8 War council

- Hela, just to be clear here. We know about little curse that you put on Thor. You see and hear everything that happen around Thor since then and up to now, right? I am not sure about receiving part. Can you clarify that please?

- Ah yes, the curse. Well no, it works in periods and I have to get in a trance to process received information. Obviously while I was imprisoned, I spent more time just doing that. I assume you want to remove it now?

- That's to Thor to decide. It comes with blessing that kept him safe for a long time. Any chance to get blessed? Without curse, of course!

- Nay, you don't need that. As soon as we hook you up to Ásgarðr magic core…

- What?

- You don't know about Ásgarðr magic core? Oh that's just… Okay, just to make sure. Do you know why Thor is God of Thunder and is God of Chaos?

- Is it just a tradition? I actually looked into it, but there is no answer in Library.

- Of course there is no answer there. Thor at least you had to be informed!

- Nay, Hela. Or maybe yes, but I always tuned out all talks about magic. It was always Loki domain.

- Can we resurrect Óðinn so I just kill him again, please? I will make a nice undead! We can do it everytime when another clusterfuck happen!

Loki and Thor exchanged looks and Loki asked:

- Can you actually resurrect him? Or is just a jest?

- unfortunately no, I cannot. I can reanimate his body and it will act somewhat intelligent, but to pull his soul back, it's to late. And we don't have a body.

- Pity. So what was it about Ásgarðr magic core?

- Óðinnforce. It is Ásgarðr magic core Eldritch. So we hook you up to it and it will boost your level of Eldritch that you can operate. Of course intense usage will have a toll on your body. Hence a reason for Óðinnsleep to restore body from overuse of Eldritch.

- Are you saying that Óðinn had a poor control over his and Ásgarðr Eldritch and suffered from magical exhaustion, body damage and just named it Óðinnsleep?

- Aya.

- That …. Nay. Let's just skip to "God" topic.

- Aya. Basically "God" status is just recognition for permanent connection to related conceptual dimension. That's where our Godlike powers comes from and if not properly learned, dimension energy leak out and affect environment around us.

They just looked at me dumbfounded.

- Let me guess, no training at all? Not even a word to explain?

At that Loki just collapsed soundly on a table and murmured something like "I cannot believe that" and "we need to find his body"

Thor actually looked like I answered his most desired question.

Loki with mischievous expression looked up from the table, without actually getting up, and just shot next stone:

- I am jötun.

- Nay, you are only half jötun. As I am. Thor is quarter jötun , quarter aesir and half vanir.

Loki just closed eyes and rejected to react any other way. Thor looked at me then at Loki and just said: "Ah"

We stayed silent for some time. I let them somewhat process that realization. Finally Loki pulled himself up and focused on what matter now:

- We will talk about all of that at some point. What do I need to do, to get access to Ásgarðr Eldritch?

- Gungnir. It will give you access to secret passage from Vault to the core of Ásgarðr. There will be two rooms: Golden and Black. You need Golden. Get inside and do basic meditation on synchronization. Until you get in tune with it.

- What is in Black room?

- Death dimension energy converter. It was my birthday present.

Loki looked at me for few seconds and then:

- Nay, I will just ignore that. Vault, Gungnir , secret passage, Golden room and meditate on synchronization. Got it. We also need to schedule our lesson for "God" things.

- Aya. Ah while we on this topic. Bruce is God of Anger or whatever. He has permanent connection to conceptualized anger dimension.

- Hela, please. Just stop. Let's get back to simple problems. Like tomorrow ceremony, Thanos and what we need to do, after you and Brunnhilde literally shredded his forces on Xandar. Can you update us on what actually happened there? And why you were there?

- I got intel that Thanos will be moving there soon and decided to capitalize on that. Then his invasion basically crushed my meeting with Nova Prime. She asked for assistance and latter confirmed intention for political alliance. I kicked some Brute and Mage butts. Then , as you said, shredded his ground troops, while Brunnhilde were shredding dropships. Brute and Mage tried to escape and Brunnhilde cut their spacecraft in half and left deep cut on battlecruiser. End of story.

- Hmm. Hold a minute, I will inform Lord Aðalgrímr about it, so he can act accordingly.

With that Loki spend few minutes to write a missive. Then stepped outside to send it and get back.

- Now I am going to pay back for dumping Hliðskjálf on me. Thor - you are going to General Tyr and ask him to tell and hopefully teach you everything about army logistics and I need full report about our forces state and where we are lacking. No spending time on training ground to spare, no sitting in dinning halls or tavern sharing tales, No wandering to Miðgarðr or other realms to battle or whatnot. If Thanos or someone else decide to capitalize on Óðinn death - we need to be ready. Do you understand?

- Aya, brother.

- Hela, Am I right to assume that you will focus on taking over spy network and all related to that?

- Aya, between other things. I actually will need to go to Miðgarðr to confirm something that might change our interaction with them.

- I see. Well I will head right now to King study and later to check out Golden room. See you at the dinner. Thor, you have to be there and not drunk. Or I will name you heir and will step down and you will deal with this… Hela, what was that word?

- clusterfuck.

- Ah yes, clusterfuck. Thor our life is clusterfuck.

——

After High Council meeting, I went to find General Tyr.

- General Tyr

- Your Highness. I assume you are here to get updates? Here it is: annual reports for last 20 years. I kept my copy just in case. Anything longer than 20 years, should go through request to archives. And this is latest report from our analytics.

- Ah, I see you did not loose an edge as well

- Don't take me wrong, but last 20 years… well, were not good for Asgard. You will find that reports repeatedly stated increased external threats, to be completely ignored by King Óðinn. There was nothing done, until King Loki sent Óðinn to exhale and impersonalized him.

- Of course you noticed

- Well, King Loki did a good job at that, to be fair. He was just not aware about security protocols that we have in place exactly for that situation. We did not act immediately and when we found out who is imposter, well, legally he had all rights to do so, still being regent. And to be honest? King Óðinn mental health was already compromised after Dark Elf's invasion and death of Queen Frigga. You will find that in last 3 years under King Loki we did more for Asgard than in last hundred years.

- I need to know who was informed and do we have secrecy oath from all of them

- we actually do, it was first order I gave after imposter identity was uncovered. Lord Ragnvaldr and Aðalgrímr from High Concil were informed. All personal King guards were on board as well. And I apologize but I cannot uncover names and positions of security team that actually handle security protocols. I am sure, you understand.

- I do, don't worry General Tyr. Another question is what happen to High Concil? We used to have twelve people, now it's just four.

- Aya. When King Óðinn imprisoned Your Highness and we lost all Valkyries in the process, Lords started to ask uncomfortable questions. King Óðinn was not happy with that, so most vocal lost their positions and pretty much found themselves in exhale as well. I did my best to keep tabs on them and help when possible.

- Ah, I see. Is there a chance to retrieve them back?

- unfortunately time and other realms were not forgiven to them. Most of them dead now. Over the age or circumstances. Few that still alive are settled in. I already tried to reach them, but they are unwilling.

- I see. I need analytics and intelligence on current state on Miðgarðr. Specially on next names: Tony Stark, Capitan Rogers, Nick Fury, Agent Coulson. The full scope, includes what their objectives and current affairs and people that they interact most.

- Aya, Your Highness. I will give orders right away.

——