"Heidr…" Loki rubbed his jaw, pretending to be deep in thought. He glanced back at the black haired woman. "Such a menacing name, isn't it?" His eyes traveled to the slaughtered bodies on the ground, the slimy black liquid still slithering on the gray soil beneath their feet. "Does it represent what you are?" He taunted as he started to circle her.
A devious smirk ran on Heidr's features, a shade of shadow darkening the rims of her eyes. "And what am I exactly?" She stepped closer to the man, standing inches away from him, looking directly in his apathetic eyes. "A monster?" She grinned evilly, though Loki could see how slight irritation flashed through her eyes. "Just like you?"
He couldn't help but smirk at her rhetorical question. She knew what she was doing, and Loki started to like her. He eyed her closely before smiling rather wryly, "Then we have an agreement."
Heidr raised her eyebrow at his statement, slowly stepping back, crossing her arms. "Have I missed something?" She asked confusedly, "On what?"
"The deal," Loki tilted his head to the side, "Why? Has using so much magic to consume the lives of those dull creatures scrambled your brains?"
She chuckled darkly, glancing up at the man before her. "I see," She nodded. "And please tell me, my lord, what caused the sudden change in your decision?"
"You," Loki said without hesitation, making the dark haired girl stiffen a bit. "That was quite maleficent, what you did, don't you think?"
"Very well," Heidr scoffed and serenely walked past Loki, holding up her arm, "There, he is waiting."
Loki followed her gaze, slowly knitting his brows. "And my boat?"
She looked up at the man. "I suppose your boat is there as well." She shrugged, looking away from his gaze. "Mare has this weird propensity for collecting what isn't his." She continued.
Loki didn't respond. He knew she was just bluffing; she didn't know where the boat was. But he wasn't going to bother anyway. He had planned further in his mind, and for that quest he needed to figure out more about this woman. He needed to gain her trust. Therefore he simply nodded and looked back at the dark branches of trees forming a forest as they both started to walk among the bodies.
"Which realm have you come from?" Loki asked expectantly.
Heidr gave him a cavalier look as she walked casually alongside him. "I'm of nowhere and everywhere."
"What do you want from this elf?" Loki questioned her in a monotone voice.
"A thing he owes me." She didn't seem to care at all, smirking all the way.
"And what is that?" Loki asked, still folding his hands behind his back.
He glanced back at the girl only to see she had stopped a few feet away from him. Heidr closed her eyes, her arms falling loosely at her sides. "A gem," Her tone was close to whispering. Her eyes shot open and her face tensed as she opened her mouth, "Not an exact form of it, but a great source of power."
Loki stood in front of her, examining her every expression. He wondered why this power she was speaking of reminded him of the Tesseract. "What power does it hold?" He asked calmly, trying to cloak his curiosity.
Her face lashed out into a wicked grin, her eyes glowing in an utter excitement as she spread her arms, "An infinite … power." She said dramatically.
Aether. He wasn't sure of it but he could guess what power she was speaking of. It sure wasn't the Tesseract, for that was held in Asgard's weapon's vault. The only infinite power other than that was being held by dark elves, the Aether, the flowing crimson power, unlimited and invincible. Loki grew determined to test his theory as he slowly walked up to the woman, "Sounds intriguing." He smiled cunningly.
"More like…" Heidr stared at him, tilting her head, "Ambiguous." Her eyes looked dull, like her mind was elsewhere, but no … she was reading the man's hidden agenda behind every question.
Loki smirked wickedly. He was eager to see why this woman was searching for that kind of energy. She couldn't hope to control it. Either way, he was intrigued enough to follow her and attempt to fathom the purpose of her actions. "I'd like to see this uncanny source of power." He said nonchalantly.
"Yes… you will, real soon." She murmured bluntly. It seemed that all of a sudden she had lost the motivation in continuing their conversation. Heidr started to once again walk towards their destination, her veil of excitement was now replaced by one of coldness and a stern look.
"You should be more cautious, " She heard Loki hiss behind her, " There are sure to be more of Malekith's squadron around here. " She stopped, making Loki break into a mischievous look. He waited for her reaction.
"Malekith?" She faltered, not turning back. But Loki could see how tensed her slender body got. She turned back; pure confusion dominated her face as a dark shadow of an unknown source darkened her figure. Hesitantly, she glanced up, her eyes widening in dismay.
Loki frowned at her and immediately followed her gaze. Above them, a whirling hole had opened up, exhibiting an animated image of a dark, solemn world apart from what they were in. Loki gasped at the sight of it. He knew the world; he was once trapped in it: the void, the emptiness following it, and then this dark pathless universe. The Chitauris'.
He took a brief glance at Heidr. Why was she trembling. " The convergence… " Heidr stole her eyes away from the fathomless pit smoldering above them, " This is happening…"
Loki nodded, trying to focus. He attempted to stay calm. He wasn't sure if they had spotted him through this damned event, but it wasn't worth the risk to stay and find out what would come next. No… now wasn't the time… the Chitauri couldn't ruin his plans, he couldn't fail again. This time, for his own sake. "The alignment of all realms, " He let out a shuddering breath.
"C'mon!" Heidr's scream snapped him to reality. He saw her start to run to the forest, now only a few feet away from both of them. He obliged, striding quickly behind her. Loki knew the alignment happening every 5,000 years could bring all the worlds together; of course it included the Chitauri's as well. How could he forget about that?
He wasn't a fool. After his failure on Midgard, they were determined to rip him apart.
If you fail, there will be no realm, no barren moon, no crevice, where he cannot find you. You think you know pain? He will make you long for something sweet as pain.
He squeezed his eyes sharply, a shiver of frigidity running down his spine. He had thought it was over, that there would be nothing he could dread, but now… at the very moment he was trying to regain the courage, the long lost bravery, something like this happened. He gritted his teeth. Anger and frustration were always better than fear and vulnerability.
The colorless sky of Svartalfheim was now filled with enormous holes, each and every one of them sprouting up to lead a path to other realms. Loki held his breath and readjusted his gaze into the dark tangled branches. They were close.
"Why did you stop? " He asked, confused by Heidr's sudden apathetic expression.
"The forest, " She forced her eyes to look at him, " It's alive, the branches of the trees are made out of lonely tortured souls and your most feared nightmares …"She trailed off, glaring at the high branches as they braided into each other, mixing with the pitch black soil under their feet, "they'll rob your sanity…"
Loki looked down at the woman. She was scared, he could sense it. And for a brief second, maybe it delighted him. He eyed the dark forest again. Did it scare him? Should he even be scared, when he was the source of fear itself? He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, letting the agony out with a twisted chuckle, "Once you find them within yourself, there are no crawling shadows to be afraid of." He said mockingly, but did he even mean it? He wasn't sure. If passing through the most terrifying nightmares was meant to be a way for him to rise up again from the ashes, then so be it.
Heidr sneered behind him. He didn't know what he was dealing with. Little did she know even if he knew, he would go down to it anyway. Then she, too, followed his footsteps into the abyss.
The cold was howling among the high figures of the skeletal trees, along with the sound of a wounded owl, singing the anthem of the dead. As they moved forward, the trees seemed to wince back, opening up a pathway for them to pass through… and they were whispering obscurely. Loki concentrated to hear them properly, but no matter how much he tried, he couldn't understand even a single word.
Darkness in the forest was light enough. They simply could see their path; it was just a matter of valiance. Heidr kept her eyes focused as her eyesight started to get blurry. She shook her head, looking around warily when the dark figures started to form, surrounding her. There was a girl first. She could discern it from its small body. And then there, she saw another one, the shadow of a man, muscular and protective, his hands falling firmly on the little girl's slender shoulders. She flinched and shook her head again, blinking a few times, not wanting those memories to come alive, to haunt her. These are just visions. She reminded herself.
Coldness. Little did Loki know the huge figure appearing behind the mist wasn't a human. It was noticeably bigger, and he could see how its crimson eyes were glowing hungrily. He swallowed a knot in his throat and looked at his hand; it was turning blue. He felt as though his magic was being extracted out of his body. He felt exhausted. Loki's eyes widened once he looked back at the hulking figure. It wasn't there anymore. Loki stared, aghast, into the gloom. No one was there. He glanced again at his own hand, and it was still the color he had always known himself to be.
Heidr was shaking violently, and there was nothing she could do to stop it from happening. She knew this all was Mare's doing. That dwarf felt revived by scaring the most valorous people, bringing up their past memories in the shape of shadows, pushing them to the edge of madness. She recalled the only thing they needed to do was to stay in reality and not be swept away by the things they saw.
"Mare… " She said hoarsely before feeling a sharp pain in her stomach. Her eyes flew to her abdomen, and they slowly widened with panic. No… no… this wasn't happening. Blood permeated her suit, the murky warm liquid she hardly dared to look at. She squeezed her eyes shut. Keep focus, don't lose it. She repeated. This is only a trick.
A few steps next to her, Loki was lost in oblivion, his eyes shifting from one shadow to another. Paralyzed. Loki felt he couldn't move another step, that his ankles were bound to the hard ground beneath his feet. A steady wind blew unceasingly against his body. He felt cold. Cold, he shouldn't have been bothered by frost. But now he was shivering and alongside the shivering, blurry shadows within his visions started to come to life. His surroundings were filled with bare ground, hard solid rocks, and the stars above him were glittering. He wasn't in the forest anymore. Where was he?
He tried to remember. The universe above his head was whirling and swinging and he felt pain in his head. He heard the whispers in his head, like someone was moving inside his brain, like someone tried to burst out of his skull, and he couldn't stop it. He tried desperately to stay cautious. He glanced around feeling nauseous.
Pain, pain, pain…
The voice in his head repeated, and he begged inwardly for it to stop. And then he felt a sharp spike penetrating through his skull, his eyes shot open with tears building inside them.
No
He breathed, blinking several times. This is not real. No, this is not real. He could taste the bitterness of the blood in his mouth as he dragged through the muck.
Oh, trust me… This. Is. Real.
The mockingly familiar voice was followed by harsh laughter, and Loki could see the veiled creatures surrounding him, trying to push him down to his knees.
And he screamed in his own mind, no, this was not real, he kicked them in the face and in their filthy veils. This is only a nightmare.
And the veils dropped for the first time, revealing the demons behind it. and it wretched his heart, tearing apart his soul when he saw the face behind the veil was no one except the twisted grin of a mad man. He blinked at that face, looking dully at it. How lost he looked in the mirror vision of his own face. Was he finally losing what little sanity was left for him?
Crying. An infant was crying, and Heidr wasn't sure if Loki could hear it or not. she just could see he was paler than before, looking around like a mad man, sweating while his eyes shifted on every shadow, every side of the forest. She didn't know if he could sense it, too. She knelt on the ground, pinching and digging her nails into the dark soil.
It was pumping, surging through every fiber of their existence, injecting the agonizing memories into their brains. She couldn't stand it. She felt a warm liquid falling on her cheeks. She breathed. She should've known better. The crying child was her most feared nightmare.
"Mare!" She covered her ears. The children's laughter, their cries, it all made her nauseous. Heidr squeezed her eyes shut. " Stop it!" as soon as the words left her mouth, she saw how she whimpered like a lonely, helpless child. But she couldn't cloak it anymore, could she? " Mare! Stop this!" her voice reverberated through the unilluminated area, suffocating slowly in the black swamp whirling between the trees… and then
All of it vanished.
Loki shook his head, blinking a few times. He didn't know why he was staring dully at the shadows far away and why his eyes were wet with tears. He immediately blinked them away and started to get back to his feet, though his entire body was trembling like he had just woken up from a nightmare.
Heidr's fingertips traced over her leather suit. She felt like she had the worst hang over. The illusion was powerful enough to draw both of them into it.
Loki glanced back at the subtle face of the woman. "What happened?" his voice was dry. Heidr opened her mouth to answer, but at an echoing sound of high pitched laughter, both of them looked around at the black branches.
"Well done, you two… "A falsetto voice sang. " Well done!"
Out of nowhere behind the thick mist, a short man appeared. His skin was inky black and his long and ridiculously spikey hair was the color of blood. It glittered in the despondent space around them. His eyes were two utter black holes carved into his fatty face, and he had a remarkable nose. He had long, narrowed ears, and his bare skin was cloaked with a black cape.
"You bastard. " Heidr hissed irritably.
"I have to say, you have an extremely horrible taste in choosing men, " Loki whispered tauntingly in Heidr's ear, just to see the death glare she threw at him.
"Seriously? You've just woken up from the most horrible illusions, Loki!"
"Have I? " Loki raised both eyebrows before smirking in triumph. "I barely even noticed it." He abruptly pulled out his dagger and pointed to the dwarf before them. "Now pray tell if this clown really has your gem before I cut him limb from limb!" He whispered bitingly.
"Where is it?" Heidr walked up to stand right in front of the dwarf. "Because my partner and I here are getting rather tired of your sickening games." She snickered over her shoulder just to see Loki was smirking at the word as well.
"I don't have it… " The elf answered calmly, dangling up on a branch, "You silly girl, you thought you could even possess such power?!"
"You're in no place to tell me what I can or can't do!" She snapped before straightening calmly, "He wants it. " She paused. " And you promised you'll find it for me… " She clenched her jaw and slowly a dark shade of purple appeared around her arm. " Mare, don't tell me I have come all this way for nothing..."
"You dare to threaten me in my home?" He said before narrowing his nonexistent eyes, "tell me, Heidr, how you liked that pain?" Heidr tensed at his comment. The elf ran his hand through his red hair before his eyes shifted to Loki, who was standing behind her. "Looking for your boat, majesty? " He smirked slightly. "Or maybe something more?" Loki narrowed his eyes and was caught by the dark eyes of Heidr, she raised her glowing hand and looked at Mare sharply.
Mare took a few steps back, holding his hands up defensively. " Oh Heidr… you know you can't defeat the most powerful fear creator where he lives… " He licked his lips vaguely. " But I give you a chance to flee " He looked directly at Loki "Your boat is landed in the middle swamp of the forest. For getting there you need to have enough courage…" He started to laugh, " I want to see how the god of tricks will pass through my tricks. "
Loki smirked wickedly, "I would like to see how creative you can be, creature. "
The elf bowed his head mockingly, " I hope my games entertain you enough, your highness." Mare then quickly changed his position, his eyes fixing on Heidr's. "And you, dear, sweet Heidr, I suggest you bury yourself somewhere between your nightmares here, cause I don't see a fair fate for you when you leave this place." Heidr smirked, but this time even she couldn't cloak her nervousness. She bit down on her bottom lip and remembered how she felt defeated and alone earlier. This was not going to repeat. She felt tired from the amount of magic she had consumed, and it sickened her even more.
"Now… Let the game begin!" Mare announced loudly, his sharp voice exploding through the forest like some kind of game show host, and in the blink of an eye, he vanished into nothingness.
I hope you enjoyed !
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I quiet had problem with this chapter, because of the writer block, I had to force myself to write, soooo... I should thank my beta-reader and friend's help to make this chapter at least acceptable. I don't know... you guys should tell me how it was, so I'll wait for your review
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