Later, after Asgard had returned via Bifrost. Loki received a new system notification;
[YOU HAVE REGAINED YOUR DIVINE TITLE AS [LORD OF CHANGE]!]
Then he received a message from the mysterious Admin0;
[WELL, WELL, WELL. SOMEBODY HAS JUMPED THE GUN AND REGAINED THEIR TITLE. THIS WILL EFFECT YOUR STATUS WINDOW, BUT YOU SHOULD ADAPT WELL ENOUGH. IT APPEARS THIS WILL BE THE LAST MESSAGE I EVER SEND TO YOU, SO LET ME JUST TELL YOU THAT IT HAS BEEN AN HONOR, NEX LOKI.
P.S. I SUGGEST YOU OPEN YOUR MYSTERY BOX NOW.
-ADMIN0.]
Seems Loki had actually forgotten about the Mystery Box in his inventory.
The object materialized in his hand, a small black box the size of a baseball, wrapped in a gold bow.
"If you turn out to be something stupid, I'm going to have words for with Admin0." Loki muttered to himself as he pulled off the golden bow, opening the box.
The item was engulfed in a bright light, and when it faded, in his hand was a titan shard. His titan shard. the last sliver of his essence about the size of the mystery box.
Loki held it for a moment, then closed his fingers around it and squeezed it hard. The shard burst in his hand, releasing its light into Loki, with enough force to knock him off his feet.
* * *
When Loki opened his eyes, he was in an empty white space, and there was someone else there waiting for him. Another Nex Loki.
This other Loki looked similar, but different, he was older, taller, with longer hair tied in a long braid. He looked much more world weary, with tired eyes.
[Hello Nex Loki. If you are seeing this, then you have reached max level, and have reclaimed our title.] The older Loki said. [The user assistance subroutine I designed, [Admin0] has deemed you sufficiently advanced to receive my final legacy.]
Around them, the white space changed, and suddenly, they found themselves on the balcony of Asgard Tower, overlooking the most exquisitely vibrant sprawling city.
[This is Kol, capital city of the immortal Inz Empire. My home for the last 100,000 years.] Older Loki said, gazing out at the city longingly. [What do you know about us, and our origins?]
"The titans are as old as the cosmos," young Loki replied, "We Primes came from the nine shards of the Lesser Will, the counterpart to the Greater Will, our master, who formed us from the shards of its contemporary into what we are now. The legions were established to prosecute the eternal war between the Greater Will, the brilliant light of creation, and the Enemy, the all-consuming darkness entity and its mindless swarm of abyssals. After many millions of years of this, we grew disillusioned, we convinced two other legions to assist us and ambush the others, using it as a distraction to shatter the Greater Will. Us and the other unwitting 'rebels' were thus banished from our divine home."
[Very good, you have the basics down pat.] Old Loki said, looking out at Kol once more, [Do you remember this place?]
"A bit," young Loki said, "I remember that I wasn't the emperor."
Old Loki scoffed, [Us? Rule this place? No, the emperor at this time was a young lad named Lokten. He was a high level user and World Champion, he was also our godson and star student. We watched him die along with his family when our sister arrived.]
"Why weren't the Valkyrie present during her arrival?" Young Loki questioned
[Because we had sealed them away by then.] Old Loki said, [it seemed cruel to make them watch my death.]
"We died?"
[I died,] Old Loki corrected, [you are a clone of my vessel, created in the event of my demise to absorb my shattered essence. A reincarnation of sorts.]
"Well guess I was quite the failure of a reincarnation"
[On the contrary, I was the failure.] Old Loki said, [To tell you the truth, I've known my day of reckoning was coming for billions of years, but I was scared. I was scared of being shattered, scared of non-existence. Scare that it was actually what I deserved.]
He turned to young Loki
[That's why I made you, to cheat fate. But I was a coward. When I first sensed Thea Po enter the system, I didn't warn anyone, instead I enacted my contingency; preserved what knowledge and samples I could in vaults scattered across the world, established the codex to restart life on the planet after she was done, sealed away the Valkyrie and Asgard because I knew she would target them first. Then I just waited for her to do what she does best...]
"Destroy." Young Loki finished
Old Loki nodded, [surprisingly, she let me live long enough to see the planet burn. I don't even think she did it out of malice, but because she just wanted to share her gift with me one last time. The same way I used to play my pranks on her.]
They sat in silence for a bit, before Old Loki spoke up again
[I occurs to me that my actions leading up to the rebellion might've been unwittingly influenced.]
"How so?"
[The Greater Will, at the end of everything, was the first system administrator. It had control of the entire cosmos, including all the titans. The legions were its security programs, similar to these World Pillars. When we died, it just rebooted us.] The older Loki rambled [It could have already predicted that the potential of the original cosmos was reaching its limit, so it induced me to do what I do best... change things. F@£k.]
"In doing so, we deposed the Greater Will, leading to the proliferation of anima across the now ever-expanding cosmos, causing it to adapt with new class of creatures. It also empowered the titans with true individuality." Young Loki said, "yeah, we might've been manipulated."
[That motherf@£ker!] Old Loki seethed, before proceeding to spend several moments cursing and bad-mouthing the entity that had created him.
"So what happens now?" Young Loki asked with a chuckle, "you step back into my body?"
[Nope, that's not how this works.] Old Loki said, [In my efforts, I never could crack full reincarnation. You could only absorb a minimal amount of my essence at the start, that's why I had to break off chunks and hide them away. The biggest piece went to the Administartor, Mala, lovely woman. She used it to speed up the recovery process of the planet, even after she died. The other piece contained a sliver of my consciousness, intended to prevent possible ego death during the process. I set up Admin0 as a sort of guide to help you.]
"It sucked as a guide,"
[Yeah, well I never was very good at that sort of stuff.] Old Loki shrugged. [By now, you've probably finished integrating this last bit of my self into you, so you'll probably wake up soon.]
"Yeah, I think so too."
[Do me a favor, when you get out there,] Old Loki said, turning to his clone [take care of them. I never could get out of my own head after the fall, but you're my third chance to do right by those that follow me.]
Young Loki nodded
[Well then, Nex Loki, I leave my name and power in your capable hands.] He said,
Young Loki grinned, "of course, Nex Loki, we have a reputation to uphold don't we?"
Both Nex Loki's shook hands, as the space around them faded into nothing.
* * *
When Loki opened his eye, he was in a bed, his own, if he remembered right.
A system notification flashed across his vision;
[CONGRATULATIONS. YOU HAVE COMPLETED YOUR RECONSTITUTION! ALL SKILLS WILL NOW BE UNLOCKED AND ALL RESTRICTIONS HAVE NOW BEEN LIFTED!]
[YOUR LEVEL HAS INCREASED [MAX]! UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF THE [GREATER WILL] YOU HAVE BEEN GRANTED THE DIVINE AUTHO... *ERROR*! DUE TO YOUR NATURE, YOU HAVE AWAKENED THE PSEUDO-AUTHORITY [JACK OF ALL; MASTER OF NONE]!]
He sat up, waking Fenris, who was at his bedside.
"Lokkun, are you alright?" She asked, checking on him, "I found you collapsed in the corridor and brought you here to recuperate."
"How long was I out?"
"A few days," she said, her voice trembling, "how are you feeling?"
Loki regarded her, he could tell she had been sitting by his side since then, tending to him. She was probably exhausted, no wonder she dozed off.
"I've recovered most of my memories," Loki informed her
She looked down, "I see, so you're back to your old self?"
He could tell she wasn't fully pleased with the notion.
"No," Loki answered simply, "I'm different from the me before I died,"
Fen looked up sharply, "You died? When? How?"
"My sister, the 2nd Prime." Loki replied, "she killed me and destroyed this world. The old me sealed the Valkyrie away to protect you, then created this me as a fail-safe for after I was killed."
"Then, are you still Nex Loki?"
Loki just smiled, "yes I am, I have access to most of the memories of the old me, some was lost during my death."
"Then... what was my name before you named me Fenris?" She asked tentatively
Loki leaned in and whispered it in her ear. Instantly, Fen tackled him in a hug, sobbing in relief.
"It is you!" She cries, trembling in his arms, "I was so worried that you weren't the Lokkun I remembered, that you had been replaced by something else."
Loki just held her, "Don't worry, I'm still me, all the parts of me that matter are still here."
Loki then kissed Fen, much to her surprise. After a moment's hesitation she leaned into it.
It did not stop there.
Much later, the two of them lay in bed, entwined naked in the sheets. Fenris was peacefully sleeping, her head resting on Loki's chest. Meanwhile, Loki was still awake.
It really was strange. He felt like the old Loki, but at the same time not. He had access to those memories, and while they felt like his, there was a certain detachment from them that he had never really noticed until he became whole. He truly was a near perfect replica of Nex Loki, so perfect no one would tell the difference... well, almost no one.
Curious, Loki opened up his status, realizing he had not done so in quite some time;
[STATUS]
Name: Nex Loki
Race: prime titan (fallen)
Sex: fluid
Karma: true neutral
Condition: content
Jobs: trickster/master maker
Affiliation: Asgard
Level: 000
Authority: Jack of All; Master of None
Tier: Admin
HP: 100.00%
Anima: 100.00%
Points: 1,234,567,890pnts
[SKILLS]
All-Make; Anima Control; Appraisal; Analysis; Awareness; Absolute Defense; Bifrost; Charm; Crafting; Designer; Deception; Devil's Luck; Elemental Resistance; Eternity; Faker; Foresight; Golden Rule; Grey Zone; God-hand; Heresy; Hero's Fortune; Hand of Fate; Illusionist; Illness Resistance; Iron Flesh; Iron Will; Isolate; Longevity; Matter Shift; Nocturnal; Observer; Opportunist; Pain Resistance; Poison Resistance; Parallel Thinking; Perception; Pyromancy; Recovery; Rule Breaker; Red Zone; Reality Shift; Silver-Tongue; Shapeshifting; Synthesis; Stealth; Survivor; Thought Acceleration; Trace; Thief; Transmutation; Time Stop; Unbreakable; Universal Translator; Veritas; Wanderlust; War Cry; Wise Man; Word is Bond; Zodiac; Zone of Silence;
[EQUIPMENT]
Imperial vestments; Fafnir's Mantle(familiar); Tactical Belt;
[TITLES]
LORD OF CHANGE (all subsequent titles have been amalgamated into your divine title)
[CLAN]
- Fenris the Black Wolf
- Thor the Storm Bringer
- Yggdrasil the World Tree
[OPTIONS]
Inventory
Maps
[OBJECTIVES]
Reassemble the Valkyrie (3/6)
Reclaim Authority (complete)
Reclaim Title (complete)
Prepare (...)
[VALKYRIE UNDER YOUR COMMAND WILL RECEIVE ADDITIONAL BOONS ACROSS ALL STATS DUE TO YOUR INCREASED FAVORABILITY.]
Loki grinned at what he saw. He pulled Fen's slumbering form closer to him and she mumbled something incoherent.