Be Wary of Strangers

Archive

Part 1
Loki trudges up the steep mountain path. Pelting rain drives the ground to mud beneath him. Scraggly brush and sharp, stunted trees threaten to hasten his stumbling steps into the gawping mouth of the gorge to his right. Thunder echoes through the mountain. Lightning flashes and illuminates the carcasses of unfortunate animals caught on jagged shelves of earth below.

Part 2
The faint pulse of the heart monitor acts as an oddly comforting catalyst to wakefulness. For a moment—the moment that jolted you from a fitful doze—the heart monitor had paused three beats too long.

Part 3
You step from the carriage, clutching your pathetically small bag of belongings to your chest. Spitting rain and flashes of lightning cast the odd mansion and surrounding trees in leering shadows. It almost seems lopsided; the second and third floors have ceiling-to-floor windows, while the first story has regular sized ones. The half of the mansion hugging the mountainside has sick-green and red creepers crawling up it, while the half extending away from the mountain seems to be under construction.

Part 4
As he opens the door, Loki feels a pang of guilt. “She’s just another mortal,” he mutters to himself. “I do not envy her task.”
Loki steps into the unlit room. Pillars and alcoves seem to make up the entirety, forming a loose sort of maze. He navigates it easily despite the bones—small, most likely having belonged to rodents—unlit candles, and shattered wood planks littering the floor. “Must you make such a mess, brother?” he calls to the shadows.

Part 5
When you wake, food is the first thing on your mind.
You head downstairs, noting the taut silence of the halls. So far as you can tell, you’re the only one in the place.
As you pass by the door that leads to the basement, you wince. What if Loki is still down there? What if he's…well, dead?

Part 6
The next day—an agonizingly long handful of hours later, as neither of you were able to sleep after the visit with the vampire—you sit across from Loki. The both of you nurse mugs of tea. Silence stretches between you as you both look into your mugs, lost in thought. Somewhat afraid to break the silence, you clear your throat. Loki glances up sharply.

Part 7
After the second night of howling and attacks on the house, you’re desperate. During the day, you went outside to see the damage done to the door. It was bad. You don’t think it could handle another night.

Part 8
You’re upstairs in the library when you hear the front door scrape open. You rub your shoulder and the knife you have strapped to your side. Since visiting the vampire, and the wolf attacks, you just haven’t felt safe without it.

Part 9
You wake when a heavy pounding echoes through the house. Moaning, you sit up, rubbing your eyes and feeling around for your slippers. When you can’t find them, you yawn and force your eyes open.

Part 10
After a horrendously long night—day?—with Thor, Loki was ready for bed. He just couldn’t figure out why Thor kept slipping. Mentions of the past made Thor hurt, and flip him into animal mode. He was a bit dark and demonic a few minutes after feasting, but after that was fine. Feeding off fresh blood, contrary to Endymion’s advice, seemed to make him stay in that demonic state longer than feeding off of refrigerated blood.

Part 11
Unbeknownst to you, a day and a half passes. Suddenly cold, you wake. You stare at the wall for a few seconds, not sure what you’re seeing. The wall isn’t that of the basement, or any other room in the house. It’s far more…natural. Stone, with small bits of dried moss clinging to it.

Part 12
Sharp, icy air drives the breath from his lungs, clings to him like a blanket. Thor struggles into a sitting position. He’s on a mountain range, surrounded by rocks and stumpy trees laden in frost. Not snow; frost. Stars glint faintly overhead, covered in a thin haze. He sees no moon.