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Loki: The God of Magic
- Thread starter Samael61
- Start date
Legionofliving
Know what you're doing yet?
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2020
- Messages
- 110
- Likes received
- 506
This is a blast. TFTC.
Chapter 36 - Gods of New
New
Samael61
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2025
- Messages
- 498
- Likes received
- 28,833
Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Mount Justice
"Guess who just found out how your dad was freed?" Robin asked as he sat on his chair, taking his plate full of pancakes.
Zatanna sucked in a breath, coughing. "What? How?" she asked, gulping down a glass of water to soothe her throat.
The whole table stopped eating, turning to Robin.
The Boy Wonder smirked. "That new guy? His name is Loki, from the Scandinavian myths."
"Great, a trickster god was what we needed," Kid Flash said. Like New Genesis and Apokolips weren't enough, now they had the Scandinavians.
"Not only that," Robin continued, earning their attention once more, "he is also from another universe."
"What's he doing here?" She wanted to know everything.
"Traveling, apparently. I also learned where he currently is."
"Where?"
—
Bialya
He considered what to do.
The existence of Asgard, which had long been destroyed, intrigued him. He wanted to seek anything that might have remained. There was, however, a problem.
He only had one lead he could follow. The Greek demigod, Diana of Themyscira, was a hero. She worked with the Justice League against numerous villains. The difficult part was the league had a no-kill rule. They didn't play the judge, jury, and executioner, simply acting to arrest them.
She would have no reason to help him.
Neither would the Greek Pantheon. Beyond his dislike for Zeus in his universe, they too would have no reason to help a stranger. Not without something in return.
He would have to come up with a plan.
After he greeted his latest visitors.
A ship, invisible to the naked eye and most likely to many other detection methods, landed near him. Inside was quite the motley group of individuals, children mostly. One alien, one half-alien, a magician, an enhanced human, an aquatic humanoid, and two ordinary humans.
He rose from his beach chair, dismissing it. Cosmo landed on her feet, yawning and shaking her head.
"Hello."
"Greetings."
"I am Robin; these are Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Zatanna, Artemis, and Miss Martian." The boy with the domino mask said, pointing at each member as he went along.
"I'm Loki Odinson," he introduced himself. An awkward silence took hold. The teens didn't seem to have thought this out very well.
He smirked. All this stealth was unnecessary if they were going to show themselves. "You don't have the permission to be here, do you?"
"Are you going to tell?" the boy in a yellow suit with a crimson lightning bolt on his chest asked. Kid Flash didn't seem too worried, though.
He tilted his head, raising a single eyebrow. "Tell what?"
"Are you the one that destroyed Dr. Fate?" the black-haired young girl, Zatanna, asked. She seemed anxious. From her appearance and the magic she radiated, he could see why.
"If you mean that pest with a holier-than-thou attitude who was keeping your father prisoner, yes."
The blunt admission took the teens back. Their eyes searched each other for an answer, but none was to be found.
The young magician took her hat off, giving a deep bow. "Thank you."
"You are welcome. Though, is that the only reason you are here? To thank me?" They were still glancing at each other but now for a different reason.
"Why did you kill Queen Bee?" Superboy blurted out what they were all thinking.
"She deserved it."
The half-human raised an eyebrow. He seemed strangely angry or, rather, thought he should be angry. "So you can decide who deserves to die because you are a god?"
He rolled his eyes. "Goodness, no. The only one who decides whether a person has to die or not is the person themselves."
"Uhhh, what?" Kid Flash asked, slow on the uptake.
"I would love to get into a philosophical debate with you about whether killing Queen Bee was justified or not, but you are all too young and inexperienced compared to me."
"Can't argue with that."
"How is your traveling gig going so far?" Artemis was curious since he wasn't doing much traveling at all.
"Not bad. It is disheartening to hear that Asgard in this dimension has been destroyed. You wouldn't know anything about it, would you?"
"Not really. New Genesis might, though. It is the world of the New Gods," Kid Flash said with a shrug, only to freeze. His teammates glared at him. The sheepish look on the young hero's face told Loki he said something he should not have.
With a snap of his fingers, a table full of refreshments and snacks, along with eight chairs, appeared out of nothing. He took his seat, eyes glinting. "Do tell more."
—
Metropolis
If he wanted to ask questions to the New Genesians, he would have to be smart about it. In the place of their leader, he wouldn't appreciate a complete stranger asking questions about the past.
A gift would create a diplomatic atmosphere.
Integang, apparently, had stolen New Genesis tech. He would retrieve what he could, return the tech to its rightful owners, and ask some questions regarding Asgard and the fate of the Aesir.
"Intruder!" a gang member shouted, his voice echoing through the defunct, dimly lit metro tunnels. Humans, some carrying rifles, others wearing upper-body rigs with more weapons plastered on them. They opened fire. He felt the plasma strike his body to no effect and merely absorbed the attacks.
He raised his hand, palm toward the gangsters, and his fingers snapped open. The front lines simultaneously exploded into dust clouds. He floated forward, breaking each gang member apart one by one.
It broke their spirit quickly.
Cosmo leaped forward, going after the deserters. They needed at least one of them alive for questioning.
The plasma fire dwindled. He was an unstoppable force, cutting down each member without even any apparent attacks. He didn't carry any of Superman's heat beams or the Green Lantern's constructs or display Wonder Woman's combat capabilities.
He moved and they died.
When he landed, it was to the sound of one man sobbing, begging. Cosmo had him dangling in the air, his rig torn off, powerless.
"Are you intelligent enough to understand why I didn't kill you yet?" He asked the man, gesturing at Cosmo to drop him.
He fell on his face, cowering on his knees. "I'll tell you what you want, I swear."
"Good. I believe your organization has stolen tech belonging to New Genesis. Where are they?"
"Mannheim took them away. He didn't think this place was secure enough. I don't know where."
A spectral hand appeared over the gangster's head, tapping him twice. "Come now, use your head. You must have an idea."
He looked left and right, thinking. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he looked up. "There is a hub in these tunnels, but I don't know the exact place. We are always taken there in the darkness for security."
"Well, since your cell is dead, I suggest you abandon this line of work."
"Yes, of course, whatever you say," the gangster said, scrambling away like a rat.
He turned to Cosmo, who was sniffing the air. She approached the tunnel on the left first and then on the right, nose to the work. He followed her as she dashed forward. He could have found their hideout by scanning the entirety of the underground, but it wouldn't be fun otherwise.
—
By the time he found the main hub, he had wiped out three smaller lairs.
When he turned the metal gate blocking his way to dust, the Intergang was waiting. There was a woman who seemed to be the leader. She stood among the gangsters, along with an alien, an ugly, old one with scarred tissue on the right side of his face.
"I don't know what brought you from Bialya to here, but you shouldn't have come."
The alien had a small device in his hand, which he held out towards Loki with a grin. He felt an intrusion on his mind. The device sent out telepathic waves, trying to access his mind, to control him.
Cute.
He ripped the device out of his hand, along with his soul. The Intergang watched as a green, transparent version of the dreaded servant of Darkseid left the body and was absorbed by the unknown.
Desaad fell, his gaze empty.
Loki closed his eyes for a moment amid the silence, going through the memories. "A god? This weakling was a god? How amusing."
He chuckled at first, turning his mind to other, more pressing matters, but he could not. Laughter ripped out of him, silent at first, before it echoed across the base. By the time the red-haired woman threw her hands up, he was done. The gangsters followed along, dropping their weapons. "We surrender!" she screamed, her voice shattering the silence.
"I don't have the means to arrest you, but I can't let you go either."
"How about you all go and surrender yourselves to the authorities?" He snapped his fingers. A green mark of an hourglass appeared on their foreheads, counting down from thirty minutes.
"If that timer hits zero before you are cuffed, your brains will melt out of your ears."
The gangsters froze once more. Several of them clawed at their forehead. One fell on his knees, begging. He didn't care one bit.
"What are you waiting for? Go!"
The gangsters scrambled, running for the nearest exit. He, though, was more intrigued by the crates containing tech.
Now to find New Genesis.
—
Metropolis Police Department
"They just came in and surrendered like that?"
"Yeah. That unknown in Bialya, the one who hanged Queen Bee? They say he was the culprit. Entered their base, turned most of Intergang to dust, and even killed someone named Desaad."
"Desaad? Are you certain?"
"Yeah. They said his body is down in the base. Hell, they even gave us the locations of all the hubs they had in the tunnels."
"Thank you, Commissioner, but I must go. This is important."
"Wait, do you know who Desaad is?"
"Can't speak about it."
—
The Watchtower
"Desaad is dead?" Batman asked for confirmation, blinking.
Superman nodded, floating through dimly lit tunnels. "That's what Whisper A'Daire said, as well as the rest. I am heading to the hub to check it out."
"Send us the location. We'll head there immediately." The coordinates were transmitted before his sentence was over.
"I'll see you guys there."
"If Desaad is dead, we can't know how Darkseid will respond," Diana said. While the God of Evil did not care about his subordinates beyond their worth, Desaad, as the God of Science, was valuable. No one who took someone so important from Darkseid would be left alone.
"It won't be good. This Loki is becoming too dangerous," Flash added. The stakes had just risen a lot higher.
"What would he even want with Intergang and Desaad?"
Batman closed his eyes, remembering the intrusion into the League's computers this morning. "I wonder."
—
New Genesis
Supertown
Finding the planet proved to be easy since the Father Box had the location.
He just had to pry it out of the living computer.
At first he thought the device was something simpler, meant to control the minds of organics. A deeper look showed that it was a living computer, an extremely advanced one. Portals, mind control, energy manipulation, and the ability to infect organics and other technological devices were among its capabilities.
When he tried to take the location from it, the Father Box responded by trying to infect him. Since he did not have any organic parts, it found nothing. In the same vein of progress, he infected the box with his magic, burning the malevolent will away.
The loyalty it had to its former master was gone, leaving behind an intelligence that was lost.
He simply took the location and left for the planet. The intelligence could decide what it wanted to do in the meantime.
He rubbed his chin, inspecting the floating town, which was named Supertown. Golden buildings surrounded by greenery, it reminded him of Asgard on a smaller scale. He waited until someone noticed his arrival, which didn't take long since he wasn't hiding.
"Halt. Identify yourself," said the New God. His choice of dress was practical: a full-body suit with a red top and black pants and a shiny, silver helmet. The harness he wore reminded him of what the Intergang had, though it was obviously more advanced.
"Loki of Asgard from another dimension. I am a traveler who was hoping to ask your leader some questions."
Orion tensed. That name, and the destruction it had caused, was known to him and all other New Gods.
He raised his hands to his sides. "Now I am aware that most of my counterparts are villains, which seems to be the case in this universe as well. I am simply here to learn about what exactly transpired and nothing else."
The New God continued to examine him. He was a warrior, one ready to reach out should he prove to be treacherous.
"The Highfather is too busy to entertain every guest personally," he said, gripping the handles of his harness tightly.
"Good thing I brought gifts," he said, taking the retrieved technological items from the pocket dimension. "Or rather, came to return what was already yours."
Orion approached the components, each one clearly produced in New Genesis. He turned to Loki sharply, eyes narrowed. "Where did you find these?"
"Intergang, a group of human criminals."
He took a deep breath. "I am Orion; welcome to New Genesis."
—
"You are Lokee?" Highfather, a New God, was aged considerably. His hair and beard were similar to his father's, as was the weary look in his eyes.
"Loki, with an i at the end," he clarified. The slight change in name was the least of his problems right now.
The Highfather's eyes hardened. "What brought you to this universe? The pain and destruction your counterpart has caused is well known to us."
Loki raised his shoulders slightly. "I met enough of my variants from different timelines that I can't disagree. As I said to Orion here, simply to learn what exactly my counterpart did."
Things looked worse than he assumed.
"Why? What would you do with that knowledge?"
"Curiosity. I am a scholar at heart. I simply want to know what kind of differences exist between universes when it comes to Asgard."
The leader of the New Gods continued to watch him, searching for something in his eyes. The tense silence dragged on, and he finally had enough.
"If you aren't going to say anything, I am leaving," he said, pointing back at the door with his thumb.
Iyaza sat back down, still watching him. "Tell me about your universe, and I will decide what to do."
He considered the counteroffer. Exchanging knowledge in this manner could prove beneficial in building trust. "Great, why don't we all lower our weapons then?" he said, glancing at all the New Gods pointing different kinds of weapons at him.
"You have no weapons," Orion said.
His eyes turned green, and all the gods shuddered, feeling the power wash over them. "I don't need them."
—
In the next chapter:
"What is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed, putting a stop to the chaos in the city. With a command that echoed through reality, the army of twisted animals rampaging through the city turned to dust.
A group of children, including one who had visited him before, seemed to be the perpetrators.
"If it isn't the trickster god," the boy, or rather, the entity posing as a boy, snickered.
"What do you worms think you are doing?"
"Once you got rid of that stuffy golden bag of no fun, we had free rein on this planet. This is all thanks to you," the impish boy said, twirling around with his hands spread out.
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Mount Justice
"Guess who just found out how your dad was freed?" Robin asked as he sat on his chair, taking his plate full of pancakes.
Zatanna sucked in a breath, coughing. "What? How?" she asked, gulping down a glass of water to soothe her throat.
The whole table stopped eating, turning to Robin.
The Boy Wonder smirked. "That new guy? His name is Loki, from the Scandinavian myths."
"Great, a trickster god was what we needed," Kid Flash said. Like New Genesis and Apokolips weren't enough, now they had the Scandinavians.
"Not only that," Robin continued, earning their attention once more, "he is also from another universe."
"What's he doing here?" She wanted to know everything.
"Traveling, apparently. I also learned where he currently is."
"Where?"
—
Bialya
He considered what to do.
The existence of Asgard, which had long been destroyed, intrigued him. He wanted to seek anything that might have remained. There was, however, a problem.
He only had one lead he could follow. The Greek demigod, Diana of Themyscira, was a hero. She worked with the Justice League against numerous villains. The difficult part was the league had a no-kill rule. They didn't play the judge, jury, and executioner, simply acting to arrest them.
She would have no reason to help him.
Neither would the Greek Pantheon. Beyond his dislike for Zeus in his universe, they too would have no reason to help a stranger. Not without something in return.
He would have to come up with a plan.
After he greeted his latest visitors.
A ship, invisible to the naked eye and most likely to many other detection methods, landed near him. Inside was quite the motley group of individuals, children mostly. One alien, one half-alien, a magician, an enhanced human, an aquatic humanoid, and two ordinary humans.
He rose from his beach chair, dismissing it. Cosmo landed on her feet, yawning and shaking her head.
"Hello."
"Greetings."
"I am Robin; these are Aqualad, Kid Flash, Superboy, Zatanna, Artemis, and Miss Martian." The boy with the domino mask said, pointing at each member as he went along.
"I'm Loki Odinson," he introduced himself. An awkward silence took hold. The teens didn't seem to have thought this out very well.
He smirked. All this stealth was unnecessary if they were going to show themselves. "You don't have the permission to be here, do you?"
"Are you going to tell?" the boy in a yellow suit with a crimson lightning bolt on his chest asked. Kid Flash didn't seem too worried, though.
He tilted his head, raising a single eyebrow. "Tell what?"
"Are you the one that destroyed Dr. Fate?" the black-haired young girl, Zatanna, asked. She seemed anxious. From her appearance and the magic she radiated, he could see why.
"If you mean that pest with a holier-than-thou attitude who was keeping your father prisoner, yes."
The blunt admission took the teens back. Their eyes searched each other for an answer, but none was to be found.
The young magician took her hat off, giving a deep bow. "Thank you."
"You are welcome. Though, is that the only reason you are here? To thank me?" They were still glancing at each other but now for a different reason.
"Why did you kill Queen Bee?" Superboy blurted out what they were all thinking.
"She deserved it."
The half-human raised an eyebrow. He seemed strangely angry or, rather, thought he should be angry. "So you can decide who deserves to die because you are a god?"
He rolled his eyes. "Goodness, no. The only one who decides whether a person has to die or not is the person themselves."
"Uhhh, what?" Kid Flash asked, slow on the uptake.
"I would love to get into a philosophical debate with you about whether killing Queen Bee was justified or not, but you are all too young and inexperienced compared to me."
"Can't argue with that."
"How is your traveling gig going so far?" Artemis was curious since he wasn't doing much traveling at all.
"Not bad. It is disheartening to hear that Asgard in this dimension has been destroyed. You wouldn't know anything about it, would you?"
"Not really. New Genesis might, though. It is the world of the New Gods," Kid Flash said with a shrug, only to freeze. His teammates glared at him. The sheepish look on the young hero's face told Loki he said something he should not have.
With a snap of his fingers, a table full of refreshments and snacks, along with eight chairs, appeared out of nothing. He took his seat, eyes glinting. "Do tell more."
—
Metropolis
If he wanted to ask questions to the New Genesians, he would have to be smart about it. In the place of their leader, he wouldn't appreciate a complete stranger asking questions about the past.
A gift would create a diplomatic atmosphere.
Integang, apparently, had stolen New Genesis tech. He would retrieve what he could, return the tech to its rightful owners, and ask some questions regarding Asgard and the fate of the Aesir.
"Intruder!" a gang member shouted, his voice echoing through the defunct, dimly lit metro tunnels. Humans, some carrying rifles, others wearing upper-body rigs with more weapons plastered on them. They opened fire. He felt the plasma strike his body to no effect and merely absorbed the attacks.
He raised his hand, palm toward the gangsters, and his fingers snapped open. The front lines simultaneously exploded into dust clouds. He floated forward, breaking each gang member apart one by one.
It broke their spirit quickly.
Cosmo leaped forward, going after the deserters. They needed at least one of them alive for questioning.
The plasma fire dwindled. He was an unstoppable force, cutting down each member without even any apparent attacks. He didn't carry any of Superman's heat beams or the Green Lantern's constructs or display Wonder Woman's combat capabilities.
He moved and they died.
When he landed, it was to the sound of one man sobbing, begging. Cosmo had him dangling in the air, his rig torn off, powerless.
"Are you intelligent enough to understand why I didn't kill you yet?" He asked the man, gesturing at Cosmo to drop him.
He fell on his face, cowering on his knees. "I'll tell you what you want, I swear."
"Good. I believe your organization has stolen tech belonging to New Genesis. Where are they?"
"Mannheim took them away. He didn't think this place was secure enough. I don't know where."
A spectral hand appeared over the gangster's head, tapping him twice. "Come now, use your head. You must have an idea."
He looked left and right, thinking. Suddenly, his eyes widened, and he looked up. "There is a hub in these tunnels, but I don't know the exact place. We are always taken there in the darkness for security."
"Well, since your cell is dead, I suggest you abandon this line of work."
"Yes, of course, whatever you say," the gangster said, scrambling away like a rat.
He turned to Cosmo, who was sniffing the air. She approached the tunnel on the left first and then on the right, nose to the work. He followed her as she dashed forward. He could have found their hideout by scanning the entirety of the underground, but it wouldn't be fun otherwise.
—
By the time he found the main hub, he had wiped out three smaller lairs.
When he turned the metal gate blocking his way to dust, the Intergang was waiting. There was a woman who seemed to be the leader. She stood among the gangsters, along with an alien, an ugly, old one with scarred tissue on the right side of his face.
"I don't know what brought you from Bialya to here, but you shouldn't have come."
The alien had a small device in his hand, which he held out towards Loki with a grin. He felt an intrusion on his mind. The device sent out telepathic waves, trying to access his mind, to control him.
Cute.
He ripped the device out of his hand, along with his soul. The Intergang watched as a green, transparent version of the dreaded servant of Darkseid left the body and was absorbed by the unknown.
Desaad fell, his gaze empty.
Loki closed his eyes for a moment amid the silence, going through the memories. "A god? This weakling was a god? How amusing."
He chuckled at first, turning his mind to other, more pressing matters, but he could not. Laughter ripped out of him, silent at first, before it echoed across the base. By the time the red-haired woman threw her hands up, he was done. The gangsters followed along, dropping their weapons. "We surrender!" she screamed, her voice shattering the silence.
"I don't have the means to arrest you, but I can't let you go either."
"How about you all go and surrender yourselves to the authorities?" He snapped his fingers. A green mark of an hourglass appeared on their foreheads, counting down from thirty minutes.
"If that timer hits zero before you are cuffed, your brains will melt out of your ears."
The gangsters froze once more. Several of them clawed at their forehead. One fell on his knees, begging. He didn't care one bit.
"What are you waiting for? Go!"
The gangsters scrambled, running for the nearest exit. He, though, was more intrigued by the crates containing tech.
Now to find New Genesis.
—
Metropolis Police Department
"They just came in and surrendered like that?"
"Yeah. That unknown in Bialya, the one who hanged Queen Bee? They say he was the culprit. Entered their base, turned most of Intergang to dust, and even killed someone named Desaad."
"Desaad? Are you certain?"
"Yeah. They said his body is down in the base. Hell, they even gave us the locations of all the hubs they had in the tunnels."
"Thank you, Commissioner, but I must go. This is important."
"Wait, do you know who Desaad is?"
"Can't speak about it."
—
The Watchtower
"Desaad is dead?" Batman asked for confirmation, blinking.
Superman nodded, floating through dimly lit tunnels. "That's what Whisper A'Daire said, as well as the rest. I am heading to the hub to check it out."
"Send us the location. We'll head there immediately." The coordinates were transmitted before his sentence was over.
"I'll see you guys there."
"If Desaad is dead, we can't know how Darkseid will respond," Diana said. While the God of Evil did not care about his subordinates beyond their worth, Desaad, as the God of Science, was valuable. No one who took someone so important from Darkseid would be left alone.
"It won't be good. This Loki is becoming too dangerous," Flash added. The stakes had just risen a lot higher.
"What would he even want with Intergang and Desaad?"
Batman closed his eyes, remembering the intrusion into the League's computers this morning. "I wonder."
—
New Genesis
Supertown
Finding the planet proved to be easy since the Father Box had the location.
He just had to pry it out of the living computer.
At first he thought the device was something simpler, meant to control the minds of organics. A deeper look showed that it was a living computer, an extremely advanced one. Portals, mind control, energy manipulation, and the ability to infect organics and other technological devices were among its capabilities.
When he tried to take the location from it, the Father Box responded by trying to infect him. Since he did not have any organic parts, it found nothing. In the same vein of progress, he infected the box with his magic, burning the malevolent will away.
The loyalty it had to its former master was gone, leaving behind an intelligence that was lost.
He simply took the location and left for the planet. The intelligence could decide what it wanted to do in the meantime.
He rubbed his chin, inspecting the floating town, which was named Supertown. Golden buildings surrounded by greenery, it reminded him of Asgard on a smaller scale. He waited until someone noticed his arrival, which didn't take long since he wasn't hiding.
"Halt. Identify yourself," said the New God. His choice of dress was practical: a full-body suit with a red top and black pants and a shiny, silver helmet. The harness he wore reminded him of what the Intergang had, though it was obviously more advanced.
"Loki of Asgard from another dimension. I am a traveler who was hoping to ask your leader some questions."
Orion tensed. That name, and the destruction it had caused, was known to him and all other New Gods.
He raised his hands to his sides. "Now I am aware that most of my counterparts are villains, which seems to be the case in this universe as well. I am simply here to learn about what exactly transpired and nothing else."
The New God continued to examine him. He was a warrior, one ready to reach out should he prove to be treacherous.
"The Highfather is too busy to entertain every guest personally," he said, gripping the handles of his harness tightly.
"Good thing I brought gifts," he said, taking the retrieved technological items from the pocket dimension. "Or rather, came to return what was already yours."
Orion approached the components, each one clearly produced in New Genesis. He turned to Loki sharply, eyes narrowed. "Where did you find these?"
"Intergang, a group of human criminals."
He took a deep breath. "I am Orion; welcome to New Genesis."
—
"You are Lokee?" Highfather, a New God, was aged considerably. His hair and beard were similar to his father's, as was the weary look in his eyes.
"Loki, with an i at the end," he clarified. The slight change in name was the least of his problems right now.
The Highfather's eyes hardened. "What brought you to this universe? The pain and destruction your counterpart has caused is well known to us."
Loki raised his shoulders slightly. "I met enough of my variants from different timelines that I can't disagree. As I said to Orion here, simply to learn what exactly my counterpart did."
Things looked worse than he assumed.
"Why? What would you do with that knowledge?"
"Curiosity. I am a scholar at heart. I simply want to know what kind of differences exist between universes when it comes to Asgard."
The leader of the New Gods continued to watch him, searching for something in his eyes. The tense silence dragged on, and he finally had enough.
"If you aren't going to say anything, I am leaving," he said, pointing back at the door with his thumb.
Iyaza sat back down, still watching him. "Tell me about your universe, and I will decide what to do."
He considered the counteroffer. Exchanging knowledge in this manner could prove beneficial in building trust. "Great, why don't we all lower our weapons then?" he said, glancing at all the New Gods pointing different kinds of weapons at him.
"You have no weapons," Orion said.
His eyes turned green, and all the gods shuddered, feeling the power wash over them. "I don't need them."
—
In the next chapter:
"What is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed, putting a stop to the chaos in the city. With a command that echoed through reality, the army of twisted animals rampaging through the city turned to dust.
A group of children, including one who had visited him before, seemed to be the perpetrators.
"If it isn't the trickster god," the boy, or rather, the entity posing as a boy, snickered.
"What do you worms think you are doing?"
"Once you got rid of that stuffy golden bag of no fun, we had free rein on this planet. This is all thanks to you," the impish boy said, twirling around with his hands spread out.
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
Thiccc Shaedy
"Once upon a time, not long ago, I was a hoe!" 💅
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Thanks for the update. Love this story, but the chapters end way too soon. 
ProtoSovereign
Not too sore, are you?
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Well, Klarion seems to be FAFO. RIP
Chapter 37 - Gods, Lords, Mortals
New
Samael61
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
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Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Mount Justice
"What exactly did you all tell him?" Batman asked, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
"Nothing." Kid Flash shook his head side to side in a blur. "Just about New Genesis and stuff. He wanted to know what happened to Asgard. We thought they might know."
Batman turned on the young speedster. "He killed Desaad and raided an Intergang depot. Footage shows he took Apokoliptian tech samples and destroyed the rest while making sure to retrieve everything from New Genesis."
Miss Martian gasped as her teammates entered different states of shock. Not out of anger but simply because the idea that someone like DeSaad could be killed at all, and so quickly at that, was not a thought that ever crossed their minds.
Robin smiled, realizing why. "He is bringing gifts."
—
New Genesis
"Are you certain there is no Darkseid in your universe?" The Highfather asked as their cups were refilled. Loki had explained the state of his universe, Asgard, and its place in the cosmos. The Highfather was naturally suspicious but was willing to at least hear him out.
He nodded, glancing around the room. Everyone was still on edge. "Yes. I know all the names worth knowing. Thanos the Mad Titan, the High Evolutionary, the Kangs, and the Kree Empire. I never came across Darkseid, Apokolips, or New Genesis."
The Highfather stroked his beard. "Quite interesting. You wished to know what had happened to your pantheon. It is a tragic tale."
"That seems to be the case most often," he said, though he certainly wasn't expecting the tale to be so wildly different.
GodWorld, where the Old Gods lived, was destroyed in a catastrophe caused by Lokee, God of Discord and Evil, who had triggered Ragnarok. The GodWorld was destroyed, which led to the creation of Apokolips and New Genesis. The details of what exactly had happened were lost to time.
So no Asgard, but his father and Thor existed as Wotan and Thorion. The former was actually a name some of the Germanic tribes in Europe used a thousand years ago. Thorion was self-explanatory enough.
"It appears, no matter the universe and the reason, I always cause Ragnarok," he smirked, leaning back and summoning himself a mug of mead. The New Gods tensed, hands twitching, but ultimately, no one acted.
Only the Highmother seemed to be at ease. Everyone except her was cautious of him. She was either too naive, which did not seem to be the case with the reverence she received, or she saw that he didn't mean any harm.
The Highfather's eyes hardened. "What is your reason for causing it in your universe?"
He conjured an image of Hela. "I have a sister. She is my father's firstborn and the Goddess of Death, Hela. Let's just say my father hasn't always been the kind, benevolent ruler he is now. In his younger days, he was a warlord who conquered countless realms. During the process, he molded Hela into his general executioner."
Iyaza leaned on his right arm, sighing with a forlorn tone. "That could not have ended well."
He huffed. Had his father known he would put his conquering days aside once, he would have seen that as well. "Once Father decided to settle down, she tried to kill him and take Asgard. He banished her to Niflheim. His lifeforce is what keeps her locked up. Once he is dead, however, she will be free."
"Which will lead to Ragnarok," the Highfather finished, easily connecting the dots. Odin's mistake in how he raised his daughter would bring down the empire he had created with her.
Ironic.
"Correct. She draws her power from Asgard, and as long as Asgard exists, she cannot be defeated. My counterparts, all without a change, enact Ragnarok along with Thor to destroy Asgard so she doesn't go on a bloody crusade on the galaxy with her army of the undead." To punctuate his explanation, he conjured the memories he had taken from several of his counterparts, displaying Asgard's destruction at the hands of Surtur.
"A noble reason for destruction. A rare prospect," he said with a somber tone, watching the planetoid detonate into micrometeoroids.
"This has been most educational. A pity I did not have the chance to see them," Loki said. Then again, meeting a truly evil version of himself, rather than the foolish, desperate variants, would probably end in blood.
"What would you have done if you had?" Iyaza asked, his tone lighter, more inquisitive.
He shrugged. At this point, he didn't really know what he would truly do. "Tell my counterpart to stop being a fool. Kill him, otherwise." Either that, or flat out destroy him.
"Just like that?"
"I already killed several, and they looked far more like me."
Iyaza closed his eyes. Perhaps his abrupt mention of how easily he had slain his counterparts was not a good idea. "You said I looked like your father. Can you…"
Loki already conjured an image of his father, cutting the Highfather's sentence. Two weathered faces with cotton-white hair and beards, one holding a spear, the other, a staff, both golden. The Highfather wore a purple cape while the Allfather wore a red one.
The similarities were striking.
"Interesting," Iyaza muttered. Someone who knew neither would easily think both gods were brothers.
"If there is nothing else, I believe it's time for me to leave. Thank you for your hospitality," he said with a flat tone, giving a small bow. He didn't feel the need to stick around any longer. The tea was good, but the reception soured the taste. He didn't blame them, however.
Who could?
Cosmo rose from her place and trotted next to him. The Highfather opened his mouth to speak, but Loki was already back on Earth.
"That could have gone better," his wife said.
Iyaza smiled at her, knowing she was correct.
—
Earth
Bialya
Al-Qawiya
The first thing he noticed upon returning to the oasis was the dark clouds over the country. That alone wouldn't have raised any suspicion. The dark crimson lightning strikes and the chaotic energies involved did, however.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed, putting a stop to the chaos in the city. With a command that echoed through reality, the army of twisted animals rampaging through the city turned to dust.
A group of children, including one who had visited him before, seemed to be the perpetrators.
"If it isn't the trickster god," the boy, or rather, the entity posing as a boy, snickered.
"What do you worms think you are doing?"
"Once you got rid of that stuffy golden bag of no fun, we had free rein on this planet. This is all thanks to you," the impish boy said, twirling around with his hands spread out.
He must have arrived early because while two blocks were on fire and there were dozens of dead strewn around, the damage wasn't widespread yet.
He closed his eyes, trembling. When his eyes snapped open, the green pupils and white sclera left their place to pure, glowing emeralds. He shed his form in a flash, towering over the city, shining as if he were an emerald star.
The grinning Lords of Chaos were suddenly frozen, their lips curving downwards.
Loki held his right palm out. The fire in the burning buildings went out. The missing parts reversed into existence. The corpses flew back to their feet, the light of life reigniting in their eyes.
All the damage was gone in an instant.
"We might have bitten off more than we can chew," one of the entities, who looked like a blonde child, said, turning around to leave.
"Not so fast," his voice rumbled in their minds, stopping them in their tracks. A glossy force field covered them, and all eight Lords of Chaos found themselves before the green titan.
"What to do with you now?" His voice was once again in their heads. It was loud, suppressing everything else. They could not think, only suffer.
Klarion felt tendrils slither into his mind, twisting into strands, searching. His muscles spasmed, eyes rolling to the back of his head. Loki didn't stop, tearing everything of value from the little imp's head.
He couldn't kill or imprison these little maggots because they were chaos incarnate. They would reform if killed and eventually dissolve from lack of discord if imprisoned.
That is, by the rules of this universe.
He could imprison them in a prison with no virtual exit. Even if they dissolved back into the primordial energies they were created from, it would still be within the container. New Lords of Chaos would take their places, but it would be a long while before that could happen.
A transparent orb shimmered around the parasites, taking the form of children. A glass dome materialized with a metal base. It shrunk along with him slowly until it fit the palm of his hand.
He shook the snow globe, ragdolling the outraged Lords of Chaos around. He smirked and threw it into his pocket dimension. A self-contained miniature universe would hold them forever.
Though, he had greater problems.
The people of the city were kneeling, and he could feel the energy generated by their prayers and words of gratitude. He repelled it, the very thought making him nauseated.
"You want to thank me; a simple 'thank you' will suffice. I detest words of prayer or worship directed at me," he said with a flat, cold tone, just about to return to the oasis.
"Please wait!" a human shouted to the top of his lungs as he doubled down, out of breath.
Seeing the man's state, he decided to at least hear him out.
—
The Watchtower
"Gods, look at him," Wonder Woman said with a breathy voice. Before the League could even act, Loki had imprisoned the Lords of Chaos, reversed the damage done to Al-Qawiya, and most importantly, had resurrected the dead.
While towering over the city like a titan.
Batman turned the video off. "Orion reached out to us. He says Loki returned stolen tech to New Genesis while asking about the fate of the Norse gods in return. Given there wasn't much to learn since it was ancient history even from the perspective of New Genesis, Loki had merely taken a short history lesson.
"As we expected," Manhunter said with a flat tone. Loki made no secret of his aims and desires.
"Comparing what we know and what Orion said, he left New Genesis less than a minute before he arrived back in Al-Qawiya," Batman explained. Either Loki had a Mother Box equivalent or the capabilities to not need one.
He was leaning on the latter.
"What about Klarion and the others? From what Fate said, they can't be imprisoned or killed," Green Lantern said. Zatara had woken up, but he was in no condition to be a part of the meeting, leaving them without an expert in arcane matters.
Wonder Woman restarted the video, bringing it to the moment Loki handled the eight Lords of Chaos as if they were actually children. "Seeing how easily Loki defeated them, I don't think we should be worried about him."
Superman frowned, reading through the inquiries pouring in to the League. "The world's governments are losing their collective minds. What he did scared the politics out of them. They are all wondering if we have any plan should Loki turn hostile."
"Yeah, like not making him an enemy in the first place," Flash muttered, looking out the window. On average, fighting a villain taller than skyscrapers, or one who could control time or matter, was difficult. Fighting a god who could do all three and more would be a nightmare.
"What about DeSaad?" Red Tornado asked. It was actually the matter they were supposed to be debating until Loki reappeared.
Superman sank into his seat. The shoulders that could carry the weight of the world seemed so unsteady now. "He is dead alright, but I couldn't retrieve the body."
—
Apokolips
"Master." Granny Goodness knelt before the throne, her eyes on the dark metal floor.
Darkseid turned to her with a smile that sent chills down her spine. "What is it, my faithful hound?"
She rose with his acknowledgment. "DeSaad has perished," she said, waiting. She knew what was to come. Reporting failure to her dark master was a dangerous prospect. To tell him one of his most valuable servants was dead was terrifying.
Even for one as loyal as her.
"What?" The air trembled before Darkseid's voice. She found it hard to breathe as her lungs refused to obey.
She steeled her nerves, standing straight. "He was on Earth to make the humans aware of how displeased you were. Someone killed him. We barely had time to retrieve his corpse before the Kryptonian arrived."
"Who dares to take what is mine?!" Darkseid's bellow sent a shockwave that caused her hair to flutter.
"We are striving to find out."
"Do more," he ordered. Granny was quick to leave the presence of her master to carry out the task.
With no idea how she was going to do it.
—
Earth
Bialya
Al-Qawiya
"You want me to give a speech? What for?" he asked Zaeed, the leader of Bialya until the elections.
The mayor of the town had almost gone on his knees to coax him into meeting the prime minister. He accepted, if only to see what they wanted.
Zaeed nodded, rubbing his freshly shaven beard. "The people see you as what you are, a true hero. When everyone else was content to ignore us or was under red tape to help us, you came out of nowhere. The gratitude we owe you cannot be conveyed with words," he said, giving a deep bow, his head barely below the desk.
He crossed his arms. If the man weren't so sincere, he would have left already. "That still doesn't explain why I should speak to the masses." He had done what he set out to do. There was no reason to stick around more.
"Would it be correct for me to assume you didn't show yourself because you wanted us to solve our own problem?"
He raised a brow at the sudden question. He understood now why the people had chosen him.
"Correct. I simply evened the playing field."
"Well, the people did it. They brought down the government. Some words of encouragement from you would go a long way in inspiring them that this will work," he explained. The citizens had faith that brighter days awaited them. Just not everyone. There were too many hopeless individuals.
Every single person was vital for Bialya's future.
"You have no reason to do it; I am just…" Loki raised a hand, stopping Zaeed. He didn't tolerate these kinds of emotional moments directed at him from anyone except his family.
"Alright, alright, cease your emotional display," he ordered. Some words to stoke the people's self-confidence wouldn't be difficult to utter.
Zaeed grinned sheepishly. "And perhaps a short interview?"
His face scrunched up. "Don't push it."
—
In the next chapter:
"Yes, first Queen Bee and now Klarion. We have certainly taken devastating blows," Lex said, elbows on the table, fingers interlaced in front of his lips.
"That you have," he said, patting the man on the shoulder.
Lex was startled, almost jumping out of his seat, but Loki's firm grip pushed him down. "What the?!"
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Mount Justice
"What exactly did you all tell him?" Batman asked, arms crossed, eyes narrowed.
"Nothing." Kid Flash shook his head side to side in a blur. "Just about New Genesis and stuff. He wanted to know what happened to Asgard. We thought they might know."
Batman turned on the young speedster. "He killed Desaad and raided an Intergang depot. Footage shows he took Apokoliptian tech samples and destroyed the rest while making sure to retrieve everything from New Genesis."
Miss Martian gasped as her teammates entered different states of shock. Not out of anger but simply because the idea that someone like DeSaad could be killed at all, and so quickly at that, was not a thought that ever crossed their minds.
Robin smiled, realizing why. "He is bringing gifts."
—
New Genesis
"Are you certain there is no Darkseid in your universe?" The Highfather asked as their cups were refilled. Loki had explained the state of his universe, Asgard, and its place in the cosmos. The Highfather was naturally suspicious but was willing to at least hear him out.
He nodded, glancing around the room. Everyone was still on edge. "Yes. I know all the names worth knowing. Thanos the Mad Titan, the High Evolutionary, the Kangs, and the Kree Empire. I never came across Darkseid, Apokolips, or New Genesis."
The Highfather stroked his beard. "Quite interesting. You wished to know what had happened to your pantheon. It is a tragic tale."
"That seems to be the case most often," he said, though he certainly wasn't expecting the tale to be so wildly different.
GodWorld, where the Old Gods lived, was destroyed in a catastrophe caused by Lokee, God of Discord and Evil, who had triggered Ragnarok. The GodWorld was destroyed, which led to the creation of Apokolips and New Genesis. The details of what exactly had happened were lost to time.
So no Asgard, but his father and Thor existed as Wotan and Thorion. The former was actually a name some of the Germanic tribes in Europe used a thousand years ago. Thorion was self-explanatory enough.
"It appears, no matter the universe and the reason, I always cause Ragnarok," he smirked, leaning back and summoning himself a mug of mead. The New Gods tensed, hands twitching, but ultimately, no one acted.
Only the Highmother seemed to be at ease. Everyone except her was cautious of him. She was either too naive, which did not seem to be the case with the reverence she received, or she saw that he didn't mean any harm.
The Highfather's eyes hardened. "What is your reason for causing it in your universe?"
He conjured an image of Hela. "I have a sister. She is my father's firstborn and the Goddess of Death, Hela. Let's just say my father hasn't always been the kind, benevolent ruler he is now. In his younger days, he was a warlord who conquered countless realms. During the process, he molded Hela into his general executioner."
Iyaza leaned on his right arm, sighing with a forlorn tone. "That could not have ended well."
He huffed. Had his father known he would put his conquering days aside once, he would have seen that as well. "Once Father decided to settle down, she tried to kill him and take Asgard. He banished her to Niflheim. His lifeforce is what keeps her locked up. Once he is dead, however, she will be free."
"Which will lead to Ragnarok," the Highfather finished, easily connecting the dots. Odin's mistake in how he raised his daughter would bring down the empire he had created with her.
Ironic.
"Correct. She draws her power from Asgard, and as long as Asgard exists, she cannot be defeated. My counterparts, all without a change, enact Ragnarok along with Thor to destroy Asgard so she doesn't go on a bloody crusade on the galaxy with her army of the undead." To punctuate his explanation, he conjured the memories he had taken from several of his counterparts, displaying Asgard's destruction at the hands of Surtur.
"A noble reason for destruction. A rare prospect," he said with a somber tone, watching the planetoid detonate into micrometeoroids.
"This has been most educational. A pity I did not have the chance to see them," Loki said. Then again, meeting a truly evil version of himself, rather than the foolish, desperate variants, would probably end in blood.
"What would you have done if you had?" Iyaza asked, his tone lighter, more inquisitive.
He shrugged. At this point, he didn't really know what he would truly do. "Tell my counterpart to stop being a fool. Kill him, otherwise." Either that, or flat out destroy him.
"Just like that?"
"I already killed several, and they looked far more like me."
Iyaza closed his eyes. Perhaps his abrupt mention of how easily he had slain his counterparts was not a good idea. "You said I looked like your father. Can you…"
Loki already conjured an image of his father, cutting the Highfather's sentence. Two weathered faces with cotton-white hair and beards, one holding a spear, the other, a staff, both golden. The Highfather wore a purple cape while the Allfather wore a red one.
The similarities were striking.
"Interesting," Iyaza muttered. Someone who knew neither would easily think both gods were brothers.
"If there is nothing else, I believe it's time for me to leave. Thank you for your hospitality," he said with a flat tone, giving a small bow. He didn't feel the need to stick around any longer. The tea was good, but the reception soured the taste. He didn't blame them, however.
Who could?
Cosmo rose from her place and trotted next to him. The Highfather opened his mouth to speak, but Loki was already back on Earth.
"That could have gone better," his wife said.
Iyaza smiled at her, knowing she was correct.
—
Earth
Bialya
Al-Qawiya
The first thing he noticed upon returning to the oasis was the dark clouds over the country. That alone wouldn't have raised any suspicion. The dark crimson lightning strikes and the chaotic energies involved did, however.
"What is the meaning of this?!" he bellowed, putting a stop to the chaos in the city. With a command that echoed through reality, the army of twisted animals rampaging through the city turned to dust.
A group of children, including one who had visited him before, seemed to be the perpetrators.
"If it isn't the trickster god," the boy, or rather, the entity posing as a boy, snickered.
"What do you worms think you are doing?"
"Once you got rid of that stuffy golden bag of no fun, we had free rein on this planet. This is all thanks to you," the impish boy said, twirling around with his hands spread out.
He must have arrived early because while two blocks were on fire and there were dozens of dead strewn around, the damage wasn't widespread yet.
He closed his eyes, trembling. When his eyes snapped open, the green pupils and white sclera left their place to pure, glowing emeralds. He shed his form in a flash, towering over the city, shining as if he were an emerald star.
The grinning Lords of Chaos were suddenly frozen, their lips curving downwards.
Loki held his right palm out. The fire in the burning buildings went out. The missing parts reversed into existence. The corpses flew back to their feet, the light of life reigniting in their eyes.
All the damage was gone in an instant.
"We might have bitten off more than we can chew," one of the entities, who looked like a blonde child, said, turning around to leave.
"Not so fast," his voice rumbled in their minds, stopping them in their tracks. A glossy force field covered them, and all eight Lords of Chaos found themselves before the green titan.
"What to do with you now?" His voice was once again in their heads. It was loud, suppressing everything else. They could not think, only suffer.
Klarion felt tendrils slither into his mind, twisting into strands, searching. His muscles spasmed, eyes rolling to the back of his head. Loki didn't stop, tearing everything of value from the little imp's head.
He couldn't kill or imprison these little maggots because they were chaos incarnate. They would reform if killed and eventually dissolve from lack of discord if imprisoned.
That is, by the rules of this universe.
He could imprison them in a prison with no virtual exit. Even if they dissolved back into the primordial energies they were created from, it would still be within the container. New Lords of Chaos would take their places, but it would be a long while before that could happen.
A transparent orb shimmered around the parasites, taking the form of children. A glass dome materialized with a metal base. It shrunk along with him slowly until it fit the palm of his hand.
He shook the snow globe, ragdolling the outraged Lords of Chaos around. He smirked and threw it into his pocket dimension. A self-contained miniature universe would hold them forever.
Though, he had greater problems.
The people of the city were kneeling, and he could feel the energy generated by their prayers and words of gratitude. He repelled it, the very thought making him nauseated.
"You want to thank me; a simple 'thank you' will suffice. I detest words of prayer or worship directed at me," he said with a flat, cold tone, just about to return to the oasis.
"Please wait!" a human shouted to the top of his lungs as he doubled down, out of breath.
Seeing the man's state, he decided to at least hear him out.
—
The Watchtower
"Gods, look at him," Wonder Woman said with a breathy voice. Before the League could even act, Loki had imprisoned the Lords of Chaos, reversed the damage done to Al-Qawiya, and most importantly, had resurrected the dead.
While towering over the city like a titan.
Batman turned the video off. "Orion reached out to us. He says Loki returned stolen tech to New Genesis while asking about the fate of the Norse gods in return. Given there wasn't much to learn since it was ancient history even from the perspective of New Genesis, Loki had merely taken a short history lesson.
"As we expected," Manhunter said with a flat tone. Loki made no secret of his aims and desires.
"Comparing what we know and what Orion said, he left New Genesis less than a minute before he arrived back in Al-Qawiya," Batman explained. Either Loki had a Mother Box equivalent or the capabilities to not need one.
He was leaning on the latter.
"What about Klarion and the others? From what Fate said, they can't be imprisoned or killed," Green Lantern said. Zatara had woken up, but he was in no condition to be a part of the meeting, leaving them without an expert in arcane matters.
Wonder Woman restarted the video, bringing it to the moment Loki handled the eight Lords of Chaos as if they were actually children. "Seeing how easily Loki defeated them, I don't think we should be worried about him."
Superman frowned, reading through the inquiries pouring in to the League. "The world's governments are losing their collective minds. What he did scared the politics out of them. They are all wondering if we have any plan should Loki turn hostile."
"Yeah, like not making him an enemy in the first place," Flash muttered, looking out the window. On average, fighting a villain taller than skyscrapers, or one who could control time or matter, was difficult. Fighting a god who could do all three and more would be a nightmare.
"What about DeSaad?" Red Tornado asked. It was actually the matter they were supposed to be debating until Loki reappeared.
Superman sank into his seat. The shoulders that could carry the weight of the world seemed so unsteady now. "He is dead alright, but I couldn't retrieve the body."
—
Apokolips
"Master." Granny Goodness knelt before the throne, her eyes on the dark metal floor.
Darkseid turned to her with a smile that sent chills down her spine. "What is it, my faithful hound?"
She rose with his acknowledgment. "DeSaad has perished," she said, waiting. She knew what was to come. Reporting failure to her dark master was a dangerous prospect. To tell him one of his most valuable servants was dead was terrifying.
Even for one as loyal as her.
"What?" The air trembled before Darkseid's voice. She found it hard to breathe as her lungs refused to obey.
She steeled her nerves, standing straight. "He was on Earth to make the humans aware of how displeased you were. Someone killed him. We barely had time to retrieve his corpse before the Kryptonian arrived."
"Who dares to take what is mine?!" Darkseid's bellow sent a shockwave that caused her hair to flutter.
"We are striving to find out."
"Do more," he ordered. Granny was quick to leave the presence of her master to carry out the task.
With no idea how she was going to do it.
—
Earth
Bialya
Al-Qawiya
"You want me to give a speech? What for?" he asked Zaeed, the leader of Bialya until the elections.
The mayor of the town had almost gone on his knees to coax him into meeting the prime minister. He accepted, if only to see what they wanted.
Zaeed nodded, rubbing his freshly shaven beard. "The people see you as what you are, a true hero. When everyone else was content to ignore us or was under red tape to help us, you came out of nowhere. The gratitude we owe you cannot be conveyed with words," he said, giving a deep bow, his head barely below the desk.
He crossed his arms. If the man weren't so sincere, he would have left already. "That still doesn't explain why I should speak to the masses." He had done what he set out to do. There was no reason to stick around more.
"Would it be correct for me to assume you didn't show yourself because you wanted us to solve our own problem?"
He raised a brow at the sudden question. He understood now why the people had chosen him.
"Correct. I simply evened the playing field."
"Well, the people did it. They brought down the government. Some words of encouragement from you would go a long way in inspiring them that this will work," he explained. The citizens had faith that brighter days awaited them. Just not everyone. There were too many hopeless individuals.
Every single person was vital for Bialya's future.
"You have no reason to do it; I am just…" Loki raised a hand, stopping Zaeed. He didn't tolerate these kinds of emotional moments directed at him from anyone except his family.
"Alright, alright, cease your emotional display," he ordered. Some words to stoke the people's self-confidence wouldn't be difficult to utter.
Zaeed grinned sheepishly. "And perhaps a short interview?"
His face scrunched up. "Don't push it."
—
In the next chapter:
"Yes, first Queen Bee and now Klarion. We have certainly taken devastating blows," Lex said, elbows on the table, fingers interlaced in front of his lips.
"That you have," he said, patting the man on the shoulder.
Lex was startled, almost jumping out of his seat, but Loki's firm grip pushed him down. "What the?!"
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
trashtaker
The (un)lucky Patreon Saint of borrowed fortune
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Lex bite the pillow cause Loki is going in dry
Thiccc Shaedy
"Once upon a time, not long ago, I was a hoe!" 💅
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2020
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- 32,683
Thank you for yet another great chapter.
*irises
THIS I would really love to see, but sadly, this isn't that kinda story.
*irises
THIS I would really love to see, but sadly, this isn't that kinda story.
Chapter 38 - Return Home
New
Samael61
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2025
- Messages
- 498
- Likes received
- 28,833
Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Bialya
Al-Qawiya
He stood before the flashing cameras and the press trying to ask everything at once. The cacophony was irritating, as were the lights. He raised his hand to the side, palm open. The flashes went out, and the noise was cut off.
"I will not be answering any questions. What I have to say will give you some answers but not all," he started as the cameramen checked their devices.
"I interfered and killed Queen Bee because her actions were despicable. I streamed it to everyone so the citizens of this country would know her crimes, and more importantly, they now had the chance to fight back," he said with a flat tone. He felt the questions that were about to rise from the thousands before him. He intervened before they could ask.
"What I am, who I am, these are irrelevant questions. I don't desire any rewards or worship." He glared at the front rows, seeing how they were praying.
"I simply gave you a chance, that's all. Whether you succeed or fail is up to you." He looked at the crowd, watching their silent, expectant looks. "From what I have seen, you are on the path to victory."
"That will be all," he said, turning around.
"Wait, please. We have so much to ask," a press member from the crowd shouted behind him. He tried to climb onto the stage, but the law enforcement stopped him.
"Just consider me an anonymous samaritan." These were his last words as he disappeared from sight.
—
Metropolis
LexCorp
He considered returning home, but there was one last matter he wanted to resolve. Klarion and Queen Bee were part of a hidden organization so named the Light with the intent to illuminate the world. Of course, each member had their own plans, and they didn't hesitate to use the organization to carry them out.
Lex Luthor, a billionaire human who provided financial resources to the organization, was a public figure. The heroes knew he was a villain, yet Luthor always managed to swivel out of trouble. Deniable assets, mercenaries, and elite legal teams kept him out of trouble.
Unfortunately for Luthor, none of them would stop him.
He passed through the walls with Cosmo. Circuitry and energy fields ran inside them. They blocked all but a certain wavelength of energy from leaving.
"Yes, first Queen Bee and now Klarion. We have certainly taken devastating blows," Lex said, elbows on the table, fingers interlaced in front of his lips.
"That you have," he said, patting the man on the shoulder.
Lex was startled, almost jumping out of his seat, but Loki's firm grip pushed him down. "What the?!"
"It appears Lex is discovered as well. We should end this call here," one of the members, Ra's al Ghul, said. The nondescript figures on the screen disappeared together.
"Indeed. I prefer to talk face to face," Loki said, his eyes shining. He snapped his fingers. Four individuals, each one different in form and existence, dropped on the chairs around the table with a small displacement of air.
A human that was older than Asgard and another one that was a couple centuries old. The most curious member was a brain in a robotic tank. The last one was an Atlantean, a relative of the young one he had met at the oasis. They all looked around the room, assessing the situation. None of them tried to attack or escape, simply sitting down, waiting.
"What now?" Savage asked. The caveman was evaluating him, searching for weaknesses, no doubt. Cosmo leaped from his side to the table, sitting on the other hand, watching
"I," creating a black hole in his hand, "have a question for you all. As long as you don't act up or lie, I won't harm you." He dismissed it just as quickly, walking towards Luthor.
Ra's leaned back, letting his guard down. Against such a power, he had no means to survive, except for his mind. "Ask then."
"You all are individuals of great power in differing fields. You, in your twisted vision, wish to see this planet stand atop the galactic food chain," he said with a blank tone, conjuring an illusion of Earth floating over his palm.
He closed his fingers, and the illusion disappeared. "Quite understandable." Almost every race in his universe wanted to be the top dog. Asgard had achieved it in the Nine Realms. He would be a hypocrite to call their ideals wrong.
Definitely twisted though.
"Why do it in the shadows though? Why not act in the light?" he asked. The irony of how the Light acted in the shadows was not lost on him. He simply wanted to understand.
"To avoid the interference of the Justice League, of course," Luthor said. The man was trying too much to be charming. It wasn't a natural gift he had but something acquired through many, many experiences, no doubt.
"That is illogical," he retorted. The League was only a threat because they were working in an illegal manner.
"We would be happy to hear your thoughts," Vandal said, intrigued about what the entity before him had to say.
"You," he said, laying a hand on Luthor's shoulder. "You control a company that is influential across the planet. You have great wealth and technological acumen. Why not use it to increase the life quality of the citizens?"
"If life were made more fair for them, if they were not plagued by constant, untreatable sicknesses, and if they were able to provide for themselves thanks to you, the citizens would fall over themselves to follow you." He had seen enough planets that had become paradises. It wasn't impossible for Earth. The public was simply divided into too many sections, making a unified effort extremely difficult.
"While I am quite wealthy, it is not to the point of solving all of Earth's problems at once."
"Then don't. Start small. Cure cancer, provide free electricity, and run for president to fix this country. The rest will come."
Luthor raised an eyebrow. "You think it is that easy?"
Loki smiled, touching Luthor's bald head, flooding it with the images and histories of the utopias he had visited. "I know it is that easy. You are all selfish individuals, which makes you underestimate the power of gratitude one would have towards people who gave them a better life."
He left the wide-eyed human to sort out the memories, turning his attention to the next member.
"Ra's al Ghul," he said as he appeared behind the old man. "You control the largest network of assassins and information on this planet. Why not use it to expose the illicit deals of the corrupt? Not directly, of course, but through channels that would make them heroes."
With the capabilities of his organization, he could turn any channel to a well of truth. If he wanted to control the citizens of this world, what better way than to ensure he was the only source of truth?
"When the time came, who would they believe more, you or the media controlled by the rich? You could manipulate the public opinion with a few words," he said, flooding the old man's formidable mind with images of him controlling billions.
Ra took deep breaths, closing eyes to clear the foreign images out. "Our past makes it unfeasible."
"Not as long as you don't reveal it," he said, his lips slightly curling upwards as he felt the small tremor in the old man's resolve.
He pointed at the brain in the mobile jar and the aquatic humanoid. "The Brain could use his genius to assist with medical and scientific endeavors. As for the Atlantean, I am sure he would prove useful in some way."
"And of course," he spread his hands to the side with a smile, turning towards the most dangerous person in the room. "Vandal Savage. Has history not taught you anything? People would follow the leaders they believe in to death. You could be it, one to drag this planet to greatness."
Savage looked away, memories of ages past coming to his mind.
"My question is, why bother with the cloak and dagger? You have the power to direct this planet to whichever path you desire. In the broad daylight no less." There was no answer to his words. Each member was silent, contemplating.
Exactly what he wanted them to do.
"It appears fear has made you prisoners of the shadows," Loki answered his own question with a stern tone and left. The smile on his lips did not match his voice, though.
"At least I am not the only one who thinks he has raised several interesting points," Luthor said, watching his compatriots.
Ra's rose from his seat, the final words ringing in his mind. "We can discuss what he said as soon as we are back in our own headquarters."
The bald genius smirked. "I am afraid that won't be possible."
"Why is that?" Vandal asked.
Luthor turned the screen around. "It appears we have been brought to the light." Their conversation was broadcasted to every city in the United States.
—
The Watchtower
"How the hell could we have missed this? The most dangerous villains were working together behind the scenes, and we didn't have a single clue," Flash said, watching the cops surround LexCorp. "This explains so much."
"We need to move now. Even if they are arrested, they won't stay that way for long," Superman said, his eyes narrowing. Ra's had a small army, and the rest of the Light employed many villains. The attempts to free them would turn into a battle.
They had to act quickly.
"No need. They won't try to break them out immediately, not until this matter settles down," Batman said. The security measures would be at an all-time high. Ra's was too cautious to act out so brazenly.
"Are you sure?" Wonder Woman asked. She realized Queen Bee too was most likely a member. It explained the villain activities they had detected in Bialya.
"It is likely the League of Shadows, which will lead any possible operation to free them. They are too cautious to act out in a time like this."
Green Lantern rose from his seat. "Still, we can't sit on our asses. At least some of us should watch them until they are behind the bars."
"Agreed," Manhunter added, following him.
—
Metropolis
Loki was sitting in a cafe, watching the chaos unfold. The law enforcement surrounded LexCorp with all available forces. Before there was even a need for the heroes to arrive, the members of the Light surrendered. Still, the Justice League escorted the armored vehicles transporting each member.
The statistics regarding the incarceration of individuals such as them pointed out that they wouldn't stay imprisoned for long.
The true chaos lay among the citizens. The idea that a shadowy organization was manipulating the events behind the scenes caused instant mass riots. Coupled with the conspiracy theories regarding politics, there would be a lot of headaches for the people in power.
He thought it was well deserved.
What awaited the citizens of this world now, he didn't know. This could be a wake-up call that their leadership was corrupt and compromised, or they would continue to be complacent as long as they weren't directly harmed. He had helped as much as he was willing to.
It was time to go home, though; perhaps he would visit this world in the future.
"Come on, Cosmo. I want to see how Thor is doing," he said. His companion got up, stretching. She trotted behind, jumping through the portal.
—
Home Universe
Earth
New Mexico
He appeared near where Thor was residing. There was an unusual chill in the air. It definitely did not fit the blazing heat of this desert. The reason was the pillars of ice covering the wrecked buildings.
The perpetrator came flying through a building, the side of his face caved in. Laufey fell right in front of him, groaning in pain, eyes unfocused. Thor landed right in front of him, Mjolnir in hand, lightning crackling in his eyes.
"Brother, you finally returned," Thor said in his booming, jubilant voice, hugging him.
Loki returned the hug, smiling at Laufey's state. "I have. You seemed to have regained your powers."
Thor flashed a grin, pointing Mjolnir at the downed Jotnar. "Laufey was of great help. He suddenly came out of nowhere and volunteered for it."
He peered closer to his birth father's shattered cheekbone. "How generous of him."
"How did your trip go?"
"It was enlightening. I discovered a universe similar in some aspects yet wildly different."
"Did you find Asgard there?"
He grimaced. "Kind of. My evil counterpart caused Ragnarok and destroyed it."
Thor's face fell. "That sounds like a story."
"Not much to tell really, but sure."
"Uhh, guys?" Jane came from behind, hesitant as she watched the blue alien for any signs of attacking. "Shouldn't you be handling him first?"
Thor prodded Laufey with his feet. He groaned softly but didn't react otherwise. "Surely he is here against the orders of the new king of Jotunheim. He broke the Allfather's peace by attacking Midgard. He should stand trial."
Loki nodded, concurring with his brother's analysis. "Yes, I don't believe King Helblindi would send him on this mindless attack."
Unless he wanted to restart hostilities for some inane reason, of course.
"Heimdall!" Thor called to the skies. No sooner had the echoes of his voice died out than the Bifrost fell a few feet away, right onto the open square. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three were leading a contingency of Einherjar.
Loki waved his fingers, restraining Laufey on a floating security gurney.
"My friends," Thor said, grasping the arms of each one.
"Glad to see you return, Thor. It was too tense up there with both of you gone," Sif said, reaching for Loki's arm.
He took the arm, glancing at Laufey. "Take him away. He has caused enough trouble."
The soldiers surrounded him, pushing the gurney forward for the landing site. Loki, in the meantime, waved his hand, fixing the damage Laufey had caused. Now that the Midgardians were aware of their existence, life was about to get more exciting.
"That's not good," Darcy said as a small army of SHIELD vehicles poured from every direction, surrounding the square. Sif and the Warriors Three readied their weapons, but Thor stopped them with a small flick of his hand.
A man left the lead car, one he had seen in the SHIELD base. The remaining agents were behind cover, but no weapons were drawn yet. "Miss Foster, I believe you have much to tell us," he said to the astrophysicist, a blank look on his face.
"The four of you return to Asgard. I'll handle this," Thor said, walking towards the human.
"No one's going anywhere until we get answers," their leader, Phil Coulson, if he bothered to remember correctly, said, hand on his weapon.
Loki regarded the agent for a moment. He snorted, and the six of them disappeared with a snap of his fingers, leaving Thor to resolve the situation.
—
In the next chapter:
"Okay, so what's a god doing on Earth, blending among us humans? Were you on vacation or something?" Coulson asked. Thor raised an eyebrow, impressed with the human's attitude.
"No. My father banished me to your planet for an offence I committed. I recently regained my powers while defending the town from Laufey, the previous king of the Frost Giants."
"And why did he try to kill you?"
"I committed the offence on his face," he said, his lips twitching.
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Bialya
Al-Qawiya
He stood before the flashing cameras and the press trying to ask everything at once. The cacophony was irritating, as were the lights. He raised his hand to the side, palm open. The flashes went out, and the noise was cut off.
"I will not be answering any questions. What I have to say will give you some answers but not all," he started as the cameramen checked their devices.
"I interfered and killed Queen Bee because her actions were despicable. I streamed it to everyone so the citizens of this country would know her crimes, and more importantly, they now had the chance to fight back," he said with a flat tone. He felt the questions that were about to rise from the thousands before him. He intervened before they could ask.
"What I am, who I am, these are irrelevant questions. I don't desire any rewards or worship." He glared at the front rows, seeing how they were praying.
"I simply gave you a chance, that's all. Whether you succeed or fail is up to you." He looked at the crowd, watching their silent, expectant looks. "From what I have seen, you are on the path to victory."
"That will be all," he said, turning around.
"Wait, please. We have so much to ask," a press member from the crowd shouted behind him. He tried to climb onto the stage, but the law enforcement stopped him.
"Just consider me an anonymous samaritan." These were his last words as he disappeared from sight.
—
Metropolis
LexCorp
He considered returning home, but there was one last matter he wanted to resolve. Klarion and Queen Bee were part of a hidden organization so named the Light with the intent to illuminate the world. Of course, each member had their own plans, and they didn't hesitate to use the organization to carry them out.
Lex Luthor, a billionaire human who provided financial resources to the organization, was a public figure. The heroes knew he was a villain, yet Luthor always managed to swivel out of trouble. Deniable assets, mercenaries, and elite legal teams kept him out of trouble.
Unfortunately for Luthor, none of them would stop him.
He passed through the walls with Cosmo. Circuitry and energy fields ran inside them. They blocked all but a certain wavelength of energy from leaving.
"Yes, first Queen Bee and now Klarion. We have certainly taken devastating blows," Lex said, elbows on the table, fingers interlaced in front of his lips.
"That you have," he said, patting the man on the shoulder.
Lex was startled, almost jumping out of his seat, but Loki's firm grip pushed him down. "What the?!"
"It appears Lex is discovered as well. We should end this call here," one of the members, Ra's al Ghul, said. The nondescript figures on the screen disappeared together.
"Indeed. I prefer to talk face to face," Loki said, his eyes shining. He snapped his fingers. Four individuals, each one different in form and existence, dropped on the chairs around the table with a small displacement of air.
A human that was older than Asgard and another one that was a couple centuries old. The most curious member was a brain in a robotic tank. The last one was an Atlantean, a relative of the young one he had met at the oasis. They all looked around the room, assessing the situation. None of them tried to attack or escape, simply sitting down, waiting.
"What now?" Savage asked. The caveman was evaluating him, searching for weaknesses, no doubt. Cosmo leaped from his side to the table, sitting on the other hand, watching
"I," creating a black hole in his hand, "have a question for you all. As long as you don't act up or lie, I won't harm you." He dismissed it just as quickly, walking towards Luthor.
Ra's leaned back, letting his guard down. Against such a power, he had no means to survive, except for his mind. "Ask then."
"You all are individuals of great power in differing fields. You, in your twisted vision, wish to see this planet stand atop the galactic food chain," he said with a blank tone, conjuring an illusion of Earth floating over his palm.
He closed his fingers, and the illusion disappeared. "Quite understandable." Almost every race in his universe wanted to be the top dog. Asgard had achieved it in the Nine Realms. He would be a hypocrite to call their ideals wrong.
Definitely twisted though.
"Why do it in the shadows though? Why not act in the light?" he asked. The irony of how the Light acted in the shadows was not lost on him. He simply wanted to understand.
"To avoid the interference of the Justice League, of course," Luthor said. The man was trying too much to be charming. It wasn't a natural gift he had but something acquired through many, many experiences, no doubt.
"That is illogical," he retorted. The League was only a threat because they were working in an illegal manner.
"We would be happy to hear your thoughts," Vandal said, intrigued about what the entity before him had to say.
"You," he said, laying a hand on Luthor's shoulder. "You control a company that is influential across the planet. You have great wealth and technological acumen. Why not use it to increase the life quality of the citizens?"
"If life were made more fair for them, if they were not plagued by constant, untreatable sicknesses, and if they were able to provide for themselves thanks to you, the citizens would fall over themselves to follow you." He had seen enough planets that had become paradises. It wasn't impossible for Earth. The public was simply divided into too many sections, making a unified effort extremely difficult.
"While I am quite wealthy, it is not to the point of solving all of Earth's problems at once."
"Then don't. Start small. Cure cancer, provide free electricity, and run for president to fix this country. The rest will come."
Luthor raised an eyebrow. "You think it is that easy?"
Loki smiled, touching Luthor's bald head, flooding it with the images and histories of the utopias he had visited. "I know it is that easy. You are all selfish individuals, which makes you underestimate the power of gratitude one would have towards people who gave them a better life."
He left the wide-eyed human to sort out the memories, turning his attention to the next member.
"Ra's al Ghul," he said as he appeared behind the old man. "You control the largest network of assassins and information on this planet. Why not use it to expose the illicit deals of the corrupt? Not directly, of course, but through channels that would make them heroes."
With the capabilities of his organization, he could turn any channel to a well of truth. If he wanted to control the citizens of this world, what better way than to ensure he was the only source of truth?
"When the time came, who would they believe more, you or the media controlled by the rich? You could manipulate the public opinion with a few words," he said, flooding the old man's formidable mind with images of him controlling billions.
Ra took deep breaths, closing eyes to clear the foreign images out. "Our past makes it unfeasible."
"Not as long as you don't reveal it," he said, his lips slightly curling upwards as he felt the small tremor in the old man's resolve.
He pointed at the brain in the mobile jar and the aquatic humanoid. "The Brain could use his genius to assist with medical and scientific endeavors. As for the Atlantean, I am sure he would prove useful in some way."
"And of course," he spread his hands to the side with a smile, turning towards the most dangerous person in the room. "Vandal Savage. Has history not taught you anything? People would follow the leaders they believe in to death. You could be it, one to drag this planet to greatness."
Savage looked away, memories of ages past coming to his mind.
"My question is, why bother with the cloak and dagger? You have the power to direct this planet to whichever path you desire. In the broad daylight no less." There was no answer to his words. Each member was silent, contemplating.
Exactly what he wanted them to do.
"It appears fear has made you prisoners of the shadows," Loki answered his own question with a stern tone and left. The smile on his lips did not match his voice, though.
"At least I am not the only one who thinks he has raised several interesting points," Luthor said, watching his compatriots.
Ra's rose from his seat, the final words ringing in his mind. "We can discuss what he said as soon as we are back in our own headquarters."
The bald genius smirked. "I am afraid that won't be possible."
"Why is that?" Vandal asked.
Luthor turned the screen around. "It appears we have been brought to the light." Their conversation was broadcasted to every city in the United States.
—
The Watchtower
"How the hell could we have missed this? The most dangerous villains were working together behind the scenes, and we didn't have a single clue," Flash said, watching the cops surround LexCorp. "This explains so much."
"We need to move now. Even if they are arrested, they won't stay that way for long," Superman said, his eyes narrowing. Ra's had a small army, and the rest of the Light employed many villains. The attempts to free them would turn into a battle.
They had to act quickly.
"No need. They won't try to break them out immediately, not until this matter settles down," Batman said. The security measures would be at an all-time high. Ra's was too cautious to act out so brazenly.
"Are you sure?" Wonder Woman asked. She realized Queen Bee too was most likely a member. It explained the villain activities they had detected in Bialya.
"It is likely the League of Shadows, which will lead any possible operation to free them. They are too cautious to act out in a time like this."
Green Lantern rose from his seat. "Still, we can't sit on our asses. At least some of us should watch them until they are behind the bars."
"Agreed," Manhunter added, following him.
—
Metropolis
Loki was sitting in a cafe, watching the chaos unfold. The law enforcement surrounded LexCorp with all available forces. Before there was even a need for the heroes to arrive, the members of the Light surrendered. Still, the Justice League escorted the armored vehicles transporting each member.
The statistics regarding the incarceration of individuals such as them pointed out that they wouldn't stay imprisoned for long.
The true chaos lay among the citizens. The idea that a shadowy organization was manipulating the events behind the scenes caused instant mass riots. Coupled with the conspiracy theories regarding politics, there would be a lot of headaches for the people in power.
He thought it was well deserved.
What awaited the citizens of this world now, he didn't know. This could be a wake-up call that their leadership was corrupt and compromised, or they would continue to be complacent as long as they weren't directly harmed. He had helped as much as he was willing to.
It was time to go home, though; perhaps he would visit this world in the future.
"Come on, Cosmo. I want to see how Thor is doing," he said. His companion got up, stretching. She trotted behind, jumping through the portal.
—
Home Universe
Earth
New Mexico
He appeared near where Thor was residing. There was an unusual chill in the air. It definitely did not fit the blazing heat of this desert. The reason was the pillars of ice covering the wrecked buildings.
The perpetrator came flying through a building, the side of his face caved in. Laufey fell right in front of him, groaning in pain, eyes unfocused. Thor landed right in front of him, Mjolnir in hand, lightning crackling in his eyes.
"Brother, you finally returned," Thor said in his booming, jubilant voice, hugging him.
Loki returned the hug, smiling at Laufey's state. "I have. You seemed to have regained your powers."
Thor flashed a grin, pointing Mjolnir at the downed Jotnar. "Laufey was of great help. He suddenly came out of nowhere and volunteered for it."
He peered closer to his birth father's shattered cheekbone. "How generous of him."
"How did your trip go?"
"It was enlightening. I discovered a universe similar in some aspects yet wildly different."
"Did you find Asgard there?"
He grimaced. "Kind of. My evil counterpart caused Ragnarok and destroyed it."
Thor's face fell. "That sounds like a story."
"Not much to tell really, but sure."
"Uhh, guys?" Jane came from behind, hesitant as she watched the blue alien for any signs of attacking. "Shouldn't you be handling him first?"
Thor prodded Laufey with his feet. He groaned softly but didn't react otherwise. "Surely he is here against the orders of the new king of Jotunheim. He broke the Allfather's peace by attacking Midgard. He should stand trial."
Loki nodded, concurring with his brother's analysis. "Yes, I don't believe King Helblindi would send him on this mindless attack."
Unless he wanted to restart hostilities for some inane reason, of course.
"Heimdall!" Thor called to the skies. No sooner had the echoes of his voice died out than the Bifrost fell a few feet away, right onto the open square. Lady Sif and the Warriors Three were leading a contingency of Einherjar.
Loki waved his fingers, restraining Laufey on a floating security gurney.
"My friends," Thor said, grasping the arms of each one.
"Glad to see you return, Thor. It was too tense up there with both of you gone," Sif said, reaching for Loki's arm.
He took the arm, glancing at Laufey. "Take him away. He has caused enough trouble."
The soldiers surrounded him, pushing the gurney forward for the landing site. Loki, in the meantime, waved his hand, fixing the damage Laufey had caused. Now that the Midgardians were aware of their existence, life was about to get more exciting.
"That's not good," Darcy said as a small army of SHIELD vehicles poured from every direction, surrounding the square. Sif and the Warriors Three readied their weapons, but Thor stopped them with a small flick of his hand.
A man left the lead car, one he had seen in the SHIELD base. The remaining agents were behind cover, but no weapons were drawn yet. "Miss Foster, I believe you have much to tell us," he said to the astrophysicist, a blank look on his face.
"The four of you return to Asgard. I'll handle this," Thor said, walking towards the human.
"No one's going anywhere until we get answers," their leader, Phil Coulson, if he bothered to remember correctly, said, hand on his weapon.
Loki regarded the agent for a moment. He snorted, and the six of them disappeared with a snap of his fingers, leaving Thor to resolve the situation.
—
In the next chapter:
"Okay, so what's a god doing on Earth, blending among us humans? Were you on vacation or something?" Coulson asked. Thor raised an eyebrow, impressed with the human's attitude.
"No. My father banished me to your planet for an offence I committed. I recently regained my powers while defending the town from Laufey, the previous king of the Frost Giants."
"And why did he try to kill you?"
"I committed the offence on his face," he said, his lips twitching.
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
Spacghetti
Homeless Gardevoir
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2021
- Messages
- 125
- Likes received
- 4,085
oh boy that looks like a fun conversation to look forward to lmao. This version of thor is peak and i cant wait for more from him in the coming chapters now that we're back in the mcu!
Thiccc Shaedy
"Once upon a time, not long ago, I was a hoe!" 💅
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2020
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- 4,641
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- 32,683
Thanks for the update. Would've loved more YJ content, but I don't think there's anymore Loki could've done there.
MasterDarkElf
Well worn.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2023
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- 7,695
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- 80,149
Damn, big shame on no Raven, haha. And nice to see Thor evidently doing well. Their bond is nice. Looking forward to more.
readsalot
Experienced.
- Joined
- Nov 27, 2021
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I can't wait to see the next chapter 
Chapter 39 - A Long Awaited Talk
New
Samael61
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
- Apr 6, 2025
- Messages
- 498
- Likes received
- 28,833
Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Asgard
He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scent of his home. His trip to wait out his father's foul mood was short. He still missed his home though. He spied Heimdall conversing with one of his father's advisors. The gatekeeper merely nodded.
"Loki, we'll take him to the dungeons. You should go see the king," Sif said. The king's mood had gradually improved, but he was still displeased with his sons.
"I aim to. There is much we need to talk about as soon as Thor returns."
He decided a stroll was in order. He was in no hurry and refused to take a horse. The difference in perspective, knowing there was at least a purely evil Loki who had destroyed his home, made him realise how little he had appreciated Asgard. The sights appeared brighter to his eyes. It was as if there was a new light for them that one had never seen before.
"Feels nice to be back home," Cosmo said, her voice as light as he felt.
"It does."
"Do you think your dad's still pissed off?"
"Probably," he said. Though, the prospect of peace might have calmed him.
"What about the other one?"
"Laufey?" He looked down at her. "He can rot in the cells for all I care." His birth father's fate didn't concern him. It never had, actually, but Laufey didn't seem to get the memo. Spending the rest of his life in the cells, or imprisoned back on Jotunheim, might get the idea across.
"My prince," the guards at the entrance to the palace bowed. The door swung wide open, and the two walked forward, giving small greetings to the soldiers. The rush in the palace seemed to have calmed down significantly.
He attributed it to the presence of the Jotnar.
The Einherjar were in a state of alert, but it wasn't beyond what they would present in the most peaceful of days. If they hadn't seen the need to be too cautious, then the negotiations must have gone well. Not that Helblindi had any other choice in the matter.
The final set of guards opened the door to the throne room. He sent Cosmo away since she found these proceedings boring.
"Father, you seem to be in a good mood," he said, greeting his mother and the new king of Jotunheim.
"Indeed," Odin said, dressed in his robes rather than his armour. "King Helblindi and I were discussing a permanent peace between Jotunheim and Asgard."
"Excellent news."
"What of the situation in Midgard?" his father asked, glancing at the expressionless faces of the Jotnar delegations. They were unable to stop Laufey from reaching Midgard through a hidden pathway.
But they had offered to send soldiers to arrest their wayward old king.
"Contained. He has been sent to the cells. Thor is explaining the situation to the Midgardian authorities," he said. Helblindi sighed in relief. He didn't need to read his half-brother's mind to know why they were so worried. Beyond Asgard's retaliation, he had left a strong impression.
"Is that so?"
"They do have a right to know what has happened," he said. Odin gave a small nod. Under Asgard's protection or not, their sovereignty mattered more.
"I would like to be excused unless there is any need for my presence."
"You may go, my son."
They had much to talk about as a family, but it would have to wait until Thor returned.
—
Earth
New Mexico
"Who are you exactly?" the government agent asked. In the short time he was on Midgard, he had come to learn SHIELD meant business. The one before him, Phil, Son of Coul, was calm on the outside, yet he could feel a storm brew inside him.
"Thor, son of Odin and a prince of Asgard," he said, his voice echoing in the small cell.
Coulson checked his notebook. "The God of Thunder?"
"Yes."
"Okay, so what's a god doing on Earth, blending among us humans? Were you on vacation or something?" Coulson asked. Thor raised an eyebrow, impressed with the human's attitude.
"No. My father banished me to your planet for an offence I committed. I recently regained my powers while defending the town from Laufey, the previous king of the Frost Giants."
"And why did he try to kill you?"
"I committed the offence on his face," he said, his lips twitching.
"What about the rest of the Frost Giants? Can we expect any more of them to arrive?"
"No. Their current king is discussing peace with Asgard. This was a standalone attack by Laufey for revenge, nothing more." At least he hoped so. Otherwise, there might actually be a war.
"What can we expect from Asgard now that we know you exist?"
"Asgard has long protected the Nine Realms, including your world. We took care not to interfere in your growth. We shall continue to do the same. However, we will do it in contact with you."
Coulson's brows furrowed. "That's it?"
"We fight for the same cause, Son of Coul. Peace," he said, holding his arm out, with a small, reassuring smile.
Slowly and hesitantly, Phil grasped his arm.
—
Asgard
After a lot more questions, Coulson agreed to let him leave in peace. He promised Jane he would be back and called for Heimdall. His home seemed different as the lights of the Bifrost faded.
"My prince, welcome. It gladdens us to see you return so swiftly," the Gatekeeper said, lowering his head.
"Many thanks, Heimdall."
"The negotiations with the Jotnar are going well. I believe peace will be declared soon," he said. War would surely be terrible, but mostly for the Jotnar. With the Casket of Ancient Winters gone and Asgard's current state, any war, provided the Jotnar could even leave their planet, would be very one-sided.
He still didn't wish for the slaughter.
Thor felt light, as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Great news indeed. And Laufey?"
"He will be imprisoned in Jotunheim per the terms of the treaty."
Thor nodded before spinning his hammer and taking off.
—
His mother was the first to greet him. She was waiting at the entrance and immediately gathered him in a hug. "Welcome back."
"Thank you, Mother. Where is Father?"
"Inside with your brother. I believe there is much we all need to talk about."
"That we do."
—
His father and brother were seated on opposite ends of the small table. Loki was in a carefree mood, while even the prospect of peace didn't seem to raise his father's spirits. The Allfather looked even more vulnerable than he was in Odinsleep. The weight of what he had to say must be unbearable.
"Should I start first?" Loki asked. He seemed to be enjoying this moment far more than he should.
A single weary eye glanced at him. "You too, Loki?"
"Oh absolutely. I have been keeping them just for this moment."
Odin huffed, but there was no mirth to it. "No. I will start first."
"Before I had you two, before I wanted peace and prosperity for all, I was a different person. I craved war, conquest, power and glory," he said. His tone was heavy and laced with sorrow. His eyes glazed for a moment, face scrunching in pain.
The memories must be unpleasant even by his standards.
"When Hela was born, her mother didn't survive the birth. I think deep down she knew what her fate would be." He shook his head, eyes misty. She was insistent that he promise to raise her well. At the time, he had not given her words much thought, believing he would leave the task to her.
"A seer?"
"Perhaps, or perhaps the intuition of a woman who was about to be a mother."
"I raised Hela like I was raised, a warrior. Upon discovering she could command the dead, she became more than just a general. With her endless horde of the dead at our command, we could have conquered the galaxy."
"I wasn't content with just that. I began to gather the Infinity Stones. It was the ultimate power, and I couldn't, didn't resist the allure," he said, averting his eye. He was too ashamed to face them.
"You had the Power and Space Stones," Loki said, remembering the gems embedded on Gungnir.
"I did. It didn't take long before I located the Soul Stone as well. That's when things changed."
"The stone required a sacrifice of whom I held dearest to my heart," he revealed. His wife reached for his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze.
"Hela," she said. Bloodthirsty or not, a child was not so easily discarded. Even now memories of his daughter caused Odin pain.
"I realised that I wasn't some honourable conqueror bringing order to the universe but a bloodthirsty butcher seeking glory." For all that he did for power, he never considered sacrificing Hela like a sheep on the altar.
"I gave up on my plans of conquest."
"She disagreed," Thor said. Hela had told them as such. She simply didn't know why their father changed his mind.
"All she knew, all that I taught her was war and conquest. She told me she would be nothing without them. I knew she was right." What was she but what he raised her to be?
"She tried to usurp me, to take my place. I banished her to Niflheim in the hopes that it might temper her thirst for blood," he said. Deep in his mind, the conqueror side of him knew she would attempt something drastic.
The king and father in him would not entertain the idea.
"When she escaped, I couldn't bring myself to face her in battle, to slay my own daughter."
Thor's fingers curled, leaving gashes on the table, settling into a tight fist. "You sent the Valkyries like a coward, and they all perished." His eyes hardened, remembering the corpses that the two of them had spent an entire day enacting proper burial rites.
They did not deserve it.
"Yes," Odin said in an almost silent tone.
"When I realised she had grown too strong for anyone except me to stop, I imprisoned her in Hel, binding her in a cage with my lifeforce as the bars. She couldn't escape as long as I lived."
"That's why you have been giving us lessons in survival, in how to rebuild a civilisation."
"You both are strong, and I believe when the time comes, you will be stronger than me. I am afraid that day is far from when your sister will return," Odin said. He believed in his sons.
Only, time was not on their side.
"I hid my crimes, ashamed and afraid as I was. I promised to spend the rest of my days making up for my mistakes."
"How did you come to know so much?" Frigga asked her youngest son.
Loki twisted his spread out fingers anticlockwise, turning the glass pitcher on the table to sand. "We spoke to Hela, and I took a little trip through history to discover your past."
Odin's one good almost popped out of its socket. Frigga laughed, a melodious sound that lifted their mood. Thor just smirked at their expressions.
"Now it makes sense how you knew about the Soul Stone," the Allfather said, rubbing his head. Spells that could manipulate time were rare and dangerous. That Loki could pull this off without an issue showed how far he had come.
He put it aside for now. "The truth has been revealed, and now you know who I was."
"What of you, Loki? What secrets have you been hoarding for this moment?" she asked. She was already aware of her husband's deeds, except for the Soul Stone part. Her son's secrets were a mystery to her.
"Well, to begin with, I destroyed Svartalfheim. It was an accident at first before I decided to finish it," he said, pushing his chair back and rising to his feet. Slowly, his outer layer peeled away, exposing what he had become.
"Loki, what is this?" his mother asked, the sides of her eyes creasing. She approached closer, inspecting him.
"I was researching what made the Celestials so powerful. I found a particle that could command all matter. Synthesising a variant with seidr proved to be doable, but there was an unforeseen result. There has to be a bare minimum of these particles together to keep their cohesion. "I lost control, and it consumed my seidr, body and mind."
"When I came to myself, I was no longer of flesh and blood but pure energy. The explosion was what damaged Heimdall's eyes since I was using a spell to block his vision of me," he said.
"I was starving, and since no one else lives on Svartalfheim, I decided the planet would do." He reconstituted his outer layer, sitting down again.
Odin turned to his eldest son. "You don't seem surprised, Thor." The very first moment Loki shed his skin, he realised what he had become.
Thor crossed his arms. "He is my brother; he tells me everything."
"You became a Celestial?" Odin asked, breathless. He had seen many incredible sights. Someone, anyone, becoming a Celestial was not one.
"No. I don't need a shell to exist. I simply am Loki, son of Odin and Frigga."
They accepted his new state of existence with huffs of laughter. They were mighty angry at him risking his life by fighting two Celestials.
He revealed the four stones he had next. Space, Reality, Soul and Power Stones were together in one room, perhaps for the first time since their creation. The circumstance of how he came to acquire them was amusing to them. Each stone was discovered while he was focused on a completely different task or had fallen on his lap.
His father couldn't contain the bitter laugh that escaped his lips when Loki told him how he had acquired the Soul Stone.
Together, the six Infinity Stones were unbeatable. No amount of seidr could stop the effects when the stones were used as one. Individually, they were manageable. The Reality Stone was hidden in Svartalfheim; the Space Stone had sent a Midgardian to his room, and the Power Stone was the Golden High Priestess Ayasha's leverage to save her life.
"Anything else you would like to shake our world with, Loki?" Frigga asked. She felt her head spin with the revelations that her son had ascended, for lack of a better term. While the Aesir were called gods, they were in truth long-lived mortals.
Loki had become a true god, one not bound by time.
"Do you remember the day I told you I lived twice?" he asked his father.
Odin tilted his head, thinking. "No, I do not believe so."
"Right," he said, dragging the word out slowly. "Since TVA technically never existed, that day didn't technically happen either."
"Is this about the long story you mentioned in Midgard?" Thor asked. Whatever his brother had discovered, it had affected him. He had taken care not to show it, but he knew his brother.
"It is. Out of everything I said, this one might be the most interesting one," Loki said, creating an illusion of the Citadel at the end of time.
"That is not reassuring," Frigga muttered, watching the dark, dreary castle.
—
In the next chapter:
"Well, well, well," Hela called, a wide smile on her face that actually radiated a twisted sense of joy. "Would you look at this? My father finally deigns to visit me. If only I could leave this infernal cage, I would have a lot to say to you."
"Hello daughter," he said, standing in front of the barrier.
"Daughter?" she raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had forgotten about me. What's with that blonde bumbling oaf and Lackey."
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Asgard
He took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the scent of his home. His trip to wait out his father's foul mood was short. He still missed his home though. He spied Heimdall conversing with one of his father's advisors. The gatekeeper merely nodded.
"Loki, we'll take him to the dungeons. You should go see the king," Sif said. The king's mood had gradually improved, but he was still displeased with his sons.
"I aim to. There is much we need to talk about as soon as Thor returns."
He decided a stroll was in order. He was in no hurry and refused to take a horse. The difference in perspective, knowing there was at least a purely evil Loki who had destroyed his home, made him realise how little he had appreciated Asgard. The sights appeared brighter to his eyes. It was as if there was a new light for them that one had never seen before.
"Feels nice to be back home," Cosmo said, her voice as light as he felt.
"It does."
"Do you think your dad's still pissed off?"
"Probably," he said. Though, the prospect of peace might have calmed him.
"What about the other one?"
"Laufey?" He looked down at her. "He can rot in the cells for all I care." His birth father's fate didn't concern him. It never had, actually, but Laufey didn't seem to get the memo. Spending the rest of his life in the cells, or imprisoned back on Jotunheim, might get the idea across.
"My prince," the guards at the entrance to the palace bowed. The door swung wide open, and the two walked forward, giving small greetings to the soldiers. The rush in the palace seemed to have calmed down significantly.
He attributed it to the presence of the Jotnar.
The Einherjar were in a state of alert, but it wasn't beyond what they would present in the most peaceful of days. If they hadn't seen the need to be too cautious, then the negotiations must have gone well. Not that Helblindi had any other choice in the matter.
The final set of guards opened the door to the throne room. He sent Cosmo away since she found these proceedings boring.
"Father, you seem to be in a good mood," he said, greeting his mother and the new king of Jotunheim.
"Indeed," Odin said, dressed in his robes rather than his armour. "King Helblindi and I were discussing a permanent peace between Jotunheim and Asgard."
"Excellent news."
"What of the situation in Midgard?" his father asked, glancing at the expressionless faces of the Jotnar delegations. They were unable to stop Laufey from reaching Midgard through a hidden pathway.
But they had offered to send soldiers to arrest their wayward old king.
"Contained. He has been sent to the cells. Thor is explaining the situation to the Midgardian authorities," he said. Helblindi sighed in relief. He didn't need to read his half-brother's mind to know why they were so worried. Beyond Asgard's retaliation, he had left a strong impression.
"Is that so?"
"They do have a right to know what has happened," he said. Odin gave a small nod. Under Asgard's protection or not, their sovereignty mattered more.
"I would like to be excused unless there is any need for my presence."
"You may go, my son."
They had much to talk about as a family, but it would have to wait until Thor returned.
—
Earth
New Mexico
"Who are you exactly?" the government agent asked. In the short time he was on Midgard, he had come to learn SHIELD meant business. The one before him, Phil, Son of Coul, was calm on the outside, yet he could feel a storm brew inside him.
"Thor, son of Odin and a prince of Asgard," he said, his voice echoing in the small cell.
Coulson checked his notebook. "The God of Thunder?"
"Yes."
"Okay, so what's a god doing on Earth, blending among us humans? Were you on vacation or something?" Coulson asked. Thor raised an eyebrow, impressed with the human's attitude.
"No. My father banished me to your planet for an offence I committed. I recently regained my powers while defending the town from Laufey, the previous king of the Frost Giants."
"And why did he try to kill you?"
"I committed the offence on his face," he said, his lips twitching.
"What about the rest of the Frost Giants? Can we expect any more of them to arrive?"
"No. Their current king is discussing peace with Asgard. This was a standalone attack by Laufey for revenge, nothing more." At least he hoped so. Otherwise, there might actually be a war.
"What can we expect from Asgard now that we know you exist?"
"Asgard has long protected the Nine Realms, including your world. We took care not to interfere in your growth. We shall continue to do the same. However, we will do it in contact with you."
Coulson's brows furrowed. "That's it?"
"We fight for the same cause, Son of Coul. Peace," he said, holding his arm out, with a small, reassuring smile.
Slowly and hesitantly, Phil grasped his arm.
—
Asgard
After a lot more questions, Coulson agreed to let him leave in peace. He promised Jane he would be back and called for Heimdall. His home seemed different as the lights of the Bifrost faded.
"My prince, welcome. It gladdens us to see you return so swiftly," the Gatekeeper said, lowering his head.
"Many thanks, Heimdall."
"The negotiations with the Jotnar are going well. I believe peace will be declared soon," he said. War would surely be terrible, but mostly for the Jotnar. With the Casket of Ancient Winters gone and Asgard's current state, any war, provided the Jotnar could even leave their planet, would be very one-sided.
He still didn't wish for the slaughter.
Thor felt light, as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "Great news indeed. And Laufey?"
"He will be imprisoned in Jotunheim per the terms of the treaty."
Thor nodded before spinning his hammer and taking off.
—
His mother was the first to greet him. She was waiting at the entrance and immediately gathered him in a hug. "Welcome back."
"Thank you, Mother. Where is Father?"
"Inside with your brother. I believe there is much we all need to talk about."
"That we do."
—
His father and brother were seated on opposite ends of the small table. Loki was in a carefree mood, while even the prospect of peace didn't seem to raise his father's spirits. The Allfather looked even more vulnerable than he was in Odinsleep. The weight of what he had to say must be unbearable.
"Should I start first?" Loki asked. He seemed to be enjoying this moment far more than he should.
A single weary eye glanced at him. "You too, Loki?"
"Oh absolutely. I have been keeping them just for this moment."
Odin huffed, but there was no mirth to it. "No. I will start first."
"Before I had you two, before I wanted peace and prosperity for all, I was a different person. I craved war, conquest, power and glory," he said. His tone was heavy and laced with sorrow. His eyes glazed for a moment, face scrunching in pain.
The memories must be unpleasant even by his standards.
"When Hela was born, her mother didn't survive the birth. I think deep down she knew what her fate would be." He shook his head, eyes misty. She was insistent that he promise to raise her well. At the time, he had not given her words much thought, believing he would leave the task to her.
"A seer?"
"Perhaps, or perhaps the intuition of a woman who was about to be a mother."
"I raised Hela like I was raised, a warrior. Upon discovering she could command the dead, she became more than just a general. With her endless horde of the dead at our command, we could have conquered the galaxy."
"I wasn't content with just that. I began to gather the Infinity Stones. It was the ultimate power, and I couldn't, didn't resist the allure," he said, averting his eye. He was too ashamed to face them.
"You had the Power and Space Stones," Loki said, remembering the gems embedded on Gungnir.
"I did. It didn't take long before I located the Soul Stone as well. That's when things changed."
"The stone required a sacrifice of whom I held dearest to my heart," he revealed. His wife reached for his hand, giving him a reassuring squeeze.
"Hela," she said. Bloodthirsty or not, a child was not so easily discarded. Even now memories of his daughter caused Odin pain.
"I realised that I wasn't some honourable conqueror bringing order to the universe but a bloodthirsty butcher seeking glory." For all that he did for power, he never considered sacrificing Hela like a sheep on the altar.
"I gave up on my plans of conquest."
"She disagreed," Thor said. Hela had told them as such. She simply didn't know why their father changed his mind.
"All she knew, all that I taught her was war and conquest. She told me she would be nothing without them. I knew she was right." What was she but what he raised her to be?
"She tried to usurp me, to take my place. I banished her to Niflheim in the hopes that it might temper her thirst for blood," he said. Deep in his mind, the conqueror side of him knew she would attempt something drastic.
The king and father in him would not entertain the idea.
"When she escaped, I couldn't bring myself to face her in battle, to slay my own daughter."
Thor's fingers curled, leaving gashes on the table, settling into a tight fist. "You sent the Valkyries like a coward, and they all perished." His eyes hardened, remembering the corpses that the two of them had spent an entire day enacting proper burial rites.
They did not deserve it.
"Yes," Odin said in an almost silent tone.
"When I realised she had grown too strong for anyone except me to stop, I imprisoned her in Hel, binding her in a cage with my lifeforce as the bars. She couldn't escape as long as I lived."
"That's why you have been giving us lessons in survival, in how to rebuild a civilisation."
"You both are strong, and I believe when the time comes, you will be stronger than me. I am afraid that day is far from when your sister will return," Odin said. He believed in his sons.
Only, time was not on their side.
"I hid my crimes, ashamed and afraid as I was. I promised to spend the rest of my days making up for my mistakes."
"How did you come to know so much?" Frigga asked her youngest son.
Loki twisted his spread out fingers anticlockwise, turning the glass pitcher on the table to sand. "We spoke to Hela, and I took a little trip through history to discover your past."
Odin's one good almost popped out of its socket. Frigga laughed, a melodious sound that lifted their mood. Thor just smirked at their expressions.
"Now it makes sense how you knew about the Soul Stone," the Allfather said, rubbing his head. Spells that could manipulate time were rare and dangerous. That Loki could pull this off without an issue showed how far he had come.
He put it aside for now. "The truth has been revealed, and now you know who I was."
"What of you, Loki? What secrets have you been hoarding for this moment?" she asked. She was already aware of her husband's deeds, except for the Soul Stone part. Her son's secrets were a mystery to her.
"Well, to begin with, I destroyed Svartalfheim. It was an accident at first before I decided to finish it," he said, pushing his chair back and rising to his feet. Slowly, his outer layer peeled away, exposing what he had become.
"Loki, what is this?" his mother asked, the sides of her eyes creasing. She approached closer, inspecting him.
"I was researching what made the Celestials so powerful. I found a particle that could command all matter. Synthesising a variant with seidr proved to be doable, but there was an unforeseen result. There has to be a bare minimum of these particles together to keep their cohesion. "I lost control, and it consumed my seidr, body and mind."
"When I came to myself, I was no longer of flesh and blood but pure energy. The explosion was what damaged Heimdall's eyes since I was using a spell to block his vision of me," he said.
"I was starving, and since no one else lives on Svartalfheim, I decided the planet would do." He reconstituted his outer layer, sitting down again.
Odin turned to his eldest son. "You don't seem surprised, Thor." The very first moment Loki shed his skin, he realised what he had become.
Thor crossed his arms. "He is my brother; he tells me everything."
"You became a Celestial?" Odin asked, breathless. He had seen many incredible sights. Someone, anyone, becoming a Celestial was not one.
"No. I don't need a shell to exist. I simply am Loki, son of Odin and Frigga."
They accepted his new state of existence with huffs of laughter. They were mighty angry at him risking his life by fighting two Celestials.
He revealed the four stones he had next. Space, Reality, Soul and Power Stones were together in one room, perhaps for the first time since their creation. The circumstance of how he came to acquire them was amusing to them. Each stone was discovered while he was focused on a completely different task or had fallen on his lap.
His father couldn't contain the bitter laugh that escaped his lips when Loki told him how he had acquired the Soul Stone.
Together, the six Infinity Stones were unbeatable. No amount of seidr could stop the effects when the stones were used as one. Individually, they were manageable. The Reality Stone was hidden in Svartalfheim; the Space Stone had sent a Midgardian to his room, and the Power Stone was the Golden High Priestess Ayasha's leverage to save her life.
"Anything else you would like to shake our world with, Loki?" Frigga asked. She felt her head spin with the revelations that her son had ascended, for lack of a better term. While the Aesir were called gods, they were in truth long-lived mortals.
Loki had become a true god, one not bound by time.
"Do you remember the day I told you I lived twice?" he asked his father.
Odin tilted his head, thinking. "No, I do not believe so."
"Right," he said, dragging the word out slowly. "Since TVA technically never existed, that day didn't technically happen either."
"Is this about the long story you mentioned in Midgard?" Thor asked. Whatever his brother had discovered, it had affected him. He had taken care not to show it, but he knew his brother.
"It is. Out of everything I said, this one might be the most interesting one," Loki said, creating an illusion of the Citadel at the end of time.
"That is not reassuring," Frigga muttered, watching the dark, dreary castle.
—
In the next chapter:
"Well, well, well," Hela called, a wide smile on her face that actually radiated a twisted sense of joy. "Would you look at this? My father finally deigns to visit me. If only I could leave this infernal cage, I would have a lot to say to you."
"Hello daughter," he said, standing in front of the barrier.
"Daughter?" she raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had forgotten about me. What's with that blonde bumbling oaf and Lackey."
Curious about the next chapter? Please consider supporting me on Patreon.
Thiccc Shaedy
"Once upon a time, not long ago, I was a hoe!" 💅
- Joined
- Nov 20, 2020
- Messages
- 4,641
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Good chapter. Now, when can we expect his next multiversal journey?
MasterDarkElf
Well worn.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2023
- Messages
- 7,695
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- 80,149
Go, Loki, use your charms on Hela! And I enjoy Cosmo's presence. It's a small, but nice thing to see. Loki better make sure she can live as long as she wants/as long as he can as well! Looking forward to more.
Chapter 40 - Family Troubles
New
Samael61
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
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Hello there,
If you enjoy my stories, you can read up to 15 chapters in advance per story on my Patreon page / patreon.com/Samael61.
Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Asgard
Odin felt the headache stab into his skull like daggers.
"A Midgardian at the end of time who became fate itself," he muttered. He had never believed that fate existed, that all was written and they were merely actors playing a script. Even Asgard's fated destruction was because of his inaction, not because it was written.
Until the TVA.
"We are truly fortunate you have a good head on your shoulders. Who knows what might have happened if you had ended up like your counterparts," Frigga said, looking at her husband with narrowed eyes.
"Did you meet any versions of me?"
"One. He was transformed into a frog and left in a jar."
"What? Who would do that?"
"No idea. I sent him back to his home as well."
"And where have you been this last week?"
"In another universe. I thought I would let you calm down before we have this talk."
"What do we do now?" Thor asked.
"You," she turned to her husband, "are going to speak with your daughter until the end. Whether it ends good or ill, you owe her that much."
"She will not listen."
Frigga doubled down, glaring at him. "Since when does the Allfather make excuses?"
"Very well. I can't argue with the intuition of a woman."
"Thor will handle the situation with the Midgardians. Since your rash exile of him exposed them to the cosmos, they must be kept informed to prevent any more accidents."
"Yes, Mother."
"As for you Loki, do keep an eye on Hela."
"I always do, Mother."
"Great. Since the treaty will be signed tonight, you both must look your best. Off to the baths with you."
—
"What got you in such deep thoughts?"
"Jane."
Loki chuckled. "I have a feeling it's not because she is an astrophysicist."
Thor turned away. "Not all of it at least. She is brave and understanding."
"Could it be because she struck you with her vehicle twice? You might have a thing for females that could lay you low."
"Ha, ha. Are you going to take this seriously or not?"
"Fine, fine."
"I think I like her, but her lifetime is but a blink of an eye for us."
"I could extend her life to match yours if she agrees."
"I know. It's just, do I have the right to ask her that?"
"An opportunity exists. The decision is hers, of course, but she should be made aware. If she doesn't agree, that's that."
"You are right. At any rate, it's too early to have these kinds of talks," Thor said, opening his room's door.
—
Asgard always had a reason to celebrate. A recent accomplishment in the Tenth Realm, a victory earned, or a day to remember. This particular feast was more lavish than any he had seen.
The Jotnar had gone as far as to bring dishes from their home. They were delicious and not just to him. Thor had particularly liked the fish slices and the pure white ice-cold alcohol they had brought.
Helblindi only spoke to him when the conversation somehow reached a matter concerning him. The new King of Jotunheim seemed content to ignore him otherwise. Given how he had terrified them into peace, he returned the gesture.
The party stopped as the Allfather rose from his seat. Servers stopped moving, the music fell silent, and the guests that were chewing waited with puffed cheeks.
"Long has been my desire to see peace between Asgard and Jotunheim."
"I will not speak of our past, for we all know what has happened. There is no need to open old wounds."
"Instead, I will speak for the future. Where Jotunheim is no longer isolated and the Nine Realms will know true harmony. Today, we drink to peace," he said, raising his cup for all to see. His family followed his lead, and the rest of the feast hall wasn't far behind.
"To peace!" a chorus of cheers responded.
Loki emptied his cup, indicating he wanted another. Soon it would be time for the ceremony where the Jotnar would receive the Casket of Ancient Winters. He knew his father only agreed because Asgard was in a much stronger state. The Jotnar were also extremely easy to negotiate with.
And they had him too.
His father did have an idea that he had something to do with their zealous desire for peace. His pointed glances said as much, though he didn't ask for details. Given his speech about not opening old wounds, he most likely wouldn't ask in the future either.
The ceremony itself was solemn.
His father, dressed in his armor and carrying Gungnir, stood atop the pedestal with Helblindi. The three of them each stood on one step down in order of age. Sif and Warrior's Three were behind them.
On the other side, Helblindi's mother, two uncles and five cousins waited, all smiles and proud looks.
"The casket was taken in battle; let it be returned in peace," the Allfather said, holding it out by one handle. Helblindi raised his arm, wrapping his fingers around the other handle one by one. His mouth was slightly parted, his red eyes shining as he took the artifact with reverence in his every move.
"Thank you, Allfather," Helblindi said, pulling the artifact to himself. His father let go, his shoulders ever so slightly slouching.
Loki clapped along. Peace, even if it was at the threat of a blooming sun, was better than any more hostilities.
—
"Psst, Loki!" Thor whispered in his ear. He opened his eyes, glaring at his brother. Even if he did not have the flesh that would tire, he still required sleep. Whatever had Thor awake better be important.
"What?"
"I need your help to sneak to Midgard."
Loki did a double take, his face scrunched. He flicked his hand, sending Thor right onto Jane Foster's door. He turned around to sleep but found himself plagued by a thought. Thor's playful smile at having the chance to see Jane Foster again was a new one.
He lay on his back again, staring at the ceiling with blank eyes.
He hadn't concerned himself with romance before. He was young and had all the time in the world. Yet now, the idea of a romantic partner didn't seem so unappealing. The problem was there weren't that many females in his life.
Yao was a friend, even a sister in battle. Hela was his sister, adopted or not. Sif was a friend as well. Amora was a colleague, and while he found Angrboda the most beautiful among them, he didn't feel anything towards her. The Aesir interested in him romantically usually did it because of his deeds and fame, not because they knew who he was.
"Perhaps I should ask Mother," he thought before shaking his head. If he told her anything about seeking a romantic partner, she would have an army of ladies from all over the Nine Realms waiting in line.
That was a nightmare waiting to happen.
He forced the energies that constituted his body to slow down to a crawl for a couple of seconds, plunging him into an instant sleep. He would reconsider this matter later.
—
Earth
New Mexico
He found Thor speaking to the SHIELD agent they had encountered, Phil Coulson. The man and his superiors wanted to know more about the Nine Realms. Thor, without mentioning any military secrets, was answering the questions, finally putting all his lessons to use.
"Brother, don't tell me you were cooped up in this room all day," he said, appearing behind the agent. Coulson jerked in his seat, reaching for his weapon. He ignored it, materializing a seat next to Thor.
"Just a couple of hours. Son of Coul just had some questions."
"I am certain his last name does not refer to his father, but by all means, continue."
"Your brother was telling me about the Frost Giants and how you are one too."
"I was born as one, yes." His eyes flashed red, a mist of cold air leaving his lips.
"Thor was just telling me that Asgard and the Frost Giants signed a treaty of peace. My superiors would like to know what it includes."
"They agree to not start any more invasions, and in return, the rest of the Nine Realms will be open to them once more. With Laufey gone and Helblindi cleaning his court out of warmongers, you have nothing to worry about."
"Right, I think that's all for now. I won't keep you any longer. Thank you for your assistance."
—
"How is Jane doing?"
"Good. She is studying the charts I mentioned to her."
"I should get Mother a gift for dragging me to those lessons by ear."
"I should too. That was a particularly amusing memory.
—
Niflheim
Odin stepped out of the beam of the Bifrost. The remains of the Valkyrie, left to rot in this forsaken rock, were gone. The signs of battles and his daughter's necroswords littered the field.
He was too much of a coward to even give them a proper burial.
He marched forward, refusing to delay the inevitable any longer. Hela's prison was not far from the battlefield. Each step brought him closer to the familiar feeling of death. It was not evil by any means, for death was a fact of life.
Neither was his daughter. She was angry, had a thirst for battle, and was lost. Not because she was born that way but because he had raised her as such.
"Well, well, well," Hela called, a wide smile on her face that actually radiated a twisted sense of joy. "Would you look at this? My father finally deigns to visit me. If only I could leave this infernal cage, I would have a lot to say to you."
"Hello daughter," he said, standing in front of the barrier.
"Daughter?" she raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had forgotten about me. What's with that blonde bumbling oaf and Lackey."
Odin shook his head. "How could I forget my firstborn? I simply did not have the courage to face you."
"Odin Allfather, admitting he has a weakness?" she barked out a laughter, "How the mighty have fallen."
"I am glad at least my words can bring you amusement."
"You wish to amuse me, old man? Why not come inside?" she asked, twirling a blade in her hand.
He huffed, taking a step inside the barrier. Hela's face turned blank as his armor materialized. "I am old, not weak," he said with a flat tone. She dismissed her swords, walking to the other end of the prison.
"What do you want?" she demanded, crossing her arms, glaring at him.
"To talk," he said, knowing he had no right.
"You will never convince me to follow your ideas of peace and harmony," she sneered.
"Perhaps. But you do realize that only death awaits you at the end of this? You cannot defeat Loki, not as he is now." His youngest had reached a form of existence beyond theirs. Hela, even with all her power, could not win.
"So he showed his true colors."
"He did."
"Even if I can't kill him, I would rather go down fighting. After all, isn't that what you taught me? To fight to the end," she said, shuddering at the memories that rose to surface.
He looked down. "I have, much to my shame."
"Shame? That glorious conqueror, reduced to a sniveling coward," she sneered, searching for an opening.
"Loki already told you why I abandoned that path."
"The Soul Stone." She still had a difficult time believing Odin loved her, not as a weapon but as his child.
"What would you have me do, Hela?" he said, voice shaking the cage. "Sacrifice you? I was a horrible father; I still am in many ways. Yet to kill my own child for power? I never sacrificed a single Einherjar in pursuit of power. I was not about to do it to you."
"But he did it without sacrificing anyone, didn't he?" Which was the only reason she respected her brother.
"Loki's mind," he stopped, searching for the right way to word it, "works differently. He wants to know more than I wanted power. I imagined it would take him to great places. Him becoming what he is now was beyond what I had considered."
"He has four of the stones. Didn't that at least bring back any old desires?" she asked, grinning, hoping that not everything that made Odin great was gone.
He huffed. "What would be the point?"
She got uncomfortably close to his face, seeing just how weary he was. "You would be the strongest in all of the universe. You could do whatever you want."
He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Then what?"
"Conquer the universe and make everyone else bow down to you as we envisioned," she said, gritting her teeth.
He raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"And? And?!" she let out an animalistic scream, slamming her fist on the shield. It rippled and he felt a dull thud resonate in his soul.
"What is the point of conquest? Wealth?" He pointed at the synthesizer. "We are a post-scarcity society now."
"Power?" he asked, shaking his head. "I am old, I will die soon. What use do I have for power?"
"As for immortality, you should know, life only has meaning because it will end one day. If I were an immortal, how long before I ended up being like Zeus? Or any of the gods out there?" he said, feeling his stomach churn. For all their power and immortality, they invoked disgust rather than envy in him.
"Having people bow down to me? In the end, I only want my family safe, sound, and in good health. Why should other people kneeling before me matter so much?" he asked.
"You and I," he raised a hand, as if to touch her before pulling it back, "we have never been family because of me. I don't know if I can ever make up for all that I have done. I can only try until my last breath."
"Ugh, you are going to make me puke," she spat out, turning around.
"Fenrir, what happened to him? Those two didn't know anything," she asked, still avoiding eye contact.
"He is beneath the palace. I will have him sent to you if you wish." Perhaps having her companion would do her good.
"No. I'll take him when I am free."
"Your wife," she began, rolling the word on her tongue, "how did you meet her?"
"I was cleaning up one of our battlefields in Vanaheim. I intruded upon the territory of the witches that raised her. We almost came to blows before she soothed the atmosphere." He chuckled, shaking his head at memory.
Hela gagged. "If I knew what it was like, I would say you loved her."
Odin closed his eyes. "I do."
"What of my mother? Did you love her too?" she asked. That was one topic they had never talked about. She didn't even know enough about the woman who gave birth to her to feel anything towards her.
"We were friends, you could say. I needed a queen, and she needed the authority it would bring her. We were affectionate, certainly, but neither of us loved one another the way I love Frigga."
She growled.
"Do not," his stern voice rose, "think that we didn't love you. I never showed it, but I always loved you, and I still do. Your mother, she was glowing from the day she learned she was pregnant."
She gestured to her prison. "Is that why you left me to rot here?"
"If I hated you, I would have struck you down when you attempted to take the throne. I never visited before because I was a coward," he said. If only he had the courage to take action before, he might have been able to change her mind.
Perhaps it was too late now.
"What changed now?" she asked. Was it Lackey who convinced this pale shade of the Allfather to visit her.
"Frigga told me what I chose to ignore so far."
"A true family seems to have given you a new perspective."
"It did."
Hela's eyes shone with anticipation, a spark of delight flickering in her face. "A pity I don't know what it feels like to have a family."
He hung his head, lost for words. Her words were as sharp as her swords, perhaps even sharper.
—
In the next chapter:
"Midgardian lifespans are fleeting. Do you think she has a future with your brother?" he asked. He didn't have anything against the woman; in fact, he was grateful for the assistance she had lent to his son. It simply wasn't a good idea for Thor to have a romantic relationship with her.
He would be heartbroken once she passed away.
"Oh no," he waved his hands, giving his father a half-lidded look, tone flat. "That's horrible. If only Thor had a brother who could extend a Midgardian's lifespan to match his."
Frigga cleared her throat but couldn't stop herself from smiling.
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—
Asgard
Odin felt the headache stab into his skull like daggers.
"A Midgardian at the end of time who became fate itself," he muttered. He had never believed that fate existed, that all was written and they were merely actors playing a script. Even Asgard's fated destruction was because of his inaction, not because it was written.
Until the TVA.
"We are truly fortunate you have a good head on your shoulders. Who knows what might have happened if you had ended up like your counterparts," Frigga said, looking at her husband with narrowed eyes.
"Did you meet any versions of me?"
"One. He was transformed into a frog and left in a jar."
"What? Who would do that?"
"No idea. I sent him back to his home as well."
"And where have you been this last week?"
"In another universe. I thought I would let you calm down before we have this talk."
"What do we do now?" Thor asked.
"You," she turned to her husband, "are going to speak with your daughter until the end. Whether it ends good or ill, you owe her that much."
"She will not listen."
Frigga doubled down, glaring at him. "Since when does the Allfather make excuses?"
"Very well. I can't argue with the intuition of a woman."
"Thor will handle the situation with the Midgardians. Since your rash exile of him exposed them to the cosmos, they must be kept informed to prevent any more accidents."
"Yes, Mother."
"As for you Loki, do keep an eye on Hela."
"I always do, Mother."
"Great. Since the treaty will be signed tonight, you both must look your best. Off to the baths with you."
—
"What got you in such deep thoughts?"
"Jane."
Loki chuckled. "I have a feeling it's not because she is an astrophysicist."
Thor turned away. "Not all of it at least. She is brave and understanding."
"Could it be because she struck you with her vehicle twice? You might have a thing for females that could lay you low."
"Ha, ha. Are you going to take this seriously or not?"
"Fine, fine."
"I think I like her, but her lifetime is but a blink of an eye for us."
"I could extend her life to match yours if she agrees."
"I know. It's just, do I have the right to ask her that?"
"An opportunity exists. The decision is hers, of course, but she should be made aware. If she doesn't agree, that's that."
"You are right. At any rate, it's too early to have these kinds of talks," Thor said, opening his room's door.
—
Asgard always had a reason to celebrate. A recent accomplishment in the Tenth Realm, a victory earned, or a day to remember. This particular feast was more lavish than any he had seen.
The Jotnar had gone as far as to bring dishes from their home. They were delicious and not just to him. Thor had particularly liked the fish slices and the pure white ice-cold alcohol they had brought.
Helblindi only spoke to him when the conversation somehow reached a matter concerning him. The new King of Jotunheim seemed content to ignore him otherwise. Given how he had terrified them into peace, he returned the gesture.
The party stopped as the Allfather rose from his seat. Servers stopped moving, the music fell silent, and the guests that were chewing waited with puffed cheeks.
"Long has been my desire to see peace between Asgard and Jotunheim."
"I will not speak of our past, for we all know what has happened. There is no need to open old wounds."
"Instead, I will speak for the future. Where Jotunheim is no longer isolated and the Nine Realms will know true harmony. Today, we drink to peace," he said, raising his cup for all to see. His family followed his lead, and the rest of the feast hall wasn't far behind.
"To peace!" a chorus of cheers responded.
Loki emptied his cup, indicating he wanted another. Soon it would be time for the ceremony where the Jotnar would receive the Casket of Ancient Winters. He knew his father only agreed because Asgard was in a much stronger state. The Jotnar were also extremely easy to negotiate with.
And they had him too.
His father did have an idea that he had something to do with their zealous desire for peace. His pointed glances said as much, though he didn't ask for details. Given his speech about not opening old wounds, he most likely wouldn't ask in the future either.
The ceremony itself was solemn.
His father, dressed in his armor and carrying Gungnir, stood atop the pedestal with Helblindi. The three of them each stood on one step down in order of age. Sif and Warrior's Three were behind them.
On the other side, Helblindi's mother, two uncles and five cousins waited, all smiles and proud looks.
"The casket was taken in battle; let it be returned in peace," the Allfather said, holding it out by one handle. Helblindi raised his arm, wrapping his fingers around the other handle one by one. His mouth was slightly parted, his red eyes shining as he took the artifact with reverence in his every move.
"Thank you, Allfather," Helblindi said, pulling the artifact to himself. His father let go, his shoulders ever so slightly slouching.
Loki clapped along. Peace, even if it was at the threat of a blooming sun, was better than any more hostilities.
—
"Psst, Loki!" Thor whispered in his ear. He opened his eyes, glaring at his brother. Even if he did not have the flesh that would tire, he still required sleep. Whatever had Thor awake better be important.
"What?"
"I need your help to sneak to Midgard."
Loki did a double take, his face scrunched. He flicked his hand, sending Thor right onto Jane Foster's door. He turned around to sleep but found himself plagued by a thought. Thor's playful smile at having the chance to see Jane Foster again was a new one.
He lay on his back again, staring at the ceiling with blank eyes.
He hadn't concerned himself with romance before. He was young and had all the time in the world. Yet now, the idea of a romantic partner didn't seem so unappealing. The problem was there weren't that many females in his life.
Yao was a friend, even a sister in battle. Hela was his sister, adopted or not. Sif was a friend as well. Amora was a colleague, and while he found Angrboda the most beautiful among them, he didn't feel anything towards her. The Aesir interested in him romantically usually did it because of his deeds and fame, not because they knew who he was.
"Perhaps I should ask Mother," he thought before shaking his head. If he told her anything about seeking a romantic partner, she would have an army of ladies from all over the Nine Realms waiting in line.
That was a nightmare waiting to happen.
He forced the energies that constituted his body to slow down to a crawl for a couple of seconds, plunging him into an instant sleep. He would reconsider this matter later.
—
Earth
New Mexico
He found Thor speaking to the SHIELD agent they had encountered, Phil Coulson. The man and his superiors wanted to know more about the Nine Realms. Thor, without mentioning any military secrets, was answering the questions, finally putting all his lessons to use.
"Brother, don't tell me you were cooped up in this room all day," he said, appearing behind the agent. Coulson jerked in his seat, reaching for his weapon. He ignored it, materializing a seat next to Thor.
"Just a couple of hours. Son of Coul just had some questions."
"I am certain his last name does not refer to his father, but by all means, continue."
"Your brother was telling me about the Frost Giants and how you are one too."
"I was born as one, yes." His eyes flashed red, a mist of cold air leaving his lips.
"Thor was just telling me that Asgard and the Frost Giants signed a treaty of peace. My superiors would like to know what it includes."
"They agree to not start any more invasions, and in return, the rest of the Nine Realms will be open to them once more. With Laufey gone and Helblindi cleaning his court out of warmongers, you have nothing to worry about."
"Right, I think that's all for now. I won't keep you any longer. Thank you for your assistance."
—
"How is Jane doing?"
"Good. She is studying the charts I mentioned to her."
"I should get Mother a gift for dragging me to those lessons by ear."
"I should too. That was a particularly amusing memory.
—
Niflheim
Odin stepped out of the beam of the Bifrost. The remains of the Valkyrie, left to rot in this forsaken rock, were gone. The signs of battles and his daughter's necroswords littered the field.
He was too much of a coward to even give them a proper burial.
He marched forward, refusing to delay the inevitable any longer. Hela's prison was not far from the battlefield. Each step brought him closer to the familiar feeling of death. It was not evil by any means, for death was a fact of life.
Neither was his daughter. She was angry, had a thirst for battle, and was lost. Not because she was born that way but because he had raised her as such.
"Well, well, well," Hela called, a wide smile on her face that actually radiated a twisted sense of joy. "Would you look at this? My father finally deigns to visit me. If only I could leave this infernal cage, I would have a lot to say to you."
"Hello daughter," he said, standing in front of the barrier.
"Daughter?" she raised an eyebrow. "I thought you had forgotten about me. What's with that blonde bumbling oaf and Lackey."
Odin shook his head. "How could I forget my firstborn? I simply did not have the courage to face you."
"Odin Allfather, admitting he has a weakness?" she barked out a laughter, "How the mighty have fallen."
"I am glad at least my words can bring you amusement."
"You wish to amuse me, old man? Why not come inside?" she asked, twirling a blade in her hand.
He huffed, taking a step inside the barrier. Hela's face turned blank as his armor materialized. "I am old, not weak," he said with a flat tone. She dismissed her swords, walking to the other end of the prison.
"What do you want?" she demanded, crossing her arms, glaring at him.
"To talk," he said, knowing he had no right.
"You will never convince me to follow your ideas of peace and harmony," she sneered.
"Perhaps. But you do realize that only death awaits you at the end of this? You cannot defeat Loki, not as he is now." His youngest had reached a form of existence beyond theirs. Hela, even with all her power, could not win.
"So he showed his true colors."
"He did."
"Even if I can't kill him, I would rather go down fighting. After all, isn't that what you taught me? To fight to the end," she said, shuddering at the memories that rose to surface.
He looked down. "I have, much to my shame."
"Shame? That glorious conqueror, reduced to a sniveling coward," she sneered, searching for an opening.
"Loki already told you why I abandoned that path."
"The Soul Stone." She still had a difficult time believing Odin loved her, not as a weapon but as his child.
"What would you have me do, Hela?" he said, voice shaking the cage. "Sacrifice you? I was a horrible father; I still am in many ways. Yet to kill my own child for power? I never sacrificed a single Einherjar in pursuit of power. I was not about to do it to you."
"But he did it without sacrificing anyone, didn't he?" Which was the only reason she respected her brother.
"Loki's mind," he stopped, searching for the right way to word it, "works differently. He wants to know more than I wanted power. I imagined it would take him to great places. Him becoming what he is now was beyond what I had considered."
"He has four of the stones. Didn't that at least bring back any old desires?" she asked, grinning, hoping that not everything that made Odin great was gone.
He huffed. "What would be the point?"
She got uncomfortably close to his face, seeing just how weary he was. "You would be the strongest in all of the universe. You could do whatever you want."
He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. "Then what?"
"Conquer the universe and make everyone else bow down to you as we envisioned," she said, gritting her teeth.
He raised an eyebrow. "And?"
"And? And?!" she let out an animalistic scream, slamming her fist on the shield. It rippled and he felt a dull thud resonate in his soul.
"What is the point of conquest? Wealth?" He pointed at the synthesizer. "We are a post-scarcity society now."
"Power?" he asked, shaking his head. "I am old, I will die soon. What use do I have for power?"
"As for immortality, you should know, life only has meaning because it will end one day. If I were an immortal, how long before I ended up being like Zeus? Or any of the gods out there?" he said, feeling his stomach churn. For all their power and immortality, they invoked disgust rather than envy in him.
"Having people bow down to me? In the end, I only want my family safe, sound, and in good health. Why should other people kneeling before me matter so much?" he asked.
"You and I," he raised a hand, as if to touch her before pulling it back, "we have never been family because of me. I don't know if I can ever make up for all that I have done. I can only try until my last breath."
"Ugh, you are going to make me puke," she spat out, turning around.
"Fenrir, what happened to him? Those two didn't know anything," she asked, still avoiding eye contact.
"He is beneath the palace. I will have him sent to you if you wish." Perhaps having her companion would do her good.
"No. I'll take him when I am free."
"Your wife," she began, rolling the word on her tongue, "how did you meet her?"
"I was cleaning up one of our battlefields in Vanaheim. I intruded upon the territory of the witches that raised her. We almost came to blows before she soothed the atmosphere." He chuckled, shaking his head at memory.
Hela gagged. "If I knew what it was like, I would say you loved her."
Odin closed his eyes. "I do."
"What of my mother? Did you love her too?" she asked. That was one topic they had never talked about. She didn't even know enough about the woman who gave birth to her to feel anything towards her.
"We were friends, you could say. I needed a queen, and she needed the authority it would bring her. We were affectionate, certainly, but neither of us loved one another the way I love Frigga."
She growled.
"Do not," his stern voice rose, "think that we didn't love you. I never showed it, but I always loved you, and I still do. Your mother, she was glowing from the day she learned she was pregnant."
She gestured to her prison. "Is that why you left me to rot here?"
"If I hated you, I would have struck you down when you attempted to take the throne. I never visited before because I was a coward," he said. If only he had the courage to take action before, he might have been able to change her mind.
Perhaps it was too late now.
"What changed now?" she asked. Was it Lackey who convinced this pale shade of the Allfather to visit her.
"Frigga told me what I chose to ignore so far."
"A true family seems to have given you a new perspective."
"It did."
Hela's eyes shone with anticipation, a spark of delight flickering in her face. "A pity I don't know what it feels like to have a family."
He hung his head, lost for words. Her words were as sharp as her swords, perhaps even sharper.
—
In the next chapter:
"Midgardian lifespans are fleeting. Do you think she has a future with your brother?" he asked. He didn't have anything against the woman; in fact, he was grateful for the assistance she had lent to his son. It simply wasn't a good idea for Thor to have a romantic relationship with her.
He would be heartbroken once she passed away.
"Oh no," he waved his hands, giving his father a half-lidded look, tone flat. "That's horrible. If only Thor had a brother who could extend a Midgardian's lifespan to match his."
Frigga cleared her throat but couldn't stop herself from smiling.
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You know, from the t v a storyline, I don't think we ever got an explanation of why they never came back to erase this loki, or if we did, I missed it, or read past it. It's like they came to try to erase them once got killed, and then they never tried again
steamrick
Matter: protons, electrons, neutrons and morons
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Extending the body's lifespan will be easy (for one such as Loki).
Modifying the human psyche to keep working properly centuries past its best-by date will be somewhat more difficult.
Wassa110
Your first time is always over so quickly, isn't it?
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I think I'm gonna stop here for now. No offence to the writer, but I came expecting more of the MCU timeline with Asgard as more of the backdrop/past/something that will be relatively quick to get through. Now that I know this is a long haul type story, I'm gonna let it stockpile a good bit. Looking forward to reading more, but currently very little MCU stuff, and that's what I'm more interested in personally.