Mirage of Chains

Ventus, Aeris, and Loki have been friends since childhood, but why is Loki so upset all of a sudden?

Three children sat on a log, sitting quietly by a babbling brook.

“Isn’t this great?” Aeris sighed. She flipped her braided, persimmon ponytail behind her and smoothed out her pink dress. Her sky blue eyes watched as fluffy white clouds passed overhead.

“Yeah, we’re all here together!” Ventus exclaimed. He ruffled his mess of dark brown hair. His fern green eyes searched across the log up to their third, “What about you, Loki?”

“Hmm? What about me?”

“Are you feeling alright?” Loki, a child that shared his friend's age of twelve, sat bored beside them. He had jet black, slicked back hair with a few strands dangling over his forehead. He wore a pair of ripped black jeans and a buttoned, knee-length trench coat that seemed far too warm to wear in the current weather. He tapped his boot in the grass viciously, seemingly irritated. His golden eyes moved to the ground below him. “You look upset.”

Three children sat on a log, though one was not like the others.

“It’s just...don’t you guys ever get tired of this?” Loki growled.

Aeris leaned forward to look at him, “What do you mean?”

“Meeting here. Everyday. Nothing ever changes.” He furrowed his thick eyebrows, still stomping the grass beneath his toe, “It’s always the exact same sky, always the exact same river. The same fresh grass, the same rotting log…”

“Come on, man.” Ventus put a hand on his friend’s shoulder, “It’s not like we can always meet up like this.”

“But we do.” Loki swatted his hand away. Ventus looked hurt, and he turned to Aeris for help. Upon receiving a small shrug, he faced Loki once again, “Yeah, maybe we meet here often, but what’s going to happen when we grow up? We won’t be able to meet up like this.”

Loki hesitated, “...Even if we do manage to grow older, I’ll still be forced to be here like this.” He sighed out a mixture of frustration and agony.

Ventus frowned, “You don’t have to be such a jerk!” He stood up and prepared to push Loki off the log.

“Calm down, you two!” Aeris shot up from her seat. She was about to pull Ventus away when Loki shoved him into the brook with an unusual amount strength. “Ventus! Loki, how could you?” She ran to help him, but watched in horror as Ventus seemed to disintegrate before their eyes, sinking into the ground as if he were dust.

Loki blinked impassively as Aeris backed away, knees wobbling. Nearly in tears, she whispered, “L...Loki…?” A gust of wind blew by then, and Aeris was whisked away as if she were a missing part of the breeze.

“Oh my.” Came a voice behind Loki, “Bored of your friends already?

Loki grimaced, lowering his eyes, “...Those aren’t my friends anymore.”

Three children sat on a log, though two of them were already dead.

“I suppose that’s true.” The world suddenly twisted from its peaceful, summer day into a void of black and grey smoke, “But you have to give me some credit. I tried to bring your friends back for you.” A figure emerged from the darkness of the void. It was a girl, with a small but sturdy frame and the twisted face of a mischievous woman, “However, my illusions can only go so far. You know that...you’ve been here long enough.” She had knee-length, navy hair with her side bangs in a loop, connected by a white clip. She wore white gloves with a dark azure belt, slip-on shoes, and glove tops.

“Indeed I have….” Loki, sitting on air from where the log used to be, stood then. A thin, veil of mist passed over him, and he grew. He paced slowly over to the woman, now towering over her with the face of a twenty three year old man with stubble. “For the past eleven years...I’ve seen the same scene every day of my life.” He sighed.

The woman chuckled, “Aw...but I thought you liked the scene I made for you?” She flashed him a wicked grin before a puff of smoke enveloped her and she disappeared.

“Phantasma…” He sighed, then turned around.

He heard giggling behind him, then turned back to face the small woman clad in a white dress, kneeling down on thin air a few feet away from him. Her face held a sinister grin, and she held her hands before her face with the middle and index fingers touching, and the rest extended outwards, “Lady Phantasma to you, for now. I’m still a god, and unless you agree to my deal, you refer to me as one.” Her voice echoed around him lightly. With a masculine tone, but still recognizable as female.

Loki eyed her for a moment, “...You’re no god of mine.”

More giggling erupted in their closed void, “Oh, really? You don’t believe in the Goddess of Illusion that’s trapped you here for so long?”

“I believe that you’re real.” He stated, “But forget the idea of me worshipping you.”

She vanished and reappeared behind him again, this time wrapping his neck in a hug, “You don’t have to...if you’ll be mine.” Loki threw her arms off him, sending her flying to the ground. Upon impact, she shattered like glass, with violet crystals now floating in midair. “Come now. Loki, the God of Mischief! Doesn’t that sound exciting?” She materialized before him, sitting with her legs crossed at his eye level. Her dress flaps fluttered around her, revealing the inside of them that seemed to carry the night sky.

He motioned her away, “No, it doesn’t. I want my life back. I want to go find a real wife, work in a boring-a*s office job, get stuck in traffic everyday.” The goddess eyed him questionably with a smirk. “Maybe it’s not that great of a life, but it’s a real one.”

“So what you’re saying is,” She hopped down from her seat and walk over to him, placing her hands on his cheeks, “that living as a god isn’t real?”

“I never said that.” He jerked away.

“But you implied it.” She placed her hands back and forced him to look at her, “...What a hard human you are to please.” She laughed after some hesitation. She then turned and began to pace away from him, “Any other man would be thrilled by my offer! But of course...you aren’t. The one human man that actually interests me.” She stopped, hands clasped behind her back, “...What are the odds...that my soulmate doesn’t want to rule with me?”

Loki scoffed, “Why is a human the soulmate of a god anyways?”

Phantasma shrugged, “Who knows? It’s never happened before until now. But who cares?” Her navy eyes scanned the ground up to his golden, “I still like you. I do, but you’re so frustrating and hard to please.” A light inside of the cluster of violet crystals on her shoulder suddenly began to swirl about, then she walked off what seemed like the edge of the void and vanished.

“How does wanting a real life make me hard to please?” He backed up, searching the area for the small goddess. Her chuckles surrounded him, but he never noticed her frolicking in the mist behind him until she had disappeared again. He walked to the “edge” where she fell off and peered down into the smoke. Not finding any trace of her, he turned as Phantasma walked up through the “ground” they stood on and eyed him lovingly. He gasped and tripped backwards, falling flat down.

“If you don’t want to be a god, I guess I’m okay with that. It’s your decision.” She kneeled down and roughly seized him by his coat, “But I refuse to let you leave here. You’re mine, understand? I don’t have to let you follow the pattern of death and rebirth for that reason.” Her face twisted into a mix of love and disgust, but Loki ignored that. He just stared down at her pink lips, a shade of pink that reminded him of wine. He’d never tasted wine, he was too young to be able to before all of this happened, but the sound of the word in his mind sounded so good for some reason. Hell, anything he could taste from the material world would be miraculous compared to what he had been through in the void.

“...I’d rather not.” He finally said, staring her dead in the eyes, tired and irritated, “Please...I’m done talking about this…” He ran his fingers through his hair, fed up with the situation he’s been trapped in.

Her expression fell slightly hurt, then she snuggled up into his chest and hugged him, “...Please?” She begged, almost as if that former wicked attitude were a façade. “How many more times must we have this conversation?” She whispered, “I’ve asked you every day since you were twelve years old.” She sighed, and a tear slid down her face, “You could have anything you’ve ever wanted. Absolutely anything.”

Loki, though hesitant, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a close embrace. If he would never escape anyways, what’s the harm in becoming a god? Though he didn’t want to give in, it was the only solution to escape his prison, and that’s the one and only thing he’d yearned for all these years. The only thing he truly desired...freedom.

He sighed heavily, “...F-...Fine. I’ll become a god.”

Phantasma pushed away from him, and her wicked smirk returned. She suddenly thrust her hand into his breast and ripped out his heart. His eyes flew open, and he collapsed forward in pain, clutching his chest. He gasped and reached for her weakly, watching as she kissed his heart. She then broke a crystal from her shoulder and crushed it, sprinkling the sparkling dust onto the beating organ.

Her eyes slid from it to the man below her, “You want this?” She smirked, and he stared at her with fire in his eyes. “Then sit up.” She demanded. Loki mustered as much strength as he could to sit onto his knees, still in excruciating pain. Once he was finally high enough, Phantasma plopped down in front of him and shoved his heart back inside him. Loki’s breath suddenly caught up to him, and once he had steadied his heart rate, Phantasma trapped him in a kiss. After she broke away from him, she breathed shyly, “‘Till death do us part...right?”

Loki sat still, “R...Right…”, then the smoke vanished. The dark, cloudy void dissipated into the air as if it never existed, and revealed a kingdom of gold that seemed to be residing in the clouds. There were people scattered about, winged people, that seemed to be preparing some sort of welcome for him.

Phantasma giggled and nuzzled Loki, “Welcome to the land of immortals, my love.”

Three children sat on a log, friends that vowed to be together always.

One man now sat on a throne, no longer a child.

One woman sat beside him, a wife that will love him for eternity.

That man was forced to throw his life away, now ruling as a god bound by a mirage of chains.

Author's Note

*shrugs*

I don't even know.

I've had the prompt "Children on a log" for a while now and finally made a story...thing out of it.

Reviews

[Annabella]

This is fantastic! Well-written, descriptive, captivating, it's really great!
Especially from such a strange prompt - nice work!!!!!

[Nyssa Nyx]

Thank you very much ^_^