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Do you like Loki's creations, dangerous experiments, and willingness to challenge enemies that appear above his league? Then you will definitely like Thairon, the protagonist of my original story, Arrival : Ruptures. Comments, likes and reviews are appreciated. Here are the links for : AO3, Spacebattles, Royal Road and Webnovel.
—
Midgard
He stood in the crystalline nursery of the nascent Celestial. It was still asleep, close to the end of its development. Industrialization and the sudden increase in Midgard's population pulled the Emergence to a closer date. The last time he was here, he sought only understanding.
This time, he was looking for a fight.
He gathered seidr in the palm of his hand, coalescing it into a singularity. The green color collapsed into black as he increased the gravity. He kept it together with force and slowly levitated it to the celestial.
The outer layer of its shell wavered. Its limbs, suspended in the air, were pulled towards the black hole. When the first pieces of the shell broke away and disintegrated, the Celestial woke up.
All six of its eyes lit up, but it did not react. He did not know why and didn't question it. The black hole of seidr continued to grind away. It breached the shell in minutes, reaching the cosmic energy inside.
The Celestial bellowed.
A deep rumbling voice shook the cavern, disrupting his concentration for a moment. He pushed the black hole inside the cavity, breaking the energy gathered through countless years into subatomic particles and transforming them to more seidr for him.
He was making the Celestial's power his own.
The more he absorbed, the stronger he felt. He increased the gravitational pull of the black hole with his newfound power. The glowing eyes slowly dimmed, and the Celestial's golden helmet caved in at the top.
His disproportionate arms were crushed against its chest. The legs broke upward, its arms disappeared, and the helmet flattened. The golden shell was crushed into a dense orb around the black hole, reaching equilibrium. He directed more seidr to increase the pull.
In the blink of an eye, the shell completely broke down to its subatomic particles. The black, larger and denser, was the only thing left behind. The gravity disappeared with a simple command. The orb returned to its green color.
He wrapped his hand around it and pulled.
The sudden influx of energy disrupted his form. His arm bulged, becoming thicker than his chest. The rest of his body followed as the seidr spread.
He felt like a balloon ready to burst.
Compressing the seidr, he slowly returned to his original form. Once sure his body would not bloat up again, he opened a gate to the surface.
Distracted as he was, he could not react in time to the punch that shattered the outer layers of his jaw, nor the countless more that struck him in a heartbeat.
He willed the gravity in his surrounding area to disappear. The attacker, a female who gave the same energy as Ajak, shot up to the sky. He raised a hand, pulling her down.
"That," he slurred, snapping his jaw into place while reconstructing the outer layer, "tickled." He punctuated his point by electrocuting her to unconsciousness.
"What did you do?" Ajak, the guardian of the Celestial she had met before, narrowed her eyes.
"Ah, I remember you. These are your compatriots, I assume?" He gazed at the entities surrounding him. Along with the one he had just sent to the land of dreams, there were ten in total, including a child.
"I will not ask again. What did you do?"
He laughed, a soft huff escaping between his lips. "You are assaulting me for a reason you don't even know?"
"Enough talking," one of the males said. Loki raised his hand, blocking and absorbing the ocular beams. The Eternal continued to blast, while the rest observed.
His eyes glowed green. Two emerald beams met the golden ones, easily overpowering the synthetic lifeform. The beam's kinetic force slammed on the Eternal's head like Mjolnir, carving a trench in the Earth.
"Stop." Ajak raised both hands, standing between him and her brethren. "If you explain what you have done here, we can discuss this."
"Hmm, no," he winked, opening a gate and quickly leaving.
—
Asgard
Loki allowed himself a small smile once in the safety of his home. He could have killed those guards, but as they were unaware of the nascent Celestial's presence, they must have been warned.
By another Celestial.
Leaving Midgard was for the best. Even if the Celestial learned his appearance, he had covered his tracks. It would have to search the entire galaxy to know who he was.
Even then, he would be ready.
—
As he prepared himself for Helheim by advancing his control, Loki wondered how many planets had been destroyed during an Emergence and how many races rendered extinct. Had any reached the space age and survived the cataclysmic event?
Which led him to wonder about Asgard's past. Since the Aesir could not have evolved on a constructed realm, where had they originated from?
"Hildryn, my favorite librarian. How was your day so far?"
She lifted her head from the computer, her greying ponytail swinging wildly. "Thank you, my prince, it has been much the same. What brings you here today?"
"You see, I recently learned about a stellar phenomenon that could cause the destruction of planets, and it got me thinking. Where did the Aesir originate from? Asgard itself is a planetoid, not a natural stellar object."
"Ah," her amber eyes lit up, reaching for the bottom drawer.
"What you ask is a question few have ever bothered to voice. I have no answer to give, for one simply does not exist in any of our records."
A single eyebrow rose. "Come now, nothing at all?"
"Perhaps something." She held out a datapad. "I came across records from the time of your great grandfather, King Buri. They are mostly on material gathering, with orders for haste above everything. At first, I assumed they were for the Hall of Science and the dungeons, yet the sheer amount of resources harvested proved otherwise."
He took the datapad, scanning through the requisition orders. Mostly composed of ores, whatever Buri needed those resources for, it wasn't for the Hall of Science.
"There is enough here to build another planetoid."
"Indeed. Why or how King Buri built Asgard, we cannot be sure, or if he did at all."
"Thank you, Hildryn, if I come across anything, I will be sure to bring it to you first."
The corners of her lips lifted slightly. "With you on it, I might finally learn some answers myself, my prince. Best of luck to you."
—
He had never had so little to work on. The need for so many raw resources pointed to a great endeavor, yet what? There existed only one person privy to more secrets than anyone else he could go to.
"Father, I had a question regarding history," he said, taking a seat. His father was overseeing administrative work, and he was too impatient to wait for him to take a break.
"Oh?" Odin's one good eye crinkled. "It has been centuries since you last asked me a question. What is it?"
"Asgard is a planetoid, not a natural stellar object. My question is, who created it for what reason?"
His father paused before answering.
"I do not know."
"Ah," he said, blinking rapidly. It was rare for his father to not know the answer to a question concerning Asgard.
"I asked that question to my father in his youth. All that he told me was what his father told him. Our people suffered a great calamity, and Asgard was all that was left."
"That is better than what I had so far. I shall keep you no longer then."
"When you discover something, do let me know first."
"Of course."
—
With the clue his father offered, Loki split himself into a hundred shades to comb every piece of written and oral history of Asgard. He even scoured his father's private library, coming up with nothing.
Plenty of calamities were mentioned, but none related to Asgar. d.
His trail of thought led him to consider summoning the spirit of Buri, whether he was in Valhalla or not, for answers. The potential issues were too great; instead, he had a more radical idea.
Time itself.
Close to a millenia ago, he had come across an organization that had control over time. He had relived that day due to their device. The Time Stone also existed, proving that manipulation of time was very much possible.
—
Kamar-Taj
"Loki, welcome," his centuries-old friend greeted, grasping his arm. "What brings you to Earth?"
"Good to see you too."
"Come in; I'll prepare some tea."
Inside of the sanctum was the same yet different. Furniture had been moved around, there were new additions, but the atmosphere stayed the same. The aroma of tea and other hot drinks is mixed with the leathery scent of the books, creating a pleasant air to study.
"How have you been since we last spoke?" she asked, summoning a tea pot and cups with snacks.
"Great," he said, raising the cup to her. "I even solved Midgard's celestial problem."
Her eyebrows shot up, but she had more than enough control to not let the tea burn her. "How so?"
"I destroyed it," he said, creating a singularity in his palm.
Her gaze locked on the black hole of magic until Loki dismissed it. "Fabulous news, but I have a feeling you are not here only for that."
"No, I am not. I am actually researching Asgard's creation, but no records I could find provide anything substantial."
"Are you going to ask me permission to use the Time Stone?"
"Of course not," he waved his hand. "I just want to observe you while you use it."
"You think you can learn how to manipulate time from it?"
"Most certainly. The question is, will you let me?"
"If I did not, you would just discover another way."
"True."
She rolled her eyes before opening a small portal to take the Eye of Agomotto from where it rested.
"I only want you to promise me one thing. Do not change the past."
"I know better than that."
"Very well."
An intricate green circle appeared in her palm. It spun clockwise, and the empty teacup was refilled with steaming tea.
He observed the movement of particles that he was not aware of previously. Their existence was curious. Until the moment Yao used the Time Stone, he could not perceive them. Once aware of their existence, it was as if something clicked.
His seidr spread, latching on to the particles.
He raised his left index finger and slowly rotated his wrist to the left. The empty cup before him was filled much in the same way his friend's had. He did the same to the empty cookie plate, rewinding time to bring what he had already consumed back into existence.
She huffed. "You are a truly terrifying individual."
"I will take that as a compliment."
"Since you are here, would you care to join me for a small task?"
"More zealots?" He had already assisted in neutralizing several followers of the Cosmic Conqueror.
"Yes." Her eyes drifted away. "Dormammu does not give up."
He relaxed on the chair, spreading his senses. The energy drawn from the Dark Dimension had a very distinctive feeling to it. Before, he could not scan the entire planet for them, yet now, it was possible.
And frighteningly easy.
"Found them. They are up north in Russia."
"Huh."
"What is it?"
"They are doing something, not sure what. A portal?"
"We should hurry."
He nodded and opened a gate to the proximity of the zealots.
—
Waves of dark energy washed over them. The corner of his upper lip twitched. He took off immediately, with the Ancient One following.
As the distance closed, he could see that the zealots were indeed trying to open a portal. He snarled, thrusting his palm out. An enormous beam of green plasma struck the cold tundra. The zealots did not have the time to comprehend the attack before they were disintegrated into seidr, along with the ritual itself.
The explosion that followed, however, had not been part of his plan.
His brash attack must have overloaded the ritual circle. Energy from the Dark Dimension bled into Midgard, clashing with his seidr. The total annihilation would have certainly destroyed the Ancient One had he not whisked her and himself away.
Even as far as they were now, he felt the shockwaves minutes later.
His all-seeing vision showed a gruesome scene. Trees were felled in an area of at least two thousand kilometers square, most likely more. Hundreds of kilometers away, windows were shattered while people knocked on the ground, trying to gather their bearings.
He winced.
The idea that there would be anyone willing to so easily sell their entire planet and race for power already made him furious. But to see some of the zealots actually come close to succeeding?
It made his blood boil.
And his thoughtlessness had leveled half a forest, while the effects would be felt for days to come.
"You know I'm supposed to be the one dealing with them, right?" The Ancient One said dryly.
"My apologies," Loki replied. "Their treachery angered me. It will not happen again."
"I certainly hope not," she said. "Next time you might destroy a city."
—
Asgard
Once they had caught up on the events of their lives, Loki left Midgard for home.
His mind was still stuck on the destruction he had caused. Had it been anywhere near a city, it would have caused a great loss of life.
He would have to be careful in the future unless he did not have to worry about collateral damage.
The fault did not solely lie with him.
Dormammu's attempts to conquer Midgard had never ceased. There was no way for either him or the Ancient One to defeat the Destroyer of Worlds.
Until now.
Once he felt comfortable in his use of powers, he would put an end to Dormammu. Preferably after he uncovered Asgard's unknown past.
"Loki, we are having a match against the Vanaheim realm team. Come on, we need you," Thor called outside of his door.
"Very well," he acquiesced. He wasn't in the mood to argue, and it would prove to be a distraction.
As he was about to enter the scanner, he froze. There was no possible way for his current existence to enter the digital realm through the scanner without a catastrophe.
He simply willed himself inside instead, bypassing the scanners.
The match against the Vanaheim team was one organized to celebrate the millennia of peace and was outside the regular leagues.
He held back, matching the level of the best seidr practitioner the Vanir players had for a fair match.
A thunderous kick from Thor had sealed the fate of the event in the last minute. The lightning-infused ball had flashed through the almost entire length of the field, sending the goalkeeper inside the goal, winning the match in Aesir's favor three to two.
It was all in good spirits, so no one was overly sad by the result.
His concerns did not weigh him down for a short while as he enjoyed the game.
—
In the next chapter:
"I had enough," Thor bellowed, barging into his room.
"What happened?" he asked, coming out of his meditative state. The temporal gate he was about to open collapsed on itself before fully forming.
"Father won't let up with his foolish lessons. I am going to Hel, regardless of anything."
"Well," Loki scratched the back of his head, "the past can wait. Let us go."
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