Silence Rising
The breach between Asgard and Helheimr was a frigid wasteland mirroring the cold depths of Jotunheimr. The Warriors Three lead an army of seven thousand soldiers over the sleeping caldera.
Every apprehensive step the army took, drew them nearer to certain death. The frozen lake crunched under their horses' hooves. Under the veil of ash and snow, the feint red glow beneath their feet was a treacherous taunt that the ice could give way to the magma miles below.
Hogun took the lead, leading his horse across the ten mile divide. The snow storm picked up; Hogun's heart thrummed in his chest, coiling with each plumed breath he took. Glaciers cracked from the sides of the Caldera and plummeted into the frigid waters beneath.
His eyes never wavered from the tree line at the top of the icy caldera. Through the snowstorm he heard them, Hela's war hounds waiting hungrily for their pound of flesh. Hogun wracked his brain, was his intelligence accurate? Would this route take them to into Helheimr unnoticed? He couldn't be sure of anything, not after Thor was killed.
"Look!" Sif's voice cut the silence as her gaze followed a wave of fire that shot through and blanketed the sky. Darkness turned to momentary day.
Everyone stopped to gaze at the grim omen; the Scarlet Phoenix and Loki were nearing the border to Asgard. Hogun and the Warriors Three lost count at the planets massacred by the Midgardian Mutant turned realm slayer.
"Everyone listen up," Hogun turned to face his troops and pointed to the sky, "The Scarlet Force and the Frost Giant army has already reached Alfheimr! If they continue at this pace, we'll be lucky if we can reach the Silent Forest before they reach the border to Asgard! Pick up the pace, group into threes to cross, stay vigilant!" He looked at Sif as she met pace with him.
"Okay, what's the real plan? We can't go sauntering into Helheimr to steal the conduit."
Hogun couldn't answer that. He had no plan after this point. Survive and ensure the conduit doesn't fall into the enemy hands. What else could they do? Their allied realms were slaughtered by the Scarlet Force; Ragnarok had broke loose throughout the Nine, Helheimr and Asgard were all that was left.
His façade fell, Hogun's exhausted, blood stained face fell upon hers. No longer did he look to her as the Queen of Asgard, but, an old and dearest friend. "There is no plan but to survive and get to the conduit before they do."
Sif's lips parted to say something- anything to give him strength... nothing. They were the last line of defense, nothing she could say could change that. If they failed, this universe would perish. "Sounds like a plan to me."
"Sif," Hogun reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a pair of red earrings, "if they should reach it before us," carefully, he flashed a black ring beneath his glove.
"Hogun, how did you--" Sif was cut off.
"I broke into the vault and took them. I know the cost of using them I'll pay it if it will save the Nine Realms, will you?"
Sif went silent for the remaining ten mile journey across the caldera.
“He was the light that swept the Galaxy… The fire that burned out the stars and brought ruin to worlds... The Scarlet Phoenix unleashed the great Silence and with it awoke its sleeping Messiah."
The crimson spiral of chaotic essence rushed through his veins. With every flick of Pietro's hand it snapped out and killed an A.I. that launched at him. A Pandemonium of Ultrons and Avengers fighting to the death around him-- a gamble for the planet that they were losing.
Pietro could only see her...
His arms sank with the weight of his lifeless sister Wanda. Her listless pale face stained red from the bullet wounds that ripped through her body. If it weren’t for the blood soaking his hands, he'd swear she was sleeping.
With a single breath, Pietro bent space and time to bring himself and his sister from the burning ruins of New York, to a frigid planet at the edge of the universe. Where he was, he didn't know but as he tore his bloodshot eyes from Wanda his brows furrowed as Deja Vu seized him in a nostalgia he couldn't place. Looking up at the black sky an explosion of white energy burst forth engulfing the ice world in bright light.
Pietro gazed wide eyed at the blinding mass of energy before him, the bedtime stories his mother told them... they were real. The Phoenix Force, life, death, all that ever was and could be… burning like a trillion stars before him.
“Save her...Please save her.” His voice cracked from his tears.
Those words set Pietro’s skin ablaze, his vision filled with white hot agony as he was engulfed in the Phoenix's energy. A drumming filled his mind as his skin-- while unmarred-- seared as the cosmic energy rushed throughout his veins. He clutched Wanda to his chest, screaming; wishing the burning would stop.
Through his shaking hands, Pietro felt her pulse return and glimpsed her pale cheeks flush with life. She was safe, she was alive... He gasped a choked laugh. If he died now he'd be at peace, if only the Phoenix would do it already. The pain relentlessly raged throughout him, he buckled forward and laid against the dirt and ice holding Wanda. Her soft breath against his sweaty neck, the freezing air biting his bruised and scratched skin, Pietro tried to focus on anything else but his agony.
Between labored breaths and cries of pain, Pietro sung to her the melody he grew up it; if this was to be his final moments, he wanted his last thoughts to be of those days. Crimson energy danced around them and through the air, pulling and twisting until Pietro was gazing up at the familiar rotted broken ceiling of his bedroom. The smell and sound of the house reminded him of days long gone. The illusion still gave him momentary hope he and Wanda would see Sokovia once more. Each thought became a tangible world around him, bringing him momentary comfort to the increasing pain that wracked his nerves.
A jolt of energy shot down his arms, his hands glowed white and ignited Wanda's blue speed suit. Pietro patted it out but to no avail-- making more holes with every searing touch. He scooted away to see the glowing light trace his veins and work there way up his body. His heart raced, no longer could he feel the searing pain-- he couldn't feel anything. Images were no longer being conjured by his memories, Pietro could see everything; space and time searing itself behind his eyes and rewriting his DNA making himself something different.
He was never meant to ascend this far…
His hold on his magic failed, the illusion flicking in and out of sight. Pietro slipped in and out of consciousness. The drumming in his mind grew louder and faster, mimicking his heartbeat. Every time his eyes closed, Pietro could see the endless darkness stretch before him. He jolted himself awake again, trying to maintain control of the cosmic force that breached his mind. Pietro focused, he had to get Wanda back to Earth-- save her before he lost his mind, before his -power was no longer his.
He raised his hand, trying send Wanda back to Earth, a plume of fire burst behind her head, Pietro flinched and dropped his hand with defeat. Pietro's head swam from where he lay. Voices slowly filled the gaps in the drums, calling him to embrace the silence and give in.
Wanda was never meant to survive…
To rewrite death, Pietro now sensed through his connection to the entity, was the greatest crime of the universe. With his every breath, images of the past, future, and events that could and couldn't not happen flashed through his mind's eye.
She had to die...
Forcing himself to sit up, he saw Wanda lying on the ice. Unable to move, he cursed as flames ignited around him. The Phoenix desires coursed through him; to burn this world and all with it... Pietro's hands shook violently as he tried to regain control, one last effort to save her, no matter the price.
Wanda will live...
Whatever it takes, she will live on...
He didn't care what happened next. If Wanda wasn't there, his life wasn't worth living. Desperate, Pietro held his hand out, visualizing Wanda encased in a protective shell-- slowly, bright red crystals grew from the ice and encased her until all he could see was her figure suspended in a red crystal chamber where she rested in a deep slumber.
The fires spread, spewing smoke and ash around them.
He fell back against the wet ice and snow, staring up at the cloudy ash sky. She was safe, he could sleep now that she was safe.
Pietro rolled over and slowly pulled himself back to Wanda where he rested his forehead against the warm red crystal. "Please, live, stay alive for me..."Pietro thought out loud. Slowly darkness gripped him, his heart tightened, Pietro took a deep breath, feeling a warmth wash through him as he felt the Phoenix force's will overcome his own.
Darkness followed, with it, serenity...
Pietro's eyes fluttered open again to look up at the hard dirty features of a young woman gazing back at him.
"Messiah bless, you're alive... I thought I'd lost you."