The Dark world part 1

Welcome to Svartalfheim!" Loki announced as the Asgardian ship pierced the veil of the Yggdrasil. "Where Gods go to die, if legends are to be believed."

Clark had no idea if that was true, but he would wholeheartedly agree that the Dark World wasn't exactly a place full of life. It was a barren land as far as his very good eyes could see, cold, dark and extremely inhospitable. He couldn't hear a single being anywhere and there were no traces of civilization; the only sound besides the ship was the wind howling, lifting the dust and ashes on the ground like waves made of sand.

It was a dead planet; a dead planet with an almost dead sun.

It was still a yellow sun, Clark could feel its energy, but it was weak and almost entirely covered by the thick clouds in the sky. He couldn't help but to wonder if the planet was naturally like that or if the clouds were engineered by the Dark Elves at some point, to shield them from the light. Regardless of their origin, Clark was relieved to know the planet didn't have a red sun; he had enough of those to last a lifetime.

"This place is horrible!" Fandral exclaimed, after several minutes of silence, apparently incapable of keeping his perfectly styled hair in place with all that wind.

"They would not call a place 'Dark World' because it is a pleasant place to visit," Sif replied.

"This place is not just dark, it is dead," Volstagg added, surprised.

"As usual, you look at the surface and fail to see what is beyond," Loki taunted, turning the ship slightly to the right. He waited a second to see if they understood, but nobody seemed to know where he was going with that; he rolled his eyes. "Dark Elves hate light. Where do creatures that do not like light hide?"

"Underground," Clark exhaled, finally getting it.

"Very good, Kryptonian," Loki congratulated, with a hint of mockery. "It seems that, even though you share my brother's talent for sheer destruction, you are still smarter than him."

Thor, sitting on the corner of the ship with a slumbering Jane on his lap, just rolled his eyes.

"If we want to reach what is left of the Dark Elves civilization, we must go deep underground," Loki continued. "That is the true Dark World."

"And can you take us there?" Thor asked. "You have been here before?"

"No, but Mother did," Loki answered. "And she was kind enough to share the memories with me."

"Why? Why didn't she show them to me too?"

"Because – and I'll quote you, brother – 'magic is for women and the occasional effeminate warrior and I do not care about a bunch of long dead pointy-eared monsters'. Maybe Mother somehow got the impression you were not interested, I don't know."

Clark saw a little blush coloring Thor's cheeks.

"Oh, Thor…" Jane mumbled, apparently waking up just in time to hear that.

"Jane! Glad to see you are back with us, my love," Thor exclaimed, helping her to get up. "I still cannot believe you slept through this whole ordeal."

"Maybe she is dying?" Loki piped up, as everybody glared at him.

Jane's drowsy eyes became full of fire suddenly. "You're…?"

"I am Loki, you may have heard of–"

SLAP! Clark couldn't help but to wince as Jane's hand clacked against Loki's face like a whip, a blow that most definitely hurt her more than him; to her credit, she didn't flinch.

"That was for New York!"

Loki smiled, incredibly amused; he looked at Thor.

"I like her!" Then he turned at Clark, his eyes gaining a calculating glow. "What about you? Are you going to slap me too because of what I did to all those humans?"

Did Clark want to hit Loki at that moment? If he denied it, he would be lying to himself. For the first time since he boarded that ship with Jane, Clark truly looked at the god dressed in green and gold who had invaded Earth and rained destruction over New York. Even cuffed and surrounded by people who wouldn't like nothing else than to toss him off that ship, Loki managed to exude confidence, every bit of his royal bloodline clearly displayed even on the smallest of gestures. Unlike Thor, however, whose presence felt vibrant and big, but even then kind, Loki was a predator. Those eyes weren't just filled with intelligence and cunning, they were filled with malice. Loki didn't simply look at someone, he evaluated them, almost as if searching for weak points.

There was a man who clearly believed he was born to rule, above everything else, no matter what anybody else though about that.

"I'll pass," Clark finally said, after almost a minute of silence, still staring at Loki without blinking. "Don't get me wrong, it is a tempting offer, but we would lose too much time looking for you a few hundred miles from the ship, buried in the sand."

Loki held his stare for a long moment, then laughed. "I like this one too, brother. Where do you find such fascinating creatures?"

He couldn't help the twitch of his fingers when Loki said that; Clark had a lot of self-control, but even he had limits.

"Keep pushing," Jane interjected, still gazing furiously at Loki. "I watched the tournament, Loki, I've seen what Clark can do when he is provoked. So, please, do me a favor and keep at it so we can see a repeat of what the Hulk did to you in the Avengers Tower."

Jane's words weren't the most ominous threat a person could come up with, but Loki's paling face was proof enough she had hit a nerve; it was back to normal quickly, but not before everybody noticed it.

"What is she talking about?" Fandral asked, looking very interested.

Jane smirked, fishing her cellphone from her dress and approaching Fandral, Sif and Volstagg.

"It was the most viewed YouTube video from all time," she said, playing it. Clark almost laughed as the Asgardians eyes got wider, listening to what he assumed was Loki being crushed against the ground over and over again and then the iconic 'Puny God' at the end.

There was a second of silence; then Sif, Fandral and Volstagg began to laugh uncontrollably.

"I take it back, Thor, I do not like her at all," Loki mumbled, glaring at his brother.

"Puny God… This is too good!" Sif laughed, actual tears flowing from her eyes.

"The mortals did capture your good side, Loki, especially when you were moaning in pain at the end," Fandral commented, full of glee. "Don't you think so, Volstagg?"

"No doubt. The device that captured the sounds, particularly, is very impressive," the big Asgardian said, a full blown smile on his face. "You sounded like a dying rodent."

"What manner of beast is this, though?" Fandral asked. "I was not aware such a creature existed in Midgard."

"That's not a beast, it's Doctor Banner," Clark explained, quickly, knowing very well what would happen to Fandral if he ever said something like near Bruce. "He had a, um, accident and ever since he gets like that when angered."

"And Loki does have a talent for making people angry, does he not?" Sif said, smirking at Loki.

Loki glared at her.

"Oh, don't be like that, Loki, it was funny!" Thor chuckled. "And you deserved it."

"Yes, funny, wasn't it?" Loki answered, as he turned the ship slightly. "Almost as funny as that time when you lost Mjölnir and had to put on a dress to seduce the giant that stole it to take it back."

Clark's head became a blur as he turned to look at Thor, not sure if he heard it right. That was a sudden silence in the ship.

"What was that?" Jane asked, shocked.

Thor, all of a sudden, seemed to want to be somewhere else.

"Oh, this is a good one!" Volstagg said, tapping Jane's shoulders so strongly that her legs almost bended.

"Once upon a time, when Thor was younger and foolish, rather than just foolish, he thought it would be a good idea to take Mjölnir from Odin's Vault so that the future king of Asgard could practice with his chosen weapon," Loki started, as if telling a tale to children, his eyes full of mirth. "That he managed to lift it was a feat by itself, but of course Thor needed more, so we went practicing in Vanaheim. We heard there was a group of giants making camp there, so the hero of our story took upon himself the burden of correcting that wrong, to prove himself worthy."

"And we did, end of story," Thor interrupted, but he was shushed by everybody.

"The giant's leader was called Thrym and he was old, very old, and almost blind, but still feared. An opponent that the Mighty Thor would relish in crushing!" Loki continued, clearly having a lot of fun, ignoring Thor. "So there we were, Thor, Loki, the Warriors Three and Lady Sif, ready for battle. But Thor needed the glory, so he went alone, and vowed to end them in one single blow."

Despite Thor's clear uncomfortableness, Clark couldn't help but to be curious; say what you will about Loki, but he knew how to entertain a crowd.

"On he went, to face the beast! He raised Mjölnir and the skies thundered, the very nature bending to his will! And he tossed it!" Loki glowed green and suddenly Thor himself was in his place, throwing Mjölnir against an invisible enemy; there was a second of suspense and then Loki transformed back. "And he missed."

"He missed?" Jane repeated, getting a betrayed look from Thor.

"I do not think I ever saw someone missing the target by that much," Sif admitted.

"True," Fandral agreed.

"It wasn't even close to hit Thrym," Volstagg explained, "which was weird, because he was a pretty big target."

"Really now?" Thor complained, but Loki continued his story.

"Mjölnir landed far away from the intended mark, very far away, right in the middle of their camp," Loki went on. "It destroyed a lot of innocent houses and buried itself deep in the ground. The Mighty Thor could not believe that he would miss that badly, but he did, and it was incredibly embarrassing." Thor rolled his eyes. "But the quest needed to be finished, so the Mighty Thor called the weapon back, so he could strike again… But nothing happened."

"You still didn't know how to do that, did you?" Clark asked, smiling.

"No, I did not," Thor agreed, looking down.

"The quest changed!" Loki exclaimed. "Now it was not about destroying Thrym, it was about retrieving the mighty hammer Thor stole from the vaults, so Odin would not have his head for it. But how could we do it? There would be no help, we had little time, and without Mjölnir there was no way to fight our way in."

Loki raised a single finger, enjoying Thor's embarrassment far too much.

"When brawn failed, Thor turned to the brain of the group." Everyone rolled their eyes at that. "So the true hero of the story suggested that instead of challenging a whole group of giants to a fist fight, so we could retrieve the hammer, we should consider our options. You see, there was a rumor that Thrym, despite his old age and truly hideous appearance, wanted a wife. But not just any wife, no, he wanted to marry the most beautiful Asgardian lady he had ever seen in his whole, long, life, the Asgardian with the shinning golden locks that glimmered as the sun itself: Frigga."

"You are kidding!" Clark exclaimed.

"I wish he was, my friend," Thor mumbled. "It is not everyday we learn some old giant creep wants to marry your mother."

Jane was already beyond words, apparently.

"In exchange for Mjölnir, Thrym wanted to marry Frigga," Loki continued, almost laughing at the notion. "Obviously that would never happen, but he was arrogant enough to be convinced otherwise."

He could see where this was going, but he still couldn't believe it.

"How exactly did you think you could pretend to be your mother by wearing a dress?!" Jane asked, incapable of waiting for Loki to actually finish the story.

"I did not!" Thor denied, appalled. "Loki convinced me he could get us into the camp if he hid us under his illusions. He was supposed to transform into a maid-servant and I would be transformed into Mother, just until we got close enough to take Mjölnir back!"

"But?" Clark asked, when Thor turned to glare at Loki for far too long.

"But instead of changing me entirely, like he told me he did, Loki just transformed my clothes into a dress!"

Something about the thought of Thor, bearded and muscled, wearing a dress and walking through a camp full of giants with the intention of fake-marrying one, was just too much for them to bear. Slowly at first, like a dam starting to leak, they all started to laugh, until all of them, Jane and Clark included, were bended in half holding their stomachs.

Thor, of course, was the only exception.

"H-How did they not noticed that you were a guy in a dress?" Clark asked, as soon as he was able.

The God of Thunder sighed and shook his head. "I do not know for certain. Maybe from up there we all look so small and similar to giants. And Thrym was pretty blind."

"I think it had more to do with the fact that Thrym was such a terrifying monster, famous for devouring his adversaries," Fandral theorized, trying to speak between everybody's laughs. "I mean, how do someone tell such a person that the woman he is about to marry has the arms of a blacksmith and a thick beard?"

That brought another set of uncontrollable laughs.

"I-I'm sorry for laughing Thor, but did it work?" Jane asked, trying to hold herself back.

"He was fooled, alright," Loki answered, grinning. "Just until he felt up his 'bride' and his 'bride' punched his face. Then everything exploded in generalized violence, as usual."

Clark laughed again, imagining the absurdity of the situation.

"I can't believe this really happened," he mentioned, chuckling. "I thought it was one of those made-up mythology stories."

That brought a sudden silence.

"What do you mean 'made-up' mythology stories?" Thor asked, slowly.

"Well, you see–" Clark started, imagining how the hell he would explain that, but Thor interrupted him.

"Loki! Did you tell this story to the mortals?!" he yelled.

"I would never!" Loki answered, very unconvincingly in Clark's opinion.

The brothers started to argue, again, but Clark wasn't really paying attention anymore. Instead, he was reevaluating what he knew about mythology, or, as it would seem, history. Were all the tales and stories real? Did that mean…

"That whole thing about Sleipnir, is that… True?" Clark asked Loki, interrupting their argument; he couldn't keep the horrified expression out of his face.

"What are you talking about?" Loki asked, carefully. "What 'whole thing' about Odin's eight-legged steed?"

Did he really need clarification?

"You know… That you… That he is… Your son."

The silence in the ship was deafening.

"WHAT?!" Loki exclaimed, standing up in front of Clark. Everybody started to laugh again, no one louder than Thor.

"T-They think you fathered a horse?" Volstagg asked, trying hard to talk between his laughing.

"A-Actually," Clark explained, hesitantly, "the story says Loki is the mother."

A moment of silence; then the laughing restarted, louder than ever.

"THOR! I am sure this is your fault!"

"I had nothing to do with it, brother!" Thor defended himself, still laughing. "But I really wish I had."

"Hey, do not steal my credit!" Sif exclaimed. "It took me a long time to spread that rumor."

They all turned to Sif, Loki faster than all.

"Why?! Why would you tell such a story to mortals?" Loki asked, wrathful.

"Why? WHY?! You shaved my head!" Sif screamed back at him. "A little shame is a lot less than you deserve!"

"So the myth about Loki stealing your blond hair is true?" Clark asked, fascinated.

Both of them looked at him. "Blond hair? No! He just shaved my head, that was the prank!"

"That was not a prank, it was retribution," Loki countered. "Or don't you remember cutting my hair the day before, with that sword of yours?"

"In combat! We were training, it was an accident!" Sif justified herself.

"Really? All seven times?!"

Sif apparently had no good answer for that.

"You did spread that rumor that she was married to Thor, did you not?" Fandral risked speaking.

All eyes turned back to Loki. "I had nothing to do with that! Maybe if you two didn't have your 'post-battle celebration' in public, mortals would not make assumptions!"

"You two were truly loud sometimes," Volstagg admitted, looking down.

Everybody looked at Thor and Sif; then all eyes turned to Jane.

"Did you two–" Jane began to ask.

"A long time ago, a really long time ago!" Thor explained himself, incredibly quick.

"It was a brief thing," Sif added. "Too brief, really."

"Not that brief!" Thor defended himself.

"So about the blond hair…" Clark asked, looking at Sif.

"What is with you and blond hair?!" Sif exclaimed. "I was never blond, not even before Loki shaved my head! Why? Would you prefer I was?"

"No! Not at all, you look perfect just the way you are!" Clark answered fast, deciding not to pursue the conversation; Jane gave him a thumbs-up from behind Sif, mouthing a silent 'Well said!' to him.

The trip down the memory lane seemed to give the Asgardians, and by extension Clark and Jane, a little time to relax, some moments to forget the truly frightening place they were in. They were still nervous, of course, on edge, but the silence wasn't heavy anymore, as they flew over the ashes hills.

"We really did get into some weird adventures, did we not, my friends?" Thor asked, looking at everyone there with a big smile. Then, he sighed, losing the happy expression when he looked at Loki. "How did we get to this point?"

This time no one answered.

They flew over the fields of ashes for a long hour, the mood increasingly tense. There were no more joking and reminiscing past adventures, not when they were so close of getting to their destination, the heart of the Dark World. Not when they were so close to the deciding moment of their quest: saving Jane.

Thor looked at her, wincing a little bit at how weak she looked. She was doing her best to seem strong, to appear as if there was nothing wrong, but he didn't very well need his Asgardians senses to notice how wrong things were. Jane was pale as snow, cold and shivering, and under her skin he could easily feel the power of the Aether, pulsing like a malevolent presence; he couldn't before.

If they couldn't take it out of her soon… Shaking his head, Thor tried to dispel his distractions. It wouldn't do any good for anyone, least of all Jane, if he allowed himself to be defeated before the fight even started. And there would be a fight, there was no doubt about that. He looked at Loki for a second, seeing his brother's focused face; Thor could only hope the attack came from the expected adversary and not from behind.

This was another problem. The one guiding them, the only one who would take them through the dark paths of Svartalfheim and back, was the same one who had betrayed him on several occasions.

Thor sighed, feeling for the first time the entire weight of everything that happened since the Convergence began. It was weird, and hard, to be in this quest with Loki, as if nothing happened. As if his brother hadn't plotted to kill him, to steal the throne, to conquer Midgard. Thor knew he wasn't perfect, that he made mistakes, that maybe, just maybe, if he had done things differently Loki wouldn't have done what he did.

But that didn't change what his brother did. That didn't bring the people he killed back or made his betrayal any easier to bear.

Despite what he said when he broke Loki out of his cell, Thor loved Loki. Blood or not they were brothers and that didn't just go away. And having him here, by his side, in this adventure was oddly comforting.

It shouldn't be and he was well aware of that.

Sooner or later Loki would betray him, it was his nature. Thor didn't believe for a second that after all this, considering they were successful, Loki would quietly go back to his cell. It would never happen, if not for the fact that he would stay locked up for a very long time, then simply because Thor had ordered him to.

And when that happened… Thor really didn't know if he was capable of fulfilling the promise he made when he took Loki out of jail.

"We are almost there," Loki announced, snapping Thor out of his musings. "See?"

"Are those…?" Kal asked.

"The last battlefield of the war."

Under their ship, in every direction they looked, they could see the remains of the last battle of the war, won by his grandfather, Bor. Countless Dark Elven ships crashed, changing the entire landscape of the planet, like mountains of metal piercing the sand. Thor had seen memories of that battle, he saw the scale of the conflict, but seeing the remains of the battlefield lying there even after all that time bothered him.

It was a mass grave, littered with the bodies of Dark Elves and Asgardians, lost forever on a dead planet.

Thor fought a lot of battles in his life, lots of wars, but he rarely saw what happened after he went back home. After the fight, after the honor… After. Asgardians liked to fight, they reveled in it, their code of honor was based on it, but this? Thor didn't like to see it at all.

He thought he understood his father a little bit more when he came to that conclusion.

Loki brought the ship down, moving carefully between the huge sword-like Dark Elven ships. The silence made the whole thing even more tense, as if they were intruding in a place they shouldn't. And maybe that was true, but there was no other choice.

And then, abruptly, there it was: the entrance to the true Dark World.

Like a black hole in the middle of the fallen ships, sucking all the light around it, the entrance to the underground made itself known as they approached. It was a huge circular hole, so big that their ship was merely a speck close to it, surrounded by a perimeter of stone and runes. The most impressive thing about it, however, wasn't its size.

It was how utterly dark it was.

It was more than lack of light, it was like all the shadows were alive, like a thick mass of pure darkness; a taste of how the previous universe was, before its own Ragnarok.

"I can't see it," Kal whispered, shocked. He looked at Thor, eyes wide. "I can't see through that darkness."

That was not good. Unconsciously, he turned to Loki.

"They do not call it the Dark World for nothing, Kryptonian," Loki answered the unspoken question, rolling his eyes. "Svartalfheim, like the Infinity Stones and the Dark Elves themselves, is a relic of the previous universe. Maybe not all of it, maybe not its surface, but its core? Pure darkness." His brother smirked. "That will do wonders to your complexion, won't it?"

Yes, that was not good at all.

"What can we expect down there, Loki?" Sif asked, her eyes fixed on the underground entrance as the ship went down.

Knowing that Kal would not get any light down there was bad news and they all took it as such. No one there was afraid of anything, they had fought truly monstrous things over the course of their lives, but none of them was stupid to face the unknown without being prepared. And having their Kryptonian friend with limited energy supply while facing old enemies of Asgard was, to say the least, bad.

"There is a truly vast variety of creatures and monstrosities that like to eat gods for breakfast down there," Loki answered, all too gladly. "My, even some of the plants! For example, there is even a rare flower, said to survive in pitch black darkness instead of sunlight, that is extremely poisonous. One touch and even the strongest of beings is put to sleep, sometimes forever."

"We are not battling flowers, Loki," Fandral complained as the ship descended. He was fidgeting with his goatee, which he always did when he was nervous.

"It would be foolish of you to try," Loki insisted, purposely misinterpreting what Fandral said. "The pollen alone would send you comatose!"

"Loki…" Sif warned.

"Right, the non-plant entities then. Most of them perished with time and the continuous wars, but some survived. There was a reason why few were brave enough to step on this planet, even with the Dark Elves supposedly dead. Unnamed creatures, some older than this very universe, some changed by it. Undersea monsters that care about nothing else than feeding upon each other. Creatures that eat dreams and consume minds. Races with a thousand eyes all across their bodies and others completely blind. All of them lethal."

He smiled at his crowd.

"But none more lethal than the spiders."

Sif almost wasn't able to control her wince; she hated spiders.

"I do not know if they existed before, in the previous universe, or if they were somehow born from the remaining darkness that crossed to ours. What I do know is that they feed upon light itself. They are bred for a single purpose: war. I have heard stories of swarms of theses spiders eclipsing planets. Some of the biggest ones were famous for swallowing entire stars."

"By Odin's beard…" Volstagg whispered, too shocked to do anything else. Sif wasn't that far behind.

"Let us hope none of them survived Bor's purge!" Loki added, grinning, before plunging the ship down towards the dark entrance.

If Sif wasn't too concerned about thoughts of spiders big enough to eat stars, she would have hit Loki.

"Son of a–" Jane exclaimed, hugging Thor as the ship dropped down. "I almost had a heart-attack!"

Despite their rapidly descent to that ominous pit of darkness, Clark had to make an effort to prevent a smile from showing on his expression when Thor looked at him with desperately widened eyes.

"It's just an expression, Thor, she is alright," Clark explained, seeing the puzzled faces all around.

"Are you sure? Maybe the Aether–"

"I can see and listen to her heart, trust me, she is fine!"

Jane looked from Thor to him, but Clark just shook his head, reassuring her. They had enough to worry about now without Thor's new found paranoia. Like the fact that Loki was a crazy bastard who was dropping their ship into a black hole filled with monsters at an alarming speed.

Before Clark could fully prepare himself for what was about to happen, the ship disappeared into the entrance, the shadows surrounding them like the cold from the deep sea. Difference was, Clark didn't feel cold no matter how deep underwater he was on Earth; he felt cold now.

Looking around he could see he wasn't the only one bothered by the cold shadows moving around them, everyone was, Jane most of all. She was shivering and Clark could actually see the red from the Aether running through her veins and glowing in her eyes. It was reacting to the traces of its old universe.

"I know that the only reason we are here is because of the Aether inside of her," Loki gleefully screamed as they went down in great speed, "but you should be thankful now that it is. A mortal would be dead as a draugr in no time in here!"

Maybe for the tenth time in that short period, Clark wanted to hit Loki. Of course he didn't warn them that Jane was at risk simply by stepping there, that would be the nice thing to do and he was anything but.

Clark's vision was confused. He imagined that was how humans felt as their eyes got accustomed to a dark room, but he never felt something like that before, so it was hard to place himself as the tendrils of shadow danced around the ship. Even the sound was muffled. If a watered-down portion of the old universe felt like this, Clark didn't even want to imagine what it would feel to make the transition back to it if Malekith managed to win.

He probably would feel worse than the Dark Elves felt in this universe, if he survived at all.

For all the anticipation Loki's abrupt dive caused them, the long way down killed it eventually; they could stay on edge for so long before it became boring. Instead of an exciting air maneuver, it was more like the slow descent of a submarine, especially when the darkness around them was so thick it made looking around basically impossible.

They traveled for a long time down the entrance, the only noticeable change being that at each inch down it became colder and darker. Jane was once again sitting down, shivering, the red glow of the Aether stronger at each second under her skin. The only sound they could hear was the muffled roar of the engines and there was nothing to see through the veil of shadows.

Clark quickly lost any notion of the passing of time, which wasn't difficult considering there was nothing happening. Eventually, however, he began to hear a familiar sound. Distant, at first, what made it hard to distinguish it, but soon enough Clark was able to.

"Water," he exclaimed, barely recognizing his own voice. "There is water close to us."

"Then we are almost there," Loki answered, turning the ship forward and stopping the descent. "We reached their sea and it is unwise to get too close to it."

"Why?" asked Volstagg.

"Because–"

Before Loki could answer, there was a powerful roar and something lunged at them out of the water; something huge. Loki pushed the ship up, just at the moment they heard a powerful snap of a jaw. It was such a strong blow that the air around them pushed them away. And then, whatever attacked them fell back, like a mountain crashing against an ocean.

There was silence.

"Because of that," Loki finally said as he fixed his hair, making sure to keep the ship well above the sea.

Clark couldn't help but agree it was a good move.

"How much longer, Loki?" Thor asked, after they managed to calm down.

"Not long now. Of course, I could be wrong, since I am flying blind here."

He wasn't, obviously. Or, more accurately, he was flying blind, but he was relying on something else to guide them. Magic, according to the book Odin gave him, left traces behind. Following familiar magic was like following footsteps and Loki was used to Frigga's magic. To all of them, there was no difference between a dark corridor and the other, but Loki was following a trail of magical breadcrumbs, a trail put into his mind by Frigga.

So Clark wasn't surprised when Loki took the ship down, without any fear of being devoured by a giant fish, and landed it safely on the ground.

"Here we are, ladies and gentlemen," Loki announced. "We have to continue on foot now."

They all got out of the ship, Jane helped by Thor, and started to follow Loki through the dark path; dark enough that even Clark couldn't see more than vague forms in the distance, but it was enough, at least, to not hit the walls. Still, it was like anything Clark had ever felt. He was used to have senses better than anyone else's, not being almost blind.

All that changed the moment Jane stepped out of the ship.

For a moment, Clark actually thought he was seeing the start of a fire, but he was wrong. It wasn't fire that was glowing red, it was the Aether making everything around it shine like a blazing sun. Huge crystal formations lit up in red, all around them, finally giving them a look of how the underground of Svartalfheim looked.

If Clark didn't know, he would never believe they were actually underground. It was too big, too open, with mountains as big as the ones they had on Earth, a vast ocean and a city carved in the very stone, as big as the biggest cities back home. It was unbelievable and if Clark wasn't suffering in that darkness he would have liked to explore it, during better circumstances of course.

"What is left of the old universe is reacting to the Aether," Loki said, gazing at the crystals glowing red with interest. He grinned. "Well, if even the environment knows the Aether is here, you can be sure that Malekith does too."

He turned to them.

"I would make haste, if I were you. If we do not reach the temple where the Aether Chamber is before the Dark Elves, we will effectively doom the universe."

"The Aether found its way home," Malekith whispered, pulling the healing mask off his face and looking at Kurse.

He could feel it, calling to him, asking for help. A piece of his own universe still alive even after the end. A piece he had shaped into their salvation. The Convergence was near its peak, they needed the Aether back before it happened.

Malekith stood, getting out of the healing chamber of his ship. The Asgardian Prince had dealt quite the blow against him on Asgard, burning the right side of his face and most of his body, but it wasn't anything that would hold him back now. Not when they were so close from achieving their goal.

He did not know how the Aether was back in Svartalfheim, but it meant they would not need to attack Asgard again. It would save them time, but it was regretful that he wouldn't be able to burn down the Realm Eternal before destroying the universe. Regretful that he could not end Bor's lineage with his own hands.

Malekith would have to be satisfied with the deaths of their queen, the last Kryptonian and Alflyse.

"Prepare the ship, the Aether calls."

"What now, Loki?" Sif asked, arms crossed in front of her chest. "Right, left or forward? You might want to decide soon, before some horrible creature appears and makes the decision for us."

They had reached the proverbial fork in the road and Loki clearly wasn't sure which way they should go. The path into the city was long and confusing, but while they were walking its streets there was no problem; the problem appeared when they left the stone buildings, arriving in front of one of those huge subterranean mountains. There were three paths in front of them: a tunnel going up, one going down and one continuing forward.

Who knows where they would get if they entered the wrong one.

"The temple is behind this mountain," Loki finally said, turning to them. "Probably all of these tunnels lead there, problem is I do not know what we will encounter in the middle of the way."

"Can't you make one of those portals?" Jane asked, tracing an invisible circle in the air. Loki stared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment, but she didn't look away; Clark was proud of her. "You know, like Frigga does? As a matter of fact, couldn't you have saved us all the time and done that from Asgard? Or you don't know how?"

"Of course I know how to do it," Loki said, too proud to allow the needling to go unanswered. "But I have never been in the temple before. To open a portal leading somewhere I need to know where I am going, otherwise we would end up even more lost. As for not opening a portal on Asgard… Time and distance matter in magic. To move around on a planet is one thing, to change Realms is quite another."

"So you do admit we are lost!" Fandral exclaimed, as every Asgardian began to talk at the same time.

Clark sighed, turning to look at the city down there, at the foot of the mountain; he had already lost count of the number of times they argued since they arrived in Svartalfheim. By that point he couldn't tell if that was normal for them or they were arguing because of Loki's betrayal, but it was getting tiresome.

The abandoned city in the middle of the valley was almost erased from his vision by the shadows, but Clark could still see it. It looked like a dark ancient city, something out of a fantasy movie, kind of creepy now that was empty, but beautifully built. Back then, when it was full of people, it must've been quite the sight.

He looked at it for a long time, almost forgetting the voices arguing behind him, just until he saw something weird over the city.

"Hey. Hey!" Clark called, making everyone stop talking to look. "Look there, can you see anything?"

All of them turned too look to where he was pointing, squinting their eyes to see better.

"I see shadows… And darkness. And, yes, more darkness!" Loki mocked after a few seconds.

To everybody's surprise, Clark agreed with him.

"Yes, but there is something darker than the usual darkness," he said.

And to his own shock, he saw Loki stiffen. The God of Mischief approached the edge of the mountain, trying to see better, then looked back at them.

"We have to leave this place. Now!" Loki said, walking to the three-way path. "Make a choice and let us hope for the best."

"Why, what is there?" Thor asked, approaching the edge too.

Clark was forcing his eyes to try and pierce that darkness, walking closer as well. There was something there, something he couldn't still define, but he knew with absolute certainty that is was big. He could see it sliding down from the far away ceiling over the big city, spreading long tendrils of darkness all over it, as if preparing to embrace the entire thing.

And then eight eyes opened, even darker than the rest of its body.

For some reason, Clark felt dread fill his body. He didn't know what the hell that thing was, but he knew it was dangerous; and it was hunting them.

"NOW!" Loki yelled, making everybody jump scared.

But before they could all run to one of the tunnels, the shadow over the city lunged at them. Clark had no idea how something that big could move that fast, but all he could see was the already dark place becoming even darker; the wind howled for a second and there was a screech.

Thor pushed Jane to a corridor at the same time Clark pushed everybody close to him, not even spending a second to see where he had tossed them. And without looking, he also jumped towards one of the entrances, colliding against Loki as he did it.

At the moment he managed to enter the tunnel, whatever attacked them collided loudly against the mountain and the entire place trembled.

And before any of them could do anything everything started to collapse.

Clark felt pieces of the tunnel falling upon him, the rocks breaking on contact, filling the way out with debris. The sound of the mountain falling apart was terrible, but worse than that was the earthquake-like shaking. He couldn't see where he was, the noise was confusing the only useful sense he had left and the vibrations and the rocks falling on him were beginning to pile up; he needed to get out of there.

Knowing only that he was running away from the tunnel's entrance, Clark began to dig his way, breaking the huge stones with his hands to go through. That was, until his hand hit something a little softer than rocks.

"Curse you, Kryptonian! Stop bumbling around!" Loki yelled, getting up from under the collapsed rocks.

That made him stop; it was just his luck, to be buried in the Dark World with Loki.

"Loki, are you alright?" Clark asked, when the sound of collapsing rocks began to stop. He could vaguely see Loki getting up in the darkness.

"I am unharmed," Loki answered, trying to clean himself from the dust; a pointless exercise, since the tunnel was now filled with it. "But we are not getting back through there."

Clark looked to where he was pointing to see what he already knew: the entrance to the tunnel was blocked. They were separated from the others.

"Do you think everybody is okay?" Clark asked, approaching the pile of collapsed rocks that was blocking their way back. He tried to see a path through them, but there was none.

"I hope not," Loki answered, stopping by his side. "But knowing my luck they are probably fine."

Clark turned to Loki. ""What the hell was that?!"

"You mean the huge monster that buried us here? Most likely one of those spiders I mentioned. A big one."

"That thing wasn't a spider!" Clark exclaimed. "It had more than eight legs and it was the size of that city!"

"Well, I am sure you can make your case to the historians back on Asgard if we survive, but first we have to get away from its nest." Loki studied the blocked path. "If I were you I would not try to move these rocks. The whole thing could fall over our heads."

"I wasn't," Clark answered.

"Then you are already smarter than Thor, because I am absolutely sure he will do something like this."

Clark rolled his eyes. "Thor isn't stup–"

BOOOOM!

The whole place shook again and more rocks fell from the ceiling when something – or someone – hit the mountain. He heard a faint yell from a distance and he was pretty sure he recognized Sif's angry voice.

"Let's just try to find them," Clark sighed, ignoring Loki's smug face as they began to walk down the tunnel.

"That stupid oaf!" Sif snarled. "I cannot believe he tried to open a path using his hammer!"

Sif was angry, but not just angry: she was worried. The reason was the very frail mortal she had just saved from being crushed to death and the fact that, somehow, she was the one that ended up with her, separated from the others.

The last thing she needed right now was another cave in.

"Are you harmed?" Sif asked, trying to see any injury on the mortal.

"I-I'm okay, don't worry," Jane answered, fast. "You-you saved me!"

That was an understatement. Sif couldn't recall any situation when she took so many direct hits to the head as she did now, trying to shield the mortal from the collapsing rocks; being as fast as she was, getting hit, especially repeatedly, was a true novelty.

"Yes, you can say that again," Sif sighed, shaking her head to remove dust from her hair. "The way back is blocked, we have to move forward. Not that I am eager to go back to see if that monster is still waiting for us… We will probably meet them somewhere along the way."

Saying that, Sif grabbed Jane's arm and started to guide her through the dark tunnel, not trusting the mortal to not just fall and die.

"Can you even see where you are going?" Sif asked, curious about human's senses.

"I can, oddly enough," Jane answered, passing over a huge bolder. "It must be because of this thing inside me, because I'm sure I would be blind as a bat here normally."

The Aether inside her, that made sense. It was fortunate, because Sif would hate to have to carry her of all things. They walked in silence for a sometime, not making much progress; humans were slow, after all. Sif was already reconsidering carrying her.

"Thank you," Jane whispered, after a time, snapping Sif out of her thoughts. "For saving me. I know you don't like me, but–"

"Who said I do not like you?" Sif interrupted.

Jane was speechless for a moment, before answering: "W-Well, I just assumed… Because of Thor, you know, Thor and I and before that you and Thor, I mean–"

Sif sighed and stopped her; this was just painful to watch.

"Enough, I understand." Sif gathered her thoughts. "I do not hate you, Jane. I was jealous at first, but as Kal pointed out to me, that is normal. What Thor and I had… It was brief and it was a long time ago. Could it happen again, had you two not met? Maybe, but it is pointless to wonder about that. Thor is my best friend and I wish for him to be happy. If you make him happy, then I wish the best for both of you."

Listening to her own voice saying those words somehow made them even more real. Sif had wondered about that ever since Thor came back from Midgard in love with a mortal. It made her think if she truly loved Thor and, if she did, if she had really lost her chance. She wasn't lying when she admitted jealousy; seeing Jane with Thor was painful. But since her talk with Kal, since spending the night with him, the pain had lessened.

Maybe she did love Thor, a long time ago. But Thor, even being her best friend, never loved her, not in the way she wanted him to. Perhaps they were never meant to be, after all.

"Thor made his choice," Sif said, after a while. "And I will respect it. You have nothing to fear from me."

"Oh, that's… Thank you," Jane stammered.

"Stop thanking me."

"Okay!" Jane agreed, quickly.

Obviously, that wasn't the end of the conversation; humans did feel the need to fill the silence, for some reason.

"So, you and Clark?" Jane asked, making Sif roll her eyes.

Sif's first instinct was to tell her it was none of her business, but at least while the mortal was busy asking nonsensical questions she was less likely to panic and make her life even harder.

"We are just friends, nothing else."

"But you did sleep together," Jane affirmed. "I think everybody on Asgard knows that…"

"It does not make my statement any less true," Sif countered. "We are friends."

"He seems like a good guy," Jane mentioned. "I mean, he is Superman, isn't he?"

"He is a good guy," Sif agreed. "And a very skilled lover."

"I-I don't really need to know that much."

"I thought everybody on Asgard already knew?" Sif joked.

That made Jane laugh. Weirdly enough, Sif didn't feel the need to strangle her now, like the other times she heard her laughing. She called that "progress"; she was moving on, apparently.

"We and Kal are not involved," Sif explained, "nor do we want to be. It does not mean I do not value his companionship. Who knows? Maybe in the future." She moved a big rock out of Jane's way. "Is this concept really so weird in Midgard? Kal was also bothered by it."

"Depends on the person, but usually yes," Jane answered. "It's expected some form of relationship between people when they are sleeping together. Not always, but it is common." Jane smiled. "Maybe that's why people on Earth think you and Thor are married."

Sif rolled her eyes again.

"That was a long time ago and it meant nothing, Midgardians are just meddlesome," Sif explained. "And I was far from being the only woman Thor…" She stopped talking, sensing this was not a topic Thor would like her to disclosure, especially to Jane. "We were not even together, is what I meant."

Her deflection obviously didn't work.

"Has Thor been with many women?" Jane asked, not looking at Sif; the goddess sighed.

"Thor is very old compared to you, Jane, so by your perspective, yes, he has." Jane seemed to become even quieter when she said that, so Sif stopped her and looked in her eyes. "But I have never seen him in love before. You were the first."

And as much as it pained her to admit this, it was true. Thor never truly loved any woman, even if he had been with quite a bit of them.

"Really?" Jane asked, smiling again.

"Really," Sif confirmed. "And he was even engaged before!"

"What?!"

Sif laughed, remembering the story as if it happened yesterday.

"Do not worry, he is not engaged anymore and it happened against his will," Sif explained. "It was some centuries back, when we were in the middle of a quest, in a planet of the Almeracian Empire. As always, there was a fight and Thor is quite the crowd pleaser. So much that he called the attention of Queen Maxima or, at the time, Princess Maxima."

Sif wasn't sure why she was telling this to Jane, but she was having fun. The girl wasn't so bad after all; she was a good listener.

"Almerac is the center of their Empire and is ruled by the House of the Blood Royale. Now, something vital for the understanding of Almerac is that they are a matriarchal society that put a lot of emphasis in procreation." Jane's eyes widened. "The royal house is the product of countless generations of Queens and their worthy mates, always with powerful genes. They take such care in those matters that the House of the Blood Royale became so powerful compared to the common Almeracian as an Asgardian is to a human. And the Queen is the finest example of that."

"How does Thor fit into this?" Jane asked, probably already guessing.

"Thor is strong. He is an Asgardian Prince, son of Odin, and one of the most powerful warriors of all time. Maxima wanted him for herself. So she took him."

"How?!"

Sif sighed. "Thor was not without blame in this… He was seduced quite easily by her and when he woke up he was already in her ship, halfway to Almerac to his wedding."

"This can't be legal!" Jane contested to Sif's amusement.

"I do not think she cared," Sif chuckled. "Not when she had one of the most powerful fleets in the universe and was herself one of the most powerful beings out there. Not a lot of people would argue with her over anything." She shrugged. "Of course, Odin is not just anyone."

"Oh, I bet he wasn't happy, was he?"

"No, he was not. He made a request for his son to be delivered back, which was more of a threat than a proper asking, but at least the Queen of Almerac decided it was better to just send Thor back."

"And the Princess? Did she agree?"

"She did not have much of a choice, not when Heimdall used the Bifrost to bring her ship back to Asgardian space to be greeted by the Allfather himself." Sif laughed. "She released Thor and went back to Almerac, but obviously not before she had the gall to march to the palace and propose to Odin."

"She WHAT?!" Jane exclaimed.

"She proposed to Odin," Sif repeated, laughing. "I was there, I remember as if it were yesterday. She suggested that he got rid of his 'old wife' and married someone younger, prettier and more powerful."

"Jesus fucking Christ… What did Frigga do?"

"That was the first time I saw Frigga trying to summon the armies and Odin trying to appease her," Sif said, still laughing. "We almost went to war, it was a close thing."

"I can't even imagine… Is this Maxima crazy or something?!"

"She is something," Sif agreed, remembering the red haired Almeracian. Funny as that situation had been, the last thing she wanted was too meet that spoiled brat again. "Thor can count himself lucky for avoiding her, I will say that much."

Jane chuckled, kicking a little pebble out of her way as she walked.

"Do you know Thor for a long time?" she asked.

"Since we were children," Sif answered, smiling when she remembered the good old days. "I always dreamed of being a powerful warrior, someone people would sing about in legends ages from now, like the Valkyries. And the quickest way to get noticed was to challenge someone worthy."

"Like the Prince of Asgard?"

"Like the Prince of Asgard," Sif grinned. "So I tried to infiltrate the palace to challenge him, but I did not go very far without being noticed."

"The guards caught you?" Jane laughed.

"No, not the guards. Loki." Sif noticed as Jane's face lost the mirth.

"Let me guess, he tossed you in jail," Jane huffed.

Sif sighed, not exactly having the arguments or the will to defend Loki.

"He was not always like this, you know?" Sif said, remembering Loki as a child, with a bright and mischievous smile. "Before becoming what he became, before doing what he did, Loki was… He was our friend. A prankster, a trickster, but a friend nonetheless." Sif stopped talking for a moment. "I do not know if I could have done something different, if I could have been a better friend… I do not know why he did what he did, nor do I know if it could have been stopped, but back then he was not what he is now."

Jane was listening with interest, no doubt searching for some understanding in Thor and Loki's relationship.

"Loki helped me to get into the palace unnoticed," Sif continued, "until I could face Thor. I challenged him and he accepted. And we had our duel. " She smiled, remembered how badly both of them fought. "It was awful, neither of us had any idea of how to fight properly, but we did enough of a ruckus to draw Odin and Frigga to us."

"Oh, no!"

"Those were my exact thoughts too," Sif commented. "I thought for certain the Allfather would toss me in the dungeons or banish me for attacking his son. Instead, he and Frigga invited me to dinner and allowed me to train with Thor and Loki ever since." She shrugged. "We became friends."

Which was why Loki's betrayal hurt so much. The worst thing about betrayals was that it never came from your enemies.

"We are going to make this right," Sif announced suddenly, looking at Jane. "We will remove the Aether from you and then stop Malekith, you have my word."

And then, maybe, they could solve this whole thing with Loki as well.

"So tell me, Kal-El, where were you when my Mother was over exhausting herself to a coma none of us know if she will recover from?" Loki quipped after several moments of walking in silence.

Clark closed his eyes and held a sigh, already expecting something like this sooner or later.

"I was there, trying to save her," Clark answered, calmly. "Where were you?"

There was a second of silence, almost as if Loki was surprised by the comeback.

"Rotting in a cell," he countered, dramatically. "Put there by my own brother, no less."

"For trying to conquer Earth and killing countless innocent people," Clark added, serious, raising an eyebrow. "Don't forget that important part."

Loki just waved his hand.

"Dying by my hands, dying a year from now, a hundred… What's the difference? Mortal's lives are a heartbeat."

"All the more reason to protect them," Clark answered, beginning to lose his patience.

The predatorial smiled in Loki's face was an indicative he had noticed that.

"Oh, yes, Mother did mention you had a personal affinity for humans," Loki needled. "How was it, being raised by a lesser form of life in such an underdeveloped Realm? Is the fact that mortals are so fragile and quick to die what inspired you to protect them so fiercely?"

"I don't know. Is the fact that you were raised by a superior form of life what inspired you to betray the family that adopted you and loved you like you were one of them?"

This time, Clark was the one who noticed Loki's discomfort.

"You understand nothing," Loki snarled a moment later. "I did not betray Asgard, I merely acted upon the lie I was fed my entire life: that I was born to rule."

"In my experience, nobody is born to do anything," Clark countered. "In fact, it was that very belief that proved to be Krypton's doom. It removed the element of choice, of freedom." He looked at Loki. "Our actions are what define us, Loki, and even though you believed you were born to be a king, you did not act like one. That is why you were in that cell."

Loki chuckled, shaking his head.

"Do you truly believe that? That you are no better than the mortals you so dutifully protect?" he asked. "They are like children, ignorant, weak. If you wanted, you could bring that entire Realm to its knees in the blink of an eye!"

Well, it should be no surprise that Loki clearly thought very little of humans and very much about himself.

"Even if you were right and humans were no more than children, which is just not true, how do you expect them to be any better if you take away their chance of growing, of learning?"

"Oh, I'm all for the 'burnt hand teaches best' kind of philosophy, but if you do not draw the line somewhere the children are going to burn down the house and everyone in it." Loki turned to him. "Have you actually seen what they are doing? Wars everywhere, playing with Infinity Stones without even knowing what they are, creating abominations such as Dr. Banner, developing weapons capable of breaking their planet like an egg, challenging the universe when they can barely fight their own gravity… If nobody does anything, they'll be extinct in less than a century."

"And I'm supposed to believe you care about that?" Clark asked, sarcastically.

"I care about wasted potential and they do have that by the loads," Loki answered, grinning. "Potential to serve a worthy king."

"And what makes you, or me, worthy of ruling them all, Loki?" Clark asked.

"Power," Loki summarized.

Clark chuckled, shaking his head.

"Then that means you should be serving the Hulk, then."

That made Loki trip, but he regained his balance pretty quickly.

"Power goes beyond the ability to smash people," Loki retorted. "It has to do with leadership, with intelligence, nothing a beast like him could ever hope to have."

"Convenient," Clark mocked.

"Come now, have you never wondered all the good you could accomplish if you decided to get rid of this self-loathing?" Loki questioned, ignoring completely Clark's commentary. "If you stopped the mortals from killing each other, if you guided them towards a better path? You could stop all their suffering, all their misery, and yet you choose not to. Why?"

Yes, Clark had wondered that. How could he not? Loki asked if he knew what humans were doing and the answer was a very emphatic "yes"; he had no way not to. Wars, crime, evil of the likes he wished he could forget.

Like Loki said, he had the power to do things better, to change things, to just take what he thought it was wrong and correct it. But he also knew that if he did this he would have to fight the very people he wanted to protect. And war… War was never good, even when fought for the right causes.

There was also the fact that he couldn't be matched. If he took Earth, like Loki suggested, if he became a king and did all he judged necessary to end evil on Earth, things would well; just until the point they weren't. Power had a way to corrupt people and absolute power would corrupt absolutely. Slowly, gradually, day by day and he wouldn't even notice. And if he became a tyrant, a tyrant blind to his own crimes, who would stop him? Who would be powerful enough to show him he was wrong? Because Clark knew that, despite what some thought, he was not a god who could do no wrong. He was a person and people made mistakes.

Becoming the very thing he was trying to stop would be a terrible ending for this tale. So no, he was just fine doing what he was already doing.

"Why would I become a king?" Clark said after a while. "I can do all that without the need to take over Earth. I can save them, help them, give them something to aspire to. Give them hope. Becoming Earth's ruler just seem like a lot of trouble for no good reason. And I seriously don't know why someone would."

"You are kidding! Why would someone not?! To be respected, adored, loved? To have power in your hands!"

"You already were all that before trying to take Earth, Loki," Clark countered. "You just didn't think it was enough because from where you were standing, Thor's shadow seemed too big. And then you tossed all that away. Was it really worth it?"

This time Loki wasn't so eager to answer.

Still, even though Clark managed to shut Loki up for the moment, his words seemed to echo in his brain while they walked. Because no matter how much trust he had on humanity, no matter how much he loved Earth and no matter how much he knew there was a lot more good than bad, sometimes… Sometimes he wanted nothing more than to shake that whole planet until all that was wrong with it was tossed away.

And he knew that if he ever did that, if he ever allowed himself to go that way, he would never come back.

Silver-tongue indeed, Clark sighed in silence.

His internal musings were soon interrupted when he started listening for movement not too far away. He stopped Loki.

"I hear voices," he whispered, when the God of Lies looked at him puzzled.

Loki nodded and they advanced, steeping lightly. The sound grew louder at each step and soon Clark could distinguish different voices and steps. And when the tunnel ended, at the other side of the mountain, they finally saw the source of the noises.

A group of Dark Elves patrolling the valley that grew around a big temple right in the middle of it.

"The Eastern Spires," Loki whispered, as they approached the way down to the valley, crouched so they could remain unnoticed. "The center of the Dark Elves kingdom, where the throne of the Witch-Queen Alflyse is located."

Clark's eyes widened as he looked at the valley in front of him, full of stone spires growing from the ground all they way up, until even his vision couldn't see. It was like a forest of dark onyx, filling the entire valley between them and the huge ziggurat-shaped temple in the middle.

He wasn't a fan of the darkness and the underground, but even Clark had to admit it was a beautiful view, even if harsh; much like Alflyse herself. He felt a pang in his heart, knowing he was looking at the last remains of Alflyse's people. A people that no longer had a Queen to look out for them.

"I'll kill the ones on the right, you kill the ones on the left," Loki said, materializing a knife out of nothing and already standing.

Clark grabbed him and pulled him back, almost making him fall; he did not like that, by the look on his face.

"What?!" he snarled.

"No killing," Clark clarified.

"You are joking!" Loki laughed, as if he couldn't believe in what he heard. "This is war! They are the enemy!"

"Malekith is the enemy. Those are not his soldiers," Clark pointed out, seeing the differences in their armors, weaponry and colors; obviously not the same soldiers that attacked Asgard. Those Dark Elves in the valley were Alflyse's people, not Malekith.

Alflyse died for them, he would not repay that debt by being responsible for her people's death, especially not while he had a choice.

"So?! They are Dark Elves! They want us all dead!"

"And if you meet them in the battlefield I will not stop you from fighting," Clark retorted. "But killing them now, while they are defenseless? That I will not allow."

"Oh, that is all I need, a Kryptonian with qualms about killing non-Kryptonians! The things my bother is able to find baffle me!"

"They are vassals of the same woman who gave her life to save your mother," Clark said, harshly, trying to evoke some sense of compassion on Loki.

He should've known better.

"Better her than me!" Loki exclaimed. "If she was alive, I would send her flowers, but she is not. Dying here because of your misplaced morals will change nothing!"

Clark sighed, massaging his temples. "We don't need to fight. I can fly us there."

"I'd rather die." Loki summarized what he thought about that plan. He looked down again and sighed, his dagger disappearing into thin air. "If you insist in this foolishness, we will do it my way."

As he said that, there was a brief green glow and both of them disappeared; in their places there was a pair of Dark Elves. Now that was impressive, Clark thought, looking at his own hands, noticing the different skin tone.

"Follow my lead," Loki said, before starting to go down to the valley.

Still looking at his own changed body, that somehow was even able to reproduce the sounds of an armor he was pretty sure he was not really wearing, Clark followed.

"How exactly does this work?" he asked, surprising himself again at how different his voice sounded.

"The illusion? Do you truly want me to summarize centuries of magical knowledge in a couple of minutes? You sound like Thor more and more at each moment."

"I don't need to know specifics," Clark complained, quite unnecessarily in his opinion. "Just… Is there any flaw in them? Any way for them to notice us?"

"Illusions are Mother's specialty and she taught me well," Loki bragged. "But everything has weak points, obviously. If people know what to look for, what to notice, it is possible to see through an illusion. The more complex the illusion is, the more flaws it will have. The more magic I pour into it, the more difficult to find such flaws." Loki gestured towards them at the moment they arrived at the first stone spires. "I am capable of fooling even Heimdall, when I want to. We should be fine, unless you start doing something stupid."

Clark rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help his anxiety when they passed the first few Dark Elves; Loki, on the other hand, just nodded, greeting the soldiers, as if he did things like this every day. As far as he knew, that could very well be the case.

No one stopped them as they moved between the stone spires, going towards the temple. No alerts were given, no weapons were raised; they were passing through as if there were no defenses at all. It was only a matter of getting in the temple, finding the Aether Chamber and then finding Jane.

That should be enough to attract Malekith to them.

Soon, the ziggurat temple grew large in front of them. It was as big as mountain, made of dark stone, going up so high that the its top was lost in the darkness just like the thousands spires around it. He and Loki marched towards the entrance stairs like they owned the place, not hesitating for a second so they wouldn't draw any attention.

The temple was huge, but Clark didn't actually notice just how much until they entered it. They could fit, easily, several SHIELD Helicarriers in it. He had no words to express how awestruck he was.

Loki wasn't as impressed.

"Not much use to have such a big temple without anyone to visit it, don't you agree?" he asked, cruelly. "Anyway, I remember this place from Mother's memories."

"She was actually here? Inside the temple?"

"Better place to look for ancient magic. The temple that housed the Witch-Queen's personal collection. And she had the advantage to come here when there were no Dark Elves around, before they woke up from their hibernation." He tapped his chin. "If I remember correctly…. The Aether Chamber is right in the middle, so let us walk faster."

The temple was even darker than the outside, full of statues of Dark Elves and weird beasts that Clark supposed belonged to the previous universe. There were murals depicting beautiful pieces of art, strange sceneries that didn't exist anymore. This place wasn't just a temple, it was a piece of memory of a universe long gone.

And there, right in the center of the temple in a circular room, atop a pedestal, was the Aether Chamber they were looking for.

It was, pretty much, a miniature of the Aether Chamber Malekith used in the previous war. Two pieces of dark stone, in the form of a square prism, almost touching one another, but leaving an empty space in the middle to house the Aether. The difference between that and the one Malekith used, aside from the size, was the golden metal around the stone and the handle on the top, giving it the appearance of a small old-fashioned lantern.

"There it is," Loki whispered. "Now we only need the girl and someone that knows how to remove that parasite from her."

"And who are you two?" spoke a grave voice behind them.

Clark and Loki turned immediately, ready to fight, only to be greeted not by a person, but by what seemed to be cracked glass; except that there was no window anywhere, it was like the very reality in front of them was fracturing.

"The Mirror Dimension. Ever present, but undetected," Loki explained to a clueless Clark, looking apprehensive. "A sorcerer."

"It seems so are you," said the voice. "And yet, I am not familiar with you and I trained almost every sorcerer in this Realm."

And then, like a window breaking, the borders between the dimensions tore apart and a Dark Elf crossed, the broken space behind him going back to normal as he did it. Clark was ready to fight, already gathering his limited energy to end this as quick as possible, knowing just how bad it was to be caught in a combat situation without his powers. But instead of attacking, the Dark Elf simply stopped in front of them.

The first thing Clark noticed was that he was old. Granted, he hadn't seen many Dark Elves to compare, but his face was distinctly different than Alflyse's or Malekith's. It had the same burning from the light, and there was no beard – he didn't even know if they could grow one –, but there were wrinkles and his eyes were almost fading. He had a long, white hair, and was wearing black robes. What truly gave away his age, however, was the way he was holding his staff, almost as if he couldn't stand without support.

"I may be going blind with all the light in this universe," the old Dark Elf said, "but I still can see through illusions when you are putting so little effort in maintaining them."

Saying this, he bashed his staff against the ground. And just like that, the illusions around them glowed green one last time before disappearing.

"Now can I kill him?" Loki asked, materializing his dagger again, never taking his eyes from the old Dark Elf.

Instead of looking scared, yelling for help or preparing to fight, the Dark Elf just laughed; a hoarse, rough laugh, but a real one. Clark really didn't know what to think.

"The impertinence of the very young," he said. "Always so ready to spill blood. And yet, the temple guards are still very much alive. Why is that?"

"Funnier to see you all dying slowly than to end your suffering," Loki taunted, before Clark made him stop.

"There was no need to fight," Clark explained. "No need to hurt anyone."

The Dark Elf stared at him for a long time with those near-blind eyes of him.

"Before you covered yourselves with those illusions you mentioned that the soldiers around the temple are vassals of the woman who died to save his mother," the old sorcerer said, seriously, pointing at Loki; he was watching them since that moment? "Was that woman Alflyse?"

Clark stared back almost as long and then nodded. "Yes."

There was a long pause.

"Do you mind telling me how did that happen?"

"Malekith threw those black hole grenades against us during Asgard's invasion," Clark answered. "We survived them, but we were thrown on a planet full of Klyntar. Alflyse bought us time to escape." Clark looked down. "But she stayed behind to do it."

Once again, the Dark Elf sorcerer stared at him in silence.

"Why did she do it?" he finally asked.

"She wanted to rest with the honor she had left," Clark said, remembering her words. "I think… I think she realized that destroying this entire universe to save what was left of her race wasn't the right thing to do."

They stayed quiet for so long that Clark wondered if he was going to say anything else at all. And then, against all odds, he smiled.

"She remembered what we once were," he said, smiling sadly. "Before we became monsters in children's stories."

The sorcerer began to walk and Loki and Clark moved out of his way, without taking their eyes from him. He made no movements to attack them, though, he simply walked to the Aether Chamber and, slowly, took it in his hands.

"I taught her since she was a little child," he said. "Taught her magic, politics, war, history… She became the greatest Queen in generations. And then the universe ended." He looked at them. "We thought we survived, that we were too strong to be killed, chosen for a higher purpose. But the truth was that we allowed fear and despair to end what we were even more thoroughly than the end of our universe."

The old Dark Elf stopped in front of them, holding the Aether Chamber.

"I will help you take out the Aether from inside the mortal. All I ask is your help in stopping Malekith."