Lord Shadow

‘You seem to think a lot about the future. Do you not think about the present at all? What about our family? Sofia, Wang Jian, Sina. All of this exist in the present. Or do you think that they are some relics of history compared to you?’

Loki shake his head and gritted his teeth as he answered.

‘It is to protect the present that I am planning for the future’ Then Loki sighed.

‘I hate arguing with you, brother. You thought of me as your bother. Well, me too. I hate the fact that you did not want to support me but I understand why. But at least I hope that you won’t stop me from doing what I am supposed to be doing’

‘You mean preventing me from destroying the Universe?’

‘Yes…that’ Loki said with a slightly higher tone.

Then he said

‘The stake is high and I am playing a chess game that will determine the fate of the entire Universe. If the stake wasn’t so high, if the sacrifice that it will undoubtedly take would not be so fucking terrible, I would not be doing this. Like you, I am selfish. Truth is, I am more selfish than you in my timeline. I am not the responsible one. I am not even the strongest one. But when you saw entire Universe turns to a fucking nothingness, well, that would change any person views and priority. I have no time or desire to be selfish now. I am meant to light a new era. I am meant to see you fulfil your destiny but you are not helping me so at least, the one thing you could do for me is not to hinder me’

Azief was not affected in the least as he looks at Loki lazily and then ask

‘You still haven’t answer my question’ Azief said, as there is a smile on his face. Loki is hiding something from him.

He is sure of it now. The more he talks the more it is clear that Loki is hiding something from him. He could feel the nervousness and the anxiousness that Loki is trying to hide from him.

‘What is the question again?’ Loki ask

‘Will I destroy the Universe?’ Azief ask. The way he asks the question is like he is asking for some dinner menu.

He was unaffected and seem calm when he asked that question like he is commenting about whether the weather is good or bad.

Azief wanted to pry more and understand more about this calamity that Loki keep reminding him about.

He wanted to know the reasons behind Loki contradictory words and actions. If Loki did not lie to him then he will be the one that ended the Universe, but if it is so why help him at all.

Why not kill him or try to assassinate him? That is something that Azief never understand.

‘You will’ Loki replied. Azief is still calm and the he asked another question. It is like he is trying to pry deeper and deeper into this issue

‘And if I did not mistake the words you said to me, you are here to stop me, right?’ Loki nodded and replied with

‘I am’ Azief only smiles

‘This is how I am stumped. How would you do that exactly?’ Azief asked.

Azief look at Loki, his eyes seem to focus at Loki, trying to see any lies or truth that may be given out, any clues or hint about Loki true intention in doing all this.

‘I can’t tell you that’ Loki replied like he has been practicing that line for a thousand time

But Azief was not disappointed at all. Instead he asks another question.

‘But that plans of yours doesn’t involve me dying right?’ Loki nodded. Seizing the chance, Azief ask another question.

‘Would it involve the person I love to suffer?’ Loki sighed and he answer as truthfully he could.

‘It probably will. No…. I am most certain that they would suffer’ Azief forehead creased and he frowned.

Loki on the other hand remembers the final days leading to the Final Battle.

The world was desolate, the sun was red and there is only an aura of Death that covered the whole world.

And they all saw the gigantic eyes that seems to envelopes the entire Omniverse. They could feel how weak they are in front of that destruction filled stare.

Gathering all the wishes of the dead, the dreams of the survivors and the promise of a better future, Loki shoulder that burden to go to the past to execute his plans.

But by now Loki also knows that he is not the only one that have been fighting for the future. There was Morgana. And there might be others.

This is Loki premonition.

However, he and Morgana have different ways of achieving the same result. Even now Loki still do not know whether he is doing the right thing.

But the moment he buried Morgana on the Everest he had already decided to not doubt his path and keep walking forward and follow the plans.

No matter what Azief said to him or do to him, he had no intention of stopping. Loki decided this a long time ago.

He still remembers the moon falling down from the skies, the sun exploding in the dark Universe and the whole Universe being torn apart on the seams.

No one could imagine the hopelessness, and the despair and the uncountable souls that screams and plead for life.

Loki saw the dusk of humanity and he tears up as he looks at red skies and red soil. In the Final Battle everyone was united. But it was too late at that time.

Destruction.

He saw only destruction. This is why he had returned to the past. His only reasons. He would not mind sacrificing himself to make sure that plan succeeded.

This is his grand cause

If it is not because he is crucial to the last stages of the plan, he would not mind risking his life more to aid Azief.

Some people said he is craven and cowardly, only fighting and exploiting those who he could defeat.

Loki could not be blinded by some personal feeling of heroism. Because he needs to survive until the end just like Azief regardless of the cost.

Because the cost and consequences of losing is far more terrible than any personal stake he had in the world.

The only difference now is that Loki fears that even he would forget what he needed to do in the end

He thought that the price would be steep but he never thought that the price of breaking the Laws of Time is to had his memory erased.

When you reach certain points of power, there comes a time when even your memories couldn’t be erased even after you died or turns to dust in the passing eons of the Universe

Sometime the memories of such powerful being stays as a source of power in the Universe. Other times it turns into an inheritance of power.

But the Price is different. No matter what you, no matter what power you possessed, the Price will take it away and there is no undoing it.

It is like a system that exist throughout all Universe. As Loki waited Azief question, Azief calmly ask

‘Will they die?’ he asks.

Loki takes a dep breath and the look toward the windows. He could see migratory birds flying in the sky, the calm cloudless sky and the blue sky above it.

It looked calm and serene but inside Loki heart it is full of chaos.

***

Sxith par of the chapter as the countdown to the end of the arc begins. leave some commenst and leave some votes too.