It was raining doom. Not literally, since doom doesn't actually have a solid shape, but you get the point. It was also dark, because rain, doom, and darkness are the cliche way to start a story. Only at first, it wasn't so doom filled, that part comes later.

It had started raining because Thor had gotten into a temper tantrum. He was really tired of walking through waist deep stormy water in order to travel through different realms. The Bifrost, a delicate bridge made of rainbows, always broke when he walked on it. With all the storming and the lightning that Sif, his wife always liked. The original architect just didn't plan for it. So to the convenience of the other gods, he simply waded in the tempest below.

Only sometimes it was really hard, like today. Thor had overslept, didn't shave, then he forgot to pick up some of that Midgardian coffee he always liked. Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost, had taken one look at him and said 'you ain't walking on my rainbow bridge today young man.' Thor had to trudge through the salty, violent, water, getting him cold and wet. And he still had no coffee.

By the time he got back to Asgard, Thor had a nice storm brewing up in him, and that's how the rain started. Later that night, it was still storming, Odin was awake. Not the type of awake where your eyes are wide open, and you're definetly sure you won't get any sleep, then find yourself snoring three seconds later. He was simply in the moment where he could sleep if he wanted too at any point in time.

Odin was happy, joyful in fact. There was a new god in their midst. His newest son, Óliver was sleeping soundly in a cradle just a few feet from the bad. Frigg, his wife, so had worked so hard with their last children Odin made sure he took part in the raising of his son.

Let's pause here a second. Now I know what you're thinking, where's the doom? Explosions and villains running around in fancy underwear trying to take over the world? That's coming, just wait.

Odin was wondering about Óli, he was different from his other sons. Thor had temperamental from the start, and everybody just adored Baldr. Óliver just seemed pretty normal, the only thing Odin had really seen him do was play with Muninn, one of his two ravens that whispered the going ons and gossip of the world. In fact, Muninn was perched, sleeping soundly on the side of Óli's cradle like a Heimdall on his bridge. Huginn, Muninn's brother and follower of Odin, was out flying, but he wouldn't be for long, the two ravens were inseparable. Now if only he could get his wolves, Geri and Freki to be that cooperative.

He was just about to get comfortable when, all of a sudden, the room got cold. Really cold. Like, bite your toes off cold. He gasped and sat up. However cold it was, the teeth rattling, bone crusting frost was familiar. There in the corner, he saw it. A young boy of eleven or twelve, blonde hair, and blue eyes that glowed slightly in the dark.

"How did you get in here!?" Odin thundered, his voice echoing back and forth across the great halls of Asgard.

His wife, Frigg, began to wake, Geri and Freki were already up, and were growling menacingly at the frost child. Muninn remained perched on Olí's cradle, as if in a protective stance.
The child smiled, revealing sharpened, and pointed teeth. Odin suddenly became aware of another presence. A thin, pale, hand, reached out and patted the boy's head. And a figure stepped out from the shadows.

"Why, I let him in, I hope you don't mind." An elf cast down his cloak of shadows and revealed his smiling face.

"Guards!" Frigg shouted, suddenly becoming aware of the situation.

"Don't bother, they're all dead," he drawled.

Odin reached for his spear Gungnir, but the Dökkálfar, the black elf, shook his head, and making a tusking noise. Thunder boomed outside, no one would hear them above the roar of the storm. With a wave of his hand, the spear was yanked from Odin's grasp. It floated in mid air, a trail of black mist swirling around in. Ice creeped along the walls, making the temperature drop dramatically. Geri lunged at the elf, a flash of white showing along his gums as his opened his jaws, aiming for the enemies neck.

The boy held up his hands and his precious wolf was encased in a solid block of ice. Freki tried in vain to pry his paws from the floor, ice was growing up his legs. Odin could already feel the bed he was lying on start to freeze.

"What do you want?" He growled, realizing his position was fruitless.

A smile darkened his face. "That's more like it, first, the spear, second, I want to tell me everything you know about the Wisdom of Ages." The Dökkálfar gave once again, his chilling smiles, he knew he had all the control.

"Never!" There was no way this elf could parade in here and ask for the ultimate knowledge, that Odin, had sacrificed an eye for.

His smile disappeared, replaced with that of disgust. He waved his hand again, the black mist trailing across the room, reaching tentatively. Muninn squawked suddenly, Frigg gasped in horror as little baby Olíver floated out of his crib. Still swaddled in a cloth and sleeping peacefully.

"No!" Frigg cried out, reaching for her son. He floated ever so close to the hideous man and the frost giant's child.

"You remember the price you had to pay for that knowledge Odin! The price that named you the Allfather, the Allseer?" The Dökkálfar laughed menacingly, and more thunder crashed outside.

Odin remembered, an eye. He had given his eye. But it had been worth it. What was he getting at? Why bring this up?

The Dökkálfar tapped Olíver's left eye, the black mist swirling around the baby's head. Odin's skin turned as pale as a freshly washed linen.

"No! Please, he's just a child, he doesn't deserve this!" Odin pleaded.

"What the silly mortals of Midgard say? An eye for an eye?" the elf made a tugging motion with his hand.

Frigg screamed.

There was a sickening plop, and Olíver woke, screaming louder than cockerel at the crack of dawn. His left eye hovered in the air, Odin felt the need to empty his stomach.

"How does it feel? Only I'm not done yet!" The black elf cackled manically.

Dark magic swirled around his finger and wrapped itself around his poor son. Frigg was sobbing and begging him to let Olíver, they were stuck under a foot thick sheet of ice, completely helpless as they watched their baby shrink slightly, his features becoming duller. A mop a wiry blonde hair appeared on the young boy's head, and he continued to scream his lungs out. All Odin could was watch in horror as his son lost his immortality.

"What are you doing?" He gasped.

"Imagine how painful it would be to watch as he grows up as a Migardian fool, never to know of his lineage, the son of Odin, made into a weak and fragile human!"

"Why! Why are you doing this?" Cried Frigg in despair.

He smirked, and gave a small chuckle. " Because I can."

Munin, forever faithful, launched himself at the Dökkálfar's face. Scratching and tearing with his long talons. Odin's heart leapt, he was such a brave bird. But that feeling dissipated as a long and narrow point of ice embedded itself in his wing, pinning Muninn to the floor.

"Well what do we have here?" With a wave of his hand, the magic circled and twisted around the raven's neck. Muninn struggled, fighting the effect the curse. There was a loud crack, and the bird went still.

The elf sniffed in disapproval. Kneeling down, he poked at the still raven, who didn't move. Odin roared, struggling against the ice, it seemed to twitch, small cracks appeared along the surface. Too small.

"Remember this night, I want you to dwell on the fear, the pain, and when I come back, you will tell me the Wisdom of Ages." He and the frost child disappeared in a puff of black smoke, the ice melted.

Odin yelled, he threw a fit, he ordered whatever guards they had left to search the ground, search the city, search all nine worlds if they had too. He wanted to see the blood of the elf that had wounded his son and killed his raven. The other gods looked on at him in fright, unsure of what to do. In the end, he lay weeping on the floor with his wife and his mortal son. Both of them mourning for the loss of Muninn.

Odin stared at the small, black, and lifeless body of the beloved raven. There was a loud flutter of wings, and another raven alighted on the floor. Huginn cawed in horror at the sight of his brother's body on the floor. Frigg was leaning against his shoulder, rocking back and forth and whispering spells under her breath in order to break the Dökkálfar's curse.

It wasn't working, Olíver was still mortal. This lasted for minutes till finally, Odin could bear it no longer.

"Frigg, I have another option," he took Olíver from her arms.

"I can't break his curse, and he can't stay in Asgard as a human, he wouldn't last, I-" Odin choked on his words.

He took a deep breath and tried again. "There is a place in Midgard similar to land we live in, the have places were children with no parents can be loved and cared for."

Frigg nodded. "He can't stay here, but I want Heimdall to go too, I want to make sure he's safe."

Odin picked up the lifeless body of Muninn. "And you, my poor friend, you served me well, I can not reverse what has been done to you here, but I can send you to Midgard to watch over my boy as well."

Before their eyes, a white light surrounded Muninn's ruffled feathers, encasing him, surrounding him, like a peaceful wave of light. And in Odin's hands were two sleeping boys, one with blonde hair, one with hair as black as a raven's wings.

"Perhaps one day, we can put this all right," He mumurred.

The two boys disappeared in a flash of blue, no doubt on there way to Midgard. And in the darkness of the night, with the soft rain puttering lightly against the window, both Odin and Frigg wept.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

This probably the longest chapter I've written ever. Hope you guys like my upcoming Norse Mythology series, The Son of Odin. Available on Wattpad in the winter of 2016. Meanwhile, I have other books, if you're willing to check 'em out.

Sincerely
Jayfeather Banana