My consciousness came back like fog.

My memories were muddled, my thoughts crashing desperately yet vaguely into my mind, and my awareness present, but weak.

It felt like I was there, but wasn't, all at the same time.

It stayed like that for a few moments. And when my turbulent feelings settled down a bit, I opened my eyes.

I didn't know exactly what I was expecting to see, but when I saw trees and leaves and the warm sunshine trying to peek through them, I felt... weird. For some unknown reason, the strangely familiar sensation of my pulse quickening made itself known. Not long after, my breaths began to come out in an uncontrolled, ragged manner. A sinking feeling in the back of my mind made my stomach churn.

Ignoring the slightly disturbing feeling, I slowly got up, supporting my weight with my arms that were shaking slightly even though it didn't seem like I was particularly heavy. As I did so, I caught sight of my forearms. Again, I wasn't sure what I expected to see, but seeing thin, lanky arms covered in soot and dirt just added to the feeling of weirdness that was settling in my gut. I shook my head and looked up, taking in the sight around me as I stood on my feet.

I was in a forest.

A rainforest, to be exact.

Everything felt damp, so damp it was almost too uncomfortable. Especially since I wasn't used to feeling . The animal noises I was anticipating hadn't come. There was simply silence. No birds, no howls, no crickets...

Nothing.

Just me, the wind, and the constant dripping sound of drops of water hitting solid surfaces.

The unease increased tenfold.

Wait.

I froze.

How... Can I feel these things?

Familiar and unfamiliar...

Discomfort...

Unease...

A soul isn't supposed to have the privilege to feel, and myself being a little different from others shouldn't be enough of a reason for this to happen.

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So why is this happening?

Suddenly, my throat felt dry. My eyes seemed to stay focused on the dry earth I was stepping on, but in truth, everything was blurry. The blood running through my veins was gradually becoming colder and colder and eventually, the idea of movement became a distant reality.

Why? What's happening?

Why me?

Where am I?

What the hell am I doing here?

While I stood--trembling all over as my eyes burned a hole into the ground--a sudden name came to mind.

Loki.

And with that thought, a somewhat transparent bluish box made itself known with a little pop that resounded in my head like a bomb.

I had been barely holding on to my consciousness during my episode, but when I saw what was written on that box, whatever hold I had on myself was completely blown away.

[ Hi. ]

For some unknown reason, as I read that statement, a voice read that very same thing out loud.

And it was an extremely familiar voice at that.

...Wait.

Huh?

[ Yo, it's Loki. How's your new life goin'? ]

Ah.

Shit.

___

Loki blinked at the portal.

Then he turned to a man clad in black armor.

The god had a complicated expression on his face. After a few moments, he opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again. This was repeated a couple of times before a word finally got out of his mouth.

"She fainted."

"..."

The way Loki said it almost made the armored man slap his hand on his forehead. But with his respect for the lord, he opted to keep his hands by his side and spoke in a slightly strangled voice.

"... Yes. She did, master."

Loki stared at the portal which showed the figure of a young girl laying on the ground, her pale skin almost glowing underneath the glare of the sun.

"...Why?" Loki muttered, "I didn't do anything wrong, did I? Were there problems with the unification of the body and soul? But the vessel was empty..."

Before Loki could mislead himself even further, his companion spoke out.

"Master, I don't think that's it."

Loki looked at him. "What could it possibly be, then?"

"I think she's just starting to process the shock of... Well, your existence," The man coughed out, his expression beneath the obsidian helmet slightly distorted. "You aren't exactly something that humans from that realm consider real."

Loki stared at him for a second, before looking back at the window portal, humming in agreement. "I know. But I don't think that's it."

"Eh, then maybe it's the memories coming back," the armored man muttered thoughtlessly, his gaze focused on the same thing that his Lord was staring at.

A breath passed.

Loki stiffened.

The man blinked.

Then their eyes met.

"Memories...?"

Loki gaped at the portal.

"They're not supposed to exist anymore," he whispered under his breath. "I made sure of that...!"

His voice rose in volume and despite his face desperately trying to look like something between angry and scared, the interest that flashed in his golden eyes betrayed his efforts to portray a sensible reaction. The man in the armor simply stared at the portal, speechless. Loki didn't know what expression he was making either. He never really takes his helmet off.

"I wonder if she's that soul Hades used to talk about..." Loki muttered under his breath, the beginning of a smirk forming on his lips.

All of a sudden, a loud bang resounded throughout the space white room, shocking the master an servant pair out of their stupor.

Following the thunderous noise was a female voice that was more than capable of bringing millions of men to their knees if they heard even only hum of it.

"Loki."

The god froze in his seat.

That voice... He was very familiar with it.

"Loki," the gentle voice called out for a second time, and was, for some reason, laced with the venomous sharpness similar to that of a snake's fangs.

His throat felt somewhat dry.

"Loki."

A slight warning.

Loki refused to move.

The newcomer sucked in a breath, as if trying to hold herself back.

"Child, do tell me--"

Loki felt the cold, instantaneous embrace of the wind, and along with it, as if riding on the gale, appeared something similar to a distortion in space, almost making the god knock himself over as he desperately tried to stay away.

In a split-second, the inhuman thing that suddenly appeared in front of him slowly settled, and in its place stood a tall woman with platinum blonde hair. Her beauty was something that could never amount to anything less than ethereal, and her green eyes shone with controlled wisdom and dominance.

Loki opened his mouth to explain, despite the woman not having said a thing except his name just yet.

"A-Athena, I--"

Unfortunately for him, the goddess never intended to listen to his so-called explanation that would most likely just be a masterpiece of firmly woven lies.

She walked towards him with slow, elegant steps, then suddenly disappeared, only to flash right before his eyes, her accusing green orbs staring into his guilty, frightened golden ones.

"What did you do this time?"