Chapter 3—THOR

Varg Drake was in the Great Hall, where his grandfather, Carriage, had found him at his throne. Varg was lost within his thoughts about the young woman, the one who had flashed into his life that night. When Varg noticed Carriage was sitting at the edge of the table, facing him, he knew that something was wrong.

“What's wrong?” asked Varg with a concerned tone of voice.

Carriage sighed, sounding like his all his years of wisdom had escaped him. “You are not going to believe me, but she is from the future and very far into the future as that.”

“How is this so, grandfather?” asked the Viking ruler.

“She has told me that she was living in a time that is a thousand or so years from now,” stated the older man. “As she was watching me mix my herbs together, she looked like she was somewhat lost by the look in her eyes. I asked her about it, and she told me that she had never seen anything like that before,” the Druid exclaimed.

Varg had gotten off of his chair and started pacing back and forth. This had caused something in him to be unsettled about the whole thing, for it told him that she seemed too good to be true. Then, a thought had occurred to him; he then faced the older man and asked, “Can she go home, then?”

Carriage shook his head from side to side before saying, “No, she cannot.”

This caused him to be both happy and angry about the whole ordeal. This only left him with one other way to go about it. And that was to call out for the one that he believed that had sent him the woman. Varg then called out with his mighty warrior voice, “THOR!”

Not even a few seconds had passed by when a massive flash of light brightened the room once more. Once it was gone, a very tall, muscular man stood before Varg. The man wore leather pants and armor upon his chest and arms. He also wore gloves upon his hands along with a horned helmet upon his head. “I am Thor, son of Odin. You have called me?”

Whatever Varg was expecting, it was not the man before him because he looked nothing like what his father had told him from the stories that he remembered from so long ago. None of the stories told him that the man before him was a flashy person, all clean and shiny; instead, the stories told about his warring days and how he would be bloody, scared, and rugged.

The man, who said that he was Thor, was too clean and hardly shown any sign of war wounds upon his skin that he could see. The only telltale sign of Thor’s war years was his voice, for it sounded rough from all the yelling that one would need to use upon the battlefield.

“I am Varg Drake, son of Bjorn Drake, who was the ruler of this land. I want to know whether Lyra is even your child and how is it that she claims to be of a different time?”

The man who called himself Thor smirked. Varg knew from that moment that he was not going to like the man before him very much. “Lyra is from a long line of my children, and therefore, she is a child of mine. As for her claim to be from a different time, then that is true. I have taken her from her home to yours for you to marry. There was no man from her time that wished to marry her. So, I had brought her to a time that I knew that she would find the most happiness in. Do not make me regret such a choice that I made for her. Even if her line ends in the year of 2003, her line will make it here in 836. So watch what you say to her or to me, for that matter,” stated the angry looking, muscular stranger before Varg.

Varg growled like an angry wolf, ready to defend his honor and his pack. “So you will be acting as her father in all of this?”

Thor smirked even wider than he had before and said, “That I will.” Thor was secretly having fun with the young mortal man before him. The Viking God knew that no true man would be good enough for his mortal daughter. But he was playing with fate; something far more than he was willing to do so. Thor knew that if his own father had caught wind of what he was doing. He may find that he has no home to return to, for Odin was angry about what Thor had told him of his plans.

Before Thor had set off to do what he was doing, his father had ordered, ‘I forbid you from making such a jump through time, even for your mortal daughter. Fate is something that no one should mettle with. Not even a GOD!’

Thor had seen his father angry many times before, even when it was just with the petty fights that Thor had with his own brother, which would cause their mother to run off to get their father, who would come back with his thunderous voice, calling for order. But this was different. This was his father laying down the rules that some things that no one; not even a God, should ever do. ‘Father, you have always told me that we must intervene if things don't go the way that they should. So why can’t I help, Lyra? My own child!’

Odin, known as the King of the Norse Gods, gave his son a sad look upon his face. ‘Thor, my son, this is not one of those times. You must allow fate run its course; she will be alright.’

Thor did not believe his father, so he had gone off one night and did what he had done, hoping that his father would not find out. Or else, it would have been too late for him to intervene any further than he himself had already done.

“You do realize that the rest of your line will be changed from this point on, don't you?”

Thor glared with heat upon his face and stated, “I know what you are, Wolf-Dragon, and I know that you will love Lyra more than anything—as well as the children that the two of you will have. In the morning, I want you to sit down with her and tell her everything about your changing. I will guarantee you that she will be more understanding than any other person in your land. She won't run away like other women, who were in your life before now.”

Varg, with a scowl look upon his face, knew as Thor was talking about for his father's family suffered from a curse, a curse to change one’s shape at will since his father's family was from known Dragon changelings along with another animal at a few areas within the bloodlines. Varg's father was able to change into a Bear-Dragon while Varg turned into a Wolf-Dragon. He would have to test Lyra by changing before her very eyes.

Varg then sighed heavily. “We shall see about that, Thor.”

The Thunder God clapped his hands together so loudly that many would believe it to be a clap of a thundercloud. “Well, in the meantime, I shall stay with my child and watch over her until the wedding. I will see you and the Druid in the morning.” With that, Thor turned away from Varg and Carriage as he walked out of the Great Hall with a great sounding noise from his great big strides in his boots as he moved about the open air, near the important huts that were near the Great Hall.

“I’m going to hate that man,” stated Varg darkly.

Carriage chuckled knowingly. “He is no man, Varg. According to your father, he is a God, and he is much taller than what your father had talked about him. You see, Varg; Thor has come to earth and battled the wars upon it, or he even watched them from afar. But he will never back down from any fight that he believes that is worthy of his attention.”

Varg walked over to his throne and sat down upon it and then glanced at his grandfather. He had heard stories about the Norse Gods and Goddesses from his father as he was growing up. He remembered the times that his father had talked about Thor, who knew how to win all sorts of wars. Varg even heard about the time that a great war had happened upon the earth that dealt with what looked like demons, who had half-human and half-animal forms that nearly killed each other until Thor stood before them and stopped the ones that were doing it for power. Varg had also heard about how powerful the God was with and without his Warhammer. He knew that there was no winning with such a man within this village.

“You should get some sleep, Grandfather; you are going to need it for tomorrow.”

“What about you?” asked Carriage with worry upon his face and more deeply within his eyes, which were the ones that showed the most worry he had ever experienced in his life.

“Don't worry about me. I am going to do some flying tonight, and I have a lot of thinking to do. I don't know where to start,” stated Varg as he seemed to be in deep in thought.

Carriage sighed. “Well, don't stay out all night; you have a young woman to woo in the morning.”

Varg glared at the Druid, who was trying to picture something within his head. “How did my father woo my mother?”

The older man nearly fell over from laughing. “What your father did as that he had picked up my daughter and put her over his shoulder. Then he stated for all to hear, ‘Mine.’” The Druid stopped laughing long enough to give his grandson a thoughtful look. “But I have a feeling that it will not work for you. It is up to you to find out what it would take to woo such a woman like Lyra.”

Varg chuckled. He could tell from what his grandfather was telling him. The woman that came to his Great Hall that night was going to be a challenge. More so than any war that he had ever faced. “I can see your point. Well, goodnight Grandfather and I will see you in the morning.”

“Goodnight, Varg.” And with that, Carriage had gotten off the edge of the table. Stretching out a few his muscles, he started walking out the Great Hall where he was able to make his way to his own hut.

Varg then walked towards the front doors of the Great Hall and out of the entrance way. Then he followed the pathway to the open gates of the wooden fort. The village was protected by a tall wooden wall. People are found on the upper level, as lookouts. The place was able to be locked and protect those within the village from the outside forces.

Once he was on the other side of the gates. He dropped to his hands and knees. Where he forced his body's energy into changing his human body, into that of his name’s sake. After a long minute or so had passed; he was no longer human, but that of a Wolf-Dragon. He pushed his form to a stand on his back feet, just like he could as his human form. But unlike any other human, he is also a very powerful being on earth, unlike Thor.

The wings upon his back were placed upon his shoulder blades; he stretched them out, ready for flight. He then bends his knees and placed his hands upon the ground, to where he was able to push off from the ground. As his wings began to flap; the force itself was pushing Varg’s body away from the ground.

Once he was in the night sky. Varg was enjoying his free time in the air. The wind raking through his fur and petting his wings. His claws ripped into the open air, with all twenty of his sharp nails.

Flap…flap…

Went his wings as he was pushing his way from the ground. He was able to climb even higher levels than he had before. Making his way; away from the earth below, wanting the feel of freedom beneath his wings. Varg was not just pushing the air into the ground. He was also pushing his anger and his frustrations that had for the Thunder God. The one that he had talked to, earlier that night. He was near to the point that he was going to rip Thor’s head off his shoulders. With the amount of anger that he had before he had gone flying.

Varg wanted to get rid of his anger, with each flap of his wings. It was starting to feel like it was nothing more than a puff of smoke; as he was flying around the cold, open night air. Varg noticed that the moon was near full that night. As he was enjoying the fresh feel of his fur, being combed of high levels of oxygen. He then flew towards the loch. He noticed nothing out of ordinary as he swung around and made it towards the village once more.

Then a thought of Lyra had entered his mind; as he made his way, towards his keep. He flew around; until he saw a window that was part of Lyra’s hut. He made his way down and latched himself upon the roof. He was able to look in and hear what was going on within her room.

What he was able to see; was that Thor was walking around the little hut, as Lyra slept in her bed. This caused the Wolf-Dragon to growl. While he watched the God, seeing that he was in the hut of the woman that he was planning on marrying. Varg could tell that she was not going to wake up before morning, and he left the two of them, be.

With a huge sigh, Varg pushed his body away from the turf roof of the hut, to where he was able to flap his wings. With a great flap, he brought himself higher within the sky. He circled around the village once more, seeing that all was well. Once Varg found himself near the front gates. He landed upon the ground and changed back into his human form.

He called out to his men, for them to close the gates for the night as he made his way towards his own hut. With each stride that he made; he was thinking about wooing the woman that he had met that night. The one that he needed to marry in three days. He did not want any man to learn that she was an unclaimed woman, who happened to be the daughter of Thor. The most powerful ally that any man could ever ask for.

As he was picturing Lyra. Varg could tell that she was a very smart person, from the way that she was looking. Also, the way she was listening to what was being said or done. She hardly talked unless; she wanted to understand something further. Which brought him to believe that Lyra would be a great woman to have at his side.

So if Varg wanted to have Lyra as his wife, he was going to have to either prove to her that he was just as smart, or he had to prove that he was stronger than any man alive so he could protect her and the future family that they would have together. With a smile upon his face, he concluded that had a few ideas to show this woman that he was all man enough for all her and headed towards his hut.