Thanos' Daughter

Chapter 5

The Other turned to face me, smiling behind his gold mouth cover.

I rose to my full height and glared at him. "Who do you serve?"

He blinked, then realized what I was up to. Showing a grotesque mouth of rotted teeth, he replied, "the same as you, Princess."

"Say his name. Go on say it."

"I serve King Thanos, ruler of the Seven Realms."

"Now tell me who am I?" I brushed past the blue skinned beast and walked up a few steps to where my father's throne would be.

He hissed. "You are my king's daughter, Princess Savre Commander of the Chitauri."

"So you do know your place." When he nodded, I continued. 'Then explain to me why I was made to bow at your feet like a commoner, why you dared to lay your hands on my and why you almost revealed my true identity to Loki?"

The Other realized I had in cornered and bared his teeth at me. He sped towards me, but didn't step up the staircase to truly challenge me.

I yanked out my sword in an instant and pointed it in his direction. "Take care how you next act. I'm displeased with you as is and your actions thus far are furthering that displeasure."

The Other smiled and bowed again. "I'm glad to see you are back to your usual self your highness. With the way you acted on Earth allowing Loki to overtake you like that, I feared you had lost your edge. I merely took action to ensure you don't lose your touch. After all, what would your father say if he heard how easily Loki had been outsmarting you?"

"If you even think to breathe a word of this to my father, I will personally make certain that you are fed to the World Serpent piece by piece."

The Other chuckled. "Speaking of the serpent, she's missing you. Before you leave, you should go see her."

I sighed. "Fine, if you swear not to tell my father."

"I swear on your mother's wings."

I glared at him, but let the comment slide. My mother had wings like I do. Everyone on this planet knew of my mother and her angelic beauty that had graced this planet for a short time. To swear on her wings was the equivalent of swearing on my father's power, neither of which was something to be taken lightly.

I rose on my own wings and flew off to visit my pet, hearing the faint laughter from the Other follow me. I flew to the underground entrance to my planet's lower levels. I heard scratching noises and I thought I could hear a faint hiss. I tapped my Dark Bifrost and allowed a bit of the machine's energy to light the path in front of me. The hissing grew louder and I walked deeper into the depth of the Dark Moon's core.

I reached the snake's cave a few minutes later. However, she was nowhere to be seen. I whirled around the cave, certain that she had been here a second earlier. Hot breath blasted onto my neck and back. I slowly turned around to find a mouthful of flat fangs. I backed up, careful not to startle her. "Hello Gandar. It's good to see you again. It's Savre."

The snake stopped snarling at me and moved closer to sniff at me.

"Yes I know i must smell terrible. I've be on Midgard. Father wants me to help Loki of Asgard take over the human world. Do you remember that he's the one who broke my wing last year?"

She bobbed her head once.

"Well, as payback for the pain he caused me, Father made me Loki's master. I get to control everything the god does. It's been interesting so far. We've gotten into couple of fights now."

The snake slithered around me, inspecting every inch of me like a worried mother. When she was satisfied with the results, she nudged against me like a cat begging for attention. I almost fell over from her strenght. She let out a contented hiss and I smiled.

"I'm fine now. I wasn't majorly hurt in the fights. Just a few minor scrapes and bruises."

Gandar was one of a rare breed of snakes that supposedly originated from a prank Loki played eons ago. She was the only World Snake I have ever seen. She was an egg when I was little and she hatched on my fourth birthday. She had bonded to me and to an extent my father. She would obey him and protect him, but she acted as if I was her own child that needed to be looked after.

Since we have such an intense bond, she has tunned herself into my mental frequency in order to communicate with me. Let's just say, having a strange voice in your head whispering things that no one else should know about took a while to get used to. For two years, I was convinced I was going crazy. Not the most fun way to spend your first years as a teenager.

Well it's about time you came to visit me. I was lonely and bugs don't have much in the way of conversation. Gandar spoke in my mind.

"I'm sorry it's not like i haven't wanted to. I've been busy with training and preparations for the invasion of Midgard, or Earth. It's a lot to juggle."

You could have at least made and effort.

"I'm here now so you can stop moping. How are you?"
The snake retreated further back into the cave. I've been better. Those damn children keep me on my toes.

"Children? What children?" I asked, as Gandar slithered further into the darkness.

Come and see for yourself.

I trotted after, avoiding the rocks that jutted up from the cave floor. I rounded a corner and found a slithering nest of snakes.

They writhed around as they heard Gadar and she hissed lovingly at them. She slithered towards them and draped herself around the edge of the nest. Children, meet Princess Savre of the Dark Moon. Her father is the one who was here when you hatched.

I stared in awe at the little snakes who stared up at me. I couldn't hear any other voices in my head, so I assumed they must be too little to speak. "Gandar, they're wonderful. But I didn't know you were expecting."

Evidently, the baby snakes could understand speech, because they puffed up their chests and rose further off the floor at my praise.

Gandar seemed to smile. I was hopeful. Your father found a nest that had been dormant for several years. These snakes' eggs were left behind when their parents fled. I feared they were long gone, but Thanos convinced me to take care of them as if they had just been laid. He was right. Several weeks later, out came thirteen new World Snakes.

"Congratulations. You'll certainly have your hands full with them all. Do they have names yet?"

Gandar shook her massive head.

"When they do, I want to be the first to know." The Dark Bifrost manipulator beeped. I glanced down at my wrist and found that the battery was low. I'd hoped that with the energy from the Bifrost earlier and the energy I'd absorbed from Loki's hissy fit, I'd have more power than this.

Gandar's head bowed. I fear our time is to be cut short, am I right?

"I'm sorry. The battery's dying and I can't leave Loki alone for too long. Hel only knows what trouble he'll get into. But I'll come back soon, I promise."

Gandar nodded. Before you leave, I've collected the scales you'd asked for last time you were here. I know it's been a while and I'm not sure if you'd still have any use for them, but I thought maybe you'd still want them. She slithered into a shadowy part of the cave, returning a second later with a cloth bundle.

I opened the wrapping and found dozens of silver, blue, and purple scales. Gandar must have collected every one she'd lost. "Thank you, they are perfect. I can finally finish that armor I've been wanting to complete. I've really got to go but I'll see you soon."
The baby snakes bobbed their heads as I waved over my shoulder.