The Stronghold 2: Immortals

*Death Rattle*

If you've ever woken up in the middle of a battle with your head spinning and your vision blurry then you'll know how I felt when I regained consciousness. For those of you who haven't, I was immediately sick over the side of the cliff and started trembling, every shake of the ground sending pain through my body.

"I need a better way to talk to Loki," I whispered to myself before hearing a familiar voice shout something.

"Sophie, don't!" Georgina bellowed, springing forwards just as Sophie lunged. In a second I was pulling Starr back from the furious cat, one hand clamped down on the powerful wolf's muzzle as I tried to stop him from eating one of my friends. 

"Starr, cats are friends, not food," I growled over the wolf's snarls. He quietened and I let him go only for him to promptly attack and kill a monster that had been sneaking up on me. It took a special bite to turn someone and the wolf had to want it, had to will their curse to be passed on. It was only then I realised how much of a complete dick Jake had been. 

"Go forth and be free, my wolf friend!" I cried, watching Starr bound amongst the fighting beasts and slaughter quite a few, only being knocked back once or twice. I smiled smugly and then felt teeth clamp down on my shoulder, making me scream in pain. Venom spread through my system and I collapsed to my knees, trying in vain to fight the thing off me. I managed to look around and saw a snake-buffalo hybrid with an insanely long neck and terrifying fangs that were buried in my shoulder, dangerously close to my neck. As all the creatures here were immortal it was quite possible I was going to die and although I may have wished that a few months previously I didn't want to die then, not when life was finally looking up for me. 

"A little help would be nice," I grunted, fighting the agonising pain and the beast at the same time. The sounds of a battle slowly died away as a rushing noise filled my ears; the sound of my blood racing around my body, or maybe gushing out of my shoulder. 

Suddenly the beast dropped me and I could feel warm blood hit my hair, my ear, then trickle down my front. I shuddered but couldn't help myself toppling forwards, lying face down on the grass and praying Starr didn't try to eat me. 

The sky went bright again as the sun came out and my powers waned. I could hear barely anything but could feel the ground vibrating as hundreds upon hundreds of still-living creatures stampeded through the portal to the other side. Soon the ground was still but for running footsteps and slow breathing accompanied by rattling, shaking breaths I didn't at first realise were coming from me. By the time the footsteps had reached me I knew no more.

*

While the battle raged on Georgina was looking around for something to do. She had no powers, as she had said many times, and was beginning to panic.

"Dammit, why won't they go through the portal? They need a sheepdog!" she said in anger, stamping her foot on the ground childishly. As soon as she uttered the words a sheepdog appeared, herding some of the creatures at the back towards the larger group.

Wondering what had happened Georgina decided to test the power of speech a little further. "If only there was an invisible army charging at the creatures from behind, forcing them towards the portal," she said. A rush of air and a few panicked, animalistic cries told her that something had happened and that the creatures were beginning to move. But they were too slow; the portal was wavering. 

"If only the werewolf grew massive and frightened them all into moving!" Georgina cried as a last ditch attempt to get the things to move. A deafeningly loud howl split the air and the woman's eyes widened as a gigantic wolf snarled at the creatures, each tooth about the size of an adult. It snapped and the creatures raced towards the portal, vanishing through as the wolf grew steadily smaller. Georgina questioned as to why it was getting so small and then realised that the sky was clear and that day had come again. She smiled at the light and then frowned as she saw a broken, bleeding body on the grass. In a second she was running towards it, the other Super Glitches seeing it at roughly the same time and running forwards as well. By the time they reached the body the blood was beginning to congeal and the person - Shaade - took a deep, shuddering breath, sounding like Darth Vader. Georgina had read and seen enough to know it was a death rattle and hung her head as one of her best friends died for real.

*

Meanwhile, in the Asgardian world, Loki was feeling quite overwhelmed.

His connection to Shaade had been cut off and he didn't know how or why. He was surrounded by creatures that seemed intent on killing him and he couldn't get to the portal without them following him. He'd frozen said portal over but needed to get away and fast. 

"Go away, you mewling quims," he muttered, freezing yet another creature then taking over another thing's mind. He directed it away and then sighed as a fresh wave of creatures appeared.

"Yes, fine," he said, shooing some away, "go and see your family, also known as the murderous beings that destroyed this land and technically killed me."

Soon the creatures were gone - all but a very small one that looked a bit like a dinosaur. It chirped like a bird and scuttled closer, still chirping. Loki listened to it for a minute and then his face drained of all colour.

"No," he breathed. The thing chirped once more and then ran off on long legs. The Frost Giant didn't see it leave, he was in shock.

Finally coming to his senses Loki spun around and smashed the ice over the portal with a well-aimed fist. He tumbled through and hit the ground hard, muffling his yelps of pain as his green cape fell over his face.