Heroes Assemble!

Death Is Inevitable

"Would not opening the Bifrost to bring me home be easier, my friend?" Thor asked.

"I am not the Gatekeeper any longer, Odinson," Heimdall replied. "Those duties were given to another some months ago."

Thor's eyes strayed to the hilt of a very familiar sword that protruded over Heimdall's shoulder.

"Impossible! The Bifrost cannot be opened without the sword that you carry," Thor pointed out.

"True enough, however I have only just very recently ... reacquired it," Heimdall replied. "Before then it was being used by another. Thor, you need to know. The one who we thought of as the All Father ..."

"Is really my brother, Loki," Thor finished. "He's not as dead as he led us all to believe. Again. And on top of that, this time he had Odin banished to Midgard. However, he's not where he was thought to be. I had thought that he had returned to Asgard on his own."

Heimdall shook his head. "I, too, felt the Dark Magic that you are referring to. I'm sorry, my friend, there's no easy way to say this but Odin has passed, his magic released."

Thor dropped to his knees. His father, dead? Surely not! Odin was the All Father. Yes, he slept, more often than usual of late, but still.

"I have seen the proof," Heimdall continued. "A woman has come to Asgard. She claims to be Odin's first born and rightful heir."

Thor's head snapped up. "Odin had but one child. Me."

"I am not so sure," Heimdall frowned. "Her name conjures memories, whispers from long ago, tales of the Daughter of Odin who the All Father had to banish and confine so that she did no more harm."

"Who is this woman? This sister of mine that I know nothing of? What is her name?" Thor asked as he returned to his feet.

"Hela, the goddess of Death."

"Is it possible for you to allow me to See her?" Thor asked.

"That is my intention," Heimdall replied.

Thor watched as his friend ghosted through the golden city. It seemed empty, deserted which Thor knew that it should not be. The city was always thriving with a population in the tens of thousands. Finally, Heimdall slowed and crouched down behind a pillar.

Thor's ghostly self stepped out and frowned. Directly in front of him was the head of an enormous statue with a very familiar helmet with two long, curved horns.

"That's new," Thor commented absently.

Unfortunately, it wasn't just the statue of Loki that had been decapitated.

Spreading out from where he stood, covering the great court, were bodies. Hundreds of them. All wearing the golden armour of the Legion of Asgard. Each and every one had been killed, their weapons still in their hands. Clouds of smoke billowed from a pair of ships that had crashed, obviously in the fight as well.

The sight was enough to bring Thor to tears. Here were warriors that he knew, men that he'd fought alongside, all now lying dead, murdered.

"That's her?" he asked darkly, his eyes having risen to settle on the lone female standing amongst the bodies.

"Yes," Heimdall replied, clearly angry.

As much as Thor wanted to stride forth, Mjolnir and Stormbreaker in hand, and to show her just what the god of Thunder was capable of, to avenge the deaths of all those brave warriors, he knew that he couldn't. Not right then at least.

Instead, he simply watched.

The woman, his sister, was looking about the carnage and destruction, a bored expression on her face.