16
Berhert
"I can honestly say, space makes Hel feel like a tropical vacation." Mimir commented as his mouth began to thaw. Kratos staggered to his feet.
"Where are we?" Thor croaked, brushing off the charred dust coating his battered armor.
"I do not know." Kratos said as he looked around. It was dark. Four moons of different sizes lit the night sky with a white glow. He looked down, at the deep crater they created when the three gods slammed into the planet's surface. Loki regained consciousness and immediately leaped from the dirt, knives in hand. When he realized Thanos was gone, he calmed down and began to take in the dark surroundings.
"What...wh-" Loki said. "Th- the ship? Thanos-?"
"The ship is gone. We may be all that is left of the crew." Kratos said sternly.
"Thanos...Thanos will pay for what he's done." Thor mumbled, rubbing his temple to ease the ache ringing in his head.
"Helmet. What is our situation?" Kratos asked, climbing his way out of the crater. Beyond the scorched crater lay temperate forest, laid out in every direction.
"I might be able to triangulate our coordinates and distance from Earth if I can get a better look at the stars. We will need to get above the vegetation."
"And the planet?" Kratos asked, touching his hand to a nearby tree.
"The air composition, temperature, and humidity are remarkably similar to earth's temperate rainforests. The statistical likelihood of crashing here is astronomical." The helmet replied.
"Smell that fresh air, untainted by technology and pollution. Brings back memories of the old country." Mimir sighed as he sniffed the air. "Can you smell that?"
"I can. But there is something else…" Kratos said, scanning the dark forest around them. There was something strangely familiar about this forest, a feeling he last felt on Xandar, but he couldn't place it.
"Where are we?" Loki said, pulling his exhausted body out of the crater towards Kratos.
"I do not know. But be on your guard. I don't believe we are alone." Kratos said, his eyes not leaving the darkness of the forest.
"I detect no signs of intelligent life." The helmet stated. "No heat signatures, light or noise pollution. At least, none that my sensors can detect."
"I feel it too, brother. It's on the tip of my tongue…" Mimir whispered, the light from his eyes providing Kratos some illumination through the trees.
Kratos continued to scan the area, but it soon became apparent nothing was coming. He relaxed and turned to Loki. Thor could be seen in the distance, pacing back and forth.
"Are you well?" Kratos asked, putting one hand on Loki's shoulder.
"No, I am not well. Asgard is gone, and for what? Release me!" Loki stated, flinching away as Kratos inspected Loki's neck. Kratos let go and sighed.
"What you did on the ship was foolish," Kratos started. "And it almost cost you your life."
"I am the god of mischief, if I wanted Thanos to be fooled, I would have fooled him. I wanted him to catch me." Loki said, rolling his eyes.
Kratos paused. "What-"
"I served Thanos, I know his motives. I know his methods, or perhaps, 'his madness' is a better choice of words." Loki said, looking into Kratos' eyes.
"Explain."
Loki sighed. "Thanos wishes to see half of the universe's life extinguished. If half of Odin's lineage was killed-"
"The other half would live. Thor would be spared." Mimir jumped in.
"Exactly." Loki replied.
"And if you were wrong?" Kratos asked.
"It was worth a try." Loki said, looking warmly over to his brother. Thor was in the distance, yelling to the sky, lamenting for the lost.
"That is not like you. To sacrifice yourself for others." Kratos mumbled.
"And you know everything about me, after knowing me for a few weeks?" Loki said dismissively.
"I was in New York when you led the Chitauri! I learned much of you that day..." Kratos said, trying to repress his anger. Tamara's face returned to his thoughts. "That Loki was not one for self-sacrifice."
Loki looked down to the ground. "That Loki was lost. Without purpose. When father- when Odin died… something changed. Then Ragnarok… and Thanos...I guess that Loki grew up. I realized who my family really was, and what really mattered."
"You killed many while you were 'lost'. Some I grew to care for." Kratos mumbled.
"Then I suppose we are more like each other than either of us would like to admit." Loki sighed.
Kratos sighed and backed off.
The two stood there. The trees rustled with a passing gust of wind. Thor could be seen moving to the treeline. In his grief, he staggered and held his hand to a tree for balance.
"You are no good to your family dead." Kratos stated. "You are also...all I have left of mine. All Thor has left of his. For better or worse, you are my son. Do not risk your life so rashly."
Loki frowned as he continued to look at the ground. "I couldn't save any of them. To think that I could have ever called myself king…I could have done anything, but I just sat there and watched as Thanos...I should have done more."
"You would have died along with the rest of them and would have achieved nothing. You survived."
Kratos took a step towards the defeated Loki.
"If we are able to find survivors, they will need leadership. They will need you. Do not let your mind be clouded with doubt. That is not the way of a king."
Loki looked up, composed himself, and nodded to his father. He looked over to Thor, still leaning against the tree.
"Go. He will need you as well." Kratos said, looking to Thor.
In a blast of light, Loki was by his brother, placing a hand on Thor's back as he stayed motionless against the tree.
"Perhaps there's hope for him yet, eh?" Mimir asked.
"Perhaps." Kratos huffed. "He is still a fool. Walking up to Thanos with...a knife."
"That's just a bit of his mother in him. Blindly running into danger without any thoughts of the consequences. Or maybe that's a little bit of you." Mimir contemplated.
"A bit of both." Kratos sighed.
"So are we looking for survivors?' Mimir asked.
"Tomorrow, we are looking for shelter and food."
"And Thanos?"
"Thanos may still pursue us. We must be ready."
"Have you changed your mind about rejoining the fight?"
Kratos stayed silent as the morning broke over the horizon.
"This world is hiding something. We must find out what." Kratos said, that same familiar feeling creeping through the silence of the trees.
/
"We need to find a way off this planet." Thor said as the three wandered the woods. "Thanos is coming for Midgard. The Avengers need us! Midgard needs us!"
"Our priority," replied Kratos, "is to find shelter. Unless you can forge a ship out of trees and mud, we are trapped here."
"Just do your fire wing thing and get us out of here!" Thor barked.
"It is not so simple." Kratos replied.
"Not so simple." Thor mocked. "You know what I think?"
"What?"
"I think you're afraid."
Kratos stopped walking. "Choose your next words carefully, boy."
"All you've cared about is yourself. Everything you've done, since you joined the Avengers has been based on your own desires!"
"Enough."
"Don't think I haven't noticed." Thor said, walking up to Kratos' face. "You abandoned us after New York!"
"Don't mistake my absence for greed, child!" Kratos yelled. "I fought Thanos before you knew what an Infinity Stone was! I traveled the stars so that the fight would end before it began!"
"You disappeared in the middle of our fight against Ultron!"
"Had I not, Artemis and her ilk would have killed everyone to get to me. I saved you all."
"And when you disappeared on Sakaar? Bruce was missing on an alien world, and you left. I'm not stupid, Ghost. You weren't sidetracked. Now Midgard is under threat. The Avengers are under threat! You know Thanos will swat them away like flies without us, and you care not. You want to stay here, of all places, and wait out the storm while the universe burns? What do you truly even care about? You're a coward."
"I CARE ABOUT MY SON!" Kratos roared. He couldn't contain himself. With one quick motion, his fist struck Thor across the face, sending him flying through the trees.
"AND I WILL NOT THROW HIM TO THE LIONS!"
When the splinters and leaves settled, Thor stood up and turned around, his eyes bright blue, lighting pulsing through his body. Red flame sprang from Kratos' fists as the two stared each other down.
"I will not stand idly by while Thanos ravages the galaxy!" Thor yelled.
"And I will not let Thanos kill my son!" Kratos yelled back.
The two ran for each other. Lightning and flame came but millimeters from clashing when the two were lobbed backwards by a wall of energy. The two were blasted back, slamming into the ground, rolling a ways before stopping.
"Will you two stop for one second?!" Loki roared. Thor and Kratos looked to Loki, who was projecting the energy field from his hand. "Perhaps we could resort to skull-bashing after you've heard MY OPINION?!"
The two got to their feet and stayed silent.
"Good! Now, I don't want to stay on this primitive forest planet any more than Thor does, so I say we find a way off as fast as possible."
"Thank you brother." Thor chimed in.
"I'm not finished." Loki added. "We get off this rock, and get the hell away from Thanos. We go visit Alfheim, have a vacation by one of the champagne springs, and wait for this whole thing to blow over."
"Loki." Thor said, taking a step towards his brother. "We cannot abandon the universe to its doom."
"You may be the last of the Asgardian race!" Loki pleaded. "The very last. If you die, Asgard dies."
Thor walked up to his brother and took him by the shoulders.
"I...I can't abandon them, no matter the cost."
"Come with me, brother. We can go to Alfheim, we can survive this." Loki begged quietly.
"You know that's not my way." Thor replied just as quietly.
"We can save ourselves."
"Maybe. Maybe Thanos wins and we all die, no matter if we fight on Midgard, or if we hide on Alfheim."
"Then...perhaps this is where we must part."
"It doesn't have to be."
"You said it yourself. Our paths parted long ago." Loki whispered.
Thor looked down.
"I would follow you to the end of the world, brother." Loki said softly. "I would save your life a million times, but this fight… it's futile. At least if we run, we have a fifty-fifty chance of surviving. If we go to Midgard, we face certain death."
"This is your choice?" Thor asked.
"It is, as strongly as your choice is yours." Loki replied.
"Then let's do this last thing. Let's get off this rock, together."
"That, I can do. Together."
The two pressed foreheads together. Loki turned to Kratos.
"You want me safe? We find a way to Alfheim. That's as safe as we'll get."
"Very well." Kratos conceded.
/
The awkward silence was deafening as the three wandered through the forest. With no path to follow through the untouched vegetation, there was little way to know where to go. The sounds of alien birdlife filled the air as the ceiling of the forest was lit up by the sun overhead.
"Let's play a game, pass the time a little." Loki said. "I spy, with-"
"I hate...I spy." Kratos grumbled.
"Alright then. Brother, perhaps you know a game that isn't associated with drinking?" Loki said, grinning at the agitated Thor.
"I am not in the mood." Thor said, his eyes darting left and right for signs of anything.
"You both are absolutely unbearable." Loki sighed. "Mimir? A game you enjoy?"
"I was fine with I Spy, actually." Mimir said jovially.
Kratos and Thor groaned.
"Good, then, it's settled! I spy with my little eye...a ship?" Loki said suddenly.
Kratos turned to look in the direction of Loki's pointing hand.
"I see nothing." Kratos replied.
"It's beyond these trees. Go look, you'll see it." Loki insisted.
Kratos approached the thick vegetation and began to push his way through, but the plants around him seemed to push back in resistance. Kratos grunted and pushed with increased fervor against the trees that stubbornly resisted. The trees ripped away from the ground as Kratos' godly strength overpowered them. The sound of snapping trunk overwhelmed his senses as the trees surrendered to his might, and the clearing opened up before him. He staggered out into the clearing, regaining his balance on the flat ground. He looked up to see a crashed ship, listing to one side, heavily damaged with burn marks and plasma fire. The path the ship had taken to crash into the planet had left a mile-long line of broken trees and upturned dirt. The stern of the craft had been blown open, revealing the cabin within.
"I don't think she'll fly, brothers." Mimir said skeptically.
"She'll fly. She must." Thor replied resolutely, walking up to the tattered hull and rubbing his hands over the surface.
"There's a hole blown in the back." Loki added.
"As long as the engines work, the hole is trivial. Nothing a slab of metal and some heat can't fix." Thor replied.
Kratos approached the broken glass of the ship's cockpit window. The seal was airtight, but the cracks and scratches rendered the window practically impossible to see through. A flash of light appeared out of the corner of Kratos' eye. He looked up to see Loki on top of the ship, bouncing on the wing.
"Well, it's sturdy." Loki said as he bounced up and down.
Suddenly, the wing began to creak as the whole ship's balance shifted to the other side. The wing smashed into the ground, sending Loki toppling off. The wing bent as it hit the ground, warping the metal and further damaging the delicate atmospheric maneuvering systems. Another flash of light and Loki was standing, brushing off the dirt from his robes.
"Sorry." He said, giving Thor an innocent look as Thor glared at him.
"I'm going to try and turn in on." Thor said, entering the cockpit and scanning the dashboard. "This looks like something."
Thor pressed the large green button on the dash, and he jumped as Redbone's 'Come and Get your Love' began to blast on the speakers of the cabin.
"That's not it. Um…hmm..." Thor mumbled to himself as he tried to remember how the old M-Class ship controls worked. After flipping some switches and turning a key, the engines sprang to life. The ship roared, then sputtered as the engines began to fail.
"GET DOWN!"
Kratos and Loki both ducked as one of the engines shook, then broke free of the ship's wing. The engine flew off, blasting through the trees, randomly shooting in every direction before running out of fuel and crashing to the ground far in the distance. Thor emerged from the smoking wreck of the ship, coughing and waving the smoke from his face.
"She...may need a...few repairs." He said in between coughs.
"Thor. This ship is a corpse." Kratos said, picking himself up off the ground.
"Brother, plug me into the ship!" Mimir said suddenly.
"What?"
"Plug me in, I'll figure out what's wrong with it."
"What's wrong with it is very clear." Kratos said, looking at the hole in the wing where the engine broke away.
"I know, but maybe she can tell me what to do to fix her. Worth a try."
Kratos huffed, then took Mimir from his belt.
"You plug into ships?" Thor asked, grabbing Mimir from Kratos.
"And computers, and a double-decker bus once. I guess it's an effect of the spell keeping me alive. Stick a wire in my nervous system and I can work wonders." Mimir replied.
"I never asked you how you...work. The 'living head' thing, I mean." Thor said, walking Mimir into the smoking wreck.
"To be honest, magic isn't my field of expertise, but I'll tell you a story about Laufey the Just that'll knock your socks off!" Mimir announced as he was carried into the ship.
Suddenly, the wind began to die.
"Do you feel that?" Loki said, turning his attention to the trees.
"I do." Kratos replied, suddenly feeling that familiar uneasiness around him. He pulled his blades from his back and spun around, but once again, the forest was the only thing that met his eyes.
"It is quiet." Kratos whispered.
"No wind, no birds, nothing." Loki added, pulling his blades from his arms.
The two scanned the treeline, dead silence filling the air.
"Good news!" Thor said, stepping off of the ship. "Well, bad news. Well, both. Which do you want to hear first?"
Kratos waited another few seconds, then relaxed his grip on the blades.
"The bad news first." Kratos said, turning back to Thor.
"The bad news is that the ship is irreversibly crippled." Thor said, forcing a smile and clapping his hands together. "The good news is, the distress beacon still works, so Mimir is working on that right now."
"How long?" Kratos asked.
"About five hours to set up the beacon, then...who knows after that." Thor replied. "Depends who picks up the signal, and how much they care."
"We may not have more than five hours." Kratos grunted as he looked up to the sky.
High above them, the sunny sky began to darken with clouds of an unnatural red colour. The once deadly quiet forest began to sway with freezing winds. Thunder could be heard in the distance as the leaves began to freeze with frost.
"We cannot stay here. Something is coming." Kratos warned.
"Something we can agree on." Thor said, readying himself.
"What is this devilry?" Loki whispered.
Kratos finally recognized the uneasiness he was feeling. The dark feeling he felt on Xandar. The dark feeling he felt when he held that blade.
"Abaddon." Kratos whispered to himself.
"Who?" Loki and Thor said in unison.
"Prepare yourselves."
Kratos walked up to Loki and grabbed the axe from his belt.
"You will need this. Protect it, and it will protect you." Kratos said, handing the axe over.
"I thought you said I wasn't ready."
"Now, it does not matter. I'm not sure what we are up against. Take it."
Loki looked at the axe. He went to grab it. His hand wrapped around the handle, but Kratos didn't let go.
"Protect. It." Kratos said slowly, staring into Loki's eyes.
Loki nodded as Kratos' grip loosened on the axe. The sky had grown red and the ground had grown hard with frost. The wind had grown to such a point that the trees seemed bent in half with the strength of the gusts.
"WELL, WELL, WELL." A voice came booming from the sky. "I EXPECTED A SPACE-FARING CIVILIZATION HERE, BUT ALL I FIND ARE THREE WEAK, LITTLE PAGANS."
An unholy laugh erupted from the sky as the three braced for battle.
"I WILL ARRIVE SOON. IN THE MEANTIME, ENJOY THE PRE-GAME SHOW."
As soon as the voice finished speaking, the darkness began to grow even more black as thousands of bodies emerged from the endless forest. With each flash of lightning, Kratos made out more details. Their faces were distorted satires of reality. Black eyes and rotting flesh. Piercings and chains draping from their noses and ears. Many of them had demonic script carved into their skin. Pikes and swords shone in the lightning as they approached. The red glow of the Blades of Chaos illuminated the horde as they drew nearer and nearer.
"By all that is good, can't we catch a break?!" Thor screamed over the rumble of the advancing army.
As they reached the very edge of the treeline, the horde halted, groaning and snarling, drooling and oozing. The blackness of the robes parted, revealing a withered, cloaked creature, its eyes glowing pure red, horns and spikes stabbing their way through its robes. It removed its hood, revealing its decaying face. As it bowed to the ground, so to did the horde.
"My black angel, who shall fall from the sky," The creature spoke, its voice projecting through the trees as if amplified by some unknown source, "surrounded by darkness, with your glittering sword, you have kept me on the hottest fire of the abyss where you trained me against all evils."
"MAY IMPURITY NEVER AFFLICT ME!" The horde screamed in return.
"How long did you say the beacon would take?" Loki asked.
"Five hours…" Thor said uneasily.
"Archangel of the seven wings, consecrate me and eliminate any weakness that I may have before my enemy, the stain of life!" The priest roared over the crowd. "Show no mercy, pity, and compassion before him who rises against me. Leave me only my hatred for the sins of impurity!"
"Ghost, what do we do here?!" Thor asked, trying not to sound nervous.
"I do not know!" Kratos yelled over the wind, slowly rotating on his feet, watching the horde that surrounded them as they prayed.
"Everyone who tries to stand up against me, when they look at my face, may they tremble and fall before my feet!" The priest yelled. "Drag to the depths those who have heard your voice through the wind, and extinguish them! Winged Guardian, protect the creation and remove the stain from this universe!"
"SO BE IT!" The horde screamed.
"So be it!" The priest replied as the horde resumed their charge against the three gods, the ground rumbling as the wave of thousands of bodies pushed their way toward their prey.
"So be it…" Kratos mumbled as he swung the Blades of Chaos into the endless tide of bodies before him.