Nine Realms: Gods and Warrior Hearts

Chapter 14

Midgard

It felt as if he had smashed back first into a brick wall. He had to shield his head with his hands as heavy items came raining down on him, one after another. When it finally stopped, he lowered his arms and opened his eyes. Not bricks - wood. Wood smashed to pieces, scattered around him on the carpeted floor. And books. Loads of them. High bookshelves everywhere, neatly set up in rows and filled up to the ceiling. A library. He must have had the misfortune to have landed in the shelf with the chunkiest, in leather bound tomes. The Norns had said, that they would send him to Midgard, but why for the Wyrd's sake to this place?

Ard took in his environment. To his horror, a young mortal man sat at one of the desks on the side, starring equally horrified and in disbelieve of what he had just witnessed – a man appearing out of nowhere, seemingly falling from the ceiling. But the mortal wasn't just any man, his face was familiar.

"Ehm...hello," Ard said as casually as possible, heaving himself up, books tumbling off him.

The young man just stared, brushing his black hair back with both hands, still not quite able to comprehend what just happened. He didn't know Ard, of course. The god had always ensured to go undetected, had always been undercover.

Now that Ard was standing upright, the young men's eyes widened even more when he realised the intruder's enormous size and unusual clothes.

"Who are you?" the mortal finally asked.

Ard quickly weighed up the options – to tell him the truth and risk having the mortal law keepers on his back in no time, or to run. But where would he run to?

Thanks to the young man, which he recognised from his recent spy missions, Ard had a rough idea of where abouts in Midgard he was – somewhere in the city called London. The earth, as the mortals called their realm, was a vast and inconsistent place. From lands of snow and ice to barren deserts, lush green fields to tropical rainforests, the mortals had it all. Midgard was by far the biggest and most diverse realm of all. The highest power had given them a world full of plenty, yet the majority of mortals couldn't see their own wealth. At least, that's what Asereth taught him - that the mortals didn't appreciate what they had been given and that the highest power put it down to the gods to protect the unappreciative earthlings from themselves.

"Hello?"

The mortal was still waiting for an answer.

Ard had to pull himself together and act as normal as possible. Standing in a pile of debris, daydreaming, was not normal. Smalltalk was a good idea. He decided on a half-truth.

"My name is Ard. I...am...not from around here."

"You, ehm, don't look like you are from around here."

"Well, I am just visiting."

That wasn't quite true, but Ard couldn't get himself to think of Midgard as his new home. He had to get out of this building and find a place where he could think of his next steps.

The mortal had calmed down, Ard could hear his heart rate slowing. Time to go.

"I'm Amar. Now tell me, where did you come fr...,"

"I know who you are." Ard cut him off before he was able to finish his question.

"Goodbye Amar."

He hurried down the corridor, leaving a confused Amar behind. Just as he turned around the corner, he heard furious shouting.

"What on earth happened here? What did you do?"

The librarian must have just entered the scene of destruction. He didn't sound happy at all. Amar was the only person around, surely he would be given all the blame. But there was no time for Ard to feel guilty. Getting Amar into trouble for some broken shelves was by far not the worst thing Ard had done to him. If the mortal knew that he was the one who took his love away from him...he would have made his first enemy in Midgard. How cruel the Norns were, to throw him right at Amar's feet.