Thor opened his eyes. He was lying face down on the floor and his head was ringing. The last thing he remembered was Loki jumping down from the rafters. Fire licked the tips of his fingers, and he jerked his hair back and sat up to get out of its reach. Fire? His mind was muggy.
Reality snapped into place. There had been an explosion, an ambush. Thor shakily stood and backed away from the fire. He looked around frantically. Where was everyone?
The fire hissed as it crept closer to his boots and Thor warily backed up again. His heart began to beat harder and faster as he looked at the fire. It was not ordinary orange-yellow fire or even magical blue-silver fire. This fire was an combination of yellow and green, the two colors pale and bleached out and tossed together to form a sickly shade of light.
"Fel," Thor whispered, wanting to take another step away from the cursed fire.
Records containing knowledge on how to learn Fel were destroyed when they were found. Not even the scholars among the mages read them. It was too easy to become entranced with its power. Thor had met only a handful of realmers that knew how to control Fel, and even fewer were still alive. In fact, there was only one alive – Tilaria.
The Fel fire's acidic grey smoke coupled with the dust in the air prevented Thor from seeing clearly. Where normal fire hungrily devoured everything rampaging around like a Bilgesnipe, Fel fire seemed to delicately walk across the surfaces not unlike a cat on a prowl for a fat mouse. Even the sound of this fire was wrong. Instead of a crackling snapping monster there was only a rustling noise as sinister as viper scales over leaves on a forest floor.
A shadow materialized beside him and solidified itself into Fandral. Rubble fell from the damaged ceiling and Thor grabbed Fandral. He dragged his friend forward seconds before the rubble fell onto where Fandral had been standing. Fandral gave him a grateful nod.
"Where is everyone else?" Thor demanded.
Unlike normal fire, Fel fire was quiet enough that Thor didn't have to raise his voice.
Fandral could only shrug helplessly. Thor glanced around. There had been a lot of people in here. He wanted to look for them while the Fel fire was still small, but he had tangled with the stuff before and knew it would be wiser to leave while the opportunity presented itself. Everyone might have gotten out already.
The two of them made a hasty retreat away from the fire. They were almost there when a ball of Fel fire leapt from its kin at them, hissing. Thor looked up a heartbeat too late. A smear of shadow suddenly materialized in front of the fire, and it smacked into that with a shriek. It tried to eat through the shadow, but shadows were made of nothingness so there was nothing to eat.
Thor had forgotten one crucial fact about Fel fire that set it apart from normal fire. Fel fire actively hunted and coordinated to trap prey. It was in that way sentient.
Thor and Fandral ran the rest of the way out of the Council Hall and past Sefæra. Sefæra summoned more shadows and halted the Fel fire's advance. Because Shadow Mages used the element of darkness they were often misconstrued as being evil, something Thor knew was wrong. Once again, he was stupidly relieved to see Sefæra, the daughter of a now-deceased Fel user named Daris, present. Fighting Fel was her specialty.
Safe for the moment, Thor took a breath and looked around to see who else had escaped. It appeared that most of the Star Guard that had been in the meeting were here, although several of them were nursing injured limbs or blackened burns on their skin. Thor felt sympathy for their burns. Fel burns were like Jötunn Frostburn – an Asgardian's healing factor wasn't enough to mend the wound and it hurt like someone had dumped Basilisk venom on you. (Thor also knew from experience how much that hurt.)
Thor couldn't believe he was getting distracted so easily when there was a Fel curse gone wild behind him so he focused on the other people present. His father was there with Gungnir in hand, completely unburned. More than anything, Thor was relieved his father was safe because no matter what Odin was still his father. Vir stood beside Odin and Huginn and Munnin sat on the Allfather's shoulders, ruffled, but alive. There was no sign of General Tyr but Thor assumed he had already left to spread the word and get help.
The only other absence that struck him was Loki's. Loki was probably fine though, Thor told himself. He'd dealt with Fel before to and even if he did escape, Thor doubted he'd be standing out here with Odin. Besides, he had the magic of his ring to draw from.
Then Thor remembered with horror that Loki didn't have it back. The initial shockwave of the explosion had knocked the ring from his fingers and thrown Loki into the opposite wall. No, then he would just teleport out of there and plan to come back to fetch his ring after the Fel was extinguished.
Thor realized that was wrong to. Unlike normal magic which manipulated energy and matter and sometimes changed one to the other, nothing was created or destroyed. Fel did destroy though, both matter and energy. Because of this, normal magic didn't work very well against or near it. The only reason Sefæra could hamper it was because she'd learn how to reach beyond her shadow into the Void and animate it.
Ginnungagap, the official name for the Void that surrounded Asgard and encompassed the nine realms, was like a protective shield that prevented alien races from crossing it. Fel feared the nothingness of it worse than the aliens, and even if it crossed Ginnungagap, it would die out because there was nothing – no matter or energy – for it to consume. Loki had tried to copy Sefæra, but despite his affinity with the Tesseract, Ginnungagap rejected him. He couldn't use the Void, so his magic wouldn't work.
"Thor!" Odin shouted as he coughed from inhaling the acidic smoke. "Come away from the fire!"
Thor hesitated, and then forced himself to step back. Loki was nothing if not adaptive, and despite his magic being incompatible with void, he had seen Sefæra use it. He'd be fine. This was hardly the first time he had dealt with Fel fire.
Things in the hallway began to become very bright as Sefæra took the darkness to help her, leaving nothing but light. She was careful not to take anyone's shadow as she did this, having already learned what that did to a person. The shadow's seemed to ripple and vanish so they looked like the fabric of reality was trying to tear itself apart. That was the Void animated, and it replaced the shadow. Thor could see through it to the inside now, but it was distorted as if he were looking through a plane of bubbly glass. Seeing the warped fire through the strange air was disturbing in a way Thor couldn't explain.
"Thor," Vir said, jolting Thor to the present.
He glanced over his shoulder and Vir waved at him to come. Vir was helping support Odin, who had obviously been injured more badly then Thor had first thought. After a moment's hesitation, Thor shook his head.
"There are still people unaccounted for," Thor told him. "I won't leave yet."
Vir's eyes were dark with contradiction. He thought that Thor should do as he said, but he also agreed that it might be wise for him to stay. Odin started coughing again, and that convinced Vir.
"Stay out of the fire," the Commander ordered Thor and then began to help lead Odin to the Healer's Ward.
The other captains and people present scattered. Those that had been severely injured trailed after them, but others went to spread the warning and evacuate the area. There was always a chance the Fel might spread. Jaro looked mistrustfully at Sefæra, seeming to be genuinely concerned for Thor's safety, but left after Thor nodded at him to. He watched as Jaro caught up to Fandral and helped him carry one of the more injured men. Evacuating the area was the right thing to do, and Thor still felt he should be doing that as he turned to face the Fel flames.
The fact that Loki was still missing was on the forefront of his mind as he thought back to Fel flames. It didn't need organic material to burn, capable of using things like metal, stone, air, or even water as fuel. Magic, as energy, would only be converted into Fel if used against it.
"Sef," Thor addressed Sefæra as he stepped up beside her. "How are you going to put that out?"
"You should remember that I can't," Sefæra scolded him. "All I can do is use Ginnungagap to contain it. Fel is inherently unstable though," she added with a smirk smirked, "even more than usual without a mage controlling it. Once it runs out of fuel to burn in the contained area it will cannibalize itself until it is gone."
Thor hated how she made the Fel sound like it was sentient, despite knowing how apt a description that was.
"You should catch up to the others my prince," Sefæra added as she drew the void a little closer together, stitching up the area. "You'll feel the effects of breathing in the smoke soon enough. I have this under control."
"There are still people missing-" Thor tried to tell her.
"They're dead," Sefæra interrupted. "Or soon will be. That's how Fel works. Either you manage to dodge it and leave uninjured or you get caught in it and die. There is no middle ground. These people have been caught in it. Even if I give them the benefit of the doubt they will still die and the Fel might be able to slip past me."
She did not say the words unkindly or cruelly, but in a flat tone of voice. As much as Sefæra might wish it otherwise, she was simply telling the truth. Thor felt a chill go down his spine despite knowing that Sefæra hated to say the words. They lacked a note of mercy or sorrow as if she didn't care about those the Fel was burning. Loki's ravens were strong yes, but sometimes Thor couldn't help but be scared of them.
That was when there was a shift. Fel burned much hotter than normal fire and the heat had become as stifling as the smoke that snaked from the room and clung to the ceiling over their heads. All of a sudden, Thor stopped feeling the heat and began to feel very cold.
His first thought was that the ice veins in his chest were responsible, but he realized almost instantly that wasn't it. Thor exhaled, his breath appearing as a small white cloud as if were winter and not summer. The temperature was literally dropping and Sefæra hissed between her teeth. She had recognized that this was Loki's ice magic to then.
The yellow-green flames squirmed, and Thor's breath caught when he saw ice begin to creep across the surface of the Fel. It was Loki. He was trying to freeze the flames to death like he had done with the other fires yesterday.
"Idiot," Sefæra growled. "It'll just feed off his energy."
Well what do you expect Loki to do, burn? Thor forced the retort down and looked for his brother with renewed desperation. The ice crystalized over the fire completely, freezing it solid. It looked as if the ruins of the Council Hall had become home to a field of tainted emeralds. If Loki could stop the Fel for even a few seconds he might be able to get out.
"Loki's inside, isn't he?" Sefæra asked Thor softly.
"Yeah," Thor replied, not stupid enough to go inside despite feeling a burning need to do so and help Loki.
Then the ice started vibrating. It trembled and rose in pitch. Thor saw movement, a flash of green and black, and then the ice shattered.
"Loki," Thor whispered. "Loki!"
Sefæra thickened the void of matter and energy in front of them and the ice shards that touched it stopped and hovered as if suspended in molasses. Then the Fel came roaring back to life, stronger than before. Loki's attempt had backfired, and he hadn't been able to escape. Thor paled when he saw that the flames had grown in brightness and size. The hissing sound it made sounded deceptively like laughter.
Sefæra's hands started shaking as she worked for control of Ginnungagap. She had to keep the Fel contained or else it would get loose and that was the last thing Asgard needed. She couldn't help Loki without letting the Fel go free so he was on his own. Part of being a Raven Blade was being able to make difficult choices.
Loki growled under his breath as he slowly straightened from dropping on one knee and raising a ward against his wayward ice. Luckily, it was still his ice so he was able to dissipate it before it hurt him. He looked around, the brief glimpse of Thor and Sefæra he had gotten vanishing behind the flames.
Although he didn't realize it at that instant, he was making the same mistake he chided others for – not looking up. He didn't realize it, but much of the ceiling had fallen or been damaged and the pillars that held it up were being consumed by Fel fire. Dust and grains of stone fell as the ceiling began to give.
Loki coughed, feeling the Fel smoke eat away at his lungs. He was suddenly glad he had left Slítas behind at Heartland. Although Slítas seemed impossible to kill, he wasn't entirely convinced he was an immortal. The fire was all around him, creeping closer. A small stone landed on Loki's head as he looked for a path through the Fel.
"Ow," Loki muttered and rubbed his head, voice hoarse from inhaling the smoke.
He hesitated as if suddenly realizing something and looked up. When he saw the fire eating away above and swallowed.
"Oh no," he whispered.
Then the roof collapsed.
Fel is not a good sort of magic to be using. It's as damaging to the mage as it is to the fabric of reality. "To the highest pinnacles of power and the darkest depths of magic." That is what Fel magic gifts to its casters.