Loki chuckled as he began to lead you up the steps and into the palace proper.  “Yes, Elskling. Thor and I grew up here.  Two rambunctious princes wreaking havoc,” he replied fondly.  He smirked over at Thor.  “And if Thor isn’t nice to me, I’ll tell you all sorts of embarrassing stories about him and his friends,”

Thor grumbled “I have embarrassing stories about you, too, brother,” he reminded Loki.  Their brotherly bantering made you laugh. 

As you strolled into the palace with the boys, you not only noted all the statues, decorations, and even more gold, but you also noted the people around you.  There were nobles and servants and everything in between living out their day-to-day lives.  You noted that Alphas, Betas, and even the rare Omega were all there.  The people you passed in the hall moved out of your way.  They bowed or curtsied, gave polite greetings to the princes as you passed.  It took passing by a few of them for you to notice that their reverent tone and words weren’t just for the princes.  They greeted you as ‘lady Omega’, giving you the same respect and honor as their princes.

And, as Loki and Thor had said, their Omegas weren’t collared. 

The Omegas you saw were closely accompanied, escorted and protected, honored, and cherished. 

They weren’t enslaved or treated as second-class citizens. 

Your grip on Loki’s arm tightened as your emotions swirled at the realization of just how different things were here.  You couldn’t quite tell what you were feeling in the moment, your emotions were swirling too quickly.  Your free hand went to the collar around your neck.  It felt shameful, somehow, degrading, like you were lesser because of it.  The thoughts and feelings weren’t your fault and you accepted that those feelings were valid.  It was just… so unfair.  And it hurt more than you wanted to admit.

Loki leaned down and kissed your hair.  “Elskling?  Are you alright?” He asked gently, sensing your mood and trying to draw you back from such dark thoughts.

You looked up at him and tried to give him a reassuring smile.  “Just lost in thought,” you replied.  He didn’t look like he believed you, but also accepted that you didn’t want to discuss your thoughts in public. 

“We’re almost to the throne room.  The first thing we need to do is announce to Father that we’re home,” Loki told you as you approached a set of giant double doors. 

“He isn’t going to hurt her,” Thor reminded Loki.  “You don’t have to sound so worried,”

“He doesn’t exactly like me,” Loki countered quickly.

You squeezed Loki’s arm again and purred softly, spreading your aura to soothe him.  “It’ll be alright.  We’re together,” you reminded him.

Loki kissed your hair again. “You’re so precious,” he told you before he turned to face the double doors at Thor’s side.  You saw him steel his spine, saw his court mask slip into place, as he had to mask his personality in front of his father.  It was a feeling all neurodivergents knew all too well.

“Ugh,” Loki sighed, exasperated. “No, not forever. Just a few hours. You’ll be fine.”

He made a small incision in her skin and revealed the chip. He gently pried it free with some tweezers and tossed it in the dirt, smashing it with his heel. Using another spell, he stitched up the small incision with glowing magical thread.

“There,” he said, placing a small bandage over it. “Finished.”

“That’s it?” Kuna asked, sniffling.

“That’s it,” Loki replied. “See? You didn’t feel a thing, did you?”

She shook her head and turned around to hug him. He rubbed her back, being careful to stay away from the incision.

“The magical sutures will dissolve when your skin is healed and you’ll be good as new,” he said.

Kuna sniffled again and nodded.

Loki’s own injuries had healed after his run in with Kuna’s mother. Kuna had tended to him constantly for the last week, despite his protests that he was fine. Now, that they were both rested, he was ready to face this wizard.

At Loki’s mention of removing the chip before their next mission, Kuna had gone berserk. She tore apart their hollow in a fit of crying and screaming. It was entirely out of character, but Loki had expected it.

Loki had been studying up on curses more and more while he was forced to be bedridden by Kuna. The books warned of signs that a curse had become sentient, or aware of its host. Kuna was exhibiting them all. Tantrums, changes in mood, emotional, sometimes violent outbursts that ended with Kuna balled up in pain.

It was time to remove this curse, but Loki did not want to spring it on her so suddenly. He had already harassed her enough today by removing the microchip.

“Let’s get this place cleaned up,” Loki said.

Kuna sniffled again. “I’m sorry!” she cried, cowering.

“Kuna, don’t be sorry. It’s not entirely your fault. Let’s just pick up in here and then we can do something fun.”

He helped her to her feet, and they began picking up the mess. Kuna straightened their hammocks and picked up her toys and blankets she had thrown on the floor. Loki picked up his scattered books and tucked them away in his pocket universe.

When they were finished, Kuna crawled into her hammock and curled up.

“Are you sleepy?” he asked.

“No,” she said, sadly.

“Do you want to do something fun?” he asked.

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. Do you want to play a game?”

She turned over and looked at him, “What game?”

“I don’t know,” Loki shrugged. “We could play hide-and-seek or tag?”

“Tag?” she asked, sitting up.

“You’ve never played tag?”

“No,” she said.

“Well, I can’t say I’m surprised, given your upbringing,” he said. “We need to fix that.”

He stood. He hadn’t played tag or any childish games for centuries. He shuddered at the memories of playing such games with his brother. Pushing the unsavory memories aside, he looked down at Kuna.

“Tag is very simple,” he explained. “There is someone who is ‘it’ and then there is everyone else. The person who is ‘it’ tries to tag someone else. Once tagged, then that person is ‘it’. Get it?”

Kuna looked blankly at him.

“Okay. I’ll be ‘it’. You try to keep away from me. Can you do that?”

“I think so?”

“Alright, well get going or I’m going to tag you!” he said.

“Oh!” she said. She climbed out of the hammock and took a few steps towards the little hole that led out of their hollow. She turned to look back at Loki. He smiled and gave a start at her. She squealed and ran out the little hole of their hollow.

Loki followed. He straightened up to see which way she had gone. He caught a glimpse of her behind one of the great trees.

“Aha!” He ran after her. “I’m gonna get you!”

She squealed and ran away, giggling. They chased each other through the brush. Loki did his best to keep up with her, but she was surprisingly nimble.

He cast duplicates of himself and made them spread out. Kuna caught sight of two Lokis chasing her and frowned.

“You said there was one person who’s it!” she cried.

“Technically,” Loki said, leaping over another root. “We are all one person.”

Kuna ran around another tree and dodged the Lokis that chased her. She laughed as they struggled to keep up with her. One split off from the other and ran around the trunk of one of the giant trees. The other chased right on Kuna’s heels. In front of her, she approached an ancient root that formed a large, rounded arch. Through it, she could see the other Loki, running towards her. Behind her, she could hear a Loki gaining on her. She smiled and jumped up onto the massive root. The two Lokis crashed into each other underneath.

Kuna laughed and slid down from the root. The two Lokis sat on the ground, rubbing their heads. She rounded a corner, still looking over her shoulder at them, and ran right into the real Loki. She fell back on her bottom.

“Tag!” he said, tapping her nose. “Now, you’re ‘it’ and you have to catch me.”

“Okay,” she said, smiling.

Loki turned and ran off as fast as he could. He weaved and dodged, expecting Kuna to come at him from all sides. But she wasn’t. He stopped and looked around.

“Kuna?” he panted. There was silence. Loki’s heart fluttered for a moment as panic sparked in his mind. “Kuna? Where’d you go?” He turned on the spot, searching the bushes for her.

“Yahh!”

Kuna slammed into Loki from above, knocking him down. She had been clinging to the bark of one of the trees. She jumped up and tapped him on the nose. He laid there, stunned. He had not heard her nor seen her. He was impressed. His duplicates walked over, one of them snickering.

“Shut up,” Loki grumbled at him.

“You’re it!” Kuna said and then ran off.

Loki stood, brushing himself off. Kuna turned and leapt up onto a tree trunk and started climbing. He walked up to the base of the great tree. Climbing was not his forte. Kuna had already scaled a few stories of the tree and perched herself on a high branch. She waved at him.

He jumped onto the tree and slid down. Hoisting himself up, he looked for good handholds. He began climbing, slowly. His arms began to burn, and his legs were shaking. He looked down. He had to be nearly there.

He stared down at one of his clones who looked up at him with a crooked smile. Loki was only a few feet above his head.

“What are you looking at?” the real Loki spat.

The clone chuckled and disappeared.

“Ugh,” he groaned as he slid down the tree. “Okay, new rule. No climbing!”

“You can’t just change the rules!” Kuna cried from her perch on a branch above him.

“I'm afraid you might fall,” he lied. He really wasn’t afraid she’d fall. Kuna was an incredibly skillful climber. He was more worried he would fall if he got up there.

“I won’t fall,” Kuna called down to him. She stood and walked a short way out on the branch and jumped up and down on it. It creaked and groaned as it swayed up and down under her.

“Kuna! Stop that! I can’t put you back together if you do fall!”

She blew a raspberry at him.

“Oh, that’s it!” he grumbled.

He summoned the tesseract’s energy and portalled to the branch she stood on.

“Eeep!” she cried and ran off down the branch.

“Oh dear,” Loki said, steadying himself on the swaying branch. “I may have miscalculated.” The branch was the size of a large tree on Asgard. It rocked under Loki’s weight and made his head start to spin.

Ahead of him, Kuna leapt off the branch, falling for a brief moment before landing gracefully on another big branch on the adjacent tree.

“Ha!” she laughed, straightening up.

Loki smirked. It wiped the grin off Kuna’s face. He ran a few steps and then jumped, portalling in midair to Kuna’s new branch. He wobbled a bit on the landing.

Kuna smiled. The two of them faced off, staring each other down. Kuna broke first. She jumped up to smaller twiggish branches that sprouted from the trunk of the tree. She used them like monkeybars, swinging from branch to branch until she climbed up to the next big limb.

She pulled herself up to see Loki’s boots in front of her.

“Aha!” he cried and reached down to tag her.

She let go just before his hand touched her head. She fell onto a lower branch. The falls didn’t seem to faze her. Loki was aghast. He portalled down to her. She sat, half-crouched on the branch just as she had landed, her back turned to Loki. He ran up and tagged her shoulder.

“Tag! You’re it!” he shouted, laughing.

Kuna didn’t move. Loki nudged her. “Kuna? I tagged you. You’re it now.”

A guttural growl filled his ears and sent shivers down his spine. He looked up at the tree across from them. A kapka clung to the tree, upside down, staring right at Kuna. Its dark scales blended in almost perfectly with the tree. Lighter grey stripes across its back, mimicked the scraggly branches that crisscrossed the trunks of the trees. It hung just a few feet above them. Kuna was stock still.

The kapka growled again, a low rumbling snarl that ended with a menacing hiss. Its mouth opened wide, showing them its venomous, pointed fangs. Its tail whipped back and forth in jerky movements. Loki noticed two dorsal flaps that protruded from the base of the kapka’s tail likely to help it rutter during big jumps.

Loki saw its muscles tense. In the instant the kapka began to leap, Loki grabbed Kuna around the middle and portalled away. They found themselves on the forest floor at the base of the tree. Loki heard claws scraping on bark. He looked up as the kapka was sliding down the tree with its razor-sharp claws. Bits of bark rained down on them.

Kuna grabbed Loki’s hand and dragged him away. She ran back towards their hollow. The kapka reached the bottom of the tree and was bounding right on their heels. Loki turned and let loose a blast of magic. There was an ear-splitting roar and Loki felt a thump through the ground as the great cat-like creature plowed into the forest floor.

Kuna dove into the hollow. Loki stood outside waiting for the beast to regain itself. He could hear Kuna racing about inside the hollow, no doubt gathering their belongings.

“Any time now,” Loki said, impatiently.

The kapka’s head appeared out of a bush in a flourish of growls. It roared at him and charged. Kuna emerged from the hole, the stuffed satchel at her side. Loki felt her hands wrap around his leg. He lifted his hands and summoned a portal as the kapka launched itself at them.

Kuna squeezed her eyes shut as she felt them lurch through space. Another portal opened and they fell through. Kuna landed hard on her side and felt a crunch. The breath left her lungs. She gasped and turned onto her other side to relieve the pain. A mouth full of vicious teeth greeted her as she turned. She sucked air back into her lungs and let out a scream, kicking at the beast's face, trying to find traction to get away. Loki laid a few feet away. Kuna clawed her way up his legs.

“Ah!” Loki let out a cry as well at the sight of the kapka. He grabbed Kuna and pulled her towards him. He looked around. He had no idea where they were. They were surrounded by dusty plains, marked by tall rock spires that covered parts of the landscape. It looked like a petrified forest.

The beast lifted its big ugly head after being battered in the face by Kuna’s kicks.

“It’s still alive!” Kuna cried, latching onto Loki.

Loki felt his heart jump as he frantically threw out his hand. He cast a net spell over the beast which writhed and roiled to get out.

“Kuna,” he said, eyes on the kapka. “I need you to portal us to Ypintu. You know where we’re going.”

“Me?!” Kuna cried. “I can’t! You know what happened last time.”

He looked down at her. “You can do it. I know you can. You just have to concentrate on where you want to go.”

Breaking every rule he had made for himself, Loki pulled the tesseract out of his pocket universe. After their run in with the Nova Corps on Tenanci’i, he had been far more careful of how often he revealed it. He held the cube in front of Kuna. She stared at it for a moment. She apprehensively set her hands on it. A portal opened and swallowed them.

They exited the portal, sitting on smooth, green grass. He looked around. Kuna was still beside him and there was no sign of the kapka. Not bad, he thought. That was actually very smooth. He stood. They were surrounded by miles of rolling green hills, just like the ones on the empty, green planet they had once visited. His heart started to sink.

“Kuna,” he said. “This isn’t Ypintu, is it?”

He heard a stifled giggle from her. He looked down at her. She had her hands over her mouth, trying but failing to muffle her laughter.

“What did you do?” he asked suspiciously.

Kuna looked down and wrung her hands. “Well, I just... I just thought that we really liked the green planet and... and we had a lot of fun here... so maybe we could stay here... for a while... maybe.”

Loki stared at her for a moment. “No,” he deadpanned.

“But I like the green planet,” she whined. “Please?”

“No.”

She walked up to him and hugged his legs. “Pretty please?”

“Just because the please is attractive does not change my answer. No.”

“Five minutes?”

“No.”

“Three minutes?”

“Still no.”

“Eight minutes?”

“Now we’re going up? No.”

She smiled at him and slowly started to turn around.

“Kuna, don’t,” he warned. She skipped off through the grass. Loki sighed and begrudgingly followed her.

“We’re not staying here,” he said.

“I can’t hear you!” she sang.

“Ugh. What am I going to do with you?” he groaned, rubbing his face with his hands.

“Play with me!” she said. “Let’s play tag again! The kapka’s gone so we can keep going.”

“Not now,” he said. “We need to be on Ypintu!”

She dove onto the ground, rolling in the grass. She pulled out her toys from their satchel at her side and played with them, rocking them through the air.

“You’re very cute,” Loki said. “But we need to go.”

She ignored him. Loki rolled his eyes and bent down, picking her up.

“No!” Kuna cried, struggling in his arms.

“We need to go.”

Kuna sniffled.

“Don’t do that,” he said, turning to look into her big, sad eyes.

A sob left her mouth. She started crying. Big tears poured down her face.

“Your crocodile tears do not faze me,” Loki said, undeterred.

“I don’t wanna go!” she cried, pounding her fists on his shoulders.

“This is really not very becoming of you, Kuna,” he said.

She cried louder, trying to wriggle free of his grasp.

“I’m going deaf,” he groaned.

She began screaming.

“Do you want me to wait until you lose your voice?” he snapped, putting his other hand on his hip while she wailed.

She stopped suddenly, putting her hands over her mouth.

“That’s better! See, we can talk like regular people. You don’t have to scream and cry when you don’t get what you want. This isn’t like you at all.”

She shook her head, keeping her hands clamped firmly over her mouth.

“Now, let’s just--” he trailed off. He noticed that Kuna was not looking at him, but past him. “What are you--?”

He turned and took a step back in alarm. A figure was standing alone in the field of grass that had been empty moments before. The figure was tall and lanky, with pale brown skin. It stood, swaying ever so slightly in the breeze, watching them. Another figure rose from the grass, closer to them. Loki took another step back, staring at the creatures.

The closest one took a step towards them. It was nearly three meters tall by Loki’s estimate. Its skin was stretched thin and tight across its body. But it was the face that disturbed Loki the most. The face was white and mask-like with hollow, black sockets where eyes should have faced him. A singular opening for what he assumed was a mouth was opening and closing in an odd rhythm but made no noise. More of them rose up from the ground, seemingly appearing there like long shadows across the grass.

“Uh,” Loki breathed. The other creatures were beginning to move towards them. Some of them dropped down on all fours with wicked looking arched backs and stick-thin limbs. Loki could see their ribs and vertebrae through their skin. He took a few more steps back. He did not get the feeling that they were friendly.

Kuna whimpered. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Shhshhshh,” Loki said, trying to keep his cool. “We need to leave now.”

Kuna nodded. He slowly lifted the tesseract in front of her again and she touched it. The portal opened. At the sudden burst of blue the portal created, all of the creatures flew at them at once, leaping across the field in long, jerky bounds. A hissing shriek began to rise from the creatures’ mouths. Loki felt a lurching feeling in his stomach. He jumped through the portal and felt a strange pull through his navel. He expected his next step to fall on land but instead his foot fell through nothing.

Wind whistled in his ears as he fell through the air. He was only briefly able to register water beneath him before he slammed face first into the surface of waves. Blackness filled his vision for a moment before he came to. He surfaced with a gasp and looked around frantically.

“Kuna!” he cried. “KUNA! Where are you!”

A storm whirled above him, and the sea roiled. He felt a shadow cover him. As he turned, a massive wave pummeled him. He was dragged under the water, swirling about in the undertow the wave created. He regained himself, and with a boost from his magic, shot back up towards the surface.

He looked around again for Kuna. The water around him was bare save for vicious waves and foam. The water was black as night and rain pelted his head. A small ring of bubbles fizzled a few feet away from him.

“No!” he gasped. “No!”

He dove back below the surface. In the dimness of the deep, he could see a small black figure sinking quickly into the darkness. Loki gathered his magic and gave himself a boost down to her. Kuna was clawing at the water with all her might but moving nowhere except down deeper. Loki wrapped an arm around her. She felt heavy in his arm.

A blue glimmer caught his eye.

It was also sinking fast into the depths. He cried out, releasing a blast of bubbles from his mouth. He reached for the cube, using a summoning spell to pull it back up to him. It flew up from the depths and landed in his hand.

Loki swam back to the surface with Kuna and the tesseract in his arms. He coughed as he broke the surface. He looked for land anywhere around them. A wave lifted them up. Lightning cracked above them, and thunder tore into his ears. It made him flinch, but for a split second, as the light faded, he saw the shadow of a mountain, veiled by stormy clouds and sheets of rain. He turned towards it and noticed a faint red glow in the clouds as the streaks of lightning faded.

It didn’t matter now, he thought. He needed to get Kuna to safety. He shifted Kuna to his back and started swimming. He used his magic to help propel him to the beach. The waves made deep valleys and high peaks for Loki to swim over. Between the pounding rain and the stinging waves, he could barely keep his eyes open to focus on the dark line of land in front of him.

When he reached the beach, he crawled across the black sand and laid Kuna down gently on her back. She was motionless, eyes closed and pale.

“Kuna?” he panted. “Kuna, darling, please speak to me!”

Loki’s heartbeat quickened. He touched her cheek. Her head lolled to one side.

“No, no, no! Please, don’t do this to me.”

He primed his magic and waved his hand over her chest to her mouth. He could feel a blockage in her throat where water pooled. He made another motion with his hand, moving towards her mouth, drawing the water out. A flood of water poured from her mouth, but she still did not move.

“Come on, baby,” he cried. He put his hand on her cheek and pushed hair out of her face. Tears blinded his eyes. His chest heaved. “No, please.”

He placed his hands on her chest to begin compressing but Kuna suddenly jerked. She coughed. Loki gasped, blinking back tears in relief. Kuna sputtered and spat out more water.

“That’s it, darling,” he said, gently helping her sit up. “It’s okay. I’m right here.”

Her lip quivered as she started crying. She covered her face with her hands and curled up into Loki's chest, shaking like a leaf.

“It’s alright, it’s alright,” he repeated, rubbing her back and hugging her close.

She coughed again. “I’m sorry!” she said, barely able to separate the words through coughs and sobs.

“No, no, no,” Loki comforted her. “There’s nothing to be sorry for.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, my little raven,” he said, cradling her.

He rocked with her, trying to console her. She took shuddering breaths and pressed her head harder into Loki’s chest. Rain was still beating down on top of them. He scooped her up and stood.

“Let’s get you out of the rain,” he said. She continued crying into his shoulder.

He looked around. The beach was empty. The land around them was strangely flat but in the distance, Loki could make out where the land began to rise sharply into high cliffs. They rose high into the clouds, their peaks well out of sight in the dark storm. He set off down the beach. His feet sank with every step into the wet, black sand. He looked out across the water. Windswept sea stacks towered above the waves. Now and then a large surge would slam into their sides and send sea spray high into the air.

The terrain to his left was mostly treeless. He couldn’t see much in the way of vegetation beyond scattered mossy boulders. It was dark out with the storm, and he suspected it was night or early morning.

Kuna sniffled and pointed weakly in the direction they were heading. “There’s a town down there, I think.”

“Alright,” he said. He pulled up her hood. There was no use trying to dry it. The rain was pounding down on them. “Have you been here before?” he asked, Kuna.

“Mmmhmm,” she muttered. “I was a slave here.”

Loki sighed. “I’m sorry, darling,” he said. He was ready to get her out of this system for good. He hated forcing her to relive these terrible memories.

He walked for some time looking out at the scenery. It was rather boring. Ahead of him, a few scattered trees sprouted from the mossy rocks. He squinted into the rain, trying to see more but kept blinking at the rain drops that blew into his eyes.

Then something caught his eye. Great black towers rose from the high cliffs on his left. He would have started that way to take shelter if it weren’t for the state of the buildings. There seemed to have been some sort of catastrophe as one tower was crumbled in a heap of rubble and the other had a great crack through its middle. It looked as if it could topple at any moment.

“They were abandoned when the volcanoes erupted,” Kuna said, quietly, seeing where Loki was looking. “There were diamond mines there. They say they’re haunted now.”

Loki looked up at the peaks that rose above the clouds. “The Ember Peaks. Of course, why didn’t I realize. They’re volcanoes,” he said, unamused. The glow he had seen in the sky before must have been from the eruption above. “They’re still going?”

“Mmm-hmm,” Kuna said. “They’ve been erupting for almost a hundred years.”

“Wow,” Loki said.

He squinted into the rain at the cliffs. He could see little veins of glowing orange running down the sides. He did not like the thought of having to scale these volcanoes to find this wizard who may or may not actually be there. A sinking feeling began to overwhelm him. Perhaps he had not thought this through as much as he had wanted.

Another light caught his eye ahead. The strip of orange glow ran from the cliffs to the sea across his path. As he approached, he could hear a harsh hissing noise from the water to his right. Steam boiled up from the waves.

“Is that lava?” he asked.

“It’s the lava canal,” Kuna replied, sleepily.

He walked up to the canal. It was built of dark basalt bricks, likely the only material they could find that could withstand lavaflow for so long. He peeked over the edge. The heat was atrocious and made his blood curdle.

“Is there a way across?” Loki asked.

“There should be a bridge. That way,” Kuna said. She pointed to Loki’s left.

“Alright,” he said. He shifted Kuna slightly on his back and walked in the direction she had pointed.

“Can I get down?” she asked.

“Do you feel okay to walk?” he asked, pausing.

“I think so,” she said. He set her down on her feet and steadied her as she wobbled a bit.

“I don’t mind carrying you,” Loki said, a little worried.

“I’m fine,” she said, sniffling and wiping her nose on her sleeve.

Loki could tell she was exhausted. She took his hand, and they walked a short way. Loki spotted a bridge built over the canal. He could not immediately identify the material it was made of. It seemed to be some kind of stone. The lava popped and stung as rain hit its surface. Even through all the rain, the surface of this lava river had not hardened and flowed with some force.

“That’s a lot of lava,” he said.

“That’s why the Masters had these canals built,” Kuna said. “They wanted to keep it away from the farms and towns. I heard one Master say that the Peaks will never stop erupting. Ever.”

She walked up to the bridge and started up the steps. Loki caught her arm.

“That doesn’t seem safe,” he said.

“It is,” Kuna said. She peered over the edge of the canal. “The lava isn’t very high.”

Loki let out an unconvinced laugh. He held onto Kuna’s arm to keep her from going any further across the bridge. He could feel the heat on his face even from this distance. He looked down into the lava and his eyes teared and burned. He shook his head.

“You know what? We’ll just portal over. Where’d you go?” He realized suddenly that Kuna was no longer in his hands.

He looked up, frantic for a moment. She was already halfway across the bridge.

“Kuna!” he shouted.

She flinched and stopped, turning back to face him.

“Come back to me, please,” he said, trying to calm his voice.

“But I’m halfway across,” she replied. “Are you scared?”

“No,” he said, forcefully. “Get back over here, please.”

She walked back across the bridge towards him and hopped down onto the ground. She walked over to him tentatively but took his hand. She gently pulled on him, walking towards the bridge.

Loki didn’t budge. “Kuna, I’m not walking across that thing,” he said.

“It’s safe. It’s just lava,” she said.

“’It’s just—It's just lava’? Do you hear yourself? There is no way that thing is structurally sound.”

“You are scared,” she said. “It’s okay. I’ll hold your hand.” She pulled gently on his arm again, but he didn’t move. Loki was trying hard to keep himself calm. He summoned the tesseract’s energy to make a short jump to the other side.

Kuna looked up at him and smirked.

“Shut up,” he said, frowning.

She giggled. “I didn’t say anything.” She walked on ahead of him. He looked back at the lava canal and shuddered.

“I’m not afraid of it,” he continued, catching up to Kuna. “I just don’t like boiling hot lava rivers underneath me. That’s a natural reaction.”

Kuna shrugged. “Okay,” she said.

He picked her up again. “You need to have a healthier fear of dangerous things. Like heights and lava and not listening to me.”

“I’m afraid of water,” she offered.

“Well, we can fix that. I’ll just teach you how to swim.”

“But I can’t swim,” she said.

“Right,” Loki laughed. “I’ll teach you how.”

Kuna plopped her head on his shoulder and mumbled something unintelligible. Loki smiled and shook his head a little.

Finally, he saw signs of a town. A small path led up from the stony beach they walked on, to a smooth road. In the distance, he could see the soft glow of torchlight. A stone wall rose in front of them. The brick was the same black basalt that they had seen at the canal. A giant gate was poised between two guard houses. Loki could see torchlight through the window of one of them.

He pushed on the gate, but it didn’t budge.

“Pah, locked,” he said. He took a step back and looked up at the gate. He supposed he could portal through it. But he had already used the tesseract too much today. The thought always lingered in the back of his mind that his escapades with the tesseract weren’t untraceable. He was starting to regret using it for their silly game earlier and for the lava bridge.

The door to the gatehouse opened, and a man in a dark cloak stepped out, holding a torch. In the dim light, Loki could see a short white beard and long curved nose from under the hood.

“What do you want?” the man asked, gruffly.

“To get out of this rain, sir,” Loki said.

“Travellers?” he nodded to Kuna who had shifted to Loki’s back again.

“Yes, sir,” he said. “Please, may we enter? I need to get her out of the rain.”

“Where’d you come from?” he asked.

“The beach,” Loki answered.

The man’s hood lifted slightly to reveal grey eyes that glowered at him.

Loki was about to make up a quip about the weather turning bad when Kuna spoke up. “Please sir, we just arrived from Ynatu.” Loki closed his mouth and listened.

“Through the spaceport?” nodding in the direction they had come.

“Yes, sir,” she said. “The Portmaster told us to come here because the storm waves were too big.”

“Ach, very well,” the man spat and pulled out keys to open a door in the gate. He muttered to himself, grumpily about Portmasters and storms and travellers. He unlocked the door and pushed it open, stepping through to hold it for Loki.

Loki stepped through, ducking to protect Kuna’s head. The cobblestone street was completely empty. It surprised him but it did appear to be the middle of the night in a thunderstorm. He nodded to the gatekeeper and walked past him. The street was lined on either side with shopfronts and various signs. They walked past darkened windows. The signs creaked overhead in the wind, dripping from the rain.

“Kuna,” Loki whispered after they walked for a short time. He was quite surprised to hear her lie. He had never even heard her utter a tiny fib before.

“I’m sorry, I lied,” she said, quietly in his ear. “I didn’t think he was going to let us in. Gatemasters are strict.”

“It was very convincing,” Loki said. “Spaceport?”

“It’s how people go from one planet to another. Through these portal gates. It’s past the town, the other way.”

“Ahh,” Loki nodded. “Still, I’m impressed. Seems you’re a bit of a silvertongue yourself.”

“I feel bad for doing it. It feels naughty,” she whispered.

“Seems to be a new look for you,” Loki laughed.

She groaned and put her head down on his back.

They walked for a bit through the town. The buildings were a similar mix of old and new, like the ones Loki had seen on Ynatu. Some buildings looked as if they’d been there for centuries while others looked brand new, decked out in shiny, new-looking tech. There was a soft, ever-present rumble in Loki’s ears. He glanced up at the peaks above them. The red glow at their tops glimmered ominously.

Kuna yawned sleepily from Loki’s back.

“Is there an inn around here?” he asked.

“Mmm,” she murmured, groggily. She lifted her head and looked around from under her hood. She spotted an inn sign above a door and pointed for Loki, “That way.”

Loki walked ahead. Eventually, he saw a hanging sign that read ‘Molten Mugs Inn’. He shrugged and walked inside. There was a burst of noise and light and warmth as he entered. People were singing, laughing, and clapping. He set Kuna down. She swayed a little, grabbing ahold of his pant leg for support.

“Is the lil’ one drunk already?” a man shouted at them. Laughter followed.

Loki gave a small smile. “No. We are not doing that again.”

He took Kuna’s hand and approached the bar. A fat barkeep walked towards them from the other end. He had red hair and a bushy red mustache and eyebrows. His nose and cheeks were round and rosy. He held a mug in one hand and a cloth in the other. The mug glowed with orange light that trickled through the mug from brim to bottom like rivers of lava. Loki raised his eyebrows. Molten mugs, he thought.

“What can I do for ya?” the barkeep grunted.

“We need a room, please,” Loki said. “And two warm meals as well.”

“Mmm,” the barkeep nodded. He turned to a pegboard behind him. There were a few keys scattered over the many pegs. He picked one up and handed it to Loki. “Number 7,” the man added. He turned away and grabbed two bowls from under the counter. He walked over to a large kettle hanging over a fire and dipped in a ladle. He spooned out a stew into the bowls and returned to Loki, setting them down in front of him. “Mmm, 450 turans for the room, 100 for the stews.”

“Uh,” Loki laughed, slightly embarrassed. “Would you take gold instead?”

The man raised a bushy brow. Loki conjured a coin purse from behind his back. He reached inside and pulled out two golden shapaks they had gotten from Tenanci’i. He put them discreetly in the barkeep’s hand. The man quickly turned his back, no doubt inspecting the gold away from prying eyes. It was more than enough to pay for their room and meal and probably the entire tavern. Loki pulled out another and handed it to him.

“For your discretion, if you will,” Loki said, softly.

The man grunted agreement, nodding his head. He slid the key towards Loki and took the additional shapak.

“Thank you, sir,” Loki said, politely.

“Thank you, sir,” Kuna repeated, quietly.

The corners of the man’s bushy mustache rose in a warm but hidden smile at the girl’s politeness.

“Here, love, you carry the key,” Loki said to Kuna. “I’ll get our dinner.”

Kuna stood on her tiptoes and reached over the counter, pulling the key towards her. She and Loki walked towards a staircase and went upstairs. They reached room 7 and Kuna put the key in the lock and turned it. Loki pushed the door open, and they were met with a simple room. There were two beds, a small table with a couple chairs below the window, and several candles that lit the room. He set their bowls down on the table and Kuna climbed into one of the chairs.

She helped herself to one of the bowls which glowed with a similar orange light to the mugs Loki had seen downstairs. They looked like little rivers of lava cutting through the wood of the bowl.

“How’s the stew?” Loki asked, sitting down opposite her.

“Good,” she said, solemnly. A drop of water fell from her soaking hood and landed on the table. Loki had hardly noticed how soaked he was until this moment.

“Oh,” he said. “Let’s get you dry first.” He flicked his hand towards her, and she felt instantly dry. She pulled at her braid. It was no longer damp. Loki did the same to himself. “Ah, that’s better.”

Kuna nodded again. She still looked depressed. She ate slowly. Loki took a spoonful of stew himself. It was hardy, filled with vegetables and spices. It had a slightly sweet taste at the end of each mouthful.

“When you’re finished, why don’t you go lie down. You’ve had a rough day.”

She nodded and pushed her bowl back before climbing into the smaller of the two beds.

“What are you doing over there?” Loki said, affectionately. He nodded towards the bigger bed. Kuna’s eyes widened and she jumped off the little bed and dove into the big one. Loki stood and tucked her in under the blankets.

“Are you going to bed?” Kuna asked.

“In a bit,” he replied.

“Can you lay with me until I fall asleep?” she asked, sheepishly.

“Of course,” he said. He kicked off his boots and got under the blankets next to her.

“Do you think those monsters were on the green planet when we were there last?” she asked.

“I can only assume they were,” Loki replied. “We just didn’t bother them enough for them to show themselves.”

“They were really scary,” she said, pulling the blankets up over her mouth.

“They were rather creepy, weren’t they?”

She nodded. “I’m sorry I...” she sighed and covered her whole face with the blanket. “I’m sorry I was naughty,” she mumbled.

“It’s okay, Kuna,” Loki said, lowering the blanket. “You don’t have to apologize.”

“But I was being so rude and impolite. I don’t know why I made us go there. I just wanted to go somewhere nice and not here. But we coulda lost the tesseract all because of me.” She put her hands over her face.

“The tesseract is fine. You’re fine. I’m fine. That’s all that matters,” Loki said. “And you weren’t naughty or rude or impolite. I think this ‘misbehaviour’ if that’s what you want to call it, stems from this curse. Dark magic like this can make you do things that don’t align with who you are.”

Kuna sank further into the bed. Loki stroked her hair, pushing it out of her face.

“Loki, I’m scared,” she said.

“Why is that?” he asked.

“I’m scared of... this place. My head does funny things when I try to think about it.”

“I bet it does,” Loki said. He sighed. “But I’m here with you. We’re going to do this together. And after, you’re going to feel so much different. So much better.”

She looked down. “How are we going to find... him?” she asked. Loki could tell she was trying very hard not to say things that might make the curse hurt her. She was beginning to learn what triggered it. It likely wasn’t easy. He understood why she felt scatter-brained.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about that,” Loki said. “He’s in a cave. That’s all we really know. Is this island very big?”

Kuna shrugged. “It’s sort of small. I don’t really know. I worked on a farm here for a little bit and I know some of the towns.”

“Mmm.”

“I belonged to a nice Master. He had a big farm where we made wine from pollans. It’s a fruit that grows here.”

“I’m not sure I believe that any of your masters were nice.”

“No, he was,” Kuna continued. “He never hit me or beat me. He gave me all the food and water I needed, and we lived in a warm little barn.”

Loki cringed as she spoke about what she believed was a ‘nice’ life.

“I learned a lot of things from him,” she continued. She paused for a moment, remembering him. “But then, the Masters decided that the lava canals needed to be built to protect their farms. My Master sold me to help build them.”

Loki’s brow furrowed. “You mean, you built that thing? That canal we crossed?”

“Well, not that one. But a few of the others. There’s lots of them around the island now because the volcanoes have been erupting for so long. There’s a lot of lava to get rid of and all that lava makes the island bigger so the canals have to get bigger too.”

Loki’s heart sank. “That’s awful, Kuna,” he said, caressing her cheek. “It’s awful that you had to work like that. These Masters have magical abilities, but they made you and other slaves dig their canals.”

Kuna nodded.

“Pfft,” he scoffed. “I hate them even more.”

“What’s gonna happen when we do find him?” she asked, thinking now about the wizard.

“I’m going to make him remove the curse,” Loki explained.

Kuna pulled the blanket up over her mouth and closed her eyes. That seemed very scary. She didn’t know how to feel. She just felt queasy. Loki seemed to sense it.

“But right now, the only thing I want you to worry about is getting a good night’s sleep.” He conjured her stuffed animals, drying them quickly, and gave them to her. She cuddled with them and closed her eyes.

Loki blew out the nearest candles to the bed so she could sleep more soundly. When she had fallen asleep, he crept out of the bed and back to the table. He set their empty bowls aside and conjured the cursed book of curses they had taken from Odin’s library. He needed to read up again on Kuna’s curse and the ritual to undo it. He wanted to be absolutely sure that this wizard could not injure Kuna further by doing some other dark magical ritual.

He studied the ritual over and over. The book’s own curse began to weigh on him just as it had before. A squeezing, almost suffocating feeling surrounded his magical aura. He did his best to combat it. He was a strong sorcerer; he knew what he could handle. He flipped through the pages and landed on an interesting curse he thought he could use against this wizard, Atorius, should it come to that.

“Loki?” Kuna asked.

Loki didn’t move. She gently tugged on his sleeve.

“Hmm? What?” he asked. He blinked rapidly and looked around. Light was pouring in through the window. The sun was fully up.

“You never went to sleep,” Kuna said, in a small voice. “At least, I don’t think you were sleeping. You weren’t moving but your eyes were open.”

Loki sighed. He glanced down at the book and jolted. The words on the page were rearranged in a bizarre pattern. He remembered the book doing that the first time he had read it.

“Please, close it,” Kuna said. She was scared.

“It’s... it’s fine,” he said, staring at the page, unable to pry his eyes away. He heard a ringing in his ears. Through the din, he thought, for a moment, he could hear a woman’s voice whispering to him.

The book suddenly slammed shut as Kuna flipped the cover closed.

“Kuna!” Loki said, angrily.

Kuna recoiled, flinching hard, and pulling her hands up to her neck in fright.

“I... I’m sorry,” Loki said, coming to his senses. He rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me. I shouldn’t have yelled.”

“I don’t think you should read that book anymore,” she said, quietly. Her hands picked at the scars on her neck. “I don’t think it’s safe.”

Loki looked down at the book. “You’re right,” he said. He put the book away.

Kuna stared at his hand and inched towards him. She gingerly took his hand. He looked down at her, but she kept her eyes away from his. She tugged on his hand, and he stood. She led him to the side of the bed and waited for him to get in, but he didn’t. She walked around behind him and pushed on his back to make him lay down, but he didn’t budge.

“Kuna, I’m fine,” he said, chuckling a little as she pushed on him. “I don’t need to lie down.”

“Yes, you do!” she grunted, turning to put her back against his legs to push harder. “You didn’t sleep.”

“I’ll be fine,” he said, stepping aside. Kuna slumped against the bed and folded her arms. Loki laughed at her. “Why don’t we go downstairs and get some breakfast?”

“Fine,” she said, standing. She was never one to turn down food. “But then you go to sleep.”

“I’m the one who gives orders around here, pipsqueak,” he said, putting his elbow on her head. Kuna mocked him, mouthing his words with her hand.

He followed her down the creaky stairs. The tavern was much emptier now, but the barkeep still stood behind the bar.

“Sleep well?” he grunted at them as they walked up.

Kuna gave Loki a withering look. He ignored her and smiled. “Yes, thank you,” he replied to the man. “Do you, by chance, serve a morning meal?”

Kuna rolled her eyes at Loki and placed their empty bowls from the night before on the counter. “Thank you for the delicious stew, sir,” she said, politely.

He gave her another soft smile. He stooped down behind the counter and picked up some plates that glowed in the same way that the bowls and mugs had the night before. He walked to the cooking station and plated heaping portions of something Loki assumed was eggs and a side of crisp meat.

“Thank you, sir,” Kuna said, happily, taking the plate from him.

“You’re welcome, little one,” he said. “You need to eat. You’re too thin.”

“Yes, we’re working on that,” Loki said, smiling.

They took their plates and walked over to a table in the corner. Loki sat with his back to the corner. Kuna plopped down on the bench beside him and dug into her food.

“What are we eating?” Loki asked, poking at the eggs with his fork.

“These are ula eggs,” Kuna said, her mouth full. She swallowed and then continued, “They’re a bird. Lots of farmers keep them because they have good eggs.”

“We have birds like that on Asgard; they’re called chickens,” Loki said. He took a bite. The eggs were deliciously rich, more like duck eggs than chicken eggs. “And what’s this?” He asked Kuna, pointing to the side of crispy meat.

“Gostehog,” she said. “I’ve never actually tasted it before, though. Slaves aren’t allowed to eat meat,” she added.

“At all?” Loki asked, astounded.

She shook her head. “The first time I had any was with you.”

“You never told me that,” Loki said.

“I was just happy to try it,” she said. “And you didn’t seem mad when I did.”

“Well, we’ll get to try this together then,” Loki smiled.

They both took a bite of the meat. Kuna’s eyes lit up. Loki smiled. The taste was almost exactly the taste of Asgardian bacon. Loki recognized it immediately. He could taste some differences, of course, but he enjoyed it, nonetheless. It reminded him of home.

“Like it?” he asked.

Kuna was chowing down. She smiled and nodded between bites.

“Well, slow down and enjoy it,” Loki laughed.

Kuna swallowed and tried to eat slower. It was all so good. She had never had such delicious food. It was hard to control herself. She finished her breakfast and let out a happy sigh, sitting back in her chair.

“Good?” Loki asked.

She nodded, patting her belly.

They both stood and gathered their plates, returning them to the counter. The barkeep smiled at them both. Loki slid another shap’ak over to him, but the barkeep refused to take it.

“Nah,” he said. “You don’t owe me nothin’.”

Loki was surprised. “Thank you, sir,” he said.

They left the inn and walked out onto the street. It was much livelier now than it was last night. People walked up and down the street. Vendors shouted from their stalls that were set up in front of the shopfronts. It was a typical town market.

“Kuna, we need a map,” Loki said, looking down at her. “Is there a library around here?”

“Yeah,” she said, hesitantly.

“Where?” Loki said, impatiently.

Kuna looked around the street and then took Loki’s hand. She led him to a big ornate building near the centre of town. Like the auction house on Ynatu and many of the stone buildings on this island, it was made of black basalt bricks. Large statues acted as pillars, holding up the building’s roof. The statues were clearly of Masters; elegantly clothed in flowing garments, hands held aloft, issuing what Loki imagined were blasts of magic that wound their way to the building’s pediment. They walked up to the door. There was a big red sign on it that read

NO SLAVES MAY ENTER HERE ON PAIN OF DEATH

Kuna hid behind Loki. “I didn’t know what it said until now,” she whispered. “I’m not allowed in buildings with red signs.”

“Kuna, we’ve been over this a thousand times,” Loki said. “You’re not a slave. You can go in. Come on,” Loki said, taking a step towards the door. She pulled back on his hand, but Loki didn’t stop.

She held tighter onto his hand, and he led her inside. There were two large gates either side of the door that hummed softly as they entered. It dawned on Loki what they were. He leaned down to whisper in Kuna’s ear.

“Those things would have gone off if you still had that chip in your back. They’re like giant scanners.”

Kuna gasped and glued herself to Loki’s side. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re fine!”

The building smelled of old books and dust. Shelves created a maze of books and scrolls through the library. It was significantly smaller than the Great Library on Asgard, but Loki could see there was quite a bit of knowledge shelved here. A few people were looking at books or studying at tables.

They approached a desk at the centre of the big atrium. There was a young man sitting behind it. He looked up at them with a blank expression.

“Hello,” Loki said. “We’re looking for maps of this area.”

“Over there,” the librarian pointed, lazily.

Loki hesitated a moment, waiting for the librarian to get up and show them but he did not. “Thanks,” Loki said, flatly.

They walked over to a line of short shelves filled with scrolls. Loki knelt down and pulled a scroll off the shelf and unrolled it. He could not make sense of what was on it. Squiggled lines and dots with no legible markings filled the scroll. He turned it upside down, but it still made no sense. He rolled it back up and put it back, grabbing another. He shook his head and tossed it back.

“What on Asgard is this cataloging system?” he said to himself as he looked through the shelf. “This doesn’t make any sense.”

Kuna stood close to Loki as he leafed through the scrolls. She glanced around. There were some tables situated between the shelves. A man was studying a large book at one of them. His red robes made him stick out among the wood shelves and tables. Kuna caught his eye for only a moment. She suppressed a gasp and immediately looked down at her feet. The feeling of being watched did not leave her. She could see out of her peripheral vision that the red-robed man was watching them closely.

Loki was grumbling about the scrolls as he yanked each one out, unrolled it, shook his head, and put it back.

She turned around and looked at the shelves behind them which held books. She ran her fingers over the spines. Then she realized she was actually reading their titles. She danced in place with excitement. She had read lots of things, of course, since Loki taught her, but these books were written in her language. The language she had always seen but never understood.

She tugged on Loki’s sleeve.

“Yes, darling?” he said as he continued looking through scrolls.

“I can read the books!” she whispered, excitedly.

“I should hope so. You’ve been practicing, haven’t you?” he said absent-mindedly.

“Yeah, but it’s different! These are books from my system!”

“Ahh,” Loki said. “Yes, your Allspeak helps with that.”

“Can I read one?” she whispered.

“Sure, just remember where you took it from so you can put it back.”

“Okay.”

She turned back to the shelf and started browsing. All these books were boring. She read one title, silently sounding out the word: ‘Cartography’.

“What is that?” she asked herself, quietly. She supposed it was the study of carts. It was a thick book. How many carts could there be to study? She shook her head and moved on. Geography, topography, topology. Boring.

She walked around the end of the shelf and continued reading the spines. Nothing looked interesting. She continued wandering around the shelves, walking down the aisles, reading the end caps. She looked forward, down the aisle she was walking. At the end, she saw an iron gate. She cocked her head to one side, puzzled. What was an iron gate doing in a library?

To be true, she had only ever been in two libraries in her life, but it still seemed rather odd and out of place.

She looked around to make sure she was alone and then snuck up to it. There were still more shelves behind it. She could see glass cases too, that looked like they had glowing objects inside. She took a step back and read a sign over the gate.

RESTRICTED FROM FREEPEOPLE

AUTHORISED MASTERS ONLY

“Hmm.” She looked through the gate again. A large book on the bottom shelf nearest her, caught her eye. She could see an image of a dragon carved into the leather cover. Her eyes widened.

She looked around and listened, waiting to hear footsteps or pages turning. When she was sure she was alone, she looked back at the gate. The bars on the gate were wide and she was very small. Turning her head and shoulders, she slipped through the bars. With one last peek around to make sure she was still alone, she picked up the big book and tucked it under her arm. The cases at the back of this section drew her attention. Through their glass tops a faint greenish blue light glowed.

Kuna stood silently for a moment, stock still, listening for anyone who might be lurking around this section to catch her. After a few moments of pure silence, save for a single sneeze in a distant section, she decided she was completely alone.

She was intrigued by the glowing cases at the end of this line of shelves. She walked over to one and stood on her tiptoes to see into the glass. To her surprise, there was a staff inside the case. It glowed with a magical light. She walked to the next one. Inside, there was a deadly looking mace.

She walked down the line of cases, each containing different weapons. The row of cases stood all along this back wall of the library. At the very end, Kuna spotted a closed door. She walked up to another case and peeked inside. A silver whip lay on a red velvet cushion. She gasped at the sight of it and ran away, back towards the gate. She slipped through the bars and ran back to Loki.

He was now surrounded by a pile of scrolls, sitting cross-legged at the centre, furiously ripping more off the shelves.

“This library is weird,” she said.

“You’re telling me,” Loki growled. “They just put whatever they want to on these shelves. Who cares if a fishing map is next to a map of space?”

“Can I help?” Kuna asked, eager to help Loki by reading.

“No,” he said. He paused. “Why do you think this library is weird?”

“There are weapons behind that gate,” she whispered. “I think they’re magical.”

“Gate?”

“Yeah, it said ‘Restricted from freepeople, authorised masters only’,” she recited. “Does that mean only books written by masters are back there?”

“No, authorised means ‘permission’. Only masters with permission are allowed back there.”

Kuna’s eyes widened. “I need to put it back before they catch me!”

“No, no,” Loki said, taking her arm. He smiled. “It’s alright to ignore that sign. Books should not be off limits. What did you find?”

Kuna showed him the book. The dragon on the front cover looked like it was snarling at them.

“Ahh, well, I see why you couldn’t resist,” he said, smiling at her. “I’m still looking for this damn map so, why don’t you find a place to sit nearby and read your dragon book.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

There was a little desk tucked between two shelves with a small chair. She crawled up on the chair and laid the big book across the desk.

She ran her fingers over the flying dragon carved on the cover. His teeth were bared and his eyes wide. His wings stretched from spine to page. It looked like he was flying right at her, ready to fly right off the cover.

Opening the cover, she was met with another dragon, this one drawn standing on the ground, its wings raised high. She turned the page. The title was ‘The Dragons of Ardula’.

“Ohh,” Kuna breathed.

She turned the page again. There was another motif of a dragon she recognised. The thorny-tail dragons from Maserona, the largest planet in Ardula, her solar system. She had glimpsed one just once. She remembered seeing its massive wings flapping up a sandstorm in the Therulian desert on Maserona. Her Master had quickly called them back from the fields they were working to avoid angering it.

She read the page. It was a rather boring introduction to what the book was going to talk about.

Why do I need to read an introduction? she thought. I’m just going to read the book anyways.

She skipped it and turned the page. This page talked about where dragons come from with a large drawing of a dragon egg. She settled into the chair and started reading.

Loki was still furiously reading through scrolls. After one that mapped out a house in the region rather than the region itself, he tossed it back and stood in a huff, upsetting the pile of scrolls he was sitting in. He walked over to Kuna.

“I’m going to ask that lazy librarian to find me a map.”

“Okay,” Kuna said. She watched him walk towards the desk and talk to the librarian. She looked at the shelves, wondering if she could help him find it, since she could read now too. As she looked around, her eyes landed back on the red-robed man studying at the table down the row of shelves. He was watching her again. She looked down out of habit.

Loki returned with the librarian who gestured exasperatedly at the pile of scrolls Loki had made.

“Well, if you had just shown me where to find the map in the first place, I wouldn’t have made such a mess,” he snapped as he began picking up the scrolls and shoving them back onto their shelves. The librarian rolled his eyes and easily pulled out a scroll from the shelf depicting a map of the island.

“Thank you,” Loki said, snatching it from his hand. Kuna could hear venom in his voice. He was not pleased with the librarian. The man harumphed and walked back to the desk.

Loki walked over to Kuna. “Insolent fool,” he muttered. “How’s the book?”

“It’s amazing!” Kuna said. “Did you know that-that dragons can grow to be like-like thirty stories tall!”

“Some taller than that depending on where you are in the universe,” Loki said. “I’ve heard of some reaching the heights of mountains.”

“Woah,” Kuna breathed.

Kuna looked back down at her book. She caught the red-robed man’s eyes again just as she turned. A bad feeling washed over her. She gestured for Loki to come closer.

“I think that man is watching us,” she whispered.

“Where?” Loki asked. “Don’t point. Just tell me where without looking at him.”

“Behind us, at the table.”

Loki stood and laughed. “I’m glad it’s a good book,” he said.

Kuna was a little confused. She looked back up at Loki. He turned and began walking away.

“Take it with you and you can read it when we get home,” he said. “Come along, darling.”

Kuna quickly closed the book and hopped down, tucking it under her arm again. She caught up to him and took his hand. It took all her courage not to look again at the man as they passed but she could not help it. She turned back and looked but the man wasn’t there!

She looked around for him. Her heart stopped as she saw him standing at the front desk whispering to the librarian. Loki led her right past them. He was walking fast towards the door.

“Hold on a moment, you two,” the librarian said.

Loki stopped and turned. Kuna whimpered.

“You haven’t checked that book out,” he said.

The red-robed man walked past them, out the door. Kuna felt Loki tense.

“Oh,” Loki said with a charming smile. “Our mistake.”

Kuna noticed Loki had hidden the scroll the librarian had given him. They approached the desk. Kuna was stiff as a board.

“Do you have a card?” he asked.

“No,” Loki answered.

“I’ll get you one.” He turned away and opened a drawer. He turned back a moment later, holding a card. Kuna noticed his hand shaking. He sat down again at the desk and looked up at Loki.

“Whose name can I put this under?” His voice cracked a bit at the last word.

Loki opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

“I knew I recognized you!” a voice rang out through the library. They turned to see the red-robed man flanked by several guards. “They’re the ones from Ynatu!” The guards stormed into the library, weapons raised, aiming at Loki and Kuna.

There was suddenly commotion. People leapt up from their reading spots and began running and screaming. Tables flipped over and books flew through the air. The librarian lunged over the counter and grabbed Kuna by the arm. She screamed and did the only thing she could think to do. She sank her fangs into his arm. He let out a deafening scream and let go of Kuna’s arm.

Loki grabbed her around the middle, tucking her under his arm, and ran into the stacks.

“Run, run, run, run,” he panted, dodging blasts from weapons and magic alike.

“That way,” she shouted, pointing in front of Loki. He took a step out into a crossing aisle. In a split second, he felt a ripple in his aura and stopped on the spot. Kuna was pushed forward by his momentum but he yanked her back just as a blast of magic whizzed by them.

He set her down and peeked around the corner before dodging another blast that splintered the shelf they hid behind. Kuna glanced around and remembered the door she had seen in the restricted section.

“We have to go that way,” she cried, pointing down a line of shelves. She tucked her dragon book under arm.

Loki stepped around the corner and fired off two blasts of magic towards their attackers. Two blasts were returned. He grabbed Kuna by the shoulders and pulled her back. It was a standoff.

Kuna’s heart was pounding in her chest. They needed to get to that door. She took a step around the corner.

“Kuna!” Loki shouted.

She stepped back as blast of magic flew past her ear. Grabbing Loki’s hand, she ran across the aisle, dragging him behind her.

A flurry of blasts followed them across, but none hit their marks. Kuna continued to lead Loki through the shelves towards the restricted section.

More blasts slammed into the bookshelves around them. Kuna covered her head as she heard one hit a bookshelf near her. She looked up. Books rained down on them as the shelf began to topple. The shelf leaned dangerously before tipping into the next shelf, knocking it over. Shelf after shelf toppled to the floor.

Kuna dove forward as the shelf to her right fell flat. She expected to hear a crash when it fell but it never came. She turned. Loki was using his magic to hold up the shelf as he ran the last few meters. He let it fall, crushing several of their pursuers. Kuna led him to the gate, still clinging tightly to the dragon book tucked under her arm.

She slipped through the bars. Loki jumped up and climbed over the gate. At the end of the aisle, she turned one way, but he turned the other. Kuna leapt back and grabbed the end of his cape, hauling him towards the door. There was a bright flash of light in front of her and she slammed into what felt like a brick wall. She fell backwards. Her skin stung from the impact. Loki picked her up and, in the same motion, flung a spell at the nearest soldier.

The blow sent him flying into the shelves. Loki turned his attention to the force field blocking their path. He began hitting it over and over again with his magic. Kuna could see cracks forming in the field, growing larger with each blow.

She heard movement behind them and straightened up. She grabbed her dagger from its sheath. Her eyes darted around, trying to find the soldier in the rubble of the shelves. More soldiers began to flood in through the aisles. Loki hit harder at the field. It was close to shattering.

Kuna was frantic. She only had one dagger and there were at least a dozen soldiers now bearing down on them. She glanced to her right and saw the staff in a glass display case. It was locked but she threw her elbow into the top and the glass cracked. Another blow and she was grabbing at the staff, ignoring the pain in her elbow.

She aimed it at the soldiers. Some of them dove out of the way in fear. She had absolutely no idea what she was doing. She just wanted to stop them.

“Shoot!” she commanded the staff, but it did nothing.

She heard laughter from the soldiers. Heat rose in her cheeks. She shook the staff up and down and suddenly a great blast flew from its tip. The force knocked her back. She felt pain tear through her chest and cried out.

One soldier was hit point blank and disintegrated into a pile of dust. Those that were closest to him were set aflame and ran through the shelves, screaming. The rest scattered into the still-standing shelves, calling for back up.

Kuna cried and clawed at her chest, trying to stop the pain. Her vision filled with little black spots. She writhed as the pain began to slowly ebb. Regaining herself, she shoved the staff away from her.

“Don’t let go of that!” Loki said between blows to the force field.

Kuna shook her head. Her chest still stung with pain from the blast. She grabbed the staff and her book and stood. A great shattering noise echoed through the library. Loki had broken through the force field. He grabbed Kuna’s arm and hauled her out of the building. They fled through the town. People jumped out of the way and shouted as they passed. Kuna grabbed Loki’s cape again and pulled him towards an alleyway.

“This way is faster!” she said. Loki followed her. He could hear blasts of magic behind them. Bricks on the building above them suddenly exploded, sending a rain of rubble onto them. Loki cast a spell onto the ground behind them that trapped their pursuers in a magical web when they tread upon it. A wall of boxes blocked the alley, but Kuna quickly scaled them and hopped down the other side. Loki followed. They shimmied past barrels and boxes until the alley ended at the town wall.

“Can we get up there?” Kuna asked, panting. She pointed to the top of the wall.

“We don’t have to,” Loki said. He grabbed her and portalled through the wall.

“We couldn’t have done that earlier?” Kuna shouted back to him as she kept running. The terrain was rising fast, becoming a steep hill.

“I don’t want to hear your sass!” Loki panted.

They could hear blasts and men shouting but the echoes began to die away as they ran further away from the town. After they had run some distance, they stopped behind some scraggly bushes. Loki assumed they were starting up one of the Peaks, looking up the steep hillside. Kuna was breathing hard. She doubled over and put her hands on her knees, still holding the magic staff in her hand. Realizing she still had it, she tossed it on the ground.

“I don’t like that thing,” she said. “It hurt me.”

“It’s alright,” Loki said, picking it up. “Staves like this require one to use their magic to power. That’s why it hurt you.”

She shook her head and held her elbow, wincing as she now noticed the pain.

“Let me see,” he said. He rolled back her sleeve and examined her elbow. There were several large cuts, and her elbow was already turning deep shades of purple. However, there didn’t look to be any pieces of glass in the wounds, and they weren’t deep. He dug into the satchel that was on Kuna’s side and pulled out a roll of clean cloth. He wrapped her arm up and replaced her sleeve. “It’s not too bad. It will heal quickly.”

She nodded and sniffed. He gently touched her face to console her.

“I think we’ve lost them.” Loki pulled out the map and studied it. He looked around and then back at the map. “We’re pretty close to a trail that leads up the mountains,” he said.

“Can you put this in your pocket?” Kuna asked, holding the book up over her head.

“You kept it? Through that whole mess?” Loki exclaimed.

Kuna frowned, afraid he was upset. “Yes,” she said. “I still want to read it.”

Loki shook his head and smiled, taking the book from her and poofing it away into his pocket universe. He ruffled her hair. “Well, I’m not paying your late fees,” he joked.

“Okay,” she said, shrugging. “I don’t want to go back to that library anyway.”

“Yeah, I think we may have burned it down, actually,” Loki said, looking over his shoulder at a rising pillar of smoke coming from the town.

“Ooh,” Kuna winced. “My bad.”

Loki chuckled, hugging her close to his side as they walked up the hill.

The terrain was steep and pebbly. All vegetation had disappeared. Old, long-hardened lava flows dotted the hillside. Kuna walked silently beside Loki as they walked, hugging herself. The image of the man disintegrating into a pile of ash kept playing in front of her eyes.

Loki glanced down at her. He could see the look in her eyes. The look after one’s first kill.

“You did what you had to, darling,” he said, gently, touching her shoulder. “You thought quickly on your feet. That’s what good warriors do.”

He took her hand. Kuna did not look at him. Her eyes were searching the ground.

The terrain continued to change as they elevation rose. The path was made of pumice that crunched under their feet. A smell of sulfur began to waft through the air.

“Ugh, gross, Kuna,” Loki said with a cheeky grin, holding his nose. “You at least could have warned me.”

“Ew! That’s not me!” she said. “It’s you, stinky!” she pointed, laughing.

They laughed as they continued up the path.

***

  “Why did they have to be volcanoes?” Loki whined. They had walked for miles. At the lower elevations, they had not encountered much lava and what they had seen was rock hard. Now, lava rivers flowed across the path at various points, pooling in great lakes of lava that would spill over into falls.

“As soon as we’re done with this bastard, I’m pushing him into the lava just for living here!” he complained.

Kuna giggled at his murderous threats. Loki’s body temperature had been slowly rising. His jotunn blood prevented him from sweating enough to keep the heat at bay. Meanwhile, Kuna skipped on the lava rocks, jumping from one to the next.

A lava river flowed only a few meters away from her. Their path had begun switch backing up the mountain. It zigzagged between two massive lava rivers that appeared to be canaled.

“Kuna, please, be careful,” Loki said.

“I am,” she replied, jumping down to walk next to him. “How much further?” She took his hand.

He removed his hand from hers. His hands were slick, and it made him uncomfortable. “I’m not sure. I’m guessing we’ll know it when we see it.” He pulled his hair back into a messy bun to keep the heat off his neck. It wasn’t helping. He’d already removed his cape, jacket, and armour. There wasn’t much more he could remove.

He glanced down at Kuna. She hadn’t even broken a sweat.

“Aren’t you hot?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Mmm, a little, I guess.”

“We’re surrounded by lava, and you’re not hot!” he exclaimed. “Ugh, I’m boiling!”

“Sorry,” Kuna said.

“I don’t understand,” Loki continued groaning. “All the lava tubes and caves we’ve seen so far have been completely empty. Gods, I hope he hasn’t moved on.”

“Well, all those tubes were pretty easy to see,” Kuna offered, skipping back up onto a row of lava rocks.

“What do you mean?” Loki asked.

She jumped to the next one, holding out her arms to balance herself. “Well, you said he was hiding because he’s a bad guy. Wouldn’t someone who’s hiding want a secret lava tube?”

“They’re great big holes in the mountain, I hardly think they’d be that hidden. He’s probably been able to stay hidden for so long because no one is crazy enough to come up here.”

“We are,” Kuna said.

Loki chuckled. “That’s true.”

There was a loud explosion in front of them. Loki grabbed Kuna by the shoulders and pulled her back. A steam vent had just erupted in the middle of their path, spraying steam and fumes into the air.

“Woah,” Kuna said, admiring the heat she felt on her cheek.

“We are not messing with that,” Loki said.

“But the path goes that way,” Kuna said. “I think we’re close to the top.”

Loki looked up and squinted. He couldn’t see the top. The ground curved deceptively upward. They could still have miles more to go.

A great rock wall rose to their right. It leveled off with the next switchback of the trail before rising again. It was too steep to climb. Loki turned back to the steam vent. It had calmed and now released small puffs of steam into the air.

Loki fought with himself. He could use the tesseract to get them across, but something was warning him not to; a feeling deep inside him. He was becoming too reliant on the tesseract’s powers. Someone was going to take notice, if they hadn’t already.

“Fine,” Loki said. “Stay close to the wall. We’ll go around it.”

Kuna put her back up against the wall and followed Loki as they snuck past the vent. Kuna watched the little puffs of steam. There was a kind of rhythm to them. Puff. Puff. Pause. Puff. The final puff rose in a little ball and then unwound, stretching downward, back into the vent. A breath caught in Kuna’s throat, and she shoved on Loki as the vent exploded again. She felt her cape whip upwards in the violent burst of steam, gas, and heat.

Loki grabbed her under the arms and yanked her up, away from the steam. He set her down and frantically assessed her.

“Where are you hurt?” he asked, panicked. “Where’s the burn?”

“I’m not burned,” she said.

“What?”

“I’m fine. That was scary.”

Loki sighed and then coughed. He covered his mouth with his arm. His eyes began to water, and he felt a burning sensation in his throat. Kuna covered her mouth as well in a fit of coughs. Loki walked past her, taking her hand, and dragging her up the path.

He stepped and felt the ground sink beneath his foot. He tossed Kuna forward as another vent began to belch steam and gas from under him. With his other hand, he cast a ward, trying to protect himself as best he could as he jumped off the vent. His leg felt like it was set ablaze, and his head spun with pain and toxic gas.

Kuna took his hand and led him at a run to the curve in the path. He could hear more steam vents erupting from all around them. Finally, as they reached the switch back, the eruptions stopped. Loki sat down on a rock, leaning back against the wall. He coughed, uncontrollably. The tears stung hot in his eyes. He grabbed at his throbbing leg.

“No, no, don’t,” Kuna said, stopping his hands. “You’ll make it worse!”

Loki’s head spun again. Kuna pushed him back and he leaned against the sloping rock wall behind him. He groaned.

Kuna pulled a small waterskin out of their satchel. She and Loki had been sharing it as they walked. It was now only half full, but it was all the water they had. She opened the cap and began to pour the water onto Loki’s leg. She feared moving the cloth of his pantleg. This was all she could think to do.

When Loki realized what she was doing, he sprung forward and stopped her.

“No, Kuna,” he said, his voice raspy from coughing. “We don’t have anymore water. We can’t waste it.”

“But you’re hurt,” she said, a quaver in her voice.

“I’ll be fine,” Loki panted, leaning back again. “I just need to sit here for a moment.” He paused and breathed raggedly. “Maybe a few moments.”

Kuna sat back, capping the waterskin and putting it away. She looked back at the field of steam vents, puffing their treacherous rhythm. Occasionally, one would blow again setting of the ones nearest it, making both Kuna and Loki flinch.

After a while, Loki sat up and slowly got to his feet, testing the weight on his leg. He winced with as he put weight down but walked through it. Kuna watched.

“Maybe, we should go back—”

“No,” Loki said, cutting her off. “We need to do this. We’ve come this far. We must be getting close. This would make most people turn back and I’m sure that’s what he’s counting on.”

Kuna got up and walked to his side. She wanted desperately to hold his hand, but she knew he didn’t want her to. They started to walk, Loki limping heavily. It was slow going and silent as they walked up the trail.

They followed the trail up two more switch backs. Finally, they came up to the top of a rise where one lava river oozed down from above them in a massive lava fall. A spindly bridge, formed of black rock, crossed the lava river. Loki could feel the heat on his face from where they stood. Kuna walked towards the rock wall below the lava fall, staring beyond it.

“Please, don’t get too close, Kuna,” Loki said. He surveyed this bridge. What he would have given now to have the one built over the canal.

“I think there’s a cave behind the lavafall,” Kuna said, pointing.

“What now?” he asked, getting closer to her.

“Look!”

Loki took shaky steps towards the lavafall. There was a small gap between the curtain of lava and the cliff. As Loki leaned to one side, he could just see an opening into the mountain, hidden perfectly behind the lava. He was not happy about how small the gap was between the wall and the lava. Kuna stood obediently at his side, hugging herself. She glanced up at him and then at the lavafall.

Loki hesitated. The heat was becoming far more than he could bear. On top of the burn and the sting he felt in his lungs with every breath, he now felt dizzy and lightheaded standing this close to the lava. He noticed his breath coming faster too. He wasn’t confident in his ability to squeeze behind the curtain of lava into the cave.

“I think, maybe, it’s cooler inside the cave,” Kuna offered, quietly. “It was in the last one.”

“I’ll go first,” he said, stepping in front of her.

“Are you sure?” Kuna asked, uncertainly.

“Not really,” Loki said. He swallowed hard and concentrated. It would be cooler in the cave, Kuna was right. He just needed to make it past this curtain of lava. He took a deep breath.

Putting his back to the wall, he began to shimmy along the thin stretch of rock that separated the wall and the pool of lava at his toes. Kuna followed him. The heat cooked his skin beneath his light clothing. He may as well have been swimming in the lava. His vision began to blur. His ears rang and his breath caught in his throat.

“Loki?” Kuna said. Her voice sounded far away. “Loki!”

His vision went white and all he could feel was heat.

Suddenly, water splashed over his face. His hand instinctively grabbed at the source. Kuna squeaked as he snatched the waterskin from her hand. Loki opened his eyes and sat up, draining the water from the skin. He was on his back.

“You passed out!” Kuna said. “You almost fell into the lava!”

Loki looked around. They were several feet from the entrance of the cave. He put his hand to his head.

“How did I get all the way over here?” he asked. It was impossible for Kuna to lift him, let alone drag him this far.

“I portalled us inside!” she said.

“You what?” he asked. His voice echoed off the walls of the cave. Kuna flinched instinctively.

“I-I just grabbed hold of you, and we appeared in here,” she looked away from him and tapped her fingers together.

It took Loki a moment to process that Kuna had used the tesseract while it was inside his pocket. He wasn’t sure it was even possible. He looked down at the waterskin in his hand.

“Have you had any water?” he asked her.

“I’m okay,” she said, softly. “You need it.”

Loki shook his head and gave her the rest. “Drink it,” he said. She took a few sips but did not drink all of it.

The air was slightly cooler in the cave. It was deep and very dark. Loki conjured his orb of light to help them see. It flickered and dimmed like a burnt down candle wick before lazily floating above their heads. Kuna helped Loki stand. The orb barely cast enough light for them to see the walls of the lava tube.

“I told you, you should have slept,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he said, waving her off of him as he straightened up.

Kuna frowned and folded her arms. He stood for a moment, breathing deeply, trying to fill his lungs with as much cool air as he could. Then, he turned to face Kuna.

“I’m not sure how you did that, but I’m glad you did,” he said. “Death by lava, while an admirable way to go, is not the death I want.”

“I don’t want that either,” Kuna whispered.

Loki conjured the staff Kuna had taken from the library. They started walking down the tunnel further into the cave. Their footsteps crunched on the pumice that made up the floor as they walked.

“Hardly stealthy,” Loki whispered. He turned to Kuna. “I want you to stay behind me. Understand?”

She nodded.

The deeper they went into the mountain, the cooler it became. Loki was grateful for it. He thought his brain had poached in the heat. He just hoped this was the cave the wizard was in. He wasn’t sure he could take another stroll through the lava fields.

Kuna suddenly latched onto him. “What? What is it!” he hissed, startled.

“I see a light,” she said, pointing ahead of them. Her eyes had clearly adjusted better than Loki’s had.

Loki switched the staff to his opposite hand, pushing Kuna behind him with the other. He used his magic to return his armour to his body. He did not want to go into this unprotected. They approached the light at the end of the cave. Slowly, an opening came into view and then a room beyond. Loki felt a strange sense of déjà vu as he stepped into the same room he had visited in Lemora’s memories. The table that Kuna had been tied to was gone, leaving a large empty space in the centre. Loki could see sigils drawn on the floor in chalk.

Kuna made a strange sound behind him and hid behind his legs. He could feel her shaking. He put a hand down on her shoulder to comfort her. He gave the circle of sigils a wide berth as they entered the room. It could be a trap. He had used similar ones on the soldiers.

The room had a few tables and benches pushed against the walls, piled with books and other assorted magical implements. There was a bookcase and desk lit by a strange mushroom-shaped lamp. Loki noticed another opening that must have led further into the cave.

“I don’t often get visitors anymore,” a voice said. It seemed to come from everywhere at once. Kuna flinched and whimpered.

“Show yourself,” Loki demanded.

The man appeared, walking out of the opening. It was the same old man from the memories Loki had seen. He looked as though he had once been tall, but age had hunched him forward, giving him the posture of a question mark. His long grey beard was tied in knots. It was decorated with beads and trinkets, Loki even thought he saw a bone or two poking out from the hair. Kuna was latched onto Loki, hiding under his cape. Little whimpers escaped her. She could not control her shaking.

“Oh, I wondered if I’d ever see that little one again,” the man said, almost fondly, pointing his long nose at Kuna. She moved to hide herself completely behind Loki.

Loki looked at him questioningly. He glanced down at Kuna and then back up at Atorius.

The wizard smirked. “I didn’t choose to live in an active volcano,” he said, gesturing to the cavern they stood in. “But it has made for quite the secluded home since our last meeting. I’m sure you’re here about the curse I placed on her. Not my best work, I admit, but as I said, it’s difficult to work when a volcano erupts on top of you.”

“You’re going to remove the curse you placed on her,” Loki growled.

“It might be difficult,” Atorius said, seemingly unfazed by Loki’s menace. “The curse was imperfect. I’m surprised she’s survived this long, to be honest.” He began to hobble over to the small desk.

Loki was dumbfounded. The wizard’s cool demeanor was causing him to let down his guard. Loki raised the staff in warning.

“Don’t move,” he warned.

Atorius put his hands up. A slight grin crossed his face. “Of course, of course. I just need to consult this book to ensure I have what I need for this ritual.”

Loki paused for a moment and then nodded, not moving the staff from Atorius’ direction. He felt Kuna shake her head and pull away from him. He grabbed her arm before she could run.

“Mmm, yes,” Atorius mumbled, not looking up from the book he studied. “You may want to secure her.”

Loki ignored him. He held onto Kuna’s arm. She clawed at his fingers, trying to pry them off.

“Kuna, it’s alright,” he said.

“No!” she cried. She pulled harder but Loki had a firm grip on her arm. Her feet scraped on the black sand of the floor as she tried to pull away. She turned back and opened her mouth wide to bite him.

“Don’t you dare, young lady!” Loki said.

She bit down on his metal bracer and recoiled. Loki rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I bet that felt nice,” he said. Kuna rubbed her jaw with her free hand. “Now, we know not to bite me. Hurry up, old man.”

“Yes, yes, bring her here.” He nodded towards the center of the room. Loki hesitated for a moment. The wizard noticed his hesitation.

“I will be making a trap sigil to, well, trap the curse while we give it a new home.”

“And who will be the new home, exactly?” Loki said suspiciously.

Atorius chuckled. “Not who, lad. What.”

He turned away again and picked up a small box from a table against the wall. He brought it over to Kuna and showed it to her. There were dozens of small gems and crystals inside.

“Pick one,” he said to her. “One that calls to you.”

She shook her head and grabbed at Loki’s hand again, trying to pry it off. He gave her a gentle nudge towards the box.

“It’s alright,” he reassured her.

She stared up at him for a moment and then turned to face Atorius. She reached a shaking hand into the box. There were so many kinds of stones. A beautiful green stone caught her eye. Loki liked green. So did she. She picked up the pretty stone. It had a marbled, deep green surface. As she looked closer, she could even see tiny flecks of gold in the green.

“Ahh, a good choice,” Atorius said. “Good for ridding the soul of negative energies. And goodness, me, do you have a great negative energy in your soul.”

“Be nice,” Loki growled.

The gentleness in Atorius’ voice made Loki uneasy. This man was not gentle. He was sadistic. Loki saw what he had done to Kuna before. There was nothing good in him.

Atorius took the stone from Kuna’s hand. He picked up a tall stand with a receptacle at the top and placed it in the centre of the sigil circle. He placed Kuna’s stone in the receptacle. He waved his hand. A piece of chalk flew over to him. He twirled his finger in the air and the chalk zipped across the floor, drawing more sigils around the circle.

“The stone will serve as a vessel for the curse once it is released,” he explained as he worked. “If we succeed in locking it in there, that is.”

“If?”

“Indeed,” Atorius nodded. “Curses are unpredictable even in the best of circumstances. An imperfect curse is substantially more volatile. Unstable, temperamental, and potentially deadly.”

Kuna yelped at his words and hugged Loki’s leg. Loki glared at the wizard. He was saying these things on purpose to scare her.

“Bring her here,” Atorius said with a smirk. “To the middle of the circle.”

Loki started to walk Kuna towards the circle.

“No! No!” she cried, pulling on the arm Loki held.

He stopped and knelt down in front of her. He made sure Atorius was still within his line of sight.

“Kuna, listen,” he said. Tears were streaming down her face. She shook her head and pulled hard on her arm. “Listen,” he said, running his hand over her hair. His soft touch made her stop. “You are stronger than this curse. I know it. He’s going to lift the curse and then we’ll leave this awful place. Forever. Alright, my love?”

“No,” she whimpered.

“You’re a strong little girl. I know you can do this,” he said. Her lip quivered. She wanted to believe Loki. No one had ever believed in her. But a storm swirled in her head that made her whole body ache. She just wanted it to stop.

“It’s alright,” Loki said. “I’m here with you. I won’t let anything happen.” He stood and walked her towards the circle. She repeated ‘no’ over and over again as they stepped inside. He let go of her arm. She stood, shaking in the centre of the room, holding her hands under her chin. “It’s alright,” Loki repeated to her.

He looked back at Atorius who gestured for him to leave the circle. Loki took a step or two back. Kuna wanted to follow. Loki put his hand up and gently told her, “Stay.”

“Please,” she pleaded.

“Everything’s going to be fine,” Loki said, in his softest voice. “I’m right here.”

Atorius looked between the two of them, listening intently. Loki turned his attention to Atorius.

“If you try anything,” he began. “If you harm her, I will destroy you.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” the wizard said impatiently with a wave of his hand. Loki took a step back, leering at the old man as he began to chant in a low voice. The words made no sense to neither Loki nor Kuna. The sigils on the floor began to glow a harsh white.

Kuna covered her eyes. She thought her heart would beat out of her chest. She wanted to run away but her legs felt like they were glued to the floor. All at once, she felt heat, hotter than any lava, blast through her entire body. She felt a suffocating feeling begin to envelope her. Her vision darkened and her breath caught in her throat. She tried to cry out, but her voice was caught too.

Loki’s heart shattered as he saw her writhe in pain. He knew it would be painful for her. But he also knew it was the only way she would be safe. He fought hard to keep the tears out of his eyes. He had to focus. He had to keep his guard up.

Kuna collapsed. Her back arched painfully. She felt a searing pain running down her arms. She held them out in front of her and watched as inky black sigils began to appear on her skin. A heat began to rise inside her. She turned over, propping herself up on her arms.

Loki watched in horror as a black mass erupted out of her back like the steam from the vents. She collapsed onto her side and her body stilled. Loki lifted the staff. The wizard held out a hand to stop him. The black fog continued to pour out of her. It began to move in undulating waves. Loki could see it slowly taking form.

First legs, then arms, then a head. Loki was astonished as he watched it form into a mirror image of Kuna herself. Eyes appeared on its dark face, yellow and menacing. White sigils glowed in sparkling bands around its arms, torso, and legs. It stared right at Loki.

It lunged forward but was stopped as it hit the edge of the sigil circle. A hissing sound rose from its mouth. The sigils on the floor brightened as the curse-Kuna slammed into the barrier created by the sigils. It let out a shrieking howl that made Loki’s bones rattle.

Atorius lifted his hands and moved them in ornate patterns. The sigils rose off the floor in white ribbons of light and began to spin around the curse-Kuna. They tightened in around it. The curse backed away from them, lashing out in attempts to escape. Each hit against the enclosing sigil field caused it to cry out in pain. Kuna laid motionless beneath its feet.

The wizard glanced at Loki. In an instant, Atorius threw down his arms and the sigil ribbons released the curse-Kuna.

“Kill them both!” he shouted.

The sigils disappeared and the curse-Kuna flew at Loki, tackling him. He felt a sting of pain on his side as it hit him. He heard the crackle of magic hiss through the air as it landed another clawing blow at his chest. It raised its fist again, glowing with the deep purple light of its own magic. Loki raised his hand and blasted the curse-Kuna off of him.

It flew back into the sigil circle beside the real Kuna. A thin tendril of black smoke connected the two. The curse-Kuna rose and primed another blast.

Below it, Kuna stirred. Sitting up, she felt her head spin. She looked up and cried out at the sight of her dark double beside her. It let loose the blast in Kuna’s direction.

“Kuna!” Loki cried. “Get out of there!”

The blast slammed into the floor as Kuna dove out of the way. She scrambled on the black sand, trying to gain her footing to run away. A zap of red light snapped next to her before she could take a step. She covered her eyes and staggered sideways. Her curse tripped her up and she fell onto her back.

Loki snatched the staff up and pointed it at Atorius. The wizard let out a powerful spell as Loki fired the staff. The blasts hit each man at the same moment, sending both flying into the walls of the cavern. A great crack formed on the floor where Loki hit the wall and stretched to the other side of the room where Atorius lay, motionless.

In the sigil circle, Kuna tried to regain herself, but her curse leapt onto her. They rolled, each trying to throw the other off. The curse-Kuna landed several blows on its host. Kuna cried out, fighting back by throwing her own fists. They simply fazed right through her double, singeing Kuna’s hands as they passed through the curse’s chest.

A horrible hiss rose from the curse-Kuna once again. It sounded like laughter. The curse-Kuna looked over at Loki who was struggling to regain himself after Atorius blasted him.

Its shadowy skin began to bubble and boil. Shades of colour began to ripple to the surface. Its hair turned brown, its eyes green, even its clothes bubbled into the sky blue of Kuna’s Asgardian clothes. The curse-Kuna looked like her exact twin.

Kuna took the pause to throw a fist into her double’s face which was now solid. In turn, the curse grabbed Kuna’s hair and yanked and the two had begun to fight once again, tumbling about on the floor.

Loki was breathing hard. His chest ached. His vision still swirled. He couldn’t keep the two of them straight. He stood, bracing himself on the wall of the cave. The staff in his hand smoked. The end was shattered, and great cracks ran up and down the shaft. He tossed it aside and looked up at the two fighting girls.

The curse was clever, it had stopped using its magic to hurt Kuna and with its new look, Loki could hardly tell the two apart. Now, the two of them fought in a blur of fists, feet, and teeth.

“Loki, help me!” one of them cried.

“No!” said the other. “It’s her! It’s her!”

One of them produced Kuna’s dagger. Loki focused on the other, his mind racing.

Surely Kuna has the dagger, he thought. The curse could not conjure that in its copy of Kuna.

She raised the blade as Loki raised his hand. The other looked him in the eye.

“No!” she cried “It’s me!”

Loki realised too late. The spell had already left his hand.

“No!” Loki cried.

The spell slammed into Kuna’s chest and sent her flying back against the wall. She collapsed in a heap. Loki went on the offensive. He hit the curse with blow after blow until it was backed up against the receptacle that held the stone. He held it there, tears flooding down his cheeks. The curse fought back, ditching its disguise to focus its magic on Loki.

Loki struggled to push the curse back into the circle. It was strong. He looked down at the floor as he put all his magical effort into pushing it back. The smoky tendril that connected Kuna to the curse was fading. He groaned with exertion.

The curse took another swipe at him, clobbering the side of his head. He took the hit, shaking the sting out of his ear.

He suddenly felt a tremendous heat behind him. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Kuna rising. Her skin was charred and blackened, as if burned. Her veins glowed shades of red, orange, and yellow. She looked the surface of a molten lava lake. Her eyes were glowing orange. Her hair erupted into flames and smoke that traveled down her back in lapping tongues of fire.

Loki’s heart was pounding. He felt the weight of the curse become heavier. It lashed out at him, knocking him back. He fell hard beside the real Kuna. Lava dripped from her arms and pooled at her feet. Loki felt frozen to the spot. Kuna let out a roar that nearly burst Loki’s eardrums. The whole mountain began to shake.

The curse-Kuna cowered, taking a few steps back but halting just inches from the stone. Kuna took several jaunting steps forward and threw her hands out in front of her. A jet of lava burst from her hands and slammed into the curse. The curse did its best to block the force of Kuna’s blow with its arms but was pushed back.

Loki got to his knees and watched, dumbfounded, as Kuna pushed the curse into the stone. The curse howled as it was sucked into the green gem Kuna had chosen. Loki leapt to his feet and performed the sealing incantations he had read in the cursed book. He drew sigils in the air which wrapped themselves around the stone in tight knots, glowing white hot as they burned themselves into its surface.

Kuna swayed. Loki turned to catch her. He felt a searing pain through his hands and cried out as he lowered her to the floor. He pulled his hands back and looked at them. They were black and red with burns. He hissed at them and looked down at Kuna. Smoke billowed from her skin, blinding Loki momentarily. When he was able to look again, she had returned to her normal form.

Loki pushed as much healing magic as he could into his hands. The mountain was still rumbling all around him. Pieces of the ceiling were starting to break free in chunks and cracks snaked through the walls.

He grabbed the green stone from the receptacle and shoved it into his pocket. He dodged a falling rock and returned to Kuna. Her body was hot to his touch and the heat made his burned hands sting. He summoned what was left of his magic to portal away from the cave. They appeared on the black

Loki heard a tremendous explosion and looked up into the sky. Both volcanoes erupted with such fury that he could see their tops explode and crumble down the mountainsides. The billowing cloud of ash and rock was racing down towards them. Lava spewed from the tops of the volcanoes, raining back down towards the earth. Loki saw the shockwave ripping across the land.

He closed his eyes. He felt the sting of the tesseract’s energy race through his body. The heat of its energy burned through him. He cried out as he opened a portal. He did not care where it went, he just had to beat the avalanche that was racing towards them.

***

Frigga gasped as a shock flashed through her body. She dropped the book she was reading with the start. She put her hand to her chest to stop the pounding of her heart. She stood and walked to the balcony, looking out into the night. The city sparkled below her.

She looked up at the sky, blinking, studying the array of stars above her. A glimmer caught her eye as a streak of blue jetted overhead and out of sight.