The Underworld, between the thrones.
After sending off the noisy Hermes and dealing with the farcical divorce on Olympus, Hades had just returned to his cold throne.
He had not yet fully immersed himself in the daily affairs of the Underworld when a cold and resolute figure was already standing silently before the hall.
It was Athena.
She wore only a simple white robe, her golden hair tied up in a strict bun, revealing her smooth forehead and gray-blue eyes full of wisdom.
"Father God," she bowed and saluted, her posture impeccable, but in her voice was a note of urgency incongruent with her usual calm demeanor.
Hades raised his eyes, his violet eyes calm and composed, as if he could see through the deepest demands of her soul.
"You want power."
He stated, not asked.
"Yes," Athena admitted without hesitation, raising her eyes, which shone with determination.
"Strategy and skill are important, but sometimes they seem so pale in the face of absolute power. Ares's brute force, if not for cunning, would be difficult for me to face head-on. I don't want to be like this forever. I crave the power to truly protect the order and wisdom I uphold, not just wit."
Her words were frank and direct, expressing the confusion and unwillingness of being a goddess lacking positive and destructive force.
Hades was silent for a moment.
He looked at this daughter, her wisdom, perseverance, and ambitions surpassing ordinary gods.
In today's world of Chaos, most of the power of the gods was already claimed, and seizing or dividing it by force was not easy, and it might not perfectly fit Athena's essence.
His gaze seemed to pierce through the walls of Hades and glance at a distant being—the embodiment rooted in the World Tree and closely connected to Norse laws—Narcissus.
As the influence of 'Narcissus' in the Norse world gradually grew, as the God-King of the Vanir, he was like a constantly expanding coordinate, quietly changing the barrier between the two worlds.
The once strong repulsion towards the gods of Chaos had greatly weakened.
"In this world, there is no path for you," Hades finally spoke, his voice low.
"But in another world, there may be an opportunity."
Athena's eyes instantly flashed with a bright light: "Another world? Father means... that Norse world?"
Hades nodded slightly: "Narcissus has established himself there. The rejection of the world barrier is no longer enough to stop your entry."
He paused and mentioned a key name: "Odin, the God-King of that world, once drank the water of the Well of Wisdom at the cost of one eye and gained supreme wisdom and foresight."
Athena's breath caught slightly.
The Well of Wisdom! The very name resonated strongly with her origins.
Hades continued, providing more specific information: "Today, Mímir, the guardian of the well, is in Vanaheimr as a 'hostage' and 'exchange scholar'. The Well of Wisdom... is temporarily unguarded."
As soon as this statement was made, the intention became perfectly clear!
Odin could drink the well water and gain wisdom.
Why couldn't she, Athena, a goddess of Chaos, do the same?
And during the temporary absence of the Well's Guardian! This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!
Strong desire and the compromise of reason intertwined in Athena's eyes, finally turning into an unshakable resolve. She bowed deeply again: "Please help me go, Father!"
Hades said almost nothing more.
He raised his hand, and his fingertips shimmered with a dark green light carrying otherworldly life force—this was a token of power from 'Narcissus'.
At the same time, the dark power of Hades rose like a tide, constructing a slowly rotating portal before the throne.
From within the door came a wind belonging to the Norse world, carrying the scent of ice, snow, forest, and ancient magic.
"Remember," Hades's cold voice sounded just as Athena was about to enter the portal.
"You represent Chaos, and you also carry my gaze. Obtain what you deserve, but... do not lose yourself."
Athena solemnly nodded, and in her gray-blue eyes remained only pure firmness and sharpness.
She cast one last look at her father sitting on the throne, resolutely turned, and stepped into the portal shimmering with the light of another world.
Her figure disappeared, and the portal slowly closed.
Hades's gaze lingered somewhere in the void, as if whispering:
"Go. Let us see what waves the wisdom of Chaos can create in a world destined for twilight. The unguarded Well of Mímir... perhaps there exists a being who truly understands the value of 'wisdom'."
The Norse world, the border between Miðgarðr and Jötunheimr.
The air distorted, and Athena's figure stumbled to the edge of an ancient forest covered in moss.
She immediately felt the pressure of laws completely different from the world of Chaos. Although it was much weaker than expected, it still existed, like an invisible web wrapped around her, requiring her to constantly mobilize her divine power to adapt and counteract.
She took a deep breath; the air was filled with pine needles, ice and snow, and the ancient and majestic breath of life from the World Tree.
She looked up and saw the enormous shadow of a tree towering in the sky in the distance, its branches supporting the Nine Realms—this was Yggdrasil, the World Tree.
There was no time to delay.
Relying on the vague guidance of the Father God and her own understanding of the origin of 'wisdom', she could roughly determine the direction in which the Well of Wisdom—Mímisbrunnr—might exist.
It should be near one of the major root systems of the World Tree.
She restrained all her divine power, releasing none externally, and like the most cautious stalker, began to move rapidly in the direction of her senses, using the shadows and the terrain of the forest.
Her wisdom was reflected not only in strategy but also in the ultimate use of the environment and skills of concealment.
The road was not always smooth.
She encountered patrolling frost giants, wild forest spirits, and even saw a god racing across the sky in a golden chariot.
But she skillfully avoided or circumvented them thanks to her wisdom and ability to conceal herself.
Finally, after several days of trekking and hiding, she arrived at an extremely secret canyon.
The entrance to the valley was blocked by distorted magical light and shadows intertwined with huge tree roots; ordinary beings could not detect it, let alone enter.
But Athena sensed that deep within the valley lay the majestic wisdom she craved!
This was it! Mímisbrunnr!
She carefully observed the magical barriers at the entrance, thoughts flashing rapidly in her gray-blue eyes.
These barriers were ancient and powerful, but it seemed... due to the loss of constant maintenance and adjustment by the Guardian, there were small gaps.
She held her breath, moving as if walking through an ever-shifting web, each step precisely entering the gaps in the flow of magic.
This process was extremely dangerous; the slightest mistake could trigger an alarm or even a counterattack.
After an unknown amount of time, when she finally passed through the last distorted barrier of light and shadow, the sight before her instantly took her breath away.
Deep in the canyon, there were no majestic buildings, only a space of extreme tranquility.
In the center was a spring of water, so clear it seemed not to exist, yet it reflected the trajectories of countless stars and runes.
The spring water welled up, emitting an indescribable radiance of wisdom. Standing beside it, it seemed as if countless pieces of knowledge, secrets, the past, and the future flooded into her mind like a tide.
Beside the spring stood only a cozy stone bench, which was empty—this was the place once belonging to the guardian Mímir.
At this moment, no one was here!
The guardian was absent!
The Well of Wisdom was right there, within arm's reach!
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