"He kissed your hand?!" Elisa squealed. I rolled my eyes at her. "Aww, that's so cute!"

"I'm sure he does that to every woman he greets. It's no big deal."

"No big deal? Hello! It's Thor. He's super hot."

"He's okay, I guess. Besides, isn't he with that Jane lady?"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." She got off of her bed and sat next to me on mine. "So, what did you do yesterday?"

"I learned how to change my outfit by magic." Her face lit up.

"Magic? Like, legit magic? Uh, show me!" I stood up and stepped away. I had practiced a few times while she was sleeping so it was easier this time. In the blink of an eye, the flames had returned, and my outfit had changed. "Woah. That's amazing! And you look really cute in that outfit." She looked at the clock before looking back at me. "I gotta go. See you later?"

"I have to go after class."

"That's okay. We can catch up later. Bye!" Elisa grabbed her bag and rushed out. I got ready for my classes and left not long after.

******

"Good, you remembered," Alma said as she saw me step out of the elevator. "Sometimes we get someone who panics and doesn't remember the location or something."

"It wasn't that hard."

"Good. Now, today we're gonna do an obstacle course." I made a confused face. "In the air. To practice flying, of course. You never know when you'll have to fly through some crazy crap. Come on."

She guided me through the halls once again. This time, I didn't need her to drag me along. I was getting to know these hallways and passages. I guess that's good, since I'd be spending a lot of time here.

When we got to the courtyard, I looked up to see a floating obstacle course. Other Valkyries were flying through, some going through with ease, others weren't so great. I saw Alma take off next to me so I followed. She gave me a quick run-through of the course once we got up there. She went through it to give me a demonstration.

She was better than all of the others, not hitting a single thing. It was amazing to see how her wings maneuvered through different obstacles. I couldn't wait to learn to fly like that.

Alma finished the course and hovered next to me. She caught her breath before speaking. "So, how was that?"

"That was amazing! How am I supposed to do that?"

"Practice. Come on, let me show you." She guided me through basic wing maneuvers and let me try them before trying the real thing. "Alright, I think you're ready."

"What? For the course?" She nodded. "I... I don't think... I'm not ready for that."

"Don't be silly. I'll be right here. Besides, if you mess up, you can learn from it."

"Okay." I took a deep breath in. "Okay. Yeah. I can do this." But deep down, something told me I couldn't. There was a weight in the back of my mind, nagging and telling me that I couldn't, that I wasn't ready.

Then, the feeling formed a voice. A male voice, which was strange. "You aren't ready for this yet. Don't do it." I shook my head.

I'll be fine, I reassured myself before flying up to the start of the course.

"You've got this!" I heard Alma say. I closed my eyes and took in another deep breath.

"Don't. It won't end well."

I opened my eyes and whispered to myself, "Shut up."

"Ready, set... Go!" I took off as fast as I could. I flew through floating rings that were followed by tunnels. The tunnels were dark, but bright enough to see. There was just barely enough room for my wings.

I made it out of the series of tunnels and grew closer to the end. The only thing left was to make it through a field of flying boulders. Great.

I dodged the first few, but one hit my right wing. Keep going. Come on. I was still able to fly, just not in a straight line.

"Stop while you can." I shook my head.

No, I can do it. I could have sworn I almost felt it shrug.

"Suit yourself."

I pushed on, not looking back. I avoided some more smaller and medium sized boulders. But then I came closer to large ones, really large ones. I did my best but I grazed my wings on a few rocks. I'm almost there, I can make it. I pushed on.

"Please stop. You're going to get hurt. Stop this while you can." I flew faster. I could do this. My left wing took a hard hit from another boulder. I could hear Alma calling out to me, but I couldn't understand her.

"Almost. Come... on." I drowsily dodged some more, missing some small ones. I saw that I was cut up and bleeding. I was almost there. I looked back at my wings and then back ahead. When I did, I saw a boulder heading straight for my face.

"Shit."

I closed my eyes and braced for impact. When I did, my body went numb, and I lost consciousness.

******

I stood up in a hallway. It was golden, but ill-lit. I looked around and began to walk through. Something pulled me towards one of the small rooms that seemed to be cells. I let the feeling guide me through the halls. Once I stopped in front of the cell on the corner, the feeling left. I stepped away and it pulled me back.

It was then that I saw something move, and I immediately turned my attention to the inside of the cell. I saw a man dressed in green and black leather, his hair smoothed back. I met his piercing green eyes.

"Why am I here?" I asked him.

"That's how you'd like to start this conversation?" He sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. "You are here for various reasons. This is merely the beginning."

"The beginning? Of what?" He came closer to the energy field between us. I should have backed away, but I didn't. I stood my ground, not losing eye contact once.

He just laughed, not loud or long. Just a chuckle. "Oh, you have no idea."

I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. He looked confused but I looked away from him for a second and when I looked back, he was gone. I felt my brow furrow and I closed my eyes. When I opened them, I was surrounded in darkness.

"The child has awoken."

******

I jolted up, gasping for air. My lungs felt crushed, trying to take in more air than they could handle.

"Hey, hey. It's alright." My vision was blurry but I turned to look at who had said that. My vision focused on a red blur that eventually became Alma. "I'm sorry. You weren't ready and I pushed you. I'm sorry."

I remembered what had happened. The obstacle course, and the boulders. "Holy crap, my wings. Are they...?"

"They'll be okay. They're a bit damaged but the healers said it wouldn't take long to heal. But what about you? Are you okay? You seemed pretty freaked out."

"Yeah, I-I'm fine. Really." I looked around to see a room that I didn't recognize. "Where are we?"

"Oh, we're in the palace infirmary. Your wounds were pretty serious at the time. I brought you here. This is all my fault." I placed my hand on hers and smiled.

"No, I could have stopped. It wasn't your fault. Besides, I heard you yelling at me. I just couldn't understand what you were saying."

"I was trying to tell you to stop. You kept going, and I didn't know what to do." The doors opened, and we turned to see Thor walking in.

"At least we know she is resilient. The healers say she should be fine soon." He smiled, and Alma stood up to bow.

"Your highness," she said as she did. He smiled and shook his head.

"There is no need for that. I am here on a friendly visit. How are you faring, Lady Lilith?"

"Oh, I'm, uh, I'm fine."

"Good. Will you be well enough for our training tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow? Oh, right. Yeah, I think I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?" I nodded.

"Just be careful with your wings," Alma said. "They might take a bit longer to fully heal. I'd better go. Be safe." She nodded to the prince before leaving the room.

"How are you really?" Thor asked. Somehow he could see that something was bothering me. He still had that look in his eyes.

"I'm fine."

"If something is troubling you, please, do not hesitate to tell me."

"I just had a weird dream, that's all."

"Alright." He looked to the floor for a moment before returning his gaze to me. "The healers should be here soon. I can keep you company until they get here if you wish."

"You don't have to. I mean, I won't stop you if you want to." He smiled again. Something about his smile was reassuring.

"You should have listened to me. But you didn't, and now you're hurt." I felt my eyes widen. I thought the voice was just in my imagination before. Apparently, I was wrong.

"Is something wrong?" Thor asked, noticing my surprise.

"No, it's nothing."

The doors opened again and a small group of women shuffled in.

"I should be going now." He nodded before taking his leave.

The women pulled up some sort of a hologram, much like the types I'd seen at the Stark Expo I went to one year. There were words, analyzing my injuries no doubt, but I couldn't read them. I figured that they had their own language, too. The symbols looked like it would take hours to write one perfectly. The woman that seemed to be the head of this small group enlarged the image of my wings. There was a large red spot on my right wing, smaller ones were scattered on both.

"Hmm," she said. I wanted to ask if something was wrong, but I didn't want to disturb her work. "Your wing has taken some serious damage, but it should heal in a few days with our treatments. You must come here once a day for us to attend to it." I nodded. "We will bandage it now. Do not put any unnecessary weight on it and don't extend them yet. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Her and another nurse wrapped my wing in bandages before allowing me to leave.

When I got to the palace steps, I realized I couldn't fly to Valhalla. It wasn't particularly far, but it was farther than I wanted to walk.

"Shit."