The Last Shifter (a Loki romance)

Chapter 13

I changed quickly and went straight back to the main chamber, where Odin was tapping his foot on the golden floor. He was standing in like the only spot in the room that wasn't covered in plush carpet so the rhythmic sounds echoed off the walls, getting on my nerves. It was like clicking a pen, I never had a problem when I did it but when someone else did it, it was the most annoying thing in the Nine Realms.

"Let's go." Odin sounded bored and impatient. I looked towards Loki but he shook his head.

"Why isn't Loki coming?"

"You have developed an unhealthy relationship with him," Odin explained as we went down the hall, "As heir to the throne, Thor must marry first."

"That was not a law last time I was here and I get the sense that if I ask Frigga about that, she will say that the first to get married will take the throne."

"Well it's going to be a law whether you like it or not starting tomorrow." I clenched my fists and growled.

"Fine, Loki and I will court until Thor gets married."

"You make it sound he has already proposed."

"How do you know he hasn't?" I walked a little faster.

When we reached the Rainbow Bridge, just as promised, Thor and the Warriors Three were there waiting for me on horseback. Kurt stood among them, waiting for a rider. Sleipnir was also there, probably waiting for Odin. It figures, Odin scorns Loki and rides his offspring like a common beast of burden. He could at least pretend to have some level of respect for the son of his adopted child. Sleipnir was a living, breathing animal, not a motorbike, seriously Odin! We rode across the Rainbow Bridge to the Bifrost, where Heimdall stood waiting.

"Greetings. Someone seems to be missing from your little group."

"We are all accounted for, Heimdall. You know where we're headed." Heimdall did not press the matter but he gave me a look that told me he knew what had transpired between myself and Loki.

"That I do." I didn't want to put Kurt through the stress of going through the Bifrost again so I dismounted and hopped up on Sleipnir instead after getting permission from him.

"You need not worry about traumatizing your horse Istara, my wife has made certain the he will not be bothered by the Bifrost." Odin informed me. My brow furrowed, why was he talking to me like I'm a person and not an animal? More importantly, why did he call me by name? I didn't have time to ponder that much, the only thought that came to mind was that he wanted me off 'his' horse. As soon as I remounted Kurt, the Bifrost activated and my thoughts were whisked away by the flying colors.

Just as Odin had said, Kurt did not react to the Bifrost at all, he remained completely calm, as if he were standing in a grassy field on a sunny day! Of course, that's about where we ended up on Vanaheim, just substitute the grass for ash and the sun for rainclouds. A type one village. The destruction had not been exaggerated on any account, everything was gone, not a single wooden beam left standing. It looked as if nothing had been there in the first place! Upon closer examination, I found that that was not entirely true, in the middle of the ashen field was a collection of tiny pebbles. The remains of a well and the only evidence that civilization had once been here. There was no cloud of smoke in the air but the stench of burnt wood and flesh reached my nose, this was a recent loss. If I had to guess, within the past day or two. There were no bodies, or even the faintest remains of bodies, just black ash all over the ground that clung to my fingers whenever I brushed it, trying to pick up some sort of evidence that the others had overlooked but the only thing I found was that this land would never be suitable for any sort of settlement again, the fire had been so bad that even the very roots of the grass had been destroyed. Normally, after a fire, the ground is very fertile but that was not the case here. There must've been some sort of chemical in whatever caused the fire to make it destructive instead of regenerative. I thought about looking for patterns in the ash but even as I walked around, the wind was blowing. It wasn't blowing that hard but hard enough to make a little ash cloud over the surface of the field, ensuring that any symbol or message would be erased. At last, when I was certain that there was nothing else for me to find, I headed back to where Odin and the others were waiting, not far beyond where the ash began.