So... Here I am... Not killed by angry readers, no abduction by aliens, no secret doors leading to Narnia in my room,... so basically I don't have any reason or excuse to justify my absence... Except school of course... I AM SO SORRY! There, I said it... I know it doesn't help, but I said it...
And you're not even reading this, are you?

Enough excuses, time to read! ENJOY!

WARNING! I use a story in this chapter, a story about creation... This is NOT based on the original Norse mythology (or any religion or mythology for that matter)! NOT AT ALL! Just to be clear...

Chapter 41

"Mummy?"

"Yes, sweetie?"

"Can I go ride a horse?"

Jane looked up from her breakfast and was greeted by two enormous puppy eyes staring at her from across the table. A smile appeared on her face.

"Why would you want to ride a horse?"

"Sif said she learned how to ride a horse when she was about my height… She wants to teach me! Please! Please! Please!"

Jane glanced along the table and found Lady Sif, surrounded by Arya and the Worriers Three sitting a bit further. Laughter and shouts filled the air while the female warrior interrupted Fandral's heroic version of what had happened in The Labyrinth of Vanaheim as it was called now. With a smile Jane turned back to her daughter.

"I don't know, Frigga… Sif already lived for about a hundred years or so when she was your height…"

A deep sigh sounded over the table and Frigga sank back in her seat, putting her elbows on the table so she could rest her head in her hands.

"But that's not fair, mummy!" the little girl complained. "When I'm a hundred years old all horses will just run away from my ugly oldness…"

Jane shook her head.

"Morning…" a low friendly voice sounded. Jane looked up and was caught in a soft kiss.

"Daddy! Don't be gross!" Frigga said in a loud whisper.

Thor laughed and sat down next to his wife while putting his two overflowing plates on the table. The God of Thunder noticed his wife's disapproving look and innocently pulled up his shoulders.

Jane sighed. "It's not because Vanaheim is supplying food again, you can just stuff yourself like crazy!"

Thor smiled sheepishly and didn't notice his daughter silently stealing some grapes from his plate.

"Someone has to eat on Loki's behalf!" Thor answered. Jane shook her head, while a sudden worried expression covered her face.

"That's exactly what Volstagg said half an hour ago!" she continued while gesturing to the warrior who was still working his way through a plate filled with fruit.

Thor picked a piece of bread from his own breakfast and took a big bite.

"Volstagg eats on everyone's behalf…" he answered with a grin, again not noticing how Frigga grabbed another hand of juicy grapes.

A short silence covered table.

"So…" Jane asked. "Still nothing?"

A deep frown appeared on Thor's forehead. He put his bread down and shook his head. Jane and Frigga sighed at the same moment.

"Oh well…" Thor tried cheering them up. "What do you do about it… it's Loki…"

The three of them fell in silence again until Jane remembered her earlier conversation with Frigga. She turned to her husband, who had started eating his way through a piece of toast covered with eggs.

"Your daughter wants to ride a horse! What do you think about that?" she said with a meaningful look.

With a mouthful of egg, Thor turned to his wife and afterwards faced his daughter who had put on her begging puppy eyes once more.

"Great!" he shouted, but after a quick glance on Jane's face he changed to: "I mean… really?"

Jane sighed and rubbed her forehead. " 'Really?' That's all you have to say?"

Thor watched his wife, not really knowing what to say next.

"Is… is riding a horse a … bad thing?" he finally asked. Jane's eyes almost popped out of her face.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

Thor quickly nodded. "Yes of course!" he shouted while turning back to Frigga who didn't really know what to think of this conversation. Thor forced an angry frown on his face. "Yes, Frigga, riding a horse is not a good idea because…"

Frigga's eyebrows slowly found their way up her forehead while her father hopelessly searched for words. Jane sighed.

"Because it is dangerous!" she finished throwing a look of disbelief towards her husband. Thor's mouth opened in understanding.

"Yes, because it's dangerous! Very dangerous!" he repeated until…

"Wait…" The God of Thunder added with a frown. "I ride a horse…"

"Well.. yes.. but…" Jane stuttered. "You.. you are… were…"

With another deep sigh she turned back to her daughter.

"Listen Frigga… Take your father, or take Sif for that matter… when they fall of a horse, they barely get hurt, but that doesn't count for us… for you…"

Thor, who had been listening to his wife's every word suddenly understood. He hadn't even thought about that… Frigga and Jane had been on Asgard for such a long time, it almost seemed they'd never lived somewhere else. He also looked up to his daughter.

"She has a point, darling…." he admitted. Slowly all excitement melted from the little girl's face.

"But…" she started, until she was interrupted by a sudden uproar. Everyone turned to the door, the source of the noise. Loki came rushing in like a lunatic, waving around the dusty, ancient scroll. He rushed over to the table displaying all the food, picked an apple, put his teeth in it, grabbed a piece of bread and sprinted towards the family of three watching him in utter surprise. With one jump he leaped past Frigga, on the table, crossed it while kicking all glasses and plates aside and jumped back of the table, right in between Thor and Jane before sitting down and taking a mighty bite out of his apple. The young king slapped the scroll on the table and rolled it open. Everyone in the room stared at their king for a moment, but since he was their king, no one dared to say anything and wisely decided to continue eating. Nevertheless, Loki didn't seem to notice any of that. He just kept unrolling the scroll until Frigga was forced to leave her spot. The inquisitive girl ducked under the table and crawled to the other side to join her parents.

"I did it! I did it!" Loki exclaimed in a hoarse but exciting tone. Jane and Thor shared a look.

"I did it!" the young king repeated. "I translated it all!"

Loki hit the table, making all the glasses rattle. He looked at Thor and Jane, beaming like an excited child waiting for a compliment.

Now that both parents got a better look on the young king they couldn't do anything but being shocked. Loki was paler than ever before and dark circles were visible under his now almost silver eyes. His raven hair was one big mess and even his clothes seemed a bit raggedy. In the meantime Frigga ducked from underneath the table and climbed in Loki's lap. The young king didn't seem to mind.

"Loki…" Thor started after sharing a worried look with his wife. "Don't tell me you spend the last three days in the library without sleeping or anything proper to eat.

Loki smiled an almost crazy smile and turned his attention back on the scroll.

"I translated it all!" he repeated, ignoring Thor's question. "And this…" he said while gesturing to the scroll. "is downright marvellous!"

"What's all this funny writing?" Frigga suddenly interrupted. Her beautiful young face was covered in a deep frown.

Loki looked at the little girl in his lap and threw his arms around her in a short, excited hug.

"This…" he started mysteriously. "is a spell…"

Frigga's eyes started sparkling for the third time that morning.

"What is it for?" she asked.

Loki licked his lips and took a deep breath. "This is not just any spell…" he started in a hoarse voice. "It's the oldest one possible! The oldest form of magic in the universe!"

Now also Jane's interest was awoken. She stretched her neck and took a better look at the ancient scroll on the table. Loki continued.

"When I said Heimdall was mentioned in this scroll, I didn't realise the importance of that…."

Thor frowned, but decided not to interrupt.

"As you know..." Loki continued while looking at his brother, "Heimdall was, according to the legend, one of the first to be created."

Thor nodded. "Yes, mother told us the stories…"

Loki smiled mysteriously and put his fingers on the scroll.

"We never knew much, did we? Just what mother told us… what any Asgardian knows!"

Thor slowly nodded. The young king laughed, a short crazy sound.

"This is all the rest! This fills up the dark spots, the gabs in history! This is history, Thor! The ultimate history! Our history, our existence all started... with this!"

"It doesn't look like history to me…" Frigga suddenly interrupted. "More like Chinese or something…"

Loki frowned shortly, wondering what Chinese was, but he was too excited to care.

Thor on the other hand had to agree with his daughter. Loki was speaking in riddles.

The God of Thunder shook his head in confusion. "I'm sorry, but I'm not following… How can this scroll be our history?"

Loki laughed again. "This scroll tells the story of The Beginning!"

"I thought you said it was a spell?" Jane interrupted, but after one angry look of the young king she shut up.

"A part of it, yes…" Loki said slightly annoyed before continuing his story.

"This scroll tells us how Heimdall was created, what the universe looked like before him…"

Now even Thor couldn't hide his curiosity. He bend a bid closer let his eyes scan the scroll on the table while Loki carried on.

"The scroll speaks of Them…" the young king said with a frown above his tired silver eyes. "Whoever wrote this doesn't really specify their race… were They mortal, immortal… were They like us… I don't know. It's just Them." Loki paused for a second and found the same confused expression on his listeners faces, but no one asked any questions.

Good…he thought. I'm way too tired for stupid people!

"So, according to the scroll, these 'lifeforms' designed the universe. The First Universe! And what's so interesting about that.." Loki suddenly shouted in excitement while searching the scroll with his finger until it stopped at a certain drawing of eight circles, all connected with thin lines.

"What's so mind blowing is… that the First Universe looked a lot more different than the one we know today!"

The young king looked up, his light eyes sparkling with so much excitement that his exhaustion almost disappeared.

Jane licked her lips and pointed at the circles. She was careful not to touch the paper. For some reason she had the feeling it wasn't supposed to be touched by a mortal. For the first time since her arrival on Asgard she felt extremely tiny and unimportant as if the scroll had some kind of superiority over the rest of the universe.

"Eight circles…" she said while searching eye contact with the young king. An action she immediately regretted because Loki's almost sliver gaze send shivers down her spine. "What do they mean? Do they represent the universe… the First one I mean…"

Loki laughed and nodded like a young child. Thor raised his eyebrows.

"That can't be right…" he noticed. All eyes turned on him. Thor waited a couple of seconds before answering, just to make sure he wasn't going to sound like a complete foul.

"I suppose those circled represent the worlds, the realms… Right?"

It stayed silent for a second. Jane raised her eyebrows, impressed that Thor had made that link even before she had. Of course he probably should have anyway… Otherwise that would have been a rather awkward moment for the Asgardian mind…

Nevertheless, Jane wasn't so sure… last time she checked there had been nine worlds. Also Frigga was lost in thoughts, counting the worlds Arya had told her about on her fingertips. Nine.. without fail. Everyone looked up at Loki, waiting for him to clear things up.

A big crazy grin appeared on the young kings face. "Apparently your stay with a scientist has activated the grey substance in your head… also known as your brain, brother…"

Thor sighed and rolled his eyes. Jane smiled shortly.

"Like I said.." Loki continued mysteriously. "The Universe looked quite different…"

The young king took another bite from his juicy apple and took a grape from Frigga which she had just stolen from her father's plate.

"The scroll says that They created the eight realms, only connected by the universe they existed in. Midgard, Jötunheim, Vanaheim, Svartalfheim, Ljossalfheim and so on, but no Asgard…"

Loki waited a couple of seconds. The disbelief on everyone's face was a perfect reflection of what he had thought when he'd finally managed to decipher the first parts of the scroll. The young king licked his lips and continued.

"Unfortunately, the realms couldn't coexist. The species developing on the worlds were different. Humans, Giants, Dwarfs, Elves… It even says here", Loki said while pointing at some meaningless writing, "that They saw this as a first mistake in their design."

Jane shook her head. "A mistake?" she asked. "But that's nature…"

Loki nodded. "And that's what went wrong… Nature… I think you can best see it as an error in a program… a bit like…" Loki bit his lip while he searched for a better example. "A bit like getting tired when you're working. When you're working, you're producing something, mostly something of value… but you get tired, so you have to rest. And in the time needed for resting, you can't produce your item of value…The need to rest is an error!"

"But that's…" Jane started, but Loki finished.

"Nature!" he said with a big smile. "In this case nature was the error. An extra product they didn't count on and it started doing its own thing. Think about it… if your strong enough to build the universe than a 'mistake', an 'unforeseen product' is on itself quite strong and unstoppable."

Jane slowly nodded. She had difficulty with accepting another creation theory… From her point of view everything was created by science… the Big Bang. Yet, maybe this 'legend' was just another way of seeing things. Maybe these life forms… these Creators were just a personification of The Big Bang. After all, she knew better than anyone else the universe was so much stranger and darker than humankind initially, already, thought.

"Anyway… nature started doing its own thing and created different species, in different times, with different capabilities. Now, what else is interesting is that magical capabilities weren't mentioned. For example: the scroll does not speak of 'The Frost Giants', but only of 'The Giants'. I thought this strange until I found something further down the scroll."

Loki unrolled and pouched the scroll over the table so he could get to the right part which was currently dangling just above his feet.

"So… the worlds were at chaos… the species knew of each other's existence and tried to conquer each other's worlds… Quite normal behaviour when you're a species in development… Now, it goes without saying that the species that developed fastest and was the strongest had more chances at surviving and winning. In the end it came down to the an enormous war between the Giants, The Elves, and a minority of the Dwarfs. Most human species had been exterminated or were still in the first stadia of evolution and barely a threat."

"But how did they travel between the realms?" Jane interrupted. "If Asgard didn't exist, there was no Bifröst either…"

Loki nodded. "Exactly my thoughts…" he said, but a deep frown covered his face. "It's never really mentioned how they travelled." the young king explained while letting his eyes float over the strange words and drawings.

"Of course, if we look at this…" he pointed at the drawing of the eight connected circles, "we see that the worlds were somehow connected. The only notion of connection on this scroll is the universe, but maybe the first species were also a part of the universe, maybe they could travel across it without problem, as if they were crossing a road."

A deep silence fell over the table, until a soft voice sounded through the air.

"Maybe they had space ships…" Frigga said, still staring at the scroll.

All eyes fixed on the girl.

"In fact…" Loki started after another long silence. "that's always a possibility…"

"The Dark Elves have space ships…" Thor joined in.

"And the humans are making their first…" Jane added. "Who says they didn't do that before?"

Thor and Jane shared a look before both fixing on the scroll again.

"Do they mention a duration somewhere? How long the eight realms existed without Asgard?"

Loki shook his head. "No, at least I haven't found any… but it's possible… I suppose Time was relative back then. Everything was new, only starting. I wouldn't be surprised if They could control Time…"

Thor softly whistled between his teeth.

"Anyway!" Jane suddenly shouted. "What happened after that war? I still don't see how Asgard fits into all this…"

Loki nodded. "Right… Now They, these creators saw that their 'project' was failing. In the beginning They didn't interfere… After all it seemed like one species would win and the problem Nature had brought would be solved. Unfortunately even the Creators had to accept that even within the same species, wars were raging. They had to do something, so They decided to put another power in charge of the eight realms. From this we can decide that these Creators weren't a physical life form, like us. Or maybe They were, but They didn't live in our universe, but were steering us from another, older universe. Nevertheless, They decided to hand over the rule of these worlds to something else. In this case, another world."

Jane and Thor smiled and even Frigga understood.

"Asgard!" she called out excitedly.

Loki smiled. "Exactly! According to this scroll Asgard was created together with Heimdall. Heimdall created the Bifröst which connected the worlds and brought peace to the realms. Of course he couldn't rule the realms on his own. Therefore he created, together with Them the Asgardians. Yet, to ensure that this race, The Asgardians, would have ultimate power, the Creators decided to bless them with immortality. To obtain this amount of power, Heimdall instructed the eight realms each to create a stone from its ancient core…"

Loki's eyes sparkled for a second and Thor and Jane immediately understood what Loki was referring too.

"The infinity Stones…" Thor whispered while a shiver ran down his spine. Jane scowled for a second. Even Frigga, who didn't understand her parent's reaction, felt an uncomfortable chill in the air.

Suddenly Jane shook her head. "Wait… no… if Heimdall instructed every realm to make one stone, how come that there're only six?"

Loki smiled mysteriously. "Because, Jane Foster, Midgard didn't turn anything in, since the human race had been exterminated. The only ones capable of making such a stone were the direct descendants of the First Humans, the ones created by the Creators."

"All right…" Jane answered, not able to hide the terror and disgust in her voice. Loki made it sound like the humans were insignificant and as if they had been too stupid to let the 'important ones' die.

"That only makes seven, were did the other one go?"

"The other one," Loki continued, "was created by the Jötuns. Sadly, they didn't agree with the idea of one ultimate ruler. In the War, the Jötuns had been on the winning team. In fact they had been close to victory when they had been sucked back to their home world and the borders between the realms had been closed for ever. The Giants created a stone, as they were told to do, but instead of turning it in, they unleashed it's power on their own world. With it they developed the power to control ice, and their infamous casket, the source of their power, was created. Even until today, that casket holds a part of what was once an almighty Infinity Stone. The Giants became the Frost Giants."

Loki waited to make sure everyone was still listening, but the looks on the people's faces didn't leave any doubt so the young king carried on with his personal favourite part of the story.

"However, The Jötuns quickly discovered that they had underestimated the power of the Infinity Stone. They were unable to control and contain the energy and it spread throughout the universe. Even the barrier of the Bifröst, which had been created before the power of the Infinity Stones, couldn't stop it. And so, completely unintentionally, The Jötuns brought a new power to the universe."

The young king looked from one face to the next. The enthusiasm in his eyes reached a maximum.

"Magic!"

Loki got exactly the reaction he had been hoping for. Utter surprise!

Thor shook his head in disbelief. "The Jötuns!" he called out. "The Jötuns 'invented' magic?"

Loki tilted his head to one side. "Well, actually, they unleashed it. I think the First Creators used magic to build the eight realms. For them it was probably just a tool like any other. It's possible that we just found a new, another way of using it. We channel it, and turn it into power!"

"That's… That's amazing!" Jane suddenly said, excitement colouring her eyes. She sounded out of breath. "That is truly amazing! Unbelievable!"

It stayed silent for a couple of seconds…

"So… what was this spell you were talking about?" Thor finally asked. Loki looked up, as if he'd almost forgotten about that.

"Right! The spell! Well… it's obvious, isn't it! The spell needed to gain immortality! The six remaining stones held enough power to make the spell work. Almost… Because instead of eight stones, Heimdall and the creators only had six. The spell still worked, though, but never reached its full potential. After all, we are not immortal, as the Allfather liked reminding us. The Asgardians are stronger, should be wiser…" Loki said with a playful look towards his brother, "and we get older. But we are not immortal, because there were two stones missing."

"And what happened to these Creators?" Thor asked .

"They disappeared… that what it says here. Once the Asgardians held the ultimate power to rule, being the wanne-be-immortality, they were left alone in charge."

Silence covered the table once more. From one moment to the other, Loki felt an unbelievably strong exhaustion covering his body. His hands lost grip on his breakfast which fell to the ground like leaves falling from a tree. All sounds started fading and his head started pounding. Loki groaned. All he wanted to do was sleep.

Frigga looked up when she hurt the young king's silent moans. She only just managed to roll of Loki's lap, under the table, before the young king collapsed, head first, on the table.

Unfortunately for Fandral, who had just decided to entertain his new crowd of admiring girls with some life battle demonstrations, Loki's head hit the edge of Thor's half-filled plate and catapulted the entire content into his face.

-xxx-

"Don't you see, Thor! This is it! This is our chance!"

Thor carefully closed the door of Loki's chambers. He sighed and rubbed his eyes. Even though it was only ten in the morning, he already felt exhausted.

"Jane, let's just leave it for now…" he said more harshly then he meant. His wife sighed and frowned.

"The least we can do is talk about it…" she exclaimed. "I mean… this is big stuff! This is our chance!" she repeated.

Thor stroke his hand through his blond hairs started walking. Jane followed.

"You just cannot ignore this, Thor!" she said with a stern tone in her voice. Clearly she was finding Thor lack of interest very frustrating.

The God of Thunder sighed once more. He opened his mouth to answer, but the words didn't find their way through.

That was the last drop for Jane. "You just don't want to think about it, do you! Why not! You're just afraid that this won't work! You're afraid to believe that this is possible!"

Thor stopped in his tracks and turned around. "Jane, I only ask you to wait…"

But Jane interrupted him. "This is our chance, Frigga's and my chance to gain immortality! If this spell still works… if it was possible… Loki can do magic! Maybe he can do this spell! Maybe we can grow old together, Thor! Isn't that what you want? Because now… now you'll see me grow old, see Frigga grow up. In the end we will both die and you… you won't have changed a day! This is your family!"

Tears had started to form in Jane's eyes. She didn't want to cry, but she was simply so devastated by the idea of losing Thor. Her life, her daughter's life.. it all seemed so puny, so unimportant! This spell could be her only chance to gain the impossible. Immortality… the ability to stay with the man she loved, without worrying about leaving him behind for another thousand years.

"I know, Jane, I know… I just think we shouldn't rush to making conclusions… Loki probably figured this much out. He knows how important this is. He doesn't want to lose Frigga either… There must be a reason why he didn't mention this possibility. I think, no, I just know he hasn't told us everything. If we wait, I'm sure everything will clear out in the end."

Jane looked up in her husband's bright blue eyes. She knew he was right. Of course he was… Slowly she let her head rest against Thor's chest while her arms found their way around him. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

This moment…she thought while Thor's strong arms closed around her. This moment is mine! My life… with Thor… with Frigga… The most important life in human history! Just like everyone else's is…

So I hope you liked it! I am trying to write, but I've got sooooo much work and sooooo little time... BUT I'M TRYING! BECAUSE I LOVE IT!

Please let me know what you think!

Rumple x