Chương 176: CHAPTER 174
A/N: Hey guys, what's been popping.
Just wanted to tell you guys that I'm in the midst of writing the final arc of this fic...and now I'm losing it.
It getting harder to write every chapter that I sometimes take days just to finish even one. You guys have no need to worry though as there are still over fifty written chaps for you to enjoy. This fic will round up btw the next 50 - 70 chapters, just thought I'll give you guys the heads up.
I will try my best not to rush the end of this fic so that it won't be bland when you guys read it.
Right now, I'm using the breaks I got from this one to start my second fanfiction. It's a Teen Wolf fiction and it'll be damn good, that I promise.
For those waiting for a DC fic from me, just wait a lil bit. I don't think I'm ready to write another complicated verse like DC so my next fanfiction will be some sort of transition for me.
Dark One, out.
PS: Do show my patreon some love.
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[Asgard]
Thor and Loki could be seen on their normal gathering spot, the coliseum where they trained, along with their entourage which consisted of only the Warriors Three and Lady Sif.
"How do you think the meeting of Gods will go? I doubt anything that requires the attendance of the Pantheon heads can be resolved peacefully."
Loki was the one who answered to Volstagg's question, clarifying why he thought so.
"Not well, I presume." He started. "Just the fact that they made multitude of Gods come together to discuss a slew of minor topics and one major topic should have been a grim tell. If there was an option of peaceful resolution then it would not have required the attendance of the Gods, not when it actually doesn't concern them. The reason why they convene at such opportuned time is that they are afraid. Afraid that something will strike their golden cities and bring then to ruin, so they convene, plot and scheme. A bunch of retards if you ask me." Disdain was practically seeping through Loki's words, bringing a wry and aghast expression to the face of the listeners.
"Have care how you speak of the Gods, brother. You will wind up making more enemies than you already have." Thor chided, but one could tell from his tone how little importance he attached to his own words, perhaps knowing fully well that his brother will not heed them.
As if proving his thoughts correct, Loki sneered. "The Gods are not all they be. There are powers in this universe that even the Gods are afraid of, why then should I fear them when they cower behind their rune-protected walls? How the mighty have fallen, indeed."
"So, apparently Loki has a thing against other Gods, not that it's anything new, but the question still remains: if they really are convening due to the might of that mortal named Draul, then there is more to this than we know. Staying away from Midgard at this time turned out to be the best idea after all." Fandral said, causing all of them to nod except the two brothers.
"Thor?.."
Hearing Fandral's call, Thor turned his attention back to his friends and asked the recent question that comes to his mind. "How do you reckon he became that strong? I have trained for over a thousand years and yet, a mortal man not even one-tenth my age, not only contends with my might but surpasses it with ease. Hear me out, friends; what if, and I'm not undermining it, but what if his strength came from somewhere else?" Thor question put the group into thinking except for one person which they all took notice of.
"Do you have any idea what it is, Loki?" Sif asked the silent Prince.
"And what makes you think I have the answers to such a question that would require not only a higher base intellect, but also secrets that even the Allfather is hesitant to share?"
Everyone rolled their eyes at Loki personally feeding his own ego through them, never being able to get used to it despite how long they've known the Mischief God.
"Brother, do you know the reason for his strength? Please tell me. Father has always said that there is no such thing as absolute strength, everything must have a weakness, and now even I know mine. Draul must have some sort of weakness." Although Thor had accepted the fact of his weakness, the fact that he had yet to avenge his friend, Hogun, still weighed on his mind.
Seeing the begging expression on Thor's face caused a wave of delight to Loki and he made sure that the small smirk on his face was visible to all of them.
"I know the source of his powers, but telling you will mean owing me a favor to be collected on a later date, yes?" Thor nodded at Loki's request.
"The Infinity Stones. He is strong, yes, but the reason his power skyrocketed from the last time we faced him, I believe, is due to his possession of the Infinity Stones. Specifically the Power and Space Stone."
The reveal of the stones caused the appropriate reactions of dropped jaws as even they had heard the stories, or more apt, read the myths concerning the relics of the universe's creation.
But like every other person out there, they thought it was just one of the many stories that the people of old had exaggerated to unbelievable proportions.
Thor was the first to recover himself as his mind kept running scenarios, unlikely ones, of what would have happened during their fight without factoring the now knowledgeable possession of the stones.
"Sorry to break your illusory bubble, brother, but you would have easily lost even without him using the stones, which if I might add, you did. With or without, he is still the strongest human we've met… if he even is human." Loki stated the facts for Thor and the others to come in terms with. He had it on good grounds that the first two times he clashed with said human he wasn't in possession of the stones.
"So what do we do now? I don't know about you guys but even I know a lost battle when I see one, and fighting that guy again is courting death… and no one tests death for the third time." Fandral said, letting known his unwillingness to fight against Draul again.
If they were to really think about it, the man clearly gave them a path of peaceful resolution but they just had to be rearing for a fight due to Thor's brashness, Loki's schemes, and Volstagg's depressed fit.
Thor gritted his teeth because even now, he was the cause of Hogun not being able to pick up his beloved mace for a fight. He had destroyed his warrior friend and it wasn't a glorious battle.
"Thor, you think too much sometimes. I don't fault you for anything, and besides, I still have my life. Rather than holding him as a target for vengeance, we should rather thank him that the only thing he took was my arm. Take it as payment of all our lives, I know it's I price I can pay any time." Hogun said.
None of them came out the same after that fight. Draul blasting a hole through all of their bodies did a number of damage to them that even Frigga had to help in the healing process to eliminate all the destructive energy that had been gradually killing them.
Sometimes they would even feel the sensation of a hole in their body, a constant reminder of their clash with certain death.
…
[Draul St. Cross POV]
I had grown used to closing my eyes and opening them up again only for the morning rays to greet my bedside. But this was a new development…
An eerie darkness, one that seemed to crawl up your skin that it felt alive. I knew it wasn't my misconception that made me feel as if I was in the belly of some beast.
The sensation was weird, making me not being able to reciprocate an adequate reaction because I couldn't remember what it felt like to dream, which was what I was doing.
From what I knew, dreams were extremely malleable once you had control of them, so it should also stand to reason that I can, to some degree, control my dreams.
I waved my hands, the familiar sensation of controlling energies guiding me, as I figured it would be nice to create a sun in such a place, if I really had control of my dreams.
"Hoh? Trying to control me? Audacious… and just as foolish…"
If I had any reactions, then I couldn't show it as I was frozen in place, not due to some time manipulation, but due to the sheer amount of fear that was bleeding through my entire being.
I had felt it before, when I was experimenting with the Space Stone, that void of darkness so dark that it felt tangible. The myriad eyes that bore through and on my body that gave me the disgusting feeling of being stripped down to my last atom and laughed upon.
I couldn't sense the strength of the thing around me, I was not even sure if my senses, any of them, were working. It felt as if what it was were directly imprinted on my brain, overriding the need of my sense organs since none of them could identify what it was that was around me.
"Eh? Disappointing… and here I thought you would at least know who I am… Well you do, always did… but you still don't understand…"
It was talking to itself and yet to me at the same time, each of its words having different meaning but it was only the words, maybe intent?, that I could understand that made sense to me.
I was working overtime, trying to wrestle every control of the dream I was in, and try to push down the ridiculous fear I was experiencing, even though my instinct screamed against it.
Since none of my senses worked, I could not judge it, see it, know what it was, or feel it… but one thing was clear.
Whatever it is was bigger than anything I could ever hope to imagine. I could sense the universe so I knew how wide and seemingly infinite it was in size, but in its presence, I felt nothing.
It was as if I was staring at an abyss, but instead of staring back, it swallowed me whole.
I could not access any of my abilities, maybe I could, but I couldn't feel any of it as it's presence just washed over and completely made obsolete my existence.
Regardless of what I couldn't feel, I tried to overcome my fear which was proving impossible as it felt as if my brain would turn to mush due to the influx of negative energies.
I didn't know how I was aware of it but I knew that whatever was in my mouth was destroyed, tongue, teeth and all, due to the clattering as I shook in fear.
"… Typical mortals…." The voice drawled out and immediately I was hit with different sensations as my brain started computing and delivering all the impulses that it had been overloading my body with.
I ignored the pain as it was inconsequential and finally turned to stare at the abyss in front of me.
"Wish not for what you desire, mortal… Lest madness and agony be your reward."
I still could not see what it truly looked like but I knew it was there, staring at me even as I gazed back.
What I could glimpse, the little bit I could before my brain gets fried, of the constitution of this being was pure unadulterated chaos. Void made an instrument for it to play, darkness and madness in its presence.
I wasn't even sure if this was still a dream but that didn't matter at this point.
"W-Who are you?" I managed to get out through ragged breaths and I felt as if it was enjoying my torment.
"What do you mean by 'who am I'? Do you mean my name?... Do you mean my existence?... Or do you mean WHO AM I?"
As its words boomed directly into my head, I felt as if I would puke out my intestines as my whole body felt like it was crawling with worms and they would fall off at any time.
"You are not on a plane of existence that you should know who I am… but at least you should know of me."
The more it spoke, the more it felt as if I was inching ever so closer to the void, completely bypassing death. I felt a premonition, as if the void I was in stilled, and immediately after were the uttering of power that I thought would have erased me from existence.
"I am the One That Lurks at the Threshold… I am the Key and the Gate… I am the Opener of the Way, The All-in-One and The One-in-All… I am…."
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