Ragnarok Ch. 1: (warning! Spoilers!)

A/N: I am writing this story from the timetable of after the second book of Magnus and the Gods of Asgard (which hasn't been written yet, I know, just pretend Magnus got Thor's Hammer and all that). For the rest of our heroes, it's been two and a half years since the end of the Prophecy of Seven, and for our Egyptian Magicians it's been three years since the defeat of Apophis. As it's been a few years, I imagine a couple quests have come and gone. For example, a quest to revive the Oracle of Delphi. I'll mention that in my next couple chapters, as the Oracle of Delphi has something to say about Ragnarok. Enjoy the ride!

MAGNUS

.:.:.:.:.:.

My day took a turn for the worst when I tumbled from the one realm to another, and fell face first into the backyard pool of the Al Abbas household. Navigating the world tree was hard enough without having to dodge the tank-sized woodland animals inhabiting it. Luckily I hadn't seen any signs of the killer giant squirrel.

Maybe I should back up a little and explain myself.

Hi, I'm Magnus Chase. Resident hero and dead homeless kid come back from the dead to fight alongside my friends in Valhalla until the days of Ragnarok. Sounds insane? That would be because it is insane. Very much so. I had died when my yet-to-be best friend Sam pulled my soul back from the depths of Ginnungaggap and gave me a one-way ticket to the hall of heroes. Since then we've been in many scrapes and near-death experiences: fished for the world serpent, helped my friend Blitz win a crafting contest, stopped the great wolf Fenrir from breaking free of his bonds, and even found Thor his hammer after battling several dark elves in Svartalfheim. It was all very dangerous and terrifying.

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

So. Why am crawling out of my friend's backyard pool? Good question. I've no idea. The world tree Yggdrasil likes pranks I guess. Ask it to take you to your friend's house in Midgard and it throws you in their pool. I was lucky it hadn't chose to sink me in the ocean.

I was here for a reason though. Last night I had a dream, one I had to tell Sam or else the weight of it might consume me.

"Nice dive, boss." My sword, Jack, said cheerfully.

"Yeah, rub it in." I muttered. Yeah, I have a talking golden sword. He's cool. Annoying sometimes, but aren't all friends that way? "Couldn't you have picked a better branch?"

"Not really. This was the closest we could get to our destination. You should be happy we hit our target." Jack gleamed. No seriously.

I scoffed in response and clipped him to my chain necklace, where he changed back into a small pendant; the pedant was of my father's symbol, the symbol of Frey. Suffice to say, a talking sword might attract unnecessary attention from the neighbors.

I rung my clothes as dry as I could, and checked my pocket for my phone. It was a gift from my cousin and she would kill me if I broke it so soon. Luckily, the cheap trackphone was still alive. It got to see another day.

Putting it away again, I headed up the grassy lawn to see a light on in the second story window. Through it, I could see a familiar set of long brown hair bobbing back and forth. She was pacing. Knowing Sam's grandparents were, well, protective…I decided the window might be my best option for getting in the house without being seen.

It didn't take long for me to find a way to the window. I had been climbing trees since I was four, and my mom had encouraged it when we used to go out on outdoor treks during the summer.

My eye twitched. No matter how much time passed or how much I've come to accept that she was gone, it was still hard to think of her.

Placing my foot on the last sturdy branch of the tall maple, I reached up through the concealing leaves to knock on Sam's window. From inside I could hear a curse and the scuffling of random objects as she rushed to the window and threw it open.

"Are you insane?" Sam angrily stage whispered. Her eyes were rimmed with red for some reason, and her voice was rough.

"I like to think it comes with the job of being an einherjar." I quipped. "Um, are you just going to stand there and scold me or are you going to let a poor guy in? It's pretty chilly."

"No doubt with the state you're in." Sam took in the sight of my wet clothes sticking to my skin, the wind taking shots at me and giving me chills. Her eyes narrowed in contemplation, "Did you fall in the pool?"

"Yeah, but I didn't drown this time. That's a change."

"You didn't drown last time. I pulled you out."

"It was a near thing."

"Just get in, idiot."

I hopped in, being careful of the table by the window in her room. Never having been in a girl's room before, I took a quick look around. I don't know what I expected really. Pink walls. Stuffed animals here and there. Instead, posters of planes and birds were hung along blue walls. One desk in the corner looked regularly used for studies, but the papers had been flung every which way. The pillows on the bed were torn apart, feathers spilled out all around the room.

"What happened in here?" I asked. My sentence was choked off though, when a pair of arms attacked me in a tight embrace. I hesitatingly wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders. I've never known her to be that sentimental of a person. "Sam?"

"S-sorry about that." Sam sniffed as she let go of me and backed up a bit. Now that I took her in, she looked awful. "It's just…a rough day that's all."

"What's wrong?" It startled me to know the reason for her red eyes and rough voice weren't from anger, but from crying. I'd never seen Sam cry like this. Whatever it was that happened, she should be howling for blood, not crying.

"Amir." Sam choked. "He…he broke off the engagement."

My jaw hung in disbelief. "Can he do that?"

"He just did." She said, throwing a glare at me. "Said he…he thought of me as a sister. Not…a wife. Makes sense I suppose. We've known one another all our lives. Grown up with each other."

It really clicked with me then, as I took it all in. Sam really liked Amir. But he didn't like her back. I know people can't help what they feel but…that sucked.

"That's…" I didn't know what to say without sounding inconsiderate.

"Awful." Jack said from around my neck in his amulet form. I took him off my neck and stuffed him in my pocket where he muffled in protest.

Sam fingered the sharp blade of her axe. "And he found someone else."

That falafel-faced bastard. I swore to myself secretly then that I'd find a different falafel store in New York to hang out in. Maybe I'd look in Manhattan. Or Brooklyn.

Sam surprised me then when anger stole her features and she fully grabbed the axe and went at the pillow with all her Valkyrie fury. Seeing that crazed look in her eyes made every bone in my body want to run for the hills. Really, she was scarier than any giant I ever fought. I didn't want to be Amir right now, that's for sure.

I jumped again as the phone in my pocket went off. As Sam continued to shred the furniture, I took the opportunity to step back and answer the phone.

"Hello?" I answered, wincing as Sam threw away her axe and began ripping apart a second pillow with her bare hands.

"Magnus?" A familiar voice said with a bit of crackling static. "It's Annabeth."

"Hey cous'." It was good to hear from her, but man did she have bad timing. "Look, this might be a bad time-"

"You need to come to Camp Halfblood. Now." Her voice demanded. That didn't sound good.

"Why? What's going on?" A shiver rolled up my spine.

Some commotion sounded in the background of the phone speaker, and it sounded like Annabeth was talking to someone before she returned to the phone. "I have to go. Look, did you have any dreams last night? Like, world-ending dreams?"

"Um, yeah. How do you-"

"Let's just say you weren't the only one. Now go to camp. Get there as soon as possible. Percy and I are on our way there."

With that a final click sounded over the phone. How rude. She didn't even say 'please'.

Sam looked over from the decimated pillowcase, looking like a murder suspect with all the feathers strewn everywhere; half of them in her hair. It looked like she was done venting, but you never knew with Sam. "Who was that?"

"That was my cousin, Annabeth." I said. "She wants me to go to her camp. She said it's important."

Sam nodded. I looked around at all the possible things she could destroy in fits of rage. Yep. I needed to get her out of the house.

"You should come with." I said. "Keep your mind off…things."

She sighed and gave another nod in agreement. "That might be best, yes."

It took us five minutes to get ready for the trip, which mostly consisted of an axe aimed under my throat as Sam said "I need to change. If you turn around that head comes off." and proceeded to get dressed in her Valkyrie armor. After that we were out the window and down the tree.

.:.:.

I didn't know that Sam had a winged horse. Turns out all Valkyries have flying steads. It was better than taking the bus for five hours to Long Island, that's for sure. Still, the only horse I had ridden on before had had eight legs. This one was pure white with a long silvery grey mane, its white feathers on its wings reminding me uncomfortably of the ones thrown around Sam's room from her murdered pillow.

The horse trotted over to me and nuzzled my shoulder. I'd always had a strange connection with horses. It wasn't until I knew about my father that I learned that they were sacred animals of Frey. I petted the horse back.

"Does it have a name?"

"Her name is Abd Al-Hamid."

"Uh, does she have a nickname?"

Sam rolled her eyes at me snidely. I took that as a good sign. To me, that meant she was getting back to her old self.

"It means 'servant of the praised'. If you have trouble saying it, you can call her by her other name. 'Hope'."

"Hope is much easier to remember."

Sam scoffed. Probably holding back from telling me how much of an idiot I was that I couldn't remember Al-hab…Anb-Ham…her horse.

"Well? Are you coming?" Sam's voice broke me out of my thoughts and I saw she'd already mounted the winged equestrian.

I climbed on behind her. Trying to hold the saddle for balance.

"Hold on to my waist, idiot. Do you want to fall to your death?" She sounded amused. My face flamed up in indignation as I wrapped my arms around her. Not a moment too soon, because a split second later we were up in the air.

After being around Sam, one gets used to flying around. I knew Sam loved to fly, even dreamed of becoming a pilot before Odin chose her as his Valkyrie. Up here, I understood why. The feeling of wind rushing through your hair and having the open sky as your highway was hard to dismiss.

My mind was literally in the clouds when Sam's voice snapped me out of it. "Why were you at my house?"

That reminded me. "Oh! Right. I had a dream last night."

I told her of my dream.

.:.

Heavy mists cloaked the barren wasteland before me as I stood alone in a cold, icy valley. I had the vague knowledge in my mind that I was being shown this, but for what reason I couldn't fathom.

Out of the shadows of the mist, I could see a pair of scathing eyes that seemed to hold the menace of all nine reams. Being the target of all that fury, I was glad I was a specter instead of there in person. That gaze would surely burn poor einherji like me to a crisp.

"Your light and sun can't stop the winter that's coming. This is your future. This is your doom. Here, soon, you will die. Son of Frey."

Out of the mists I could hear the cry of a wolf, which made me want to curl up and cry, the fear of wolves burning just underneath the surface of my skin, telling me to run.

Beyond the mist rose a giant familiar wolf, flying up into the sky as his teeth eclipsed the sun. The world turned black.

.:.

"…Just at that moment, I woke up with that lovely threat simmering in my mind. I've already died once. Been there. Done that. Didn't want a second ticket thank you." Seeing the look on her face I could tell that Sam was not happy about my dream.

"Winter is coming," Sam repeated the giant's warning.

"Game of Thrones, much?"

"It's a foretelling of Ragnarok." Sam glared at me. Well, shit. "Three years of winter are said to predate the apocalypse."

"You mean, Ragnarok might be only three years away?"

"It very well could be."

The wind passed us by as we sailed over the east coastline, the morning mist being burnt off by the rising sun.

Sam spoke up, "I have something to confess. I had a dream as well. My father on the bone ship with the New York skyline alight in flames."

"Well." I said. "That's…not good."

Sam gave me one of her 'of-course-you-idiot' looks. After that, we rode on in silence; the uncertain future on our minds.

.:.:.

I had no idea how this camp of Annabeth's would react to a flying horse. I thought they'd be overwhelmed, either running away or rushing in hordes toward the commotion to fight off the supposed threat to their camp.

Neither happened. It was rather anticlimactic for them to take it so normally. It was as though these guys had a hidden stable of winged horses or something. They kept calling it a pegasi until Sam corrected them.

The dragon guarding the tree at the top of the hill we arrived at looked puny compared to the ones I had to fight every Tuesday in Valhalla. What did surprise me however, was the golden colored fur rug hanging on the lowest branch.

"Is that…"

"The Golden Fleece." Clarisse, the fierce girl that met Sam and me at the border confirmed. "My first quest. And yes, that was MY quest. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise or I'll rip their tongues out."

Despite what you might think, that comment made me feel right at home. In Valhalla einherji can't die, so all the activities are TO THE DEATH. Even yoga. It wasn't out of the ordinary to see a spear impale a fellow warrior through the chest in the hallways of Valhalla, because whoever 'died' would be back to normal the next day.

This Clarisse girl would fit in well over there.

As I was thinking this, my path was stopped when I found myself nearly chest-to-chest with a small camper in a black skull t-shirt with jet black hair, pale skin and dark, soul searching eyes. I knew those eyes very well. They were in every warrior I knew back in Valhalla. They were eyes that had seen death, and lots of it. The camper narrowed those eyes ever so slightly as if challenging me.

I took a step back. I didn't know what this guy's problem was, but I wasn't here to fight. This guy was openly assessing me, like I was a puzzle he couldn't quite solve. Well, with the scary black sword at his waist this guy was grabbing the hilt of, I doubt this guy was into puzzles. Or any game for that matter.

"You're dead, but not. Why aren't you dead?"

Well. I wasn't expecting that.

"What's it to you, skull-face?" Sam got in front of me, irritated. My eyes widened further. It wasn't like Sam to get mad at the top of a hat.

"I wouldn't pick a fight with me if I were you." The guy answered back.

I looked back towards Clarisse, but I could tell she wasn't going to be of any help as she seemed to be greatly enjoying this little fight. I could imagine her wanting to find a bowl of popcorn and sit down to fully enjoy this chaos.

"Maybe I should." Sam curled her lips in a challenging grin. She reached for her axe. Oh no. "You look like you need someone to knock you down a couple pegs."

"Sam, stop. We need them to like us." I jumped between them just as the scary guy unsheathed his weapon. Getting between them, I could almost feel the anger coming off in waves from each party. I know she'd recently got dumped, but that was no reason to let her frustrations out on the first tough guy she comes across other than me.

"Nico!" The scary guy, Nico I supposed, flinched and turned to look back at the approaching camper. The camper jogging up to us was taller than both of us and had blond hair and eyes the color of a sunny sky in Vanaheim. At the sight of the person, the fight seemed to leave Nico's sails and he lowered his sword. I could tell I already liked this guy. In one word he had saved me from being skewered by both sword and axe.

"I'm gone for ten minutes to check on the infirmary and already you're challenging…oh" The camper took me and Sam in. He looked at our escort slash tour guide. "New campers?"

"Not quite." Clarisse finally spoke up. "Annabeth sent for them."

"Really? Well, it's nice to meet you both." The camper held out his hand to me. "I'm Will Solace. Son of Apollo."

"Apollo as in, the sun god?" I asked as I shook his hand. I paused and tried to remember what Annabeth had made me read. "Or is it music? No wait, I think it was medicine…"

"All of the above and more." Will says, smiling. "Dad hogged all the cool powers. Archery, prophecy, music, poetry, medicine…he even rides the sun chariot. I only inherited the medicine aspect. I run the infirmary."

Wow. It was like meeting my Greek demigod double.

"Nice to meet you." I said. "I'm Magnus Chase. Annabeth's cousin."

"Mortal?" Will asked, eyebrow raised.

I laughed. "Far from it. But you said there was an infirmary? Mind if I take a look?"

The son of Apollo beamed at the suggestion, and was it me or did I just earn a particularly nasty glare from Nico? "Sure!"

As we walked over to the infirmary, I saw Nico and Sam heading to what looked like a training ring, both of them throwing insults and most likely getting ready for a regulated duel to release some stress. Or something. I knew Sam needed it, but I had no idea what Nico's problem was.

"Um, who's Nico the son of?" I asked Will on the way.

"Nico's the son of Hades. Around here he's known as the Ghost King." Will said almost proudly.

Oh. Swell. Just my luck.

Elsewhere, down in the depths of the earth, screams echoed off of cavern walls as Surt, the fire giant, fingered the scar along his face. Surt was in his much loved mortal form. Everything he wore, as well as his skin, was the darkest shade of pitch black.

The other wounds had healed long ago, but this cursed scar he willed to stay as a reminder of his hatred towards the hero that made it.

He would enjoy killing Magnus Chase. It was predestined that the sword carried by the son of Frey would become his. The summer god Frey would fall in battle because he no longer wielded that sword.

Surt wondered idly if Frey feared death.

It's no matter. Surt thought. One thing at a time.

The fire giant descended to the last cavern, where he saw his ally writhing in pain, strapped to a stone table with bonds soaked in blood. Venom dripped from a hissing snake above the tortured god. Upon Surt's entry, the snake whirled around to face the intruder.

Surt grinned as he summoned up his power from the fiery depths of Muspelhiem, sighing as the heat of a hundred suns engulfed him and encouraged the flames to lick around the reptile's scales. The sounds of shrieking and roasting snake were music to his ears, and he reveled in the death his flames wrought.

Once every last inch of the snake was burnt to a crisp, Surt turned his flames towards the bonds tying down the deity, each one snapping loose at the heat of the fire.

Once each and every last bond was released, Surt forced his flames down.

The god got up from the table, his face full of cuts and venom from centuries of abuse. "Is it that time already?"

Surt smiled. "The world has eagerly awaited you."

The god sighed, his power coming back to him fully after years of dormancy. With a wave of his hand, proper attire fitted over his form. He took in his freedom with a deep breath.

"As I have eagerly awaited it." The god grinned.

Surt mock-bowed to his partner in crime. "Welcome back, Loki."