Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 10:10:31 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tony Justiss <mighthammer@yahoo.com>
Subject: tales of a thunder god - 1

Hello, everybody. I want to say this is not my first story and that I do
have experience prior to this at writing. I am however new to this universe
and its challenging and ingenious setting. It's been a while since I've
read a Thor Comic or seen anything with him starring in it, but I'm doing
research and trying to portray the character correctly as I remember him.
There will be changes to his personality because he's not the same person,
yet is... You'll see.

I do not own or know any of the following:

Nsync, Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Pink, Christina Aguilera, Jessica
Simpson, Tom Cruise, 98 Degrees or any other celebrities. I also know
nothing of their sexual orientations.

Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and all related characters.

The Anita Blake Vampire Hunter book series or the Merry Gentry series by
Laurell K. Hamilton.

The Vampire Chronicles, Tales of the New Vampires, The Mayfair Witches, all
series written by Anne Rice.

Power Rangers series.

Harry Potter book series is by J.K. Rowling.

Star Wars is copyright by George Lucas.

Buffy & Angel television series.

Star Wars Star Trek, Star Trek TNG, Star Trek DS9, Star Trek Voyager, Star
Trek the New Frontier, Enterprise television series, movies, and novels.


I want to thank James for starting the series with his story Tales of a
Real Dark Knight. Trust me it may seem easy, but incorporating new
villains, heroes, and ideas so fluidly into a progressing story is not
easy. He's a master and deserves applause for his work. Thank you James for
letting me create a new world within your universe.


I enjoy hearing feedback from people. If you have any to offer such as
comments or any thoughts toward the story you may reach me at
Mighthammer@yahoo.com


Chapter 1

The vast room was covered in darkness. The only light in the large room
silhouetted the forms of a group of people seated atop of a high wooden
bench. The group of people was clothed in different states but their faces
each held similar, solemn expressions. They resembled judges in a courtroom
as they sat silently on the bench. Standing before the people was a tall,
longhaired blond man. He was clothed in a black, skin-tight sleeveless
suit, a red cape, and a gold belt. Adorning his wrist was a pair of red
bracers trimmed in black and his boots were long and similar in theme. And
around his head was a silver helmet with wings sprouting from each side.
This was not any ordinary man; no this was Thor, God of Thunder. And before
him was the Pantheon, the high council of the Gods of Asgard.

Seated in the middle of the line of divine beings was Odin, lord of all the
Asgardian gods. He had one eye and long white hair that reached his
shoulders. His face was timeless. Seeming neither old nor young. He gazed
down upon his son, Thor, with a look of pity and pain. Odin's one eye
blazed like the sun, reflecting the emotions he felt inside.

"Thor, do you know why you are on trial before the high council?" asked
Odin, his deep voice resonating through the chamber.

"No, Lord Odin I do not," answered Thor respectfully. "But I may have a
guess as to
why."

Odin sighed heavily and said, "You've broken the Compact. You went to Earth
and interfered in human affairs."

Thor's blue eyes narrowed. "If stopping an ecological disaster is
'interfering'," he spat glaring angrily. "Then I would do it again."

There was a mummer of voices as the gods seated on either side of Odin
voiced their thoughts on Thor's disrespectful tone. After a few moments
passed, Odin held up his hand for silence. The deities immediately quieted
at the simple action.

"Thor you know that all gods, Asgard, Olympian, Light, Old... All have been
forbidden to interfere with mortal lives in a direct way. It was agreed
upon and we have honored it thus..."

"Father!" said Thor. "I can feel it when I visit the Earth. The feeling of
approaching dark, troubling times. I can't tell how far off it is, but its
going to come and many lives will be lost. Humanity needs me. Needs us!"

"That is enough!" roared Odin, cutting off his son. "It was I who drank
from the Well of Wisdom and lost an eye, while also gaining immense
knowledge. I know better than anyone the troubling times the mortal's face.
But it is not our problem. Humans are coming into their own now and no
longer do they need us for protection. They have their own heroes and
powerful weapons to look to."

"But Father..."

"Brother!" interrupted a voice.

Thor looked to the voice already knowing whom it was. Sure enough it was
his adoptive brother, Loki. He was a handsome young god and would have
looked even more handsome if it wasn't for the almost permanent sneer fixed
on his face. Loki stared at his brother with eyes holding contempt and
hatred.

"Do you doubt the word of father! He is the lord of the Asgard. I think
that you--"

"Loki that is enough!" shouted Odin. He turned to Thor. "Thor even though
you are my son you can not go unpunished for breaking the Compact." Odin
lifted his hand and there was a flash of light from Thor's side. Thor
quickly looked down and then back to his father shocked.

Floating above Odin's hand was Thor's principal weapon; the enchanted
hammer named Mjolnir, one of the most formidable weapons known to man or
god. Forged out of the mystical metal uru, whose chief properties are
durability and ability to maintain enchantment, the hammer was two feet
long and its handle was wrapped in leather, which terminated in a thong.
Besides being a nearly indestructible throwing weapon, the hammer has been
given five enchantments by Odin to augment its physical qualities. With a
wave of Odin's hand the floating hammer disappeared the same way it
appeared.

"Thor, your punishment will be just. Since you love the humans so much then
you shall live among them. You are to be reborn as a human with no memory
of your true identity and heritage. Good-bye son."

Thor noticed there was an odd look on his father's face as he said the word
memory. But he didn't have time to ponder it because a multicolored light
enveloped him and lifted him off the floor. Thor gave an agonized scream as
he felt his body being pulled apart molecule by molecule and then he knew
no more...

                                *  *  *

Adam Justiss jolted from his sleep, bolting up in his bed. He had had
another weird dream. Adam brushed back his short, blond hair that was wet
with sweat. The dream was the same one he had been having for the last
month.

It started with him standing in an unfamiliar room, watching as a council
decided the fate of a blond warrior. All the people's faces were covered in
shadows and their conversation was too muffled, almost non-existent for
Adam to make out any individual voices.

"Maybe I'm losing it," muttered Adam aloud, talking to himself.

With a sigh he looked to the window next to his bed. The sun was high in
the sky, signaling that it was almost the afternoon. Outside his window,
birds chirped and the sound of cars driving by reached his ears. Adam
looked at his bedside clock and read that it was close to noon. He rose
from his bed and went to the bathroom to begin his day. An hour later, Adam
was dressed and combing his hair in the bathroom mirror.

Adam had light, blond hair and emerald eyes. He was tall, taller than six
feet and was well built, having the body of an active athlete. Adam fixed
his hair into a semi neat style and went downstairs to the kitchen. He
turned on the TV that sat on the counter as he went about preparing his
lunch.

Adam glanced at the laptop computer that sat on the kitchen island. Adam
bit his lip wondering if he should attempt to power it on and look through
his emails. He knew without a doubt that there would be emails from his
agent, wondering about what he was going to do for his next book. Adam
didn't want to neglect her, but his last book was still doing well and he
felt there wasn't a big rush to start on a sequel.

'I guess I should give her a definite answer today. Later though,' thought
Adam internally. He turned to the TV, slowly sipping his coffee as the news
returned from a commercial.

"Since Europe initiated it legal to kill any Wereanimals and Vampires," the
newscaster reported. "More than a thousand deaths have been accounted for.
Some people claim it was the right thing to do, while others disagree. The
only thing left to do is wonder if the rest of the world will follow
Europe's lead..."

Adam suddenly felt his stomach turn at the thought of the United States
winding up like Europe. He was glad the current US President had some kind
of sense.

'What is the world coming to?' wondered Adam.

People were being hunted down and murdered in cold blood for not being a
'normal' human. Adam wasn't a mutant or anything special; like a super hero
but he disagreed with the ways at how some of the extremist groups were
acting. The Friends of Humanity are one of the worst groups, who think they
are doing right but are only causing more chaos.

"Friends of Humanity my ass," he snorted, going to the kitchen window.

The sounds of objects banging and raised voices got his attention. He
peered out the blinds, staring outside. A large moving truck was pulled
into the driveway of the house next door to his. Adam could see movers file
in and out of the house each carrying something in their hands.

Adam walked outside curiosity getting the better of him. The house next to
his had always been empty since he had moved in. Both houses were two
stories and very modern in architecture. Adam lived alone in his house and
it was only because of his parents' will that he had come to live here. The
house along with a nice amount of money had been left to him upon their
deaths. The houses in his neighborhood were really expensive, so any chance
of an average joe living here was pretty low. Adam walked onto his front
lawn to watch the movers do what they did best. He kept his eye open for
any sign of his new neighbor or neighbors, but they were nowhere in sight.

'Now this is eyecandy,' Adam smiled watching the mover's flex their
sweating muscles, as they lifted heavy objects from the truck and walked
them into the house.

"Umm... Hi there."

Adam jumped a little, startled at the voice. He turned around and faced a
sight that took his breath away. The man before him was to Adam the
definition of perfection. He was shorter than Adam, maybe five eight with
light brown hair and bright blue eyes.

"He, he, he, hello," Adam stuttered trying his hardest to fight off the
blush coming on.

The man smiled. "I'm Brian."

He held out his hand and Adam shook it quickly shoving his shyness down
into a corner of his mind and locking it away. Hell, he didn't even know if
this guy was gay and blushing and stuttering wasn't going to do anything
but chase him off.

"I'm Adam," he replied. He said it with more composure than he felt at the
moment. Adam cocked his head to the side suddenly, narrowing his eyes as he
gave Brian a curious look. Slowly as if a light was turned on in his brain,
Adam pointed to Brian looking stupefied.

"Your Brian Littrell!" said Adam incredulously.

Brian chuckled. "I haven't forgotten my name."

Brian grinned at his actions and Adam smiled abashed. "So, are you my new
neighbor?"

"Yeah, that's me. Just bought the house," answered Brian. "It looked like a
nice neighborhood so I figured why not."

Adam nodded. "It is a real nice place to live." He looked around over
Brian. "Where is your wife?"

Brian blinked, surprise registering plain on his face. "Me and Leighanne
divorced almost ten months ago."

"I'm sorry," Adam apologized quickly.

"It's alright. I'm surprised to actually meet somebody who doesn't know. It
was all over the papers and the news."

Adam shrugged looking sheepish. "I'm a writer and sometimes I get so into
my writing that I don't have any time to do much else. Do you mind if I ask
why you broke up? If you don't mind me knowing."

Brian looked to Adam with a look that he couldn't recognize. "Let's just
say that I realized that we never could be together. So I told her and we
both agreed it would be better for us to get a divorce."

Adam raised his eyebrows. "Oh," he said simply.

Brian looked to the movers and then back to Adam and said, "Well I've got
to go. It was nice meeting you. I'll see you again sometime." He gave Adam
a smile that made his heart jump. Adam waved as Brian jogged away to help
one of the movers.

Adam smiled dopey at Brian from his spot across the lawn. An involuntary
sigh escaped from Adam's lips. 'Damn that is one fine man.'

Adam gulped as Brian suddenly looked up and caught his eye. Brian held his
stare for a moment and grinned before grabbing a box and trotting into the
house not before giving Adam another lingering stare.

"Was he just flirting with me?" Adam said amazed. Dazed he wandered into
the house barely registering anything around him. A silly grin was fixed on
his face as he plopped down on the couch in his living room.

                              *   *   *

Adam yawned loudly as he walked out of Borders. He had only just finished a
two hour long book signing. The line had been longer than anyone had
anticipated and because of the lack of proper preparation made the
whole thing last a lot longer.

The stars above twinkled in the sky and the moon shinned down its light
onto the semi crowded street of Dallas. Adam walked along the street; the
parking lot a block and a half away from him was his destination. He didn't
know what it was, but suddenly he started to feel a sudden pulling
sensation. Adam stopped and shook his head. It felt like someone had a hook
in his navel and was trying to reel him in. A sensation he had definitely
never felt before in his life.

"Dammit!" Adam cursed stopping again, as the pulling became stronger and
harder to resist. Finally he just gave in. "Screw it."

Adam gave up trying to resist. He abandoned all logic and just decided to
go with what his gut was telling him. And it was saying he needed to obey
the pull. Adam let the foreign sensation pull him down the street and into
a dark, shabby looking shop. Above the door was a sign that said:

The Treasure Box.

Adam opened the door and was greeted with a gust of warm, dusty air. The
walls were lined with different swords and various trinkets lined the
shelves. He walked along the wall gazing at the items. Just as he was about
to leave he felt the pulling become stronger. Adam turned around as a
silver sparkle caught his eye. On a shelf near him sat a simple, silver
ring. Adam stared at the ring unable to take his eyes from it. The ring
almost seemed to say, 'pick me'.

Adam looked around, not really sure if he was allowed to touch it.  He
slowly lifted it from it's wooden stand. The ring felt light and to Adam he
could swear he could almost feel the ring hum as it came in contact with
his hand.

"Hey!  What are you doing!" a gruff voice asked.

Adam leapt back, almost dropping the ring.  "I-I was just looking!"

>From the back room, an old man, with black hair, came out of the shadows.
He was short and his face was wrinkled but his dark, brown eyes still
twinkled behind the pair of glasses that framed his face. "I must warn you
that if you break something in here, you buy it."

Adam nodded. "So, where did you come by all these swords and stuff here?"

The man shrugged. "Most of the stuff I made or found. The ring in your hand
for instance, I found that about twenty seven years ago."

"That's funny. I'm twenty-seven now. Where at did you find it?"

"Up in Salem, Oregon actually," said the man.

Adam gasped almost choking on air. "That's where I was born!"

The old man rubbed his head slowly. His twinkling, brown eyes still shinned
brightly as if the man was laughing at some secret joke. "That is far too
many coincidences, but I'm not the type who will part will priceless
objects. It's not for sale and that is my final answer."

"Priceless?!"

The old man nodded affirmative. "Priceless. Look on the inside there--"

Adam looked closer turning the ring over, so the light could catch the
inside of the ring. For the first time he saw that there was writing
running along the inside. In neat, flowing script etched in the ring was
foreign unfamiliar lettering.

"The writing there matches no known written languages in any records. It
looks Scandinavian but it differs in many ways. It seems older than even
that, so you can bet that this ring plays havoc with the history books,"
grinned the old man.

"I'll give you anything you want for it," Adam bargained practically
pleading.

The old man shook his head. "No. Priceless means PRICELESS."

The bell above the door to the shop jingled and a group of young men and
women entered. The old man didn't bother to say another word to Adam before
he bustled over to help the new customers. Adam stood there for a moment in
thought. He looked down at the ring and then over to the old man who was
engrossed in a story about a samurai sword.

Adam felt the weight of the ring in his palm and paused thinking of what to
do. The ring in his hand was calling to him. It wanted Adam to take it...
Take it don't look back. Truthfully, Adam felt that the ring was his,
almost like he had been missing a limb his whole life and suddenly finding
it again.

"I'm sorry," Adam whispered, slipping the ring in his pocket and hurriedly
exiting the shop, while the old man was helping the customers.

Adam felt bad for not paying for the ring; so on his way out he had
covertly left a couple hundred-dollar bills on one of the shelves. The
drive home for Adam was quiet. The ring he kept in his pocket, instead of
putting it on. For some reason it seemed wrong to just casually slip it on,
while inside the shop. The guilt of taking the ring from the unsuspecting
shopkeeper weighed heavily in his mind but... the feeling that the ring was
HIS outweighed the guilt.

It was close to midnight when Adam finally returned home. Tossing his coat
onto the couch, he went to the answering machine that sat on a table in the
corner of his spacious living room. He checked his messages. The usual
greeted him. Friends, Publisher, Agent...

Adam slipped his hands in his pockets as the last message played. His right
hand came in contact with the cool, metal of the ring. He pulled it out
and held it in his palm. The familiar, odd hum of the ring came again just
like it had when he had first picked it up in the shop.

"'I advise you Frodo to not put the ring on'" Adam quoted Gandalf from the
'Fellowship of the Ring'. He chuckled low in his throat, slipping the ring
on. "Yeah right."

The ring slipped on his finger with ease and Adam looked around quickly as
a loud thunderclap sounded across the sky outside at that exact moment. It
came again this time louder, sounding like the booming of a firing canon.
Suddenly, the air in the room actually started to buzz with the build up of
electricity.

"What the fork," he whispered trying to tug the ring off. He was sure that
somehow this ring was the cause of whatever was happening. He didn't know
why. He just knew. "Why won't this damn thing come off!"

Slowly, the ring began to glow with a blue light that slowly built up in
intensity till it filled the whole room. The light enveloped Adam and he
gasped in shock as a feeling of power and... familiarity filled him. The
light lifted Adam into the air and he started to change...

To be continued...

******************************************

I hope you guys liked this first chapter in the series. I think it's off to
a good start. From here it can only get better. Cheers to a hopefully
successful future.

I enjoy hearing feedback from people. If you have any to offer such as
comments or any thoughts toward the story you may email me at
Mighthammer@yahoo.com

Other stories you can read in the Tales universe:

"Tales of a Real Dark Knight"
"Tales of a Superhero Band"
"Tales of the New Phoenix"
"Tales of a Young Mutant"
"Tales of a Human Spider"
"Marvel Knights"