Strange was walking on the bridge in front of the Asgard Fairy Palace, the afterglow of the setting sun making the Asgardian architecture underneath his feet even more splendid. He passed the towering guard at the end of the bridge, ascending one flight of stairs after another, seeing the beautiful fountains and flowers on the square in front of the door.
Subsequently, guided by a goddess, he entered the spacious hall inside the palace. The dozens of pillars here were like giant trees, propping up the massive dome decorated with intricate patterns.
Strange followed the goddess into the elevator and the elevator platform slowly rose with the rumble. Looking down from here, he saw children playing and laughing on the square in Asgard.
Soon, the elevator stopped, and the door in front of him opened slowly. Upon entering, two tall alien plants stood guard by the door. The Asgardian goddess turned around in her white dress and told Strange, "Walk across this corridor and then turn right. That tower is where the prince resides. You're not allowed in without permission."
Strange nodded and said, "Thank you for guiding me, and may I ask, how is Loki doing now?"
The goddess in white robes shook her head, and she turned around and went back to the elevator. Strange sighed, he could already imagine the tragic state of Loki.
He walked straight ahead as the goddess had instructed. There was a corridor located directly behind the main entrance of the fairy palace. The wall on his left was the corridor of the palace, the elevator was behind him, the railing and columns were on his right, and walking straight forward and turning right would bring him to the tower the goddess mentioned, a structure independent of the palace.
Strange walked over to it. The giant door of the tower was directly connected to this corridor. There were two metal door rings on it. Strange picked up one of them and knocked on the door. Loki's voice came from inside: "Come in."
Strange was stunned then asked, "How do I get in?"
"Push the door, what else?"
Strange took a step back, looking at the door, he finally noticed something. This door was devoid of any protective array, in fact, the door had even slightly cracked open when he knocked on it.
"The door isn't locked?" Strange widened his eyes in surprise, he walked to the door and pulled the door ring. The door opened right away.
The scene inside the door was completely different from the dark prison Strange was expecting. It was a circular tower with a walkway wrapping around the wall, and the center had a garden with a Viking aesthetics.
The plants inside were very similar to the ones on Earth, like an ancient version of Earth plants. The garden was adorned with numerous broken statues. Loki was standing beneath one of them reading a book. Strange walked over to him quickly and asked, "Are you okay?"
Before Loki could even reply, Strange spoke out, "Are you out of your mind? You knew Odin would be furious enough to want to kill you, yet you dared to return to Asgard, isn't that walking into the lion's den?"
"Am I not alright now?" Loki spoke indifferently as he looked up. Strange raised his head to observe the surroundings and remarked, "What is this place? Do all of Asgard's prisons look so luxurious?"
"Who told you this is a prison? This is our Royal Ancient Garden Ruins, preserving the traces we left behind during our time on Earth. The archive and library are upstairs, this is my favorite place to hang out."
"Didn't Odin punish you? You caused a disaster this time."
Loki sighed and said, "I am just as surprised..."
Then, Strange learned from Loki about the events that happened before his arrival.
The gods of Norse mythology came from Earth, they belonged to an ancient civilization, thus they shared similar punishments with other ancient civilizations on Earth.
The most severe was exile. Theoretically speaking, there was no death penalty in Asgard, but exile was not much better. When a person committed a serious offense, they were randomly sent into a dark corner of the cosmos. As for how they would survive there, no one cared.
Then came expulsion, which was different from exile. Expulsion meant that you could go anywhere as long as you stayed out of Asgard, if the offense was more serious, you were not allowed to enter the Nine Major Kingdoms, but as long as you stayed out of these places, no one would bother you.
In the original comic, Thor was once expelled from Asgard by Heimdall. Although he returned eventually, it was still considered a severe punishment in Asgard.
The next punishment was whipping. The use of whips was prevalent in Asgard, and the severity of whipping punishments ranked third mainly because the whips in Asgard were different from human ones. They were comprised of Odin's divine power of thunder. This whip, even when used on robust Asgardians, would leave the sufferer incapacitated for half a year.
This punishment was severe because once the whip landed, it would be a long time before the inflicted could stand on the battlefield. They could do nothing but stay at home, for Asgardians, this was a devastating blow.
Before Loki returned to Asgard, he also assumed he would have to endure at least a whip, given the scale of disaster he had caused this time.
He infuriated the princess who was once a rebel, almost broke her seal, dragged the elder prince back who had returned to the World Tree, also managed to incite their new and old grudges...
In addition to tossing the Destroyer on Earth and Thor on Sakaar, Odin's thunder was on the way, which touched Loki a lot.
Loki returned to Asgard simply because he thought he was doomed anyway, getting whipped was inevitable, so he might as well get the punishment over as quickly as possible, then go out and cause more trouble.
However, when Loki returned to Asgard, Odin was indeed very angry, even to the point where his nose was crooked. But when Loki knelt in the grand hall of the fairy palace, waiting for Odin's judgment, Odin simply told him to return to his room for penance, and he was not allowed to leave the palace without his permission.
At that moment, Loki, kneeling on the ground, was utterly stunned. He thought Odin hadn't finished speaking yet, so he didn't move a muscle. That only made Odin angrier. The Father of All Gods was so furious his hand shook slightly, he pointed towards the gate and bellowed, "Get out!"
And so, with a baffled look on his face, Loki left.
Then, he saw Odin quickly don his armor and grab his weapon in the elevator before leaving in haste.
You must know, the Father of All Gods was in deep slumber previously, and it was Heimdall who hastily found armor and weapons for him.
Just as Loki was puzzling over Odin's actions, Frigga came to his room. Upon seeing Loki, she burst into tears, leaving Loki no choice but to hurriedly comfort his own mother.
Frigga wiped her tears as she spoke, "How could you be so reckless? Don't you know, that even Odin, the Father of All Gods, had to avoid Hela's fury back then? She is the rightful Lord of the Undead. And now that you've upset her, oh my..."
"Are you hurt? What about your divine power? What is that new divine power within you? Is it Thor's power? ... Where is he? Why didn't he protect his younger brother ... sister??"
The more Frigga spoke, the angrier she got. She said, "Thor is just like his father! His mind is always filled with thoughts of war, he only comes home every few hundred years after stirring up a whole lot of trouble and expects us to clean up the mess!"
"I didn't want to reprimand him before because as the future heir of Asgard, he needs to learn how to wage war. But this time, he's gone too far! His sister is being hunted by the God of Death, and he's still out wandering throughout the cosmos?!"
Frigga was so upset that her chest heaved with each breath. Loki stepped forward and patted her back. Frigga grasped her hand and caressed his hair, saying, "Don't worry, I won't let anybody hurt my child."
"Even though I haven't left the Fairy Palace after marrying your father and have never participated in battles, years back, I was the leading mage among all nine dominions and was revered as the God of Mages..."
Frigga pulled Loki into her embrace and told him, "No need to be afraid, I would always protect my family..."
"You know, under such circumstances, how can I mention that I also upset Baldur? If the Queen of Gods gets too furious, the Father of All Gods might actually want to kill me," sighed Loki in the Royal Ancient Garden, holding a book, appearing somewhat helpless.
However, Strange remarked, "Now you should see it. Your parents really love you a lot. My relationship with my father is also not that good, but I think a relevant example can illustrate your current situation quite well."
"When a kid scratches someone's car, his father may beat him up out of anger. But if the kid blew up the White House, his parents would definitely do everything in their power to protect him."
"The greater the trouble, the more likely the parents would side with you, just like this time."
"And because you've always been obedient and haven't caused any trouble, Odin might think this is just an accident. He's probably not directed his anger at you, but rather reminiscing about his past with Hela..."
"Still, this time, I'm starting to grow tired of these repetitive trials. The cosmos is so vast, surely I could find something better to do anywhere else than mixing with these war maniacs." Loki showed signs of impatience.
"Good that you have figured it out. So, when do you plan on returning to the Holy Sanctuary? I am almost going insane from all the busy work!"
Loki walked to a bench nearby and sat down. "I didn't return to Asgard solely to test Odin," she said. "More importantly, I can stay updated on Hela's news without meeting her face-to-face."
Loki looked around, assured that no attendants were nearby, and lowered her voice to say, "When I was chatting with Hela in the Land of Death, she mentioned that she used to hang out in the Ancient Garden a lot when she was in Asgard, and even left a mark here."
"As long as I stay here and monitor the status of the mark, I can determine if she has managed to free herself. Once the mark shows any response, that means... the war is about to begin."
"A mark? Is it the one we saw in that graveyard last time?"
"More or less, but there's a slight difference. When Hela was in Asgard, she was not yet the God of Death. However, the general shape of the mark remains the same, and once she breaks free, the mark will emit a unique dark green energy..."
"Dark green energy? Are you talking... about that kind of energy?" Strange asked, pointing behind Loki.
Loki spun around immediately. She saw dense smoke billowing out from beneath a statue in the middle of the garden. That instant when the screams and wails began, most of the plants in the Ancient Garden were tainted by the Death Energy, slowly withering before turning into ash.
"Quick, get away!" Loki shouted.
With a wave of his hand, Strange created a portal that momentarily appeared. He and Loki vanished into thin air.
In Nick's office at S.H.I.E.L.D., Shiller had just sat down with Nick when they suddenly heard a "crackling" sound followed by two "booms". A portal appeared overhead in the office, and then Loki and Strange fall through it.
Shiller, holding his cup of water, tapped on the rim with his finger. He looked down at the duo before turning to Nick, saying, "Looks like, there's no need for me to talk."