156 CLVI. The Truth

Dag walked towards him, who was still sitting on the ground, his back resting on the huge anvil of the Great Forge.

"You shouldn't have done it... my death was decided" Weland said, looking sadly down.

"Wow! It's a nice way to thank those who just saved your life!" exclaimed Dag, trying to get his attention.

"My goal was never to kill you... and now that I've shown you my intentions, you can recognize that you made a mistake judging me" Dag continued.

Weland bluffed, acknowledging his mistake: Dag was not as evil as he believed, he was just a young man looking for answers.

His power was so great that he could defeat a God, and that made him worthy of respect.

"Then... what do you want to know, boy?" the blacksmith asked, trying to get up, but to no avail.

"On Dark Day... what happened to Asgard? I want you to tell me everything you remember" Dag continued, determined.

"The Frostsinners... I don't know how, but they managed to enter the kingdom of heaven. When the Valkyries noticed their presence on the Bifrost bridge, they realized that Heimdallr had been defeated and immediately alerted Odin and the other Aesir, who rushed to the bridge, to drive out the invaders. I was standing nearby, in my home, forging new weapons for the Einheriars, the warriors chosen by the Alfather to participate in the impending battle that terrestrial Scandinavia was about to face" said Weland, who perfectly remembered every single detail of that day, which would go down in history.

"Scandinavia? You mean that you Gods would have come down to Earth to help humans drive out the Xis?" asked Dag, astonished.

"Yes, just like that. When Odin learned that the light on Earth had been extinguished by these mysterious invaders, Asgard also fell into darkness. and when they arrived, even the greatest warriors trembled before them. They were two hooded men and a long white-haired woman... at least so they seemed. With each step, the majestic Bifrost bridge began to freeze under their feet. Their power was immense and no one knew how to stop their advance towards the fortress of Asgard" Weland continued.

"2 men and one woman... can you describe them better?" replied Dag, thinking of Xis' jury sitting at the table when he submitted to the Temporum, though he could not remember every detail.

Only the woman's face was visible. They had only one characteristic in common, those terrifying purple eyes, which looked like amethyst crystals that shone under the dark skies. The Valkyries and Einheriars launched themselves at them, under the precise order of the Alfather, but were defeated. The Einheriars, in particular, were exterminated. When the first layers of Asgard's defenses fell under the magic spells of the Frostsinners, it was Aesir themselves who intervened".

"What happened to the Valkyries? Could they save themselves? And what do you mean by 'magic spells'?" said Dag.

"Some of them managed to fly away and get to safety: however, deciding not to sacrifice their lives on Odin's orders, they were banished from Asgard and fell down on Earth, devoid of their feathered wings. No one knows what happened. As for the powers of the 3 hooded figures... they could control space and matter, and everything they touched immediately became ice... but not the same ice as Jotunheim, the land of giants... no... their power of frost was so powerful that Odin, the oldest and most powerful of the Aesir, knelt" Weland continued, his gaze filled with sadness.

"Continue" Dag said, as Karl and Reidar stood by, shocked by the story they were hearing.

"I remember perfectly when Gugnir, Odin's spear, fell from his hands. One of the hooded men, after immobilizing the Alfather and Thor, who had rushed to his rescue, walked towards them and grabbed the Gugnir spear in one hand and the Mjollnir hammer in the other. He raised the two legendary weapons to the sky and they were enveloped by purple light, similar to the one that first came out of your hammer, but without those sparks... the aura that enveloped the spear and the hammer was icy".

"And after? What happened? Weland... I know you're in pain remembering the Dark Day, but I need to know everything" Dag continued, sitting before the red giant.

"The Frostsinner hit the Bifrost Bridge with both weapons and it was shattered. When the bridge fell, the bond with Earth was broken, and we, all the Gods of the kingdom of heaven, felt a squeeze in our chests as if someone were pressing on our hearts and organs. We felt the pain Yggdrasill was feeling, whose cosmic energy diminished relentlessly until it faded. The Ragnarok had arrived, but unexpectedly" the blacksmith continued.

"Wait... so Yggdrasill died? Does this mean that the connection to the other 8 worlds was also broken? Helheim, Niflheim, Jotunheim, and all the others" asked Dag, who finally began to connect the pieces of the puzzle in his mind.

"When the bridge was destroyed, the long white-haired woman raised her hands to the sky, and within minutes, the whole Asgard was enveloped by a mammoth sphere, blue as sapphire. After the woman channeled the spell, she announced our fate, telling us that from that moment on, the Earth and its heavens belonged to them and that, being they infinitely good and merciful beings, they would give us a planet in its image and likeness. All the people of Asgard were forced to bow before them".

Weland rose from the ground with difficulty, tired of sitting down, and placed his hand on the anvil to stand in balance.

"After those words and that bow, everything was enveloped in stunning light, then by darkness. When we awoke, we found ourselves on this planet and the great sapphire sphere was gone, as did the Frostsinners, which we have never seen since that day. More than a thousand years have passed and we were able to restore the Bifrost and connect it to Skjold, after planting the seeds of Yggdrasill, which fortunately we kept in the dungeons of the fortress of Asgard, in the personal rooms of Queen Freya".