“In any case, it’s a worthy ability, kid. Much like reality, abilities are not equal. So believe me, it could be a lot worse. Once saw a chump who could blow bubbles, that’s not even a joke!” Ares grunted down to Thor, roaring out the last part with a surprising chuckle.

Thor tore his gaze from the dark gauntlets, dark eyes boring a hole into Ares forehead.

“How do I take them off?” A deep voice reverberated around the clearing, drawing the gazes of the others, who were previously preoccupied with their own abilities.

“To be honest, I dunno kid. Some abilities can be taken on and off, and some can’t.” Ares shrugged, obviously not too caring about Thor’s predicament.

Thor wiggled his fingers and tried to wrench the gauntlets off, but not even his considerable strength could remove the stubborn armour from his arms. A grunt of anger slipped from Thor’s clenched teeth as the edges of his vision began to faintly tint red.

“Holy shit!” Jakes loud outburst of excitement drew Thor’s increasingly violent thoughts to the others. His brow slightly raised when he saw Jake raise his arm to the sky, clenched fist glowing brightly with a dangerous white light.

“I HAVE THE POWER!” He loudly exclaimed, parodying a certain half naked barbarian. Thor looked to the others, Akane held a breathtaking bow, weaved together with the branches of a tree. Sam held a simple, yet divine looking straight sword, thrumming gently with an unknown power. Thor’s gaze visibly widened when he caught sight of the meek jess stretch her arms wide, whilst enormous wings of raging, pure fire spanned out from her back, drawing the attention of all present.

“Well, god damn…” Ares muttered whilst staring at Jess, struck silent for a rare, if only for a brief moment.

‘Abilities aren’t equal after all.’ Thor thought quietly to himself as he gazed in wonder at Jess’s glorious appendages. Though this thought was quickly quelled by Brono’s captivating voice drawing the attention of everyone.

“Everyone listen up, we’re about to run out of time, so listen closely. You may look at your ability screen by thinking ‘Ability screen’ with the clear intent for it to open, to close it think ‘Close’. Unfortunately, we’ve run out of time, so all I can say is, good luck to you all.’ He began stepping away, before stopping and speaking once more, with a clearly rushed voice.

“You will all be transported to a small town, they will help to prepare you for the challenges ahead. Except for you, Thor. You will be thrown into an area we believe you will benefit from the most. And remember, kill to live!” The last of Brono’s speech was drowned out by a blindingly white light enveloping Thor’s vision, as he felt a jerking sensation.

When Thor regained his vision, he was surprised by a harsh wind blowing across his face. Raising an arm to shield his face, Thor looked around himself. He appeared to be in a large field, lush green grass stretched out for around half a mile in all directions before reaching a wall of tall trees. Thor concluded he was in a clearing in the middle of what was probably a forest, though before Thor could think of what to do from this point, he spotted something large and black bounding towards him.

Focusing on the creature, he saw it was a large dog, reaching Thor’s own hips. As the dog grew closer, Thor could make out the details of the animal. A long snout, snarling with barely contained rage, jagged fangs jutted out the dogs in a serrated fashion, Long powerful legs pushed the dog with alarming speed towards Thor. Paws ending with vicious claws, reaching to tear Thor’s throat wide open. It’s glistening fur, a dark matte black. Thor thought the dog largely resembled a wolf. He decided to call the beast, a black wolf.

The black wolf was only 10m away now, and was closing in fast. Thor knew even he would have trouble out running the beast, so he lowered his body, raised his arms in front of his in a defensive boxer’s stance. He decided to lower his stance a little more and bring a more stable centre of gravity to compensate for the weight of the gauntlets that still covered his hands.

Piercing eyes narrowed, observing the black wolf's every move, even as it grew closer and closer. His gaze centred on the wolf's hind legs, watching for a sign of the beast leaping. Thor saw the muscle on the hind legs swell, bunching together as the wolf prepared to throw itself at Thor. In a flash the wolf bounded forward, powerful jaws stretching straight for Thor’s throat, dangerous claws trying to rip Thor’s arms to ribbons.

But Thor was ready, in one smooth motion, Thor threw his upper body back, dodging the wolfs snapping jaws by a hairs breadth. Then, within the time space of less than a second, Thor tore the beats jaw to bloody shards, as his heavy metal fist collided with the wolfs lower jaw with brutal force. Whilst one arm had slipped in-between the wolfs outstretched paws, the other fended off the claws using the dense metal of the gauntlets.

With a loud grunt between clenched teeth, Thor drew upon his strength to push the airborne animal off him, throwing its trajectory off as it soared over Thor’s lowered body, landing with a meaty thud as it hit the dirt, rolling for a few turns before coming to a dead halt, not moving an inch.

Drawing himself back to his full, intimidating height, Thor walked over to the wolfs prone form. Its head was twisted at an odd angle, it’s maw a bloody mess. Its neck had been snapped in half, Thor looked down to his bloody gauntlets. The wolfs claws had torn the long sleeves of his school uniform to ribbons, but the gauntlets were untouched.

A soft grunt left Thor’s mouth as he gazed down at the corpse, but was quickly interrupted by the sound of heavy foot falling. Looking around him, Thor counted 4 more of the wolfs. Thoughts of how the gods thought putting him here would ‘Benefit’ him filled his mind as he settled into a low stance. Thor banished these thoughts from his mind as the wolves closed in as one. Such thoughts during a fight were dangerously distracting.

The wolves seemed to have a prepared strategy, Thor watched as two of the menacing beasts circled around Thor, attempting to flank him, whilst the other two charged ahead. Thor stepped back, trying to keep all of the beasts in sight, but the wolves were waiting for this moment of indecisiveness. The two front wolves attacked, one attacking from above from the left, similar to the previous wolf. Whilst the other wolf attack from below coming from his right side, aiming for Thor’s exposed kneecap.

Seeing this, Thor gritted his teeth glanced down at his gauntlets, decided to put his trust on the armour that supposedly was made by and for him. Snatching an arm out, Thor clasped his hand around the leaping wolfs upper jaw, leaving his thumb inside the beats rapidly closing mouth. Whilst his other arm punched straight down unto the lower wolfs skull, pounding the beast into the grass. Turning his body whilst simultaneously stepping back, using the leaping Wolfs’ momentum, Thor threw the airborne beast into his friend in the dirt. As both wolves collided with one another Thor felt a blinding pain of red-hot agony erupted from his right knee.

Pushing the pain to the back of his mind, Thor dropped to one knee whilst throwing a metal clad fist at the wolf latched onto his knee. Thor felt the beast’s skull cave in as both the weight of both his body and gauntlet crushed down on top of the beast’s skull. Not wasting a moment, Thor snapped his head to the left, seeing the last wolf throw itself at Thor’s now exposed face. Hurling himself to the left, Thor grabbed the thrashing animals head it passed him, rolling over the beast, Thor swiftly broke its neck before to had the chance to struggle.

Suddenly, a loud growl pierced Thor’s hypersensitive ears, throwing himself to the side, he barely dodged the deadly jaws of the last remaining wolf. It was the one he threw on the other wolf. It seemed that ‘other’ wolf had been killed by the heavy impact of its friend.

Thor narrowed his eyes, staring his final opponent down. The wolf seemed to do the same, adopting a cautious stance. Thor decided to break the stalemate first, grabbing a dead wolf by the nape of its neck, he threw the beast at the remaining wolf, who nimbly jumped away from the corpse projectile. But that moment of distraction was all Thor needed. Leaping forward, almost overtaking the deceased wolf he threw, Thor tackled the last Wolf into the dirt. Pushing it’s thrashing jaw away with an armoured hand, whilst pushing the body over so that the beast’s legs were kept well away from him.

Quickly wrapping an arm around the beasts’ throat, Thor jerked the head directly towards himself, earning a satisfying snap from the wolfs neck as it went silent, with only a desperate yelp as its last words.

Breathing heavily, Thor grasped the dead wolf, his grip around the corpses throat rapidly tightened. The crushing of muscles squirmed under his iron grip, the potent sent of spilt blood filled Thor’s nose, the taste of dirty iron filled his palate as he agitatedly looked around him, searching for something he could kill. Something with blood pumping through its veins, something alive. Thor listened for them, begging for the order, to let him loose.

“You are not their weapon! You do not need them Thor, be stronger than this!” The little voice in the back of Thor’s head grew stronger, louder, more commanding. The crimson leaked from his bloodshot vision, clearing his thoughts once again. Thor felt pathetic for letting their teachings influence him again, he wondered just when he would be free of them, if ever. But for now, there was more pressing matters.

Thor froze for a second, listening for any sign of movement, when he found none he pushed himself off the dead wolf. The sound of heavy breathing filled the area as the adrenaline from the fight wore off. Looking down at his now throbbing knee, Thor analysed the damage. There was considerable bruising and numerous puncture wounds from the dog’s teeth. Thor roughly estimated the wounds were 3 to 5cm deep, no broken bones, no pulled muscle, nothing really threatening to him. Just meant he’d be limping for a while.

Forcing himself to his feet with a barely audible grunt, Thor observed his surroundings and tried to judge the best course of action. He was in an unfamiliar, and quite obviously hostile environment, with no supplies other than the clothes on his back. As he pondered this however, a memory of a happier time swept through his mind, like an endless tsunami of emotions Thor wasn’t comfortable feeling.

Amongst a vibrant green jungle of tall trees, standing over two figures like all-powerful-monoliths. “Okay, what do you suppose we do now Thor?” Drew asked Thor, his ever-present smile sitting pleased on his face. Thor fiddled with the dirt whilst he wracked his brain. Thor glanced around him, nimbly perched on a dead log. The endless jungle surrounded them, seemingly for miles on end, stretching out into what Thor considered infinity.

“Look for water?” Thor answered, unsure, but confident that was what drew told him before embarking on this expedition into the amazon jungle.

“Very good.” Drew replied, positively delighted with Thor’s correct answer. Bending down and ruffling the young boy’s unruly hair.

“The human body cannot last without water for long, depending on the environment, or course.- Here, I’d say we’d last about 3 days. Now where do you think we’d find water?” Thor looked up at Drew in admiration, Drew always knew everything! Thinking about Drew’s new question, Thor looked around himself again.

“Everywhere?” Thor guessed, it was a shot in the dark, though there was some truth in it.

“Actually, not bad Thor. Since were in a rain forest, everything is quite damp. Now you collect some water from the things around us, I’ll get a fire going so we can boil the water. To kill any bacteria.”

Thor gazed down at the grass, not moving for several seconds. Before he broke the stare and grabbed two of the dead wolves. Food was important, and it would be best to hoard it whenever he found it. Heaving the great beasts onto his shoulder was awkward, but more than manageable for the enhanced super-soldier.

Glancing around him, Thor spotted a small mountain, located in front of an even larger mountain range, maybe about an hour’s run away. Thinking that the best place to find water would be alongside the mountain, Thor began a steady run to the mountain.

Whilst running, Thor thought about his current situation. He knew from the gods that he was on a new planet, though so far it seemed very similar to his own. Apart from the abnormally large bloodthirsty beasts. His best course of action was to set up a base camp, secure a water source and find a food source. Next on his agenda, was strengthening his ‘ability’. The gods had dropped several hints that killing the monsters of this world would do this. Thinking this, Thor called out his ability screen.

Mjolnir’s Armour:

Stage: 1 (25%)

Info: Gauntlets forged of dense steel, these metal bracings require great strength to use effectively. The past of these gauntlets are shrouded in mystery.

Effect: None

Thor’s musings were instantly brought to the screen.

“Stage 1, that’s knew.” Thor couldn’t help but mutter under breath, he guessed that the stage refers to the strength, or level of the ability. And that the 25% refers to how far through he was to stage 2, judging from the percentage, Thor estimated that each wolf he killed earlier was worth 5%. He wondered what would happen when the ability reached stage 2. Well for now, he should make finding water situation number one.

After a short hour of running, Thor reached the base of the mountain. The run had been uneventful, though he did spot some larger, dangerous looking beasts, Thor took his time to run around them, taking care not to spook the volatile animals into attacking.

Reaching the base of the mountain, Thor glanced around, after a brief moment he located a long furrow leading up the mountain, as he trudged closer Thor could start to make out the sound of running water. Walked around a large rocky out cropping, Thor located the water. A small stream flowed down the mountain, pooling into a small pond before flowing out further into the surrounding forestry.

Animals would probably come to drink from the pond directly, so Thor decided to set up camp a little further away, among a rocky outcropping, thus protecting Thor’s camp from one side. After dumping the two dead wolves, Thor began setting up a campfire.

Before long, Thor had a nice fire going. The flames gently licking the setting sky, contrasting with the slowly falling sun. Seeing this, Thor quickly took one of the wolf corpse and began skinning it by the lake, occasionally washing the corpse off. Soon enough, Thor was sitting on a large, raw wolf pelt. Patiently waiting for the considerable servings of bloody wolf meat to cook over the gently burning fire. Thor guessed he had been on this world for around 4 hours now, judging by the setting sun, he had arrived late afternoon. That was assuming this planets days were as long his Earths.

He hadn’t had time to set up a tent, but that could always be done tomorrow, it would just mean a relatively sleepless night. However, a more glaring issue was the stage of Thor’s ability. He would make growing his ability the priority for tomorrow, this world was incredibly hostile and strength would be incredibly important for the coming days ahead.

Thor’s musings were interrupted when a foul burning smell pierced his senses like a knife as he blinked several to clear his eyes of a sudden irritation. Begrudgingly Thor pulled himself up and moved his wolf pelt slightly to the left with an annoyed grunt, looked like the wind changed. Sitting down again, this time out of the fire’s smoke, Thor began musing again.

Looking down at his gauntlets, Thor watched the murky reflection of the fire dance across his fingers, to a beat no mortal could understand. The gauntlets were still quite comfortable, though Thor had no success in removing the persistent armour from his arms. His thoughts naturally drifted towards what he would do in this situation, probably something glaringly obvious. Thor let out a rare snort of laughter, a soft smile gradually emerged on his stoic face.

*Snap*

Thor instantly whipped his head to the sound, eye’s searching the growing darkness for the source of the sound. Though this proved unneeded when the perpetrator stepped out of the darkness himself. Taking large steps, taking car to avoid the dead wolf carcass strewn on the floor.

“Calm down big guy, I aint looking for a fight, just some grub.” The strange man spoke, his voice was mature, yet had a slightly childish tone, almost jokingly.

No, it wasn’t a man. It was a lizard, or a man shaped lizard, or a man with scales? Thor couldn’t comprehend what he was seeing, though took a second to observe the man in further detail. Two short horns protruded from the ‘mans’ bald, scaled head. Two mahogany brown, reptilian eyes stared Thor down, clearly dicing down his every detail too. He was at least 6 feet tall, with dark scales covering every inch of skin Thor could see, patterned with deep green, dark purple and dark blue, melding him with the shadows around him. His musculature was well defined, even though the scales, He stood roughly 5 metres from Thor, his posture clearly non-threatening, almost lazy.

Thor looked back up, into the lizard man’s eyes, they shone with playful intelligence, but behind them Thor could make out a fierce distrust and wary attitude towards him. Thor carefully brought his leg close to him, preparing to move quickly if the situation went volatile.

“So, you gonna share some of that meat?”