Chapter 6 – Out of the Past

Asgard, Mountains

Thor felt weak this morning; everybody was worried that their king would we too weak to defend the already vulnerable Asgardians. Thor fell on his knees as he coughed violently, Balder rushed to his brother's side, so did Valkyrie.

"Thor! Art thou alright?!" Valkyrie asked as she held to Thor's right arm.

"Brother, what happened?" Balder asked him. Thor looked at both of them…

"I've feared that this would happen…my power is weakening as Odin's did long ago." Thor said. "I must enter the Odinsleep to regain power."

"But if thou do that…we are defenseless!" Valkyrie said.

"No…no you will not, for Balder will protect all of you until my awakening." Thor said as he stood up. The three of them entered the hall of Odin, inside there was a sarcophagus, and runes were written on the stone. "This is where father slept when he entered his slumber."

"Rest, Thor, I'll watch over Asgard with the warriors and Heimdall." Balder assured his brother.

"I'm sure of it." Thor said as he entered the sarcophagus and closed it…and then he entered the Odinsleep.

The Spirit World

Thor found himself inside the Spirit World or Outworld as the Gods called it. He looked around; he had awakened in vast open field, similar looking to the former Alfheim. Thor still had his garb and hammer with him, he's spirit must've entered the Spirit World when he fell asleep.

"Hmm…" Thor mumbled, but the other didn't seem to say anything. "Alone…"

The King of Asgard walked through the plain, some trees began to appear but not many, he wandered on until he found a man that looked a lot like Tenzin sitting on a rock, meditating.

"Hello?" Thor asked the man.

"Ah…the Thunder God." The man said. "We meet again."

"Do I know you?" Thor asked the man in the orange robes.

"You might not remember but I am the one who guide you to Paradise." The man answered as he turned to face Thor.

"You…" Thor said once he recognized him.

Republic City, Midgard

In an alleyway, a man fell onto a dumpster. This man held a wooden cane and seemed to have trouble in getting out of the trash dumpster.

"Gah!" The man yelled as he came out of it, smelling not too good. His brown hair had red tint on it, his blue eyes looked like those of a waterbender, his clothes seemed to be scratched…probably from the fall.

"Ugh…gross." He said as he looked at his attire. "What happened?" He asked as he looked at the afternoon sky.

"You okay there, that was a big fall." Someone said as it entered the alleyway.

"What…yes, I'm okay." He said desperately. Then he that it was the Avatar entering the alleyway. "Oh…"

The Triskelion SHIELD HQ, Above Republic City

"What is it?" Kuro asked an officer who ran towards him.

"Sir, you're not going to believe these photos." The agent said. Kuro took them and analyzed them.

"Is this a prank?" Kuro asked.

"No sir, there's something odd happening beyond the atmosphere, and the Triskelion has the only camera and sonar high enough to see it." The agent said. Kuro looked at the photographs again…

"Begin Code: Yellow up, I don't want any attack or intervention, keep us armed and defensive." Kuro ordered.

"Yes sir!" The agent acknowledged, and set off. Kuro then turned around and looked at the city below…

"Hmmm…" he mumbled.

The Spirit World

"You are the former Avatar…Avatar Aang." Thor realized.

"I see that you've entered the Odinsleep, Thor." Aang calmly said.

"Indeed, but why am I in the Outworld?" Thor asked the wise Avatar.

"I brought you here." Aang revealed. Thor's eyes widened in surprise.

"You can do that?" Thor asked with surprise in his voice.

"My power is limited to this realm, but your spirit left your body once you entered the Odinsleep, Thor." Aang said.

"What do you want with me?" Thor again asked.

"I've been watching the physical world ever since my death and Korra's birth, Thor." Aang said as Thor listened. "Your actions ever since you met her have saved the world in more than several occasions, from Galactus all the way to Surtur and the Masters of Evil…you both fir together better than anyone else in history."

"Where are you going with this?" Thor asked as he crossed his arms.

"You do know why she did what she did during the war that separated the Captain and Iron Man, right?" Aang asked the Thunder God.

"Yes…I do." Thor responded with anger in his voice.

"No you don't." Aang said.

"What?" Thor asked.

"You don't know what she thought, what happened trough her mind." Aang responded.

"And you do?" Thor asked the former Avatar.

"Korra and I are, spiritually, connected. The spirit of the Avatar lives through her as it once lived through me." Aang answered. "Thor, you still have feelings for her, don't you?"

Thor looked away…he didn't want to admit it.

"Listen, I didn't like the way you spoke with Korra." Aang said as he jumped off the rock and onto the grassy ground. "And I am going to tell you what is the Avatar's role in the world."

"I already know it." Thor said as he faced the former Avatar.

"From your recent actions it seems that you don't, the wisdom acquire from the Well of Mimir and the eternal knowledge of the runes are not yours anymore, Son of Odin. You have forgotten the principles of the Avatar, who can obtain divinity." Aang said to Thor as he faced the Thunder God. "The Avatar has several duties, but two are the most important."

Thor listened…

"One is two live as a human being, each Avatar is more human than the last one, and the other one is to protect the world and to keep it in balance. Thor, Korra did what she did because she thought it could keep the world safe but when she realized that she made the wrong decision, she once again did what was right." Aang explained. "She hasn't been the only Avatar that had done such difficult decision, Avatar Roku faced a decision the gravely led to the Hundred Year War and I chose to not end Ozai's life."

"Korra made the wrong decision at first but she because she thought that it was the best for everyone but she walked through the right path again once she realized her mistake. Thor…unlike you she's only human, she can make mistakes, something that you Gods wouldn't understand."

"I do understand…" Thor said as he looked at the ground.

"Is that so?" Aang asked.

"Yes…I have done a mistake." Thor answered.

Republic City, Midgard

"Need any help?" Korra asked Thor's mortal incarnation.

"No…uh…name's Daishi Bao, medical doctor, good to meet you." Daishi introduced himself as he extended his hand and smiled.

"Korra." Korra said as she shook his hand. "Doctor eh?"

"Yeah…graduated from Republic University a couple of years ago." Daishi said as he rubbed his head. "You're the Avatar, right?"

"Yep, so…what's a doctor doing inside a dumpster?" Korra asked.

"Uh…eh…I fell off a window?" Daishi said…it sounded more like a question. "It's the leg…"

"Oh, that explains the cane." Korra said as she looked at his lame leg.

"Well…look at the time, it's almost dark, I've to go." Daishi said as he looked at his imaginary watch and prepared to leave.

"Hold on there, doc." Korra said. Daishi turned around. "How come your hair is that funny color and you have blue eyes but look more like an earthbender?"

Daishi didn't know what to say, he didn't have Thor to be his front man anymore…"Gah…I come from a very mixed family, yeah."

"Okay…" Korra said as she watched Daishi leave the alleyway. "Weird guy."

Spirit World

"I believe there's someone else you should meet." Aang said as he moved away from Thor.

"Who?" Thor asked.

"Someone who wields powers beyond mine or any spirit in the Spirit World." Aang said. "Good-bye Thor, until we meet again."

Then Thor was surrounded with energy, similar to that of the Odinforce. The ground began to swallow him, and Thor was sucked into it.

Unknown Location

Thor then fell onto a destroyed forest, burnt trees surrounded the area. Thor rubbed his head; he noticed that he had lost his winged helmet during the fall. Two ravens chirped on the branches of the dead trees, they were the fabled ravens, Mugin and Munin. Thor saw the two crows chirp to him and then leave…they were supposed to be dead. Thor walked along the ruined landscape until he came up a mountainside, he walked down from it and saw something…more like someone who he had never thought of seeing again.

"Go back to the pit that spawned you, Surtur! Odin says that you shall not stand!" The mighty Odin yelled as he battled Surtur, the fire demon. Their swords…the Odinsword; the Oversword of Asgard, clashed with the Twilight Sword of Surtur. Thor watched as the two supreme beings battled each other, by the brawl's end, the both them ended on the ground. Surtur limped away in defeat while all-mighty Odin lay on the rocky ground, Thor ran to him.

"Father…your wounds." Thor said as he saw his father once again, his shining silver armor scratched by Surtur's sword and claws.

"Do not." Odin said. "…Do not concern yourself with these wounds, my son, they will be gone. The morning…through in this place what is morning and what is night is known only to greater power than mine."

"You should not be here, Thor. This is the place for the dead, how did you come?" Odin asked his oldest son.

"Through the Odinsleep and Avatar Aang's doing" Thor answered.

"Ah…the Avatar. You were in the Spirit World when you fell into sleep…sleep, a place between life and death. But no longer is the Odinsleep. The power is yours, it is the Thorsleep now." Odin said.

"But if you are here, if I can see you, and touch you and speak to you then I can recall you from the darkness, I can…" Thor tried to say.

"If you wished to recall me from the darkness, my son…you would have some effort before now. Would have summoned mages, would have asked questions, would have tried. But you did not. As I would have not in your place." Odin said.

"I…do not know what you…" Thor said.

"Yes you do." Odin said as he stood again. "Walk with me, Thor. That I may regain the use of my lungs, and I will tell you a story." Odin said as he and Thor walked together through the destroyed battlefield.

"Gods and mortal men share one quality. To be who we are we must kill our fathers. For the mortals this is a metaphor, a way of saying, you must step out of your father's shadow and decide who you are without searching for his approval or permission." Odin explained. "But for a god…this means something altogether different."

"Born I was an Aesir, Bor and Bestla were my father and mother. Bor was of the gods that created the universe and the goddess Bestla was my mother." Odin revealed. "Long ago, when I was in my youth…in the battlefield I fought alongside my father. We killed Frost Giants by the dozens until we were separated…"

Thor listened to what his father had to say…

"…I went to look for him, but he was gone, Jotun bodies were the only things seen across the snowy field. When my brothers, Villi and Ve, came looking for us…I told them that father was dead." Odin said. "I didn't even try to look for him; I didn't even send a search party to look for him inside Frost Giant fortifications…" Odin revealed. "Years later…when you were born my son, I saw my father's spirit within you…the same eyes, the same warrior eyes…I went to seek wisdom from Bor, so I summoned the powers of the runes to let me speak with him. Your grandfather told me that treason ran through our veins, that one day my son would do the same that I did to him. That I would be left in the darkness alone."

"It was not long thereafter that Asgard found itself in battle against the giants once again, I was already the All-Father and had the power of all and all. I fought against the former ruler of the giants…Laufey. My warriors fought bravely and well. Was not Odin with them? And was Odin not his father's son? I defeated Laufey brutally; I have brought Asgard a new age of peace when…" Odin said. "…I heard a young boy call for his father…the little Jotun ran towards his dead father, Laufey. I watched as he hugged his dead father's body…he wanted to avenge him but a fellow Aesir stopped him. I couldn't leave him to die alone…so I took the boy with me. I raised him to be an Asgardian, to be a God and to be an Odinson. I did not know which of my two oldest sons would betray me when the time comes…even if Loki tried and tried over the years, he never succeeded. It was you, my bravest, noblest and most powerful son who would do so." Odin said. "The wisdom and eternal knowledge bestowed upon allowed me to the future of all but not this one, my son. You have brought freedom to our people, you are now the All-Father, rule wisely Thor Odinson for I can't return to you and to our people."

"But why?!" Thor asked his father as the demonic Surtur crawled again, healed to fight once one.

"I have to stay so I can prevent him from coming back." Odin said as he took his sword out to fight. "I can't let him escape again; I can't let Ragnarok from beginning again, Thor."

Father and son took battle stances as the monstrous Surtur approached them, like last time they fought together. But unlike last time, they both crushed Surtur, made him retreat back into his forsaken hole.

"Why do we not end him now?" Thor asked.

"He and I cannot die here, we will fight and die each day and night to come back to life the next sunrise and repeat the process again. He tries to escape while I guard the gates and all within." Odin explained. "Go back Thor; go back as a wiser king and man. Go back not only as the god that you are but as the man that you can become, goodbye my son."

Thor was again surrounding by power, but this time it felt good. He now understood it all, the wise teachings of the Avatar and the blessing of his father, Odin, made him understand what he has forgotten. "Good bye father." Thor said as he was gone from the darkness.

Republic City, Midgard

Daishi sat alone in a tea shop; he didn't have a place to go to. He drank his tea; he looked at his reflection on the liquid. He looked tired; he hadn't been this tired since he graduated from university. Then his reflection began to change…Thor appeared in his reflection.

"What the…" Daishi said as his body began to fade. "Oh…you've awakened."

Daishi was gone from sight…

Asgard, Mountains

The sarcophagus began to move. A hand began to take the covering away, and the top fell on the floor. In it the Son of Odin lied…he thought in all he had done since his re-birth.

"Anything?" Daishi asked the God of Thunder.

"Yes…forgiveness." Thor replied.