Scandinavia, a diverse land. With many mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, and grasslands. That diversity also includes those who reside within its lands. Ranging from small rats, to wolves and bears, to even that of monsters such as Trolls, Draugr, and the large Dragons who soar through the skies of these lands. With such diversity, one would think it's easy to get lost in those lands. Then when you take into account that Scandinavia resides within the Realm called "Midgard", which lays at the center of the World Tree among the other Nine Realms, one would think that it's even harder to be found in the forests of Scandinavia. But a group of three knew how to get the attention of almost every powerful being in the Nine Realms by simply attempting to climb a mountain. But thanks to the winter that had fallen over the land, no one cared to find them once more.

Fimbulwinter is what they called it. The winter to end all winters, the winter that signals the end of times is coming, the winter that brings forth Ragnarök. This winter sent people into hiding, hoping they'd be able to live to see the sun rise after the end of everything. But one man, his son, and a little bit of another man did not care about the winter. In fact, the man did not believe it was Fimbulwinter that had come. He only thought it was a long winter. One he had to prepare for so he and his son could live to see summer come. Kratos inspected the tree in front of him. It stood tall, a good sign. It meant that the bark was healthy. His son Atreus inspected it as well, only seeing a tree. His father had yet to teach him how to pick the best trees for gathering firewood, so right now this tree was just a really tall tree in the boy's eyes. Meanwhile the head of Mimir, which Atreus held in his hands so his father could work more freely, spoke up after a moment of silence "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you intentionally chop a tree down."

Kratos reached behind his back and pulled out the Leviathan Axe, a mystic weapon gifted to him by his late wife Faye. As he did the Ghost of Sparta glanced at Mimir "Then I suggest you watch carefully."

Kratos gripped the Axe's hilt with both of his hands before tapping its blade against the side of the tree in front of him. He was feeling for a week spot, and as he did Atreus watched intently. He too has never seen Kratos intentionally chop a tree down. After finding a spot just soft enough to chop through, Kratos pulled back, and was able to cleave the Axe right through the entire trunk of the tree. With several crunching and groaning sounds, the tree began to fall over. Kratos stepped back and Atreus did the same as it fell forwards instead of towards the two and a half of them. Kratos glanced at Mimir once again before putting the Axe back into its holster before heading over to the side of the fallen tree to pick it up. As he did that a small flake of snow fell from the sky and landed on the top of Mimir's severed head "Was wondering when the Fimbulwinter snow falls would pick up again."

The Ghost of Sparta picked up the trunk of the tree with his bare hands and held it over his head as he said "This is no different from any other winter I have gone through. It will simply be another winter like all others."

Mimir scoffed just slightly "Sure, you say that now, but two and a half years into the three year long 'end of all winters' your tune will be changing fast."

Kratos just rolled his eyes as he motioned for Atreus to put Mimir back onto his spot on the God's belt, after that he said "Follow boy, this tree will be enough to keep the house warm for a few weeks at least."

Atreus nodded as they began to make their way back towards the house. These woods have almost been explored to the very last subterranean caverns that lows below their very feet. So they knew how to get back home from where they were nice and easy. As they walked the branches of the tree trunk that had not fallen off upon impact with the ground fell to the ground. Atreus even picked one up and began to pretend he was swinging an imaginary axe around like his father would. Mimir saw this, as he was facing away from the direction they were walking, and he even commented on it "You know, we might just have to get you a weapon to defend yourself from enemies that get a bit to close for comfort for yourself and your da."

Kratos quickly said "Atreus's knife is sufficient enough to defend himself, and he is skilled with his bow. He is safe."

If Mimir could he'd nod while saying "Aye, that's true. But Atreus is a growing boy, eventually he'll need more than a knife to keep himself safe from a Draugr that manages to sneak up behind him."

Atreus quickly added "I've always liked the idea of using a spear!"

"See! All we're saying is that you shouldn't be ruling out the option of getting the kid a bigger weapon when he gets bigger."

The boy nodded as Kratos sighed "Very well... When the day comes, we will see about getting him a better weapon for close quarters defense. But right now, we have other things to deal with."

As he finished, they began to approach the front of the wooden shack they called home. Kratos effortlessly tossed the tree over to the area he chopped all of the firewood before looking over to Atreus "Boy, make sure there are no branches sticking off of it any longer. If you find any, create a pile separate from where the firewood is placed so we can use it as fuel."

Atreus nodded before Kratos began to head inside. Once inside and with the door closed behind him, Kratos took the Leviathan Axe out and began to approach a stone he used to sharpen the weapon's blade. Upon picking it up, Kratos took Mimir off of the back of his belt before sitting down on a wooden chair to begin sharpening the blade of the Axe. While the sound of metal being scrapped against a stone filled the house, Mimir sniffled a little "The straw you use for insulation in your roof is messing with my allergies."

Kratos didn't look at the head as he said "If you do not enjoy the affects the straw is having on your body you can leave."

"Does it look like I can brother?"

The God glanced at Mimir with a bit of a smirk, making the head realize what Kratos was getting at "Fair enough, I'll just stomach through it. After all, the tree my body was trapped inside of did so many worse things to... All of me."

Kratos wasn't paying attention. He continued to sharpen his blade while Mimir spoke. After a while Atreus would come inside and proudly say "Finished father!"

The boy's father set the sharpening stone aside and looked at him "Good. Keep the fire going while I chop the wood."

He nods before Kratos stands up and heads outside to do as he said. Mimir was left inside with Atreus. After a while of the sound of wood being chopped by Kratos and nothing much else, the severed head of a God said "No offense, but this house is a little drafty even when the three of us are in here at the same time.."

Atreus nods "It's been like that since mother died. I think it was part of me and father's grieving process. Mother always brought a happiness when she was in here. But... It feels like the house is starting to feel more.. Alive again now that we completed her last wish."

Mimir took on an agreed face as he said "True, true. I just think that we could use a pet or two."

The boy looked over his shoulder as he stocked the flames of the built in fire pit "How so?"

The head continued "Not sure, maybe it's because I've always wanted a pet. But, of course, being in my line of work makes it hard to take care of another living creature, let alone myself."

As he finished the door opened up and Kratos walked in holding a bundle of firewood under his arm. He set the Axe in a holster built into a wooden poke that kept the roof up as he walked towards the fire "We have enough wood to last for three weeks. Each bundle should last a full day."

Mimir grinned a little "That means we have twenty one whole bundles of firewood."

Atreus stood up and dusted off the front of his pants as Kratos placed the bundle of wood he had under his arm into the fire pit. While that happened the boy said "I know how to count Mimir."

The head chuckled a little "That's true! Just making sure that noggin of your's is still sharp!"

Kratos watched as the newly added logs of wood began to catch fire before turning to face the two "Atreus, I am going to go hunting. Remain here with the head."

The boy nodded before Kratos began to prepare to hunt for some food. After he left, and after an hour or so of Atreus playing with the wooden toys his mother had made, Atreus would sit down on his bed and yawn a little "Mimir, do you think you could keep an eye out for an intruder while I take a quick nap?"

Mimir, once again, would've nodded "Sure thing! Despite not having any lungs, I can still scream loud enough to wake up the dead."

Atreus nodded before laying down on his bed, placing his head on the pillow, and falling asleep. One thing Atreus doesn't understand is that after the end of his and Kratos's adventure to spread Fey's ashes across the tallest peak of all the Realms, the boy has been having dreams that feel so... Vivid. It started with Thor arriving at their house with a strong thunderstorm accompanying him, then it was a dream where Jörmungandr, the World Serpent, disappeared only to see himself opening a wooden crate and dumping whatever it was that was inside of it into the Lake of Nine. But it usually happened whenever something makes him start thinking of certain things. The Thor dream started because he remembered the death of Magni and Modi, the sons of Thor. The dream about Jörmungandr came about because he saw a small snake dying during a hunting trip with his father. But this dream he was about to have, it was not triggered by a memory or something he saw. It was triggered by something else.

Atreus's dream took him someplace surprising, it took him up the tallest mountain in all of Midgard. The same mountain that him and his father met Mimir on, and where their quest to get into Jötunheim began. Atreus found his dream showing him the large stone gate that was once the last known gate to Jötunheim until him and Kratos unearthed another gate in the Lake of Nine. Despite this only being a dream, he could feel heat coming from the inactive gate. It was a strong heat, the snow surrounding the gate almost up to the tree Mimir's body still resided within was melted and a dry wind blew over the top of the mountain. He watched as strange foreign runes began to appear all along the stone gate. Strange green energy glowed through the runes and it arched off of the engravings like lighting, they sparked and crackled violently as the warmth grew all around the mountain top. A blast of dry wind came out of the gate and its heat caused Mimir's tree to wither and die instantly. Then, in a flash of red light, a portal opened up inside of the gate that emitted an even stronger heat that would just continue to grow hotter and hotter.

Then, as the dream began to take Atreus towards the portal, something began to walk out of it. The creature was large, larger than Kratos but smaller than a Troll, its legs were unlike any other he's seen, and sadly the dream wouldn't let him see its full body. As more, smaller than the creature who would be larger than Kratos, began to follow the creature out of the portal Atreus passed them and went into the portal. It was no surprise to find himself in Jötunheim once again, but what he was surprised to find was how hot the Realm had become. The sky was filled with red clouds and strange yellow lightning cracked and boomed through the sky. From atop the highest peak in Jötunheim Atreus could see the bodies of the deceased Jötnar, except wooden and stone bridges linked the bodies together, strange structures both sat atop their bodies and protruded out from inside of them, other bridges went from one of the mountains near a dead Jötnar to a passage built into the body of one, and strange creatures walked these paths and around the buildings.

Another thing that could be seen is that the strange, almost unnatural, heat that now loomed over Jötunheim had melted all of the snow and evaporated all of the fog that could've been seen from the mountain peak. This lack of fog allowed Atreus to see that, far off in the distance, the lands of Jötunheim were being changed from the almost orange and brown rocky terrain it was supposed to be into these jagged, red, cracked, and evil mountains. The storm over those terrains was worse than the storm that was over the normal terrain of the Realm, lighting struck every peak of ever jagged mountain, and it looked as if it were slowly inching forwards to engulf more of Jötunheim so it could all become like those horrible mountains. Then suddenly, the storm over Atreus's head grew worse. All of the creatures walking those paths between the dead Jötnar looked skyward as lightning struck the side of this one mountain to the boy's left. Over and over again, the lightning struck and pieces of the mountain began come off of it because of those bolts.

Atreus watched as something began to take form in the side of that mountain. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen or heard of. Whatever was being created by that lighting resembled the skull of a goat with long pointed horns that curved backwards. Once the shape was finished being created a circular, intricate, glowing, red rune appeared on its forehead before two balls of fire appeared in its eye sockets. The eyes looked around the lands before it, before eventually coming upon Atreus. Its sight lingered on the boy, and their eyes met, before a jolt of pain struck the back of his head as strange visions flashed before his eyes. He saw a landscape covered in blood, the body of something as large as a Jötnar laying at the center of the bleak and desolate lands.

Then he saw what looked to be a castle made of black bricks with lava and blood rolling down its sides, at the top was a ball of red energy that pulsated and had bolts of red energy come off like it were a cloud in a thunderstorm. The sight of a strange object that looked to be made of flesh and bone appeared before his eyes before a hand covered in strange dark green armor grabbed ahold of it. Hundreds upon thousands of intricate and foreign runes flashed through Atreus's vision as he saw various jagged and desolate landscapes flashed into existence, with the runes appearing over them as though they were looking through glass that had them carved onto, right at those lands.

Then suddenly, Atreus saw the mountain in Midgard, he saw a tunnel that had been carved into the side of it, the tunnel led deep into the mountain and into a room with various chests scattered around. Then finally, he saw a chamber hidden behind two large stone doors that had only a large stone contain that was stood upright. The container had a large rune on it that glowed red, but before he could get a good look at it, the face of the thing in the mountain appeared in front of him once more before speaking in this strange voice that sent chills down his spine.

He didn't know what it meant, he didn't know what language it even was, all he knew was that, at least in his mind, he knew how to spell the strange words. The letters almost appeared in front of his eyes, and they appeared to him as "אל תשכח" before he suddenly awoke screaming. His entire body felt cold, but his face felt burning like he had gone face first into the fire pit. When the boy awoke screaming Kratos, who had returned from hunting with a deer and was cooking it when Atreus woke up, quickly stood up and looked at his son with clear worry in his eyes "Atreus? What is wrong?"

Atreus looked to his father, tears in his eyes "I- I saw something in my dreams.. Horrible things.. I- I don't know what they were, th- they were coming out of Jötunheim and into Midgard, they were everywhere in Jötunheim, th- they built bridges and tunnels into the Giants, o- one of them talked to me! I- I don't-"

Kratos walked over to Atreus's bed and knelt down in front of him before placing a hand on the boy's shoulder "It was only a nightmare. The creatures and things you saw within it are only as real as you let them be."

The boy's tears began to lessen as he nodded a little "Alright... B- But.. It felt so real, so vivid.. Just like the dream I had about Thor and-"

"And it too was only a dream. Thor has not come to us seeking a fight. And so long as I stand he will not come."

With that, Kratos stood up and returned to cooking. While he did that, Atreus wiped a few lingering tears away from his eyes as he glanced over to Mimir, who simply said "What your da said is true. Because, after all, no one can get into Jötunheim."

Atreus nodded as he brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, keeping them close. The thought of the strange words the creature spoke to him still sent shivers down his spine. Something about it just felt evil. The voice was unnatural, it didn't sound like a man's voice, it didn't sound like a woman's voice, it didn't sound like a boy's voice, and it didn't sound like a girl's voice. It was... It was some strange combination of all of them. It haunted Atreus's head. But, at least, the thought of eating fresh deer was taking his focus away from the nightmare and somewhere more positive.