Resurrection

Chapter-3

Peter knew that Loki was gender fluid. When an alien god comes to demolish the Earth and take over the Earth, you find yourself enthralled. So he had googled Loki. Read few books and knew that he was a powerful mage, a God, evil and gender fluid.

But to see Loki as woman, a Goddess. It was discerning as well as captivating. Even Mr strange who loathed the existence of Loki seemed to be held in a trance. They didn’t know how long they stared at her but it was the quiet chime that distracted them from the trance.

“You know, where I come from. Staring is considered to be rude and disrespectful”. The last part was said with a tinge of malice as suddenly a sharp knife appeared in her hand. Her voice was pure seduction but one who knew the God of Mischief could hear the uncanny resemblance of the voice.

“Tell me why you are here to ruin my evening?” Loki asked walking down the stairs with her hips swaying. The green gown that she wore was flowing flawlessly in the floor. The gold laced neck was so low deep that one could imagine how beautifully sculpted was the goddess. The long wavy hair was neatly combed and Loki’s helm was adorned in it, making her look every bit queen- poised yet dangerous.

Somehow in the meantime Strange had regain his composure- “I thought you will be hiding” he said refusing to address Loki.

In response the goddess sneered. “I am a god, you dull creature. And a powerful in that. That oaf of mine has no place in this planet whereas here I am the god of Fire”. By now she was just inches away from the two men.

“Tell me child what brings you here?” Loki asked caressing the spider child’s cheek.

“I… I am Peter parker, ma’am… I mean goddess” he stuttered feeling a nausea as well as an hint of excitement from deep down.

“This one I like” Loki drawled approvingly as she mindlessly rubbed his head. “Tell me what you need my child?”

“I want Tony stark back” Peter said in resolute.

“Tony” Loki asked trying to remember the name.

“The one who stopped your invasion” Strange snickered which earned dirty glances from both Loki and Peter.

“Ah, Anthony stark of Midgard. A fierce warrior and might I say honourable. I thought he had sacrificed his life for the greater good and defeated that purple bastard. Child for that, even I am grateful. Do you know that he is considered as God among many race?”

“I know he died and I want you to bring him back” Peter tried in desperation.

“Tell me what is it to you child?” Loki asked barely showing any interest.

“He was my mentor”.

Loki laughed, “You do realise that I am the god of mischief, and do you not?”

“I …I love him. I can’t live knowing there was a way to bring him back.”

Loki shook her head and was walking towards strange “Tell me Mr strange what was that in your mind that made you think I could bring him back?”

“I thought your daughter could help” Strange replied clearly irked.

“You mean Hela” Peter asked with wonder.

“Yes, Hela my second born. She is the ruler of Helheim”.

“I thought Hela was your sister” Peter answered already regretting it.

There was a flash of fury in the goddess as she spoke, “I knew not of some fraud woman that my adopted father has sired. That old man had conveniently put the same name to my only daughter and send her off to hell as a babe. Sometime I want to bring that arrogant bastard back so that I could kill him again”.

“But would your daughter be able to bring him back?” Strange asked.

“Hela has brought back dead from the past but it nearly cause her energy to drain and being the queen, her weakened state as always created havoc. But the fact is Tony stark is not there in Helheim. The gates of Valhalla was opened to him the moment he had made those sacrifice. I must say for an atheist the Gods were lenient to him.”

“So what you are saying is that you can’t help us”. Peter couldn’t believe that he had begun to hope even though he kept thinking he shouldn’t. In those moment he felt like a child. To cry, to show a temper. He was disappointed and from the expression of the older man he could see that he too was disappointed.

“I never said I couldn’t help. I said my daughter can’t”.

“You mean there is another way” he asked gasping for breath.

“There is and I would know as I kept cheating my death. But my child, you should know bringing back dead souls from the grave is not easy. It’s nearly impossible to bring back mortals as their very purpose is limited to a short span of life.”

“But you came back” Peter said now a little bit in control.

“Yes. I did. Honestly I cannot die. Even if I die, I will be reborn. So would Thor and Odin. We all have a part in the creation of life and sometimes we have untimely death which create chaos. But we are always reborn. Sometimes we sheds our former life but they always come back.”

“If that was case why did Thor mourn for you?”

“Death is a phase. To regrow out of it might take us time. Maybe a year, a century, thousand years but most importantly when you die a part of you is gone. And people like me tend to shed the good in us. And it turns out more menacing than before. Like I said cheating death has a greater price.”

“So if stark comes back he can be evil” Dr strange asked quietly.

“There is a chance. But there is a greater chance for him to resent. He was in the halls of Valhalla which is a place nobody wants to leave. But when he comes back he has to sacrifice some parts of happiness not to mention that people might have moved on. He might not want to be back here” Loki said almost wistful.

“He has a family here. He would want to be back”. Peter muttered refusing to give up.

“I know that you are not doing this for the family. I do not know what bargain I have to make to bring him back. In other words I don’t know what part of stark has to be sacrificed to bring him back. But I could say this he won’t be the same person you knew then. Are you sure you want to bring him back?” Loki asked her voice never wavering.

“Yes” Peter whispered unable to look at others.

“Then I would make the preparations. Strange I expect you both to be present on twelfth day from today. Now let me enjoy the evening” Loki said already heading towards the entry.

Last thing Peter heard was the sweet whisper in the wind, “I will come to collect my reward, sweet boy.”