Chapter Text
"Never walk away from home ahead of your axe and sword. You can't feel a battle in your bones or foresee a fight."
Odin, The Havamal
January 2040
Maui, Hawaii
Cassie coughed. She quickly covers her mouth and wipes the drool and saliva away with a paper towel. After her sudden cough attack was over, she threw the paper towel away before picking up her son, Evan. She carefully rocks him in her arms before singing him a lullaby. Evan stared at his mother with a blank expression on his face that slowly turned into a drowsy expression. His eyelids were slowly getting heavy and seeing no reason to fight, he closed them and drifted off to sleep in her arms.
Cassie put Evan to bed in his crib and turned on the baby monitor. She checked her phone for any text messages from her significant other. Unfortunately, none came through. She figured that the overnight art exhibit Derek went to was keeping him distracted for the time being. But she was happy for him because he got to spend his time around like-minded artists.
As Cassie went to bed, her sudden coughing came back. She covered her mouth by coughing into her inner elbow and went into the bathroom to make sure she wasn't coughing up blood. Nope, no blood, just spit. It was January and the weather was still cold but she was sure this cough would go away soon.
Allergies, she figured.
After waking up in bed from Evan crying on the baby monitor, she wanted to go and comfort him but she was following through on the Ferber method, which basically meant that a baby puts itself to sleep by crying. Cassie wanted nothing more than to comfort him, to stop him from crying not only because she needs her beauty sleep but because she wanted Evan to know she'll always be there for him. But nevertheless, she followed through and went to sleep that night after Evan cried himself to sleep.
Waking up early in the morning, she was about to head down to the institution before remembering that today was her day off. She decided to spend the day with Evan before she got a call from a familiar number.
"Joshua?" she read. She picked up the phone and spoke to her stunt pilot friend, Joshua Hale.
"Cassie," a British voice came through, "I need to speak to you, immediately."
Cassie looked confused. "What's going on?"
"I've got something that might be right up your alley. I'm already in Maui and I driving to your place right now."
Cassie was taken aback but she assured him that everything was okay and that he could come by.
One hour later, Joshua Hale came through the front door of her home with a serious look on her face.
"What's going on?" Cassie asked as she made Joshua some tea.
The stunt pilot sat at the kitchen table and looked anxiously at Cassie. "What do you know about Norse mythology?"
"Enough," Cassie answered. She went over to Evan's high chair and began feeding him Goldfish crackers. "I know several stories. I've read the stories about Ragnarok, some stories about Loki being imprisoned, and even some stories about Thor getting married and even some giants."
Joshua reached into his backpack and pulled something out. "Alexander Goldman," he said. "Name ring a bell?"
"A giant church bell," Cassie replied. "Famous explorer, five treasure boxes."
Joshua points to a golden box the size of a shoe box out of his backpack and lays it on the table. He opens it up. "This Goldman's treasure box was found in New Mexico by a familiar person of yours. Professor Harvey."
She smiles. "Nice."
"Yep, your old college professor found a treasure box. A couple of months ago, when he took a group of college students on an expedition to New Mexico, they unearthed this box after Professor Harvey managed to solve it, he picked up whatever trail this box lead him to and he went missing."
Cassie's eyes widened. "Oh, my god."
He nods. "Afraid so."
"How did you end up with this thing?"
"I was the one to fly Professor Harvey and his class to New Mexico. Apparently, I'm the best freelance pilot an archaeologist could have."
"And a badass one too." She jokingly punches his shoulder. "Royal Marine veteran."
"Royal Air Force veteran, mate," he corrected.
"Sorry." She goes silent. "But, Professor Harvey, how long has he been missing?"
"Five days." He slowly stood up. "But, the strangest thing happened."
"What?"
"I was with him when he vanished." He gulped. "When we were flying over Greenland… high in the sky that falling from it would take three minutes to hit the ground… he vanished like a ghost in the passenger seat. I don't know how to explain it but all that was left behind was this box and the object inside." He holds his hands up. "I swear to god, he just vanished into thin air like it was nothing."
"Oh my god," Cassie gasped. "Can I see the treasure box?"
Joshua slid the box towards her. Cassie opened it gingerly and her eyes went wide and they were suddenly full of light and delight.
"Oh my god," she gasped, unable to breathe. "This looks so beautiful."
She pulls the item out, which looks to be a belt. But this belt was made of some kind of metal she couldn't identify and with symbols and writings, she couldn't immediately identify before she recognized several figures used in Norse mythology.
Norse mythology?
She pulled several small cubes out of one of the pockets and looked them over. What are these, Norse breath mints? She returns the cubes to their original place.
Remembering the clues on the last box that helped her in her Noah's Ark adventure, she looked over the artwork on the box's design. An immediate examination of the box made her look at Joshua with a smile on her face.
"Do you know what this is, Joshua?"
He shook his head. "My knowledge in the archaeology field is limited, but based on what Professor Harvey was saying, it's Norse mythology."
"This is the Megingjord."
Joshua stared at her like she had been babbling in a foreign language.
"Thor's belt."
"Oh," Joshua finally understood. "Thor from Nose mythology, his belt. The god of thunder's belt?"
"Yes," Cassie smiled.
"How do you know it's real and not just some random belt?"
"This belt's design, the symbols carved onto the belt, and just the sheer size of it prove that there is something a little more than human-like with this belt. There's also the fact that the metal this belt is made of isn't something I can identify." She held her hands up. "Did you see Professor Harvey experiment with this belt?"
"Yes," Joshua nodded. "I saw him try and destroy the belt with a hammer but the belt was indestructible."
"Good to know." She sits down at the table and rests her elbows on the table. "So, what were you doing in Greenland in the first place?"
"Professor Harvey hired me to fly him to Greenland. Apparently, he said something about the lost city of Asgard being real and the only way to access it is by flying into the Northern Lights."
"The Northern Lights?"
"According to the professor, the Northern Lights act as an access point into Asgard. Professor Harvey wanted to prove the existence of Asgard, saying it would be a historical find of the century and when I flew into the Northern Lights, he vanished."
"Tell me everything." She leaned closer. "I need to know everything, every detail in his journey."
Joshua recapped the story, sparing no detail.
"Why would he fly you to Nepal and Iceland?" Cassie wondered after hearing the story.
"According to something he found on the box, coordinates lead him to these locations. He was searching for something in the mountains of Nepal and Iceland but he couldn't find it."
"Thor's iron gauntlets and hammer," Cassie deduced. "I saw Old Norse symbols translating to gloves and hammers on the box." She rubbed her chin. "I'm going to out on a limb here and say that he was looking for all three of Thor's main possessions but he couldn't find any. And then when he told you to fly into the Northern Lights of Greenland, he vanished. And when he vanished, he happened to have Thor's belt on his body. But you remained unscathed."
"Yes," Joshua monotone.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say that in wake of what I heard, Asgard is real but because he didn't return with all three of Thor's main possessions, he was abducted and now he's trapped in Asgard."
Joshua shook his head. "I don't believe that."
"But something happened."
Joshua agreed, "Yeah. Something did happen, considering he just vanished into thin air but Asgard abducted him?
"Suspend your disbelief for the time being." She stands up and picks Evan up.
"I would but I've never seen a lost city before. But for the time being, I will believe that Asgard is real. And then I'll go back to being a skeptic."
"Spoken like a true non-believer."
Joshua stood up to meet her level. "So what are you going to do?"
"Well, it's not like the police can do anything about this for obvious reasons. But… if Asgard is real, then-" Her speech suddenly stops when she realizes something. "Wait a second… you were flying in an airplane up into the sky, into the Northern Lights of Greenland, and Professor Harvey just vanished? And you said you were about three minutes up in the air?"
"I don't remember the exact height but if you were to fall from said height, it would take three minutes before you reached the ground."
"Wow," she gasped. "That means… okay. I think I have this figured out somewhat." She holds her index finger up. "Let's say that Asgard is real. If the only way to get into Asgard is by flying into the Northern Lights, then that means either the Northern Lights act as a gateway to another dimension. Or the one thing that seems more plausible is that Asgard is a city with technology that allows it to float in the sky and use the Northern Lights as illusions to keep it hidden."
"Makes sense," Joshua shrugged.
Cassie bounced Evan in her arms. "Joshua, I've seen dozens of lost cities before and mythical objects but this… if my theory is correct… then that means… we are looking for a lost city… in the sky."
"My element," Joshua snarked. "Atlantis was in my boyfriend's element and now I get a lost city in my element."
"Exactly," Cassie laughed. "But I swear to god, if there's a lost city in outer space then we have officially entered science fiction territory."
"I like science fiction."
"But science fiction in a fantasy setting, that's like putting aliens in Indiana Jones. Oh, wait… never mind, that already happened."
Joshua clicked his tongue. "Speaking of Indiana Jones, I've never seen a movie before. Erkin's been trying to get me to watch them."
"I've seen all five Indiana Jones movies with Harrison Ford. Raiders of the Lost Ark, Temple of Doom, The Last Crusade, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and Dial of Destiny."
"Does Indiana Jones die in Dial of Destiny?"
"Shh," she put a finger to her mouth. "I don't want to spoil it for you."
"But getting back on topic, what are you going to do about this missing person's case?"
"I'm going to find Asgard and rescue Professor Harvey." She pointed to her companion. "You've already been to all the places Harvey went looking for Thor's gauntlets and hammer. All I gotta do is have you fly me there and then once I find these missing pieces, we return all three to Asgard and then we save Professor Harvey."
Joshua makes a fist. "I'm in," he declared. "If it means bringing back your friend, then I'll happily do it."
"Nepal and Iceland… I've been to both places. Tell me what he was looking for in each country, please?"
"The gloves in Nepal and the hammer in Iceland."
She clicks her tongue. "Makes sense, because Thor usually wears his gloves whenever he lifts his hammer. If even a margin of the Norse stories is true, then that means we have found the gauntlets first so we can lift the hammer."
"Well then, I shall personally fly us to Nepal."