The Secret Asgardian (An Avengers Fanfiction)

Chapter 53: Beaten

53. Beaten

We circled like hungry wolves, the world around us non-existent as we faced off. He was smiling casually, his black eyes fixed on me, daring me to make the first move. I gazed back coolly, gripping the hilt of my sword, and continuing the silence.

Finally, I stopped moving and launched a deadly inferno at Loki, throwing my whole energy behind it. The fire split before him, leaving him unharmed as the fire blew past him. He laughed sharply, and I scowled.

“Your magic has been absorbed into the Ledarmal – I now have your fire at my fingertips,” He grinned, before pointing his sceptre at the ground beneath my feet.

Blue flames spurted out and crackled beneath me. Dismissively, I waved my free hand and the flames disappeared.

“That’s not fair!” I pointed out, annoyed, and he shrugged.

“That’s your problem.”

The blade of Verkir set on fire, burning bright. I jumped forward and the metal clanged as it hit Loki’s sceptre. I pushed against him harshly, but he just shoved back harder. I stumbled back, and he pushed me backward with a wave of blue magic, ruining my precarious balance. I fell back onto the floor, and I felt my arms set on fire as my anger peaked.

“You can’t beat me Eldrid – just accept it and help me conquer the world.”

I shook my head violently, before rolling to the side as the sharp end of his staff split the Earth exactly where I had been a moment before. I jumped to my feet, leaving my sword on the ground, and boosted myself in the air, hovering above and out of reach as my fists and feet burned. My eyes were fixed on the evil gem on his head – I was determined to get it.

“Come and get it,” He taunted, knowing exactly what I was looking at.

I launched myself at him unexpectedly, and he had just enough sense to duck before I reached him. I landed lightly on the ground behind him, and grabbed the horns on his helmet. Unable to turn, he snarled and set his whole body on fire, just as I liked to do.

Surprisingly, I could feel the flames, and I released the horns immediately as my hands burned. I looked down at my scalded hands in shock – I’d never felt a burn before. Ever.

Fire didn’t hurt me – I controlled it!

Loki looked amused at the look on my face as he spun around to face me, and swung his sceptre. My head snapped to the side and I gasped involuntarily at the impact, feeling the blade cut deeply across my cheek.

I retreated backwards, one hand clasped against my cheek while I reached for my sword with the other. As I grasped the hilt, it suddenly flew out of my hand and into Loki’s free one. Now he wielded both his sceptre and my sword.

“Hey!” I said indignantly, and he grinned, hefting my sword up.

“I always did like this sword. I’m sure I gave it you for your birthday.”

“My sixteenth birthday,” I confirmed quietly, and suddenly his eyes flickered to their normal green as he looked at me with a reminiscing expression, before switching back to opaque black.

He pointed the two weapons at me, before blasting me with flames from the sword and a forceful wave of draining energy from the sceptre. I flew backwards with the combined power of two weapons created for Asgardian gods.

“I thought that you were supposed to be powerful as the Goddess of Fire? Clearly Odin was mistaken by granting you the title of ‘goddess’,” Loki sneered as I smashed against the floor, almost hitting the back line of his army, some of whom were now watching our battle interestedly.