Asgard's seaside harbor was a world of torches tonight.
The stars in the sky were dim and lightless.
Only the far end of the sea beneath the night sky was still veiled in a thin layer of faint light.
All the Asgardians stood silently along the shore, holding burning torches.
The flickering flames illuminated their faces and reflected in their eyes.
The mages from Kamar-Taj also held torches, looking toward Odin alongside the Asgardians.
Odin had already boarded the small boat for his sea burial.
It was a small boat resembling a Viking warship, with its prow and stern raised high like a sea serpent, just large enough for Odin to lie flat inside.
The boat was filled with clusters of flowers and all kinds of armor and robes.
Most of them were old companions that had accompanied Odin through his long years.
Generally speaking,
only Asgardians who had died in battle
would be placed in such a boat, set alight, and sent drifting out to sea.
At the moment their bodies burned away,
the souls of the fallen warriors would also enter Valhalla and share eternal glory with their ancestors.
Someone like Odin, who had not died in battle and was not even dead yet, arranging to lie in the boat himself,
normally would not be allowed into Valhalla.
But Valhalla belonged to him, after all. He could enter it in whatever posture he pleased.
Sorrow spread among the Asgardians.
No one spoke.
Yet the unbearable pain and confusion in their eyes were made crystal clear by the firelight.
Queen Frigga held Thor and Loki in her arms, one on each side, deeply moved.
Even Loki revealed his sorrow at this moment.
Though he was a household-name superstar on Earth, and every movie he made smeared Thor and Odin