18-Cruel Fate

Swain did not feel anything when he entered the portal. He had no nausea or dizziness; he just felt like he was moving somewhere.

When he opened his eyes, he was in front of his old house. The house in the forest was quite worn out and covered with vines after five hundred years.

The trees and plants in the forest had grown excessively due to neglect.

Now this place looked more like an abandoned mansion than a mountain house, which it was.

"My home, my home, my beautiful home..." Swain murmured with a small smile on his face.

He loved this house even though he did not like Asgard. This house gave him a sense of belonging.

After staring at the old house for a few seconds, Swain finally decided to enter the house.

He walked and opened the door of the house with a creak.

Surprisingly, the inside of the house had not changed or dirtied at all. There were no dusts flying in the air or spider webs on the walls.

Swain looked around the house absentmindedly. It felt strange to see his house after five hundred years.

"Well, I need to take a quick bath. Even if I don't understand, I must smell like a dead body right now" Swain had only a makeshift pants on him. Apart from that, his upper body was naked and had dried blood stains.

These blood stains belonged to the lizard men who occasionally came across him.

Frankly, the lizard men who met Swain were very unlucky. Especially in a period when Swain stopped hunting them.

He killed the lizard men who came across him even though he stopped hunting them. After all, it was very easy to kill them and he did not need to move any muscle.

He could kill the underdeveloped lizard men by using the judgment spell.

Swain quickly entered a room with a large bathtub and filled the tub with bright, clean and magical-looking water by opening the faucet on the side.

He got into the tub without waiting.

"Ahhh... I've definitely missed this" he murmured to himself.

He had not taken a nice bath for a long time. He had wet himself a few times using the lizard men's water reserves, but these waters could not be compared to Asgard's magical waters.

When his hair touched this water, the dried blood stains on it quickly disappeared and his hair shone as if it had come back to life.

The same thing happened all over his body. His skin shone as if it had been revived and he began to absorb this magical water like someone who had found water after a long time.

Swain was so drowsy at that moment that his eyelids slowly began to close.

"Definitely better than hard rocks" These words were the last words Swain said before falling asleep.

He had a big smile on his face even when he was asleep.

---

"Knock... knock... knock..."

The elegant and quiet door knocks woke Swain from his happy sleep. He opened his eyes with an angry expression on his face and slowly got out of the tub filled with water.

"I'M COMING!" he shouted and went to the bedroom to put something on. The bedroom was near the bathroom, so it did not take long to reach.

Although he shouted as if he was in a hurry, there was no hurry in his movements. He slowly opened the wardrobe and examined the clothes inside slowly.

After a long examination, he wore black leather pants and a black coat over it. He had not worn anything under this coat, so his chest and stomach were exposed and the wounds on his upper body were clearly visible.

Finally, he wore black boots and walked to the living room with the same slow, unhurried steps. The reason for this was that he had to go through the living room if he wanted to open the door.

But when he arrived at the living room, he saw that he did not need to open the door. The guest who knocked on the door had not waited for Swain and entered and waited for him in the living room.

No one in Asgard knew that Swain lived here and no one was wandering in the forest. That's why there was no lock on Swain's door.

Swain looked at the person in the living room with mixed emotions with his dark, bright eyes that glowed purple.

---

Frigga looked at the wooden door in front of her with a contradictory and fearful expression on her face. It was clear from the wrinkles and blemishes on her face that she had aged a lot. But she still looked very young. A normal person who saw her from a distance would think that she was 35-40 years old.

Her son had returned after a long time, and Frigga had come to see him to talk to him and relieve his longing. But when she reached the door of the house, a feeling gnawed at her inwardly: fear.

Frigga was extremely afraid, because her son might not be the same as before. Fate had treated Swain badly since he was born, but he did not care about them and continued his life. At least he gave such an image to the outside, but Frigga knew inwardly that Swain was suffering.

During this process, only Frigga helped him, thus reducing Swain's pain a little. But Odin sent Swain to exile to keep him away from Asgard. This exile could change Swain completely. It could turn his sons into a real demon.

Finally, Frigga gathered her courage and knocked on the wooden door in front of her gently. Only a few seconds later, a shout was heard from inside the house.

"I'M COMING!"

Frigga could feel the obvious anger in this voice. She waited for her son to open the door with a small smile on her face.

...

Frigga was still waiting.

*What is he doing?* Frigga thought and decided to enter the house.

She pushed the wooden door with her hand and saw the dark living room inside. After taking a deep breath, she stepped into the house and started walking towards the living room.

Frigga could not help frowning when she stepped into the house. It was as if the atmosphere suddenly became heavier and pressed on her. The atmosphere was silent as if she had entered the den of a predatory animal, it was hard to breathe.

Frigga did not move and stood in the middle of the living room, waiting for Swain to appear. Fortunately, this wait was not as long as the other. When she heard a sound from the room on her right and looked to the right, a pair of bright purple eyes were looking at her.

When Frigga's eyes made contact with these eyes, the already silent atmosphere became even quieter. Frigga could not gather the courage to speak, and Swain felt too guilty to speak.

*She has aged a lot* Swain thought when he saw Frigga. His mother had aged greatly and the wrinkles and blemishes on her face did not escape Swain's eyes.

When he saw this, Swain's heart tightened and not a single word came out of his mouth. Finally, Swain got rid of some of the guilt inside him and said a word.

"Mother..."

After saying this word, Swain walked towards Frigga with quick steps and hugged her with great force. It looked a bit strange because he had only one arm.

He hugged Frigga as if he would never see her again if he let her go. When he hugged Frigga, an incredible peace filled him and swept away the guilt inside him.

Seeing that her son was still the same and had not changed, Frigga smiled and hugged Swain and kissed him on the cheek.

When this happened, Swain let go of Frigga and looked at her with an angry expression on his face. "I'm exactly five hundred and thirty-five years old, mother. I'm not a baby, so don't kiss me..." There was a fake anger in Swain's words.

"You are always my little baby" Frigga said with a big smile on her face. She looked at Swain with affection and small tears were flowing from the corners of her eyes.

Swain saw this and raised his one arm to wipe Frigga's tears. "Please don't cry" he said. Frigga nodded and looked at Swain with affection.

As she did this, something caught Frigga's eye. She walked to the wall next to her and pressed the rune spell that would light up the room. The room suddenly brightened. Swain raised his arm as if he was a vampire and protected himself from the light. It was clear that he did not like the light at all.

After lighting up the room, Frigga came in front of Swain and opened his coat a little and looked at his chest. More precisely, the big wounds on his chest.

The more Frigga made Swain's chest visible, the more wounds appeared. Swain's upper body was like a field made of big wounds. There were so many wounds that there was almost no place on Swain's upper body that was not wounded. Even the wounds on his upper body extended to his right elbow.

When Frigga saw these wounds, tears came from her eyes again. She lifted her head and made eye contact with Swain. She raised her right hand and put it on Swain's cheek with affection.

"Fate never treated you well..." she said with a sad tone of voice. Swain looked at Frigga with an indecisive expression on his face. He took Frigga's right hand and lowered it from his cheek.

"That's why I will be stronger than fate" he said with a determined tone of voice. Frigga could not help raising her eyebrows in surprise when she heard Swain's words.

Odin always told Frigga that Swain would fight with rivals who were stronger than fate. "If there is someone who can do this, it is you" Frigga said. "Besides, you have to do this" she added.

Swain looked at Frigga without understanding her words. When Frigga saw this look, she tried to change the subject by saying "Well, tell me what you experienced in Hollow Cave".

Swain understood this desperate effort, but he did not dwell on it. However, the purple glow in his eyes increased and he looked at Frigga carefully.

Frigga knew very well what this meant when she saw the glowing purple eyes. Swain's name was not in vain the demon of secrets. He could learn the secrets hidden from him without much effort.

"She is clearly hiding something from me... I'm sure she has a reason. That's why I won't pry" Swain thought.

Frigga breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the purple glow in Swain's eyes decrease.

*It seems he doesn't care what I'm hiding from him or he will wait until I tell him. I definitely raised him well* Frigga thought and sat on the couch next to her.

When she did this, a cloud of dust flew from the couch and caused Frigga to cough.

Swain smiled when he saw this scene and sat next to Frigga.

"Well, let me remind you what I did in Hollow Cave."

Swain had not seen his mother for a long time, so he wanted to talk and spend time with her as much as possible.

But before they started chatting, the door knocking interrupted them.

KNOCK!.....KNOCK!.....KNOCK!...

This door knocking style was not gentle like Frigga's. Instead, it was fast and violent.

Swain looked at the wooden door with the purple glow in his eyes.

***********

Guess who's knocking on the door?