The Reigning, Part 1: Earth, 2170

In the open Bazar, a mortal girl named Jordhal tries to rob someone by cutting open the back of his coin purse and catching all the falling money.[1] Unfortunately, one of the coins bounces out of her hand and hits the ground giving her away. As the locals calls for the Asgards — the local authorities — she makes a run for it through over fences and through tight alleyways evading her pursuers until she can get up onto the rooftops. Sneaking into one of the apartments, she comes across an iron and recognizes it as one of the old world’s technological relics that have been forbidden by Asgardian law. However, she doesn’t know what it is, or what it does.

Returning to the roof she begins to try and figure out how it works. Suddenly a portal opens overhead and a man falls from it and lands on top of her. The man is disorientated and raves about saving the city. Thinking him a thread, Jordhal threatens to “shoot” him with the iron. When he doesn’t listen she chucks the thing at him instead giving him quite the shiner when it hits. This calms both of them down and Jordhal asks if the man is ok. He tells her that he doesn’t remember much except for he was in a great battle. That’s when the Asguards catch up to nab Jordhal. She tells the stranger that the money they claim she stole belongs to her grandmother. Believing this lie, the man fights off the guards and with super-human speed he grabs Jordhal and leaps off the roof. He then spins in the air so fast it creates an air vortex that slows their fall to the ground. Once they are safe, he tells Jordhal that his name is Thailfi reiterates that he has no idea where he is, and that he was in the middle of a massive battle to defend his home.[1]

Realizing the strange really has no idea where he is, Jordhal invites Thialfi to come back to her home where there is food and clothes for him to wear. When he asks where they are, she tells him that they are in the city of Bostogaard on Midgard. Thailfi wonders if this used to be the city of Boston, and Jordhal confirms that this is what the old timers once called it. That’s when they run into more guards, prompting Thialfi to pick up Jordy again and take off. As they speed off, the run past a construction site and Thialfi is shocked to see that Trolls are part of the working detail. That’s when it hits Jordhal that her new friend might be one of the gods. When they get to Jordy’s neighborhood, he tells her that he is a mortal like her, and asks what she knows about the gods. Jordhal says that all of Midgard is ruled over by Lord Thor. This news comes a a shock to Thialfi.

He then thinks back to the battle that to him was mere moments ago. He was battling Zarrko the Tomorrow Man and he was suddenly lost in a flash of light. He figures that he was somehow sent into the future by Zarrko’s time machine.[2] However, when he asks Jordy what year it is, she doesn’t know because humanity has stopped counting the years in some time. Since they are starting to attract undue attention, Jordhal suggests they got off the street and finish this discussion in private. She then sneaks Thailfi up to her room without her mother seeing. There, she figures out that Thialfi has somehow come from the time that Asgard fell to Earth. She is very curious about that era since much about it is forbidden knowledge. She then shows off an old TV that she found, a piece of forbidden technology.

However, this conversation doesn’t get very far because they are found by the astral form of Loki, who then teleports them to the royal palace in New Asgard. They materialize in the dungeon where Loki falls Thailfi with a single blast. He then demands to know if he is a mutant. Jordhal denies he has any superhuman powers, but Loki — who has Charles Xavier’s old Cerebro machine — tells her that there are ways he can find out. That’s when a wolf leaps and knocks the young girl down. Loki knows that the wolf is his brother’s and tells Thor that he can handle this without his aid. However, Thor — who looks more like his father than ever and is also missing is left eye and lower arm — tells his brother he wishes to see who has the audacity to toy with Thor the Lord of Midgard.[3]

Recurring Characters

Thor, Thialfi, Jordhal, Loki

Continuity Notes

1. The events of this story take place in a possible future that now exists in another reality. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #2, it has been desigated as Reality-3515. It was to be the future of Reality-616 until a divergence in Thor (vol. 2) #79 changed the course of history.

2. Thailfi is not quick on the uptake, but that’s exactly what happened to him. See Thor (vol. 2) #66-67. The past on Reality-3515 matches that of Reality-616 (the Prime Marvel Universe) up until the point of divergence.

3. Thor is standing over Captain America’s shattered shield. To learn how it got damaged like this and the fate of Earth’s heroes (spoilers: Thor killed them all) see Thor (vol. 2) #73.

Topical References

• The year of this story is stated as taking place in the year 2170. Because there is a massive gap between this date and the present day, it seems unlikely that it will ever need to be adjusted due to the Sliding Timescale. I don’t think anyone reading this will be around in the nearly 150 years between when this story is set to take place and now to find out if it needs to be adjusted.

• Jordhal is depicted as having a CRT model television hidden in her bedroom. While this technology is obsolete in our time, that doesn’t make it impossible for Jordhal to have found an old CRT model somewhere in someone’s basement or in an abandoned museum or something.