"It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but, having fallen, it was blood." -Edgar Allen Poe


The wind was fierce and unforgiving, as it swirled the snow into a thick cloud. Hail and thunder fell from the sky devouring everything. Outside two Giants rushed to find shelter, from the unexpected storm.

Meanwhile, further up the nearby mountain, a young Aesir was chasing down an Ettin Bjørn. Still more a boy than a man; the golden prince was hoping to prove himself. He had been hunting all day and his patience was paying off. He had managed to stab the two headed beast near the one of its jugulars, before being thrown off. Now it was weak and bleeding and he could easily follow the trail of blood so dark against the snow.

Down the mountain the giants had found shelter in a shallow cave. There was a thin crevice, near the opening that went probably went deeper into the mountain, definitely not large enough for a full grown giant to squeeze through. The ceiling was covered in icy stalactites and the floor with stalagmites. It wasn't much, but it would do. Normally the pair would have braved the storm and continued home, however they were expecting their third child, not willing to risk the pregnancy they settled themselves to wait out the storm. They paused when they heard laughter carried in the wind.

"What is that?"

"Sounded like a child playing in the storm."

Above Thor could see the Bjørn below him rushing down to the base of the mountain one of its heads drooping uselessly. He knew he had to take him now while he had the advantage. He wouldn't be able to keep up if the beast made it to the flat land and the forest. Lucky for Thor, the Bjørn would have to come towards him if he were to continue to use the ridge to escape. As it neared him Thor leaped down stabbing the beast between the shoulder blades. He held fast as it bucked and rolled off side of the mountain. Together they hit the ground with a loud-

THUMP.

Everything hurt. Thor moved to roll the giant ball of fur off of himself. His head was ringing, his back aching, but it mattered not for he had slain the beast. He would bring its claws and teeth, back to Asgard, as trophies of his first lone hunt. He wished he had some way to skin it, as he felt the soft grey fur, but since he had traveled here alone he would not be able to carrying it all back himself. So he set to work taking what he could, choosing the biggest teeth and sharpest claws and placing them in his pocket. He hadn't noticed another creature lurking behind the tree line.

Inside the cave the giants had heard the crash. The larger of the two stood to look out of the shelter to see the storm was dissipating, the frozen rain becoming thinner. As he turned to go back to his mate, he spotted something in the distance. He saw what looked to be a small boy, next to a fallen Ettin Bjørn. How strange. Definitely not a Jötunn, possibly an Asgardian?

Foolish Aesir trespassing on his lands. Relations with the Golden Kingdom have always been tense. War and conflict were always ongoing with only a few intervals of tense peace. Now was a time of one of those intervals. But he knew anything could upset the balance and topple his Kingdom into chaos once more. Not that he didn't enjoy the chaos, it was just that he knew his people would loose if it came to another conflict. With the Casket in the the All-Father's keep, they didn't stand a chance.

Laufey was brought from his thoughts when he heard another sound. He felt a chill down his spine when he heard the roar of a Bilgesnipe. He reached to his mate, "Farbauti we need to move."

Thor was frozen with fear, when heard the savage roar. He had heard many macabre stories told of the Bilgesnipe, the giant horned monsters that roamed the wastelands of Jötunheim, but he was overwhelmingly unprepared to see one charging at him full speed.

Thor ran.

He new he couldn't out run it. He just needed to get away. He had climb the mountain. He needed to have the higher ground in this battle. Himself verses a Bilgesnipe, he couldn't win. He knew he couldn't win and if he some how survived father would kill him for running off to Jötunheim without his permission. Thor was in panic when he spotted a small crevice in the rock, big enough for him to fit though, but not the giant Bilgesnipe. Thank the Norns!

Thor ran to the crevice, and made it through just as the Bilgesnipe crashed into the rock. Thor kept running into the darkness as he heard it's claws scrape on the stone trying to gain entry, his adrenaline still singing in his veins. As he continued to flee he didn't notice the low voices, that were speaking at the end of his tunnel.

"We should leave while its distracted."

"If we leave now it will only turn it's attention to ourselves. I'm sorry my Laufey, but I am not in any condition for battle. No matter how much I may thirst for it." Farbauti added knowing if it wasn't for the child, the two of them could take the giant beast.

Laufey knew, Farbauti was right, he was just tired of waiting. "Fine" he said sitting back on the cold stone, "We must not let it hear us then."

The two of them sat in silence until the young Aesir burst into their sanctuary at full speed, not realizing his tunnel had ended. Thor stopped short, when his eyes fell on the Jötnar. One beast after another, he thought. He knew Jötunheim was a dangerous place, but this was just two much for the young god to take. Thor turned to run back into the dark passage, when a large hand reached out to stop him. Thor look back in fear. This Giant was twice the size of an adult god. His giant hands wrapped nearly halfway around his torso.

"What is a little Aesir like yourself doing, lurking in my mountain?"

Thor didn't reply. He knew he was good at making things worse with his words. Instead he bit the giant's hand as hard at he could, and hoped the giant would let him go. It kinda worked.

"Stupid boy." The bite hadn't really hurt Laufey, but the child's behavior angered him, he threw Thor hard against the wall. Thor yelled and reached for his sword, which Laufey easily knocked away. "Why are you here? This is no land for the weak and-."

Just then the Bligesnipe was upon them. It couldn't fit inside the cave, so it pressed its great maw to the entrance and roared again covering all three of them in it's spit. Before any of them could react it swiped it's front leg flew threw the opening and stabbed Laufey in the arm. Laufey and Farbauti both cried out in anger and sent ice daggers hurtling at the beast.

Thor was didn't know what to do, his escape was too close to the Bligesnipe, so instead of fleeing he retrieved his sword. as the Giants broke the rock hanging from the ceiling of the cave to smash on the monsters great paw. Maybe if he was lucky they would kill each other and he could leave easily.

He wasn't lucky. A sharp piece of debris fell and struck his calf and he fell, right in arms length of the beast. Its claws grabbed his cape and pulled him out of the cave and into the raging storm. Thor twisted and turned to ripped his cape off, and looked up at the massive beast. He watched as the ice daggers continued to hit the monster, but rarely did they breach the scaly flesh. Laufey must have seen this as well for he stopped throwing them and instead leaped onto its back, just like Thor had with the Ettin Bjørn, and stabbed it with both fists covered in ice. The creature screamed but didn't falter as it flung its paw again throwing Farbaurti aside easily.

The monster turned its dark gaze to Thor. Somehow Thor moved first. He heaved his sword right at the monsters face and it met its mark. His sword was pierced halfway up the hilt into its one of the monster's crimson eyes. The Bligsnipe was really screaming now amidst the loud thunder. Still very much alive and extremely pissed off. Thor didn't know what to do, he was tired, cold and with out a weapon.

It was when lighting struck the ground nearby that he realized what to do. He was the one causing this storm. He still didn't know how to control it, though he was learning. Thor focused on more, just thinking more everything, more lighting, more thunder, more rain. He opened his eyes to see his lighting being sent every which way. All he could see was blinding light and color. He could still hear the beasts screams, more than one bolt had hit the lighting rod protruding from the giant eye. After another moment Thor thought he heard the creature fall. He couldn't be sure though and tried to stop his storm. The thunder, lighting, and rain started to slow. He could now see past the drizzle to the mighty fallen beast.

The storm was almost over when a stray bolt flew and struck Farbauti's abdomen, knocking the Jötunn to the ground. Laufey rolled off the great dead thing and ran to his mate.

Thor saw the panic in the Jötun's eyes and started to say, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" when Laufey looked up at him with his cruel piercing red eyes, Thor knew to stop. Thor watched as he placed his hand on the giants wounds to freeze them, keeping them from bleeding. Then the giant picked up his mate and left, without saying a word.

Laufey ran as fast as he could, towards his home Útgard. He held his partner like a small child close to his chest. He didn't notice the storm had now passed. Thor watched as the Jötnar receded into the distance.

There was a mistake. A direct descendant of Yimr could not be one so small, so weak. Farbaurti so fierce in battle, known as the "cruel striker" could not have died birthing this runt. This was a mistake.


Thor was covered in dirt and blood. He was so tired, and hurt everywhere. He had lost his cape and was so cold he could feel it in his bones. He was walking back to the Bifröst site, when he saw the familiar flash of light. Thor moaned. He was in deep trouble.

When Thor returned to Asguard it was night, and the rain fell.