Fear And Loathing In Oklahoma

The light had vanished. The tendril was gone. But so was he.

Nothing remained but a scorch mark in the crater.

Thor stood at the epicenter, unmoving. His breath came heavy, fists clenched at his sides. The scent of ozone and blood lingered. Stormbreaker was buried blade-first into the earth beside him. Not in triumph but mourning. 

He had seen gods die. Brothers. Warriors. But not like this. Not a boy. Not him.

Sif's expression was unreadable, her jaw taut with the discipline of a thousand years of war. She had witnessed many noble deaths, but Naruto's left a different wound. He wasn't Asgardian. He wasn't one of theirs. And yet, in the end, he'd fought harder than any of them.

 Died for them. The silence in her heart was louder than grief.

Valkyrie turned away first.

Not from cowardice, but rage. Her grip on Dragonfang tightened until her knuckles went white. 

"He was just a kid," she muttered under her breath. "A damn stubborn one." She swallowed hard, as if trying to keep her voice from cracking. "And he died like an honorable Asgardian god."

Kamala was the first to cry. She collapsed to her knees near the rim of the crater, eyes wide with disbelief. Her hands shook, not from fear, but guilt. 

"He said he would be fine," she whispered. "He promised." America stood behind her, silent, fists trembling. Her jaw was clenched, but her shoulders shook. She didn't speak, because she couldn't, not without breaking.

Nick Fury said nothing for a long time. Just lit a cigarette with shaking fingers. "He was a stubborn bastard," he finally said. "But damn if he didn't know how to make an entrance." There was something in his voice that hadn't been there before. Something brittle. "We lost a hell of a soldier. And a better kid."

Kate just stared at the empty space where Naruto had stood minutes ago.

She couldn't hear anything.

Not Kamala's sobbing. Not Thor's breathing. Just a ringing pressure behind her eyes.

She wiped her face and realized too late her fingers were wet.

"He always acted like he didn't care," she muttered, voice hoarse. "Like the world couldn't bother him."

She looked up at the sky, just in time to see a cloud pass over the sun.

"But he cared. He cared more than anyone."

And the world felt smaller without him.

________

Naruto stirred before he opened his eyes. He didn't know where he was, only that the air smelled like dust and firewood. His limbs were sore. The faint crackle of something boiling over a fire echoed nearby, and a woven roof of straw blurred into focus above his head.

His breath was caught. The ceiling wasn't familiar. Neither were the firm cloth wrappings around his arms or the rough-hewn blanket pulled up to his chest. He sat up too fast.

The world tilted.

"Be careful." a soft voice said from the doorway.

A girl stepped in. Dark-skinned, barefoot, and no older than sixteen. She wore a sleeveless brown tunic and had a straw sack of potatoes balanced on one shoulder. Beads clacked faintly in her long black hair as she moved toward him.

"You shouldn't be sitting up yet," she said, placing the jug down. "You've been out for days."

Naruto squinted. "Where… where am I?"

The girl hesitated. "Ayamarka," she said at last. "In the village of Huaraz."

That meant nothing to him. His head throbbed.

He reached inward.

"Kurama?" he muttered. "Hey furball, are you there?"

Nothing. No warmth. No growl. No echo of breath in his chest. Just radio silence.

His eyes narrowed as he tried again. "Kurama? This isn't funny."

Still nothing. Like a locked door in his mind.

His throat tightened.

He glanced at his arms, half-expecting the chakra cloak to flicker to life. It didn't. He tried drawing even a trickle of energy, but it was like reaching into an empty well.

"Damn it," he muttered, swinging his legs off the straw cot. "What happened to me?"

"You were unconscious," the girl said, staying close. "I found you in the forests. You were burnt, bloodied, and barely breathing."

He turned to her. "And you brought me here all by yourself?"

She shrugged. "I'm strong for my age, and I help with the sick sometimes. You should be lucky I did not leave you to the forest beasts."

Naruto frowned. "Yea, but why did you bring me back?"

"Because you came from the sky," she said simply. "And you survived the impossible, you must be a miracle."

He stared at her.

She stared back.

He rubbed the side of his head. "Okay… weird question, but what year is it?"

The girl tilted her head. "Year?"

"Like… time. How long ago was the attack on Asgard?"

She blinked. "Asgard? I don't know what that is."

Naruto looked down at his hands, at the dust caked in his nails and the faint bruising under his skin. "This isn't Earth, is it?"

She shook her head, "I don't know of a place called Earth"

"What is this place again?"

"To us it is home," she said, carefully. "It's all we've ever known."

"Is there a map? A name for the land? The continent?"

"Ayamarka is everything," she said. "The hills. The river. The sky. There's nothing beyond the Obsidian Mountains."

Naruto sat still for a moment, piecing things together.

"…I died, didn't I?" he whispered. "I must be in some version of Hell for all the instant ramen I stole as a kid."

"You didn't die," she replied. "But you were close."

He sighed and looked at her again. "What's your name?"

"Amaya."

"Amaya," he repeated. "Alright. Okay. I'm Naruto."

She gave a nod, but not a smile.

Outside, he heard voices. Footsteps on red earth. A faint breeze rattled the thatch roofs. It smelled of dry clay and ash.

Naruto stood. His legs wobbled. Blood immediately rushed to his head.

Amaya moved to help, but he waved her off. "Don't worry, I've had worse."

"You're bleeding," she said flatly.

He blinked and looked down. Blood was already halfway to his chin.

"Oh. Right." He wiped it with the back of his hand.

Silence.

"...That's probably fine."

"You look like you're dying."

"Yeah," Naruto said, wobbling slightly. "But, like, in a cool way."

She just stared.

"If I pass out again, just turn me on my side. And put a bowl of noodles next to me so I wake up motivated."

"…Are you always like this?"

Naruto gave her a peace sign with a faint grin.

"Only on days ending in 'Y.'"

She was silent.

"Tough crowd, eh?"

Naruto limped to the doorway and pushed aside the woven curtain.

The village opened up before him, mudbrick huts in circular formation, with thick straw roofs and narrow alleys connecting clusters of buildings. Clay pots and wooden tools were stacked along walls. Smoke drifted from communal fires, and women pounded grain with rhythm beside laughing children.

But it was loud, the good kind of loud that made you well with excitement.

And in the far distance, past the trees and farmlands, a spiraling tower of black stone loomed into the sky like an irate thorn stabbed through the world.

Naruto stared at it.

"That huge tower," he muttered. "Who lives in there?"

Amaya didn't answer at first.

He turned to her.

Her mouth pressed into a line. "We don't speak of them."

"Who?"

She didn't speak.

Naruto stepped closer. "Amaya. Please. I need to know."

She looked around herself, cautious. Then lowered her voice.

"The black tower is where Tiboro dwells with his siblings. They are the gods of this land."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Gods?"

"That's what the elders say. That they have been here for eons and that they watch over us now."

"And rule over you?"

She nodded.

"And what happens if you disobey them?"

Her voice dropped even lower as her brow furrowed.

"We don't know," Amaya said quietly. "No one's ever dared to defy them."

Naruto's chest tightened.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"We leave offerings," she explained. "Always at the altar. Then the dragon comes and carries them to the tower."

"Offerings," Naruto repeated. "You don't mean children, do you?"

Amaya looked away.

Naruto clenched his fists.

He turned back to the horizon.

Tiboro's tower twisted in the light like a dagger in a wound.

"Why does no one fight back?" Naruto asked.

"We can't," Amaya replied.

"Why not?"

She looked down at the dirt between them. "We don't know how. No one here remembers a time before the gods. The elders say that this is the way it has always been."

Naruto frowned. "That's seriously fucked up."

"But have no fear, the amazing Naruto is here!" 

He scratched the bridge between his nose and upper lip. "Not to brag but.. I've taken down a few gods myself before."

Amaya raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because when I found you, you were barely breathing and looked half-dead."

Naruto laughed quietly. "Yeah. I've had better days for sure."

She didn't smile, but her expression softened a little. "Well if you are a god, you're not like the ones we know."

"No," he said, stretching his shoulders with a wince. "I guess I'm not."

He looked down at his hands again. No Kurama, no Young Avengers. 

But even so, he still had his fists.

"I'm not from here," he said. "And I don't know how I got here. But I know one thing."

"What?"

"I'm not letting anyone steal kids and call it a sacrifice."

Amaya looked at him, really looked at him, and something flickered behind her eyes. Not belief. Not yet. But maybe the first piece of it.

"You're crazy," she said.

"Thanks, I get that a lot."

____

The path wound out past the edge of the village, where the land sloped gently into dusty hills and wind-worn stones. Sparse trees creaked in the breeze, their branches draped with charms and dried flowers. The smell of smoke and herbs hung faint in the air.

"She lives out here?" Naruto asked, peering at the crooked hut ahead, half-hidden by wild grass.

Amaya nodded. "My grandmother prefers the quiet."

"That's not ominous at all."

"She's a seer woman," Amaya said. "She reads the lines of the world. Some say she can even see what hasn't happened yet."

Naruto blinked. "And she lives alone in a shack in the middle of nowhere."

"She likes the quiet."

"I'm starting to think your grandma might be weird."

Amaya didn't answer, but her expression said, You're not wrong.

They reached the hut. Wind chimes made of bone and obsidian clinked overhead. Bundles of dried herbs hung from the rafters, and the doorway was covered with a woven curtain etched in writing Naruto didn't understand.

Then it lifted.

An old woman stepped out, thin as a reed and just as sturdy. Her long white hair was braided and threaded with beads and feathers, and thick ornaments hung from her ears. A gnarled cane tapped the ground as she moved. But her eyes, milky and all white were fixed nowhere and everywhere.

Naruto opened his mouth to speak.

Then she swung the cane up and smacked Naruto in the forehead.

THWACK.

"OW! HEY! WHAT THE HELL, GRANNY?!"

Amaya winced. "She does that sometimes."

Naruto clutched his head. "Does what?! Try to knock out her guests?!"

The old woman raised her chin. "Just making sure you're not one of Tiboro's spies. Can't be too careful. A defenseless old woman like me has to check."

Naruto glared at her, rubbing his forehead. "Defenseless? You nearly took my head off with that cane."

She leaned on it proudly. "It's good oak. I picked it myself."

Naruto glared. "What's your name, granny?"

"Naruto, this is my grandmother. Her name is Xochitl." Amaya said as she stepped forward. 

"Grandmother, this is Naruto. He's the boy who fell from the sky."

Naruto muttered under his breath, "She should come with a warning label."

Xochitl tilted her head. "Come closer. Let me smell your essence."

Naruto took a step back. "Whoa whoa whoa. I don't know what kind of weird forest rituals you do out here, but let's not get too weird."

Grandma Xochitl leaned in slightly, sniffing the air.

"You reek," she said simply.

"Thanks," Naruto deadpanned.

"Not of filth. But of the outside. You don't belong here. Not in Ayamarka. Not in this world."

Naruto's brow furrowed. "Yeah, well. You're not wrong."

"You've brought change to the wind," she said. "The lines have suddenly shifted."

Xochitl turned, cane tapping as she walked toward the hut. "Come inside, outsider. The world is shifting, and if you don't want to be crushed under it, you'd better learn where to stand."

Naruto sighed and glanced at Amaya. "Is she always like this?"

Amaya gave the faintest smirk. "You should've seen her with the last outsider."

Naruto blinked. "Wait, there was another outsider?"

"There wasn't," Amaya said flatly. "You're the first."

He stared at her. "...So she just hits everybody like this?"

"She likes to set the tone."

____

Authors NOTE: If you want to read 15 more chapters ahead right now. Search for (banmido P atreon) in google and click the first link. Chapters 16 ,17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31. are all ready to read on my P atreon at banmido