I was practicing throwing lightning bolts at targets when a large man dropped from the sky to land near me with a loud boom. It threw off my aim at my latest target, a pyramid of rocks.

"What the hell, man!" I yelled as I turned to look at him.

Even with an unfamiliar long mane of fiery red hair and two braids framing it, I knew his face.

"Oh shit," I breathed with trepidation. It was Tempest Corvus, Thor Odinson, Loki's brother.

"Shannon!" his voice boomed.

Oh double shit. He knows me.

"Uh... Hi Thor, or do you want me to call you Tempest?" I asked.

"Thor is fine, unless there are mortals around. You have led my brother and I on a merry chase all over Midgard, trying to find you."

Loki really was looking for me?

"I wasn't hiding, Thor. I've simply been learning my powers and adjusting to being a goddess. This is all completely new to me. I wasn't aware Loki cared where I was or was looking for me. We only knew each other for two days, after all."

"I don't understand, Shannon. You are his soulmate. It's destroying him not knowing where you are, if you are okay. He's terrified for your safety. How can you do this to him?"

Thor sounded disappointed, and I couldn't help feeling defensive, crossing my arms. "Loki never said anything to me about being his soulmate. I don't even know for sure what that is."

"She is what?" Isis shrieked as she joined us.

"Oh! Hi Isis. Been a long time. How are you?" asked Thor, turning towards her.

"Did you say she is Loki's soulmate? Are you fucking kidding me? That conniving, worthless, husband-killing bastard has a soulmate?" Isis shrieked, coming at me with hands outstretched like talons, fury twisting her features.

I was shocked, frozen by her reaction, and unable to move.

"I'll kill her! He doesn't deserve a soulmate! He can experience my pain!"

Thor stepped between us. At more than seven feet tall and broad of shoulder, he was so large I couldn't see around him, but I could hear him.

"Isis! I will not let you hurt Shannon to get back at Loki. She is innocent, and it wouldn't bring Osiris back!" Thor boomed.

"Get out of the way, you overgrown lightning rod. I'm going to kill her." The venom in Isis' tone had tears filling my eyes. I couldn't believe it was the same woman who'd helped me these past four months.

"Sorry Isis, but you know that's not going to happen." The next thing I knew, he swung Mjolnir and knocked Isis back.

"Heimdall!" he shouted, as he grabbed me with one arm.

A rainbow of lights surrounded us and swept us away while Isis shrieked in rage.

Stumbling slightly when Thor released me, I found myself in a massive silver-grey stone chamber looking up at the largest man I'd ever seen. He was easily a foot taller than Thor, perhaps more.

"Wow, you are huge!" I said without thinking, my brain still stuck on Isis' unexpected attack and hatred.

He laughed, and a friendly smile stretched his darkly marbled face. It was like he was formed from portoro marble, the intense black jet colour interspersed with gold and white effervescences that seem to be in motion, particularly in his unique striated eyes. He was stunning, and it took me a minute to realize I was staring. 

"I am Heimdall, little Shannon. I am the guardian and gate keeper. Welcome to the realm of Asgard."

"Yeah, I uh... I watched the movies."

Heimdall laughed again, a deep, rich chuckle. "Those Midgardian movies are amusing, but do keep in mind they are fiction, little one. There is more to this universe than depicted in those stories." His tone turned serious. "You need to learn quickly, little goddess. I couldn't see you when Isis kept you cloaked from my sight. It is a dangerous universe." 

"Oh... I wasn't aware she was doing that. Until Thor showed up, Isis had been great. She helped me learn my powers, how to use them and defend myself." My face fell as I recalled how she'd turned against me. It hurt. I'd trusted her.

"Isis is great with mortal women and children. She is a fierce defender of them. She's a little more unpredictable with fellow gods and goddesses. I'm glad she took you under her wing for a while, but her rage at Loki has endured for four thousand years on Midgard. She won't forgive him for his youthful mistake, and she will kill you to hurt him," Thor told me gently. "I am sorry, Shannon."

"Thank you for getting me out of there, but I'm not ready to see Loki yet. I need more time to figure out who I am now and what it means to be a goddess." There was no way I would be pushed into anything I wasn't ready for. Okay, maybe I was afraid to see him again. What if he rejects me? What if he doesn't want a soulmate?

Thor inclined his head. "I'm not happy about it, but I won't force you, little sister. How about we take you to the healers to figure out where your god genes come from? I know I'm curious. Are you?"

I wasn't sure how I felt about being called little sister. It was kind of nice, after feeling so adrift from my own family and unable to share all the changes in my life. 

"Yes, I absolutely want to know more about where I come from." Maybe getting some answers would help me feel more in control of my own life again.

Thor held out his elbow for me to take. Clearly, their mother had raised gentlemen.

Taking it, I looked back at Heimdall. "Thank you."

He bowed his head and smiled.

Leading me out along a silvery stone and metal bridge surging with the same rainbow energy as the bifrost, we walked toward the city, and Thor and I got to know each other. He told me about his lovely wife and twin daughters who weren't aware he was a god, or that gods exist.

"Isn't it hard, lying to them?" I asked.

"Not when I'm protecting them. I've seen how badly it can turn out. I love them too much to do that to them. There is no way I want to pull them into the world of immortals. Elise wouldn't be safe. She's too fragile."

"Immortals won't use your mortal family to get at you?"

"No. It's one of the few rules all immortals abide by. Mortal lives are too short and too fragile to be used that way. I'd rather they live a life as happy mortals, fleeting though it may be compared to mine."

"So you won't give your kids Asgardian food or drink?"

"Certainly not at this point. I can't see doing it at all while their mother still lives."

"Both you and Heimdall have alluded to how dangerous the universe is for immortals or gods. Isis had me learning to defend myself with lightning bolts. Is it really so bad?"

"I'm glad to hear she was teaching you defence. To answer your question, yes, little sister, it is. There are numerous races of immortals, although none of us are truly immortal. Compared to humans, we live many thousands of years, but we can, and do, die. Since it can often be hard to kill an immortal, we can suffer innumerable tortures and torments for long periods of time without dying. It can break a mind. A crazy immortal is a very dangerous beast."

"I can understand how that would be bad. An immortal Hitler or Jeffrey Dahmer. But surely there can't be that many?"

"We try to kill those that are truly depraved and beyond any hope, but each race has its own horrors."

"You've mentioned races several times. What do you mean?"

"It's our genetic origin. I'm Aesir, the original race from the realm of Asgard. Loki is half Vanir, the original race from the realm of Vanaheim, and half Jotun, from the realm of Jotunheim. Heimdall is half Aesir, half Jotun. Isis is also Vanir. The Aos Sí, which you may know as the Sidhe or elves, are from the realm of Alfheim. The Shen or Xian, which you would think of in terms of the far eastern Midgardian god pantheons, are from the realm of Kunlun. Midgardians, or humans, originated from the realm of Midgard. There are more, but these are the major ones that all have, or have had, a presence on Midgard."

"Okay, so is Jotunheim actually the realm of the frost giants? Or is that just fiction?"

Thor laughed. "It's the realm of the giants, including frost giants. They aren't like in the movies, although yes, the frost giants are blue. The giants are a race of magic-using shape shifters. Their natural state is a large humanoid, as you saw from Heimdall's size, but they take many forms. They don't have strict genders or forms the way other races do as they tend to change frequently. It's a chaotic realm, since nothing stays the same for long."

"Huh." I thought about that for a few minutes. "So is that where Loki gets his abilities to shape shift?"

"You've seen that, have you? He's only a quarter frost giant, with the other quarter fire giant, so not a blue popsicle." Thor laughed. "Although that doesn't stop me from making fun of him about the misconceptions in Midgardian culture. They really do have the funniest myths about him."

Yeah, they were siblings all right. I shook my head and grinned. "No, he turned himself into a cat to stalk me at my conference." As I remembered taunting him until I got him to change, my smile widened.

Thor snorted a laugh. "Yes, he does prefer cats, large or small, but he can be other animals as well. He spent a number of years as the trickster god Coyote or Raven in North America."

I stopped walking. Some of the favourite stories my mother would tell me were about Raven or Coyote, like how he taught the first nations to make nets and fish for salmon. I shook my head.

"That's a lot for me to wrap my head around. What were you doing while he scampered across North America?" I started walking again.

"I had Loki give me a spell to make me appear to be a large bird for mortals, the god Thunderbird, so I could join him for a while. I enjoyed that immensely. The Aesir and Vanir tend to form most of the major Midgardian pantheons like the Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Norse, and a portion of the gods of the Americas. We've changed our names on Midgard as the pantheons and beliefs of the mortals evolve. Many of the Aesir have abilities relating to hunting, war, building, and inventing, whereas the Vanir tend to be skilled in growing things, healing, fertility, songs, dance, and brewing. Our two races have mixed for a long time."

"You mentioned two other races," I asked, as Thor directed me through an archway and into a room with several people in green smocks. We'd reached the city a while ago, and for the last few minutes, we'd walked down a large open hallway inside what I guessed was the palace, given its ornate gold, silver, and gleaming white stone design.

"I will happily tell you more, but first, let's have the healers give you a scan, okay?"

They helped me up onto a bed, and a green energy beam surrounded me.

"We'd like a complete health scan and a genetic race profile, Healer Moja," Thor told her.

She nodded and her fingers played over what appeared to be a set of controls or readout on the side of the beam.

"She is Tuatha De Danann, Aos Sí, my prince. Her energies are new but stable. Did she transition recently?"

Thor looked shocked.

"What's wrong?" I asked, worried.

"Nothing is wrong, little sister. I'm just surprised." He turned back to the healer. "No Midgardian? Pure Aos Sí?"

"Yes, my prince."

"And everything else is good? Yes, she transitioned only four months ago."

"Yes, my prince. Her energy levels are strong and stable. Both her and the baby are very healthy."