ILLYRIS | viii. "AVENGERS... ASSEMBLE." TAKE A STAND
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
EXTINCTION BY DEFINITION was the process of a family or species ceasing to exist. There was always the lingering possibility of the last breath humankind may take one fateful day. Religious scholars heralded the Apocalypse, the final destruction of the world by divine power. No one would expect it to come from an intergalactic warmonger praising himself a realist.
Extinction. Natasha Romanoff hated that word. With a heavy heart, she silently chronicled the centuries-old family of Theadora Valaryen legally extinct at the hands of a genocide that decimated half of the universe's population. Those who understood her as quiet, easygoing Thea Martell wouldn't know the bloodline ended with her disappearance.
The last Sovrani dynasty carried a burdensome legacy that was passed down in exchange for the cosmic powers that granted them strength and control. It was a crown, heavy to wear but necessary to establish a name for the last dragonlords. Many would interpret the inborn evil, without touching on the light and justice spread by the noble bloodline. None would think to remember either, not after the death of its last member.
Darkness was evident, ebbing and flowing as time passed on and hope became fleeting. Thea could only see utter blackness as well, unyielding as she floated in the endless place of desolation and despondency. Thea wasn't sure how long she stayed enthralled under that powerful spell until the space behind her eyelids burned orange from the blistering sunlight that greeted her as feeling returned to her fingertips.
Thea was waking up once again, reborn twice yet there were no flames this time; there were only the green leaves that rustled above her and sounding like a million Christmas bells. No, that was just the ringing in her ears. Bits of sunlight poked through the treetops, sparkling like precious diamonds and Thea stayed still on the ground, unmoving as something shook her shoulders like a rag doll.
"Maegya! Theadora, are you alright?!"
The sweetly familiar voice was so distant and Thea thought she would close her eyes to drift back in that darkness once more. One more tender moment of silence as the coming storm loomed before her...
"Maegya!"
Thea jolted at once, her eyes flashing open as her entire body tensed up. Her eyes locked with T'Challa's widened brown ones and her arms would've lashed out in instinct if it wasn't for his enhanced strength clutching her close to his vibranium mesh suit. His mask had folded backward and unease pinched his face.
"You are alright," he assured her over and over as her fingertips dug into the dry earth they sat upon.
At that moment, Thea grasped onto the king, her strength finally returning back to her. The pain from every injury she suffered vanished, from the fall off Rhaegon to the suffocating grip of Thanos' hand around her throat. A certain pounding in her head throbbed on and off and fatigue threatened to close her eyelids once more if it wasn't for another voice breaking through the ominous silence.
