Chapter 413: Taking All of Asgard to Visit the God of Stories
Ethan stepped through the portal into the royal palace of Asgard. The moment he dropped Loki on the floor, he heard someone scream.
Queen Frigga came sweeping down the palace corridor like a gentle spring breeze, her skirts swaying with each hurried step, every one of them full of a mother's care and urgency.
She all but ran to Loki's side and knelt beside him. Her loving eyes fixed on him, as if pouring every ounce of her worry and tenderness into him.
"Loki, my poor child, what's happened to you?" Her voice trembled slightly. She reached out and gently stroked his face. The eyes that had once been so full of cunning and intelligence now looked hollow and exhausted.
It pained her to see how much thinner he'd become since she'd last seen him. His cheeks had lost their old fullness, and it cut her to the heart.
Frigga carefully smoothed his tangled hair, as gently as if she were handling a fragile treasure.
Her eyes were full of deep worry for him.
Standing to one side, Ethan's eyes happened to meet those of Odin, King of the Gods. In Odin's deep eyes, there was none of the shock or anger Ethan had expected. Instead, a complicated tangle of emotion stirred there: guilt, relief and pride, woven into something too deep to name.
That old man really is a closet peeping tom, Ethan muttered to himself.
He was sure of it because of how Odin looked at Loki. There was an unusual familiarity and understanding in it.
Ethan suspected Odin hadn't just been secretly watching Loki grow and change all along. He'd watched the Loki series too.
It wasn't the first time Odin had played peeping tom. He'd done the same thing the whole time Thor was on Earth.
And Ethan was right. Odin had watched the entire Loki series.
He'd heard the story from Thor before, but it was only after watching the whole thing that he truly believed it.
Old Loki and the God of Stories both made it plain to Odin how much Loki loved Asgard.
He felt guilty because his way of raising his children had been too cruel, and they had suffered far too much for it.
But he didn't think it had been wrong. Thor had turned out fine in the end.
And Loki had become the God of Stories, grown into a titan even stronger than his father.
As for this Loki's current slump, Odin wasn't worried. He was sure a son of his would pick himself up soon.
With a wave of his hand, Odin lifted the seal on Loki's divine power.
The biggest question on Odin's mind after watching Loki was: who exactly was Ethan?
Why was this man so mysterious? How did he come to have something like that?
And when Odin's gaze landed on Ethan, every other emotion gave way to shock.
He wondered whether his eyes were deceiving him.
"Impossible?! Is this a demigod?!"
He could no longer read Ethan at all. But there was definitely a demigod's aura about him.
Odin murmured to himself, full of doubt and wonder.
In thousands of years of cultivation, he had never reached that legendary realm. Yet here was Ethan, so young, already standing at the height Odin had only dreamed of.
That speed, that talent, was beyond imagining.
Odin's shock was plain on his face. He couldn't help giving a light cough to cover the turmoil inside, then asked Ethan with complicated feelings, "Ethan, have you... already broken through to that realm?"
"Not yet. But soon," Ethan answered simply.
Odin breathed a sigh of relief. Then he sighed, "It seems the world belongs to the young now."
Ethan hadn't reached the demigod realm yet, but he was about to step into it.
Odin was reassured, though. With Ethan helping Thor and Loki in the future, he could rest easy.
"So what brings you here?"
"I'm here to take you all to meet someone," Ethan answered.
"Someone who wants very much to see you." As he said it, Ethan looked pointedly at Queen Frigga.
Frigga's delicate brows drew together slightly, curiosity and puzzlement flickering in her eyes. She turned to Odin, her wise eyes seeming to ask, What's going on? Why do I know nothing about this?
Odin answered with a slight nod. His silence carried a deep understanding and acceptance of what was about to happen.
Loki's reaction was the most intense of all. His empty eyes lit up the instant he heard Ethan's words, with a complicated mix of shock, unease and longing.
He was actually going to meet another version of himself. He couldn't let that other self see him in such a wretched state.
"Who are you going to see?" Just then, Thor walked into the palace, his face covered in bruises.
Seeing his brother and his good friend Ethan, Thor was delighted.
"What happened to you?" Ethan pointed at Thor's face.
"Nothing. Just a few scrapes from training. So who are you going to see?" Thor clapped the shoulder of the brother he hadn't seen in so long.
"You'll know when you see him. Let's go now." Ethan didn't answer.
"One moment. If we're going to meet someone, we should bring gifts." Odin clapped his hands.
The next moment, countless guards marched in carrying an enormous pile of gifts.
"Um, I don't think that's necessary. He doesn't look like he'd have any use for them. Just showing up is enough," Ethan said, at a loss for words.
The God of Stories could only sit there motionless forever. None of this would do him much good. Ethan was already bringing Odin's whole family along without the God of Stories' permission, which was plenty of people as it was.
Bringing along a crowd of Asgardian guards to carry gifts on top of that? What would that even look like?
Why not just bring the entire population of Asgard on a sightseeing tour while they were at it?
Odin nodded at that, and only had the Queen bring some food along. Then Odin's form began to change subtly. Golden light spread from his body until it covered him entirely.
When he reappeared, he wore dazzling armor, his golden helmet gleaming in the sunlight. It was the battle armor he wore as King of the Gods only on the most solemn occasions.
Every movement radiated formidable power and majesty, as if the very air trembled before him.
He meant to visit his child from another world, the God of Stories, with the highest honors.
Loki and Thor likewise changed into their most formal armor or regalia, each representing their station and glory.
Seeing that Odin's family was ready, Ethan said,
"Then let's go to the end of time and visit the one who's been missing you all this time."
Ethan opened a portal and stepped through.
The next instant, they all arrived in a vast, mysterious space.
An immense tree that ran through countless Marvel universes, the multiversal World Tree, stood in the void, wreathed in specks of starlight.
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