This was getting mildly out of hand. Thor had to admit though, breaking into the Asgardian archives in the branded-off section of the old library was a bit cumbersome. From where he knelt before the door knob, Thor massaged the hole with a fine piece of metal, realizing this was more Loki's profession than his own. The dim light from the stars gave him enough lighting to see but not enough to be detected. This proved to be in his favor, as his father, Odin, was already suspicious of some going-ons.
Hours prior, while the palace grew orange in the wake of Thor's resolved storm, said Thunderer began chasing after Heimdall. To Thor's surprise, Heimdall escaped him. Not an easy feat, eluding the great God of Thunder, especially when moving moderately slow when doing so. He might have been embarrassed, were the circumstances a bit more tame. As it stood, this was the great gatekeeper, and he had a few tricks up his sleeve. Maybe it was embarrassing because, either way you sliced it, he lost sight of the most memorable Asgardian. Beyond that, the most valuable, with the teaser of information he received.
"But-" Thor grunted aloud, head flipping in each direction as he stood in the grand foyer of the great palace he called home. Of all the places to lose someone, he had to in the most open area. Thor lightly cursed himself. He had to keep his priorities locked in position. Heimdall no doubt knew of various archaic, forgotten ways to get about amongst the nine realms. He was ancient and all-seeing. Surely, there were more popular modes of transport, maybe ones that existed before the Bifrost. If that were the case, then the one who he should properly seek out would be-
"Lost?" A brassy voice called out from one of the several side hallways that littered the palace and inevitably pooled into the foyer. It was used as a place of celebration or to delegate during meetings of peace to war tactics. Recently, Thor could fully say it was not being used to its fullest potential. That said, not many people frequented the area when not in use, so that limit the voice's source down. It didn't take simple deductive thing to guess who it was before looking.
After living his whole life beside the occasionally tyrannical leader, how could one not know such a voice?
The recognizable sound caused Thor to immediately turn and bow respectfully to the AllFather, knowing that his word was law and he is the truest ruler to Asgard until the unforeseeable. Thor did all of this with fluent grace (as this was customary to do daily) but was waved off by his father as he approached.
"Father," Thor began meticulously. "is there business you have with me?" The statement must have been amusing—or endearing—as the typically remote man smiled so strangely warm and unlike the habitual curtness. Thor wasn't sure if he was complimented or insulted; he hadn't decided yet.
"Things already known of." The AllFather humored Thor with a quiet chuckle, standing beside his son as they gazed out to their kingdom. They occasionally could be found like this, but not as often as a true father-son relationship dictated. Odin was not the general archetype for father, nor was Thor for that of an ideal son. Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with each other in consensual silence was their way of communicating emotions to each other, as neither are known for being socialites or common practitioners of outward adoration.
That said, the opposite could be said if they were portraying negative, brash emotions. All of the nine realms and Valhalla would hear of a debate between the two gods. Thor clenched his jaw unconsciously. The AllFather mustn't know of Thor's hypothetical search and rescue mission. Mention of Loki would only cause (yet another) bout of words between father and son.
Thor noted that his father began to pace absentmindedly, a quirk of Odin's that Thor himself picked up on many years back. Perhaps it was due to the warrior within them, craving constant motion. That, or nervous habit—at least for Thor. Easily, the Thunderer scoffed with an uneasy grin. If he could play it up, merely enough to sneak by, then all would be well with their Asgardian haven. Odin would not take well to the idea of Loki's return, that much was evident. By the way Odin was staring him down, his loose smile disappearing, Thor would assume his father a telepath.
"Due to recent events—as you might guess—the Bifrost has been left unaccessible." Odin proclaimed, and Thor wished he could grind his teeth and retort sarcastic enthusiasm. His father was preaching to the proverbial choir. Out of all Asgardians, Thor knew of that much—he caused it's fall—so Thor, beyond all else, was no doubt the one who suffered greatest due to it's collapse. Thor's stomach lurched at remembrance of the final fight with Loki, and his conflicted choice of destroying the rainbow portal. On top of that, his mind couldn't help but think back to all he had left behind on Midgard. The beautiful world and the even more spectacular people that dwell on it. Despite his god-like status, he felt as though Midgardians lived such quaint and enjoyable lives, and they had so much to share. Jane, in particular, caught his eye. The sweetest voice and most dainty, feminine body ever known. He appreciated her beyond thought, but even she was branded as badly as Loki in Odin's book. Not only for Loki, Thor remained reserved with mentions of Midgard from his father.
Noting his son's passive facade, Odin carried on with his pace and idle prattle.
"One assumes our link to the other worlds is now lost," Odin stared expectingly, gaging his son's reaction. "But this is not true." Oh, and it would be such a grand lie to say Thor's nonchalant face was genuine. Loki would take pride in his brother if Thor had the chance to speak with him. All the same, Thor now learned of two things; Loki was not dead and Odin—at least—knew of other ways about the realms. Out of those things, both were to remain hidden from his expression and the forefront of his mind. Thor would be a fool if he told himself his father wasn't concerned with the idea of the Trickster's return and that he would be the one to cause it.
This only meant tact was necessary.
Tact was what Thor did not do well with, and he always proves so without fail.
"If you're telling me that there are other ways, then why have we not popularized such alternate routes? Should we not rekindle the road between the realms?" Thor asked curiously, feigning curiosity and intent. The crossed look on the AllFather's aged face made Thor cringe. No matter what the circumstances or appearance, Thor will always be somewhat submissive with his father. With Odin in your family tree, it was a hazard if you weren't.
Odin halted his pace, now standing still a short distance ahead of Thor, gazing longingly into the horizon. Thor neared the complicated man, it being his turn to gage reactions. After the softest of sighs, Thor remarked dryly. "A king who does not trust his court does not own his kingdom." Odin quickly reacted, staring lethal daggers into Thor's soul. This time, the Thunderer remained solid. "You told me and Loki that as children. It promotes the moral of trust between a king and his followers-"
"He is not just a follower," Odin snared between gritted teeth. "He is an irresponsible Asgardian who does not deserve mercy. His fate is in his own hands now," Thor perked up, attention captured at the aforementioned magician. "I will not be the invisible hand that encourages him to return or stay away. That said," Odin sharpened his tone. "I will be erasing all records of past portals and gates to the other realms. Such knowledge is dangerous and would spill over as fuel to a war. Be it he or another danger, I cannot allow such sensitive knowledge to exist."
"Who are you to say such things—"
"Who are you to repeal with lack of thought!" Standing a bit straighter, Odin kept his height just a smidgen taller than Thor's, much to the latter's dismay. It only added to his nerves. "You, who caused a war within a day visit to the Frost Giants." The scorn used to emphasize the alternative race made Thor's blood boil. His father had quite the reputation with them, but it wouldn't take a dunce to feel such harsh words tense up the atmosphere.
"You wish to destroy Asgardian history, cross slander with another race and throw in my face the past I have learned from?" Thor rhetorically called out, eyes glued to his father's. The locked, familiar irises created the turning point inside. As said, tact was not Thor's friend. "For only you to carry this knowledge is selfish and wrong. On top of all else, you are a hypocritical old man who cannot discern his teachings in his own life! 'A true king', would be faithful and honest to his followers, not reign by brushing away old relics out of view and hope if fades into rumor and folk lore."
A slam of the over-sized pole arm silenced Thor subsequentially. The two have had louder arguments where Odin doesn't attempt to silence his thunder-born child in the least. In a sub-conscious verse, Thor understood Odin was struggling with his battle-hard mind and constantly conflicted heart. On most occasions, this might be a sliver of hope, glowing defiantly as a piece of the man that still had emotion. That was quite the lie—again, Loki would take pride in his relationship in all this—if anyone believed it to be so. Odin was far more dangerous when he was stuck between emotions.
Playing hide-and-seek with the Destroyer was more appealing than being in the same room as Odin when he is in one of those funks.
Odin leaned up close to Thor, noses practically making contact. Thor could feel the rage emit and roll off of his father's body. "Loki Laufeyson," Odin cursed in a low tone, making sure to stab Thor with such emphasis. "Practitioner of Lies and Trickster of the realms...as long as I dwell within this cobblestone fortress, Loki will never return a free man with pride, should he be alive after falling into the unending vortex."
Smacking Odin with his fists would be akin to the Midgardian's Jesus doing so to God, so it would be suffice in saying Thor couldn't bring himself to do so.
Never before had Thor felt such resentment towards his father. Even in his own banishment, he felt nothing but the most humility and shame—even depressive self-resentment—but nothing hard or burning against his father. Perhaps it took until this situation for Thor to feel so disgusted. His expression twisted inward, despite newfound silence. If words hadn't decidedly disappeared, Thor would exchange so many, but so few of choice. Silence, maybe, would hit a stronger cord within the booming AllFather.
Thor quickly left his father's side and eventual presence, no words exchanged or left to linger. They were never meant for lingering endearments or threats, depending on the situation. If they had something to say, it was spoken. It was out of impatience Thor turns from Odin now. His words were wasted on the experienced man. Unfortunately, there would be no helping that.
Knowing Odin as a man of his words—especially with demands—Thor had to move quickly. This brought the blonde Thunderer to his current position. There had only been a short time before sundown since the stalemate he and his father partook in. Time was not completely on his side, but at least the lighting was.
A tangible grunt escaped his lips, and Thor caved in and similarly caved the door in with Mjolnir. It really couldn't be helped, truly. The door was being awfully stubborn and door-like. Perhaps if the lock wasn't so troublesome and locked. Aah, but that would make things too easily done. With such a hefty comment, Thor would assume Odin had an area such as old archives and writings from scribes more properly guarded. In fact, Thor was pleased (but worried) when faced with just a door—a very difficult door. Perhaps Thor's assumption that the sealed-off area holding a lead was too hopeful.
He could use hope right now.
Entering quietly, Thor gazed upon the equally soft-spoken, small room with a plan in mind. He had to be quick, even with the lack of security. That might be even more dangerous than ten guards. It could allude there was nothing to find or that Odin, himself, watched it personally. The initial attack when the Casket was stolen—despite guards and the Destroyer—Odin could detect the presences. Either a trick or a trait of being the AllFather, Thor wasn't quite certain, nor did he want to be.
Returning back to the room and the task at hand, Thor focused on his business. Removing a candle stick and lighting the wick with great ease, the flame birthed was minuscule but great enough to illuminate the small abode. Octagonal in shape, the room was made up of bookshelves plastered onto the walls themselves. All of them were filled to the brim without exception. Some were cloth, leather, even wooden. It went without saying many were in decay; it was a matter of what state of decay they were in. With titles legible on a handful, quite a few were left without markings, on the covers and spines at least.
This made Thor's task quite a deal more difficult, as he couldn't glimpse for a specific title to catch his eye. Time was not on his side moreso now. If the demigod had to search through all the writings and scrolls (unfortunately, there were just as many scrolls as there were books due to their compactness) he would be here until Ragnarok.
After a half past an hour flew on by, Thor's limited attention span and patience was endangered. This reduced him to flipping through the pages and skimming down the lines on the scrolls as quickly as physically possible for eyes. He gave up on the notion that reading passages might refer to other ways about the realms. It was all bland and dry, and most of it was historical documents and strategy plans of wars long since gone. They must belong in the restricted section for the greater good. No Asgardian deserved such an eyesore.
Instead, Thor searched rapidly for keywords, such as "Portal" or "Gate" or any mention of Midgard or the Bifrost in detail. So it was strange when the christened name of his hammer caught his attention. The book was small and somewhat preserved, but the title was nowhere to be found. Thor slowed his pace, looking back to the beginning of the passage, curiosity unimaginably heightened.
It read:
"Mjolnir ("that which smashes") is the hammer placed into the care of Asgardian Royalty.
Odin Borson, chief of the Asgardians, ordered the dwarfs to forge Mjolnir. The blacksmiths Eitri, Brok, and Buri used the core of a star as the mold. In the process the star exploded and almost took Midgard with it. Although powerful in and of itself, the hammer also received several potent spells from Odin, who slew the frost giant Laufey with it.
Mjolnir itself is already extremely durable and night invulnerable like the Midgardian Adamantium, and combined with the various enchantments placed upon it by Odin, is for all intents and purposes, indestructible. It was survived heat as extreme as the heart of suns, blasts powerful enough to destroy planets, and it has contained energy sufficient enough to destroy an entire galaxy and even energy sufficient enough to destroy one-fifth of the Universe.
Mjolnir also grants its user countless mystical attributes and powers such as manipulation of the fundamental forces of the Universe (spectrum, gravity, etc.). The wielder of Mjolnir can channel energies for the purpose of opening gateways which he and others can pass through. He can open gateways which allow him to travel across locations no matter how great the distance within moments or even across entire dimensions. Such abilities are due to Mjolnir possessing said powers itself or that of the complex and numerous enchantments Odin himself has put onto the object, therefore making priorly stated properties speculated upon and dependent on user.
Chills thrummed his soul at that point, and Thor found himself both thrilled and shocked at the text. For his long-time companion to be so diverse and fundamental without him knowing was a surprise. Of course, Thor assumed the hammer as stronger than he knew of. He merely didn't assume the power to travel had been with him all along. How could he? Suddenly, things became very clear to him. Heimdall's weaved messages and Odin's sharp responses.
Odin bequeathed nearly unlimited power to Thor without him ever realizing it.
Author's Notes:
I hope you appreciate this chapter! I've been trying to get on the internet in between workloads, so this is what I have for you. Surprisingly enough, the thought process for this stories is going well and fluently in my head. It's so exciting! Also, I do plan on writing/publishing more Marvel-based stories on here, not to fret. Curiously though, I must ask, what all would you fancy? Read and review, and I hope you enjoy. : )