Chapter 301: The King of Shadows

Chapter 301: The King of Shadows

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7th May 2013, Land of Shadows

(Loki Odinson POV)

Before Loki could question it, a small ball of light left the King's hand and flew towards the surprised God of Mischief. Immediately, power started coursing through him like never before. He felt stronger than he ever did, "what was that?"

"I have connected you to the cycle of Ragnark. You can feed upon its energies as we do. Should you help us, the next cycle of Ragnark will occur and you will ascend and become one of us for all of eternity."

Well, that changed things. This power inside of him was addicting, but Loki steeled his mind. It was not the time to wonder about such things, "I thank you"

The King of Shadows spoke up, "I wonder, small god, why do you wish to betray your kin and join us?"

"Why I chose eternity over death? Seems like an obvious choice. But also, I wish to see Odin's eyes widen and break as he realizes that I have betrayed him once more. I wish him to understand the price of his failure as I destroy whatever hopes of freedom he has, as he has done to me."

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(? POV)

The King of the Shadows looked upon the young Asgardian in front of him. Well, he was a full Jotun in this cycle, something that was surprisingly rare in the long run. Most of the time, he's an Asgardian Jotun hybrid. There were a few times that he had even been Odin's own son, although, he and his subjects tried to avoid it since he's usually very unpredictable and grows concerningly powerful at those times.

Thus, Balder slowly morphed away and the King of the Shadows was born. He enslaved another version of his father without even thinking about it. He chained him up with prophecies and fates. He used his Seers, the infamous Norns, who had helped his plan immensely, to bind him even further. It was out of precaution; Odin had once discovered their role in the cycle and tried to kill them, the fool. He was too dangerous to leave alone.

Thor was the same, but Mjolnir complicated matters. Somehow, the infamous hammer was more than just a regular weapon of Uru that Thor would channel his divinity through. Balder's version of Thor never had this hammer. It was powerful, too powerful. He even did his best to stop Thor from ever getting his hand on it by manipulating the creation of an Uru version of the weapon to be given to the Prince of Asgard during his youth. But the hammer was still powerful enough to shield his mind and make it harder for the Norns to see his future.

The King of the Shadows was proven right to be cautious of that cursed hammer. Combined with Gaia's essence, Thor's control over his father's runes and Odinforce, he was able to strike an almost mortal blow to them.

A few of his subjects actually died from the assault. Most notably, The Shadow formerly known as Heimdall perished in the attack, and his loss was felt deeply. He was the best scryer amongst them and was vital in their information gathering while planning. He was also able to interfere subtly with the mortal Heimdall to prevent him from seeing certain unsavory things that would have been essential to their plan.

The Rune King Thor had caused irreparable damage to their cause, and he thought the worst to be over, and yet it clearly wasn't.

Loki Laufeyson had come into their realm, unseen and unopposed. He used the Convergence to do it. Loki was by far one of the most troublesome godlings. Wherever he went, he brought chaos with him. To him, Chaos was a ladder. Of course, sometimes that was beneficial, but only in small doses.

But if the King of the Shadows knew something, it was that Loki had always hungered for power. In every iteration, every Loki that ever existed, he will betray anyone for a speck of power and he could use it here.

If what the Prince of Lies was telling him was true, and that Thor's plan was still in motion, then things were troublesome indeed. Not just for him, but for the people he fought to save in his home universe.

The signs were there. A few years ago, a cosmic event occurred that locked down the entire universe, including their connection to their home universe. The Norns were now blind and the future uncertain for the first time in millions of years. And yet, Ragnark needed to occur after the lockdown was over, for the energy to be sent through the connection they forged between their home universe, a connection that was currently blocked by whatever happened.

It was possible that Loki was being truthful with this. Rune King Thor had become more powerful than any Asgardian before him and that might have included the influence to put such a plan into motion. As much as the King hoped that he could break Loki's mind, as he had done many times before, he couldn't risk Thor's supposed plan from coming to fruition. He could accept Loki ascending into becoming one of them if it meant that his people would survive.

And should an accident happen to Loki before his ascension, and he perished before he could truly become one of them? Then it would be an unfortunate circumstance that no one could predict. Everything will stabilize and return to what it should be, in no time.

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I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.

Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.