If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I read the information given to me many times over, letting everything sink in, of all the things I expected to read about them, about their crimes, about their personal vendetta against Asgard, none even remotely included the slightest possibility of them being servants of Knull.
To think I would find this on a… chance.
Had I not decided to read the information, I would've probably given them a chance, shrugging their hostilities as grudges of the past, like I had done with the Frost Giants, in this case, inadvertently giving Knull more allies for his wake.
"Time to collect the stone," There wasn't any doubt anymore about what I had to do, they were enemies, and they would be eliminated, in war, mercy is a weakness.
"Well, hello there darling," Talking about merciful weaknesses.
"Hela," I greeted, keeping my tone as neutral as possible.
"Don't frown, darling, you'll get wrinkles," Hela winked, walking toward me.
"As grateful as I am for your help during my time of need, I require to know the reason for this visit," I replied, looking at her with a calm look.
"Well, Thor wanted you… to give me your blessing to get… th… the…. Therapy with your daughter," Hela sighed, looking away, "It's apparently doing wonders with Loki, or so he says, powerful as Thor is, he's blind to the truths of others, and it seems to be that case, especially with Loki."
"And you aren't that case?" I replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Oh, darling, I am bad to the core, no question about it," Hela snorted, waving her arms back, "Unlike Loki though, I don't try to hide, I even asked for an execution, but Thor seems to be a King all about mercy, so here I am, asking for therapy."
I chuckled, "At least you're honest."
"Well, I can't be all bad, can I?" Hela smirked.
"So, you want this? I mean, you do realize I will seal your powers while you do so, right?" I asked, tilting my head.
"I know, not that having them would make much of a difference," Hela rolled her eyes, "Thor can kill me with a look, and you can atomize me from across the universe, so powers or not, I am irrelevant. As to want this, not really, but let's not say Hela never tried," she chuckled.
"Very well," I snapped my fingers, sending a wave of energy her way, sealing her powers, and locking her age around Emily's.
"Well, this is… new," Hela commented, her voice sounding like that of a child, as she marveled at her new/old form.
"You will get your powers when therapy does it job," I informed her.
What did I mean by that? Well, the moment her dot in the map changed to a welcoming green, she would be free.
"Very well," Hela nodded, "I'll be checking my very unqualified doctor."
"You do that," I replied, closing the door as she left.
Now where was I? Right, the reality stone.
—---------------------
Space stone equipped, I teleported to the place where the reality stone last time had been, using that point as a beacon of connection, from there, I pushed my energy into the stone, focusing my mind and power to search for the reality stone.
At first, I felt nothing, but empty space between dimensions, but eventually, I felt a pulse, one very similar to that of the space stone, but more distorted, more chaotic in essence.
"That has to be it," I nodded, pushing my hands forward, before grabbing the literal veil of space and pulling it apart like a paper sheet, creating a vortex that connected both my reality and that of the elves as one, at least temporarily.
It had been so easy to create a rift between dimensions, power really makes things easier.
Vortex opened, I cracked my neck and dived right in, my objectives clear, collecting the stone, and killing them all.
—-------------------------------
Landing on the other side of the vortex, I found myself in a place of absolute darkness, no matter where I looked, it was as if my eyes were closed.
"This is annoying," I sighed, creating a ball of light with enough power to illuminate the entire dimension like a sun would, what can I say, being a Celestial has its perks, heck I could've created a sun, but that seemed like a bit overkill for the situation, for now, the ball will do.
Smiling I looked around to slowly find myself being disappointed, the place looked like crap, like a dark moisty cave with dark rocks, and more dark rocks.
I almost lamented creating a source of light, I feel like by doing that I had hurt my eyes.
"Oh well, I didn't come here to sightsee, I came here to collect a stone, and commit genocide," I sighed, frowning at how bad that sounded, I really need to rephrase my sentences better, people will think I'm the bad guy if I keep doing that shit.
I chuckled, looking back at the vortex, "It would be… very irresponsible to leave this unguarded," I hummed, after all, if one escaped, it would… make my job harder than it had any right to be, a barrier would avoid that much.
Nodding, I created a barrier around the vortex and started on my journey to collect the stone, which happened to be a three minutes away on foot.
Surprisingly enough, not a single red dot was anywhere to be seen, at least close to me, there were thousands upon thousands a few miles away, but close to me, or the reality stone for that matter, none.
—--------------
Three minutes later, I found myself face to face with yet again, another dark rocky structure, this one shaped like a temple, which was a nice change of scenery at the very least.
By that point, the red dots spread across the dimension were on the move, all rushing to a single point.
I guess bringing the day to a world without a sun makes it hard to go incognito.
They would reach me in four minutes.
That was four minutes more than I needed, three if I took a piss on their temple.
I hummed, crossing my legs, the question now was, to pee now, or to pee later, "I guess now… I mean, I will erase this dimension soon enough, so why bother?"
If you want to read up to 20 chapters ahead go to https://www.patreón.com/cornbringer
Discord invite: https://discord.gg/XHduApz
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I continued walking through the temple the dark elves had built, without paying much attention to its craftsmanship, my mind was otherwise occupied trying to come up with a solution for the Knull problem.
But no matter how hard I dwelled on the thought, no ideas came to mind.
"I suppose I need to focus on something else for the moment being," I sighed, following the path to the stone, as from the distance, the sounds of steps were heard, each step creating a faint echo in its wake.
I had no need to check to know who it was, I guess I took my time if they managed to reach me.
"I do hope you've settled in, the accommodations in our realm are a bit sparse, I know," Malekith, the leader of the dark elves greeted as he walked towards me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, turning around to face him.
"I came here, to negotiate," Malekith replied, a faint smile washing over his face.
"Not interested," I replied, turning back before resuming my walk to the reality stone, whatever he had to offer, I didn't want it, besides, what use do I have listening to a soon-to-be death man.
"You won't be able to keep them safe," Malekith replied, following me close behind while keeping a respectful distance from me.
I frowned, trying hard to ignore him.
"You know that to be true," Malekith added, his voice echoing in my ears in a honeyed rhapsody.
Once again, I ignored him.
"All life is his to end," Malekith stated in a tone full of admiration.
I stopped walking, turning around to face him, "I have no idea why I even take the time to talk to you, but here it is, no matter how powerful Knull is, I will find a way to vanquish him, permanently this time, keeping everyone I care safe."
"Perhaps," Malekith conceded, chuckling under his breath, "But, perhaps not, as it is right now, no one is safe. But, you can change that."
What was his game? Was he trying to distract me while someone took the stone?
No, his forces are outside the temple, doing nothing.
Was he really attempting to make me join Knull?
"You seem remarkably calm for someone with a few minutes left to live," I replied, staring into his eyes.
"What's the point of fighting the inevitable?" Malekith shrugged, "I know for a fact, you have the power to wipe us without trying, so what's the point of getting all worked up? I know my destiny should you decide to end me, just like I know yours, should you decide to refuse our master's offer." he smiled, his hand pointing towards the path that lead to the stone, "Go on, take the stone, it is yours, after all."
I frowned, this whole interaction was strange, when I came here, I expected a different development, a violent one, but this, this was unexpected, and I didn't like it, but somehow it was vexing enough to keep me from ending Malekith.
"What's your game, Malekith?" I asked while resuming my walk to the stone.
"I am but a messenger," Malekith replied while following me, "One with an offer for you, one you are free to reject, but why would you?"
"Speak then, so that you might die without remorse," I replied, opening the door that led to the chamber that held the stone.
"You can fight our King, or you can seek another way, joining our master in his quest," Malekith replied.
I snorted, "That's your offer? You really need to learn how to negotiate. I won't become his pawn or anyone's pawn for that matter, not now, not ever."
"He will get what he desires, one way or another," Malekith replied, walking beside me.
"Do you realize every bad guy says that, right?" I rolled my eyes, opening the container that held the stone.
"You seem to be mistaken, our King is not a bad guy or a good guy for that matter, he's the true face of the universe, the darkness behind every corner," Malekith replied.
"Are you done jacking him off?" I asked, my eyes on the stone, or rather the liquid that was the stone, I had almost forgotten the reality stone needed reshaping before it was added to the infinity gauntlet.
[The Reality Stone - Legendary Item — Aether State
The Reality Stone is one of the six Infinity Stones, the remnant of a singularity that predated the universe itself, representing the element of reality. It gives the user the power to mold reality as a whole, the higher the WILL, the better the results.
Aether state = The reality stone was at one point liquefied and called the Aether by the Dark Elves and their leader Malekith who intended to use it to revert the universe to its state of primordial darkness, in an attempt to bring their King back.]
I would reforge it later, for now, the inventory.
[Reality Stone acquired.]
"He will spare your loved ones, your world, and all you have to do is serve him, he will allow a small speck of light to remain, as long as he has your loyalty. Why fight for worlds that won't thank you? For people, beings, that would betray you without a second thought," Malekith replied, walking in front of me, "Your world will remain, your people, those you care about, those you are about to fight for, you will get what you want, and he will get what it should've been."
"Maybe I wasn't clear enough before, so as to leave this conversation done, I will reword my previous answer," I smiled, closing my eyes a bit, "I will never, ever, become an instrument of death, a weapon to be used for others, I fight only for my cause, I fight only for my convictions, and serving Knull will never align with those things."
"So, you see yourself as an instrument of life?" Malekith asked, smiling in a concerning way, "Why for? Why favor life? Why favor light? Life will end, one day or another all life will come to an end, be it by his hand, or not, so why fight for that momentary flicker, that torment, where every cruel second it's a countdown to the inevitable. Why?"
"So just because everything will eventually come to an end, we must give up," I snorted, rolling my eyes.
"Imagine what you two could accomplish together, imagine how much unnecessary suffering can be avoided, he will show them mercy, by ending them all," Malekith added.
I sighed, this conversation had gone long enough, it was time to end this, but before that, one question, "How did your King know about me?"
"It was foretold, eons before your birth, a knight of light or darkness would come, and that in our world, his path would start, but that no matter what path he picked, darkness would be his end, be it by free will, or subjugation," Malekith replied, and it was easy to see he believed every word that came out of his mouth, every single one.
"I see, another prophecy," I chuckled, "It wouldn't be the first one I break, nor it will be the last I imagine," I smiled patting the elf on the head before walking past him.
"So you choose the path of subjugation," Malekith replied, sighing.
I smiled, "More like the path where he attempts to subjugate me, but fails to do so. Beyond that, I have to thank you, you have given me perspective, your words have shown me, Knull is desperate enough to look for alliances, meaning he's not all too sure about his victory, about his darkness to come, so for that, thank you, now rest in peace," With that said and done, I used [Erasure] on all the elves, effectively driving their race to extinction.
You may also Like
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT