"Clop… clop… clop."
The celestial steeds, their entire bodies wreathed in raging flames, galloped across the boundless clouds, pulling the sun chariot, racing through the unreachable firmament above.
Behind the divine horses, the majestic and beautiful sun goddess Sol stood upon the chariot, golden reins in hand, controlling the direction of the two fiery steeds. In the fierce wind, her golden hair danced, her splendor making it difficult to look directly at her.
Beside her, the sun that illuminated the earth burned fiercely, carried by the solar chariot, emanating indescribable light and heat to the entire world.
"Hyah!"
Standing on the chariot, Sol shouted, slightly tugging on the reins. The two divine steeds before her immediately understood, slightly altering their galloping path to return to the correct route.
In the dome of the sky, the immaculate white clouds sometimes resembled balls of cotton, sometimes long bolts of silk, endlessly beautiful, but…
"Rumble!!!"
The flame-wreathed celestial horses recklessly charged through the clouds.
Wherever the divine steeds trod, the vast cloud layers would break apart. Any clouds approaching them would be instantly vaporized by the sun pulled in their wake.
In the vast firmament and boundless clouds, the sun chariot advanced unrestrained, and below it lay the mortal realm - Midgard.
The divine chariot advanced without pause, and the sun goddess Sol lowered her noble head, gazing down at the earth below.
Under her watch, through the clouds, one could vaguely see the existence of countless mountains, rivers and streams. With her keen divine sight, she could even see mortals going about their daily lives on the earth.
"Hmm."
The corners of the goddess' mouth curved into a hint of a satisfied smile.
In this era where gods and men coexisted, the relationship between humans and deities was still very close. The first humans were created together by Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve.
To the Norse gods, as their creations, humans were beloved by the deities. Valiant men among mortals were specially permitted to enter Odin's hall Valhalla after death, led there by the Valkyries, to enjoy endless mead and meat, feasting and drinking every day while constantly honing their martial prowess.
As one of the Asgardian gods, the sun goddess Sol also had considerable goodwill towards humans. Otherwise, even Odin would have a hard time compelling her if she was unwilling to drive the sun chariot daily to illuminate the earth.
Riding across the sky each day, casually observing the world mortals inhabited when idle - for this goddess, it was quite a pleasant life.
"However…"
With a thought, Sol then looked towards the further reaches of the earth.
To the east of Midgard - this infinitely vast continent - was the ocean; beyond the ocean, a stretch of endless mist; passing through the mist, at the very edge of the world, one would find a whole new land…
Jotunheim.
In this realm dwelt countless frost giants, all descendants of Ymir, the ancestor of the ice giants.
At the dawn of the world, Odin and his brothers had slain the infinitely enormous primordial giant Ymir, turning his body into the world tree, using his skull to form the sky dome and his blood and flesh to shape the earth, thus creating the current world.
But Ymir's descendants had escaped to Jotunheim at the world's edge, continuously reproducing, constantly scheming to overthrow the gods' rule, often attempting to invade Asgard where the deities resided.
Besides this, in Vanaheim to the west resided the Vanir gods, whose origins even the Aesir were uncertain of, as well as ancient sea deities like Aegir whose stance towards Odin was unclear. And there were those underground, in the sea, in the heavens, living or dead, beasts or plants…
Although on the surface, Odin the Allfather ruled over all the living and deceased within the Nine Worlds, beneath this seemingly tranquil facade, undercurrents always surged.
For this reason, the Aesir gods led by Odin were all clad in heavy armor, often battling those monsters and giants to the utmost to maintain the order of the Nine Worlds.
"But… how long can this order be sustained?"
A thought suddenly flashed through Sol's mind, but in the next moment, she cast the notion aside.
The Aesir were born warriors. Warriors did not like to dwell on such things. For Sol, if there were enemies, she just needed to draw her bow and shoot them dead. As for the final outcome, that was not within her consideration.
Her gaze swept across the earth, about to withdraw her line of sight, when suddenly, in the corner of her eye, a black speck began rapidly enlarging…
A sense of foreboding abruptly rose in her heart.
"Ha!"
No time for further reaction, she shouted, fiercely pulling on the reins. The two flame-wreathed divine steeds also seemed to sense the inexplicable danger, sharply swerving, deviating from their previous trajectory, tracing a graceful arc, their burning hooves leaving only specks of flame in the clouds.
And right then…
"BOOM!!!!!!!!!"
Louder than deafening thunder, more intense than the earth's moans during a quake.
In Sol's astonished gaze, the unthinkably enormous monster roared, its head smashing through the thick barrier of clouds, straight into the dome of the sky.
The sea of clouds boiled for it, hurricanes howled for it, countless storms, innumerable, raged across the cloud tops, any single one rivaling a category 10 typhoon.
A thousand miles?
Or ten thousand?
Impossible to calculate, unfathomable.
As far as the eye could see, everything before her was shrouded in black.
Any single scale was incomprehensibly huge, any casual movement stirred up raging storms.
Half its body still remained in the sea, the other half already reaching into the dome of the sky, nearly touching the realm of the gods.
Infinitely magnificent, infinitely great, and infinitely colossal…
Before such a behemoth, even the deities lost their luster, appearing tiny and insignificant.
"Loki's child, the Midgard Serpent Jormungandr?"
Sol stared in shock at the titan before her. Although she had not been present when Odin tried to deal with Loki's three children, as a goddess, she could still easily identify the monster before her.
At this moment, those mountain-like vertical snake pupils were gazing down at the sun goddess standing on the solar chariot, her expression astonished.
In those crimson eyes, there was only endless greed, brutality, and madness.
"ROAR!!!!!!!!!"
The infinitely huge serpent roared, opening its abyss-like maw, suddenly lunging to devour the sun goddess…