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Chapter Sixty-Four: Master of the Mystic Arts

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I woke in a cold sweat, my mind reeling from the same nightmare that had been haunting my dreams for the past year. Asgard in flames.

At this point I was used to it, but it still shook me up each morning. Especially considering they were becoming much more frequent of late. I tried to shake it off as I pulled on my clothes and pushed out of my tiny cupboard of a room.

I nearly collided head-on with Stephen when I emerged, but he moved quickly out of the way, seeing me even though his nose was buried deep in some ancient book.

"Busy morning?" I asked, tailing him.

He made for his book shelf, picking out a few more volumes. "More like afternoon. The one thing I could never teach you was maintaining a decent sleep schedule. Coffee?"

I nodded, and suddenly, there was a steaming mug in my hand.

"My sleep schedule is perfectly decent," I said, folding my arms.

He looked up at me with a smile, but when our eyes met, he frowned. "Nightmares again?"

It sometimes baffled me how all-knowing and observant he was. Kind of reminded me of Heimdall.

I nodded stiffly. "I used to have them back on Asgard. In the dungeons." I shook my head. "Anyways, I'm kind of used to them by now."

"Then why do you seem so shaken?" He asked, and I looked away. "It's beginning to concern me. Dreams aren't just figments of imagination. Sometimes they can be more." He sighed, looking back down at his book. "But my job is to protect this realm, not all of them."

I bit down on my lip. "You think Asgard could be in danger?"

"I don't know. Can't say for sure. What I do know is Earth has its own threats to deal with," he answered, looking up from his book. "Conveniently enough, today we're dealing with one from Asgard."

I nearly jumped in surprise, and my coffee sloshed onto the floor. "Asgard?"

"It's being dealt with, don't worry," he assured me with a smile. Then, he nodded in understanding. "Right, right, you'd know him. It's that lovely gentleman who tried to take over Earth. Loki."

This time, my mug fell to the floor. Stephen managed to catch it without, well, touching it, magically moving it from where it had almost struck the floor, to a safe spot on a nearby table.

"Excuse me?" I said slowly. "I think you've got the wrong person."

"I'm certain I don't," Strange frowned, looking back down at his open book. "Loki Laufeyson, adopted brother to Thor Odinson?"

"Loki is..." I took in a shaky breath, "Loki is dead, Stephen. He died right in front of me."

"Considering I just detected their arrival in the city no more than-" He checked his watch, "-Twenty minutes ago, I'd say you were tricked by the God of Tricks. Big surprise there."

"You've—You're wrong. You have to be."

Stephen's gaze suddenly angled toward the entrance. "Guess we'll be finding out shortly. Because his brother just arrived."

Before I could say anything more, I was suddenly standing in another room.

"Stephen, you know I hate it when you do that-" I began the same lecture I seemed to deliver every single day, but was cut off by a voice beside me. A familiar voice.

"Alivia?"

I turned to my right.

"Thor?"

"What the hell are you doing here?" He asked, pulling me immediately into a bone-crushing hug. I hugged him back, and then he pulled away, bracing me by the arms. "There is much I must tell you, Alivia. Loki is not dead, I've just discovered him alive in Asgard—And there's something more, I've been to Muspelheim, and-"