Karl continued to cough, lying with his back to the ground.

When the light slowly disappeared, the two companions witnessed an incredible scene: the red giant was still standing, with the hammer's head on his face and his arms hanging along the hips.

Dag was still there, on his shoulders, breathing hard for the energy he spent in the blow.

Reidar remained unmoved, not knowing what to do.

Weland fell to his knees, shaking the cave, and Dag came down from his shoulders, making him fall with the face to the ground.

Karl got up and stood next to Reidar, in disbelief at what he saw in front of his eyes.

Weland's face was disfigured: his nose was broken, one of his eyes was swollen and full of blood, and his lips were completely split. 

Simultaneously, the two companions turned to Dag, who had just risen, after regaining his energy.

He walked towards the blacksmith, with his black torso and arms, drenched in that liquid, and his eye still purple.

He put the hammer in his place and grabbed Weland by the hair, barely raising his head off the ground.

The blacksmith uttered a lament... he was still alive.

"You asked for it, you forced me. Now tell me what I want to know. What happened to the G.o.ds and the kingdom of Asgard?" said Dag, looking impa.s.sively at the red giant straight in his eye.

"Tell me the truth, boy... are you one of the Frostsinners?" asked Weland with a thread of a voice.

"No. That's the truth" Dag said, grabbing the giant by the shoulder, trying to help him sit down, resting his back to the great anvil.

Weland grabbed his nose and with a snap of his hand readjusted it, writhing in pain and coughing up blood.

"The Frostsinners... they managed to reach Asgard, many years ago, destroying the Bifrost and bringing all the Aesir and Alfars of G.o.dheim to their knees..." said the giant.

"How did they manage to reach the Bifrost? I know that you need to discover all the divine runes to reach the magic bridge, once you have found the root of Yggdrasil" Dag continued, who perfectly remembered the legend.

"There was a time... where all the Pantheons coexisted on Earth. It was the home of human beings and their G.o.ds. This all ended after the Dark Day, when the Frostsinners arrived on the planet, bringing chaos and destruction... It took them a little over a year to drive out all the divine nations who prospered in peace, forcing us all to undertake cosmic journeys and move to new planets" Weland continued.

"The Dark Day... no one has ever told me about it in depth. What happened that day?" asked Dag, fearful that Weland might die at any moment.

The blacksmith turned to him, looking him in the eye: "You really don't know? They were the ones who turned off the light that kept us alive. But no one knows why not even the great Aesir of Asgard".

Dag stretched his eyes and stepped back.

"It's not possible. I can't believe your words" he said, as his heart beat tightly in his chest and his forehead began to sweat with tension. 

"Boy, look at me. I'm a dying G.o.d. If you defeated me, there must be a reason... What I just told you is the truth... *cough*" whispered Weland, breathing hard.

"Karl! He needs treatment! He must not die!" shouted Dag, turning to his companions.

"What?! What... What... how do I do it?! He's the G.o.d Weland, I don't know how to heal a G.o.d!" replied Karl, bleaching from fear. 

"Then, find out how to do it! Do your best, I trust you!" continued Dag, trying to motivate his friend, while Reidar stood still looking at him, trying to figure out if everything that was happening around him was real.

"f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k! All right, Captain!" exclaimed Karl, bravely and approaching the dying giant, who looked him in the eye.

"I hope it's worth it" Karl replied, opening his medicine chest.

While Karl was at work, preparing ointments and potions of all kinds to make the blacksmith ingest, the effects of the dark liquid and Call of the Berserkr ended and Dag felt weak.

"Captain, is everything okay?!" asked Reidar, grabbing him as he was about to fall to the ground.

Dag looked at him, smiling: "Yes, it's all right. I didn't think I was ready for this... it had to be different".

Reidar smiled back, proud to be one of his most trusted allies.

Grabbing him by the shoulders, he helped Dag sit on the ground to regain his strength.

"How is that possible? What Weland just said... is it all true? Are these Xis strong enough to have managed to drive the G.o.ds out of the Earth?" asked Reidar, looking down, trying to process the information he had learned.

"I don't know, Reidar, I don't know what's true and what's fake anymore. I'm just very confused. If Karl can heal him, he's going to tell us everything he knows. The Xis are the most powerful creatures the human being has ever known. In front of them, Odin and Thor also trembled... and that's shocking" Dag said, squinting, exhausted.

Reidar took his captain's jacket and s.h.i.+rt from the ground and flattened them under his neck, allowing Dag to lie down and rest.

Dag opened his eyes again after about an hour and his first thought as soon as he woke up was to look at Weland, to check on his condition.

Judging by the look of his face, he seemed to have recovered.

"It was easier than expected! Apparently the G.o.ds have an innate capacity for regeneration!" exclaimed Karl, who stood up, satisfied with his work, wiping sweat from his forehead.

On Welland's face, a huge scar ran from his mouth to his eye. It would have been an indelible sign of the battle between him and Dag: the blacksmith would remember that day throughout his life.