Chapter 302: Of Dreams and Stories

7th May 2013, Land of Shadows

(King of Shadows POV)

In the end, the King decided to take a risk. He would trust Loki, at least for now. It was a risky move, but he couldn't see any other way out of their current predicament. He hoped that he wouldn't regret it, but he knew that only time would tell.

"Very well, Loki," the King said, his voice echoing throughout the throne room. "I will trust you, for now. But know that if you betray me, you will suffer the consequences."

Loki nodded, a sly smile playing across his lips. "I understand, my Lord. You won't regret this decision."

The King watched as Loki left the throne room, a feeling of unease settling in his stomach. He knew that he had just made a dark bargain, one that could potentially have disastrous consequences. But he also knew that he had no other choice. The fate of his Asgard was at stake, and he would do whatever it took to protect his people.

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(Loki Odinson POV)

Loki waited until he finally left the realm of shadows to almost break down. The plan had worked, and he was alive. He didn't understand how the Morrigan had this much faith in him but promised himself that she would not regret it.

Considering that the King of the Shadows did not give him a way out of his realm, probably a test to see how he broke into his realm in the first place. Luckily, the Morrigan had given him an enchanted single use bracelet that could open a portal for him to escape the realm of shadows by using the convergence as an anchor.

The moment he felt himself return to Midgard once more, he teleported to Sayre manor once more. He was greeted by his enthusiastic brother and his teacher. Who gave him looks of both worry and curiosity. His brother spoke first, "Are you hurt in any way, brother?"

Loki could do nothing but shake his head, and his brother's blinding smile comforted him. He was still scared shitless by what he had just experienced, but Thor's presence oddly comforted him. What an odd feeling. He had always felt jealous of his brother, jealous of his charisma, of his strength, of his power. But he was never comforted by his presence.

The Morrigan smiled lightly at his denial and asked, "What happened?"

"You were right," the God of Mischief replied, "they fell for it hook, line and sinker."

And what a surprise that was. Loki prided himself in being a master manipulator, a cunning man that could bend others to his whims with just his words, and yet he knew that should he ever have tried to do the same to the Shadows, they would have seen right through him.

Luckily, he had the Morrigan on his side, and what a mind she had. She told him exactly what buttons to push, what to expect and how to react. Everything had gone exactly the way she had planned, down to every detail. It was just uncanny how she could predict the actions of others this way.

"And did you complete your missions?" The Immortal witch questioned, "I know it was asking for a lot, and some of your objectives were very out there."

Loki shook his head, "You are brilliant. It went perfectly. I was able to sneakily enable your enchantments to interfere with their scrying while I was leaving. I was able to gain their trust, or at least they think that they are pulling my strings. I have even told them about Nidhogg's supposed to rise."

The Morrigan nodded, this was probably what she hoped for. The God of Mischief knew that his teacher would not endanger the entire universe by releasing a primordial creature capable of swallowing entire realms just for the sake of killing Those Who Sit Above in Shadow. The risk was too great, but it was something that Thor might do.

Oh, Loki did, reluctantly, love his brother, but he was not blind to his faults. For all he had gotten better under the Morrigan's tutelage, he was still brash and easily committed to rash decisions. He still fell for his traps while sparring. Oh, don't get him wrong, he was far better than he used to be, but being rash and making hasty decisions was in his nature.

Releasing a beast from before time itself just to kill his enemies is something that he would do. He would simply try to deal with the repercussions of his decision later. Loki liked to think that even if he had the knowledge and wisdom by recreating his father's ritual, he would still do it.

However, there was something that eclipsed all of his previous objectives. Loki had been given access to the energies of the cycle of Ragnarök as proof of the King of the Shadows' side of the bargain. Oh, the power up felt great, but the Morrigan had warned him that joining them fully would result in him being trapped in an empty realm of darkness and shadows for all eternity.

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Loki loved power, but what he learned to cherish the most was freedom. After having his emotions and thoughts manipulated by the Shadows and being partially under the Mad Titan's control after his fall, Loki learned how valuable true freedom really is, and he wasn't going to give it up after having a taste of it for the first time.

Giddy to impress his teacher, Loki bragged, "but that's not it. I have gotten a connection to the cycle of Ragnarök."

Thor actually gaped at his achievement, and the Morrigan raised an eyebrow. She was impressed, the God of Mischief could tell. Yet, the woman did not smile, she simply hit him in his chest with the palm of her hand. Loki did not shriek like a little girl, no matter what Thor would tell people later, he simply took it with the dignity of a Prince of Asgard with courage.

Loki closed his eyes, preparing to have died or something, but saw his teacher's amused eyes, "If you're done screaming like a damsel in distress, let's begin."

Loki turned around and gasped. The world was barely moving. Loki could see his brother running towards his body at a snail's pace. Wait, his body? Loki looked at his hands and saw that they were transparent. What was happening?

"What is this?" the Prince of Asgard gasped.

"This is the astral dimension. I have temporarily released your astral form out of your physical form. Time moves differently here. I needed to check the connection you just spoke of, and this was one of the easier ways."

"Are you now going to congratulate me?" Loki questioned, "I have helped us a great deal."

"It depends on the connection. It could be dangerous for you and for us, we need to see what kind of connection it is in the first place."

The witch raised her hand and a small rune appeared out of thin air. It glowed for a few seconds before thousands of strands of light appeared from Loki's astral form. Curious, the God of Mischief asked, "what are those?"

"These are all of your connections and bonds that you have created throughout your entire life. For example, this is your connection to Asgard and the Odinforce."

She pointed at one of the largest strands which were gold in color, and she continued, "it represents your connection to your power, to Odin's magic system. It's by far the biggest one. There is a small connection to the Casket of Ancient Winters which contains the powers of the Jotun race that Odin sealed away during his original conquest. But by far your connection to Asgard is the strongest. However, this right here is your new connection to the lands of Shadows and the energies of Ragnarök."

She pointed at a rather thin dark strand that seemed out of place compared to the numerous strands of green, blue, and gold. After examining it for a few seconds, she sagged in relief, "It seems like the connection is simply an incentive. It's supposed to grant you small bursts of power and keep you in a state of euphoria when you use it. It gives an illusion of more power than there actually is, but it's a connection, nonetheless and with it, full access to the realm of shadows. It doesn't corrupt you nor is it used to spy on you in any way, but it can be removed or strengthened at any time. You're in the clear, Loki."

Loki paled at the thoughts of what this connection could have entailed, "I didn't think…"

"Exactly, you didn't think. What you have done is a boon for our cause Loki, and a strong one at that, but you shouldn't accept power just like that, without a second thought. Power always has a price and most of the time it's not a good one. You are a smart guy, Loki. You just need to think things through sometimes. For some reason for all your intelligence, you have the tendency to make rash decisions that almost always hurt you in the long run."

The God of Mischief looked down in shame. It seems even now, his greed for power often blinds him to the prices that might entail. His thoughts were interrupted by the Morrigan, "However, what you accomplished is still very impressive. With your connection to Ragnarök's energy, you have saved us a lot of time and effort, and we can more easily set our trap. You have done well, Loki, and I am proud of you."

Before Loki could react, his astral form was pushed back to his frozen body and time resumed. He saw his brother leap towards him, "Loki!!"

The God of Mischief was then levitated telekinetically by the Morrigan, and he was able to stand up once more, "Don't worry Thor, she just wanted to see if there was something wrong with the connection. Everything is fine."

The God of Thunder let out a sigh of relief and nodded, "You did very well, brother. I am glad that you are well, this will be a boon in our fight for Asgard's freedom."

The Morrigan nodded, "Honestly, I would have been happy with the clouding enchantment alone. We can now fully start our preparations for the attack. But your ruse with the Dragon of the End, and your proximity to them will be a crucial advantage that we did not have earlier. You have succeeded in your mission and more. Your father will be proud of you, Loki."

Loki had to physically stop the small tears of joy from leaving his eyes and just nodded to seem composed. This was the first time anyone had acknowledged him and his achievements. That was all he ever really wished for in his childhood, and he guesses that he still wished for it from the number of emotions he was doing his best to repress.

But one thing was still bugging him, "I still don't know why you revealed the fact that Thor was planning on releasing Nidhogg to kill them. They will prepare against a heavy assault to prevent this."

The eternal witch nodded, "yes, they will. And they will be distracted by fighting it, to stop the hidden traps that we will have in the frontal attack."

Oh, that made sense. They pretended that the army was the distraction while the Dragon of the End was the true weapon. This way, the shadows would be distracted by the dragon while the army would activate the Morrigan's trap, whatever that may be.

Wait a minute, did she say that they will be fighting Nidhogg? "Please tell me that I heard it wrong, but you just said that they would be fighting Nidhogg. You're not planning on really releasing the Dragon of the End, are you?"

The infuriating woman didn't answer but instead gave him a smug smirk. She turned around and left, "It's time for Odin to start his phase of the plan."

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