27: The Castle Between Dimensions

You were right, it is magnificent," said Hades in wonder looking at the castle in front of him.

The castle was a grand and imposing structure, with walls and towers that seemed to reach the sky. The castle was built in a medieval style, with white stone walls that glimmered in the light, creating a futuristic appearance for the time it was built.

Many kinds of towers surrounded the castle, each unique and serving a different purpose. Some of the towers were part of the castle's construction, adding height and grandeur to the structure, while others were for defense, protecting the castle and those who lived within its walls. The ceilings of these towers were black, contrasting with the white walls, and highlighting their incredible height.

Hades and Thor approached the castle, walking over the long white bridge that led to the main entrance. At the entrance, they were greeted by a massive green door made of a rustic metal. As they prepared to push the door open, it suddenly swung inward, allowing light to escape from the interior.

Stepping through the door, they were greeted by a vast corridor that seemed to stretch on forever. The two gods took one step, breaking through an invisible wall that marked the separation between dimensions.

As Thor zapped through countless dimensions, breaking through countless walls and creating shockwaves that rumbled throughout the castle, Hades followed by turning into darkness and separating himself from everything.

As they passed through the different dimensions, they saw many different sights, including a frozen room and a pool of magma. Finally, they found themselves in a bright golden room.

The castle was not just a magnificent work of art and engineering, but it was also a symbol of the love of luxury and opulence that the Asgardians possessed. The grandeur of the structure, with its white stone walls, gleaming towers, and glittering gold fixtures, was a reflection of their lavish tastes. The massive green door that greeted Hades and Thor at the entrance, and the bright golden room they discovered inside, were both testaments to this.

And as Hades looked around the golden room, he couldn't help but think, 'Asgardians truly love gold and white'. The room was a place of beauty, wonder, and awe, and it was clear that the Asgardians took pride in their luxurious tastes and extravagant lifestyle.

"Greeting Hades," said an old voice full of wisdom, and from behind a painting at the back of the room appeared one old man.

He had a savage but kept grey beard with grey hair that almost reached his shoulder. He wore a gold eye patch and his other eyes were gold.

He wore strange clothes, as they were the same way as those made by Vikings but still had an air of royalty to them.

Contrary to when he previously spoke to Thor, Hades did not have any emotions on his face, his eyes looked straight at Odin, and did not shiver.

"Greetings to you too Odin," he said with a cold voice that made Thor freeze in shock.

Odin walked toward a big square table that stood in the middle of the room. Around the table, face to face were two rustic chairs. He stopped behind one of the chairs and looked at Thor.

"Thank you, Thor, you can go now," it was spoken as if Thor had a choice, but all three of them knew that it was more of an order than anything, so Thor reluctantly went away.

He then gestured at the chair face to him and sat on His chair. Hades did the same and soon they both sat on the same table to make a deal.

"What do you seek?" asked Odin with a stern tone while placing his elbows on the tables and rubbing his chin.

"A deal with you" responded Hades truthfully, his eyes passed on the beyond where a vast ream that held an innumerable number of books was.

Odin saw that and he clenched his fist, his eyes narrowed and he asked "you don't think I am going to let you access to my entire library, do you?" he seemed angry as his voice went deeper and more threatening.

Hades shook his head and replied "Of course not, I am just interested in Norse runes" his eyes glowed as they net Odin's.

"Runes you say, but you must know that this is one of Asgard's prized knowledge and we can't just let you read that, do you understand?" asked Odin a small hidden smile could be seen on his wrinkles.

Of course, Hades understood, in truth, it was not that secret, and Odin just wanted something from him, for Hades to read the books about Runes in Odin's library.

But it was fair so Hades just nodded and extended his palm, above his hand, space cracked and from there a black ingot materialized.

Blue shines reflected on the ingot as Odin looked at it. "What exactly is that?" asked the god-king of Asgard with interest.

"This is the best metal you could ever hope to find. A metal 5 times better than Uru to forge weapons, can only be wielded by a god, and can cut through most magic like butter." Said Hades with a smile as Odin closely looked at it, his divinity flickered all around the ingot.

"I see, this is powerful, but just an ingot is not enough to do a divine axe, sword or spear. While one rune is enough to make a great weapon" He spoke while rubbing his hands.

Hades looked at him with the same apathetic expression and asked "How much do you think is a fair deal to read your books about Runes?"

"Hmm…" he rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression before saying "10 ingots, as it is a material completely new and different than what the dwarves have experience with, so they would probably waste some."

Hades nodded and seven new ingots appeared on the table while he said "If the rumors that I have heard of the dwarves then height ingots are enough to create some weapons"

Odin and Hades glared at each other for a few seconds, a battle was going on in their mind before Odin agreed to the deal, he extended his hand and as both shook each other's hand he said, "you have a deal".