by J. C. Diem
“You can easily find another woman,” Rho said in dismissal. “There are plenty of them to choose from on this world.” Seeing rage flare in Loki’s eyes, he knew he’d said the wrong thing.
“I do not want another woman. I want Bianca Caldwell.”
“I assume she is dead?” Rho said and saw the confirmation in the Asgardian’s grief-stricken face. “Then nothing can be done. Not even I can resurrect the deceased.”
From the way the Grimgorg ruler’s eyes slid to the side, Loki knew he was hiding something. “Maybe not,” he said slowly, “but I think there is a way for you to reverse this.” He started towards Rho and the hunchbacked alien scrambled towards the ramp. Loki sent a blast of magic at it. The electronics shorted out and it slid shut, trapping them all inside. He advanced on his ally, drawing his sword in the process.
Rho pointed his staff at Loki and unleashed a poisonous cloud. Instead of doubling over and retching, he didn’t even seem to notice it. Then Rho felt someone standing right behind him and a sharp dagger pricked his throat.
“Surprise,” Loki leaned down and said into his ear. “I find illusion to be a very handy skill.”
“What are you planning to do to me?” Rho asked nervously as the illusion of Loki faded away.
“Why, I’m going to kill you,” Loki said and sliced his former ally’s throat, hoping he wasn’t making a huge mistake.
A collective horrified gasp filled the room as Rho fell to his knees. Purple blood sheeted down his neck and he knew he was dying. Loki hunkered down next to him and examined him with mad blue eyes. Rho felt the spell that had been passed down to him by his father begin to kick in as his life seeped away. “I win, Asgardian,” he rasped. “Not even a false god like you can kill me.”
His secret spell was designed to reverse every action that had led to his life being threatened. When it came to someone trying to murder him, he would return to an hour before he’d originally met his foe. It would give him time to come up with a plan to change his destiny, since he was the only one who would remember the events that had taken place. In this case, a year had passed since he’d met Loki. Not even Rho knew if it was possible to reverse time back that far.
Loki felt a brief flare of triumph that his hunch had been correct, then he was sucked into a vortex. Whirling and tumbling back through time, he was suddenly speeding along the bifrost. He frowned as fleeting images flickered through his mind. Auburn hair, a beautiful face and changeable hazel eyes lingered before the memories faded. A sense of deep loss and sadness remained when the mystery woman was gone.
Confused for a moment to find himself in the rainbow-colored passageway, he fell head-first into waist-deep swampy water. Sitting up with a gasp, he smoothed his soaked hair back from his face and took in his surroundings. Black, diseased looking trees surrounded him. Apart from the questionable foliage, there wasn’t much to see. Although it was daytime, the sun was weak and pale. He had a feeling this world was doomed
He wondered where Heimdall had sent him. Wherever it was, it was fetid and unpleasant. His cape and leather clothing weren’t exactly suitable, so he changed them to a plain dark green shirt and brown trousers.
Slogging his way over to dry land, Loki soon found himself surrounded by short, hunchbacked green aliens with huge yellow eyes and tiny mouths filled with sharp black teeth. It wouldn’t be a good idea to attack these beings. They might very well become his allies.
One of the creatures wore a tattered black cloak over crude bronze armor and twin bronze swords. He stepped forward and addressed Loki. “Who are you? What do you want?”
Understanding alien languages came naturally to him. Lifting his hands, he used the smile that most found to be devilishly charming. “I am Loki, of Asgard. I am an exile and I come in peace.”
Exchanging glances, the lead alien issued an order. “He is the one King Rho spoke of. Kill him!”
Running from the fireballs they hurled at him, Loki used his magic to create multiple copies of himself. He kept the illusions bunched together to hide him as he fled with his much longer legs back into the swamp. Dodging between the trees, he ducked out of sight and sent his copies in another direction. Proving they weren’t very intelligent, the aliens chased after them.
“Thank you so much for sending me to this delightful planet, Heimdall,” Loki muttered beneath his breath. “The people here are so warm and welcoming.”
Getting his bearings, he headed back the way he’d come. Clearly, the ruler of these beings was aware of his presence. This ‘King Rho’ must have heard about his reputation and wanted nothing to do with him. Sending his people to kill him had been a bit extreme, in Loki’s opinion.
Darkness fell and he saw lights shining in the distance. He slogged his way towards a village that had been erected on stilts. Hundreds of ugly green aliens swarmed through the buildings and along plank walkways that had been roped together. They seemed agitated, presumably because of him.
A cluster of the creatures wearing black cloaks headed for the largest hut in the centre of the village. He figured it belonged to their ruler, so he decided to take a closer look. He disguised himself as one of the black cloaked beings and climbed up a ramp.
On his way to the main hut, he glanced inside the other dwellings as he passed them. Instead of doors, thin black fabric acted as privacy screens. Lamps inside the dwellings rendered the screens utterly useless. He could clearly see the cramped quarters and reed mats that passed for chairs and beds inside.
When he was only one bridge away from his intended destination, he peered through a doorway of a hut and halted. The dwelling was full of flat silver devices that lay on the floor. Each one depicted a different world. Loki drew a hopeful breath when he saw the golden towers of Asgard reflected on a contraption on the far side of the room.
Glancing around to make sure no one was watching him, he entered the hut. He dropped his illusion that he was one of the aliens and carefully made his way towards the device that showed Asgard. It was too far away for him to be able to reach it without stepping on the others. He crouched next to the closest contraption and put his hand on the surface. Made of metal, it was cool to the touch. This one reflected an arid, dead world with a ruined city in the distance and a long untended graveyard right below him. As he’d suspected, it wasn’t a magical doorway. It seemed to be a device that was presumably used to spy on other worlds.
A noise in the doorway alerted him that he had company. He looked up to see a small group of the ugly green creatures staring at him. The one in the front of the pack raised a black staff. He had to be their king. “You will not escape this time, Asgardian,” he said and a toxic gas spewed from the tip of the staff.
Gagging at the smell, an urge to use his magic on the silver device came over Loki. He sent a small surge of power into it and the edges began to glow blue. To his amazement, his hand disappeared through the surface. Somehow, he’d changed it from being a mere window into a portal. The blue light spread to the other devices as they all became magical doorways.
Feeling ill and overcome with drowsiness from the gas, he toppled forward. Instinct made him zap the portal with magic as he fell through it. It shattered, destroying any chance the aliens had of following him. The explosion spread to the other devices, forcing the green beings to shield themselves from the barrage of sharp metal shards.
Wind rushed past Loki as the graveyard far below drew closer at an alarming rate. His eyes fluttered shut as he lost consciousness from the toxin. If he was about to splatter on the ground, he was glad that he didn’t have to see his own demise.
Chapter Forty-Six
~~~ Alpha World ~~~
AWARE OF WHAT WOULD happen once King Rho’s secret spell became active, Fate gathered her three warriors together. Shielded by her unique magic, they were the only ones who weren’t caught up in the vortex as time was reversed. It wasn’t just this reality that was affected by the spell. Rho had set a multi-dimensional war into motion when he�
�d become allied with Loki. By reversing his actions, it impacted on every other version of the universe as well. It was so all-encompassing that the very fabric of reality was stretched to the breaking point.
Fate held her breath, waiting to see whether Order would win, or if Chaos would prevail once more. For a few moments, all dimensions of every universe trembled on the edge of annihilation. Then stability returned, time caught up to her and she released the bubble of magic that had protected her and her champions.
“What just happened?” Nat asked in confusion. She looked around to see there were no signs that Reaverton had ever been invaded. Loki, the Grimgorg, Viltarans, droids and clones were gone. People walked the streets calmly and were acting as if nothing bad had ever happened.
“Rho activated his reversal spell after Loki slit his throat,” Fate told them. Her black leather suit was gone and she was wearing her hooded cloak and was shrouded in shadows again. “As you read in his mind, the spell is designed to return him to an hour before he encountered the person, or event that threatened his life.”
Lexi couldn’t quite believe that their desperate plan had worked. “So, we succeeded? The invasion has been reversed?”
Fate nodded. “Aware of what his destiny would be if he allied himself with Loki, Rho chose to alter his fate. He has given up his hopes of ruling other worlds. Consequently, none of your worlds were ever invaded by Loki, or his allies. Rho, and we four, are the only ones who remember the events that transpired. No one else will ever know how close their worlds came to being enslaved.”
“Ugh, my brain feels like it’s going to implode,” Nat complained. “So, we never actually fought Loki, or his minions?”
“Think of the battles as a movie that was shot, then reversed and a different movie has been recorded over the old one,” Fate told her.
It was a concept that Nat grasped hold of. The wars they’d fought with Loki and his allies on their worlds had happened, but the story had ultimately been changed.
“Does this mean we’re a year in the past now?” Lexi asked.
Fate shook her head. “I kept us isolated until the universe stabilized and time caught up to us again.”
“If our wars with Loki never happened, what have we been doing while we’ve been gone from our worlds?” Violet asked. This whole reversal spell was confusing and difficult for them to wrap their brains around.
“You were with me in a stasis that lasted for a few moments until time caught up to the present.” The answer confused them all the more, so Fate elaborated. “I manipulated time around us so there are no gaps between when I called you all into a dream and the moment when the universe stabilized.”
“Yeah, that’s crystal clear now,” Nat muttered. If she’d been human, she probably would have had a headache by now. “Is Loki going to be a problem for us again?” It was the only thing she really cared about.
Fate shook her head. “Order has won this round. Loki is no longer the agent of Chaos.”
“Does that mean we’re no longer your pawns?” Violet asked. Her team were expecting a new apocalypse to arrive. It would be hard to explain that they’d actually been through a war that had never actually happened and that they’d won. Now her head hurt, too. Lexi was frowning as if she was also struggling to reconcile that the ordeals they’d been through hadn’t really happened now.
Her face was shadowed, but Fate almost seemed to be amused by the question. “You will always be my chosen warriors,” she reminded them. “I cannot promise that I will not call on you again if I have need of you.”
“What happened to Bianca?” Lexi queried when she saw the girl wasn’t with them.
“I sent her back to her world. She will remember nothing of the events that transpired in this dimension.”
“Who is she?” Nat asked. “I get the feeling she isn’t just a normal human.”
“You are correct. She is the descendent of one of my warriors who failed to save her world.”
“You sent her back to a planet that’s been ravaged by aliens?” Violet said in horror.
“It is her destiny,” Fate said. “Bianca has the potential to become like you three, but she cannot achieve this alone.”
“Are you going to send us to help her?” Lexi queried.
“No. Your task is complete. That is a mission for someone else to accomplish.”
“What poor slob did you lump that job with?” Violet asked.
“Can’t you guess?” Fate said sardonically. Waving her hand, a doorway appeared. “This is from a year ago, when Loki was first banished,” she told them. The door swung open and they saw Loki crouched in front of a bunch of portals. Rho and his entourage of five shamans appeared in the doorway. The Grimgorg king used his staff to try to poison his former ally, but Loki imbued the portal with magic and fell through it. He smashed it on his way through, destroying the Grimgorgs’ ability to use the rest of the devices he’d accidentally altered to be portals. They caught a glimpse of the world he’d fallen into. It was arid, lifeless and bleak. Rather aptly, he was falling towards a graveyard.
“Bianca lives on that world?” Violet asked with a frown of worry. They’d only met her briefly, but she hadn’t seemed tough enough to be able to survive somewhere so dismal. It looked almost as bad as hell.
“Do not fear for her,” Fate told them. “I wiped her memories when I brought her to this dimension and gave her a false history. She is not the helpless, fragile woman she appeared to be. Loki will find she is very independent and that she is not used to accepting help from anyone. She will be quite a handful for him.” They couldn’t see her face, but they heard the satisfied smile in her tone.
Nat grinned at her admiringly. “You truly are the most manipulative being who has ever existed.”
“Thank you,” Fate replied, taking it as a compliment. “And thank you for your assistance in saving the universe from disaster. You have all far exceeded my hopes and expectations.”
“We’re glad we stopped the apocalypse again,” Lexi said dryly. “But please tell me our worlds are safe now.”
Fate shrugged her shoulders slightly. “I would not want to make any promises that I cannot keep.”
Nat heaved a sigh, then hugged the two girls. “It was fun working with you two. If you ever need my help, get Fate to send me to your dimensions again.”
“Me, too,” Violet offered. “I’ll be there if you need me.”
“You can count on me,” Lexi said.
All three women turned to Fate to see the door had disappeared. They were curious about what had happened between Bianca and Loki during the past year. They knew their destines had been altered, but Fate wasn’t about to tell them how the pair had fared. They’d done their jobs and now they were eager to return to their families and friends.
Fate sent her warriors back to their homes. They faded one by one and she shifted herself to the hilltop overlooking an ocean that existed only in her mind. Conjuring up the door again, she watched as Loki fell seemingly towards his death.
Fast forwarding through the events that had transpired on Bianca’s world after the destiny of the universe had been altered, she saw that everything was going according to plan. She’d set everything in place for Bianca to achieve her unknown mission. Now it was up to her potential champion to save Loki, and herself, from peril.
Titles by J.C. Diem in chronological order:
Mortis Series
Death Beckons ♦ Death Embraces ♦ Death Deceives ♦ Death Devours ♦ Death Betrays ♦ Death Banishes ♦ Death Returns ♦ Death Conquers ♦ Death Reigns
Shifter Squad Series
Seven Psychics ♦ Zombie King ♦ Dark Coven ♦ Rogue Wolf ♦ Corpse Thieves ♦ Snake Charmer ♦ Vampire Matriarch ♦ Web Master ♦ Hell Spawn
Hellscourge Series
Road To Hell ♦ To Hell And Back ♦ Hell Bound ♦ Hell Bent ♦ Hell To Pay ♦ Hell Freezes Over ♦ Hell Raiser ♦ Hell Hath No Fury ♦ All Hell Breaks Loose
Fate’s Wa
rriors Trilogy
God Of Mischief ♦ God Of Mayhem ♦ God Of Malice
Loki’s Exile Series
Exiled ♦ Outcast ♦ Forsaken ♦ Destined
Hunter Elite Series
Hunting The Past ♦ Hunting The Truth
IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO be advised of my new releases, email me at: [email protected] or visit my website www.jcdiem.com and sign up to receive my newsletter.
