Chapter 38

We landed on Wiltrith Z and all I could smell was salty water. The planet was like Earth, 70% of the surface was covered in water. But the planet was a lot bigger than Earth and the citizens looked more like bug people than humans. They were humanoids and had proper functioning brains that they used to build cities and stuff, they just looked like giant ant people.

"Earthlings!" A raspy voice called out from behind us. Loki had Heimdall land us in the front yard of the King's mansion. We turned around and watched the King and his guards rush towards us, fear in their big black eyes.

"They have summoned him." The King gasped as he bent forward to catch his breath. 

"Who?" I asked as I crossed my arms. Loki tensed up a little and the King inhaled as he stood back up straight.

"Grabdir!" The King cried out.

"Who is that?" I asked as I looked over at Loki. I didn't know a lot about these planets like Loki did. He was my informant during our missions. Loki sighed and took my hand and pulled me away from the King and his men. He created enough distance between us so that the King couldn't hear us.

"Grabdir is a Primal." He informed me as he crossed his arms.

"Which meeeaannns?" I asked, raising a brow.

"Which means God. These....humanoid creatures have different Gods than actual humans and Asgardians. They have something called Primals. These Primals will sneak into the dreams and thoughts of the creatures and whisper sweet nothings to them until they finally break and summon them." Loki explained as he shook his head at the thought.

"So, can it be killed?" I asked him, crossing my arms.

"Yes, but it will take effort and time. And then we have to remove all of the blood infused summoning stones from it to ensure it is never summoned again." Loki nodded.

"I'm sorry, blood infused summoning stones?" I asked, tilting my head to the side a little.

"That is how they summon these Primals. They make a sacrifice of a virgin and collect their blood and forge that into multiple stones that they place in specific ways to summon specific Primals." He explained as he uncrossed his arms and put his hands on his hips.

"Seems like a lot to do just to summon a God. Do they at least bring or do anything for the people?" I asked as I glanced behind Loki and to the King. He and his men began making their way towards us.

"The Primals promise their worshipers the world and once summoned...they take it from them. Primals are evil through and through." Loki said before looking back to the King and his men. He stood next to me and the King stared at us with desperate eyes as he fumbled with a locket in his hands.

"Please stop him. H-He's already taken out one city. The citizens of Noctuem never stood a chance." The King begged.

"We will." I assured him as I nodded.

"T-Thank you." The King smiled.

"Do you need any information about Grabdir?" He asked as he looked between Loki and I.

"No, we do not." Loki said as he took my hand. We disappeared and reappeared above a vast ocean. The cool breeze hit my skin and I inhaled the fresh air as I looked around.

"Where are we?" I asked Loki as he let my hand go.

"Noctuem." He said as he looked around and furrowed his brows. 

"Grabdir is a water Primal." He added.

"Jesus..." I softly said as I looked down to the ocean. I could see the faint outlines of what used to be buildings. The Primal had completely flooded and washed away a whole city.

"Where is he?" I asked as I looked up and over at Loki.

"There." Loki nodded to my left. I turned and watched as the water began to ripple and bubbles surfaced. I clenched my jaw and braced myself for what was to come. A small head slowly crept out of the water and it resembled a small red octopus. The rest of it floated to the surface and it stared at us with it's big blue eyes.

"The...Primal is an octopus?" I half laughed. I felt bad because it had apparently done so much destruction but I couldn't take it seriously because it was a small little sea creature to me.

"Nope." Loki said, popping the P and taking my hand. He pulled me upwards as he flew higher and wrapped his arms around me from behind as he tensed his body.

"What are yo-" 

The water below us exploded and a deep roar followed as massive waves crashed into one another. I flinched back and Loki tightened his grip on me as I watched with wide eyes. The small octopus began to lift out of the water and I realized it was sitting on the head of the Primal. The massive blue scaly creature slowly stood up out of the water and roared once more, the force of it's breath pushing us back a little. I gripped Loki's hands around me and turned my head to the left and looked down as I closed my eyes, shielding them from the water that splashed over us. I opened my eyes and they went wide at the sight.

This Primal stood at least 500 feet tall, had two giant red eyes that were focused on us, multiple tentacles came from everywhere on it's body, the upper half of it's body looked like a deformed sea creature but the lower half looked humanoid. It had two legs like a human and stood in the water, towering over the surface below it. It was covered in dark blue scales but had no signs of gills and seemed to be breathing pretty okay out of the water. It's head was shaped like an octopus but it had sharp fins sticking out of the sides, like ears.

One of it's tentacles reached up and slithered on it's head, like a snake. It grabbed the small octopus and I clenched my jaw, knowing it wasn't going to end well for the little guy. It held it at eye height and stared at the creature before roaring and then throwing it to the side. The poor octopus flew at high speed and then hit the water, exploding in a bloody mess.

"Jesus fucking Christ." I gasped as I looked back at the Primal.

"Who are you?" Grabdir asked us. It's voice was deep and sounded water logged.

"I am Loki Odinson! King of Asgard, God of Mischief!" Loki shouted out. The amounts of water falling from the creature and to the ocean was like a whole other ocean itself. It was also so loud I could barely hear Loki yelling right next to me.

"And the female?" Grabdir asked, his large eyes fixating on me. My heart stopped in my chest and I clenched my jaw as Loki let me go. This was like nothing I've ever faced before. This terrified me.

"Announce yourself as royalty and a Goddess." Loki suddenly said in my head. I glanced over at him and then looked back at the giant Primal staring me down. I inhaled deeply and stood tall as I stared back at the Primal, trying to show strength I didn't have.

"I am Alex, Wife of Loki and Goddess of Elements!" I shouted out. I wasn't exactly sure how Loki wanted me to announce that I was royal, but being married to a King made enough sense.

"You are not Primals. You are a different breed of Gods... What purpose do you have here?" He asked us, his tentacles slithering at his sides like he wouldn't control them.

"We have come to ask you to return to your realm and leave the people of Wiltrith Z be!" Loki shouted out. The water slowly stopped falling from the Primal and silence filled the air around us. Grabdir began laughing, his deep voice echoing all around us.

"The people of Wiltrith Z have summoned me! They worship me!" He bellowed as he held out two tentacles, motioning to the destroyed city below him.

"You lied to them! You should not have to lie to be worshiped!" Loki scoffed as he crossed his arms. 

"You dare insult me?!" Grabdir yelled out. He threw two tentacles towards us and I darted left as one went through Loki's illusion of himself. I gripped my fists and dodged another swing from the tentacles and then spotted the real Loki behind Grabdir.

"You do not belong here, Grabdir." Loki said, pulling the Primal's attention behind him. He swung another tentacle and Loki split into 10 different illusions, confusing the being.

"You belong in the realm of Primals with the other unwanted false Gods." Loki smirked. The Primal let out a deafening roar and began swinging all of his tentacles around, attempting to find the real Loki. I looked down below us to the underwater city and furrowed my brows as I began to feel something. Wiltrith Z was one of the planets I could manipulate elements on because we often did trading with them. I'm not sure what we traded, but I knew S.H.I.E.L.D was in regular contact with them and that meant they shared things with us too. Things like scientific information. It also helped that most of their elements were just the same as Earth's own elements.

"Alex!" Loki yelled out. I looked over at him just as a tentacle came crashing down on me. It knocked me into the water and gripped around me as it yanked me back up. I gasped for air once we broke through the surface and groaned in pain as Grabdir tightened his grip around me. His tentacle was wet yet sticky and it felt disgusting being touched by it. The Primal lifted me up then quickly slammed me back towards the water and I knew I was going to meet the same fate as the little octopus. I wasn't able to phase through the Primal because he was made up of something I couldn't control. He was from another realm.

I forced my arms out of his grip and then put my hands on the top of hit tentacle as I pushed myself upwards. I looked over at Loki and realized he was too busy fighting off the other tentacles so he couldn't help me. I wiggled my legs to try and help myself as I pushed and pushed. I flew out of his sticky grip right before he crashed his tentacle fist into the water again. I clenched my jaw and exhaled hard from my nose as the tentacle came flying back out of the water. I dodged and Loki split into more illusions, each one holding a long dagger and smirking at the Primal.

 Grabdir threw the tentacle he had on me towards the illusions and Loki darted around, slashing each arm every chance he got. He continued to pump out more illusions as he danced around the Primal, hurting it. I licked my lips and looked down to the ocean floor once again. I lifted my arms up and bent them behind my shoulders, my open palms facing the water behind me. I felt the large buildings below us and gripped my hands as I forced them from their foundations and through the water. I let out a harsh scream through my clenched teeth as I pulled one in each hand, bringing it the the surface. I rested the tops of my hands on my shoulders and took a few more breaths before inhaling hard. I threw my right hand out towards Grabdir, forcing the building fully out of the water and towards the Primal. I spun it in the air and the very top of it impaled the Primal in the side, causing it to let out a loud scream.

He reached one tentacle down and yanked the building out of him, his blood gushing down into the blue water. Loki took the opportunity to slash the beast across the eye, blinding him. He threw a tentacle out and smacked Loki away from him and down into the water. I inhaled hard as he hit the water and disappeared in the bloody mess. I could still feel him alive and well, so I knew he was fine. I threw my left hand out at the Primal, throwing the second building at him. He put a tentacle up to block it so I put both hands together and forced the building to hit him faster and harder. It tore through the tentacle and stabbed him right in stomach. He let out another scream and Loki appeared at my side, drenched in blood and water.

"You good?" I asked as I leaned forward to catch my breath.

"Always. You?" He asked as he put his hand on my upper back. I nodded and flashed him a small smile. We both turned our attention back to the Primal just as he threw his tentacles at us again. Loki pushed me to the right and dashed right to avoid the disgusting thing. But he didn't see the other tentacle Grabdir had thrown and that one hit me, sending me into the water again. I held my breath and dove deeper as the large arm came crashing down into the water, narrowly hitting me.

I suddenly felt a cluster of elements that didn't belong at the bottom of the ocean. Humanoid life clusters. The tentacle lifted past me, causing me to tumble with the waves, and then lifted out of the water. I lifted my right hand and spread my fingers out as I held my palm next to my head. I pushed the water away from my head, creating my own little pocket of air to breath in. I inhaled through my nose and then looked up to see more Loki illusions tricking the Primal.

"Are you okay??" Loki asked me through thoughts.

"Always." I replied.

"But I can feel life down here." I explained as I swam down towards the ruined city.

"Well, you are in the ocean." Loki replied. I smiled and rolled my eyes as I floated over the broken street.

"Like actual citizen life. They might be trapped somewhere in a pocket of air." I replied as I looked around the destruction. The city looked like New York, but on a smaller scale. Tall sky scrapers leaned on one another and smaller buildings were crushed by the weight of the water. Windows were busted out and glass, debris, dead bodies of animals and people, and cars floated all around me. It was terrifying to see.

"Can you handle our little friend up there alone for a few minutes?" I asked as I swam forward and around a floating car. There was a family of 4 still in it, all being held in by their seatbelts. The children looked no older than 10 years old. It was absolutely heartbreaking.

"Please, take your time." Loki sarcastically said. I rolled my eyes again as I swam under a floating wall that was torn from a nearby building. I continued to follow the feeling through the small city and ended up in front of a tall apartment building. I pushed myself back a little as a large school of fish swam past me and then swam towards the entrance of the building. I swam through the broken glass and looked around the lobby, narrowing my eyes as I felt for the presence. I pinned it in the basement of the building.

"Still good?" I asked Loki as I passed through the lobby and down to the bottom floor.

"Of course."

"I'm in the basement of what I think is an apartment building. It seems to have survived the flooding.." I said as I let my feet touch the cement floor and looked around the storage room.

"For the most part." I added as I watched broken cement from the floor on the other side of the room float by.

"Be careful." Loki replied. I spotted a cage full of more storage junk and realized the feeling was coming from there. I inhaled and grabbed the nearest pillar to gently push myself forward and swam towards it. I grabbed the cage door and tried to pull it open but it was locked on the outside. I put my hand out and tore the lock off of the cage and let it float off beside me. I pulled the door open and swam inside as I examined the area. My eyes fell to a flipped over row boat in the corner and I raised a brow as I swam to it. I grabbed the side of the cage and held myself in place as I knelt down, further examining the cage.

"I'm scared Annila." A small voice cried out. My eyes went wide and quickly stood up and threw my hands out, pushing all of the water away from the boat, creating a small area with oxygen in it. I knelt back down and pried my fingers under the boat, lifting it. I heard screaming coming from both kids trapped under there and my heart broke for them. I pulled the boat up and threw it to the left, exhaling hard as my eyes fell to the kids laying on their sides. They were clinging on to one another, their eyes tightly shut and their mouths closed, holding their breaths. They looked around the ages of 8 and 6.

"It's okay." I softly said as I knelt back down.

"I created a pocket of air for us." I said as I gestured to the area around us. The kids slowly opened their eyes and then exhaled as they stared up at me, their big black eyes filling with tears.

"W-Who are you?" The little girl asked me as she held the boy tight in her arms and sat up.

"What are you?" The boy asked as he wiggled away from his sister and stared up at me. To them, I was the alien.

"My name is Alex. King Ooblaem sent me here to help." I said as I gave them a small smile. The boy stood up but his sister tried to pull him back down with her. She was definitely more scared of me than he was but that was understandable.

"Y-You don't look like us." The girl said as she slowly stood up and put her arms around her brother, holding him.

"I don't." I chuckled a little as I stood up and crossed my arms.

"I'm from another planet." I added, smiling and wiggling my brows in a funny manner to try and calm them down.

"An alien?? Annila! An alien rescued us!" The boy laughed as he looked over at his sister with wide eyes.

"How did you get down here?" The girl asked as she looked around at the water outside of the pocket.

"I swam." I answered.

"How did you make the air??" The boy asked, his tone was much more excited than the girl's was.

"I can control water and other elements." I proudly smiled.

"Wooooowwww." The boy gasped.

"If you are done playing rescue, I could use some help." Loki suddenly said.

"Sorry! Coming." I quickly replied.

"We need to go. The Primal who did this is still out there. I need to get you guys to safety." I nodded as I held my hand out to them. The boy grabbed my hand without a second thought and examined my fingers and lightly pinched my skin as he giggled to himself.

"Annila?" I asked the little girl. She held her arms tightly around her and then inhaled as she nodded and walked over to us. She took my other hand and I smiled down at her. I let the boy's hand go and picked Annila up, holding her against my chest. She was a lot lighter than I was expecting.

"What's your name?" I asked the little boy as I looked over at him.

"Frandem." He happily replied.

"Well, Frandem, I can't carry you both." I chuckled as I squatted down, nodding my head back, telling him to get on my back. He excitedly jumped on my back and wrapped his arms around my neck as he and his sister both tightened their legs around me. I tightly held Annila as we floated off of the ground and into the air, the air pocket following us. The kids both gasped in awe as I flew out of the cage and through the debris in the basement.

"Do you guys know what happened?" I asked them as I phased us through the floor and into the lobby.

"No." Annila whispered as she laid her head on my shoulder.

"We were playing hide and seek in the storage room with our mom while our dad was looking for something. When the flooding and shaking happened we were under the boat." Frandem replied as I flew us out of the building.

"Annila said to stay there." He added. I flew us up and past a few schools of fish, both the kids watching them with wide eyes.

"That was smart of you." I softly said as I looked down to the girl. She nodded and buried her head back in my shoulder. I broke the surface of the water and the air pocket around us went away as I flew us into the air. I looked over and saw that Loki had cut off more than half of Grabdir's tentacles and the Primal was furiously fighting for his life.

"Don't look." I quickly said as I put my hand on the back of Annila's head and looked back at Frandem, who was already hiding his face in my back. Loki spotted me and sighed when he realized I had two kids with me. He disappeared and then reappeared next to me, grabbing my arm and taking us from the battle field. We ended up at the King's mansion and the King gasped as he rushed towards us.

"We have to go back." Loki quickly said. I pulled the kids off of me and smiled a reassuring smile at them as the King's men knelt down to tend to them. Frandem waved to me and Annila smiled a little before I disappeared from sight. We reappeared by the screaming Primal and I clenched my jaw as I exhaled through my nose.

"I'm really tired of this." I harshly said.

"I love when you get angry." Loki smirked at me before disappearing and reappearing behind Grabdir. I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile at his comment, he always had a way of getting to me. I then flew towards the Primal, my fists gripped tightly.

Loki split into his illusions and taunted the angry Primal. I reached down into the water and brought another building up from the seabed, throwing it at the Primal. I made sure to aim right for his severed arm wound. It smashed into him and he let out a screech as he snapped his attention to me. 

"I am Grabdir!! God of the sea!! You pathetic beings cannot defeat me!!" He screamed out as black clouds rolled over the sky above us. The waves began to violently crash into one another under us and the winds knocked me away from the Primal.

"He's going to use his connection to the sea to fight us." Loki said as he appeared next to me. I smirked at the furious Primal as he growled at us. Large waves came speeding at us from all directions.

"Two can play at that game." I whispered. I threw my hands out and yelled as I pushed the waves away from us. The Primal's good eye went wide and he took a step back as I dropped my hands to my sides. I clenched my teeth as I reached my right arm back and tensed up my fingers, grabbing the ocean in my hand. I turned my hand so that my palm was facing the Primal and then threw it out towards him, causing a wave as big as him to speed at him. He was too large to move fast enough and the wave knocked him off of his feet. He fell to the ocean but I threw my other hand out and created another wave behind him, throwing him forward. I forced both hands down and the waved crashed on top of him, pulling him under the water. Loki smirked at me and then disappeared and reappeared above the Primal. Grabdir staggered to his feet and let out a harsh roar, the air becoming tense as a storm formed in the clouds. 

"Bad idea." Loki chuckled. As a lighting strike came down towards me I threw my hand up and redirected it to Grabdir. It struck him in the stomach and he screamed as the electricity flowed through him. I threw a few more lighting strikes at him until his screaming stopped and his dead body crashed into the ocean.

"Brutal! I love it!" Loki shouted out as he stared down at the fried Primal below him. I flew over to him and he looked down to the deep water as he crossed his arms.

"The stones are inside of Grabdir." He informed me as he looked over at me.

"Where?" I asked, raising a brow.

"His eyes." Loki shrugged. I groaned, knowing I had to go get them since I was able to survive being under the water. I dropped down into the water and swam down to the lifeless body that was slowly sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I grabbed the skin on his face to hold myself still and created a pocket of air around my head.

"Gross." I said as I reached my hand out. I shoved it into the cut eye and dug around the inside as I cringed on the outside.

"Gross gross gross gross." I said as I felt my whole body shake. I felt the hard stone and yanked it out, pulling parts of his eye and blood with me. I gagged and stuffed it into my pocket before reaching over to the other eye. I groaned and punched my hand through the soft and mushy body part. I gagged and quickly reached around for it.

"Finally." I gasped as I pulled it out. I let his face go and kicked myself off of him as a shark made it's way over to us. The shark quickly chomped down on the Primal and I swam up out of the water as I watched it eat him.

"Bon Appetit." I said before hitting the surface. I flew up to Loki and handed him the stones. He took my hand and we appeared on the King's yard and the King and Annila and Frandem ran towards us. Both kids threw their arms around me and I laughed as I put my hands on their backs.

"You defeated him??" The King asked with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Yes." Loki nodded.

"Where are the summoning stones??" He asked as he looked down to Loki's hands. 

"I will be keeping them." Loki informed him as he snapped, making the stones disappear. 

"I...I understand." The King nodded as he looked away from the stones and over to the kids and me. The siblings both looked up at me and smiled widely as they gripped me tighter.

"Thank you." Annila whispered. 

"You're welcome." I whispered back, smiling softly. They tore away from me and took each other's hands, holding on tightly.

"Little ones, leave us adults to talk." The King politely said as he smiled at the two.

"Awe, do we have to?" Frandem asked as he pouted.

"Yeah! Can't we stay with the aliens?" Annila excitedly asked. It was nice to see her not so sad anymore. These two have been through a lot for such a young age.

"No no, run along." The King chuckled as he gestured for them to go. They sighed but obeyed what he said and ran off towards the guards near the mansion entrance. The King looked back at us and crossed his arms as he nodded.

"Thank you." He smiled.

"You're welcome."  I nodded.

"What's going to happen to them?" I asked as I looked back to the siblings. They were giggling at the simple disappearing thumb magic trick the guard was doing.

"I will adopt them. Their whole family lived in Noctuem. They all perished during the attack." He explained as he looked back at the siblings. 

"They will be safe here." He assured me as he looked back at me and smiled a little.

"They better be." I warned him. He nodded in agreement and Loki took my hand in his, pulling me closer to him.

"Children! The aliens are leaving." The King called out. The siblings came rushing over to us and hugged me one last time before pulling away. The King put his hand on each of their shoulders and smiled at us.

"Bye!" Annila giggled.

"Come back again!!" Frandem smiled.

"I'll try." I smiled back. Loki called upon Heimdall and a bright light flashed before us so I shielded my eyes as he held me close. 

Missions like that are always my favorite. Not only did we save the day but it's always nice to see the real impact we have on people who are suffering from the problem. I could tell by the tone in the King's voce that he meant to take good care of the kids and that brought me comfort.

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