1 year later
October 10, 2012
On a snowy mountain, a tall angelic man with long wavy black hair and majestic black wings could be seen chopping wood with an axe.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
But suddenly, a man landed beside him wearing Asgardian armour, with a hammer in his hand.
"Eldrin my friend, is that you? You have changed quite a lot" Thor spoke in astonishment at Eldrin's new appearance.
Eldrin, who was chopping wood stopped and turned to look towards Thor with a smile.
"It's been quite some time Thor, Are you well?" asked Eldrin.
When Eldrin asked that, Thor's mood visibly worsened and he said with sadness.
"I wish I was, but I lost my brother Loki a year ago; he fell from the bridge of Gungnir"
Eldrin looked at Thor with an amused smile and said.
"Loki is alive and well Thor, he tricked you yet again"
Thor thought that Eldrin said that to give him hope, and then said with a serious voice filled with certainty.
"That's impossible; he fell into the abyss"
"No one can survive falling there"
Eldrin, already knowing that Thor wouldn't believe him said with a smile.
"Follow me"
And then he flew towards a certain prison at rapid speeds, and Thor followed, although confused.
After 10 minutes of rapid flight, they finally reached the prison.
Eldrin walked towards the Astartes stationed there to guard the place and said politely.
"Sorry to interrupt you gentleman, but could you bring me Loki of Asgard here?"
The Astartes didn't even ask for the reason; they simply saluted and went inside to bring Loki.
Eldrin's status was equal to or even superior to Erskine's due to his immense contributions to humanity; he was treated like a god, even though Eldrin did not like that.
He had tried many times before to explain that he was just a man.
But eventually, he gave up as he couldn't really change people's cemented view of him.
After a few minutes, the two Astartes returned with Loki in tow.
Thor's eyes widened with shock, and he immediately rushed towards Loki in pure joy and relief, giving him a brotherly hug.
"I thought I lost you brother" said Thor, who was filled with happiness due to Loki's survival.
Loki's gaze was strange.
He had been in this prison for 1 year.
That man Eldrin, constantly visited him and talked to him about all sorts of things.
At first, the conversations seemed to be a bit random, unrelated to him.
He talked about men, who in order to avoid the truth deluded themselves with fake goals, fake ideologies, fake beliefs, and in the process they hurt not only themselves but the people they love too.
Eventually, it became too late for them to return to reality because returning to reality also means regretting their actions and admitting their imperfections and mistakes, something that prideful men find very hard to do.
And after a certain point, they had become what they deluded themselves into believing, forever lost in their own delusions.
Visit after visit, conversation after conversation, I started to realise, that I could relate to those things; apparently my so-called glorious purpose was my delusion, my shield against the bitter truth of my existence.
"Ruling and being a king was not my true glorious purpose, but something I created due to jealousy and selfish reasons"
"Are you alright brother?" asked Thor, concerned about the dazed Loki.
Thor's voice immediately brought Loki back from his daze, and he then said with an unusually genuine smile.
"I'm alright brother, I was just thinking of something"
Thor nodded and then said.
"Come on brother lets go home, father will be so glad to see you're well" He then turned to look at Eldrin and said with gratitude.
"Eldrin, I thank you for taking care of my brother, but now we must leave"
Eldrin answered with an amused smile.
"Of course, you will be doing us a great service by taking away this mischievous brat"
On Mars, Sector Two was a giant heavily fortified futuristic fortress that was built half a year ago after the human empire formed an alliance with the Inhumans.
This fortress is mainly a gathering place for the Leaders of the allied civilizations.
The alliance consists of the Wakandians, Talokanil, and the Inhumans.
Inside a room, on a large circular table sat 4 figures: it was Erskine, Namor, Black Bolt, and T'Chaka
The atmosphere was quite grim.
Erskine broke the silence.
"We have detected an alien fleet too large, coming towards our solar system, worst of all, we do not know their intentions or their purpose"
Namor's gaze hardened, and he asked.
"Mr Erskine, how much time do we have until they reach our solar system?"
Erskine said with a solemn tone.
"21 days, that's all we have to prepare for the possible invasion"
The leaders gaze turned grim when they heard that.
T'Chaka couldn't help but ask.
"Do we know of their Strength?"
Erskine signed when he heard that and answered.
"Based on their number alone, we are outnumbered; victory will be difficult; their technological might is uncertain; however I doubt it's inferior to ours"
After a few moments, Erskine said
"I propose we make preparations for war as fast as we can, and make evacuation plans in case we fail; we still have to preserve our people as leaders after all, it is our duty"
"And if we do fail to win this war, we will send our people to Proxima Centauri, it is the closest solar system, with our technology evacuating our people there shouldn't be much of a problem"
The leaders, after thinking for a while agreed to the proposal, knowing full well that it was the best decision they could make in their current circumstances.
Erskine, seeing their agreement then said to Adam.
"Prepare the interstellar arcs for global evacuation towards Proxima Centauri immediately"
The other leaders also commanded their subordinates to evacuate their people too, and hurriedly left for preparations.
After they left, Erskine was the only one who remained.
Sign~
"We can't catch a break with those alien invasions, I'm starting to think that Earth is cursed to attract misfortune"