The Seventh Stone

Chapter Twenty-One

Sensations feel random, spread in bits and pieces all over the place. I lift myself slowly from the ground, feeling the pain dissipate completely as I face the mountain. I can't taste the air anymore, or feel its coldness against me.

"No," I hear a voice behind me, and turn toward a familiar sight.

Myself.

Loki drops to my side, and the metal horns fall from my forehead as he lifts my body slowly off the dirt, cradling my face against his shoulder as he searches desperately for a pulse in my neck.

Horror flashes in his eyes after a moment. "No—no," he gasps. "Don't be dead," he growls. "Don't you dare be dead-" he cradles my face in his palm, glaring at my closed eyes intently as he presses his forehead against mine. "Don't you dare..."

I can't watch this—but I can't look away either. Sorrow resonates throughout me, but I can only stand and listen to him plead to me as though I'm there, in his embrace, and not out here.

A white light glimmers under my armor, catching my attention first. As soon as it's bright enough to be seen from below, Loki pulls away as well—eyes glinting slightly with wetness. The light streams outward from my chest, filling every vein in my body, until the entirety of my skin is glowing ambiently.

I scan the length of my own body slowly, back up to my face. I peer down at it intently for a moment—until my eyes begin to open slowly, revealing a pair of bright, glowing irises within. Confusion replaces sorrow in Loki's expression as they turn slightly toward him—staring blankly at him for a moment, before trailing over to me.

The body's hands rise up—turning slightly as strings entangle themselves effortlessly in its fingers. My lips part slightly as I stand and watch motionlessly, as they pull the body upward gently—gracefully—onto its feet. It strains for a moment to remain standing, but then turns slowly in my direction.

"You see me?" I whisper quietly.

"Yes," it speaks—pairing my voice with dual chords of a higher and lower tone.

"What?" Loki whispers, and my body glances in his direction for a moment, ignoring him as it looks back up at me.

And this moment—it's something else. I've looked at my own amber eyes so many times before. Crinkled my nose. Run my hands through my hair. This isn't even in the realm of anything familiar—this is like looking in the mirror, and seeing someone else's soul reflected in your eyes.

I exhale lightly—even though it isn't air that I feel passing through my lips. "You're—you're the god stone," I pause. "Aren't you?"

"I am," it nods.

Loki's eyes dart from side to side—between my body, and the space before it. "Who—Lara?" he murmurs breathlessly.

The god stone turns its head slightly in his direction. "Lara is here," it says to him. "Though she's not long for this world."

"Not long?" his voice drops low as he furrows a brow, lifting himself up slowly from the ground. "What does that mean—who are you!?"

"I am the god stone," it announces matter-of-factly. "And you—Odinson—have sent many souls to my true realm," it tilts its head. "Hers will be at peace with theirs—with all but yours, which will continue to linger."

"True realm?" I mumble quietly.

"Yes," it turns its head toward me. "There are many worlds, and our power holds dominion over all living things within them. As you have come to know," it nods. "Since you accepted me."