Mortals
You could feel each snowflake as they fell on your face, the tiny hint of cold quickly melting away and sliding off to the side. Like I could ever catch a cold. You let the memory fade as you slowly opened your eyes. The night was still dark and you wondered how long you had been passed out. You shifted your weight to your hands but froze. You waited a second, then another, expecting pain to hit you at any moment, but nothing came. You carefully turned your eyes to your leg. The blood still soaked the snow around you but your leg itself looked completely unharmed. You shifted again, slowly adding weight to your left foot, but no pain. It worked. You let out a small laugh, running your hands over your leg feeling for any weak spots but everything seemed okay. You decided to press your luck, shifting your weight forward to your knees before slowly standing. To your amazement, your leg took the full weight of your body. You took a tentative step forward, keeping your arms out to the side in case your leg decided to give out, but it remained strong. You let out another small laugh. I can’t believe it worked. You felt a rush of confidence course through you. Your gaze shifted back to the stars, quickly landing on the North Star almost directly in front of you. I’m coming for you Loki.
You kept your gaze locked on the star as you began a slow jog through the snow. You didn’t know much about the star, but you knew if you followed it, you would at least be heading in a straight line, and if you could manage that, you would eventually run into someone. You didn’t have much of a plan past that. You hoped that whoever you found would be able to point you to someone in charge, then you could ask them if they heard or saw Loki, and if not, maybe they knew of a portal to a new realm, where Loki could be. At this point it didn’t matter who you met or what they said, you knew you would find Loki, no matter how long it took.
“Помощь!”
You stopped mid-stride. Your gaze falling from the sky to settle on some trees to your right. You had been caught up in your thoughts of saving Loki, but you could have sworn you heard a noise. You waited a few moments, debating if you should grab one of your daggers, but the area remained silent. You shrugged it off, turning back to the North star and continuing your march forward, this time at a slightly slower pace, keeping your ears peeled for any sound. You made it about ten more steps before the scream of a young girl ripped through your eardrums. What the Hel?! You whipped your head towards the sound, your eyes scanning the horizon of snow and trees just to your right, but finding nothing. Just when you thought you were losing your mind, a small figure emerged from the trees about 700 meters ahead of you, running at full speed in your direction. Shit! You quickly dropped to your knees pulling one of your knives from your boot. You were positioned near the middle of an open field, with no cover to hide behind. You took a quick glance behind you, another tree line started about 500 meters back. You were torn, normally you would have run for cover, but with your leg just being healed you didn’t want to chance another injury by straining it. Your gaze fell back at the small figure still running in your direction, a fight with something that small would probably be less trouble than a sprint. You readied your knife, rising to a fighting stance and preparing for any attack.
“Помощь! Пожалуйста! Помощь!”
As the small figure edged closer, you could make out what sounded like frantic screams. You did not understand the words they said but you knew those screams, whatever this figure was, it was terrified. You dropped your knife slightly, focusing on the figure nearing you. It was small, maybe half your size, as it came a little closer you could make out arms, hands, and legs, in fact, it looked like a tiny you. It’s a mortal. Images of the mortals of Midgard from the books of the library filled your head. The creature running towards you was a spitting image of those pictures, although much smaller than you pictured. Based on the voice and the long brown hair you could now see, you assumed it was a she, and based on size, a child.
“Пожалуйста! Помощь!”
More frantic pleas pulled you from your thoughts. The young girl was now close enough to lock eyes with you. You could see the tears running down her face and the sheer look of terror in her eyes. For a split second, you hesitated, thinking that this might be some trick, but before your brain could brush the thought aside your legs began sprinting toward the girl. So much for not straining my leg. You closed the distance between the two of you in 30 seconds, both of you stopping about a meter away from each other. A tiny look of relief appeared on the girl's face.
“Щит?”
Her voice was less frantic now, but you still couldn’t understand the words she spoke. You knew quite a few languages, but whatever she was speaking was not one of them.
“I’m sorry, I don’t, I don’t understand.”
The girl's eyes went wide, any of the fear that had disappeared quickly returning. She slowly backed away, her eyes never leaving yours.
“No, it’s okay. I won’t hurt you.”
You could tell she didn’t understand, but you tried to convey your friendliness. You slowly kneeled, tucking your knife back into your boot, before raising your hands to the side. The girl stopped her retreat but her eyes still did not leave yours. You knew the look, she was trying to decide which option was safer, you or where she just ran from. You let her think as you quickly scanned her for any injuries you could see. As far as you could tell everything looked fine, but something quickly caught your eye. The girl wore some sort of cloak, covered with animal fur, most of the fur was brown or a dirty white, but the area near the girl's throat was a reddish colour you knew too well. You slowly motioned your hand to your own throat, then towards the girl.
“Hurt?”
The girl watched your hand, thought for a moment, then looked down, her eyes falling on the blood-soaked fur, before looking back at you.
“не мой.”
She didn’t sound injured or look distraught at the sight of the blood so you figured she must be okay. Her breathing started to slow and the tension began to leave from her clenched hands. You hoped she decided to trust you, and opened your mouth to introduce yourself.
“Куда ты пошел, маленький ублюдок?!”
The voice caused you both to jump, heads turning towards the trees the girl emerged from a minute ago. A much larger figure broke through the treeline this time. It paused for a minute before noticing you two and charging in your direction. SHIT! You turned towards the girl intending to pull her towards the other treeline but she was already gone. Your eyes quickly scanned the area finally falling on the girl running towards the trees behind you. You quickly rose, grabbing your knife again, and took off after her. She had a bit of a head start but you quickly caught up with her. At this point you didn’t care what she thought, you were in survival mode, and she was included in that. As you passed her you quickly grabbed her hand, pulling her in step behind you. You felt a little resistance for a few seconds but she quickly stopped, hopefully coming to the conclusion that you were trying to help. You made it about halfway before you felt your leg begin to weaken like it was falling asleep. The feeling of pins and needles began to prickle in your left foot, you knew you wouldn’t be able to outrun whatever was chasing you. Damn it! You took a quick glance behind you; the figure had already made up half the distance between you. From this distance, you could make out that he was a Midgardian man, not as large as Thor but definitely larger than you. You turned back towards the treeline you were attempting to run to. No way we make it. You stopped, pulling the girl beside you.
“Run. Don’t stop.”
You pointed towards the trees. She looked at you for a second before taking off towards the trees. You stared after her, hoping she understood you, before quickly turning your attention to the man heading your way. He was rather muscular, but from what you could tell had no weapon. Hand-to-hand combat was out of the question, and Heimdall warned you against using your powers. Knives it is. You kept your eyes on the man as you knelt down, taking your other knife from your boot, before rising into a fighting stance. He’s bigger, but I can bet I’m faster. Your left foot was feeling a bit better, but you knew your leg was still weak. Better make this quick. The man must have understood your stance as he began to slow, coming to a stop about 30 meters ahead of you.
“Где девушка?”
You kept your eyes on him, he still did not pull a weapon or even ready himself for an attack. Your silence seemed to irritate him as he let out an angry groan.
“Where. Is. The girl?”
The change of language caught you off guard. Those words you understood. It took you a second before you gathered a response.
“Gone.”
The man looked annoyed, moving his right hand to his side. You kept your eyes on his hand, ready for whatever he may throw your way.
“You S.H.I.E.L.D. Always sticking nose where it doesn’t belong.”
His movement was quicker than you anticipated. In less than a second, his hand pulled out a strange item that you identified as a gun too late. The shot rang out through the field before quickly dissipating back into silence. At first, you thought he missed, but then the warm wave of pain washed over you from your lower left abdomen. Damn. You stumbled forward, falling to your knees, your right hand instinctively coming up to your side to inspect the wound. Whatever he shot at you passed clear through your abdomen, leaving a tiny hole in its wake. Luckily it missed vital organs, but the sharp pain refused to fade.
“Maybe now you learn lesson.”
The voice was getting closer. Your body twitched, wanting to run or fight, but you forced yourself to remain still, keeping your eyes to the ground. With each crunch of the snow, the distance between you closed. Just a little bit more.
“ Stay out of Vlad’s business.”
You heard one last crunch of snow, he was just out of arms reach, but that was close enough. You quickly shifted to the balls of your feet before launching towards the man in front of you. You heard another shot go off but ignored any pain you felt. Your eyes locked on their target as you thrusted both your knives into his chest.
“Что за хрень?!”
The man stumbled backward slightly as you used the weight of your body to drive the knives in further. You could feel resistance. Armour? You put a little more force on your knives, you felt a slight pop than the smooth feel of knives piercing flesh. That lasted less than a second before you were quickly knocked to the side by a sharp blow to your head. The hit tossed you about a meter away, landing hard on your right side, thankfully the snow cushioned most of the blow. You quickly scampered to your feet in time to see the man pull both knives from his chest. You noticed only a few centimeters of blood coated the blade. What kind of armour is he wearing!? The man quickly tossed the knives behind him before turning to you, anger radiating from every pore of his body.
“You will pay.”
He raised the gun again. Not this time. You quickly leapt to the side, dropping into a front roll, before regaining your footing and dashing towards your knives. You could hear the shots ring out behind you but kept your eyes focused on the knives ahead of you.
“Блядь!”
The yell caught your attention just in time to see the arm swing at you from the left side. You quickly dropped, lunging forward into a summersault, dodging just under the man's arm. You finished the summersault, pushing off your feet to propel you back into your run, but the feeling in your left leg went numb. You lost your footing and stumbled forward onto your left side, the impact knocking the wind out of you. You tried to shuffle your right foot under you to regain your footing, but another loud bang rattled through the field. Your right leg fell limp as pain radiated from your thigh. You stifled a scream, which came out in a low groan. You tried to focus on finding your daggers, but the pain made it too hard to think of anything else. What do I do? Panic began to rise; your breathing quickened and your mind seemed to go blank. Run. Fight. Do something! A sharp kick to your side knocked you over onto your back, dots filled your vision but the impact seemed to reset your brain. If there is no one to see my powers, then there is no need to hide them. The man entered your vision as a blurry outline. You felt a weight fall on your chest and figured he was holding you down with his foot.
“You should have given me the girl.”
You heard a metallic click. And you should have brought a friend. You took a deep breath and in one swift motion brought both your arms up, aiming your hands toward the general area in front of you. You hesitated for a moment, before feeling the familiar warmth coat your arms. Everything fell silent for a moment, then the first scream reached your ears.