Buddha watched as Thor fought the flying, three-headed, winged beast.

All around the heavenly plane sat the gods. Pantheons of characters that held sway over the mortal world below.

Odin winced and his fellow lesser gods winced with him. Thor fought, but despite the dancing lighting, the mythical hammer, and the demigod powers invested into him, he was losing.

Lighting sparked in the upper atmosphere as Thor desperately called upon the ethereal powers of nature itself. It seemed to almost bounce off the creature, but it was obviously doing something as it screeched in fury with each blow.

A touch childish, but Buddha understood. After all, they were all lesser creatures. Not a single one of them held the whole of a divine spark to gain final enlightenment and press into the next journey.

Of all of them, only Yahweh was closest in terms of power, and yet any pantheon could focus and rival his strength. It was a lonely path for that god, and Buddha had no desire to pursue such paths for himself.

“Ambrosia?” Odin offered the horn as he settled down beside his friend. Fellow giants in the world of the divine.

“Please,” Buddha replied as he took the horn, and from it, he poured forth a river of red liquid onto his open palm. The sweet scent of wine, and the thickness of heated honey. This was ambrosia!

“Fresh,” Odin chuckled as Buddha raised an eyebrow at him. He had to borrow some from Zeus the last time they had met. The beast below might have something to do about it.

“Explains why lightning isn’t doing much to it,” Buddha replied as he slouched back and sighed. Bubbles of ambrosia floated around him. At the time a bubble would simply zoom into the god’s mouth and pop to dispense its unique flavor.

Odin grunted but nodded as he watched his son smash the hammer into the side of the creature’s middle head. It screeched in pain, while the other two were locked onto a leg and waist.

Thor then went to work on the first head attached to his midsection.

“What else have you done, my friend? Zeus is usually too carefree to send a titan after you. Even if you pinched some wine,” Buddha asked as he poured forth a second round from the horn.

Odin grunted but held up a palm. From it was a bubble that held a single yellow spark.

Even from where he sat, Buddha could feel the cosmic energy contained within. Was that a bolt of lightning?

“You stole a bolt of his lightning?” Buddha asked in shock and awe.

“I. Won. It!” Odin exclaimed as he wiped his fingers over his palm, smothered the bubble, and making it vanish. “It was a game of cards! You were there! Zeus is just a poor loser!”

“I left early due to sudden problems. A monkey was causing some big issues back home,” Buddha reminded his friend.

“Oh yeah! Did you trap it under a mountain? I need to remember that trick next time some nigh immortal upstart starts making a bad ruckus,” Odin answered as he vaguely remembering the fat god suddenly not being there in the end.

Buddha didn’t answer back as he had no idea how Odin defined what was a good ruckus, like ones that included a civil war, or a bad ruckus, like those that included a civil war.

The two fell into a comfortable silence as they watched Thor simply bash his opponent down. Resigned to simply a physical fight, not that it was that much of a handicap, the two tussled and began to slow down.

“I think he has won,” Buddha said as he closed his eyes and sighed. Demigods or not, death was vexing when it was a slaughter for the sake of violence.

“He did it!” Odin cheered and laughed as he poured another round of ambrosia for his friend. Zeus made a face as he realized his titan had failed.

Thor stood victorious over the falling body of the titan. It would smash into the land when they fell. Thor gave out a sigh and collapsed on top of the beast and moved no more.

“HE DID IT!” Zeus cheered louder and poured forth more ambrosia for his fellow gods as they laughed and watched.

From Thor’s hands, Mjolnir fell free and streaked to earth by the pull of gravity. Its mystical nature drew upon lightning to replenish its mystical might.

To spite his friend, Zeus threw forth a bolt of lighting to supercharge its powers. It would also make Thor’s life harder whenever he reawakened and went to grab the weapon.

Buddha sighed as he held forth a palm, and with a small huff, moved them so that they would not fall onto a town, but into the middle of the ocean instead.

The hammer fell without influence and streaked downward as with bolt of divine lightning.

Despite everyone’s prediction, it did not land outside of a city, but within it. Zeus’s final joke had unintentionally directed straight down, instead of arcing down.

On a clear day, lighting struck the town of Nazareth.

Such was the power and majesty of the hammer of Odin that it did not wipe out the town, but a single house. Luckily the family within had left for the day to visit the markets.

Thus it was a distraught family that faced shock and horror at what could have been.

From there, the family went through the wreckage to salvage what they could.

The tools were among the most important. Everything could be rebuilt, but the tools of the father, of Joseph, were important for his everyday trade. A trade that the eldest was also learning.

Thus it was destiny that Jesus found a hammer that neither his father nor mother could lift. Yet upon his touch, did he raise it to the heavens, and lighting responded to his call.

He dropped it immediately, from shock and surprise.

Had he held on just a bit longer…

He would have heard the gasp of many gods, and the outraged scream of one in particular.

“ODIN! ZEUS!”