To the Top of Yggdrasil

Prologue

I am Loki of Asgard, born in the Jotunheim as a Frost Giant. I was adopted as a newborn by the Asgardian king, Odin, but I never really felt like I belonged. As I grew older my brother, Thor, always had the spotlight centered on him. Only him!! It made me so angry. I felt like I was part of the family but not from love, not from affection... I was here because I was pitied. Nothing more... but I've had a happy childhood, I can admit to that. It all went downhill when I became an adult, however. I felt more distant than I did before and, as to be expected, I wanted to know why. "Why do I feel this way? Mother please... Tell me!" I'd beg Frigga; no reply... She'd have a look of guilt on her face though, a look that showed that she hadn't told me something vital. I had this sense of hatred, one that made me aggressive to all I thought had actually loved me... I realized Mother Frigga loved me genuinely, but I was too angry at the time, too depressed to see beyond the majority ruling of 'Loki is a monster, therefore he doesn't deserve our respect.' It hurt to see all my friends abandoning me and labeling me with Asgardian Stigmas, Curses, or just straight up calling me an it. They refused to acknowledge that I was still me, and that their words hurt. After several weeks of emotional abuse, I felt this magnetic tugging within me when walking past the vault. For a year I managed to ignore it, but one day my will caved in and I opened the vault. Letting the magnet guide me along, I noticed it pulled me past these all-powerful weapons. Some weapons were capable of destroying Asgard, and we had stored them inside like imbeciles. It led me all the way to the Tesseract, the weight on my heart slowly fading away. My hands reached out for the cube and upon contact my skin glazed over with frost. When the cracking haze of white dispersed a shade of pale blue replaced it, the exact blue of the Jotuns. "What am I?" I called out as Odin entered the vault.

"You are my son--" He was lying! All of them were. My whole adulthood I wondered. Why??

"More than that?" I looked into the reflective surface of the vault walls, turning to face Odin as the sickly hue receded into the unknown.

We argued for a long time. I couldn't take it anymore. I had to get my answers. One way or another... even if it led to using force.

"The tesseract wasn't the only thing you took from the Jotunheim was it?"

He was silent, enraging me beyond belief.

"Tell Me!!" I shrieked, tears pricked my eyes.

"Do you think I don't know, Odin? Did you refuse to tell me because I'm... Ég er skrímsli? I'm the monster you tell children about at night?! Is it?! Tell me!!!"

That's when he told me... but he waited far too long to tell me the truth. I knew. I already knew. I wanted to have proof he lied!! That they all lied!! Years came and went. I lost sight of my self worth. I snapped. 10 more years flew by. I had gone mad. But it was just recently when I realized I had become someone else, and I couldn't fix everything with the snap of my fingers . My mother decided I needed to be banished. For my safety, for her heart... She came into my room and told me the news.

"Loki... you're going into exile. You will be stripped of your immortality and you'll be sent to a desolate country on Midgard. You must prove yourself and rise to the top of Yggdrasil. Do as you please on Midgard, but it must be good mannered for you to come back home... for you to come back to me. I wanted this for you, it hurts mother as she watches you go mad. Please do this for me. If all else fails you, remember me. Your mother. I evoke thee, leave." I watched as my surroundings and my mother faded away. I found myself in the woods, it was freezing and snow blew around me in peaceful, hypnotic swirling. I looked towards the sky and I could see the mountains of Iceland, the clouds tainted orangish-purple as the sun began to sink in the horizon.

I screamed in agonized frustration, making my distraught known to the gods of Asgard. The gods who have forsaken me.