5 The Plight of the Mage

Everything was done and set into motion for the game to begin. It wasn't a game the mage created, and it wasn't one he had wanted to play either. It was a game he was forced to play as a cruel punishment from the one person he once thought of a as a friend, no brother. He had loved his brother and though more often than not, Odin's ideas and schemes got him into trouble Loki always went along. Loki was wiling in the beginning to risk his own life for his brother. Times changed and so did he, he no longer cared to be the heavy hand or the trickster for Odin, but a loving devoted husband to Sigyn and a devoted father to his kids. He realized he had not been the best of fathers to his first three kids that arose from an affair that nearly cost him the one he loved most dearly. At the time Sigyn did not know about the children just the affair. Sigyn knew that Loki had been banished at the time but it still felt like a betrayal to her. Loki returned to her but Sigyn was upset with him and was very reluctant to stay with him. During this time Loki learned that his three children had been abandoned by their mother. Sigyn didn't know about them and Loki didn't want to tell her if it meant losing her. Loki went to his brother, to Odin for advice. Odin had told Loki he knew a just way to see to it that all three of these kids would be well taken care of. Odin said Loki would have nothing to worry about to leave it all to him. The price for this help was for Loki to return to Odin's courts, and to return to be his heavy hand. So, Loki did and for a while things were happy perhaps a little unease at times, but he didn't believe there was any true malice. He later learned that was all lie. Loki would visit his other three children and while Sigyn did not know about them they knew nothing about her. One day Loki decided that his and Sigyn's marriage was secure so he told her all about the kids. At first she was mad not about the children but that he kept them a secret that he had so little faith in her to be a mother. It took some time for him and Sigyn to get past that. They began seeing the kids and it was hard on the kids too at first. When they didn't see any less of their father than usual and found that they did indeed see him more the warmed up to Sigyn. The end of Loki and Odin's relationship would come to an end shortly after Loki's beloved Sigyn began questioning why they couldn't have Loki's first three children with them. Her questions became more persistent when they were pregnant and Sigyn gave birth to twins. Odin had an explanation for this. He told them that the kids possessed wild magick and it took more special training and they needed to be around his specialist so that the could safely control the magick so no one got hurt. Odin made certain there would be no more question on the subject once he was done explaining. Loki's wife began to suspect something amiss when time after time they could not even visit with the children. She could not understand her husband's blind faith in his so-called brother. Only a hand full of times did they actually get to visit with the children. As the kids got older the new excuse of the special schools the children attended needed their time to best suit them for the positions they would have when once graduated never sat well with Sigyn. Then when Loki's first three children were in their teens everything came out. It all started with Haldis she was a sweet stubborn girl. She had sent a plea for help to Sigyn and she quickly responded by leaving the twins with a friend and heading straight for Haldis. His wife wasn't fast enough to save Haldis from one violent act, but she was determined to save her from anything more. She placed a curse upon the brothers who had raped her daughter. She then took Haldis and her two brothers home from their special schools. Sigyn told them what had happened and that now more than ever they had to become as one to protect each other. Haldis became morose, timid, quiet, confused, and heart broken. She admitted having feelings for one of the boys but not the other. She cried about not understanding what she did wrong to upset them. This only made the family angrier. Loki had been out on duties of being the heavy hand when this all happened. When he came home and found his wife with all his children he was overjoyed at first. Then he noticed how his once sweet, stubborn, and strong girl turned into a depressed timid little creature. His eldest two sons told him the story while his wife and daughter cooked the meal and the twins set the table. He was instantly enraged his blood like fire. He got up and decided that the two boys who hurt his daughter would learn what heavy hand meant. His eldest two sons refused to be left behind and so they all went to get their revenge. Before the killing blows could land upon the perpetrators Odin showed up and with many to aide him. Odin was in a rage that anyone would dare to lay a hand on his boys let alone his favorite son. Odin had Loki restrained while he meted out his justice on Loki's two sons. Both boys were shifters and had possessed other magickal talents. Now they were forced to transform into their other forms while their other magick talents were removed from them. The giant serpent was thrown into the ocean and the wolf was given to another as a pet. Then Loki was banished to another world until his brother would call him back. That was the end of the love between the two and though Odin would try to console Loki the hate in Loki's heart would grow. The curse that Sigyn placed on Odin's sons was already working its way on the boys. One, Hod, lost his sight but learned his father and mother's true feelings (this was Sigyn's curse to lose one sight to gain a true sight) for him and Baldur. Hate grew in Hod's heart for his brother. The other son, Baldur, who believed himself to be invincible took on many adventures and games that were deathly risky. Every time he came through unscathed it only bolstered his belief, Odin's, and his mother belief in his invincibility and superiority to the others. Only his half-brother, Thor, would admonish him but even he would join in some of the games. One day their fool hearty pride would be the Baldur's undoing as the curse was cast by Sigyn. Under Sigyn's care and tutelage Haldis grew into a sweet, strong, smart, witty, and stubborn young woman. Although she never lost part of her timidness from the past. Loki could return home but was never allowed to stay for long. On one of Loki's missions that Odin sent him out on Loki ran into Odin's eldest son, Thor, who was about the same age as Loki. Thor never stayed long around his father as he knew that his father's new wife didn't care for him and she was afraid Thor would take her son's favored position. Thor also knew that Odin didn't hold him in as high of esteem as the others. Odin still had use for Thor so he believed his father loved him. Loki knew different that Thor's strength and stealth had uses that were something Odin didn't want to lose and Odin wasn't above pretending love to get what he wanted. This knowledge Loki kept to himself it would only hurt Thor and not help Loki decided. As they traveled they found that they had much in common and liked each other's company. It was during one of these adventures that Thor suggested he could go back and fetch their families to travel with them. Thor saw no reason for the families to miss out on their adventurous. This lasted for a year and half and it was a bitter sweet time for Loki for not all his family was there. When Odin found out what was happening he called an end to it. The end would follow soon after that. Haldis and the rest of Loki's family had only been back home for a couple of weeks when she had finished delivering medicine to a client she saw Baldur and Hod who were now men. Believing they hadn't seen her she took another path to go home. Hod heard her though he had developed his own kind of magick to let him see so he followed her and stopped her. He told her one day she would have to decide who she wanted and then he left. To her it made no sense, but it would soon. After she had given Baldur the slip he took to secretly following Haldis. Knowing where she would go he set a trap for her and waited on her. He wanted Haldis for his mistress as his father had a wife picked out for him that was supposed to strengthen the bonds of the empire. Haldis refused him, he became enraged and went to attack her. Sigyn saw fit to teach Haldis about self-defense and Sigyn asked a friend teach Haldis more about battle. At first timid and shocked he landed the first blow on Haldis knocking her to the ground. He was on top of Haldis when her strength and stubborn desire to inflict more pain upon him came to her. Haldis then remembered her training and fought back. They caused such a ruckus that Odin went to investigate. Odin's power was such that neither could stand to fight the other let alone stand in front of Odin. He berated his son for letting a woman turn his head. Then he declared that Haldis would forever be known as Hel all would say that half her body was dead and the other pretty. He then banished her to rule over the world of the dead. When Loki learned of this he plotted and planned until he could get revenge on them. He learned of Baldur's weakness and the hatred that Hod carried for his brother. Loki used Hod's hatred in a glorious way to ride Loki and his family of the two who had hurt his daughter and taken away his family. Loki's so-called brother would lose the one child that he cared for by the hands of the one he despised. When Loki's part of the story was learned the rage of Odin was so much that he had Loki bound to a rock with the entrails of one son. Odin used his magick on Loki and Sigyn's twins. Odinused his magick to force one to transform into a wolf and made rabid to attack the other twin that Odin had frozen to the spot. The wolf tore out his brother's entrails then Odin lifted the rabid part of his spell and let knowledge come back but Odin left him in the form of a wolf. The wolf let out a very loud mournful howl and took off running into the night. Sigyn was held down and forced to watch all this. Above the rock a giant viper laid dripping its poisonous venom onto Loki. Then they were left. Sigyn was upset but she used her magic to create a bowl to capture the venom. When the bowl was filled she quickly dumped it but to her horror the venom kept coming she rushed back to Loki. This went on for a very long time then one day Odin showed up he stopped the snake from dripping its poison and had Sigyn removed. It was then that the elaborate game of chess was proposed. By playing Loki could win back his family and their freedom, Odin would win back his sons and at the end if Odin won he would rule all the worlds. A set number of games was agreed to, but it did not escape Loki's attention that nothing was stated what would happen if the either lost. Unfortunately, for Loki in every game his wife would be involved so she became trapped living repeatedly in different worlds. There would be a break between games, but Loki was not allowed usually to see his family or if he did he would not have any memory of it. A new game was going to begin and this time not only Loki's family but Thor's would be on the board. Thor becoming friends with Loki was much to the chagrin of Odin. This would be a very tough very tricky game. Loki's memories were settling, and he was beginning to focus on the task at hand, but Loki was too late to notice the world eater swoop down and catch Loki up in his maw.