June 2, 2010
The first thing that greets me when I reach Asgard is the fist of the lady of the group, a punch directed to my armored face that I divert with my forearm.
After blocking the attack my first response is to step back and lift my hands, while saying "I'm not your enemy, I am a traveler"
"A traveler in complete armor, that appeared behind us in a time of crisis, why should we trust you?" Lady Sif asks,
"I'm not asking you to trust me, only to not attack me, I am not your enemy, I know nothing about what is happening other than what you all said on the other side" I reply while the warriors three starts to circle me.
"Why should we believe you, you hid behind illusions, we never saw your face, you could be working with Loki..." They say
"While that makes sense, I'm not, I never meet him, the only Asgardian I have ever spoken to is you Thor" as I speak I let my helmet dissolve, letting them see my true face.
"You are the man that worked with Coulson, but you are greener and with antlers..." Thor says after he recognizes me, lifting his hand to block the others, and giving me the time to speak again.
"Yes, I prefer that people don't know about myself, so I cover my body with an illusion to look normal most of the time" I address the prince while making myself the less threatening I can.
"You said I was betrayed," he says, remembering my words.
"Yes, by your brother" I answer,
"And why you didn't say anything?! Someone could have died" He asks shouting, thinking of the damage done to that city and the danger his friend faced.
"Because you needed to learn your lesson to became worthy of Mjolnir, and now you are, and I didn't expect Loki to try to kill you" I point out that he will not have regained his powers if something different happened.
"We don't have time for this shit, we will talk again after I stop Loki," Thor says before storming out of the building,
"Sure, you won't even notice my presence," I say before cloaking myself with an invisibility spell once again, disappearing from the sight of the sill present warriors.
Now unseen, I watch as the quartet move the injured Heimdall to what I can assume is a hospital, to heal him from the damage dealt by Loki, before I start to explore the city in a hawk form.
Flying between the buildings let me see the twilight light reflected by the golden palace of Asgard, a breathtaking experience that I never expected to see.
While I am exploring around the city, I see light being emanated from the Bifrost, and seconds later Thor flying from the palace to the bridge.
Differently from before the Bifrost is not closing moments after it opened, but it's still going, second after second.
As I grow curious about what is happening I decide to follow the god of thunder, reaching the teleportation chamber just in time to see the start of the fight between the two brothers.
In the end, after beating down his brother in a long ad difficult fight, Thor is forced to destroy the rainbow bridge, preventing the destruction of Jothunhaim.
When the bridge breaks down an explosion takes place, throwing away Thor and Loki, which are miraculously caught by Odin before they could fell into the void.
As I watch them talk, I can see the moment that Loki decides to let himself go, falling towards the emptiness.
Understanding the difficulty of surviving if this happens I decide to try to save him, believing that if I do so, I will gain the favor of the royal family; diving down at my fastest speed, I am able to reach him and catch one of his arms, scratching it and temporarily stopping the fall.
The moment he realizes that his suicide plan is failing he summons a casket shaped artifact, throwing a blizzard against me and forcing me to chose between letting him go and risking to fall in the middle of the void with him.
Choosing to put my benefit first, I let him go, watching as an arrogant smile appears on his face, moments before he disappears in the cosmic emptiness.
What a fucker, I was trying to help you...
Moving back to the destroyed bridge I return to my normal self, appearing before the Odin and his son,
"I offer my sincere condolences, king of Asgard, I tried to prevent his fall but I failed," I say, bowing a bit in front of the old king.
"That's not your fault traveler, Loki has preferred to fall into emptiness instead to be with his family... I should have been a better father..." He says, pain evident on his face.
"I can't speak about things that I don't know, but I know you are a wise king, someone that will make the right choice, so I believe you were a good father" I give him a word of comfort, hoping to reduce the burden on his heart.
"Thank you, traveler, I haven't asked for your name, but I understand that you arrived with Thor, can I ask you why?" The all-father asks,
"I'm Alex, and I followed your son because I wanted to see your marvelous world, and was a bit curious about your sons' conflict, even if I didn't expect it to escalate in this way" I answer with truths,
"I will say that this is not the best time to visit Asgard, with the Bifrost in ruins I won't be able to send you home" he points a fact that will have been problematic if I didn't possess a teleporting ability and a mark that can guide me home.
"That's not a problem, I said that one that the thing I am is a traveler, and that's because I am a god with the domain of travel, giving me the chance of teleporting, making me able to leave Asgard and return to Midgard at anytime" I assure him, letting he know some of my capabilities.
"You are a god? Teleporting is a convenient ability, are you able to bring someone with you?" Odin asks, probably interested in the possibility, now that the Bifrost is destroyed.
"Yes, a Túatha Dé Danann, and I can't over a distance so great, at least not yet..." I reply, giving him a more precise idea of my powers.
"I haven't seen one of your kind since they left Midgard, more than fifteen centuries ago, maybe at another time I'll ask for your story..." The king of Asgard says as he studies me "... That's unfortunate that you can't bring him with you, my son would have loved to return to Midgard and reunite with his loved one," he says, glancing at his son, that blushes comically.
"How do you know about lady Jane, father?!" Thor nearly shouts after seeing his father's grin.
"You should know that I can still see and hear while I sleep," the old king says to his son.
"That's true..." The prince reply, a bit fazed by his father's remarks.
"Now it's time to mourn... Alex, I'd like you to be my guest till the end of the rites" with this Odin ends our conversation, returning with us to the palace, where a mourning feast began, to remember the lost prince of Asgard.
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Day after day the mourning rite goes on, and soon an entire week is gone, until the celebration ends and with it my stay.
I have seen much of Asgard in this period, talking with several people, from the royal family to the low born, and learned a lot, many things I didn't know before were explained to me, from the history of the nine realms to Asgardian magic.
I found especially engaging to chat with Heimdall, the guardian of the now-destroyed bridge, someone with the ability to watch the universe movements; I fund his perspective full of wisdom and knowledge, as expected of someone that keeps watching on several worlds.
During my chats with Thor, I realized that he doesn't fully understand how his powers work, and that only Odin will be able to give me lessons on how to better use my domain powers.
Unfortunately, the all-father is not available to teach me at this time, as he is still blaming himself for Loki's death.
I decide to depart from Asgard from the remains of the Bifrost, hoping that the remains of the building will help me focus on the teleporting, and that's the reason why I am here right now, still chatting with the Asgardian prince,
"I will try to improve my ability enough to be able to bring someone in my travels, giving you a chance of reconnecting with lady Jane," I say to Thor, as we walk to the broken part of the rainbow bridge
"thank you" he answers
"Then I will return to Midgard, and periodically I will come back to Asgard to speak about what is happening, until one day, I will be able to take you with me...Goodbye Thor" I say while hugging him,
"Goodbye Alex," he replies, while I close my eyes, focusing on my travel domain, searching for the spatial mark I put on earth, intending to use it to return home.
When I reopen my eyes, I am at my house.
As I go to my bar to take a drink, I find a man that I didn't expect there, seated in front of the counter, and watching me.
"Well at least you returned earlier than last time..." a surprised agent Coulson says, before passing me a drink and continuing his speech "... We need to talk..."
