Introspection

[Year 1250]

The majority of the realm was celebrating Vali's 100th birthday, a decently significant event as it denoted him becoming an adult. At this point, Vali was fed up of all the worthless celebrations held in the realm, but he knew it was necessary to keep the long lived race of Asgardians mostly positive and happy, as it was difficult to find other forms of entertainment and eliminate boredom.

After all, there had been instances in the past when Asgard had dark times, when the realms were at war, and the normal citizens remain cooped up in silence, constantly in the fear of dying. As time went by, the depressing atmosphere caused a lot of problems with the morale and the king at the time, Bor introduced a few reforms to their culture.

Asgardians were then introduced to the tradition of embracing battle and holding clamorous celebrations for every single event. They embodied the quote, "Better to fight and fall than live without hope." and always celebrated every occasion like it was their last.

Vali himself who hated futility, had come to admire, and partially adopt the Asgardian way of life. That being said, he wouldn't unnecessarily fight to the death like an imbecile; but if there was a scenario where he met a hostile omnipotent being, with there being no possibility of survival, he wouldn't mind completely baring his vengeance at his enemy one last time.

He was a man who had already face death before, but remained in the land of the living owing to his sheer will alone. He was absolutely confident that by constantly honing his will and body, he'd eventually meet and compete against those beings that he now found omnipotent.

As he ruminated, he deeply sighed while exhaling; He had felt his mind transforming on a spiritual level, ever since he had begun the construction of his mindscape.

He did a lot of soul-searching during his free time, when he wasn't spending time with his mother or sparring with his guards and brothers. He was pulled out of his thoughts and dragged out of the palace by the guards, under the request of his mother.

He soon walked through the palace halls, towards the large dining chambers where the public celebrations were held. Vali didn't really associate with most of Asgardians, but they knew that he was one of the strongest beings in the realm, and that's all was needed for them to erupt with joy, as they saw the silver haired prince walk towards them.

They were all seated around an extremely long table, adorned with golden embroidered cloth and with an assortment of various dishes. The aroma of roasted meat that had a golden hue, dripping with a little oil and the bitter smell of Asgardian mead pervaded the air around the table.

The people seated at the table included his mother, brothers and the finest warriors from all parts of the realm. Odin was probably busy with his realm duties. Most of them ate the sumptuous lunch with no grace whatsoever, but this entire atmosphere held its own charm.

Frigga stood up once she was done, approaching Vali with an affectionate look on her face and an enchanted locket in her hand,

"Bless you, my little one! This pendant is my gift to you, and I'm sure that you'd find it useful." she said as she placed a rose-gold pendant in his hands. She looked at him with eyes full of warmth, before she took her leave from the chambers, so that the Asgardians could start with their drinks and their 'real celebrations'.

Many others on the table followed up with an assortment of various weird gifts. From weapons, rare ores to magical scrolls. Loki gifted him a wrapped box which he wasn't going to open anyway, especially after using his 'truth eyes' on it. Thor on the other hand gave him a shameless hug.

Thor was envious when one of the veterans gifted Vali a tiny flask, containing the best alcohol in the realm. They were from the barrels built from the wreckage of Grunhel's fleet, used to age potent alcohol for 1000's of years. Even royalty had a tough time acquiring it, as the production was always limited and they were redeemed based on merit.

The veteran who gifted it himself had a reluctant expression on his face, as if he had just tasted a bitter lemon. Overall, it was a pretty big haul and a decent harvest, he had his guards carry everything for him.

"Thank you all for the gifts and good wishes! I will remember this day for as long as I live!" said Vali with a dramatic tone in his voice to keep up with appearances, as he stood up with a stiff face and said his goodbyes.

He didn't want to remain in that place any longer as a few drunkards had already started snogging. He soon understood the exact reason for his mother's early departure, as he had expected something similar to happen.

The biggest takeaway from the day, other than his mother's pendant was that, he was finally old enough to leave the realm on missions. That's right, it was probably one of the reasons so many warriors gathered for the celebration. They probably assumed that he'd jump straight into missions with a few of them, with eagerness to leave the realm like any other youngster.

Well, they weren't entirely right, as even though he would do a few missions outside the realm, to set up his plans for the future; he wasn't in a hurry. He probably wouldn't be leaving before he completed his mindscape and made a few preparations.

As he made his way out with his guards, who were carrying a huge load of items, he inspected his mother's locket. Its chain was also rose gold in color, with an octagonal cube-shaped tiny metal attached to it. The tiny cube had several runic enchantments on it, running along its surface.

Vali channeled magic into it, only for a magical hologram depicting its usage to pop up. He soon understood that this pendant allowed him to stay invisible, and completely hide his presence from weaker beings by channeling a tiny portion of magic to activate it.

This was extremely useful when he wanted to keep his movements a secret from native beings on any planet he visited in the future, during his missions. It was obviously less useful against beings on his level though. It also had a few other utility magic, but he was sure that he'd outgrow this pendant soon, and he'd be able to perform its functions on his own in the future.

As he looked through the pendant with his 'truth eyes', he could see other hidden magic in it but he couldn't figure out its purpose. He figured he'd ask his mother if she put it there in future, as he didn't want anyone else sabotaging him.

He wore the pendant, which soon resized itself to fit his tall body, he willed it to disappear and it vanished magically, but he could still feel it around his neck. He could feel an aura of warmth coming from it and it calmed his mind.

As he straightened his thoughts, he soon realized that he had changed a lot since he had arrived on Asgard. He was overall a lot more tolerant and forgiving, something he was beginning to notice. Even now as he walked down the street, and when some citizens greeted him, he had begun to subconsciously nod back at them.

Even if it was because of his mother, he would have never gone to such great lengths to keep up with appearances at lunch, or even attend it in the first place. Especially with people who didn't have enough worth in his opinion, and even though it might sound distasteful, he wasn't someone who enjoyed wasting his time over trivialities.

He had mellowed over time and turned a side-eye on matters and people related to the realm. As he introspected himself and his change in behavior, he came to the conclusion that he was becoming extremely lenient, and somewhat friendly towards the beings of Asgard.

There was a chance he was being influenced here, and it wasn't done by any being on Asgard after going through his knowledge, but he wasn't sure. He'd rather include the people of Asgard in his suspicions than be negligent, as they were the ones with the most to benefit.

He quickly went through everything and everyone he had met since he was born, searching for any abnormalities with his perfect memory.

He couldn't find any, even after doing it a few more times, that led him to believe that some powerful being was playing with him or, his other newly born half was subtly influenced before he even fused with it. He wouldn't even take the first speculation into account for obvious reasons and that led him to go with the second one.

'Only thing he could conclude was that the influence had no puppeteering, or other nasty intentions. Could it be natural?' he thought seriously.

He was able spot this problem only because of the alarming rate his mindscape was being built, so he knew he was on the right track and decided to speed up the process a little. As he had already spotted the problem, it was easy to correct so he left it as it was for now.

[few seconds later]

'Or was he influenced a second ago to leave it as it was?' he thought. He was stranded in a mind-boggling clusterfuck and he decided to ask for help, as this was out of his control at the moment. He wasn't well-versed in the matters of the soul.

He soon reached his chambers with his guards, and dropped off his gifts in a hurry. He asked Skarf and Frodi to stay put, as he walked towards the throne room to find his father, Odin. 'The Allfather is probably the only person who could help me solve this problem now, or was he responsible for it in the first place?' he thought composedly as his mind churned.

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[A.N: Is Vali going crazy? Or is he just paranoid?] Paranoia level: Nick Fury

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