Siegfried was not merely a prisoner of Tartarus; he was sealed to the very structure of the abyss. Six chains of ethereal silver, forged in the heavenly forges, pierced his flesh and spirit. These bonds did not restrain his body, they imposed eternal immobility.
Jormund stepped forward. At that moment, he was nothing but a block of basalt and obsidian, a mass of minerals animated by a silent rage. He did not possess the magic of the gods, but he possessed something they had forgotten: sovereignty over matter.
"No one can break the iron of the gods," Siegfried grimaced, sweat beading on his forehead as the chains glowed blue, warning the intruder.
"The gods forged this metal," Jormund said in a voice that sounded like tectonic plates grinding together. "But this metal comes from the earth. And the earth belongs to me."
Jormund grabbed the first chain with his bare hands.
The divine metal screamed. A burst of ethereal energy tried to repel the Anomaly, but Jormund did not back down. Instead, he closed his fist. He injected his own telluric essence into the bond. He did not seek to break it, he sought to subdue it.
Under Jormund's influence, the atomic structure of the divine silver began to change. The metal, once rigid and invincible, became malleable like clay. Jormund did not pull, he reshaped the chain. Under his stone fingers, the metal twisted and softened, losing its sacred nature and becoming a simple, common ore once more.
CRACK.
The first link bent, then broke, becoming gray, inert slag once more.
"Incredible..." whispered Siegfried. "You're not just breaking the link... you're taking away its divinity."
Jormund growled and grabbed the five remaining chains. His obsidian body began to vibrate, a low-frequency resonance that caused entire sections of the cliff to collapse. He imposed his telluric will on the remaining bonds. It was not a battle of magic, it was a colonization of matter. Jormund's stone "ate" the silver of the Norns.
With a clang of twisted metal, the chains bent and finally gave way, crashing to the ground like dead snakes.
Siegfried collapsed forward, free. He gasped for breath, feeling for the first time in centuries that his body no longer responded to orders from above, but to the ground beneath his feet.
"You made them bend," whispered the hero, looking up at the colossus.
"The world is made of rock and metal, Siegfried," replied Jormund. "The gods are merely tenants. I am the owner."
Jormund raised his massive foot and struck the edge of the ledge. The structure, already weakened by its resonance, disintegrated completely.
"Hold on tight," said the Anomaly. "We're going down to the deepest depths. Where even Odin's light dares not venture."
The fall began. Downward. Toward Chronos. Toward the beginning of the end.