Wizards

Stephen walked towards his chair and sat as calmly as he could. Adrenaline and curiosity were devouring him. He finally lifted his weight from the injured ankle and let himself relax a bit. For the better or the worse, he had taken his decision. What came next, was up to Loki.

“So, exactly what are we here for?”

“Well, a couple of years ago I captured a very dangerous being. It wasn’t safe to leave him on Asgard, so I talked to your teacher, and she agreed to lock him up here”. With a little smile, she added: “She owed me a favor, you see”.

 Then, she bent a little closer and said: “I wanted you to know that, and to help me make sure he doesn’t escape”. Her words could mean about anything.

“I didn’t know you knew how to be concise. Well, who did you catch?”

He didn’t hide in any way his annoyance for the lack of details. He didn’t feel like playing games: the spells he had cast to ease his pain were nothing more than an anesthetic and could run out at any moment. The sooner this ended, the better.

Loki became grim. That was odd. Did she expect that he wouldn’t have asked that? Maybe it was just a sore subject she didn’t like to touch.

In a bitter tone she replied: “Odin of Asgard, former King of the Nine Realms”

Now that was a problem.

“What?! How’d you even do it? You aren’t nearly powerful enough to beat him”.

“Maybe, but I don’t lack neither the will nor the wit to do so. Besides, he didn’t know I had survived, so I had the element of surprise as well…”

“So, you took him out and seized the throne? For what… power?” Stephen was nauseated “Your own father…” At that Loki seemed upset, but Strange couldn’t bring himself to care.

“He is not my father” she replied coldly “and I had my reasons”.

“Why not just kill him then?”

“Wizard, listen to me carefully: killing him is not an option”, Loki seemed dead serious now. In her eyes Stephen could even see something resembling fear: “Once he’s dead, all his spells will fade away. I am tracing his magic and replacing his with mine when needed. When I finish, you can get rid of him, for all I care”.

“What did you find?” Loki seemed confused, so Stephen insisted: “Odin’s spells, what were they for?”

Now the Goddess really looked creeped out, even if she was trying to hold it together. “Mostly containment spells for demons or artefacts, occasionally people”, she frowned and bit her lip as if lost in thought. “Well generally, all left of those was a pile of bones”

Now Strange understood Loki’s odd behavior. “Enemies of Asgard?”

“Only the most dangerous, the ones Odin couldn’t trust free, even once dead”. The sorcerer was left perplexed, feeling like he had missed a step. Noticing that, the Goddess elaborated: “As long as a person’s remains are under his spell, their souls are too”.

She looked at Stephen straight in the eyes: “There’s no way to escape”.

Was that what Loki was expecting her punishment to be? He pictured how it would feel to be trapped for eternity, with no hope of ever being feed, not even by death. No wonder she seemed so frightened.

“It’s better like this. Asgardian justice” Loki stopped for a moment, staring at Strange: “Don’t make that face, wizard”.

Stephen realized how disgusted he must have looked and quickly composed himself. “What face?”

“Most of them really are horrible people. If they were to be released, it’d be chaos”

Loki grinned, but there was no amusement in her smile. Stephen slowly nodded. Those were the people he was dealing with, he had to play their game. “Alright, so what’s in for me?”

“What?” she seemed confused.

“Why should I accept to contain Odin on Earth?”

“So that he doesn’t kill you. He’ll know that it was the human wizards that held him prisoner”, her tone was meant to be sarcastic, but Stephen noticed a hint of worry.

“It’s sorcerers” this was funny. Loki clearly didn’t expect him to resist. “And I had nothing to do with this. He’ll see that”.

“I highly doubt it”.

“Even so, you’d never actually free him, would you? You have more to lose than me”.

“Fine. But if you refuse, you’ll have no control over him”.

It wasn’t such a bad point. Odin on Earth was a problem, but one he had power over. Handing the responsibility to someone else meant giving up having a say in the matter, and that didn’t sit right with him. Strange hoped it wasn’t his arrogance speaking.

In any case, he wouldn’t let Loki win just yet. “Control? As if you’d let me choose what to do with him”.

The goddess seemed exasperated now. “I would. So long as you don’t do anything- “

“Why don’t you just put him somewhere else?”

There was silence now. He must have hit in the right spot.

“I’d rather not”

Now that was interesting. There were too many variables, things he didn’t know. Why did the Goddess need to keep Odin on earth, out of so many planets? At least that put Stephen in a position of advantage. Maybe he could use that to get more information.

“We’re not getting anywhere. If you aren’t going to be honest, there’s no point in this discussion”, he began to get up from his seat, carefully eyeing Loki’s reaction.

She smiled and, in a calm, deep tone answered: “I wouldn’t get out of this room if I were you”.

She sounded so authoritative that Stephen felt the urge to sit back down, but he managed to keep moving towards the exit without looking back at the goddess. “Make it worth my time then”.

“Sorcerers Supremes can change. Your human lives are sobrief. Today you’re alive, the next day, who knows…”

When Stephen turned to face her, Loki was grinning, her features stretched in a madwoman’s grimace. The sight was unsettling, the sorcerer cursed himself for believing he could have had a reasonable exchange with none else than Loki, who now looked more unbalanced than ever.

“It would be a dirty affair to clean up, alas. You won’t force my hand, right wizard?”

He had to be careful. “Don’t be so confident you’d come out on top from that fight”.

She stared at him for a moment, seemingly studying him, testing his resolve. When she seemed to be satisfied, she began to talk.

“Not bad”. She dropped the threatening tone and answered with a more sincere smile: “Not bad at all. Let’s make it easy for us both. You ask me what you want, and I’ll try to answer”

“Sounds good to me”

Stephen couldn’t believe it was so easy. And the shift in Loki’s attitude was incredible. However, there was still to understand which was the truth and which the mask. He made a point to walk slowly and calmly back on his seat.

“Let’s see if I got it right: you faked your death so that you could take over your father and trap him here. Now, while you wait to kill him, you need me to hold your play”.

“That’s not all there is to it”.

“Oh really?”

“For New York… I made deals to get that army”.

Stephen froze at the memory. He was just a regular doctor back then. He had no idea what to do, he had felt powerless. Now instead he was in control, he reminded himself.

“Once I failed, they searched for me. They wanted me to pay”. The goddess took a deep breath, emphasizing the last sentence. He wouldn’t let himself be moved. He knew her shaky voice was carefully constructed.

“So, I died”, she smiled “Can’t kill someone who's already dead”.

“How convenient” he wasn’t sure whether and to what extent Loki was lying.

“Stephen” she dropped the dramatic act in favour of a more upfront tone “no action of mine has just one end”.

It was like she was changing different masks to see which one worked the best. “I am serious: no one can know I’m alive. It would endanger me. The more people know, the worst”.

“That’s why you don’t want to move Odin to another planet”. At that the Goddess nodded. That also explained Loki’s strong reaction at his threat to leave. She needed him to stay silent. Probably she hoped that their pact would bind him and make sure he wouldn’t betray her secret.

“You know now. What do you think of our pact?”

“I haven’t agreed to it yet”, he had to think fast and make it useful to him as well.

Loki shot him an annoyed glance.

“I have one more question”. Now she even rolled her eyes “What’s your other end for this meeting?”

She straight up laughed. It sounded sincere “I will tell you some of them”.

“Fair enough” he answered with a smile.

“I wanted to test the new Sorcerer Supreme, see for myself what you’ve got”

“How did I go?”

“Excellently. Your teacher chose well. I’ll have to be careful with you”. She stared so intensely that Stephen felt the urge to lower his glare. It was just a moment, because then she continued: “I wanted to fix some things too”

That was intriguing. “What do you mean?”

“I have been staying on Midgard for hundreds of years. And now for that little New York affair, I should be banished…”

“You murdered hundreds!” Stephen jumped from his seat “You’d call that little?”

“How much more did they have left to live? Some few more centuries?”

“That’s not the point!”

“Then what is?”

“If you believe that your desires are worth more than our lives, you don’t deserve my time” he replied coldly.

“If my plans came true, they would have lasted thousands of years. Generations of humans would have experienced the benefits of my conquest. And those I killed didn’t have much time left anyways”.

“Time can’t measure how valuable a life is”.

“And yet you chose to live longer than any of them dares desire”.

“That’s not true”

“Oh, please, I know what that nice necklace you wear really is. The Ancient One was even older than me” Loki got up too and spread her arms, as if to welcome him: “In this way, we are equals”.

“When I became Sorcerer Supreme, I decided to live just as long as I was meant to”, Strange replied. “I don’t think that makes me inferior”.

The Goddess wasn’t quick to answer, and when she did, it was nothing more than a whisper.

“Maybe it's true what they say, the flame that burns twice as bright, burns half as long”, Loki glared pensive at the Time Stone hung at his neck: “You are nothing like her”.

Stephen sat back down, suddenly feeling tired. He couldn’t keep this up for much longer. He shouldn’t have moved that much. Now his spells were beginning to fade away. He had to end this quickly, and an idea was beginning to form in his mind.

“Exactly, I'm not like the Ancient One. I want something back from you”.

“Name your terms”.

“It’s easy. Information”.

Loki put on a smug face: “So you understand the value of it. Not many people do”.

“I don’t want your condescendence; I want your service. You’ve shown me just how much I don’t know about Earth’s neighboring worlds. That needs to change”.

The spell was draining quickly. Stephen began to feel the bruises on his arms and torso and a stinging pain in his lower back.

“That’s fine by me. We can arrange meetings. I can explain you the relationships between realms, show you forgotten places, introduce you to influential people. You have found the right person for the job, I promise”.

“Here’s the thing. I don’t trust you”

“Finally, some common sense. I don’t trust you either. But the secrets we share can secure our pledge”.

“That’s not enough for me”.

Loki huffed, looking at him expectantly: “What do you want?”

“Your blood”.

Now the Goddess really looked confused. “Why would you even need that?”

“For an adaptive tracking spell”.

“Why blood?”

“I think it could simplify the spell and improve its range of action”.

“I have never heard it being used in tracing spells…”

“Well, it won’t be just that”.

Loki was growing impatient. It would be risky, but if he convinced her to accept, his bargain would ensure that the Goddess was never again a danger to Earth.

“The demon used my blood to counter my powers. It was basic, primitive magic, but I think I can perfect it”.

“I won’t let you take away my seiðr, Stephen. Not now, not ever”, there was fire in her eyes, the same rage of a wild beast resisting a cage.

“Just on Earth, just if you betray me. It would simply be a precaution, a sort of insurance for me”.

“You already have my secret!”

“What if you try again what you did in New York?” at that Loki grunted “Then you’ll have an army to protect you and the secret you gave me will be worth nothing”.

“Well, what if you lure me here, take away my powers and send me to the Avengers? Then I’ll have no insurance either”.

It was fair. Stephen had a crazy and dangerous idea.

“You could have the same one as me”.

“Are you serious?”

“If one takes away the powers of the other, they will lose them too. Sounds good?”

“Without magic, I'd still be a Goddess. You are just a human. I would find you and you’d die”.

“I want to protect Earth, not myself”.

Loki stared at him for a long time. Then, she conjured a dagger and an ornated vial. She slit the palm of her hand, letting blood flow in the flask. When she was done, she handed the dagger to Stephen, who quickly grabbed a container on his desk and followed the example of the goddess.

They exchanged the vials and just like that, it was done. The agreement was sealed. Loki wasn’t a problem anymore, but rather a precious informant. Now he just had to keep an eye on the All-Father Odin.

Stephen was about to ask for his location when, suddenly, an excruciating pain ran halfway through his calf. The enchantment had finally run out. He grinded his teeth, prepared to hide it and endure it all for few more moments.

But Loki was staring at him weirdly. She must have caught his pained expression.

“You would refuse immortality and just embrace… all this fragility?”

There was no point in lying. Stephen slowly nodded.

The goddess seemed confused: “For what?”

He didn't know what to answer. He thought about the Ancient One and what she sacrificed. “I don't want to lose my humanity”.

She didn’t seem pleased with that answer, but she didn’t laugh either.

“I don’t understand. But I will think about it. I hope you will too, before we meet again”.

She began to turn, but then she stopped mid-movement as if she had another thought. She inched closer to him and hesitantly rested her hands on his. Stephen flinched at the pressure on his old scars but didn’t stop her. She grabbed his armpits and let her magic run through his body, healing and soothing the pain of the worst injuries.

 Stephen had no words for the calm and warmness he felt.

Loki murmured in his ear: “Maybe next time you’ll tell me what’s so intriguing in this humanity”.

Then she vanished in a cloud of green smoke. Resting on his desk in her place was a business card. On the back, written in elegant golden characters was a phone number, seemingly from England, and one lapidary sentence: “For when you’ll need me”.