- Location
- Australia
I hope he doesn't do just one jump forward and jumps a few small jumps. He's so close he better meet Jesus.
Mason Aves: The Wizard(Kinda Complete.. again)
- Thread starter HelloDarkness07
- Start date
75. First Time for Everything
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
---
Time Skip: 5 BC:
Athra was a good Elf. She was born just 35 years ago, one of the first new Elves to be born in this world, already free from the bonds that had shackled her ancestors. The daughter of Kultur and Ria, Athra was named after a man: the Sorcerer Mage, Athreos Aetos.
35 years ago, the Elves had lost their former name of House Elves, and gained freedom and independence. The Sorcerer who made it possible had also allowed them complete reign over their Island, the Sanctuary, as long as they don't purposefully harm the Creatures there.
And Athra loved it. She had heard stories about the House Elves, and how they were treated by some of the Mages. Her father, Kultur, had even gone so far as to tell them about his former Masters, an Evil Mage who tried to commit crimes against Magic itself, and convinced him to take part in it.
So yes, Athra was really glad to not be shackled to any Mage.
For the last 35 years, the Elves of Sanctuary had sent Rescue parties to the outer world, to find animals in need of their help. Magic itself had considered it their purpose now, to safeguard animals, both magical and mundane. And so, whenever some animal is in too much unjust danger, Mother Magic herself sends a message to the Elves. She sends them to rescue those animals, and bring them to Sanctuary.
Not many people knew about this, even amongst the Elves. Only Kultur, Ria, and a few more elves knew of it. Kultur had gone so far as to keep this fact from the Sorcerer. He had said, "If Mother Magic wanted the Sorcerer to know about this, then she would have told him and not me."
Alas, not all warnings are given to them on time, and not all dangers are warned about. But when Mother Magic tells you to rescue someone, you do it. She gave the Elves life, and the Elves were not so ungrateful as to turn their back on her.
So, when Kultur, her father, had gotten a sense of urgency to go and rescue someone from the lands outside, he hadn't wasted any time. He was old now, far too old to go on the Rescue quests himself, and so he had sent her.
Athra.
Alongside five other Elves, all of them around her age, Athra had traveled to the lands that her father had told her of. The lands beyond two oceans, the land of the Maya. It took just a few minutes to find the place where she was needed, Magic itself guided her there. But when she reached there, Athra didn't know what they could even do.
There were six men, all of them as big as the biggest men Athra had ever seen. And they were fighting Re'em. Not by using Magic, no. These people were fighting the Re'em with their fists and legs and swords and shields and bows and arrows. These people were wrestling the Re'em, and judging by the one hardly breathing Re'em laying down there, arrows sticking out of its body, they were winning.
The Re'em were large Magical bulls with long horns, with hides tough enough to shrug most man-made weapons off, with strength enough to fight giants one on one, and with Magical resistance to prevent Mages from capturing them easily. And they were losing to these.. men.
What hope did six Elves have?
Athra, however, was anything but a coward, even despite the harsh odds she was faced with. She takes one look at the two more fully grown, 15 hands tall Re'em fighting the men, and then turns to the three young Re'em trying to hide behind them.
Athra turns towards her companions, who look too afraid to even breathe. After using her Magic to make them all less noticeable, and to silence their sounds, she shakes them all out of their shock, and gently whispers, "We should take the babies out of there first. Aeti, Magni, Joy. You three go and take the baby Re'em to Sanctuary. Palo, Tokka, and I will distract the men while you do that. As soon as the babies are taken away, we will leave to get more help."
The other elves are still afraid, but Athra, being the daughter of the Village Head, is good at convincing people. And so it is that they all jump into action.
Athra, Palo, and Tokka let their Magic go, using it to connect to the Nature around them. Trees come to life, as branches start swinging without any visible wind. One of the men is struck by a branch, but surprisingly enough, the hit doesn't do much to him. He just skids back a step, but the branch itself breaks.
Athra then manipulates the stone underneath them, causing a crack to appear in the ground. The crack happens to form underneath one of the men, and he is dropped in, swallowed by the earth. The others, however, get away in time.
Not for long, however, as large rocks are thrown towards them, that send them flying backwards even more. The Re'em that were fighting take the opportunity to start their own offensive, but the men were vigilant. Just one of the men gets stabbed in his chest by the 4 hands long horns of the Re'em.
"Over there! There are some tiny creatures attacking us!" One of the men yells, pointing a finger towards where Athra and the two other Elves were.
Athra turns towards the spot where the young Re'em just were, and finding nothing, she yells, "RETREAT!"
Immediately, the three Elves apparate away, leaving the three giant bulls to fight the men once again, with one Re'em already dead by their hands. As she twists in space, however, she sees an arrow speeding towards her, and before she can do more than raise her arm in defense, the arrow stabs her shoulder.
As her eyes close, thanks to the pain, and the exhaustion of controlling Nature itself, she sees Aeti, Magni, Joy, Palo, and Tokka standing over her, with three tiny Re'em in the hands of the first three. She then smiles, feeling the Magic of Sanctuary welcome her home. And then, she loses consciousness.
---
Eagle's Keep, Sanctuary:
Alchemy. A study of Science, Magic, and Philosophy. The first actual branch to ever take shape in the tree of Magic.
It was a precursor to a lot of other subjects. Alchemy was what inspired people to try Transfiguration, Alchemy is what influenced people to try Potions Making, and Alchemy is what turned normal Philosophers into Scientists.
For the last 15 years, I have studied just Alchemy, while staying in my Castle that I called the Eagle's Keep. That's not counting the years and years of Alchemical studies that I've carried during my Room of Knowledge days.
And I can only say this: I am still decades away from being known as an Alchemy Master.
Alchemy is the study of the World around us, and the study of how Magic, as a force of Nature, affects it. Potions, Transfiguration, Enchantment, they all have at least some background in Alchemy.
They all use Alchemy to turn one thing into another. Transfiguration does it by rearranging the matter fundamentally, by using the Magic within the spell, and within the World around us.
Enchantments convert the Magic of the world into the specific Purpose they are designed for.
Potions and Rituals do it by taking the ingredients, using the Magic of the Potion brewer and the world, and converting them all into Purpose.
Alchemy is what allows Potions to actually work for what they are designed for. Why else would Beetle wings, Worms, Acacia leaves, and the juice from Sopophorous beans give a bald man his hair back for a few hours?
Alchemy!
Even the Ritual I had gone through, the Gift Bestowal Ritual, had used Alchemy. Alchemy was what had allowed my body to change fundamentally, allowing me to perfectly copy the Mutations within Victor's genetic material.
The purpose of the Study, I've realized after reading the journals of many Alchemists, is to find OUR purpose in life. And to do that, an Alchemist needs to understand, really understand, how every Transmutation Process feels like.
And they hope to do it by Transmuting as many materials as they can.
Once you have interacted with every Alchemical Process in existence, once you have interacted with every Material in existence, only then will you realize what our Purpose for existing is.
As I said, it also includes Philosophy.
And this Thirst for our Purpose, this thirst for interacting with the World, is what gave rise to the Pinnacle of Alchemy.
The Philosopher's Stone.
When an Alchemist interacts with the world, they ask, "How does this work? And can I manipulate it?"
The Philosopher's Stone makes answering that question easier. It allows an Alchemist to understand anything it touches better, it allows an Alchemist to manipulate the world more easily than an Alchemist without it.
Transmuting Gold is just a benefit, not one that Alchemists are usually interested in. Because Alchemists.. are more curious than greedy. They care not for monetary treasures, but they do care for Knowledge.
As for the Elixir of Life? It was just a lucky coincidence. You can't understand the world if you're limited by your age. The Elixir allows us to freeze our bodies in the age we are currently in, but only if we drink the Elixir every year.
Which.. explains why not many Alchemists exist, and why the Flamels were so old. If the creation of the Stone itself takes almost half a century, and the studies before that decades at least, then no doubt not many Alchemists even live to reach that level.
But now that I have the Knowledge of the entire World in my hands, I have come closer to reaching that level than any other Alchemist currently alive.
Gold? I can transmute it within an hour. Silver? 10 minutes. Vibranium? 3 minutes.
And it's all without a Philosopher's stone. I can just use my Magic, and a Runic spell designed specifically for the raw material that I want to turn into Gold, or Silver, or Vibranium. The Stone, I'm guessing (which some journals did confirm for me), just allows for quicker Transmutation.
It is an amplifying agent, as well as a Channel for your Alchemical Prowess. It helps you understand the world better.
But to actually understand the world well enough to change it into precious metals instantly, you actually need to be proficient enough in the subject to do it without the Stone. Even if it takes a long time to do it.
Doesn't matter if it's hours, or years. If you can transmute Gold from at least one other material, you will be able to do it with the Stone instantaneously, no matter the source material.
Which means that even if a normal man has the Philosopher's Stone in his hands, he won't be able to Transmute lead to gold, or create the Elixir of Life. Because he wouldn't have been able to do it without the Stone.
Sighing, I keep the ink pen down, and let the journal page dry. When it dries, I walk towards the shelf, and keep the journal in it. As I walk out of my Castle's Library, I think back on these last 15 years.
I haven't gone out of Sanctuary for these years, as I was busy studying Alchemy. But I know that the world was running even without my interference.
Tatiana was living her own life out there, but now she was getting old. To be fair, she was still pretty spry for a woman of 68. She lived a wonderful life, I have to say, even if I quit looking after her.
Well, excuse me for trying to scry for an old friend every once in a while.
Master Ayesha was still the Sorcerer Supreme, and we had a few conversations in these years. Just casual conversations.
I haven't, however, interfered in the Elf Village, even a bit. I gave them their independence, and they're living it. I know, they sometimes still travel outside to rescue more Elves, or to rescue other Magical Creatures in need of it. But I didn't interfere in their lives any more.
I wasn't going to play a saviour to them, or a god. So, yeah, I leave them alone.
It is why I was so surprised to feel a familiar mind apparating outside my Castle doors. With a simple flex of my intent, I open the doors to let Kultur walk in, and wait for him in the Welcoming room.
As he walks in, and looks at me, he stops, staring in a bit of shock. He whispers, "You're still young?"
And this is why I stayed away. I didn't want too many questions on my immortality.
Nodding, I say, "You've certainly gotten old, Kultur. Nice beard."
And he did get old. He was already around 40 when we first met, when I took him from Herpo's clutches, and it has been almost 50 years since then.
Kultur shakes his head, and says, "I apologize for coming unannounced, Sorcerer Athreos. But.. I need your help."
Huh, this is new.
I teleport us both to the Kitchens, seating Kultur on a chair as we appear, and start preparing the tea. As he watches the tea start preparing itself on the stove, I say, "What can I do for you?"
As I had said so many years ago, I will always help them when they come to me for help. This is my repayment of the work the Elves had done for me.
Kultur turns his head towards me, and says, "My daughter.. Athra.. she came across some men a few minutes ago. They were fighting the Re'em, and winning. The Party I had sent there told me that the men were as strong as Giants themselves."
"What was your daughter doing when she came across them?" I ask, waving my hand. The now prepared tea is poured in two cups, and one lands in front of Kultur, while the other lands in front of me.
Kultur coughs a bit, and says, "I.. apologize, Sorcerer Athreos. I have kept something from you."
I look at him a bit curious, and say, "I am not your Master anymore, Kultur. Your secrets are your own to keep. But please, if you want, tell me."
Kultur says, "A little while after we became free Elves, I received a.. calling. A sense of Urgency filled my being, and I was prompted to Pop over to another place. I wasn't even given time to think it over, since when I appeared there, I saw a few fishermen trying to get a Merman out of their net, to kill it. He had gotten caught by mistake. I immediately rescued him, and sent him to his village to gather his fellow mermen. I then brought them all here, to the seas around the Sanctuary."
Huh, I did wonder where the Mermen came from, but I had assumed they came by themselves, pulled here by the Magic of the Sanctuary.
"Then, again and again, I was sent these urgings. I was sent to place after place, where beings needed my help. But when it became too much for me, I began sending others in my stead. We were being asked by Mother Magic, repeatedly, to help rescue her creatures. And we did. Athra.. was on a similar rescue quest herself. She managed to rescue the baby Re'em, but as her group told me, there were still three adult Re'em living, fighting the men."
Kultur tears up, as he leans forward, and says, "Please.. Master.. please save the Re'em. We have already failed one of them, I can't.. I can't fail Mother Magic once again."
I immediately appear in front of Kultur, and place a calming hand on his head. I hush softly, and say, "Hey, Kultur. I said it 35 years ago, and I say it now again. You need help, I will always help you. And again, I am not your Master. You have no Master. Take me where the Re'em are, and I will deal with it. Don't worry."
Kultur.. he's too shaken up by this, and it is probably because his daughter was just injured while fulfilling a mission that he sent her on.
Huh, Mother Magic. I don't know which one of the two Elder Goddesses this is, but someone is using the Elves to protect the Magical Creatures. While I appreciate that some Goddess is trying to save the creatures, I don't appreciate them using the Elves. They don't have Masters, they are free. And some Goddess out there is rejecting this fact.
But what can I even fucking do? I can't tell Kultur to stop sending people out there, he will not listen. He wants to repay Magic that gave him his freedom, his Sentience. And I can't even force these Goddesses to stop doing this, because I'm literally an ant in front of them.
For now, all I can do is rescue the Re'em and bring them here. To safety.
---
When Kultur apparates us to the place where he had sent Athra, his daughter, I immediately narrow my eyes and clench my fists in anger. There laid in front of me, were the corpses of three Re'em, all of them with cuts and stab wounds plainly visible on their bodies.
Trees had fallen all around them, showing me that they gave a good fight, but it wasn't enough. I hear a few thuds from a short distance away, as the ground under us shakes, and I say, "Kultur. Go home and take care of your daughter. I will deal with this."
Kultur immediately pops back home, making me a bit relieved. At least he won't be harmed in this battle. After saying a small prayer for these fallen Re'em, who were just parents trying to protect their young ones, I store their corpses in Nowhere and apparate towards where I can feel the battle happening.
As I apparate in, I see the fourth and last Re'em, a female from the looks of it, drop down on the ground, a sword having stabbed into her front legs each. I see one of the three men there jump up, his sword raised above his head to stab the Re'em in her head, and I make my move.
Jumping up, I spin myself to gather momentum, and land a kick on the jumping man's face, sending him crashing back down, and use the force of the kick to land back on a tree, in between the three men and the Re'em.
Oh, shit. That kick fucking hurt me! Not too much, but it did!
Turning back, I see the relieved look on the Re'em's face turn suspicious, as she looks at me. With a simple wave of my hand, I create a portal underneath her body to send her to Sanctuary. Kultur will help her, I'm sure.
I then lean away and snap my hand up, catching an arrow that I almost didn't see coming. Turning towards the man who sent the arrow, I ask, "Will you apologize for killing three of my protectorates, or should I just kill you as is?"
"You dare, mortal?!" The man yells, knocking another arrow and setting it loose at me.
As I use the arrow in my hand to slap it away, I frown, the word bothering me. I'm far from mortal. I am unaging, with the fire of the Kasha burning through my Magic. I might not be completely immortal, but I'm definitely not a normal mortal.
"Let's stab a sword through both of our hearts, and see which of us is mortal, eh?" I say, as I jump down from the tree I had perched myself on.
The arrow guy stays behind, as the two other men, both holding swords, start walking towards me. The one I had kicked says, "You made a mistake in interfering in our vacation, mortal. These creatures already cost us three of our brothers in arms, we won't lose any more."
I raise my hand, and ask, "A question before we begin our battle? How did your holiday lead six of you to fighting with four Re'em? And while they were guarding their young ones, no less."
The one I had hit turns back towards the arrow guy, and asks, "Is he mocking us?" The arrow guy just shrugs, the blood flowing from his shoulder apparently not bothering him, which causes the first guy to turn back to me and say, "We were hunting it of course. A mighty group like us needs a mighty hunt. We just didn't expect the hunt to be so deadly. And those tiny witches just caught us off guard."
I smile, although it is anything but reassuring, and say, "Great. This makes the decision making easier then."
And then, I summon my swords, Orthris to my hands.
"You took our hunt away from us, you took our chance at vengeance away from us. We would have killed the beast, eaten it, and gone on with our lives, but it seems we will have to appease our hunger with your own death, mortal." The second sword guy says, as he starts walking towards me. As his walk turns into a run, he yells, "FOR ASGARD!"
"FOR ASGARD!" The other two yell, making me suddenly realize that I'm actually fighting Asgardians.
Well, first time for everything.
I raise my sword and slash it upwards, cutting the arrow that had been shot at me into two, symmetrically. I then jump forward and block the second swordsman's sword with my own.
Gods this is getting confusing, let's call him Ed, the first swordsman Edd, and the archer Eddy.
Ed slashes at my head, and I duck down to stab his stomach. However, a small dagger appears in the way of my sword, diverting the hit. He then tries to stab my neck with the same dagger, but I block the hit with my left hand holding on to his wrist.
Dropping my right sword too, I punch his face, and as he raises the sword to attack me, kick his chest with full force. The kick sends him flying into Edd, who was trying to sneak behind Ed, sending them both crashing down.
Summoning my swords back to my hands, I slash them both in front of me, sideways, slapping the two arrows Eddy had sent at me away. Jumping up, I apparate right in front of Eddy, and slash my sword downwards.
He raises his bow to defend from the hit, but unfortunately for him, my sword is made of the most dangerous alloy on Earth. My Uru+Asgardian Steel+Magic Silver sword cuts through the bone made bow of Eddy, and slashes through his chest, creating another wound on his body.
As I prepare to stab him, however, I stop, realizing something. I can't kill them, not unless I want a war with an entire Kingdom of Gods, which even I can't win.
Incapacitation it is then.
Blitzing forward, I slam my palm on top of his wound, causing him to yell in pain, and bind his body with thick chains that form all around him, originating from my palm. His wound will have to stay that way. Knowing Asgardians as I do, they have a minor healing factor. If left as is, they will heal.
By then, Ed and Edd had stood up from their unfortunate crash into each other, and were now running towards me. Both of them, against one of me.
Really unfair… for them.
I raise my left sword, and use Ed's sword to block the downwards swipe made by Edd. Getting close, I slam the pommel of my sword into Ed's wrist, causing him to drop his sword, and then kick the falling sword flying into Edf's foot.
"AAARGH! YOU BASTARD!" Edd yells, as the Asgardian Steel sword goes through his foot and into the Earth.
Jumping up, I cover my knee with the Prati Kavach, and slam it into Ed's chin, sending him flying upwards, unconscious before he's even dropped down. And then, I cover my fist with the Prati Kavach, and punch Edd on the side of his forehead, knocking him out too. And then, with the same spell I used on Eddy, I bind the two swordsmen in thick chains made of iron.
Asgardians.. they're slower than I expected. These three soldiers were all around as strong as Logan, I'd say. But if there ever was a fight to the death, James will win.
They're strong, have a manner of battle instinct, but they're not fast enough to always act on that. It hardly took me a minute to take care of all three of them. I doubt, however, that I will be able to fight the actual Gods though. Fuck Odin, I might not even be able to fight Loki on an even footing as I am now.
Maybe I should find a way to increase my strength, now that I am here, in the past.
Shaking my head at the disappointing fight, I wonder what to do. I am angry at them, so angry. They hunted Re'em for food, and they would have eaten them, no doubt. They didn't even care for the baby Re'em there!
These Asgardians caused the deaths of three Re'em, and the injuries of one other. They also injured Kultur's daughter, Athra, who.. I assume is named after me.
But despite my anger at them, I can't just kill them. Killing these downed men is equal to declaring War on Asgard, and I have no idea what the situation is up there. Or even who the King is currently.
The last King of Asgard to come on Earth was Bor, who apparently came to an agreement with the then Sorcerer Supreme or something. Asgard will Protect Midgard from otherworldly threats, but in return, Midgard will be known as a planet under Asgard's rule, at least in space.
On Earth, however, the situation is a delicate one. Not a single Pantheon can lay claim to the planet, because if they do, the other Pantheons will all declare War on that one. I don't know much else about the situation, since not many books exist about Gods.
A small correction, not many factual books agree about Gods.
Well, what can I do then?
Three of the Re'em died, and three of the Asgardians died. But despite the equal number of deaths, it was the Asgardians that attacked the Re'em, and not the other way around. So.. a punishment is owed.
But I still can't kill them.
Well, nothing says I can't claim their belongings as reparations. I did it to the Wakandans, didn't I?
Waving my hand, I summon my trusty staff to my hands, and slam it only once on the ground. A total of four swords, seven daggers, an axe, and over 20 arrows fly towards me, all made out of Asgardian Steel, with the pommels and arrows made out of some type of wood. Even the bow I had cut in two now floats in front of me, waiting for me to claim them.
But.. this is not enough. I tap the staff on the ground once more, and three sets of Asgardian armour, all of them damaged in places flash in front of me, leaving the bound Ed, Edd, and Eddy now naked.
I wasn't going to take the armour from the dead Asgardians, no way.
Shaking my head, I send my new conquests to Nowhere, and lean down on the ground, touching my hand to the grass. As per Kultur's stories, one of the Asgardians had fallen in a crack that Athra had created, which had closed up immediately after.
I could let him stay there, buried, but I did somehow get his weapon, a sword. I'll leave him here to be taken to Asgard with the rest of the dead.
As I lay the three dead Asgardians on the ground a minute later, however, I suddenly stop, feeling something happening. A lot of Magic was at work here, it was as if the Magic within this place had just multiplied exponentially.
And then, I am forced to jump back, the Magic too unstable to apparate away, as a bright beam of light falls on top of the six Asgardians. I squint my eyes, unable to see through the light of what I recognise as the Bifrost, but just as fast as it had appeared, the light disappears, with the three unconscious and three dead Asgardians nowhere to be seen.
Instead, in their place, now stood ten more Asgardians. Seven of them wore dark brown armour, and held intricate staffs in their hands. Two of them, both women, were pointing bows and arrows at me, already pulled back. And in front of all of them, was someone that made me nervous.
It was a woman that stood leisurely, as if she had come for a walk in the park, not minding the weapons pointed over her shoulder towards me.
She wore a dark black, skin tight body armour, with shades of green in between, the same shade as her eyes. There was a simple black sword held in her left hand, while her right hand rested on her hip. I gulp, her relaxed position not at all reassuring me of the fact that she's a dangerous being.
The dark haired, fair skinned woman smirks, seeing me gulp, and says, "Now now, mortal. The time to be afraid of me is yet to come."
Hela Odinsdottir. The most dangerous woman in the Universe.
---
A/N: This is the last arc before Mason returns to his own time. There might be more that happens in his life, but it will only appear as flashbacks.
Answer me honestly. Has something changed in the quality of my chapters recently? At least, in the last 3-4 chapters or something. I won't mind, I'll at least try to fix those mistakes, so please tell me if there is something.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
---
Time Skip: 5 BC:
Athra was a good Elf. She was born just 35 years ago, one of the first new Elves to be born in this world, already free from the bonds that had shackled her ancestors. The daughter of Kultur and Ria, Athra was named after a man: the Sorcerer Mage, Athreos Aetos.
35 years ago, the Elves had lost their former name of House Elves, and gained freedom and independence. The Sorcerer who made it possible had also allowed them complete reign over their Island, the Sanctuary, as long as they don't purposefully harm the Creatures there.
And Athra loved it. She had heard stories about the House Elves, and how they were treated by some of the Mages. Her father, Kultur, had even gone so far as to tell them about his former Masters, an Evil Mage who tried to commit crimes against Magic itself, and convinced him to take part in it.
So yes, Athra was really glad to not be shackled to any Mage.
For the last 35 years, the Elves of Sanctuary had sent Rescue parties to the outer world, to find animals in need of their help. Magic itself had considered it their purpose now, to safeguard animals, both magical and mundane. And so, whenever some animal is in too much unjust danger, Mother Magic herself sends a message to the Elves. She sends them to rescue those animals, and bring them to Sanctuary.
Not many people knew about this, even amongst the Elves. Only Kultur, Ria, and a few more elves knew of it. Kultur had gone so far as to keep this fact from the Sorcerer. He had said, "If Mother Magic wanted the Sorcerer to know about this, then she would have told him and not me."
Alas, not all warnings are given to them on time, and not all dangers are warned about. But when Mother Magic tells you to rescue someone, you do it. She gave the Elves life, and the Elves were not so ungrateful as to turn their back on her.
So, when Kultur, her father, had gotten a sense of urgency to go and rescue someone from the lands outside, he hadn't wasted any time. He was old now, far too old to go on the Rescue quests himself, and so he had sent her.
Athra.
Alongside five other Elves, all of them around her age, Athra had traveled to the lands that her father had told her of. The lands beyond two oceans, the land of the Maya. It took just a few minutes to find the place where she was needed, Magic itself guided her there. But when she reached there, Athra didn't know what they could even do.
There were six men, all of them as big as the biggest men Athra had ever seen. And they were fighting Re'em. Not by using Magic, no. These people were fighting the Re'em with their fists and legs and swords and shields and bows and arrows. These people were wrestling the Re'em, and judging by the one hardly breathing Re'em laying down there, arrows sticking out of its body, they were winning.
The Re'em were large Magical bulls with long horns, with hides tough enough to shrug most man-made weapons off, with strength enough to fight giants one on one, and with Magical resistance to prevent Mages from capturing them easily. And they were losing to these.. men.
What hope did six Elves have?
Athra, however, was anything but a coward, even despite the harsh odds she was faced with. She takes one look at the two more fully grown, 15 hands tall Re'em fighting the men, and then turns to the three young Re'em trying to hide behind them.
Athra turns towards her companions, who look too afraid to even breathe. After using her Magic to make them all less noticeable, and to silence their sounds, she shakes them all out of their shock, and gently whispers, "We should take the babies out of there first. Aeti, Magni, Joy. You three go and take the baby Re'em to Sanctuary. Palo, Tokka, and I will distract the men while you do that. As soon as the babies are taken away, we will leave to get more help."
The other elves are still afraid, but Athra, being the daughter of the Village Head, is good at convincing people. And so it is that they all jump into action.
Athra, Palo, and Tokka let their Magic go, using it to connect to the Nature around them. Trees come to life, as branches start swinging without any visible wind. One of the men is struck by a branch, but surprisingly enough, the hit doesn't do much to him. He just skids back a step, but the branch itself breaks.
Athra then manipulates the stone underneath them, causing a crack to appear in the ground. The crack happens to form underneath one of the men, and he is dropped in, swallowed by the earth. The others, however, get away in time.
Not for long, however, as large rocks are thrown towards them, that send them flying backwards even more. The Re'em that were fighting take the opportunity to start their own offensive, but the men were vigilant. Just one of the men gets stabbed in his chest by the 4 hands long horns of the Re'em.
"Over there! There are some tiny creatures attacking us!" One of the men yells, pointing a finger towards where Athra and the two other Elves were.
Athra turns towards the spot where the young Re'em just were, and finding nothing, she yells, "RETREAT!"
Immediately, the three Elves apparate away, leaving the three giant bulls to fight the men once again, with one Re'em already dead by their hands. As she twists in space, however, she sees an arrow speeding towards her, and before she can do more than raise her arm in defense, the arrow stabs her shoulder.
As her eyes close, thanks to the pain, and the exhaustion of controlling Nature itself, she sees Aeti, Magni, Joy, Palo, and Tokka standing over her, with three tiny Re'em in the hands of the first three. She then smiles, feeling the Magic of Sanctuary welcome her home. And then, she loses consciousness.
---
Eagle's Keep, Sanctuary:
Alchemy. A study of Science, Magic, and Philosophy. The first actual branch to ever take shape in the tree of Magic.
It was a precursor to a lot of other subjects. Alchemy was what inspired people to try Transfiguration, Alchemy is what influenced people to try Potions Making, and Alchemy is what turned normal Philosophers into Scientists.
For the last 15 years, I have studied just Alchemy, while staying in my Castle that I called the Eagle's Keep. That's not counting the years and years of Alchemical studies that I've carried during my Room of Knowledge days.
And I can only say this: I am still decades away from being known as an Alchemy Master.
Alchemy is the study of the World around us, and the study of how Magic, as a force of Nature, affects it. Potions, Transfiguration, Enchantment, they all have at least some background in Alchemy.
They all use Alchemy to turn one thing into another. Transfiguration does it by rearranging the matter fundamentally, by using the Magic within the spell, and within the World around us.
Enchantments convert the Magic of the world into the specific Purpose they are designed for.
Potions and Rituals do it by taking the ingredients, using the Magic of the Potion brewer and the world, and converting them all into Purpose.
Alchemy is what allows Potions to actually work for what they are designed for. Why else would Beetle wings, Worms, Acacia leaves, and the juice from Sopophorous beans give a bald man his hair back for a few hours?
Alchemy!
Even the Ritual I had gone through, the Gift Bestowal Ritual, had used Alchemy. Alchemy was what had allowed my body to change fundamentally, allowing me to perfectly copy the Mutations within Victor's genetic material.
The purpose of the Study, I've realized after reading the journals of many Alchemists, is to find OUR purpose in life. And to do that, an Alchemist needs to understand, really understand, how every Transmutation Process feels like.
And they hope to do it by Transmuting as many materials as they can.
Once you have interacted with every Alchemical Process in existence, once you have interacted with every Material in existence, only then will you realize what our Purpose for existing is.
As I said, it also includes Philosophy.
And this Thirst for our Purpose, this thirst for interacting with the World, is what gave rise to the Pinnacle of Alchemy.
The Philosopher's Stone.
When an Alchemist interacts with the world, they ask, "How does this work? And can I manipulate it?"
The Philosopher's Stone makes answering that question easier. It allows an Alchemist to understand anything it touches better, it allows an Alchemist to manipulate the world more easily than an Alchemist without it.
Transmuting Gold is just a benefit, not one that Alchemists are usually interested in. Because Alchemists.. are more curious than greedy. They care not for monetary treasures, but they do care for Knowledge.
As for the Elixir of Life? It was just a lucky coincidence. You can't understand the world if you're limited by your age. The Elixir allows us to freeze our bodies in the age we are currently in, but only if we drink the Elixir every year.
Which.. explains why not many Alchemists exist, and why the Flamels were so old. If the creation of the Stone itself takes almost half a century, and the studies before that decades at least, then no doubt not many Alchemists even live to reach that level.
But now that I have the Knowledge of the entire World in my hands, I have come closer to reaching that level than any other Alchemist currently alive.
Gold? I can transmute it within an hour. Silver? 10 minutes. Vibranium? 3 minutes.
And it's all without a Philosopher's stone. I can just use my Magic, and a Runic spell designed specifically for the raw material that I want to turn into Gold, or Silver, or Vibranium. The Stone, I'm guessing (which some journals did confirm for me), just allows for quicker Transmutation.
It is an amplifying agent, as well as a Channel for your Alchemical Prowess. It helps you understand the world better.
But to actually understand the world well enough to change it into precious metals instantly, you actually need to be proficient enough in the subject to do it without the Stone. Even if it takes a long time to do it.
Doesn't matter if it's hours, or years. If you can transmute Gold from at least one other material, you will be able to do it with the Stone instantaneously, no matter the source material.
Which means that even if a normal man has the Philosopher's Stone in his hands, he won't be able to Transmute lead to gold, or create the Elixir of Life. Because he wouldn't have been able to do it without the Stone.
Sighing, I keep the ink pen down, and let the journal page dry. When it dries, I walk towards the shelf, and keep the journal in it. As I walk out of my Castle's Library, I think back on these last 15 years.
I haven't gone out of Sanctuary for these years, as I was busy studying Alchemy. But I know that the world was running even without my interference.
Tatiana was living her own life out there, but now she was getting old. To be fair, she was still pretty spry for a woman of 68. She lived a wonderful life, I have to say, even if I quit looking after her.
Well, excuse me for trying to scry for an old friend every once in a while.
Master Ayesha was still the Sorcerer Supreme, and we had a few conversations in these years. Just casual conversations.
I haven't, however, interfered in the Elf Village, even a bit. I gave them their independence, and they're living it. I know, they sometimes still travel outside to rescue more Elves, or to rescue other Magical Creatures in need of it. But I didn't interfere in their lives any more.
I wasn't going to play a saviour to them, or a god. So, yeah, I leave them alone.
It is why I was so surprised to feel a familiar mind apparating outside my Castle doors. With a simple flex of my intent, I open the doors to let Kultur walk in, and wait for him in the Welcoming room.
As he walks in, and looks at me, he stops, staring in a bit of shock. He whispers, "You're still young?"
And this is why I stayed away. I didn't want too many questions on my immortality.
Nodding, I say, "You've certainly gotten old, Kultur. Nice beard."
And he did get old. He was already around 40 when we first met, when I took him from Herpo's clutches, and it has been almost 50 years since then.
Kultur shakes his head, and says, "I apologize for coming unannounced, Sorcerer Athreos. But.. I need your help."
Huh, this is new.
I teleport us both to the Kitchens, seating Kultur on a chair as we appear, and start preparing the tea. As he watches the tea start preparing itself on the stove, I say, "What can I do for you?"
As I had said so many years ago, I will always help them when they come to me for help. This is my repayment of the work the Elves had done for me.
Kultur turns his head towards me, and says, "My daughter.. Athra.. she came across some men a few minutes ago. They were fighting the Re'em, and winning. The Party I had sent there told me that the men were as strong as Giants themselves."
"What was your daughter doing when she came across them?" I ask, waving my hand. The now prepared tea is poured in two cups, and one lands in front of Kultur, while the other lands in front of me.
Kultur coughs a bit, and says, "I.. apologize, Sorcerer Athreos. I have kept something from you."
I look at him a bit curious, and say, "I am not your Master anymore, Kultur. Your secrets are your own to keep. But please, if you want, tell me."
Kultur says, "A little while after we became free Elves, I received a.. calling. A sense of Urgency filled my being, and I was prompted to Pop over to another place. I wasn't even given time to think it over, since when I appeared there, I saw a few fishermen trying to get a Merman out of their net, to kill it. He had gotten caught by mistake. I immediately rescued him, and sent him to his village to gather his fellow mermen. I then brought them all here, to the seas around the Sanctuary."
Huh, I did wonder where the Mermen came from, but I had assumed they came by themselves, pulled here by the Magic of the Sanctuary.
"Then, again and again, I was sent these urgings. I was sent to place after place, where beings needed my help. But when it became too much for me, I began sending others in my stead. We were being asked by Mother Magic, repeatedly, to help rescue her creatures. And we did. Athra.. was on a similar rescue quest herself. She managed to rescue the baby Re'em, but as her group told me, there were still three adult Re'em living, fighting the men."
Kultur tears up, as he leans forward, and says, "Please.. Master.. please save the Re'em. We have already failed one of them, I can't.. I can't fail Mother Magic once again."
I immediately appear in front of Kultur, and place a calming hand on his head. I hush softly, and say, "Hey, Kultur. I said it 35 years ago, and I say it now again. You need help, I will always help you. And again, I am not your Master. You have no Master. Take me where the Re'em are, and I will deal with it. Don't worry."
Kultur.. he's too shaken up by this, and it is probably because his daughter was just injured while fulfilling a mission that he sent her on.
Huh, Mother Magic. I don't know which one of the two Elder Goddesses this is, but someone is using the Elves to protect the Magical Creatures. While I appreciate that some Goddess is trying to save the creatures, I don't appreciate them using the Elves. They don't have Masters, they are free. And some Goddess out there is rejecting this fact.
But what can I even fucking do? I can't tell Kultur to stop sending people out there, he will not listen. He wants to repay Magic that gave him his freedom, his Sentience. And I can't even force these Goddesses to stop doing this, because I'm literally an ant in front of them.
For now, all I can do is rescue the Re'em and bring them here. To safety.
---
When Kultur apparates us to the place where he had sent Athra, his daughter, I immediately narrow my eyes and clench my fists in anger. There laid in front of me, were the corpses of three Re'em, all of them with cuts and stab wounds plainly visible on their bodies.
Trees had fallen all around them, showing me that they gave a good fight, but it wasn't enough. I hear a few thuds from a short distance away, as the ground under us shakes, and I say, "Kultur. Go home and take care of your daughter. I will deal with this."
Kultur immediately pops back home, making me a bit relieved. At least he won't be harmed in this battle. After saying a small prayer for these fallen Re'em, who were just parents trying to protect their young ones, I store their corpses in Nowhere and apparate towards where I can feel the battle happening.
As I apparate in, I see the fourth and last Re'em, a female from the looks of it, drop down on the ground, a sword having stabbed into her front legs each. I see one of the three men there jump up, his sword raised above his head to stab the Re'em in her head, and I make my move.
Jumping up, I spin myself to gather momentum, and land a kick on the jumping man's face, sending him crashing back down, and use the force of the kick to land back on a tree, in between the three men and the Re'em.
Oh, shit. That kick fucking hurt me! Not too much, but it did!
Turning back, I see the relieved look on the Re'em's face turn suspicious, as she looks at me. With a simple wave of my hand, I create a portal underneath her body to send her to Sanctuary. Kultur will help her, I'm sure.
I then lean away and snap my hand up, catching an arrow that I almost didn't see coming. Turning towards the man who sent the arrow, I ask, "Will you apologize for killing three of my protectorates, or should I just kill you as is?"
"You dare, mortal?!" The man yells, knocking another arrow and setting it loose at me.
As I use the arrow in my hand to slap it away, I frown, the word bothering me. I'm far from mortal. I am unaging, with the fire of the Kasha burning through my Magic. I might not be completely immortal, but I'm definitely not a normal mortal.
"Let's stab a sword through both of our hearts, and see which of us is mortal, eh?" I say, as I jump down from the tree I had perched myself on.
The arrow guy stays behind, as the two other men, both holding swords, start walking towards me. The one I had kicked says, "You made a mistake in interfering in our vacation, mortal. These creatures already cost us three of our brothers in arms, we won't lose any more."
I raise my hand, and ask, "A question before we begin our battle? How did your holiday lead six of you to fighting with four Re'em? And while they were guarding their young ones, no less."
The one I had hit turns back towards the arrow guy, and asks, "Is he mocking us?" The arrow guy just shrugs, the blood flowing from his shoulder apparently not bothering him, which causes the first guy to turn back to me and say, "We were hunting it of course. A mighty group like us needs a mighty hunt. We just didn't expect the hunt to be so deadly. And those tiny witches just caught us off guard."
I smile, although it is anything but reassuring, and say, "Great. This makes the decision making easier then."
And then, I summon my swords, Orthris to my hands.
"You took our hunt away from us, you took our chance at vengeance away from us. We would have killed the beast, eaten it, and gone on with our lives, but it seems we will have to appease our hunger with your own death, mortal." The second sword guy says, as he starts walking towards me. As his walk turns into a run, he yells, "FOR ASGARD!"
"FOR ASGARD!" The other two yell, making me suddenly realize that I'm actually fighting Asgardians.
Well, first time for everything.
I raise my sword and slash it upwards, cutting the arrow that had been shot at me into two, symmetrically. I then jump forward and block the second swordsman's sword with my own.
Gods this is getting confusing, let's call him Ed, the first swordsman Edd, and the archer Eddy.
Ed slashes at my head, and I duck down to stab his stomach. However, a small dagger appears in the way of my sword, diverting the hit. He then tries to stab my neck with the same dagger, but I block the hit with my left hand holding on to his wrist.
Dropping my right sword too, I punch his face, and as he raises the sword to attack me, kick his chest with full force. The kick sends him flying into Edd, who was trying to sneak behind Ed, sending them both crashing down.
Summoning my swords back to my hands, I slash them both in front of me, sideways, slapping the two arrows Eddy had sent at me away. Jumping up, I apparate right in front of Eddy, and slash my sword downwards.
He raises his bow to defend from the hit, but unfortunately for him, my sword is made of the most dangerous alloy on Earth. My Uru+Asgardian Steel+Magic Silver sword cuts through the bone made bow of Eddy, and slashes through his chest, creating another wound on his body.
As I prepare to stab him, however, I stop, realizing something. I can't kill them, not unless I want a war with an entire Kingdom of Gods, which even I can't win.
Incapacitation it is then.
Blitzing forward, I slam my palm on top of his wound, causing him to yell in pain, and bind his body with thick chains that form all around him, originating from my palm. His wound will have to stay that way. Knowing Asgardians as I do, they have a minor healing factor. If left as is, they will heal.
By then, Ed and Edd had stood up from their unfortunate crash into each other, and were now running towards me. Both of them, against one of me.
Really unfair… for them.
I raise my left sword, and use Ed's sword to block the downwards swipe made by Edd. Getting close, I slam the pommel of my sword into Ed's wrist, causing him to drop his sword, and then kick the falling sword flying into Edf's foot.
"AAARGH! YOU BASTARD!" Edd yells, as the Asgardian Steel sword goes through his foot and into the Earth.
Jumping up, I cover my knee with the Prati Kavach, and slam it into Ed's chin, sending him flying upwards, unconscious before he's even dropped down. And then, I cover my fist with the Prati Kavach, and punch Edd on the side of his forehead, knocking him out too. And then, with the same spell I used on Eddy, I bind the two swordsmen in thick chains made of iron.
Asgardians.. they're slower than I expected. These three soldiers were all around as strong as Logan, I'd say. But if there ever was a fight to the death, James will win.
They're strong, have a manner of battle instinct, but they're not fast enough to always act on that. It hardly took me a minute to take care of all three of them. I doubt, however, that I will be able to fight the actual Gods though. Fuck Odin, I might not even be able to fight Loki on an even footing as I am now.
Maybe I should find a way to increase my strength, now that I am here, in the past.
Shaking my head at the disappointing fight, I wonder what to do. I am angry at them, so angry. They hunted Re'em for food, and they would have eaten them, no doubt. They didn't even care for the baby Re'em there!
These Asgardians caused the deaths of three Re'em, and the injuries of one other. They also injured Kultur's daughter, Athra, who.. I assume is named after me.
But despite my anger at them, I can't just kill them. Killing these downed men is equal to declaring War on Asgard, and I have no idea what the situation is up there. Or even who the King is currently.
The last King of Asgard to come on Earth was Bor, who apparently came to an agreement with the then Sorcerer Supreme or something. Asgard will Protect Midgard from otherworldly threats, but in return, Midgard will be known as a planet under Asgard's rule, at least in space.
On Earth, however, the situation is a delicate one. Not a single Pantheon can lay claim to the planet, because if they do, the other Pantheons will all declare War on that one. I don't know much else about the situation, since not many books exist about Gods.
A small correction, not many factual books agree about Gods.
Well, what can I do then?
Three of the Re'em died, and three of the Asgardians died. But despite the equal number of deaths, it was the Asgardians that attacked the Re'em, and not the other way around. So.. a punishment is owed.
But I still can't kill them.
Well, nothing says I can't claim their belongings as reparations. I did it to the Wakandans, didn't I?
Waving my hand, I summon my trusty staff to my hands, and slam it only once on the ground. A total of four swords, seven daggers, an axe, and over 20 arrows fly towards me, all made out of Asgardian Steel, with the pommels and arrows made out of some type of wood. Even the bow I had cut in two now floats in front of me, waiting for me to claim them.
But.. this is not enough. I tap the staff on the ground once more, and three sets of Asgardian armour, all of them damaged in places flash in front of me, leaving the bound Ed, Edd, and Eddy now naked.
I wasn't going to take the armour from the dead Asgardians, no way.
Shaking my head, I send my new conquests to Nowhere, and lean down on the ground, touching my hand to the grass. As per Kultur's stories, one of the Asgardians had fallen in a crack that Athra had created, which had closed up immediately after.
I could let him stay there, buried, but I did somehow get his weapon, a sword. I'll leave him here to be taken to Asgard with the rest of the dead.
As I lay the three dead Asgardians on the ground a minute later, however, I suddenly stop, feeling something happening. A lot of Magic was at work here, it was as if the Magic within this place had just multiplied exponentially.
And then, I am forced to jump back, the Magic too unstable to apparate away, as a bright beam of light falls on top of the six Asgardians. I squint my eyes, unable to see through the light of what I recognise as the Bifrost, but just as fast as it had appeared, the light disappears, with the three unconscious and three dead Asgardians nowhere to be seen.
Instead, in their place, now stood ten more Asgardians. Seven of them wore dark brown armour, and held intricate staffs in their hands. Two of them, both women, were pointing bows and arrows at me, already pulled back. And in front of all of them, was someone that made me nervous.
It was a woman that stood leisurely, as if she had come for a walk in the park, not minding the weapons pointed over her shoulder towards me.
She wore a dark black, skin tight body armour, with shades of green in between, the same shade as her eyes. There was a simple black sword held in her left hand, while her right hand rested on her hip. I gulp, her relaxed position not at all reassuring me of the fact that she's a dangerous being.
The dark haired, fair skinned woman smirks, seeing me gulp, and says, "Now now, mortal. The time to be afraid of me is yet to come."
Hela Odinsdottir. The most dangerous woman in the Universe.
---
A/N: This is the last arc before Mason returns to his own time. There might be more that happens in his life, but it will only appear as flashbacks.
Answer me honestly. Has something changed in the quality of my chapters recently? At least, in the last 3-4 chapters or something. I won't mind, I'll at least try to fix those mistakes, so please tell me if there is something.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
- Location
- North America
Asgardians, I sleep.
Hela Odinsdottir, I FUCKING RUN
Hela Odinsdottir, I FUCKING RUN
- Location
- Netherlands, Under the sea
hmm story wise it has been great the quality of the grammar and sentence structure has been swinging in between a 7 to 6, which is alright tot decent, however this last chapter was a 4 maybe a 5 which is barely acceptable (also not the first time a chapter suddenly degraded in quality on that front either). still really looking forward to him being back in his own time can't wait until he finally interacts with the x man and a amnesiac wolverine, although is suppose that's still ways away regardless, if he even is going to end up amnesia, cant forget jean grey the next host either.
- Location
- Somewhere in this forsaken world
A new waifu has appeared! Quick! Catch her before she kills you!
Gamora can go and die for even imagining that she even compares... Tho then again, you said "Universe" and not "Galaxy"..
Gamora can go and die for even imagining that she even compares... Tho then again, you said "Universe" and not "Galaxy"..
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- Location
- Israel
Oh, is Hela going to be his lover? Since he's immortal for around 1950 years if he chooses to not leave he can genuinely claim that he's immortal. And since he's stuck in the past (according to an in story account by a time traveling witch) he's also unkillable until such a time he returns to his own time. Combining with his regeneration ability which has been strengthened and his functional immortality he can even prove it with no consequences to himself.
I can totally see her just slamming one of her blades into his chest when he says "I am immortal".
I can totally see her just slamming one of her blades into his chest when he says "I am immortal".
the quality is still great, but the lack of personal interaction (like Tatiana) or any overarching goals (freeing the House Elves) reduces the quality of the story. Also, there are still minor grammatical and spelling errors.
- Location
- England
I find it a bit ironic that your post pegs in at a 4, at best.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Hela is not the lover, as for the rest.. uh.. you'll probably have to wait for the next chapter.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Mix of both. They're Gods, they have Magic, they have spells. But, they're not as OP as in comics. Hela could still be defeated by a weaker enemy(mc) with a lucky shot or something. Could. Not will.
In the MCU royal asgardians got nerfed pretty badly. I don't know about normal asgardians but the ones that are considered gods are nowhere near as strong as their comic counterparts. To give a few examples: Comic Odin can beat the crap out of beings like galactus and infinity, create and destroy galaxjes with a thought and much more. Comic Hela can kill people with a touch. Comic thor is at least a planetbuster, mjolnir is also way more OP than the MCU version.
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
Ah, so I'm missing actual personality in the story. And grammatical mistakes is a surprise, since I use Google Docs Spellcheck before posting.
I'll still try to negate even that. Thank you for the reply!
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
In this fic, it is similar but not as Nerfed as MCU. Hela won't kill with a touch, but she does have some sort of Necrotic Magic touch which she has used in the MCU to destroy Mjolnir. Odin is stronger than MCU, but he won't be fighting Celestials anytime soon. Mjolnir.. I'm not so sure what its full capabilities are, but I won't be having Mjolnir transmute material, break through Time and Space to come to Thor or shit like that.
- Location
- USA
Uh oh. Hela's here. Time to run to Sanctuary and hope Heimdall can't locate it.
Well...let's see how reasonable she is when she hasn't been locked away for thousands of years.
One things for sure though - This will definitely give him motivation to do more Rituals. He's had decades go by without doing anything except studying alchemy. His latest ritual (falling into the Elf pool) was completely by accident.
Time to level up!
Well...let's see how reasonable she is when she hasn't been locked away for thousands of years.
One things for sure though - This will definitely give him motivation to do more Rituals. He's had decades go by without doing anything except studying alchemy. His latest ritual (falling into the Elf pool) was completely by accident.
Time to level up!
- Location
- Europe
Adding my two cents.
Mason started out doomsday prepping (aka learning everything he could) partially due to inclination and partially due to his worries about having to survive against Grindlewald and Voldemort. Once he realised that the Marvel Universe was also involved he added the likes of Thanos to his list of threats and proceeded to augment himself further. But he has consistently taken pains to be very careful about his methods doing so. His primary moral weakness is his tendency to steal knowledge. His conviction about only powering himself up via knowledge, skill and safe methods has generally never truly been tested. He had to temporarily lock away his own memories just to learn Dimensional Sorcery properly and even almost having his butt handed to him by a demon hadn't, previously, shaken his convictions any.
With Tatiana apparently perfectly fine over a decade later Mason could, apparently, have safely integrated dragon, nundu and possibly even basilisk into himself to further augment his power. He had access to Eternals and did them a massive favour but wasn't, as far as I can tell, even tempted for a scond to ask for or steal something of theirs to use in an augmentation ritual as he did with Victor Creed.
I suppose we'll get to see how that will turn out for him with Hela and Asgard, now.
More of a personal taste thing than anything but for someone who is, by my understanding, the quintessential DnD Wizard he seems oddly preoccupied by his swords. For all his tendency to vacuum up knowledge he also seems to focus primarily on ritual augmentation and (sword) crafting. I'm not sure when we last had a complex magical battle where his massive knowledge actually was a factor in any way.
In general, I'd think it'd help to give Mason someone to interact with on a regular basis again and, unless hela is meant to cover that, actually test his convictions. Only taking safe power ups is wise, certainly, but it is also a luxury that assumes one has unlimited time and can always retreat safely to try again later. The fact that he is currently single and isn't bound to any organisation or place (apart from Sanctuary) also means that he basically never has anything but pride to lose from retreating. I don't think he feels threatened anymore. Between that and his global knowledge stealing ward he feels like he has actually completed his overarching goals and could basically spend the next 2k years in a timeskip practising for all the excitement we'd see.
I use both Grammarly and Sapling, you can search for it on the Google Chrome desktop app/web store.
- Location
- USA
Saw the post, so I thought I'd toss in some of Mjolnir's standard Comic powers. I'm leaving off all the crazy add-on powers and just leaving the standard ones
- Weather Manipulation: Wielding Mjolnir grants its master the ability to create giant raging electrical storms complete with thunder, lightning, hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, blizzards, tidal waves, exploding volcanoes, earthquakes and torrential rains across entire planets at a moment's notice. It can also create any of these phenomena individually. Another aspect of this power allows them to stop any of these weather conditions instantly as well. Its user can create storms on a planetary wide scale or larger if needed, and is not limited to the normal limits of Mother Nature and can go beyond and defy what natural weather can do such as creating rain in space where there is no atmosphere. The ability of Mjolnir's wielder to control and create storms extends to any and all storms as he has been shown to control and create raging temporal storms in time, create Solar Flares, powerful stellar winds in space and so on.
- Energy Projection: With Mjolnir, its wielder can project powerful mystical beams of energy..... capable of annihilating entire planets...... Thor has the ability to produce a universe shaking Thermo-Blast capable of decimating even entire planets and beings as powerful as Ego the Living Planet.
- Energy Sensing, Energy Absorption, Energy Redirection
- Electromagnetic Spectrum Manipulation
- Teleportation - He can open gateways which allow him to travel across locations no matter how great the distance within moments or even across entire dimensions.
- Invisibility and Intangibility
- Transformation - Grants user ability to transform. Thor was able to turn into a human named "Donald Blake" with his own separate persona but sharing the same memories.
- Flight - Typically flies at Speed of Sound in atmosphere, but can reach over 3 times the speed of light easily.
Mjolnir
Mjolnir (literally, "grinder" as in "grindstone", cf. "meal" to "Mjöl") is the enchanted hammer wielded by the Asgardian; Thor, the Norse God of Thunder.[5] The Uru hammer which grants him many of his powers and abilities. Forged by Eitri and the Dwarves of Nidavellir in the heart of a dying...
marvel.fandom.com
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- Location
- Israel
I disagree with this and agree on most of the what I snipped out of your comment.
The reason I am disagreeing is that he realized that stealing from the Eternals would be a bad idea for him as they can easily wipe the floor with his ass in a direct fight and he has no reason to betray them as only killing them will stop them from hunting him down like a dog if they realize he stole\copied something from them without their permission. He already took the armor of one of them which considering the ease they agreed to give it then it can be easily replaced so it was a gain for him without antagonizing a bunch of friendly overpowered potentially anti-thanos squad.
- Location
- Europe
Fair enough, which is why I added that he also neglected to ask for permission to incorporate them or further study them. Even without performing a ritual to copy some of their traits I'd argue it'd be beneficial for his sorcery if he replicated even a fraction of their greater connection to Universal magic.
In terms of story-telling though, I'd have to go back and check but it just didn't feel like he was ever even seriously tempted to even consider stealing from them.
They did blatantly violate guest rights and were blatantly and obviously caught doing so. Giving him the armor was quite frankly cheap compared to losing out on the medical treatment and having their entire group be dishonoured in the eyes of the magical community (this is way pre-Statute of Secrecy) and that's before we even factor in that Mason was always acting in good faith so they were even further in the wrong. I am, quite honestly, in the camp of those users who believe the Eternals got off easy.
Given the amount of crap a wizard, witch or sorcerer can pull on someone who trusts them enough to enter their domain, which they can and will have prepared with all manner of protections, traps and effects, and consume food and drink prepared by them requires a great deal of trust. Polyjuice is just one example of what magic can do if you so much as lose an errant hair while in the home of another practitioner of magic and it's a rather benign example at that, for all that could be done with any such impersonation. Inversely, allowing guests into your home, through the outer protections and into the place where you keep your magical tools, books, resources and treasures also needs a fair amount of trust. Far more so than it would in a non-magical culture. So, quite frankly, their violation was a big deal.
- Location
- Montana
I have to agree with this. The chapters with your MC interacting with other people are noticeably better than the ones where he is by himself.
Instead of comic book WMD, MCU retconned Mew Mew into a wonderfully balance Harry Potter's wand with a Cosmopolitan magazine personality quiz that you bashes heads with...Saw the post, so I thought I'd toss in some of Mjolnir's standard Comic powers. I'm leaving off all the crazy add-on powers and just leaving the standard ones
- Weather Manipulation: Wielding Mjolnir grants its master the ability to create giant raging electrical storms complete with thunder, lightning, hurricane-force winds, tornadoes, blizzards, tidal waves, exploding volcanoes, earthquakes and torrential rains across entire planets at a moment's notice. It can also create any of these phenomena individually. Another aspect of this power allows them to stop any of these weather conditions instantly as well. Its user can create storms on a planetary wide scale or larger if needed, and is not limited to the normal limits of Mother Nature and can go beyond and defy what natural weather can do such as creating rain in space where there is no atmosphere. The ability of Mjolnir's wielder to control and create storms extends to any and all storms as he has been shown to control and create raging temporal storms in time, create Solar Flares, powerful stellar winds in space and so on.
- Energy Projection: With Mjolnir, its wielder can project powerful mystical beams of energy..... capable of annihilating entire planets...... Thor has the ability to produce a universe shaking Thermo-Blast capable of decimating even entire planets and beings as powerful as Ego the Living Planet.
- Energy Sensing, Energy Absorption, Energy Redirection
- Electromagnetic Spectrum Manipulation
- Teleportation - He can open gateways which allow him to travel across locations no matter how great the distance within moments or even across entire dimensions.
- Invisibility and Intangibility
- Transformation - Grants user ability to transform. Thor was able to turn into a human named "Donald Blake" with his own separate persona but sharing the same memories.
- Flight - Typically flies at Speed of Sound in atmosphere, but can reach over 3 times the speed of light easily.
Mjolnir
Mjolnir (literally, "grinder" as in "grindstone", cf. "meal" to "Mjöl") is the enchanted hammer wielded by the Asgardian; Thor, the Norse God of Thunder.[5] The Uru hammer which grants him many of his powers and abilities. Forged by Eitri and the Dwarves of Nidavellir in the heart of a dying...
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76. Hela Odinsdottir
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
Sorry for the delay, I was struggling through some issues, including the death of one of my kittens, my grandma's health issues, and my own mental health. I'm back, although probably not completely healed, but I'm here.
For making you wait so much, two chapters today!
This is the first one! Read on!
---
You know, when I first landed in the past, I had never even wondered if I would ever see, let alone meet a God, or a Goddess. And now, I can say that I have met two Goddesses.
First Bast, who was at least agreeable to a peaceful conversation, and now this one. Hela Odinsdottir, the Goddess of Death. And judging by the dark black sword in her hand, she did not consider peace as an option.
"Surrender the items you have stolen from my Soldiers, surrender the animals that they hunted, and then surrender yourself, in that order. I might make your death a quick one then." Hela says, the sword tip resting on the ground, while she herself casually looked at her nails.
And let's not forget that there are seven more soldiers, all of them holding what's definitely the Berserker staff in their hands, and two females.. maids, or maybe servants, both of whom held bows and arrows. One of them, funnily enough, looked reluctant at having to threaten me.
Judging by the pointed ears she sported, and the fair skin, she was an Elf of Alfheim. She's gorgeous, no doubt, but when you're facing the Goddess of Death herself, you can't afford to be distracted.
I keep staring at Hela, thinking up plans, and ask, "Can we talk first? I think I would like to defend my actions before dying."
I can't run, Asgard will follow me wherever I go. I don't have a single clue over the Magical talents of Hela, but she did manage to create a Portal from Helheim to Earth, exactly where Odin died, which means she can at least track her father's magic/life force.
But, she did it after 1000+ years of imprisonment. She could have learned this talent in those years.
But still, fleeing is an option which I will put on the background for now.
But.. I cannot even hope to defeat her, she's Hela! I might.. MIGHT.. be able to fight her for a minute or two, stall her even. But defeat her? Knock her out? Hell nah. I could probably take the others down, but Hela? Not a chance. Not even if I use all my current talents.
As for surrendering myself? Yeah, that's not happening.
First thing to know, if Hela is the Crown Princess, then Odin is the King, and he's in his 'Conquer everything that moves, preferably through a bloody war' phase. Besides, as Hela just said, she's just going to execute me.
Hela chuckles at my question, and says, "Your actions were witnessed by the All Seer himself, mortal. You defeated three of our Einherjar, stole their armour, and stole the weapons from them and the four other Einherjar that lost their lives fighting the animals and your tiny witches. Choose, a quick death, or a death filled with pain."
So, my anti Scrying tattoo doesn't work against Heimdall? Damn. I will get right to modifying it once.. if I survive this debacle that is.
"Your Einherjar started it!" I say after sighing, while not choosing my method of death. "They attacked the animals under my Protection, and when my friends tried to rescue the animals, those men had the gall to attack them too! If anything, I just took reparations owed to me by those Asgardians."
Hela frowns, a bit annoyed at my talk, and says, "You talk too much, mortal."
Well, fuck you too.
She then turns towards her soldiers, annoyance plainly visible on her face, and says, "Make it quick, but keep him alive. We need the weapons he has stolen and the location of the animals."
Well, at least I'll get to steal more weapons before she kills me. I do have to wonder though. Will I survive being killed by her, or will the Goddess of Death status mean that even my 'Time Travel' and 'Healing factor' given immortality will fail to protect me?
As the seven Asgardian Berserkers stomp towards me, spreading to surround me and prevent my escape, I see Hela turn her back to me, completely dismissing me. Waving her hand, she conjures a pitch black throne made of the same material as her swords, reminding me of a certain Iron Throne, and sits down on it, the two Archers staying at her two sides, subdued.
I've got to learn what their story is. They're probably prisoners of war, knowing Asgard's current rulers. One woman is from Alfheim, but what about the other one? She looks normal, so probably just an Asgardian woman who doesn't like violence or something. Or a daughter of some noble who didn't agree with Odin.
I don't get to think more on that, as the soldiers attack me, as one. Seven Berserker staffs approach me at high speeds, aimed at my head, neck, shoulders, knees, and gut, leaving me no place to dodge, and no way to defend myself from all those hits.
Or so they probably believe.
With a simple snap of my fingers, I turn the Time slower on, directly at 50x speed, and leisurely walk forward. One by one, and careful not to touch them directly, I pluck the Berserker staffs out of their very slow moving hands, and store them in Nowhere. I do the same for the daggers on their person, and then, punch all their foreheads with my Prati Kavach covered fist. They will be unconscious when I resume the normal flow of time. The momentum will ensure it.
Whatever I may have done, I don't ever regret making the newer Time Slower out of Magical Silver. Just by using Runes, I could speed my own perception of time by up to 100 times. And not a single grain of the Sands of Time were used in this.
The Berserkers slowly move in the direction of my punch, while I stay in the middle of the circle they had created by surrounding me, and turn the Time Slower off. Immediately, the seven Berserkers snap their head backwards with a tremendous force that sends their bodies flying backwards, and become unconscious. All of this happened within a single moment for those not me.
I smile at Hela, who straightens up on her throne, looking a bit intrigued now, and say, "I would have loved to stay and talk, Goddess of Death. But I have some amazing items to study. So.. farewell, and may we never meet again."
Saying so, I manipulate my Magic to enter the apparition tunnel. Unfortunately for me, as soon as I start the process, I am forced to abandon it when two items speed towards me at once.
A Necrosword, thrown by Hela at tremendous speeds, and an arrow right behind it, just a bit slower than Hela's sword.
I stop the Apparition spell and immediately summon my two swords to my hands, slashing them at the two weapons aiming to kill me. With a loud clang, the Necrosword hits my Orcrist and is thrown away from me, hitting a small rock, while the arrow is simply thrown upwards. The diversion of the Necrosword is still enough to completely crush the stone, while the arrow flies up a small distance, and then starts falling downwards.
As the arrow reaches my face level, I spin around to gather more momentum and slam the flat side of my sword on its blunt end, sending it flying back towards the woman who had thrown it at me, helped along by my Telekinesis. Unsurprisingly, it is caught right before it can hit the surprised Light Elf woman in her left eye by a fast acting Hela Odinsdottir.
Her reaction speed is something else, that's for sure. I just wasn't sure that she would even save a servant of hers.
And I had to stop my Apparition. If I hadn't stopped then, the arrow and Necrosword would have come into the tunnel with me, and stabbed me in my neck while I was in transit. They were just that fast. And Dobby knows how that would have gone.
I look at Hela, a bit annoyed, and get ready to defend at a moment's notice. This time, however, I am much surprised when she just looks at me, the arrow in her hand still, like I'm a puzzle.
"You're different. You're stronger than those other mortals, and you have Magic. Tell me, are you a Seidhr?" Hela says, as she sits back down on the throne.
Seidhr, a word for the Mages that were present in the Icelandic regions when Asgard first came here. They mostly practiced Seeing, but they were known to manipulate the elements too. And when Bor and his son Odin came here, with their fancy Magic, and stronger Elemental manipulation, the Seidhr began worshipping the two Gods.
I look at her in suspicion, looking out for the next attack to come, and say, "I might have some ancestry there, but no. I am what's called a Mage."
"And your strength.. Mage.. is this something you were born with?" Hela asks, now twirling the arrow in her hand, while the elf woman finally comes out of her shock at her almost-death.
The other woman was still pointing her bow at me, an arrow nocked, but she looked afraid of everything. I could tell that while she knows how to use the bow, she hadn't used it to kill any sentient beings yet.
"Why do you want to know?" I ask, wondering if she wants the Ritual to enhance strength or something. "However I have it, it won't work on you anyway."
If I was born with it, it's of no use. And if I did it through a Ritual, it still won't help her. Whatever Rituals enhanced my strength to where I am now, will have a barely noticeable effect on someone like Hela.
Hela hums, and says, "So you got it externally then. Which means a Ritual of sorts that only works on mortals. Pity." She shakes her head, and then crosses her legs one over the other, making my eyes subconsciously go there.
Hey, she might kill me anytime she wants, but I'm not blind.
Hela is a fucking Goddess, and she's bloody beautiful. Black hair, green eyes, skin tight green and black armour, and makeup that makes her look.. emo. She also looks like a 30 year old mortal woman, and her face is similar to what I remember the movie actress being (only obviously younger), who was a bombshell even in her 50s.
And then there's her height and strength. She's just a bit shorter than me, her body slim, but definitely muscly, showing that even without her Divine strength, she is not some useless woman.
As I said, Hela is a fucking Goddess, and it's not just because of her title.
And she can also kill me in like.. 10 minutes, if I use everything in my arsenal.
As I try not to ogle her, she says, "Well, you're of no use to me then."
And then, uncrossing her legs, Hela stands up, the arrow in her hands discarded to the side. She says, "Don't interfere, Elf. I will kill him, and then we can discuss your inability to deal with a simple mortal."
The elf in question ducks her head down, and drops her hands, the bow now resting on her back. The other woman simply takes a step back, not saying anything even as she disarms herself.
Hela is the one who has all my attention, though, as she takes a few steps forward and stops. She conjures two swords in her hands, and says, "Come on, mortal. I don't have all day. Show me what you can do, and if you manage to impress me, I might just take you for a pet."
A pet? To Hela?
I scowl at her, and bringing my swords to my side, I disappear from my position. Appearing above Hela, I swing both my swords down on her head.
CLANG!
Unsurprisingly, Hela blocks that hit with the lone, left sword raised upwards, her hand not even moving a little bit due to the astronomical strength difference.
Hela slashes her right sword upwards to cut me into two, and I spin around it, letting it pass by my face harmlessly, and in that same motion let my Prati Kavach covered right leg speed towards Hela's face, while still in the air.
Hela drops the sword in her left hand, and catches my leg by my shin. Her right sword once again speeds towards me to skewer my guts, but suddenly, she is forced to stop it in order to defend herself.
The Prati Kavach that was around my foot lengthens in front of my toes, and extends into five nail claws. Only these ones are far, far bigger than my normal nail claws, by at least ten times the size. As they try to stab her face, however, Hela leans back, stopping her attempt at stabbing me, and throws me behind her, from over herself.
I stop myself mid air, floating up using my Telekinesis, and scowl, as the bones in my right leg heal back up. Hela's hold on my leg had broken the shin bones, while rupturing multiple muscles and the tendons. If I had landed on the ground while in this situation, I would have been in some amazing amount of pain. Even now, only my pain tolerance, thanks to all the pain I've already been through, has stopped me from crying out loud.
That single touch, however, is enough for me to recognise exactly how wide the power difference between us is, and that I have no chance if I hold back even a little.
Hela looks at the Prati Kavach now on my right arm and the swords in my two hands, and says, "Those are some amazing artefacts you have there, mortal. Pity they won't be able to save you."
And then this time, Hela attacks, by starting to run towards me. While running with a smirk on her face, she waves her hand and throws five conjured Necroswords at me, all of them speeding faster than sound.
Raising my swords, my leg healed once again, I hit them all away, one by one, and jump towards Hela, aiming to stab her face once again, while taking a deep breath. Hela and I meet mid air, our swords hitting each other with a loud clang, and I smirk, seeing the wide eyed look on Hela's face when I don't even move back a little.
My swords.. or the Light Magic in them, negates all the force exerted upon them by Dark weapons. This same thing happened when I had fought Kuronin, when Ljosverd had blocked all the hits by him without showing any weakness to it.
Taking advantage of her surprise, I exhale all the air I had taken in. When I breathe out, however, instead of just air, a wave of bright red flames exit out of my mouth, covering Hela completely.
Newton's third law sends me shooting backwards, and I land on the ground. I see Hela slam down on her back, the red flames covering her full body and the ground surrounding her, but I don't let down my guard even a bit. She's Hela, the Goddess of Death. Fiendfyre, while probably causing her some discomfort, is not enough to kill her.
Sure enough, something flashes green inside the rampaging flames, and an explosion of Wind and Magic erupts out of that point, snuffing the flames out.
Hela, without even a little bit of damage, looks at me with a scowl on her face, and says, "You.. you seriously thought that attacking the Goddess of Death with the flames of Hell would harm her?"
Well.. not one of my finest moments.
So, Fiendfyre is out. But it is not the only trick I have.
I bend my knees, and start running full speed towards Hela, my swords still in my hands. I swing both towards Hela, but Hela turns to the side to dodge them. I keep attacking her, and Hela takes a few steps back, just dodging.
It shows the difference between a mortal and a God, when even when I was one of the strongest mortals alive right now, and probably one of the best swordsman alive, Hela still dodged all my attacks with grace, all the while looking bored.
Suddenly, something hard strikes my stomach, and I find myself flying back towards the woods. As I finally stop, my back hitting a large rock, I don't get even a moment's respite, when I am forced to dodge six swords speeding right behind me.
The swords hit the rock I had stopped on, causing it to completely shatter. As my body heals, I am once again forced to jump away, when Hela tries to skewer my heart with her Necrosword.
I keep jumping, with Hela throwing multiple swords at a time, mixing it up with attacking me herself every once in a while. All the while, I try to get inspiration, or an opportunity to trap her. But so far, there were no holes in her fighting style that I could realistically take advantage of.
As I try to jump away from the most recent personal attack by Hela, however, I find my legs stabbed by something that came out of the ground itself. Already knowing what it is, I don't even look down, but raise both my swords to prevent Hela from slashing my arms off of my shoulder.
Hela smirks, as she tries to push her sword down bit by bit. But the handy enchantment on my swords negates most of the force exerted by her swords, leaving me to just try and hold her own strength back. Suddenly, however, Hela drops her swords, and conjures something else in her right hand, slamming it right on my face.
I don't even get to be surprised at the item she just conjured when it hits my face, crushing my nose, bending my skull in a way it shouldn't and ripping me through the Necroswords holding me in place. I fly backwards, my swords no longer in my hands, as my wounds make me bleed from everywhere, my skull definitely fractured in multiple places.
As I crash down on the ground and skid to a stop, I immediately groan internally, feeling my danger sense flare up to warn me of something dangerous. I immediately create a portal underneath me, that drops me a couple miles away from my position, and that much further away from Hela and her stabbing tendencies.
I don't even bother to try and find out what danger was coming towards me, before I close the portal back down, and lay there on the ground, breathing hard, while my wounds heal slowly.
This is taking far too much time.
With a pull on my Magic, I summon my swords back to my hands, and use them to channel the Light and Healing Magics into my body, to speed things up. Within 20 seconds, I find myself back in top form, wondering what I could even do.
I can't go to Sanctuary just yet, because I don't want to bring Asgard's attention over there, and I can't flee anywhere else either, not until my Anti Scrying tattoo is changed, enhanced. I could probably go to Kamar Taj, but I doubt Master Ayesha will appreciate me bringing my troubles to her.
Which means, I have to stay here and fight. Try and survive.. or fake my death, which.. I have some plans over how I might be able to do that.
Suddenly, I see something in the clearing I had found myself in, and I see a dark green smoke take form, with shades of black inside it. The smoke then shapes itself into a circle, and then.. into a portal. I resign myself to not getting to flee anyway, because now I have confirmation that Hela can actually create portals to wherever I am.
Sighing, I stand up, and see Hela walk out of the smoke like portal formed from her own Magic, with a familiar item in her hands. Familiar in the sense that I've seen it even before it smacked me halfway across the forest.
The mighty war hammer.. Mjolnir.
Flipping the hammer in her hand, as the portal closes behind her, Hela says, "You're smart, mortal. You know when to flee." She then smirks, as the Magic around us starts to become a bit too cold for my tastes, and says, "But you cannot escape Death, mortal."
My wounds now completely healed, and my strength completely returned to me, I say, "Look, Hela, Goddess of Death. The Soldiers from before were hunting a family of Magical Creatures, who were under my Protection. I was oath bound to protect them, and take reparations for whatever harm your Soldiers caused. I understand you Asgardians are big about Oaths and all."
Hela snorts, and says, "I don't care, mortal. You insulted Asgard, stole the property of Asgard, and your little animals and those tiny witches caused the death of three Asgardian soldiers. And that.. means you are an enemy.. unless you would like to tell me where those tiny witches are?"
This time I snort, like hell am I giving up my tiny witches. "I think I would rather have another bout with you, Goddess of Death."
"Admirable, but sooner or later, we will find them. Even now, the All Seer is busy looking for those witches, and when he does.. Well, Asgard has no need for witches, but we won't say no to more indentured servants." Hela says, shrugging casually.
My eyes narrow, and my face hardens on those words. I really hope my Wards are stronger than my Runic tattoo, or else Sanctuary is already in danger. But now I know, I definitely need to fight. Either until Hela believes me dead, or until I actually die.
But.. I can't do it with just two swords. I need to use my Magic too. Especially when Hela has the bloody Mjolnir in her hands.
Still glaring at Hela, I move both my hands, and bring the two swords, the Orcrists, together. As soon as they touch one another, the metal shifts, as the swords go from two to one, and form into the straight long sword.. the Glamdring.
I hold the Glamdring in my right hand, while I keep my left hand open, and start running towards Hela. Hela stays in her spot, not even bothering with seeming vigilant, but when I swing my sword towards her neck, Hela leans back just the same, while swinging the hammer upwards, aiming for my chin.
I raise my leg up, and knee Hela on her elbow, messing with her aim, and causing the Hammer to miss my head by a large margin. In the same motion, I extend my leg, the Prati Kavach once again covering the foot, and slam it into the arm.
Hela had expected the hit, and my kick barely causes her arm to move. I, however, hadn't meant the kick to actually attack her, but I used it to push myself back. Waving my hand, I manipulate the ground to rise up, and send a few large chunks of Earth at Hela, while I start preparing another spell.
Hela uses her hammer to smash the rocks to pieces, while a sword conjured in her left hand does the same. But when the rocks stop coming, I send my spell at her.
A dark brown coloured curse, meant to destroy castle walls hits Hela on her torso.. and immediately splits in two as it goes to the back, now diverted at an angle. The curse hits the ground, and the power behind it destroys the trees, and the ground where it hit, forming two patches of treeless land with a large hole in the middle.
I widen my eyes, seeing it happen, something that I definitely hadn't expected. What the fuck is her armour even made of?!
I duck, letting a sword pass through the place my head used to be, and immediately bring up my arm to hit an incoming weapon. Unfortunately, where my swords are perfectly capable of negating the force behind Hela's Necroswords, they cannot do it to something that is not.. Dark.
And Mjolnir, despite its owner's inclinations, is definitely not Dark.
As Mjolnir slams into Glamdring, as I try to slash it upwards, it pushes the sword backwards instead, and sends me skidding backwards. And then, it retreats, returning to Hela's waiting hand.
I start running when I see Hela ready the hammer for another, stronger, throw, and appear in front of Hela, my sword raised. This time, Hela blocks the sword strike with the hammer, and sends me off balance to the side, the hammer now in front of my face.
Hela swings the hammer towards my face, and I lean back, awkwardly doing the Neo-bullet-dodging pose, and using the blind spot provided by Hela herself, slam my left fist on her chin. The red coloured fist slams into her chin, as the spell I had stored within it explodes out of the fist.
This time, I find myself once again surprised, when the Dark bludgeoning curse splits in two as soon as it touches Hela's skin, and flies wide towards the skies. Hela, meanwhile, is forced to just tilt her head upwards thanks to just my strength, while the spell has absolutely no effect on her.
What the fuck? So it's not just her armour.. it's her? What the fuck are Asgardians made of, that Magecraft spells don't even take effect?
A Bludgeoning curse, and the Wall Breaker both went wide as soon as they touched her? They at least should have exploded on her and sent her back. They fucking cause actual damage to dragons!
Shaking my head, I jump backwards, and channeling the Crimson Energy within the Prati Kavach, swing my sword towards Hela once again. This time, when Hela blocks my hit once again, I see her hand get pushed back just a bit.
I don't get much satisfaction from that, however, since even with Cyttorak's Crimson Energy, I can only push her hand back a bit.
Hela suddenly pulls her hand back, making me overextend, and kicks me on my chest. The Prati Kavach had covered it in time, so I don't feel much pain, but the hit does manage to send me flying backwards.
I flip in the air, and stab the sword into the ground to stop myself.
"Your Magic.. you've never fought an Asgardian before, have you? Or any other God." Hela says, chuckling. "Mortals are not meant to harm Gods, Mage. Your Magic, your life will always be inferior to ours."
So, Magic doesn't work. Or more accurately Magecraft doesn't work against Hela, and probably the other high level Asgardians. But if I know my Hierarchy right, Asgardians are not at the top of the food chain. And I have access to spells that can definitely damage, or at least bind those at the top.
Sorcery.
I once again start running towards her, while Hela looks at me, content with letting me run towards my death. But right before I reach her, I disappear from my position and appear right behind her, my left arm touching her back.
"CRIMSON BANDS OF CYTTORAK!" I yell, channeling the strongest version of that spell that I can safely cast without gaining the ire of the demon in question.
Immediately, dark crimson bands appear from my hand and spread around the Goddess, covering her torso in one moment, and her limbs in the other. The explosion of Magic causes her to get pushed forward by a bit, as Mjolnir drops down on the ground when the Crimson bands take hold of her right arm.
Within a second, Hela is completely covered by thick Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, top to bottom, leaving only her nose and eyes free, so she can breathe, and see. The Bands prevent her from even moving, while tightening around her with every movement she makes.
I keep my left hand there, breathing hard, and raise my sword to her neck. A small space opens up within the bands, giving me enough space to touch my sword on her neck, causing her to stop struggling at once.
I say, "Give me your word, as the Princess of Asgard, that you won't come after me, or my Elves, and I will let you leave here, alive."
I stay behind her, one hand holding the sword to Hela's neck, while the other holding on to the Crimson Bands binding her. I feel her anger, at either getting caught in something like this, or at me threatening her into compliance, and I manipulate the bands to open a space in front of her mouth.
She gasps first, finding herself able to open her mouth once more, and says, "You.. are making a terrible mistake.. mortal."
I tighten the bands some more, look up, and say, "I can feel it, you know. The Bifrost charging up. If I feel it activating, your daughter won't have a head anymore. Let's see how she stays alive after that."
It was a guess that Odin himself was watching over this fight right now. Not something I'm sure of, but when the Princess of your Realm is caught in someone else's trap, you don't wait to call your King, her father. You do it immediately.
I hear mumbles, and turn my head towards Hela, whose mouth was once again covered by the Crimson Bands. Keeping my sword stable, I open up her mouth once again, allowing her to say, "I said.. I don't need anyone to come and rescue me.. mortal."
Something cuts through the Bands holding her arms together, and then..
CRAAAACKKKK!
The Crimson Bands all shatter, as Hela uses her brute strength to break out of the strongest Binding spell in a Sorcerer's repertoire. She immediately spins around, dropping the Necrosword that she had conjured to cut through the Bands holding her arms together, and summoning the hammer to her hand.
I cover my torso with the Prati Kavach as I jump backwards, even as I conjure the Shield of the Vishanti in front of me to block her hit.
Hela conjures another large Necrosword to stab it into the Shield of the Vishanti, and uses the mighty Mjolnir to send it deeper inside, breaking the spell. And then, as I wince from the backlash of two broken spells, one after the other, Hela slams Mjolnir into my chest, before I can even raise my sword to defend myself.
CLANG! CRACK!
Within a moment, the Prati Kavach breaks from the force of the hit, not able to defend me against the full might of the legendary hammer Mjolnir, being wielded by the second strongest Asgardian alive.
Before I even start mourning the death of my Relic, the hammer strikes my chest, stabbing some pieces of the Prati Kavach into my body, and sends me flying miles away from Hela. I gasp, as I unwittingly spit out a lot of spittle and blood, as my bones stab into my heart.
I force myself to work through the pain and keep a tight hold of my sword, using it to speed up my Healing speed, while at the same time activating the Time Slower at 50x. My body is fully healed before I even drop down on the ground, thanks to the sped up time, and I immediately slam my hands down on the ground.
Hela, who had run after me with a furious look on her face, is forced to jump up, when the ground shatters underneath her, as thousands of orange wisps of Magic erupt out of the craters. They all attack her, trying to stab into her body.
The Spiky mists of Munnopor immobilise anything they stab into, and multiple stabs cause the victim's Magic to be completely bound. Which.. for Asgardians like Hela, means taking away most of her strength.
Hela uses her hammer to great effect, using it to destroy one tendril after another, while at the same time cutting them with her conjured swords.
I know that she is not an easy enemy to defeat, however, and I point my palms at her. A white Tao Mandala is formed in front of both my arms, and they start shooting white diamond like crystals at Hela.
The Crystals of Certain Death.
Now, Hela is forced to defend herself against both the Crystals, and the Mists, but annoyingly enough, her hammer can dispel the Magic within both of them by a single hit each.
For a minute, I keep both those spells active, and I start to feel the drain on my Magic. While I can usually go for a few days without needing to rest while using my Magic, it depends on the enemy I'm fighting. And Hela.. is not something any normal Sorcerer can fight against.
Even still, I knew I could go on for at least three more hours.
"ENOUGH!" Hela yells, as dark green and black coloured Magic explodes out of her body.
This explosion immediately causes all the Spiky Mists of Munnopor to dissipate, as the spell loses its form. Meanwhile, an enraged Hela slams the hammer on the ground, sending a shockwave of Dark black Magic towards me.
Clapping my hands together, I conjure the gateway to the Mirror Dimension to absorb the Dark Magic, and send it towards Hela to send her inside the Mirror Dimension. Hela raises her hammer, and swings it upwards, using it to fly above the Mirror Dimension's gateway, and then swings it towards me, sending both her, and the hammer flying towards me.
I raise my hands, palm facing towards Hela's angry face, and right before she reaches towards me, I create a portal in her path that opens up exactly next to her face. The Hammer, Mjolnir flies into the portal, exits out near Hela's head, and her own attack strikes Hela on the face, sending her skidding into the ground.
Taking this opportunity, I once more conjure the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind Hela.
Unfortunately for me, Hela's Healing factor is far, far superior to mine, and she jumps back up to fight, allowing her to dodge the Bands before they can bind her.
"DIE ALREADY, MORTAL!" Hela yells, as she shatters the bands using Mjolnir.
"Mortal this, mortal that. They don't teach you any other words in Asgard?" I quip back, while holding my nervousness out of my voice.
Hela.. by just being angry.. had made Apparition completely impossible. Her Magic was so dense, that just by whatever amount she was leaking, she prevented Space from being bent by using Magecraft. I know.. I've already tried multiple times.
But as it's already established, her Magic is not superior to the Dimensional or even Universal Magic, which means while difficult, I could still create portals.
Angered by my words, Hela throws the hammer towards me and starts running forward. I duck down to let it pass, and meet Hela head on with my sword, Glamdring in hand. As we fight with our swords once again, with me suffering more than a few cuts and slashes, I see Hela twitch her hand.
I wasn't an idiot, however, and I already knew that part of Mjolnir's gifts. It returns to its user when called upon.
Right before it can hit me, I create a portal once again, causing the Hammer that was aiming for the back of my head to appear out of the portal right in between Hela and I, making it once again strike Hela on her face.
I immediately jump up, feeling her Conjuration Magic at work once again as Hela sends a dozen Necroswords flying towards me. Completing my spin, I slam Glamdring into her shoulder, slashing through the skin, but stopping at the bone, my strength not enough to do that yet.
As I start to pull back, however, Hela grabs me by my neck, and before I can do anything, she conjures another Necrosword that cuts through my shoulder, separating my right arm from my body.
"Fuck!" I gasp out, through the pain of my neck being crushed, and my arm being cut off, as Glamdring falls down on the ground, tip first.
And then, she stabs the same sword in my chest, right into my heart.
---
I gasp as I open my eyes, taking a deep breath in, as the spell expels my mind from the copy of my body fighting Hela, and into my real body.
When I had sent the Mirror Dimension trap towards Hela, I knew she wouldn't be caught by it. She's too fast for that. And since I didn't have a way to actually defeat her, I had thought up a plan. A plan to fake my death, and make the Asgardians stop looking for the Elves, and for me.
The plan.. create a perfect copy of myself, and have Hela kill it, while enraging her enough to have her make it quick. I created the copy using the Images of Ikonn spell, making it so it was a perfect physical, Magical, as well as Astral copy of myself.
Meanwhile my true body was sent miles and miles away, into a house in a small Maya village, where the Maya Sanctum stood. I didn't send it to the Sanctum, since I didn't actually need any form of interference by Master Ayesha, even if I would have appreciated it if she did interfere somehow.
The protections surrounding the Sanctum and the village it was in, were enough to hide the goings on from higher eyes, especially Gods like Heimdall. Or so I hope. But, considering that I couldn't feel the formation of the Bifrost here, I can safely say that I'm safe.
My copy was killed by Hela, stabbed by her Necrosword, while my spirit and my mind came back here, to my true body.
Suddenly, however, I cough loudly, and put my hand up in front of my mouth. Already dreading it, I shakily bring my hand in front of my eyes and look at it, finding blood. I stand up, barely managing it, and look around. But no matter where I looked, I didn't see any enemy.
I drop down on the ground, feeling two swords stab into my chest, but when I look down, I still find nothing. I do, however, sense Hela's Dark Magic coursing through my body, through my Magic. I try to call upon my connection to the Light Dimension, or even the Light Sword, but Hela's Corruptive Magic was preventing me from accessing any sort of outside help.
"Blergh!" I spit out some more blood, as my body starts losing strength, and my wounds stop healing.
It was also causing my Healing factor to fail spectacularly, making the two stab wounds in my chest bleed out a lot of blood.
I drop on my back, just breathing, my strength slowly losing weight.
My plan was foolproof, or so I had hoped. Hela killed the copy, but it seems her Magic was strong enough to follow me here. And here I had hoped to live a very long life.
Slowly, I close my eyes, knowing that I won't be opening them ever again. I was dying, and I could feel it. I could see Death itself looming over me, and there was no running from it. The Goddess of Death had demanded it, and Death had delivered.
I close my eyes, breathing for the final time, wondering.. is this it?
---
Hela POV:
Hela stares at the mortal who had given her so much trouble, as three swords stick out of his chest. He was a good fighter, and made her work for her win despite his mortality, but in the end, he is a mortal, and she.. a Goddess.
She had noticed that his body could somehow heal from a manner of wounds, and while she had first attributed it to the Magical sword made of the unknown alloy, she later realised that the sword just prevented her Deathly Magic from harming him. The Healing was his own.
And so, she had done something to prevent him from healing ever again. She had let her guard down purposefully, allowing him to strike a single hit. And while he was trying to separate her arm from her body, his mortal strength unable to achieve it, Hela had taken hold of him, and cut off his own arm, separating the man from the sword.
She could have prevented the Portal from being formed, she could have disrupted the Magic within it while it was forming, but she needed the mortal to start regaining hope. She wanted to crush him, see the hope die in his eyes as she killed him.
He had used her own hammer against her, and she did not like it one bit. He not only insulted her and Asgard, he used her own Divine weapon against her. And that.. was unforgivable. That had sealed his fate.
And so, she allowed him to land a single hit, to make him regain hope.
She then stabbed him with her sword, one filled to the brim with her Divine Necrotic Magic. She might not be able to use Runes like her father could, but she was still a Goddess, and her command over her own Magic was Absolute.
The Necrosword had prevented him from healing back up, but he was still healing, albeit slowly. And so, she had stabbed him two more times, both the new swords also being Magically infused.
Unfortunately for her, he died far too soon for her liking. She would have liked to make it long, slow, but alas, mortals are far more delicate than the enemies she was used to fighting.
And now, with him, she had also lost the Berserker Staffs, swords, armours, daggers, and even the animals that he had stolen from Asgard.
Glancing at the sword that had stabbed itself into the ground, Hela wonders over the metallic alloy it was made out of. She hadn't seen anything like it before, not even in Nidavellir. While it was nothing in front of her Mjolnir, or her father's Gungnir, it was definitely one of the strongest alloys she had ever seen.
It was only the inexperienced maker that had caused it to lose to Mjolnir. If the alloy was shaped by the Dwarves, she knew that it would be a weapon comparable to Mjolnir. And it was wielded by a Mortal, and used by him to cut into her.. a Goddess. Her blood was still adorning the blade, from when he had tried to cut her arm off, and a wave of Hela's hand causes the Blood to disappear.
Hela approaches the sword, and touches it to pick it up. However, as soon as her hands touch the sword handle, the sword flashes in a bright yellow light, burning her hand a bit, and disappears from the spot.
Scoffing in disgust, Hela turns her back on the now dead man and the spot his sword was just in, and with a snap of her fingers, causes the body to explode into a burst of flesh and bones. She then looks up, and orders, "Open the Bifrost!"
Within a couple seconds, the bright beam of Rainbow coloured light of the Bifrost slams down on her, and takes her away. She glances at the young gatekeeper of Asgard, Heimdall, and orders, "Bring my useless maids here too, bloody Elf couldn't even take down one Mortal. And start looking for those tiny witches that the mortal called Elves. They must know where the mortal hid his stolen wares."
---
While Hela leaves Midgard, someone else appears out of a blue glowing portal in the forests behind the Maya Sanctum. The hooded person looks around, and finds the one she is looking for on the ground, laying on his back.
She waves her hand, causing the body to be lifted into the air, and walks through the portal, taking it with her.
"I have finally found you… brother."
---
A/N: As you might expect, Mason is dead, but not really. You'll see later, in the next chapter. No, the story is not dropped, at least not yet, since I do have plans until at least Mason is back in his own time, and I have written almost till that time already, on my Pat-reon.
(If anyone is going to follow me there be sure to go for only the lowest tiers, I already have more money than I know I can handle, don't give me more. Seriously. Don't.)
Is the fight with Hela believable? She's much stronger than him, but Mason has far more tricks up his sleeve. The final part was a last ditch effort on his part, and a 'just in case' method by Hela to make sure he doesn't heal.
Many people will ask, why didn't he do this? Why didn't he use portals more, why didn't he try and escape, why didn't he use more spells? Well, most of the answers I've already shown in this chapter itself, the rest will be answered in the next few chapters.
Thank you for your support, your patience, and your understanding!
Tata!
Sorry for the delay, I was struggling through some issues, including the death of one of my kittens, my grandma's health issues, and my own mental health. I'm back, although probably not completely healed, but I'm here.
For making you wait so much, two chapters today!
This is the first one! Read on!
---
You know, when I first landed in the past, I had never even wondered if I would ever see, let alone meet a God, or a Goddess. And now, I can say that I have met two Goddesses.
First Bast, who was at least agreeable to a peaceful conversation, and now this one. Hela Odinsdottir, the Goddess of Death. And judging by the dark black sword in her hand, she did not consider peace as an option.
"Surrender the items you have stolen from my Soldiers, surrender the animals that they hunted, and then surrender yourself, in that order. I might make your death a quick one then." Hela says, the sword tip resting on the ground, while she herself casually looked at her nails.
And let's not forget that there are seven more soldiers, all of them holding what's definitely the Berserker staff in their hands, and two females.. maids, or maybe servants, both of whom held bows and arrows. One of them, funnily enough, looked reluctant at having to threaten me.
Judging by the pointed ears she sported, and the fair skin, she was an Elf of Alfheim. She's gorgeous, no doubt, but when you're facing the Goddess of Death herself, you can't afford to be distracted.
I keep staring at Hela, thinking up plans, and ask, "Can we talk first? I think I would like to defend my actions before dying."
I can't run, Asgard will follow me wherever I go. I don't have a single clue over the Magical talents of Hela, but she did manage to create a Portal from Helheim to Earth, exactly where Odin died, which means she can at least track her father's magic/life force.
But, she did it after 1000+ years of imprisonment. She could have learned this talent in those years.
But still, fleeing is an option which I will put on the background for now.
But.. I cannot even hope to defeat her, she's Hela! I might.. MIGHT.. be able to fight her for a minute or two, stall her even. But defeat her? Knock her out? Hell nah. I could probably take the others down, but Hela? Not a chance. Not even if I use all my current talents.
As for surrendering myself? Yeah, that's not happening.
First thing to know, if Hela is the Crown Princess, then Odin is the King, and he's in his 'Conquer everything that moves, preferably through a bloody war' phase. Besides, as Hela just said, she's just going to execute me.
Hela chuckles at my question, and says, "Your actions were witnessed by the All Seer himself, mortal. You defeated three of our Einherjar, stole their armour, and stole the weapons from them and the four other Einherjar that lost their lives fighting the animals and your tiny witches. Choose, a quick death, or a death filled with pain."
So, my anti Scrying tattoo doesn't work against Heimdall? Damn. I will get right to modifying it once.. if I survive this debacle that is.
"Your Einherjar started it!" I say after sighing, while not choosing my method of death. "They attacked the animals under my Protection, and when my friends tried to rescue the animals, those men had the gall to attack them too! If anything, I just took reparations owed to me by those Asgardians."
Hela frowns, a bit annoyed at my talk, and says, "You talk too much, mortal."
Well, fuck you too.
She then turns towards her soldiers, annoyance plainly visible on her face, and says, "Make it quick, but keep him alive. We need the weapons he has stolen and the location of the animals."
Well, at least I'll get to steal more weapons before she kills me. I do have to wonder though. Will I survive being killed by her, or will the Goddess of Death status mean that even my 'Time Travel' and 'Healing factor' given immortality will fail to protect me?
As the seven Asgardian Berserkers stomp towards me, spreading to surround me and prevent my escape, I see Hela turn her back to me, completely dismissing me. Waving her hand, she conjures a pitch black throne made of the same material as her swords, reminding me of a certain Iron Throne, and sits down on it, the two Archers staying at her two sides, subdued.
I've got to learn what their story is. They're probably prisoners of war, knowing Asgard's current rulers. One woman is from Alfheim, but what about the other one? She looks normal, so probably just an Asgardian woman who doesn't like violence or something. Or a daughter of some noble who didn't agree with Odin.
I don't get to think more on that, as the soldiers attack me, as one. Seven Berserker staffs approach me at high speeds, aimed at my head, neck, shoulders, knees, and gut, leaving me no place to dodge, and no way to defend myself from all those hits.
Or so they probably believe.
With a simple snap of my fingers, I turn the Time slower on, directly at 50x speed, and leisurely walk forward. One by one, and careful not to touch them directly, I pluck the Berserker staffs out of their very slow moving hands, and store them in Nowhere. I do the same for the daggers on their person, and then, punch all their foreheads with my Prati Kavach covered fist. They will be unconscious when I resume the normal flow of time. The momentum will ensure it.
Whatever I may have done, I don't ever regret making the newer Time Slower out of Magical Silver. Just by using Runes, I could speed my own perception of time by up to 100 times. And not a single grain of the Sands of Time were used in this.
The Berserkers slowly move in the direction of my punch, while I stay in the middle of the circle they had created by surrounding me, and turn the Time Slower off. Immediately, the seven Berserkers snap their head backwards with a tremendous force that sends their bodies flying backwards, and become unconscious. All of this happened within a single moment for those not me.
I smile at Hela, who straightens up on her throne, looking a bit intrigued now, and say, "I would have loved to stay and talk, Goddess of Death. But I have some amazing items to study. So.. farewell, and may we never meet again."
Saying so, I manipulate my Magic to enter the apparition tunnel. Unfortunately for me, as soon as I start the process, I am forced to abandon it when two items speed towards me at once.
A Necrosword, thrown by Hela at tremendous speeds, and an arrow right behind it, just a bit slower than Hela's sword.
I stop the Apparition spell and immediately summon my two swords to my hands, slashing them at the two weapons aiming to kill me. With a loud clang, the Necrosword hits my Orcrist and is thrown away from me, hitting a small rock, while the arrow is simply thrown upwards. The diversion of the Necrosword is still enough to completely crush the stone, while the arrow flies up a small distance, and then starts falling downwards.
As the arrow reaches my face level, I spin around to gather more momentum and slam the flat side of my sword on its blunt end, sending it flying back towards the woman who had thrown it at me, helped along by my Telekinesis. Unsurprisingly, it is caught right before it can hit the surprised Light Elf woman in her left eye by a fast acting Hela Odinsdottir.
Her reaction speed is something else, that's for sure. I just wasn't sure that she would even save a servant of hers.
And I had to stop my Apparition. If I hadn't stopped then, the arrow and Necrosword would have come into the tunnel with me, and stabbed me in my neck while I was in transit. They were just that fast. And Dobby knows how that would have gone.
I look at Hela, a bit annoyed, and get ready to defend at a moment's notice. This time, however, I am much surprised when she just looks at me, the arrow in her hand still, like I'm a puzzle.
"You're different. You're stronger than those other mortals, and you have Magic. Tell me, are you a Seidhr?" Hela says, as she sits back down on the throne.
Seidhr, a word for the Mages that were present in the Icelandic regions when Asgard first came here. They mostly practiced Seeing, but they were known to manipulate the elements too. And when Bor and his son Odin came here, with their fancy Magic, and stronger Elemental manipulation, the Seidhr began worshipping the two Gods.
I look at her in suspicion, looking out for the next attack to come, and say, "I might have some ancestry there, but no. I am what's called a Mage."
"And your strength.. Mage.. is this something you were born with?" Hela asks, now twirling the arrow in her hand, while the elf woman finally comes out of her shock at her almost-death.
The other woman was still pointing her bow at me, an arrow nocked, but she looked afraid of everything. I could tell that while she knows how to use the bow, she hadn't used it to kill any sentient beings yet.
"Why do you want to know?" I ask, wondering if she wants the Ritual to enhance strength or something. "However I have it, it won't work on you anyway."
If I was born with it, it's of no use. And if I did it through a Ritual, it still won't help her. Whatever Rituals enhanced my strength to where I am now, will have a barely noticeable effect on someone like Hela.
Hela hums, and says, "So you got it externally then. Which means a Ritual of sorts that only works on mortals. Pity." She shakes her head, and then crosses her legs one over the other, making my eyes subconsciously go there.
Hey, she might kill me anytime she wants, but I'm not blind.
Hela is a fucking Goddess, and she's bloody beautiful. Black hair, green eyes, skin tight green and black armour, and makeup that makes her look.. emo. She also looks like a 30 year old mortal woman, and her face is similar to what I remember the movie actress being (only obviously younger), who was a bombshell even in her 50s.
And then there's her height and strength. She's just a bit shorter than me, her body slim, but definitely muscly, showing that even without her Divine strength, she is not some useless woman.
As I said, Hela is a fucking Goddess, and it's not just because of her title.
And she can also kill me in like.. 10 minutes, if I use everything in my arsenal.
As I try not to ogle her, she says, "Well, you're of no use to me then."
And then, uncrossing her legs, Hela stands up, the arrow in her hands discarded to the side. She says, "Don't interfere, Elf. I will kill him, and then we can discuss your inability to deal with a simple mortal."
The elf in question ducks her head down, and drops her hands, the bow now resting on her back. The other woman simply takes a step back, not saying anything even as she disarms herself.
Hela is the one who has all my attention, though, as she takes a few steps forward and stops. She conjures two swords in her hands, and says, "Come on, mortal. I don't have all day. Show me what you can do, and if you manage to impress me, I might just take you for a pet."
A pet? To Hela?
I scowl at her, and bringing my swords to my side, I disappear from my position. Appearing above Hela, I swing both my swords down on her head.
CLANG!
Unsurprisingly, Hela blocks that hit with the lone, left sword raised upwards, her hand not even moving a little bit due to the astronomical strength difference.
Hela slashes her right sword upwards to cut me into two, and I spin around it, letting it pass by my face harmlessly, and in that same motion let my Prati Kavach covered right leg speed towards Hela's face, while still in the air.
Hela drops the sword in her left hand, and catches my leg by my shin. Her right sword once again speeds towards me to skewer my guts, but suddenly, she is forced to stop it in order to defend herself.
The Prati Kavach that was around my foot lengthens in front of my toes, and extends into five nail claws. Only these ones are far, far bigger than my normal nail claws, by at least ten times the size. As they try to stab her face, however, Hela leans back, stopping her attempt at stabbing me, and throws me behind her, from over herself.
I stop myself mid air, floating up using my Telekinesis, and scowl, as the bones in my right leg heal back up. Hela's hold on my leg had broken the shin bones, while rupturing multiple muscles and the tendons. If I had landed on the ground while in this situation, I would have been in some amazing amount of pain. Even now, only my pain tolerance, thanks to all the pain I've already been through, has stopped me from crying out loud.
That single touch, however, is enough for me to recognise exactly how wide the power difference between us is, and that I have no chance if I hold back even a little.
Hela looks at the Prati Kavach now on my right arm and the swords in my two hands, and says, "Those are some amazing artefacts you have there, mortal. Pity they won't be able to save you."
And then this time, Hela attacks, by starting to run towards me. While running with a smirk on her face, she waves her hand and throws five conjured Necroswords at me, all of them speeding faster than sound.
Raising my swords, my leg healed once again, I hit them all away, one by one, and jump towards Hela, aiming to stab her face once again, while taking a deep breath. Hela and I meet mid air, our swords hitting each other with a loud clang, and I smirk, seeing the wide eyed look on Hela's face when I don't even move back a little.
My swords.. or the Light Magic in them, negates all the force exerted upon them by Dark weapons. This same thing happened when I had fought Kuronin, when Ljosverd had blocked all the hits by him without showing any weakness to it.
Taking advantage of her surprise, I exhale all the air I had taken in. When I breathe out, however, instead of just air, a wave of bright red flames exit out of my mouth, covering Hela completely.
Newton's third law sends me shooting backwards, and I land on the ground. I see Hela slam down on her back, the red flames covering her full body and the ground surrounding her, but I don't let down my guard even a bit. She's Hela, the Goddess of Death. Fiendfyre, while probably causing her some discomfort, is not enough to kill her.
Sure enough, something flashes green inside the rampaging flames, and an explosion of Wind and Magic erupts out of that point, snuffing the flames out.
Hela, without even a little bit of damage, looks at me with a scowl on her face, and says, "You.. you seriously thought that attacking the Goddess of Death with the flames of Hell would harm her?"
Well.. not one of my finest moments.
So, Fiendfyre is out. But it is not the only trick I have.
I bend my knees, and start running full speed towards Hela, my swords still in my hands. I swing both towards Hela, but Hela turns to the side to dodge them. I keep attacking her, and Hela takes a few steps back, just dodging.
It shows the difference between a mortal and a God, when even when I was one of the strongest mortals alive right now, and probably one of the best swordsman alive, Hela still dodged all my attacks with grace, all the while looking bored.
Suddenly, something hard strikes my stomach, and I find myself flying back towards the woods. As I finally stop, my back hitting a large rock, I don't get even a moment's respite, when I am forced to dodge six swords speeding right behind me.
The swords hit the rock I had stopped on, causing it to completely shatter. As my body heals, I am once again forced to jump away, when Hela tries to skewer my heart with her Necrosword.
I keep jumping, with Hela throwing multiple swords at a time, mixing it up with attacking me herself every once in a while. All the while, I try to get inspiration, or an opportunity to trap her. But so far, there were no holes in her fighting style that I could realistically take advantage of.
As I try to jump away from the most recent personal attack by Hela, however, I find my legs stabbed by something that came out of the ground itself. Already knowing what it is, I don't even look down, but raise both my swords to prevent Hela from slashing my arms off of my shoulder.
Hela smirks, as she tries to push her sword down bit by bit. But the handy enchantment on my swords negates most of the force exerted by her swords, leaving me to just try and hold her own strength back. Suddenly, however, Hela drops her swords, and conjures something else in her right hand, slamming it right on my face.
I don't even get to be surprised at the item she just conjured when it hits my face, crushing my nose, bending my skull in a way it shouldn't and ripping me through the Necroswords holding me in place. I fly backwards, my swords no longer in my hands, as my wounds make me bleed from everywhere, my skull definitely fractured in multiple places.
As I crash down on the ground and skid to a stop, I immediately groan internally, feeling my danger sense flare up to warn me of something dangerous. I immediately create a portal underneath me, that drops me a couple miles away from my position, and that much further away from Hela and her stabbing tendencies.
I don't even bother to try and find out what danger was coming towards me, before I close the portal back down, and lay there on the ground, breathing hard, while my wounds heal slowly.
This is taking far too much time.
With a pull on my Magic, I summon my swords back to my hands, and use them to channel the Light and Healing Magics into my body, to speed things up. Within 20 seconds, I find myself back in top form, wondering what I could even do.
I can't go to Sanctuary just yet, because I don't want to bring Asgard's attention over there, and I can't flee anywhere else either, not until my Anti Scrying tattoo is changed, enhanced. I could probably go to Kamar Taj, but I doubt Master Ayesha will appreciate me bringing my troubles to her.
Which means, I have to stay here and fight. Try and survive.. or fake my death, which.. I have some plans over how I might be able to do that.
Suddenly, I see something in the clearing I had found myself in, and I see a dark green smoke take form, with shades of black inside it. The smoke then shapes itself into a circle, and then.. into a portal. I resign myself to not getting to flee anyway, because now I have confirmation that Hela can actually create portals to wherever I am.
Sighing, I stand up, and see Hela walk out of the smoke like portal formed from her own Magic, with a familiar item in her hands. Familiar in the sense that I've seen it even before it smacked me halfway across the forest.
The mighty war hammer.. Mjolnir.
Flipping the hammer in her hand, as the portal closes behind her, Hela says, "You're smart, mortal. You know when to flee." She then smirks, as the Magic around us starts to become a bit too cold for my tastes, and says, "But you cannot escape Death, mortal."
My wounds now completely healed, and my strength completely returned to me, I say, "Look, Hela, Goddess of Death. The Soldiers from before were hunting a family of Magical Creatures, who were under my Protection. I was oath bound to protect them, and take reparations for whatever harm your Soldiers caused. I understand you Asgardians are big about Oaths and all."
Hela snorts, and says, "I don't care, mortal. You insulted Asgard, stole the property of Asgard, and your little animals and those tiny witches caused the death of three Asgardian soldiers. And that.. means you are an enemy.. unless you would like to tell me where those tiny witches are?"
This time I snort, like hell am I giving up my tiny witches. "I think I would rather have another bout with you, Goddess of Death."
"Admirable, but sooner or later, we will find them. Even now, the All Seer is busy looking for those witches, and when he does.. Well, Asgard has no need for witches, but we won't say no to more indentured servants." Hela says, shrugging casually.
My eyes narrow, and my face hardens on those words. I really hope my Wards are stronger than my Runic tattoo, or else Sanctuary is already in danger. But now I know, I definitely need to fight. Either until Hela believes me dead, or until I actually die.
But.. I can't do it with just two swords. I need to use my Magic too. Especially when Hela has the bloody Mjolnir in her hands.
Still glaring at Hela, I move both my hands, and bring the two swords, the Orcrists, together. As soon as they touch one another, the metal shifts, as the swords go from two to one, and form into the straight long sword.. the Glamdring.
I hold the Glamdring in my right hand, while I keep my left hand open, and start running towards Hela. Hela stays in her spot, not even bothering with seeming vigilant, but when I swing my sword towards her neck, Hela leans back just the same, while swinging the hammer upwards, aiming for my chin.
I raise my leg up, and knee Hela on her elbow, messing with her aim, and causing the Hammer to miss my head by a large margin. In the same motion, I extend my leg, the Prati Kavach once again covering the foot, and slam it into the arm.
Hela had expected the hit, and my kick barely causes her arm to move. I, however, hadn't meant the kick to actually attack her, but I used it to push myself back. Waving my hand, I manipulate the ground to rise up, and send a few large chunks of Earth at Hela, while I start preparing another spell.
Hela uses her hammer to smash the rocks to pieces, while a sword conjured in her left hand does the same. But when the rocks stop coming, I send my spell at her.
A dark brown coloured curse, meant to destroy castle walls hits Hela on her torso.. and immediately splits in two as it goes to the back, now diverted at an angle. The curse hits the ground, and the power behind it destroys the trees, and the ground where it hit, forming two patches of treeless land with a large hole in the middle.
I widen my eyes, seeing it happen, something that I definitely hadn't expected. What the fuck is her armour even made of?!
I duck, letting a sword pass through the place my head used to be, and immediately bring up my arm to hit an incoming weapon. Unfortunately, where my swords are perfectly capable of negating the force behind Hela's Necroswords, they cannot do it to something that is not.. Dark.
And Mjolnir, despite its owner's inclinations, is definitely not Dark.
As Mjolnir slams into Glamdring, as I try to slash it upwards, it pushes the sword backwards instead, and sends me skidding backwards. And then, it retreats, returning to Hela's waiting hand.
I start running when I see Hela ready the hammer for another, stronger, throw, and appear in front of Hela, my sword raised. This time, Hela blocks the sword strike with the hammer, and sends me off balance to the side, the hammer now in front of my face.
Hela swings the hammer towards my face, and I lean back, awkwardly doing the Neo-bullet-dodging pose, and using the blind spot provided by Hela herself, slam my left fist on her chin. The red coloured fist slams into her chin, as the spell I had stored within it explodes out of the fist.
This time, I find myself once again surprised, when the Dark bludgeoning curse splits in two as soon as it touches Hela's skin, and flies wide towards the skies. Hela, meanwhile, is forced to just tilt her head upwards thanks to just my strength, while the spell has absolutely no effect on her.
What the fuck? So it's not just her armour.. it's her? What the fuck are Asgardians made of, that Magecraft spells don't even take effect?
A Bludgeoning curse, and the Wall Breaker both went wide as soon as they touched her? They at least should have exploded on her and sent her back. They fucking cause actual damage to dragons!
Shaking my head, I jump backwards, and channeling the Crimson Energy within the Prati Kavach, swing my sword towards Hela once again. This time, when Hela blocks my hit once again, I see her hand get pushed back just a bit.
I don't get much satisfaction from that, however, since even with Cyttorak's Crimson Energy, I can only push her hand back a bit.
Hela suddenly pulls her hand back, making me overextend, and kicks me on my chest. The Prati Kavach had covered it in time, so I don't feel much pain, but the hit does manage to send me flying backwards.
I flip in the air, and stab the sword into the ground to stop myself.
"Your Magic.. you've never fought an Asgardian before, have you? Or any other God." Hela says, chuckling. "Mortals are not meant to harm Gods, Mage. Your Magic, your life will always be inferior to ours."
So, Magic doesn't work. Or more accurately Magecraft doesn't work against Hela, and probably the other high level Asgardians. But if I know my Hierarchy right, Asgardians are not at the top of the food chain. And I have access to spells that can definitely damage, or at least bind those at the top.
Sorcery.
I once again start running towards her, while Hela looks at me, content with letting me run towards my death. But right before I reach her, I disappear from my position and appear right behind her, my left arm touching her back.
"CRIMSON BANDS OF CYTTORAK!" I yell, channeling the strongest version of that spell that I can safely cast without gaining the ire of the demon in question.
Immediately, dark crimson bands appear from my hand and spread around the Goddess, covering her torso in one moment, and her limbs in the other. The explosion of Magic causes her to get pushed forward by a bit, as Mjolnir drops down on the ground when the Crimson bands take hold of her right arm.
Within a second, Hela is completely covered by thick Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, top to bottom, leaving only her nose and eyes free, so she can breathe, and see. The Bands prevent her from even moving, while tightening around her with every movement she makes.
I keep my left hand there, breathing hard, and raise my sword to her neck. A small space opens up within the bands, giving me enough space to touch my sword on her neck, causing her to stop struggling at once.
I say, "Give me your word, as the Princess of Asgard, that you won't come after me, or my Elves, and I will let you leave here, alive."
I stay behind her, one hand holding the sword to Hela's neck, while the other holding on to the Crimson Bands binding her. I feel her anger, at either getting caught in something like this, or at me threatening her into compliance, and I manipulate the bands to open a space in front of her mouth.
She gasps first, finding herself able to open her mouth once more, and says, "You.. are making a terrible mistake.. mortal."
I tighten the bands some more, look up, and say, "I can feel it, you know. The Bifrost charging up. If I feel it activating, your daughter won't have a head anymore. Let's see how she stays alive after that."
It was a guess that Odin himself was watching over this fight right now. Not something I'm sure of, but when the Princess of your Realm is caught in someone else's trap, you don't wait to call your King, her father. You do it immediately.
I hear mumbles, and turn my head towards Hela, whose mouth was once again covered by the Crimson Bands. Keeping my sword stable, I open up her mouth once again, allowing her to say, "I said.. I don't need anyone to come and rescue me.. mortal."
Something cuts through the Bands holding her arms together, and then..
CRAAAACKKKK!
The Crimson Bands all shatter, as Hela uses her brute strength to break out of the strongest Binding spell in a Sorcerer's repertoire. She immediately spins around, dropping the Necrosword that she had conjured to cut through the Bands holding her arms together, and summoning the hammer to her hand.
I cover my torso with the Prati Kavach as I jump backwards, even as I conjure the Shield of the Vishanti in front of me to block her hit.
Hela conjures another large Necrosword to stab it into the Shield of the Vishanti, and uses the mighty Mjolnir to send it deeper inside, breaking the spell. And then, as I wince from the backlash of two broken spells, one after the other, Hela slams Mjolnir into my chest, before I can even raise my sword to defend myself.
CLANG! CRACK!
Within a moment, the Prati Kavach breaks from the force of the hit, not able to defend me against the full might of the legendary hammer Mjolnir, being wielded by the second strongest Asgardian alive.
Before I even start mourning the death of my Relic, the hammer strikes my chest, stabbing some pieces of the Prati Kavach into my body, and sends me flying miles away from Hela. I gasp, as I unwittingly spit out a lot of spittle and blood, as my bones stab into my heart.
I force myself to work through the pain and keep a tight hold of my sword, using it to speed up my Healing speed, while at the same time activating the Time Slower at 50x. My body is fully healed before I even drop down on the ground, thanks to the sped up time, and I immediately slam my hands down on the ground.
Hela, who had run after me with a furious look on her face, is forced to jump up, when the ground shatters underneath her, as thousands of orange wisps of Magic erupt out of the craters. They all attack her, trying to stab into her body.
The Spiky mists of Munnopor immobilise anything they stab into, and multiple stabs cause the victim's Magic to be completely bound. Which.. for Asgardians like Hela, means taking away most of her strength.
Hela uses her hammer to great effect, using it to destroy one tendril after another, while at the same time cutting them with her conjured swords.
I know that she is not an easy enemy to defeat, however, and I point my palms at her. A white Tao Mandala is formed in front of both my arms, and they start shooting white diamond like crystals at Hela.
The Crystals of Certain Death.
Now, Hela is forced to defend herself against both the Crystals, and the Mists, but annoyingly enough, her hammer can dispel the Magic within both of them by a single hit each.
For a minute, I keep both those spells active, and I start to feel the drain on my Magic. While I can usually go for a few days without needing to rest while using my Magic, it depends on the enemy I'm fighting. And Hela.. is not something any normal Sorcerer can fight against.
Even still, I knew I could go on for at least three more hours.
"ENOUGH!" Hela yells, as dark green and black coloured Magic explodes out of her body.
This explosion immediately causes all the Spiky Mists of Munnopor to dissipate, as the spell loses its form. Meanwhile, an enraged Hela slams the hammer on the ground, sending a shockwave of Dark black Magic towards me.
Clapping my hands together, I conjure the gateway to the Mirror Dimension to absorb the Dark Magic, and send it towards Hela to send her inside the Mirror Dimension. Hela raises her hammer, and swings it upwards, using it to fly above the Mirror Dimension's gateway, and then swings it towards me, sending both her, and the hammer flying towards me.
I raise my hands, palm facing towards Hela's angry face, and right before she reaches towards me, I create a portal in her path that opens up exactly next to her face. The Hammer, Mjolnir flies into the portal, exits out near Hela's head, and her own attack strikes Hela on the face, sending her skidding into the ground.
Taking this opportunity, I once more conjure the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak to bind Hela.
Unfortunately for me, Hela's Healing factor is far, far superior to mine, and she jumps back up to fight, allowing her to dodge the Bands before they can bind her.
"DIE ALREADY, MORTAL!" Hela yells, as she shatters the bands using Mjolnir.
"Mortal this, mortal that. They don't teach you any other words in Asgard?" I quip back, while holding my nervousness out of my voice.
Hela.. by just being angry.. had made Apparition completely impossible. Her Magic was so dense, that just by whatever amount she was leaking, she prevented Space from being bent by using Magecraft. I know.. I've already tried multiple times.
But as it's already established, her Magic is not superior to the Dimensional or even Universal Magic, which means while difficult, I could still create portals.
Angered by my words, Hela throws the hammer towards me and starts running forward. I duck down to let it pass, and meet Hela head on with my sword, Glamdring in hand. As we fight with our swords once again, with me suffering more than a few cuts and slashes, I see Hela twitch her hand.
I wasn't an idiot, however, and I already knew that part of Mjolnir's gifts. It returns to its user when called upon.
Right before it can hit me, I create a portal once again, causing the Hammer that was aiming for the back of my head to appear out of the portal right in between Hela and I, making it once again strike Hela on her face.
I immediately jump up, feeling her Conjuration Magic at work once again as Hela sends a dozen Necroswords flying towards me. Completing my spin, I slam Glamdring into her shoulder, slashing through the skin, but stopping at the bone, my strength not enough to do that yet.
As I start to pull back, however, Hela grabs me by my neck, and before I can do anything, she conjures another Necrosword that cuts through my shoulder, separating my right arm from my body.
"Fuck!" I gasp out, through the pain of my neck being crushed, and my arm being cut off, as Glamdring falls down on the ground, tip first.
And then, she stabs the same sword in my chest, right into my heart.
---
I gasp as I open my eyes, taking a deep breath in, as the spell expels my mind from the copy of my body fighting Hela, and into my real body.
When I had sent the Mirror Dimension trap towards Hela, I knew she wouldn't be caught by it. She's too fast for that. And since I didn't have a way to actually defeat her, I had thought up a plan. A plan to fake my death, and make the Asgardians stop looking for the Elves, and for me.
The plan.. create a perfect copy of myself, and have Hela kill it, while enraging her enough to have her make it quick. I created the copy using the Images of Ikonn spell, making it so it was a perfect physical, Magical, as well as Astral copy of myself.
Meanwhile my true body was sent miles and miles away, into a house in a small Maya village, where the Maya Sanctum stood. I didn't send it to the Sanctum, since I didn't actually need any form of interference by Master Ayesha, even if I would have appreciated it if she did interfere somehow.
The protections surrounding the Sanctum and the village it was in, were enough to hide the goings on from higher eyes, especially Gods like Heimdall. Or so I hope. But, considering that I couldn't feel the formation of the Bifrost here, I can safely say that I'm safe.
My copy was killed by Hela, stabbed by her Necrosword, while my spirit and my mind came back here, to my true body.
Suddenly, however, I cough loudly, and put my hand up in front of my mouth. Already dreading it, I shakily bring my hand in front of my eyes and look at it, finding blood. I stand up, barely managing it, and look around. But no matter where I looked, I didn't see any enemy.
I drop down on the ground, feeling two swords stab into my chest, but when I look down, I still find nothing. I do, however, sense Hela's Dark Magic coursing through my body, through my Magic. I try to call upon my connection to the Light Dimension, or even the Light Sword, but Hela's Corruptive Magic was preventing me from accessing any sort of outside help.
"Blergh!" I spit out some more blood, as my body starts losing strength, and my wounds stop healing.
It was also causing my Healing factor to fail spectacularly, making the two stab wounds in my chest bleed out a lot of blood.
I drop on my back, just breathing, my strength slowly losing weight.
My plan was foolproof, or so I had hoped. Hela killed the copy, but it seems her Magic was strong enough to follow me here. And here I had hoped to live a very long life.
Slowly, I close my eyes, knowing that I won't be opening them ever again. I was dying, and I could feel it. I could see Death itself looming over me, and there was no running from it. The Goddess of Death had demanded it, and Death had delivered.
I close my eyes, breathing for the final time, wondering.. is this it?
---
Hela POV:
Hela stares at the mortal who had given her so much trouble, as three swords stick out of his chest. He was a good fighter, and made her work for her win despite his mortality, but in the end, he is a mortal, and she.. a Goddess.
She had noticed that his body could somehow heal from a manner of wounds, and while she had first attributed it to the Magical sword made of the unknown alloy, she later realised that the sword just prevented her Deathly Magic from harming him. The Healing was his own.
And so, she had done something to prevent him from healing ever again. She had let her guard down purposefully, allowing him to strike a single hit. And while he was trying to separate her arm from her body, his mortal strength unable to achieve it, Hela had taken hold of him, and cut off his own arm, separating the man from the sword.
She could have prevented the Portal from being formed, she could have disrupted the Magic within it while it was forming, but she needed the mortal to start regaining hope. She wanted to crush him, see the hope die in his eyes as she killed him.
He had used her own hammer against her, and she did not like it one bit. He not only insulted her and Asgard, he used her own Divine weapon against her. And that.. was unforgivable. That had sealed his fate.
And so, she allowed him to land a single hit, to make him regain hope.
She then stabbed him with her sword, one filled to the brim with her Divine Necrotic Magic. She might not be able to use Runes like her father could, but she was still a Goddess, and her command over her own Magic was Absolute.
The Necrosword had prevented him from healing back up, but he was still healing, albeit slowly. And so, she had stabbed him two more times, both the new swords also being Magically infused.
Unfortunately for her, he died far too soon for her liking. She would have liked to make it long, slow, but alas, mortals are far more delicate than the enemies she was used to fighting.
And now, with him, she had also lost the Berserker Staffs, swords, armours, daggers, and even the animals that he had stolen from Asgard.
Glancing at the sword that had stabbed itself into the ground, Hela wonders over the metallic alloy it was made out of. She hadn't seen anything like it before, not even in Nidavellir. While it was nothing in front of her Mjolnir, or her father's Gungnir, it was definitely one of the strongest alloys she had ever seen.
It was only the inexperienced maker that had caused it to lose to Mjolnir. If the alloy was shaped by the Dwarves, she knew that it would be a weapon comparable to Mjolnir. And it was wielded by a Mortal, and used by him to cut into her.. a Goddess. Her blood was still adorning the blade, from when he had tried to cut her arm off, and a wave of Hela's hand causes the Blood to disappear.
Hela approaches the sword, and touches it to pick it up. However, as soon as her hands touch the sword handle, the sword flashes in a bright yellow light, burning her hand a bit, and disappears from the spot.
Scoffing in disgust, Hela turns her back on the now dead man and the spot his sword was just in, and with a snap of her fingers, causes the body to explode into a burst of flesh and bones. She then looks up, and orders, "Open the Bifrost!"
Within a couple seconds, the bright beam of Rainbow coloured light of the Bifrost slams down on her, and takes her away. She glances at the young gatekeeper of Asgard, Heimdall, and orders, "Bring my useless maids here too, bloody Elf couldn't even take down one Mortal. And start looking for those tiny witches that the mortal called Elves. They must know where the mortal hid his stolen wares."
---
While Hela leaves Midgard, someone else appears out of a blue glowing portal in the forests behind the Maya Sanctum. The hooded person looks around, and finds the one she is looking for on the ground, laying on his back.
She waves her hand, causing the body to be lifted into the air, and walks through the portal, taking it with her.
"I have finally found you… brother."
---
A/N: As you might expect, Mason is dead, but not really. You'll see later, in the next chapter. No, the story is not dropped, at least not yet, since I do have plans until at least Mason is back in his own time, and I have written almost till that time already, on my Pat-reon.
(If anyone is going to follow me there be sure to go for only the lowest tiers, I already have more money than I know I can handle, don't give me more. Seriously. Don't.)
Is the fight with Hela believable? She's much stronger than him, but Mason has far more tricks up his sleeve. The final part was a last ditch effort on his part, and a 'just in case' method by Hela to make sure he doesn't heal.
Many people will ask, why didn't he do this? Why didn't he use portals more, why didn't he try and escape, why didn't he use more spells? Well, most of the answers I've already shown in this chapter itself, the rest will be answered in the next few chapters.
Thank you for your support, your patience, and your understanding!
Tata!
77. Awakening
- Pronouns
- He/Him/His
A/N: Pat-reon: HelloDarkness07
SECOND CHAPTER OF THE DAY!
---
When consciousness first comes to me, I find myself to be very much surprised.
I had died. Again. And I knew it. I had felt my heart losing strength, I had felt Hela's Dark Divine Magic flow through my own body, killing me one cell at a time. I had actually felt myself die, and I knew it was death, and not just unconsciousness.
I've been knocked out enough times to know the difference.
So.. how am I still alive?
Is this a benefit of my Time Travel? I had thought that my killer being an actual Goddess of Death would have prevented me from returning from the dead.
But it seems not.
Not that I'm ungrateful, I'm glad I didn't just die before I even got back to my own time. I'm glad I'll have the chance to try and make a difference whenever the threats to Earth come, whenever they do.
It seems.. you cannot die before you are born, and so.. I was safely alive for at least 2000 years.
Either that, or I really did die and was reincarnated once again.
But.. something was odd. Firstly, I was sleeping on something soft, and half of my body was covered by a sheet of cloth. Considering that when I died, I had fallen down on harsh ground, this is really odd. I keep my eyes closed, and use my other senses to take stock of the situation.
Just within a single second of smelling, I could tell that I was in a room with stone walls, with a single window which was open wide, and a wooden door that was closed. The soft thing I was laying on was a bed, and judging by the smell, the mattress was filled with feathers and hay. The bed itself was a four-poster wooden bed.
There was a desk near my head, while a single reclined chair sat near my feet. The open window was to my left, while the door was in the direction of my feet.
However, oddly enough, while I could smell every single detail within this room, I couldn't smell, or hear, anything from outside the room. Not even through the open window. I could tell it was open thanks to the wind drifting in. I also couldn't hear any thoughts from anyone other than myself.
I slowly open my eyes, and look around. The room was empty, with just the bed, desk, and chair taking space. I slowly sit up, and realise that my body was.. perfectly healed. I had thought that getting stabbed by Hela's swords, even through the Images of Ikonn spell, would have left at least some scars, but nope.
In fact, I couldn't feel any fault with my body. It was.. better than before, somehow.
I wave my hand, causing a blue light to hover above my hand, and cause it to change shapes. The light then flies towards the chair, and immediately transfigures it into a sofa that then returns back to the original form right after.
Even my control over my Magic has improved.. by a lot!
Goddamn, whatever my death gave me, I need more!
But.. why can't I sense anything from outside this room?
Closing my eyes once again, I pulse my Magic to look for Magical wards. There was just a single Ward around this room, which confirmed my suspicions of me being inside a Mage's house. I gently poke at it, to understand what it does, and get a feeling for.. isolation?
No, it just prevents those inside from spying on those outside. No hearing their conversations, no listening to thoughts, no smelling where they are. It was as if.. I was a prisoner without being restrained.
And knowing my luck.. I definitely am.
There wasn't anything preventing me from leaving the room, as far as I can tell. But my Warden was just preventing me from spying on them.
Sighing, I push my legs to the left, and get off the bed. I immediately stumble, and realise something once again. My body.. it was stronger. Not too much, but it was definitely stronger than before.
Easily getting used to the changes in my body, I walk towards the window, to wait for the room's owner to come here. I can puzzle over my.. metamorphosis.. later.
My thoughts then go to my most recent fight, where I was humbled beyond belief. I had fought three Asgardian soldiers, and defeated them pretty easily. I had defeated seven Berserkers within a single microsecond, but that is mostly because of my Time Slower.
And so, I had thought myself ready to fight her. Or, I had thought myself competent enough to escape her.
Hela Odinsdottir. Princess of Asgard. Goddess of Death.
Never before had I been so.. outclassed in a fight. I survived against an Elder God Set and that.. tentacled demon, but one Goddess of Death managed to kill me.
How arrogant was I, to feel myself capable enough of at least escaping her by tricks? She's the daughter of Odin, she probably had contingencies in place just in case I was found harder to kill. One of them is probably what killed me.
I thought myself ready to fight Hela, believing that if Dr Strange can fight Thanos(who had four of the Infinity Stones in his possession), then I can definitely at least survive Hela. At the least, I believed myself fast enough to dodge all of her hits.
Nope, Hela absolutely humiliated me. And she killed me, even after I managed to trick her.
Her Swordsmanship was superior to mine, vastly so, her strength was at least 10 times higher than mine, her Magic was so dense that even Dark curses just splashed by her skin, harmlessly. Even when I used Sorcery, even when my Swords negated the force behind her sword strikes, even when I struck her with her own Magical hammer twice, and tried to cut off her arm, she still won. I had nothing in my arsenal that could keep Hela down, and she showed it to me.
And she didn't even have to use too much of her strengths to do it. She was.. is just too far outside my league.
I just wasn't ready to fight her yet, and I knew that. But I wanted to test myself against her, against someone right at the top of the Universal tiers. Someone I doubt even Thanos would manage to defeat easily.
But.. once again.. my overconfidence proved to be my undoing.
A click on the door brings my attention back to the real world, and I turn around towards the door. I then suddenly realise that I'm not wearing anything above my waist, and I was only wearing a pair of trousers below it. But well, whoever my Warden is, has definitely seen me naked, even if it was only to change my clothes. Because these were definitely not the clothes I had fought Hela in.
The door opens.fully, and in walks a woman, around 30 years old, wearing a black corset pushing her chest up, with a long black skirt flowing down her hip, and a black cloak, with the inside surface being dark blue, resting on her shoulders. Her hair was black, the same for her eyes, while her skin was fair.
Just by this once glance.. I somehow feel attached to her. As if I know her somehow, but I don't remember how. It feels as if we are.. connected. There's no other way to explain it.
Her eyes widen a bit as she sees me stand near the window, as I keep staring at her, and then she smiles widely, as if she's happy to see me awake. "You woke earlier than I thought you would, brother."
Brother? This just brings my thoughts of Re-reincarnation back to the forefront. Did I somehow really die and get reborn? Again? And did I keep my Magic and all my other gifts this time. This might explain why I'm still alright, and why this woman is calling me her brother.
But.. I can smell it. She's a Mutant, as well as a Mage. Which means.. I'm probably still in the same.. Universe that I was just in. Probably. Could be one of the other Universes in the multiverse too.
I don't want to use my Telepathy to try and gain an understanding of her mind, or her character, without her doing anything to actually antagonize me.
I hesitate a bit, wondering what is going on, and say, "I apologize.. I don't recognise you."
The woman smiles, as she walks towards the desk on my bedside, and keeps the tray she was holding on top of it. I smell chicken soup, before the woman speaking attracts my attention.
She says, "Of course you don't. We haven't met before today, brother. My name is Maya."
I frown, wondering if us being mutants is why she's calling me her brother, and say, "My name is Atharva. Why do you call me brother if we haven't met?"
The woman.. Maya, chuckles and says, "Because you are my brother, Atharva." At my dubious look, she says, "I know you are a Mage, a Sorcerer, as well as.. something else. There must be some abilities unique to you, separate from your Magic, something that comes naturally to you. I am like that. Me.. I can communicate directly with the mind, and move things without touching them. How about you?"
I raise an eyebrow at the freely given information, and say, "I heal faster than usual. And I can also do what you do, without using my Magic."
Maya smiles widely, and says, "I call people like us Mutantur. Changelings. We are very few in number, but each one of us has abilities beyond the normal, and not exactly related to Magic."
Huh, Mutantur. The Latin word for Change.
She then points me towards the soup, and says, "Please. Drink up, you must be feeling hungry. Don't worry, all your questions will be answered."
I look at the soup in question, and with a single sniff, try and see if it is poisoned. Thankfully for me, it is not, at least with nothing of odour. I walk towards it, and touch the bowl, casting a spell to check for poisons too, and finding nothing, pick it up.
All the while, Maya just looks at me with amusement. She says, "The reason I called you brother.. is related to us being Mutantur. Have you met any more like us?"
I nod, and say, "Just one.. the last Pharaoh of Alexandria, Cleopatra VII."
At least, I have met just one in this time period. Cleopatra has been dead for 25 years now.
Maya smiles, and says, "As I said, not many people like us exist." Shaking her head, she says, "Even amongst Mutantur.. there exists a group of extraordinary people. These Mutantur are powerful even beyond the normal Mutantur, but they have a few things in common. They are all unaging, they are all unkillable, and they all have a connection with the others of their kind. Kind of like how you feel a connection with me, despite never having met me before."
I raise both my eyebrows, having stopped drinking the soup to listen to her explanation, and ask, "We're.. one of these.. special Mutantur then?"
Maya nods, and says, "We call ourselves Externals. We aren't many, numbering around 20 right now, but all of us felt you joining our ranks two hours ago."
Two hours? I healed from getting killed by Hela in two hours?! Goddamn! That's way faster than I had expected.
Wait.
"Felt me? And join your ranks? What does that mean exactly?" I ask, once again drinking the hot soup, sip by sip.
Maya says, "Us Externals.. we were all once normal Mutantur. We may have been stronger than others, but we were just Mutantur. But then, something happens, something that happened to you two hours ago, that took us from Mutantur.. to Externals. We all had our First Deaths, just like you had yours recently."
I shake my head, all this making my head spin around, and say, "Look.. I have a special situation, because of which I won't be able to die at all for at least the next 2000 years. I died, yes, but I was resurrected because of that, not because of me being.. an External."
I know what an External is, of course I do! I wasn't much of a comic book reader in my past life, but I did read the fandom articles a lot of times. And since Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur, was the one Marvel character that scared me the most, even before I got here, I read his article multiple times. And he was known as an External, I know that.
I don't know much about Externals, only that they're all immortal, can't die, have different powers, and that Apocalypse is the leader of them or something.
And I, while a mutant, only got this second chance at life- or third chance, funnily enough- because of my Time Travel. Even a Killing Curse wouldn't work on me right now, I know that. I've already confirmed that! Theoretically, but still.
Granted, I thought that Hela's Death Magic would actually work, but still. Time Travel! Not External.
Maya just chuckles, and asks, "You think you are the first Mutantur to die and be resurrected because of a special situation? No, brother dear, there have been countless Mutantur that died, were naturally resurrected, and who were not Externals. You.. however, you are an External. I can feel it. Touch my mind, brother, and tell me you can't feel it too."
I feel her own mind connecting with mine, and before I can throw her out, I feel it. I feel the connection, now amplified. We are definitely the same, she is not lying.
"Do not worry, brother. This is not something to be afraid of." Maya whispers, as I feel her hug me, while her mind retreats.
It is only then that I realise that I was hyperventilating, everything that has happened making me anxious. First Hela, and now this. I'm an External? I belong to the same subcategory of Mutants as the fucking Apocalypse?
It takes a few seconds for me to calm down, but when I do, Maya immediately hands me the bowl of soup once again and says, "Drink."
I take a sip, and then ask, "What does it all mean? Being an External?"
I don't want to find out that we're all sworn to work for Apocalypse or something like that.
Maya just shrugs, and asks, "Why does it have to mean anything? You were a Mutantur before, now you're an External. That's it. Your.. change.. doesn't bring with it any duties, or responsibilities."
I just look at her, and ask, "And what? The other Externals will just let me live my life peacefully? Will you?"
Maya nods, but then pauses. She says, "While I can't say the same for all of us, most Externals would rather just live our own lives without interference. We would rather that you don't interfere in any of our goals and ambitions, and we won't interfere in yours. Some.. however.. would likely try to recruit you in their own schemes."
I nod, taking that explanation for what it is worth, and then ask, "How did you find out where to find me? And why did you come find me?"
The smile on Maya's face widens, as she says, "I am, as I said, a Mage and a Sorceress. One of the many talents that I have cultivated over the years is a talent for Divining the Future. I Saw your First Death happen five months ago, and I knew exactly where it would happen, and when. Alas, I needed to wait until you actually had your First Death to approach you. Coincidentally, your First Death happened just beyond the mountain from my castle, which I am really thankful for."
"First Death?" I ask, taking it all in and remembering her mentioning the term once before. I had already expected something weird, but never in my life did I believe I would say the words 'First Death' and not mean the time I was reborn as who I am now.
Maya nods, and says, "Every External is first a normal Mutantur. It is only when he first dies and resurrects that he is known as an External. After the First Death, the External becomes Immortal, unaging, and Unkillable. You might still die, but you will only stay dead if the ones who kill you are yourself, other Externals, Gods, or those far above us. Other than that, any time you die, you will always be resurrected."
This.. is something I had believed to be something unique to Apocalypse. Although, it could be the fact that I'm not in the comic universe that changed this fact.
She then says, "When you had your First Death, it sent a Psionic signal to all the Externals that a new sibling was going to be born. And they all would have felt it happen, and would have tried to approach you. Some would have tried to kill you and steal your powers, others would have tried to enslave you into their own employ."
"And you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
I don't think she's a danger to me.. yet. Maybe she's going to fatten me up or the Magical equivalent of it, make me stronger before sucking my powers dry. But until then, I know she wants me alive. Otherwise, she wouldn't have even bothered with explanations.
Maya shrugs, and says, "Nothing convoluted, I assure you. I just hadn't witnessed any Resurrection in person yet, and you gave me that opportunity. I also wanted to prevent you being forced to work for any of my.. our siblings. Siblings, they might be, but Externals won't hesitate to kill one another if it benefits them."
That's.. not entirely unexpected.
"There must be something.. beyond just curiosity." I say, and stare at her.
Maya smiles, and says, "Maybe if your stay here goes well, I will tell you. For now, eat up, and rest. I will tell you the rest later."
And with that, she leaves the room, leaving me to my loneliness once again. As soon as she leaves, I put the bowl on the table, and focus on my connection to my swords. Finding it, I first summon Glamdring to my hands, and let out a breath of relief. I had dropped the sword soon after Hela's Magic had begun working on killing me. Thank God it's safe.
I then focus on Nowhere, and summon something else from there. A simple ring, made of Magic silver. It just has a magnificent ability.
As soon as I wear it and point my palm towards the wall, a glowing orange portal forms in the air, leading to the place I had fought Hela in.
So.. I am not a prisoner. I could leave if I want to. And I do want to. But.. I'm also curious about this Maya, and I still have a lot of questions for her.
Waving my hand, I whisper, "Accio Prati Kavach."
With a whoosh, multiple pieces of broken Magical Gold fly through the portal, towards me, and I store them in Nowhere. I'll fix the armour later, I'm too attached not to do it. But for now, I'll eat, and rest.
I have a sister to talk to later.
---
External. A subcategory of Mutants that are all Immortal, and almost unkillable. The only way for an External to die, is by the hands of another External, a God(or even a Divine weapon), a Demon Lord(or a weapon of that tier), and those high above us in the Cosmic Hierarchy, like Celestials, Cosmic Gods, Elder Gods, and probably everyone that considers even Asgardians as mortals.
I should have died by Hela's hands, by that logic, right?
Well, yeah, but no.
The thing is.. no one can stop an External from being born. No one can stop an External from resurrecting after his First Death.
Or so Maya had said.
But I doubt the Cosmic Entities will have any trouble in keeping me dead if they want to keep me dead.
Another fact I have recently learned, is that there's no way to know which Mutant is going to become an External and which won't. Not all long-living mutants become Externals, and not all Externals were already long-living before they Ascended.
Most Externals have singular powers(not counting their Immortality of course), but there are some that have more than one. I and Maya had Telepathy and Telekinesis in common, and where I had my Healing factor and Language Adaptability, Maya had Pyrokinesis and something else that she hadn't told me about yet.
Apocalypse.. well, his list is a little too big to mention, even from what I remember from Essex's memories.
I have stayed with Maya for a week now, and I have come to trust her a bit. Not too much, but at least I wasn't suspicious of her motives anymore. She genuinely didn't want to take advantage of me, or suck my powers dry.
During these days, I haven't left her castle too much. Mostly it was to walk around her gardens, or when I want to visit the forest. As I had initially deduced, I wasn't a prisoner here.
But.. I also didn't want to go out there so soon, and bring Asgard's attention to Sanctuary.
They couldn't see Maya's castle, that much was certain. Otherwise I would have had Asgard's army already after me. So I was thankful for the little bit of respite that I'm getting. My thoughts did go towards the Elves every once in a while. I did check on them through Scrying, since it was the only thing I could do right now.
They were safe, Sanctuary wasn't attacked even once, but I was still wary of approaching them. I will have to satiate myself by just Scrying on them.
Currently, Maya and I were sitting in her garden, watching the birds fly around. I had just finished my tale about how I actually came to die when she found me. I told her about Hela.
Maya nods, once I finish my tale, and says, "Asgardians.. now that is a Pantheon I've already encountered. Around 3000 years ago, their King Bor came to me, to ask me to join him in his War against the Dark Elves. He asked the other Sorcerers too, I believe, and some other extraordinary people."
"Did you join?" I ask, already expecting what the answer is.
Maya scoffs, and says, "I am no one's soldier. If I had joined, Bor had promised to make me a Goddess, but if I become a Goddess, then I want it to be on my own terms. Not because some higher power felt indebted to me. I even met his sons that day, the current King of Asgard is one of them I suppose."
I then ask, "What's your story then? You never did tell me how you came to become the woman you are now."
Maya smiles, looking at me knowingly, and asks, "You've been holding that question in for a long time, haven't you?"
I just shrug with a smile, and say, "Can you blame me? I died, woke up in a stranger's house, and that stranger insisted on calling me her brother. I would be an idiot if I didn't suspect you even a little."
Maya chuckles, and says, "That you would have been. And I am thankful you are not. Idiotic Externals don't live long. They get themselves killed, repeatedly, until someone who can actually keep them dead does it."
She then shakes her head, sighs, and says, "As for my story.. it is a long one, and not entirely a happy one."
I put my hand on hers, feeling a bit stupid, and say, "You can refuse to tell me if you don't feel like it."
Maya smiles gratefully, and says, "No, you deserve to know exactly whose house you're living in, brother. But.. I do insist that you let me finish my tale before passing judgment."
I look at her, wondering what kind of life she has lived. I know she must have done some immoral crimes, you can't live thousands of years and not do any crimes. Even I have been a sort of criminal, and I'm just 75!
Huh, I'm 75. Goddamn.
"I was born in a village ruled by Mages, a long, long time ago. I don't know exactly how many centuries, how many thousands of years it has been, but I do remember that Atlantis had already fallen, and Man was just beginning to start villages. My Father received a Vision before I was to be born, showing him his own Death, and the complete decimation of our village, both of it by my hands. He had originally believed it to be just a dream, but when my mother, a girl of just 14, showed my newborn form to him, he realised that his Vision was true." Maya begins, already making me scowl in her stead.
A self- fulfilling prophecy, even without listening to the rest of the story I can tell that much.
Maya says, "So, believing it to be the fault of my mother's side of the family, he and his fellow villagers gathered my mother's entire village, all 100 people living in it, and forced them to sacrifice themselves, hoping to kill me with a Ritual. He had tried killing me himself first, but my Magic always defended me from his attacks. And even if it had failed to kill me, the Ritual would have weakened my Soul enough that I won't live beyond 100 years of age. One year for every soul sacrificed.
"After that Ritualistic sacrifice, my Magic was.. weakened, a lot. Believing his plan to be successful, he let me live with him, forcing me to be the maid to his new family, the caretaker to his children, and when his wife died during childbirth.. he forced me into his own bed, which led to the birth of two more children. I lived with him for 25 years, but then.. something happened.
"I had wandered into the forest, gone too far while gathering mushrooms for dinner. And there.. I was attacked by an animal. The animal was large, around as tall as I am now, and it could breathe fire. While trying to defend myself from it.. I awakened my Mutantur gifts."
Right, telepathy and Telekinesis.
"I used those gifts to kill the animal, and then.. followed the sound of thoughts back home. When I met my father once again, however, I.. saw his memories. I saw what he had done. The Ritual, my mother's sacrifice, the attempts on my life.. everything. I got.. angry, and I did something else. I held him by the neck.. and I sucked every last drop of his Life Force into myself, killing him, and turning his body to dust. Then.. when all of his Memories settled down into my own mind, I realised that the entirety of our village was in on it. And so.. I destroyed it. I killed everyone, and sucked all of their Life into myself."
She then pauses, chuckles, and says, "The Ritual.. the one where my father and his people sacrificed 100 people to weaken my soul, did as promised. It weakened my soul, but my Magic.. it adapted. It gave me the ability to absorb Life Energy from people, animals, and even Gods if I manage to touch them, to lengthen my own life. It also allows me to transfer the Life force to other beings, and even plants, if I want to, but I don't do it much."
I hold her hand, to show her that I am not afraid of her sucking my life dry. If she wanted to do it, she could have done it before telling me she could do it. I then ask, "What happened to your children?"
Maya shakes her head, and says, "I gave them to others to raise, changed the memories of all involved to forget me completely."
I nod, accepting that. I knew that she could have said 'I killed them' and I would have understood it. I won't condone it, but I understood. They're the product of her own father's rape on her. She couldn't have seen them as if they were children, without remembering her father.
Maya then says, "I kept on travelling the world after that, sucking people dry if they attacked me, or if I felt like I needed it. I didn't need to do it too often, just twice every century or so. But.. it seems someone found it too much. A Sorcerer.. a man named Cul-Gath found me, deemed me too dangerous to live, and fought me. I was just a Mage and a Mutantur then, and after a lengthy battle that took five hours, he killed me. I had my First Death then."
"When I woke up, I was angry once again. I was doing it all just to live. I didn't purposefully go out looking for lives to end, I only sucked Life when I needed it to live, or when someone was too heinous to let live. So, I tracked Cul-Gath down, and I killed him, sucking his life into myself too. And so.. I became a Sorcerer."
She then turns her head towards me, and I notice that while she looks sad, she did not shed a single tear. But who can blame her? By her own admission, she has been alive for at least 15,000 years. That's a long fucking time.
She says, "I have been travelling the world since then, wandering around, meeting different people. I met Garbha-Hsien, the only other External with an age similar to mine, 8,000 years ago, during the Convergence. I met En Sabah Nur, the so-called Apocalypse, soon after he began his rule of Egypt 3000 years ago. I have been called a Queen, Priestess, Demoness, and was even mistaken as a Goddess once. I have had children, grandchildren, and each and every one of them died, with their descendants still living all around the world. But this place we are in.. this has been the one place I always returned to. This.. brother.. is my story. Are you satisfied?"
I look at her, look at the hunger for family that she has on her face. She has had children die on her, that.. is not something even I can take lightly. I understand now why she sought me out. She needs family, one that will survive the ravages of time. And I, an External, am just that.
Nodding, I smile at her, and say, "I have a story of my own, if you want to hear. But my story is a tad bit more unbelievable..."
Maya is.. a human being. She has faults, and she has made mistakes, many of them. But where my mistakes led to my own death, funnily enough, hers led to the death of many others.
But, she is not a bad person. She might even become like an actual sister to me someday. But till then, I will be a friend to her.
---
A/N: Mason still hasn't forgotten his fight with Hela, he's just not overthinking it for once.
Btw.. Tada! External! Which one of you saw this coming? Be honest, because this was planned ever since Mason came to the past.
Now, does the character Maya feel familiar? Or at least, her story and abilities. If yes, then you're not wrong. There is a canon Marvel comics character, who is not named Maya, and yes she is the one calling Mason Onii-chan.
I will not have her say that name of hers yet, not until the future time starts, probably. But, I might mention her true name in the A/Ns if sufficient people already know who she is.
Another thing.. for those who didn't like Mason getting killed by Hela, well it was obvious he wasn't going to win. It's Hela!
But Mason also couldn't flee, because he would have been followed by Hela, Heimdall, Odin, and the entire Asgardian army for what he's done(supposedly). So, his plan was to fake his death and return to his home and cast even more extensive wards around his home.
Alas, Hela's Dark Magic was stronger than he expected, and it followed his true body even when a Sorcery created body was the one to get stabbed.
Any questions? No? Okay. Glad you understand.
Thank you for your support! Tata!
SECOND CHAPTER OF THE DAY!
---
When consciousness first comes to me, I find myself to be very much surprised.
I had died. Again. And I knew it. I had felt my heart losing strength, I had felt Hela's Dark Divine Magic flow through my own body, killing me one cell at a time. I had actually felt myself die, and I knew it was death, and not just unconsciousness.
I've been knocked out enough times to know the difference.
So.. how am I still alive?
Is this a benefit of my Time Travel? I had thought that my killer being an actual Goddess of Death would have prevented me from returning from the dead.
But it seems not.
Not that I'm ungrateful, I'm glad I didn't just die before I even got back to my own time. I'm glad I'll have the chance to try and make a difference whenever the threats to Earth come, whenever they do.
It seems.. you cannot die before you are born, and so.. I was safely alive for at least 2000 years.
Either that, or I really did die and was reincarnated once again.
But.. something was odd. Firstly, I was sleeping on something soft, and half of my body was covered by a sheet of cloth. Considering that when I died, I had fallen down on harsh ground, this is really odd. I keep my eyes closed, and use my other senses to take stock of the situation.
Just within a single second of smelling, I could tell that I was in a room with stone walls, with a single window which was open wide, and a wooden door that was closed. The soft thing I was laying on was a bed, and judging by the smell, the mattress was filled with feathers and hay. The bed itself was a four-poster wooden bed.
There was a desk near my head, while a single reclined chair sat near my feet. The open window was to my left, while the door was in the direction of my feet.
However, oddly enough, while I could smell every single detail within this room, I couldn't smell, or hear, anything from outside the room. Not even through the open window. I could tell it was open thanks to the wind drifting in. I also couldn't hear any thoughts from anyone other than myself.
I slowly open my eyes, and look around. The room was empty, with just the bed, desk, and chair taking space. I slowly sit up, and realise that my body was.. perfectly healed. I had thought that getting stabbed by Hela's swords, even through the Images of Ikonn spell, would have left at least some scars, but nope.
In fact, I couldn't feel any fault with my body. It was.. better than before, somehow.
I wave my hand, causing a blue light to hover above my hand, and cause it to change shapes. The light then flies towards the chair, and immediately transfigures it into a sofa that then returns back to the original form right after.
Even my control over my Magic has improved.. by a lot!
Goddamn, whatever my death gave me, I need more!
But.. why can't I sense anything from outside this room?
Closing my eyes once again, I pulse my Magic to look for Magical wards. There was just a single Ward around this room, which confirmed my suspicions of me being inside a Mage's house. I gently poke at it, to understand what it does, and get a feeling for.. isolation?
No, it just prevents those inside from spying on those outside. No hearing their conversations, no listening to thoughts, no smelling where they are. It was as if.. I was a prisoner without being restrained.
And knowing my luck.. I definitely am.
There wasn't anything preventing me from leaving the room, as far as I can tell. But my Warden was just preventing me from spying on them.
Sighing, I push my legs to the left, and get off the bed. I immediately stumble, and realise something once again. My body.. it was stronger. Not too much, but it was definitely stronger than before.
Easily getting used to the changes in my body, I walk towards the window, to wait for the room's owner to come here. I can puzzle over my.. metamorphosis.. later.
My thoughts then go to my most recent fight, where I was humbled beyond belief. I had fought three Asgardian soldiers, and defeated them pretty easily. I had defeated seven Berserkers within a single microsecond, but that is mostly because of my Time Slower.
And so, I had thought myself ready to fight her. Or, I had thought myself competent enough to escape her.
Hela Odinsdottir. Princess of Asgard. Goddess of Death.
Never before had I been so.. outclassed in a fight. I survived against an Elder God Set and that.. tentacled demon, but one Goddess of Death managed to kill me.
How arrogant was I, to feel myself capable enough of at least escaping her by tricks? She's the daughter of Odin, she probably had contingencies in place just in case I was found harder to kill. One of them is probably what killed me.
I thought myself ready to fight Hela, believing that if Dr Strange can fight Thanos(who had four of the Infinity Stones in his possession), then I can definitely at least survive Hela. At the least, I believed myself fast enough to dodge all of her hits.
Nope, Hela absolutely humiliated me. And she killed me, even after I managed to trick her.
Her Swordsmanship was superior to mine, vastly so, her strength was at least 10 times higher than mine, her Magic was so dense that even Dark curses just splashed by her skin, harmlessly. Even when I used Sorcery, even when my Swords negated the force behind her sword strikes, even when I struck her with her own Magical hammer twice, and tried to cut off her arm, she still won. I had nothing in my arsenal that could keep Hela down, and she showed it to me.
And she didn't even have to use too much of her strengths to do it. She was.. is just too far outside my league.
I just wasn't ready to fight her yet, and I knew that. But I wanted to test myself against her, against someone right at the top of the Universal tiers. Someone I doubt even Thanos would manage to defeat easily.
But.. once again.. my overconfidence proved to be my undoing.
A click on the door brings my attention back to the real world, and I turn around towards the door. I then suddenly realise that I'm not wearing anything above my waist, and I was only wearing a pair of trousers below it. But well, whoever my Warden is, has definitely seen me naked, even if it was only to change my clothes. Because these were definitely not the clothes I had fought Hela in.
The door opens.fully, and in walks a woman, around 30 years old, wearing a black corset pushing her chest up, with a long black skirt flowing down her hip, and a black cloak, with the inside surface being dark blue, resting on her shoulders. Her hair was black, the same for her eyes, while her skin was fair.
Just by this once glance.. I somehow feel attached to her. As if I know her somehow, but I don't remember how. It feels as if we are.. connected. There's no other way to explain it.
Her eyes widen a bit as she sees me stand near the window, as I keep staring at her, and then she smiles widely, as if she's happy to see me awake. "You woke earlier than I thought you would, brother."
Brother? This just brings my thoughts of Re-reincarnation back to the forefront. Did I somehow really die and get reborn? Again? And did I keep my Magic and all my other gifts this time. This might explain why I'm still alright, and why this woman is calling me her brother.
But.. I can smell it. She's a Mutant, as well as a Mage. Which means.. I'm probably still in the same.. Universe that I was just in. Probably. Could be one of the other Universes in the multiverse too.
I don't want to use my Telepathy to try and gain an understanding of her mind, or her character, without her doing anything to actually antagonize me.
I hesitate a bit, wondering what is going on, and say, "I apologize.. I don't recognise you."
The woman smiles, as she walks towards the desk on my bedside, and keeps the tray she was holding on top of it. I smell chicken soup, before the woman speaking attracts my attention.
She says, "Of course you don't. We haven't met before today, brother. My name is Maya."
I frown, wondering if us being mutants is why she's calling me her brother, and say, "My name is Atharva. Why do you call me brother if we haven't met?"
The woman.. Maya, chuckles and says, "Because you are my brother, Atharva." At my dubious look, she says, "I know you are a Mage, a Sorcerer, as well as.. something else. There must be some abilities unique to you, separate from your Magic, something that comes naturally to you. I am like that. Me.. I can communicate directly with the mind, and move things without touching them. How about you?"
I raise an eyebrow at the freely given information, and say, "I heal faster than usual. And I can also do what you do, without using my Magic."
Maya smiles widely, and says, "I call people like us Mutantur. Changelings. We are very few in number, but each one of us has abilities beyond the normal, and not exactly related to Magic."
Huh, Mutantur. The Latin word for Change.
She then points me towards the soup, and says, "Please. Drink up, you must be feeling hungry. Don't worry, all your questions will be answered."
I look at the soup in question, and with a single sniff, try and see if it is poisoned. Thankfully for me, it is not, at least with nothing of odour. I walk towards it, and touch the bowl, casting a spell to check for poisons too, and finding nothing, pick it up.
All the while, Maya just looks at me with amusement. She says, "The reason I called you brother.. is related to us being Mutantur. Have you met any more like us?"
I nod, and say, "Just one.. the last Pharaoh of Alexandria, Cleopatra VII."
At least, I have met just one in this time period. Cleopatra has been dead for 25 years now.
Maya smiles, and says, "As I said, not many people like us exist." Shaking her head, she says, "Even amongst Mutantur.. there exists a group of extraordinary people. These Mutantur are powerful even beyond the normal Mutantur, but they have a few things in common. They are all unaging, they are all unkillable, and they all have a connection with the others of their kind. Kind of like how you feel a connection with me, despite never having met me before."
I raise both my eyebrows, having stopped drinking the soup to listen to her explanation, and ask, "We're.. one of these.. special Mutantur then?"
Maya nods, and says, "We call ourselves Externals. We aren't many, numbering around 20 right now, but all of us felt you joining our ranks two hours ago."
Two hours? I healed from getting killed by Hela in two hours?! Goddamn! That's way faster than I had expected.
Wait.
"Felt me? And join your ranks? What does that mean exactly?" I ask, once again drinking the hot soup, sip by sip.
Maya says, "Us Externals.. we were all once normal Mutantur. We may have been stronger than others, but we were just Mutantur. But then, something happens, something that happened to you two hours ago, that took us from Mutantur.. to Externals. We all had our First Deaths, just like you had yours recently."
I shake my head, all this making my head spin around, and say, "Look.. I have a special situation, because of which I won't be able to die at all for at least the next 2000 years. I died, yes, but I was resurrected because of that, not because of me being.. an External."
I know what an External is, of course I do! I wasn't much of a comic book reader in my past life, but I did read the fandom articles a lot of times. And since Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur, was the one Marvel character that scared me the most, even before I got here, I read his article multiple times. And he was known as an External, I know that.
I don't know much about Externals, only that they're all immortal, can't die, have different powers, and that Apocalypse is the leader of them or something.
And I, while a mutant, only got this second chance at life- or third chance, funnily enough- because of my Time Travel. Even a Killing Curse wouldn't work on me right now, I know that. I've already confirmed that! Theoretically, but still.
Granted, I thought that Hela's Death Magic would actually work, but still. Time Travel! Not External.
Maya just chuckles, and asks, "You think you are the first Mutantur to die and be resurrected because of a special situation? No, brother dear, there have been countless Mutantur that died, were naturally resurrected, and who were not Externals. You.. however, you are an External. I can feel it. Touch my mind, brother, and tell me you can't feel it too."
I feel her own mind connecting with mine, and before I can throw her out, I feel it. I feel the connection, now amplified. We are definitely the same, she is not lying.
"Do not worry, brother. This is not something to be afraid of." Maya whispers, as I feel her hug me, while her mind retreats.
It is only then that I realise that I was hyperventilating, everything that has happened making me anxious. First Hela, and now this. I'm an External? I belong to the same subcategory of Mutants as the fucking Apocalypse?
It takes a few seconds for me to calm down, but when I do, Maya immediately hands me the bowl of soup once again and says, "Drink."
I take a sip, and then ask, "What does it all mean? Being an External?"
I don't want to find out that we're all sworn to work for Apocalypse or something like that.
Maya just shrugs, and asks, "Why does it have to mean anything? You were a Mutantur before, now you're an External. That's it. Your.. change.. doesn't bring with it any duties, or responsibilities."
I just look at her, and ask, "And what? The other Externals will just let me live my life peacefully? Will you?"
Maya nods, but then pauses. She says, "While I can't say the same for all of us, most Externals would rather just live our own lives without interference. We would rather that you don't interfere in any of our goals and ambitions, and we won't interfere in yours. Some.. however.. would likely try to recruit you in their own schemes."
I nod, taking that explanation for what it is worth, and then ask, "How did you find out where to find me? And why did you come find me?"
The smile on Maya's face widens, as she says, "I am, as I said, a Mage and a Sorceress. One of the many talents that I have cultivated over the years is a talent for Divining the Future. I Saw your First Death happen five months ago, and I knew exactly where it would happen, and when. Alas, I needed to wait until you actually had your First Death to approach you. Coincidentally, your First Death happened just beyond the mountain from my castle, which I am really thankful for."
"First Death?" I ask, taking it all in and remembering her mentioning the term once before. I had already expected something weird, but never in my life did I believe I would say the words 'First Death' and not mean the time I was reborn as who I am now.
Maya nods, and says, "Every External is first a normal Mutantur. It is only when he first dies and resurrects that he is known as an External. After the First Death, the External becomes Immortal, unaging, and Unkillable. You might still die, but you will only stay dead if the ones who kill you are yourself, other Externals, Gods, or those far above us. Other than that, any time you die, you will always be resurrected."
This.. is something I had believed to be something unique to Apocalypse. Although, it could be the fact that I'm not in the comic universe that changed this fact.
She then says, "When you had your First Death, it sent a Psionic signal to all the Externals that a new sibling was going to be born. And they all would have felt it happen, and would have tried to approach you. Some would have tried to kill you and steal your powers, others would have tried to enslave you into their own employ."
"And you?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
I don't think she's a danger to me.. yet. Maybe she's going to fatten me up or the Magical equivalent of it, make me stronger before sucking my powers dry. But until then, I know she wants me alive. Otherwise, she wouldn't have even bothered with explanations.
Maya shrugs, and says, "Nothing convoluted, I assure you. I just hadn't witnessed any Resurrection in person yet, and you gave me that opportunity. I also wanted to prevent you being forced to work for any of my.. our siblings. Siblings, they might be, but Externals won't hesitate to kill one another if it benefits them."
That's.. not entirely unexpected.
"There must be something.. beyond just curiosity." I say, and stare at her.
Maya smiles, and says, "Maybe if your stay here goes well, I will tell you. For now, eat up, and rest. I will tell you the rest later."
And with that, she leaves the room, leaving me to my loneliness once again. As soon as she leaves, I put the bowl on the table, and focus on my connection to my swords. Finding it, I first summon Glamdring to my hands, and let out a breath of relief. I had dropped the sword soon after Hela's Magic had begun working on killing me. Thank God it's safe.
I then focus on Nowhere, and summon something else from there. A simple ring, made of Magic silver. It just has a magnificent ability.
As soon as I wear it and point my palm towards the wall, a glowing orange portal forms in the air, leading to the place I had fought Hela in.
So.. I am not a prisoner. I could leave if I want to. And I do want to. But.. I'm also curious about this Maya, and I still have a lot of questions for her.
Waving my hand, I whisper, "Accio Prati Kavach."
With a whoosh, multiple pieces of broken Magical Gold fly through the portal, towards me, and I store them in Nowhere. I'll fix the armour later, I'm too attached not to do it. But for now, I'll eat, and rest.
I have a sister to talk to later.
---
External. A subcategory of Mutants that are all Immortal, and almost unkillable. The only way for an External to die, is by the hands of another External, a God(or even a Divine weapon), a Demon Lord(or a weapon of that tier), and those high above us in the Cosmic Hierarchy, like Celestials, Cosmic Gods, Elder Gods, and probably everyone that considers even Asgardians as mortals.
I should have died by Hela's hands, by that logic, right?
Well, yeah, but no.
The thing is.. no one can stop an External from being born. No one can stop an External from resurrecting after his First Death.
Or so Maya had said.
But I doubt the Cosmic Entities will have any trouble in keeping me dead if they want to keep me dead.
Another fact I have recently learned, is that there's no way to know which Mutant is going to become an External and which won't. Not all long-living mutants become Externals, and not all Externals were already long-living before they Ascended.
Most Externals have singular powers(not counting their Immortality of course), but there are some that have more than one. I and Maya had Telepathy and Telekinesis in common, and where I had my Healing factor and Language Adaptability, Maya had Pyrokinesis and something else that she hadn't told me about yet.
Apocalypse.. well, his list is a little too big to mention, even from what I remember from Essex's memories.
I have stayed with Maya for a week now, and I have come to trust her a bit. Not too much, but at least I wasn't suspicious of her motives anymore. She genuinely didn't want to take advantage of me, or suck my powers dry.
During these days, I haven't left her castle too much. Mostly it was to walk around her gardens, or when I want to visit the forest. As I had initially deduced, I wasn't a prisoner here.
But.. I also didn't want to go out there so soon, and bring Asgard's attention to Sanctuary.
They couldn't see Maya's castle, that much was certain. Otherwise I would have had Asgard's army already after me. So I was thankful for the little bit of respite that I'm getting. My thoughts did go towards the Elves every once in a while. I did check on them through Scrying, since it was the only thing I could do right now.
They were safe, Sanctuary wasn't attacked even once, but I was still wary of approaching them. I will have to satiate myself by just Scrying on them.
Currently, Maya and I were sitting in her garden, watching the birds fly around. I had just finished my tale about how I actually came to die when she found me. I told her about Hela.
Maya nods, once I finish my tale, and says, "Asgardians.. now that is a Pantheon I've already encountered. Around 3000 years ago, their King Bor came to me, to ask me to join him in his War against the Dark Elves. He asked the other Sorcerers too, I believe, and some other extraordinary people."
"Did you join?" I ask, already expecting what the answer is.
Maya scoffs, and says, "I am no one's soldier. If I had joined, Bor had promised to make me a Goddess, but if I become a Goddess, then I want it to be on my own terms. Not because some higher power felt indebted to me. I even met his sons that day, the current King of Asgard is one of them I suppose."
I then ask, "What's your story then? You never did tell me how you came to become the woman you are now."
Maya smiles, looking at me knowingly, and asks, "You've been holding that question in for a long time, haven't you?"
I just shrug with a smile, and say, "Can you blame me? I died, woke up in a stranger's house, and that stranger insisted on calling me her brother. I would be an idiot if I didn't suspect you even a little."
Maya chuckles, and says, "That you would have been. And I am thankful you are not. Idiotic Externals don't live long. They get themselves killed, repeatedly, until someone who can actually keep them dead does it."
She then shakes her head, sighs, and says, "As for my story.. it is a long one, and not entirely a happy one."
I put my hand on hers, feeling a bit stupid, and say, "You can refuse to tell me if you don't feel like it."
Maya smiles gratefully, and says, "No, you deserve to know exactly whose house you're living in, brother. But.. I do insist that you let me finish my tale before passing judgment."
I look at her, wondering what kind of life she has lived. I know she must have done some immoral crimes, you can't live thousands of years and not do any crimes. Even I have been a sort of criminal, and I'm just 75!
Huh, I'm 75. Goddamn.
"I was born in a village ruled by Mages, a long, long time ago. I don't know exactly how many centuries, how many thousands of years it has been, but I do remember that Atlantis had already fallen, and Man was just beginning to start villages. My Father received a Vision before I was to be born, showing him his own Death, and the complete decimation of our village, both of it by my hands. He had originally believed it to be just a dream, but when my mother, a girl of just 14, showed my newborn form to him, he realised that his Vision was true." Maya begins, already making me scowl in her stead.
A self- fulfilling prophecy, even without listening to the rest of the story I can tell that much.
Maya says, "So, believing it to be the fault of my mother's side of the family, he and his fellow villagers gathered my mother's entire village, all 100 people living in it, and forced them to sacrifice themselves, hoping to kill me with a Ritual. He had tried killing me himself first, but my Magic always defended me from his attacks. And even if it had failed to kill me, the Ritual would have weakened my Soul enough that I won't live beyond 100 years of age. One year for every soul sacrificed.
"After that Ritualistic sacrifice, my Magic was.. weakened, a lot. Believing his plan to be successful, he let me live with him, forcing me to be the maid to his new family, the caretaker to his children, and when his wife died during childbirth.. he forced me into his own bed, which led to the birth of two more children. I lived with him for 25 years, but then.. something happened.
"I had wandered into the forest, gone too far while gathering mushrooms for dinner. And there.. I was attacked by an animal. The animal was large, around as tall as I am now, and it could breathe fire. While trying to defend myself from it.. I awakened my Mutantur gifts."
Right, telepathy and Telekinesis.
"I used those gifts to kill the animal, and then.. followed the sound of thoughts back home. When I met my father once again, however, I.. saw his memories. I saw what he had done. The Ritual, my mother's sacrifice, the attempts on my life.. everything. I got.. angry, and I did something else. I held him by the neck.. and I sucked every last drop of his Life Force into myself, killing him, and turning his body to dust. Then.. when all of his Memories settled down into my own mind, I realised that the entirety of our village was in on it. And so.. I destroyed it. I killed everyone, and sucked all of their Life into myself."
She then pauses, chuckles, and says, "The Ritual.. the one where my father and his people sacrificed 100 people to weaken my soul, did as promised. It weakened my soul, but my Magic.. it adapted. It gave me the ability to absorb Life Energy from people, animals, and even Gods if I manage to touch them, to lengthen my own life. It also allows me to transfer the Life force to other beings, and even plants, if I want to, but I don't do it much."
I hold her hand, to show her that I am not afraid of her sucking my life dry. If she wanted to do it, she could have done it before telling me she could do it. I then ask, "What happened to your children?"
Maya shakes her head, and says, "I gave them to others to raise, changed the memories of all involved to forget me completely."
I nod, accepting that. I knew that she could have said 'I killed them' and I would have understood it. I won't condone it, but I understood. They're the product of her own father's rape on her. She couldn't have seen them as if they were children, without remembering her father.
Maya then says, "I kept on travelling the world after that, sucking people dry if they attacked me, or if I felt like I needed it. I didn't need to do it too often, just twice every century or so. But.. it seems someone found it too much. A Sorcerer.. a man named Cul-Gath found me, deemed me too dangerous to live, and fought me. I was just a Mage and a Mutantur then, and after a lengthy battle that took five hours, he killed me. I had my First Death then."
"When I woke up, I was angry once again. I was doing it all just to live. I didn't purposefully go out looking for lives to end, I only sucked Life when I needed it to live, or when someone was too heinous to let live. So, I tracked Cul-Gath down, and I killed him, sucking his life into myself too. And so.. I became a Sorcerer."
She then turns her head towards me, and I notice that while she looks sad, she did not shed a single tear. But who can blame her? By her own admission, she has been alive for at least 15,000 years. That's a long fucking time.
She says, "I have been travelling the world since then, wandering around, meeting different people. I met Garbha-Hsien, the only other External with an age similar to mine, 8,000 years ago, during the Convergence. I met En Sabah Nur, the so-called Apocalypse, soon after he began his rule of Egypt 3000 years ago. I have been called a Queen, Priestess, Demoness, and was even mistaken as a Goddess once. I have had children, grandchildren, and each and every one of them died, with their descendants still living all around the world. But this place we are in.. this has been the one place I always returned to. This.. brother.. is my story. Are you satisfied?"
I look at her, look at the hunger for family that she has on her face. She has had children die on her, that.. is not something even I can take lightly. I understand now why she sought me out. She needs family, one that will survive the ravages of time. And I, an External, am just that.
Nodding, I smile at her, and say, "I have a story of my own, if you want to hear. But my story is a tad bit more unbelievable..."
Maya is.. a human being. She has faults, and she has made mistakes, many of them. But where my mistakes led to my own death, funnily enough, hers led to the death of many others.
But, she is not a bad person. She might even become like an actual sister to me someday. But till then, I will be a friend to her.
---
A/N: Mason still hasn't forgotten his fight with Hela, he's just not overthinking it for once.
Btw.. Tada! External! Which one of you saw this coming? Be honest, because this was planned ever since Mason came to the past.
Now, does the character Maya feel familiar? Or at least, her story and abilities. If yes, then you're not wrong. There is a canon Marvel comics character, who is not named Maya, and yes she is the one calling Mason Onii-chan.
I will not have her say that name of hers yet, not until the future time starts, probably. But, I might mention her true name in the A/Ns if sufficient people already know who she is.
Another thing.. for those who didn't like Mason getting killed by Hela, well it was obvious he wasn't going to win. It's Hela!
But Mason also couldn't flee, because he would have been followed by Hela, Heimdall, Odin, and the entire Asgardian army for what he's done(supposedly). So, his plan was to fake his death and return to his home and cast even more extensive wards around his home.
Alas, Hela's Dark Magic was stronger than he expected, and it followed his true body even when a Sorcery created body was the one to get stabbed.
Any questions? No? Okay. Glad you understand.
Thank you for your support! Tata!