Interlude – The Gatekeeper’s Thoughts
Interlude – The Gatekeeper’s Thoughts
Heimdall watched his prince’s failed attempt at retrieving Mjølnir, his heart filled with sorrow and sympathy for Asgard’s Royal Family. His king had fallen into the Odinsleep, his queen continued to stay by his side while Loki had taken over the responsibility of ruling until such time that Odin would awake, if he awoke. They were unprepared for the Odinsleep this time and there was no telling when or if the king would wake.
“Heimdall…” A soft voice said, breaking through his introspection. He focused his gaze on the call, finding a young woman on Midgard looking up at the sky with determination swirling within the depths of her moonlit silver eyes. He couldn’t help but notice that she possessed the otherworldly beauty of the immortal beings, which he had never seen in a mortal before. “I don’t know if you can see or hear me, I don’t know how much of the stories about you all are true, but I will get Thor back.” She vowed determinedly. Heimdall saw Thor seated on a lone chair in the center of a white room deep within the facility erected around Mjølnir. “Someway, somehow, I will get him back. I know it may not mean much, especially since you probably have no idea who I am, but Heimdall, if you can see or hear me, I promise I will. And I’ll look after him and protect him until he learns whatever it is that he’s supposed to learn, until he is once again worthy of wielding Mjølnir.”
Heimdall frowned slightly, taking note of the pale silvery gold crescent moon on the young woman’s forehead. It was a curious birthmark, none on Midgard ever having been born with such a mark. In fact, only one soul had ever been born with it, in each of her lives – Anera. However, aside from the mark of the crescent moon and the moonlit silver eyes, this woman didn’t bear many other physical resemblances to Anera. The one other aspect she shared with the deceased Light Elf was the power that swirled deep within her.
‘Could it be?’ He wondered. ‘Could this young woman truly be her? Could she have been reborn on Midgard this time?’ He frowned thoughtfully. ‘But why? If this is indeed Anera, why was she born on Midgard and not one of the other Realms as she previously had been?’ A seed of hope bloomed within his heart; a glimmer felt for the first time in so many years. ‘Could this mean the curse will finally be broken?’
Heimdall closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, pushing his thoughts aside. He had no way to know for sure and these thoughts wouldn’t help anyone, least of all Thor and Loki who had both loved Anera deeply, albeit in different ways. Nor would they help Alfheim’s ruling family who had only just begun to try moving on from the loss of their eldest child. It would do no one any good to speculate and hope when there was no way of knowing for certain; they had already paid the price of blind faith when they believed that the curse had been broken during Anera’s most recent life until she had been killed in battle on the eve of her and Thor’s wedding. Her death had sent Thor into a deep and uncontrollable rage, known as the Crown’s Madness. He had laid waste to half the Royal Palace of Valaskjalf before Odin had succeeded in subduing him. Moments after being subdued, he finally lost consciousness due to his injuries and exhaustion.
With these thoughts playing on his mind, Heimdall vowed to keep his suspicions to himself until he knew for certain. And so, he focused his gaze once more on the young human woman and watched as she and her companion reached their destination and climbed out of their strange carriage.