Loki: Triumphant
Part I
All Ends with a Beginning
Darkness. Complete utter darkness.
"Long ago there was Darkness…" The clear aged voice of Asgard's noble king, Odin, speaks, but he pauses to cough and clears his throat. As this happens though the voice changes and morphs into another's.
"I can't tell this using 'his' voice." Comes the familiar silky smooth depth of Asgard's second and adopted son… Loki. "Besides… it's best that I tell this in my own words." He gives a slight chuckle.
"Long ago there 'was' Darkness… then radiant Light was born and the Infinity Stones were scattered across the Universe." Loki then says and the Darkness begins to flicker and sparkle with multi-colored flashes… then suddenly, there is a burst of brilliant radiance and Light is unleashed upon the Universe. As this happens, five objects fly out from the epicenter.
"Space…" A glowing blue cube spins past.
"Time…" A dark red liquid ripples and solidifies into a crystalline form before re-liquefying as it races past not leaving a drop behind.
"Reality…" A four sided pyramid with glowing yellow edges and filled with an inner darkness that is speckled with pin-points of light whizzes by.
"Mind…" A glowing purple orb hurdles past.
"Soul…" A green disk with a hole in the center spins past then. As it goes a light green mist leaves a trail behind which dissipates quickly.
"And Power." A fiery form flies straight out and seems to engulf everything and all is lost in flames.
"They go by many names of course… given to Them by the beings and cultures that have existed since the time before the Light and all those that were to follow." Loki adds and we watch as a group of Elves come upon a small pool of red liquid. They marvel at it as one of them touches it with tentative fingers. It erupts upwards and engulfs that Elf, killing him by aging him to a crumbling husk. As the others run away they cry out 'Aether'. We then see a small squat husky hominoid with a full beard of grey and white walking through a mountainous area. He comes upon the small pyramid with glowing yellow edges and picks it up. As the Dwarf holds it, he mutters a complaint about wishing he had a nugget of gold for every piece of worthless junk he finds… then suddenly all the rocks around him turn to gold. Frightened, the Dwarf runs away with the small pyramid object in hand.
"My favorite is Power." Loki then says as we see within the raging flames once more. "Power can manifest any and all of the abilities of the other five. It even amplifies Them, making Them far stronger together than They ever could be apart." As we watch, the fiery comet races out across the vastness of the Universe… galaxies ripple, stars burst into luminous glory, and stony barren worlds bloom with new life.
"Like the Aether, which is Time by the way, Power exists in another form than that of a solid. It exists as an undying flame… The Phoenix Force." Loki says the name with a shiver of pleasure dripping from his smooth deep voice. The longing is inherently clear. We see the comet shift and great wings spread wide from the body of the fiery bird as it flies through the Universe. It is grace and majesty at once.
"Regrettably… This resplendent being was divided before the Nine Realms formed." Loki then says with some distain as a slight sneer escapes his lips. "It seems not everyone back then liked an agent of change stirring things up… I can relate." His voice then becomes sympathetic, almost sad.
We see the Elves, Dwarves, and various other elder races in a coalition with an armada of ships of varying sizes. They have surrounded the Phoenix Force on all directions, there is no escape. Then the commanding Elf puts upon his right hand a large gauntlet. Set upon the knuckles are three glowing orbs… one is blue, one is red, and the third is yellow. As the Elf holds his hand in a fist, the red orb brightens then he thrusts his arm out and a blast of red and black energy races from his palm through a large force field that is keeping the vacuum of space out, and it strikes the beautiful fiery bird directly in the chest. The fire bursts outward and is blown out completely. There is nothing left inside the sphere of surrounding ships. Everyone begins to cheer. The Elf Commander smiles… but suddenly there is a brilliant flash and the fiery aura of the Phoenix reappears… with a vengeance!
Its normally green eyes are now red and its normally graceful heron-like form is now more eagle-like. The cry of the Phoenix rings out as its terribly awesome power rips through the armada of ships destroying all save for the Elf Commander's vessel which is protected by a force field. They realize that they cannot destroy it! Their only option is to contain it.
So the Elf Commander does the only thing he can. He activates the blue orb and thrusts his hand out before him. Suddenly, a blue force field starts to form quickly around the fiery bird, but a small piece of fire separates before the way is shut and winks away. Once contained, the force field tightens down until the fiery bird becomes a solid egg-shaped stone. It looks metallic and coppery with a bright sheen on its surface. The Elf Commander then activates the blue orb again and the battered ship finds itself elsewhere in the Universe. They gaze down upon the third rocky planet that circles a new born star. The Elf Commander then activates the yellow orb and the planet below flash-melts. He uses it again to make certain the egg is solid… then it is dropped down to the molten world below and placed deep within the fiery center. This is its prison… here the Phoenix Force shall forever dwell, never to disrupt or destroy ever again. The surface is resolidified with the yellow orb and the Elf Commander's ship disappears in a blue flash… and the Universe continues on.
"The Phoenix Force was imprisoned because it created, changed, altered, and destroyed on a whim. Oh, what I could do with such Power!" Loki then says eagerly. "While the more destructive side was sealed away deep in the center of Midgard with the use of the Eldritch Shard …The Reality Stone… The piece that escaped, the friendlier side, took up residence inside host beings which became Phoenix Avatars. Over time they would come to call themselves Phoenix and so that became their name. There was a Warrior from the Kree… a Priestess of the Shi'ar… an Elven Maid is said to have been the reason for the split betwixt the Light and Dark Elves. Some business about a plague."
We see a soldier on the field of battle. He looks around and sees his forces are being overwhelmed so he unleashes the power of the Phoenix Force. It destroys everything upon the battlefield, as well as the small planetoid it is taking place on. The fiery bird then leaves. We then see a woman with strange hair that looks more like feathers. Her features are more pointed and her dress is that of a Priestess. She uses the Phoenix Force to declare herself a goddess to her people. As she uses it to a greater effect, it consumes her and leaves the world of the Shi'ar. We then see a young Elven girl standing amid a town ravaged by plague. The sick and dying are laying all around in rows as nurses tend to them, but the mood is hopeless. So the Elf Maid prays and the Phoenix Force flashes out in a radiant burst of light that showers the whole Realm in a golden dust which heals all the sick. It consumes only the girl and so leaves for parts unknown.
"One thing was perfectly clear, however. The bodies didn't last long… for they were burned up due to containing the fiery might of the Phoenix Force. So it had to adapt bodies to it… and so the Phoenix began to tamper with the evolution of various races." We see the Phoenix Force create Frost Giants but abandons them as a Frost Giant explodes after the Phoenix Force possesses it. It then tries the Demons but they are too wild and seek only to consume and devour. The Phoenix Force then creates a world and a race of its own design. Asgard is formed and set upon it are human-like beings.
"It brought Asgard into existence… or that's the legend anyways. The Asgardians have denser, stronger bodies, and within their hearts, the Phoenix Force placed a spark of light giving them magic to wield and thus training them to manage its own power."
"Then after many millennia of trial and error, the Phoenix Force slipped into its current Asgardian Avatar." We see a woman giving birth and as the child is born, gold and orange light fills the room. As the baby girl is cleaned and swaddled it becomes clear that she has a birthmark upon her forehead… a small pair of golden wings.
"She is the longest Phoenix Avatar to exist thus far and it has become her very soul. She and the Phoenix Force are so connected… they are virtually one." Loki then says with a sense of reverence and longing.
"Now let's say, for arguments sake… If the Phoenix Force was to be pulled from her body via the use of the Eye of Agamotto …The Soul Stone… then she'd die and the Phoenix Force would go off in search of a new Avatar. Or… it could be contained to form the Power Stone." Loki then says with a devious hint in his smooth voice. We watch as the green flat disk with the hole in the center is used to 'draw out' the Phoenix Force from the current Asgardian Phoenix Avatar. The green mist surrounds her and is pulled to the hole in the Soul Stone. As it goes the orange flames flicker on her skin and are dragged away to the stone's center. It gathers before the Soul Stone and condenses to form an egg-shaped oval of bright fiery orange which then solidifies on the surface.
"A rather clever bit of Dwarven Technology can achieve that thus allowing one to wield the power of the Phoenix Force… if you are… less than Asgardian and don't want to burn up. It is known as the Infinity Gauntlet, and it is what trapped the destructive Firebird a very long time ago." Loki then says with a small amused chuckle. We see a close up of the backhand of the Infinity Gauntlet. The Power Stone affixes itself there and five small glowing lines flow out from it to the other Stones. As those lines connect to the Stones settings, they each grow brighter. As the fist clenches, the Power Stone burns the dull solid layer off as the other Stones grow brighter still… to the point of blinding… and an aura of flame bursts further from the Power Stone.
"I know two things for a fact… An Asgardian body is the perfect vessel to contain such splendid power… thus no need for the Gauntlet, and secondly, a person is far easier to deceive and manipulate than a god-like force. Oh, what fun I can have." Loki then says and gives a short wicked laugh.
