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FANFICTION

THE RISE OF LOKI, GOD OF MISCHIEF

CHAPTER XX : The Shadow in the Mist

[Loki is sent spying on Jotunheim to find out the truth about the threat of war against the Mountain Giants. Teaming up with a seiðr user, Eisa, she tells him something is following him since his arrival in Jotunheim. After going through the Crossway and facing his worst fears, deepest wounds and memories they infiltrate the fortress of Utgard, they find out that the Giants want war more than ever and after killing the Mountain Giants' Prince, they escape. Odin and Fornjótr both prepare themselves for the battle to come. The two advance to join the Asgardians but find themselves into the Iron Woods, prisoner from the witch Hyrokkin. She sends them into a wicked Hunt for her amusement but after Loki killed several of her wolves, she hunts them down herself before diving a knife into Eisa's back.]

"Your turn, petty prince…" Hyrokkin murmured, making her whip clacking against the air violently.

Loki's eyes snapped to the witch, and he glared at her furiously, his brows furrowed in rage. She only gave a tiny, enigmatic and cold smile, enjoying her power.

"I don't think so." He hissed back, his hands trembling in anger while more knives were ready to strike.

Loki heard the snap of the whip before seeing it move. He moved just slightly to the side and felt a stinging pain on his left cheek. Hyrokkin's snakes and wolves hissed and growled while the prince lifted up his hand before and stared at the crimson liquid on his fingers. He could feel the drop of blood rolling down his cheek and he smirked coldly.

"Hyrokkin, you will pay for what you've done to Eisa." He started, looking at her darkly as she climbed down her sledge. Both of them walked slowly, circling around each other at a distance.

"Oh? Is this love, my prince?" She asked with a satisfied look on her face.

"Don't think me so weak. I don't do love." He replied, stopping in his tracks, "But I'm excellent at revenge!" He exclaimed, throwing several knives.

Hyrokkin avoided three of them, but the fourth hit her in the arm and she hissed ferociously, looking down at her little injury. The knife had barely brushed her, but it had been enough to draw blood and when she looked back at Loki, who was smiling sweetly, the witch understood he hadn't meant to wound her badly. He had only wanted her to make bleed as much as he was. He only wanted to threaten her.

Hyrokkin's arm rose and the whip shot down. Loki jumped away as it hit the leaf-covered ground, he ran to a tree and jumped off it for momentum before surging towards the witch. She jumped away when he almost fell on her, but he threw his dagger at her. She leaned down, avoiding it swiftly as they started a macabre dance of clacking whip and shiny blades.

Hyrokkin jumped away another time and lifted up her arm, but it wasn't to use her whip. At this moment, all wolves surged towards Loki, who acted just as fast: he lifted up his arm, now bright with the green light of his seiðr, and threw it towards the ground with a sharp movement. He shouted as the magic illuminated his face and sent waves of pure burning energy all around, hitting all the animals. The wolves yapped and howled in pain before falling to the ground, convulsing.

For a short moment, the black witch stared incredulously at the prince and her dead children but then, she realized he had killed even more of her kin. Hyrokkin hissed and yelled before hurling her weapon at him. Loki had expected it and moved to throw his last two knives, knocking the daggers out of his hand. He screamed in pain when the leather snapped around his forearm through his vambrace. His gaze lowered to his forearm and he realized why it was burning so badly: the entire whip was now a bright green. In her fury, Hyrokkin had infused her whip with her seiðr – which made it a thousand times more dangerous. Loki tried to pull his arm away, but the burning was making his protections, leather and clothes fall into little flaming green pieces on the ground.

Face covered in sweat, feeling the fire sipping into his skin and flesh, Loki looked up right into Hyrokkin's deadly eyes and opened his lips to shout out his rage and pain. Ignoring the pain, he jerked his arm around and grabbed the burning whip, his hand smocking while he kept screaming. The Iron Woods' Witch was so surprised Loki would do such a thing that she stared at his burning arm. The Prince, not willing to give up or bend to such a creature, yanked the whip suddenly with so much strength that the woman fell forward, her whip escaping her hand while she rebalanced herself.

Hyrokkin looked up, furious but then she hesitated again when she realized that her seiðr was still illuminating the whip. At first, she thought it was because she was holding it w, but then, it slowly disappeared. Loki's grin showed her what she needed to know: that he had drained the energy she had put into her weapon for his own sake. Still partly wrapped around his hand, more flames burnt the leather, but this time the whip was set aflame and fell into ashes on the ground.

Loki gave his twisted grin and started to advance confidently despite his aching, burning and still smocking arm. Hyrokkin's breath came short in slight panic now that she was weaponless and all her allies dead.

"Give up, Hyrokkin! You're no match for me!" Loki yelled with a threatening voice as he kept advancing quickly.

Realizing too late she had underestimated him, Hyrokkin pursed her lips before lifting up her hands, bright with magic, and thrusting them at him full force. The god lifted up his own arms to deflect the seiðr's pure energy away; the surrounding trees were blown away and what was left of them burned with green flames. Loki tried to attack with his own magic, but Hyrokkin was faster: she lifted up her arms over her head, looking dreadful. Suddenly, all of Loki's daggers and knives shot up in the air. Hyrokkin gave a sharp twist of her wrists and the blades turned around, tips towards Loki. He tried to create a shield for himself made of seiðr, but the weapons darted towards him. Several hit him, but instead of making him bleed deeply, the daggers penetrated his clothes and pushed him backwards. He was pinned on the ground by his own weapons, air escaping his lungs violently. Loki opened his eyes and saw just one dagger right above his throat, floating in the air as if held by some invisible thread that could break at any moment.

Loki stared at the shining tip of the dagger, waiting for it to fall into his throat and kill him but it didn't. It stayed above his white skin, trembling in the agonizing anticipation of it to just cut his thread of life. Loki didn't dare breathe while his heart hammered ferociously in his chest, his fear of dying taking over every fibre of his body.

Loki heard Hyrokkin's slow steps between dead leaves and dead bodies of her wolves. He didn't dare glance at her, he couldn't while pinned on the ground with a knife above his throat. He knew that she was the one keeping the dagger close enough to end his life but haunting him by waiting so long. She wanted to enjoy killing him. She wanted to see him struggling for air while blood gurgled out of his mouth and throat.

Then she appeared in his field of view. Her dark face hovered just above him, admiring the fear shining brightly in his eyes as green as his seiðr.

"Don't underestimate me. What do you think of being killed by your own weapons?" Hyrokkin asked almost softly, leaning down towards Loki until her dresses and hair tickled his face.

Loki didn't answer, his breath coming in short pants of panic and fear at being defeated. If he were to try any move, the weapons pinning him down would surely cut every inch of muscle it was retaining and the dagger would dive into his throat.

"I don't usually get involved with the wars of these useless Realms, but I think I will enjoy bringing your dead body pinned by your own daggers to your father and brother…" She said with that smile he couldn't explain. "Do you think they'll be pained by your loss?" She inquired thoughtfully.

His heart starting beating hollowly as Hyrokkin's question resonated in his mind. He wanted to yell that, of course, they would be pained to see him dead. But his throat was dry – and it wasn't because of the dagger above his Adam's apple.

Loki wanted to push away these dark thoughts to the back of his mind, but he was unable to. Hyrokkin must have guessed it because her tiny strange smile twitched appreciatively.

"Send my regards to the previous intruders of my woods in Hel," she murmured, her fingers moving to push the dagger down his throat.

Loki stopped breathing, waiting for the pain and death, but suddenly, Hyrokkin looked up. He was too curious to not try glancing to the side, even if he couldn't move and the only thing he saw was smoke: a white smoke slowly making its way towards them, surrounding them slowly. He felt the magic snapping; his daggers were not holding him down anymore – but the one above his throat wasn't floating anymore either. He just had time to roll slightly away before the blade hit the ground, while the god straightened up and moved away from Hyrokkin, his daggers falling from his clothes and clicking against each other.

Only then did Loki followed the witch's gaze and stared at the white vapour coming out of nowhere, approaching them much faster than smoke should be able to. When it arrived closer to him, it felt cold and he reached out curiously with his fingers, sensing tiny icy feelings on his burnt hand. He realized it was mist, but then he heard a creaking sound and after glancing at a nearby dead wolf, he saw it being suddenly covered in ice until it broke apart.

Loki was so shocked that he jumped away from the icy mist even if he couldn't escape it. From the corner of his eye, he saw the mist covering slowly Eisa. His lips opened but she seemed fine, as if the mist wasn't touching her or hurting her. Some white swirls approached his foot and he tried to jerk away, but the mist had already touched his boot. Loki waited a moment, but no ice formed, so he let the mist move closer to him, surrounding him. He could feel its cold and humidity, but it wasn't turning him into an ice cube like everything else around him: the trunks of trees, the dead leaves or wolves. Only what was still alive and breathing wasn't being turned into ice. Loki felt some sort of tingling sensation in his left arm, which had been burnt, and lifted it away from the mist. The strange fog followed his movements, however, and surrounded his arm, almost gently. It pricked his skin a little but when the mist moved away, swirling around him, his arm was mostly healed. It was still obvious his skin had been burnt and skinned off partially from the whip, but it was healing.

Loki stared incredulously at the white mist, then his arm, and then the mist again, not understanding what was happening. He knew of the magical mists of Niflheim, the World of Ice. But this strange fog was most definitely not from Niflheim, it was something else. He couldn't tell whether or not it was friendly and he hated this gut-wrenching feeling.

He heard movement on his right and remembered Hyrokkin; Loki glanced back at her and froze. Not from the cold, he's never been as sensible to the cold as others. It was shock and incredulity that made him shiver.

The threatening dark figure of Hyrokkin had gotten up and was staring at the mist with eyes widened in terror. She was stepping back frenetically, trying to escape the touch of the mist. She shook her head and lifted up her hands, not in defence or attack, but as if she were begging.

"M-Mistress…!" She breathed, looking all around at the mist closing onto her.

Loki's jaw dropped and his eyes widened at the mention of Hyrokkin's "Mistress". She had said it was a powerful sorceress, the most powerful of all: Heiðr.

"M-Mistress…! P-please!" Hyrokkin exclaimed, looking frightened to the bones by this mist.

Then she started screaming, her head jerking backwards in pain as she barely managed to stay on her feet. Loki saw the frost starting to cover her legs and the hem of her dress, going as high as her thighs, freezing her like a macabre ice statue.

"Mistress, please!" She shouted with a breaking voice, "I-I'm sorry! I'll spare him! I swear! I'll spare him!" She yelled.

Loki stared at the vision in front of him of his enemy, just a few minutes ago, begging for mercy from some icy mist that was killing her because she had attacked him. He wondered for a moment why the mist – or Heiðr, if Hyrokkin's words were true and Gullveig had survived and had a thirst for revenge – would want him spared, but then he saw the frost slowing down. It stopped at Hyrokkin's waist level and for a moment, everyone held their breath.

"I'll spare him… I swear…" Hyrokkin breathed in a voice so low and shaking, it was barely audible.

Nothing changed then the frost started to recede. The dark witch breathed in relief, still glancing down with a panicked gaze at the mist.

Once all ice left her legs, she fell on her knees, giving a hissing scream of pain – mourning pain at the loss of all of her children at the hands of a man she couldn't even kill.

Then, the mist turned its attention towards Loki, swirling towards him. He jerked away once again though he was already sitting in the mist. He swallowed when its swirls approached him and slowly formed a figure. He remained still as the silhouette of a kneeling woman seemed to appear, made of the mist itself, staring right into his eyes. He couldn't see this person's eyes but they were so piercing, cold and threatening that he felt his blood run cold from fear. The mist was milky white, but the silhouette staring at him in a frightening twisted curiosity seemed much darker. A Shadow in the Mist, staring right into his soul and seeing all of his deepest secrets and wounds.

For a moment, nothing breathed or moved; even the wind had seemed to stop. Time was going slowly, as if slowed down by some old and powerful magic. Then the Shadow in the Mist lifted up its foggy arm and long, milky white fingers brushed Loki's cheek and chin, lifting it up just slightly with its icy touch. Then the arm and hand turned into floating mist once again. Loki couldn't see the features of the shadow, he could barely make a face and hair, but he felt it smiling in a cold, satisfied way before the fog started to collapse on itself from a light breeze of wind.

Time started to tick again, just like Loki's heart that was suddenly overwhelming him with its loud and heavy beating. The mist slowly started to fade away, lingering a little, just like this frightening, cold and powerful presence.

On his right, Loki saw Hyrokkin slowly rising to her feet. She looked down at him with a frightening look, still furious about her loss – but after this encounter with the Shadow in the Mist, she wasn't as scary as she used to be, and she was, herself, way too panicked to appear truly threatening.

"I spare you, Loki Odinson!" She spit angrily, her eyes terrorized, "But be warned: do NOT step into my Woods again. I won't be as merciful a second time!" She exclaimed coldly.

Hyrokkin turned on her heels and jumped in her sledge. Loki barely had time to hear the hissing of her snakes when her hellish horse neighed and surged away. She disappeared almost immediately behind a few trees and after glancing around, Loki realized that the forest was back to normal. No more Iron Woods, no more illusion, no more icy mist.

His thoughts were cut short by Eisa, who moaned lightly and he immediately went over, wavering on trembling legs after using so much magic against Hyrokkin – if it was to be spared at the end, he wouldn't have bothered fighting so viciously to begin with. He put his hands on his knees, taking a moment to breathe deeply.

Loki had never used such powerful magic, or his seiðr as pure energy. His mother had always told him that he would never cease to learn and increase his level, but he never thought he had the potential of being so powerful…

Another breathless sound from the brown-haired woman cut his line of thoughts short and he forced himself to walk towards her. He saw the cut clothes and bare skin where Hyrokkin had drove his weapon into Eisa's back. Now it was only a pink line, already healing. Just like his hand. The Mist probably did this – or the Shadow, Mistress, Heiðr whoever was behind this Mist.

Loki turned the young woman around; she blinked, looking around in a gaze.

"W-wha—" She started before coughing.

Loki made his water gourd come out of his pockets and helped her drink some water while she straightened and looked around, confused and lost.

"What happened…?" She asked in a low creaking voice.

"I'm pretty sure you died and came back from Helheim."

She snapped at him and he couldn't help but gave a little mischievous smile.

"I wasn't dead, I was still alive just… barely conscious… I-I remember hearing you fighting against Hyrokkin and… and some mist…" She whispered, looking suddenly scared.

"This Mist…" Loki started before pouting, all joke leaving him, "It was…"

Eisa stared at him with a frightened gaze he couldn't explain. Thinking she was panicking because of it, he forced a tight smile.

"Not to worry about this Mist. We'll discuss it later. We escaped the Iron Woods but we'd better get away from here as soon as possible. Can you walk?"

She gave a short hesitating nod before standing with the prince's help. They started to walk away from the trees: even if they looked normal, then pair didn't want to take any risk and go back into the Iron Woods. Despite their exhaustion, weakness and hurt limbs, they managed to advance for a long moment and stopped only when they reached the edge of the woods. The trees were now more spread out and they could see a great plain with mountains behind.

"Let's rest for the night," Loki decided, falling on the ground, between a few roots.

Eisa sat next to him and they remained silent for a long moment. They were too exhausted to talk, but they were too scared to sleep, so they watched the forest growing darker as the night overwhelmed them. The stars shone weakly, still hidden behind clouds.

"Did you feel sad?" Eisa suddenly asked.

Loki's brows furrowed and he turned a confused expression towards the young woman. She was staring ahead of her, her eyes too scared of what she'd see in his own eyes to dare look at him. She finally turned her head, her green eyes shining more brightly before he realized she was holding back tears.

"When I… could have died… Did you feel sad?" She repeated in a trembling voice.

For a short moment, Loki saw the woman gasping for air with a knife, his knife into her back before falling on the ground.

He looked away from her, ahead of him, fixing on a point he wasn't really seeing. Back then, only a few hours ago, he had felt anger. He had been angry at Hyrokkin for hurting (and possibly killing) Eisa, but he couldn't tell how he considered her. An ally? A friend? A lover? Everything on this mission had happened so quickly, and everything with Eisa had been so passionate and fast Loki hasn't even realized what was really going on until she was stabbed in her back and fell on the ground.

Loki had been angry, but nothing else, nothing more. It wasn't even enough anger to feed him for his fight and he had leaned onto the rage and coldness of heart he had felt ever since his nightmares in the Labyrinth.

Eisa swallowed loudly before trying to breathe, probably understanding his line of thoughts.

"I would have. I… would have felt sad if you were to… I did feel sad every time you got injured, or I thought you were dying or dead…" She whispered.

She looked back at him, as if hoping one last time he would say something, anything but Loki didn't even glance at her. His heart felt much too heavy for him to even think about the woman next to him.

"I'm your prince. Of course you would feel sad." He said in a low voice.

He wanted to sound haughty, cold and disdainful, but it didn't sound true, even to himself.

"You're an incredible man after all. An incredibly cunning and terrifying man…" Eisa whispered, but Loki didn't answer because she was right and his silence was all the answers she needed.

Eisa's tears rolled down her cheeks in silence and after another long minute, she looked back at him.

"Tomorrow, we might cross your brother and the Asgardian troops, right?" She asked hesitantly.

"Probably, or at least get closer to their position. They shouldn't be far from here by now."

"Then after tomorrow, it won't be you and I anymore. There won't be… there won't be anything else but wars and battles… Right?" She murmured.

Loki looked back at her, a part of him feeling strangely peaceful. They'd seen and lived terrible things, they were more bruised than they could have possibly imagined and Loki had lost many things: his last bits of confidence shattered, his trust into his family and their love for him broken. His wounds were opened and abundantly bleeding. His mission to make his father proud – now it sounded so foolish even to him… It was about to reach an end. Of course, war and battles would follow, but his mission with Eisa would end soon.

"Yes…" He answered in a low voice, his green eyes showing more melancholy than he wished.

Eisa stared at him then moved slightly, kneeling in front of him and taking his face into her hands. Her thumbs brushed his cheeks and her gaze lowered to his lips before going back to his eyes.

"If it's our last night together before going back in the cages that are our lives… Make me love, Loki…" She breathed.

Loki stared at her, a little thunderstruck that Eisa would ask such a thing so boldly. He chuckled lightly, thinking for a moment of how they had met and ended up on the same mission, helping each other out. She'd always been bold and free. She was born wild and curious; a cage was no place for someone like that. His watery green eyes looked into her bright emerald ones, turning into a dark silver from the light of the stars and the moon. There was a glint in her eyes that made him know that even though he'd regret it, he would follow her anywhere – at least until the morning came.

His hands grabbed her face and pulled her down for a slow and passionate kiss. Eisa kissed him back, drawing closer as Loki wrapped his strong arms around her waist, keeping her close to him. They pulled away, already breathless from this simple kiss, but after a glance into each other's eyes, they fell over the edge once again and their lips were craving one another once more. Their hands were reaching for more skin to touch, more sensations and more feelings. If it was their last night of freedom, they would make the most of it.

The stars didn't shine bright that night, even though the Norns' threads were finally drawing to an end. Their tapestry would soon to be revealed, even though only a branch in an entire tree of fate could be seen…

Loki woke up, startled by some noise, but the only sound he could hear was the hammering of his heart in his chest. He forced himself to calm down before realizing that the sky was a light purple. The sun would rise soon.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to fall asleep again, Loki reached for his clothes and dressed himself, glancing at Eisa quickly as she moaned and slowly woke up. She glanced up at him then at the sky. They both ignored the veil of sadness that fell on her face it as she grabbed her clothes and dressed herself.

"We should wait for the sun to rise. There are still night creatures that might be dangerous." Eisa said in a low voice.

Loki nodded and they waited in silence, staring at the sunrise despite the little clouds in the sky. The light purple slowly turned into a blue so light, it was almost white before taking pink shades.

"Ah, the morning birds are chirping." Eisa noticed with a smile.

She opened her lips to say something once again but Loki raised his hand, brow furrowed, shutting her up.

"Shh! Listen!"

They remained silent while the sky's pink shades turned red.

Loki wasn't looking at the sky anymore; he grinned and got up suddenly, looking over the plains and seeing the Asgardian troops, shining in their golden armour. Loki's heart beat faster as he saw his brother, even from this distance, so majestic with his bright red cape flying in his back, riding his favourite battle horse.

"Thor!" He whispered proudly, "Hurry, Eisa! We need to join them quickly!"

Loki felt a sharp pain between his shoulders blades, gasping at the sensation of the cold blade in his flesh. For a moment, he couldn't hear anything at all, no birds, no wind, no troops advancing, not even his heart. His legs gave out and he fell on his knees. Black and white points danced in front of his eyes before darkness fell on him.

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May