Golden Horns and Red Thorns

The Soul World

The air had shifted once more. For some reason, it became so much easier to breathe - almost effortless.

"Loki..." Tera called my name. She was far off into the distance. I couldn't see anything but  darkness. 'Had I finally died?'

"Loki." her voice grew closer and closer, continuing to call out for me.

"Tera..." I answered back.

"Who the... No. Loki." Her voice grew deeper. She began to shake my shoulder.

"He's not waking up," A softer voice spoke - not Tera. My brows furrowed instinctively.

"Loki is his name, right? Have I been getting it wrong?" Another voice.

"No, that's his name." A voice with a heavy accent now.

"It's a weird ass name, who names their kid Loki?"

"He's not human, dude."

"Is anyone, anymore? Honestly, I'm not even surprised now."

"Loki... wake up." Something crept into my head... a familiar sense of magic. The voice was coarse, and sounded familiar. But it wasn't Tera. "Mantis, right? Mantis, can you wake him up?"  they asked.

"Wait this dude killed like half of New York, are you sure we should wake him up?"

There's too many voices to keep track...

"It's not his fault. Banner said Thanos sent him, so he might know something about what the hell is going on," Strange...

"You know Banner? Bruce Banner?"

Bruce...

A soft sigh, "Go ahead, Mantis."

Two small hands laid on my temples. "Wake."

I jumped up gasping for air, pushing whoever had grabbed my head off of me. I went to unsheathe my blades.

"Hey! Hey slow down!"

"Loki calm down," I turned to look at who was around me. Sergeant Barnes, The Falcon and Stephen Strange, The Scarlet Witch, and the King, T'challa. They were accompanied by others I did not yet know. I looked around for Tera, but I didn't see her.

I squinted my eyes, looking at everything around me. But, there wasn't much. I noticed my hair was dripping wet, some strands adhered themselves to my forehead and cheeks. The sky was a deep glowing orange, the ground was shallow water that reflected the nothingness. Every one was on edge.

"Where's... where's Tera? Where are we?" I asked, my throat dry with fear. I already knew the answer to one of my questions. 'He did it.'

"Who's Tera?" A young boy in a metal suit asked.

I walked a little bit away from everyone to see if anything else was off in the distance, my legs shaky as I splashed the water up every time I took a step. If you listened intently, far off you could hear exclaims of confusion.

"She's... She's not here, Loki." Wanda spoke.

"Good."

"Good? Why would that be good? Where even is here?!" The Falcon, Sam, exclaimed.

Everyone looked to me, waiting for an answer. I looked to the water, sloshing it from side to side with my foot. A feeling of remorse crept inside me.