~The Victim of Mischief~Prologue: Chance Encounter

Prologue: Chance Encounter

It was a peaceful October night in Arizona. The sky was clear and painted with small white stars as the full moon lit the night. Barely a single car passed by mine as I drove. The only thing I heard as I drove was the songs playing on the radio. My night class had just gotten done and I had to drive to my parent’s house in order to pick up my project for my afternoon class the next day. Now I was driving back to my own apartment for some well-deserved rest.

“I can’t believe I forgot my project for tomorrow at my parent’s house!” I said to no one in particular. Sighing, I added, “At least I remembered today.” I looked in the back seat quickly to look at the drawing I pasted on a black board for my Typography class.

Just as I stopped at a stoplight, my radio began to create a tiny bit of static. I ignored it for the most part, but I couldn’t ignore it any longer as my entire radio emitted static.

“What the heck…?” I said as I changed the channels. Every single one was the same thing: major static. “What’s going on?”

A bright light shone through the sky and I shielded my eyes. My entire car shook as a huge gust of wind passed by. I managed to open my eyes and I could not believe the sight.

A huge cylindrical rainbow light fell from the sky into the open field to my right and lightened all that was around it. No other cars were around, so I was possibly the only one who saw it.

It stopped suddenly and everything went back to normal. Well, as for me, I could hear my heart pounding and adrenaline flowed quickly through my veins. My mind fought over two different decisions: should I go investigate what happened there or just keep going like nothing happened at all? I kept trying to find pros and cons to both of those things.

“Screw it,” I pressed on the gas and turned right down the road next to the field. I guess you could say curiosity killed the cat.

I parked my car and I got out, leaving the car unlocked. I made my way through the tall grass to the site of the strange light. My muscles tensed and my breathing became shallow as I came closer and closer with each step. Once I got to the site, I stopped and my breath caught in my throat at what I discovered.

A body lying face down.

“Oh my…” was all I managed.

What do I do?! There was a possible murder and the suspect just dumped the body here! And I was the one who witnessed it. Or maybe I was just tired and I was just imagining things. My head began to hurt as I kept thinking of what possibly happened. I sighed in relief as I saw and heard them breathing.

My eyes scanned the body once again. All I saw was the back of their head, which was hidden behind black shoulder length flipped hair. They wore a black jacket, split into six parts from the waist down, with golden armor on their right shoulder. Nearby was a golden scepter with two silver pointed blades and a small blue ball between, glowing.

“Hey,” I knelt down to the person, placing my hand on their shoulder. “Are you alright?”

After I shook their shoulder a bit, I heard a small groan escape their lips, which made me jump. I backed away to allow them a bit of room to sit up, revealing themselves to be a male. He sat in a kneeling position and placed a hand on his head.

I took this time to take in more of his outfit. It was like something out of an anime. He wore all black with golden and green accents. He had golden armor attached to his wrists and ran the length of his forearm.

His face is what caught me off-guard. The man’s face had narrow cheekbones and a thin mouth. His eyes were a striking green color that took my breath away. His hair was slicked back to create what I saw when he was face down. There was no doubt about it: he was beautiful.

I saw him move his lips and I shook my head a bit to snap out of my thoughts. “Excuse me?”

“Where am I?” he spoke with an English accent, laced with poisonous honey.

“Oh.” I replied. “You are in Arizona.”

“Where?” he looked at me, his eyes practically glowing.

“You are in the state of Arizona, located in the United States of America.” I made sure I spoke each word clearly. Geez, it was lke talking to a child. What happened to this guy? Did he hit his head hard enough to forget a few things?

“So, I am currently located on Midgard, am I correct?” the man looked around, as if he were looking for something. He smiled and picked up his scepter, looking it over as if he were checking to see if it were damaged.

“Midgard?” I asked in a confused tone.

Sighing with an annoyed tone, the man stood up. “Am I on Earth or not, mortal?!” he practically yelled.

I stood up as well. “Yes!” I almost lost it. “Answer me this: Who are you and where are you from?”

The man looked at me, standing straight. “I am Loki of Asgard.”

“Loki…” the name rolled off my tongue like it was natural to me. “Why does that sound familiar…?”  I gasped and took an involuntary step back. “You were the one who almost leveled Manhattan!”

Loki smirked in a way that seemed to weaken my knees a bit. “That was indeed me. If it were not for those damned Avengers, I would have been crowned this world’s king.”

I remembered that story. A set of six “unique” individuals came together in order to stop these freaky-looking alien things from leveling the city. They successfully stopped the invasion by closing the portal the aliens used to get to Earth and Iron Man helped to place a nuke in the portal. The bomb blew up the base, killing all the aliens and almost Iron Man himself.

I looked up and saw Loki beginning to walk off. Managing to catch up to him, I asked, “Where are you going?”

“If I know Thor and Odin, they will be on my tail quickly if I do not find a place to hide.” He replied without looking at me.

I felt bad for this guy. Sure, he looked exactly like the guy who tried to take over the world, but I doubted it. He must have hit his head hard when he fell in the field. Now that rainbow light show, that is a mystery itself. My eyes fell on his waist and I noticed his free hand covering something. The area surrounding it was darker than the rest of his outfit and I saw a bit of red coming through his hands.

“What is wrong with your waist?” I pointed to the area in question.

“As I escaped, I had to fight off a few guards. One of them managed to stab me in my waist,” he never lifted his hand off the wound.

“Oh,” I sighed, then stopped walking alongside the man. “I got an idea.” I said out loud.

Loki stopped and turned to me. “And what is this idea of yours, mortal?”

I crossed my arms. “First, my name is not ‘mortal’. My name is Allyson. Second, my idea is that you stay with me for a while or until Thor and Odin come to get you or whatever.” Loki looked me over. I bet he was thinking I was a crazy person or something. Well, I am not. I mean, he’s the one wearing this cosplay-looking outfit and calling himself Loki, the guy who almost took over our world!

“I guess I could stay for a while,” he sighed. “I do appreciate this. But don’t think that I am going to spare your life in the future because of this.” He hissed at me in a threatening tone before walking back the way we had come.

I followed him. “My car is over there.” I began to walk to it. “We don’t have to walk all the way there. Besides, if we walk, we’d be there in the morning!”

Loki’s face never moved from its blank stare as I unlocked the doors and climbed in the driver’s side. The man climbed into the passenger’s side, which barely fit him due to the fact his scepter, which stood as tall as my waist, never left his hand.

“Um, do you want to put your scepter in the back?” I asked, turning the car on and placing my seatbelt on. “You’d have more room that way.”

“I do not think that is a very well-thought out plan,” he gazed at the object as I turned around and headed back to my apartment. “If someone were to attack us, how would I be able to quickly protect myself from harm?”

“That is true.” I mused, getting on the highway.

The car was filled with silence. Loki stared out the window most of the time, and the rest he kept checking his scepter. I still had my doubts. There was no way in the world that this guy was the one who destroyed New York. And that light show was just a show.

Right?

“I do not understand…” the sound of his voice made me jump, my hands moving the steering wheel in the process. Luckily we were a few streets away from my apartment.

“What?” I asked.

“My scepter is powered by the Tesseract. If I were to successfully travel to another world, I would be teleported to a nearby source of the Tesseract.”

“In English, please?” I said, turning into the parking lot.

“Meaning,” he exaggerated. “My scepter would have to locate another source of energy powered by the Tesseract and teleport me within a mile of that.”

“Got it,” I nodded as I pulled into my spot and turned the car off. I checked my phone and groaned. “It’s 11:30. And here I thought I would be home by eleven.” I pushed a button underneath my steering wheel, popping the trunk open, and climbed out of the car. “We’re here.” I collected my purse and, locking my door, I closed it.

I looked up at Loki, who had already stepped out of the car. “If you wouldn’t mind, but could you press that little nub in the door until it’s down?”

The man looked at me with an eyebrow raised. “And why would you ask me to do such a thing?”

I walked around to the trunk, rolling my eyes only when he couldn’t see my face. “It’s to lock the door. I can’t do it automatically since this car is ten years old. So I have to do it manually.” I grunted as I lifted my kit out of the car.

“Do you always have a suitcase located in the back of your automobile?” he pondered as I closed the trunk.

I snorted. “That was my exact thought when I first for this thing. But it is not a suitcase. It is my kit for school. I attend the Art Institute of Phoenix in their Graphic Design program. This kit hold huge sketchpads and more that I need in order to pass school. I’ll show you inside if you like.” I headed to the front door of the complex and Loki followed.

We boarded the elevator and I pressed the button to tell the elevator to go to the second floor. There were four floors for my complex, and I am lucky the elevator is not broken. If it were, I’d have to carry a ten pound kit (give or take) down two flights of stairs. Arriving on the second floor, I stepped out of the elevator, my kit in tow, with Loki not far behind. I leaned my kit up against the wall and unlocked the door to my apartment.

“Here we are,” I said, entering my apartment and placing my kit and bags on my desk. “Sorry if it’s not up to ‘Asgardian’ standards.”

It was a nice small home. When you walked in, you were standing in a small hallway before entering the living room where my desk was located. The couch was up against the right wall with a television parallel to that. From there, the kitchen was located on the right and a set of sliding doors lead out to a small balcony was placed nicely between the television and the couch. To the left was a hallway that leads to the two bedrooms, each one located on both sides and each having a bathroom of its own. I took the bedroom to the right and the other one was just a spare I used to place my art. All the floors were tile and wood, depending on the room. At the end of the hallway was a third small bathroom with a sink, toilet, and a small shower. All the rest had a separate bath, shower, two sinks, and a toilet in a small room off to the side.

“It shall do nicely.” Loki nodded in approval, placing his scepter on the couch and began to remove his cloak.

That is when I saw it. His wound was not looking too well. Blood stained his outfit and one could not even see his peachy skin through the sliced clothing. The wound was a deep red and small streams of blood trickled out of it. With each wrong move, I heard Loki hiss softly and the wound spat out a small bit of blood.

“Let me help you with that,” I said, making my way to the small bathroom.

“That will not be necessary.” I heard his cloak drop on the couch.

“No arguing with me!” I yelled as I grabbed some washcloths, a roll of bandages, and a bowl of water. I made my way back to the living room to see that Loki had taken a spot on the couch. “You are my guest, so I need to take care of you.”

“I will be fine. I can use magic to heal this and it shall be fine with no problem at all!” he held his hand over his wound, as if he were attempting to heal it. After a minute, nothing happened.

“Damn.” He cursed. “The Allfather must have drained my powers. It may take a few months for my body to fully recover them as I am on Midgard and not in Asgard.”

Rolling my eyes, I placed the contents in my hands on the table. “Then I’ll tend to it. But I need a better look at it, so you need to remove your shirt.”

“And why in Hellheim should I listen to a mere mortal, such as you?” he glared at me.
“Because if it weren’t for me, then you’d probably be dead.” I retorted.

His laugh filled the apartment, echoing off the walls multiple times. “Oh, how you mortals make me laugh. I cannot die! I’m a god! The God of Mischief and Lies, to be exact!”

“Well then, Mr. God of Mischief.” I mocked him. “You are living under my house, so you’re going to be living under my rules! Now I say to take off the shirt and let me tend to your wound!”

With a swift move that the naked eye could not register, Loki stood from the couch, grabbed both my wrists, and pinned me to the wall next to the television. I struggled under his power, but he never budged.

“You listen here, mortal,” he hissed in a low voice. “No one tells me what I can or cannot do. Especially not a mortal like you. I can easily turn you into dust if I could. I killed that fanboy Phil Coulson very easily and I can do it to you too. I chose to be here since you were nice enough to offer shelter to a god like me. But if you keep telling me what to do, I shall take my scepter and stick it right through your heart.” He use one hand to hold my wrists and the other tapped just below my collarbone. “Do you understand?”

I gulped and nodded. He released me and I fell to the floor as he took his spot on the couch. My whole body shook like a leaf and my eyes were wide as I stared at the man. He was insane! I should report him to the police…but I couldn’t. ‘Oh yeah! I want to report a homicidal god in my house. His name is Loki and he is the God of Mischief and Lies.’ Yeah, I’d probably be the one arrested.

I managed to slowly rise to my feet. “You could…at least let me take a look at it and place a bandage on it so nothing else gets blood on it.” I said, walking over to the table.

Loki’s emerald eyes bore into mine, as if he were trying to steal my soul. His mouth was tight and he sat unmoving for a moment. “I suppose you are correct. I do need a maid.” he shrugged and stood, pulling at the ends of his shirt. He tossed it to the floor and sat back down, arms lining the back of the couch. I could feel my face get hot as I examined his torso. It was perfectly toned and curved with a hint of abs peeking out of his stomach. The site of his injury almost covered up his entire stomach with dry and fresh blood.

“I am not a maid.” I picked up a washcloth and placed it into the water. I sat next to him and began to wash off his wound. He hissed when I neared the cut and I chose to steer clear of that in fear of what he may do to me.

“So,” I grabbed the bandages as Loki opened one eye. “How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“After a few thousand years, you kind of stop keeping track anymore.” He winced as I wrapped his wound.

“I see,” I sighed as I tied the bandage off.

“And how old are you, mortal?” he asked.

“Again, my name is not ‘mortal’. It’s Allyson,” I retorted. “And I am eighteen years old.”

He nodded and then stood up. “I am going to retire for the evening. Good night,” he walked off with his clothing and scepter in tow, closing his door.

I barely slept that night. My mind kept thinking of Loki and the many questions I have for him. “I’ll ask him tomorrow, I guess…” I muttered as I fell asleep.