Legacy

Like a Dream

A little change of pace with this chapter. It is written from 1st Loki pov in a very freeform journal style (I have no idea what I'm doing with 1st person), and it overlaps with the previous chapter where he first meets Ollerus.

Thanks again for reading! Hope you enjoy.

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I haven't made an entry in quite some time. It is not for lack of events to report, just none I've cared to relive in detail beyond haunting memories. That is not the case here in Glasir. In the Temple of the Healer, grounds I could not trespass until now, I would be a fool not to document all I have seen and yet to experience. There is time to take a few notes before the students arrive.

I had always heard of the aura surrounding the temple. It is a mystical force, born of the land it was built upon, which enhances the workings of magic, a forbidden fruit always beyond my reach upon my prior, cloaked visits to Glasir. Much like my view of Ollerus, I could only ever see it from a distance, the glimmer of the temple's golden spires as untouchable as my son's golden hair. But no longer are they unattainable. I now feel this oasis of magical energy course through my body, reinforcing my power, even strengthening my muscles and sharpening my mind. It is truly enchanting. Everything I see, breath and touch brings a tranquility that I didn't know I could feel. It is like a dream, the kind I do not awake from in a petrified sweat.

Sif had led me through these grounds—her home—with a childish ease, twining her fingers in mine as I absorbed it all. My jealously for her fortune of upbringing came out as teasing, taking jabs at her intelligence, playful and comfortable conversation—punctuated with her retaliating shoves and punches—behavior reminiscent of times past, long before my 'fall' as they call it. She knows I don't really believe her mind inferior, I see it in her lupine grin. In fact, I doubt anyone sees just how sharp her instincts are the way I do, how admirable her wits and cunning.

It occurred to me, even before my slip of tongue as we stood over the Jotun spellbook, that her senses are attuned to my treachery. She is aware of the bargain I struck with Hela, not to that specific of detail, but leery of a dark cloud hanging over us. Beneath the sadness she felt for Ollerus's absence, beneath the smiles my kisses pull from her lips, there is an expectation that chaos is impending. I've seen the same weary resignation in Thor's face.

I had attempted to divert her suspicions with talk of dancing, a charade which she saw right through and probably would have called me on had my son not entered the library then. We hung in a moment of shared paralysis until Sif was drawn to him. I remained still. The boy avoided Sif's attempted embrace and I caught a glimpse of her heart breaking a little more. Ollerus then crossed the room with confidence, his gaze hard upon me, my heart palpitating. I greeted him and attempted to find common ground but he said nothing. He had established control. He has lived a mere breath of time compared to me and yet he had attained dominance of that moment. I was impressed.

What he did next, I did not anticipate. He embraced me. He addressed me as Father. His arms held me tight, squeezing my ribs, sparking a pain in my chest wound. There was a longing there, within both of us, present at least a dozen years, a need satiated with the simplest of actions. My eyes became cloudy. They would. My arms limply held him, despite what my heart told them to do. They would. Of all times for my traitorous body to make a coward of me.

Time had slowed and I glanced at Sif. She was dumbstruck with a heartrending joy. Her tears weren't as hesitant as mine, for once, and she tried to hide them beneath her hands. I wish she hadn't hid her smile. I adore her smile. I could see by the slits of her eyes that her face was split joyfully in two. That is until Ollerus ended the hug—as quickly as he initiated it—and spoke to her, essentially asking her to leave, which she agreed to do with only momentary hesitation. At the time I wish he hadn't, not only for her sake but for mine. I needed her moral support, someone to clue me into what I was supposed to do next. I had no idea what to expect.