There were rare times that he was allowed in father's study. Less so he was in there by permission when he wanted to take a peek at the books that contained magic and spells beyond his skill level. But Loki was also curious about the few items that were stored in there as well. He had heard from others in the court that these items were said to contain magic.
Magic different from their own.
He had to wonder what was so special about these items that his father had to keep them away from prying eyes. To only contain, but never use for himself. It was such a waste in Loki's mind. Who wouldn't want to use a different kind of magic, to see what it could be capable of?
It was a lecture he had heard from both his mother and father multiple times. That using magic or items containing magic of unknown origin wasn't the smartest route. That he should heed their warnings about such things because there was more to the world than satisfying your own curiosity, Loki. Even with their voices in the back of his mind, repeatedly saying this, Loki still wanted to see and test those items himself.
He hovered at the end of the hallway, using a spell to make anyone who walked by to not notice him. Peeking around the corner, he made sure to watch for the door opening. If he could sneak in after his father there was less of a chance being caught. And more time to study over a few of the magical objects.
An hour or so went by, with the light shifting from late morning to early afternoon. Still, Loki stayed at that end of the hallway, knowing his father would have to leave the room at some point. It was until one of the servants knocked on the door and entered the room that Loki knew that time was soon. He pulled himself back into the hallway, not wanting to get caught so soon.
Noting that his father left the study from the sound of a door closing and the footsteps, Loki quietly made his way towards the door of the study. He watched the last of his father's robes disappeared around the corner and he couldn't help the grin that spread across his face. For all that his father was known for, it was fun to trick him in little ways like this. Opening the door, he quickly and quietly shut it once he was in.
There were papers scattered on the big desk along with the books that his father was using for reference. Whatever business he had to attend to was of no interest to Loki. Not even for the fact he would be doing it one day as the future king of Asgard. First, he went to one of the objects that had been boxed and then put in plain view on the bookshelf behind the desk. As best as he could, Loki quietly climbed the shelf and grabbed at the box.
With an arm wrapped around it, Loki fell backwards into his father's chair that he had positioned to catch his fall. It was soft with the cushions being made with the softest feathers and soft fabric that could withstand the weight of a child like himself falling on them. It was also big enough that it could fit his father, older brother and himself comfortably. Quickly he opened the box, getting through the locks that his father put on there much quicker than he had expected.
When opening the box, all he saw was a watch with lettering that he had never seen before. Even when he focused on it, the Allspeak couldn't translate it into any words that made sense. After his head started to ache, Loki put all the locks back in place and the box back where he found it. When landing back on the chair, he let his eyes wander for another magical item to look over.
His eyes landed on something in the corner, covered in a white sheet. Loki went over to it and pulled off the sheet to see a mirror. It was an odd design. Much simpler than what he was used to. But it still had the elegance to it that captured his attention quick.
The gold around the glass still shined like it was new and had designs carved into it that Loki wished he had the time to study. There was gold used for the feet and it was thinner than what he expected to hold such a large mirror. But the only thing that was strange was that it only reflected his image back to him.
Loki knew that his father wasn't vain enough for a mirror in his study. It had a sheet covering it, after all, it would be too much work take on and off if he wanted to take a glance at his own face. Besides he and his mother shared a mirror in the bathroom that they had. There was no use for another mirror.
Unless it was magical after all?
Then he had to find a way to make it do what it was created for. Loki went back to the shelf looking for the books that he would need to search through. Quickly he skimmed through chapters that had any mention of magical mirrors or how to reveal something hidden.
An hour passed by before Loki was able to find anything. It was just a small paragraph, something that would be easily missed if he hadn't been searching for it. He read it and then went searching for the things he needed. Everything he needed was in the study, no worries of being caught by the servants if he left the room now.
It didn't take long before he was back in front of the mirror once more. With the items at hand, Loki went to work on the spell. Time flew by him, the light getting closer to late afternoon now, but all he could focus on was getting the spell right.
When everything was done, he looked up at the mirror, still seeing his own reflection. With determination, Loki stood up and put the powder he had created all around the edge of the mirror where the glass met gold. Then started to say the words that would give him what was really there instead of the illusion that was covering it up.
He could feel the thrum of his magic through his body as he continued to speak the words. Where the glass met gold it started to glow white. Lightly at first, but as he continued to speak the spell it started to grow brighter and brighter until Loki had to force his eyes to close if wanted to see anything after this.
It wasn't until he spoke the last words that he noticed that the mirror wasn't glowing anymore. Instead of seeing his own reflection, Loki saw a room. It was different from anything that he saw in the palace. Where there was gold etched into every little crevice, crook and cranny. Markings and the royal symbol carved in every possible place a person could look. Not a lot of other colours besides gold and what was approved to be hung up for curtains and other tapestries.
But most importantly, was the size of the whole palace. Not many knew of the secret passageways and hiding spots that could get you away from prying eyes in a moments notice. Not like Loki did.
The room before him had none of those things in it. The floor and walls were a light grey colour, almost looking blue in the low light of the early morning. The stone floor had patterns that were circular, almost looking like they were carved. A closer look, however, showed that it was most likely created with magic or in some other way to get it to look like that. There were also stone bookshelves, carved with designs almost similar to the mirror that sat before Loki. It was filled with books and he felt the excitement of maybe getting the chance to see what was in the pages.
Between the shelves was a fireplace with a low burning fire going in it. Above that was some plants hanging from the tall ceilings, blooming with beauty he had only seen in the palace gardens. There even looked to be vines growing from the top of the room, going downwards. (It would eventually reach the fireplace. At least that's what Loki assumed.)
On the opposite side of the room was a desk made from a stone that was lighter than the floors, walls and shelves. Like the carved bookshelves, it was a light and delicate design and had a symbol on the front of it that Loki had never seen before. Behind the desk was a chair that looked to be carved from stone as well and had a deep red cushion to sit on. It was the only pop of colour that didn't come from stone or plant life. Behind that was another bookshelf that was also filled with books. He saw more hanging plants and vines growing down from the ceiling.
The light from the window that looked like a half moon was getting brighter, making the floor almost look like glass instead of stone. Loki was enchanted and wished he could see more of the building. See if he could find any worthy hiding places or secret passageways to use at his whim. (For a quick escape or planned out prank.)
In fact, he was so enchanted by the beauty of a single room that he failed to notice the doors in the room opening and closing. It wasn't until he saw the black cloak heading towards the fireplace that Loki finally saw that there was someone else there. The black cloak had the fading of stars at the bottom that slowly started to turn a dark blue. Along with that were a few symbols consisting of a line and circle at the end on each side of the cloak and on the back of the hood.
The hood was also a bit odd looking with how the shape of it gathered on the person's head. It was boxier rather than circular.
Loki watched as the person held up a hand to make the fire grow stronger. He only caught a glimpse of what it looked like as it quickly went back to the cloak when they were done. But it wasn't enough to identify what race they were. Loki continued to watch as they reached for books on the shelves, flipping through the pages slowly, hoping to get more information about them.
It wasn't until he heard the sound of footsteps from one of the servants coming down the hallway that he realized that the time had passed him. By now the afternoon was turning into early evening, which meant that supper was soon. It would be hours before he would be able to sneak back in.
Quickly he covered the mirror back up with the sheet. Then just as swift, he cleared up the mess from the spell. Then with speed that Thor would be jealous of, Loki dove into his father's comfy chair and picked up one of the books that his father had been looking at. Within a few seconds, the door opened to see an older woman with a stern look on her face.
"Prince Loki, you know better than to be in here without your father."
"I was only reading." He said, holding up the thick book. "I am learning magic if I want to be a mage."
"Get out of here before your father catches you. He won't be as kind as me." She said, turning away. It was likely that she wanted to keep him out of trouble. But there had been times in the past when both servants and children of court members went out of their way to make him appear bad in front of his father to gain the Allfather's favour.
He sighed and followed after her. He didn't notice the flash under the sheet as he left the room.
Hours after supper had finished. Loki crept from his room into the hallway, looking every which way before starting his journey through the palace. While most of the staff were asleep, there were guards on night duty stationed at each hallway that the Allfather wanted to be protected and the servants who cleaned and prepared anything that would be needed the next day. He had to be careful when walking since they could hear his footsteps if he made the wrong move.
However with the spell that made him invisible to them when he passed by made the journey a little easier. He even pulled a few faces at the guards, struggling to keep himself from snickering at their ignorance of what he was doing at them.
Soon Loki reached the door to the study. There were no flickering lights of candles coming from beneath the door which meant he was safe to enter. Quietly he went in, shutting the door with as little sound as he could. Reaching near the door, Loki felt for a candle to light in the dark room. When he found one, he used his magic to light it. Now being able to see, he went straight for the mirror.
He lite a few more candles that were near the mirror, giving him enough light to see into it. Then he pulled the sheet off.
There wasn't much to see since the fire in the fireplace was burning low once more. But Loki could see the person standing by the fireplace still reading through a book. Something must have caught their attention by the mirror that was letting him see into their room because they turned their body towards him.
He still couldn't see their face all that clearly with the low light, but he could see that their skin was darker than his. What surprised him was that they started to walk towards him. Loki scrambled backwards, trying to get up while also trying to avoid knocking the candles over. Even if he was curious about the person in the mirror, he also knew his father would be angry with Loki if he interacted with them without his permission.
Just as he was about to grab at the sheet, he saw that the person had stopped in front of the mirror. The lighting on the other side of the mirror had gotten brighter and Loki could see part of their face. The skin was blue, almost close to indigo with white spots on their face that looked similar to freckles that Loki had seen from his brother and his friends.
His heart picked up with the remembrance about the stories his mother and the servants that told him about the Jötnar before putting him to bed. How they would take any child who misbehaved or disobeyed their parents. How one touch of their icy clue skin would burn you, their deep red eyes only showing hatred and malicious intent to use your corpse to survive their realm of eternal winter.
It wasn't until Loki saw them take off their hood to show golden eyes surrounded by a dark blue of the sclera that he relaxed a little. The long white hair also gave away that they weren't Jötnar as they had dark hair. But it also meant that he had no knowledge of what race they could be.
"Who are you?" Loki asked. He cautiously went closer to the mirror, wanting to get more details about their physical appearance. When they didn't answer him he spoke up once more. "Again, who are you? What are you doing with this mirror?"
They stared at him for a few moments before moving a hand (covered in so many white freckles that Loki doubt anyone could count) towards their head and motioned towards their pointy ears. When they repeated the motion twice more, Loki suddenly got what they meant.
"You can't hear me?"
They nodded yes and Loki sighed. "What do you suppose we do to fix this? Won't do us any good if we can't understand each other."
He watched as they shuffled away from the mirror for a moment and then brought back some items to put in front of them. While looking random to anyone else in the palace, Loki knew that whatever the person was trying to do would involved magic.
They held up each item for a few moments before moving onto the next one. When the last one was placed back down in front of the mirror there was a pointed look sent his way. Loki took a few moments of his own to figure out what they were trying to say.
When it hit him, he nearly fell backwards in exclamation. "You want me to get those items?
Another nod yes and Loki took off to find the books he would need. While the items such as the cup and water would be easy to get, other items like the bright blue stone would need some research to find. With a few books in hand, he brought them back to the mirror, the candles burning lower than before.
Just before diving into the many texts he would need to check, Loki looked up to see the mysterious stranger give him a smile. While he knew he shouldn't trust someone that might be trapped in a mirror, Loki had to give a smile back. Then he dove into the books to find what he needed.
A was the morning after that Loki approached Thor at breakfast. The older boy was eating with such concentration that he hadn't seen in anything else, but weapons practice, languages and the occasional hunt they were allowed to do by themselves. Loki was sure his father wished that Thor would apply that concentration a bit more to the studies about being a fair ruler.
Thor didn't notice him until he tapped the blond's shoulder. With a grunt and annoyed look thrown his way, Loki knew he would have to be swift and quick with his words if he wanted to get his brother do what he wanted. "What do want Loki?"
"I only came to ask if you wanted to go hunting north for a bit? Heard a rumour from one of the court members that there was a beast they don't quite know what to with and I figured it would be a good excuse to get out of our studies for a while." Loki saw Thor give him a look of curiosity as he thought over what he would get out of going along with Loki's suggestion.
He didn't twitch or say anything more to make it easier for his older brother to make that decision.
"Why would you want to go? Last time we went on one, you complained the whole time."
"It was hot, Thor. You know as well as I do that I don't fare well in warmer places."
"So you're saying you won't complain this time around?"
"If that gets you to come with me, then yes I won't complain this time. Go pack after breakfast, it'll do us good to be there by the afternoon." When Thor gave him a suspicious look, he quickly added on, "The locals would sing praises about you if you quickly save them from the terror that the beast is causing them."
That seemed to satisfy his older brother as he smiled brightly. "When you put it that way, it seems I have every reason to go."
It wasn't long before he met Thor at the stables where they would quickly grab horses for both of them to ride. Loki used the spell to make them appear invisible as they rode away from the palace. It was several hours of making his brother stay on the path towards the troubled village, to keep him from not going off to fight another beast on the way and trying to focus on their surroundings so no one could sneak up on them.
By the time the village came into view, Loki was more than willing to fall into a comfortable bed and sleep away the rest of the day. Thor, however, wanted to talk to the locals to find the beast and slay it. And have songs and ballads made in his honour for doing such a thing.
With a roll of his eyes, Loki tugged on his brother's cape to get him to stop for a moment. Thor stopped and gave him an annoyed look. "As much as I would love to hear songs and ballads of you slaying the beast, getting some rest would do the both of us some good. I can't do any of my magic if I can't focus on the battle."
"Then I can go after the beast myself. I don't need magic to aid me when taking it down." Thor said boastfully, looking back towards the village with new excitement. Loki rolled his eyes again.
"You need my magic if you want to survive getting back home. Mother would be most disappointed if one of us never came back." He said, trying to bring some reason to his older brother. "Would you want to disappoint her?"
"I suppose not." Thor mumbled. He looked down at the path with a face that was trying to think of something to say back. "But how about we just rest for a few hours before going out? I can't wait until the morning to go after the beast."
"I'll agree to that. Now let's get a bed."
With that, they went towards the village. As they entered and got off their horses, they went by homes and shops. Loki noticed an odd thing. The grown-ups were more likely to smile and wave hello to Thor as they worked while giving him a more restrained welcome. A few of the children were running around, not really looking in their direction as they passed by.
They continued to walk the narrow streets, still receiving sparse attention from both the grown-ups and the children. Not until they got into the middle of the village where most of the shops were that it went from a quick hello to stares and whispers to each other.
Only the bravest of the children came up to them. Well more like Thor than the both of them really.
Loki sighed at the sight of his brother preening at the wonder and awe of the younger children, then walked towards one of the adults to ask for directions. He saw the way most of them stared him as he walked on by, but he chose to ignore it. As he reached a shop filled with weapons and magical items that would make any warrior or magician proud to own, that Loki finally saw people who were friendlier to greet.
"Welcome. What do you fancy to buy today, wandering magician?" An older woman asked him as she walked over to him. Her black hair was starting to grey, but it made her look more sophisticated rather than take away her beauty. But Loki could also see the intelligence behind her golden eyes, probably hoping to gain money out of him.
"Not a lot, I'm afraid. Just directions towards the beast that guards this." With that, he took out a drawing that he did the night before from memory of the mysterious rock. On it, it had the details copied from a book of what he should look for when searching for the rock.
She looked over the drawing, her golden eyes flickering over the details. Another customer came in, to speak to the blacksmith that was in the back and still the older woman had not answered him yet. But Loki knew that he could wait for as long as he needed.
Finally, as another customer entered the shop, she handed back the paper. She held a finger to her lips before turning away to tend to the next customer. Loki looked over the paper as he exited the shop to see her directions and a warning to take someone else with him to distract the beast had been written down.
He was impressed. The fact that she could use her magic so discreetly and without much aid showed that he'd come to the right place. (Almost on level with the Allfather if he were to compare their skills in magic.)
It wasn't until Thor pulled at his cap, nearly toppling him to the ground that Loki even noticed that time had passed by.
"Thought you needed rest brother?" Thor asked when Loki looked over at him.
"I am tired, I didn't lie about that. But my magic is perfectly fine if that's what you're referring too."
"So you lied to me earlier?" The pout and the almost whining tone on his brother made Loki want to stab him. It was an undignified thing to do, especially in front of the common folk and was a probable enough reason to stab Thor if questioned by others.
"I didn't lie Thor. I just said that I was tired and needed to sleep for a bit. Only you took it to mean that my magic was low."
"You only said you needed your magic to fight, not that you were tired!"
"If you want to waste the time I need to rest rather than go fight the beast, then go ahead. I don't have the need like you do to fight it tonight anyway."
There was an angry huff from Thor as he stomped away from Loki. Quickly he ran after his brother, knowing he would be left behind if he didn't keep up. By the time Thor stopped fully by a tavern, Loki was out of breath. Still, he forced himself to appear like he wasn't all that affected as they entered. Glancing around, he knew he would have to make sure he kept his money close. The few men that were here at this time of day was eyeing both of them, thinking of ways they could swindle money out of young boys who looked well off.
Loki followed behind Thor once more as they went towards the bar. He used the invisibility spell to make the small bag of money he had, disappear from everyone's eye, but his. Quietly he listened as Thor talked to the owner of the tavern, bargaining a price for the room to use for a few hours.
One of the unsavoury men he saw earlier tried to discreetly walk by them and take whatever money they had. Loki internally smirked when he came up empty-handed and angrily walked away. Word would spread that they weren't easy to rob and bring new challengers that Loki would gladly go against.
When the price was settled, he went to go nap for a few hours. He gave Thor a few coins to spend on drinks and gave the warning to wake him soon. Then he closed the door as Thor quickly ran back to the main part of the tavern that interested him. With a playful roll of his eyes at his brother's predictable behaviour, he made his way towards the bed.
Loki woke up to Thor shaking him, excitedly talking about what they would be fighting against soon. He continued to talk as Loki took check of the supplies that would be needed to aid in the fight as well as anything that would help when tending to injuries afterwards. He could still hear his brother's voice as he dressed.
He gave Thor the money to pay the owner and then waited outside.
Not a lot had changed about the village's appearance within the last few hours, other than the light. But he now had time to take it in rather than quickly following behind his brother. The houses weren't as big or grand as the ones that were near the palace, but he saw that they were enough for those who lived here.
The door to the tavern opened and Loki saw Thor's flowing cape and golden blond hair step out of the building. There was a hearty laugh as the door closed, smile as bright as it could possibly be and then the seriousness he had come to expect of his older brother when it came to their shared adventures when the door was firmly shut. There was still a hint of excitement for slaying a beast and being a hero to the village, but Loki knew that Thor would take this shared adventure a lot more seriously than most would expect of a prince.
"Where do we start?" Thor asked, coming closer to him.
Loki took out the piece of paper, looking over the instructions that the older woman gave him. He felt his older brother crowding against him to read the handwriting and it made him sigh annoyingly with a touch of rolled eyes. "We start by leaving the village and then following the river for a few miles before having to go into the woods. When we get to that point in our adventure, I'll tell you more."
A huff came from Thor as he answered, "Who put you charge of navigating?"
"Me, when I asked you to come with me this morning." Then with a pointed look, Loki continued. "Now let's get going."
The two of them quietly left the village and followed along with the older woman's directions. It went smoothly, even with Thor trying to amuse himself with the wildlife that they happen to spot. The only true incident as they followed the river was Thor accidentally slipping into the rushing water, exclaiming that he had spotted something that needed his attention.
Loki didn't panic, even with his brother being swept away by the currents. With practiced ease and a calm face, he managed to drag the blond out of the river. Using magic to drag his brother out of the river and then quickly dry his clothing made Loki a bit amused when Thor looked up at him.
"Have we learned our lesson?"
"Yes." Came the reluctant answer.
Thor stood up and marched forward, clearly not wanting to dwell on what happened. Loki followed, not saying a word. Some things weren't meant to be used as teasing, even if his brother would disagree.
When they reached the bend in the river that was in the directions, Loki gave the next set of directions and off they went into the woods that sat on either side of the river. The sun was reaching that point in the day that was transitioning from late afternoon to early evening. Which meant that at some point that one of them would have to light up a torch if they wanted to reach their destination.
Looking along the ground, Loki spotted a stick that would do the job. Quietly as they passed by it, he picked it up and made adjustments to it that would help sustain a fire. When the sun wasn't lighting up their way to the cave anymore, Loki quickly set fire to the torch and then used a spell to keep it burning for as long as he needed on this journey.
Thor only gave the thing a glance when he noticed the lighting had changed before continuing on. Loki with annoyed huff followed behind his brother.
The trees started to thin out as they got closer and closer to the cave. Loki noticed the piles of bones from multiple hunts that were littered about. He couldn't imagine that the hunters of the village would come out this far and this close to the beast. He also couldn't imagine that the hunters would leave bones that would be used for a multitude of other things.
The piles and piles of bones started to grow the closer they got the cave. Thor, of course, took it in stride, liking the fact that there was a sign that he was getting closer to a battle against the beast. Loki, however, felt a sense of caution that he always got when going on these adventures. When they started to trench on the beast's territory, got close enough to see their home and smell whatever was laying around.
That's when Loki starts to feel that sense of caution and dread in his stomach that they might not make it if either one of them messes up.
When the smell of the beast and whatever carcass that the beast managed to catch was overpowering, Loki stopped Thor. "Do we have some sort of idea of what we'll be doing when attacking or are we just going in there blind?"
Loki hoped that his brother wouldn't dare suggest Get Help for their attack.
"I attack and you aid me where needed." Thor said, more gleeful than Loki liked in these adventures. Still, he nodded in agreement, knowing this type of planning would work better in the end for him.
With that Thor rushed towards the mouth of the cave, finally using Mjolnir to get him there quicker. Loki followed along at a much slower pace with no visible weapon in his hands. He watched as his brother went right into the cave and started to shout and wave Mjolnir around to get the beast to come out. If it weren't such an effective tactic, Loki would have teased his brother until their death about how foolish he looked when doing so.
As he approached the cave, he heard the first set of growls coming from the beast, warning away those who dared to come so close. When he was a few feet away from the entrance, it suddenly emerged.
Thor, more gleeful than what was called for, went chasing after the beast. The body was long, longer than both of them combined and probably longer than his entire family combined in height. It had a mixture of fur and scales covering its body as it rushed past Loki. When it came to a stop in the clearing its body circled it several times and it's head held high above the two of them. (Loki's best guess at what kind of creature this beast was, it looked like a dragon who had gotten too friendly with an animal with fur.)
There was a standstill at this point. Thor and the beast stared each other, daring the other to make the first move. For once his brother was waiting for the beast to make the first move.
Then with a move that was too quick for Loki to follow too closely, it went straight for Thor. His brother smiled as he finally moved to fight the beast. For a few moments, Loki watched as the two battled each other, delivering blows to each other that were meant to harm. Then quietly he pulled out another stick that he had hidden in his cloak.
There was no need to use any of his magic on it as it wouldn't need to last any longer than needed. From the corner of his eye, Loki watched the battle. He didn't need an accidental injury that could have been easily prevented (and he didn't want to hear Thor's whining on the way back to the village.) When a few sparks lite up the stick that's when he shifted to his other part of the plan.
Using a bit of magic, he murmured a spell that he had used many times before in battles like these and pranks that he played on others. As easy as taking a breath in, Loki felt his double leave his body. There wasn't even an exchanging of words between the two of them, the double heading into battle to aid his brother.
Quickly he slipped away, heading into the cave itself.
As the light pooled in the dark space, Loki took in the sight of it. The beast clearly didn't have a mate of any sort as much of it was covered in fur and scales that fell of its body along with any remains of carcasses that it dragged in here. Which meant the smell was almost unbearable.
As best as he could, Loki looked over parts of the cave where the stone could be. The book while giving a definite that it would in a cave with this beast, it gave a vague description of where he would find it. There was a sharp bit of pain every now and then, his double being a dealt a hit of some sort as the battle continued.
The deeper he went into the cave, the worse the smell became. He had to hold up a hand with part of the cloak over it to keep himself from gagging over the horrible and overpowering smell. He didn't need to give away to the beast that he was in its lair. (Nor give away to Thor that he wasn't battling with him.)
As he moved the light over an area, something glimmered in the corner of his eye. Taking a moment to turn his body towards the glimmer, Loki had to smile to himself. Finally, he had found what he was looking for.
Even with the disgusting smell coming back as he reached for the stone, he couldn't stop the feeling of victory wash over him. The stone was a small blue thing with a light shine to it that depending on where the light was positioned would make it appear a darker blue or a light purple. It was also surrounded by bones of varying sizes that were encrusted with a substance that he would rather not think about.
As he dug into the surrounding mysterious substance and bones, he felt one large, sharp pain on his torso, right below his ribcage. He felt a bit of his magic disappear and he knew that his double had been taken out by the beast. With a sigh of annoyance, Loki dug even more to retrieve the stone.
When he felt that he could take the stone out, he wrapped his hand around it. Then he pulled up.
The mysterious substance clung around the majority of the stone, but mostly it remained unharmed. Then he placed it into a bag that he had brought along with him. Loki then used a bit of his magic to make it disappear, so that Thor wouldn't ask him what it was. It would be dangerous for his brother to be curious about such a thing as it meant that their father would find out. It would mean putting a stop to what Loki was trying to do.
It meant being unable to visit father's study even with him watching Loki.
When it was secured at his waist, he exited the cave. He came to the scene of his brother being held down by one of the beast's limbs and looking smug enough to watch its prey squirm without going for the killing blow. As he rolled his eyes, Loki reached for his daggers with a flair that his brother would say isn't something a warrior should do.
He threw one of the daggers towards the beast limb that was holding his brother down and the other towards its face. There was deep growl when the one dagger dug itself into the limb and then annoyance when it knocked the other away.
Thor rolled away and got back up on his feet. Mjolnir returning to his hand and once more set off to defeat the beast. With annoyance, Loki picked up the dagger that didn't embed itself into the beast and waited for the moment when he would need to throw it again.
There wasn't much to his role other than taking well-aimed hits towards the beast and making sure that Thor didn't injure or kill himself. Sometimes there were moments when the two of them needed to coordinate an attack and for a few moments, he felt important and dear enough to Thor to actually feel glad that they were doing this together.
All good things come to an end, he supposed, as Thor used a well aimed hit with Mjolnir at the beast's head. There was the odd movement of its neck snapping and then the thundering sound if it falling towards the ground. The ground shook for a few moments and then everything went back to normal.
Loki looked up to see his brother standing on the beast's body, looking beyond proud. Loki rolled his eyes at this, wondering where the blond got such confidence to act as he did it himself.
He helped with cutting off the head, of course. It didn't take much, it was a skill that they had plenty of practice doing since Thor loved to fight beasts of varying sizes. Loki wondered if he got a rush from nearly dying from each encounter or if it was because it was a challenge that only he felt he could do.
It would remain a mystery as he helped Thor drag the head back to the village. For reasons unknown to him, travelling back towards the village felt much quicker than travelling away from it for this adventure. When arriving, the children made a huge fuss over seeing the head and the grown-ups looked appreciative at it finally being dead.
Then the celebration started. Loki watched as the sky darken and the village being draped in shadows and flickering lights as fires were started and maintained. He stayed around long enough for a few people to ask for his name and story of how it happened to create a song about him. Then as quietly as he could, he snuck off back to their room. He knew when was wanted and when he wasn't.
A few days after returning and being scolded by his father over disappearing as they did, Loki made his towards the study. He knew that his father wouldn't be there for the day since he went off to negotiate or something similar to that with one of the realms. In fact, he wouldn't be there for a week at least from the way he had phrased it at breakfast today.
Still, he quietly slipped into the room knowing that one of the servants might be nearby to catch him. The mirror was in the same corner, still being covered up with the white sheet. Loki grabbed all the ingredients that were required for the spell before setting it up in front of the mirror.
Then he pulled the sheet off.
The same image of the room greeted him, the early morning light catching on everything that made him hold his breath for a few long moments. When coming back to his senses, he noticed the mysterious person laying across the light and delicate stone desk. The rise and fall of their back told him that they were in fact asleep.
He watched them sleep, not hurried by time or by his father sneaking up on him. Loki knew that for whatever reason they were in the mirror, it was extreme enough for his father to personally guard over the being's prison. So it would stand to reason that it would be good to gather up some knowledge about them.
Then in silence, his mysterious person started to wake up. He noticed that the person had horns upon the top of their head (which he had failed to notice last time.). The indigo hue of their skin caught in the ever-growing morning light as they stretched and looked over his way. His heart stopped for a moment or two, still expecting to see the glowing red eyes that he was told about from his mother about the Jötnar.
When they came closer to the mirror, he noticed the dark blue sclera and the golden pupils that he relaxed. Loki also noticed that the mysterious person's hair was a bit messy from sleeping, a few strands tangled into each other. He winced in quiet solidarity of what would probably be a painful time to get the knots out. (He spent too much time in the mirror some mornings trying to get the knots out while cursing himself from the night before for not brushing at all.)
Then they were right in front of him, somehow assembling all that was needed for the spell without Loki noticing. They looked down at him expectantly as they raised the goblet in the air.
Loki followed along with the silent instructions, doing his best to follow how the person in front of was doing it. The first thing to do was to stitch a rune into the fabric he had gotten when visiting with his mother a day earlier. While most expected that the young princes weren't expected to sew, his mother and father insisted on it. 'Servants will not always be with you on the battlefield or any of the adventures that you will go on. What will happen to your tattered clothes if you do not mend them?'
It wasn't an unfamiliar task and didn't take long for him to finish up. As looked at the rune, he wondered where he had seen it before. He doubts that his father or any of the tutors would have taught him that, so it must be part of the books that he often snuck during the night. When he held it up for the person to look over, Loki felt extreme pride at seeing them approve of it.
They then moved their hands to recreate the rune in the air in front of them. It glowed purple for a few seconds before fading away. But he saw both pieces of clothing glow a light golden colour after that happened.
Then the both of them moved onto cracking the stone in two and crushing the crystallized part of it into dust. Loki watched as they poured the power into the goblet and how a thin bit of blue mist rose from it. Once more he followed, pouring the powder into the goblet as well.
He watched as the mysterious person drank the goblet. Loki didn't even give it a second thought as he drank most of the liquid from his goblet as well.
Then they held up a knife and held it near their hand. He saw the surprised look on their face when he brought out one of his daggers with the usual flair he loved using and pressed it into his hand (but didn't press hard enough to draw blood. He still needed to know what they were going to do with their blood.)
They quickly got over their surprise and press their blade into his hand. Dark drops of blood felt into their goblet and Loki did the same. Quickly, he used a spell to close the wound. He watched as the thin blue mist turned into light purple colour. Then the colour of the liquid start to swirl between the light purple and red colour of his blood.
He looked back up towards the mysterious stranger to see them open up their mouth for something to crawl out of it. While there were many different methods for spells to be completed, this way was stranger than ones Loki read from the books, both forbidden and approved.
He watched as it crawled onto the stranger's hand and then into the goblet. There was a faint red glow and then he saw his goblet of swirling liquid disappeared to have the thing appear at the bottom of it. It looked similar to the bugs he and Thor used to catch when they were younger and were only permitted to stay in the palace's gardens.
Without hesitation, he lifted his hand for it to crawl upon. It went on its merry way on his body until it reached his the shell of his ear.
Then he heard a deep and smooth voice speak into his ear.
"Speak."
Loki almost fell over backwards from how the voice didn't match up with the image of the stranger in front of him. It sounded too deep for the body that they had. He expected a bit of a higher voice if he was to be completely honest.
"Who are you?" Loki demanded. Then to add after a moment's thought, "What realm are you from?"
"My name would mean nothing to you, human. As for what realm I'm from, I have no clue what you're referring to." The mysterious stranger said, their voice still something that was throwing him through a loop.
"I would still like to have a name to call you when talking to you. And I'm not a Midgardian, you oaf. I'm Asgardian." The biting tone of his voice made it well clear that he wasn't going to be lead around by the stranger. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.
"A mistake on my part for misidentifying what you are." There was a smile that looked close enough to a smirk if one wasn't looking too closely. Almost like they were amused. "It would be in your best favour, child, that you don't use insults from this point on."
With a roll of his eyes, he said back "It's obvious that I'm not human. No human has enough magic to go through with this. Now give me your name."
An odd look crossed the stranger's face. Loki waited impatiently as they looked down at the table in front of them and then back up. "It is Aaravos. What is your name, child?"
"I am Prince Loki Odinson of Asgard. Where do you hail from, Aaravos?"
"I hail from a land called Xadia. However, I've never heard of Asgard. Is it land across the ocean?"
"No, Asgard has no other land surrounding it other than itself," Loki said. He felt a bit confused, not quite sure what Aaravos was talking about, "The rest of the kingdom comes from the other realms that were taken under my father's rule, long before I was born. I've never heard of Xadia in any of my studies nor from any books that I've read through."
"Curious," Aaravos said softly, "it appears that the mirror has been given to someone who would watch over me more carefully than they could."
"Not careful enough if I can get past them and speak to you."
There was a playful smirk on Aaravos's face as he stared down at Loki. His golden eyes held knowledge that Loki knew he wouldn't be able to get. At least not unless he became more skilled in magic and his fighting. (Loki had seen his mother pry information out of a prisoner with only the touch of fingertips when spying on her once. It looked harmless, even gentle to those who were only looking at it. but he knew that taking information as she did hurt so much, brought so much pain from a person's life.)
"Nothing can keep a person captured forever Loki. Especially those who are clever enough."
"And have you escaped Aaravos?" Loki knew it was a stupid thing to ask, but his mouth moved before he could stop himself.
"I was close once. But the person meant to free me was captured because of his own mistakes." Aaravos said, his eyes looking up. There were a few moments where they were glazed over as if he was suddenly locked into that memory without much of a way out. "He was a foolish attempt to get back to a life outside of the mirror."
"Then why attempt to get out if he was a risk? There must have been someone else who has less of a chance of being caught."
A sigh. "Being trapped in here doesn't give one a way to stimulate the mind like it should or offer ways of escaping, child. Sometimes you must take the best thing that is offered and try to make it work."
Loki huffed in annoyance, not understanding why Aaravos couldn't wait for a better way to escape. But he didn't voice this opinion knowing it would only cause an argument that would never end. "He doesn't sound like the smartest person to try and ally yourself with anyway if he got captured so easily."
"He had his strengths Loki," Aaravos said with a chiding tone, moving a hand up towards the glass of the mirror. Loki noticed for the first time that he had four fingers instead of five, "however there were weaknesses of his that I should have accounted for when talking to him. A lesson for the next time."
As he was about to answer back, Loki heard a thudding sound outside the study. Accompanying it was the sound of giggling and the poor attempts from a small group trying to keep each other quiet. He rolled his eyes at Thor's friends and used the invisibility spell on himself. Wherever they went, a few servants were bound to follow behind to make sure the palace was in order for when the Allfather returned back from his trip
Loki looked over at the mirror to see the curious face of Aaravos peering through. Quickly he put the sheet back over the mirror and then took a few steps away. The echoing clatter of the group passed by the door. Then came the softer sounds of the servants checking everything over.
One of them opened the door to check that nothing big was out of place. She furrowed her brow as she walked over to the mirror. Loki tensed for a few moments, hoping that she won't pull the sheet off.
She smoothed part of the sheet and then walked out of the room. Loki stood still, waiting for the sound of her and the other servants' footsteps to follow after Thor and his group of friends. It was a painful few minutes and he could feel the strain of his magic trying to keep up the spell he had cast after what everything that happened with Aaravos.
When the last of the footsteps didn't sound for a while, he went over to the mirror to pull off the sheet. He saw that Aaravos had pulled the chair from the stone desk over and was reading a book in front of it with a look of concentration. "Aaravos?" He asked tentatively.
"Loki?" Aaravos asked in return as he looked up. He peered once more through the mirror, his eyes searching around the room. "Where are you?"
"Oh, I'm sorry." He replied, making himself visible.
"Where did you learn such a spell?"
"My mother taught it to me when I was younger and started to learn magic. I fear she doesn't know that I use it for instances like that among other things that I know she suspects me of, but doesn't have a definitive proof for."
Slowly a grin spread over Aaravos's face. "I see. You like playing tricks, don't you?"
"Since you won't be able to tell anyone, yes, I do." Loki admitted, feeling a bit of pride swell up.
"Harmless or with a cruel edge to make the person learn their lesson?"
"Usually harmless. But when I happen to be in the right mood they can be played as something for them to learn from."
"A young trickster," Aaravos said, his voice holding amusement in its tone. "And it would appear that you've yet learned all that you would need to be a great one."
Loki tilted his head at that. "My title as a prince isn't the only thing that was bestowed on me at birth. I am the God of Mischief as well."
He watched as Aaravos's eyes grew wide for a few moments. Then he smoothed his expression into a calm exterior when he noticed that was Loki looking at him. "How about I propose an offer to you?"
"What would I get in return?" Loki backed up a step or two from the mirror.
"I would offer knowledge in magic that your realm does not have and teach you how to use it."
"Anything more than that?"
Aaravos thought for a moment. "I can also offer aid for a future cause you might have as Asgard's king."
"What would I have to do for you to earn your side of the offer?" Loki asked, still watching Aaravos. He knew that getting either of those things wouldn't come with a low cost, but he would be willing to do a lot to get a leg up on Thor.
"Do something that the last person wasn't able to do for me. Help me escape from this mirror."
It was Loki's turn to widen his eyes. He saw the way Aaravos smiled like he knew that he had him cornered. Loki turned over the possibilities that agreeing with the offer could bring him. Turned over the possibilities that would come from disagreeing.
He turned away the mirror and went to sit at his father's desk. This required time and he didn't need Aaravos trying to sway his decision. The pile of books that were on the desk proved to be a good way to block his view of the mirror.
The afternoon light from the sun started to shift towards the early evening when he came to a decision. Looking over the books, Loki saw that Aaravos was still sitting in front of the mirror, reading a book. Quietly he walked over the mirror. Then cleared his throat to catch Aaavos's attention.
Aaravos only startled a little, but gain back his composure quickly. "Have you made a decision, Loki?"
"Yes," He answered, "I want to help you get out of the mirror."
"Then let's start by doing this." Aaravos moved the book up so that he could read it. Loki moved closer to the glass to see the writing that was small and almost unreadable by whoever wrote it.
When he read through the section, Loki nodded in agreement for what needed to done. He followed Aaravos's instructions again, this time with comments that helped guide him on what to do better. As everything for the spell came together, Loki took small peeks at how Aaravos worked on the other side of the mirror, wondering what race he was. Not Jötnar and not Asgardian either. Definitely not one of the Midgardians from what his father told him. Was too small to be one of the dwarfs.
Could he be one of the many races of elves? It was a possibility since even with the known Nine Realms there were many races that were still not known to him. There's only so much that people can document when travelling around.
Still, that didn't feel right either in Loki's mind. It was like Aaravos was a result of one of the races of elves getting together with a Jötunn. But then again, he mentioned that he never heard of Asgard which all the realms knew about.
Who was Aaravos and why must he be trapped in a mirror?
As Loki lifted the dagger to his hand again, he watched Aaravos. For anything that would give him the signal to just suddenly turn his back on this. Something wasn't sitting right in his mind about this, but he couldn't put a reason to why. There always needed to be a reason why.
Aaravos smiled brightly as he cut his hand once more. The dull colour of the blue blood dripped onto the cloth with another rune sewn onto it. Loki followed as well and watched his blood dripped down. He couldn't look up as Aaravos recreated the rune in the air, the light from it somehow making its way through the mirror. All he could do was watch his cloth.
To keep himself from backing out something that might possibly go wrong.
He could feel his magic reacting to the spell. It seemed to move inside him like a sea at the beginnings of a storm, lapping at the shore with the warning of something to come. Minutes passed him by before he looked back up at the mirror. Aaravos watched him with curiosity and gave Loki a reassuring smile that didn't dispel the uneasy feeling in his mind.
When rolling up his sleeve, Loki saw the beginnings of dark blue crawling up his skin. The only thing that flashed through his mind was 'A Jötunn after all.'
He began to scream, unsure of what he should do in this situation. Somehow Aaravos had touched him and had caused his skin to start to turn that colour. He remembered his father's words that if any of the Jötnar touched their skin that it would blacken and no amount of magic would be able to save it.
From what little he could concentrate on besides screaming, he saw the way Aaravos looked startled. He could see the way his mouth moved, but no words could be heard. Maybe the bug fell from his ear, maybe Loki was screaming so loud that nothing could penetrate the sound.
Vaguely he could hear the footsteps of the servants rushing into the room. There was also the feeling of his mother's touch that he could never mistake for another. Looking into her eyes, Loki saw the concern and worry mixed in with the determination that only she could have in tough situations.
With a gentle touch of her fingers, she pressed them to his forehead. He knew what she was going to do and he welcomed it. Whatever would save his arm from being taken by a Jötunn's touch.
He felt her magic move through his body, touching his magic for a few moments before pulling back. He must have stopped screaming at this point as he felt himself whimper at the lost contact that his mother's magic had created.
"It'll be fine, my son." He heard her say. Her touch grounding him enough to stop him from giving another round of screaming.
"Loki? Loki!" Came Aaravos's voice through the haze in his mind. He only looked over where the Jötunn, looking more worried than he had any right to be.
"What has happened?" Came the demanding tone. Aaravos's golden eyes contradicted this with the worry that was in them. "What caused such a reaction?"
"You caused this Aaravos. You've melded in something that you had no right to do or know about." His mother said, following Loki's line of vision. He could see the way her body was tensed, as if ready to break the glass of the mirror to fight against the Jötunn to keep him safe.
With a movement of her hand and a few words, the white sheet returned over the mirror. Then she plucked the bug that had clung to the shell of his ear and handed it to one of the servants. Her words were muddled as Loki felt his mind and body suddenly feel tired. Much more tired than he's ever felt in his life.
"Sleep, my son." And that's what he did.
I had a lot of fun writing it. Especially Loki as a kid, who I've placed around eleven in human years in this. He's kinda bratty, kinda sneaky because who else would he be at that age? But I mostly had a lot of fun writing Loki like this because I haven't gotten a chance to write Kid Loki yet, despite loving that version of him in the comics and wanting to explore what Loki as a kid would be like in MCU.
But the other fun part of writing this was the mini-adventure Loki took with Thor to gain an ingredient to perform the spell that Aaravos did with Viren in TDP. (It also stemmed a bit from a post on Tumblr just question where the hell Viren got that rock to do the spell lol.)
Also, Aaravos just trying to talk to Kid Loki was a blast to do since Loki is kinda like a kitten trying to appear as threatening during that whole thing lol.
It did kinda pain me to write the last bit where Loki just absolutely freaked out at his skin changing from his Aesir skin to his Jotun. He did grow up hearing stories about the Frost Giants and still being around eleven makes it easier for him to be scared of the monsters that Odin and Frigga told him about. Poor kid just doesn't understand what's happening to him :(
Please tell me if I need to add any tags because I will. Hard to trap what I want to tag when uploading it.
Anyway, I hope this chapter was fun to read! :D
