Disclaimer: Scooby-Doo is owned by Warner Bros./Hannah-Barbara and affiliates. I do not make money off this.
Prologue:
-Somewhere in Iceland, 929 AD.-
The vast plains of rolling hills that graced the newly settled land was marred. Marred and damaged by bloodlust and a thirst. A thirst for power that was settled, tangled in the roots a giant oak tree. Men in iron helmets, fur and steel armor, wielding swords, axes and spears, clashed. They fought hard, thirsty, many meeting painful and violent deaths.
The tree of life, if it truly existed, would have shook with the earth at the coming end times.
The battle was about to reach a destructive precipice, when the dark sky opened up. The warriors stopped, as bright colorful lights streamed across the skies, soft, serene, gentle.
The warriors stared up in awe, their weapons slipping from their hands and onto the ground. Everything, every violence, every hostility, was laid to rest as the warriors were graced with a holy warmth that made even the hardest of men shed tears.
-Gudireik, Iceland, present day-
Stannir Evolksson, a tall, robust, but balding man cleaned up his office at the town treasury. He had been working late, closing a huge personal deal with the local landowners. He closed his briefcase, pulled on his jacket, left outside to take the walk through the woods to his home.
He hoped that his wife had cooked up his favorite stew for dinner. It was something he looked forward to. Stannir glanced to his side, he could see the warm lights of the local tavern, Hringhorni, through the dense trees. Sometimes he'd stop by for a drink or two from the tavern owner, but not tonight. His wife would worry if he were late.
Stannir pulled the collar of his jacket up to brace against the chill that washed over him. The wind was coming from the west, where he could see the hill that the big old oak stood like a haunting memory of some past. That tree is where this town of Gudireik was founded upon and named after. God's Oak.
He remembered that his grandmother used to tell him stories of that tree. She called it "Yggdrasil". The Life Tree from the old world myths of the Norse gods. When Stannir was a child, he loved listening to the tales his grandmother told him about fairies, trolls, and gods. The world seem so much more bigger to him. But as Stannir grew older, he came to reject those silly fantasies. The world wasn't run by trolls and fairies. They didn't exist. And certainly the Old Gods didn't exist.
At that moment he heard breathing behind him. Stannir turned around and spotted a man in the shadows. He wasn't moving. Just standing. He couldn't see much of the figure but he could tell that the man was tall, had mangy long hair and was wearing a long dusty jacket. He was holding something shiny in his hand. Long and shiny.
At first Stannir thought it was a gun, but very few people would dare bring their weapons out and about in public. It just wasn't done in this town, or in this country. But whatever it was, glinted gold in the moonlight.
"Yes?" he asked. He backed away as the man stepped forth out of the shadows. In a split second the man roared and charged, tackling Stannir Evolksson to the ground.
To his horror Stannir could see the figure's face. He had long greasy blond hair and was wearing a terrifying clay mask with bulging eyes, a triangle-like nose with what resembled a clay mustache. The man growled and spoke in a language similar to Icelandic, but definitely not entirely the same. Stannir could pick up bits and pieces of Old Norse.
"Let the gods take you, mortal. Justice will prevail!" he brought his hand up and the gold weapon in hand was an axe, raised high and poised to strike.
"Accept your judgment!"
Stannir screamed in horror but was silenced as the figure brought his axe down.
A/N: I'm technically not new to the Scooby fandom as I have loved that show ever since I was a child. Mystery Incorporated rekindled that love vehemently and is as of now my favorite iteration of the Scooby universe (but not necessarily the gang themselves. I still go classic Scoobs). But I haven't seen the What's New? Scooby Doo or any movie beyond Cyber Chase, so I'm pretty slow on the uptake. However, this story does take place in the regular Scooby universe. Any way, this will be rated T for now, but I do anticipate some dark themes that may push this to M. For you lovers of Norse culture (no, not counting Marvel's "Norse" culture) I hope this satisfies you. Thank you and Scoooooby-Dooobie-Dooo!