It was night in the Plain’s.
Peaceful and windy. Just the way he likes it. Remembering his past which he had to start in the coldness of Russia, Loki shivered.
It was a lifetime ago, in a different timeline.
It has been a few days since the Ceremony and the shocking conferment of the title Prince of the Central Plains to Azief.
The World Government has also begun moving to their new headquarters a large island separate from the large Pangaea.
Hah’ Loki rub his forehead almost wishing that by doing this, the problem will also be washed away as he is also concerned on what Sasha and Sian told him and the highest officials in the land.
They discover a secret alright.
Loki didn’t think anyone would found about it this early. Too many things are beginning to steer from his original past.
‘I just could not understand Azief leniency towards Sasha. There might be something else I don’t know’ Loki said as he sighed.
Azief has decided to pardon Sasha and she is under the care of Sina.
Now she is recuperating and still a Pillar Forming Stage. But if Loki knows Sina and he does, he knows Sina will concoct a pill to accelerate Sasha leveling.
This time Sasha would come back stronger which might be a blessing in disguise. After all Sasha did level improperly, skipping the Energy Disperse Stage almost entirely.
While she may not be able to contend with the great people in history, Sasha might avert her fate of being killed by her killer.
Loki doesn’t know much about Sasha because she was a generation older than him when she died.
She died early in the phase. And she never did once bear the title the strongest which is another difference in this timeline.
Then as he closes his eyes and take a deep breath, he calmly organize that all he learned and with the release of his breath, he calms himself down.
‘I will settle that for another day’ he said as he open his eyes and look at the book in front of him.
Loki was reviewing something in his Book of Artifacts, sitting in his dark study, illuminated with only one candle.
One in particular is necessary for him.
The Staff of Loki.
His signature weapon. Of course Loki real name is not Loki. But he will never truly reveal his true names.
After all he learned it best from The God of Death, names have power.
Loki the Trickster of the Universe. That is the true Loki.
Unlike his image of evil and antithesis of the Gods of Asgard, Loki knows that the true Loki was much more than that.
And Loki remembers a prose in the Poetic Edda
A ship journey from the East,
Muspell’s people are coming over the waves,
And Loki steers,
There are the monstrous brood with all the raveners,
The brother of Byleist is in company with them,
Many thinks that Loki hated Asgard after all the story about him always portrays him as quite the troublemaker when he was in fact in the true sense of the word is a Trickster.
He tricks people. It is kinda his job.
He roamed around in the Universe and tricks those who strike his fancy. He was the blood brother of Odin and help both Asgard and the Jotuns according to his mood.
Of course, the reason he knows this is because ‘this Loki’ once went to Asgard using some backdoor dimensional door and met this royal family of the universe.
Then Loki look back at his Book of Artifact.
The Book of Artifact is showing the Staff hidden under the sea.
With Loki current strength he will not be able to go so deep underwater not when he knows there are dangerous things lurking down beneath the sea.
At least until he reached Disk Formation, he will not dare contend with the creature underwater.
Not to mention the crushing pressure of underwater exploration. He would be squished apart just by the pressure alone.
Loki slowly closed the book and the book turns into a tiny mark on Loki fingers.
‘Trisha’ Loki whispered and then from the darkness of a shadow, a woman appears like she had always been there.
‘Lord Loki’ the woman greets respectfully.
The woman is tall and slender. Her face is covered with a red smiling demon mask, with horns on each side.
Even her voice is masked with some kind of technique making her voice tone to be monotone and unrecognizable.
Loki looks at her and sighed. Trisha is a loyal retainer of his. He remembers what he had to do. His heart is unwilling but it was necessary if he were to achieve his goals.
‘My Lord? Do you have any orders?’
‘Your sisters, are they ready?’ Loki asked while sighing
‘Sisters of Shadows are ready, my lord.’ Loki nodded but he was not smiling. A complex expression was on his face.
‘My lord?’ Trisha asked as she sees her lord seems to be hesitating which is rare.
Loki has always been nonchalant and confident and that was the image Trisha has of her savior.
Loki then said honestly
‘They lack practical experience. I worried that sending them to such a faraway place might be detrimental for the development of your secret unit.’
‘They must be forged by fire if they ever wanted to stay in this line of job, my lord. That is what my lord taught me. No great men and women was not forged by the fires of hardship’
‘Hehe’ Loki chuckles dryly.
‘True. When did I become softhearted?’ he asks without expecting an answer. Trisha did not say anything for a while before she reply
‘You have always been softhearted, my lord.’
‘Is that so?’ And Loki smirks.
Looking at Trisha and remembering what he had done for her, he nodded and chuckles
‘I guess I am.’ Trisha looks at him like he was someone for her to look up to. Loki knows that in her eyes, he was more than just her lord.
He was her family. Her protector. Her hero. Her knight in white shining armour.
The reason he knows…is because the kind of gaze that Trisha looks at him was the same kind of gaze, Sofia has when she looks at Azief.
Which is why Loki pities her. It will only be a doomed love.
That is why Loki never recognizes her feelings and keep her at a distance while at the same time giving her mixed signals.
Because like it or not…Loki like the way she looks at him. Like he was a hero. When what he was is a coward.
The coward who survives the greatest war of all. He almost laughed knowing the irony of it all.
But even after knowing this…..Loki could not bear to hurt the little girl heart.
Because he doesn’t want to lose that gaze. Because Loki has never been looked that way his whole life. It was that simple.
‘Take a deep breath, inhale and exhale and be calm’ he thought to himself and then his mind clear again as he ask
‘Who will survey the nobles, the clans and the guilds after you leave for the Ice Region? Do you have a replacement?’ Loki ask Trisha
‘Greisha, my lord.’ She answers
‘Your sleeper spy?’ Loki said, a little bit shocked.
The reason is because Greisha is a 12 year old girl. Leaving this kind of dangerous task to a child barely of age, leaves a bad taste in Loki mouth.
But….this world sometime pushes people. Loki doesn’t have the luxury of morals right now…not when he knows what at stake.
‘Yes. She was employed in the households of the Councilor’s belonging to Wang Jian camp. She is a wise woman beyond her age. She knows when to keep her ears open and her mouth shut. All she needed is the guarantee her family will be taken care of if anything happens to her.’
Trisha asked and she looked at Loki face. Loki creased his eyebrows but then he decided.
Loki nodded as a sign of agreement.
‘That could be easily arranged. I’ll make sure her family will be taken care of if anything happens to her’
Then he asks another question.
‘How about the Merchants? Have any spies there?’
‘Riana handles the merchant spying network. She is tight with the merchant community since she is a merchant herself. She has spotless reputation among the merchants and as such she is perfectly placed in the merchants of this city.
‘How did you get her as a source? I’ve met her several times and I never knew she was your source.’ Loki asks puzzled.
‘I persuaded her.’ She replied curtly
‘I persuaded her too’ Loki said
‘I persuaded her…..strongly’ she replies and Loki chuckles.
‘I guess you have your ways.’ Loki said before he nodded again truly satisfied. But he must warn Trisha not to underestimate the Merchant Association.
‘The Merchant’s Association must not be underestimated. Their resource far outstripped ours. For now, we must gather information and not provoke them. At least not yet. I want to know where their Inventor is’
The Merchant Association. Even in his timeline they were quiet a resourceful organization. The only mistake was they pitted themselves against the Prince.
Of course who could possibly know that humanity could reach Godhood?
The moment Azief becomes a Sovereign, warped by his bitter experience and hardship, he set out to settle the score.
Those crime lords he aided in his rise to power, He turned them into Death Reapers. Some were tortured in His hells.
Others were reincarnated only to experience terrible fate.
And the Merchant Association?
The God of Death sent Heavenly Retribution by the trial of Lightning, Fires, Wind and Earth wiping them all out excluding only a selected few.
And the Merchant Association was no more.
Their wealth was swallowed by the Earth, their lives forfeited by the Lightning, their remains washed away by the Wind and their souls burned by Nirvanic Fire.
The First Sovereign wiped them out so thoroughly that for a decade nobody dares to utter any relations to the Merchant Association.
That is why Loki doesn’t knows any key players of the Merchant Association.
It was because by the time Loki was strong enough to know some things, the Merchant Association was no more.
He was about to brief Trisha on more matters when Loki senses something.
Loki looks at Trisha and said.
‘Dismiss’ And she quickly dissipated into the shadows, disappearing like a wisp of smoke without a single trace.
‘Who’s there?’ Loki ask
Then someone announce from the outside.
‘I am your guard my lord. My lord. The City Lord is summoning you to meet him at the Havenbrook Castle. It is an urgent summons’ Loki answered.
‘I will be ready. Send message that I will be coming when I’m ready’ Loki heaved a sigh of relief as he got up from his chair and look outside the windows.
‘Looks like a good night to stroll around the neighborhood. After all, I know Azief is not summoning to speak about something banal and nonsensical which means my head will be more swamped than I am now. I deserve a pick me up’
Smiling he began getting ready
***