Loki, Mobius, and Sylvie walked along the rocky, molten surface of Muspelheim, taking care to avoid any pools of lava on their way. Mobius stood between his two Jotun companions, who were ever at the ready to defend him.
"Over 5400 years after my time, I wonder if Surtur still rules over this realm?" Loki pondered. "I remember hearing their lifespans are longer than Asgardians'."
"Why? You're not thinking of getting revenge for your Asgard, are you?" Mobius inquired. Loki met his gaze but peered downward, frost forming around his fingertips. "Speaking of lifespans, don't Frost Giants live longer than Asgardians too? I wonder if you're still alive in this timeline?"
Loki shrugged. "I could be, but I'm certain my adopted family is not. Either way, I doubt anyone here would recognize me." They came across a small group of Fire Giants, who circled them in a four-man formation. "Excuse us, we're detectives, sent on behalf of Contraxia. We're investigating a chain of house fires across their planet and a few others, all worlds of low temperatures. We've also found evidence that they were caused purposefully by a Fire Giant. Do you have any information on who's behind this?"
The Muspeli exchanged glances and whispered to each other. "Who wants to know?"
"Mr. Ouroboros, pleased to make your acquaintance."
"That doesn't sound like an Asgardian name." One of them figured.
"It's my professional name, to protect my privacy."
"And what if we want to protect our privacy?"
"Hey, nice sword." A Fire Demon noticed Lævateinn, the flaming sword on Loki's back.. "Let me have that, and I'll tell you who caused the fires."
"Sorry, it isn't up for barter."
"At least let me try it out!" Sylvie grabbed his hand as he reached for the weapon, the green glow of enchantment charging around her hand, but she was forced to let go as the creature's arm burned her. "Ha, you've got nothing, sorceress!" The Muspel ignited a fiery charge, but Loki quickly blew him backwards with a powerful beam of ice from the Casket of Ancient Winters. The Jotun prince then proceeded to conjure some ice to put on his Sylvie's burnt hand. The other giants took a step back as they recognized both the chilling weapon and the Jotun features that were made visible on Loki's body.
"A Frost Giant?! I thought they were extinct!"
"Who-who are you?"
Loki sighed. "I may as well: someone always figures out. I am Loki, the biological son of the Jotun king Laufey. I traveled here from thousands of years in the past. I don't suppose I was the one who exterminated my race in your universe?"
"…yes, you were. And you died not long after."
"Interesting, but not important at the moment." Loki pointed his casket at him. "Where do we find the Muspel who's responsible for the fires?"
He tilted his head. "Go that way. Follow The Blazing Trail, and you'll find the answers you seek."
"Thank you, we'll do just that." The detective trio followed his directions until they reached a path of brimstone, marked between towering walls of flame.
Mobius gulped. "Yeah, this really feels like we're walking into a trap!"
"I agree. If you'd like to turn back, now might be your final chance!"
The human analyst nodded. "But I have a stronger feeling you'll both need me in there with you, you know? Weird, huh? Then again, I am from Texas, so it'll take more than scorching heat to stop me now!"
Sylvie smiled. "You are brave for a human, I'll give you that!" They walked confidently yet cautiously into the entrance, banded together along The Blazing Trail. They walked along, turning direction as the fiery enclosure directed them.
"A maze, huh? Not very futuristic, if you ask me." Mobius commented.
"No, I suppose not, but we can still be creative with this." Loki doubled back and fired an icy beam at the ground of the maze entrance, moving it along as he returned to his friends. "For starters, we can mark our path as we go along."
"Clever."
As they traveled along the maze for a couple hours, they began to grow frustrated as they seemed to be getting nowhere.
Sylvie grabbed the casket from Loki. "This is taking an eternity! How about I make us a shortcut?" She blasted one of the blazing walls with ice, but to their surprise, the flames regenerated faster than the beam could blast a hole through them. She angrily grunted and tried again, this time with Loki's telekinetic boost, but their efforts were in vain.
"It looks like this maze is shortcut-proof." Mobius theorized. Before they continued on their way, however, Sylvie looked back and noticed a ripple-like movement from the flames she'd just struck.
"Hey guys, look." They gathered around her, gazing at the sight until a fiery face suddenly popped out at them!
"Hiya tourists! Enjoying the maze so far?" Sylvie shot another beam of ice at the spot, but the face disappeared back inside it before it hit, popping back out from the opposite flaming wall. "We haven't had visitors from Jotunheim since… since before I can remember. Then again, I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning." Sylvie fired another icy blast in his direction, but he ducked into the flames once more.
"Sylvie stop, he's playing games with you!" Loki warned. "He's merely trying to anger you!"
"Well he's too late: these stupid walls of fire beat him to it!" She stated.
"I'm no detective, but I'd deduce you're lost!" The face appeared once more, this time pulling his whole slender body out to join them. "If you need a guide, I'm the giant for the job!"
"Guide? Who are you?" Loki questioned.
"My name's Logi, and I just happen to know this maze like the back of my hand! Follow me, and you'll be out of here in no time!"
"And why should we trust you? How do we know you won't lead us into a trap?"
"Because I'm a helpful giant, one of the only friendly Fire Giants here, and I'm starting to root for you guys! It's not every day we get travelers brave- and foolish- enough to march into The Blazing Trail, let alone the cold-loving Jotuns! That's what I call determined!"
"Please spare us the patronization. If you'd like to help us, perhaps you could tell us who's behind the house fires on Contraxia and the other planets of the Milky Way Galaxy?"
"Beats me. That could be anyone. But at the end of this maze, there are answers you have to find for yourself! Are you in?" Logi extended his hand, waiting for someone to shake it.
"No thank you, none of us are about to get burned again." Mobius explained.
"Hey, I told you, I'm friendly."
"I mean our hands, physically."
Logi frowned and put his hand back down. "Oh, right."
Loki turned to his partners. "What do you think? Should we take him up on his offer? If he does lead us into some kind of ambush, we'll be on guard, but I think it's worth a go!"
"True, and we don't have a lot of options here." Mobius agreed. "Sometimes, you've just got to take chances!"
Sylvie sighed. "Fine, whatever gets us out of here fastest works for me."
Loki turned back to their fiery acquiantance. "We'd love to have you as our guide, thank you, Logi!"
"By the way, you three still haven't introduced yourselves."
"I'm Loki, this is Mobius and Sylvie."
"Loki? You're only one consonant off from perfection, but anyway, let's get going!" Logi sped forward, quickly leading the group through the labyrinth. He walked a merry skip, bounding the corners in a graceful manner as the Lokis helped Mobius keep up.
"Hey, could you slow down a tad?" Mobius called ahead. "I'm only human!"
"Human?" Logi repeated. "I've never heard of a human on Muspelheim!"
"I don't suppose any Fire Giants have been to Earth recently either?"
The Fire Giant slowed to a stop. "Earth? Were you frozen for a few thousand years? There is no Earth!"
"What? What happened to Earth?"
"Oh, it was destroyed in some large-scale battle, but I digress. Keep up!" The group continued along the trail for several hours, not stopping since. Mobius, by this point, was so exhausted that Sylvie had to carry him, as Loki was getting tired as well.
"How much farther!?" Loki asked. "Are you sure you know the way through here?"
"We're exhausted…" Mobius's stomach let out a loud growl. "And starving~"
"You underestimate our landmark: we won't reach the exit for a couple more days, at least!"
"You've got to be kidding!" Sylvie glared at him.
"That's why I've been rushing you through so much, so we can get to our destination so much faster!"
"Hang in there, Mo, I came prepared." Loki conjured up a huge basket of food from his magical pocket dimension.
"Oh thank-" Mobius began before Logi swiped the basket from Loki and swallowed the contents in one gulp.
"Are you serious?!" Loki raised his voice.
"Now now, I did say I'd be your guide, but I never said my services were free."
"Well, then we'll have to stop to rest while one of us gets more food." Mobius proposed.
"Sorry, breaks and rest aren't my style; if you try and leave now, you'll get left behind!" The greedy Fire Giant warned.
"Then piss off, and we'll catch up when we're good and ready!" Sylvie yelled at him. "For all we know, you've been leading us around in circles!"
"Syl has a point. Furthermore, if you truly want to help us, Logi, the least you could do is allow us some rest!" Loki persuaded.
He shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself. I doubt you'll be able to get too cozy while we're still in here, though." They all sat down as Loki utilized the Casket of Ancient Winters to get some drinking water for his team. He attempted to open a time door, but his TemPad was unresponsive.
"What's wrong with the TemPads?" Sylvie wondered. "They should have plenty of charge."
"They do." Mobius told her, wiping off sweat from his forehead. "Something in this area must be interfering with them, maybe the heat."
"So, I suppose we really have to follow this clown if we hope to leave this place. Lovely." Loki sighed as his stomach rumbled, with Mobius's and Sylvie's hungry tummies joining in.
"The sooner we get back on track, the sooner you can eat too. You aliens sure complain a lot!" Logi teased.
"Yeah, because some jerk with a torch for hair ate all our food!" Mobius reminded him. "Alright, I'm ready as I'll ever be." The group resumed their journey for quite a while longer until they reached a corridor that contained a fire-shaped red mark in the ground.
"Hey, good news, tourists, we're at the halfway point! If you three need to sleep, now's a good time." Logi said, stretching. "I'm going to take a look ahead, ensure our path is clear!" He dove into the wall of flames, disappearing completely from sight.
"Well, at least we're making progress." Mobius commented. "Odd place to sleep, but we don't have much of a choice, unless you can conjure a few beds."
"Even if I had some, I'm not entirely sure our 'guide' wouldn't return to devour them the moment I did." Loki said with a smirk.
"Heh, right. We should all get some rest."
"You and Sylvie go ahead: if I fall asleep, the heat-resistant ward protecting us will fade, and we'll be roasted in our sleep."
"We'll take shifts." Sylvie suggested. "You and I will each keep the spell going while the other sleeps."
"Okay."
Along the fiery walls of the labyrinth, Logi traveled and reappeared on the outside, meeting up with a female Muspel.
"Did you have time to clear the mark, Gnista?"
"Completely: I've never matched wits with Jotuns, so them leaving that icy trail was unexpected, but all it took was a little extra heat and igneous to get rid of it." Gnista explained. "I take it they're after Fiamma?"
"Yeah, they're after Fiamma."
"Well, whoopity-doo! She'd probably be flattered with all the attention she's attracting, like moths to a flame! How'd your 'tour guide' go, Mr. Friendly Giant?"
"I've been leading them around in circles, as always. They're never getting out of there alive!" Logi put a hand to his chin. "The question is, what's going to do them in first: heat, starvation, or just plain exhaustion?"
"Probably your putrid smell, Sulfur Butt!"
"Shut it, Gnista!"
"Gassy-Gas Giant!"
"Bleah, sisters!" Logi stuck out his tongue.
"Anyhow, from here on, it's only a matter of waiting. No one has ever made it out of my magnificent maze, and no one ever will!" The Muspel siblings smirked, looking out confidently over their daunting trap.