The Goddess Iris

In fabled times, other beings in our universe were mistaken for deities. Then called gods, now called aliens, these extra-terrestrial creatures still may occasionally be spotted in our own Milky Way Galaxy. On the Planet Asguard, the well-known mythical beings such as Thor, Odin, and others resided.

One such resident in this magical realm is the goddess known as Iris. Her physical appearance is that of a young woman with long golden blonde hair and glittering light blue eyes. She wears a white satin gown that drags on the floor and wraps around one shoulder like a robe. Her golden hair is tied up into a thick messy side-braid and is decorated with blue and white flowers. An irregular talent she is known for is her extremely acute hearing. She has four sapphire rings on her right hand and a matching bracelet on each wrist. Each jewelry item has a retractable dagger that can be ejected and used in battle. She is known as a cunning warrior and a beautiful maiden.

Her most well-known feature is her enormous metal wings. On the back of her gown where the straps meet in the back, there are two oversized sapphire buttons that hold her tunic together. Mistaken for only decorative jewelry pieces, these buttons have secret magical mechanisms that will fold out into a light weight metal plated wing like structure. She is able to fly, shoot sharpened metal plates, and block attacks with these magnificent wings. After battle she folds them back into her gown and they return to their button forms. Iris is one of the lesser known gods however she has often been mistaken for an angel.

As far as her personality goes, many have described her differently. To those she has fought with they describe her as fierce, swift, tough to beat, merciless, cunning, and graceful. To her friends, she is witty, humorous, sarcastic, caring, and an extremely good listener. To many male gods she has been called breathtaking, stunning, and a little intimidating.

Like many so called gods of this time, Iris has a remarkable secret. When she was ten years old her Mother had fallen in love with a man after her father's death in battle. This man was strange, however he loved Iris's mother dearly. When Iris's mother witnessed him betraying secret information to the Frost Giants (the enemy realm) she told him they were through and decided to leave him. He flew into a rage and cursed little Iris, just before her mother could stop him. He was banished from Asguard for his treachery and life returned back to normal. However Iris was now under a most horrid spell. Every night at the stroke of midnight, she would be transformed into a spotless white dove and remain in this form until the sunrise. Her mother and she swore to never tell another soul, for fear she may be killed in her weakest form. That promise was kept for almost 10 years, until her mother died. With her mother's passing Iris had no idea what to do, so she told her secret to her dearest friend Prince Loki son of Odin. He promised to protect her in her weak bird body and would never expose her secret. And so Iris had a friend to watch her and keep her safe in her point of weakness, and Loki had a listener to be his only trusted advisor; for he had many problems of his own.

The satin white dove and the black as night cat were bonded by fate and were the only ones who knew all of each other's secrets.

The Beginning

Loki stormed into his bedroom seething with anger. It was 11:30 p.m. and he had just returned from Thor's birthday banquet; Iris was sitting on his giant bed and counting the minutes 'till she would shrink into a helpless dove.

"You would not believe what just happened in there!" Loki bellowed in his unexplained British accent as he slammed his door shut.

"Please Loki, keep your voice down and tell me what has happened." Iris's cool, smooth voice always flooded over Loki and calmed his anger, but this time he was simply to furious to be reasoned with.

"Do not tell me to lower my voice Iris! Thor is an idiotic, selfish fool who will ultimately send Asguard straight into the hands of its foes!"

"Please just explain your troubles Loki, you know I will listen but my time grows short," she pointed a gentle finger to the moon glimmering outside his window, it would soon be midnight, "and for heaven's sake please calm your voice or I will be forced to act!"

Loki gulped down his pride and his loud voice as he recalled Iris's sensitive hearing.

"Well to start," he said much quieter, "I go to my older brother's stupid banquet because I am forced to, I didn't even want to go in the first place mind you! And then as the hours go by, everyone gives a toast of how wonderful he is and how great a king he is going to be. I of course add comments here and there for I know my brother better than anyone. And then right in the middle of the ceremonies Thor and his bearded friend begin laughing hysterically about absolutely nothing! Everyone stares down the table at them and all begin laughing as well. The fools were stone-dead drunk and not even listening to our comments and praises! If I know my brother I know that he hasn't gotten drunk in almost a year; he always did have a strong stomach for alcohol. Do you realize that he must have drunk almost 6 kegs of my Father's strongest wine? He has no self-discipline whatsoever! He made the entire Odin family look like complete idiots and disgraced our name! Do you know how many people snickered at me as I walked to my room? It was beyond humiliating!" Loki sat down with his arms crossed onto his bed next to Iris.

"Where is Thor now?" Her voice like silk.

"Probably still fuzzy-brained and laughing down in the dining hall. I had to leave early because…" He turned his gaze to the moon outside his window.

"Thank you for coming back early, I am dearly sorry for your troubles." Iris stared down at her hands ashamedly.

"Oh no it was nothing! I wanted to leave; it really was no trouble at all. I should be apologizing for making you listen to my horrible rambling." Loki assured her grasping her hand.

"Thank you Loki, you really are a dear friend! And I am glad that you…"

Her voice was silenced as white mist climbed her body and covered her entirely. There was an electric spark that erupted through the white clouds and Loki released her shrinking hand. When the mist cleared, the purest white dove that could ever be was sitting on the bed where Iris had once been. Its glittering blue eyes were almost unnervingly human. It cooed in a soft purr as Loki stroked her head.

"Midnight already?" He shook his head. "Wish I could have heard what you were going to say." The dove only blinked and cocked its head in response.

Loki scooped the dove into his hands and slowly walked over to the window. There was a solid gold bird cage with small rubies and sapphires decorating the door and bottom rim. Inside the cage was a small silver water dish and food dish, a little hanging perch that was encrusted in fragments of sapphires and emeralds swayed from the arched roof, and on the bottom there were countless miniature red satin pillows all crafted with golden embroidery. Loki gently placed the dove onto her perch and carefully slid the door shut. The dove cooed soft as snow and began to preen her left wing in preparation for sleep.

"Good-night Iris, I will awake before morning." He always assured this after one incident of Iris returning to her human form still in her bird cage. It resulted in a broken cage and some name calling on both sides. Ever since then, Loki has risen before sunrise and released the dove at least half an hour before the sun was scheduled to make an appearance. Loki smiled at the delicate bird and returned to his bedside.