Thor awakens
from the All-Sleep refreshed, with a beard, and placed in an exotic alien
landscape. He calls for Loki and spins Mjolnir so he can be transported back to
Asgard or Midgard. But Loki, now God and Goddess of Stories, appears before him
showing their Runestaff bearing the rune raidho, rune of journeys, but reversed,
indicating an unwanted journey. Thor looks around for a while and realizes he is
in a part of the galaxy unknown to him. He again asks help of Loki, who advises
him to use what’s in his helmet. Loki then conjures up a banquet but Thor loses
his temper and calls down lightning to destroy the banquet table. With a flip
remark, Loki vanishes. Thor flies into an even greater rage and the lightning strikes
turn the pretty landscape into a barren plain of rock. Then he calms down and
ponders what it is he keeps in his helmet. So he breaks it down and recasts his
helmet to create an axe head which he names Tormod. Loki returns to taunt him
again, hinting that he should kill himself and so return to Midgard via
Valhalla. Thor breaks their Runestaff but Loki restores it, telling Thor he has
the tools in his hands, before vanishing again. Thor sees that Mjolnir and
Tormod are in his hands and he adds a handle to the axe head but also creates a
Runestaff of his own. Loki then appears to him as an angry giant demanding that
Thor give them the throne of Asgard and fiendish Loki, God of Evil, will let
him live. But Thor knows by now that Loki no longer wants a throne and so, the
riddle solved, Thor strikes his Runestaff on the ground and returns to the
moon. Loki is there with his normal look, telling him what he needed was a weapon
and he passed the test. Loki was the enemy Thor needed. So the All-Father is
ready to face the villain Toranos but he needs allies, starting with the Goddess
of Thunder—Storm….