23 The Plan

1138 AD: 174 years(17)

"Thank you, Heimdall." I say, nodding at Heimdall as the Bifrost drops me in the Observatory.

Heimdall nods at me, says, "You're welcome, my Prince. Your family has been notified of your arrival." and continues his vigil.

I shake my head at him, turn invisible, and turning into my Mystic Mode, fly towards the palace. Nothing has changed in the... 4 years I've been gone. Damn! I was only gone for 4 years? I sigh, looking at the palace. I wanted space for myself, and I returned home after 4 years.

I drop down near the palace, and turn visible again. Walking leisurely, until someone notices me, I keep looking at the sights, and smile softly. I did miss this place a lot.

"My Prince!" the guards shout in surprise, as I approach the Throne Room, and then immediately bow down in greeting.

I smile and simply nod at them and say, "At ease, people. Can you announce me please?"

The guard on the right bows and hurriedly enters the throne room to inform my father that I have arrived. A half minute after I stand near the doors, I hear the bang of Gungnir slamming on the ground, and the doors open.

I walk inside, smiling at the retreating nobles, who had just been politely kicked out. The throne room was as Gold as ever, with Odin sitting on his Throne, and surprisingly, Thor was standing near him, grinning widely at me.

Mother and Loki were nowhere to be found in the Throne room at first, but as I approach the Throne, I see them coming from the back. Huh. They were in the library. They're gonna love the gift I brought them.

"My son! You have returned!" Odin booms out, smiling wide. Mother has tears in her eyes as she sees me, but she's smiling too. Loki is simply smirking at me, which sort of scares me, while Thor laughs loudly and walks forward.

Me and Thor share a manly hug, patting backs, and shaking forearms. I do the same with Loki, with me removing a paper saying "Kick me" that was stuck from my back. Burning the paper, making Loki pout, as if that'll work now that he's an adult, I turn to mother and hug her warmly.

"Welcome home, my son." Mother whispers, hugging me tight.

We separate, and I kneel in front of Father. I might have left, but he's still my King, and no matter how much i hate kneeling in front of anyone, until I'm of a higher rank, I won't get in the way of etiquettes.

Odin walks forward, and puts a hand on my shoulder, making me stand. He hugs me, and says, "Welcome home, My son."

Separating, Odin turns towards the guards, and says, "Send out the notice. My second born son has returned from his travels. We shall feast tonight!"

"VERILY!" A voice shouts, way too close to my ears. Goddamnit Thor.

I clear my ears and turn to father, scrunching my face a little. I say, "Not to disappoint you father, but I'll have to go again. Can we talk? Family only?" I look around at the guards. I don't want the guards to know about Aditi, or Jord, or Gaia. They might be loyal to the family, and Asgard, but their minds might betray my secrets.

Odin nods, a little sad, but wanting to clear up the air. We all move towards the rooms of our parents, just like last time, and I scan to see if anyone's hidden here.

Seeing no one is hidden, and that we are well and truly alone, I send us all into the Mirror Dimension.

"What in the- Baldur? What is this?" Odin asks, looking around in wonder, Frigga and Loki doing the same.

I smile at their wonder and say, "This is one of the many things I learned from the Sorcerers of Midgard. This place is called the Mirror Realm, and it is next to impossible to spy on us, when were here. Well, it's also almost impossible to break out of this place, so it's completely secure for our use."

I give them a short explanation of what else I've learned, giving an example of portals around Asgard, as well as a few scenes from Midgard. I do keep my relics a secret, as seeing through time might be too dangerous. Now that I think about it, I should have kept the borrowed items back in Kamar Taj before coming here.

Loki asks, "Can you teach this.. Sorcery to me?"

I take out a few tomes, that I've written myself, about my studies in the Mystic Arts, and give them to Mother and Loki. I say, "Well, you should start with this one, as it's mostly theory. I'll have to be present if you want to move on to the other subjects. The first book can be learned pretty easily without any help."

Loki takes the book from my hand, and looks at it in wonder. He opens it up and immediately starts reading, but Father says, "Loki. You may read it later. For now, we have a talk to go through."

He points his head at me, so noticing that I have everyone's attention, I start speaking. I tell them everything about the start of my travels around Midgard, after my studies were done.

How I started traveling across the lands, and came across a magical cat being harmed by humans, how I rescued the cat, and got the humans to scatter. How I met Jord, and my whole meeting with her. Everyone is silent for a while.

"Lady Jord sent you on a quest to clear out these.. demons? from her land?" Odin finally asks, making sure.

I nod at him, once again making everything silent.

Mother straightens her back, and says, "Well, what are you here for then? If Lady Jord asks you to help her, you help her."

I sigh, and say, "I have seen those Dementors, and what they, and their master can do, with the help of a Midgardian Artefact. I can most definitely kill the Dementors single handedly. But their master, Ekrizdis, is a Wizard. Someone like us, born with his magic. Only Human. I need someone who can take on Ekrizdis, and kill him, while I destroy the Demons."

I look at Loki, making Thor sulk, while Mother and Father immediately look at him. It was understandable. Loki is a Seidhrs, and hence a perfect person to battle against a Wizard.

While Thor is the strongest, when I'm not in my Mystic Mode, he's.. not that smart. Ekrizdis is cunning enough to distract Thor, but the same can't be said for Loki.

"Loki. You will go with Baldur when he returns. Thor. If you want to, you may go too." Odin says, or orders, making Thor immediately cheer up. Damn he's a puppy.

Frigga smiles at all of us, and says, adding to it, "You brothers haven't had a vacation in a long time. Stay on Midgard for a year if it's agreeable. Have as much fun as possible. When you have cleared the lands of Lady Jord, you can stay there for this year."

Odin nods, reluctantly, not exactly willing to let all three of the Princes of Asgard out of Asgard.

"VERILY! Brothers! Our first vacation as brothers!" Thor shouts out, excited. And frankly, I'm excited too. We're gonna have so much fun on Midgard.

"So tell us more about the Sorcerers. Obviously I don't know much about them. But are they a threat to us?" Odin asks me.

I put a hand on my chin, thinking a bit, and say, "They are a threat in the sense that they can capture and even kill the average Asgardian soldier. Their strongest, the Sorcerer Supreme, can probably take on all three of us Princes at once, and still come out on top. But unless we tried to bring any Demon Lords of the Outer Realms into this one, they won't interfere in our business. I don't think they'll even bother with us if we tried to take over Midgard, and bring it under our direct rule."

Odin nods, Frigga looks in deep thought, while Thor is still smiling. Loki is reading the book I gave him, introducing all the different languages and making it easy for an AllSpeak speaker to grasp the written word.

Odin finally says, "Understood. You will keep an eye on them, and make sure they pose no threat to the mortals, or us. If one of them brings a Demon Lord here, all of us will fall too."

"Yes, My King." I answer calmly, realising that it was an order from the King.

"Enough of this. Baldur has just returned, let him enjoy for a while at least." Mother says, snapping everyone out of their thoughts. She then turns to me, and says, "Baldur, go and freshen up. You have a feast to get to tonight."

~~~

Two days later, I, Thor, and Loki drop down in the same spot on Midgard, via the Bifrost. We had enjoyed the feast, as usual. Asgardians don't need occasions for feasts, they make them up if they want to feast. I left my introductory journals about Mystic Arts in mother's hands, knowing that she'll be careful about showing them to someone unsavoury. We stayed for two days, enjoying the time with our family and friends, before we leave for a vacation.

I sparred with my brothers, to get a measure of their Strengths, and I have to say, Thor's gotten a lot stronger in these 4 years. His weights had already gone up to 50 tons constantly, while upping it to 100 tons when training. That was enough to make him an equal to my Light Mode Strength.

My Mystic Mode was bound too much for him, and hence U restrained myself to the Light Mode only. We enjoyed our fights, as now we were evenly matched in Strength, but I still won thanks to my superior techniques.

Loki, while not that strong physically, did manage to hold his own against us, by directing our blows, and making subtle attacks. He was one hell of a fighter when he's at his best.

Back on Midgard, we look around, and before anyone can say anything, the ground right in front of us wiggles a bit, and Lady Jord rises out of the now Muddy land.

I bow to her as she appears, with Loki and Thor following right behind me. Lady Jord looks at us, and says, "Greetings, Thor Odinson, Loki Odinson. Princes of Asgard. Welcome to Midgard."

"Brothers. This is Lady Jord." I say, formally introducing the three.

Once the greetings are over, Lady Jord turns to me and asks, "So, Prince Baldur, are you ready now? Or would you like to wait before taking care of the Dementors?"

I simply look at my brothers raising an eyebrow at them. Thor simply raises his Mjolnir, while Loki summons his daggers to his hands, both of them smirking at me.

I turn to Lady Jord, and say, "We're ready now, Lady Jord. Will you allow us entry into your lands?"

Lady Jord nods, and says, "My magic that is present in you, will allow you to enter and exit the lands freely. I will see you once you're done, Sons of Odin. I hope you do not fail."

"Aah! Lady Jord! You wound us with your words! We will most definitely not fail! We're the Princes Of Asgard. And you have me, The Mighty Thor, the God of Thunder!" Thor boasts out, waving Mjolnir around.

You know, sometimes Thor does something that reminds everyone that he's a spoiled Prince, who's mighty arrogant.

I sigh and look above, asking 'Really now?' with my face. I hear chuckling and look at Lady Jord. She waves her hand, and simply says, "I will leave you to it then."

I simply nod, as she disappears into the ground. Shaking my head, I put on the Sling Ring, and open up a portal to the Scotland Highlands, about a mile away from Hogwarts. I enter it, making my brothers gape and follow me.

"Okay, I'm definitely learning this." Loki whispers, looking at the portal in awe, while Thor simply looks around.

He says, "Eh, I prefer flying around. So brother, where is this castle that's filled with those vile Demons?"

Thor looks ready to fight, and so does Loki. So I simply say, "Don't be hasty. While they are nothing compared to Frost demons, they are high in numbers. There's over a thousand of those Dementors one mile north from here."

"So Brother, what's the plan?" Loki asks, before Thor can say anything to either hype us up, or make us groan. It's a coin toss, honestly.

I wave my hands creating a small illusion of the castle. I show each part of the castle, and highlight the Great Hall, which served as Ekrizdis's Throne room, as the Headmaster's Chambers rejected him.

"Loki, there's a secret passage which Ekrizdis does not know about. You have to enter from here, keep walking, and you'll exit here on the second floor. You'll have to take this path, while being invisible, and wait near the great hall. If you can kill Ekrizdis without him being aware, do it, and start killing the Dementors." I explain, showing each part and explaining everything I knew.

Thor, unsurprisingly, listened patiently. He might be energetic, but he knows me and Loki are good at these things. But as this is my quest, it'll be my plans.

I point at the Entrance gates, and say, "Thor and I will enter straight through the Entrance gates, creating chaos as we go. You'll engage Ekrizdis as soon as he realizes someone is inside the grounds. Again, if you have an opportunity, kill him immediately. A warning, he has better senses than us. So don't forget to erase your smell too."

"Oohh. I love chaos." Loki whispers, cackling to himself.

I then show an illusion of House Elves, Goblins, and Dwarves, and say, "If you see any of these beings, don't harm them. If you see any animals, knock them out, but don't kill them. No matter what, don't kill any of the animals, or even plants that are within these grounds. Only kill the Dementors, and Ekrizdis. Understood?"

"Yes, brother." Loki and Thor chorus, smirking at me. I roll my eyes. I'm simply making sure Lady Jord does not kill me. Being killed by an Aditi, when my first crush, who Friendzoned me, was named that, would be one hell of an irony.

Shaking my head, we start walking towards the castle of Hogwarts. While walking, Loki asks, "Brother? Can these Dementors be killed by our weapons?"

Hmm.. Good question. A very valid one at that.

"I know my Light will definitely kill them, so would Thor's Lightning. But I'm pretty sure that Uru weapons will at least harm them, if not kill. So use your daggers." I answer honestly. This was the reason I and Thor were attacking the Dementors, while Loki had to take care of Ekrizdis.

Loki nods, and says, "Understood." Getting bored of walking, I simply create two portals, one for Loki to go through, and another for me and Thor, leading us right to the front gates.

We see the castle on the other side, and brace ourselves.

I turn to my brothers, and say, "Well, let's get to it now, brothers. Happy hunting."

Loki smirks and enters his portal, and I and Thor do the same. Well, Dementors. Time to face your own fears now.

~~~

A/N: Unbeta'd chapter, as were the rest. If there's any mistakes, please correct me.

How many of you would prefer a witch to return to life and be a waifu to Baldur? Vote by commenting on the paragraphs below.

1. Rowena Ravenclaw: Completely human, but one hell of a brain. I'll have her connect to the Light Dimension to extend her age, if it's what majority says.

2. Helga Hufflepuff: Avatar and Daughter of Gaia. Can control the weather, and has a high probability of becoming a Goddess on her own if she'd lived enough.

3. Nope. No witches. Let them die in peace.

Although both of them died at the age of 80-90, being witches, their age can be adjusted a bit. Or, they had somehow uncovered Youth for life or something.

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