Frozen Tears Once Shed | Loki FanFic

Chapter 6: Those Who Deal With Devils

As you ventured further down the marbled steps flecked with gold, the stone walls around you grew colder and you heard the sound of rushing water growing louder and louder as you drew nearer to the bottom. The thin stairs opened into an enormous space where trees grew up as tall as the false sky would permit. To your left was a roaring waterfall. The water fell into a small pond that was a long journey further down a thin path that grew increasingly smaller that criss-crossed and had intersections every once in a while. The pathway down seemed more like a puzzle, take a wrong turn down a path and you'd wind up in some other poor lot's burial chamber. You followed Kit as he made instinctual turns and led you safely to the bottom.

A spectral visage of an old man appeared to be hovering over the pond of water.

"If it isn't my little Kitsune." The visage called as he eyed the fox.

"Anergias!" Kit jumped for joy and ran over to the spirit, knocking him onto a spectral floor. You figured Kitsune could be pet by him and touch him because he too, was a spirit.

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I almost wouldn't believe it." You walked over to join the boys as you slid the hood off your head to reveal a smile plastered on your face.

"You, I know you." Anergias said as he looked into your eyes but continued to pat his hands against Kit.

"This is my new master" Kit piped up, his voice was almost childlike.

"Oh I know, friend, I saw you fighting with Thor when you released Loki those days ago." The visage looked at you with an expression of slight disappointment.

"What do you see in him? Why set him free?" Anergias never imagined anyone would feel empathy towards the God of Mischeif.

"Birds of a feather flock together" you answer simply as the man being to nod in understandment.

"You are very skilled with your element. Ice is truly the force of true power, for ice is a craft. It can be made beautiful, or ugly, it can last forever or mere seconds. It is a tool and a weapon, it can build as well as destroy. You're also an extravagant fighter. The role of a Mage is to be in the background, being fairly imobalized at close range, but no, you create your weapons from your craft and fight your enemy head on, that takes courage. I'm quite the fan, I must say."

Anergias is a fan of me...

A fan. Of me.

"Oh I'm quite the fan of you, Arch Mage. Your summoning skills are unparalleled and just, wow, I can't believe you're here." You couldn't help but show your excitement which made the old man laugh.

"But as you know, I mastered in fire. I do not have the innate gift you do, fire can only destroy and must be used sparingly, you, you are blessed with the gift of an element who can unite everyone, who can build a kingdom."

You felt heat rising to your cheeks, the most powerful man said you were gifted.

Oh.my.glob.

"Now my child, why do you venture to my sanctuary?"

"Honestly, I'm looking for your journal, I'd like to know about the fourth tier, I've read evey book on summoning there is, and they all lead back to you for the fabled fourth tier."

The man looked puzzled, he knew why others wanted his journal, mayhem, destruction, death, but he got an innate different vibe from you, one he couldn't read.

"Why?" He simply asked.

"The first step to becoming a master is to accept one is an enteral student." You answered.

"See master, she's different." Kit watched you and Anergias with wide eyes, just in awe his best friends were together.

"I see" the spirit furrowed his brow, he contemplated you answer and seemed to enjoy it. His face turned to the sky suddenly with a bitter look.

"Leave it to the warrior to interrupt the scholar. come with me to my tomb, the journal is there."

"You're able to fight them off though, no?" Asked the concerned Mage.

"Not if you'd like this place to remain in such a beautiful state." You weren't lying, this place was too magnificent to become a battlefield.

Anergias floated over to a small door in the center of two trees which curved at their tops inward, forming a circle. As the door opened you and Kitsune scurried inside and the door closed just as you took a few steps inside.

A stone coffin was layed on a pedestal inside the spacious room which was lined with golds and treasures. On the top of the coffin layed an old, dusty, ebony book. You slowly walked over and picked it up.

By the gods, it was in your hand, his journal, the book that held the answers to everything.

"I can't muster the words to show how grateful I am" you turned to the spirit and your eyes began to glisten. Were they tears of joy? The old man just smiled.

"May I ask you a more person question before I leave?" You asked the man.

"But of course my pupil"

"Have you ever had a dream, where it was sudden, unexplainable, and felt so real, you could've sworn it was? A dream where you encountered a mysterious being who then spoke nonesense about how they were failed and seek vengeance? Where you were sliced apart and felt every single bit of the pain as if it was real?"

Anergias' expression turned from warm and comforting to frightened and worried.

"Have you ever come into contact with a species known as the Chitauri?" He asked as he rushed closer to you.

"No, never seen one, only a few stories here and there, but I know they're the army that was lent to Loki when he invaded Midgard."

Anergias let out a deep sigh and another question left his lips.

"And this shadowy figure who inflicted such gashes on you, was he wielding a great sword?"

"Yes! That exactly!" You bursted, you were excited maybe Anergias could help you understand your vision.

But your happiness fled quickly as you saw the expression on Anergias' face change once more, into a more dire, serious, scared expression. A last question trembled passed his lips.

"Are you ready for war?"