Glorious Purpose
Currently Loki's brother, the famously gallivanting Thor, was bored. He and his friends lounged around the fire in one of the feasting halls, staring blankly at each other. There were no battles going on to entertain them. Sif sat in a large red chair, sharpening her favorite sword. She had become quite the warrior. One of the fiercest in Asgard, her name was known throughout the land, the lady warrior. Lady Sif and the warriors three. All of them were formidable opponents.
Loki sat on a sofa next to Fandral. Out of all of Thor’s friends, Fandral had been the most accepting after his shapeshifting trick. They all tolerated him now, no matter their personal beliefs. Loki had a sneaking suspicion Thor had said something.
He sighed and let the knife in his fingers dissolve, “No grand plans for today?” He asked, he needed a distraction, he’d even hangout with Sif for one.
“What does it look like?” Hogun asked him, “Volstagg is the only one having fun.”
“You are welcome to eat with me,” the warrior in question invited, stuffing another roll in his mouth. Sif rolled her eyes.
Loki stood, “Well, I’m going to find something to do, I’m sorry your happiness is dependent on bloodshed.” He needed something to think about that had nothing to do with certain ladies in waiting and noble women. His head hurt from turning over the kiss with Idunn. She liked him, actually liked him. But she didn’t know him. What would she say when she did? He had rushed the kiss, he knew that. He had wanted to get under Sigyn’s skin, and for some stupid reason had thought that was the way to do it. Not that he didn’t like Idunn, he did. She was kind, smart, and pretty. He had just expected a kiss to be more consuming. He shouldn’t have been able to focus on another girl. He wasn’t being fair to Idunn. She deserved someone who would love her, but it was nice to be wanted for once. It was nice to be loved and to be the center of someone's world. He needed a distraction.
Thor smiled amusedly from his own chair, “I wish you luck brother, today just feels stagnant.”
“Today is what you make it.”
“That may be the most uplifting thing to ever come out of your mouth,” Fandral teased.
“Hardly the most brilliant,” Loki replied.
The blonde warrior winked at him as he left, a twinkle of mischief shining in his eye. He was by far the most fun out of all Thor’s friends. Sarcasm and wit to keep up Loki’s own and a healthy taste for trouble. The only issue was that he was very much his brother as well. He looked like Thor, thought like Thor, enjoyed all the same types of trouble as Thor. He was Thor, if Loki’s brother knew how to make a smart remark every now and then.
“What if we went to Midgard,” Volstagg suggested around a mouthful of meat. Midgard was the most wonderful of the nine realms, full of primitive cultures that readily worshiped visiting Asgardians as gods. Just a simple magic trick and they were on their knees. Loki loved it. They didn’t care that he wasn’t the crown prince, they worshiped him anyway. Thor enjoyed it too.
Loki turned right back around, “There’s an idea. You love Midgard, Thor. They worship you there.”
“I do love Midgard,” Thor agreed, “but Heimdall would never just let us go.”
“Let me do the talking,” Loki smiled mischievously. Fandral grinned right back.
The troop filed out of the room, Thor leading the way with Loki only a few steps behind. A few steps was all it took to remind everyone who the better brother was. Thor’s red cape fluttered behind him adding extra authority, though Loki thought most of the time it looked stupid. He wore the cape everywhere. Loki wore a cape, but not everywhere. He wasn’t wearing one then, for instance, though the mortals did love them. He let a green cape materialize behind him. Mortals and their theatrics.
They took horses to ride through the city and across the rainbow bridge. Heimdall stood at the end, guarding the entrance to the bifrost. Loki dismounted and approached the watchman ahead of the others. He nodded his respect but Heimdall’s golden eyes remained impassive and fixed on Thor.
Loki coughed to get his attention, “Heimdall, we’ve come-”
“You want to visit Midgard,” the man interrupted, eyes finally sliding over to Loki.
“Yes,” Loki admitted, “Will you give us passage?”
“Wherever you six go, battle and bloodshed follow,” he did not move from his position blocking the archway into the dome.
“Not this time,” Loki promised, “We simply want to visit the people there. You know how much they love us. We thought it would be fun and harmless.”
Heimdall scoffed.
“What need have we for further battle?” Loki implored.
“None.”
“So why would we cause it for the innocent peoples of Midgard. All we want is to show them a bit of magic, where’s the harm in that?”
The warrior sighed, giving in. He moved from his position to let them pass into the golden dome of the bifrost. Thor pushed past him eagerly, retaking his position at the front. Gods forbid he ever let another take charge for once. He smiled at Heimdall and stood before the next archway.
“Thank you,” Loki sighed when it turned out no one else possessed manners.
Heimdall grunted in response and climbed the dias to fit his sword in the gateway keyhole. The dome began to spin, slowly at first and then picking up speed. Lightning crackled along the dome's ceiling, striking the Swords hilt.
“I don’t need to remind you of the rules I’m sure.”
They each nodded eagerly. It was good enough for the guardian who twisted the sword in one smooth motion and sent the bridge to Midgard. Thor whooped and they followed him through the arch and to their destination.
They reached Earth in a flash of multicolored light. Fandral laughed heartily in celebration, “Loki Silver-tongue!” He praised and clapped the youngest prince on the back. Loki smiled self assuredly back. He had said he would get them there, so he did. Nothing to it. Not that he didn’t enjoy a little recognition.
“Yes, well done Brother,” Thor agreed.
Sif glared at him from beneath lowered brows before turning away again. She always seemed to look at him with disgust and suspicion. He was pretty sure it may have had something to do with the fact that he had a habit of stabbing Thor to get out of arguments. No wait, that's not it. It was because he could shift into a female form wasn’t it? Or maybe because he was just prettier and an all around superior being and she felt threatened.
Heimdall had dropped them on the ridge of a cliff. Steep and striking, rising from the moor suddenly without warning. Down below a village could be seen across the waving grasses, mimicking the sea. The air was crisp and cool and smelled faintly of salt and rain.
“Reminds me of Asgard,” Volstagg commented.
“Well the gold is somewhat lacking,” Loki snarked, “and the impressive architecture. It’s all a bit primitive.”
“Which is why they worship us,” Sif pointed out in a voice that told Loki she was fighting him, though he wasn’t disagreeing with her. Maybe she thought he was stupid, but that couldn’t be right because he always beat her at chess. Back when she could stand to sit at the same table with him for an extended period of time, that is. Not that the games lasted very long. Strategy was not one of the lady’s strengths.
“They worship us,” said Thor- he took long confident strides across the edge of the cliffs, swinging his hammer in one hand. He looked quite impressive with his cape blowing in the wind- “because we’re Gods, burdened with glorious purpose.”
“Ooh, I like that,” Loki grinned, “Sounds impressive. What exactly is our purpose, oh mighty Thor?” He walked beside him. He didn’t carry a weapon, at least, not one the others could see. He was less obviously impressive, but there was still something about him that made people think twice about disregarding him. It was a quiet air of malice. Loki blamed the green and black color scheme.
His brother waved his hands around in the air to illustrate his two tiny brain cells trying to come up with something, “to prove our superiority and strength,” he settled on.
“Needs work,” Loki offered.
“Shut up,” Thor rolled his eyes, but he smiled.
“Give us your weapons,” Sif ordered, out of the blue,
Loki paused, frowning, “I’m not carrying any.”
“I know you have some somewhere,” she accused, “Give them up before you stab someone.”
“No?” he refused, “I quite literally just promised Heimdall we wouldn’t start anything. I’m not going to stab someone. And I’m not giving you my weapons.”
Sif scoffed, tossing her long ponytail over her shoulder, “Heimdall might believe you but we don’t. You’re a snake, sometimes literally-”
“That was one time!” Loki exclaimed.
“You stabbed Thor!”
“He stabbed me!”
“I wouldn’t call it stabbed-” Thor cut in with an embarrassed chuckle. ‘Don’t drag me into this,’ it said. He was the bigger, better person. He wanted to be left out, zero part of the blame should be assigned to him.
“Why do you hate me?” Loki burst out, “Why? Is it because I can shift genders? Is it because I’m a lying, conniving snake, is it because I stabbed my brother, or is it because Sigyn chose me? The one friend you had that never put pressure on you to be someone you’re not, because she was satisfied with who you are? She chose me and you hate it.”
Sif’s eyes narrowed and she advanced, one step at a time, “You are a lying, conniving, untrustworthy, and narcissistic worm! And-” She snarled- “she didn’t choose you, she hates you! She chose herself! No one chooses you! You are alone!”
Loki let knives materialize in his hands, preparing for her attack. She reached him but did not draw a weapon. Instead she grabbed his shoulders and shoved him.
“LOKI!” he heard Thor roar with the wind.
He was falling. Sif had pushed him off the edge and he was going to- not die. The air was forced from his lungs as Loki hit the ground sharply, landing on his back. He wasn’t dead. The sky spun above him, the clouds just as shocked and bewildered as he was. They were darkening. He heard the faint boom of thunder.
“I’m alright,” he gasped and groaned in pain.
“You could have killed him!” Thor scolded from the ridge above him.
“I knew what I was doing,” Sif’s voice replied, calm and even. She was obviously disappointed that Loki hadn’t met an unfortunate and untimely end.
He sat up, shaking hair from his face and smoothing it back into place with his hands. He had landed on a ledge, still a long way from the ground. the cliffside began at his feet, but there was a gap in the stone just large enough to walk through. Wind whistled through it and played over his features. Somewhere there was another opening. He could find a way down. He stood, wincing at the bruises and slipped through the crack, leaving his companions to continue bickering- likely over him. He was just so popular. As he left he wove an illusion over the rock, hiding the crevice. No one would know where he went, no one would follow him.
He followed the stone tunnel, eyes straining in the dark. His hand dragged along the wall. The wind continued to play along his face, smelling of rain, salt, and magic. Magic was a sharp smell, overwhelming and raw. It shocked and burned the senses. Loki liked it. He was stuck wandering the path in the dark, with only his hands and ears to guide him. It was wide, wide enough that he could stretch his arms out without touching the opposite side. Occasionally he could hear the trickle of running water. Finally he glimpsed a pinprick of light. The smell of salt was gone from his nose and the smell of rain could have simply been the damp of the tunnel. The light grew larger as he neared it. His eyes were so used to the dark that the sudden brightness blurred the edges of the opening and turned them all the colors of the rainbow.
He emerged from the crevice on a ledge overlooking the sea. But it wasn’t salty. It was just a lake. Like the one in Asgard. No- it was the one in Asgard. In the distance he could see the edge of the world, where the water fell into the void. He turned and on his other side was the golden city and the rainbow bridge. He had crossed between worlds on his own. He had crossed without the Bifrost. He didn't need the Bifrost.
Loki was hit with the full force of what that meant. It made him the most powerful person in all of the nine realms. Even Heimdall, with all his sight, had not seen this path. If there was one, did that mean there were others? If so, he could go wherever he wanted without having to first pass Heimdall’s judgment. He was a God among Gods! His body buzzed with excitement. He couldn’t tell anyone. Who would he tell anyway? Thor? No. With this knowledge he was more than his brother’s equal, he was his superior, the true king. No one would know though. It was a price he would have to pay.
His mouth spread in a smile and he turned and re-entered the passageway to Midgard. It was quite the distraction.
When he arrived on the other side his brother and the others were gone from the cliffs. Clouds swirled over the tiny town in the distance, lightning striking occasionally at its center. That’s where they were. Loki let himself shift into the form of a fly and flew towards it. His small sensitive body picked up on the odd electric currents as he neared the civilization. Sure enough there was Thor, showing off in the center of a ring of mortals, looked on appreciatively by Sif and The Warriors Three.
His brother summoned another flash of lightning and Loki revealed himself with the accompanying boom of thunder. He descended on the mortals and their town in a flash of green light, shifting back to his own form, cape fluttering behind him, a golden horned crown upon his head. He grinned and laughed. He spread his arms wide in greeting. The mortals watched him in hushed awe, Thor momentarily forgotten in face of this new God. God among Gods.
“I am Loki, of Asgard. God of trickery and mischief, and I am burdened with glorious purpose,” he called to the audience, his voice an authoritative and self-assured purr, “Kneel.”
The Midgardians dropped as one to their knees, in fear and respect. He surveyed the sea of bowed heads, he truly was born to be king. He would be a benevolent god, loved and worshiped by all and second to none.
“Brother!” Thor exclaimed happily, “You’re back!”
“I am,” Loki agreed.
“I wasn’t sure where you’d gone. How did you disappear like that?”
“I have my ways.”
“You’ll have to teach them to me,” his brother grinned.
Loki simply smiled, knowing he never would. Thor smiled back, oblivious to his newfound power and all too trusting of the god of betrayal. They were equals now, and one day his brother would realize it.