"This is the artifact you chose for me?"
Inside the main hall of Asgard.
Aron once again saw Odin.
Only now, Odin no longer appeared as the one-eyed old man with a cloak on Earth.
Instead, he wore golden armor and a helmet that covered half of his face, sitting on the throne like a true divine king.
However, Aron no longer felt that sense of reverence.
All because of the artifact Odin had handed him.
A broken eyeball.
"This is the Sorcerer's Eye."
"It can reveal possible outcomes of the future, similar to the Eye of Agamotto."
"But its true power lies in breaking illusions and revealing truth in darkness."
Odin rose from the throne and descended the stairs slowly but with dignity.
"Helheim is different from the other dimensions of Hell."
"It is ruled by illusions. Without enough willpower, one can easily get lost in them."
"That's why I sent Hela there into exile."
"But I..."
...
"But you didn't expect her to rule that world, did you? To take over Helheim and become the mistress of the dead."
Aron took the artifact from Odin's hands.
At the same time, he completed the sentence Odin hadn't finished.
"You're right, I didn't."
"But I'm not surprised that it happened. She always goes all the way."
Odin sighed, lowered his gaze, and said:
"The next time you return to Asgard, you will receive another gift."
Aron understood what that meant.
If you survive this, you get rewards.
If not, no one says a word.
---
After parting with Odin, Aron once again toured the palaces of Asgard.
Unfortunately, the palace was huge and almost empty.
He wandered for a while, but found no trace of the god of thunder.
Nor of familiar faces from battles and legends.
"What a shame."
"I at least wanted to meet Valkyrie… or Amora, if I got lucky."
With a deep sigh, he made his way to the Bifrost.
Heimdall stood like a statue, the faithful guardian of the passage between worlds.
"The gates of the Underworld are open."
"Be on your guard."
Heimdall said briefly, then drove his sword into the bridge's control mechanism.
After a second of silence, a beam of light burst from the end of the bridge, illuminating everything in spectacular colors.
"Heimdall… if I call you from the Underworld, can you pull me back?"
Aron asked with a hint of irony.
"I cannot."
"I can see across worlds."
"But Helheim… it's one of the few places my eyes cannot clearly see."
Heimdall's tone was as serious as always.
Aron nodded without a word, turned around, and stepped onto the Bifrost.
---
A few moments later.
When the glare of the Bifrost dispersed, Aron opened his eyes again.
In front of him was a world shrouded in thick, dark layers of fog.
Ink-colored, cold and eerie.
Light couldn't penetrate more than a few steps ahead.
The air was freezing, as if ice scraped every pore on the skin.
No wind, no noise, just silence.
"I've killed so many people."
"And here I am, finally in hell."
He said to himself with a dose of bitter humor.
He didn't waste time, he moved forward in a random direction.
Just a few steps later, a familiar silhouette appeared before him.
"Lord Aron!?"
"Why are you here?!"
Wanda Maximoff stood before him.
Her clothes were torn, her eyes tired, her face pale.
She looked like she had been trapped in this world for a long time.
"I didn't expect this girl to still have such strong potential."
Aron stopped.
Their gazes met through the dense layers of fog.
He looked at Wanda before him with interest.
The torn clothing hid nothing, only hovered over her like a thin shadow.
Wanda's graceful figure was fully exposed.
"Lord Aron, why didn't you come earlier?"
"I'm so cold…"
Wanda stood in front of him, holding his hands, trembling.
She looked broken. Sad.
"Looks like these illusions are shaped based on my own memory…"
"Everyone experiences them differently."
Aron spoke calmly as he reached for the item Odin had given him.
He took out the Sorcerer's Eye.
He injected dark energy into it.
In the next moment, the Eye activated, radiating golden light that pulsed.
Then it merged with his forehead, forming a vertical golden eye between his eyebrows.
"Of course it has to be this theatrical…" he muttered with disapproval.
With one deep exhale, he activated its true power.
He focused his entire mind on breaking the illusions.
In an instant, everything disappeared.
Wanda vanished without a trace.
The environment distorted, and the ground beneath his feet opened into a vast abyss.
As if the earth suddenly cracked.
Aron approached the edge and picked up a stone from the ground, threw it into the chasm.
He waited a long time.
He didn't hear any echo.
No sound of impact, no rebound.
"Now you understand how many got lost in this place."
His gaze lingered in the depth of the abyss, then he turned in another direction.
He didn't fly over the crack.
Not out of fear, but caution.
Something inside him remembered that scene from movies, where quicksand or a dark force would pull in anyone who tried to fly over without care.
Better said, as if floating only provokes the trap.
But this fear was unnecessary.
Because in the next moment…
From one of the cracks, a figure emerged.
It was a warrior, dressed in typical Asgardian armor, but his eyes were empty.
It was a wraith.
Undead.
"So… not all Asgardians had the honor of entering Valhalla."
"Some ended up here."
He paused for a moment, watching as several more similar silhouettes emerged from the darkness.
"Helheim… the place where those who weren't accepted into Valhalla go."
"Those who didn't die honorably… or who were forgotten."
Warriors, heroes, the lost, all thrown here, without glory.
"And you think Valhalla is better?"
Suddenly a cold, muffled voice was heard.
It was familiar, piercing.
At that moment, Aron instantly raised his focus to the highest level.
He knew.
This was what he had been looking for.
Finally…
The ruler of Helheim appeared.
"It's a never-ending nightmare."
"Brave warriors… trapped here forever."
"No rest, no purpose. Until Ragnarok."
From the darkness, a silhouette appeared.
Hela's figure.
She stepped forward, just as Odin had described her.
Hair black as darkness, eyes cold, full control.
Her clothing was torn, but she didn't seem to care at all.
She made no attempt to cover herself.
Graceful, powerful, and dangerous.
"We meet again, Hela."
Aron greeted her calmly, with a slight tone of caution.
But before he could add anything, Hela's face suddenly changed.
"Odin sent you?"
Her gaze sharply lingered on his forehead.
"Yes… that's the Sorcerer's Eye."
"That old man… didn't just give you that."
Her voice was full of suspicion.
Then, without waiting for an answer, she concluded on her own:
"He gave you something precious. Something I didn't expect."
In an instant, her posture changed.
She raised her hand, and dark mist gathered around her.
Combat stance.
"...?"
Aron looked on in disbelief.
He seemed surprised, not by Hela's stance, but by her impulsive behavior.
"Really, no one here knows patience…"
Then he raised his hand and said:
"Wait a moment, let me first say 'pineapple and jackfruit', then we can fight."
At that moment, Aron also took out the second eye - the Eye of Agamotto.