven great mysteries was enticing even for this prince.
"It is. You can carry on" Thor didn't elaborate much. He only did what they wanted. He confirmed that their information was indeed true. In fact, he was a bit surprised by how much they knew. Many high gods and ascenders knew about the object known as 'devilstone'. Many knew that it was indeed the toughest and most impressive mineral in the universe. Many also deduced that the weapons of the most powerful of gods contained a bit of this precious mineral. Yet almost all of them didn't truly understand its origins. It was just as Dracula stated. This mineral was found by a scholar. The scholar had presented it to a god king, and a war was waged because of the limited quantity that was retrieved. However, that wasn't all. Although Dracula knew the story; although the prince of the night was aware of the devilstone's true history, he didn't know the specifics. He didn't know what Thor and Forseti- yes, Forseti- knew. Just like Thor, Forseti had lived a very long time. He may call Thor 'uncle', but that didn't mean he was young. The gods of Thor's generation did consider him a young god, but this god of justice had been around since the universe began! He also knew the story. And just like Thor, he knew much more than Dracula and his measly crew did.
For starters, the secretive scholar wasn't a normal scholar. This scholar was a god! And this wasn't just any god. This scholar was a sensor god. Just like many other sensor god's, this god wasn't focused on battle prowess, but on discovering the unknown and fully understanding the secrets of the universe. He had one name; one title; this god was Ananse!
Ananse was, and still is to this day, the spider god of the 5th heaven. But she wasn't just any spider god. She was a spider god famed for her incredible wisdom. She was so wise that the wise god she presented devilstone to was eager for this god's aid in understanding the structure of the great mineral. Such was her intellect that the 5th heaven couldn't contain her. Ananse was unsatisfied with all the knowledge the 5th heaven had to offer. She called the knowledge too vast for many a 'small pond', and was eager to swim in the 'open sea'. To Ananse, exploring only one of the heaven realms was a waste of her skills, so she explored them all. Over the past millions of years, and even before time itself when the universe was merely in its infancy, the spider god who was famed for her wisdom was a known roamer. The Spider God of Wisdom roamed all the heavens, even before their territories had been marked out and discovered all there was to discover. In fact, it was believed that Ananse will be the only one to truly solve all the great mysteries, that is, if she hadn't solved them all already. The spider god who offered her allegiance to no one, and made friends on the basis of their wisdom and character, not their race, was seen by most as the most intelligent in the entire universe. Thor still remembered her to this date. Although it was billions of years ago when he last saw this elusive figure, he could still remember her words when Ananse was asked about what she thought of the seven great mysteries.
"They are great because we make them out to be. We overemphasize the importance of these so called mysteries. They are merely riddles at the peak of their tree. And solving them all would be unwise." It was then that Thor believed that she truly was the wisest of the lot, even wiser than his father, Odin. For it was Ananse who said, "It takes a great man to find the answers to one mystery; a lord to solve two; a prince to solve three; a king to solve four; an emperor to solve five; a god to solve six, and; a fool to solve them all" This statement that he considered as trivial was still remembered after all these years. Even those who hadn't been born a hundred million years later, knew of this quote. What they didn't know was who had quoted it. The quote was impressive indeed. But it was the question and answer session that followed after that truly struck the thunder god with awe.
"So which one are you: a god or; an emperor." Thor had asked Ananse then. The thunder god felt he had thought highly of the spider god by expecting that she would be one of the two. Little did he know then, that he had underestimated the god of wisdom known as Ananse.
"Me dea, me yɛ kwasia." Ananse's reply was in her native tongue. It was a language called 'Twi'. Thor didn't understand what it meant at the time. And when he asked Ananse to enlighten him, the spider god only smiled and said, "I have travelled the worlds, learning their customs and beliefs. Travel to my world, for you will find answers there. Consider it an assignment from me."
It had taken Thor a hundred years to finally find the time to visit Ananse's home world. It was there he learned what the statement the wise god made a hundred years prior meant. It was translated, "As for me, I am but a fool." That was when Thor knew. The god of wisdom had solved all the mysteries. And from her demeanour, it wasn't as glorious as the rumours made such an achievement seem. It was highly likely that the answers to the seven riddles were anything but pleasant. It had taken Thor a hundred years to understand this, but his father knew from the very first moment what Ananse meant. Discovering the devilstone was the last of the seven mysteries that remained unanswered to Ananse. And after Ananse had found that out, she had disappeared for good. It had been several millions of years- likely billions even- but no one had caught a glimpse of the spider god. Even the Allfather was at a loss as to where Ananse could be. After Ananse had helped to create an archive on the composition of the devilstone, she had disappeared. Yet that wasn't her greatest contribution.
As you may have guessed rightly by now, it was Odin that had the privilege of being gifted the devilstone. And it was Asgard that had faced the besiegement of thousands of races. The wise godking had the honour of being chosen as one of Ananse's few friends. It was because of this friendship that the valuable devilstone had been presented to Odin. Yet even with the devilstone in hand, no one knew how to use it. Odin, with all his knowledge was at a loss as to how to melt this metal. This rendered the great mineral as nothing but a beautiful ornament. One that only mystified wherever it was placed in, but had no real use. Freya, Frigg, all these wise goddesses failed to understand this mineral. It was Ananse who did. Yet as mentioned earlier, that wasn't her greatest achievement in Asgard. The spider god of wisdom didn't only breakdown the composition of the devilstone, she disclosed how successfully use this metal in a forge.
Ananse stated that she came across a wondrous flame in all her travels. She called the flame the grandest thing she had ever seen. And that it was. This flame was not golden yellow like the others, but an emerald green. Ananse took out a black ball from her dimensional pouch, a spacial object used by her people to store other objects. Unlike those of the other realms, the gods of the 5th heaven preferred this pouch to dimensional rings. As for why they preferred it, the others weren't sure. Thor was certain it was a simply a difference of culture and taste.
Anyway, this black ball held the flame that Ananse spoke of. The flame was as small as a child's fist, yet it burned bright and true. The green flame was beautiful, and it was docile. It was because of this docile nature that Ananse had been able to acquire it and keep it in a storage pouch. But that wasn't enough to rule out the mystery that surrounded it. For no fire could be kept in a dimensional pouch. Like everything in the universe, fire also had a half-life. There was no oxygen in a dimensional pouch. Only a few special ones could house this precious component of air. Mane's ring was one of the few in the universe that had such a feature. But Ananse's pouch had no such ability. This meant that the small flame had been burning all this time with no help! It was fascinating. Their fascination was compounded when Ananse announced that the fire had been taken from the Chaotic Flames itself. But this explanation made much more sense.
Although they had failed to pry the location of the Chaotic Flames from the mouth of Ananse, the spider god had gifted the flame to them. She believed that the flames forged from the purest entity of chaos would do the trick. And she was right. The chaotic flames did indeed melt the devilstone. It was hard to believe that such docile and calm flames could be so deadly. But it was true. The formerly docile fire turned into a raging beast once edict was poured into it. It was a reaction that was fitting for one who considered the edict as its enemy. But even the chaotic flames did not take down devilstone so simply. Maybe the true Chaotic Flame would have no such problem- not so its derivative. For it took several hundreds of years for the devilstone to be melted into its liquid state. It was then added in small amounts to the weapons of the gods. Even Mjolnir had this precious mineral as part of its creation story. Unfortunately, they didn't get to keep it all. Most of the melted devilstone was lost in the war. But the chaotic fire was different. That treasure had been kept safe. It was now known to most as the 'Eternal Flame of Asgard'. Even the Asgardians themselves, with the exception of the gods, had no idea the true origin of the fire.