Mirror

The sky above Asgard split open.

Not like Thor’s thunder. Not like ordinary magic. A violet-and-green rift that smelled of ancient myths and fresh, modern lies.

Marvel’s Loki — the one with the black hair, the horned helmet, and that famous crooked smile — stood in the middle of the throne room, staring at the tear.

“Perfect… exactly what I needed. A brand-new crisis.”

From inside the rift stepped a man.

Tall. Thin. Long red hair like living fire. Cold yellow eyes. A smile that looked as if snake venom had dripped onto his face for a thousand years. His clothes were dark and worn, as though he had crawled out of a deep cave.

The two Lokis locked eyes.

Marvel Loki frowned.

“Who the hell are you? One of my variants? Because if you are, I have to say… that hairstyle is a crime.”

DC’s Loki tilted his head slightly. His voice was deep and calm, like something rising from the bottom of a well:

“I am Loki. God of Mischief. Son of giants. Blood-brother of Odin. Who are you to dare steal my name?”

Marvel Loki laughed — loud, theatrical.

“Blood-brother of Odin? Wow… how quaint. I’m the adopted one. Which is so much better, because at least I can claim my real family didn’t want me. You’re still clinging to that old man?”

DC Loki took one step forward. The air around him turned cold.

“You don’t even know what real pain is. I spent centuries bound in the guts of my own son. Snake venom dripping on my face. My wife held the bowl… and I still hate her for it. You’re just a spoiled child playing with mirrors and illusions.”

Marvel Loki conjured a dagger from thin air and spun it.

“And you’re an escaped prisoner who still smells like a cave. At least I managed to assemble the Avengers. What did you do? Play a supporting role in The Sandman?”

Their magics collided.

Green against ancient darkness.

Marvel Loki’s illusions — false palaces, imaginary armies, dozens of copies of himself — crashed against DC Loki’s heavy, bitter reality, which tore every lie apart like an old story and forced the ugly truth into the open.

They fought on the Bifrost.

They fought on the rooftop of a skyscraper in New York.

They even appeared for a moment inside the dream of an ordinary man and argued so loudly that he woke up

[screaming.

In](http://screaming.In) the end, both exhausted and bleeding, they sat on the edge of a multiversal precipice.

Marvel Loki was breathing hard, still smiling.

“I have to admit… you’re genuinely hateful. In the best possible way.”

DC Loki pushed his red hair out of his face.

“And you… talk far too much. But your lies… they’re beautiful. Like fireworks.”

A short silence.

Then Marvel Loki suddenly offered:

“What do you say we do something big together? Mess with both worlds at once. I’ll keep the Avengers and Thor busy, you handle Odin and Dream and the rest. Then we’ll see which one of us takes the crown of the multiverse.”

DC Loki laughed for the first time — a dry, terrifying sound.

“You still think this is a game. I just want to be free. Forever.”

Marvel Loki shrugged.

“Freedom is just another kind of crown, brother.”

DC Loki looked at him.

“I am not your brother.”

“Not yet.” Marvel Loki stood up with that signature grin and held out his hand. “But we could be. At least for one shared catastrophe.”

DC Loki stared at the offered hand for a few seconds.

Then he took it.

The violet-and-green rift opened again.

This time not to separate them…

but to swallow both worlds.

And somewhere far away, Marvel’s Thor and DC’s Odin felt it at the exact same moment — something far worse than Ragnarok was coming.