For Odin, for Thor, for Asgard

by Scholes, David

  Ymir and the other frost giants quickly followed – their greatest weakness was easily exploited as the Transcenders subjected them to a level of heat greater than ever found in even the hottest star. Mighty Surtur and his real of Muspelheim also fell as the Transcenders again exploited that realms great weakness. Earth physicists say that there is no temperature lower than the minus 273 degrees Kelvin of absolute zero. Such laws of physics do not apply to the Transcenders who froze great Surtur and indeed all of Muspelheim at a temperature that men cannot measure but was assuredly far below absolute zero.

  Asgard protected by the shield of Odin now grown to City size fought on, as Dr Strange and Loki both in astral form finally succeeded in locating the source of the Transcender attack.

  With all of the considerable force available to them the bulk of the Asgard force teleported close to the source of the Transcenders and launched an all out attack. The Transcender base of operation, if such it can be called, was swamped by a combined Odin/Thor godblast, and the Destroyers disintegration beam and molecular disruptors. The Silver Surfer added his own might utilising to the fullest extent the synergistic effects of combining his power cosmic and elements of the OdinPower. The formidably enhanced Iron Man also added his not inconsiderable capabilities.

  Eventually the Transcender attack was silenced and the Odin/Thor/Destroyer/Surfer/Iron Man attack ran its course.

  The weary combatants returned to Asgard and made for Hlidskialf.

  Odin returned to normal size and threw off his badly damaged battle armour. The armour literally disintegrated as it hit the ground, a most depressing site. The armour of Thor had been literally stripped and fried from him, his vaunted gauntlets damaged and cracks even appeared in great mjolnor. The Silver Surfer though seemingly uninjured was on the verge of exhaustion. Iron Man noted ruefully that his armour had been all but destroyed and that the Odin Gem that had been mystically implanted in his armour was now drained of all power.

  Asgard itself had not faired well – though the City proper had been largely protected, continental Asgard was little more than a cinder.

  At the high place of Hlidskialf, Odin was flanked by the Oracle/Mimir amalgam on one side and Dr Strange and Thor on the other. The battle weary monarch looked out from Hlidskialf and derived no comfort from what he saw.

  Of the nine worlds only Midgard and Asgard itself remained undefeated and already the Transcenders were looking elsewhere for conquest. An increasing number of stars were falling dark as the already too powerful Transcenders drew even more power from them.

  Midgard, despite the best efforts of its heroes, and even with the intervention of certain elder gods, teetered on the edge of defeat. However Odin took comfort that the bulk of humanity was still safely ensconced in the remote dimension to which he had interdimensionally teleported them.

  The group gathering about Odin at Hlidskialf appeared mightily weary and disheartened. Of them all Captain America seemed strangely the least weary, his light armour almost undamaged. He was not seen as a major target by the Transcenders but the condition of his armour may also have been testament to the Brell technology which helped create it.

  Odin briefly looked into the time stream at one probable future and was confused by what he saw. There seemed to be aspects of the time stream past and future coming together in the now moment. “There is definitely a local disturbance in the space time-continuum” remarked Dr Strange. “I sense it too” enjoined the Surfer.

  At that moment Oracle/Mimir cried out “ The Transcenders come again, this time to finish us.”

  “We are not quite ready for them my son” said Odin wearily “if you could but buy us some time ?” With that Thor raised mjolnor high and in a completely unrestrained way summoned the elements impeaching them to do his will. Both cosmic and more earthly winds, rains, storms and lightning of indescribable destructive power seemed to reinforce one another as Thor brought forth elemental forces not just from Asgard but surrounding dimensions and even, seemingly, from time itself.

  Never was there such a storm as this – no planet or planetary system had ever witnessed the like – and all was directed at the implacable Transcenders. And for a time at the storms height even these obdurate beings were held at bay. But the storm could not be maintained forever and as it’s intensity dropped somewhat five Transcenders appeared in the still storm laden skies above Asgard.

  Odin took one final fleeting look from Hlidskialf and thought he saw Vili and Ve approaching from the past and Magni the son of Thor approaching from a possible future. He looked to Oracle/Mimir for explanation but before that amalgam could speak the Transcenders struck.

  The Transcenders struck at the Asgard Destroyer not merely melting it but vaporising it. Moments thereafter they gathered the OdinSword briefly examining it before teleporting it to an unknown destination.

  As the life forces of thousands of Asgardians were released Odin directed them to their physical bodies. He then invoked an Asgardian spell never before used and the thousands of Asgardian bodies merged into a single large physical entity of immense size. The All Asgard entity picked up a nearby Transcender and hurled it far from Asgard only to lose a hand in the process. Such was the nature of the Transcenders that the All Asgard entity was unable to regenerate the lost hand.

  Still the Transcenders pressed the attack and Odin again grew again to Surtur level size. In still another strange twist of fate Odin teleported unto himself Twilight the sword of Surtur. Instants before his realm had been frozen Surtur had thrown the sword from Muspelheim to Asgard for Odin’s safekeeping. It certainly looked more than strange the Allfather now aggressively wielding this great weapon of what was once one of his greatest enemies.

  The Silver Surfer, immensely powerful though he now was, was struck in flight by energy thrusts from two Transcenders acting simultaneously. He plummeted to the soil of Asgard stunned but still very much alive . Meanwhile the trio of Dr Strange, Loki and Karnilla just barely escaped instant vaporisation by the erection of a mystic force barrier that required their full combined power.

  Under this final attack the Odin Shield itself still protecting Asgard high above the City gave way, overheated and overloaded it shattered into countless minor pieces. With his energies depleted Odin was unable to reform it. As Odin then struck with Twilight, one of the Transcenders struck at Oracle/Mimir with energy bolts from its eyes separating the amalgam into its components and then crushing the less mobile Mimir underfoot.

  Against all odds and all reasonable expectations Midgard and its heroes still held on by a thumb nail against the Transcenders.

  Using Twilight a beleaguered Odin had absorbed and contained within the sword part of the energy form of one of the Transcenders. As Odin braced himself in this grim confrontation Oracle cried out “look Odin, look the past and future heroes of Asgard and Midgard are converging on this now moment.”

  There could be no mistaking it, heroes, villains and others of Asgard’s and Midgard’s past and some more probable futures were converging on both Asgard and Midgard.

  The legions of the past and of the future were too numerous to name here – long forgotten ancients joined with those yet to be born the whole unstoppable tide converging on the Transcenders.

  The Transcenders could perhaps have escaped their fate merely by leaving the vicinities of Asgard and Midgard. Instead more Transcenders were drawn in against the unstoppable force. They might as well have been children trying to stop the waves crashing against the shore.

  Thus the Transcender threat, the greatest ever faced by Midgard or Asgard, ended .

  The final blow was struck by an entity as ancient as it was powerful - the Demi-Urge -acting in concert with Odin’s brothers Vili and Ve. This ancient entity which had once given life to our world now struck the death blow of the Transcenders.

  Afterwards the legions returned whence they came to the distant past and in some cases to a future which may never be.

  End

&nbs
p; The Asgard Anomaly

  The distant future

  As with all star ships of the Leandarr class, the superlative flagship carried a complement of mystic entities.

  Experience over long millennia had taught the Narssons that a blend of the most advanced technology married with the most powerful mystic entities was a good insurance policy. Against pretty much anyone.

  On this occasion, with the Emperor designate, Zdahlin Tihler, on board, the complement of mystics had been doubled. No chances were being taken with the soon to be most powerful entity in our Universe. A mystic himself.

  This made it all the more surprising when, without warning, the great vessel fell out of hyperspace while, oblivious, its escorting starships continued their hyperspace journey.

  “This shouldn’t happen,” said the flagships Commander “there is no precedent in our history.”

  “It has happened,” responded the flagship’s Captain, “live with it.” Telepathically he indicated for his subordinate to calm down.

  Immediately and without instruction the starships biological computers announced their present location. The vessels machine computers confirmed this a few seconds later.

  This area of normal space was known to the Narssons. It had been known to them for thousands of their years. They never came here and if the Narssons weren’t game to come here neither was anyone else.

  The bridge crew took in the immediate navigational projection directly above them. A scaled down three dimensional actual image of the area of normal space commencing half a light year from them.

  An area of space larger than any known star system that was subject to permanent roiling cosmic super storms.

  A place that had only ever been known as the Asgard Anomaly. For reasons now largely lost in the obscurity of time.

  Narsson technology was good – the three dimensional image mapped the area of space showing apparently moving pockets of calm amidst the inconceivable fury of the storms.

  At that moment the Emperor designate supported by his prime mystic and seer teleported on to the bridge.

  “Arcane forces pulled us from hyperspace,” said the prime mystic both verbally and telepathically in a manner that got everyone’s attention. Even those crew members not on the bridge “Just a momentary application, but enough,” he finished.

  Then the great man himself spoke up. Zdahlin Tihler, soon to be Emperor of many thousands of star systems. “The cosmic storms are enhanced by mystic forces” he announced to no one in particular, and everyone in general.

  There was a moment of verbal silence. Everyone on the bridge looked up at the three dimensional actual scale image of the Asgard anomaly. Some in fear, some in awe, others in a more calculating manner.

  “What I couldn’t do with such additional power at my disposal,” thought Zdahlin Tihler a thought that he couldn’t quite keep from the more receptive the minds on the flagships bridge.

  “We are being pulled toward the anomaly,” announced the flagship Captain, somehow ahead of even the biological computer, “Sire – your mystic defenders may be required to augment the flagships reverse thrust.”

  “Stay those actions good Captain,” came a voice that was now never challenged, a voice of absolute authority. “This may be no bad thing,” continued the voice, and our escorting fleet should be rejoining us, almost any moment now?” Zdahlin Tihler’s face took on the cruel smile that the flagship captain knew only too well.

  Up ahead, at the edge of the Asgard anomaly, a lone humanoid type figure appeared. The ships computers projected and enhanced the image.

  It was not a holographic projection nor, as the prime mystic confirmed, was it merely an astral projection.

  “What is that entity?” asked Zdahlin Tihler with perhaps just a slight tremor in his voice that would have been more evident had he chosen telepathic communication.

  The ships biological computers did not respond immediately and the machine computers did not respond at all.

  The biological computers were quite old. Which was a good thing. Biological computers are always evolving, adapting and changing and, with some ultimate limitations, improve over time.

  Finally the biological computers responded:

  “It is an entity, Excellency, thought to have existed in a time before the Universe was destroyed.” “A survivor, somehow, of that destruction.” “A god, no less, a true god, from the race that this anomaly is named after.”

  “Magni, Thorson, of Asgard.”

  The entire bridge of the flagship stood transfixed as the entity, Magni Thorson, drew the great ship closer to the anomaly. It or he seemed to be assisted by something held in both hands and raised high.

  “What is that contrivance, that artifact that it holds” asked

  The biological computers took even longer to respond.

  “Excellency, it is a weapon from the time before the destruction of the Universe.”

  “A weapon once wielded by the entities father, the greatest weapon of that time before time.”

  “The mighty Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor of Asgard, son of he who was once known as Odin the Almighty.”

  “Begin reverse thrust Captain” came the voice of ultimate authority, Zdahlin Tihler, as a micro second later his telepathic communication washed over the great starship “all mystics to my side!”

  The flagship captain and prime mystic looked at each other.

  There was a slight tremor in their masters voice and telepathic communication that neither of them had ever heard before.

  The great starship, flagship of all the Narsson star fleets, strained to its limits. Shuddering, almost convulsing, the full length of its leviathan frame in a losing tug of war with Asgard’s strongest god.

  Zdahlin Tihler, Emperor designate, moved quickly. Together with his prime mystic he entered a transitory mind fusion with the ships biological computers. An attempt to grasp in scant seconds all there was to be known about the Asgard anomaly. It was precious little.

  Then as the flagship, victim in an unequal contest, started accelerating towards Magni and the Asgard anomaly, it began firing on the Thorson at the same time as Zdahlin Tihler directed a mystic assault on the god.

  Eerie blue white discs of mystically enhanced plasma raced across the decreasing distance to Magni. These were followed by faster than light slivers of anti-energy and then near light speed anti-matter torpedoes.

  All of them, individually, energies that could strip a world to its core. Indeed in times past the flagship had done exactly that and worse.

  Swinging mighty Mjolnir the Thorson created a personal force shield and deflection screen much as his father might of in a different time and place. The energies directed against him, vast though they were, were deflected off into the outer edge of the Asgard anomaly and were consumed in the constantly roiling cosmic storms.

  Waiting until they were close enough the Narsson flagship saved its best till last, in the form of a hitherto experimental weapon. A living weapon, the anti-god wave.

  The anti-god wave energies were not fully deflected by Magni but danced and crackled across his force field and deflection screen. Seeking a crack or crevice through which they could feast on the god within and what a feast that would be.

  Clasping the hammer supreme in both hands Magni allowed just a portion of his life essence to be as one with the hammer. As the resultant energies were released the anti-god wave fed upon them. Yet at the same time it was physically thrust into the nearby abyss of the Asgard anomaly.

  Magni watched on, with not a little satisfaction, as the living weapon, the anti-god wave drowned in the overwhelming god power driven sea of cosmic storms that was the Asgard anomaly. Just too much god power for it to absorb.

  At this point it was as much as Magni could do not to vaporize the flagship before him, yet that was not his purpose.

  With the anti-god wave spent the flagship meek and now unresisting moved to within a kilometer of Magni, less than a tenth of its own length.
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  Magni allowed Mjolnir to rotate inside his grip and as it did so, Asgardian energies bathed and enveloped the Narsson flagship. Suddenly the great vessel was stripped of its numerous layers of force shields and seemingly even of its composite hull as all within was laid bare to Magni’s gaze. He saw his quarry.

  The Thorson could not, did not, expect that the Emperor designate would surrender himself to save the flagship. Such an individual would gladly sacrifice every last starship of Empire if it would save his own personal hide.

  “I have what I came for” said the Thorson as he conducted Zdahlin Tihler and his prime mystic away. “I have no claim on anyone or anything else present, you may leave this area.” It is said that sound does not travel in space as there are no molecules to conduct it, yet the voice of great Magni reverberated with crystal clarity throughout the ship and all of nearby space.

  Yet the son of Thor the Mighty knew that the Narsson flagship would not leave the vicinity. The aliens could hardly return to the home worlds after “losing” the emperor designate. Better for them to die here.

  Magni knew the flagships escorts would be here soon and then more, many more, starships would come. Perhaps eventually all of the star fleets of the Narsson. Starships beyond counting.

  Let them come thought Magni, itching for a fight; it’s been eternity since we’ve had a decent fight around here.

  Magni raised mighty Mjolnir high again and the closest of the fearsome cosmic storms that enveloping all of the Asgard anomaly parted. Without ceremony Magni escorted the Emperor designate and prime mystic inside the anomaly. The fearsome storms reforming after them as they passed through to an area of tranquility within.

  As they moved deeper in the quiet zone within the anomaly they come upon a great city.

  True there were much larger cities in the Narsson Empire and with much taller buildings. Still there was something about this place, this truly golden realm, a grandeur, a majesty, a character, a sense of history that made it a greater place than any city of any empire anywhere.