"Father, I have something to ask you." I say to Odin after everyone walks in.
"What is it, my son?" He asks, sending out Axl and Voltair, as if he knows what I'm going to ask.
"Did I die...?" I ask, and everyone's faces instantly darken.
"...You were officially dead for 2 minutes 23 seconds. The bloodless was immense, and by the time the doctors stopped the bleeding your heart had already stopped. In order to bring you back, they had to do a blood transfusion and then restart your heart. There appears to be no brain damage or any other complications, but that's normal for asgardians. Honestly, you were incredibly lucky, you could've very easily Been taken from us." Odin said softly, each word carrying weight.
"I see... then that explains why I saw my sister. I was in her realm." My words shocked Odin and Freya, and Freya looked at Odin seriously. Even Thor and Loki were shocked, looking as if they were itching for answers.
"You mentioned our sister before, but I've never met anyone like that. What's he talking about father?" Thor asked, and Odin let out a huge sigh in response.
"Thor, Loki, your brother already knew this to some extent, but it's time I told you about your sister, my true firstborn, Hela. Hela is the goddess of death, and she rules over Nifleheim as a punishment for committing treason. She also happened to be the first wielder of Mjolnir." His words carry sorrow, the sorrow of a father who has lost much.
"Three thousand years ago, I sired a child with the previous guardian of Nifleheim, a Giantess named Angrboda. This was back when I had just became the ruler of Asgard, after my father, Bor, had died in battle against the Fire giant Surtur. That child was your half sister, Hela, the goddess of death. With her power, we were able to conquer the nine realms, and we were truly unstoppable." He stopped to let us process the information, some of which was rather new to me. This universe was truly different from the comics or the MCU.
"However, after my first son, Baldur, died in battle against the Demon Surtur, I decided that I was against the further conquering of worlds. I was distraught, as you can imagine, but Hela was too power hungry. She wanted to continue the conquest of worlds and united the realms. She went on her own to conquer a tenth realm without my permission, and when she returned to present her glory, I banished her to Niflheim to live out her days in isolation. One day, when I die, the seal on her realm will break and she will be released, but that day is a long time from now." He sat on the bed, and I no longer saw the strong leader I usually saw, I saw a vulnerable and tired king, one who has had to make impossible decision after impossible decision, all while having to deal with the same emotions the rest of us do.
I hesitate for a moment, but after a second I decide to place my hand on Odin's shoulder in consolation.
"I can't believe there's so much I don't know about your history, Father. Why keep this from us?" Thor asks, and Odin answers in the way I expected.
"It is not your burden to bear."
Quite stoic, Odin.
"What else do we not know?" I ask, pushing my luck.
"That's enough for now, I will tell you the rest some other time. For now, get some rest Verdandi, and the rest of you go do something productive. Thor, I imagine you should be preparing for your trip to midguard soon, no? And loki, you have your mission to prepare for." Everyone nods at Odin, having expected as much. He'd already exposed bare wounds by talking about his dead son, Baldur, so none of us expected any further stories.
-3 days later-
"Thor! Can I come with you?" I say, running to catch up with him before he sets off to midguard. His trip is of the vacation variety, but I know from my past life that usually when Thor goes to midguard, cool things happen.
"Of course Verdi, as long as you aren't still injured or anything, you're free to come with. Just don't expect any fighting, this trip is more for leisure." He says, and he's not lying. He sometimes takes these leisure trips to live amongst the people of midguard, learn their ways and keep up with the times.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I may be missing an arm, but that isn't really a handicap. I can still fight just fine." I say, flexing my one arm. It'd be a little different if I'd lost a leg, but that's just my luck I suppose. Actually, if I'd lost a leg I'd likely already be in Valhalla, but it's fine.
That's actually something I wondered about for a while, about why I saw Niflheim and not Valhalla, so I asked Odin about it and he said:
Nifleheim is both the inbetween place and the final resting place. Warriors who prove their mettle are quickly judged worthy of being in Valhalla, but they are in Niflheim for 30 seconds or so.
"Well good, because we're heading to a new area I haven't been to before." Thor says and we quickly head on our way. Before long, we are travelling through the rainbow bridge, and we arrive on midguard.
I am carrying my sword at my hip, a shield on my arm and a cloak over my body. Thor has opted to set Mjolnir on the ground where the Bifrost deposited us and is wearing a black cloak to conceal himself.
After all, no person alive is likely to lift the hammer.
-
After walking for over an hour or so, we came across a battlefield, one filled with dead bodies of lightly armored soldiers and horses scattered here and there. It was a devastated war zone, but the worst part was that these people weren't killed by other people, but by something terrifying.
It stood over a pile of corpses, it's body dark and covered head to toe in blood. It's eyes were red and slitted, it's body shaped into that of a long, lankey dragon. It was unharmed, and seemed to be munching on a corpse.
"What the fuck..." Thor said, a wild mix of emotions cutting through his voice. "Is that thing!"
"I don't know... but it clearly massacred all these humans... these people were slaughtered." I say, barely holding back my puke at the sight. The beast hadn't noticed us yet, but if we didn't leave it alone it'd surely kill more.
"We have to kill it, Thor."
"I know." He says before we both spot a child crawling from under a pile of corpses in front of us. Neither of us know why he's there, who he is, or anything about him, but the instant Thor and I see him we launch into action.
The beast notices the boy before we take action, crawling over to him quickly, it's mouth watering for fresh meat, but before it's claw can reach the boy, Mjolnir, packed full of lightning, slams into the monster full force, sending it flying back.
I rush over to the boy, who is now looking around the battlefield in shock and horror, and I put a hand on his shoulder.
"Are you okay? What's your name kid?" I ask, and he just looks at me in shock, his body flinching at my touch.
He doesn't speak for several seconds, but he is quickly able to find his words.
"Arthur. M-my names Arthur..." And the second he says those words my mind skuos a beat and I nearly lose my shit.
There's no fucking way, right?!?!?! There's no fucking way this is THE Arthur?!
However, realizing I'm not speaking, I quickly gather my thoughts and begin to give him instructions. "Okay Arthur, stay here, we're gonna kill that thing." I say before flashing a smile, and turning back towards Thor's fight, only to realize he is easily crushing the beast. Looking at it again, it's body doesn't seem real, almost like it's a goop of some kind, and when it's body extends outwards and slams into Thor, I realize it's a symbiote.
"Thor, it's a Klyntar! Sounds and fire!" I yell out, which makes Thor look my way and nod, only for him to start summoning thunder in the sky, which makes the symbiote begin thrashing around and writhing in agony.
Thor, having significantly weakning the beast tosses Mjolnir to the side, and decides to fight the thing hands on(a stupid decision).
The hammer lands not 50 feet from Arthur, who, in a desperate attempt to help(though he only tries because he thinks Thor lost the hammer) he dashes towards the hammer, and attempts with all his might to lift it.
He fails miserably.
"Come on, stupid heavy hammer! Lift!" The boy yells, his tears streaming down his face as he tries with all his might. The hammer doesn't even budge, as one would expect.
Thor, having gauged the monster's power, looks over to where he dropped his hammer, and sees the boy struggling to lift it. He smiles, seeing how desperate the boy is to help, and summons the hammer back to himself. With one final swing, Thor slams Mjolnir into the Symbiote, launching it into the sky. However, right before Thor goes to kill it, a strange white portal opens up and swallow the Symbiote, leaving Thor unsatisfied and me confused.
I remember this comic, and so many things are changed. But the main thing is that the creature wasn't a Brood. And what kind of creature did that symbiote take over? It was large, almost as big as a small house, and it had wings. Was it a dragon? If so, why was it here?
"Thanks for the Assist kid!" Thor calls out to the boy, who's mood has significantly improved since the monster is gone.
"But I didn't do anything..." he says nervously.
"Of course you did, you gave me motivation to finish the fight!" Thor says, a smile on his face, "Why were you trying to lift the hammer, kid? Think I was gonna lose?"
"No sir! It's just, I thought you lost it, so I tried to help you! Now that I look back though, it seems you were gonna be fine. You're super strong mister! What's your name?!"
"Thor. My name is Thor. What's yours?"
"Arthur!" He says excitedly.
"Well, Arthur, you wanna know why you couldn't lift the hammer?"
"Why?"
"Only the worthy can lift Mjolnir. In other words, you must be pure of heart." He replies with a smile on his face as he brandishing the hammer, and I can't help but smile as I watch the birth of a legend."