No I am not dead. Apparently the United States and the entire world thinks that this is the apocalypse or something. A shortage on toilet paper? Really? It sounds fake even though its real. I know that the whole virus thing may be scary to some people but around 80% of people who get it don't even know they have it. It's just like another version of the flu that happens to only affect older people and those with underlying conditions. I mean, there's a 98% survival rate. It's very similar to the seasonal cold and the flu. I honestly can't believe I'm saying this, but I want to go back to school. Today is my second official day of spring break and I am so bored and tired of sitting around that I think that I'm going to die of boredom. I'm an introvert, staying at home is my specialty, but I miss my friends and I'm tired of being alone (although I have my brothers and parents). Honestly, just wash your hands (like everyone should have already been doing) and use common sense. All this will pass soon, once everyone and the media stop blowing it out of proportion.
Anyways, after that ranting, I finally had enough free time to finish this chapter. There is some mention of all the stuff that could have happened on Sakaar, like the adult-like stuff that the Grandmaster totally did. It's only one sentence and probably not noticeable but I am just warning you ahead of time just in case you are sensitive to small, itty bitty allusions.
Chapter Four: Sakaar to Your Beautiful
The sun shone right into Sleipnir's eyes, waking him up from his restless slumber. Sleipnir groaned and pushed himself to sit. He stretched out his back, trying to get out a kink in his spine. The hard ground of the cave left him feeling sore all over, making it impossible to get a good night's sleep.
Jormungandr rolled over to his side and hugged the vest closer around his shoulders. His eyes were squeezed closed as he attempted to get a few more minutes of sleep.
The campfire had gone out a long time ago. Sleipnir didn't bother trying to reignite it because they wouldn't be coming back here for a while. Sleipnir had planned to leave early to find their other siblings and he didn't need to relight it since he had nothing to cook. His stomach growled but he didn't trust any of the plants in the swamp since he didn't know which were poisonous or not.
Sleipnir strapped his sheath around his waist again and gently poked Jormungandr's leg with his foot.
"It's time to get up unless you want to sleep all day and accomplish nothing," Sleipnir said.
Jormungandr groaned and aimed a weak punch at Sleipnir's leg. He missed and finally decided to give up on getting any more rest. He slowly sat up, the vest still clutched around his shoulders.
"What now, oh fearless leader?" Jormungandr yawned, with his eyes still half-closed.
"Unless you want to eat something, I suggest we leave right now," Sleipnir replied.
Jormungandr raised an eyebrow. "Where? In case you haven't noticed, we don't even know where your siblings are."
Sleipnir tried to ignore the wording of the response. Jormungandr apparently didn't consider himself as Sleipnir's brother and it hurt. Nevertheless, Sleipnir decided to move on; Jormungandr would come around eventually - it would just take some time.
"I found you easily enough. I think all I need to do is concentrate and we will find them," Sleipnir replied, emphasizing the 'we.' "We are looking for a wolf pup and a little girl, it should be easy."
"There are a lot of wolves and girls in this universe, stupid," Jormungandr pointed out. "We'd probably die of old age before we find them."
Sleipnir frowned. He thought that his plan would work but now he wasn't so sure. Jormungandr was right, they had nowhere to go and the chances of finding their younger siblings only decreased with every option. Finding Jormungandr was most likely pure luck. The others, however, might prove to be more of a challenge to find.
"When are we going to kill your grandfather?" Jormungandr asked. He had finally stood up and handed Sleipnir his vest back.
"We will get there in time," Sleipnir said. "We just need to get back to Asgard and then we can continue from there."
Sleipnir paused as he suddenly realized that he didn't know the name of the new gatekeeper and thus, he had no way of getting back to Asgard without the help of the Bifrost. He pushed the thought aside and tried to act like he knew what he was doing so that Jormungandr wouldn't make fun of him again. He needed some space; the cave was making him anxious and anxiety wouldn't help with giving him ideas.
Climbing out of the cave, Sleipnir breathed in the fresh air, as fresh as the air got in a mushy swamp. Jormungandr followed and sat down on a nearby rock, swinging his legs impatiently.
"I thought you said you had a plan," Jormungandr said, his patience slowly thinning. He wanted to leave and kill whoever abandoned him here and the stupid horse-boy only slowed him down.
"Maybe if I focus," Sleipnir thought out loud.
"Focus?"
Sleipnir turned around to face Jormungandr. "I have noticed that I possess the ability to create gateways between space and time. It has been a while since I have tried it but maybe if I focus on our siblings, then maybe I can find them."
"You can create portals?" Jormungandr asked, his interest piqued. "Why didn't you say that before?"
Sleipnir picked at his left hand in nervousness. "I am severely out of pract-"
Jormungandr jumped down from the rock in excitement. "It doesn't matter! As long as I can get out of this damn place, I'm down. Try it!"
"It's rather dangerousā¦"
"I don't care. If I die, then I die. Life hasn't been the nicest to me anyways."
Sleipnir sighed and gave in. He was out of options and if he died, then the universe wouldn't care. Nobody had cared for them anyway, just like Jormungandr had said. If someone did care, then he wouldn't be here in this swamp with a wild, green-haired boy who refused to consider himself as his brother.
Taking a few steps back and closing his eyes, Sleipnir focused his mind on Asgard. Images of the golden palace shimmering in the sunlight, a luscious garden filled with colorful plants and flowers, and the open pasture of the stables filled his mind.
Suddenly, memories of the little girl and the wolf pup took over his mind. Sleipnir tried to focus on Asgard but the memories of his mysterious past overwhelmed him and he lost control.
Before he knew it, he was falling. He could hear Jormungandr let out a startled yell but he couldn't open his eyes because of the wind rushing past him as he fell.
Struggling against both himself and gravity, Sleipnir forced his eyes open and looked around, trying to find Jormungandr. If the air hadn't already left his lungs, it did now.
They were falling through the sky and plummeting straight towards a garbage covered ground. Junk fell out of the sky from several wormholes. An obnoxious and colorful city stood out like a sore thumb even amid acres of trash.
Jormungandr was flailing his arms and legs and letting out a high pitched scream that Sleipnir knew better than to mention to Jormungandr if they survived this. Sleipnir reached out to grab hold of his brother but his fingers gripped nothing but air as they plunged right into the middle of the mounds of trash. Debris flew up into the air as Jormungandr disappeared behind a pile of broken metal parts.
The impact had knocked the wind out of him and made his vision blurry. Slowly, he lost consciousness as the world turned black.
/\/\/\/\/\
The darkness slowly switched to a bright array of colors. Sleipnir blinked and attempted to rub at his eyes but something stopped his arm from moving. Looking down, Sleipnir found that he was strapped down to a chair, metal cuffs held his ankles and wrists to the chair.
An unseen feminine voice started speaking, most of her words lost as Sleipnir started to feel dizzy. The colors switched from planets to a shadow of a man to the city he saw when he was falling. It went by so fast that the colors started to blend and Sleipnir felt like throwing up. His eyes hurt, his head hurt, and his stomach hurt.
Just as he was about to let out a scream of pain, the colors and voice stopped. The sudden end gave Sleipnir whiplash and it took the remainder of his strength to keep the meager contents of his stomach down.
"Ooh, look at him. He looks a little, ah, sick," a man's voice said.
Sleipnir opened his eyes, and blinking away the spots, he saw an older man sitting on a fancy chair. He wore a golden robe that shimmered in the bright light and reminded Sleipnir of silk pajamas. He had gray hair and decently tanned skin. His nails were painted a light blue, the same color that traced under his eyes and from his bottom lip to his chin.
A woman in black and dull bronze armour stood next to him. The stern look on her face suggested that she hardly ever laughed, contrasting with the man's relaxed yet excited demeanor.
A large window looked out over the city from the spacious room. The ceiling arched up far above their heads. Several guards in strange armour stood around with nasty looking weapons.
"Ooh, aren't you two just lovely," the man said, his hands moving to accentuate his words.
Two?
Sleipnir looked to his right and saw Jormungandr strapped down in a chair like his own. Jormungandr appeared to have handled the strange color show a lot better than Sleipnir did. His face was stoic except his glare.
"Mmm, so young and, ah, innocent. Tell me, how did you get here?" the man asked.
"Where are we?" Jormungandr questioned, breaking his silence. His voice was dangerously low, suggesting that he didn't like his current situation.
"Oh, didn't you listen to the presentation at all?" the man said. He threw his hands up in mild frustration and turned towards the woman. "What good is having that presentation if no one listens to it?"
"Maybe tone it down a bit," Jormungandr suggested sarcastically. "It felt like I was on an acid trip or something."
"Ooh." The man shivered in fake nervousness. "He's got a mouth on him, doesn't he. Feisty. Most likely a fighter."
Jormungandr tugged at his restraints. "Go screw yourself."
"Oh, I already do that enough already."
Jormungandr rolled his eyes in disgust and leaned towards Sleipnir while keeping his eyes on the strange man.
"Is this Asgard?" Jormungandr whispered.
"No," Sleipnir replied.
"Good. 'Cause I'm highly disappointed with the designer of this place. All this color is making me want to throw up."
"Asgard?" the man jutted in. He had moved from his chair and was standing before the two, making Sleipnir jump in surprise. "Where's that at?"
"Definitely not here, old man," Jormungandr retorted.
"Ah, ah, ah. I would watch your tone if I were you."
Jormungandr opened his mouth to say something but Sleipnir cleared his throat and gave Jormungandr a pointed look. Something in his gut told Sleipnir not to anger the strange man and letting Jormungandr run his mouth would most likely be stupid and dangerous.
"So," the man said, sitting back down and adjusting his robe. He crossed a leg over a knee and leaned back in his chair. "Tell me how you two are related. Friends? Enemies? Lovers?"
"Lovers?!" Jormungandr shouted angrily. He tried to lunge at the man but the restraints held him back.
"Oh, I just assumed based on your clothing." The man waved an open hand at Sleipnir. "He's all fancy and has the look of a strong leader. And you, well, ah, your clothes resemble those of someone of lower status, most likely as-"
"Don't you ever-" Jormungandr started to shout.
"We're brothers," Sleipnir interrupted, trying to stop Jormungandr from saying something stupid. Sleipnir could start to feel the anger radiating off of Jormungandr. If he wasn't strapped down, Jormungandr would have torn the man's head off his shoulders by now.
Realization lit up in the man's face. "Oh." He leaned forward and studied the two. "I can, ah, see the resemblance. Ah, yes, similar facial structure, body structure. Although, you," the man looked at Jormungandr. "Ah, you do have a bit more muscle than your brother."
If Jormungandr wasn't seething with anger, he would have taken it as a compliment and teased Sleipnir about it forever; however, he had grown tired of the man's assumptions and the desperation to get revenge on whoever abandoned had once again taken over his thoughts. Maybe before he left, he would kill the strange man just for fun and also because he hated the man's stupid robe and attitude.
"Let us go," Jormungandr commanded.
"Ooh, ah, I'm afraid that cannot happen." The man turned towards the woman standing next to him. "They are rather young but they could prove to be, ah, vicious fighters. The one with green hair seems promising, doesn't he?"
The woman nodded with her eyes focused on Jormungandr and spoke for the first time. "Indeed."
"Perfect!" Turning back, the man clapped his hands and signaled towards the guards. "Take them down to where the others are. We should have an interesting show tonight with two, ah, new contenders."
Four guards stepped forward, one on each side of the brothers' chairs. Sleipnir yelped a bit when his chair was suddenly spun around and led down the hall. Jormungandr hissed in anger and tried biting the nearest guard but he couldn't reach. Giving up, he leaned back in his chair and let the guards lead them through a maze of hallways and onto an elevator, even if he felt like murdering the whole lot of them the entire way.
The elevator stopped on the lowest floor and they were led out. A small click rang through the still air as their restraints were released. Jormungandr took this opportunity to punch the nearest guard in the jaw and aimed another punch at another guard. A hand wrapped around his wrist and shoved him through an open door before he could land another punch.
Jormungandr fell with a grunt and watched Sleipnir stumble inside. Jormungandr scrambled to his feet and lunged towards the door. Unfortunately, the door slid shut with a hiss of released air just as Jormungandr ran straight into it with a frustrated cry.
"No!" Jormungandr shouted and let out a stream of vulgar curses.
"Woah, woah, hey," a cheery voice suddenly said. "No need for such language."
A strange creature made out of rock stood behind the brothers with an even stranger bug-like creature with knives attached to his hand. The rock creature had a friendly smile on his face and his eyes traced over the two brothers.
"It's a freaky door. Only opens when we go to fight," the rock creature said.
When neither boy responded, the rock creature placed a hand on his chest and stood up straighter. "Hi, I'm Korg. This is Miek. You must be new. Let me guess, you two are a lost couple who stumbled upon this place."
"Couple?" Jormungandr asked and took a step forward.
Sleipnir held out his arm in front of Jormungandr to stop him from advancing further. "We're brothers. I don't know how we got here but we need to get out of here soon."
"Oh, nobody leaves," Korg said. "At least nobody that I know of. This is a controlled place, run by the Grandmaster."
"Who?" Jormungandr asked. He paused. "Wait, does he have gray hair, stupid blue eyeliner, and likes wearing fancy pj's?"
"Why, yes, he sounds like the Grandmaster, although that is not what I would use to describe him," Korg answered.
Jormungandr threw his hands up in frustration. "Great. Just great! We're stuck on a dumpy, overly colorful...planet that is ruled by a spoiled grandpa in pajamas. What type of place is this?"
"Oh, this is a freaky placeā¦"
"Yeah, you said that already," Jormungandr snapped, his temper rising along with his thinning patience. "And nobody has told us where we are!"
Korg suddenly frowned grimly. "Welcome to Sakaar."
More should be coming soon, especially now that I have at least three days before I have to do online learning. Stay safe, wash your hands, and use common sense.
