As two voices brimming with utter disbelief resounded through the sky, the screen of crackling lightning gradually faded.
Having lost the added power of the gold and silver hammers:
Loki reverted to his original form, and Thor also lost his divine power.
Some vestige of godly force still flowed in his blood, but it wouldn't be long before he was reduced to an ordinary mortal.
Thor couldn't figure it out:
Why did the supposedly indestructible Mjölnir, in a hammer-to-hammer clash with Loki's weapon, so quickly get flattened into a gold pancake and a silver pancake?
Holding those two huge "pancakes," Thor was utterly confused.
Loki was in no better shape either.
He had spent a fortune acquiring those hammers!
Yet after just one battle, they were ruined!
Two hammers combined, and they gave him barely three minutes of glory.
How was that fair?
"Aaron! It was Aaron—it had to be Aaron!"
"Thor, you really are an idiot!"
"A thousand years, and you can't even tell which hammer is yours? You went and chose two fakes!"
"These things really are just gold and silver molded into 'Mjölnirs'! They're not actual hammers at all!"
Loki was grinding his teeth in rage.
If Thor hadn't always refused to let him handle the hammer, how would he have failed to notice something amiss? The thunder power on these fakes was too deceptive, and Thor's own gaze made Loki blindly confident. Heh, so the God of Lies and Trickery, a born deceiver, ended up getting scammed himself today.
Thor froze, and then Aaron appeared.
"What are you all looking at me for?"
Aaron didn't feel the slightest embarrassment—if he refused to be embarrassed, others would have to do it for him.
"Thor, I gave you a choice before, and I warned you repeatedly. So what did you do?"
Thor recalled what happened and felt a stab of guilt.
He had ignored the unassuming "plain little hammer" and chosen two flashy, tawdry ones.
Dammit, he wasn't supposed to be a two-timer!
My little hammer, I've let you down!
"Remember now? I never lied to you. They're also 'Mjölnirs.' See how enthusiastic and lively they were? Even the thunder power was real enough, right?"
Thor nodded numbly, regret written all over his face. "Everything's my fault. My little hammer… I swear I love only you. Will you come back to me?"
From its perch on Aaron's shoulder, the small hammer—hovering in midair—heard Thor's self-reproach. It hesitated an instant before darting behind Aaron.
Aaron spread his hands. "See? It doesn't trust you anymore."
This time he truly hadn't done anything to commune with Mjölnir. Thor was the one who had chosen to go with that gaudy gold-and-silver pair. If a simple apology solved everything, why would police even exist?
Noting Thor's capitulation, Loki felt displeased, but he didn't dare take it out on Aaron, so he shifted all his resentment onto Thor.
Tsk, what a two-timer!
"Mjölnir, what about me? I swear I'd be loyal to you. Come to me, and you'll stay the King's Hammer—Asgard's greatest artifact!"
Loki tried stealing the hammer from right under Thor's nose. As long as my shovel is good, there's no wall I can't dig around.
But Mjölnir just glanced at him, shook its head, and went straight back into Aaron's embrace.
"It's made its choice. Who can blame me for my unwavering devotion?"
!!!
Thor's eyes nearly popped out—just last night you were seeing two girls!
Aaron caught the meaning. "But I only kept one hammer."
Thor closed his mouth. He had no comeback.
Loki took a lingering look at the hammer. He wanted it so badly!
If only he had obtained Mjölnir back then—he would never have tossed it aside or failed to recognize his one true love. Though his two gold hammers were now lost, Thor had also lost his two fancy ones. Meanwhile, Loki still possessed the Eternal Spear and the Destroyer Armor.
A cruel smile appeared on Loki's face.
The Destroyer Armor started to move, slowly.
"And now, we can resume discussing our little problem, Thor."
Just accept it—you won't be able to stop me!
Thor, Sif, and the others got ready to fight. Even knowing they were no match, they wouldn't back down.
"He isn't the All-Father. He can't unleash the Destroyer's full power. We can beat him!"
Volstagg hefted his massive axe with a roar.
Thor didn't feel nearly as confident. He looked to Aaron and said, "Brother, could you lend me Mjölnir for a moment? I promise to give it right back."
Aaron glanced at the hammer. Mjölnir didn't respond.
After a moment's thought, Aaron simply tossed it in a smooth arc that dropped it at Thor's feet and motioned for him to proceed.
Overjoyed, Thor seized it—while Loki's face darkened. "Thank you! I'll have to buy you a drink or two sometime."
"Huh?"
Thor tugged, but Mjölnir was as heavy as a stellar core, fused to the ground. Even with his remnant divine strength, he couldn't lift it at all.
Aaron crossed his arms, enjoying the show.
"Thor, I've given you plenty of chances. Seems you and Mjolnir just aren't a match. Better to part on good terms—someone else will take good care of it."
With a mere beckoning gesture from Aaron, Mjölnir detached from the ground and, to Thor's dismayed, regretful astonishment, flew willingly into another man's arms.
"Oh no!"
Horrified, Thor—who'd never truly dated before—was now having his first taste of being "two-timed."
Loki laughed with schadenfreude. Foolish brother, you're so pathetic that even your hammer can't stand you.
All the while, Loki continued advancing, keeping an eye on Aaron in case he made a move. But Aaron didn't seem about to intervene. He just watched, then looked up at the sky.
In that moment,
Aaron sensed a gaze. Though his long-range vision was impressive, it wasn't enough to plainly see all the way to Asgard or whoever was up there—but he was sure that, from this angle, Heimdall was watching him. And someone was at Heimdall's side.
Again, the golden light of the Bifrost flared.
Loki paused, uncertainly looking toward it.
Heimdall…hadn't he been stripped of his duties and frozen? So who was coming to Midgard now?
His mother?
He considered the possibilities, then put away the Eternal Spear and stood aside.
Yet, who emerged from the golden glow wasn't Frigga but a one-eyed old man, hair gone half-white, clad in full armor and riding a tall steed.
Odin!
"Father!"
"All-Father!"
Thor and Loki both turned pale and bowed.
Sif and the others glanced at each other, relief evident on their faces.
"Father, you're awake? I'm so glad!"
Loki rushed forward, switching from ruthless tyrant to genial good son in a heartbeat. He beamed at Odin as if overjoyed at his recovery.
"Look, Father, acting as temporary King, I'm here to straighten Thor and his friends out. But now that you're here, that's even better! Sometimes I feel I'm still too inexperienced."
Odin said nothing. His single eye swept over Loki, Sif, the others, then Thor, flickering with exasperation and a hint of disappointment.
Finally, his gaze settled on Aaron.
For his part, Aaron, for once, looked serious—not out of fear of Odin but out of respect for a god-king. Regardless of Odin's skill in parenting, it was undeniable that once upon a time, he was a Skyfather-level powerhouse who'd dominated the Nine Realms and far beyond. Though aged now, perhaps near the end of his life, he was still terrifying.
"God of Midgard, God of Storms, Lord of the Crystal Palace pantheon. Quite the title—suits you quite well."
Ignoring Loki's blatant fawning, Odin fixed his attention on Aaron alone. With that statement, he clearly acknowledged Aaron's status as a Midgardian deity.
Loki's face twitched awkwardly, and everything he'd been about to say got stuck in his throat.
"All-Father Odin," Aaron replied, "I'm pleased to meet you, too."
Courtesy for courtesy: Odin was being quite polite, so Aaron returned it in kind.
"I never expected that, after so many years away from Midgard, I'd come back to find someone like you here. Indeed…I must be getting old."
Odin dismounted, glanced at Thor, and let out a sigh.
From the moment Mjölnir was split into three, Odin had secretly been watching everything. Through Heimdall, he'd learned a great deal:
He knew Aaron was the "king" of some company on Earth and knew his name and age.
He also knew Aaron could reorganize matter—mass-producing Mjölnirs and even generating thunder powers.
Suddenly Odin realized that Aaron's unbelievable ability wasn't just dividing Thor's domain but creating an equal, standalone brand of thunder power!
Ordinarily, Mjölnir's thunder was Thor's own strength. Even if someone else could pick up the hammer and access the thunder power, that power ultimately belonged to Thor. The hammer just helped him use it. Once Thor truly awakened, even if the hammer recognized another wielder, Thor wouldn't lose his thunder. Instead, there would be two "Thor-like" figures drawing on it, but it would still all be Thor's power in essence.
Aaron, however, had forcibly violated that law.
Both the gold and silver hammers carried thunder power within themselves—power not derived from Thor. The strength Loki and Thor temporarily wielded moments ago was both similar to and distinct from Thor's. Odin couldn't fathom it in the least.
He'd initially planned to keep observing, but… Thor was just too useless!
"Thor, you must be, what, fifteen hundred years old by now?"
Odin sighed again.
Thor nodded, confused.
Next to him, Loki glanced at Aaron, and at once understood the deeper meaning in Odin's lengthy sigh. Loki himself was well over a thousand years old. Odin shook his head; these kids were hopeless. He remembered how, at that age, a certain other being had arrived in just a few decades, waged war alongside him in the Nine Realms, earned the moniker "Harbinger of Death," and mastered her powers with ease. Meanwhile, Aaron—at just twenty-two—was already toying with Thor and Loki like it was child's play. Why was the gap between a "god" (Thor) and a "human" (Aaron) bigger than that between a god and an ant?
"God of Midgard, I have a question for you."
"Go ahead." Aaron saw Odin's strange expression and dimly guessed his thinking.
"Who are your parents?" Odin's eye blazed with intensity. He sensed both Celestial might and traces of the old Asgardian royal line from Aaron. A terrifying hunch came to him:
Could his father, Bor, have had some fleeting, shameful but wonderful affair with an unknown Celestial when the former queen wasn't around? Odin recalled how huge the Celestials were and felt a chill. He'd underestimated dear old Dad—who somehow managed to… "aim" at that kind of being. A toothpick prying open a giant vat… He shuddered again—indeed, the older the ginger, the hotter the spice. It boggled the mind!
As for Aaron being only twenty-two, that was trivial by Celestial standards, who measured time in hundreds of millions of years. A "mere" several thousand-year pregnancy was no big deal. Likely this was why Aaron hadn't inherited the full might of a Celestial from birth. Yes, that must be it!
Aaron gave a wry laugh.
"…Don't get the wrong idea. I may not have met my parents, but I'm certain they were just normal humans."
But Odin nodded, deeply "understanding." "I see. I do understand how you feel. Truly…they wouldn't have done that on purpose. They must've had their own hardships…"
Bor had to fight daily battles in the Nine Realms while coping with the previous queen's demands. Meanwhile, the Celestials had to roam everywhere, creating light and hope for the universe. That kind of relationship was bound to be a one-night stand no one could openly celebrate. Indeed, it explained why there'd never been any earthly records of Aaron's past—he wasn't truly human but rather a Celestial-born child who also carried Asgardian royal blood, a Norse god in the making with the potential to become a King of the Gods! His skill with matter reassembly and Asgard's ancestral powers proved it. There was nothing more to say—Odin understood perfectly!
Watching Odin's imagination run wild, Aaron was left speechless.
You devious old man, what on earth is going on in your head?
"All right, I'm a human from Earth. I don't have any Celestial parents, and everything I did today was through my own effort!" Aaron tried once more to clarify, though he felt it was futile.
Odin only nodded. "Fine, let's not talk about that anymore. Maybe you'd like to come to Asgard for a while. That place is—"
…your real home.
He didn't say the last part out loud, not wanting to hurt Aaron's pride. The poor child had apparently been abandoned from birth; the Celestials wouldn't recognize such a half-breed, Bor was already dead and likely never knew he existed, so as Bor's son, Odin felt an obligation to make amends for Aaron while he still had time. It really wasn't easy!
"You've never met me before, but let me just say: Brother, you've had it rough!"
"What?!"
Thor and Loki both turned sharply, startled.
Sif and the others paled, half covering their ears—had they just overheard some unthinkable secret?
As for Aaron…
"Enough! Odin, I said I'm not your 'brother,' nor am I Asgardian. I just copy other people's powers—do you get it?"
He wasn't about to start recognizing new dads or uncles out of nowhere. Don't come near me, any of you!
Odin didn't get angry.
Thor, dazed, asked, "Father, did you just call Aaron—?"
"Thor, who said you could call him by name? He shares the same blood as you—he's your uncle!"
"That's impossible!"
"What the—?!"
Thor exclaimed, Loki was dumbfounded, and Sif and the others hurriedly turned away, not daring to listen further. Heaven help them, their heads were spinning with images of some monstrous royal-family soap opera.
Honestly, Aaron had anticipated many outcomes—maybe Odin would be upset or challenge him to a fight, or else be cautious and seek a truce. He hadn't expected an elderly Odin to suddenly act like he'd lost his marbles.
Gods could go senile too?
He knew his own abilities easily lent themselves to misunderstanding, and he couldn't just reveal his "cheat code." But still—Odin was supposed to be wise, and here he was, jumping to wild conclusions?
With a sweeping gesture, Aaron turned to go.
"Wait!"
Odin hurried after him. "You seem fond of collecting strange, unusual objects. I have a whole trove of such things, priceless treasures my forebears and I seized in war. They also belong to…well, I mean, you're free to explore them."
"As family, or as friends!"
Odin smiled genially, his golden armor shining under the sun.
Aaron paused, expression blank, then turned around.
"All right—let's go!"
And with that, he casually "tapped into" the Bifrost's power.
Once again, that familiar golden light descended.
Odin looked as if to say, "Stop pretending." Then he pulled along his mount and glowered at Thor and the others.
"And you lot—get moving!"
~~~
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