A light blue coats my shoulders and clings to my tunic as space moves around me, or I through it, I'm not quite sure which. I'm propelled forward through the portal and then suddenly, the darkness rips back, I see sparks from the blue lining of the aperture, and I'm stepping through the hole onto a metal platform.

I glance back behind me and see the portal vanish from the air. Gripping my daggers, I pivot, scanning my surroundings.

I'm standing on a platform inside a large, vaulted chamber. There are structures filling the space, with platforms connecting some of them while open space exists between others. The lighting is dim but I can still see without much strain. The platform where I am now leads down through what appears to be a marketplace. This has the markings of being some sort of abandoned civilization.

Carefully, I walk forward between the buildings, keeping my eyes out for any other contenders or possible threats. My daggers ready in my hands, I try to figure out just where I am.

The entire place has the feeling of being located in space – something about the multileveled structure. Unbreathable atmosphere must be just beyond the boundaries. Turning, I glance up and see an opening leading out into space, confirming my suspicion.

An eerie silence fills the air. That portal may have looked random, but it was purposefully triggered by the Black Order. They want me here, for some reason. They brought me here.

I start to regret throwing that spear at Glaive. Maybe upsetting the Children of Thanos in charge of the Contest wasn't such a bright idea after all.

Fortunately for me, the door hinge squeaks.

I spin and raise my daggers as the frost giant launches himself out of one of the buildings at me, the squeal of the hinge the only giveaway of the attack. His ice blade is an extension of his right arm, which swipes at me as I drop to the ground to avoid the weapon. I then catapult up with my knives reaching out as the frost giant, Raze, falls back and brings his blade back towards him, blocking my attack. With bare chest, leather boots laced up his legs, and a loincloth, he certainly fits the look of some sort of primal killer.

"Little Asgardian," he leers, his red eyes glaring spitefully at me as he shoves me backwards. "Today, you die."

"I wouldn't be so sure," I retort, holding my daggers out to the side. My eyes bore into his, waiting for his next move.

It's neither one of us that moves next.

Hogun springs out from another building behind me, his spiked mace swinging. I dive to the right, rolling up onto my feet again with blades ready, but he isn't aiming for me.

Raze ducks the first swing and thrusts for the warrior's heart. As Hogun sidesteps the jab, the frost giant grabs his arm to hold him in place to better stab him.

Hogun cries out just from the creature's grip as I hurl one of my daggers. The blade sinks into Raze's shoulder as he moves, struggles to hold Hogun in place as the Vanaheim contender throws his weight against the grip. I race forward and leap, kneeing Raze in the side of the head strong enough to snap his head to the side as Hogun manages to break free.

The frost giant stumbles as I land off to one side of him, daggers ready to attack. Hogun meets my gaze momentarily and an agreement passes between us.

Alliance.

"Don't let him touch you," Thor's friend warns. "It burns."

I nod. "Noted."

"Just like the Battle for the Bridge?" Hogun asks.

The Battle for the Bridge was one of the rare occasions when Thor, Sif, Volstagg, Fandral, and Hogun joined forces with Gamora, Nebula, and I to carry out what our younger selves had termed a "battle." It was nothing more than us allying for a fight with some of the other Asgardian children, but our last stand on the bridge heading towards the mountains had felt real enough.

We had been successful, too.

"Certainly," I respond.

Hogun rushes forward, swinging his mace as I move swiftly against the side of the buildings to get around behind Raze. The enemy contender roars with anger as he deflects Hogun's mace, hopefully too occupied to notice me behind him.

Hogun allows the giant to push him back, then charges again, this time dropping into a slide and whipping the spiked ball up at Raze's torso. He moans as the weapon makes contact and Hogun rolls away, narrowly avoiding the down slash of the ice sword.

I hurl myself onto Raze's back, aiming my dagger for a thrust at his throat. But the giant strikes at me, throwing off my stab as he grasps my wrist in his hand, yanking me forward, right over his head, and slamming me into the ground. He just knocks away the dagger I fling back up at him as Hogun comes back around for another attack.

I wait for the icy grip of the frost giant to burn my skin, wait to feel the searing pain, but I feel nothing but discomfort from his tight hold on my wrist. As I glance up at my hand, summoning a dagger to my other hand in order to stab the contender, I have to blink to try and comprehend what I'm seeing.

For my fingers now appear to be greyish shade of blue.

After knocking Hogun back, Raze glances back to me and sees my hand. He frowns, verifying that I haven't gone crazy or the lighting is doing strange things to my skin color.

Either that, or I am crazy and Raze is frowning at something else completely.

"Loki!"

Hogun's voice shocks me out of my thoughts and I stab upwards with my knife almost on reflex, shoving the blade into Raze's arm. The giant roars and falls back as I scramble up and away, glancing down at my blue hand.

The color fades away and my skin resumes its pale tone.

But I don't have time to contemplate this as I spin around, calling another dagger to me, Hogun giving me a look and tapping the handle of his mace with his free hand. I understand immediately. The illusion.

My static-filled illusion of Odin had been one of the main reasons we had won that standoff on the bridge, besides just our combat skills in general. I had propelled my father right towards their lines, causing the other children to falter, believing the Allfather was about to cast judgement on them the way he would have done before Thanos. The way he did in the stories.

But all it had done was distract them long enough for Thor, Sif, and Gamora's rear flanking maneuver to catch them completely off guard.

Creating duplicates of both myself and Hogun, I feel my own form grow invisible as Hogun rolls to the side, jumping out of view. I focus on sending the illusions forward, moving as if they are trying to catch Raze in some sort of pincer formation.

Raze cautiously watches the illusions, waiting for one of them to make a move so he can launch into action. I can feel Hogun's intense gaze, waiting for a signal to attack the frost giant. I know he can't see me, but he's patient. He knows to wait until after I'm done with the illusions.

Beads of sweat form on my forehead and roll into my eyes as all of my energy and concentration go into manipulating those two illusions. My breath grows ragged, my eyes stinging, as I reach the point where the illusions finish their distraction.

The phantoms of Hogun and I charge Raze, who stabs my illusion through the chest and grabs at the mace of Hogun's. The illusions flicker, fading into green before dying, and the frost giant is left looking around, flabbergasted.

That's when Hogun lashes out with his mace as he leaves his hiding place. Sprinting across the short distance, he springs into the air and slams his mace into the side of Raze's head, the spikes on the head of his weapon leaving deep gashes.

I dash towards the dazed Raze, summoning two daggers. It takes everything I have left to hurl myself at the contender, throwing both of my daggers at him as I fly through the air.

The blades land side by side in his chest as I am able to call one more knife to my hand. I land right before the giant and thrust up for his throat as Hogun prepares his mace for another blow. As my blade slits his throat, blood flows as spasms start to roll through Raze's body, the head of Hogun's mace slamming into the frost giant one last time. Stepping back, Hogun and I watch as Raze collapses to the ground, clutching at his throat with his free hand.

My ears are buzzing so loudly that I don't even hear the cannon go off.

I manage to stagger to the wall of one of the buildings. Sinking down beside it, I lean against the wall and watch as Hogun comes up beside me. He squats and just looks at me for a moment.

"Thank you," I say, wiping at my forehead.

Hogun grunts and stands. "How long do you need to rest?"

Confused, I glance up at him before I realize he's offering me an alliance. Quickly, I run the pros and cons through my head. If I accept, he can be a great help in eliminating a part of the competition, while turning him down might not be the best decision in terms of sponsors. We just proved we can work pretty well together. Why should we not use that to our advantage again?

"Not long," I tell him. "Just enough to get my breath back."

And with that, we're allies.