In the small town of Puente Antiguo, within a large hospital, on the second floor, there was a room designated as the emergency ward.
It was late at night.
Normally, there weren’t many patients here, but as soon as Kyle and his team arrived, doctors and nurses from the entire hospital seemed to converge on this room.
“Father, Heimdall! Open the Bifrost and let me go back! Where am I?!”
“Damn It, you dare to attack Odin’s son!”
The emergency room looked like a war zone. A tall and robust, blond man, dressed only in black long underwear, lay on a white hospital bed. He was shouting emotional words that nobody could quite comprehend.
A group of more than five doctors and nurses found it almost impossible to restrain him. They were nearly toppled to the floor as they tried to subdue him.
“Quick, call security! Get the security here!”
The doctors, who had never seen a patient with such strength, cried out in panic. Several security guards heard the shouts and hurriedly entered the emergency room to help regain control.
Outside the emergency room, Kyle and the others were quietly waiting. They could see through the transparent glass doors and windows that Thor was inside, ranting and raving in a seemingly frenzied state. The doctors, nurses, and security guards swarmed around him, trying to restrain him.
Thor was pinned against the entrance door, his rugged face distorted with a fierce expression. With one last attempt to preserve his dignity, he growled, “Lowly mortals, you cannot defeat the mighty Thor…”
Before he could finish his sentence, the attending physician administered a sedative, causing Thor’s eyes to roll back. He lost his resistance and fell unconscious once again.
Outside the door, the onlookers who witnessed this sudden change fell into brief silence.
“Could it be that he’s gone crazy from the accident?” Darcy hesitated and asked with a meek tone.
“He didn’t hit his head, and even if he did, it was you who shocked him into craziness,” Jane countered. Her beautiful eyes revealed an underlying concern.
“Didn’t you hear what he was saying? Odin, Bifrost, Thor!” Erik softly reminded them. Seeing that both students looked perplexed, he explained somewhat bitterly, “These are elements from Norse mythology. I grew up listening to these stories.”
“So what?” The three people looked at each other and then turned their gaze toward Kyle, who had remained silent throughout.
“What are you looking at me for?” Kyle smiled, shrugged his shoulders, and said seriously, “He was wandering alone in the wilderness at night, shouting about kings and realms. I guess this is just a new trend called ‘Delusion.'”
“Delusion?” The others were stunned, and they had heard this new term before. It seemed to match the delusional features of the mysterious man.
“Yes, delusion, and a severe case at that,” Kyle stated confidently.
Unbeknownst to them, Vis and Venom couldn’t contain their laughter, almost breaking their disguises.
The group continued to discuss, but Kyle got up from his seat and headed towards the stairs, waving his hand as he left. “Well, that’s it for tonight. I need to find a place to rest. We can discuss last night’s survey data tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you, and feel free to call me anytime tomorrow,” Erik responded respectfully and walked Kyle partway down the corridor.
After Kyle’s figure disappeared at the hospital’s second-floor staircase, Erik let out a sigh of relief and finally realized that Jane and Darcy were staring at him with suspicion.
“Um, I should get some rest too,” Erik stammered, feeling a bit nervous.
“Hold on!” Jane and Darcy approached Erik, one on each side, and pulled him back to his original seat.
Jane cleared her throat and asked, “Professor, who is Mr. Carl really? What’s his true identity?”
Erik chuckled and said, “Didn’t I introduce him already? He’s a friend of mine and the head of a research company.”
“Don’t try to deceive us. Just a company executive wouldn’t make you, a well-known astronomer and university professor, act so cautiously,” Darcy scoffed.
Erik blinked innocently and said, “Is it that obvious?”
Jane and Darcy both nodded simultaneously and said in unison, “It’s quite obvious!”
“Alright,” Erik pondered for a moment and then straightforwardly admitted, “As for Mr. Carl’s identity, you don’t need to ask me. When he wants you to know, you’ll naturally find out. If he doesn’t want you to know, I wouldn’t dare reveal it easily.”
“I won’t ask anymore,” Jane nodded thoughtfully.
Darcy, still skeptical, said, “Isn’t that a bit exaggerated? Could he be the mayor of New Mexico?”
Upon hearing this, Erik’s face, which appeared somewhat older, maintained its seriousness. He replied in a calm tone, “No, not even close. To put it in perspective, if you compared him to the President of the United States, he’d be roughly on par.”
Jane and Darcy exchanged a glance, both displaying shock in their eyes.
Compared to the President of the United States? Could his identity be that grand?
Seeing the astonished expressions of the two students, Erik shook his head, and there was a sentence he never added, “The President might not be an adequate comparison from some perspectives.”
As night approached dawn, the eastern horizon revealed a pale glow, casting morning light upon the desert outside the town. The darkness receded like a receding tide.
In the field where Jane and her team had encountered the meteor strike the previous night, a crater about ten meters in radius had formed. There was no trace of meteor or extraterrestrial spaceship wreckage at the center. Only a simple, unremarkable silver hammer was leaning against the edge of the crater.
“Ho!”
A shadow descended closer to the ground. Dust and pebbles were scattered by the gust of wind. Kyle withdrew his dark wings and stood calmly in the pit, examining the unremarkable hammer with golden eyes.
His wristwatch projected a blue light, scanning the hammer as well as the surrounding ground inch by inch.
Vis remarked, “With current technology and databases, we can’t perform an analysis… Master, is this Thor’s hammer?”
“Of course, it’s the genuine weapon,” Kyle nodded and said, “According to Odin, whoever can lift this hammer and prove themselves worthy will possess the power of Thor and be crowned the king of the realm.”
As he spoke, he slightly bent down, extended his right hand, and firmly grasped the handle of the hammer.
“Master, you…”
Vis’s words paused. However, with the use of his divine power, Kyle easily lifted Thor’s hammer and held it in his hand. He even examined its weight.
“You’ve really picked it up? Master, doesn’t this mean you’re the king of the realm?” Venom exclaimed in disbelief.
“You two are overthinking it. It’s not that simple,” Kyle shook his head and smiled. He held the hammer without a hint of arrogance and continued, “It’s not only Thor and me; in the future, there will be more people who can lift this hammer. In fact, anyone with divine power abilities, a pure heart, and no strong selfish desires for power can qualify to lift Thor’s hammer.”
“But what about Odin’s words?” Vis pointed out one point he hadn’t quite grasped.
“Do you really believe Odin’s words?” Kyle asked.
Kyle waved the hammer, saying, “Have you ever thought about who Odin was talking to when he said that? He was speaking to the two young princes at the time— Thor and Loki. In other words, only one of them needed to lift the hammer to fulfill the conditions for becoming king.”
“Thor and Loki… Odin had already figured out which one among them would be able to lift Thor’s hammer. This hammer is just a facade and a test.”
Kyle sighed softly at this point. Without hesitation, he placed Thor’s hammer back in its original place.
“The hammer is nice, but it doesn’t suit me. It seems I’ll have to collect materials and craft my own Divine Weapon that’s more suitable for me.”
(End of this chapter)
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