"Soul Keeper." Loki came to a stop, breathing heavily. The teleportation came at a great magical cost, only the supreme sorcerers could hope to find this place. "I have come to bargain."
An ominous silence greeted them. Tom looked left and right, then back at Loki. He had only seen this place in Loki's memories, and the latter had only ever read about it. None of the stories could do this place justice; the aura was charged with tremendous power.
"Loki Odinson." A booming voice shook the crystal pillars and stalactites, which lit up one after the other, bathing them in dim light. This wasn't a cave - it was a throne room, after all. Tom held Nathaniel tighter to his chest.
"Your never ending dance with death and life amazes me."
"My dance hopefully comes to an end tonight."
"Foreboding words."
The Soul Keeper looked nothing like the books described. Not a cloaked, somber man with a sickle. No hounds, no monsters at the foot of his throne. No tortured faces covering a cave's irregular walls. This was entirely different.
The stalactites and stalagmites consolidated an elegant throne room, illuminating it in all sorts of colors - both known and unknown. Tom was right to proceed with caution - not too far from their feet, the crystal ground seemingly ended into a pool of clear water. A slight unrest danced over the surface, reflecting the light to the walls in all sorts of shapes. Tom felt himself grow sleepier upon looking closely, and snapped his gaze away, focusing on the Soul Keeper.
A figure tall as a Frost Giant, of a graceful shape, cloaked in white garment. Equally white hair framed a timeless face; he had no age.
"You have given my soul free at the request of my mother Frigga, Queen of Asgard. She gave you Odin. If not for her, I would not be here now."
"And I bitterly regret her untimely death." A hint of sadness washed over his expression, giving away what he would never admit - his great power came with great responsibility, which condemned him to an existence of loneliness. His attention shifted to Tom.
"Is that fear I sense in you, shadow?"
Tom kept his face hard as stone. This man wasn't a monster, but he was in no way to be underestimated. He gulped, warning his voice not to fail him, as he raised his chin toward the throne. "It's been a very long day."
Indeed it was. They all painted an appalling picture; Loki, covered in blood with the face of a mad man; in his arms the tormented corpse of Caroline, pale as death and equally soaked in blood with a hideous gash marring her throat and a disfigured torso; Tom, with blood-shot, swollen eyes, cradling a baby a little too anxious and too tight.
"Please forgive me, you must know, your kind has always sparked a certain... interest in me."
Tom stared up to him. What did he expect for a reply? This was in no way a compliment, it was drenched in cynicism. Tom wasn't in the mood for witty banter. This day extracted a heavy toll.
"Resistant, and yet so vulnerable. Truly the unification of human and immortal life. A perverse idea."
"I didn't get to choose."
"No, of course you didn't. Your soul twin however... " His unsettling eyes, constantly changing in colour, wandered lazily back to Loki, and the tribute in his arms. The Soul Keeper rose. "You have come to me with a gift, haven't you?"
"I am not here for Frigga. She saw with more than eyes and knew. She would not want me to ask this of you."
"Then why are you really here, Odinson?"
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The Sacrifice: Fallen | Loki | Book 2
Fanfiction"A man gone insane, after his wife left him for another man, set fire to his home and hanged himself." He tied my hands behind my back. "Go to hell." I choked slowly. The oxygen in air was decreasing rapidly. Caroline. "'Tis quite a shame. To dest...
