RON OPENED HIS EYES. So he was still alive! That was a nice surprise.
He was lying on a bed in a small wooden room. The bed was modern, but the room resembled that of a tiny cabin with old beams running across the ceiling, a stone fireplace with a chunk of wood already burning to provide some heat, the windows were frozen and he couldn't see through. There was no sound from outside apart from the aggressive howling of the wind outside.
He managed to get out of bed and the first thing that shocked him was his arm, it had fully recovered and had no scars left on it. "Wow," he thought while scanning his arm. The room was a bit chilly and it would have been colder if it wasn't for the fireplace. But where was he by the way? And where are the rest? His memory was very blurry. All he remembered was A huge flash of blue-colored lightning crashing down from the sky.
He grabbed his shoes and put them on. Then walked towards the door. When he opened it, he set his eyes upon a large sitting room with a leather sofa arranged to face the fireplace that was installed in this room.
He tip-toed out of his room, at the same time looking around for Ellen or Nathan. There were other doors just like the one he had on his bedroom entrance.
The door suddenly opened and a wave of snow and wind stormed in before a huge man walked through and slammed the door behind him shut. He had his face covered with a cloth that was quickly removed along with a cloak made from animal hide and then hang on the rack just next to the door.
Ron was about to run out.
"Don't run boy, you won't live long if you get out now," Thor warned him. He turned and then faced Ron. His face was filled with Scratches and burn scars and he was almost unrecognizable, he had a white beard that stretched from his side buns to almost to his chest. His eyes were bright blue.
Ron felt a strange connection with him, "Who are you?" he asked.
Thor chuckled. "And you are supposed to be a god," he said then walked up to the fireplace and settled on the sofa cross-legged and then faced the flames and watched them burn.
Another door opened up and Ellen walked through holding a tray with four ceramic cups each filled with hot chocolate. She looked shocked after seeing Ron standing in the room.
"Ron. You're awake," she grinned like she didn't notice the large man on the sofa.
"Ellen, what's going on?" Ron was confused by what he was seeing.
Ron, that's Thor. He rescued us back at the train and brought us here," she explained.
Ron turned and looked at the man on the sofa with a doubtful stare in his eyes. "Thor?"
"In the flesh." the man finally spoke.
Ron's eyes spread wide after hearing that. Am so sorry about the way I acted sir…I….didn't…..know….sir…..thank….you sir." He stammered.
"No need for formality young god,"
Ron felt like he needed to kneel. Though he expected the mighty Thor to look like this, he thought Thor would look more handsome, and not disabled like in the comic books he used to read back when he was still into the superhero stuff. This Thor was ugly with burns and scratches all over his entire body and he lacked a left hand. His face was old and tired. Guess Ellen was right when she said that Muspelheim is even a horrible place for gods.
"Not what you expected?" Thor asked,
Huh?
"I can see it in your eyes, humans have always had a different image of me each time they paint me or tell my stories. Each shows a different image." He said, "But this is me in the flesh, in a cabin far, far away from those stories," his voice sounded so loud and mighty that each word he spoke sounded like it could be used as a punchline for anything related to energy.
"I lost my mightiness the day the gods chose to kill all humanity, just because they didn't want to see Ragnarok. All those cowards, the Olympians, the Aesir themselves, and the Ennead they thought that if they killed the humans. They would stop the end of the world."
They thought the could twist the one thing that can overpower even the gods themselves, Thor faced Ron, "Fate. The gods thought they could overpower fate. And when they tried fate back fired by creating the godslayers to restore order, I was one of the few who were spared to live another day not knowing that it was more of a curse than a blessing, I prayed for death over a century of being a captive of the fire giant Sytr. And in order to escape I had to lose my arm."
Ron didn't know why Thor had just told him that, but if it was to scare him, he was more than just scared, he was terrified and felt like he needed to run away.
"So tell me…what were three kids doing to end up fighting one of Sytr's children."
It seemed like he had no idea that Ron might be a reincarnation of the all father.
"We were heading to Jotunheim," Ron answered with confidence.
Thor burst into laughter like Ron had just cracked a very strong joke. " Be a serious kid, you may be a god but it takes centuries for a mature god to be able to fight just one. I suggest you go back to the fancy world you crawled from and give up."
"Giants have my mother captive on Jotunheim, nothing you can say will change my mind."
"That's because you still haven't discovered the burden of being a god, boy." --Thor stood from his chair and brought his face closer to Ron's-- "You will age slowly when your immortality begins to manifest, you will regain my father's knowledge and lose all sense of feeling in your mind. Your mother is only human and that's what she'll always be,"
Ron stepped back after hearing Thor's words. "How did he know?" he asked himself.
"if you're asking yourself how did I know that you have my father's powers, that's simply because it's you who summoned Mjollnir and forced me to come to your rescue, "
"Summoned?! I don't remember summoning anything," Ron denied
Thor chuckled at Ron's gesture,"Did you know that someone is supposed to turn to dust when blasted with the power of the Gungnir; Odin's mighty spear? No mortal can survive a blast from it, but you were able to heal completely after three days. Another hint to show me that you are my father, but in a different form because the spear will never betray its true master."
Ellen's mouth dropped open. She didn't realize all those details. The last detail she remembered that was enough to hint he was Odin was when he came up to her on the train and called her Artemis.
Yggdrasil is dying," Ron suddenly blurted out and Thor frowned in response.
"I know. Fate has finally caught up, Ragnarok is soon to come," Thor said, "The end of gods. When that happens all of us fight and end the world just like the sorcerers predicted."
Ron sniffed.
"I can stop it from happening if you just help me find my mother,"
Thor sighed with disapproval. "There you go again Odin, trying to stop things. I'm not joining the Aesir,"
"We don't need you to join, we just need you to help guide us to Niflhem. I know we are close judging by the coldness just around this cabin. " Ellen smiled with a determined gaze glued to Thor.
Thor sighed. "You will die even before you even reach the great dragon Nidhug,"
Ellen smirked, "Try us."
Fine, we leave in the morning. Tell that friend of yours," --he raised his voice-- "whose been in my bathroom for thirty minutes!"
"The water is so warm," Nathan's voice sounded from another room.
Thor shook his head, then muttered, "Kids these days," and sighed like he couldn't believe it himself and had accepted defeat. He grabbed his cup of hot chocolate, which was now warm after the conversation they had just had.