Out of reach • A Loki fanfiction

Chapter 31 - A bad dream

"Now that those cabin's are safe to sleep in, we should divide the group into two." Thor suggested, gathered with now everyone together on deck. "I'll take on the first watch."

Two groups were quickly made after that, as if these people had been working together for their entire lives already. There was no arguing involved here when everyone got their assigned positions, which were thankfully given by Thor, since Era still knew zero about what it meant to be the appointed 'leader'.

None of The Warriors Three quarrelled when they were asked to keep their eye on the Captain behind the steering wheel. And Era certainly didn't complain when she was asked to join Sif, Loki and Astrid in separate cabins down the little hallway. Because truth had it that she was properly exhausted by now. So keeping watch wouldn't do anyone any good.

Era's assigned cabin didn't exactly scream 'happy dreams', though she was quite sure neither of the rest actually did. It was dark. Thanks to the grey atmosphere, that little window didn't really provide much light. A lantern was lit next to the small bed she was about to rest in, but that didn't exactly block out the darkness either. The walls were black, the floor cracked underneath her footsteps, and the dark room's corners gave her goosebumps. But even though, Era crawled underneath the blankets. With the door ajar, Thor was only one call away.

Sleep would do her good.

・𓆙・

Dark. Why was everything always so dark? And then those sounds... those echoing, reverberating, perhaps even screeching sounds. Voices? People? No... more like hearing thoughts, perhaps?

It was hard to see, everything was black. As if standing inside a little black box, mirroring Era's figure in the wall's reflections. But walls weren't made out of liquid. Sticking her hand trough proved for them not to be walls at all.

Era had no choice walking trough the curtain or not. The next thing she knew, she was pulled trough as being controlled on strings by a puppeteer. Black goo dripped off her shoulders, down her temples, down her body.

It's when a scream covered her ears. Her own scream, though from where? It was her voice, but it didn't come out of her mouth. Did it bounce out of these white walls? But then from what source? "NO!" She heard herself, panicking and crying. Then in a little voice: "Please don't die, please don't. Stay with me."

Panicking, she spun around and around, only to hear herself cry over she knew not who or what. Why couldn't she see? What else could possibly cloud her mind?

If only that question was left unanswered...

"Vera..." Did a whisper say from behind, to where her shaking body turned. It was an unfamiliar face, though with eyes she recognised. It was an angry face, compared with exaggerated features that resembled a skull. The closer they stepped, the more they turned into death. The closer they stepped, the more devilish look appeared. "How dare you take my blood, Vera?" They asked, with a hand made out of bones reaching out to touch her face. Era couldn't move. Her feet were solid in this white space of nothingness. She just gulped when this person wiped some blood off her face and brought it to their own. "You should feel so guilty..."

It's when she fell. Right down, with nowhere to go. With that haunting voice recalling her name.

"Vera..."

She fell, and she screamed. She felt herself beginning to cry as she looked down to where she was about to fall to her death. But where was that?

A green shining stone is all she saw, coming closer and closer the more she fell.

"Era..."