A/N: Hello to all my readers! For those of you reading my Loki series already on my page, I'm letting you know that this story does not relate to it at all. There may be some similar elements, but this story is actually a mini fic I have been posting on instagram ( lokis_leeches) to advertise my writing style and get people to read my actual series. This is far from my best work, and each part is pretty short. But it has gotten so much positive feedback that I decided to post it on here. i hope you all enjoy "Pain's Illusion"!
"Remember, this is your salvation. Your mercy."
Ebony Maw's voice whispered in Loki's ear, tightening the chains that bound the fallen prince to the temple's stone wall. It was a fortress where all who served the Great Titan would be cleansed.
Loki had fasted for a week to prepare. He had no choice in the matter, and the weakness clouded his mind and judgment. Of course, his fall from the Bifrost had ended prematurely when Thanos discovered him, promised him a life of recognition, if only he was willing to serve. Even still, Loki started having doubts and an undeniable fear shallowed his breath. This wasn't right.
The chains dug into his pale wrists and ankles. They hung his bare arms above his head, high enough to restrict a bit of breathing. Maw stood before him, chanting in a language foreign to Loki, until he decided to speak.
"Salvation is always so graciously given to those who deserve it the least." Maw spoke smoothly. "But it always comes at a price… of something so beautiful." Reaching forward with his grey, gnarled hands, Maw touched Loki's forehead, and the prince's green eyes rolled back into their sockets.
Loki took a sharp breath and looked around himself. It was cold and dark, the depths of his subconscious. Whispers grazed his ears, like ghosts calling his name, but they were not. As a tingle ran up his spine, Loki quickly turned around to see if someone was there, watching him. He could see nothing but a dark horizon disappearing into a void.
He could hear his name being called clearly, now. Trudging forward, a strange darkness swept over him. He felt empty, abandoned. Something was wrong. Loki no longer wanted to stay, he wanted to get out. He regretted ever letting go!
The void swallowed him, the whispers growing louder until they were faint screams. Darkness spread, crawling up his arms and legs. With widened eyes, Loki tried to scratch it off. It only spread faster, filling him with a pain so excruciating he thought he would die.
A bloodcurdling scream escaped his paled lips and Loki fell to his knees, violently trembling. Begging for it to stop, his eyes watered. It only grew worse, the black crawling up to his face. Two eyes peered at him. The void was a monster, feasting on its prey.
Loki could feel it pull at his mind, pricking it apart and filling him with a searing heat that burned him from the inside out.
"Make it stop!" Loki shrieked, feeling as if thousands of tentacles were slithering through his brain. "Just kill me!"
Maw watched with a sadistic grin as Loki writhed in his chains before him. Trapped in his mind as Maw filled his head with monsters and body with pain, tears streamed down Loki's cold cheeks. The prince's veins glowed a bright orange as Maw only continued to fill them with a torturous heat.
As he whispered in a foreign tongue once more, Maw pressed his hand to Loki's forehead, making the prince's head droop unconsciously.
"Fetch me the mind stone." Maw told Proxima Midnight, who had entered only a few minutes prior to Loki's screams. "He is now ours."