For Odin, for Thor, for Asgard Page 7

  This was the first time Magni had worn the armour crafted only for him but as soon as he donned it the armour seemed to flow around him fitting snugly like a glove. Reassuringly durable yet very light, Magni found that he was immediately familiar with all of the armours many and vast powers which complement his own nigh immeasurable might.

  However even at the moment of his arrival on the battlefield Lord Thor has already struck a masterful first blow against his adversaries.

  Moments before Lord Thors arrival, Thialfi in the Destroyer Armour momentarily froze time about Galactus and his heralds and in a “stealth” form both invisible and undetectable he retrieved the adapted ultimate nullifier from Shirom.

  .

  Immediately thereafter the Thialfi Destroyer “phased” through the outer shell of Galactus Worldship. With knowledge voluntarily supplied by the Silver Surfer the Thialfi Destroyer quickly overcame the ships internal defences and destroyed all of its control systems. The Thialfi Destroyer easily breached any armoured partitions and internal force fields protecting areas within the ship. This had the additional effect of slowly reversing Alaim’s deprogramming.

  As a result of the improvements made to the Destroyer Construct in more recent times Thialfi in the Destroyer, was able to retain the speed of his own physical body thus completing all tasks in the mere moments during which time was frozen about Galactus.

  With the Worldship now rendered useless and the nullifier removed from them, Galactus and his two Celestial level heralds confronted King Thor, Thialfi in the Destroyer Armour and the newly arrived Prince Magni. Loki attended in astral form, to observe and render what assistance he could. Thor, Magni and the Thialfi/Destroyer mystically assumed the same size as Galactus and his heralds.

  Furious at the way he had been outmanoeuvred Galactus and his heralds concentrated their attack on what they perceived as the weak link in the Asgardian triumvirate.- Thialfi in the Destroyer construct. Possibly they also targeted the Destroyer in the hope of recovering the nullifier. For a moment inconceivably vast cosmic energies crackled around a construct that was originally designed to battle Celestials and which had been further enhanced for that purpose.

  However before the attack could gather any real momentum King Thor and Magni combined to hit Galactus with two short duration controlled god blasts. Such an attack would have killed a normally fed Galactus but in his currently overfed state they simply stunned him forcing him to break off the engagement.

  Alaim the thinker, though uninjured, paused uncertainly as his deprogramming began to lose its effect and he broke off his attack.

  The battle then recommenced with all adversaries engaged in a wild melee and with no definite pattern of attack from either side. At one point the Celestial level heralds hurled nearby uninhabited planets and planetoids at the Asgardian trio but these were either avoided or vaporised. The only forms of attack held in reserve were the Destroyers disintegration weapon and sustained godblasts by Thor and Magni. In all other respects the conflict was unrestrained..

  Thialfi was all too aware that once the destroyers disintegrator was used it would take time for the energies to build again atop the disintegrator visor.

  The results of the melee were inconclusive, although Loki, even though only in astral form, was hurt by Galactus and left the field of battle.

  “To defeat these heralds” mused Thor “I shall appeal to the true nature of Alaim as the effects of his deprogramming unwind and test his loyalty to both Galactus and his brother Shirom.” Thor appealed to Alaim “Now that you know the truth of matters why do you still follow Galactus ?.”

  “Do not listen to him my child” intones Galactus “he seeks only to divide us and to set you against your brother.” Alaim, ever the thinker, and with his deprogramming continuing to unwind found himself questioning his master and his masters motives.

  Overcome with anger at the lack of loyalty of his brother and fellow herald and to the despair of Galactus, Shirom the headstrong turned on Alaim the thinker enjoining him in battle.

  The Asgardian trio seized this moment of discord among the Celestial level heralds and hit them full on with all their vast arsenal. Magni’s godly essence joined not only with the innate energies within his armour but with the power of the hammer supreme. At Magni’s direction these energies flowed out toward the warring heralds joined in turn by a sustained godblast from King Thor and the energies flowing from the Destroyers disintegration visor.

  Is there anyone who would doubt that this combination – godblasts from Lord Thor and Prince Magni and disintegration thrusts from the Destroyer construct were ultimately the best that Asgard had to offer ? If an attack of this magnitude were to fail, what more then could truly be brought to bear ?

  For a moment the Celestial level heralds locked in combat among them selves looked on in bewilderment at the energies pouring against them. But it was, in fact, merely a moment as both heralds succumbed and were reduced to smouldering slags of Celestial armour. Even Galactus, not directly attacked, was thrust aside by the sheer force of the onslaught,

  “ Should we have saved Alaim” enquired Prince Magni of his father “he seemed totally different to his fellow herald ?” “Best to be certain” responded Lord Thor “no active herald of Galactus can ever truly be trusted.”

  “So, great Galactus” said King Thor “it has come down to the two of us” “You are denied the resources of your Worldship, your nullifier and your heralds.” “I, in turn choose not to be aided either by the incomparable Magni or the Thialfi Destroyer.”

  “Your time has come Galactus” said Thor “your ravaging of worlds without number to assuage your unassuageable hunger comes to its end here and now” “ The suffering of unknown trillions of innocent living beings will be avenged !”

  “Have at thee Galactus” cried Thor as he leapt at the world devourer engaging him hand to hand.

  With the two titans firmly locked in battle awesome energies crackled about their massive forms and, even at such close quarters, both launched powerful eye blasts against each other. Their fists were balled and surrounded by colossal amounts of coruscating energies as neither seemed to be able to land a truly telling blow.

  As their struggle continued the two adversaries increased in size each matching the other, first to Exitar Class Celestial size then far, far beyond this. “ At close quarters and with us of equal size he is stronger than I would have thought” mused Thor. “but there can be no doubt as to the ultimate outcome of this battle.” “This can only end one way son of Odin” said Galactus “for I am Galactus and I am power incarnate – even one such as you must fall before me ! “

  As if to give the lie to his vainglorious boast Galactus, even as he fought, sought to draw (without the aid of his converter apparatus) nourishment from nearby worlds.

  Magni quickly stepped in to ensure that Galactus was denied this source of energy.

  Straining to his utmost Lord Thor cried out “you have foolishly accepted my choice to battle you in physical/energy close quarter combat.” “In this area you are at best inexperienced while millennia of hand to hand battle experience runs through my veins.” With that Thor broke free of Galactus’s and landed the first of many telling blows.

  With each blow the great Galactus seemed to grow just a little smaller in stature and Thor responded by decreasing his own size. Also with each blow, part physical part energy attack, Galactus seemed just a little less able to defend himself. In due course the contestation became most unequal and Galactus began to diminish rapidly in size.

  “Where will it end ?” mused Prince Magni “when will my father decide to stop ?”

  And indeed soon thereafter Prince Magni’s question was answered as Lord Thor did cease his onslaught. But for Galactus the process was now irreversible. His diminution in size (in the absence of any incoming reviving energy) continued apace until he died a mere husk of the mortal man once known as Galan.

  “ What of Galactus Worldship “ asked
the Thialfi Destroyer “which currently lies totally disabled ?”

  “It is a testament to all that Galactus represented” said Lord Thor ”it was an instrument in the orgy of destruction and the taking of untold lives and as such it must be completely destroyed.” With that and given that sufficient energies had again built up atop its disintegration beam visor the Thialfi Destroyer again opened its disintegration visor and the result was a foregone conclusion. The Worldship of Galactus simply ceased to exist.

  “And New Odin” said Magni “via the adapted nullifier it was simply displaced in time” said Lord Thor. “ to a time before the existence of the Norse Gods when Crom himself dids’t prevail”.

  “I am somewhat weakened by our encounters here” continued Lord Thor “but if you will both conjoin with me now, I am sure our combined powers will be more than sufficient to return New Odin and its populace to its rightful place in space and time.”

  And it was so.

  The Star Ravagers

  Our Universe

  Some Time in the Future

  For the first time in its long existence the entity knew pain, as something more than an abstract concept.

  No matter, the star was nearby and in moments the still adolescent entity would feed off it. It was not such a large star, as stars go, and would likely be extinguished in the feeding process. Did it matter that this star system supported intelligent life? Not really. The Star Ravager, like other energy configurations of its ilk, usually avoided populated systems. Sometimes that was not possible.

  Before the Ravager could begin feeding, a massive solar flare moved out from the surface of the star, seeking to envelope the entity. This was no ordinary, naturally occurring solar flare. Apart from its greater than usual speed and size it seemed subject to mystical direction.

  Located just inside the orbit of the closest planetary mass to the star, the Star Ravager waited to absorb the flare. Instead it found itself confronted by another sentient being coming to it within the core of the solar flare. Taking a brief snapshot of the newcomers’ inner mind, the Star Ravager saw that it was confronted by one of the gods of this system.

  An entity that actually chose to reside within the intense heat and crushing pressures of the star.

  Atum, son of the elder god Gaea and the Demiurge.

  As the two vastly different entities fought, the existence of the star that they contested came into doubt. The Star Ravager drawing increasingly on the energies resulting from the fusion reactions within the star. Atum, desperately trying to prevent this.

  Powerful as Atum was, and weakened though his adolescent adversary had been, the result of the contestation, and therefore the fate of the entire star system, seemed in some doubt.

  Until, that is, the arrival of another entity, not entirely unrelated to Atum.

  A mature individual of the Star Ravagers race would never have chosen to feed here. A mature individual of the race would have recognized the star system for what it was. A system always to be avoided.

  Before the contestants now stood a figure out of legend. The mighty Thor, liege lord of all Asgard, son of Odin, and the ultimate protector of the one populated planet of this system and by obvious extension the star that gives it life. And, as circumstances would have it, younger half brother to Atum.

  Raising his legendary hammer, Mjolnir, Thor of Asgard drew forth from the Star Ravager those energies that it had stolen and returned them sunward. He also used Mjolnir to transport the large amounts of plasma and hot gases that were swirling about Atum and the Star Ravager. Also returning them sunward.

  Balance was restored to our sun, thankfully before any permanent damage was done to it or the worlds that it nurtured. One world in particular.

  For the merest moment mighty Mjolnir seemed to react adversely. Thor saw that he had gone too far in the process, absorbing some of the utterly alien energies from the Star Ravager. Thor sought to immediately reverse the process but, at this moment of balance, and for reasons best known to himself, Atum drew out the Star Ravager’s inner life force and crushed it.

  Where the life force of an entity is low, even impossibly low, Thor the mighty can revive that entity. Be it physical being, energy construct, or something else. What even the mighty Thor cannot do is to bring the dead back to life. Only he who is above us all can do that.

  Nor is it the same thing to entirely reconstruct an entity from its molecular components. Not when the life force itself has gone.

  So, for the first time, since the act of original creation a Star Ravager perished.

  The knowledge of that death was immediately known to all those of the young Star Ravagers race. Wherever they might be.

  Thor and Atum looked out among the stars and saw a number of them disappear, seemingly winking out of existence. Normally it would have taken many years for the light from those stars to reach Thor and Atum. But the Star Ravagers had a way, possibly the teleportation of light, to bring their unmistakable demonstration directly to Thor.

  Thor knew he would not need to go out to them. The Star Ravagers, the mature adults that had so steadfastly avoided our star system, would now come and they would come in strength.

  Atum would likely be a casualty. Still the Star Ravagers would doubtless hold Thor, as the greater of the two gods, ultimately responsible for this the first death of one of their kind. What, short of the entire destruction of Sol and Asgard, would satisfy them now?

  Atum returned sunward seemingly unrepentant and unable to accept the consequences of his actions.

  Thor looked at the sun now returning to normal. The sunspots, the corona, the solar flares and he marvelled at it. Would the great Galactus, or the Celestials, or the Star Ravagers even, have felt this way? Thor knew they wouldn’t. The gods still retained a sense of wonder, something that distinguished them from the cosmic powers.

  Thor returned to Asgard and to the high place at Hlidskalf. From where it is said he can view all things. He saw that no further stars had been expunged. That the Star Ravager demonstration, possibly an expression of grief, seemed to be over. All the stars expunged had belonged to lifeless systems.

  The son of Odin pondered on what little he knew of his adversaries. They had, in times past, sought to avoid conflict and usually only fed from the suns of lifeless star systems. Their only recorded confrontation, until today, was long millennia ago. It was over a single star system with the nearly as enigmatic Celestials. That conflict led to stalemate and eventual withdrawal by both races. Thor had seen today that a single weakened adolescent had been almost too much for Atum himself.

  Thor sought the advice of seers, mages, and sorcerers among them Dr Steven Strange, Orikal, Mimir and even Loki. Each was able to add a little extra knowledge of the Star Ravager entities.

  Meanwhile Asgard’s grand vizier, Thialfi, ensconced himself within the archives of Odin. There, deep in a bound volume of the chronicles and edicts of Odin, he found the first real clue. An indication as to the true nature of the Star Ravagers, where the lay in the overall scheme of things and, just perhaps, what could be done about them.

  “It is passing strange” thought the mighty Thor “that even long after his death, my father still continues to help us.”

  The Star Ravagers came sooner rather than later, much sooner. As Thor knew they would. They came as individual mature units. Twenty of them in all. A representative group.

  At the edge of our solar system these individual energy configurations joined as one to form one single sentient being. There they/it stayed unmoving, infinitely menacing.

  As if they/it intended to expunge our star system without even taking the trouble to enter it.

  The thunder god had only just moved humanity out of immediate harms way. Purely interdimensional teleportation had been out of the question. The Star Ravagers, though native to our Universe, were frequent interdimensional travellers. They knew the dimensions better than almost any entities

  Thor had teleported all living things of t
he Earth, save the most very powerful of its heroes, to the safest place he knew. An alternate reality construct, created, not so very long ago, by the combined efforts of many different god pantheons from various parts of the Multiverse. The gods could not even agree on a name for the construct and it remained known only and crudely as Alternate Reality One. Fortunately that was the only thing they could not agree on. The mighty Thor did not completely believe that humanity was entirely safe, even here, and had thus taken further steps to ensure their safety.

  Thor had arranged for the most powerful of the Earth’s heroes to be on hand at Asgard should they be needed. Which event seemed not unlikely.

  Balder lord of light, together with the Grand Vizier, Lady Sif, and the warriors three remained at the high place of Hlidskalf there to view events and be available as required.

  The ever vigilant Heimdall remained at his post, his superlative senses ever alert, as always.

  Atum might have remained in the sun there to fight and die; he might perhaps even have chosen to flee, though this was not the way of the son of the Demiurge.

  Instead he assumed his most powerful form, and one of the most powerful god forms known, the primal force, god slayer and demon killer known variously as the Demogorge, the God Eater, Ra, and Ammon Ra.

  Teleporting to the location of the Star Ravagers, the Demogorge, shining more brightly than any sun, orbited the monstrous Star Ravager energy configuration using his vast energy siphoning powers to draw off the alien energies.

  For the merest moment Demogorge seemed to have some success, growing into a larger and even more grotesque and eventually unrecognizable form before losing all control and crashing into the Star Ravagers. As every molecule, every sub atomic particle that had been Atum/Demogorge was absorbed by the Star Ravagers it became clear that stars were not necessarily their only source of food. Something the mighty Thor, thanks to the grand vizier’s research, already knew.