⟅ lore: marvel rivals ⟆

LORE ❝ Everyone loves a trickster, until the trick is played on them. ❞ BIOGRAPHY Born the son of Laufey, king of the Frost Giants, Loki was adopted by Odin and raised as a prince of Asgard. But his true nature could not be undone, and Loki would come to fully embrace his role as the God of Mischief. With his father deep in the Odinsleep, Loki seized his chance to take the throne for himself. After enlisting Hela in his plot and hurling his brother Thor into a distant timeline, Loki now harvests Chronovium sap from the World Tree, Yggdrasill, in an effort to conquer the entire timestream. LOKI: DESTINED KINGSHIP In the immediate aftermath of the reckless mortals' clumsy scrambling of timelines, Loki noticed something quite curious. The sap bleeding from Yggdrasill had a new, particularly magical essence. He began to experiment with it. Shape it. Concentrate and intensify it. Time, he discovered, was the core of its essence, and right away, he conceived an intense desire to visit a future Asgard to see what mischief he might make there. Quickly, he learned how to do just that, but he came away not only disappointed but frightened and-not that he ever would have admitted it- saddened. For the future Asgard he beheld was a ruin, its throne broken and cast down, its collections looted, its surviving people grubbing in the ruins to survive. No, Loki thought. Surely this is not Asgard's only future. He brewed the enchantment once more...and discovered an Asgard overrun by Jotun, with Laufey himself grunting on the throne and Asgard's people little more than bones. And another Asgard in flames, with Surtur bestride the blazing trunk of Yggdrasill while the fabled towers of the realm collapsed in fiery rubble. And another, windswept and empty, the Cask of Eternal Winters broken open in the throne room. And another, shattered into drifting fragments against a sea of stars. And another, impossibly sunk under an ocean, with vast shadows moving in the moonlit waters above. Hundreds more, thousands more. Asgards burned, Asgards frozen, Asgards overrun by Dark Elves or dwarves or enemies from Midgard or the worlds beyond the stars. A Kree- devastated Asgard, an Asgard ravaged by the Eternals, an Asgard ruled by an alien overlord whose minions oozed and sprang like living shadows, hunting down the last of the realm's true subjects. In all of these, Loki did not find the one thing for which he truly searched. Himself. And then, at last, an Asgard mighty and unbroken. An Asgard overarched by Yggdrasill's branches and underpinned by Yggdrasill's roots. Her towers shining, her people vibrant and untroubled, her wealth untouched...and her throne occupied by Loki. He reeled back into his own time, mind aflame with the implications of what he had seen. How many destroyed Asgards had he witnessed? After all that, to see the one surviving realm be ruled by himself… Well, Loki thought. The only Asgard that survives this absurd misadventure is one in which my true destiny is at last acknowledged, my primacy accepted, my sovereignty celebrated. As it should be. Now remains the work of bringing this future to pass. Immediately the crucial points of the plan presented themselves to him. First, or course, he would have to maneuver the All-Father into the deep enchanted slumber of Odinsleep. Tricky, but he had done it before. The biggest obstacle was making sure that Heimdall didn't notice until it was too late. Then, Loki would use Thor's desire to help their father against him, guiding him into a certain place where Loki wouldn't have to worry about him for a long time. But these were powerful enchantments, even for Loki. He was going to need to bring in a co-conspirator or two. It would be easy enough to betray them and rid himself of them later, but for a brief time they would be useful. Karnilla, of course. Aligning with the Norns was an absolute necessity if he were to retain rule over Asgard and not see it suffer any of the tragic fates he had witnessed. And while a master of magic, the Queen of the Norns was no great schemer – at least not compared to the God of Lies. He also thought of Karnilla's closest ally, Hela. She was family, after all, and these kinds of things should be kept in the family whenever possible. Also, she would be useful because of her vast power and unlimited legions, who would keep the Valkyrior and Crimson Hawks busy, leaving the throne unguarded… If Loki could just figure out what to offer Hela in return. --- He manifested in her realm unannounced, just because he could, and he knew it annoyed her. As soon as she sensed his presence, Hela sent an escort. This time, it was a retinue of fallen Asgardian warriors riding skeletal horses and singing the ghostly songs of the Asgardian dead who never made it to Valhalla. To the accompaniment of these mournful, discordant strains, Loki followed his escort to Hela's throne. In this kingdom, bones twisted by dark magic paved the path to her castle while particularly favored souls became feasts for her Nastrond crows. Loki hated the décor even more than he hated the thought of Thor sitting on the throne of Asgard. Well, perhaps not quite that much. And speaking of thrones. Hela sat on hers, regarding him with an imperious and icy stare as he approached and the ghostly retinue vanished. "Loki," she said. "Whatever foolish scheme has brought you here, be assured it will not succeed. Return to your realm and disturb me no further." "O sister, great queen, it–" "Whenever you call me queen, Loki–or, for that matter, sister– I know you want something. Tell me what it is and spare me the insincere implication that you care about family." "Oh, I do," he said. "I do very much. Our family rules realms, and we have a responsibility to rule them as well as possible. Unfortunately, we are not currently doing that, because I am not ruling Asgard. I propose to rectify this error, and–" "And you want my help." "Yes," Loki said. "My plan will succeed with or without you, but as I said, we're family, and-" For the third time, she interrupted him. "Why should I?" "Why, to be rid of the All-Father, whose time is past and to be rid of our beloved Odinson, who would otherwise succeed to the throne of Asgard." "Which is the one thing you cannot stand to see happen." Loki did not give her the satisfaction of agreeing. "You see, Loki," Hela said, "of all master plotters you are the easiest to predict because all of your plots are ultimately only about one thing." Loki inclined his head, again unwilling to make a verbal acknowledgement. "You have been working new magic. I smell it on you," Hela said. "Tell me." "Ah. The sap of Yggdrasill, Observe." Loki cut a small notch in one of the World-Tree's roots. As the sap oozed out, he captured it and began to work a charm to extract its essence. "As the World-Tree shapes the limits of our realms," he said, "this substance shapes the limits of our time." After a moment he held a small ball of what looked like amber in the palm of his hand. "Take it. It will show you the future of your realm just as it showed me the future of mine." "Yours? You speak of Asgard?" "Yes," Loki said. "That is why I wanted to see you." He placed the ball in Hela's hand and began to describe what he had seen. --- "Ah," she said when they had returned from the visionary voyage. "Yes, it is quite deserving of an 'ah," Loki said. "But the real question is, will you help me?" "I will," Hela said. "But I have my own vision for this Chronovium - for it has fallen in my realm as well. In return for my help, you will help me bring this vision to fruition." "Of course," Loki said, intending it to be a lie but not even he knew when an attempted lie might become an inadvertent truth. 🔒 LOKI: JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY Coming Soon... 🔒 LOKI: ROOT EROSION Coming Soon... THOR: GONE WITH THE THUNDER Boom. Thor sat in the Tower of Solitude, the library-prison once used by All-Father Odin. Hunched over a stone bench in a stone room, the Tower's sole prisoner on the orders of his brother, he fumed silently, waiting for the chance to act, and fearing what fate might befall Asgard if he could not act soon. Boom. From outside came rhythmic impacts, as something powerful hurled itself against the tower's walls. Thor could only wait. Loki had outwitted him, duping him into entering the Tower and imprisoning him there. As one might expect of a clever usurper such as Loki, the room was enchanted to stifle any sound he might utter. Boom. Dust and mortar drifted from one wall of Thor's cell. He stood. It was almost time. Loki might have betrayed him and made his devious play for the throne of Asgard, but even Loki could not think of everything. Boom. It had not occurred to him, for example, that Thor could call Mjölnir without making a sound. BOOM Mjölnir exploded through the wall of the Tower of Solitude and met Thor's extended hand. He gave a shout, relieved to hear the sound of his voice again. "Brother!" With its walls shattered, the Tower of Solitude no longer held its enchantments. More quietly than his initial challenge, Thor added, "You have a surprise in store." He flew through the hole, over the city of Asgard and toward the palace. Yggdrasil's roots arched far overhead. Loki had crews at hard labor tapping the World-Tree's sap, which was rich in Chronovium. Thor had no doubt that Loki would cut a deal with the dwarves or anyone else who could use the rich sap to create magical weapons or instruments. If he hadn't already. Chronovium had also transformed Loki's magic, making him even more powerful — but Thor felt it too. It glimmered in the carvings on Mjölnir's Uru head. He felt it even in the Odinforce. Now Loki would feel it, too. He shouted out his brother's name, letting the challenge echo across the city. "Your plan didn't work, brother! You see I'm free!" And Loki was there, manifesting in the air just out of Thor's reach. "On the contrary, brother, my plan is working perfectly. Do you not think I anticipated you would solve this problem the only way you ever solve any problem?" He smirked. "That is to say, with brute force?" The smirk was the opening Thor needed, the single moment of inattention that always got Loki in trouble. He seized Loki and dropped to the ground, smashing his brother into the stones of Asgard's palace plaza. He raised Mjölnir, but Loki stung Thor's hand with a short knife and twisted away. How long had they been inexorably moving toward this moment? Centuries. Tens of centuries. I have tried, Thor thought. I tried to make him feel like one of us. But Loki only ever looks out for Loki, and now — again — Asgard's future hangs in the balance. "I knew you had escaped the Tower before you were all the way through the hole," Loki sneered. "It's always makes me chuckle when you scream ‘Brother' like when we were children." "And yet you have answered my call," Thor shot back. "If you could have stopped me, why the charade?" "Oh, brother," Loki said, twisting the word, "you know I love a charade. And by escaping, you have helped settle a little dispute I was having. You see, a certain someone who may shortly be joining our conversation did not believe you would escape. And now that you have, she will doubtless see the wisdom of my proposed course of action." As if he had summoned it, a portal opened. Through it, Thor saw the unmistakable landscape of Hel, bleak and dark and endless. Hela's legions of dead were on the march, Chronovium glittering in their empty eyes, Hela herself leading them on. Space bent around her, and in the next instant, she had stepped through the portal. "Loki," she said. "I see you let your brother escape." "He is more resourceful then he seems," Loki said, keeping a wary eye on Thor. "Or you were overconfident?" Hela countered. "Hardly," Loki snapped. "I have anticipated everything thus far. Of course he would break down the Tower's walls and come to find me. If I were a creature of muscle and rage, with just enough brain to speak, that is what I would do. And of course at the moment he was seeking his revenge, what he thinks of as protecting Asgard from me, you would make your grand entrace, because even more than me, Hela, you love to be the center of attention." Loki spread his arms, taking in the situation. "Where was I wrong?" "You betraryed Asgard to Hela?" Rage nearly blinded Thor. Lighting crackled from Mjölnir, and from Thor's eyes, as the Odinforce rose within him. This was unforgivable treason — again! How many times had Loki done this, or tried to? And now, with the mortal Doctor Doom upending time and space, he was doing it again? "Asgard was always destined to be mine," Loki said. "The All-Father sleeps while the Realms are torn apart by scheming mortals. We do nothing as so-called Heroes blunder through their failed solutions to the problem. I intend to change that. But I cannot do that while you lumber around getting in the way. So." He gestured toward the portal. When Thor looked that way, he saw that the portal had enlarged a hundredfold, and the legions of the dead were upon him. They came in seemingly endless waves, eyes empty and mouths open in snarls of mindless hate. Thor tore great swathes through them Mjölnir, lightning breaking apart Hela's armies. Asgardians, Dark Elves, trolls of Jotunheim... the denizens of all the Ten Realms came together in Hela's legions, since death alone united every race connected to the World Tree. Thor fought them alone, while Hela and Loki watched, as if he was a gladiator whole life was their entertainment. He shattered them with Mjölnir, annihilated them with lighting, but cawing over Hela's legions were an endless flock of the Nastrond Crows, hellish creatures that Thor's blows could not destroy. They swooped and pecked and clawed, and no matter how Thor struck at them, they reformed from clouds of black feathers and came at him again. No help was coming. Asgard was crippled by fear of Loki. The Valkyrior and the Crimson Hawks were away from the city fighting pointless wars in other realms, another maneuver by Loki to leave the city defenseless. All that stood between Asgard and Hela's legions was Thor himself. So be it, he thought. He would strike them down until he could no longer raise his arm. That time was coming. He slew crows by the thousand and yet their numbers were undimished. He was still the Odinson, god of thunder... but even gods grew old, and Thor felt the centuries in his bones as he shattered the lava-crusted skeleton of a Muspelheim fire demon and unleashed a blast of lighting that tore a great hole in Hela's ranks reaching across the plaza into the portal itself. If he could only close it... but no, he had not the magic. He would fight until he fell and earn his passage to Valhalla. Then, just as Thor had abandoned hope, Hela prolonged his misery. "I tire of this game," she said. With a gesture, she dispelled her armies. The sudden silence in the plaza was jarring, broken only by the cawing of Hela's crows, who remained fluttering and squawking over the broad plaza before the Palace of Asgard. One alit on Hela's shoulder as Thor calmed his battle frenzy and turned to face her. If she wanted single combat, he would offer it, but he was tired and Hela's magic was mighty. He had no faith that he would survive, or that Loki would intervene on his behalf. But she did not strike him down. "thor," she said, "the die is cast. Asgard is Loki's. Your father abadoned it and you could not protect it. Now Loki will." With a diabolical smile she added, "And of course I will offer my own guidance." "None of the Realms will survive if you destroy the balance among them," Thor said. "You will bring Ragnorak." "No," Hela said. "The universes and the Realms are torn asunder and remade, doomed by those meddling mortals whose names for once speak true. The old ways, the old balances, they no longer apply. And you, Thor Odinson, are but a stumbling block, interfering with a new vision of the Ten Realms and beyond." Thor flexed his arms to strike at her, but a powerful enchantment held fast. Such aws her power that he had not seen her make a motion or speak a spell. "The old must make way for the new," Hela said. "And sooner or later, everyone will make way for the dead." Thor could see Loki just behind Hela, looking smug and completely in control as he created a portal from his newly tapped Chronovium. But how long before the trickster understood that Hela was playing her own tricks? The brothers locked eyes. Thor knew Loki could read his expression, even though he could not speak. This not over, brother. I am coming for you, and when I do, no god or magic in the Ten Realms will save you. "Goodbye, Odinson," Hela sneered, her dark power ensnaring him. And with a toss of her glorious hand, Thor was flung on a journey into mystery. He fell from the sky trailing fire, and his impact left a ring of scorched ground a thousand feet across. When Thor stood, the echoes of his landing were still sounding in the dry hills that surrounding him. He was in a desert, with those hills receding in all directions under a sky that glowed a infernal red. He had never seen this place before. It was Midgard, certainly, but not the Earth he knew. Loki's sorcery had flung him very far from home indeed. Thinking of his brother got Thor moving. Whatever Earth this was, he needed to find allies to accompany him back to Asgard and remove Loki from the throne before Loki's scheming backfired and Hela ruled all the Ten Realms. But where to go...? On the horizon, he could see what might be a small city. Lights blazed around a tall tower. He would start there. Then he saw something rise up into the sky from near the tower. It grew rapidly, silhoutetted against a red sun, and Thor realized it was moving. Toward him. And very fast. He had just gotten Mjölnir up in front of him when a giant came screaming down out of the sky, smashing Thor into the bottom of a new impact crater. Thor felt his power rebuilding withing him, along with his battle fury. He released both in a blow from Mjölnir that knocked the giant back out of the crater. Thor leaped up after him, Mjölnir poised for another blow — and he saw his opponent was none other then the Hulk. But a different Hulk, crackling with vivid green energy and even bigger than the last time Thor had seen him, wearing a belt featuring various lights and devices. "Banner!" Thor cried out, dodging a swipe of Hulk's massive fist. "What sorcery is this?" Hulk roared and smashed Thor into the ground again. Very well, Thor thought. He knew his one-time ally was prone to unthinking rages when in battle. Sometimes he had to be brought out of them another way. Hulk's next punch met the head of Mjölnir, swung with all Thor's might. The blast wave from that collision knocked them both sprawling. Thor was up first. He leaped in a high arc over Hulk, coming down to deliver a mighty hammer blow to Hulk's belt. Gamma energy exploded out, searing Thor's eyes and knocking him flat. Dazed, he tried to get to his feet. When he could see again, the monstrous Hulk was gone and Banner sat in the shreds of his clothes and shattered pieces of his belt. "Oh," he said. "Thor." He rubbed his face as he stood, and his expression swiftly changed as he registered that it was actually Thor who stood before him. "Thor! Do you know how long we've been looking for you?" Thor didn't know. He didn't know where they were or what Banner was talking about, and he didn't care. All that mattered was Asgard. "Banner," he said, "I need your help." 🔒 THOR: EVERYTHING BURNS Coming Soon... 🔒 THOR: FRIGGA, GAEA AND FIREHAIR Coming Soon... HELA: MESSENGER OF THE ABYSS From the throne atop her realm, the Queen of Hel recalled feeling the shattering of worlds, the sundering of realities as unknown forces knit them together again. Differently. She remembered venturing forth into her kingdom, only to discover that in Hel little had changed. However, Hela suspected once she traveled beyond her realm, she would see profound changes - and when she had worked enchantments to gaze upon worlds newly interwoven with the Ten Realms, her suspicions were confirmed. Mortals had done this? Remade time itself? Broken it and rewound different streams into a different braid or worlds? What power was this for men to wield? Immediately, Hela set about scheming a way to make it hers. First, she knew, she must understand Chronovium. One of her thralls, in life a great wizard-king, had brought to her a stone of a sort she had never seen before in Hel. She had paid it little mind until she grasped what the mortal Victor von Doom had done. Then, she sent the flock. Her crows scouted other realms, all returning bearing samples of Chronovium, the crystallized residue of the monstrous shocks to the space-time continuum. And yet, they all differed slightly from the version in Hel and from one another. Whoever learned best to control it, Hela knew, would rule worlds beyond Asgard. Beyond the Ten Realms. Hela's intrigue deepened. New lands meant expanding the borders of Hel and welcoming vast numbers of new creatures into her ever-growing legions, perhaps even claiming the souls of the great beings known as Celestials. Only recently had she become aware of them, and then only through a new soul in Hel, cast there from another universe by the - what had he called it? - the Timestream Entanglement. This pitiful mortal, who met their end in the event, spilled forth knowledge of vast realms of space filled with fantastic creatures. At a wave of her hand, Hela's crows feasted on the mortal's soul, her mind settling on a goal. The souls, and thus the power, of these great beings would belong to her. And when they did, she would sweep unchallenged through the Ten Realms, uniting them under the banner of Hel. Undoubtedly, Loki was hatching his own schemes to utilize Chronovium to increase his own power and ensure Asgard never slipped from his grasp, but Loki's schemes never worried Hela. Often, his petty obsessions and caprices benefited her by causing conflicts that added to her legions. At some point, she suspected, he would approach her proposing some sort of arrangement. Perhaps an alliance. Perhaps she would consent, and they would begin the dance of waiting for the right moment to betray each other. The joys of family. Until then, she would proceed with her own plans, which led her to the current moment, as a messenger from a distant place she had never heard of before. Her initial response was to annihilate it for the arrogant crime of trespassing in her realm. However, it seemed to her that these disruptions of time and space could be a gift. Had it not opened vast new possibilities for Hel? Surely, she should learn what new worlds - new universes! - now lay within her grasp. So, her crows stood perched while the otherworldly emissary trudged into her throne room. It was a strange creature, appearing like blobs and tendrils of a tarry black substance bonded with a host. Its liquid flesh mingled aspects of its own nature and that of its host - currently a Jotun priestess. Even though she was no longer alive, enough of the Jotun's soul was still present for Hela to feel her horror at being bound to such a monstrosity. How curious. The creature, however - the symbiote - had no such misgivings, or at least did not betray them. "Tell me, little creature. What brings you to this place?" "You would do well to listen, Queen of Death," it said. "I bring tidings from Knull, mightly lord of the abyss." "And what is a 'Knull'? Is he the god of all creatures such as you?" She made no effort to hide her scorn. This Knull was, in all likelihood, as debased and parasitic as its worshipper who stood before her. "His power is eons older than yours, ancient before light existed, and he has his own claims on creatures whose essences he has consumed." Ah, Hela thought. Of course. "I take it he means to claim the Celestials as well?" The symbiote nodded and flicked out its tongue. "Knull has learned that one of the Celestials is now in this realm. You cannot keep it, Asgardian. It is his to claim and it will be the key to his freedom." "I cannot?" Hela stood from her throne. "Bold of you, parasite, to tell me what I can and cannot do in my own realm. What enters Hel is mine, forever. In fact," she said, giving the symbiote a closer look, "perhaps I will even keep you. What manner of soul does a creature like you possess?" The symbiote remained still. Hela let it wonder for quite a while, as she pondered what she had already learned. The key to his freedom, the emissary had said. So, this Knull was a god in chains, yet he still possessed the reach to send a message to Hel. He knew the power of Celestials. He knew that the tangled worlds had brought new souls into Hel. Therefore, there must now be a way from Hel to... "What is the world you come from, creature?" "Klyntar, O Queen." A name she knew vaguely. People from a culture long since annihilated had once come to her realm from there. She considered a little longer. "I release you," she said. "Now, release your host." The symbiote did, peeling and secreting and withdrawing from the skeletal form of the Jotun priestess. "Return to your master," Hela went on, "and tell him that he may rule Klyntar, but Hela rules Hel. And if he wishes to fight me..." she smiled. "Then he too will become one of my subjects. Do you have that, messenger?" The symbiote mass quivered, but without a host it could not speak. Hela worked a spell, drawing forth knowledge from its mind. She swirled open a gateway to a world of darkness, an impenetrable jungle where no sane mortal would tread. "Go," Hela said, "before I change my mind." The symbiote sprang through the gateway and was gone. Hela let the gateway close. Now, Knull knew that she could reach out to his world directly. Let him think on that and consider his next move. Hela gathered up a mass of Chronovium, imbued with the essence of Hel. Just as all lives must end, she reflected, all things must move through time. Did it not follow that all time ended in Hel as well? And did it not follow that Hel could grow through this crystallized time, encompassing new realms brought near by the entanglement of worlds? The Hel-Chronovium was shot through with black and green. She spoke to it, shaping it into an enchantment, the first of many. "All living beings," she said, "in all realms, in all universes. They shall be thralls of Hel. They need not come to me. I will use you, Chronovium, to expand Hel not through space but through time. Beings more ancient than stars will be mine, and beings not yet born will be mine. This is a powerful magic and will take some time to work. But it shall be done, and then Knull? She smiled. "He will be mine as well." She suspected that the symbiote emissary was not Knull's only gambit. Doubtless he was plotting against her, seeking ways to undermine her and the reach of Hel. Let him, she thought. Let him beguile mortals and persuade greedy gods that they can band together against me. That would bring them all the closer - and as she had already told the symbiote emissary, whatever entered Hel was Hela's. Unless she chose to let it go. And soon, souls would no longer come to Hel, Hel would come to them. Her realm would grow outward through time, drawing in numberless souls until she had an army so vast not even gods could hope to resist it. The Ten Realms were just the beginning. She spun the black and green Chronovium jewel over her palm. "Yield to me your secrets," she commanded. "Bring to me the future, as I already rule the past." 🔒 HELA: SUNRISE IN THE LAND OF DUSK Coming Soon... 🔒 HELA: SIX MAGPIES Coming Soon...