A fierce wind whipped through the fires in my head as we emerged on the Bifrost bridge. The kaleidoscopic colors dazzled beneath our feet, yet all I saw was the golden spires of Asgard approaching in the distance. We had made it.

Hela gripped the Staff of One tightly, her knuckles pale against the onyx handle. Her lips curled into a grin that didn't reach her eyes.

"Welcome home," I said.

She didn't respond, striding forward in silence, her dark cape billowing behind her. I could sense her raging emotions - relief, bitterness, vengeance - simmering beneath that stony exterior. For Hela, this was the moment she had been awaiting for eons.

As for me, Asgard represented a fresh start. A chance to break free from Dormammu's grasp once and for all. Hela was my ticket to freedom, though I couldn't let her know that. We still needed each other - for now.

Passing beneath the legendary gates, we entered the gleaming city. No alarms had been raised yet. My intel had been correct - Asgard's defenses were fractured with the Allfather in the Odinsleep. And with the heir apparent banished to Earth, the throne was ripe for the taking.

It wasn't long before shouts arose ahead. Guards streamed into the streets, weapons glinting in the sun. At their head was a lean warrior clutching a silver spear.

"Halt! You are trespassing in Asgard. State your identities!" His gaze settled on Hela. "By Odin's beard...Hela?"

"You know me?" She tilted her head. "What's your name, little guard?"

"I am Fandral the Dashing, a warrior of Asgard, and member of the Warriors Three!" He leveled his spear. "Your death was commanded by Odin himself."

Hela chuckled. "Well, I'm terribly hard to kill."

With a swift motion, she manifested a blade and hurled it. Fandral deflected it with his spear and charged, his comrades behind him. The clash of steel rang through the streets.

I joined the fray, conjuring dual fiery blades. We cut a swath through the guards with brutal efficiency. Hela was in her element, cackling gleefully amidst the screams and smoke. I admit it was invigorating, feeling the power course through my etheral form.

The guards' numbers dwindled rapidly between our combined might. Fandral alone remained, panting heavily, his armor rent and stained crimson. Hela sauntered towards him, spear in hand.

"Where is Odin now?" she purred. "I wish to pay my dear father a visit."

"He...he slumbers in the Odinsleep," Fandral gasped. "Heimdall keeps watch over him."

"Heimdall?" Hela's eyes lit up. "Oh, this will be fun."

She drove the spear through Fandral's chest. His body crumpled lifelessly to the street.

"Come now. We mustn't keep the Allfather waiting." Hela gestured, opening a swirling portal to cut distance. Together we stepped through.

The icy wind stung my fire ace as we emerged deeper onto the Bifrost. Its crystalline bridge stretched out before us into glittering oblivion. At its far end stood a lone sentry - Heimdall, the all-seeing guardian.

His gold armor shone like a beacon against the gloom. I could feel his penetrating gaze from here, his hand tight on his massive broadsword Hofund.

"Your return was foretold, Goddess of Death." His resonant voice carried upon the wind. "But it shall be short-lived."

Hela's laughter echoed across the void. "I hoped we'd meet again. Last time, you managed to strand me in Hel for millennia. That wasn't very fun."

"I swore an oath to protect Asgard from threats like you," Heimdall responded. His sword began glowing orange.

"How amusing." Hela hurled a blast of necrotic energy. Heimdall deflected it off Hofund in a burst of sparks. The bridge shuddered from the impact.

"Leave now," he warned, "or face oblivion."

Hela replied by launching a volley of death blades. Heimdall somersaulted between them, vaulting into the air. They dueled ferociously, sword clashing against spear. Hela fought with ruthless aggression, forcing Heimdall back step by step.

I watched cautiously from a distance. If Hela fell now, my own plans would be ruined.

"Is that the best you can muster, gatekeeper?" Hela taunted. "You're no match for my power."

"Asgard's fate does not depend on me alone," Heimdall answered solemnly. "Even now, forces gather to oppose your evil."

Hela scoffed. "Whatever do you mean?"

In response, Heimdall thrust his blade skyward. An array of multicolored lights blazed forth, illuminating the cosmos.

Hela shielded her eyes with a hiss. "What is this?"

"The all-seeing gaze of Asgard," Heimdall intoned. "It crosses all space and time, penetrating the veils between realms."

The kaleidoscope of lights coalesced into a blinding beam, smashing into Hela with concussive force. She hurtled backwards, careening past me off the edge of the Bifrost. Her scream faded into the roaring abyss below.

Heimdall sagged to one knee, exhuasted. But his respite was brief. With a resounding crack, the Bifrost itself began to fracture.

"No!" Heimdall struggled vainly to hold it together. But fissures spread across the bridge as icy shards rained down into the void. This ancient structure could bear no more.

With a mournful glance back at Asgard's glittering spires, Heimdall sheathed Hofund.

"May we meet again, in the great halls of our fathers," he prayed. Then he too plummeted into the yawning darkness.

Silence reigned. The realm eternal was left unguarded. But not for long.

I sensed Hela's return before I saw it - a distant rumble beneath the surface. Then she tore back into view, riding an obsidian meteor wreathed in emerald flames. The heat was palpable even at this range.

She leapt nimbly onto the ruined bridge, eyes aflame.

"A valiant effort, but meaningless," she spat. "Now, where were we?"

Together, we trekked into Asgard's heart. The damage to the Bifrost had stranded Heimdall here - he could delay us no further. Hela's wrath would soon be visited upon Odin himself.

I only hoped I would survive to witness it.

Valhalla was eerily still as we crossed its threshold. The gilded halls of Asgard's ancestors loomed silent. Our footsteps echoed down the expansive corridors.

Somewhere ahead lay Odin, immersed in his deep Odinsleep. Once regarded as the mightiest of beings, now left defenseless. The thought quickened my pulse.

A towering set of doors barred our way. Hela outstretched her hands, manifesting twin scythes wreathed in necrotic energy.

"Onwards to our destiny."

With savage blows she clove through the doors, reducing them to splinters. We stepped into the private chambers of the Allfather.

There upon his ornate bed lay Odin, swathed in white linen. His chest rose and fell softly, eye closed in deep slumber. The famed spear Gungnir glimmered at his bedside.

Hela paused, seeming to savor the moment. Then she reached out a clawed hand towards his exposed neck.

"I wouldn't, sister."

The voice came suddenly from behind us. Hela whirled, scythes ready. Out of the shadows stepped a woman in mail and furs, flame-black hair braided back from a stern face.

"Hogun told me you had returned," she continued. "But I had to see it to believe it."

Hela's eyes widened. "Sif? You're still alive?"

"Did you expect otherwise?" Sif drew her double-bladed sword. "I swore to protect the throne with my dying breath."

Hela chuckled mirthlessly. "How precious. But you're only delaying the inevitable."

"We'll see."

Sif leapt forward, blades spinning. She was grace and ferocity combined, dodging Hela's scythes by a hair's breadth. But Hela had the edge in power. Dark energy crackled from her palms, battering Sif backwards.

I jumped in with flaming daggers, hoping to turn the tide. But Sif was prepared, parrying my thrusts while maintaining her assault on Hela.

"Traitor!" she accused between blows. "You'll pay for this treachery."

I said nothing, striving to penetrate her whirling defenses. But her skill was formidable. Twisting past my blades, she sliced a burning gash across my chest.

I staggered back with a battlecry. Hela pressed the advantage, loosing a bolt of eldritch power point-blank into Sif's midriff.

The shield-maiden crashed spine-first into a column with an agonized scream. Hela pinned her there, tsking.

"Still so eager to die for Odin? He never valued your loyalty." She summoned a death-blade, aiming it at Sif's heart. "But your struggle ends here."

"Do your worst...witch," Sif gasped defiantly.

Hela grinned. "Gladly."

Her blade plunged downwards. At the last instant, a thunderous force knocked us all off our feet. My senses reeled from the shockwave.

Hela was the first back on her feet, hissing furiously. "Who dares?"

At the chamber entrance stood a hulking newcomer, clad in silver armor. His red cape flowed heroically behind him.

"Your reign of evil ends here, demon," Thor decreed. Mjolnir smoked in his grasp.

Hela's composed facade finally cracked. "You," she spat. "Even banished to Earth, you remain a thorn in my story little brother."

"I've returned at Asgard's darkest hour, as the Son of Odin should." Lightning crackled around Thor as he lifted his hammer. "Surrender now...or face my wrath. Sister or not."

Hela answered with a bellow of rage, hurtling death blades in savage succession. Thor battered them aside, striding forward relentlessly.

I moved to intervene, but Sif tackled me from behind. We crashed through a stone railing, tumbling down into the depths of the citadel. Her fingers locked around my throat in a vice-like grip as we fell.

"Traitorous scum," she gritted out. "I'll see you dead, even if it's the last thing I do."

I clawed desperately at her face, but her hold didn't falter. Dark spots swam across my vision. Then we slammed into the rocky bottom, and I knew no more.

Consciousness returned slowly. I found myself sprawled in a dusty corridor, surrounded by debris. My head was still spinning from the impact.

Gingerly, I pulled myself upright. What had become of Hela and Thor's battle? And where was Sif?

I got my answer moments later, as a body came crashing through the ceiling overhead. Sif landed in a broken heap just paces away, covered in fresh wounds. She didn't stir.

I could still hear the sounds of intense combat from the floor above. Hela and Thor were dueling fiercely, shaking the very foundations. It was time I rejoined the fray.

Staggering over to Sif's unconscious form, I placed my palm against her chest, feeling her faint life-force. It would be easy to extinguish it fully with a pulse of dark energy.

But I stain my hand in her blood. The noble Sif had potential, given the proper motivation. But she could still prove useful in days to come as allie of Asgard. That's why he pure hot life red substance dripped from my cold hands.

Leaving her dead body there, I conjured a portal and stepped back into Odin's sanctum. My timing was fortuitous.

Thor had managed to disarm Hela and now grasped her throat in a crushing hold. Hela struggled vainly as he lifted her bodily off the ground.

"You...can't...kill me..." she choked out. "I am...immortal..."

"There are fates worse than death," Thor rumbled. I could see Mjolnir beginning to crackle with power for a final, devastating strike.

My moment had come. I sent a bolt of eldritch energy squarely into Thor's back.

He arched in surprise, dropping Hela. I tossed Gungnir to her reflexively. Still dazed, she snatched it from the air.

"How...?" Thor grunted, rounding on me. I gave him no chance to finish, launching a salvo of dark magic that sent him crashing through row after row of marble columns.

"We must away." I grabbed Hela's arm. "While he's still down."

She mutely allowed me to pull her into a swirling portal. As the sanctum faded from view, I glimpsed Thor rising once more, hammer crackling ominously. His cry of anguished fury rang in my ears long after.

We emerged atop a snow-swept peak, beneath the glittering aurora borealis. The icy wind cut straight to my bones. Beside me, Hela sank to her knees with a muted sob, face buried in her hands.

I stood by awkwardly as her body shook with generations of bottled-up grief and pain. When at last her weeping subsided, she lifted her head, eyes raw but clear.

"Thank you...for saving me." Her voice was hoarse.

"Of course. We need each other."

Hela nodded slowly. "He's become even stronger. We must find a way to break him." She squeezed Gungnir's haft until her knuckles paled.

"And we will. In time." I looked out across the Asgardian mountains. "First, we must heal and grow stronger ourselves."

Hela followed my gaze. "Yes. You're right." She seemed centered once more, her old confidence rising. "We shall build our forces here, far from Heimdall's eyes. Asgard will never see us coming."

I managed a thin smile in response. In truth, Asgard held little interest for me now. I needed a new refuge where I could sever my lingering ties to the dark dimension for good. And I had just the place in mind - the one domain where not even Dormammu could reach me.

The Earth dimension.

Over the coming weeks, we set up a hidden outpost amidst Jotunheim's icy wastes. Hela proved a quick study in the dark arts I taught her. She took to conjuring portals and controlling the deadly Mindless Ones with particular glee. In battle she was poetry in motion, dancing between dimensions to outmaneuver any foe.

Yet I kept my own mastery of dimensional magic veiled. If Hela suspected how much power I truly wielded, she would turn on me without hesitation. The same weakness plagued all tyrants - they could never abide equals.

Escaped from a vengeful god - Dormammu and have a goddess eating out of my hand Hela. My mastery of dimensional magic was proving most potent indeed. On Earth I could keep them both under control.

Now I simply needed a new body. To free myself from the body Dormammu created for me "the avatar" body needed to go. The possibilities were endless. No one here had any inkling of my power. The forge.

This mundane world would be my playground. All its riches and secrets there for the taking. Let Hela and Dormammu stew in their rage.

I was finally free.