The whispering wouldn't stop.

Creeping, crawling, invading his mind again and again. Loki pressed his hands on his temples, shutting his eyes close.

"Silence…" he muttered. "Be silent!"

But the voices were like invisible insect he couldn't smash.

Who are you? A shadow… death… you are death… You bring doom and misery… and pain…

"Silence!" he shouted. His voice thundered around the waste ice cave and he looked up, confused momentarily. He looked down at his hands. They were bluish, with dark veins visible under the skin. He touched his face. It was like ice.

Loki moaned. He didn't remember anything. He couldn't remember how he had got there. Where was he?

A sound of sobbing disturbed him and he looked up. Someone was standing in front of him. A young woman with golden hair, trembling in the freezing cold that was radiating from him in waves.

"Who are you?" he asked. He almost wouldn't recognize his own voice. It was deep and hard.

"Brenna," the woman whispered. Loki frowned. She reminded him of someone. So, so familiar... And then he remembered he had taken her and her siblings from the farm the other night. He tilted his head on side. Why bringing her here? What had stopped him from killing her? He was sure he hadn't seen her until last night, yet she seemed so familiar.

Not her… She's not her… She's nothing… Nothing to you… She means nothing…

"Quiet," he murmured.

"Don't hurt me," Brenna whispered back. Loki stood up and she started.

"Are you cold?" he asked quietly. She gave him a small nod. He took off his long coat and walked over her. She cowered when he put the coat around her shoulders and appeared shocked by his gentle gesture.

"Can I see my brothers? And my sister?"

Loki was silent. What was it he found so well-known about her? Why couldn't he remember? And the voices… The voices wouldn't leave him alone…

Murderer... Monster...

"Please, don't cry," he said and touched her shoulder. Someone screamed in his head. He bend over with his eyes closed, feeling his head throbbing painfully. He took a step back from her and regained his composure, breathing deeply. She stopped crying and was giving him an incredulous look. Tears were glimmering on her cheeks. He couldn't bear to see them. It was like he had already seen them before.

Stop... she means nothing to you. Her father will come to look for her and you will send him for your brother...

Brother...

"Will you let me go?" Brenna asked in a weak voice. Loki nodded slowly, albeit he had no intention to do it.

"After my brother comes."

Yes, your brother… Your brother is the point. Let your brother come… Let him walk into the caves and he will never walk out again…

Yes, that was the only thing that mattered, Loki remembered suddenly. His brother. His brother must come to him so he could kill him.

"I need to speak to the king!"

A peasant in ragged clothes, exhausted and malnourished, was kneeling on the ground, shaking with fear and fatigue. Heimdall was watching him warily. It wouldn't be the first time someone would play tricks on them and it was too peaceful in Asgard now – since Thor had been the king – to risk an intruder. Heimdall knew many people had put their guard down after such a long time of peace. He knew the peace was actually making them more vulnerable.

"You came from Vanaheimr," Heimdall said. The peasant didn't dare to look at him, his eyes closed in fear, and he merely nodded.

"Are you a low Vanir?" Heimdall asked and the man nodded again.

"My name is Audun," he said. "I'm a farmer."

"A farmer…"

Heimdall walked over him.

"I will have to cuff your arms before I take you to the king," he said. Audun looked like passing out but he held his arms stretched as Heimdall put shackles on them.

"What is it you need the king's help with?" Heimdall asked then. Audun shivered as he spoke.

"He… he told me to find him. To find the king Thor. He told me to bring him with me…"

"Who?"

"We don't know his name. He's the shadow. He's the darkness. He's the frost that keeps coming every night, killing our cattle, stealing our children…"

Audun's voice died.

"And h-he… he came to my house and took my sons and daughters…"

Audun broke into a cry. Sobbing, he looked up.

"He told me to go to the king Thor. He told me he would give me my children back if I brought the king to him."

"Why?"

"He said… he said the king was his brother."

Thor couldn't believe what he was hearing. Vanaheimr had been safe for a long time. How come something like that could escape their sight? His sight? They kept all the realms safe. Could it be possible this man was lying? He certainly didn't look like it.

"Tell me all, man. You don't have to be afraid, nothing will hurt you here. But tell me all you know – from the beginning," Thor said, exchanging looks with Heimdall. What he saw in his eyes didn't add to his unease.

"Speak, please," he gestured calmly. The man who had been given food and water was now sitting in front of him, less shivery but still pale and scared.

"It's started before winter. Our winters were never so severe and they never last so long like this one. We've started seeing that… that cloud. A black shadow creeping on the sky above us and on the ground under our feet. Not only in my village but all around. When the cloud came our cattle would die or vanish from the barns. Our corn supplies would turn black… frozen. And then… people started disappearing. Our… our children… They wouldn't come back home…"

Audun paused, his eyes teary.

"He took my children too. He's taken them from our house. I was blinded by darkness and couldn't move. It felt like ice running in my veins…"

Audun's voice was almost inaudible then.

"And when the darkness lifted up, they were gone. I went to the mountains to search for them. There are caves going deep into the rocks and under the ground and the cloud always comes from that place. I kept looking for them days and nights… And then he came to me."

Thor straightened up.

"Who?"

"Him," Audun said. "But it's not a man. It's a shadow. A blue-eyed monster."

"Describe him."

"I couldn't see him for he was hidden in the darkness but I saw his eyes. Blue like ice. And he told me to bring you, the great king Thor, to him. If I ever wanted to see my children again."

Audun gave Thor a desperate look. Then he widened his eyes as he noticed the statue of white marble standing behind Thor.

"Who is she?" he asked in amazement. Thor didn't have to turn to know who he meant.

"Frigga," he said. "My mother."

"She... looks exactly like my Brenna."

Thor fell silent, looking at Heimdall. He didn't like where this was heading. He feared it, actually.

"We still have no proof it's him," Heimdall said. "It could be an impostor, it could be anyone and anything. Loki is dead."

Audun moved forward, holding something in his hand.

"He gave me this for you," he said. Heimdall wanted to stop him but Thor raised his arm, getting up and walking over the man. He took what he was giving him and as he looked down at it, he felt coldness spreading in his chest.

"That can't be…" he whispered, shaken by the memories brought back so suddenly.

He himself gave him this thing. It was a gift for Loki's birthday.

"Loki…"

More explaination as the story goes. I hope you liked. Please, drop a comment and tell me what you think!