"Create war with only the intent of making peace from it."
The air smelt of blood and the mood was full of sorrow. It had been three days and the Asgardians were returning home according to Odin's command, but now they weren't returning joyously. You might have expected them to when coming to their newly purified kingdom, but alas they weren't. They had been locked in combat only a day ago with Malekith and his dark elves. The Asgardians had suffered many injuries and casualties in the battle. Among them was the great Hemidall.
Thor carried his old friend in his arms as he approached the city of Asgard. On his right were Amora and Brunnhilde. To the left of him was Balder. They lead the march to return to Asgard. Thor's heart with heavy and each step he took felt like he was trying to lift up a castle with his legs. Amora felt her lover's sorrow and her heart ached greatly for him. She wanted nothing more than to make him happy, but she knew of nothing she could do to fill the void he had in his heart. Not often did the Enchantress feel useless, but there was a time for everything.
Brunnhilde walked with her head held down. Blood was splattered all over her body and her sword was layered in dried up blood. Combat was never easy, but to lose someone close to you hurt immensely. The leader of the Valkyries was feeling this hurt now. Hemidall had been one of the constants in Asgard's tumultuous existence. He had always been there and for him to now be gone was beyond belief. She knew no words of comfort for anyone so she just continued her slow march with her head down.
Balder out of all the Asgardians kept his head held high. He knew that Hemidall would want it that way. He couldn't blame the other Asgardians for feeling sadness for this was a trying time, but Balder refused to show weakness. That was not his way of going about things. And besides many questions were flooding the mind of the great warrior. Why did Malekith choose to attack when he did? How did he know the Asgardians were in a self-imposed exile? All these questions and more beckoned at the thoughts of Balder.
"Tis thou troubled Balder?" a woman behind him asked. She had long black hair and her blue eyes shimmered with concern. She wore a red shirt and golden pants. She was wearing silver bracelets on each arm.
Balder saw tenderness in the young Asgardian woman that touched him. Reaching out he touched her rosy cheek gently and said, "I am no more troubled than my fellow Asgardian. I thank thee for thou concern child."
Meanwhile Thor looked over to Amora and asked, "Once we reach Asgard will thou watch over Hemidall whilst I tell my Father of this foul tragedy?"
Amora almost felt a tear come down her eye at the tone in Thor's voice. He was so hurt that it bled through his words. The God of Thunder hardly sounded the part now. He was vulnerable and aching deeply. Looking longingly into the eyes of the Thor she said, "Of course my love."
"I wonder if Malekith was behind my Valkyrie's brutal death. Dost anyone think this might be true?" Brunnhilde asked.
The Enchantress turned to look at the Valkyrie; "It makes perfect sense Brunnhilde, but perhaps a little too perfect."
With a cocked eye Brunnhilde wondered just what Amora meant. Not wanting Amora to think she was confused the leader of the Valkyries turned her eyes away from her. The eyes could convey any emotion and confusion could be seen quite easily. It was enough that she had Thor. She wouldn't let the woman get any other satisfaction out of her.
And so the Asgardians continued to walk with heavy hearts and a slow pace. After walking for another hour the glorious golden city of Asgard was in clear view. The towering silver castles and the golden homes. Asgard was a beacon of gold, silver, and every other rare jewel. It was a work of beauty and its people were glad to be back.
"HO! We hath returned home!" Thor proclaimed loudly. Brunnhilde, Balder, and everyone else with a sword raised it up high and yelled a cry of gladness.
Soon after the cry died down though another roar could be heard. This one was much more vicious and it was coming from within the city of Asgard. Looking outward the people of Asgard could see many moving figures. Someone had come to their home uninvited.
Thor's anguish and grief quickly turned into a fiery rage. Then another emotion overtook him just as quickly…fear. Looking over to Brunnhilde and Amora he said, "My father is in Asgard with only his priests for defense. He could be in great danger! Find him for me please!"
The two women nodded and Amora lifted both her hands high up in the air. Pink energy fell down from her hands like water from a fountain and surrounded the two women in the shape of a bubble. As the bubble completed itself the two women disappeared in a flash of pink light.
Looking at the approaching army Thor could see the dark elves of Malekith and a group of soldiers he had never encountered before. They were all seven feet tall and had ebony skin. They wore gray armor from neck to toe and along the armor they had white plating that was rough as sandpaper. The plating was in the shape of bones. The pupils of these men were white and in the shape of a skull. Blackness surrounded that skull. In their hands they carried broadswords that were about twice their normal length. These men were the Titraux, one of the armies of Skaris and the Titrais gods.
Setting down the body of Hemidall and lifting his hammer into the sky Thor yelled out a powerful cry, "Never give in to these foul beasts! Fight for victory! Fight for Odin! And most of all fight for Asgard!"
Mjolnir, the powerful weapon of the Thunder God, flew threw the air and struck one of the Titraux in the chest. The soldier went flying back into the air and knocked six of his fellow warriors to the ground before he came to a crashing stop. After colliding with the armored chest Mjolnir flew right back into the hands of Thor.
Balder was fighting against a dark elf as Mjolnir flew past him. The dark elf had an axe and shield to Balder's sword. Unfortunately for the elf he felt that was an advantage. As the elf came down with his axe towards Balder's shoulder the warrior dodged the axe swiftly. Spinning around he came up behind the dark elf and stabbed him in the leg. The dark elf fell down to the ground and yelled out in pain. Quickly Balder pulled out the sword from the elf's leg and decapitated his foe. Black blood splattered all over the armor of Balder and across his face.
"Die Asgardian!" an elf said as it leaped up in the air and kicked Balder in the head. The warrior went flying forward and landed in the dirt face first. The entire time he managed to hold onto his sword. If there was one thing Balder never did it was let go of his sword.
The elf was over Balder and was about to step on his head when Balder rolled across the ground and came up with his sword. With one stroke he cut off the arm of the elf. A howl of suffering came from the warrior as he gripped at the place where his limb use to be. All that was left now was a bloody stump that was gushing out blood. Backing away as Balder rose from the ground the elf felt only one emotion. He felt fear.
"Thou hast attacked my people for thine last time," Balder said angrily as he ran at the injured dark elf and cut his stomach wide open. Intestines fell to the ground and hit with a bloody splat. The dark elf barely realized what had happened to him before Balder cut off his head as well.
Looking outward Balder saw the battlefield laid out before him. Screams of anger, pain, and terror rang out through the air. Red liquid mixed with the brown soil of the ground. Entrails took their place beside the grass, plants, and shrubs.
"Why hast battle decided to become my people's companion?" Balder asked to no one in particular. His face curled inward at the sight of the battle his people were facing and he shook his head in despair.
Splattered all along the walls and floor of the temple corridor was blood, tattered clothes, and broken swords. Amora and Brunnhilde looked at the remains of an obviously intense battle with awe.
"It looks as if thee army has already found their way to the All-Father," Amora said as she stepped over the severed arm of a priest.
"Perhaps. Perhaps not," Brunnhilde said as she pulled her sword from her hilt.
The Enchantress and the Valkyrie made their way to the main room of the large temple. What they found inside it shocked them greatly. In the center of the room was Odin his flesh transformed into stone. A few feet away from the stone Odin was one of his ravens charred and burnt.
"By Surtur's sword," Amora gasped at the sight of the All-Father. She knew that whoever could do this must have possessed great power. A power that none of them could even begin to hope to have a grasp on. If Odin had fell who would be able to stand up against this new force?
"This augurs ill," Brunnhilde moaned as she got down on one knee in despair. She could only imagine how Thor would react to the news. Asgard was going to need everything it had to combat this new threat. Whatever this new threat was.
"Indeed it does. Shall we go and tell Thor?" Amora asked frightened at the thought of what his reaction might be.
Brunnhilde pulled out her sword and quickly and turned around. Looking at the approaching group of dark elves she said to Amora, "First we hath business to handle."
The Enchantress's eyes turned a bright blue color and her hair rose up into the air and began to billow violently. With a cold voice she said, "There is no need for swords here. I will finish this battle and quickly!"
The approaching five dark elves stopped suddenly in their tracks. They weren't able to move a single muscle in their entire body. They were frozen much like the statue Odin had become. Before they knew it they were all spinning in the air wildly and their world was out of control.
"How sad," Amora said shaking her head as a fiery red portal opened up above the spinning attackers. The dark elves could see a tiny glimpse of what awaited them on the other side of the portal. There were gnashing green demons that had mouths full of flesh and blood. One of the demons turned to the hole in the portal and yelled out with a vicious cry. Its mouth was full of serrated gray teeth and its tongue was long and blue.
Suddenly Amora's hair fell back to its original position and her eyes turned back to their emerald green. The dark elves went flying up into the portal with a sickening sucking noise. You could hear their screams of fright as the portal closed with a loud boom.
"Was all that truly necessary Amora?" Brunnhilde asked as she walked up beside the Enchantress. Unlike the rest of the Asgardians Amora didn't have a single drop of blood on her body. She had used her magic as an offensive weapon unlike the rest of the Asgardians who had to be more physical. That in a way made Amora elegant and haughty all at once.
"Dost thou question my actions?"
"YES!" Brunnhilde said with a forceful tone.
Amora laughed softly as she said; "There is indeed fire in thou Brunnhilde, but we hath no time for a fight this day. Thor must be told of thee All-Father's condition."
Thor had just finished snatching Mjolnir out of the air when a dazzling green light appeared behind him. The light looked like a priceless emerald amongst the red laden snow of the battlefield. Out of the light stepped two women Thor held very dear. It was Brunnhilde and Amora.
"HO! What be the state of my father?"
The two women's expressions fell at Thor's question. Brunnhilde walked forward and grabbed the Thunder God's shoulder. Looking into his eyes the leader of the Valkyrie said, "Odin hath been bewitched. He's a stone statue."
Thor let Mjolnir fall to his side. Shock filled him as he realized one thing. He was now the King of Asgard.
The black throne rose high into the air and on it sat the Titrais god Skaris. He was man of great power and even greater ambition. He would level all of Asgard and make it his toilet. Skaris had already made Odin pay of his pride and now he had one of his ravens, Hescamar, on his shoulder. The irony in that was too much for Skaris not to indulge in.
Almost a 100 feet away from Skaris three figures stepped through the large arched doors made of black diamond. The leader of the Titrais gods rose and walked down the flight of gray steps that were in front of his throne. As he neared the end of the stairs he stopped and waited.
His three visitors made their way across the narrow black bridge, which hovered above a river of bubbling magma, and as they reached the end of the bridge they bowed before Skaris. Any who entered the throne room of Skaris could not help but to bow. The room told you without a doubt that Skaris was a god of power and ruthlessness. All along his ebony walls were weapons covered in dry blood and the stuffed bodies of his fallen foes.
"Rise up all of you!" Skaris commanded. All of them rose up at the same time and they did with rapid speed. Each of them feared Skaris and who could blame them? Any man that defeated Odin as easily as he did was to be respected.
"My dark elves attack Asgard again along with the Titraux, milord," Malekith reported. The dark elf was clothed in a magical black mail that covered him from his neck down. He held his hand behind his back and he stood tall. The last thing he wanted to do before Skaris was to show fear.
"Good Malekith. Phase one of our plan has been completed. Now it is time to stage the next attack," Skaris said as he reached out and petted Hescamar gently. The raven didn't even flinch under the touch of Skaris. That surprised Malekith, Baba Yaga, and Jasmine, but then they realized Hescamar had been around men of power all his life. He had no fear of them.
"Are we to launch the next attack?" Jasmine asked. Skaris smiled at her gently. He loved the goddess's pecan colored skin and her curly chocolate hair. The sleeveless pink midriff and the long pink skirt that descended past her feet made the juices flow in Skaris. He wanted to have Jasmine, but she was the consort of Kovar. And Kovar was Skaris' younger brother. He would never do family like that. He honored family above all things except for victory.
Making a glass of red wine appear in his hand Skaris took a sip before he replied, "Yes you are to lead the next attack. I want you Malekith to take some more of your elves and use them in combination with my dragon warriors, the Titrain."
"Soon all of Asgard will crumble and we shall rule it with a mighty fist," Baba Yaga proclaimed excitingly.
Skaris nodded in agreement. Turning his back to the three he commanded, "Destroy as much as you can. If you are inevitably defeated, as I suspect you will be, do not fret. For with each defeat the mighty Asgard will break further and further. In time it will be ripe for the taking. Now go!"
Amora rested her head on Thor's chest as she said, "Thee foul dark elves and their new allies hath been beaten back, but fear plagues my heart. What of thee?"
Thor sighed, "Thou is not alone in this feeling milady. Something dark lurks ahead for glorious Asgard."
"And thou people of the Golden Realm are already suffering," Amora said as she looked out into Asgard and saw burning buildings, crushed homes, scattered belongings. All of this was the result of the ransacking of the dark elves and this new army calling themselves the Titraux. Just who were the Titraux and what did they want? Would they be ceaseless in their attempt to destroy Asgard?
Next Issue: Loki, Red Norvell, and Beta Ray Bill show as the battle against the Titrais gods intensifies.