Loki was currently lying on his stomach up in a tree, but his consciousness was currently within the Asgard's barriers. He was listening to the barriers hum as his consciousness was surrounded by light. How Loki was able to connect with the barriers on such a deep psychic level was unknown, and the only explanation he could think of was that he was the son of the Allfather and a powerful mage with a strong connection to Yggdrasil.
The sound of the barriers was vaguely similar to purring, but there was no real way to compare what Loki heard to any other sound. It was such a soothing lullaby that he wanted to curl up in the sound and the pure light that gently neutered his consciousness and sleep. As he listened to the lullaby the barriers alerted him that someone was approaching his body.
With his consciousness in the barriers, his body was left painfully vulnerable and Loki was glad for their warning for he never would have realized otherwise. It was Tilaria, and since she was walking straight towards his body it was a safe bet that she knew he was up in the tree's canopy. Reluctantly, he released his hold on the barriers and their soothing aura slipped away from him.
His consciousness floated back down to his body, and Loki opened his eyes without moving the rest of his body. It would take his body a few seconds to remember that it had to function again, so he stayed quiet as Tilaria approached. He was a little surprised to see her, not having caught sight of her since sparring practice where she had beaten Thor several hours ago.
Although Tilaria was in the habit of using her blades or blood magic before normal spells, she was still able to sense that Loki had not been with his body. Loki sat ups lowly and worked his fingers. They responded lazily, and his sight was blurry though sharpening rapidly as his body acclimated. This disconnection was why Loki didn't astral project often.
Something scaly nuzzled the side of his face his hair and Loki glanced up. Slítas had stood guard over his body while he had been with the barriers and had now wrapped his tail around a branch and lowered himself to where Loki was. Loki held up a hand, and Slítas dropped onto his shoulders gracefully without falling out of the tree.
"Where were you?" Tilaria asked after giving Loki some time to adjust.
Loki thought about trying to explain it to her as he carefully climbed down the branches. When he reached the last lowest branch he jumped to the ground, but his body wasn't ready for the strain and his legs gave so he landed in a heap. He shook it off and sat up, surprised suddenly when Tilaria extended a hand to him. The only person that had ever done that to Loki had been Thor, and Loki stood without accepting her aid.
"I thought you were looking at our magic books," Loki dodged to make up for the quietness in the air.
"I was," Tilaria admitted and lowered her eyes, looking unusually embarrassed. "Learning from a book is harder for me then from another mage."
She looked up to the sky curiously. "You were doing something with the barriers, weren't you?"
Loki nodded, although he was wary of admitting to anyone just how close of a link he had them. Projecting to the barriers always comforted him, and Loki had been doing so more and more, relishing in their warmth and light to escape the reality of his life. There were times where he didn't want to leave the barriers.
"The barriers," Loki started to quietly explain what they were when Tilaria interrupted him.
"I know about them," Tilaria promised. "Everyone knows about them. Asgard's barriers are the reason why Asgard hasn't been invaded by an enemy force for the past five thousand years, and why there has never been any form of civil war or uprising on Asgard."
Tilaria's voice sounded a little venomous, but Loki didn't blame her for it. The barriers were unique to Asgard, and they gave them an unnatural advantage. They were like the permanent and upgraded version of senselines, and could detect any intruders or portals that tried to open on Asgard. If needed, the barriers could be activated to shut down non-Asgardian magic so enemies no longer had the support of their mages. This was enough to cripple any attacking force in itself, and just as they shut down enemy mages they enhanced Asgardian ones to make any skirmishes that did take place on Asgardian hopelessly one sided in the Æsir's favor.
It was the main reason besides Bifrost why Asgard had remained undefeated and in a position of total supremacy for fifteen thousand years. The Asgardian's supremacy in their domain was untouchable. Loki was grateful for it, but the rest of the realms would do anything to shatter the Barriers.
Slítas moved on Loki's shoulders, and although Loki was looking down he still glimpsed Tilaria jump back fearfully.
"What is that?" Tilaria demanded and stared at Slítas, pronouncing each word slowly and carefully.
"This is Slítas," Loki introduced his snake to him.
Slítas heard his name and bowed to Tilaria in greeting.
"He's from Jötunnheim, but he's been living here for the past century with me." Loki explained. "I don't think you've met him before. Slítas, this is Tilaria."
Tilaria didn't budge her stance although Slítas laid his head back on Loki's shoulder. Loki couldn't help but smile at Tilaria's suddenly skittish behavior. Slítas had that effect on people, and he looked up at Loki innocently as if he didn't understand Tilaria's behavior.
"I guess you don't like snakes," Loki mused.
"I've heard of snakes," Tilaria said cautiously as she looked carefully at Slítas, "but there aren't any on Alfheim."
"Don't worry," Loki assured the on edge elf, "Slítas never bites without reason. He might be a snake, but he's fully sentient and can understand our speech even if he can't respond. Spending the last century in the palace as he has, he's become quite well-mannered and polite."
Loki was glad for Slítas's presence. His serpentine friend would listen to whatever Loki told him, and he wouldn't laugh at him for being weak, give him a blank look when he used "mage slang," or become cross when he accidently called a non-magic user a "mundane" as mages tended to do.
Slítas turned one of his emerald cat eyes to Tilaria as she slowly forced herself to relax. Growing from the outer corner of each of his eyes were three ice-like crystal, a trait only a handful of creatures from Jötunnheim possessed. His crystals were unique because they changed with his emotions like a mood ring. Right now they were a hybrid of confused gold and confused orange as he tried to figure out what to make of Tilaria. Likely, he'd never seen a Ljósálfr before.
Slítas stayed calm, not eager to rile Tilaria more. He knew all too well what a dagger was and he didn't appreciate having one pointed at him. When Tilaria didn't sheathe hers he lifted his head off of Loki's shoulder and hissed, crystals becoming pink from irritation. A cobra hood unfurled from his neck, and Tilaria jumped back at the hood, raising her dagger again.
"Stop it both of you," Loki said, glaring at Slítas. "I promise he doesn't bite."
Slítas didn't retract his cobra hood, and Loki sighed.
"If you can't behave yourself Slítas then you might as well leave," Loki warned his snake, "before Tilaria does come at you with the dagger."
Slítas clicked, sounding oddly like an irritated tsk and jumped down from Loki's shoulders. He slithered away into the forest, and Loki sighed. It wasn't like Slítas to be this temperamental around a person. His reaction suddenly made Loki wary, for he knew that Slítas could sense things that even Loki missed. What about Tilaria was bothering him that badly that he wouldn't relax?
Tilaria sheathed her dagger only when the black-scaled serpent vanished from sight. She then reluctantly looked back at Loki.
"What I came to ask you about was telekinesis and gravity manipulation spells," Tilaria got back on track. "It's obvious you have some degree of mastery in them, but I can't do much more than levitate my cloak."
"That might be because your magic isn't tuned for telekinesis," Loki warned, "like mine isn't tuned for telepathy. Each mage has different strengths in different branches of magic. I might be able to show you a few tricks though I use."
"Fire," Tilaria said.
"Huh?" Loki asked, surprised by her word.
"The strongest of the six elements that I am connected to is fire," Tilaria explained. "You use the subelement of ice, so you must be skilled in both water and wind element magic since those two elements create ice."
"I'm learning with wind, but not so much with water," Loki agreed with her.
Loki remembered drowning a century ago just before he had met Slítas. He and Thor had been in the woods shortly after the first freeze of winter, and there had been an accident. Thor had ended up on the ice, and in an attempt to get him to solid ground Loki had also been on the ice. It had cracked under his weight although Thor had been back to shore by then so he was safe.
"Can I see your magic?" Loki asked Tilaria politely. "It'll help me teach you."
Tilaria hesitated, and then nodded. She held out her hand and Loki set his fingers in her palm, so he could "see" her magic. His fingers were cool to the touch.
Not long after Loki began helping Tilaria with her magic, Thor found himself walking around Gladsheimr in an attempt to locate his brother. He did so because he had a suspicion that if he found his brother he'd find Tilaria. Loki wasn't being easy to find today though, and wasn't in his room or the library. Thor thought about checking Vingólf, the mage's hall, but knew that Loki usually kept his distance from the female mages so it was doubtful he would be there.
He scuffed his foot against the stone floor of one of the exterior covered walkways in frustration. Where was he? That was when he spotted a boy a little younger than him running across the courtyard the walkway he was on lined with a book in his arms. It was the same boy from this morning.
"Hey!" Thor called to the boy and jumped down from the walkway to the courtyard.
Angborn stopped running at Thor's shout, suspecting that someone wanted to speak to him. He wasn't sure whose voice it was as he turned to face it and was startled to see Prince Thor running towards him.
"Yes sir?" Angborn asked politely, straightening to stand at attention.
"Have you seen Loki?" Thor asked him, "I saw you talking with him when I was fighting Tilaria. Do you know where he is, because I can't find him."
"No sir, I haven't seen him since this morning," Angborn admitted.
He remembered what his father had said about Loki, and realized that he might not want to see Loki again.
"Hey Amora!" Thor called out suddenly, surprising Angborn again.
There was an orange-haired girl walking down one of the covered paths, and she had her nose in a book as she walked. She looked up at Thor and sighed, rolling her eyes in an exasperated manner.
"What do you want Thor, I'm busy." She asked him tiredly.
Angborn gawked at her disrespectful tone, shocked that she would speak to the crown prince in that manner. Certainly Thor was a little sporadic, but that didn't mean you had to be insolent towards the future Allfather. Thor didn't seem to take offense however.
"Have you seen Loki?" He repeated his question to Amora, unfazed by her snippety tone.
Amora snapped the grimoire shut and tucked it under one arm. "I'm not Loki's babysitter."
"But you're a mage like him," Thor said in a coaxing tone as if to convince her to agree.
"So I am," Amora agreed, "but Loki trains by himself. It's very rare for him to be at Vingólf with us."
Amora knew why Loki was never with the other mages although it might not be apparent to others. Vingólf was the mage's hall, but it was often called the "sanctuary of the goddesses" because of the uneven amount of female mages. Loki was already using a woman's art and fighting style, so he didn't care to be at a woman's hall or even be around the other female mages for fear of attracting even more scorn from Odin and the other adults. It was why he was usually alone.
"Can't you just say a few words or wave your hands and find him?" Thor asked Amora innocently, certain that she could.
Angborn spotted Loki and Tilaria out of the corner of his eye, and quietly began to inch away. He didn't mean to head towards them, but the entrance to the library was that way and Angborn needed to return the book now that he had finished with his homework.
"That is not how magic works!" Amora snapped at Thor as if stunned by his incompetence.
"You don't need to be so cross," Thor said in an insulted voice as if he were pouting. "I'm not a mage."
"No," Amora agreed with laughter in her voice at the idea of Thro using magic, "but your little brother is. Haven't you learned anything about magic from him?"
"Yes!" Thor defended himself loudly.
With Thor and Amora's bickering as a background, Angborn walked over towards Loki. He made sure that he had a grip on the dagger hidden in his jacket just in case, and wished that he could be walking the other way but the fastest way to the library was past him. Loki was a coward, a man who used the feminine art of magic instead of being a true warrior. Every said as much about Loki, including his own father.
As he approached the pair he noticed that Tilaria had her hands cupped together and there was a gold dragon coin hovering just above her hands, spinning end over end without her needing to touch it. Loki's hands were cupped around Tilaria's and he was likely helping her channel her magic. Angborn knew more about magic then most because of his own secret, but he could only guess at what he was doing.
"All right," Angborn heard Loki say as he approached seemingly unnoticed. "Now lower your hands slowly, but keep focusing on the coin."
Tilaria did as he bid, but the coin wavered and she made a move to grab it.
"Don't," Loki grabbed her hand. "Trust your magic."
Tilaria tssked, but relaxed and half-closed her eyes again. The coin rightened herself, and Loki nodded then looked up at Angborn's approach. Angborn gave a slight stir at Loki's dark emerald-black eyes, but steeled his courage and kept walking.
"Your name is Loki, isn't it?" Angborn asked him when he neared him enough to speak. "You're the mage?"
Angborn's put a disapproving edge to the word mage, and Loki might have cringed if he wasn't so used to hearing it. He nodded slightly instead, and knew that Angborn wouldn't again address him with the smile he had worn this morning when they had watched Thor and Tilaria fight. Loki was used to that to.
A headache appeared out of nowhere, and Loki's eyesight blurred unexpectedly. He didn't expect it, having recovered from his time in the barriers and not having used much magic since. Although Loki's stamina was still lacking compared to his power, he shouldn't be so exhausted.
Angborn was surprised to see Loki wince in pain over something he couldn't feel, and Tilaria glanced away from her work with the coin to him curiously. Without warning, Loki collapsed to his knees. He just barely managed to raise his hands in front of him to keep from falling flat onto the grass. Tilaria's coin fell from her fingers and landed in the grass when she saw him crumble, and she knelt by his side quickly.
Loki had put his hands to his head, and it was clear now that he was in visible pain. Angborn stood there as Tilaria tried speaking to him verbally and then telepathically to try and understand what had was going on. Was Loki losing control over his magic? There were many stories about the time Loki had lost control and nearly killed Thor, and Angborn was suddenly fearful that it might happen again.
He partially drew his dagger, wishing that he had his sword. If Loki's control was going to slip then a puny dagger would be of little good, and he did not want to be anywhere near him. Angborn hesitated again when Tilaria suddenly jerked her hand away. Her attempt to enter Loki's mind had evidently backfired, and she had gotten tangled up in the pain he had felt.
She fell backwards as she reeled in pain, and put a hand over her eyes. This was one of the largest risks of using telepathy, and considering the fact that Loki's pain was mental instead of physical she should have known better than to lower her shields and reach out. Tilaria realized Angborn was still there and looked up at him.
"Get help," she hissed and then stood again so she was by Loki's side once more. "Something's attacking him. I'm going to try and help shield his mind."
"No!" Loki managed to shout as he gasped for breath and twisted the front of his tunic in a fist. "Can't you hear it? It's the barriers. They're in pain. Someone… someone is..."
Loki remembered in terror thinking that the other realms would do anything to shatter the barriers, and now they were in pain.
Tilaria recoiled from Loki again as the pain he felt seeped into her mind. She expected the pain to fade when shushed her telepathy and was startled to realize that it wasn't quieting. The pain she felt wasn't because of her contact with Loki anymore, now she felt her own pain as the barriers reached out to her for help as they had done to Loki.
The flare of pain felt like someone was raking claws through it, and it was a different type of pain then a mindflare. It had to be the barriers reaching out to her, and not just to her and Loki. They reached out to all of the other mages and asked them for help as well since the mages could connect with them easiest.
"Amora!" Thor's voice shouted, and Angborn turned at the shout.
She had dropped her book and was sinking to her knees as well. Thor lifted a hand to her with stunned features, but didn't know what to do. He looked back to Angborn, but although Angborn knew more about magic then most he had no idea what to do.
Thor's connection to the barriers was strong despite the fact that he was not a mage because he was Odin's son, and Angborn's secret meant that he also had a connection to them. When the mages failed to do anything to stop the attack on them, the barriers reached out to these two and everyone else on Asgard. Everyone from Odin to Heimdall to the servants walking through Gladsheimr felt the pain and dropped what they were holding, and cringed back.
Thor could hear it now faintly, a sort of screeching right on the edge of his hearing range. The screeching gained in power and volume, and then he heard a sound like breaking glass that wrenched his heart. He stepped sideways and then collapsed onto the ground, soundly unconscious.
All around Asgard, everyone lost consciousness and fell to the ground – from the servants preparing diner in the kitchen to the Star Guard training in the fields. Heimdall collapsed onto the ground in front of Bifrost's Observatory, and even Odin fell unconscious on his throne. Gungnir slipped from his fingers and tumbled down the steps of his throne, ringing slightly as it hit the steps and rolled onto level ground.
No one on Asgard was left awake, at least, no one except Daris's spy. They were satisfied, and stopped their spell that had twisted the barriers. With everyone unconscious, there was no one to activate the barriers against an enemy force and no one to fight off attackers who might come and slaughter everyone as they slept. Asgard and every inhabitant on it was now at Daris's mercy.
Daris's spy stood, and the scepter they had used to harm the barriers glowed. Its handle was golden, and a little over two feet long. At its end was a blue oval like jewel that glowed, and the jewel was encircled by two sharp silver blades. The blade over the top of the blue stone-like jewel was longer then the one beneath it, and the stone was cradled between the two.
The blue gem dimmed when the spy released their hold on the odd scepter's power. They ran their finger across the silver blade above the jewel, and noted that it was as sharp as a blade's edge as they wondered where this strange weapon had come from. Daris had given it to them and had said it was a gift from a friend, though he had not said who their mysterious friend was.
It was of little importance to the spy though, and he was glad for whoever had given Daris this powerful weapon. With Asgard vulnerable, it was time to carry out Daris's orders. The spy stood, and walked off to complete their objectives, the golden scepter in one hand.
First off, i want to say that everyone should know exactly what scepter that spy is using and who gave it to them. If you don't i'm just going to say it was in the first Avengers movie and leave it at that. The question is, why is Thanos supplying Daris with weapons? What's in it for him?
Asgard is in serious trouble now. I mean, even Odin is unconscious. Not only does Daris's spy have total run of the place, they've got the scepter and orders. I wish them luck. They're going to need it.
*Vingólf: In Norse mythology it was the hall or sanctuary of the goddesses, and built at the same time as Gladsheimr.