WOOD CREAKED as the waters rushed around him, his thoughts encasing him in a world of worry as he balled his hands before him and stared off into the horizon. It was set in stone and every outcome would be on their heads; the Table was going to war against the Order.

Messenger sparrows had been sent and the monarchs returned to their respective kingdoms to gather their armies. Arendelle would start off first as it was the furthest from the Order's fortress and their ships had set sail. Balder sat in his cabin aboard one of the kingdom's vessels, awaiting their arrival onto the island Elsa and Anna had set off to.

Though the safety of the sisters was a source of great concern for the councilman, he could not shake off the feeling that something was amiss. Bjarke had brought this to him before their departure and it plagued his mind ever since. The decision to declare war was nearly unanimous and he indeed believed it to be their only course of action, but something did not sit well with him.

There was a vague sense of unease within him, like his thoughts were not completely under his control. It felt like someone was pushing him down the course of action he was on and yet it felt like the decision was his. He warred within his mind to figure out what the turmoil was, but came up with nothing.

He huffed and stood up, moving across the floor up to the door of his cabin and began to walk down the upper deck. He shrugged off his concerns and decided to focus on the task at hand; the war was going to happen and there was no avoiding it. Since most of the Order's legends proved to be a farce, the Table would be able to eradicate them without any trouble. Eight armies against one, the odds were definitely in their favour.


HER HEART sank as her eyes took in the writing, the letter's message feeling like a prophecy of doom. Rapunzel never truly trusted Hans and though he had become King of the Southern Isles, she could still see the mischievous prince who tried to kill her cousins. Elsa and Anna had sworn to never speak his name after he was declared King and she decided to abide to it. Despite that, there was no doubt that the letter was true; even he would not stoop so low as to lie about something as tremendous as this.

The question was how she would react; could she send her men to wage a war she felt they would certainly lose? Such circumstances were what led her to leave Arendelle and return to her kingdom which she believed was more peaceful. She just found out that she was pregnant and needed a calm environment as she felt too much stress would be detrimental to the health of it, but such a desire was quickly becoming a luxury.

Turning to her husband who approached her, she stitched her brows, handing him the parchment without saying a word. Recognizing the look on his face, she sighed, taking a seat on the chair in her office. He wrapped the paper up and placed it on the table, looking her in the eye.

"What do we do, Eugene?" She furrowed her brow.


TORGEIR STUCK his head above the rock, letting only his eyes peak over before he sat back down. Turning to his left, he looked at the Queen with concern as her face seemed lost, captivated by the glow of the chest she held. Anna blinked, snapping out of her daze and peeped behind the rock, looking at the fortress in the distance.

"What do we do now?" Anna turned to her sister. "Elsa?"

"I …" Elsa sighed, shutting her eyes as she sobered. "Dunno." She huffed and turned to Anna. "We … we've gotta find a way to get in there; it's where the chest's pointing at."

"Do you see those beasts roaming it? They would kill us the moment they see us." Torgeir stifled his voice to a whisper. "We should get back to the forest and find somewhere to hide."

"Look around, the forest's too far off; if we run, they're gonna kill us!" Anna pointed at the forest whose trees peaked just above the rocky terrain.

"Shh! They might hear us." Elsa pressed her finger to her lips.

"I'm just saying that the forest's too far away." Anna's voice muffled against her finger, bringing a frown to her face.

"How did that happen?" Torgeir looked at the forest. "Weren't we in there mere minutes ago?"

"Wasn't it near nightfall minutes ago?" Elsa looked at the sky as dawn slowly approached.

"I'm confused here." Anna scratched her head. "We were in the forest in the evening minutes ago and now we're on a snowy mountain at dawn?"

"How is it even snowing? Isn't it summer?" Torgeir raised his brow.

"Weird." Anna raised her brow then frowned and turned to her sister. "Elsa."

"What?" Elsa turned to her then raised her brow as Torgeir frowned at her as well. "What?"

"You're doing it again." Anna frowned.

"Oh, what, just because I accidentally froze over an entire kingdom, you think I froze this mountain?" Elsa folded her arms.

"It seems highly likely." Torgeir smirked.

"Well, I didn't do it." Elsa frowned.

"What should we do now?" Torgeir looked around.

"We should try to get in the fortress." Elsa looked at the chest. "It's where the compass's pointing to and it's the closest place we've got to hide in."

"If we're moving, we'd better move quick cuz these dragons might hear us." Anna eyes darted around fearfully.

"Doesn't look like they've noticed us yet." Elsa peeked over the rock. "We need a way to get in the fortress."

"This is gonna be tricky." Anna bit her lip.

A screechy roar sent shivers up their spines, the sound of wings flapping drawing closer as wind gathered. They quickly rose to their feet, seeing a dragon descend upon them, its mouth wide open as it breathed in. The beast spat a stream of fire at them, quickly evaporating as Elsa summoned a wall of ice from the snowy ground before her.

The other dragons swooped toward them, three larger beasts that opened their mouths, ready to attack the trio. Spreading out, Elsa, Anna and Torgeir avoided the blasts of fire the animals shot at them, running in different directions. A dragon landed before Torgeir, moving quickly toward him as it bit at his arm.

An icicle smashed against the monster's mouth, drawing its attention to Elsa who jumped away from another dragon that sent fire at her. The beast left Torgeir and flew towards the Ice Queen, slowed down by Anna who showered it with a blanket of flame. The monster shook its head, shrugging off the onslaught that barely phased it and spat fire at her.

Anna jumped out of the way and got smacked aside as another dragon flung towards her, its left arm coated in ice. The creature rolled to its feet, growling angrily as it sent a stream of fire at Elsa. She lifted her right arm, erecting a wall of ice to shield her and caked the limb with hardened snow as a dragon bit her arm and dragged her along. Shaking her like a ragdoll, the monster smacked her against the ground repeatedly and tossed her into the air, opening its mouth as she fell toward it.

Anna scooped Elsa as she flew by, moving towards Torgeir who ran away from a dragon that opened its mouth at him. Shielding him from the fires with a hovering plate of ice, Elsa landed on her feet, standing before Torgeir as Anna jumped down. Spinning around with outstretched arms, Elsa forged a wall of ice that encircled the three.

"How're we gonna get past these things?" Anna looked around frantically.

Shards of ice sprayed past her as a dragon smashed through the wall and shot fire at them. The flames burnt Torgeir's left forearm, drawing a scream of pain as he flailed around in a panic. Elsa sent a clump of snow on the wound and shot her palms forward, sending a jet of ice at a dragon that ran toward her.

Anna shot a fireball at a dragon that descended upon her, rolling out of the way as it flew through the attack and dove toward her. The sisters sent streams of their elements at the four beasts that moved toward them, the older of the two flying above so she could take in her surroundings. Looking to her left, she saw Torgeir run off, his wounded arm held at his side.

"Torgeir, where're you going?!" She stitched her brow in confusion.

"There is an opening in the building!" He breathed heavily.

Sliding on the snow, he got to his knees as he moved up to a circular opening with iron bars before it. Clasping his hands around them, he pulled with all his might, his teeth gritting as pain seared though his burnt arm. A dragon sprinted out of the stream of fire Anna showered upon it and flew toward him.

Torgeir rolled out of the way quickly, unsheathing his sword as he got to his feet and swung the blade at the dragon, digging it into its neck. The beast thrashed around as its blood spurted out, shaking his injured arm as it did. A boulder of ice smashed against the dragon, smacking it aside as its wings scraped against the bars, snapping them like twigs.

"Come on!" Torgeir turned to the sisters.

A dragon leapt over Elsa, pouncing on her and meeting a shield of ice as they plummeted to the ground. Flying out of the way, she let the beast crash behind her, shooting towards her sister whose arm she yanked forcefully. They zoomed past Torgeir, diving into the opening in the wall and he jumped in, sliding into a pipe.


"HOW LONG are we gonna fall?" Anna slid down the pipe helplessly.

"It should have an end, right?" Elsa looked down at her.

"Okay, this isn't fun anymore." Anna folded her arms and huffed.

"You think this is fun?" Elsa raised her brow.

"Okay, I've had enough." Anna frowned and punched the pipe, breaking a hole through the metal and flew out of it, plummeting to the ground below. "Whoa, didn't know my own strength." She chuckled then looked up, seeing Elsa and Torgeir fall towards her. "Oh, this is some o' bullsh –,"

Anna slammed on the floor and Elsa landed across her midsection, gaining a grunt from her. Torgeir fell towards them then flipped over in mid-air, rolling to his feet further away. Elsa got off Anna slowly, the resultant pain from their struggle setting in as she helped her sister stand up.

"Hey, how'd you do that?" Anna raised her brow as she turned to Torgeir.

"I'm well trained." He smirked.

"But that's impossible." Elsa furrowed her brow.

"Nobody told me." Torgeir shrugged.

"Well, at least we got away from those dragons." Anna stretched her back. "Man, my fire did nothing to them."

"All that matters is that we made it away safely." Torgeir smiled at her.

"Hey, where's the chest?" Anna turned to Elsa.

"On my chest." Elsa held the ice laced around her neck. "I made this when the dragons attacked so I wouldn't lose it."

"Humph." Anna folded her arms. "You're just showing off your boobs again, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" Elsa frowned.

"They are quite large." Torgeir cocked his neck.

"Hands off." Elsa crossed her arms before her breasts, squinting at him suspiciously.

He chuckled and shifted his gaze, his eyes widening as he saw several cloaked men standing around them. Their faces were cold and their glares sent shivers up their spines, even Elsa's. Murmuring amongst themselves, the men scurried off, heading out a door to their right.

The trio looked around, their curiosity peaking as they took in their surroundings and walked around. Several pipes lined the walls of the dim, windowless room, moving horizontally across and leading up to the ceiling to the right. Several glass tubes stood vertically around them, energy of different colours shining dimly from them and illuminating the room faintly. A cold chill came from the left side of the room, making Torgeir shudder as his burnt arm began to sting.

"Ooh, guess my ice didn't hold." Elsa walked up to him. "Lemme see that."

She held his arm gently and looked at the wound, her brows stitching as she could feel his pain by simply seeing it. A large portion of his skin was burnt off and most of his endodermal skin was exposed, scorched badly as blood failed to bleed out. Blowing gently, she breathed a soft layer of snow on the wound, slowly encasing it in ice, slowly hardening as she thickened the coating till his flesh was obscured.

"It no longer hurts, right?" Elsa looked up at him.

"Wow." He looked at the snow cast in awe. "Thank you, your Highness."

"You're welcome." She smiled at him.

"This is incredible." He laughed then frowned as he turned to Anna. "Uh, Princess Anna?"

"Anna?" Elsa looked at her.

Anna walked slowly, her body inching towards a door to their left from which a cold chill exuded. Elsa ran up to her, holding her shoulders in place as she looked her in the eyes. Her face was dazed, her turquoise blue eyes lost as they latched at nothing, bringing a frown to her older sister's face.

"Anna." She shook her.

"I …" Anna sobered, shaking her head. "I … I heard mom calling me."

"What?" Elsa stepped back.

"Mom's here, Elsa." Anna smiled. "I heard her singing."

"What … how?" Elsa's brows furrowed.

"Aren't King Adgar and Queen Idun dead?" Torgeir walked up to them.

"I heard her singing." Anna's eyes blurred.

"How can this be?" Elsa lowered her head, sifting through her thoughts.

"We should go where Anna was going. Perhaps it is the source of the voice she was hearing." Torgeir looked at the door.

"No, we need to split up and find out what's going on here." Elsa looked up at him. "Try following those men and we'll follow the voice; we'll have to move if we don't wanna get caught."

"Understood, your Highness." Torgeir nodded.

He ran off, heading out the exit to the right of the room, his footsteps receding out of earshot as he shut it behind him. Turning to her younger sister, Elsa looked at the door to the left, her brows stitching in anticipation as she moved onward. Holding Anna's hand, she opened it, entering an expansive hallway that had a faint luminescence towards its end.

Elsa began to hear the voice as well, its tone being soft and gentle, very similar to Anna's, if not identical without its underlying huskiness and higher pitch. It was mesmerizing and enthralling, bringing warmth to her heart as she moved onward. She recognized it; it was indeed the voice of her mother, not Idun. It sung a song sweetly, deeply moving her though she did not understand every word though she had a good grasp on foreign languages.

The sky's awake…

"Elsa." Anna's voice came.

"Huh?"

"The chest; it's glowing." She pointed at it.

Elsa lifted the parchment, spreading it out as the calligraphy shone brightly, lighting up the hall. The words began to change as she looked at them, they seemed different as she read and she slowly began to understand their language. Sounds began to bubble through in her mind as she and her sister walked faster.

"Mom's there!" Elsa smiled.

"I can hear her!" Anna giggled.

"Mom's still alive."


PUSHING THE heavy twin doors aside, the sisters entered a large hall with chairs lined up in rows leading up to a large metal grate that stood at the end of the room, it's metalwork embellished by a crimson rosary design. The two walked down the expanse, taking in their surroundings and horrified at the sight. Its architecture had a Gothic theme with black liquid lacing through the esoteric symbolism of the walls. It dawned on them instantly that they were in the meeting place of a cult.

"What's going on here?" Elsa furrowed her brow.

'Elsa, Anna.'

"Mom!" Anna looked around, glee exuding from her face.

"Where are you?" Elsa grinned.

'Guess the letter actually got to you…' Their mother's voice came, only audible in their minds.

"Elsa, it's the letter." Anna pointed at the parchment.

"Huh?" Elsa unrolled the scroll, reading it attentively.

'… If you're reading this, then you've found the chest.' Hjørdis' voice continued and chuckled. 'I've never been good at letters, so your father's helping me with this. He's such a softie; he didn't even want me to write this at all actually.' She cleared her throat. 'Okay, how do I start this? … Um, hi, I'm your mom, Hjørdis.'

"Mom." Anna furrowed her brow.

'I'm glad this letter got to you safely; it took a lotta magic to hide it from anyone else, so it's great that it lasted as long as it did. By this time, you've obviously discovered your powers and you're probably coming to learn that you're not human.' Hjørdis paused. 'My real name is Sinmara and I was Queen of the Fire Demons and Hjørdis is the name I took up when I got here. I was married to Surtur, King of the Fire Demons and was supposed to rule at his side, but I was never like the rest of the Demons. I never had any real power to fight and my magic was mostly made to create, not destroy. The other Demons didn't want me in Muspelheim, so Surtur cast me out and put me in a human body. I was confused and scared when I ended up here and your father was the first human I met.' Hjørdis chuckled.

'I literally ran up and hugged him when I saw him. He took me in and we grew close to each other. I soon discovered that he was part Frost Giant because he was infected during the Great War, a war that lasted nearly a decade between humans, Frost Giants and dragons which the humans barely won thanks to the Order of the Nine Stars who took out the dragons and the All-Father Odin who took out the Giants. We got married and had you two when the Order attacked us and we got separated.' Hjørdis sighed.

'It took us a couple weeks and we found out that your father's twin sister, Queen Idun, had taken you in. The four of us discussed and agreed that it'd be best for you to stay with them so that the Order wouldn't hunt you down. If you'd stayed with us, your powers would only get stronger and you would easily be found.' Hjørdis' choked up. 'It was very hard …' She sighed shakily. 'To have to watch you grow from afar and soon have to let you go after Adgar and Idun had to lock you away to hide your powers. I never got to see your become young women.' Hjørdis sniffled.

'I always imagined how you'd be, growing up into beautiful young girls who'd soon find their men and have families. To see how you'd raise your own kids and pass down what I'd taught you… I missed all of that. Your father took it the hardest and would sometimes go days on end without a word. It made him so proud that you remembered the snow creature he made you when you were two. What was his name? ... Olaf.' Hjørdis chuckled. 'That was it. Ah, he still holds it over me that I couldn't summon any creatures from my realm, but he could. Since he wasn't fully Juton, he could only summon one and luckily, you could only summon the same exact one. The creatures we can make are different. Some are special, like Olaf and others are like clones, like the Snowgies. I wonder if you'll summon them as well; they're such fun lil rascals. The problem's that your father wasn't very good at it, so Olaf would lose memory every once in a while. It made him proud to see that you summoned him up too.'

'Elsa, Anna, what you have in your hands is something very dangerous your father and I found a couple years ago called the Casket of Ancient Winters. That Casket has the power to freeze over the whole world and create an army of Frost Giants, basically transforming earth into Jutonheim. We hid it away on a magical island we'd ran off to after the Order began to hunt us down and we sealed it off with magic that only you would be able to sense.'

'You must not let it get into the wrong hands, especially the Order's. We don't know what they're planning, but they can't be trusted. Please, never open it! It'll freeze the earth if you do!' Hjørdis laughed softly. 'I … I guess that's the end of my letter. It's like the third one I've ever written, so don't laugh at me if it's not good or hard to understand.' Elsa and Anna chuckled slightly, picturing their mother having an expression Anna would likely have during a tantrum. 'I hope you understood all of it and I hope the spell I left on it works so you can find me. Hope your aunt taught you how to follow a compass; though I'm sure you can easily do that … I can't.' Hjørdis chuckled. 'Just know that your father and I love you very much and are dying to see you again. Hope you can find us with the compass. Love, your mom and dad.'

"You know, it's weird …" Elsa rolled up the scroll and wiped a tear. "I never thought mom was so much like you."

"Where'd you think I get it from?" Anna chuckled. "Kinda seems that you're a lot like dad."

"People do say I'm a mirror image of Aunt Idun and if she's his twin, then I guess I'm just like him." Elsa shrugged. "Guess I'm a daddy's girl."

"Yeah." Anna smiled then her face hardened. "Wait, we're supposed to follow the compass, right?"

"Mm-hmm." Elsa nodded.

"Then why's it pointing …" Anna turned to the end of the room. "There?"

Elsa blinked, looking at the compass with worry as she read its direction, the realization dawning on her. Swallowing hard, she stepped forward, followed closely by Anna who began to seize up in worry. The cold chill swept through again, to an amount even Elsa strangely could feel as her hands clenched up. The two reached the grate, sharing a glance as they placed their hands on it together.

Pushing the grate aside, they stepped forward and froze in place, their eyes widened with horror as they looked onward. A woman lay strapped to a large metal chair, her skin pale and her eyes shut as her golden hair swept across her cheek and rested on her shoulders. Several tubes were pierced along her arms, spreading outward, running along the floor and up to large pipes that lined the walls horizontally along the hall.

The woman was the mirror image of Anna with rosy cheeks deadened by the pale colour of her skin.

"No, no, no …" Anna whimpered "No, mom!"

Anna collapsed on her knees, gritting her teeth as she shook her head, her eyes watering as the realization stung them. Elsa furrowed her brow, disbelief exuding from her face as she stared blankly at her mother's corpse. She felt tears welling within her, but the shock and horror overcame the deep sorrow that washed over her. Was this her fate? Having to live a life of constant torture as she had to experience the loss of her parents twice?

She turned away from the corpse, quickly overwhelmed as she backed away, her body feeling weak as she saw what was before her. She fell to her knees, tears flowing freely down her cheeks as she looked upward, her head shaking slowly in disbelief. A man's severed head hung from a spike on the wall, dishevelled hair scattered over its forehead with skin paler than that of the woman on the chair.

"… Dad …"

The sisters wailed as they knelt over before the corpses of their parents, their voices echoing off the walls of the hall. The sorrow burned them deep within their hearts, the cold world around them freezing over as they realized that they were indeed alone. No matter how much they tried, in the end they truly would not have the lives they wanted.

"Asgard, home of the Asgardians, Svartalfheim, home of the Dark Elves, Nidavellir, home of the Darves, Alfheim, home of the Elves, Niflheim, the Norn Hell, Muspelheim, the home of the Fire Demons, Jutonheim, the home of the Frost Giants and Midgard, which we call earth." A man's voice came, his footsteps clicking as they approached.

Elsa turned her head slowly, tears flowing down her nose and trickling onto the floor as her eyes exuded hate. Erhard Vinzenz, the Head of the Order of the Nine Stars, approached them with a slow confident step, his arms held before him and his eyes locked with hers. Stopping near the epicentre of the hall, he lowered his arms and studied the sisters.

"The Order of the Nine Stars is the Order of the Nine Realms and just as Midgard is at the centre of Yggdrasil, we are at the centre of the Universe and I shall rule it once I ascend and become a god. You have been a great help in this plan and I am most grateful." Erhard sighed. "It is sad that you have not been as useful as your parents. Your father offered the most resistance, but your mother had far more magic. Her corpse had more energy than your father's and has been the well from which we have forged powerful spells like the illusion that crippled your perception of time. What felt like three days for you was in fact three weeks just as it does for all outsiders that come to the island. It was such a pity your parents came to this island and right into our hands; if they had simply stayed in the forest around Arendelle or disguised themselves as workers for the King and Queen, it would have been harder for us to find and kill them."

Anger swam through Elsa's body tremulously; her eyes wide and filled with rage as she glared at him. She moved to stand when she felt immense heat coming from Anna; her younger sister's body shrouded in a cloud of steam. Stepping back, she watched in shock as she saw the floor begin to crack underneath her.

Anna's fingers dug into the tiles of the floor, sending fissures that spread around her in cracks shaped like that of a web. She lowered her head, veins pulsating across her forehead as she knitted her brows in a deep, hateful frown. Her eyes shot open, making her older sister back away in terror as black replaced the white and blue in them.

Wind rushed out of Anna's body, spreading out in a wave that rattled the grate and windows and blew away the chairs in the room. Her teeth gritted until they screeched, the sound heightening as her canines extended till they were the length of an animal's fangs. Tremors spread across the room, cracks deepening and spreading on the floor towards Elsa who backed away.

"Anna." Her eyes dilated in worry.

A sudden silence rushed in and the tremors halted, the steam receding completely from Anna's body as she bowed over. Her head shot up and she screamed wildly, her voice spreading out and causing the windows in the hall to shatter to pieces. Fire exploded out of her, encompassing the expanse violently and burning everything in its path.


TORGEIR WALKED out of the front entrance of the fortress, looking around as he searched for the men he followed. He stepped further when he heard a scream coming from behind him, turning as shock enveloped him. His eyes widened in surprise as a wave of fire spread towards him rapidly and began to engulf the entire edifice.

He leapt forward, blown away by the wave of the explosion as it spread out, flinging him to the ground. He turned over painfully, leaning his head against a rock as he watched, breathing heavily as he backed away. A gigantic bellow of fire rose into the sky, the resultant smoke ascending to the clouds as the once enormous building stood as a pile of rubble.

Anna stood at the centre of the fire, screaming wildly as the flames exploded out of her body.


HIS OLD eyes squinted as he raised his head to the sky, his face exuding worry as he watched along with the others. Grand Pabbie and the Trolls looked at the Northern Lights in the early morning in The Valley of the Living Rock, curious and wrapped at attention. The display surged violently through the sky, electric in nature as it spread out, sending inconsistent flashes across the plane.

"Grand Pabbie." A female troll approached him. "What's happening to the sky?"

"It's Anna." He furrowed his brow.

"Anna?" The troll backed up in confusion.

"It's just like the time Kristoff brought her to us when her heart was frozen." Grand Pabbie frowned. "The Lights instantly went off when she fainted and slowly began to freeze over."

"But, what does this have to do with her?" The troll raised her brow. "The Lights were there long before she was born, weren't they?"

"The Lights are a part of nature; she did not create them, but they can be disturbed when someone draws power from them." Grand Pabbie stepped forward. "Anna draws power from the sun and it's the source of the Lights. Even so, this isn't normal even for her."

"What do you mean?" The troll looked at the sky.

"This is the turmoil I sensed in her, a power trying to take control of her mind; a war between spirit and flesh." Grand Pabbie sighed. "She's awoken a dark power …"


ELSA RUBBED her head as she pushed her body up from the rubble, her hands crunching against a shard of ice from the shield she forged to protect herself from the blast. She looked onward and gasped in terror as she watched her sister stand before her, unable to recognize her at all. Anna growled and clenched her fists, her eyes focussed on Erhard as a large flame surrounded her.

"… the Demon Force …"


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