Snake and Spider: Friends Forever

Chapter Twenty-Five

They fell through open space for some time, Loki keeping Peter to his chest the entire time. He wasn't going to let Peter get hurt so he decided to try to absorb most of the impact when they struck whatever ground they eventually came to. As they fell, Loki found himself having flashbacks from the time he fell from the bifrost. He tried to push them aside but they just kept coming. He closed his eyes and focused on happier thoughts, but it didn't work. I could have done it! For You! For all of us! No Loki. His thoughts were shattered when they suddenly hit the ground. Loki released Peter as he flipped over from momentum and felt something crack. He skidded to a stop and opened his eyes. There was light down here, but it was an eerie light. A sort of grey-ish glow that looked as if he was seeing through mummy wrappings. He tried to sit up but a dull pain flared in his lower back. Loki gritted his teeth and tried again. He was successful this time, much to the dismay of his screaming lower back. Peter lay a few meters away, groaning as he rubbed his upper arms. Loki must have held him too tight. He crawled over to Peter and pulled him to his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Peter spoke, "You aren't though."

"What do you mean?" Loki inquired.

"You have bone sticking out of your side."

"Oh, that's what cracked."

Loki smiled sheepishly and cast a little spell to fix it, it didn't get rid of the pain but at least he was healed for the most part.

"Where are we?" Peter asked.

"I don't know..." Loki looked around. They were in the middle of a forest clearing, blackened, gnarled trees surrounded them for, Loki estimated hundreds of kilometres. Somewhere off in the distance demonic birds screamed and even farther away, a single light glowed like the end of a tunnel. This forest was worse than the horrors of Helheim. So much worse. If he had to guess, he would say that the Shadow must have formed a little different dimension inside of itself. Perhaps with the hope of turning both Peter and Loki to his side. Loki wondered what possible horrors Thor and Ezzy were currently facing and hoped they got something a little nicer. "...I don't know"

"Do you think maybe the way out of here is that circle of light over there?" Peter was on to something.

"Like the light at the end of the tunnel," Loki responded, "It has to be."

They looked at each other and set off for it. Loki wasn't sure how the passage of time worked deep in the depths of the Shadow but he knew it would take many days to reach the light. Peter didn't have many days. He had maybe two before the shadow fully consumed him. During the fall, it must have progressed because it now covered his entire face and head and snaked its way down his neck. Loki sighed softly and tried to focus on anything other than Peter's impending doom. But another thought still lurked in the back of his mind. The man from earlier had told Peter that "the first person you will feed on will be the one you adopted as a brother." What did that mean? Loki knew Peter considered him his adopted brother so did that mean Loki was basically Shadow feed in the upcoming days. He bit his lip and turned his attention to getting through the forest.

Loki very quickly found out that the trees had thorns. They dug into his palms and pierced through even his thickest armor. They poked through his boots and stabbed at his face. He could feel blood pooling in his boots and running down his face and chest. He knew that unless they found another way through the forest, they were going to die in a giant, living Iron Maiden. Loki looked over at Peter and saw red blood dripping down his face. A stark contrast to the pure black that covered his head. His heart locked itself in a cage. He couldn't bear to see Peter like this. He felt that he had failed his only living friend and that this was his fault. If only he had figured out why the robbers seemed off quicker, then perhaps they wouldn't be in this situation. Or if he had just teleported Peter to Russia the second he saw the shadows on the horizon.

"Peter stop," he commanded.

Peter stopped and looked over at him. "What's wrong."

"It's not safe to go through the forest, let's see if we can go over it," Loki suggested.

"Sure!"

They carefully climbed out of the forest and Loki rubbed his hands together. In an instant he had shapeshifter into a dragon and he knelt to allow Peter to climb on. "This is so cool!" Peter whispered excitedly. The dragon Loki chuckled a roaring like chuckle and spread his wings. He took off into the sky, Peter clinging to his neck and leveled out just below the cloud layer. The clouds burned whenever they touched his flesh and he knew Peter could feel it too so he winged his way lower and soared easily over the top of the trees. Internally, Loki celebrated. They should be able to get to the light quickly now, a matter of hours instead of days. But that joy was quickly diminished when birds like something straight out of the darkest pits rose up and flew right at him. Their black eyes gleamed hungrily and Loki dove into a clearing at an angle so sharp his ears popped. When they had safely landed, Loki transformed back into his human self and looked up. The birds dove for them and Loki flared his powers in a wave of energy that pushed the birds back. A couple in the first wave dropped to the ground dead as the wave hit them the strongest. He panted and looked over at Peter.

"Are you alright?" he asked, almost frantic.

"Yes I am, you?" Peter returned.

"Yes, I'm alright," Loki responded, relieved.

"I think we need a new plan," Peter joked.

"Yes we do," Loki agreed, "But first sleep. As much as I would love to keep going, I'm going to pass out. It must be harder to use magic here. Something might be smothering it."

"That was a pretty powerful blast you just used, along with the light above, you're probably exhausted," Peter said softly.

"Yes, exhausted," Loki returned sleepily, already laying down.

He heard Peter chuckle softly and join him on the rough plant material that lined the ground. Loki regretted that he needed sleep, as this could mean Peter will lose his fight against the Shadow. But he also knew that he couldn't keep going forever. Something, he didn't know who or what, was smothering his magic. He knew that neither of them had long here and they needed to get out quickly. He dozed peacefully and, somewhere over the vast expanses of the Shadow, Thor and Ezzy were locked in combat with a mysterious creature and quickly losing.