„Father, be lenient! He has to be punished but not like this!"
Thor? Loki woke up and quickly scanned his cell. He could have sworn that he had heard his brothers' voice. But he was still alone in this cold and empty room. The voice must have been in his dream then. He couldn't recall the dream though. Everything had been blurry and diffuse.
"Loki!" This time he was sure that the voice was real, although now it belonged to Odin. The Allfather appeared in front of the glass wall and with him were his wife, Thor and two guards.
Loki struggled to his feet and stumbled to the transparent wall."Father…" he whispered, but as before, no one heard his words.
"I, Odin, will no longer address you as my son. You have revealed your true nature and shown that you are not fit to be a prince of Asgard. From this day on, you will be nothing more than just another stolen relic to me. You will be locked up here until I might have use of you. Your magic has been taken. You will be able to use it again when I am in need of your services. But until this day comes, you will be kept in this cell."
"No, no, no…" Loki muttered. His knees failed to keep him upright and he sank to the floor. "Please, don't do this to me…"he whispered in despair.
His mother and Thor stayed silent but looked at him with both determination and disappointment. They had accepted Odin's verdict and it seemed they even approved of it.
This was the cruelest thing that could have happened to him. Since the day Odin had told him about his true origin, he had always felt like he was just one of the many relics the Allfather had stolen and stored here in the weapons vault. To become officially one of them was too much to bear.
This was a nightmare!
The people who had once claimed to love him had now decided that he was no longer fit to be in their midst and with his magic gone an attempt to escape was out of the question.
Without any other explanation his former family turned and walked away. Long after they had left the vault, Loki was still sitting on the cold floor, trying to understand what just had happened.
He felt now even more exhausted. Somehow his eyelids seemed to weigh a ton and so he decided to lie down for a moment. Just for a short while. He was asleep in an instant.
„Father, be lenient! He has to be punished but not like this!" Thor was pleading.
Odin was sitting on his throne, looking down on his true heir and shaking his head slowly but firmly. "My decision is final. Loki has to be given a taste of his own medicine. Maybe he'll learn that using magic in order to play around with other peoples' minds and fears is altogether wrong and twisted. I only wish for him to redeem himself."
"But this is not the right way!" Thor cries out. "Can't you see? He will only be angry and vengeful after your treatment. You will turn him into an even bigger monster. Stop it, father! I beg you! There are other ways!"
"Enough already! It is the only way. You need to accept it."
Thor swallowed his anger and left the throne room in a hurry. If he stayed any longer, he would do something unwise. He was sure of it. He knew that Loki had done horrible things. Thor had seen most of it with his own eyes and fought in the battle in order to protect Midgard from the mischievous plan his brother had come up with.
But this….this punishment was too much. It wasn't a punishment it was torture.
Thor went straight back to Lokis chamber. He had to check on him again, he had to make sure that Odin's magician did not cross a line.
"How is he?" Thor growled as he entered the room.
"Oh, he's okay. I just sent him the second dream, as the Allfather had told me to do." The magician was a boney and repelling little man. He sat cross-legged in front of Loki, who had been chained to his own bed.
"No, no, no,…" Loki muttered. "Please, don't do this to me…"
Loki was pale and drenched in sweat. Thor did not know what kind of dreams the magician had to place in his brothers head, but he saw, that they had to be horrible.
This was madness! He had to bring an end to it!