In a certain palace in Asgard.
"Chomp…"
The greedy and brutal magic wolf was ravenously devouring the flesh and blood of the dead monster beneath it. Its pupils were a dark, cold green, its sharp fangs capable of crushing anything. The fur on its body was stiff and straight, like barbs, and its entire being exuded a fierce and violent aura.
Although its size was completely different, there was an unmistakable similarity between this magic wolf and its brother…
Cold, cruel, utterly inhuman, held everything in disdain - a complete and utter monster through and through.
And at this moment, the palace door suddenly opened.
"Creak…"
The magic wolf raised its head, and in its cold gaze, a group of food walked into its palace.
Yes, food.
In the magic wolf's eyes, there were only two kinds of things in the world: food that could be eaten, and food that couldn't be eaten yet.
Even the gods, in its eyes, were nothing more than walking food. It's just that this food would often bring it more food, so the magic wolf magnanimously decided to wait until later to devour them.
And on this group of food, the magic wolf could sense their deep apprehension… even fear.
This food was afraid of it.
"Fenrir… how about we play a game?"
From this group of food filled with apprehension towards the magic wolf, a rather burly one stepped out and said to it.
The magic wolf knew this guy because he was the only food that didn't fear it. The magic wolf even remembered his name…
The war god Tyr.
But it didn't care about that. Instead, it was attracted by something else Tyr had said.
"A game? What kind of game?"
The magic wolf's cold pupils stared at him.
…
The gods made a bet with the magic wolf Fenrir. They first admiringly praised Fenrir's immense strength, then brought out a chain called Leyding, which had been forged by Thor's hammer for nine days and nine nights and was extremely sturdy. They said they wanted to test how great Fenrir's strength really was and asked Fenrir to first be bound by this chain. The magic wolf Fenrir, who regarded nothing with respect, readily agreed, but as soon as Fenrir exerted its strength, it easily shattered the chain.
The gods pretended to praise Fenrir's great strength while busily forging a second chain, ten times stronger, called Dromi. They once again asked Fenrir to be bound, but this chain also couldn't withstand Fenrir's strength and was directly broken. This time, the enraged magic wolf said it would devour all the gods.
The alarmed gods had no choice but to seek the help of the dwarves. The dwarves then twisted a rope thinner than a silk thread from imaginary, non-existent things like the footsteps of a cat, the roots of a stone, the beard of a woman, the breath of a fish, the nerves of a bear, and the spittle of a bird. It was named Gleipnir - the entangler.
After obtaining this treasured rope, the gods once again asked Fenrir to be bound. But this time, Fenrir's heart grew a bit suspicious. It put forth a condition, saying that one of the gods must place their hand in its mouth as collateral, only then would it allow the gods to tie it up.
None of the gods were willing to take this risk. Only the fearless war god Tyr stepped forward and placed his right hand in Fenrir's mouth as a pledge.
The magic wolf Fenrir was bound. No matter how great its strength, it couldn't break free from the rope made of imaginary things. The angry Fenrir bit off the war god Tyr's right hand and cursed the gods for their hypocrisy and shamelessness.
However, the gods immediately used a sword to prop open its upper and lower jaws, making it unable to make a sound again. The blood flowing out formed a river of blood. Fearing it wasn't tied tightly enough, they used another rope called Gelgia - the weak one - to bind it, pressed the rope onto a huge rock called Gjöll that extended deep into the earth, and then placed another rock called Thviti on top, making it impossible for the magic wolf Fenrir to escape.
…
The furious wolf howl the great serpent heard was the angry roar of the magic wolf Fenrir when it realized it had been tricked, and that blood rain was the blood splashing into the mortal world after Tyr's wrist was bitten off.
And even though a sword was propping its upper and lower jaws open, the great serpent could still occasionally hear the magic wolf's low howls carried by the wind into its ears in the deep night.
That kind of low howl was filled with anger and resentment, and a faint, barely perceptible curse.
It was cursing, cursing that one day, it would devour all those hypocritical gods, venting the magic wolf's endless anger and hatred with blood and death.
The great serpent silently listened at the bottom of the sea. Suddenly, it raised its head, disregarding the tightening of the chains on its body, digging deep into its flesh and bringing a sense of excruciating pain, and roared at the sky.
"Roar!!!!!!!!!"
The high-pitched roar made the ocean tremble and stirred up storms in the sky. In the night sky, the stars were alarmed, all thinking that this great serpent was finally intending to break free from its chains. The sound of horns immediately resounded through the sky.
Under the dome of the sky, the Einherjar army, always ready for battle, led by the heroic and beautiful Valkyries, stepped on the clouds and charged towards the great sea, preparing to stop the great serpent from breaking its chains. But they only saw a tranquil sea, with nothing but a few waves and no sign of anything else.
The great serpent quietly lay at the bottom of the deep sea, not heeding the numerous disturbances caused by its momentary action. It didn't expect the magic wolf to be able to respond to it anyway. The two were too far apart, and the other party might not be able to hear it.
But at this moment…
"Awoooooooo!!!!!!"
A shrill wolf howl rang out in the night sky, as if responding to the great serpent's previous roar. Perhaps because of the sword propping its upper and lower jaws, the wolf howl sounded exceptionally strained, a bit intermittent, as if just for this one howl, the magic wolf had already exhausted all its strength.
The old sea god Aegir gloomily stared at the great serpent, cursing under his breath, but the great serpent didn't even spare him a glance. From beginning to end, it had never once looked this old sea god in the eye.
Nothing but an ant.
Even after being suppressed in the depths of this great sea for a long time, its former haughty attitude had been greatly diminished, but the great serpent still couldn't be bothered to pay attention to this old sea god, because he simply wasn't worth its attention. He didn't have the qualifications to make the great serpent look him in the eye.
Lying at the bottom of the sea, feeling the chains digging deep into its flesh one by one, listening to the echoes of the wolf howls in the night sky, the great serpent's pupils became exceptionally cold, chillingly cold.
"Endure…"
It silently said to itself in its heart.
…
And at this moment, in Asgard, the gods were celebrating a great event.
Loki's daughter - Hel - had finally successfully taken control of the entire realm of the dead and respectfully came to Asgard to offer her loyalty to Odin, the king of the gods.
The realm of the dead, or Helheim, was the natural destination of all the deceased, the lowest layer of the world tree, the foundation of the entire world tree. It had existed even before the birth of the world tree. How many departed spirits slumbered within, even Odin, the king of the gods, found hard to know. Among them were some ancient gods who had passed away before the separation of heaven and earth. Its importance goes without saying.
However, Helheim was extremely strange, a desolate place where only the dead could reside. Apart from that, even the gods found it difficult to adapt to the environment there. Only Odin and a few others, as well as Hel, who was born half-dead, had the innate ability to rule Helheim.
Initially, after much consideration, Odin let Hel govern Helheim and be the ruler of Helheim. It was meant to give Loki some comfort. Otherwise, with one of his three children being exiled and one in Asgard, wouldn't it be a bit too much?
Letting Hel manage Helheim was also an unspoken agreement between Loki and Odin, in exchange for Loki's tacit consent to the way his three children were dealt with.
However, Helheim ultimately couldn't be considered the territory of the Aesir gods. Those ancient departed spirits were not easy to subdue. Naturally, Hel's rule in Helheim was extremely difficult, until she finally became the acknowledged ruler of Helheim and offered her loyalty to Odin, expressing her deference to Odin.
In the eyes of many, this was Hel's act of submission to Odin after her two brothers were suppressed, to show that she was not as indomitable as her two brothers and was willing to obey Odin. But in the eyes of many gods, it only meant one thing:
The Aesir gods had finally brought another world under their rule!
Such a thing was naturally worth celebrating for the gods.
And looking at the gods sitting on the divine thrones in the golden palace, laughing joyfully and imbibing with abandon, even Odin, the king of the gods, rarely showed a hint of relief on his face. But when he saw a certain empty divine throne, his eyes paused for a moment, and then became a bit conflicted.
That divine throne was the position of his brother, Loki, the god of fire…
Until now, Loki still hadn't returned, leaving only a lonely divine throne in the golden palace.