Ragnarök (CANCELLED)

Plans of War

Loki

I clamp my teeth onto my fist as Freya touches a cloth to the wound. Waves of agony role down my shoulder, slivers of hell through my flesh. The North wing of the vault slides in and out of focus as black dots pulse before my eyes. The coppery acrid taste of blood clogs my mouth and I pry my teeth from my fist. The skin is broken in several places.

Freya dips the cloth in a bowl of herbs and water. Fuchsia Rosen leaves to keep away infection, blue Serpentias to quicken healing and ground up Silver Shades for the pain. She presses the fabric against the inflamed wound, a deep cut- deeper than I thought it would be- almost to bone and stretching from my elbow to the top of my arm.

Only three hours ago, the cut was nothing more than a scrape, not worthy of any healer's attention. We were all in the South wing of the vault. I deemed the vault, the base of operations the day I learned of Ragnarök. It was all in a storybook my mother used to read to me along with the supposed date: March 29, 2015, Midgardian time.

Since then I've emptied nearly half the dungeon enlisting all the prisoners into my own army. In the disguise of Odin, I've sent most of the guards onto the streets to protect the people leaving the Tesseract unguarded and available to me.

In the South wing the cut was slightly irritating. It pained me slightly as wounds such as that should but an hour through Surtur's and my meeting, it got worse. At one point the pain was so excruciating, but nothing compared to now. I excused myself and made my way to the hurriedly made infirmary.

Many fire giants lay around on cots displaying injuries like mine, quite a few even worse. All done by Raven. A foul taste enters my mouth at the thought of her. She made a fool of me in our fight! Her skills equally matched mine but her weapon was a different story altogether. A golden blade that could switch between forms and make my own weapon look like a child's toy! Mine bounced off her armour yet hers managed to slice through my layers creating this!

Water drips into the bloodied cut numbing the pain slightly and healing the edges. Freya grabs a roll of gauze from the wooden bedside table and slowly winds it around my arm. I released her from the dungeons two months ago. In for a sentence of 400 years, she stole cursed spell books from the vault and killed five guards in the process with just her bare hands. A perfect candidate for my army. How helpful she has been, tending to injuries, helping with the plans and recruiting more and more prisoners.

She winds the gauze for the last time and ties two knots. I pull my sleeve down and Freya positions my armour back into place. "Will that be all, my King? " she asks.

"Yes, thank you Freya"

"Be careful with that arm"

"Will do" She curtsies deeply and heads off to another person her platinum hair swinging wildly in thick braids. I push myself up, careful not to use my left arm and stand up. The room sways but I catch myself on the bedside table and the room straightens.

Surtur and his entourage of three fire giants enter the room, their feet leave burn marks along the marble floor. He surveys the room his black eyes flickering with an unparalleled fury. Walking between the rows, he glances over his injured warriors. "Who did this!" he thunders in my direction. I wince at the sound, all too much like Thor.

"A woman clad all in black" I say smoothly letting my uneasiness slide, "She called herself Raven"

A collective gasp echoes through the room along with several unearthly screams. Even Surtur shows a look of mild fear. "How do you know her?" I ask.

"We've crossed paths over the centuries" he replies curling his fists, the skin taunt. "She's appeared in many wars against me. Raven will disappear and then reappear after thousands of years, stronger and more treacherous. At one point she killed more than half my army"

"Herself?!" I exclaim. He nods solemnly. How could one girl possibly kill that many at one time? She may be a lot older than I expected, but to be that skilled of a warrior? There must be more to her than that. Much more.

A commotion sounds from the hallway and a group of fire giants run into the room. The leader of the group bows long, his breath harsh spewing out flames. "Your majesties" he begins, "Guards are patrolling the corridors and the Enchantress has entered the Vault"

"Great" I mutter and remove my dagger from the inside of my robes, "Have your men ready, I'll deal with her"

They part for me and I walk off in the direction of the south wing. The air is cool and ice sheens on the surface of the walls. The casket must be acting up again, Ragnarök seems to have that effect on everything.

Ancient relics deemed 'Dangerous' lay in alcoves covered in centuries of dust. A crack! comes from an adjoining room and I quicken my pace. I hear a tortured cry and enter the next room.

Amora lies lifeless upon the cold floor, her eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling. Crimson stains her dress, the darkest part being around her stomach. I chuckle to myself, it seems my job has been done for me, how convenient.

Lorelei looks the same as ever, time has been kind to her. Red-orange hair in wavy long swirls, green eyes and ruby red lips. Her clothes are blood spattered and a jade dagger clutched firmly in her hand gleams red. She lifts it up and the mother of pearl blade shimmers. I recognize it as the Bane of Greira, a weapon once belonging to long dead Queen Greira, wife of Bor. Kept in the Vault for the dangerous magical properties it possessed.

Her voice is steady and sure, "I'm Enchantress now!"

"Well of course you are Lorelei" I say placing my dagger back into my robes, "I've been trying to get rid of Amora for months, you've done a fine job"

She smiles sweetly and lowers her weapon. "Amora had it coming"

"Indeed. As you probably know Lorelei, Ragnarök is upon us and at this dark time, I find myself in need of a second-in-command. Would you, perhaps, be interested?" I ask already knowing the answer.

Her face lights up like a star, "It would be my honour, your majesty" She curtsies.

"Come" I say and she follows at my side. We walk into the North wing and introductions are made. My army seems more at ease now that there's another Asgardian in charge. I give a message to Freya to make sure the casket comes along when we go to Midgard. You never know about the trustworthiness of fire giants. Or of anyone for that matter (namely me).

"When are we to invade Midgard?" Lorelei asks.

"Soon" Surtur answers.

"No, today" I interject, "And our focus should be on Raven"

"Raven?" Lorelei says a confused look upon her face. I ignore her for a moment.

"She should be our target. If she is loose in this battle to come, our victory will most likely be crushed. We must capture her"

"And how do you propose we do that?" Surtur asks.

"We'll use her brother as bait"