“S’cuse me?”

“You're scaring him!”

“I’m honesty not sure if he’s capable of such things.”

“Okay, that was just mean!”

Thor watched the comical banter between the group, he managed to successfully catch the names of the group members though, Mr handsome was aptly named Jake, sporty guy was called Sam, and the other girl was called Jess. Surprisingly standard names from the admired group. Thor’s musings were cut off when Jake addressed the group in what sounded like his best leader voice.

“So, where are we?” Observing the group regain their calm and turn to the boy, Thor pieced together that Jake was probably the leader of the group. Trained eyes scanned over the leader, short messy sandy brown hair, unremarkable brown eyes, average height and slim build, though the confidence he held himself with told Thor he considered himself something of a leader.

Moving his gaze over to Sam, Thor looked him up and down. Short black hair, a full head taller than Jake, with a strong build to match, observant blue eyes scanned their unfamiliar environment with a surprisingly piercing gaze. Thor would consider the boy a suitable soldier.

Akane looked to have Asian roots, with an elegance and grace that befitted her peerless appearance, long raven black hair flowed down her shoulders, sharp brown eyes observed her surroundings, a slightly taller height with a slim build, Thor saw the slight muscle beneath her pearly skin, he guessed she was no stranger to sport.

Jess was a shorter girl with a surprisingly bodacious body, soft turquoise eyes looked over to Jake for comfort, a slim/curvy build, long blonde hair that flowed down to the small of her back. Thor concluded she was probably the ‘princess’ of the group.

Thor chuckled softly as he thought of how he would contrast with the clique team, an imposing height of 6 and half feet, broad shoulders and a body layered with dense muscle, arms as thick as Jake’s thighs, scars crisscrossing his body head to toe, hidden under the long sleeves of his enormous school uniform, short black hair cropped to a militaristic style, trained dark brown eyes piercing even the darkest corners of the cave he found himself in. Overall a stark contrast to the others.

Leaping to his feet in a sudden movement, surprising the others with the unexpected movement, Thor observed his surroundings. It appeared they were at the end of a tunnel of some sort, the subterranean passage was about 7 metres across and 9 metres high, leading off in one singular direction. A sort of larvae covered the roof of the cave, glowing a with a soft blue hue, lighting the cave with just enough light to see roughly 4 metres in front of himself. Thor opened his mouth to address the group with what he considered the best course of action.

“I doubt help will be coming soon guys, for now we should carefully proceed forward, Sam and I will go first, the girls next and Thor would you mind covering our rear?”

Thor silently closed his mouth, it seemed Jake had beaten him to the punch, he looked at him with approval.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Sure.” Thor’s gravelly voice reverberated around the cave for a few seconds, seemingly enhancing the alien like atmosphere.

“And be careful guys, I can barely see 6 feet in front of me.” Jake called back to the group as they began trudging forward.

Meanwhile, Thor was watching the group with confusion. He hadn’t thought of it till now, but they were acting strangely… normal? They’d just been transported with a strange method, to an even stranger place, and they weren’t having any adverse mental or emotional episodes? Instead they follow Jake with disturbing trust, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at the pretty larvae. Thor didn’t like seeing this, complete show of trust, it reminded him of things rather forgotten.

“Hey Thor, could ya’ pass me the bait. Damn buggers ran off with mine again!”

Thor shook his mind of such weak thoughts, he was stronger than this, he was made to be stronger than this. Realising he was lagging behind the group a little, Thor adjusted his pace and quickly caught up with the girls.

Jake seemed to sense that the groups tension was rising, so he started a bit of small talk with the group as they walked.

“Remember when Sam snuck apple cider into the dorms?” Jake called back to the group.

“I don’t remember that…” Sam muttered, looking slightly uncomfortable.

“Maybe because you drank all of it.”

“Did you boys really do that?” Jess asked, joining the conversation.

“I don’t doubt they did.” Akane said, a smirk growing on her face.

“You ever had cider Thor?” Sam queried Thor, seeing him remain silent throughout the conversation thus far.

Thor thought back to when he was directly injected with pure alcohol as part of an experiment to see the effect of drugs on his ability to function of the battlefield. It wasn’t the best experience, he still got headaches remembering the brutal hangover.

“No.” Thor decided to focus on their surroundings, seeing as they weren’t.

In an unfamiliar environment, one must be solely focused on the unexpected, that much was common sense.

Soon however, they reached an opening in the tunnel. They carefully stepped out the cave and into direct sunlight, their surroundings once again shocked them, Thor included. Huge trees, that would have towered above even the tallest of skyscrapers, barely letting the light shine through the dense foliage in beautiful shafts, vibrant green grass layered the ground beneath their feet, alluring flowers of all colours littered the ground with their beauty. Directly in front of the group was a divine looking pond of the clearest water Thor had ever seen, filled with large fish that shined with every colour imaginable.

But what outshined all of this, was the beings standing in front of the pool. A Being of pure white, his radiance shocking even Thor.

a beautiful woman dressed in barbaric animal furs with a wicked looking bow strapped across her broad shoulders.

An ancient looking man, dressed in the finest robe Thor had ever lain his eyes on. However, beneath his old, harmless exterior, Thor could feel the man thrum with endless power.

A proud man whom Thor could only describe as a warrior, equipped with plate armour that covered his every inch of skin, an enormous great sword was clutched within the mans plated grasp. Thor ripped his eyes from the being in a rare moment of alarm when he looked into the eye slits of the warrior’s helmet, two glowing orb of fire glared straight back at him.

The beings that Thor could only describe as celestial looked down on them, though not with the superiority of a rich man looking at the poor, but with the senior gaze a stern father would gaze upon his children with.

“Fuckin FINALLY! I’ve been sitting here longer than Bronos’ been in the closet.”

Thors vison was drawn towards a man even larger than himself, before he could even wonder how he hadn’t noticed him the man’s appearance shocked him into silence. Swirling tattoos’ bent and twisted around the man’s body as if they were alive, a rough beard of jet black covered the man’s heavily scarred face. Arms as thick as Thor’s waist was wide and a build that suggested he bench-presses firetrucks for fun. Modest pants of fur covered the man’s privacy, leaving his scarred chest open to the elements, an eyepatch covered one eye whilst the other tried to glare a hole through Thor’s forehead.

The great man threw the fishing rod he previously held into the water, no longer interested in the action, and got to his feet, the menacing man took heavy steps over to the other beings. In his stupor, Thor thought he heard the white being sigh under his breath before turning to Jake and addressing him in a voice Thor felt himself get mesmerised in.

“Welcome, hero prospects.”