Saint Seiya: The Legend of Seiya

108 - Asgardian Tales

The bottom of the abyss of the Odin Colossus was so deserted and its walls so enormous that even a distant leak from a rock echoed almost throughout the entire length of that valley where the defeated Athena Saints now lay. Defeated by Polaris Hilda, who was already far away by then. Perhaps halfway to the surface where other Athena Saints were fighting against Dubhe Siegfried, the last God Warrior.

For at the bottom of that abyss, June opened her eyes little by little, still very wounded by the enormous power of the Nibelungen Ring, which had hit her and everyone else. But among everyone there she was the one in the best condition, after all she had not fought any battle in Asgard, it was natural that she would be the first to come to her senses.

And the first thing she managed to make out when she opened her eyes, such darkness they were in, was the faint glow of the golden cylinder broken in half in front of them. June crawled across the stone to the cylinder and took it in her hands; of the two parts, she took what was left of the papyrus that was inside the cylinder. The paper no longer even had the Greek letters of Athena's name, which had disappeared along with the spell that made it so precious. It was just an ordinary papyrus now, she recognized.

June took a deep breath and finally tried to get to her feet.

Her eyes gradually got used to the dim light of the distant white sky of Asgard, as well as the precious stones of the Corridor of Old, which reached that depth. And that's how she noticed behind her the other three bodies that had also been beaten by the representative of that land and her cursed Golden Ring.

"Shun!"

She exclaimed when she saw her friend's body and, next to him, also the bodies of Hyoga and Shaina. Both Andromeda and Cygnus, still badly wounded in the leg, looked faint after so many terrible battles, but Shaina seemed to respond to June's calls, even if it was just to open her eyes, confused from where she was. The Master-at-Arms of the Sanctuary had fought no less until then, but Shaina was indeed known as the most spirited and headstrong Saint of the Sanctuary, not only among women; her hunger for the duty that now chained her to Sanctuary functions was such that, deep down, she recognized that there was a huge stain she still needed to erase from her record. And so she opened her eyes and sat up with June's help.

"We are in the Corridor of Old. Hilda hit us and looks like she left us for dead."

"Chameleon." Shaina asked with difficulty. "Go to the Cave. Find the Relic and seal it."

"The Athena's Seal is destroyed." June replied ruefully.

Shaina let her shoulders slump in dismay as she still gasped for breath.

"Still go, June. At least find the Relic."

She nodded and, taking a deep breath, let Shaina rest against the stone wall where the immense staircase that the lady of Asgard had taken a long time ago began. Shaina pushed her lightly, urging her to follow her mission.

The girl turned to the bodies spread on the floor of Shun and Hyoga and looked ahead of them, to the Corridor of Old, where she remembered having seen the figure of the valkyrie Hilda that put them in that state appear with great splendor. For if before the Cave had an indescribable glow reflecting the strength of that Valkyrie, now the precious stones that ornamented the Corridor had only a faint glow, unable to illuminate that abyss as it had done before.

Still, June knew that the way to the Relic was in that deep Cave of Surtr, where all the treasures of Asgard were kept, as well as those that its former rulers had plundered from the World. She walked, bracing herself against the uneven wall of that Corridor, where many precious stones pulsed very subtly with shimmers of different colors along the walls and ceiling as well, some inlaid and others hanging by filigrees of silver or gold.