A Man In Search Of Glorious Purpose: Book Five

Chapter Three: In The Presence Of Another Wizard, And Farewell

The Bifrost sent us to Manhattan. The very place I sent Odin to, but when we arrived, he was nowhere to be found. "He's got to be around here somewhere, he wouldn't have gotten very far?" I said walking fast and looking around as Thor followed behind "I thought you kept him in a place we could find him?, you know how big this city is?" Thor turned to me as we continued walking, rolling my eyes at him "𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵?- why else would we be looking?" I lowkey groaned at him. I remembered where I placed him, we went down another street until we found it, surprisingly the building was being demolished. "I swear I left him right here?" I said looking surprised and puzzled, "what do you mean, right here on the sidewalk or where the building is being demolished, great planning?!" Thor turned looking at me disappointed that we didn't find Odin as easily planned "how was I supposed to know, can't see into the future I'm not a witch?" I turned looking at him back, a small group of girls approached us "really then why are you dressed like one?" he asked " 𝘩𝘦𝘺?!" I snapped offended, at his remark about my attire "I can't believe your alive, I saw you die, I cried for you, I mourned your death" He remarked "I am honored?" I replied back "start figuring out where he is, as he had a few minutes with the girls I rolled my eyes, they finished with their selfies "sorry to hear Jane dumped you?" one of the girls apologized "she didn't dump me it was a mutual dumping?.." Thor corrected and looked at me, I lightly patted his back in comfort, meanwhile somewhere not too far away.....    𝘚𝘰 𝘛𝘏𝘈𝘛'𝘚 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘖𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘧?....𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘎𝘰𝘥 𝘖𝘧 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘔𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨.....He waved his hands around in a circular motion forming a golden spinning ring, it appeared around me, without warning "wh, what's this, what are you doing?" Thor asked as he looked down and saw the spinning circular ring, I looked down as well in confusion, I looked at him, "this.....isn't me?- AAH!" I fell through the worm hole and disappeared. "Loki?..." Thor tapped the sidewalk but saw an index card with an address on it. He followed the address to a building, and knocked upon the door, but magically found himself within the walls of the building. "Thor Odinson?...welcome to the Sanctum Santorum- God of Thunder?.." He magically floated down the grand staircase up to him.

Thor raised his umbrella cleverly disguised as Mjölnir in defense "...so Earth has wizards now?" Thor chuckled lightly, "the preferred term is Master Of The Mystic Arts- you can just put that down now?" he stood there tall and noble like "alright wizard who are you, and why should I care?" Thor looked at him, wanting answers, while getting to the point "my name is Doctor Stephen Strange and I have some questions for you, take a seat" He offered, making Thor sit down in a comfy arm chair "tea?" He offered as a tea cup appeared in his hand, he looked at it funny "I don't drink tea?" Thor mentioned "well then, what do you drink?" Dr. Strange asked sitting down in front of him "not tea?" Thor answered back Dr. Strange made a mug of beer appear in his hand "I keep a watch list of beings from other realms and your adopted Brother Loki, is one of those beings" He said folding his hands together, resting his elbows on his lap" Thor looked at him while taking a good slug of beer from his mug "he's a worthy inclusion" he added "then why bring him here?" Dr. Strange asked, "we're looking for my Father" Thor added lastly " so if I were to tell you where Odin was, all parties concerned would promptly return to Asgard?" He asked raising his thick eyebrows at Thor, "promptly" Thor mentioned "great, then I'll help you" Dr. Strange straightened up more now "if you knew where he was why didn't you call me?" Thor asked "do you have a phone?" he asked "no I don't have a phone, but you could have sent an electronic letter it's called an email" he added "do you have a computer?" Dr. Strange asked "what for?- anyway my Father is no longer in exile, so if you could tell me where he is, I can take him home" He concluded "gladly, he's in Norway" Dr. Strange replied he got up and magically Thor was up against a book shelf, Dr. Strange made a book levitate off the shelf he opened it thumbing quickly through the pages "oh we don't need that" He looked in puzzlement down at the book, as everything quickly shifted and Thor tried to hold onto his beer that sloshed onto the floor "will you STOP doing that?!" he looked unimpressed with the Wizard's quick reflexes "can, I ju?- I just need one strand of your hair?" He asked Thor stood back a bit "let me explain something- my hair is not to be meddled wi- " he began as Dr. Strange quickly pulled a strand from Thor's head, with that he appeared in another room, of the Sanctum Santorum, magically Thor apparited tumbling down the stairs "we could have just walked?" He said managing to get up, from the floor, Dr. Strange made a peaceful grassy meadow appear on the other side of the portal, "he's waiting for you- oh and don't forget your umbrella" He mentioned to Thor, "oh yeah" He held his hand out as a loud clattering and smashing sound could be heard he hesitantly apologized as Dr. Strange heard the racket, "s,sorry?..." he looked a slight bit embarrassed. The umbrella flew into his hand "I suppose...I'll need my brother back?" He asked him, "oh yeah right!" he mentioned 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘨𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺, 𝘢𝘴 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘭𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘯𝘰 𝘢𝘷𝘢𝘪𝘭, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢 𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱, 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦....when I landed almost face down onto the floor "𝙄 𝙃𝘼𝙑𝙀 𝘽𝙀𝙀𝙉 𝙁𝘼𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙉𝙂 𝙁𝙊𝙍 𝙏𝙃𝙄𝙍𝙏𝙔 𝙈𝙄𝙉𝙐𝙏𝙀𝙎!?-" I painfully explained Dr. Strange mentioned to Thor as I tried to get my bearings together grunting and groaning in slight discomfort "you can handle him from here?" he asked "oh yes, of course" Thor replied "good luck" he shook his hand Thor did the same " 𝙃𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙚?!-" I sounded offended as I managed to get to my feet I looked at the other Wizard sharply, "Loki?..." Thor tried to keep me from making a scene when I made my daggers appear "who are you?!" I asked him eyeing him "you think your some kind of sorcerer- don't think for one minute you second rate!-" at that Dr. Strange blocked my attempt at attacking him, "ok by bye!" was the final thing he said, as I fell through the portal landing face down in the soft billowy grass, Thor appeared beside me, I got up as the light breeze blew through my hair.

Thor and I looked ahead and saw Odin over at the cliffside looking out, he looked peaceful, as we walked up to him "Father?" Thor asked as he came to his left side as I came up to his right side, "..look at this place, it's beautiful.." He said gazing out at the rolling ocean waves in the distance, "Father it's us?" Thor turned to him, Odin continued to gaze out as if still under my spell "...my son's I've been waiting for you.." he sounded happy to see us but in a peaceful deminor, I looked at him surprised that he said 𝘴𝘰𝘯'𝘴 he was actually acknowledging me as his son- it, couldn't be that simple- could it?. "I know, we've come to take you home" Thor sounded inviting but Odin didn't seem to be wanting to take his offer, "home...yes your Mother calls me, do you hear it?" he asked us both, Thor looked sharply at me as I slightly raised my hands in defense "Loki, lift your magic" Thor ordered me but I shook my head in refusal, it was too late for Odin to change his mind, he turned to me "took quite awhile to break free from your spell, Frigga would have been proud.." He motioned to me, I felt that aging lump in my throat form, at the sound of his compliment, my eyes tearing up slightly, Thor looked a bit taken aback at how Odin was complimenting me, it's what I needed to finally hear, it's what I've been longing to hear and the feeling of those words he said, made me feel nothing but regret mixed with newfound admiration of finally feeling accepted. I tried to keep my composure, "come and sit with me I don't have much time.." Odin came and sat down as we both came and sat with him. "I know that we failed you?-" Thor started Odin finished "I failed you..it is upon us Ragnarok" he mentioned I continued to look at him, as Thor did the same "...no, I've stopped Ragnarok put an end to Surtur" Thor corrected him "no, it has already begun, she's coming, my life was all that held, her back, but my time as come..." he weakly said "I cannot keep her away any longer.." he said in a warning like way, we both looked slightly alarmed "Father who are you talking about?" Thor asked "The Goddess of Death, Hela my first born" He turned to Thor "your sister" He finished "what?" Thor asked confused as I looked surprised at his astonishing revelation, that we had a sister, we didn't even know about. "her violent appetite grew beyond my control, I couldn't stop her, so I imprisoned her, locked her away, she draws her strength from Asgard and once she gets there, her powers will be limitless" he warned. I looked down in thought as Thor looked in shock, in all that Odin explained, "whatever she is we can stop her, we can face her together" He offered sounding valor, Odin took him by the hand "no we won't....I'm on a different path now...this my son, you must face alone.." He said sounding sincere "I love you my son's.." He mentioned one last time, looking at me "...remember this place....home.." I could no longer keep a straight face, as tears brimmed my eyes and slowly trickled down my cheeks, hearing him say he loved me, touched me in a way I never even knew existed. I lightly sniffled and looked ahead at the cloudy sky slightly parted, as a warm beam of light poured down on the very spot we were sitting, that Thor and I both got up as Odin, faded away, off to the sacred afterlife of Valhalla. lowering my head as more tears flowed down my cheeks Thor placed his hand on my shoulder, we were suddenly alone standing on that cliff, He placed another hand upon my arm looking sadly down as I could no longer keep my mourning silenced he comforted me as the realization that it was now just the two of us....and everything in between us came into view, it was in that moment I found it in me to put my defenses down- it was all I could do....