Unexpected

Uncovering What has Transpired

"A lot has changed since we last spoke." Loki started as I kneeled beside the couch, preparing a wad of gauze that we would put against the wound before wrapping him up. "An ancient evil has awakened once more..."

I quirked an eyebrow at him as he hesitated like he was trying to figure out exactly what to say. Ancient evil? What did he mean by that? I waited patiently for him to begin speaking again.

"You have mentioned you enjoyment of mythologies. Have you ever read of the dark elves in those stories of your Norse gods?" he asked, eyeing the wound balefully as I placed the gauze over it. I shifted his hand to hold it in place before I pushed my hands under his back and shoulders to help him sit up.

"Yes..." Why was he changing the subject?

"What do you know of them?"

"Not much... um" I tried to think back to my readings of the Norse mythologies, "They come from the realm of Svartlheim, which is a land of darkness and emptiness... pretty much the exact opposite of Alfheim and they had a leader named Malekith. That's all I really remember."

"That's all I truly had needed to know until recently as well." Loki hissed as I finally got him to sit up, the movement once again pulling on the muscles around the gash apparently, "Long ago they ruled the cosmos when it was still veiled in darkness, but for millennia they've been hidden after being defeated by the Allfather's father, Bor. It was assumed that they all perished, however, now they've returned."

My eyebrows furrowed as I looked up at him from the ball of gauze that I was unwinding, "I don't understand."

"Have you ever heard of the Convergence?"

I shook my head, "No..."

"Well, every thousand years the nine realms of Yggdrasil come into alignment with each other and this is what we call the Convergence. During this alignment the walls between the realms grow thin, allowing for more and erratic openings between them and allowing passageway through them. It only lasts a short time before the realms once more fall out of alignment." He explained, "Few notice the effects of the Convergence, though the stargazers of the realms have taken note of it over the centuries. I remember learning about this in my studies in my youth, but I never imagined that what has occurred would happen."

An alignment? My mind flashed back to my last conversation with Selvig. He'd mentioned some kind of alignment... is this what he meant? Had he seen the signs of this Convergence? Was this what he was so worried about? "And what did happen?"

"From what I can piece together, since no one bothered to explain the whole thing to me, the Midgardian woman that my brother fell in love with came across one of these weakened sections between the worlds and stumbled upon an even more ancient artifact known as the Aether... one of the stones of power that..." He swallowed, his voice trailing off for a second as he gathered his courage back up, "That Thanos desires above all else... This Aether was the Dark Elves' source of power and was hidden when King Bor defeated them, but when the woman came across it, it possessed her body, using her as a host. This, in turn, awoke the Dark Elves who came to Asgard to retrieve their relic so that they could plunge the worlds back into darkness."

Jane! "Why would they go to Asgard if Jane is from Earth?"

"You know of the woman?" Loki seemed surprised as I started wrapping the gauze slowly and tightly around his chest. I was trying my very hardest to not think about every time my fingers ran across the ridges of his pectorals or ribs or how cool his skin was.

"I've heard of her..."

"Thor, in his rashness, brought her to Asgard so our physicians could try to heal her. That was before they knew what it was that flowed within her vei-" he interrupted himself with a hiss at the pressure of the gauze as I wrapped it around the wound again, "Asgard's forces were not prepared for that Dark Elves' attack. They came in large ships that Heimdal could not detect even with his gifts, but they had already penetrated the palace itself with a warrior of substantial strength. He had been captured and locked in the prisons below the palace and when the attack began he broke out, releasing the prisoners as a distraction I suppose..."