Knightmare

### **The following story is a sequence that, in the Shaniverse, takes place during the Collapse on Earth. As a precaution, it may contain potential spoilers if you wish to avoid them.**

*A flash of blue light covers the horizon, illuminating a monstrous fleet of black Pyramids in the sky.*

*The largest fires a bright blue beam of energy down onto the planet’s surface. The beam changes into a wave of pure energy upon contact that quickly spreads across the entire world, heralding the fall of Agamotto’s barriers.*

——[]——

*Darkseid sits on his throne, DeSaad and Steppenwolf standing ahead on either side. Hand on his chin, he smiles.*

——[]——

*A funeral pyre blazes in the dead of night. Diana’s body lay in the center of the pyre, coins over her eyes and hands holding her sword over her abdomen. An assembly of Amazons look on in mourning.*

*The island of Themyscira is in shambles, multiple Pyramids hanging in the sky. A smaller ship hovers closer and a ramp opens, allowing Darkseid to step out and observe. Hippolyta looks up, tears streaming from her eyes in despair.*

——[]——

*Amidst the ruins of a still burning building, the God of Thunder attempts on last valiant charge, but in vain.*

*Snatching the powerful axe himself, Darkseid swung it back against its owner, the Uru cutting cleanly through Thor's chest. The Sorceress Supreme, bloodied and weary, attempts to conjure Eldritch magic but is swiftly killed by two fiery red beams.*

*At last triumphant over his foes, Darkseid looks on with a savage grin.*

——[]——

*Superman knelt on the ground in front of a number of burned corpses, his face showing complete horror and grief. From the wall of heavy smoke behind him the Lord of Apokolips emerges, silent and terrifying, his eyes burning with red fire. He looks down on Superman and gently places a hand on his shoulder, saying nothing. Tears of despair trickle out of Superman’s eyes whilst his expression becomes hard and cold, devoid of any emotion.*

——[]——

*The world is on fire, an absolute wreck of its former glory as Parademons swarm the landscape. Superman, now nothing more than a slave, regards their progress without any emotion before turning his gaze to a gleaming crescent of white light in the distance that struggles to keep the Darkness at bay: the only place on Earth still not taken by the Darkness.*

*Preparing to make her final stand, the Traveler waited.*

A Parademon seeker lands on top of an abandoned vehicle, twitching its head every which way in search of enemies. It leans its head down a little lower, sniffing at the charred skeleton still sitting in the driver’s seat of the car.

Unable to locate any prey to feast on, the Parademon squawks in frustration and then rejoins its buzzing flock in the air, which was accompanied by several troop transports as they made continued their journey to where the Traveler still stood, fending off any who came close. Unbeknownst to them, however, there was in fact a few survivors hiding amongst the rusty car-cluttered highway, watching them.

From underneath one of the rusty vehicles, Lady Sif clambered out of her hiding place to glare at the convoy. A once fierce and glorious warrior of Asgard known for her strength and beauty, she no longer looked it in these dark times. Her clothing and armor was more rugged, her hair tangled and somewhat dirty, while her eyes carried the look of one burdened far beyond their years.

“We’re clear,” she announces quietly.

From the other cars and debris around her, the rest of her party steps out of hiding: her lifelong friend, Volstagg, the former Einherjar commander, Tyr, two Asgardian warriors named Brunnhilde and Herleif—though the latter now prefers to call himself Elliot—a human-turned mechanoid being named Elisabeth Bray, and Akihiro, a Master of the Mystic Arts.

“How much further do we have?” Akihiro questions, clearly exhausted.

“Still a few hundred miles,” Sif replies.

The sorcerer hangs his head in frustration, breathing out a heavy sigh.

“Ugh… I need a moment to rest,” he mutters.

“We cannot rest,” Tyr admonishes him, frowning. “We must push on!”

“Maybe you can, but I can’t!” Akihiro retorts irritably. “I may be a sorcerer, but I still have limits. I’m no Asgardian, or a machine!”

Elisabeth turns around to frown at him, her laser rifle materializing in her hand.

“Excuse me?” she demands in an icy tone.

“Alright, enough!” Sif angrily cuts in, glaring around at them for a few moments before sighing. “Akihiro, I understand you’re exhausted, but we cannot halt our progress. We must reach the Traveler if we are to survive.”

Akihiro crosses his arms but doesn’t argue any further. Volstagg shift awkwardly on his feet for a moment, glancing at him.

“I can carry you if necessary,” he offers.

“I don’t need to be carried,” he scoffs.

“Then try not to fall behind,” Elliot advises in a dry, sarcastic tone.

“Don’t belittle me!” Akihiro scowls.

“Akihiro, if this is about your wife—“ Sif starts to say.

“Yes, it’s about her, is that what you wanted to hear?” he interrupts with narrowed eyes, his voice barely a whisper. “She was everything to me… what would an *immortal* goddess like you care?”

The only thing that prevents Sif from lashing out at him in response is pity, and empathy. She regards him without a shred of emotion, just as angry with herself as she is with him. Contrary to what he may believe, Asgardians did not live forever—not even the greatest ones.

A soft feminine giggle cuts through the silence that ensued, and Sif shuts her eyes in an effort to withhold her anger towards the grating voice.

Everyone gets a little bit more tense as they turn towards the source of laughter; leaning against a car is a beautiful woman with bright red hair, dressed in a simple, but casual blue jacket and black pants, along with a few golden bracelets and necklaces. She’s picking at her red-stained fingernails in feigned disinterest, her gaze directed at the Parademon troop convoy moving further away.

“Trust me young mortal, she knows a lot more about love than you think,” the woman says in a motherly tone. “Isn’t that right, old friend?”

Finally turning her head to face the others, Lorelei offers them all a sweet smile, not at all concerned of the icy glares she received in return. Instead, she fixated her attention on her old nemesis specifically, who took a few steps closer to her.

“The fierce… mighty… Goddess of War… felled by such raw feelings,” Lorelei continues to say, releasing a sigh.

Sif narrows her eyes coldly and balls her hands into fists, something that Volstagg warily takes notice of.

“Uh… I’d suggest you to stop talking if you want to keep your head,” he advises, more as a warning than a threat.

“Oh shut it you gluttonous pig. Nobody asked for your input,” Lorelei frowns at him.

Unable to help himself Volstagg refrains from speaking any further, but sports a huge scowl of anger and frustration at his inability to do so, still completely aware of her influence. Brunnhilde glances at Sif with a worried expression, noting the dark glimmer in her eyes.

“Sif…” she murmurs cautiously.

“You would be wise to take Volstagg’s advice, Lorelei,” Sif states icily.

“Is that so?” Lorelei asks, grinning at her. “And what are you going to do about it?”

“Something I’d rather not do at this time,” she admits, pointing a threatening finger at her. “But I’m sure you’re well aware by now of my limits, and if you push me that far then I swear upon the Allfather I’ll—"

“You’ll do what, Sif? Kill me?” Lorelei cuts in sarcastically, before scoffing in dismissal. “Not likely, though I’m sure you’d love nothing more than that. Besides, you know you need me.”

She smiles once more at Sif, thrilled by the look of barely-contained fury in her stone-cold expression.

“You… need me… to help you all safely arrive at our only save haven by keeping the Kryptonian at bay,” she says slowly, putting heavy emphasis on that fact. “Oh, if only my voice were enough to break him free from his spell… then he’d be mine to command.”

She stares at the sky for a moment, wistfully imagining the idea of a Kryptonian under her enthrallment. The old Einherjar commander loses his patience and steps forward.

“That’s quite enou—“ Tyr starts to say.

“Do not speak to me!” Lorelei snaps, glowering at him.

Like Volstagg, Tyr also can’t help but stop talking either, and glowers at Lorelei incredulously.

“Would you rather my sword do the talking?” Sif growls.

She takes a threatening step forward and rips her sword out of its sheath, brandishing it at her side. Lorelei isn’t fazed, however, and merely regards her with a contemptuous sneer.

“Aww, it must pain you so much to know that, had you been there, you might have saved the ones you love,” she replies mockingly, shaking her head in disapproval. “First it was Haldor. Then it was Thor. Yet worst of all, you weren’t there to help your dear friend Kal when he needed you most.”

Sif blanches for a quick moment, her anger momentarily replaced by guilt and anguish over the fate of those she was closest too, particularly distraught over Kal-El. Lorelei takes notice of this, her smile widening, before she feigns a sorrowful expression.

“Oh… poor, sweet, Kal-El…” she shakes her head with a sigh. “It must be such torment for him.”

Sif stares blankly at her feet, Kal-El’s predicament hitting her the hardest. They were never romantically acquainted with each other, but she knew just how strongly he believed in doing the right thing—in being a good, honest person. And now, to be an unwilling participant in the horrors that have befallen humanity… surely it must have broken his spirit by now.

“So I just have to wonder, Sif…” Lorelei continues, and Sif looks back up at her. “…are you really the Goddess of War? Or are you the Goddess of Failure, who has to watch her friends die over and over again?”

Lorelei raises a brow at her, expecting a response. Sif’s body trembles, out of both rage and grief, a strong desire to run the sorceress through right then and there at the forefront of her mind. Still, she manages to reign in her fury, fixating Lorelei with a deadly gaze.

“You may mock me for my failure, sneer at my sense of duty and honor, but know this: my devotion to the will of the Allfather no longer exists anymore,” Sif says in a frighteningly calm tone, and Lorelei’s smile falters. “So make no mistake, Lorelei, when your usefulness has come to an end, I will not hesitate to run my blade through your heart, and watch the light fade from your eyes.”

They’re less than a foot away from each other, glaring into each others eyes as Sif concludes her proclamation.

“That, is something that I can promise you,” she states with conviction.

Taken aback by the icy promise made, the threat against her life quite clear, Lorelei is for once at a loss for words. After a few moments she manages to find her voice, carrying a hint of genuine astonishment.

“…so you have finally changed, Sif,” she remarks softly. “You are now just as ruthless as I am.”

Sif offers no reply, opting to turn away from her instead before she truly is unable to contain her emotions any longer. The newfound realization, however, seems to send Lorelei into a fit of uncontrolled giggling, which lingers in the back of Sif’s mind.

“I despise her,” Brunnhilde grumbles.

“The feeling is mutual,” Sif mutters bitterly.

“Still think it was a good idea to bring her along?” Volstagg asks her.

“Unfortunately, yes. Her voice is the only thing that can fight Kal-El’s enthrallment,” she explains softly. “Even if she can’t free him.”

She’s not even sure whether or not that would be a preferable option at this point.

Just then, a sonic boom echoes loudly through the sky, and Elisabeth whips her head up to stare at the sky in clear panic.

“He’s found us!” she exclaims.

The assembled group whirl around at the sound and stare up at the sky with alarm, just in time to see a blurred red and blue figure zooming towards them. He falls out of the sky and lands on the ground hard several feet away, his impact carrying enough force to shatter the concrete under his feet.

Eyes wide, Sif turns around in fear to see their enemy in all of his terrifying glory slowly rising to his full, towering height.

Despite their heightened state of panic, the assembled warriors hastily prepare for battle: Volstagg hefts his axe with a heavy scowl, Tyr and Elliot similarly brandishing their own weapons. Akihiro conjures a pair of Eldritch shields whilst Elisabeth takes aim with her rifle. Lorelei steps back with a cautious look, for once showing fear and unease, and prepares for the need to use her magic.

With shaking hands Sif grips her sword and shield and enters her battle stance, watching as Superman lifts his head up to glare at them with glowing red eyes.