Strax was sitting at the edge of the gigantic Black Ice wall that now separated Asgard from the ocean.
One of his legs remained bent while the other hung over the edge, dozens of meters above the frozen surface. Before him, kilometers of dark ice stretched until they nearly disappeared into the horizon, covering such an extensive portion of the sea that, from that point, it would have been easy to believe the ocean had simply ceased to exist.
But Strax knew it was still there.
Beneath the ice.
And something inside it continued to bother him.
Since leaving the infirmary, that sensation had gradually increased. It was not exactly the same divine energy he had detected during the tidal waves, although it seemed related. It was much more concentrated, distant and deep, like a presence hidden somewhere beyond the frozen expanse.
The strangest thing was that it did not seem to simply exist.
It seemed to be calling him.
