Chapter 63: Chapter 58 - Gorr, The Butcher of Gods Part 2
POV: Baldur
Unknown Planet.
Several galaxies away from Earth.
The first sensation that returns to my body is pain. I feel every part of my body screaming in agony, the damage was so severe that I can't even move a finger, let alone stand up. After a few hours, I manage to get accustomed to the pain and begin to pay attention to my surroundings.
What catches my attention the most is the enormous hole in the ceiling where I find myself. High above, I can see the stars shining in the same way Earth had thousands of years ago, but what stands out the most in the sky is a star shining in gold.
(The star I made explode still burns in space.)
I can't recognize the constellations in the sky, I never paid much attention to star maps since Alice has them all in her database.
"Alice?"
My throat is dry and sore, but I manage to speak her name. Unfortunately, I receive no response, the device I use to contact her must have been destroyed during the supernova explosion.
I lift my neck to assess my body's condition. It is completely covered in white stones resembling marble. They aren't heavy enough to crush me, but I can't remove them without healing first.
My magical energy is depleted, and even if I could increase my regeneration with the runes feeding off the energy from my dimension, they won't have any effect without first healing myself of this black energy. Then I remember that at the last moment, I managed to absorb some of it into my dimension. I look into my dimension, and there it is. A small black dot floating in a sea of golden energy. Luckily, it doesn't have enough strength to cause any harm to me. With a thought, a golden avatar appears in my dimension.
This avatar is an extension of myself. The idea is simple: I'll absorb all this black energy into my dimension and contain it here. The black energy begins to enter my dimension, and I contain it within the black dot, which grows to the size of a basketball. I apply as much pressure as possible, making it smaller until it's the size of a marble, and finally, I create a layer of energy around it and solidify it with my light manipulation. Now I can focus on healing my wounds.
Without the black energy hindering me, it was easy to replenish myself with energy from my dimension and start healing. Hours later, I had enough strength to remove all the stones on top of me. I was completely naked, and I couldn't find my spear anywhere. I try to summon it without success, I must have dropped it while still in space.
I create a simple garment with my power and step out of the cave. I retrieve the golden orb from my dimension containing the black energy and contemplate what I can do with it. The only safe option is to leave it sealed within my dimension, perhaps my enemy could sense its energy if I were to release it.
The outside was an immense red desert as far as my eyes could see. I couldn't simply fly around hoping to return to Earth, I might end up distancing myself even further from it. The best I can do is find some intelligent life and discover where I am. So, I begin my journey.
I've been walking through the desert for two days, avoiding flying since I don't recognize the planet I'm on, and I don't want to attract unwanted attention. The only contact with any living being was a gigantic beast resembling a rhinoceros that attacked me. Fortunately, it happened, as I was getting hungry. My Asgardian biology doesn't allow me to die of hunger or thirst, but it's uncomfortable to go without eating since I'm used to having at least two meals a day.
I'm sitting in front of a campfire while cooking a large piece of white meat, the color may not be appetizing, but the aroma is. Over the past two days, I've had time to think about who attacked me. When I was fighting him, I was furious because of Amora's injuries, so I let reason go and didn't care who he was. But now, I remember who my enemy is.
The God Butcher, Gorr. I remembered this being the moment I recalled him saying that he killed hundreds of gods. Gorr was born on an unknown planet and suffered from hunger since birth. His people were very devout to the gods, seeking salvation, but unfortunately, Gorr stopped believing in them after his wife and son died. Then it happened. One day, Gorr saw two gods fighting, which made him furious. He discovered that the gods were real and that these same gods his people prayed to never answered their prayers or even cared about them.
Gorr was just a weak being without powers until one of the gods died and dropped the All-Black. One of the most powerful weapons in the universe, created by Knull himself, the primordial god of darkness. Its power, even at the moment of its creation, was such that Knull managed to kill a Celestial with just one blow. All-Black enhances all physical attributes of the one who wields it, it feeds on those it kills. Since it was created to fight immortals, it has a tremendous effect on them. When Gorr obtained this weapon, he killed the dying god who was asking for his help, he vowed to avenge all the gods for never answering his prayers or those of his people, so he set out for his vengeance, killing any being who claimed to be a god throughout the universe. With each death, All-Black becomes more and more powerful.
(Truly a troublesome enemy.)
I doubt he showed all his strength in our first fight, All-Black consumes a lot of energy, so he had to hold back to avoid being completely defenseless. Unfortunately, the weapon doesn't have a weakness that I know of, so in our next encounter, I have to make him expend all his energy to achieve victory. The problem is, I have no idea how many gods Gorr has taken the lives of and how much energy All-Black currently has. To make matters worse, I am also unarmed.
"Finally found you!"
I hear a voice behind me, and when I turn around, I see the ancient one standing there, smiling at me.
"How are you here?"
Then I notice that her image is somewhat transparent, like a ghost.
"Astral Projection?" I guess.
"Correct."
"How is Amora?" I ask, prioritizing the most important question.
"I managed to cure her of the darkness consuming her. It will take some time for her to fully recover, but she will be fine," she says, relieving me of a weight on my shoulders.
"Thank you," I reply.
"You don't need to thank me. She is my friend, so of course I will help. But I must say, you ended up in a very distant place. It took me four days just to find you."
It seems I was unconscious for days, not hours, when I landed on this planet.
"I knew you weren't on Earth, so I thought you might be lost on another planet. I don't know which planet this is, but I know how to get back home."
"I appreciate that ancient one , but I cannot return now."
It wouldn't be wise to go back to Earth before dealing with Gorr.
"I understand. Do you need anything?"
"Could you ask General Nordur to send some of our ships to this planet?"
"It will be done," she assures me.
The ancient one tells me the distance I am from Earth and with the speed of Genosha's ships, they will be here in two days. I won't risk bringing this mess to Earth, but I may need some support.
Before she leaves, I ask the ancient one to try to locate the spear that must be lost in space. She also informs me that she can sense living beings a day's walk from my original location, then disappears, leaving me alone once again on my journey.
"Help!"
After walking for another day without finding any signs of life, I hear a cry for help. I look down from the elevation I'm on and see two small children running from some kind of black animal. Unlike humans, these children have green skin, and their skulls are more elongated than those of humans. The black animal managed to catch one of the children, and unlike a common animal, which would bite the child, this one simply stepped on its chest and looked at the other child, who stopped running.
Then the black animal slowly lowered its face to the child's neck, who was screaming in fear. I leap from above and descend at high speed. As I'm about to hit the ground, I twist my body and kick the animal in the face, sending it flying forward and saving the child.
"Get up and stay with your friend," I instruct the child.
Before I finish my sentence, the child is already by their friend's side behind me. Now that I'm closer, I can pay more attention to the animal attacking them. Its body is thin, practically just bones, with skin as black as pitch. It stands three meters tall and has a head reminiscent of a lizard.
The black lizard seemed not to even feel my kick, a kick strong enough to make any normal human explode. It then runs towards me, I extend my fingers as if they were a sword, and my arm begins to glow with a golden light, then I attack. My arm pierces through the creature's chest, which still remains alive. Despite my arm piercing through it, the creature attempts to bite my neck. Before it can do so, I release an explosion from my arm, destroying its entire body.
With the enemy dead, I spin around and look at the children who are staring at me, frightened. Both of them are dressed in simple clothes, similar to those worn by farmers on Earth. Their clothes appear almost new, indicating they haven't been walking in the desert for long, which means I'm close to their town.
"You don't need to be afraid, I won't hurt you," I try to reassure them.
"Thank you for saving us, sir," says the girl who was about to be devoured by the monster.
"Can you tell us what those things are and where you came from?"
They glance at the remains of the lizard I killed, still afraid, but the girl manages to respond.
"They fell from the sky a day ago. The adults managed to keep them away from the village, but they got into the cities. Our mother made us escape through a hidden tunnel at home, but it wasn't big enough for our mother to escape."
Her last words bring tears to both of their eyes.
(Fallen from the sky!)
I look at the lizard once again and feel that it is very similar in color to the All-Black. The damned Gorr must have created them to aid in my search. Now that I've killed one of them, he'll surely know where to find me. But what angers me is this damn creature killing several innocent people just to feed his hatred for the gods. I swear by everything that exists that I will rip his head off when I get the chance.
(But first, the most important thing.)
"Could you show me where your town is, children? Maybe I can help."
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