Prologue

For not the first time, Loki wonders how long an eternity does last, until such time as that eternity does come to its end.

For not the first time, but oh, how it feels he's been here in this place so long.

In the beginning… the beginning of all this, though he had known the foolery in keeping count the days, and tried so warily to avoid it, his mind had not allowed him such mercy. In his paralyzing and drowning agony, and the death of his heart for how his wife, too, suffered, he was only too aware, not simply of the days, but the hours and minutes and seconds which ticked by in their torturous, most taunting pace.

Centuries. He'd been aware of it for centuries, until his mind, at last in its degradation and Norns mercy, had dissolved into shock and hysteria, and he no longer knew of anything at all. Only pain. Only suffering.

Times would come of clarity throughout, and in these moments would his despair overwhelm the destruction of his body, and he would beg the fates to return him to his delirium. For those times, he thought of his sons, his two, beautiful boys, turned against one another by he whom Loki had once thought of as brother, his sweet child, Narvi, made before his very eyes to tear his younger sibling limb from limb.

Loki would recall how he spilled his own, hot bile as Vali's entrails were spilled from his ripped wide belly, and the expression of horror… horror and pleading the boy had cast upon him. Upon his father, he who was meant to protect and keep safe. And Loki had failed, failed, and let this happen to his son.

How pathetic, how useless his own struggles had been against their hold, straining at their grips and getting himself nowhere. Pitiful his cries of mercy and sorry, woeful begging to leave his sons be, to leave his children be, please, please, please…

They had not listened, and Loki could no nothing, nothing, and oh for that above all else, he would never forgive himself.

For that he wished for oblivion, even as he thought himself not deserving of such peace.

And Sigyn, sweet, faithful Sigyn, oh but she should have abandoned him. Should have turned away and salvaged for herself what life she could. But no, his sweet girl, his beautiful woman, she had stayed by his side through this grief. Until at last she too had succumbed, first, to madness, and then death.

How in the days following her demise, he wished he too could die. How truly he wished for it. But he was an ancient god, near old as Odin All-Father himself, and one of great power. His body would not give in so easily to death, and here again Loki did find his own strength a curse upon him.

He could not die, no matter how the poison spread and ate away at his flesh and muscle and bone. And with Sigyn's passing, there then came no respite, no relief. Only agony, forever and ever. As his form would work most instantly to heal itself the moment the toxic venom would rend it apart, and the agony grew tenfold thus.

He could not die. He could not. Eons already he'd spent, trapped here, beneath the earth of the middle realm. Eons more he would.

So long, it was, Loki had long ago been convinced surely, truly, he must deserve his fate.

Chapter 1:

Julia Wilder, and her boyfriend of the past three years, Tim Baker, were spelunking. Spelunking.

How she'd ever let her crazy-ass boyfriend talk her into this madness, she's resigned herself to possibly never knowing.

All she knew now was she wanted out and she wanted to go home. She'd fallen into one too many unmarked pools of water and had one too many bats get tangled in her hair, scaring her nearly half to death for this to be anyone's idea of fun anymore.

Looking at Tim, moving ahead only a few and at a decidedly slower and less enthusiastic stride than earlier, she allowed herself the hope of thinking maybe he wasn't particularly keen on the idea of going any farther either.

She hoped.

She could hold her tongue only a few, short minutes longer before at last she'd snapped, coming to a stubborn stop and huffing out an agitated sigh.

"Tim!" She calls, hands on hips and striking the most reproving pose she could manage for when he turned around to look at her.

She hadn't expected him to ignore her and keep walking.

"Tim!" She calls, louder, and finally he stops, spinning around, eyes wide with surprise, as though he genuinely hadn't heard her before.

"What?" He asks, sounding almost dazed.

Julia frowns, shaking her head.

"I want to go home." She says, crossing her arms. "I'm sick of this."

Tim blinks, staring silently back at her a long moment.

"But we just started!" He says at last.

"We didn't just start." Julia snaps in return, losing what little patience she'd had left. "We've been…" here she pauses, glancing down at her watch, only able to see the face by grace of the head torch on her helmet. "going for almost three hours now. I'm tired, I'm hungry, everything hurts." She looks back up to him. "I want to go home."

"Aw, come on Julia." Tim whines petulantly. "We can't stop now. We'll be quitters if we stop now."

"Fine by me." She answers him quickly, without any hint of humor. She only feels a little bad when she sees his face fall in disappointment.

Tim's a great guy. Sweet and caring and considerate. Handsome too, Julia likes to think. He's tall, six feet, for real. Not like a lot of guys claim, guys barely, if any, taller than her five foot seven frame. Brown hair, blue eyes, build thick with wide shoulders and a broad, flat chest. He's her guy, and she loves him, but God damn, does he drive her crazy sometimes.

He's got a touch of wanderlust, she thinks, the way he drags her all over the place, to all these different places. Sometimes it's fun, like when he wants to visit some beautiful city or just hang out at some overpriced resort. Other times, not so much. Like now, like when he wants to actually go "adventuring" as he puts it. Go out into the wilderness. Hiking and stumbling through wooded areas. This caving expedition crap though, this has to be the worst, she thinks.

She doesn't even know how he found this particular system. It wasn't marked out on any map she could find, not even when she'd searched for it on Google. But of course, when she'd said as much to Tim, he had told her that was the entire point of spelunking. To explore as of yet unexplored caves.

Frankly, she couldn't see the appeal.

But, still, she does feel bad, especially as she watches his face and realizes his disappointment, really, stems from knowing he's disappointed her. She didn't mean to make him feel bad, it's just… her backpack feels like a bag of rocks, the straps by now digging painfully into the plains of her shoulders, her lower back aching like a son of a bitch, and her legs feel like dead weight. She's gotten to the point she can barely lift them.

She sighs, once more shaking her head and trudging forward, closing the small distance between them.

"Look, babe, I'm sorry. I know you were looking forward to this all week, and you only brought me along because you thought I'd enjoy it to. I don't mean to crap all over your ideas. You know me, I'm just a pussy who can't handle the outdoorsy stuff. I'm sorry."

Tim's expression seems to soften then, and he shakes his head, bending down and kissing her on the cheek before straightening.

"No, it's alright." He says. "You aren't a pussy." She laughs and smacks him against the shoulder, earning a broader smile from him in turn. "Seriously though," he goes on. "I knew you weren't totally into it. I should have listened to you. I just… I wanted you to experience something new."

"I know." She says. "And I agreed to it, so it's not your fault. I guess we just need to work on our communication skills, or something."

"Yeah." He laughs.

"Still, you think it would be okay if we head out now? Hey, maybe we can stop by a McDonald's or something once we get back into town. Get a couple of milkshakes?"

"Yeah, why not." Tim answers, shrugging and smiling too.

He wouldn't admit it, but Julia had a sneaking suspicion that he would be as relieved as she was to finally call it quits and head back to civilization.

/

Somewhere along the way of going back the way they'd come, they get lost.

Julia could scream.

She'd put up with Tim's assurances that he knew where they were going for about half an hour before she'd started to really lose it and now, another twenty minutes later, she's ready to rip her hair out, and his along with it.

"Tim," she says.

"Just… just hold on." He tells her. "I'm sure this is the right direction. I'm sure."

"You said that twenty fucking minutes ago Tim, and we still aren't any nearer to the entrance."

"You don't know that." He said. "You can't know that."

"Tim, we've been walking in circles. I swear, I've seen that stalagmite more than once." She points offhandedly to a large, stone formation jutting up from the ground.

"We're close. We just need to…" Tim goes on, oblivious.

"Tim! For the love of…" Julia stops herself, breathing deeply and forcing herself to calm. "Look, we're lost. We need to stop and think."

"But…"

This time, Julia does lose it, ripping at her black hair, growling in frustration. That shuts Tim right up.

What is it with men and their inability to admit when they don't know something?!

Looking back up to Tim, she sees he looks properly ashamed now, and some of her anger dissipates. She swears she's a sucker for him.

"You're… you're right." He at last admits. "I just… fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, how did we get lost?"

"I don't know." Julia answers. "But we did. There's no use in whining about it now. We've just got to figure out where we are and how we can get back on the right path."

"Right." Tim nods. "Right. That's a good plan."

For whatever reason, Julia feels a swell of relief to hear him agree with her. She has no idea how they're going to fix this, but just knowing they're on the same page is a good start.

She opens her mouth, ready to make the suggestion that they sit down and rest, maybe eat a little of the lunch they'd packed and try not to panic, try to think instead. Only the words never make it past her lips.

She's halted by a bizarre sound echoing faintly through the chamber, and she knows immediately she hasn't imagined it by the look of unsettled confusion which flits across Tim's face in turn.

"What was that?" He asks, and Christ, why does he have to sound nervous? If he's nervous, than what the heck does that make her?

She's silent a moment, waiting, listening for it again, and sure enough, it comes. A low, keening sound, almost like someone moaning. Though, how that's possible in this place, she has no idea.

"What was that?!" Tim asks again, more alarmed.

"I don't know." Julia answers, feeling slightly ill to her stomach. "I don't know."

Again, it comes, and okay, Jesus H. Christ, it definitely is someone moaning, what sounds like in serious pain.

Right, alright, so they were going to die down here. There was probably some psycho serial killer running around the place, picking off unsuspecting cavers. That sound was probably one of his victims, left for dead, left to die a slow, agonizing death, and they were next. Either that, or worse… She kept getting flashes of that stupid fucking movie "The Decent" running through her mind and she swore, if they made it out of here in one piece, she was going to murder Tim herself for dragging them here in the first place.

Again, the moaning came, making Julia's blood run cold.

"Okay, what is that!?" Tim nearly shouts.

"Fuck Tim, I don't know!" Julia screams back at him, losing her cool. "What the hell dude, you're supposed to be the big, strong man here!"

"That's sexist!" He snaps in return. "Just cause I'm a guy doesn't mean I'm not a scared little girl!"

"Oh for Christ's sake!" Julia throws her hands up.

She can't believe they're having this conversation, right in the middle of… whatever the hell it is that's making that sound.

Sucking in a deep breath, she again tries to compose herself, pretty much failing, she thinks.

"Look," she starts. "we… we need to figure out what's making that sound. It sounds like someone's hurt maybe or…"

"Are you nuts?!" Tim says, voice pitching towards panic. "We need to get out of here!"

"But if someone's down here and they're injured, we can't just leave them!" She argues back, getting angry despite her fear.

Tim seems to falter a moment, clearly struggling with what to say.

"I… I doubt it's anyone, really." He tries lamely, and Julia can tell by his tone that he doesn't really believe that. The more they listen to the moaning, the more obviously it's some person. Someone suffering in pain. "Who would be down here!?" He asks a moment later.

"Someone as stupid as us, probably." Julia replies. And again, that shuts her boyfriend right up.

A moment of silence stretches between them, before it's again disrupted by the awful moaning.

"We have to check it out." Julia repeats, and she knows Tim agrees when she sees his shoulders slump, his forehead creasing in worry.

"Yeah." He says. "I guess you're right."

/

They follow the noise, the moaning staying pretty consistent, and they know they're heading in the right direction when the sound grows louder and louder with each step.

To be honest, it's pretty damn terrifying, and Julia more than once wishes her conscience would have allowed her to just say screw it and leave whatever unfortunate soul it was making the noise down here.

But it couldn't, and she knows she'd never forgive herself for just abandoning someone who might truly need help.

She knew Tim wouldn't either.

The closer they get to whoever or whatever's making the noise, the deeper they seem to ascend into the cave, the ground dropping at a steady incline, the very walls around them seeming to grow darker, their blackness more impenetrable.

She really is trying not to think of that horrible movie, which, again, Tim's fault. She doesn't get why he even likes horror films. Especially ones like that.

The air seems to be growing denser too, more humid. She can practically feel the water hanging there, and with it, the scent of minerals and wet.

This sucks. This sucks so, so much.

When at last the moaning has grown loud enough to sound like its right there in front of them, that's when the other smell hits, and Julia very nearly loses her breakfast.

Apparently, Tim doesn't take it much better.

"Aw, Jesus, what the hell?" He groans, turning away, his forearm pressed against his nose and mouth. "What is it?"

"I… I don't know." Julia's barely able to reply. "I don't…"

And then she turns, and she has no idea what it is she's seeing.

There… there's a man there, or… God, she thinks it's a man, but he's… Oh Jesus, he's lying flat on his back, along a massive, upraised slab of stone and there's… there are chains tying him down, his arms stretched and raised above his head, bound at the wrists. More chains still, holding down his legs at the ankles, spread wide apart, and another, two thicker links stretched tight across his chest and stomach. He's naked, and even from what must be a distance of fifteen or twenty feet away, and nothing but her head torch to light the space, she can see the metal of the bonds have torn into his skin and rubbed it raw, leaving rivulets of both dried and fresh blood, gleaming against paper white skin, down his arms, and staining the stone beneath him.

All at once, she knows it's him. That he's the one who's been making the sounds, the moans they've been following. And as if in affirmation of her realization, again it comes, suddenly pitiful and weak sounding to her ears. So absolutely filled with agony and despair, she in an instant feels her eyes sting with tears.

"Oh God," she breathes, her hands coming up to her mouth. "Oh God."

"What?" She hears Tim distantly beside her. "What is it?"

And then she hears him gasp, and she knows he's seen it too.

"Is… is that…?" He starts, sounding lost and terrified.

She feels herself nod, unable to speak.

She doesn't even realize she's taken a step closer until she feels Tim's hand land heavily on her shoulder, jerking her back.

"Wait!" He hisses lowly. "Wait, we don't know what this is."

"We have to help him." Julia says in reply, but there's no energy to her words. She sounds uncertain and scared to her own ears.

"I… I know." Tim says. "I know. But stop and think for a second. Someone's obviously done this to him. Whoever it is, they could still be around."

Julia swallows, a queasiness rising up in her gut.

"We have to help him." She repeats. "We can't just leave him here."

"But if whoever did this comes back…" Tim starts.

"All the more reason we can't leave him." Julia says, finally coming back to herself, if only somewhat. She turns to look up at her boyfriend. "If we leave him and they come back they might… they might kill him."

Tim looks back at her, his brow creased in worry and fear, before his eyes flick back up, towards the bound man.

"He already looks half dead." He mumbles. But Julia can hear the pain in his voice. He isn't suggesting the man's beyond help. It's only sadness talking, and horror, to realize someone could do this to another human being.

"Tim," she brings his attention back to her. "we have to do something. Get him… get him free. Get him help."

For a long, few seconds, he only stares back at her, and for an instant, she's afraid he's going to refuse.

But then he nods jerkily.

"Right." He says. And she sees his expression harden into an unyielding determination. "Right."