Azmond hesitated on whether or not he should immediately barge into the small hut before a resolute expression formed on his face. "No time like the present." A voice of indifference sounded out as he approached the entrance to the hut once again.
This time, however, instead of knocking on the door, he just opened it right up by the straw door handle.
The door opened up without a hitch as he proceeded to walk right in, and the first and only thing he saw was...
A Book?
"First, it was an elusive sign, and now a book..." An awkward look overtook Azmond's features.
"Is this place trying to make me create a library or something?? No. That can't be it. There must be something more." He quit thinking about useless things and instead dove straight in.
There was no point in dwelling over topics that Azmond would surely find the answer to if he simply walked over there and took a glance at the book.
The book in question was seated upon a large circular pedestal that almost made it look like the book was trying to ascend the heavens.
A faint glow was constantly being emitted underneath the pedestal, a trait that only further accentuated the already grandiose book.
The book itself was a dark red color with archaic looking engravings carved throughout it. A murky outline of what appeared to be a phoenix of sorts was also plastered on the very center of it.
One look at this book, and any mortal would assume that it was some sort of divine scripture that fell from the heavens.
Azmond, however, had never seen what a phoenix looked like in either of his lifetimes. A fact that led to him asking a very precarious question. "Why is there a funny-looking chicken on the front of this book?" He asked a question with a genuinely confused expression.
A question that could unknowingly evoke the wrath of the gods upon himself.
He was truly trying to take all the smoke...
.....
Meanwhile, in a dark dimension, ten minutes prior to Azmond discovering the book within the hut,.
This dark dimension was located somewhere above the ocean that Azmond was in. One could even call this small dimension an attached pocket dimension of the one below it.
In this pocket dimension, there was a chessboard, a very common chessboard just like any other, except... This one appeared to be floating on thin air with nothing holding it up.
It seemed to defy the very laws of physics as it just lay frozen in place a few feet above the ground floor of the pocket dimension.
Even with the existence of this anomaly, the chessboard wasn't the most unusual part of this mysterious place.
Instead, it was the two looming figures that stood domineeringly over the chessboard.
The one on the right side of the chessboard was a large, robust man with fiery red hair and a long braided beard that reached his chest.
This stalwart man had to be at least 7 feet tall as he trumped the elusive opponent he was playing against.
The figure adjacent to him was a handsome and elegant man with long blonde hair that reached his back and light green eyes. A great contrast to the rough-looking giant opposite him.
Beneath his noble exterior, this man concealed a darker part of himself.
Upon closer inspection and prolonged observation, a subtle glint of cunning could be seen within the depths of his emerald eyes.
"That was a foul move, Loki." The larger, red haired man spoke with an irritated tone.
"I am sorry, my friend; that is just how this game is played." The handsome man, called Loki, responded with a sly grin.
"I would think that you would've gotten slightly better at chess after all these eons have passed, but you never fail to surprise me with your inability to improve, Thor." A mocking tone sounded out as a ridiculing look appeared on Loki's face.
Both of these opposing figures were floating in mid-air in a cross-legged position. Their hands moved with precision as they danced across the chessboard, looking for an opportunity to overtake the other.
"This is why I never play games of the mind with you, Loki; you are never one to play by the books." Thor spoke with an irked tone as he glared at Loki, who had just made a checkmate.
Loki, upon hearing what Thor said, responded with a click of the tongue. "I don't want to hear that from the 'Almighty Thor'. How many of your enemies have you used dirty tricks and traps to defeat?"
"The number has to be in the thousands, and yet you talk to me about 'not playing by the books'? What a joke." Loki got out his piece before he stuck his index finger in the air and pointed it straight down. All while glaring at Thor's significantly bigger figure.
An act of ridicule that was clearly seen by Thor. A large vein began to bulge on his head as a menacing aura began to permeate the surroundings.
The temperature in the pocket dimension that was without an atmosphere suddenly went up by thousands of degrees as the fiery red hair of Thor's head began to stand straight up.
His hair started to float in the air as a voice of fury began to erupt from the robust man. "I can add you to that list of enemies I've defeated as well, Loki!!! Don't test my patience with your silly games!!!" Thor declared this before his red aura erupted in full glory as the chess table was blown out of existence.
However, the man who was taking the full brunt of this terrifying aura just shrugged it off with a small hand movement.
The only part of him that was even the slightest bit affected was his hair and clothes, which became slightly frizzled due to the dangerous aura.
"I am not afraid of you, Thor," Loki replied in a solemn tone as he brushed off his clothes and returned the slight toward him with a menacing golden aura of his own.
"But for ruining my hair and clothes with your dirty red aura, then I might just have to take your life in return." A sinister grin formed on Loki's features as he got up off his lotus position and focused his attention on the big, red-haired man before him.
A man who also got up in a flurry before approaching the calm and composed Loki with boisterous steps.
"So be it; if a fight to the death is what you want, then I will fulfill your wishes." Thor's menacing voice came out as he domineeringly stood over Loki's far thinner frame.