After leaving the star system containing Asgard, Galactus returned to the vicinity of his destroyed Worldship. Using his ability to manipulate matter and energy the great one created a starship from the still sworling debris. Not perhaps as large as his former Worldship but an impressive construct nonetheless. Something he would build on over time.
As he and Sif readied to depart in the new starship a part of Galactus was not inclined to investigate the fate of the Asgardians, at least not immediately. He had other concerns. Certainly the plaintive requests of his new, untried and untested herald were not enough to move him. Yet other more subtle urgings seemed to impinge upon him. Galactus looked at the OdinSword. Not for the first or last time he pondered on the wisdom of taking on temporary custodianship of it. Still he could not have left such a powerful weapon untended. He sensed also that, while it was with him, the great sword would never allow him to become ravenous from hunger.
Elsewhere (and perhaps) elsewhen the mighty Thunder God drifted even deeper into the Thor Sleep. It was a fitful sleep full of images of the destruction of much of the nine worlds. Some part of Thor’s mind sensed that he had slept far too long. Another part sensed that at least some of the images in his dreams might be real. He struggled to gain wakefulness.
On their return to the star system containing Asgard Galactus carried out a full survey of the system. He detected life including god essences on several of the system worlds and allowed the lady Sif to investigate.
Homing in on the location of the god essences she discovered to her immense delight several rag tag bands of surviving Asgardians and even a few giants, trolls and dwarves. Among them, praise be, Balder, the warriors three, and her brother Heimdall. With them was the great ship of Odin. Though resembling a much larger version of a Viking longboat, Odin had mystically made it capable of sustaining and transporting the gods through interstellar space.
Sif towed the damaged Odin Ship and her fellow Asgardians back to an Asgard that, thanks Galactus, was now in stable orbit and at least partially restored
Of the survivors of Asgard it was the steel tough mind of Hogun the Grim that seemed the last affected by the tumultuous events. Without the grim ones knowledge Galactus carefully probed his mind. Amidst the images of death and destruction and of being hurled through space there were images of a single Celestial and also of a dark and relatively ancient arcane force. Exactly what part, if any, these had played in Asgard’s fate was unclear. Hogun’s mind did not recognize the Celestial though Galactus assuredly did. The great one pondered how this particular Celestial could even have been in this place at that time.
Even so the Celestial and the dark forces somehow colluding with it ought not to have been able to inflict the destruction that was wrought here. It was one thing to transport 8 of the 9 worlds of Asgardian cosmology and thrust them at this star system. It was another thing to do so in the face of the opposition of elementals such as Surtur and Ymir, of the magics of the Loki, Karnilla, the Enchantress and other Asgardian sorcerers, of the Destroyer construct and all else the Asgardian plane could bring to bear. Not least among that the power source of the OdinSword and presumably the sword Twilight. “No” thought Galactus “these entities though immensely powerful in their own right had other help.”
It was at this very moment that Desaak god-slayer emerged again near Asgard. Whether he had returned to gloat over the carcass of Asgard or had sensed residual god essences to be absorbed in a further drunken orgy was impossible to say. Suffice that the presence of the imposing form of the cosmic entity known as Galactus was not something he had expected to see.
The confrontation between Galactus and Desaak was short lived. The axe of Desaak thrown at mind numbing speed and coruscating with brutal energies was crushed to fine metallic dust in the huge vice like grip of Galactus.
As energies thrust forth from the eyes and hands of Galactus lashing all about Desaak the slayer of so many pantheon gods found no god essence or god power to absorb. While for a time the brutal entity moved closer to Galactus he began to wilt visibly under the torrent of cosmic energies engulfing him.
As he had done with Perrikus, Galactus forced Desaak’s arms immobile then levitated the god slayer so that his eyes were level with those of the world devourer. The great Galactus then brutally probed the mind of Desaak. In it he saw some of the answers to what had happened here although the slayer of gods resisted fiercely. Eventually Desaak’s mind crumbled completely under the assault, and before Galactus could obtain all the answers he desired. With his now useless mind completely broken Desaak, slayer of pantheon gods, was himself slain by a perhaps a different type of god.
Elsewhere the son of Odin struggled mightily to regain consciousness. Those who had taken him while he slept the Thor Sleep had buried him in every sense of the word. Deep below mountainous terrain in a remote world of an even more remote dimension. Surrounding Thor’s sleeping casket was a large time stasis field intended to hold him within the Thor Sleep literally until times end. Also around him were other barriers that would require either Thor from within or rescuers from without to bend reality. Thors great hammer mjolnir lay by his side within the sleep casket.
Those who placed Thor here had intended that he suffer for an eternity as he was kept not only in a permanent state of sleep but by some unknown means fed images of Asgard’s destruction and continuing humiliation As he approached wakefulness Thor was reminded of another who tossed and turned restlessly underground sleeping the endless sleep and he wondered.
As he struggled to wakefulness Thor began to assume a degree of control over his dreams much as some ordinary mortals can. The resultant psychic reverberations and emanations fuelled by the growing realization and anger at what had been done to him resonated across galaxies and across dimensions. The emanations were easily detectable by the machineries aboard the new starship of Galactus and indeed by the OdinSword itself.
By the time that Thor finally burst into full wakefulness Galactus, wielding the OdinSword, had teleported to the dimension and world of Thors entombment and stood astride the mountainous terrain above.
As Galactus struck from above and Thor from below the mountain was vaporized, the time stasis field destroyed and the imposed reality barriers were warped and bent aside.
With the son of Odin now awake and free the great Galactus, almost ceremoniously, proffered the OdinSword to him. Thor, hammer in hand, mystically increased his size to Galactus level but motioned to Galactus to retain the sword at least for the nonce.
Thor cried out in anger, a sound that seemed to reverberate across the galaxies and across the dimensions, which only for the barest moment, separated him from his tormentors. Wherever those loathsome entities now were it was a cry that found them out and that must surely have chilled them to the very core of their being.
They sought to entomb Lord Thor within the Thor Sleep for all eternity. Forcing him to dream almost endlessly of the rape and degradation of Asgard. With their plans now on the brink of failure, there was only one recourse open to them. The final revenge of obliterating Asgard at the very moment the mighty Thor was escaping his tomb.
In these barest of moments before the great Galactus and the mighty Thor could arrive the new starship of Galactus moved, seemingly unbidden, closer to Asgard enveloping it in a most formidable force shield.
The new herald of Galactus, the Lady Sif, had not accompanied the devourer and remained within his starship. She could have remained there in some relative safety but this is not the Asgardian way. Emerging from the starship Sif launched herself at Asgard’s tormentors manoeuvring among the heavens with a speed and agility that would have made even the Silver Surfer proud. At the same time she launched bolts of the power cosmic which contained also a mystical sting courtesy of the Norn stones now almost part of her.
To the dreaming Celestial and the dread Dormammu, Sif would hardly have rated even as a minor annoyance. Two withering bolts of celestial energy just missed Sif before
a third struck her a glancing, yet surely deadly blow sending her plummeting in the massive gravitational pull of the huge world below. She would land at much greater speed and with much greater force than had she been falling in Earth’s modest gravitational pull. In almost cowardly fashion Dormammu struck the goddess with a bolt of intense mystical energies as she fell.
Though all this took no more than scant seconds the time delay, achieved by Sif, was more precious than an eternity. As the Dreaming Celestial and his sorcerous henchman struck at Asgard the multi-layered protective force shields of Galactus starship, enveloping Asgard, held but just barely. At that precise moment the mighty Thor and the great Galactus appeared and Sif’s terminal velocity fall was slowed not a moment too soon. Not by Thor but by Galactus.
Perhaps Thor should have seen and acted on Lady Sif’s plight before Galactus but he seemed pre-occupied with those now confronting him
In all his long years as a warrior god and later as Asgard’s liege lord, Thor had never felt more powerful and never more angry. Though the Thor Sleep was troubled, still it had restored him to the very peak of his great power. He struggled though to contain his anger that threatened to develop into full uncontrolled warriors madness. If this happened all would be lost. Instead he sought to hold the madness at a controlled level.
The reason for the Dreaming Celestial’s hatred for Thor was well known. At an earlier time when the Celestial broke free from his underground sleeping imprisonment and those of his own ilk seemed reluctant to act, all of Earth turned against it. It was the mighty Thor that ultimately led the way to again imprison the Dreamer at the very same spot of his earlier imprisonment. This was done with the aid of sorcerers and mystic beings from the Earth and Asgardian planes of existence and from other places. Among them fellow skyfathers, Dr Strange, Karnilla, Agomotto and even Loki.
It is said that the enigmatic Celestials are beyond such human traits as anger, humiliation, and the need for revenge. But who really knows this? Further the Dreaming Celestial is not representative of his star spanning race of space gods. As to Dormammu, does the dread one, he who once challenged even mighty Eternity, ever need a reason for his equal hatred of all things good and noble in the Multiverse? Never could it be said that his interests were anything other than diametrically opposed to those of Asgard. In truth it was Dormammu utilizing a spell as ancient as time itself that succeeded in releasing the Celestial from his imprisonment by Thor and in aiding it in the havoc wrought upon eight of the nine worlds. An action taken while the mighty Thor was in no position to oppose them.
Sensing that this battle was primarily one between Thor and the Dreaming Celestial the great Galactus passed the sword of Odin to his companion.
Placing his hammer in the custody of Galactus, Thor grew mystically to Celestial proportions and without prompting the OdinSword returned to its normal immense size. The hammer of Thor is one of the greatest weapons that ever was and shall forever be. Yet, if there be a mightier weapon still, surely then it is this great sword this great and noble instrument for good. The OdinSword.
The Dreaming Celestial raised its huge palm and the sword of Surtur instantly appeared within it. The sword seemed to fit surprisingly well. It had been left in the star system for possible future use. Imbued not only with the energies of its creator, but arcane energies from Dormammu and previously unknown and rarely used Celestial energies from a source still resident in the Celestial home dimension. It was this source, now long disclaimed by the Celestial race that had aided Dormammu and the Dreaming Celestial in their devastation of the worlds of Asgardian cosmology.
Teleporting the short distance to Dormammu and moving with reflexes that belied his great size Galactus grasped the dread one in the unbreakable grip of his good right hand. Even though Galactus strength was near limitless it was far, far more than merely a physical grip. Dormammu writhed and struggled calling on arcane forces and it was plain to see that given time he would escape the grip of Galactus. No matter the great one could hold him long enough for issues to be decided. One way or the other.
Thor was surprised by the Celestials choice of weapon, indeed that the miscreant even felt the need for any type of weapon. With energies flashing across his entire now massive frame and along the entire length and breadth of the greatest sword ever made Thor thrust at the Celestial. The Dreamer seemed to belie its name parrying with surprising dexterity with Twilight. Or perhaps the sword, so fundamentally altered within, no longer really ought to bear that name.
As the struggle intensified the mighty Thor seemed to grow ever stronger, ever more powerful and more and more became as one with the OdinSword. The Celestial moved to the defensive as every now and then the OdinSword would remove an arm or a leg. Briefly Celestial essence would spew out only for the limb or other part to be quickly regenerated. Thor became frustrated with this wondering how much damage needed to be done to overcome the Celestial regeneration capacity. Eventually the two adversaries came to a simple test of strength as their swords locked together. It was at this point where the OdinSword and that which was once the Sword of Surtur seemed to engage in their own private battle, a battle within a battle.
In the simple test of strength the son of Odin was not found wanting (has he really ever been except in contrived circumstances?) and he thrust the Dreaming Celestial backwards a considerable distance. In the process the sword that was once Twilight shattered into tiny shards and slivers of metal and other things. The enchantment that could hold it together against the OdinSword simply does not exist.
At a slight distance the Dreamer directed bolts of Celestial energy from its eyes (if eyes they be) and from its hands. Four separate bolts at Thor. Thor deflected these with the OdinSword and then thrust the great sword into the abdomen of the Dreaming Celestial. Holding fast Thor raised the sword. Momentarily Thor was reminded of a stuffed pig or other roast on a spit at an Asgardian banquet. Were it not for the circumstances most dire he might have laughed. The Celestial seemingly unhurt grabbed the Odinsword on either side of him with a force that threatened to break it.
Thor pulled the sword out and with a both mighty and masterly stroke cut the Celestial in half and half again. Stopping in fascination the Thunder God watched the space god trying to rejoin and regenerate. He saw the entity was at the limits of its ability to do so and with two mighty strokes he carved it still further. Celestial life essence spewed and dissipated everywhere, beyond that single entities ability to reform itself.
In the battle between the Multiverse’s most powerful god and the mad representative of the Celestials there was bound to be collateral damage. First and foremost among this was the massive world about which Asgard lay in orbit. It was completely obliterated. Asgard, still protected by the layered force shields of the starship of Galactus, remained secure though now in an orbit of its own about the system’s star. The lady Sif, whatever her condition, had been teleported from the massive planet to Galactus starship and was being tended by robotic devices.
Dormammu for his part had had enough. Finally escaping from Galactus vice like grip, he fled interdimensionally to a place not immediately obvious but not his own dimension.
At this moment a Celestial Host numbering 12 appeared. Though enigmatic and impassive in the extreme Galactus sensed considerable gravity in their demeanour. Without their intervention one among their number was on the verge of ceasing to exist. By some means unknown they gathered in all the life essence of the Dreaming Celestial but did not recreate the form in which he had appeared to non Celestials or at all. Instead they appeared to share the life essence among themselves.
Thor, exultant in victory, almost glowing with power, and completely as one with the OdinSword stood ready to confront the Celestials. Galactus also grown to Celestial size stood shoulder to shoulder with him.
No words, nor telepathic thoughts, came from the assembled Celestial behemoths. Still, before their departure, a few simple gestures made it plain, particularly to Galactus, that
the matter was at an end.
Thor and Galactus both now returned to their usual size tended to Sif aboard Galactus starship.. She was in truth close to death and in her herald form it required a rare combination of the power cosmic and the ThorPower to heal her.
After a short period of convalescence the Lady Sif, true to her word, and perhaps to the surprise of the mighty Thor, joined the great Galactus as his Herald. The debt of gratitude owed by Asgard to Galactus was of such proportions that she felt this was the very least she could do. It was a long time before the Lady Sif returned to Asgard and her service to the great Galactus is stuff of legend. Though in time neither saw it as service as such. A relationship of a different nature to any he had ever experienced with earlier heralds.
The dread Dormammu was never seen from or heard from again. Though some noted that Thor made a short interdimensional journey not long after the departure of Sif and Galactus.
Though he rebuilt Asgard beyond the earlier restorations of Galactus, the mighty Thor kept the eternal city for a time in the star system to which it had been thrust. He discovered riches in some of the worlds of the system beyond expectation and placed Asgard in high orbit about one such world. Yet other survivors of Asgard were discovered among the system worlds and moons over time as were mortal beings of human likeness. In time the population of Asgard increased to pre-catastrophe proportions and more. The star system proved to be close to the denser core of the galaxy it lay within and received many visitors including other non Earth pantheon gods. Almost all of them welcome.
Instead of a pocket dimension of its own, Asgard settled for a vibrant star system in our own Universe. Muspelheim and Niffleheim both casualties of the Dreaming Celestial were never recreated though Hel survived after a fashion.
For Odin, for Thor, for Asgard Page 21