The Death Knell

In the Golden Palace, Loki was sitting on the throne. To be precise, he was lying there on his side. The gun Gungnir was leaning casually beside him. He didn't even bother to look at it, but held it in his hands. A plate of grapes, happily watching the singing and dancing.

Thor on the side walked up and down the royal steps very angrily: "My father just died, and Hela asked you to temporarily take over the position of God King. This is an honor and a responsibility, but what are you doing?"

Loki glanced at his brother, brushed his fingers over the green balls, and shook his head disapprovingly:

"Otherwise, what do you want me to do? Declare war on the Frost Giants? Or occupy the Earth? Oh, yes, maybe I want to help you get a woman back, right? You still miss Dr. Jane Foster... ....”

Thor stuttered when he heard Jane's name. Although he had chosen all kinds of alien beauties on Saka for so many years, after sleeping with them, Thor only felt a deep emptiness.

There is no such heart-pounding feeling, only wild beast-like venting. This is not the love he wants, let alone a healthy relationship between men and women.

So he firmly believes that Jane is different. Although she is not strong enough and has no achievements worth boasting about, he just likes her.

"You are not allowed to harass her or play pranks. That is between me and her." Thor walked up the royal steps and came to the throne. He looked down at his younger brother who was lying down: "I mean, We should honor our father’s memory by drinking from vats and punching each other like everyone else.”

The god of deceit shook his head repeatedly, with a look of disgust on his face. He waved his hand to signal his brother to go away quickly, and not to stop him from enjoying the song and dance, and said impatiently:

"I thought you had evolved after living with me on an alien planet for a long time, but I didn't expect that you still have the same ape-like thoughts in your mind... Don't you think it is very barbaric and uncivilized to commemorate the dead by drinking and fighting? ?"

He raised his chin at the musicians and dancers under the dome of the Golden Hall, and ordered them not to care about Thor's reaction, and to continue playing music and dancing.

"But this is tradition. We are the princes of Asgard and we must take the lead in maintaining this tradition!" Thor took off the ax behind his back and pointed to Gangnir aside: "Let's start, you are the first Stab me? Or should I chop you first?"

The second prince rolled his eyes. He sat up and patted the area next to him that was still warm:

"My foolish brother, do you remember Odin's words? What he told us at the end."

"I remember, but I don't understand." Thor didn't think much, and sat down next to his brother, scratching his blond hair: "He told me, 'He is a god in the sky, and a human in the dream', but I have always They are all gods in dreams... By the way, what did he say to you?"

Odin obviously whispered to the two of them respectively. Loki easily got the information from his stupid brother, but Thor probably had no way of knowing what gifts Loki had received.

Sure enough, Loki, who had a pointed chin like a weasel, showed a "funny" expression, looked at Thor with crooked eyes and smiled:

"Nothing, he just told me to hide behind you if I get into trouble."

This was obviously a lie, but Thor believed it to be true.

He smiled cheerfully and patted his chest: "Yes, you are both my brother and a weak spellcaster. There is no shame in hiding behind me, and you will not lose your glory."

"Yes, yes, everything you said is right." Loki smiled and nodded repeatedly, then he raised his hand and released a magic: "Then you should also understand what our trouble is now, look at this."

Thor's eyes turned to the magic projection, and he was attracted by the scenery inside.

It was a bass, twitching on the pebbly shore. Even though there was the creek behind it, instead of returning to the water, it was struggling to stay away.

Because the river water was already boiling and bubbling, there were many of its kind next to this fish. Most of them were dead, and some were even cooked before they had time to leave the river. The snow-white fish flesh was gradually flowing in the water. It was torn apart and drifted away bit by bit.

Thor recognized the location of the magic vision, the world of Nidaville of the dwarves. The specific location was near Mount Ymir. Under that mountain was the top workshop of the dwarf blacksmiths. Only the oldest dwarves could enter. There, enjoy the glory brought by superb skills.

Both brothers have been there many times, sometimes to repair weapons, sometimes to make saddles, and sometimes to make small gifts for friends celebrating their birthdays.

Maybe it was the drastic change in water temperature, or maybe it was some other reason. In the image, Thor saw a long-standing stone bridge on the river falling apart like building blocks.

In the culture of the Æsir, a collapsed bridge is always a bad sign.

Because according to legend, many powerful trolls will guard the bridge to collect tolls, and when the bridge is destroyed and no one can support them, they will enter people's villages to cause trouble, harm livestock, destroy houses and farmland, and bring serious consequences. The tragedy of destruction.

Over time, a collapsed bridge was considered a bad omen, regardless of whether there were trolls there or not.

"Is it the big snake that father mentioned?"

Thor took a deep breath and asked his brother.

"I don't know yet, but he is in the dark and we are in the open, what else can we do except wait?" Loki put the golden bowl containing grapes in Thor's hand, and then leaned on the back of the throne: "If you can If so, I don’t even want to stay here, but I’m afraid we can only hope for any progress on Hela’s side.”

The two brothers sat on the throne and were silent for a while. In the past, Odin might have been happy to see such a harmonious scene, but now, no one had a smile on their face.

While they were in a daze, the singing, dancing and music continued, but then a thunderous loud noise echoed throughout the Golden Palace, and all unfixed objects fell from the table or wall, and the two people on the throne It also fell into a ball while shaking.

"What's going on?" Thor got up first. He clenched the weapon in his hand and asked loudly toward the outside of the hall.

But it wasn't until a minute later that a panting guard showed his head outside the gorgeous golden door: "Thor, the treasure house exploded! Someone broke into the Golden Palace!"

Loki put his hand on his brother's arm and pulled himself up, and grabbed Gungnir with his other hand.

"We have to go and see, if... at least we have to activate the Destroyer." The second prince cast magic, allowing himself to fly like a mist, through the messy golden corridor, and across the beautiful garden, Rush towards the location where the smoke is pouring out.

The treasure house of the Immortal Palace not only contains various powerful treasures, but also many props that would have disastrous consequences if they fall into the hands of a madman.

Skillfully summoning rain and breeze, Loki quickly extinguished the blue flames that blocked everyone, and then quickly looked into the large hole that was blown out.

At the first glance, he realized that there were a lot of things missing here. Someone took away a lot of dangerous items in front of the Destroyer who was guarding the treasure house, and finally set a fire...

Loki shook his head and looked at his brother:

"It looks like you're serious this time, what are you going to do?"

Thor looked very bad as he moved the large pieces of rubble in the ruins of the treasure house and put the surviving treasures back to their original places. After listening to his brother's words, he turned around:

"We fight! Asgard will fight to the last man! If Ragnarok is inevitable, then let us die with honor!"

Loki didn't speak, just curled his neck and grinned.