THE LAST MIDGARDIAN
ANAMNESIS
Asgard was the first to woo Earth's favor and they did so magnificently. When the first emissaries were sent to Beijing, they came with a wagon full of Asgardian technology which quickly revolutionized the combustion engine and satellite communication. At first, all Earth stood in awe, scratching their heads to discover just where these strange new ideas and materials were coming from. They did not have long to wait. During the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, billions across the globe watched slack-jawed as a rainbow prism crashed into the very center of the stage, leaving five towering figures behind.
"Greetings from Asgard! I am Prince Thor, son of Odin, a friend and protector of your realm. We have come to forge an alliance and open up trade with your realm, to learn from your ways and to share our knowledge with you. We come in peace, and we are honored to be welcomed by the good nobles of your realm," spoke the central figure, a tall, gloriously handsome figure who then proceeded to fly around the stadium and summon lightning to strike the stage. As if that wasn't enough, every single person, whether watching the broadcast in their home or live in the stadium, heard this message in their mother tongue and without the use of translators or subtitles.
The Chinese President followed up soon after, explaining they had taken the liberty in signing an interplanetary treaty and inter-realm trade agreement with Asgard on behalf of all Earth.
"Our world will never be the same again! They have means of curing some of our worst ailments. Malaria, cancer, HIV-AIDS will all be forgotten! They have sources of renewable, clean energy that will heal our planet and allow us to thrive. They can teach us methods of agriculture that will bring about the end of famine worldwide. This is only the beginning of what is to come!"
People were confused. People panicked. People rejoiced. For months, news reports around the world debated whether it was all a hoax. However, as Chinese embassies around the world began to receive their own Asgardian emissaries, it soon became clear that the Earth was not as isolated as it had once believed itself to be.
There were conflicts across the globe over the role China played as the representative of Earth. For a time, the U.N., the U.S., and the European Union fought valiantly to play the role of intermediary or to be allowed to create their own treaties and trade alliances with Asgard. Asgard refused.
"We do not have time to be bothered with your internal squabbles. China has the largest population, the most wealth, the most manufacturing and export, and the largest army. They will represent Midgard better than any other of your little kingdoms and so they will speak to Asgard on your behalf," their spokesman, Bragi, had said.
Asgard had some Aesir equivalent to "Lonely Planet" travel guides for Aesir travelling to Midgard, but it quickly became apparent that their handy survival travel guide was compiled some fifteen hundred years before… by scholars who had never actually set foot on Earth… and who relied exclusively on accounts of travelers who had only been to Scandinavia. This made initial diplomacy with the twenty-first century Chinese a bit interesting.
It started slowly. Asgardian merchants were few at first and tentative in the few items they brought for sale. However, as the globe slowly came to let go of their shock and initial fears, and curiosity began to boil, merchants found that "Midgard" could be a potentially lucrative market after all.
The Asgardian wares were fantastical. There was self-cleaning clothing that would never wear out, fade, or tear. Tools made of a metal that was sharper than a diamond and could conduct electricity better than gold. There were gemstones which glowed with ever-shifting flames within their hearts in a myriad of vibrant colors. There were bricks enchanted to withstand any hurricane wind or earthquake or fire, making buildings stronger than ever before. Then there were the books. Books from across the universe explaining worlds that Earth had never even dreamt of. When the pages were opened, the illuminated pictures came to life and the words shifted into whatever language the reader could understand, pouring out the universe's secrets.
Earthlings were invited to travel the stars and study realms across the universe. Soon, National Geographic had the palaces of Alfheim and the aquatic city of Vanaheim's fifth moon on its cover rather than anything as mundane and terrestrial as it used to showcase.
True to their word, Asgardian medicinal knowledge trickled across the globe. While some countries were hesitant to test the alien healing methods, those willing to experiment were transformed overnight. Deaths and illness dropped so dramatically that hospitals and mortuaries complained about the loss of business.
Earthlings called it the "Age of the Aesir" and hailed it as a new beginning for Earth, a kind of golden space age where so many of humanities' greatest ills were suddenly solved by their gilded alien allies. What fantastical allies they were! Past conceptions of aliens as strange, awful creatures with gangly legs and backwards elbows were dispelled and replaced with the inhuman beauty of the Aesir. Bullets could not puncture them. Sickness could not fell them. They could survive for years without sleep or food or water. All Earth was in love with them by nightfall and none so much as the crown prince.
News headlines, tabloids, and social media accounts were soon flooded with photos of the Aesir royal. He made the rounds, meeting with dignitaries, politicians, and leaders on each continent, always with that brilliant smile and glittering blue eyes that could make a woman weep with only a single wink. He was declared the "sexiest man in the universe" within a month, which sparked a heated debate on whether the Aesir could be called a "man" or not. It was obvious that the being in question loved every minute of it.
By the time Jane relocated to Asgard, Earth had opened up to permit Aesir ambassadors, merchants, teachers, and healers to come and share their crafts with others. From Jane's post in the observatory, she could see all the people and goods that traveled across the Nine Realms via the Bifrost. While she preferred to study the movements of celestial bodies, her analytical mind couldn't help but collect data on the patterns of orbit of other kinds of bodies as well. Most of the time, her brain felt so under stimulated and underused in her regular duties that she let her thoughts wander. She collected data on everything - from the number of times Thrym's rooster crowed to the average rainfall during each of the crown prince's temper tantrums to calculating the average volume of water inexplicably pouring into the Void from the Asgardian ocean falls. She found more intellectual energizing through tracking interstellar trade than from the rooster and so she carefully watched which tradesmen came through the Bifrost each day and what kinds of wares they brought with them. She could also eavesdrop on the news and small talk they shared with Heimdall and these little discourses provided more information than any of the "official" news sources she had access to.
She was the most eager to receive the merchants travelling to and from Earth. These were her primary means of communication with her friends and family back home. For awhile, letters and notes trickled through, giving her precious glimpses into the planet she had once called home. Gradually, even these stolen remnants of her old life evaporated away until they were replaced with silence.
One day, a merchant came from Earth with dozens of crates of fruit. They were unlike any she had ever seen on Earth before and her curiosity was piqued.
"What are these?" she asked the merchant and motioned to the brown, bumpy, oblong fruits.
"Vanaheim Citrus," he answered with a smug grin. "The Vanir used to hold our purse strings in their teeth, they did. Just because they are the only realm that can grow this here fruit, they think they can rob us like Ravagers. No longer. These here fruits can grow on Midgard. They do better than grow, I tell you, they thrive on Midgard. I've never seen them grow so well. The Vanir are as angry as bilgesnipes in spring, they are. Their prices have fallen by half and they can do naught but weep and gnash their greedy little teeth!"
"Can I eat one?" she asked. The fruit had a pleasant, almost cinnamon-like scent exuding from them which was quite appealing.
"No, my Lady! They'd send you right to Valhalla. These here beauties are right toxic, till you ferment them with Alfheim painted mushrooms, that is. Then, I tell you, they make the finest ale on this side of Yrrgdrasil! The Vanir ale was so pricy that none but the lords of this land could taste it, till now."
The Vanir ale quickly became Asgard's greatest export to all the Nine Realms. They grew the Vanaheim Citrus on Midgard, then brewed the ale on Asgard. Cheap Midgardian land and labor lined the pockets of Aesir investors with more gold than even their flying boats could carry. They walked around like proud peacocks, boasting of their foresight and good luck in stumbling upon such a venture.
Earth initially benefited, as well. The trees did grow well and farmers quickly replaced orange and lemon trees with the Vanaheim Citrus. However, the Nine Realms proved very thirsty. Farmers were only too glad to increase production and increase their profits. The extra income this trade raked in could help purchase all the Aesir imported goods that Midgard suddenly craved. It also helped support the burgeoning population. With so many diseases and human frailties eradicated, the population on Midgard exploded exponentially and nations scrambled to adjust to populations which suddenly stopped dying. The international trade with Asgard was hailed as the "way of the future" and nations across the globe allowed orchards to multiply.
Midgardians enjoyed the sun just as much as the Vanaheim Citrus and inconveniently condensed their urban populations in some of these warm, sunny regions. The Asgardian pockets were deep and Midgardian lifespans were short, however, and so it was an easy matter to buy up properties as soon as they hit the market. Not even Midgardian billionaires could compete with Vanir ale profits and soon the skyscrapers and suburbs of São Paulo, Valencia, Hunan, California, and Florida were razed in order to plant more orchards. However, this meant vast swathes of Earth's most fertile, warmest agricultural lands were devoted to growing a crop that no one on Midgard could eat. Not even the birds or insects or squirrels could stomach the toxic fruit and so the orchards were essentially ecological deserts.
In order to accommodate the growing exportation of produce in more energy-efficient manner, Asgard required Midgard to create a specially designed portal. This would transport produce immediately to a sister portal in Asgard, all with a fraction of the expenditure of the Bifrost. MIdgard easily agreed and took out loans from Asgard in order to finance the expensive portal. It was assumed that the profits made from the Vanaheim Citrus trade would more than cover the costs of the portal, in time. For a few years, the investment seemed a wise one. Until Vanaheim, in retribution for their falling profits, organized an inter-realm boycott of Asgard and all Midgardian products. This led to a rapid economic depression and extended trade agreements, undercutting Midgardian profits and benefitting Vanir farmers.
Overnight, Asgard stopped buying Vanir Citrus. The fruit rotted on the trees and not even the worms in the ground would touch them. Farmers stared in forlorn dread at the thousands of acres of fruit that no one on Earth could eat and that no one in the Nine Realms would buy. The subsequent downturn in Earth's economy was so great, the only way the farmers survived was by learning to brew Vanir ale themselves and then selling it on the black market. There were more than enough businessmen across the Nine Realms who had less scruples than those espoused by the Aesir Crown and were more than happy to exchange the Alfheim mushrooms for the completed ale.
They were also more than happy to import Asgardian mead to Midgardian markets. While the Vanir ale remained toxic to fragile Midgardian constitutions, Asgardian mead proved much more tolerable. The All-Father forbid the sale of Asgardian mead to Midgard. "It's for their own good," he declared. "Their self-control is lacking. Our mead is too strong for them and it will cause them nothing but harm."
Midgard was nothing if not willing to pay for products that the All-Father forbid them to buy and the black-market sale of Aesir mead flourished, almost compensating for the loss of citrus profits. The mead was sought out for its symbolic value and prestige as much as for its taste and effect. As claimed, the mead was far stronger than any beverage on Earth, but this only delighted its patrons more.
It was a costly rebellion. It quickly became apparent that the mead was not only horribly addictive to Midgardian bodies but caused complete liver failure after only a year or two. Midgardian governments tried to abolish the trade of the mead, but the lucrative trade proved difficult to end. Midgardian appetites for extraterrestrial imports remained higher than ever and production of some Midgardian products had ceased. How could Midgardian textiles compete with indestructible, self-cleaning Asgardian cast offs? Clothes that could survive millennia led to the collapse of all cotton, silk, and linen production. Terrestrial construction materials were allowed to rot on shelves in favor of the much more permanent imported bricks and tiles. The trade in mead helped keep the struggling economy afloat, for a time. But with the loss of the citrus trade, Midgard not only lost its primary income, but Asgard began to demand repayment of the loan.
"You asked for the portal," the Midgardian spokesman reminded their Aesir diplomat. "You needed it for your trade it citrus. You stopped buying our citrus. How can you expect us to be able to pay for the portal?"
"Asgard cannot be faulted if your realm is unwise with your finances," the Aesir diplomat responded. "The loan must be repaid on schedule."
Soldiers and swords soon followed to ensure repayments occurred immediately. There was very little choice but to comply.
From Jane's perch in Asgard, she heard the merchants complain. The hundreds of thousands of acres of land they held were not bringing them the profit they desired and the Midgardian farmers who they hired to keep the orchards failed to pay their yearly taxes.
"If we wait another century or two, perhaps the market will shift again," they told each other. They did not need to uproot their costly orchards or bother selling their landholdings. They would simply let the orchards grow wild until they could be made profitable again. In the meantime, those pesky Midgardians were no longer buying as many Aesir products as they used to, citing economic hardships, and Midgard was truly turning into a as dismal a venture as they always believed it to be.
oooo
"Well, that feels better," Loki said. He held his hands out before him and looked over them carefully, his grey green eyes glittering with satisfaction. The blue had been replaced with a mild peach. Dark hair fell down to his shoulders, and layers of black, green, and metal armor blossomed over his body. He gave a sigh of such relief that Jane tried to bite back her disgust and disappointment. He looked, in clothes and manner, exactly like an Aesir.
"It doesn't look better," Jane bit back, forgetting for a moment that everyone could hear her. At Tal's laugh and Loki's frown, she blushed and stared down at the table.
"You would be the first to think so," Loki said.
"Sorry. I didn't mean to... ugh... I am just used to...," she began before fumbling into silence.
"I have gathered you hold no warmth for your former protectors, Jane Foster of Earth. Forgive me if the form I am most familiar with inhabiting proves such a disappointment to you."
Her embarrassment only intensified so she was more than relieved when Tal intervened and asked Loki to continue his story.
"As I was saying, I was born on Jotunheim, but I was raised on Asgard. My biological father died before I was born, and my mother soon married an Aesir merchant who was residing on Jotunheim. When the Ice War began, travel restrictions were placed on all Jotun and my mother begged her husband to bring me with him to Asgard. He placed an enchantment on me, so I appeared Aesir and did as she asked. He promised to bring her next, once he could find a means to smuggle her in. She died in during the invasion of Utgaard and all trade between Jotunheim and Asgard was suspended, so the Aesir merchant could not return. He kept me as his own and raised me on Asgard, never once knowing of my birth or my mother.
"When I came of age, my father told me all and I was distraught. I… I suppose you can say that I did not react well. You see, after the Ice War, the Aesir despised the Jotuns and held no fondness for the place of my birth. In addition, it happened to be that my birth parents were the former king and queen of Jotunheim. My elder brother came to the throne after my father's death and my existence was a threat to the new king. So, my mother went into hiding to keep me safe. While in hiding, she met her Aesir husband. Her marriage to the Aesir would not have been received well, but theirs was a love match and those are seldom made out of wisdom or convenience and my stepfather was a man who seldom kept with tradition.
"When my father told me all this, I was angry at everyone and everything for a time. I traveled the realms, as my father had done, conducting business in the manner he had taught me, but in truth, it was to allow myself the time I required to come to terms with all I had learned. When I returned to Asgard, I broke into the weapon's vault, stole the Casket of Ancient Winters, our most sacred Jotun relic, and returned it to Jotunheim. I supposed I hoped to set myself up as a kind of savior and find the acceptance there that I never felt I had in Asgard. The Jotuns, however, were just as proud and stubborn as the Aesir and they rejected me outright, as well. They nearly had my head for the Aesir ways about me and my brother saw me as a threat to his rule. They banished me from Jotunheim before I could so much as formulate an ice sword.
"However, I could never return to Asgard, either, or I would risk execution for treason. I continued travelling the realms at will for a time, until I was captured by a Titan who was as mad as a rabid ice hound and had worse tempers than a fire giant on Jotunheim. He sent me to Midgard to steal another relic, the Tesseract, from where the All-Father had hidden it. Well, the Aesir are not renowned for their mercy and when I was caught, they meant to execute me. I am not sure whether it was a curse or fortune which caused my fate to pass with that of the Collector. Somehow, he found out my true origin. He paid a heavy price to Asgard to preserve my life and allow me eternal imprisonment to be served in his thrice-cursed Collection instead. The Collector stripped me of my magic, bound me in all ways, and forced me into my natal form. I know not how many years I resided on Knowhere until the Collector was fool enough to play with Infinity Stones himself."
"So, you escaped with a Terran and came here?" Tal supplied, finishing the loose ends of Loki's tale.
"As you see us," Loki answered with a solemn nod.
"Why?" Jane asked. "I mean, why did you bring me with you?"
"You preferred to stay as you were?" he asked, one eyebrow arched in a way so familiar that she could recognize Sagittarius beneath the face of Loki.
"Definitely not. I never thought I'd be able to get away from that terrible place. I just don't understand why."
He pursed his lips and clasped his hands on the table before him while he considered his answer. "For all the ceaseless days and years and decades I spent trapped in Knowhere, you were the only being who did not cringe when you looked upon me. You did not avoid me or show any fear. You simply... saw me. I found I... owed you a debt and had no wish for you to discover what further fate would befall you in Knowhere. Besides, any mortal who could possibly raise that amount of ire in the Lady Sif must be a worthy companion."
"I'm glad," she said. She hoped the warmth in her eyes and the earnestness in her voice communicated all the gratitude her words could never adequately express.
"Well, it may interest you to know that Asgard is no more," Gorm said. When Jane and Loki turned to him in surprise and question, he continued. "It's as true as the asteroid cloud over Hirel. You know how they've always had their internal squabbles over which of their pampered children of Odin would rule? Well, the stories say they all had enough. The All-Father finally died off. The Princess Hela declared war on Asgard when her younger brother was given the throne instead of her. She recruited Muspelheim on her side and made sure no stone was standing by the time she made her own way back to Helheim. She'd rather tear Asgard to the ground then see it given to her brother. The Aesir that survived the wrath of Hela all went to Midgard and have declared it the New Asgard. Thor is king there now. They are building a whole new empire, though it's a might humbler than the old Asgard. After the Titan had his day, not many of the Aesir were left."
"Thanos?" Loki asked. "He was successful, then?"
All three Xandarians spit on the ground and then rubbed their feet in it and spoke a curse over the name and lineage of the Mad Titan. It was Ryko who answered, though he spoke with great hesitation, and he refused to speak Thanos' name.
"He nearly destroyed Xandar before he took out half of the universe. A few Aesir and some Ravagers tried to stop him, but, well, they didn't."
"I'm sorry. I'm confused," Jane interjected. "What do you mean he 'took out half of the universe'?"
"Just that. With a snap of his fingers, one half of all living beings in the universe turned to ash. There was no rhyme or reason to it. They vanished at random and none were exempt."
"But, but, wait, so did they come back?"
"No. Didn't you hear me? I said they turned to ash. Gone. Vanished. Never to return."
"Oh...oh," Jane said, a shudder running through her shoulders at the thought of it.
She began to think of what would have happened if Sagittarius had suddenly vanished, leaving her alone in that bunker. While it was true, she most likely could have survived on the food and water there for an extended period of time, the thought of returning to the stark, utter isolation sent a cold chill from her head to her toes. She thought of their hours of games, the ice sculptures, the shared watches, and just how much more endurable his silent, steady presence made everything. Even her life in captivity as a museum exhibit became a shade or two less horrendous by his presence in the cage next to her. To have him vanish in a pile of ash before her would have left her here, completely and utterly alone. She quickly blinked back her tears.
Jane could not contain herself any longer and she broke the heavy silence that had fallen on the room. "Then, why... how... I don't understand. Why are we both still here?"
"Why are any of us still hear?" Tal answered. "Those of us who survived, are we the lucky ones or the ones cursed by fate? Is it destiny or divine retribution that means we keep on living while all the others are gone?"
She inhaled deeply and considered this for a few moments before she answered. "I suppose it depends on what we do with the lives we still have."
Loki's face remained unreadable, but she felt a gentle nudge on her foot. She gave an answering push of her foot against his and let their ankles remain, their shared warmth a reminder that they were both still here, both still alive, for whatever unfathomable reason.
"Typical Aesir," Loki scoffed. "When Jotunheim seeks to conquer Midgard, the Aesir nearly raise Jotunheim to the ground in punishment, but only so that they can be the ones to conquer Midgard. Now they are dwelling on Midgard, the very same crime they accused the Jotuns of desiring to commit. Tell me, how fare the Midgardians?" Loki asked.
"There weren't any left," Jane whispered. "By the time I was sent away from Asgard, they were all gone. For nearly a century, they were ok. They were struggling, but they could have made it, even with all the soldiers Asgard sent for their constant rebellions and uprisings. But then the Muspel flu came. A merchant came to Earth with a case of it. We had no immunity. It took out sixty percent of the population before Asgard bothered to dig their vaccines and treatments from their archives. By the time they managed to send their first shipment of vaccines, only ten percent of the population remained. Asgard sent all their regrets and condolences, of course, but the damage was already done. I don't know what became of the ones who remained."
"Xandar heard rumblings about Asgard's treatment of their little protectorate," Tal said. "But by the time the slow-moving council on Xandar got into even putting Terran on their list of things to discuss, the Midgardians were already gone. Well, except you, I suppose."
"Except for me. I was told that I am the last of my kind."
Tal gave her a sad smile. "Does that mean you are the luckiest one of all? Is it a blessing or a curse to be the last one standing?"
"I don't know yet," she answered. "I'll let you know when I find out."
"Well, as asylum seekers, Xandar can probably give you refuge. We've rebuilt enough to have established at least some modicum of order. You had better come back with us to speak to the council," Tal said. "For there, you can set about finding a new home. You might even be able to return to Terran, if you wanted to."
Jane shook her head. She imagined just what Earth, the place of her birth, would look like once the Aesir rebuilt it all and turned it into a place like Asgard. For all Asgard's gilded towers and shimmering fortresses, it had never been her home and she had never belonged there. To think of all Earth now becoming like Asgard was another loss, like finding out an old friend is gone. She preferred to keep her memories as they were. Afterall, she was the only one living who still could remember them.
"No. I think I'd rather make a new home somewhere else," she answered.
Tal nodded. "And you? I do not know the situation in Jotunheim, but it may be improved from the last time you were there, especially with Asgard no longer interfering in their affairs."
Loki pressed his hands together in front of his mouth for a moment. Jane could still see the faintest traces of scars running along each side of his lips. Slowly, he shook his head and turned to meet her eyes. "I would prefer to begin anew as well."
She felt another tap of his foot against hers. At the unspoken question in his eyes, she smiled and gave a slight nod of her head. Then she felt his hand, no longer cold and blue but so very warm, slip into hers. She gave a gentle squeeze in response.
They may be the most unlikely pair in the universe, each a singular representation of their species, but they would not be alone. As far as new beginnings went, Jane knew it could be worse.
Maybe they could even settle somewhere that provided a better view of the stars.
The End
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Author's Notes:
Well, a year after this one was scribbled down on my phone in the middle of the night, it's finally complete. I figured the year anniversary meant I should finally wrap it up. Thanks so much for taking part in this story with me!
While this story could absolutely grow and evolve and become an epic saga, I did not start it with that intent. It was meant as an exploration of real-life events. Here's the back story. Last year, a hodgepodge of Africans and Americans spent Thanksgiving together. What began on a rousing discussion on colonialism in Sub-Saharan Africa turned into a discussion on the tragic life of Sarah Baartman. This got me thinking through what it would be like to be a human, caged like an animal. That led to those scenes in the MCU with the Collector...hence my midnight scribblings a year ago which eventually morphed into this.
My version of Jane is based loosely off a composite of three individuals. I have edited and anesthetized their lives in this story to make Jane's story more palatable than the real people she is based on.
Sarah Baartman was a South African Khoi woman who lived between 1775-1815. Sometimes she is called the "Hottentot Venus" because she toured Europe where throngs of viewers came to see her butt and investigate her body. She was used extensively for the purposes of "scientific racism." Not even death gave her a reprieve. It was only in 2002 that her remains were finally removed from a French Museum and returned to South Africa for proper burial. Her skeleton and body cast remained on display until the 1970's.
Ota Benga was a Congolese Mbuti man who lived between 1883-1916. He was displayed in an exhibit in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, Missouri, before being moved to a museum in New York where he was used as a living display. Finally, he was sold to the Bronx Zoo and kept in the monkey exhibit.
Finally, we have Ishi. He was a Californian Yahi man who lived between 1861-1916. After his entire tribe was killed by settlers, he lived by himself in the "wild". In 1911, he was "discovered" and declared as the "last wild Indian in America." He was kept at the University of California Berkeley where he was studied by anthropologists and hired as janitor.
Most of my Midgard-Asgard interactions are also inspired by real events, from various times and eras.
The beauty of fiction is that endings can be re-written. There are swathes of real life I wish could also be as easily changed... but maybe not forgotten.
