Chapter Four: Deception

Orla woke up feeling sick to her stomach. Her mouth and head felt like cotton, and the smell in the air was nauseating. Reaching for her backpack, she managed a few shaky sips of water.

"What the hell did Loki do to me?" she muttered miserably. Speaking of Loki, where the heck is he? Orla thought, sitting up. All around her was grey sky and marshes and swamps, and the ground was completely flat. She pulled out a comb and brushed her hair, waiting for Loki to return. An hour later, he still had not came back. Irritated, she pulled her shoulder length hair into a ponytail and started to search for him.

The land was so flat and empty she could see that the land stretched on for miles. The humid, moist, unpleasant feeling in the air made Orla feel incredibly ill. She grimaced at the feel of murky water starting to seep into her tennis shoes.

"Loki! Where are you?" she called but heard nothing. Disgruntled, Orla walked on. Eventually, she saw a large lake. The lake was not like the rest of her surroundings. The water was clear and smooth, the air smelled clean, and there was no breeze.

At the other side of the lake, she could see trees. Maybe Loki went there. Orla thought, as she searched for a way to cross. Out of the water emerged large, smooth, black stepping stones. Testing the stones, she put her foot on one and pressed. It did not budge, but a single ripple rang through the lake. Orla gazed at the lake. It looked like glass. She started walking across.

Halfway across, Orla started having second thoughts about crossing. She looked behind her to see the stones disappeared into the lake once she stepped off it. There was no turning back. The stones started to become wobbly and would sink slightly when she put her feet on it. The water started turning choppy, and Orla was starting to hear whispers.

A sickly warm breeze blew around her. It reeked of dried blood and salt. The water turned grey and continued to darken. Out of nowhere, the stones began to sink. Orla quickened her pace, but looked at the shore that had looked so close, but now looked so far away. Her ankles were covered in the dark, murky water. The whispers turned into words. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but they all sounded sad, terrified, or other unpleasant feelings. The water was up to her knees when she felt something brushing against her legs. Reaching down, she pulled it out of the water and then shrieked. A baby, pale, with dark circles under its eyes stared at her with empty, grey eyes. It was dead. Horrified, she dropped the baby and hastened on. She ran through the lake, the water became choppier and rough, the water darker and darker, and the words escalated to screams and shrieks.

"Why can't I see the shore?" Orla cried out in desperation. The water continued to rise, and a current formed. Orla looked down and somehow, was able to see what was in the black waters. Dead things swamped together. Dead people, monsters, fish, children, even insects. They started swimming toward her, just as the stepping stones disappeared. Orla felt herself go under. Rising her head out of the water she tried to swim to the shore. It was so close!

"Just a little more." Orla whispered. She could feel the dead wrap their arms, legs, hands, and claws against her legs. She couldn't kick them away, their grip was like iron. The shore appeared again, and she saw Loki.

"Loki, help me!" She cried out in terror. He looked at her as a twisted smile crossed his face.

"Since you're so clever to get yourself into this predicament, get yourself out." He said mockingly. She looked at him in horror. Here she was, about to be drowned in a swamp, and she was supposed to save herself.

"Stop this! Loki, please help!" She begged. He snorted.

"Why should I? Give me a reason." He taunted. She felt the water rise to her neck.

"Because if I die, you're trapped." He looked away as if pondering what she just said.

As she sunk, she raised her head and shrieked with all the energy she had.

"HELP!" her head disappeared into the water, all the screams and voices vanished, and the lake was as it once was. Only Orla's cry still echoed through the still air.

Orla felt trapped. There was so many things around her. Will I become part of this swamp? Orla thought hopelessly, as she sunk to the bottom of the lake. As her vision went dim, she could faintly see a bright blue light flash, and a pair of strong arms grabbed her and lifted her, and once again, she could breathe. Lying on the soppy ground, she coughed and retched all the water she had swallowed. Wiping her mouth with her soaked sleeve she looked up to see Loki looming over her, soaking wet, his arms folded on his chest.

"L-Loki, you-you-!" Orla sputtered.

"That was the most pathetic thing I have ever seen." He said sharply.

She slung off her denim jacket and started squeezing the water out of her socks.

"Tell me, did it ever cross your mind to not cross the most obvious trap in this entire planet?" Loki asked, still looking irritated at her.

"Well I didn't see you instantly come to my rescue, and I did not know it was a trap!" She argued.

"That is why it's called the River of Deception."

"That was a river?" Orla said in disbelief.

"Hence the word deception." Loki said dryly.

"Hey, it's not like I went and jumped into the river!" Orla said angrily.

"You might as well have, you useless wretch!" He snapped.

"First off, if anyone here is a wretch it's you! For the record, I can't stand you!" Orla fumed.

"Get into the line, you're not the only one." Loki said disparagingly.

"Out of idle curiosity, what are you looking for?" Orla asked casually.

"I really don't think that is any of your business." Loki said in a snotty tone.

Orla rolled her eyes. "Yeah, well, I'm coming with you so I'll find out one way or another."

"And what makes you think you're coming with me?"

"I'd rather not repeat that episode with the river."

Loki arched an eyebrow and silently considered what she said.

"You hold a point mortal. As much as I'd love to see your lifeless body, you still hold some use to myself." Loki jeered.

Orla glared at him. This guy was a real pain in the butt. If Michelle woke up, she would owe her BIG TIME.

"Hey, I have a question for you." Orla inquired.

"I have no time for your stupid questions."
"Boo hoo, I really want to know something!" Orla insisted.

Annoyed at her pleading he spun around to face her.

"What is this divine knowledge do you wish to possess?" He snapped.

"You have really bad blood pressure. I just want to confirm something. What does this…energy do?" She asked.

"You are a source of energy, which I shall use." He said, resuming his long stride.

"So…did I transport us here or what?" Orla said, finally putting pieces together.

"No, you have the energy I need, and I do the transporting." Loki corrected.

"So, what are you looking for?" Orla asked, trying to keep up with his long strides. Considering she was rather short and he was tall, it was hard to keep up with him.

"I am seeking a Flame of Passion."

"A Flame of…passion?"

"Yes. A Flame of Passion. If you happen to have one in that bloody thing you carry on your back, I'd love to have one." Loki said in an ornery tone.

"Haha, you are very, very hilarious." Orla said without a hint of humor in her voice.

"I try." After an hour of walking, the air grew dryer and hotter, and the forest came in sight.

"We're getting closer." Loki said, quickening his walking.

The forest was almost as lifeless as the marshes were. The trees were all a dull tan color, and the only life in the forest was the enormous black birds perched in the trees. Watching the birds leer down at the two, Orla chose to ignore the birds and hurried after Loki.

Shortly, they came across a cave. The cave was all black and inside it, orange and red jewels shined with a bewitching glow. Looking around her in awe, she silently followed Loki.

Something about the jewels made Orla want to hold one. They all looked so…beautiful and entrancing. They glowed and looked so beautiful and mysterious. She reached a hand out to just touch one, but Loki grabbed her wrist.

"Don't. Remember the lake." He said, releasing her. Orla then remembered how lovely and safe the lake looked but behind that, it was a graveyard. Orla shuddered at the recent memory, she was careful to not touch the enticing jewels.

As the cave got deeper, so did the heat. Sparks blew everywhere and the cave was nearly unbearable.

The cave's rock color changed from black to red, and the jewels turned black. At last, they reached the center of the cave. In the center, was a tiny flame. Even from several feet away, they could feel the intense heat.

As the two stared at the cave, Orla began to feel strange. She felt like her heart was burning. She looked over at Loki, and felt all of her negative feelings toward him grow. He was the one who brought her into this mess! He nearly abandoned her in that horrible water. He didn't even care what would happen to her.

If it wasn't for him, Orla wouldn't be here, she could have been on that date with David, and Michelle would be awake. She clenched her fist and glared at him. Loki looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Take a deep breath, you need to calm down." He said calmly.

At this, she felt even angrier.

"I am calm!" she said angrily.

"Yes, I can see the peace flowing through you!"

That just made it worse. Orla glared daggers at him.

"Loki…." She said slowly "Don't tell me what I can and can't do!" she shouted angrily. She didn't want to calm down. She just wanted to punch Loki again and again, and then throw him into the river.

"That flame is trying to get you to fight me. You don't like being controlled do you? Well, you are being controlled and manipulated as I speak." Orla took a shaky breath. As much as she didn't want to admit it, he was right, and she truly did need to take a deep breath.

"Ok…I'm ok now…" She breathed.

"Not that I really care for your wellbeing." Loki said, inching toward the flame. Orla could feel the heat grow in the cave. It was blistering heat from where Orla was standing, she could only imagine the heat up close.

"Loki, what are you doing?" she asked him nervously, trying to step forward. But the flames were too hot for her to take another step. Her clothes already wet from the lake, were now plastered to her skin, and she felt like she would collapse from the horrid heat.

Steam began rolling off Loki's clothes and his face was bathed in sweat. Still, he pushed forward. When he was a foot away from the flame, it grew a dark red and engulfed Loki. He instantly hunched over from the pain.

"Loki!" Orla called out and tried to run toward him.

"Stay back mortal…it's testing me…" Loki groaned. Orla could sense his pain and winced.

After a minute, Loki straightened up. A deep, loud, booming voice filled the cave.

"Loki of Asgard, you have proved yourself of the passion needed to wield me and my power." Loki then held out his scepter. The flame seemed to melt into the scepter, and the heat in the cave left, leaving the cave walls grey, and the jewels dulled. Loki glared at his scepter.

"I am not Loki of Asgard. I am merely Loki." He said coldly. With those words, he started walking out of the cave.

"Uh-what was that flame? Why aren't you dead? Why did that flame talk? What's Asgard?" Orla asked, trying to take in all of the events that had been happening lately.

"Stop asking such annoying questions mortal."

Orla felt her face heat. "Again with mortal! Can you please stop calling me that? I have a name, and my name is Orla!" she said angrily. Loki turned to face her. He just realized he never knew her name until now.

"You humans…so wrapped up in names. You should know when I'm addressing you, so there's no problem with you being called what you are. A pathetic mortal." He said, giving her a very sardonic smile.

Orla just looked at him. Then she walked up and punched him, energy pulsing through her hand.

"You are so rude! And you are arrogant! What do you think you are, some kind of god?" She demanded angrily. Loki rubbed his cheek. That had actually hurt. He gave her a patronizing smile.

"As a matter of fact, that is precisely what I am."

"Wow. I knew you were insane from the get go, but this is just….a whole new level of nuts." Orla rubbed her forehead. "Let's get one thing straight! There is only ONE God and it is not you, and if you ever mention being a 'god' around me, then I will judo-flip you into the ground. Got it?" Orla said saucily. Loki stared at her. This was definitely a first. Getting an electric punch and then lectured like a small child.

Loki stood back up and gave her a long stare.

"Do not question my decisions, and I will no longer call you mortal." Orla looked at him. Was he really trying to make such a stupid deal with her?

"You know what? I'm just saying this for future references. I am probably going to question you all the time, so just call me mortal!"

Loki sighed. There was no making stupid deals with this woman.

"I'm not overly fond of you." He said bluntly.

"Yeah, you're just a ray of sunshine yourself." Orla drawled. "Now, enough chat how do we get out of here?" Orla demanded.

In answer, Loki took hold of her wrists.

"Brace yourself." He said, gripping her wrists. She felt the same sensation she had at her apartment, and felt sick and dizzy again. Within seconds, she found herself in a green forest. Head pounding, she leaned against a tree.

"Yeah…ow." She muttered, rubbing her head.

"This is Myintor." Loki said, looking around.

After resting awhile, Orla went through her back pack. Her extra clothing were all wet, and luckily, all of her food supplies and water were water proof because of the plastic. She started searching for firewood.

"Now I'm glad that I went to that Girl Scouts camp." She said to herself, starting the fire. She lay her extra clothing in front of the fire. As it got darker, Orla started sneezing. She couldn't stay in these wet, muddy clothes forever. With that, she found a bar of soap and one of those sample bottles in her bag. She looked over at Loki who was sleeping with his back against a rock.

She grabbed her now dry clothes and snuck over to a nearby stream. After searching and testing the stream, she undressed and scrubbed all the mud out of her hair. She was disgusted out how many bugs had gotten in her hair. She nearly screamed when she fished a dead spider out of her hair. She flung it disgustedly out of the stream.

"He must've gotten in my hair during the lake. Ick." Finally feeling somewhat cleansed, she got dressed again and headed back to the campsite. Loki was still sleeping when she returned.

Orla breathed a sigh of relief. It would've been the end of him if he went looking for her.

"Where have you been mortal?"

Orla glared over at him.

"Taking a bath. And I am clean now." She stated, repacking her backpack. She tossed him a granola bar. "You probably haven't eaten anything in a while, so eat!" Orla commanded, as she bit into her own. Grudgingly, Loki bit into the bar. Making sure he was eating, Orla used her backpack as a pillow and went into a deep sleep.

When Orla woke up the next morning, Loki was gone. Orla rubbed her painfully stiff neck and yawned.

"He left me again." She croaked, sitting up. She pulled out some beef jerky and nibbled on it. She put her hair into a messy braid and waited patiently for Loki. There was no way she was going out there to look for him because of the previous "adventure" Orla had. After waiting for him for an hour, she decided it would be best to go back to sleep. She closed her eyes again, and got much-needed sleep.

Orla felt something wet splatter on her neck and cheek. Was it rain? Orla forced her eyes open. The ground wasn't wet, and she didn't smell rain. She actually smelled something that smelled pretty disgusting. She looked up to see a large eight foot green giant staring down at her, drool dripping from his open mouth. She screamed, grabbed her backpack and scrambled up a tree. The giant grunted and lifted up a large club

"Bne rhe jeken tolaken JaNketh?" The giant spat. Orla tilted her head to the side. She stared at him. What was he saying?

"Bne rhe jeken tolaken JaNketh?" It repeated again, this time more impatiently.

"Uh….no comprendo?" She offered. The giant gave an angry roar and smashed his club into the tree. The tree swayed and the trunk creaked. Orla climbed up even higher and looked for a new tree to climb up. Spotting a nearby branch, she swung onto a different tree.

The giant stomped around the forest, sniffing and roaring. It finally latched its orange-green eyes at Orla and bellowed in a language she didn't understand. Orla decided to test out her strength. She searched inside herself for power. Imagining a small blue light, she reached down and grabbed the light. She felt power rise around her. She looked at the giant and slowly raised her hands. Two things happened. As he smashed his club into the weak tree and it started falling toward the hard ground, Orla forced her power at the giant,tunning him.

Her feeling of victory soon turned to anguish. The tree was hurtling towards the ground. She braced herself for the fall. She yelped when she felt the rough branches scratch and rip at her. She soon found herself flat on her back staring up at the sky.

"Oww…" she moaned. "That is something I shall not be doing again."

Orla groused, putting her hands on her back. She was lucky she didn't get to badly injured. The giant was angrily stalking toward her. Thinking fast, she grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it into his eyes. He gave a roar of pain and swung his club wildly about. Orla looked wide eyed at the creature. It couldn't see, so perhaps she could escape. She hurried to her feet and started running. She heard the giant's large footsteps come closer and closer. Trying to catch her breath, she leaned against a large tree. She heard the giant approach and breathed as little as possible.

"How is it that I leave you for an hour or two then find you battling for your life?" said a near voice.

Orla jumped and then turned around to see Loki.

"I am not in a battle for my life and everything is absolutely fine!" Orla argued.

Loki looked dramatically at the fallen trees and then the angry giant. "Really? Everything certainly looks in order."

"Why you-" Orla growled but stopped when she heard the giant come closer. "So, what are you going to do?" Orla asked anxiously, twisting her shirt. Loki looked at her and snapped his fingers. She looked past the tree and gasped. There was her in front of the tree.

"What did you do?" She hissed. He put a finger to his lips and started creeping to another spot. Anxiously, she followed him.

Spotting the fake Orla he roared and swung his club down. As the club went straight through her, Loki shot him with his scepter. The giant turned to ice and Loki broke through the ice, shattering it. Orla looked curiously at Loki's scepter. His hands looked blue. Orla blinked a few times and looked back at his hands. They were normal now. Orla rubbed her head.

"Must've hit my head." She said.

"I really can't leave you, can I?" Loki sighed.

"Sorry." She said bitterly. "I did stay where you left me though, so it's not my fault!"

Loki shook his head.

"Fine then, mortal. Come on."

Orla walked by his side.

"So, have you found what you're looking for?" She asked, looking around.

"Something I am curious about." Was all he said.

"Thank you for that informative information, much appreciated!"

Orla rolled her eyes. From what she had been learning about this Loki person, was that he was conceited, insane, and was probably the most evasive person when it came to personal questions or motives.

Deciding not to push it, she looked around her. She saw a large snake and inhaled sharply. Whatever Loki was looking for, she hoped that he would find it soon.