Chapter 437 - World Tree (2): True Enemies (Part one)

Somewhere in the unknown corner of the universe, a god was meeting with his underling. This orange-skinned woman had an absent-minded feel about her and was only attentive to things that were needed by her sworn lord.

Standing at 5'2" tall, she had a lean face with a softly shaped jaw, a broad nose, thin lips, and small grey eyes that almost always seemed to be closed. She had mid-back length blonde hair which was worn in a bun to please her lord as he liked her hair that way. Her slanted shoulders and muscular arms were, however, covered with burn marks and wounds.

The armour she was wearing bȧrėly covered her heavy torso and chiselled abs, or her narrow waist and hɨps. As for the rest of her gear, her long legs were covered entirely with a black pant which was made up of thin but nearly indestructible metal. On top of all this, she had a chain wrapped around her neck as a symbol of her being a slave.

She always tried to please her lord, but often failed to do so, just like she had failed him this time. She had one job... and she horribly messed it all up. But to be honest, if Hercules could fail his task, it shouldn't be a surprise that she failed her task as well. At least now she knew it was nearly impossible to trick that man... his instinct was just way too good.

But her husband, who was also her lord, wouldn't care about such things anymore. Even the woman knew this as she entered the throne room of the lord she served. The room was awkwardly dark. Not a single torch had been lit up. The usual crowd was missing as well... as it had been since the lord of the domain was killed by the Immortal one. 

But the woman could still feel her lord's presence in the room. He was there, sitting on the broken throne of his broken kingdom that had been destroyed over a billion years ago and was yet to see the light shine again.

At one point in time, the god whom this kingdom belonged to, was always surrounded by too many attendants and beauties that one couldn't even count. But know he was all alone... except her unfaithful wife who had betrayed him when he was at his most vulnerable and he had been punishing her ever since and would continue to do so till the day he was once again praised amongst the gods.

"Sigyn... you failed me again." The man sitting on the throne said with a snide tone, "I wonder what should I do with you this time? Break your bones and feed them to Fenrir, or should I throw you in front of Jormungandrso that he can have some fun with you? Oh... I can't do that. You betrayed them as well and unlike me, my sons are still paying for their faithfulness to me."

"L-Loki... I mean, my lord... If even the great Hercules couldn't kill that man even with the Olympian army, what could have I done with just a t-tower?"

Sigyn was once Loki's most beautiful and trusted bride but now had a pained expression spread across her face. It was probably because she knew her husband's twisted sense of revenge. Loki would torture her for millenniums in one go, whenever she failed to do anything he asked her to. But he never got physical with her... he just 'played with her dreams'.

Loki would often use his abilities to twist her dreams and make her rewatch the worst of her fears again and again, to the point where she would start questioning her sanity. She wasn't the only one who betrayed him, his other brides and one of his sons, Vali, did too. But since all of them were gods or demigods, they didn't need to depend on Loki for their Immortality, unlike her who was just a mortal from one of the thousands of worlds Loki once had control over.

When Shiva attacked Loki after Loki betrayed Asgard, everyone persuaded Sigyn to betray Loki as well and weaken him prior to his fight with the Immortal one. At first, she didn't agree, but then the other left her no choice. They said if she didn't help them out, they would kill her before Loki died. If that happened, her immortality would end even before Loki could have a chance to resurrect her.

On the other hand, they promised her, if she complied with their request, they would have her truly become immortal. Which they did... after bounding her soul to Loki's throne as some sick joke. That's why she was never able to leave the place without Loki's permission and was punished for something she only did because she was forced to.

"A tower made from my magic and mischief. A tower that even the gods were once afraid to enter as most of them spent millenniums after being trapped inside." Loki slammed his staff on the floor and Sigyn was forced to break her own hand, "And you're saying... that tower wasn't enough to trap one mortal human for a year in it?"

Sigyn was crying her eyes out as her remaining arm was shattered into pieces and then... everything went back to normal like it was all a dream and none of it ever happened. But the pain she felt was real. This was the way Loki had been torturing her ever since he got resurrected and found that she was the one who betrayed him even though she was aware that her life depended on him.

"Quit punishing a defenceless woman and try doing the same with your so-called sister or daughter, whatever you call her these days along with her companion Surtr." Zeus' voice interrupted Loki, "The Immortal one is on his deathbed. We can not let him get an heir or that would mean the end of us!"

"What do you think I have been trying to do?" Loki yelled back at him, "Your good for nothing son, had the perfect opportunity to end this once and for all but no, he just ended up feeding him more power. At least the tower did not give him any powers."

"But it failed to trap him inside till the war like you declared it would. Either way, I'm here to talk about something important... there might be a way to kill him... if we use your Vassal."