"Yes, I am a talking head," Mimir replied with an amused tone. "You are quite observant, miss."
Annabeth's eyes widened, feeling her cheeks flush with embarrassment as she noticed the amusement in the talking head's voice. She couldn't believe she had exclaimed something so obvious in front of her friends.
"Who are you? Or rather, what are you?" Thalia asked cautiously, her celestial bronze spear and shield ready to be used at any moment. Her blue eyes seemed to glow with small lightning bolts, dancing like snakes in her irises.
"Oh, a princess of Olympus, it seems." Mimir noticed the lightning dancing in the beautiful twelve-year-old girl's pupils and smiled gently. "I met your father once. One of the most paranoid and insane gods I've ever seen in my long divine life."
Thalia looked at the talking head in surprise. She didn't expect him to recognize her lineage so easily.
"You don't need to fear me, miss," Mimir said calmly. "I am Mimir, God of Knowledge of the Norse Pantheon and former Ambassador of the Aesir Gods."
He paused before adding, with an amused laugh: "By the way, currently, the most beautiful head in the Nine Realms."
The comment broke some of the tension in the air. Luke, Thalia, and Annabeth exchanged surprised glances.
Annabeth, in particular, watched Mimir with growing curiosity. It was the first time she had seen a god, and as strange as it was, she knew she would never forget that moment. After all, it wasn't every day that she saw only the head of a god, and such an amusing head at that.
Luke, on the other hand, pushed aside the questions in his mind for a moment and focused on helping the blonde boy, offering him ambrosia in an attempt to heal the severe injuries on his body.
"What happened to him?" Thalia asked, picking up Mimir's head from the ground and observing the horrible injuries on the boy's body, who seemed to be of a similar age to her. Looking at his face, she couldn't help but think he really looked handsome.
"We were fleeing from a god, and he was hit twice. If it weren't for the help of the World Tree's guardian, we would be dead now," Mimir replied, casting a worried glance at Godwyn, who remained unconscious after Thor's blow.
"You fled from a god?" Thalia exclaimed, shocked. To her, gods were impossible entities to face. No mortal should even try to fight one, much less escape one.
"Yes, barely. I didn't expect the All-Father to send the most powerful god of the Norse Pantheon to hunt a child." Mimir sighed, still confused as to what Godwyn had done for Odin to send Thor to kill him.
Annabeth opened her mouth to ask more, but stopped when she saw Thalia's gaze, which told her to remain silent. Although reluctant, she swallowed her immense curiosity and went back to helping Luke with whatever was needed.
Godwyn, still unconscious, felt a strangely familiar taste. He tried to remember, but the memory slipped away like sand through his fingers. Then, suddenly, he remembered: it was the taste of the orange juice his older brother made every morning before going to school.
The taste wasn't exactly pleasant; it was too diluted, but it was a taste that had become part of his routine. At least, before being reborn into this world where gods, giants, and divine monsters walked the Earth.
Then, his consciousness was pulled from the darkness of his mind; he knew he was lying on the ground and someone was helping him drink something. He could feel his body creak with pain, and lightning seemed to be burning inside his body, destroying his flesh, blood, and muscles.
However, compared to the pain he felt daily, that pain was completely insignificant; it didn't even make him show any reaction of pain.
Despite regaining consciousness, Godwyn didn't move. He felt three unknown presences around him, and before he could summon his spear to defend himself from possible threats, he heard Mimir's voice.
"Godwyn, don't attack. They helped you."
Opening his eyes, Godwyn found a young blonde man looking at him with surprise. A girl with spiky black hair and blue eyes, and another girl with tanned skin, long curly honey-blonde hair, and gray eyes that resembled storm clouds.
"Where are we, Mimir?" Godwyn asked in a hoarse, dry tone as he struggled to stand up.
"Apparently, in the territory of the Greek Pantheon. But avoid going to Boston; it's the center of the World Tree." Mimir replied, visibly relieved to see him standing, despite the injuries he had suffered consecutively.
"You'd better sit down. Although ambrosia speeds up healing, the effects aren't immediate." Luke advised with a warm smile.
But the only response he received was a cold, evaluating gaze from the golden-haired boy. Godwyn's golden eyes analyzed Luke calmly with an increasingly dangerous and sharp look.
Luke, however, showed no fear. He maintained a steady gaze, staring at Godwyn with the same intensity.
After a while, Godwyn's expression softened slightly. Without saying anything, he sat down and took a silver horn attached to his waist. Under the surprised gazes of the three demigods, he put his hand into the object's cavity and pulled out a translucent green apple, with a glowing rune in the center.
"Iðunn's Apple!" Mimir exclaimed, surprised to recognize the sacred fruit.
Without hesitation, Godwyn took several bites, devouring the apple in a few moments.
The fruit, responsible for restoring the youth of the Norse gods, was also one of the most powerful healing remedies in the Nine Worlds. But Godwyn wasn't seeking regeneration at that moment. He wanted something more crucial: to erase the remnants of Thor's divine power that still corrupted his body.
As long as these fragments of divine energy persisted, destroying the inside of his body, his recovery would be slow and unstable. The moment the energy disappeared, his body could heal itself.
Godwyn then held his stomach and vomited lightning from his mouth. Lightning that, when it fell to the ground, melted the concrete floor until it turned into magma. The sight was so surprising that it made Annabeth's eyes widen.
"Thank you for your help, I'm Godwyn." Feeling infinitely lighter and more relaxed at that moment, Godwyn looked at the three demigods before him. "I owe you a favor."
Godwyn was not a boy of bad character; on the contrary, you wouldn't find a more honorable and gentle boy, but the environment he lived in truly didn't allow him to be who he really was.
However, even among the Norse Aesir gods, Jotuns, and Vanir gods, Godwyn was still very beloved among the Nine Realms, especially after saving Yggdrasil once on a mission given by Odin.
He was called Godwyn, the Golden, by many, and everyone easily recognized this title, showing how popular he was among the gods and divine creatures of the Nine Realms.
Unfortunately, Odin had discovered the curse he had hidden since he was born. A curse that was the crystallization of the purest form of death, a literal concept that could end the immortality of the gods and kill them definitively.
Such a dangerous power obviously could not continue to exist, so Odin had ordered his death. The All-Father did not send just any god to kill Godwyn, but Thor himself, the Most Powerful God of the Norse Pantheon.
Fortunately, as Godwyn imagined, Odin would never dare to publicly spread the power of his curse. After all, while others might want to kill him, others might want to use Godwyn as a weapon against the gods.
So, Odin dared not tell anyone the power of Godwyn's curse, fearing that some beings would use his bastard son as a weapon.
Honestly, without Mimir's help, Godwyn felt he would have been dead long ago, especially with Thor hunting him throughout the Nine Realms.
Hearing his words, Luke smiled and spoke. "No need, it was just a little ambrosia, you woke up because you're strong."
In his eyes, he really didn't do anything grand; he just helped another demigod as he did with Thalia and Annabeth.
"I don't know what happens in this country, but in the Norse world, a debt must always be paid." Godwyn did not accept Luke's refusal and spoke directly. His unquestionable tone made Luke not know what to do.
Then, thinking of something, Luke invited Godwyn with a smile. "Since you insist, why don't we go to Camp Half-Blood together? It will be safer with more people."
"All right, I'll help you get to Camp Half-Blood." Godwyn didn't hesitate to accept Luke's proposal.
Although Luke said he only gave him a little Ambrosia, he knew that if he had fallen somewhere else while still unconscious, he could very well have become lunch for some hungry monster.
Luke's Ambrosia might seem insignificant in his eyes, but in Godwyn's eyes, he had saved his life.
"Just be careful, children, your combined scents might attract more monsters than usual, but with Godwyn's help, that's not a big problem." Mimir warned the demigods in a serious tone, but he wasn't too worried about them; he had personally seen Godwyn kill a dozen forest trolls in just ten minutes.
Godwyn nodded, but as Mimir had said, he really wasn't worried; as long as it wasn't a God, he could kill with ease.
Suddenly, the girl with spiky black hair and blue eyes threw a leather jacket at him, making Godwyn fix his eyes on her, confused by her actions.
"You can't travel shirtless, golden boy." Thalia spoke in a teasing tone, looking at Godwyn's body, who was only wearing pants; his other clothes had turned to ashes with Thor's attack. Her gaze swept over his abdomen before she looked away without anyone noticing.
"Golden boy?" Wearing the leather jacket, Godwyn showed a confused expression hearing the nickname the girl had given him.
"Well, your hair and eyes are golden, it's normal to call you Golden Boy." Thalia replied with a smile, leaving Godwyn speechless.
She continued speaking, pointing to Annabeth and then to Luke. "I'm Thalia Grace, the little one there is Annabeth Chase, and the boy who likes to adopt children is Luke Castellan."
Annabeth was not happy to be called little, and despite being seven years old, the girl had more pride than anyone else in that place.
"As I said before, I'm Godwyn, just Godwyn." Godwyn reintroduced himself. As for the surname, he had one, or rather, he had had one; he would never use Odin's surname in his life.
"Welcome to the team, Godwyn." Luke smiled and spoke cheerfully.
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/GOTSW
Read my other books:
Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos (400,000 words written).
Percy Jackson: Godwyn the Golden.