Thor is 19 and Loki is 17
The fresh spring air was rejuvenating for the youngest prince. Especially after dealing with the taunts of Sif and the warriors three. The petals on his mother's crab apple tree fell to the ground with a rocking motion. He tended to come here after disputes or troubles with a new spell.
"Brother!" Thor's voice was boisterous causing the birds in the garden to fly away with their chirps following.
"What is it you seek, Thor?" His breath drew out with a sigh.
"Why did we leave our company?" Thor asked making the trickster roll his eyes.
"Are you more of an oaf than I thought?" His words held spite.
"Nay Brother, we just jest."
"Yes, that's all I am to you and your merry band, a jest." Loki stood from the stone bench and swiftly smoothed out his clothes. Without looking at Thor he walked off heading back to the palace. Without a doubt Thor would follow him and fault him. Just as he thought Thor rushed next to him following his fast pace.
"You always overreact our jests, but when you pull your tricks it is okay." Thor growled out.
"Please, even a jest holds truth." Loki scowled and walked faster with Thor matching.
"What offended you so?" Thor asked with annoyance displayed.
"How about the fact your friends called me a coward during the spar or-"
"That's because you used your tricks." Thor interjected.
"-the 'jests' of magic being a women's sport." Loki grinded his teeth.
"You must admit only women do magic, brother." Thor said.
"Oh, and only men do battle, brother.'
"Nay, Sif is a fine warrior." Thor loudly said causing Loki to wince at his loud voice. Sometimes he swore Thor was unaware how loud he could be.
"Then what difference does gender make?" He asked watching Thor fumble for words from the corner of his eye.
"It just is." Thor finally said. "Are you still joining us for the hunt?"
"We are done here, Thor." Loki said opening the palace doors. The halls were filled with servants doing chores and guards standing aware. His first thought was to go to his chambers, but the idea of the library seemed quite nice.
"Fine run off! We shall hunt without you!" Thor yelled from behind causing some to glance at the firstborn prince.
Walking the memorized halls with ease he made his way to the library. Asgard has one of the greatest collections of scrolls and books in the realms. That was one of the best things about the library, no matter how much he reads it will always be limitless. On every subject thought possible was written about none of the less.
"Did you hear of the creature in the forest?" He stopped behind a pillar to eavesdrop on the servants' conversation. Recognizing the maids as Grett and Narï, the biggest gossipers in the nine.
"Oh yes, I heard the creature engulfed a poor lost wanderer in mid-day." Grett replied while scrubbing the floors with the other.
"Has a name came forth?" Narï asked more focused on the conversation than the chore.
"Not that I am aware." She said and Loki narrowed his eyes. He hasn't heard of such a creature or the accusation they gave. Perhaps it is another false gossip conjured out of their minds to have others flocking at their feet for the gossip.
"Hunters are disappearing at a fast rate also." Grett said causing Loki to glance up at that. His thoughts went to Thor immediately. Even if these claims are false he would rather join his brother, if something happened without him there he would feel rather bad.
"Where did you hear that story?" Loki stepped from behind the pillar. They jumped in surprise and quickly began working harder on their chores.
"From Bradvi, my prince." Narï spoke with a stutter and her face flushed with embarrassment of being caught favoring gossip over chores.
Ah, Loki knew Bradvi well. He was a bard looking for any story he can get his grips on. Bradvi was nice, but rather narcissistic. The elf craved adventure and had to deal with the path of a bard rather than a warrior due to a severe injury to his leg from an attack. He never really cared for magic as much as he did for swords. And his leg always looked a bit odd and he carried himself with a limp.
Thor and his followers will begin their hunt in a couple hours being they are currently preparing their horses and gear. Knowing he has time Loki made his way to the tavern where he resides.
The walk through Asgard's inner city was nice. The only dislike was that some of them would stop what they were doing to greet him. The attention was annoying and he knew they only treated him so was because he's there prince. They hold their respect to Thor, not him.
The tavern was crowded for this time of the day and the smell of mead and mildew was strong. Finding Bradvi in the crowd though was easy being he was the only elf.
"Bradvi." He said sitting at the small round table across from the bard.
"My prince, what brings you here?" Bradvi asked smirking behind his glass of mead.
"I hear of this creature in the forest that I was unaware of. Sources say that you know of it." He smoothly said gazing at elf's bluish-green eyes looking for emotion.
"Ah yes, the creature in the forest. I've been calling the thing Daybreaker. I also took the notion to forbruker" Bradi rubbed his chin in thought.
"Why those names." Loki asked, watching his eyes light up.
"Daybreaker because it comes when the day breaks and Forbruker because it consumes." He said seriously.
"Consumes?" Loki felt his eyebrows raise.
"Aye, tis said the creature engulfs its prey." The elf nodded while sipping some more mead.
"Has anyone I can speak to see this creature?" Loki asked unsure if this beast exists as they claim. The elf placed his glass down and gave a wry smirk.
"Well, no." He said causing Loki to sigh at his pointless chase. What did he expect from gossip he heard from the maids. It goes to show that Bradvi seemed to be making tales of falsehood to spin songs about the beast for his own gain. Loki made his way to get up to go back to his original plan of the library.
"Wait." Bradvi said grabbing the prince's sleeve before he left. Thr elf looked startled by the fact that Loki tried to leave.
"This is no meager story, my prince." The elf looked to be telling the truth so Loki sat back down and waved his hand for him to continue.
"I was seeking a new adventure when a warrior came from the forest. His clothes were tattered and his breaths came in gasps." Bradvi was clutching the almost empty glass.
"Why didn't you speak of this sooner?" Loki asked, still wondering if this is a spiral of falsehood.
"The man was afraid and he was convinced he'd die soon from the creature. I thought him a drunkard being acting as such. I told him to stay put and I'll fetch a guard in the village. When I returned with the guard he wasn't there. The guard threatened me with a fine for falsehoods." Bradvi told the young prince and Loki could tell the bard was speaking the truth
"Who was this guard?" Loki asked wanting to have a word with him later. Although, Thor could manage an answer faster from him then Loki ever could. The mistrust in his name was stretched far and wide throughout the realm.
"I am unsure of his name."
"What did he look like?"
"He wore the lower ranking uniform and had fiery red hair. He was also blind in one eye." Bradvi informed and that was what Loki liked about the bard. Bards tend to pay attention to the finer details much better than others.
"Hm, I know who you speak." Loki said. He remembered the guard quite well in fact. Even if he was a lower ranker that tends to stray away from guarding the palace. His name was Bjorn. Like the rest Bjorn kissed Thor's boots and would mock Loki to others.
"The man what else did you notice of him?" The bard looked up with his eyes wide.
"As I said his clothes were in tatters, he dragged himself like a drunkard, his brown hair was disheveled, and his skin held more brown from the dirt then the moonlight pale it should have been." Bradvi responded and Loki pinched the bridge of his nose. That description helped none to find the identity, perhaps he could figure out who's labeled missing from last night and go from there.
"May I ask what part of the forest this was?"
"Twas the outer entrance near the pond." He swiftly told him.
"Thank you, Bradvi. Your help has been of the most gracious and important." Loki rose from the chair and placed the correct amount of currency to pay for the bard's drinks.
"My prince, I can surely pay. The direct help from the prince is more than one could ever ask. No offense, but most royalty tends to stick to the more prioritized problems of the city."
"The way to fight the bigger problems is to start with the small." Loki nodded and walked outside to the cool air. Thor and the idiots should be leaving in around an hour judging by the sun. First thing was to try and seek Bjorn. Unfortunately, Thor wasn't here to get the answers from the stubborn guard. Glancing around Loki found a guard and told him to fetch Bjorn for him.
"Yes, my prince." The guard bowed and was off. It wasn't long before Bjorn was in front of Loki with a grimace.
"Bjorn, tell me what transpired this past morning at the outskirts of the forest."
"What forest?" He gruffed out.
"Skumring forest near the pond." The guard furrowed his eyebrows and scoffed.
"I was not there in the morning." Loki clenched his hands into fists.
"Bjorn, I must know what happened to the villager." Loki growled.
"I know not of what you speak." He grounded out.
"Please set your indifferences aside and help the citizens of Asgard." Bjorn's face turned a bright red.
"Never doubt my loyalty to Asgard, my prince." He spat the last part out like poison.
"Very well." Loki walked off to find Thor to accompany him on his hunt. As he was walking he couldn't help but think of the guards reaction. Either Bradvi or Bjorn was lying to him which is odd because he felt that they both were speaking the truth. Something transpired at the brink of dawn yesterday. The oddest part was that only Bradvi knew of the tale.
Reaching the stables seemed a lot quicker being he was more focused on the creature or whatever it was than reaching his destination. Even ways away he could hear his brothers' boisterous laugh mixed with the warriors three. Volstagg's laugh was deep and rivaled Thor's in noise. Originally, he planned on staying in the library all day but figured this was more interesting and troubling.
They were already ahead on their journey heading to the forest. Grabbing his mare he quickly threw on her saddle and galloped to the five.
"Brother." Thor said blankly and he could practically feel all their discomfort of him being there.
"Do you mind my joining, brother mine?" Loki asked noticing the tension in Thor's shoulders. No doubt that he and his friends talked about his and Thor's argument today.
"Not at all." The thunderer said anyone could tell he did, you don't need a god of lies to tell that much.
"Why the change of heart?" Sif asked with displeasure. The air was chilly matching the tension. Hogun stayed silent, fandrel looked amused, volstagg was anxious, Thor was peeved, and Sif glared.
"I felt the need of exploration and the outdoors as something long overdue." Loki said smoothly making his lie seem truthful to even his ears. She rolled her eyes and commanded her stallion to a trot to get away from him. Everything about him was different in the group. He had a jet black mare while they owned stallions the color of snow, he didn't look like a warrior while they did, and finally he didn't share the close bond as the others.
"If you wish I can venture alone." Loki snapped about to steer away from their path when Thor turned his horse around to look at Loki.
"Tis unwise to venture alone." Thor said his blue eyes held a brief apology which confused him. Thor never apologized to Loki no matter how in the wrong Thor knew he was.
"I can take care of myself." He responded but his emerald eyes held the same unspoken apology, even if he had nothing to apologize about.
"Nay brother, you shall not go off alone." Thor said and rode beside his little brother.
Loki was going to ask Thor if he knew of the tales of the creature in the forest they were heading towards but thought against it. Any word of a creature will send the group into a mad hunting frenzy of who will slay the beast first, besides, he was unsure if there was such a creature.
Skumring forest was seen in the distance and held a fog. The fog wasn't too heavy but it wasn't necessarily light either.
"Remember we don't return until we have a trophy kill." Thor said causing the magic user to scoff as the statement. That was one of the expectations they always held. Those ignoramuses would rather lose a limb then return with an easy kill.
"First we'll head Northwest in search." Thor commanded taking the lead in the group. Entering the forest made breathing a little bit harder as the air felt heavy to Loki. He put it down to the fog and humidity.
The ride through Skumring was indeed peaceful until they started laughing and joking around. Don't they know they are scaring all the prey?
"Hush you fools! You are scaring the prey." Sif snapped causing them to quiet down.
"Aye, you are right Sif." Thor laughed. He could feel his horse's hooves sinking in the wet mud with each step.
"We dismount here." Thor said and they all followed and tied their steeds to the trunks of the oak trees.
Their journey Northwest wasn't long until they heard rustling in the trees.
"Do you hear that?" Fandrel whispered.
"Of course not you dolt! Now hush!" Sif snapped. The bushes a couple ways away began to shake more and suddenly a giant elk jumped out of them. They quickly surrounded it before it could escape. They held their sharpened weapons out in front of them. Holding his daggers Loki followed their plan to surround the enormous elk. He had to admit this was one of the biggest elks he has ever seen. Its antlers towered high and his body was broad with muscle.
They charged the beast but it was also quicker than other elks and rushed past him and Fandrel.
"Quick throw your dagger!" Thor commanded and Loki did so but missed as the silver and green dagger embedded itself in the tree nearly missing it. The elk quickened and soon left their vision.
"You let it get away!" Sif yelled stabbing her sword in the soft mud.
"Well aiming does tend to be harder in the fog at a distance!" Loki snapped back. Seriously, he didn't see them rushing to stop the elk at least he tried.
"There is no fog here. Has your silver tongue of lies turned to lead?" She looked furious and the others were annoyed with him.
"Have you no eyes? The fog is everywhere!" Loki's arm jolted with a wave to gesture to it. Thor's eyes lit with rage and turned to him.
"Cease these lies at once, Brother! This is a poor way of a scapegoat Loki when even we can see there is no fog that you speak." Loki sputtered with disbelief. How can they not see the fog along with the heavy air it brought even if they can't be that ignorant to their surroundings.
"There is a fog you can not see?" Loki asked the warriors three.
"Nay." Volstagg said and fandral agreed with him.
"Hogun?" Loki asked with desperation hoping the closest sensible one will agree with him. Hogun was quiet as all eyes turned to him before he gave a slow shake of his head.
"I see no fog." His gruff voice said causing the others to glare at Loki.
"Blaming things for your failures will never improve yourself, Loki." Thor thundered and Loki snatched the dagger out of the tree with rage.
"Surely you are all jesting me are you not?" He growled causing them all to glare at him.
"Stop trying to lie with something we can see." Sif repeated following Thor as they stamped their feet in the ground towards where the elk vanished.
"Just drop it." Loki scowled and followed from the back. As they went deeper the fog grew a bit more heavy along with the air. The trees cracked and whistled in the cool breeze causing some dead branches and sticks to fall.
Loki gave a small cough from the air and looked at the others. They seemed perfectly fine like their really wasn't a fog or harsh breaths. They reached a river bend with another elk drinking from the clear water. Unfortunately, this elk was nowhere as large as the other being the size of a normal elk.
"We rush it in three, two, one." Thor counted down and they jumped from the bushes before the elk could react. Thor stabbed his greatsword in the creature's back causing it to cry out. Loki couldn't help but to feel sad for the poor animal. They laughed in its misery and Thor removed his sword only to finish with a stab to the head. It fell completely lifeless and its eyes were open with a glassy unseeing sheen signalling its death. Normally Thor would bring mjölnir, but wanted it to feel like old times with the challenge.
"Good kill, Thor!" Volstagg laughed as Thor picked it up from its hind legs as they walked back to their horses. The sound of the poor creature dragging through the mud was an awful sound to Loki. Normally he doesn't feel this much guilt for the death of an animal, but he couldn't help himself to feel bad for it.
As they were walking the area felt unfamiliar to Loki. The trees were a mix of birch and oak unlike before being only oak and some pine trees.
"We are heading in the wrong direction." He declared feeling the watchful eyes of the others.
"No, this is where we came from." Sif said raising her eyebrows.
"Aye brother, she is correct there is the tree you impaled." Thor pointed to a birch tree and this time Loki's eyebrows raised.
"That is a birch tree, Thor. I stabbed an oak." He said as Thor stopped dragging the elk and turned to him.
"Are you feeling well, Brother?" Thor asked and Loki could see the concern held in his blue eyes. Sif and the warriors also looked a bit confused. Volstagg matched Thor with his concern.
"Right there is where your dagger impaled." Volstagg pointed to the smooth bark of the birch.
"I am done with your mockery." Loki huffed and refused to speak to them for the rest of the way. They are trying to get back at him by making him out to be a fool. He is not going to fall into their trap. If he went along with it they would all start laughing at how much of an idiot he is for falling for it.
They finally reached their horses still tied to the trees. Thor tied the elk to the horse's saddle to let it drag behind him. As they were heading back Loki heard rustling to his right. The others didn't seem to hear it being they were talking so loud. Making a decision Loki turned to go that way when Sif stopped him.
"Where are you heading, Loki?" She asked him to narrow her stormy blue eyes at him.
"Do you not hear that?" He asked looking still towards the shrubs.
"No, I do not." Her gaze was sharp enough to cut steel. Before he could reply, he heard the sound of a man yelling in pain. Without thought Loki turned to a gallop to the sound thinking it was the man from Bradvi's story. He could hear the shouts of the others. Sif was the only one who followed him although as he could hear her voice close.
"Loki!" She yelled urging her horse to go faster to catch up with the prince.
The youngest saw a body of water on the outside of the forest exactly where the tale took place. He jumped off his horse and gazed at the murky water. He couldn't help but to walk closer to the water. Before he could get any closer he felt dizzy and his world soon turned black.
The first sense that came to him was the familiar smell of Eir's infirmary. Urging his eyes to open was harder than he thought. When they were open he could see two figures beside him. Thor and his mother. They unnoticed his awake and continued to talk in hushed whispers.
"I'm telling you mother he was acting odd." Thor said and Loki could hear the concern in his older brother's voice.
"Eir just said he overexerted himself that would explain what you told us." Frigga said and then she turned and noticed his awake.
"I suppose." Thor sighed.
"Loki, do you feel well?" Frigga asked, sweeping away his hair.
"Yes." He said and gave a small cough in the dry air. Thor seemed to notice so he gave him a glass of water that Loki graciously accepted.
"Thank you, Thor." He said and Frigga took the glass and put it on the nightstand next to the medical bed.
"What happened?" Loki asked, rubbing his head. Thor and Frigga exchanged a look before he started.
"Do you not remember,, Brother."
"Of course I do! I meant how did I faint?"
"Eir believes you overexerted yourself. Have you been practicing spells late at night again, Loki?" Frigga gently asked.
"Yes, I have." He didn't know why he lied to her he never lied to his mother.
"We talked about this, my son." Frigga sighed and Thor looked a bit annoyed for a reason he didn't know.
"What kind of magic are you using that drains you so?" She asked him
"Just working on more realistic illusions, mother." He hoped she didn't see through the lie, if she did she didn't say so. His lie can be brought that quickly if she seeked out Heimdall to tell the truth.
"Why do you practise that if it is more harm than good?" Thor asked and Frigga chastised him.
"It is not unlike you with your battles, Thor. In order to get better you need to work yourself harder." Loki explained.
"I don't even work myself that much, Brother. When Sif returned with you I feared you dead for a second."
"Was my magic drained?" Loki asked Frigga. Her blue eyes held a mother's concern.
"Yes, Eir has never seen magic so deplenished it's a wonder how you even went with Thor and the warriors."
"Even illusions wouldn't drain you that much." She said and Loki knew now that she saw through the lie.
"Well, I have also taken a keen interest in teleportation of objects." He quickly replied. Frigga drew out a breath and rose from her seat.
"I shall go inform your father that you have awakened." She left the two brothers in the room.
The eldest turned to the youngest and gave him a look of disappointment that he has seen all his life.
"Hasn't mother told you of the risks of magic drain?" Thor asked him and he scoffed.
"Like you know anything of magic."
"I know that what you did could have led to your demise." Thor snapped.
"Oh please, like I would be so careless." Thor's look of disappointment turned to a mixture of rage and fear.
"You just almost did!" Thor yelled before continuing in a more gentle tone. "Loki, your eyes when Sif returned were dull when you came to. It was as if the soft glow to them vanished. Eir said that was because the magic within you was nearly gone." He has never seen his older brother be so serious.
"I came to?" Loki wondered out loud.
"Aye, and you kept trying to escape from my grip. I believe you were starting to see things that weren't there." Thor told him with a frown.
"Hm, well I am better now and my apologies for worrying you so and causing trouble." He tried to get out of the bed only for his brother to push him back down.
"You are not leaving, Eir wants to watch you for today." His voice was firm.
"Yes, I do, my prince." Eir stood next to Thor and it made him wonder how she got there without him noticing. Eir like always held a tone to her voice that is one not to go against.
"You must not overuse your magic, it can cause a great deal of harm to you just as it just did. Honestly, I am surprised you even awoken this soon." She didn't yell but her voice was louder than usual.
"As I said to Thor, my sincerest apologies for it getting this out of hand." He said trying to calm her anger. Eir knew what he was doing being she dealt with him his whole life whenever he came to the healers.
"The only one to apologize to is yourself." Eir said and started checking his magic levels.
"It seems it is back up, but still be careful because they are not all the way replenished."
"Yes, I will. I thank you for your aid, Eir." He smiled.
"I will always aid you, my prince." She smiled back.