Odin: "Thor has finally grown a little sensible."
Before Thor realized it, the banquet had begun, with him drinking alongside Russell.
Transformed into the Three Warriors of Asgard, Sif and the other Asgardians drank with him.
Despite consuming a large amount of mead, Thor found himself outnumbered.
Hours later, Thor was knocked unconscious.
"That's enough for today. Thanks for the hospitality," Russell said, noticing Thor's drunken state and suggesting the end of the gathering.
"The mead's good, but I'm feeling a little tired after so much drinking," Russell added.
Sif, still sober, nodded in agreement and stood up to see the guests off.
As for Loki, he had long since disappeared.
Russell, however, was still pondering whether Loki would produce any treasures to win his favor.
The Three Warriors of Asgard, themselves quite tipsy, helped each other stay upright.
Sif, managing to stay in control of her faculties, steadied herself.
After steadying Thor, Sif prepared to leave with him.
"Won't you take the hammer?" Russell asked, pointing to Mjolnir, Thor's iconic weapon, lying on the ground.
Sif turned back and explained, "No one can lift Mjolnir except Thor and the All-Father. Just leave it here for now. When Thor wakes up, he'll recall Mjolnir automatically."
"Is it too heavy? After all, it's made from the core of a dying star," Russell mused, casually reaching for the hammer's handle.
Russell, who believed all magic to be a form of energy manipulation, was confident he could bypass any magical limitations tied to Mjolnir.
Grasping the hammer's handle, Russell felt the force shift, as if Mjolnir was responding to the fluctuations of his soul, almost as though it were analyzing him.
Russell, understanding how to manipulate soul frequencies, adjusted his own vibrational energy until the hammer seemed to accept him.
With the right frequency achieved, Russell swung Mjolnir twice in the air before effortlessly catching it.
"It's not good to just leave things lying around. I'll take it back for Thor. I don't have much, but I do have strength," Russell said.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Sif watched in stunned silence as Russell easily picked up Mjolnir, completely dumbfounded. In her shock, she let go of Thor, causing him to tumble to the ground.
The Three Warriors of Asgard also stumbled, one of them falling to the floor from the lack of support.
Thor, now on the ground, began to stir. In his haze, he saw a blurry figure holding Mjolnir and staring at him silently.
"Father, what are you doing with my Mjolnir? Give it back. Give it back," Thor mumbled before promptly falling asleep again.
Sif, recovering from her stupor, looked at Russell in disbelief. "How did you pick it up?"
Russell grinned sheepishly. "I saw that everyone had left it, and I thought it'd be bad to just leave it there. So I picked it up casually. It's not heavy at all."
Sif regarded him coolly, her expression unreadable. It was clear she didn't believe his story.
Russell, on the other hand, smirked inwardly, his thoughts focused more on how he felt than what Sif believed.
After a pause, Russell changed the subject. "Let's get Thor back first. We can't have the King of Asgard sleeping in the streets, can we?"
Russell turned to look for Loki, hoping the god of mischief might agree with him.
But Loki was nowhere to be found.
Inside Asgard's grand golden hall, Odin, clad in gleaming golden armor, stood looking down at his kingdom. The golden spires of Asgard were the legacy of his rule, a realm that had enjoyed peace for millennia.
But now, all of it seemed on the verge of breaking apart as war loomed once more.
Turning to a guard beside him, Odin asked, "How is Thor doing?"
Odin, knowing his son well, was concerned that Thor might react rashly after the coronation was disrupted.
"Your Majesty, His Highness Thor has returned to the palace and is sleeping," the guard replied.
"Hmm?" Odin raised an eyebrow. This wasn't typical behavior for Thor.
"Even if he was upset, he would usually go talk to his friends or scold someone," Odin mused aloud.
The guard continued, "It seems Master Russell, a guest of Kamar-Taj, managed to outdrink everyone at the banquet. Thor went to join him in drinking."
"So Thor was drunk too?" Odin asked, his tone betraying his curiosity.
"Yes," the guard confirmed.
Odin, despite his earlier wariness of Russell, wasn't entirely surprised by Thor's drunkenness. The first time he had met Russell, his instincts had told him the man was far from ordinary.
At the same time, Odin recognized that if Kamar-Taj supported Asgard especially with the Ancient One's personal attendance at Thor's coronation it could be an asset in the coming battles.
But then the guard dropped a bombshell: "King, there's another thing. Russell... he picked up Thor's hammer, Mjolnir."
Clang!
The shock caused Odin to stomp down with Gungnir, his eternal spear. There were many powerful beings across the cosmos, but only a rare few possessed the heart and strength required to wield Mjolnir.
That such an ally might appear now, when Asgard was on the brink of Ragnarok, stirred something within Odin.
For a brief moment, Odin allowed himself to feel excitement. But then his thoughts returned to the impossible notion that Russell had bypassed the spell that only Thor and Odin could overcome.
"Impossible!" Odin muttered under his breath. "It's simply impossible!"
Thor, though angry, had refrained from attacking Jotunheim in his drunken state. Instead, he had focused on looking after his guests.
"It seems my son has made some progress," Odin thought to himself. "But in the end, he still got himself drunk. Progress, but not much."
Odin's gaze shifted downward, his eyes scanning the peace and prosperity of Asgard. But instead of seeing just the bright city, he could feel the storm brewing just beneath the surface.
---
The following morning, Thor slowly woke up.
"Damn, why did I get drunk yesterday? What a mess." He muttered to himself.
"But Russell... that guy can really hold his drink."
Thor groggily looked around, then raised his hand. "Mjolnir."
With a flash, Mjolnir flew into his grip.
"Wait a minute," Thor murmured. "Did I really bring you back last night?"
A vague, embarrassing memory flashed before him.
"Ah, it must've been like that," he concluded.
Thor shook off the feeling and flew off, ready to find Loki, Sif, and the Three Warriors of Asgard.
His mission was clear: he needed to confront the frost giants of Jotunheim, discover why they had invaded Asgard, and determine the method behind their attack.