The beings seated within the shadows had begged Thor not to take away their source of sustenance.
They had even offered him a place among them.
Thor refused.
Instead, he destroyed the tapestry woven by the Gods of Fate, shattered the cycle, and brought the endless repetition to an end. In doing so, he seemingly destroyed the shadow-bound gods as well.
That was the legend of the Elder Gods of the Shadow Realm within Marvel's God Universe.
It was also the story in which Thor became Rune King Thor.
And now, those same Elder Gods had summoned Drex Valen for one simple reason.
To stop him from destroying the Asgard Dimension.
"Only the coming of Ragnarok allows us to harvest life energy..."
"Dimensional Demon God... Lord of the Black Hole Dimension... God of Destruction and Ruin... please leave this place..."
Their voices echoed through the endless darkness.
If Ragnarok failed to unfold according to its destined course, they would lose access to the life force that sustained them.
That was why they had stepped forward despite facing someone like Drex.
"We both know that's not going to happen."
Drex's voice was calm.
"Asgard is already my prey. You expect a Dimensional Lord to abandon a dimension that's practically in his grasp? You should know better than that."
Silence followed.
The Elder Gods understood.
A Dimensional Lord abandoning a nearly conquered dimension was almost unheard of.
Ordinarily, they would never have bothered negotiating.
Most dimensional entities appeared only through projections. Such intruders could simply be expelled.
Drex Valen was different.
The Lord of the Black Hole Dimension stood before them in person.
What puzzled them most was how he had left his own dimension while retaining such terrifying power.
Even stranger was the divine title that instinctively surfaced in their minds the moment they saw him.
God of Destruction and Ruin.
A god recognized by the multiverse itself.
Entirely different from beings like them.
Powerful.
Unrestrained.
Overflowing with terrifying divinity.
The Elder Gods had no desire to fight someone like that.
Had it been anyone weaker, they would have already been thrown out of the Shadow Realm.
At the same time, Drex was having revelations of his own.
These Elder Gods weren't nearly as powerful as he'd expected.
He had originally assumed they were multiversal entities.
Part of him had even been curious to compare them against the God Rune.
Now he realized he'd likely overestimated them.
Even Rune King Thor might only have reached true multiversal status.
Possibly not even that.
Perhaps merely beyond single-universe level.
"...We are willing... to offer compensation..."
"...Ownerless dimensions..."
The Elder Gods proposed a bargain.
Over countless ages, they had accumulated a collection of unclaimed dimensions.
Surely enough to satisfy the appetite of the Black Hole Dimension.
There was, however, one condition.
The agreement would have to be witnessed and enforced by the Five Great Cosmic Gods.
"You have ownerless dimensions?"
Drex raised an eyebrow.
At first, the idea surprised him.
Then it made perfect sense.
These beings had existed for ages beyond counting.
Naturally, they would have access to resources few others could imagine.
The Shadow Realm itself was proof enough.
It was a dimensional space in its own right.
"How many?"
Drex smiled faintly.
"If the deal is profitable enough, I'll sign the contract and leave."
The meaning behind his words was obvious.
Asgard itself was a valuable dimension.
Its countless powerful souls were equally valuable.
If the compensation wasn't worth at least several times what he stood to gain from devouring Asgard, then there was no point negotiating.
And if negotiations failed?
The Shadow Realm and its Elder Gods would become part of his harvest as well.
The Elder Gods had survived for untold ages.
Of course they understood exactly what he meant.
What surprised them was how low his asking price was.
They had prepared themselves to pay far more.
The agreement was quickly finalized.
Under the witness of the Five Great Cosmic Gods, a binding contract was established between Drex Valen and the Elder Gods of the Shadow Realm.
In exchange for abandoning his conquest of Asgard, Drex received five ownerless dimensions.
One of them rivaled Asgard itself in size.
Its energy reserves were equally immense.
The others were only slightly weaker.
Drex honored the contract immediately.
The Heavenly Court Dimension withdrew.
Its armies retreated without hesitation.
After all, Drex intended to cultivate a reputation.
An honest Dimensional Lord.
A being who honored his bargains.
Good reputations made future business far easier.
Of course, that didn't stop him from having additional thoughts.
Those old monsters definitely have more dimensions hidden away.
Once the agreement was complete, Drex located the coordinates of his newly acquired territories.
The Black Hole Dimension immediately began consuming them.
It had already digested nearly a third of the Heaven Dimension he'd acquired earlier.
Now five more dimensions were being added to the feast.
Each one contained energy reserves comparable to Heaven.
One surpassed it by a tremendous margin.
The Black Hole Dimension grew stronger with every passing moment.
"Fate dictates that Asgard will not fall today."
Heimdall stood atop the shattered remains of the Rainbow Bridge.
Both hands rested upon his great sword as he gazed into the distance.
To protect Queen Frigga and the people of Asgard, he had remained behind instead of joining the battlefield.
As far as Heimdall was concerned, victory and defeat were never determined solely by armies.
Everything followed fate.
Asgard was unlike any other divine realm.
Its story had already been written.
The Elder Gods of the Shadow Realm had orchestrated Ragnarok itself.
Because of that, the destiny of Asgard was carved into ancient stone.
Unchangeable.
A closed circle with no escape.
No matter how powerful the Heavenly Court became.
No matter how close Odin came to defeat.
No matter that Balder had been slain within Asgard itself.
The Asgardians never truly believed the end had arrived.
And now they had been proven right.
The Heavenly Court had withdrawn.
Asgard would perish only in Ragnarok.
That was both its greatest blessing and its greatest curse.
Its blessing because no outside threat could destroy it.
Its curse because the prophecy became even more certain.
The more impossible its destruction seemed, the clearer it became that Ragnarok was unavoidable.
Its fate could not be changed.
Long ago, after learning of Ragnarok, Queen Frigga had traveled to her homeland of Vanaheim.
She searched for the Three Norns.
She hoped to find some way to alter destiny and save Asgard.
Her efforts achieved nothing.
All she found was silence.
Eventually, she was forced to wait for the appointed day.
Even Knull's predecessor, Cul Borson, had glimpsed a future in which Asgard lay in ruins.
Desperate to prevent it, he slaughtered numerous gods, stole their power, and forged the Hammers of Fear.
His intentions may have been noble.
His methods were not.
The brutality of his actions earned the condemnation of both Odin and the Vanir.
After replacing his brother and ascending as King of Asgard, Odin himself eventually foresaw Ragnarok.
At the time, he used Hela as the spear of Asgard.
She conquered realm after realm, expanding Asgard's dominion across the Nine Realms.
The later conflict between father and daughter had never been part of the plan.
On one hand, Odin never expected his eldest child to gain the recognition of Yggdrasil and deepen her connection to Asgard itself.
On the other, Hela's ambitions extended far beyond the Nine Realms.
She wanted more.
Much more.
Moments earlier, during the battle against the Heavenly Court, Odin had even contemplated a final measure.
If things became truly hopeless, he would release Hela.
The Goddess of Death, bound to Asgard through the World Tree itself.
His ultimate weapon.