Chapter 2: 100 Years Later and Flashbacks

It's has been 100 years since I, Erebos was reborn in Marvel. My name was originally John McCain, and I apparently chose Erebos as my new name. Not very original, but apparently my power has something to do with darkness, at least based on my choice of name. All of these were some of the memories I recieved as my exact memory about what my powers were was blocked, past me at least seemed smart enough to try to give me a hint of my power.

Regardless I did quite a lot in these last 100 years. My father was surprised by my sudden change in interests. Evidently I was very much a fan of learning to be a warrior and my favorite weapons were a Scythe, Spear, Twin Daggers, a Glaive, and a Chain Sword.

I had dedicated all my time to training them as much as I could, but after I seemed to have fully inhabited my body that had been running on autopilot beforehand, I split that time in half and spent the other half being trained to use magic by my mother Frigga. I always felt Thor could have been so much stronger if he focused on more than just skills as a warrior and delved into asgardian magic, afterall, he was confirmed to be 1500 years old by the time of Infinity War and that is plenty of time if he spent his time well, but we know he was more a warrior than anything.

I learned the Illusion Magic that Loki and Frigga were both famous for of course, but I also delved a lot more into Enchantment, this magic was powerful enough to enchant Mjolnir to where even Thanos couldn't lift it. This esoteric magic obviously varies in power based on the caster, but it is too useful to not learn. Another magic that I learned a lot of was Telekinesis magic by using my own internal energy to interact with the world with my mind. This was another very powerful magic that wasn't abused as much as it could've been. I wanted to maybe even learn Sorcery on Earth, but that is for the future.

Because I split up the training I have only mastered three weapons. I mastered the Scythe, Spear, and Glaive, they were the easiest to learn in succession as they have similar moves that you would need to learn based on how the weapon is made. I had actually unlocked my divinties for these weapons, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to unlock a divinity for magic and my guess was that because I didn't choose a specialty of magic, I had to have a certain proficiency with the different magics I learned. It was during the time of finally having mastered the Glaive that I went to talk to my father Odin.

"What is it you need to speak of my son?" Odin asked.

"Father, I would like to relinquish my right to the throne." I said succinctly.

"And what brought on this way of thinking for one so young that must of course know exactly what it is that they want my son?" Odin asked obviously testing my knowledge and resolve.

"I understand father, but I must say that I have never desired the throne and I believe it'd be better suited to one of my younger brothers. Included in this is the fact that I prefer to be on the battlefield or learning magic from mother." I explained.

'Hmm, I must admit that he has become a fierce warrior and has played many a pivotal role in battles as he has used his magic and skills as a warrior in ways we had not thought of. Perhaps I will give him a trial of sorts.' Odin thought to himself.

"Very well my son, I will make you a general and see how you fair, if I feel you are better suited where you say you are after 10 years, then I shall agree to your request. Though, for now you shall remain the Crown Prince in name and responsibility." Odin said.

"Thank you father." I said as I bowed and left the throne room.

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(Flashback 91 years ago)

Erebos was 18 at this point and had been training with his Scythe and practicing enchanting.

[Erebos POV]

I had ended up adding some interesting enchantments as well as some known enchantments to my scythe. First I added two enchantments that were already on Mjolnir. I added an enchantment to allow the weapon to be summoned from anywhere as long as the weapon was in the same universe. And I added the enchantment that only allowed me or those I gave permission to hold my weapon. It wasn't nearly as powerful as Mjolnir's enchantment which only let the worthy wield it, but it did give me some security that it couldn't be stolen from me. The way the enchantment activated is that if anyone without my express permission tried to even hold my weapon, it would turn to smoke and reappear in my hand

I had added an enchantment to give the scythe the capability to be covered in flames by using a chosen activation word which I chose as 'Brisingr' because it's awesome. What surprised me is the flames were not the normal color of fire I was expecting. The flames had a grey outlining color and slowly got darker toward the center of the flame until the center was black and very hot, much like how a normal colored flame would be orange then blue at the center representing a hotter flame.

This only further cemented my theory that my power had something to do with darkness. Another enchantment I added was giving the scythe the ability to transform, this wasn't anything like allowing it to become other weapons, but simply allowed it to become something that would blend in easier and make it easier to carry around. I was not proficient enough to make it change to different types of weapons yet, but when I can, it'll be perfect as I can allow it to change to each weapon I am proficient in which can make my fighting style not only more versatile, but also work to surprise my enemies.

The last enchantment I added as I wasn't good enough to add more enchantments safely, was an enchantment to increase the size of the weapon, proportionate to the amount of magic I put into it. I called the enchantment Geoforce. The best part about this enchantment is that while the size increases, it's weight remains the same when being used by me and only changes when used against someone else like an insane impact force when I strike someone with it, or even major explosive force when the weapon is thrown.

To be called a master of a certain branch of magic, one has to make an entirely original spell of said branch of magic. While the Geoforce Enchantment Spell is my own creation, it is basically just a combination of already existing enchantments, so it doesn't count, but it does mean I am on the right track.

||AN: I will post a pic of MC at 18 in the chapter comments.||

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[Flashback 50 years ago]

I am 41 at this point and while I haven't been able to master Enchanting quite yet, I am insanely close with Illusion magic. I don't know if it is my heritage or not, but I took to Illusion magic like a bird to flying. It came to me almost instinctively like a bird learning to fly by being thrown out the nest, lt was through training with my mother Frigga that I had to learn quick or else.

It was during our training where she had used her own original spell and trapped me in an illusion so powerful it felt like a dream and I almost lost myself inside the illusion. It normally takes one years to learn what I did by pure instinct. I created my own rudimentary spell. And I wasn't even actively creating it to get out of the illusion as I had fully believed in the illusion as reality. The rudimentary spell I created was sort of like when you splash water on someone to wake them up. I had created it because I had realized that there were very few spells that exist to combat illusion spells other than just using pure will or mental magic.

The premise of the spell was this. When one felt as if they had been lost in an illusion, they would cast the spell and the spell would create something so shocking to the mind that it worked like a nightmare and scared you awake. The image one would see would be random as well, it would be pulled from their subconscious mind where some of the most irrational fears were. These were the fears that aren't at all possible, or at least not likely to happen, but becomes a fear regardless.

The fear that was chosen for me was one of my fears that I had forgotten about. One second I was in my room, the next I was in what's called the Abyssal Zone. This is an area of the Earth's Oceans that has absolutely no light. There exists specific law that covers how big an animal can physically grow based on their environment. This law is called the square cube law and as it is the ocean where creatures are near weightless because of the water, they can grow pretty much as big as you can imagine. I kept trying to swim up, or at least what I thought was up, but no light ever shown to make me think I was near the surface. I then saw something I really wished I hadn't.

What I saw had me absolutely terrified. I saw a large eye that had covered everything in my vision for at least a mile. I couldn't see the creature itself and only saw the giant eye. Then I saw what could only be a unknown number of teeth, the teeth were gigantic, at least the size of a cruise ship. All the teeth seemed to move and as if I was suddenly transported miles away, I could see the whole mouth and it seemed to be smiling. This made me start to scream and then all the sudden I was no longer in the water, I was in the training room and my mother Frigga was standing near me with worry evident on her face.

"Erebos, are you okay?!?!"

"Mother, w-what, how did I get here I was just...." I started to say before looking around and everything finally clicked.

"It was all an illusion?" I asked.

"Yes, but it was supposed to be an illusion indistinguishable from reality as I even had it start from the moment of us training. This was meant to merely be a test of your mental fortitude, I did not mean for it to scare you."

"I-i-i was, working on a spell to help fight against being placed in an illusion to..." I started to explain.

I then told my mother all that I had experienced in the illusion and when she heard what I had accomplished she was to stunned to speak.

"What is it mother?" I asked

"You don't know the manner of what you have done. You have managed to actually create an illusion spell to be used against an illusion, while still being trapped inside an illusion. That is amazing my son. It seems you were not as fully immersed in the illusion as you believed. You were unconsciously attempting to escape my spell, and did so by creating an original spell. That is extremely difficult thing to do when you are not even fully in control of your mind. That is something that even I have not accomplished." Frigga explained in fascination.

"So I am a master of Illusion Magic now?" I asked excited.

"*giggles* Not yet my son. What you did was by instinct. You have yet to fully create the spell. The spell must be made so that anyone could train in it as if you were to be teaching it to others. You would need research notes, spell diagrams, and rune sequences to fully prove you have created your own spell." She explained.

I nodded then started to walk back to try and fully bring my spell to the real world when I turned and asked a question that had been in the back of my mind.

"How long was I in the illusion for?"

"Hmm. In reality, it was only about 8 hours, but it seems based on your explanation, you were in the illusion in your mind for what would have felt like 8 years to you."

"8 years? Wow. It took that long to bring my unconscious thoughts to the forefront of my mind. You truly are an amazing witch mother." I said.

"Thank you my son, now please go and create that spell." She said chuckling afterward as she turned and walked away.

'I still have a long way to go before I can make any illusion spell powerful enough to be indistinguishable from real life.' I thought to myself and went to my workshop that was filled with notes placed in many different piles and many magic tomes scattered throughout.

||AN: I'll post a pic of the MC at 41 years old in the chapter comments.||

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(Present day)

My father Odin and I were standing in front of the Asgardian Army.

"Greetings, warriors of Asgard." Odin said.

All the soldiers saluted and waited to hear the Allfather's orders.

"My son, the Crown Prince Erebos will be named General and will be fighting alongside you warriors to prove his metal and leadership ability for his future as King of Asgard." Odin said pointedly, also showing that he is still trying to groom me as the new King.

The warriors saluted as Odin left us to get acquainted. This began my time as a true warrior of Asgard and my true training to find out all that I can do.