The rain pounded the city like a thousand angry drums. Streets turned into shimmering rivers, and thunder rolled across the sky in great, rumbling waves.
Bertinus sprinted across the crosswalk, his soaked sneakers slapping against the asphalt. He hugged his thin backpack to his chest, trying to keep his laptop dry. Every few seconds, a bolt of lightning forked through the dark clouds above, turning the night into a strobe of electric white.
"Great. Just great. One more thing to make today worse," he muttered under his breath.
His head was spinning. Deadlines. Rent overdue. His boss screaming at him over a small coding error. Life felt like one endless storm lately, and tonight it seemed everything was crashing down.
A sudden flash blinded him.
He froze in the middle of the road, eyes wide.
Time stopped.
Above him, a streak of lightning split the sky in half, a roaring serpent of light spiraling straight toward him.
He didn't even have time to scream.
The world exploded into white. His body jerked violently, and he felt a deep, searing pain, as if every cell inside him was burning. Then, silence.
Everything went dark.
....
When he opened his eyes, the rain was gone. No cars. No blaring horns.
He lay on a smooth marble floor, surrounded by towering columns that stretched toward a sky painted in swirling gold and violet. The air crackled softly, like distant static, and the scent of metal and ozone filled his lungs.
Slowly, Bertinus sat up, his hands trembling.
"What… where am I?" he whispered.
Then he noticed his hands.
They weren't his.
His arms were thick and muscled, veins coiling beneath skin that looked like living bronze. He touched his face. A strong jaw. A heavy beard. Hair like strands of molten gold spilling over his shoulders.
Panic surged through him as he scrambled to his feet. A massive mirror stood nearby, its surface rippling like liquid.
He stumbled toward it.
And there he saw himself –or rather, what he had become.
Blue eyes, glowing faintly, crackled with electric sparks. His chest was broad, covered in strange runes that pulsed with inner light. His hair flowed wild and bright down his back, and at the mirror's edge, he could just make out a shimmering, translucent cloak draped over his shoulders.
Then a voice, deep and booming, thundered through his skull.
"Thor."
The word shook every bone in his body.
He staggered back, gasping.
"No... I'm Bertinus! I'm just a guy… a normal guy!" he shouted at the mirror, but his voice came out deep and echoing, like it belonged in the heart of a canyon.
Again, the word came, softer this time. Like an echo from some vast, empty place.
"Thor… Thor…"
Images flashed in his mind. A massive hammer soaring through storm clouds. Lightning splitting a mountain in two. Warriors roaring in golden halls. A one-eyed figure watching from a high throne.
Memories that weren't his flooded him, clawing into his mind like a river breaking a dam.
He dropped to his knees, clutching his head.
"I… I can't be… I'm not a god," he whispered, his voice shaking. But deep inside, something answered. A pulse of power, ancient and unstoppable.
Overhead, the sky rumbled, as if agreeing.
Slowly, he looked up at the mirror. The figure staring back radiated raw strength. Sparks of energy danced across his fingertips, as if the storm itself lived in his veins.
A distant sound echoed through the marble halls. A horn, calling him from somewhere far away.
Bertinus drew a deep breath, his chest lifting like a mountain rising from the sea.
"I don't know how… but if I really am Thor now… I'll have to learn to be worthy," he said. His voice was steadier this time. A spark of determination flickered in his glowing eyes.
A sudden gust swept through the hall, carrying the scent of pine forests and crashing waves. Somewhere in that wind, he thought he heard a faint whisper.
Welcome home.
He clenched his fists, feeling the electric current dance across his knuckles.
Bertinus –no, Thor took his first shaky step into the golden mist.
Above him, thunder rolled across the sky, as if the storm itself was laughing. Or welcoming him.
.....