Goddess of Magic

12 Years Ago:

"Good luck? Is this some kind of joke?"

Witc stared at the black leather belt in Loki's hand. It consisted of various black half circles of varying size, with a green line on top of all of them, and had a loop on the back with a gold buckle to tighten it by inserting said buckle into small holes. On the front of the belt was a gold plate with a rune for good luck on it. It seemed fairly expensive, and contrasted with her now plain green prison outfit of cheap fabric. If Loki was going to break into jail for her, she'd had wanted a jailbreak, not some fancy apparel the guards would not care for. Loki stayed silent as she inspected it.

"Loki, does this have some way to get around the magical barriers on this prison?"

"…it's just a belt. If it had magic, the guards would be aware of my presence visiting you."

"And I'm grateful they aren’t. Odin wants you beheaded, so you should stay away, but… I can't live in solitary confinement forever like I was sentenced. I'll go mad. Can you get me out of here? Please?"

"I can't. My magic is barely strong enough to hide my presence from Asgard. I hate to leave, but I'll come back when I can."

"You're leaving already? Leaving me to rot?"

"It's not safe for me here. Asgard won't harm you, they've already decided this punishment is enough. I'll do my best to get around it, but you know why… They will torture me for eons if they find me after what we did, understood? I can't stay, and I cannot free you. Hence, the good luck charm, or, ah, belt. Stay strong, goddess."

Loki left her alone once more. Goddess. That was what she was now. It didn't feel real. But it didn't matter what she was, did it? She'd have been better as a simple Asgardian, never having met or trusted Loki. She could still hear his words from when they decided to set her onto the path of godhood.

12 Years and One Month Ago:

"So this is what they've done to you for the crime of knowing me. House arrest. Do you have any drinks?"

"Some still, why?"

"You'll have need for them. I come here with fear in my heart for you, Witc! Fear that there will be more trouble for you, trouble for they do not see you as a person. They see you as an extension of me, my only friend, and I have great plans for my revenge after what they did to me for the crime of looking for my daughter's killer. Great plans to make Asgard tremble. And to get back at me for them, if I fail, they will kill you. But! I know how to make sure they cannot. When you are ready, I will tell you how, Witc Gullveigdottier."

"That's not my last name, Loki. That would be Ivardottir. Have you forgotten with your schemes against the realm eternal?”

Witc used air quotes to playfully mock Loki from schemes onward.

“I thought we were good enough friends for you to remember."

"Oh, ah, sorry. I'm full."

"The meaning of being full of mead?"

Loki took a swig of a bottle of wine he found in Witc's home.

"Perhaps… but I suppose if I don't tell you why I said it you'll be curious for…ever?"

"You know me too well."

"Then here is a tale that is not quite enough to make Asgard tremble. But as for Vanaheim, it would quake if it knew of it. Thousands of years ago, a child named Witc was born to the steward of that realm. And forty fortnights later, the realm awash with fury and fallen fighters, that child was destined to be eaten by Ogres of Otherworld. None could stop them before they would taste her blood. None besides me. Away from thy mother's embrace and away from thy murderer's esophagus, lie-spinner Loki became… fate-spinner and took the child to unassuming mother Porunn and father Ivar. They feared nothing of me and rejected the child, so with remorse I gave them reason. And I gave it to them but a day ago. Understand ye yet, or must more be told?"

"A day ago? We are thousands of years old, Loki."

"And I was a thousand years ago yesterday."

"Ah. Time travel. You mean you saved my life yesterday?"

"Perhaps, or perhaps… fate did by intertwining us in a loop of time. It matters not."

Loki took another swig of the bottle. Witc wanted to tell him to look for a glass, but after this news couldn't find any words.

"Well, what is this plan of yours?"

12 years ago (as seen prior):

The words of calling past debts. She should have said she owed him nothing, that their friendship was repayment enough. But she had been a fool and as such set down the path of pain.

Witc tossed the belt across the room, the metal thudding as it hit hard stone.

Goddess. Those words still ran through her mind as had all others. As did the ones when she became one.

12 Years and Half a Month Ago:

The all-father Odin stared at her as part of his essence and very soul left his body. Loki watched with a smile as Odin, All-Father, king of Asgard, and god of wisdom, travel, poetry, and perhaps a thousand other domains, became slightly less godly as that essence fell into the space above his outstretched palm. The ball of stolen divinity shined brighter than the sun, made of keys that made for the cells of every ancient evil, the dazzling multicolored bridge between the realms, and the wishes of every mortal. It was made of and none of those things. In Asgard and elsewhere, much of what was true was metaphor. But there was one thing that, devoid of the metaphor, remained true about the ball.

It contained the essence of the Norse God or Goddess of magic. It could not exist, perhaps. It defied everything mortal, Vanir, or Aesir knew of the cosmos by doing so. But it existed nonetheless. Being of the All-Father, to touch it would have slaughtered Loki, the divinity in him becoming too much for him to bear if another domain was added. But he would not bear it. His palm was open, after all. And another's hand closed on it.

The power of one domain of the all-father surged through Witc, her body lighting up with runes as the magic wove itself into her being, a being that had its fate altered once, gaining thousands of open pathways from Loki’s spell to defy fate. And those pathways, powerful with magical time traversal, accepted it. Witc wondered if Loki had only saved her for these pathways, a friendship born only steal power from the gods. And as her body accepted it, Loki cast a spell on her and teleported away. And then the army of Asgard found her.

There was no trial. Asgard had at first decided on slaughter, but examination of Loki's spell revealed that doing so would give the domain of the God of magic to their bitter foe of boundless brawn Mangog. And if Mangog could cast spells, then Asgard would die in a day. The spell Loki had cast to remove part of Odin's godhood was unknown, but Loki's spell would prevent any magic they had to try to remove godliness. Asgard had no choice but to allow her to live. But life does not mean a pleasant existence.

12 years ago:

Witc picked the belt up again. Good luck. She would need it, of course, but would have preferred the house arrest to divinity. She'd thought she was selfish, to want the attention of a prince of Asgard, but maybe that wasn't how it was. Maybe he was selfish to give her life and then take it away to scorn his father. Why did he do it again?

Oh, right. Because Odin wouldn't let him waste his life away looking for the killer of Hela. And apparently that gave Loki the right to ruin the lives of whoever he wished.

11 years and 11 months ago:

"Witc, I am sorry. I didn't believe Odin would do this to you, I thought he would just put you back into house arrest!"

"As I've been told. The better question is why you insist on returning. Would you try to have me believe it's some guilt from you? That you made me as a tool to spite the all-father and see more of me now?"

"If you can believe it, then I would say yes. I did see you as a friend, and did not believe that Odin would do this to you."

"Then why would you teleport away?"

"Witc, you've teleported before, and as the Goddess of Magic you should be able to follow me."

"I am the goddess of Magic, but that title has not changed me in any way."

"Interesting. That is not what I had expected from my spell…"

Loki pulled out a small notebook and started examining it.

"Hmm, I think I know why. The spell I wove was based on the notes of various mortals from Midgard, and on Midgard all magic has a price. I assumed that I would be the one to pay, but my payment of my happiest memory of my daughter, a steep price I somewhat regret paying, while quite the sum for magic, could only remove the domain. The power of the all-father is so great that being surprised seems foolish…. but it is done now. If you want to use the power inside you, you must pay. What would you give to it though?"

"What if I gave it my irises?"

Loki seemed taken aback by the suggestion.

"What?"

"They failed me before by letting me be tricked by your beauty to start a friendship. I don't need them."

"But, ah, be wise! You will need them when I free you."

Loki seemed desperate to stop Witc. She didn't expect that. It could be another trick, of course, but that seemed unlikely. Unless he did care for her? That he had been telling the truth today seemed impossible, but nothing else made sense…

"You can teach me a spell when I gain the power to see without working eyes, correct? So I'll give up the iris, and you'll give them back to me. And we can be friends again after that."

"That does make sense… Here's a knife."

Witc grasped the ornate instrument of blood sowing in her hand. She breathed in and forced her head into it, her eyeball finding a new home in its tip. Through the pain, she curved it inward and let it drop onto the floor. And then she screamed. It hurt far more than she had anticipated, and she was losing a lot of blood. But she had to fight through that for the other one, right? Otherwise, she would be half blind for no reason. But she couldn't. She needed encouragement? She needed something…

"Loki, I'm… scared. What if you can't fix my eyes?"

"It, ah, seems a little bit late for second thoughts… considering half your eyeball is on the floor."

"Figures…"

"But I'll promise you this. If I cannot save your sight, I will give you my eyes. Which would be a shame, considering how well they complement my beautiful nose. But for you, I'd give them up?"

The pain hurt just as much, but she was starting to get used to it. She breathed in and out. In and out. And then with a flick of the wrist, her other iris fell to the floor. She felt like she was going to die, which was understandable, since she was dying. She didn't see Loki leave. But she heard him do so, and the last thing he told her before he did so.

"I'll tell the guards. Bye for now!"

Fairly soon after that, various Asgardian medics fixed her wounds. She was somewhat surprised they did, but knew why, which was Loki's spell. She didn't see again for months, but felt starting from her eyes before spreading to the rest of her body a strange magical sensation that went away after she left the hospital and returned to solitary confinement. She assumed she had lost her sight for nothing.

11 and a half years ago:

As soon as Loki re-entered her cell, she felt her body flare up. It felt alien and magical. Presumably, whatever she'd done with the sacrifice was reacting to Loki's presence.

"Loki, can you tell me what your spell did to me? It felt like it did nothing, but now this power…"

"I, uh, don't know. Sorry!"

"Can you at least give me some sort of theory? Please?"

"Okay, well let's see. We both sacrificed to the spell, me to take the power, you to activate it. So perhaps it sees us both as the recipients? Now, I don't feel stronger. So I assume you have the full godhood, but it sees as both as the god."

Loki’s explanation didn’t make complete sense to her.

"Okay, Loki, I guess that makes sense?"

The explanation did seem from what she understood to explain why she now felt stronger, but not why she felt stronger during her surgery.

"Loki, about my eyesight…"

"Well, the problem with that is that I can do it, but the magic would tell the guards of my presence. So we're going to disable the magical alarms. Now, repeat after me…"

Soon enough, the power of almost two Lokis erased the magical alarms.

"And as far your eyes…"

2 years ago:

"So, Loki, any reason I'm still in this cell?"

"Witc, you know how to teleport across the nine realms. If you could leave, you are free to do so…"

"I was wondering if you knew why I wouldn't."

"I assume you fear the all-father?"

"Well, that's correct…"

"My father is a one-eyed fool who's emotionally reliant on ravens. What is there to fear?"

Witc laughed. Loki had spent a fair amount of time learning how to make her do that.

"A fool perhaps, but a powerful one. He cannot kill me or the realms fall due to your magic, but if I were to escape he would make sure I could not hide."

"Then I'll plan his death. I have no love for the fool. And Asgard is rightfully mine."

"And I assume that'll mean you'll visit me less and less like you have as of late?"

"Perhaps it will. That does not concern you."

Loki had changed a lot in the decade since Hela died. He hadn't noticed, but Witc had. He'd gotten more distant, more cold, more obsessed with ruling Asgard. And she began to fear he actually would.

2 months ago:

When the ship of nails arrived to Asgard, Loki at the helm, signalling Ragnarok and the end of the gods… Witc was still languishing in a cell. Loki did not care much for anything besides the death of the gods and his rule, but Witc figured that with the end of gods approaching finally no one would care if she escaped. She thought to teleport to him, but he did so first.

"Hello again, Witc! What say you of my Asgard?"

"The dungeons are the same."

"The dungeons are soon to be gone. I have slaughtered all my enemies. There is no one worthy of prison among them. And that includes you, for as an enemy of Asgard you should be by my side."

"Perhaps. But with Odin gone, I desire to see the other realms before I join you…"

Witc knew that Loki, the god of lies, could tell that she only desired to see other realms and would not join his army. And she knew that with the magical power in him, power she almost had, she could not defeat this Loki. But she figured that Loki, though he had stopped visiting her altogether, would not kill her when the other options were so easy to accomplish. She was gambling her life by not teleporting away, but she wanted to see her only friend admit that she was someone he would not kill like the other gods. She knew this was selfish, but did not care. Loki stared her in the eyes.

"If you wish to enjoy the inferior realms for a time, ones without me, then you may do so. But that will forfeit your right to my Asgard."

Witc teleported away to Midgard right after he said that. Loki did not pursue, for Thor beheaded him soon afterwards. Witc found herself in a deep forest. Like her cell, it was quiet. But unlike the cell, it was teeming with life. Without anyone else with magic around her, she would have difficulty casting any spells. She walked through the path for hours until she found another hiker, who screamed upon seeing her. Which was probably fair, considering she had entirely purple eyes and was covered in scars.

"Mutie!"

That word was new to her.

"My name is Witc, mortal. Goddess of Magic. Who is this Mutie fellow you speak of?"

The mortal was already running away. She presumed he was looking for his friend named Mutie.

Following him led her to civilization, where she found that everyone else thought she was this mutie fellow and tried to kill her. Fortunately, she could still teleport, but it just took a minute, so she ran away until they couldn't catch her and teleported to Nidavellir, the metallic forge home of the gods (OOC: Unlike everything else here, Nidavellier resembles the MCU to keep it consistent with other people's posts). Having survived Ragnarok, the dwarves were able to take her in, where she supplied magic for their weapons. It was a lonely life, but not for long.

1 Month Ago:

"Loki? Is that you?"

The being in front of Witc had the horns and fashion sense, but appeared to have the wrong gender. Loki had changed gender before, of course, but for a reintroduction this was odd. But she could sense the magical surge from being in Loki's presence. The only issue was that she heard Loki was dead.

"Hello again Witc! Odd to see you here."

"Loki, aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"I was, but I can explain, friend! Just, ah, not in front of the dwarves. To Asgard?"

"Asgard will lock me up again. Has it been so long you have forgotten?"

"My dear brother Thor is in charge, and he knows as do the others my rebirth has changed me for the better. And with my word and Odin still dead you will likely be welcome as well."

"If you say so, but I don't trust you."

"I'm the god of lies. You would be a fool to trust me."

They teleported to Asgard, which Thor had restored. It was a thing of wonder once more, with no signs of Ragnarok. Loki had teleported them to Witc's old house, and Witc stared in amazement as Loki raided her wine cabinet once more.

"Witc, everyone died in Ragnarok while you were gone. Asgard believe that I of all people was redeemed because I said I was changed when I was reborn by Thor along with all the others. Gullible fools, but correct. I took time to reflect…"

Loki fell silent for a while, took a drink, and continued with effort.

"And realized that I had gone too far from who I should be."

"Perhaps you were right to reflect."

Witc wanted to say more about how Loki had changed into a being of evil. She should have. But she was scared to lose her only friend. So they just stared in silence for a long time, the two most hated Asgardians, both knowing they had to be better. And neither really understanding how to. But they'd at least try.

(OOC: Only interact OOC as this origin story takes place completely in the past.)