The crossroads of Destiny.
As they watched the little flames on Hans' hand, a sudden blind pain came over the four humans.
The ground shook… everything trembled out of its hences… the sky, the ground, the ocean, the animals… even they had begun to fracture...
Everyone shut their eyes in pain when their mind's eye saw the Yggdrasil shaking on its roots.
The last bit of smoke dissolved into the air, and just as quick the pain dissolved in their bodies.
"I told you that the dreams would pay off" smiled Haakon to a grumbling Lars. "Thanks to his closer connection to Yggdrasil, your brother is regaining his magic as well…"
"Yes. So it seems." Spoke Lars as they saw Hans get up with the help of Elsa.
"You don't seem convinced." Retorted Haakon with a frown.
"The Goblon took nearly all of Hans' magic away. When I patched his wound up…" Lars bit his lip. "He couldn't use magic anymore from then on. And even if he could break through the lock, it would have put his own life at risk when all his magic is spend inside his body."
Haakon shook his head in disagreement. "You know as well as I that Hans and Elsa's powers are tied to their emotions, not the body. Thanks to that special link, their powers, just like their emotions, are endless."
"And what if it isn't… what if Hans's sudden regain of his powers is the cause for Yggdrasil's inbalance?" whispered Lars with a bite to the former Heptagon leader. "Its not a coincidence that it happened at the same time!"
"No. It's a good thing that it happened… Yggdrasil is out of balance because of the little amount of gifted people. The fact that Hans is regaining his powers, gives Yggdrasil more chance of survival."
After mounting Sitron once more, Hans stared at his right hand. But no matter what he tried, there came no flames like before. Why did it not work when he wanted to?! The prince shook his head and decided to focus once more on his friend.
"I'm sorry boy." Muttered Hans – he nearly wanted to pet Sitron's neck like before, but refrained last minute.
Sitron whinnied and accepted his apology.
"Can you do it again?" asked Elsa from his left.
"I'm trying… but…" Hans shook frustrated his hand, but not even a spark appeared. "It doesn't want to."
"Well, at least we know you magic is accessible again." Smiled Elsa to give him some comfort.
"It's a unreliable access nonetheless." Spoke Hans as he concentrated once more. But no. Nothing. Why wouldn't it work?!
SPLAT!
Hans was taken out of his thoughts when Elsa threw a snowball in his face. "What…" sputtered Hans with a glare to the queen. "What was that for?!"
"To get your mind off things." Spoke Elsa as she nodded to Hans' hand.
Hans huffed. "Your majesty, now that I have the chance to get my magic back, you say that I need to take a step backwards?" the man shook his head.
"Yes, you need to." Tried Elsa to reason with him. "Its what I need when I am drawning in paperwork, to get a clear head. If you keep forcing yourself to go on, you'll only make it harder."
Hans sighed deeply. "Fine…" after that, the prince focused back on the road ahead. Wait.. Where was the road exactly? The prince looked back to the young woman next to him. "Where are you taking us?"
"To some old friends of Anna and mine." Answered Elsa mysteriously.
Hans chuckled. "Wow. So she DOES have friends besides you." the man winced under Elsa's furious glare. "Sorry. That… came out wrong."
"'wrong' is an understatement." Said the queen with thin lips.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"It means that your apology doesn't feel quite sincere." Explained Elsa more clearly. "Not that you are apologizing for anything."
Hans narrowed his eyes. "You said you would forget about the past… and not a day later you are already bringing it up again in an argument."
"Argument? I'm sorry but you started it!"
"That's not a reason to act so rude."
"Ha!" brought Elsa out in a sarcastic laugh. "Says the man who insults my sister and left her to die."
"Oh, and you are so much better" snarled the prince back. "Who shut her out because 'she was a spoiled whiny brat'? Who froze her heart, who left thousands of people to die? Who betrayed my love?!"
With a irregular shaky gasp, the prince stopped himself from rambling on. Once again, the burning hatred of those visions had taken over. They had ceased over the past few days… but apparently it was only temporarily.
"And who killed my children, Trickster?!" bellowed Elsa back. The queen blinked, and the anger made way for utter shock. True, Hans had had… very realistic visions over the past few weeks.. but to feel it now by herself, made the queen shudder.
"There is old magic here."
Hans' eyes bulged when he saw a gigantic rock come forward, revealing a humanoid rock creature. A troll… the prince's hand went immediately for his sword, but a cold hand upon his wrist stopped him from unsheathing it.
"No, Hans stop!" spoke Elsa quickly. "They are not dangerous."
Hans looked hesitantly back and forth between the troll and Elsa before letting his weapon go. The man swallowed his bile away when he saw Elsa descend from her horse and kneel by the creature. He didn't like this…
And why would you care what happened to her? You are NOTHING to her anymore.
She said she could forget-
Ah, so everything is alright now? She let you back into her kingdom? No. She just toyed with you like you did the same with Anna.
The prince dismounted and stepped forward to hear more of the conversation.
"I am terribly sorry for scaring you and your parents during our first meeting." Spoke the troll with slight guilt. "But… things during that time weren't exactly… smooth between me and your father. I hope this doesn't affect the treaty between our two races?"
"No, no off course not!" replied Elsa quickly before either of the three men could bring in his input. She had seen their distrust towards the creature – especially Lars had difficulty to hide his disgust and anger towards the trolls.
"What can I do for you?" spoke Gran Pabbie slowly as he felt the hostility swirming around the three men.
"Gran Pabbie… This is Haakon, former leader of the Heptagon Order, and the prince Lars and Hans Westerguard of the Southern Isles."
Immediately the crowd of trolls roared in anger at the two men.
"Hans? As in Hans who tried to kill you two?"
"And Haakon nearly took your magic away!"
"Get out of here!"
"We never should have trusted HER! She wants to destroy us all!"
The trolls' figures seemed to shift under the air, and the four humans gasped when some of them grew in gigantic proportions.
"Next time, you really need to give us a warning about those friends of yours!" screamed Hans as the angry trolls advanced. Quick as lightening the prince took his sword in his hand for his defence.
"No, stop!" yelled Elsa as she spread her arms to avert both sides from attacking one another. "Put your weapons down, hold you magic!"
"If we are going to die here by those trolls, I'm going to kill you" muttered Haakon under his breath as he let the light around his hands die out.
Elsa looked to the two brothers who complied to her wish, abeit less willingly then Haakon. "Gran Pabbie, we are not here to harm you or your family." Pleaded Elsa. "Why would I strike the people down who helped to save my sister?"
"I wouldn't exactly call them 'people'" mumbled Lars, only to get a shove in his elbow by Hans.
"Quiet!" sissed Hans so his brother wouldn't start a new lynch party.
Gran Pabbie glanced from the Queen to the three men. "You have a fair and kind heart, Queen Elsa. I trust your judgement… I only don't trust them." Narrowed the troll king his eyes. "Especially the trickster you have with you."
Elsa followed the troll's gaze who was fixated on Hans. "This is why we are here. The Signs of Ragnarok have beginning to form and we are now searching for Yggdrasil in order to find out how to prevent it."
"If you succeed in your search, Ragnarok will occur." Spoke Gran Pabbie grimly.
"What do you mean, Ragnarok will start? All the Gods already died!" spoke Hans with a chill in his heart.
"Know this… nothing is truly set in stone by the Norns. They simply carve the beginpoint of every kin into the World Tree. Yggdrasil is but the present, while the Well of Skuld is the past… And like rain, the past can change the future."
Elsa blinked in confusion to the Troll. "So, wait, the prophecy you gave me during our first meeting.. it was who I COULD become… not who I was destined to be?"
Gran Pabbie stayed silent. "I simply say the words that are given to me, your majesty."
"It doesn't matter now what was or could have been" spoke Lars this time. "Ragnarok or not, Yggdrasil is out of balance already. If we do nothing, all of magic and reality could cease to exist."
Haakon narrowed his eyes, as he wanted to speak up to the troll, but stayed silent.
"Like I said.. it is not my place to say what you must do." Spoke the troll neutrally. That was what they had always been. They give advice to anyone who needs it, but they wouldn't tell what they should do with it. Such influence over another had nearly caused the end of their kind due to their corrupted ways.
"So what now?" spoke Hans as the four people were at crossroads. "Should we go or not?"
"Well, we can't just go there and unleash Ragnarok on the whole world" Spoke Elsa with a shudder.
"In the legend, the Tree of Life always survived during the Twilight of the Gods… if we sat by, we miss the chance to save it." Retorted Lars to the queen.
"Yes, but what if… what if those visions, or even our powers are getting stronger the closer we get?" spoke Hans. "The Yggdrasil trembled at the same time my hand burst into flames… it can't be coincidence…"
"The visions.. or your powers won't overwhelm you as long as you keep meditating." Spoke Haakon. "But seeing how damaging Yggdrasil's inbalance has become, I fear we have little time for you two to gain control over them... But if we try our best right now, it might just be enough."
"And how can we be sure about that? What if Yggdrasil fuels their visions and powers even more?" criticized Lars. "What if they-"
"Look prince Lars, I have lived for over 800 years. I believe I am a good judge regarding Yggdrasil."
"And that's what worries me." Said Lars with blazing eyes. "You know SO much about the tree, maybe you are simply manipulating us all in order to gain what you wanted all along!"
"How dare you!" fumed Haakon with trembling fists. "I was branded a traitor by my own friends. I may have my faults yes, but I'm trying to make up for them!"
Lars let out a sarcastic snort. "Try as you might, you will never be forgiven for what you did to our family!" snarled the prince angrily.
"You think I haven't known loss?! I have seen my parents, my siblings, their children and their children's children DIE!" burst Haakon out with tears from anger and grief.
"Enough!" Hans pushed himself in-between the two men before they could get into a fight. "This isn't going to help anyone." Calmed the man them down. "Lars, I trust Haakon. He helped me with my visions. Even if they only disappeared for a little while, if I can get the time to master-"
"Goodness, Hans we have no time for that!" spoke Lars frustrated. "By the time you do, you have no magic to use anymore, because we'll all be dead!"
"He's right. We need to get to Yggdrasil. No delays anymore" spoke Elsa as she stared distrustfully to the man. What if he had done this on purpose? What if he had made them stall by those visions, so Yggdrasil could fall?
"The Heptagon Order will be drawn to Yggdrasil as well." Spoke Haakon this time. "We have the chance to take them on four on seven. If we leave now, we have a far less chance of making it out alive."
"four on seven is hardly a fair fighting chance" said Lars deadpanned. "Besides, what does it matter if the world is going to hell anyway?"
"No, brother. We must think this through-" tried Hans to beg.
"We have no time to think!" snapped Elsa to the southern prince. "We need to go!" Without any other word the queen heaved herself up her horse.
"Elsa, now that I have a chance to get my powers back, I need-"
The Queen's eyes darkened at his remark. "I see." Replied the ice queen coldly as she began to stir her horse towards Lars. "I thought I knew you… but apparently, you are just as obessed with power as my sister claims you to be."
"No, Elsa wait, I-"
With a loud sigh, Hans saw the Queen gallop out of his view. I do it to protect you..
Haakon looked down to the prince, before disappearing into the ground itself. "Prince Lars!" the wizard spread his hands out in order to stop the two. "If you don't want to get lost in the woods and to find Yggdrasil in time… I can show you the location."
Lars stayed silent at the man's remark, completely surprised that he actually wanted to help them – even when they didn't leave on good terms. "Very well. And thank you." nodded Lars.
Haakon nodded back and pointed his finger on Lars' head. After a few seconds of visualizing the route to Yggdrasil, the wizard let the information flow through their mental link.
After it was done, Lars clicked his tongue and the horse spurred forward at his master's command, immediately followed by Elsa's mare.
Haakon watched the two until they were out of view, and then returned back to the silent prince and the observant gran pabbie. "Now…" spoke Haakon as he took out the bundle with the pieces of ash tree inside it. "We are going much deeper then before."
"If I may…"
Both humans looked downwards to the troll king. "I'm quite skilled in memory magic… I can help you to speed up the process of mastering them."
"Why didn't you tell that earlier?!" spoke Hans in anger out to the creature. "Elsa might have stayed!"
"I told you before, young man, I don't interfere in the choices you humans make!" flared Gran Pabbie's eyes up. "I simply give advice… and it is your choice if you want to receive it or not."
Haakon and Hans glanced to one another. True, Elsa had said that the troll was trustworthy.. but he hadn't been exactly quite friendly towards them. And now that they were alone, who knows what he could do to them.
"Yes, I want your help.." accepted the prince. Just when Gran Pabbie began to mumble in an unknown language, Hans raised his hand to stop him. "But… Haakon stays behind and will watch over us both. Take it as an extra assurance."
Gran Pabbie's eyebrows knitted together. Bonds of trust between their races were hard to make, let alone to uphold... he would allow him this simple request. The Troll nodded and Hans placed himself in front of him, with his legs crossed.
When the prince was seated in front of him, Gran Pabbie nodded. "Then let us begin."
Finally. The writers block seemed to have passed!
I promised you more exploration on Loki and Skadi, but that will come later. Be patient.
So what do you think of the separation of our group? Who was right, and who wasn't?