As the last wisps of ancient power drained from the tablet, the invisible force blocking the way flickered and then crumbled like ash on the wind.
Thor stumbled forward, almost tripping over himself as the air suddenly cleared.
"Soren?!" Thor boomed anxiously. "Are you alright?"
Soren blinked, pulling himself out of the thick haze clouding his mind. His body still thrummed with energy, but he forced a small smile onto his face.
"I'm fine." Voice a little rougher than he intended.
"It feels... good, actually."
"I just... briefly communicated with the tablet." Soren continued.
"Some kind of special... recognition. I think I can break through the resistance now. Let me go in and take a look."
Thor gave a short nod, although worry still lined his brow.
"Be careful."
He didn't understand what Soren had done, but he knew power when he felt it, and whatever had happened was dangerous.
Soren nodded once in return.
He pressed his palm against the tablet again.
This time, the response was instant.
A pulse of black energy erupted outward, blasting Thor back a step. His cloak whipped violently behind him, and dust scoured the ground in gusts.
Before Thor could even shout, Soren's body was swallowed by the surge, and he vanished.
A jolt like plunging into icy water hit Soren as he passed through the veil.
The world twisted, shimmered, and then settled.
He stood inside a pocket space hidden within the tablet. It wasn't vast.
In fact, it was almost claustrophobically small, just wide enough to hold a chilling sight.
Cocoons.
Hundreds of them.
They hung from the blackened ceiling and clustered against the walls, each one pulsing faintly with a sickly dark glow. The oppressive scent of dark magic and... something else.
Soren stepped forward, boots crunching on the brittle black sand.
He could feel them.
Inside each cocoon, a slumbering presence stirred faintly, not yet awake, but radiating power strong enough to make his skin crawl.
He narrowed his eyes, focusing deeper.
Aether particles.
Not much, just a thread in each cocoon. He could almost taste the metallic sharpness of the Aether energy in the air.
"Gods above..."
Soren ran a hand through his hair, heart hammering faster now.
These weren't the cursed warriors he'd read about in the dark elf history, twisted monstrosities born from desperation.
"Malekith wasn't only trying to plunge the universe into darkness." Soren realized.
"He was breeding a new empire to rule it."
Once the Nine Realms fell into darkness, these cocoons would hatch.
Newborn dark elves, infused from birth with the energy of the Aether, they would be crueler than anything the universe had ever seen.
Soren knelt beside one of the cocoons. Up close, he could see the faint outline of the creature inside: long limbs, slender body, wicked claws.
Even now, unborn, it exuded a regal, predatory aura.
He stood slowly.
If these creatures were allowed to hatch...
No army in the Nine Realms could stand against them.
Soren looked around, counting the endless rows of cocoons stretching into the dim haze.
"This..." He muttered, low and bitter.
"This would be an apocalypse."
He let out a long breath.
For a moment, he hesitated.
After all, it might take decades before they hatch centuries even.
But he knew better.
The tablet had been hidden for five thousand years.
All it would take was one fool, one desperate sorcerer, and these creatures would be unleashed.
And if that happened...
The Nine Realms would burn.
Soren stared at the cocoons for a long moment.
"I'm sorry." He said quietly, respectfully. "But you're not supposed to exist."
"Flame Burning Sky!"
A high, thin whine filled the air as golden fire exploded outward, flooding the chamber.
The black cocoons caught fire, igniting like dry paper, the Aether-laced material feeding the flames until the entire cavern seethed with a roaring, golden inferno.
One by one, the unborn dark elves inside shrieked without voices, existence snuffed out before they ever tasted life.
Soren didn't flinch.
He watched until the last cocoon turned to nothing, the fire had consumed them completely.
Only scorched, empty space was left behind.
In the flickering aftermath, Soren turned away.
There was nothing left for him here.
Soren's body shimmered back into reality in front of the stone tablet.
Thor, pacing impatiently nearby, whirled around at once.
"Soren!"
"You're back! What happened in there? Is it done?"
"It's done." He said evenly.
"The small space inside the tablet was packed with cocoons. Dark elf cocoons, infused with Aether. Strong ones."
Thor's face darkened.
"As Heimdall warned."
Soren gave a small nod. "But they won't be troubling anyone."
"I torched the lot of them."
For a heartbeat, Thor just stared… and a wide grin split his face.
"You what?" Relief poured off him like a wave.
"You mad sorcerer, you burned them all?!"
Thor clapped a heavy hand on Soren's shoulder, nearly knocking him sideways.
"Ha! By Odin's beard, you've done the Realms a favor today!" He boomed.
Soren chuckled, adjusting his coat.
"And there's more." Jerking his thumb back toward the tablet.
"That space wasn't only a nursery. It's packed with dark elf weapons. Battleships. Enough firepower to start another war."
Thor's eyes widened again. "Seriously?"
"Seriously." Soren shrugged.
"I figured, Malekith's dead, his little army's dead... no point keeping them. Thought you might want to haul them back to Asgard."
"Give the All-Father a few weapons."
Thor blinked, stunned.
"All that... for me?"
Soren raised an eyebrow. "What, you want me to burn the ships too? I've got fire to spare."
Thor barked another laugh, tossing his head back.
"No, no! I'll take them! Everyone's going to be so jealous."
"You're welcome."
Thor thumped him on the back again, then threw an arm around Soren's shoulders.
"Come on, hero." He said, grinning like a fool. "You've earned a barrel of mead or two."
Soren let himself be dragged along.
"Fine."
"But you're paying."
"As long as you promise not to set the tavern on fire."
"No promises."
꧁𓊈𒆜༺⚜༻𒆜𓊉꧂
PhantomDream