For the Elder Transforr, to be noticed personally by the Creator was an imnse honor.
Overco with excitent, he imdiately began his introduction.
"The developnt of an ecosystem requires a suitable environnt and temperature. Cybertron’s normal climate is around minus sixty degrees Celsius, which is not suitable for sustaining life. So I first ran a simulation experint inside a closed ecosystem. Then, step by step, I began transforming Cybertron’s atmosphere, temperature, humidity, soil, and other ecological factors."
As the elder spoke, Lorien nodded slowly. Gwen listened with great interest as well.
While there were parts she couldn’t quite follow, much of it still made sense to her. They also noticed that the elder was producing many small robots—these handled the day-to-day managent of the ecological park. After all, with a body that massive, the elder couldn’t possibly do delicate work himself.
When the explanation wrapped up, Lorien nodded and asked another question.
"Outside of the closed ecosystem, what’s your first step going to be?"
The elder replied without hesitation, "To manufacture atmospheric environnt emitters. First, we’ll alter the atmosphere and raise Cybertron’s temperature."
"Not bad."
Hearing that there was a clear, structured plan, Lorien felt reassured this wasn’t just aimless work. He nodded in satisfaction.
"Do you have a na?"
"A na?" The elder froze for a mont, then lowered his head in elated reverence. "No, Creator—please bestow one upon !"
"Then from now on, you’ll be called Druid."
Upon receiving his na, the elder grew visibly excited. The forest atop his head even trembled.
Lorien waved a hand toward the newly nad Druid. "Do good work. I have high expectations for you. When I return, I hope to see a patch of green on Cybertron—even if it’s only a small one."
With that, Lorien snapped his fingers, taking Gwen to another location. They continued touring and reviewing the various modules.
"Which one do you want to see next?"
"This one!" Gwen pointed toward the war module.
Snap!
With another flick of Lorien’s fingers, they teleported again, moving from module to module, interviewing the elders.
Several hours later, they had visited nearly all the ones that caught their interest. For those who had done especially well, Lorien bestowed titles—nas like Fortress, Forge, and Armory.
He didn’t bother with over-the-top, flashy nas. Sure, they might sound fine on paper, but saying them out loud in real life would be unbearably awkward.
After wrapping up the visits—
Snap!
They were back ho.
As they stepped inside, Gwen suddenly said, "I’ve decided. When I go to college, I’m going to study everything related to biology and chanics!"
"Oh?" Lorien could already guess her reason, but he still asked, "Why?"
Gwen hugged him tightly. "Because you showed the stars and the sea. I’m fascinated by the way Transforrs blend life and machinery. I want to try and create sothing like that myself!"
Just as Lorien had suspected.
Ever since that night when Jetfire cut down the Lizard, Gwen had been drawn to such things. And after learning more about Transforrs, her interest had only deepened.
Lorien patted her back and said firmly, "I support you. Focus on it wholeheartedly."
Gwen lit up with joy. She didn’t need to think about jobs or career prospects—she was pursuing this for the world in her heart, and that made her fearless.
Next, Lorien headed toward the kitchen to make dinner. But sothing struck him as odd.
Why wasn’t there any barking from Hela today?
"Hela?"
Lorien walked into the living room.
On the carpet, he saw a ga console and a quilt—but no sign of Hela.
"Huh?" Gwen tilted her head, curious. "Where’s Hela? Did she go out to play?"
That didn’t seem right. Lorien shook his head, then imdiately used his ability to search for her.
In the next mont, he sensed Hela inside a room with floor-to-ceiling windows. He walked over, opened the door, and found little Hela sleeping on the bed.
When Lorien quietly closed the door and stepped back out, Gwen looked at him in surprise.
"All this ti, and I’ve never seen Hela sleep!"
" neither." Lorien spread his hands. "Maybe she just feels like sleeping today."
But as Gwen looked at the sleeping Hela, a spark lit in her eyes.
"Lorien? Are we still having dinner?"
Lorien thought for a mont.
"Yeah, let’s eat. No fun skipping it."
So he cooked dinner anyway, deciding not to wake Hela. One skipped al—or even a hundred—wouldn’t hurt her.
They sat down at the table. Gwen brought out so wine, and the two of them ate and drank while chatting. Soon, the conversation drifted to the day’s battle.
"This Symbiote suit is incredible," Gwen said, clenching her fist. "I feel like I’m constantly getting stronger—more powerful."
Lorien cleared his throat. He wasn’t interested in the combat talk, so he cut straight to the point.
"Gwen, your Symbiote suit can transform into all kinds of things. Want to try sothing different?"
"Sothing different?" Gwen frowned in confusion.
Lorien took out his phone, searched for a few characters, and showed her the outfits they wore. There were plenty of examples—like Bayonetta, 2B, and... Tifa.
"You..."
Gwen glanced at the screen, and her already flushed, tipsy cheeks turned an even deeper shade of red. All these female characters had one thing in common—leather outfits.
Not the proper, modest kind either. These were tight, full-body suits with patterns, embellishnts... or simply very little fabric at all.
Her face burned, but she still scrolled through every single one.
After a long pause, she lowered her head, poked at her food, and murmured softly, "I can only try one this ti..."
Lorien’s eyes lit up. No need for more discussion—he picked Tifa’s outfit and showed it to her.
"Then try this one!"
Gwen didn’t even look, just gave a barely audible, "Mm..."
Ah, Tifa.
As the saying goes—no 3D zone is complete without Tifa, just like the West can’t be without Jerusalem.
At that mont, Lorien didn’t care about the Sacred Tiline, Kang the Conqueror, or the Five Great Gods. They could all step aside. This—this—was the number one reason he loved Earth. Everything else could wait.
He hurried to finish his al. Gwen was about to head off to wash up, but Lorien grabbed her hand before she could leave.
"Co on, into the room!"
"Huh? But I’m going to shower!"
"That was halfti. Now it’s the first half!"
"You’re terrible~!"
...
The next morning, the alarm rang. Gwen had to go to school, so she got up, kissed Lorien on the cheek, and was about to head out.
Lorien opened his eyes, taking in her graceful figure with a satisfied smile. The mont she saw that smile, Gwen quickly fled—afraid she’d be roped into "morning exercise."
Not that she was afraid of the exercise itself—really. It was just that doing it before school ant she’d be late, and that was unacceptable.
"Our finals are coming up. Will you co to the graduation ceremony?"
"Of course."
Gwen left for school with a happy grin.
After she was gone, Lorien lay back with his hands behind his head, completely refreshed. Last night had been perfect—Gwen even pulled off Tifa’s shy, blushing, finger-biting look flawlessly.
It was like he’d equipped [Berserker Greaves]—that sweet [Attack Speed 35%] buff. But even then, it wasn’t enough, so he "bought" [Guinsoo’s Rageblade] on top of it. No need to go over the stats—just know that the more you attack, the faster you get.
After lounging for a bit, Lorien got up and took a hot shower. But when he ca back, he noticed sothing was wrong.
"Where’s Hela?"
It was already the next day, yet there was still no sign of her in the living room.
"Did she suddenly kick her internet addiction?"
Impossible.
Lorien walked to the bedroom where Hela had fallen asleep yesterday. He pushed the door open and found her still lying there, fast asleep.
"?"
His brow furrowed. Sothing wasn’t right.
Hela was the Goddess of Death. Even as her smaller self, she shouldn’t be sleeping like this. Sleep could restore her divine power, but it wouldn’t increase her upper limit. And since she’d been staying close to him, there shouldn’t have been any problems in the first place.
Which ant... sothing might be wrong with her divine power.
"Where does Hela’s divine power co from again?"
He thought for a mont.
"Right, Asgard."
Yes, Asgard.
Hela had said countless tis that she wanted to take back Asgard and kill Odin, but never once had she said she wanted to destroy it—because her divine power ca from Asgard itself. As long as Asgard existed, her divine power would steadily recover without her lifting a finger.
If her divine power were intact, she wouldn’t be this lethargic.
So... sothing must have happened.
Lorien stepped closer to her. He didn’t bother waking her—there was no point in her current state. Instead, he placed a hand on her head, letting the Phoenix Force circulate slightly.
He imdiately understood the problem.
"Her divine power really is depleted."
Which ant sothing had happened to Asgard. Could it be... Ragnarok?
It was entirely possible.
To wake her up, he injected a bit of energy into her body. Sure enough, the next mont, Hela’s eyes opened—and the first thing she said was,
"Asgard’s in trouble, Lorien!"
Just as he had predicted.
Lorien didn’t waste words. Sitting on the edge of the bed in his bathrobe, he gestured for her to speak.
"Tell what happened."
Hela first checked her divine power. Finding it still relatively full—and enough to keep her awake for several days—she let out a breath of relief before speaking from the beginning.
"When you two left yesterday, I suddenly felt a pang in my chest. Then, halfway through a ga, my divine power started draining away rapidly, and before long, it was completely gone! It happened so fast I didn’t even know what was going on. I just felt unbearably sleepy, ca here, and slept until now."
After hearing her account, Lorien was certain—sothing had gone wrong in Asgard.
If he guessed right, Ragnarok had begun.
He was about to ask how she felt about it. After all, their ho was gone. Shouldn’t she—
"Ahhh~!"
Suddenly, Hela shot upright on the bed, clutching her head in regret.
"I was so tired yesterday I just passed out—and I totally screwed over my teammates!"
Lorien blinked. "You’re worried about your teammates? Your ho is gone!"
And not just your ho—a real ho, not a figurative one. Your father might be gone too!
But her regret was genuine.
"We fought side by side, slaughtered hordes of orcs and zerg, and were just about to conquer the galaxy. She must think I’m such a noob now..."
From her description, Lorien guessed she’d been playing Warhamr 40k. But that wasn’t the point here.
"You really don’t care about your ho? You’re not even curious?"
"How could I not care? That’s my source of divine power!" Hela growled, but quickly slumped. "But like this, there’s no way it’s coming back."
"And in my current state, I don’t even know how long it’ll take to gather enough divine power to reach Asgard again. What am I supposed to do..."
She wasn’t wrong.
Hela’s divine power had dropped to rock bottom. Unlike Thor, she didn’t have an internal reservoir of energy. Her power ca from being the Goddess of Death, ruler of Asgard’s dead.
Now that Asgard was gone, her very source of power was gone too.
It was as if nothing about her had changed—except her level had been reset to zero. She would have to grind her way back up.
And at her current level, she couldn’t even use a teleportation gate. She’d have to get strong enough first.
How pitiful.
Lorien sighed, rubbing his head in frustration. Then he got up and started walking out, speaking as he went.
"Go put on your shoes. I’ll get changed, then I’ll take you to Asgard."
With that, Lorien returned to the bedroom to change clothes.
On the bed, Hela froze for a mont. After a brief pause, she sniffled, lowered her head, and wiped at her eyes. Then she quickly got up and went to put on her shoes.
Not long after, Lorien stepped out dressed and found Hela already waiting for him—wearing the prettiest dress he’d bought her.
Truth be told, that day Lorien had bought her a lot of clothes, but over 80% of them had been dresses—small dresses, long dresses, and especially Lolita dresses. Among them, the Lolita was the most expensive, but also the best-looking.
At first, Hela had flatly refused to wear it, shouting in the middle of the street,
"You beast! I, Hela, will never try to please you!"
But now, she had put it on.
"Not bad, not bad. Very sincere." Lorien smiled and nodded with satisfaction. That was more like it.
"Hmph~" Hela turned her head away. "I just think it looks nice. I’m not wearing it for you."
"That’s fine," Lorien said casually. "As long as I can see it, that’s enough."
It was the sa as not caring whether soone loved you or not—if you could still enjoy what you wanted, that was enough. So people just weren’t worth loving, after all.
Once they were both ready, Lorien snapped his fingers.
Snap.
The next mont, the two of them passed through the Nine Realms and arrived in Asgard.
But the instant they appeared, both Lorien and Hela were t with the sight of a wasteland.
Yes—ruins, in the truest sense.
Not a single building remained, only broken stone of every size scattered across the ground. The Asgard that had once floated here was gone, reduced to the devastation now before them.
The entire space was nothing but wreckage. The once-magnificent golden palace now existed only as scattered fragnts among the rubble. The beautiful Bifröst was reduced to a few shards.
Gone.
Nothing remained.
"No..." Hela couldn’t bear to look. She turned away and hugged Lorien tightly, burying her face against his abs.
Even though she had already guessed this would be the outco, when such a sight truly stood before your eyes, most people couldn’t hold back. It was like losing a loved one—you might not cry when you first hear the news, but when you see sothing that holds mories, it becos hard not to. Unless, of course, there had never been any feelings to begin with.
How many years had Hela fought on this land? And now, she had nothing. Not even a final resting place to return to.
Gradually, Lorien felt warm tears soaking into his skin.
He sighed softly and reached out to gently stroke Hela’s green hair.
"So, you can cry too."
...
(70 Chapters Ahead)
/PinkSnake
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