A wooden dragonship sailed through the great waters of the north sea, the furious waters roared like a multitude shouting against the winds and the thunderous sky. The rain has not stopped for days, and on the fourth night it still persisted, a young man covered in black leathers and hides of fur with gold lines sat on the deck contemplating under the storm.
"You're still here?" A female voice came from the stairs to the deck, "I heard stories, about you. About what your father did-", hidden in the shadows the woman seemed to have a warrior figure. "You don't give up, do you?" He replied.
She flung herself against the wall, "It's you, is it not, the boy who killed Thor's brother?" His icy blue eyes looked at her for a couple of seconds, and they shone like silver. "I knew it, you're Loki."
"How do you know that name?" Atreus got up and approached, to his knowledge, only his father and the Giants knew about that name. It was the name his mother had mentioned to the giants. "Wait, calm there tiger, my name is Angrboda, I am not a threat." He came closer to the woman with curly reddish hair, from what Atreus understood, the runes in her skin quickly give her away, she was from Midgard.
"Why are you following me?" Standing on the other side of the stairs he crossed his arms and waited for her answered in silence. He realized that her breathing was higher now, something was bothering her. "I- I screw up." She could not contain his eyes and went to the door when Atreus held her by the arm. "I asked you a question." They were suddenly pushed into each other's arms, something had hit the dragonship, "What was that?" She asked.
They both ran to the deck, "Help!" shouted one of the men trying to cut a huge tentacle with a sword. "Get out of there!" Atreus shouted at him and threw his ax, freezing the tentacle that covered the size of the man three times. "What are you doing?" Angrboda arrived at the place and placed her hands together, her runes shone, Atreus stopped her, "What do you think you're doing?" She moved aside, "Saving these people." Another tentacle came out from under the ship breaking through the wood and catching Atreus.
"Loki!" She exclaimed seeing how the tentacle took him overboard, "Do not call me that, woman." In seconds Atreus was under the sea. The creature's tentacles were breaking the ship and continuing to come out of the water carrying more people to the depths when Angrboda went to the rail of the ship, but there were no signs of Atreus. A current of electricity hit the sea, Atreus had used Þruma under the waters.
A golden sword pierced the ship beside the woman, she saw that the long chain that connected to the blade was coming from underwater, Atreus had freed himself from the beast thanks to his arrow, and he pulled himself toward the dragonship with his Blade of Valhalla. He was thankful to have upgraded the dagger his father gave him with metals from the Valkyries feathers. "Are you mad?" Helping him get on board, she asked.
"I hit him in the eye with a dragon's lightning arrow, it should have blown his brain out." He said smiling and agitated. Both turned around to check the sea, the creature had stopped, and the few people who were left on deck approached them. "Are you always this reckless?" Atreus raised his hand, called his ax, and pulled away from the crowd, "Wait! Please, I need your help-", she followed him. "Why?" He spread his hands open, "You can use rune magic, right, why do you need my help?"
"It's not like you have something more important to do." She claimed.
"You know nothing about me, woman." He said calmly and went down the stairs, but the door did not open, "Great." He said. Her lips trembled, "What happened?". Atreus placed his hands on the door and looked at the floor. "I'm on my way to the land where my father was born, Sparta. I need to find him."
"I know it's not my business, but if you tell me what happened I could help you, and then you could help us," Angrboda asked. "Us?" Atreus turned around. "I'm a Jötnar, and not the only one." She swallowed.
"The Giants live?" Atreus asked in disbelief, he saw the corpses over the mountains in Jötunheim with his father fifteen winters ago, the realm appeared dead, "How?" Asked Atreus. "We are a small tribe that escaped Thor's wrath, we need you to lead our people, and join the Eldjötnar King against Asgard when Ragnarok comes." Atreus remembered, what Mimir had spoken, "Fimbulwinter came and gone, and Ragnarok didn't happen."
She looked at the heavens annoyed, "It was not supposed to happen that early, you and your father started it, but Odin sent Thor to stop Ragnarok, it was just postponed.", she came closer to him, "What happened?"
"Twelve winters ago, Thor came to our house and challenged my father to a battle. I thought he was there because we killed his sons, but the bastard did not care about his children, Thor just wanted to prove that he was stronger than my father. Thor broke my father's ax with a swing of his hammer, and their fight dragged elsewhere, I couldn't keep up, so I waited, I waited for my father to return since then. This ax is all I have left from him."
She put her hands on his shoulders, "And how do you know he's still alive?"
"I know, I can feel him, the same way I knew you were following me, or that the Kraken was going to grab me."
"So you let yourself be caught on purpose?"
"As I said before, you know nothing about me, woman."