~
"The one bright light in Asgard is its darkest soul."
Within lies a tale of darkness and strife.
Personal growth.
And unimagined change.
~
"The city dressed in jewels and gold,
fine linen, Myrrh and pearls
Her plagues will come all at once
as her mourners watch her burn"
~
He hung his head over the book in his lap, dark unruly hair spilling over drooped shoulders. He had missed the distant explosion entirely.
Though his eyes searched the pages, their contents were lost from his sight. Foul memories took the place of words, playing over and over again without fail. Plaguing him as he sat simmering – rotting away in a tomb of white. Handcuffed and gagged before being stowed away in a cage as if he were nothing more than a unruly beast.
What he always had been in their eyes he supposed.
He had only tried to master the task that befell upon him. The task he had been granted on the day of his birth.
To rule.
He would have finally had a kingdom of his own without the foolish Allfather or his wretched brother there to get in his way. It was so close, he had almost tasted it. A bright glimpse of glory outside the enveloping cast of Thor's shadow – but just as always, the clouds had rolled in over the rising sun and thunder soon followed.
Movement to his right, just beyond the glass barrier of his cell snapped him from his reverie. He slowly straightened his back flat against the wall.
Loki watched on as two Asgardian guards – the same cretins that he had allowed to usher him to his own cell only a few days ago – drug a young mortal down the hall, her feet half scraping, half stepping under her. Her hands were cuffed to her sides and the pair of Asgard's finest were tense in her presence, their gazes flickering from her to one another then back again as she slowly came to.
He couldn't help but inwardly scoff at the idea of such a creature being threatening enough to need restraints. What could a Midgardian have done to end up in the prisons of Asgard? They were just letting anyone in these days it seemed.
She was a sickly looking thing. He noticed it when the guards turned her to remove her chains and place her in the cell just past his. Her gaze was turned down but he studied what he could of it. Her face was drawn – pale, her blinking eyes opening to search the bared skin of her arms just before she turned the corner to her cell.
That's when he saw it. A flicker of red glowing just beneath the surface of the skin above her wrist. It snaked down a vein, vanishing just as quickly as it had appeared.
Just long enough to leave him frozen where he sat.
He remembered it then. A faint whisper of conscious memory – the loud burst of energy that shook even the thickest walls of the magic barrier surrounding him.
The last he saw of her was the look of confusion that took her features. He was sure it mirrored his own.
Jane leaned her head back against the unforgiving wall.
Everything hurt. Her brain was throbbing as the unrelenting energy – the Aether, Odin had called it – coursed through her veins. Each beat of her heart sent another wave of fire searing down her limbs.
What hurt the most was that Thor had brought her to Asgard to save her... but didn't. He had watched on as his father ordered her be taken prisoner. She'd seen the conflict upon Thor's brow as the guards charged her.
She hadn't had time to see much else.
She remembered the cool of the metal beneath her. The boil of energy that rose goosebumps along her skin. The explosion.
She had blown up in their faces – literally – before passing out upon the healer's table. The last thing she'd felt was her hand slipping out of his.
Jane couldn't help but feel angry at herself. Discovering a worm hole to another world was incredible. She remembered the way the red liquid danced and curved through the cracks in the rock that held it – or hovered around it really... Of course she would have to explore it further. But did she really have to go and touch it?
She had always known her obsession with every single anomaly that came to light would be her downfall. She just never imagined she'd fall so hard.
She sat up in an attempt to dull the nauseous feeling that turned in her empty stomach. Something was very wrong with her and she knew it. She blinked her eyes open and stilled.
A man sat opposite her. His clothing caught her attention first. Emerald tunic and dark leather contrasting harshly against the stone white wall he rested against. He seemed at ease. His hands resting, intertwined in his lap. Too at ease for her liking. The bright white light danced over his slick raven hair, glowing in the glower of his eyes. She recognized him instantly.
Jane gaped back at him.
"You… you're…"
"What brings you to Asgard, Jane Foster," his low voice vibrated in the air around them, mocking her with her own title.
She blinked twice, unnerved by his knowledge of her. She had witnessed him terrorize an entire city. Watched on helplessly from the safe end of a television screen as this man and his army of aliens took the lives of hundreds of innocent people – leaving streets in flame and skyscrapers toppled in his wake.
She'd heard of him before then, too. Loki - the reason Thor had to leave her those two long years ago. The reason she had cried herself to sleep for more nights than she cared to remember in his absence. The reason she lost her beloved job – Erik – her entire world…
She had seen them join forces to stop him in New York. She had seen Thor return.
But when had Loki seen her?
"How do you know who I am?" her brow furrowed as a fierce curiosity masked the pang of pain that came with the memory.
"I know much more than just that," he returned, unmoving. His impatience showing only in the darkening of his eyes. "Which leads me to wonder what you possibly could have done to find yourself here… Unless my brother has grown tired of his plaything."
Her fingernails pressed into her palms. She bit the inside of her lip. Hard.
"What brought you to Earth, Loki?" Her voice stayed steady, his name echoing hollowly through the enclosed space. Nerves and heat sizzled and snapped beneath her skin – whether it was from his presence or the Aether she couldn't be sure.
The right corner of his lip turned up. Just barely.
"You know who I am, yet you continue to question me," his right brow lifted slightly, "Well that clears up why the guards feared you at least," a hint of arrogance lilted his rich accent. He paused for a beat. "Answer the question."
With his order, Jane's eyes left his for the first time, glancing down over herself before re-finding him.
"If you hurt me, Thor will come for you." Her quiet voice stayed level – a believed promise. She almost instantly regretted it. A threat – really, Jane?
His controlled gaze held a chilling passivity, turning to find the glass wall of her cell.
"Oh, I highly doubt that" he blinked once, slowly, at his reflection, "My brother wastes no time on those he's deemed unfit for his presence – and here you are," his jaw clenched and he paused a moment to reclaim his composure. Only when he had did he speak again. "And from what I saw in your captors' eyes, I can only assume a rescuer would be rendered unnecessary."
He turned his attention back over to her and she saw a flash of emerald glint between the thin slits of his eyelids.
"So tell me, what brings you to Asgard, Jane?" He repeated, tone as cold as the walls around them.
It chilled her to the bone.
A deafening silence tainted the air.
She opened her mouth to speak.
But the world went white.
The sound of glass exploding echoed throughout the prison and she flinched instinctively, her eyes squeezing shut, her hands shooting up to protect her head.
Chaos took place just beyond the clear wall of her cell.
Fires raged.
Masked men – no, masked creatures– moved swiftly past her cell firing strange weapons and throwing golden spheres just farther down the hall than she could see. The bottomless, hollow eyes of their masks found her every so often as they passed and she pushed herself to the far back corner – as far from them as possible. With every shattering explosion, their numbers rose.
She looked back to where he had been sitting.
And found she was alone.
It instantly clicked into a much too fortunate, staggering epiphany. The Dark Elves weren't even supposed to exist – much less be tearing down the walls of a supposedly impenetrable fortress. All had believed them to be extinct. Odin's father being the responsible party. Slaying an entire race, destroying their power source, and returning home, a decorated war hero.
Those bedtime stories had stuck with him through the years. His mother had read to them each night. Tales of the evil Dark Elves and the mighty Bor.
He had even tried to be the hero once – twice. But the only welcome home party he received was a set of tight shackles and a torturous visit from his mother. He was left with nothing but her deceit.
But she had been wrong. They all were.
He pulled his projected figure from Jane's cell and smoothly rose to stand in his own.
He made his way to the glass, pressing his hand, fingers spread flat against it, leaning as close to the barrier as he could to take in as much of the commotion as possible.
A gangly, dark aircraft had entirely destroyed the first few rows of the prison, toppling the supporting columns, the lifeless bodies of washed-up inmates and a pair of insufferable guards crushed beneath. Asguardian soldiers poured through the prison door but found themselves in a murky ocean of vicious enemies. Not enough could make it through at one time to even damper the Dark Elves in number. And so they were slaughtered like sheep among wolves.
Loki's brow lifted at the sight.
The masked soldiers had weapons he had never seen before. And he'd seen his fair share.
Each fascinated him. But one stood out amongst the rest.
He watched intently as one of the intruders grabbed for a red orb at his side. He was bigger than the others – broader in the shoulders and, when he ripped his mask from his face, much more ghastly. He squeezed the orb tight in his fist and Loki's eyes followed the fragments of dust and orange embers as they languidly fell from between the creature's fingers to the stained stone floor.
A beast tore its way from his bones. Gashes ripped in flesh. Curling flame rose from between each crevice, lined by solid dark obsidian as the demon continued to burn and rise to a towering height.
Loki had to tilt his head up slightly to meet his eyes.
It spotted him.
The monster took one step in his direction – then another.
It came to a halt just inches from the steps of his cell. Loki's hand slowly dropped away from the glass. He remained unmoving otherwise.
They stared down one other. Loki's eyes tested his. Dared him.
The creature grunted, then turned away. Toward the next cell.
Jane's.
"I know what it is that you seek," the words passed his lips in practiced promise, stopping the beast in its tracks. "And I will take you to it, should you be so kind as to provide me the means."
He barely had enough time to take a step back from the wall of glass before it shattered into a billion twinkling facets.
To absolutely be continued...
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Epigram: Beast and The Harlot - Avenged Sevenfold