Bend Around the Wind by Scyllaya

Chapter 90: Unbowed

Chapter Ninety

Unbowed

Location: Unknown

He felt like he was burning, it was the very first sensation he became aware of. Again. He didn't even need to open his eyes to know that he failed. Again. He was bound beyond measure and with every failed attempt at escape he had less and less options and more and more reasons for despair. He had sworn to himself to never allow this again and now here he was; a liar once more. He was not even able to keep a single promise he gave himself. Pathetic really, and it was looking worse by the second.

'Ready to admit defeat at last?' the Other asked. He no doubt enjoyed watching Loki strain himself till unconsciousness claimed him again and again. Loki opened his eyes to glare at the dark figure, not wasting any words on him. Of course the dryness in his mouth was also a reason why he was not too keen to speak, but at least it was not his only reason.

'No,' the Other mused. 'You were never much for common sense.'

Loki was used to the taunts and they meant nothing to him, not from the Other. No matter what he said or did, it made no difference. So it was unacceptable that he was right. Loki had to accept defeat at least for the time being, for there was no way out of his bonds, he literally tired everything already. The more he tried the more damage he did to himself. The Other had not lifted a finger. He had no henchmen around, no torture instruments, nothing. Loki hurt himself just fine all on his own.

He thought it was painful to escape from that cell he was first locked up in, but he was so very wrong. It was nothing compared to this. He felt completely and utterly bound and powerless. The abnormal energy was embed deep into him like hooks in his flesh, and whenever he tried to escape they just slid deeper inside, tearing at him agonizingly. The more he pushed the more it pulled at him. The more he struggled, the more it suffocated him. He had to give it to the Other; this time around he found an adept and creative way of entrapping him thoroughly. If it would have been someone else but him in the middle of this finely woven web, he would have applauded the ingenuity.

'Are you truly so petty?' Loki asked finally. 'You arrive to Midgard as a conqueror, but you simply settle for me? Is that all you wanted, meaningless revenge?'

He let himself smile a little even if the muscles on his face felt tired and worn.

'What does that say about you?' he asked mockingly.

The Other walked up to him. He did not get angry or started spitting words right away and that had alarm bells ringing in Loki's head. There was something he did not know, he was certain of that immediately, the Other was too confident.

'How short-sighted of you... again,' the Other said. 'You're all I needed. Causing deaths and destruction was merely a pleasant addition. That planet will fall in time, it is inevitable.'

Loki stared, unwilling and unable to reply. He did not believe a word that came out of the Other's mouth, he sounded like he was justifying his own failure.

'You have already given me much,' the Other continued. 'But it is time you gave me more.'

'I have given you nothing!' Loki spat angrily, the very thought was making his blood boil.

A wide and pleased smile spread on the Other's face.

'Oh, but you have,' he said demurely. 'It is right here. The very chains that keep you bound. You have given me this.'

A heavy coldness settled in Loki's gut at those words and he instinctively pulled at his bounds, only to hiss in pain when they tightened on him painfully. He was out of power, his magic weak and trembling.