"You're dying, Thor."
He heard the words, but they seemed to have no meaning. A deafening silence seemed to surround him, engulfing all his senses. It was as if the very world has gone silent. For the first time in the Prince's life, he was a lost for words."Wha-" he swallowed thickly, "How?"
He died before, has been near death more times than his pride allowed him to admit, but that was always due to to the ferocious heat of battle, due to the unstoppable might of his enemy. That was the kind of death he welcomed begrudgingly.
"You've noticed have you not? How you seem to move slower, how at times your strength leaves you? How your power seems to move sluggishly throughout your body as if it was molasse?" His adoptive mother's frown deepened. Her words rung true. Every day felt as if there was a new limit set upon him, suffocating him, locking him in place, barring him from places he could go since he was a hundred years old.
"Honestly, this would have happened much sooner if not for your unique physiology." She flicked her wrist, a deeply rich emerald magic circle flared to life at her index finger, rapidly expanding until it was a yard in diameter. "Look here." In a flash, a full model replica in Thor 's likeness materialized. She twisted her hand, and the apparition became transparent, revealing the tissues and the organs underneath the skin.
Bright blue eyes widened. "Odin's saggy tits!"
A thick inky blackness slowly moved through his body, a large cloud slithering, corrupting everything it touched. A dainty finger rose, "This should be moving much faster, in fact, if any other god had this in their body they would have died in just days of exposure."
His father King Odin of Asgard is the son of Bor an extremely powerful Asgardian capable of decimating planets, casually, and a frost giantess. Odin was even beyond them, he could decimate galaxies with a sneeze, warp space in an instance, practically omnipotent. And his birth mother was Gaea, an Elder goddess, an Earth Mother. One of the first gods, a being that can control gravity, and bend earth on a subatomic level, knowledgeable of every secret to ever grace the earth. Thus Thor was a mixture of Frost Giant, Asgardian and Elder goddess D.N.A., granting him a physiology that allowed him to be much stronger, faster and all around much more powerful than any Asgardian. With enough time he could potentially be a being that could surpass even Galactus.
"What is that?" Thor glared at his chest as if he could banish the sickness with nothing but his divine fury.
"Thor, there are certain lines even gods are not meant to cross. Yet you cross those lines, time and time again. Narrowly escaping any permanent damage. Thor, oh, my sweet boorish troll-like little child, you crossed the line one time too many." the All-Mother swallowed thickly, her vibrant emerald eyes misted over with unshed tears. He could actually see the thinly veiled sorrow burning in his mother's eyes.
The Prince frowned, "When?" he whispered uncharacteristically.
Bright green eyes flashed. "You know damn well when you bloody Hel-damned oaf!" Freyja gritted her teeth, her hard accusing sorrow induced stare hit him harder than any wound, harder than any blow. "You know when you noticed the symptoms, Thor. The sudden bouts of weaknesses all began right after..."
He sighed "...the God Bomb." Even in death, Gorr was still causing him problems. 'That tenacious bastard' It seemed like he could never really shake the God Butcher's claws from off of himself.
"Yes, Thor, the God Bomb. A weapon designed to erase every begin with a shred of divinity in the present, past and the future. A bomb created by Shadark the god of bombs, a bomb forged around the very HEART OF AN ELDER GOD! And infused with the chronomancy of the Time Lords of Chronux. The Ultimate godkiller weapon, and you, my sweet summer child, you like a complete troll thought it was a good idea to absorb it into your very being! " Freyja roared, the air quivered at her fury. "The only reason you did not outright die from just entering the weapon is due to your unique physiology and Mjolnir."
"Normally, you would have eventually healed from the Bomb's adverse effects. Even if you gave your body no time to recuperate, never giving your body time to properly heal." She let out a frustrated breath. "While it would linger for a while, eventually though the corruption would have passed, but then... " she paused her usually brilliant green eyes dimmed, staring listlessly ahead "But then you lost Mjolnir, the very thing was regulating your power, making sure to put enough energy for you to heal while you went around and bashed people's heads in to your heart's content. By losing the hammer your power was constantly fluctuating, sometimes you could easily decimate an army of Rock Trolls and Storm Giants with one arm tied around your back, yet there were also times you couldn't even shake off of the grip of two low-class Frost Giants. By losing the hammer you lost your balance, Thor. Yet again with time, you would have found your balance once more, you would have survived. But then..." she trailed off clenching her fist, obviously doing her best not to break down into tears. There was a ringing in her ears, and something was cutting into her hands. Her nails- they'd bitten into her palms, and her divine ichor slowly welled out under her fingertips. "Then Lady Jane in her efforts to defend Asgardia from the accursed Mangog broke Mjolnir. A weapon that was bound to your very soul, tearing your very soul apart. That, my son, was the final nail in your coffin." she finished in a breathless whisper.
He was going to die.
His very soul was torn apart.
Yet he paid his mother's words no heed. He did not fear death after all.
The dying Prince immediately sprung forward, thickly muscled and powerful arms wrapped around his mother in a warm embrace. As if he could shelter her from the coming storm of pain.
What Thor truly feared was the fate of those he left behind. What would happen to those he swore to defend?
Despite their embrace, his mother only sobbed harder.
This will not stand! He refused to be the cause of his mother's sorrow, her soul-wrenching pain. This was the goddess that raised him to the god he was today, and he refused to let her down in such a way.
For her, he would find a way to stay alive, to preserve her smile he would conquer death itself, for his loved ones, for those he swore to protect! If a way could not be found one, then he would make one, with naught but his own two hands!
He would find a way. He clenched his fist, blue eyes flashing with a storm of raw determination. 'So swears, Thor, the Crown Prince of Asgard, the god of Thunder!'
May the Fates grant mercy to any who dare stand in his way.