FROM THE ASHES - L. Laufeyson [1]

Chapter 22

Chapter 22: The Heart is a Mirror

As they walked away from the battlefield, Adaline kept her head held high as a sign of her strength, as a dust storm began to brew around them. In a futile attempt to block the dirt, she held her arm over her face, she then looked behind her to see Thor was assisting Jane in walking up the steep hill.

She knew Thor was devastated just as much as she was, maybe more. He had just lost his brother, sure he was adopted, but it was his mischievous brother that he had grown up with nonetheless.

When the storm got too heavy and began to blind the three, they decided to head into a nearby cave for cover to wait it out.

Upon reaching the safety of the dark cavern, Jane sat down to regain her strength. Adaline and Thor continued to stand, most likely because if they didn't, their minds would drift off into the depths of their emotions and they would break down right there; and that was not an option for them at this moment. The time for grieving would be after the war was finished.

"He's going to unleash it," Jane declared, slightly out of breath as she broke the tense silence. "Not just on Asgard, or on a star. Malekith is going to destroy everything."

"How?" Thor inquired, taking a step closer to where she sat. "Jane, how?"

"I saw him on Earth. Why would he go to Earth?" Jane responded, furrowing her eyebrows as she thought.

"The convergence," Thor replied, turning to look at where Adaline stood a little farther in the cave.

She stood with her arms crossed over her chest, and she looked down at the ground with her hair falling perfectly to block the others' view of her face.

She wasn't crying and certainly didn't have tears welled up in her eyes at this exact moment, but instead she stood in silence, alone with her thoughts, not even having listened to the majority of Jane and Thor's conversation.

"Oh, God," Jane continued, as Adaline refocused back to the topic at hand. "None of this would have happened if I hadn't found the Aether."

"Then Malekith would've only possessed it that much sooner," Thor reassured, walking to stand right above Jane.

"I only found it because I was looking for you."

"Jane," Thor spoke, attempting to reassure her as he put his hand against her cheek.

Jane glimpsed toward the cave entrance before continuing. "Now we're trapped here."

Suddenly a rap song began to play, gaining each of their attention. Adaline took a step back, gazing around the cave to find the sound's source as the music bounced off the walls, before hearing nothing.