Endlessly

Journey into Mystery

"I really don't see why we have to sneak out like this, Laufey very much seems to be on our side." You whine, struggling to keep your unfamiliarly long legs moving swiftly behind Loki."

"Shhh."

A giantess adorned in fur and armor resembling some type of guard's uniform steps out of the shadows, appearing to emerge from thin air. The height difference between her and Loki, once again in his Asgardian form, is stifling. "Well if it isn't the wee little prince; So, the rumors are true. I didn't think you'd ever grow the balls to actually come here."

"Well, how incredibly lucky it is that the state of my reproductive organs is no business of yours." He jeers, making a move to step around her and continue walking.

With one massive stride, she plants herself infront of him again, clearly not finished. "You will choose to bind yourself to this wretched little thing- a weakling who will not survive the birth of the child you've put in her, over all of the giantesses you have the stamina to bed." She hisses, spit like venom spraying from between her teeth. "It's no wonder the Queen gave you away."

"I'm quite certain the prince has just told you that's none of your business." You take a step in her direction with your chin up, convinced that you look no more threatening than a lion cub who's just begun learning how to roar.

"I could kill you with my pinky finger." She flares her nostrils.

"If you'd prefer to keep your head attached to your body, I would strongly suggest that you don't." Loki's frostbitten words, while not directed at you, still send a chill down your spine.

The guard grunts, turning her back to you as though she's displaying how unafraid of that actually happening she is, and walks off.

"That's why." Irritated, he grabs hold of your hand and continues down the hall.

"I wonder if the Jotun have always been like this; So... animalistic." You quicken your stride to walk at Loki's side and not feel so much like he's dragging you through the halls.

"They have. But so have the Aesir and Vanir- our races have just done a better job of hiding it."

—------------------------------------------

Once outside the stronghold of Utgard, the violent wind returns, wrapping around the two of you like a boa constrictor made of ice, scales of frost digging into your skin and crushing the breath from your bodies.

"For the love of the Norns!" You grasp for your cloak as the wind attempts to rip it from your body.

"I know, I know." Loki comes to your aid, wrapping the cloak that he'd added a fur liner to with his seidr at the castle, thank the gods, back around your shoulders. He ties it so tightly it nearly hurts. Or perhaps it's just the cold that hurts. You can't really tell. "It's only a few paces to the north, we can make it in under fifteen minutes if we press on."

You give him a silent nod, pushing forward through the wind with all of your strength.

Just as you've convinced yourself that the skin of your face has in fact frozen solid and fallen off of your head, leaving a rather unenthusiastic looking skeleton in its place, Loki's pace slows.

"Do you trust me?" He shouts over the formidable arctic wind as the two of you approach what appears to be a large hole in the ground.

"I'm certain I would not be in any of the half dozen situations I currently find myself in if I did not." You smirk.

He nods, the ghost of a smile at his lips as he grips your hand a little tighter. With only two more steps, you discern that the 'hole' is not merely a hole, but rather a giant, gaping chasm in the ground.