Child of Infinity
Unbelievable—this is unbelievable. It takes a moment for me to full absorb what’s in front of me: the fleet, the army, and the vast array of creatures snaking through the skies overhead. I shake my head lightly as my eyes drop down to my white knuckles, gripping the pale, blue reigns in my hands—trying to gain some sense of immediate realness, in this otherwise surreal environment.
“Lara?” I hear Loki’s voice beside me, and I look over to him with lips slightly parted—tasting the cold, evening air as it adds to the chill creeping throughout my body. “Are you alright?”
I nod slightly—pausing—and then shake my head. Loki’s lips thin into a straight line as he glances back at the King for a moment, before riding a bit closer to me. “The tesseract—I have it,” he says in a low voice, peering at me intently. “We can still turn back.”
My eyes trail down to his chest for a moment, and then back up at the sky—at the creatures. “It wouldn’t make a difference,” I murmur quietly to him, shaking my head. “None of this will end if we run… And then more people are going to-”
With a sudden flash, a beam of energy barrels across the crevice and strikes my horse in the face. It bucks its front legs up—throwing me off its back. I land on the ground with a heavy thump, but the padded plates stretching around my ribcage take most of the impact. A roar erupts from over the cliff as Loki turns abruptly toward me—lowering a hand down for me to take, while our forces ride out along the edge of the cliff with a low, steady rumble through the earth.
His grip is hard around my hand, and he pulls me effortlessly up into the air, while I grab ahold of his shoulders—scratching the leather slightly with my fingernails—and let him haul me onto the back of his horse. With the wind blowing against my face, I look out to the army as he rides out along the curved edge of the crevice, with the rest of our soldiers.
Black strings slowly come into focus around the invaders. I loosen my grip over Loki’s shoulders, feeling the usual pressure glide over my palm—with the exception of the creatures overhead, which produce a small vibration each time one of them gets close. All the while, the stone continues to hum with energy from deep inside my boot. Not the most comfortable location to have tucked it away, but this armor allowed me little else.
I look over to the other side, seeing how our armies have collided—a cataclysm of black and white strings twisting, turning, and fading away from bodies strewing across the grounds. Beams of light and bodies of smoke fly about through the air, and as Loki gets close, I lift my hand slowly. The black strings shudder as power from the god stone flows against my skin, invigorating my grip over the more elusive threads.
With a jerk of my hand, a group of invaders fly backward, away from us. I smile, but hardly have a moment to breathe before another beam blows past us from behind—striking Loki’s horse in the legs. It collapses underneath us with a pained cry, while Loki and I are thrown across the ground—rolling slightly against the dirt.
Metal clangs and shots of light go on around us, and dirt gathers under my fingernails as I ball my hands into fists—lifting myself up slowly by my forearms. A cloud of dust erupts under me as I exhale sharply, trying to re-gain my focus, and see if anything in my body hurts more than it should.
Legs are working… Arms are intact… I have a headache, but that’s a problem to be dealt with later. I bite my lip slightly as I push off from the ground, forcing my legs to lift me up. I turn, seeing Loki rise up to his knees behind me, and pivot sharply with a dagger in hand—stopping a sword from impaling him from behind.
A screech sounds behind me, and I pull the knives sheathed at my sides—turning and dodging a long blade striking down at me from above. It lands deep in the soil, and I glance at it for a moment, realizing that I’m outmatched in strength—physical strength, at least.
The invader screeches as I raise both hands at my side—feeling the pressure against my palms, and harden the black strings around us. With a sudden gasp, he freezes—giving me the chance to lunge forward and run my blade clean across his throat. I catch a glimpse of blue liquid tinting the edges of my blade as I continue onward—taking one down at a time.
I feel my body tire after a while, and my focus blurs along with it—rendering my grip weaker and weaker over the invaders around me. I bend over for a moment, gasping—aching for a clean breath of air—until a mass of twisting smoke blows past me from above, knocking me back several feet. Some of the invaders fall back with me, and with a pull of white threads, I rise up immediately from the pile of bodies—trying to distance myself from them.
“Agh-” I hear Loki’s voice to my side.
I pivot sharply toward him, boots scratching against the gravel. Fear tightens around my chest at the sight of a deep gash in his shoulder, and one of the creatures of the dark dimension of the flying up—away from him.
Loki drops his knife, turning his head confusedly—searching for his attacker before turning and meeting my gaze for a moment.
And the moment he does, the realization dawns on me—that we stayed to save this world, but defeating the half of Seron’s forces that are here on the ground will make no difference for the half that no one can even see. Except me.
And even if they could see the creatures, as I do—even if they found a way to fight back against them—where would that leave Seron?
Absorbing Seron's armies, along with the life force from his body, was a feat that the bearer could not withstand… Time slows for a moment, and my shoulders sink at Olen’s words floating across my memory.
Confusion drains slowly from Loki’s face as he peers at me—sensing the change. His expression hardens, as though he’s wondering whether I’m about to do something stupid.
Well… He may be right, and he may not.
I look away, shutting my eyes tightly for a moment, and open them again as I look back up at the Grey Cliffs overhead—at the base of the mountains, on the other side of the chasm. I swallow hard, trying to subdue the white-hot fear rising up through my chest, and into my throat. Strings wrap around my hands and legs, pulling me from the ground, and up into the air—toward the cliff’s edge.
Midway across the chasm, a black cloud wraps around my body—tugging me to the left and right. I fight with it, trying to control the energy around me as it struggles with me midair.
Seron—I know it’s him, because he’s different from anything and anyone else here.
“Lara!” I hear Loki’s faint voice calling out to me, somewhere from the side.
With a sudden tug at my right leg—where the god stone is hidden inside my boot—I cave my body inward, wrapping myself up into a ball for a moment, before forcing the power outward. The strings, and even the very air around me dissipates for a moment. All remnants of existence, pushing outward until I’m alone in the air once more.
My vision spins for a moment, but my consciousness remains—and I use what’s left of my coherent thoughts to will myself back to the mountain’s edge of the Grey Cliffs. I land with a slide on my right knee, and my eyes trail up the length of the dark mountain stretching up into the night. With a sharp turn, I look up into the sky, where the creatures are hardly discernible against the darkness—though Seron still is, as he spreads toward me in thin slits of pitch-black mass.
It has to end here. It just has to.
My eyes drop down to my right boot as I reach for it, sliding my hand down the side. I grasp the stone between my fingers and pull it back out, feeling its power throb in my palm. I look between the stone and the army for a moment—fear tugging at my chest.
“Lara!” I hear my name again, and my eyes dart sharply to the left—toward the sight and sound of Loki coming up along the edge of the dark cliff.
I turn my head back to Seron, taking short, shallow breaths—knowing what’s about to happen here between us on this cliff. And if Loki is caught in the middle of it, who knows what will happen to him?
Thoughts and impulses flash in the brief instances I have to consider them, and among them all is one prevailing truth—that the answers are here, in my hand.
I look down at the stone, squeezing it tightly in my hand. The reason I’m here, the reason I was brought to this world. The answer to all our questions, and the missing piece of the puzzle. The missing half of my existence—my creator.
The moment the thought runs through my mind, the stone hums in my hand, releasing a pulse of consciousness that courses through my body. And I feel it—an acknowledgement, a proclamation of its acceptance of me as well.
In a moment of solemnity, I raise it to my chest—loosening my grip. The stone slides slowly against my fingers, pulling toward me with its own magnetic will. I gasp sharply as it suddenly bolts against my chest, growing hot as it slowly melts into my skin—bonding with me, as the shard had done.
Power invigorates every muscle in my body as I peer up at Seron, feeling my will combine with the stone’s, like an unspoken language between two souls that are in sheer agreement—that it’s time for this to end.
The shard vibrates violently in my hand as I throw it up before me, and glints brightly from inside my palm. Pressure weighs heavily over every inch of my body, while every last fibrous thread—both black and white—becomes acutely visible to my eyes, even in the far distance. I feel it—the god stone’s power, glowing as it flows through my veins, and stretches up into my hand. Together we reach, summoning every last thread of unwelcome life in this world.
Despite their darkness in color, the strings of every last invader rise up and course through the night sky in hot, blue surges of energy. Wind blows back my hair as a bellowing sound erupts from Seron’s mass, but it’s too late—his life is forfeit to the stone. Bodies drop along the battlefield, and my eyes follow he streams of light spiraling above me, descending slowly.
I hear a noise to my left—the sound of boots sliding to a stop—and I look over briskly, meeting Loki’s desperate eyes for a moment. With the sound of wind blowing against my ears, I don’t even hear the streams as they combine with Seron’s mass, and burst into my body through my arm first—then from all sides.
My bones catch fire. Every inch of my skin feels as though it’s being stretched far beyond its capacity, while pressure compresses my organs to what feels like the width of a marble.
It’s unlike any pain I’ve ever felt, and I scream out in agony—barely finding room for the sweet distraction of a wishful thought, to end it all.
But it doesn’t end, not for several minutes. And the pain continuous relentlessly until every last drop of energy has been absorbed.
In the moment that the pain finally passes, silence hardens around us. I sway for a moment, feeling weakness spread through every limb—inch by inch, forcing my body to the ground.
***
Sensations feel random, spread in bits and pieces all over the place. I lift myself slowly from the ground, feeling the pain dissipate completely as I face the mountain. I can’t taste the air anymore, or feel its coldness against me.
“No,” I hear a voice behind me, and turn toward a familiar sight.
Myself.
Loki drops to my side, and the metal horns fall from my forehead as he lifts my body slowly off the dirt, cradling my face against his shoulder as he searches desperately for a pulse in my neck.
Horror flashes in his eyes after a moment. “No—no,” he gasps. “Don’t be dead,” he growls. “Don’t you dare be dead-” he cradles my face in his palm, glaring at my closed eyes intently as he presses his forehead against mine. “Don’t you dare…”
I can’t watch this—but I can’t look away either. Sorrow resonates throughout me, but I can only stand and listen to him plead to me as though I’m there, in his embrace, and not out here.
A white light glimmers under my armor, catching my attention first. As soon as it’s bright enough to be seen from below, Loki pulls away as well—eyes glinting slightly with wetness. The light streams outward from my chest, filling every vein in my body, until the entirety of my skin is glowing ambiently.
I scan the length of my own body slowly, back up to my face. I peer down at it intently for a moment—until my eyes begin to open slowly, revealing a pair of bright, glowing irises within. Confusion replaces sorrow in Loki’s expression as they turn slightly toward him—staring blankly at him for a moment, before trailing over to me.
The body’s hands rise up—turning slightly as strings entangle themselves effortlessly in its fingers. My lips part slightly as I stand and watch motionlessly, as they pull the body upward gently—gracefully—onto its feet. It strains for a moment to remain standing, but then turns slowly in my direction.
“You see me?” I whisper quietly.
“Yes,” it speaks—pairing my voice with dual chords of a higher and lower tone.
“What?” Loki whispers, and my body glances in his direction for a moment, ignoring him as it looks back up at me.
And this moment—it’s something else. I’ve looked at my own amber eyes so many times before. Crinkled my nose. Run my hands through my hair. This isn’t even in the realm of anything familiar—this is like looking in the mirror, and seeing someone else’s soul reflected in your eyes.
I exhale lightly—even though it isn’t air that I feel passing through my lips. “You’re—you’re the god stone,” I pause. “Aren’t you?”
“I am,” it nods.
Loki’s eyes dart from side to side—between my body, and the space before it. “Who—Lara?” he murmurs breathlessly.
The god stone turns its head slightly in his direction. “Lara is here,” it says to him. “Though she’s not long for this world.”
“Not long?” his voice drops low as he furrows a brow, lifting himself up slowly from the ground. “What does that mean—who are you!?”
“I am the god stone,” it announces matter-of-factly. “And you—Odinson—have sent many souls to my true realm,” it tilts its head. “Hers will be at peace with theirs—with all but yours, which will continue to linger.”
“True realm?” I mumble quietly.
“Yes,” it turns its head toward me. “There are many worlds, and our power holds dominion over all living things within them. As you have come to know,” it nods. “Since you accepted me.”
“Are you… Are you speaking to Lara?” Loki asks weakly as he steps toward it. The god stone lowers its chin slightly—still peering at me—and sadness grips my chest as I watch him look searchingly about the space surrounding me. Barely looking in the right direction—where I’m standing.
“So, I’m… I’m dead,” I whisper… I hadn’t felt the life leave me fully until now—after saying the words.
My lip trembles as I peer at Loki. When the god stone doesn’t respond, I look back up at it. “But… My body—how are you using it?”
“You are my bearer,” it responds. “And you will escort me to the next realm, where none in search can ever find me.”
“‘None in search?’” Loki steps toward it, speaking eagerly—as though searching for a solution to some problem that he doesn’t fully understand. “Who do you mean—Thanos?”
“The Mad Titan,” it responds, turning its head toward him. “I feel him—even now. It won’t be long before the others have gathered. We must leave before that time comes, and he must never know of my existence.”
“Well can’t you kill him, as you did this army?” Loki gestures aggressively to the pitch-black fields. I look over to them, seeing small movements under the starlight.
The stone looks back at me, “She could not bear me in this state, nor could any other being wield my power. That is the sacrifice I made—the contract with this universe,” it nods. “When I created you.”
I look up—meeting its luminous gaze.
“You can’t save me?” I whisper.
The god stone shakes its head. “You have died, Lara,” it says. A heavy darkness clouds Loki’s expression as his lips part slowly, and he steps back—leaning against a rock. “Your body is one with mine, and I will take you where your life may continue.”
Sorrow echoes throughout my ethereal form, and I look over at Loki—still peering at the god stone disbelievingly.
“She’s…” he pauses. “She’s dead?”
It nods, and a different type of coldness settles in the air between us—one that even I can feel. Shock pulls my heart further down into my ethereal chest, and I couldn’t begin to know what to say—or do—next, so I drop my eyes down to the ground, finding it hard to believe I’d stood here many moments ago, alive, and thinking I would stay that way.
“It’s time to go, Lara,” the god stone’s voice breaks the silence. My eyes dart up to it, and over to Loki.
My heart begins to tug in another direction—toward him. The thought of leaving him behind, alone, to grieve… I don’t know whose pain could possibly be worse.
“Can…” I pause, inhaling lightly. “Can I say goodbye? In my body? Can you help me do that, at least?”
The god stone tightens its brows contemplatively for a moment, before lowering its chin solemnly. “This body will remain mangled, so long as it is in this realm,” it says, shaking its head slightly. “Returning to it, for even a brief time, will be excruciating.”
“I can’t leave without saying goodbye,” my voice trembles as I step toward Loki. “I need to talk to him, one more time. I don’t care how painful it’ll be.”
“Very well,” I hear it say as I look back at it, seeing an expression I hadn’t expected—pity. “For all that you have suffered, you are a child of infinity—my child. And I will grant you this favor.”
The god stone turns toward Loki, facing him, while I step closer to him as well. Sorrow lingers over his expression as he stands, peering at my body searchingly—looking for signs of me. I step into the god stone’s path as it walks toward him slowly, feeling my form bonding with it once more, as it steps into me from behind.
The pain erupts immediately, over every inch of my body. I gasp sharply, and my legs collapse underneath me as Loki lunges forward—catching me before I hit the ground.
“It’s alright,” he whispers, wrapping an arm around my backside, and squeezing my shoulder tightly. “It’s alright…”
Warmth pours into my shoulder from his hand, spreading slowly throughout the rest of me—masking the pain. I exhale lightly with relief at first, until the lack of pain makes way for different, more unpleasant sensations. With a frustrated gasp, I lean my head against him—tightening my eyes as I try to manage every minute feeling of my broken body.
“You’re alright now,” he says. “Aren’t you?”
I shake my head, feeling my eyes grow wet. “No—it… it doesn’t feel right,” I croak, trying to remove my attention from the feeling of scraping bones and torn muscles throughout my limbs.
“No—no, it will be fine,” he mutters, holding me tightly from underneath, and keeping my face tilted toward him with his hand. “Whatever it is, we’ll fix it—we can heal you-”
“We can’t,” I murmur. “You heard what it said—it wouldn’t let me stay, even if I could…”
“Damn the thing, and whatever it wants,” his face contorts with an irate scowl above me. “You’re not going anywhere.”
“No,” I shake my head. “No—it’s okay, I understand… It wouldn’t be right, because this is more important,” I pause, catching a breath. “Than either of us—we’ve known that from the start.”
Loki’s lips thin angrily into a straight line as he glares down at me, and a gentle wetness tinges his eyes.
“It’s alright,” I say. “I just wanted you to know… That wherever I go—I’ll still be with you.”
“What—even if I can’t see you?” he retorts angrily. I peer up at him sadly, watching as pain seeps into the corners of his hardened face, which trembles further as he tightens it into a blank expression. All the while, a thin stream of tears lines the bottom of his eyes.
I lift a hand weakly to the base of his damp neck, between the strands of his coarse, dark hair, while the corners of my mouth relax into a gentle grin. “Yeah,” I breathe out.
“And that’s supposed to be enough?” he chokes, and tension flickers over the edges of his brows as he shakes his head. “You underestimate my ability to cope.”
I smile, even as I feel the life leaving me. Even more, I feel the power of the god stone humming inside my chest, dissolving my existence in this world—moving outward from my core, and sending me somewhere else. I shut my eyes for a moment, barely having the strength to grin. Nevermind cry.
You will see him again.
My eyes burst open as I hear the stone’s voice inside my head. I glance past the edges of Loki’s face—up at the stars glinting overhead. I watch them for a moment, contemplating the voice.
Not too soon, I hope… I respond in my mind, and look back down to meet his gaze. My breathing slows as I grin up at him.
“I..lo-” my voice trails off with a final breath, and I barely mouth the rest of the words. My eyes begin to shut, and I weigh heavily against Loki’s embrace as I feel his hand slide around my neck, gripping it tightly.
“No,” I hear his voice break one last time, as light pours over my body in the final moments of the god stone’s power—spiriting my life away.
[to be continued]