Infinity Era

by JDPrime22


Chapter 146 – Thor and the World Serpent

146

Equus

Southern Equestria, Pre-Classical Era

Year: 13 BNM (Before Nightmare Moon)

2:40 p.m.

Typhon felt the world tremble beneath him. The new world. The multitude of species from the backwater planet that had the audacity to claim their right upon his riches. In their resistance to his might, they burned within the smoldering landscapes below, his children finishing off what remained and screeching to those that retreated. Until everything was simply him.

As it always should be. For Typhon had lived too long to see anything more be taken from him. His own kin turned against him the moment he wanted to benefit his own race. They had ousted the great Serpent God from Earth and left him to spend his remaining years alone, abandoned, and utterly exiled from the world of his birth. His birthright.

But for Typhon—for Set—that exile brought forth riches beyond compare.

The primitive world of Equus housed a magic far greater than Earth could ever hold, and it resided within the very atmosphere itself. The very air breathed magic. Equus was a rich, young world full of magic, raw energy, and the power he needed to stake his claim upon it and his home once again. The species that currently resided did not see his glory for what it truly was, and they resisted. As all had before them. They sought to turn their conjoined swords to the Serpent God as a means to strike him down, yet all of their attempts have been met with agonizing failure. The scorched bodies pockmarked Southern Equestrian, his own armies having filled the lands and pushing forth to finish off the remaining rebellion to his soon-to-be empire.

But he stopped them. The First head arose amongst the smoldering smoke and ashes in the blistering volcano, the remaining six turning in accordance with it to the battlegrounds below. Amidst his swarming armies, through the smoke and fire that clouded the air and stepping forth to oppose the Serpent God, one man stood alone.

Just one man.

With a hammer.

Set narrowed his slit, burning red eyes. His nostrils from the First blew forth a stream of black sickness, the gargantuan wings extending from his back and the seven-headed dragon screeching out to the battlefield. The roar shot out and reached every demon, every beast, every Sligguth and every Damballah… and stopped them in their tracks.

Thor could only watch as those hordes of demons and beasts of Hel stepped and crawled aside, created a path just for him. Having the sun already beat fiercely down upon him, Thor had another weight placed on his shoulders when his lone eye spotted the dragon leap forth from the mountain peak. With wings large enough to create fierce, otherworldly storms, Typhon flew off and caught the air, separating the distance between himself and Thor within seconds. Once Typhon made impact with the earth one mile away from Thor, the gust of wind from the mountain finally reached the battleground, already overcome by the second wave of dust and wind when Typhon struck the earth and glared to the God of Thunder.

“What have we hereee?” the Sixth head hissed. Thor stood uneasily, on quivering earth.

“A champion?” the Third questioned, then barred his fangs and hovered high above the god’s head. He flicked his tongue to Thor. “At long last, a worthy champion! I have grown weary with these equines as of recent. You shall suffice…”

Thor continued to just stand there, unmoving. It was as if every nerve in his body had frozen despite his greater wishes and intent. Mjølnir felt heavy and the world felt even heavier, continuously pushing down on his shoulders. The shadows of the gigantic serpents somehow felt even heavier, many of them finding a keen interest in the God of Thunder and hovering, circling, and hissing above him. Thor stood his ground but did not show any signs of resilience to their efforts. It was if their sickening hisses and whispers dulled his senses and weakened his mind.

“The blood that flows within you…” The Fifth licked his lips with a long, dark tongue. “Yeeesss… I smell the fury in your veins. The lighting. How… invigorating…”

The Second pushed the Fifth aside, getting a closer, fuller look at Thor. The god readied himself after so long of merely standing as a statue, the titanic head peering down at him and eyeing his hammer. “A weapon of the gods… Odin’s wrath. But where did you acquire it? Ohhh... Why must we steal from our own fathers… Odinson?”

The fact that the beast knew him and his father was aggravating enough. Thor tried not to let that show, stating as plainly and clearly as he could. “By the power of the God of Thunder, the might of Asgard shall strike judgement upon thee, foul beast.”

Upon the hill of which Thor had entered into the battleground, the unlikely team of Rarity, Rocket, and Groot stood together and peered downwards to the confrontation. While Rocket and Groot waited eagerly making bets for how Thor would beat the seven-headed demon to a bloody pulp, Rarity stood alone in the thought that maybe what she had done wasn’t for the best. She was having doubts—too late, unfortunately—that Thor, in his current state, would be able to stand against such a beast like Typhon. She knew helping these species of the past was the right thing to do, she truly did believe that… but at what cost to their own team? At what cost to the Avengers would this choice hold?

Thor had waning thoughts all the same. His initial intent was to leave with the Reality Stone and his friends in tow in order to return to their timeline, to their future, and ensure that the trillions lost would not be in vain. Yet there he stood, against a demonic dragon and fighting in a war that wasn’t his… simply because it was the right thing to do. And it was. And Thor believed that. He believed in a crusade of peace, ensuring that peace by exacting judgement upon all those who threaten it. Typhon threatened it. He threatened Equus and all its lives. He needed to be stopped.

The Seventh laughed. It just laughed at him. “Oh, the ‘might of Asgard’! The ‘power of the God of Thunder’! Where has Asgard ever been for the realms outside their own? Their so-called ‘might’ would not dare to stand against me. Just as you… can hardly stand against me… child.”

Thor bent low, Mjølnir low with him.

The Fourth head licked his scaled lips, black fangs dripping molten magma. “For that is all you can be. All you are. Just a child to a greater man, a mightier god. And yet here you stand… for what? For them? Do that which your father and your sister rejected? So you can cleanse their sins? How noble. Equus deserves nothing but fireee…”

The Elder God struck its claws against the earth as it slowly approached and slithered closer to the King of Asgard. Thor remained as he was, a flurry of electricity coiling around the head of the mighty hammer that expelled forth from his right arm. His left pupil shimmered a bright blue. It was slow at first, but Mjølnir soon twirled with a raw intensity as Thor began to twist his right hand around the hammer’s strap. Lightning dance around and struck the sand surrounding Thor, a whirlwind showcasing the birth of a growing storm swirling around Thor.

The First narrowed its wrathful eyes, slithering neck bending low to the earth. Meeting Thor on equal ground. Growling to him, “And so… God of Thunder… you stand against me… for nothing. For your deaaath!”

Set struck with a ferocious roar, all seven heads snapping forward with fangs leading and screeches following. Thor threw Mjølnir with an even more ferocious roar, the hammer colliding with the Serpent God’s chest. Typhon—shocking himself and the world—actually fell back into the wasteland, a mountain of dust and storm arising from his fall. His cries rang out across the wasteland, the thunderous impact of his body against the ground sending an earthquake across Southern Equestria. The armies of Set instantly swarmed Thor the moment their master was down.

He jammed out his right hand, Mjølnir returning just as the demons reached him.

It was a swarm and flurry of bodies, screeches, claws, and blood as the armies impacted the God of Thunder. Thor held his own relatively well, ramming Mjølnir’s head into any unfortunate demon or beast that dare drew near. He flung the hammer into the heart of the swarm as he sent his lightning-fueled fists into the oncoming waves. Mjølnir broke through any demon that dared to stand in its way, but the demon horde got lucky once or twice. Some had survived the flying hammer and reached Thor with his back turned, scratching him and drawing blood from his jacket and pants.

Roaring at that, Thor shot out his palm and recalled Mjølnir, twirling the hammer wickedly until he flew up to avoid the crashing wave of demons. They all looked up, hellish eyes widening to see Thor call down the heaven’s wrath and bring forth a volley of lightning in his descent. The lightning struck his hammer once he made impact with the earth, clearing away any and all beast and demon that remained. Typhon witnessed such power unfold, hissing and crawling fiercely across the battleground to engage the God of Thunder in a more personal confrontation.

The world quivered ahead of him, Thor lifting his head up wildly and witnessing the seven heads screech his way. He was ready for them. Rising up with hammer in hand, Thor stood in the bloody remains of his jacket and pants, the rags barely holding on. They managed to hold even as the seven heads swirled around him, kicking up dust and wind and blinding Thor momentarily. Raising a free arm, Thor looked up only to be blinded by the sun. Then the shadow covered it. Then Thor was able to see the Second head strike downwards and close his jaws over the God of Thunder.

The Second bit down and caught Thor between his jaws, but was unable to finish it. He was unable to close his mouth fully. Between the serpent’s jaws, Thor shot out his arms and kept the beast from fully closing down on him. Looking to his left, Thor rammed Mjølnir into the Second’s black fang, knocking it free and earning a shriek of pain from the beast. The Second rose up into the sky and reared back with the god in his mouth, tossing him clear across the to the Seventh. Thor led Mjølnir to the towering serpent head, a stream of fire overcoming Thor before he could properly react in time. The fire pushed Thor to the Third, the beast slamming its own head against the god and sending him to the First.

He was thrown, smacked, burned, slashed at, and tossed around by the seven heads, until finally Typhon’s right claws reared up and snatched Thor out of the air. He slammed him upon the earth, cracking the ground and dragging the lone god across the dirt. When he finally stopped, Thor managed to open his eye to pay witness to the seven heads glaring down to him, to the claws that held him and constrained him to the earth.

He paid witness to one of the many hundred serpents upon Set’s arm rear down and send its jaws around Thor’s left arm. Thor screamed in blood-curdling agony. The serpent twisted and pulled and ripped free its prize. Set hissed with sickening intent…

Until he simply grew weary of the God of Thunder and threw him. Thor impacted the skeletal remains of an adult dragon, crashing through the spine and impacting the dirt, the sand, and crashing through a rock. Mjølnir flew off from the impact, crying as its head struck the ground and remained frozen there. Unmoving. Untouched. Then Thor rolled to a halt at long last, tried to rise again, but fell.

Finally gave in.

His jacket was burned clean off, blood splotches and scratches coating his bare chest and back. His right arm leaked the same lifeblood, straining to keep the god from the earth as he continuously tried to rise again. Only to fall again and again. His left arm was far worse. Far worse for there was no arm left. Thor gazed fearfully to that raging agony crying out on the left side of his body, his eye witnessing the bloody stump that remained. Rivers of crimson pooled outwards and filled the sand. He gasped for air, only taking in his on blood.

“Thor!”

Rarity…

Turning to the voice he knew, Thor reared out his remaining palm to his Avengers, to his friends to warn them. To stop them from facing a fate similar to his own. They stormed down the hill he emerged from prior to the battle, reached the wasteland only to be stopped by the towering shadow of Typhon’s tail overcoming the land and slicing it in half. Rarity, Rocket, and Groot all slid to a halt as the tail crashed in front of them, spewing a wave of dust and fury into their faces and bodies. Various serpents arose from the tail and dust cloud, hissing and flicking their blackened tongue to the three Avengers standing before them. Utterly distraught. Utterly shaken. Rarity’s last glance to Thor before the tail separated them was one of the guilt, of sorrow…

For him.

Thor stared to his friends in peril, his vision beginning to darken when the serpents arose and begin to near them. The shadow of the Serpent God fell softly upon him, the sun weakening and its light leaving him. Beyond the tail that separated him from his team, Thor could barely witness the likes of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna standing with the masses. The Pillars of Equestria. The Dragon Lord. Every race and every leader having watched the battle unfold and witnessing his failure for themselves. The darkened, pale expressions from their faces said it all. Every last eye centered on him. On his failure.

“You see it now…”

Thor coughed, droplets of crimson painting the sand before him. He felt his lungs filling with it.

Set snickered behind him, all seven heads shifting to the masses of Equus’ remaining armies before slowly zeroing in on the fallen god. “You cannot save them. You cannot rise above that failure. For even if the God of Thunder cannot save them… what makes you believe you possibly can? As you are… as you always will be…”

Thor turned back, his vein-filled eye widened to the Serpent God. “Nothing.”

And he simply couldn’t retaliate. Despite what his spirit wanted, the pain that flooded and overwhelmed every other sense of his body was more than his mere spirit could handle. It tried to stem from his arm and broken body, and Thor tried to push the blame onto that, that his injuries were the reason for his fall. And he believed that. His weakened body, broken bones, and shattered mind could not hold the weight of the universe any longer. His right arm caved inwards and he fell low before the towering Elder God. Typhon narrowed his eyes to the God of Thunder, to the way he knelt. Ash and cinder rained around him and covered Thor in that burning reminder of his failure… and he did nothing for it. He closed his eye and let his spirit fade.

The quiet was a welcome friend. And then…

You still fail to understand yourself.

It was as if a newfound life was breathed into him. He heard her. Somehow, he heard his mother’s words once more cry out to him from the darkest, forgotten parts of his mind that he had shut himself away from. The very remnants of himself that were abandoned five years ago, when the universal scales were forever changed and Thanos had taken nearly everything from him. The part of his mind was beginning to open once again, the light from it returning and guiding Thor once more out of the darkness. He opened his eye.

Every hero’s journey has a fall.

The world came back in full, horrifying light. The burning, smoke-streaked skylines and the two suns raging down upon the blistering fires that encompassed Southern Equestria. Within the heart of it, the shadow of the seven-headed demon glared down upon him with wings outstretched and steadily moving closer and closer to Thor’s prone form. Thor closed his mouth, his blood-soaked lips giving their last drip of crimson to the earth. His right palm balled into a fist. His expression hardened into a frown. Into a glare that rivaled Set’s own.

They define themselves… by overcoming that fall, rising back up and proving to themselves who they truly are.

His muscles strained against his movements, but he ignored it. The pain made him shut his eye tight but that was all he would allow the pain to do. He allowed only the light of his mind to guide him and push him onwards, the light within it giving him all the strength he needed to push himself up from the dirt once again. And unlike last time, when he rose up… he grew taller. While the world raged around him… all he heard was his mother’s voice.

He just heard her. And him. Frigga and Odin speaking together…

Who are you?

Thor opened his eye. He really, truly opened it. The lightning fueled it and cleansed the blood-ridden veins.

He rose up. Shakily at first, but with every movement giving a fierce declaration from the Avenger. The sun and the heavens of which Set controlled all glared down upon him, and the Serpent God narrowed his multitude of eyes. But those heavens… slowly shifted. Set turned his attention away from Thor and onto the skies, to the swirling grays that was his to control turn a darker shade of black. And it all swirled together, leaving the Elder God and instead chose to swarm around his foe. All seven jaws fell.

All seven jaws slowly turned back… to him.

“I am Thor… son… of Odin… King… of Asgard…! God… of Thunder!”

Thor shot out his right hand with wicked fury. Mjølnir flew back to him. He stood up, eye glowing a heavenly blue and teeth bared a bloody red and white. His beard danced alongside his hair, the lightning coiling around his arm and filling his body, shattering the earth around him when he held his hammer to the skies and roared.

Allfather!

His mere voice cracked the earth surrounding him, broke the sound barrier, and deafened even the Serpent God for several seconds. Shaking his heads, Set stared wide-eyed to Thor. He held his hammer to the stars, to the heavens above and to all the Nine Realms. Lighting struck the earth and completely devoured Thor within it. None could see within the light that rivaled the sun, the sun that no longer shone its light when the storm clouds blocked it from Equus. Within the only light of the world, Thor stood proudly as the lightning cleansed his wounds. The might of the King of Asgard was felt in the electricity that filled the air, the lightning consuming his body with a set of black armor. A flurry of Uru shards swarmed the bloody stump that was once his left arm.

Once the lightning died and the world fell into a state of relative calm, Set pulled his tail back and took a few cautious steps away. Rarity, Groot, Rocket, and the armies of Equus all witnessed it with their own eyes. They witnessed him when he stepped forth from the light. Rarity’s heart leaped, her jaw falling and eyes widening to see Thor standing once more. The electricity that filled the air sparked that small smile to return once more to her lips. And then the lightning returned.

The lightning returned from his own body. It struck the sand with every step Allfather Thor took. His Uru prosthetic arm gripped and twirled the mighty Mjølnir several times, holding it low on his left. He stopped in his tracks. His pupil darted skywards to the seven heads glaring at him, to the dragon that took another cautious step away.

Thor breathed in. The storm that filled Equestria breathed with him.

“Let’s try that again.”