Compared to the troubles Iduna had gone through while headed for Ahtohallan, the return journey through the Dark Sea was almost… uneventful.
The Mist Knight stopped to let her drop off where they had left off, at the edge of the fjord. As Iduna did her best attempt at a curtsey to the air spirit for helping her, she blinked in surprise to see the Will O' Wisp was still there, as if it had been waiting for her return.
"What is it?" Asked Iduna, seeing that the fire spirit's flames glowed an ominous green, as if there was an urgent matter at hand. The Sylph had apparently noticed as well, and it quickly swirled around its fellow spirit to enlarge its fire.
It was trying to show Iduna a vision again.
"What do I have to see?" Whispered Iduna, too afraid to find the answers as the Will O' Wisp's fire cast shadows upon the rocky cliffside behind it. Iduna squinted as she tried to interpret them like the last time, but one shape stood out way too clearly to think of anything else:
The figure of a young man, crumpled on his throne as a black, ghastly figure loomed over him – one that Iduna could never forget for the last five years.
"The Nightmare Spirit…!" Gasped the young girl in horror. "It will come back? No… it's already in Arendelle?"
The Will O' Wisp's flames turned into a dark crimson; that was information enough for her.
"Then Arendelle's already in danger," breathed Iduna as she looked at the other shadows; she couldn't recognize most of the hazy shapes, but they certainly weren't anything human, and they were terrorizing the shadows of houses and people. She didn't have to see more.
"But I'm not a warrior or a wizard; I can't save Arendelle alone," she spoke to herself as she looked at her friends – the Sylph, the Will O' Wisp, the Morphling, and now the Mist Knight. "I know I don't deserve your friendship, and honestly I still have no idea if you even understand what I'm saying. But… I'll still ask, as a friend… will you help me save my home?"
Perhaps it was the desperation in her voice, or the conviction that she must do this, or the acceptance that Arendelle was her home as much as the Northurland was. Whichever way, the four spirits briefly looked at each other until all heads turned to the Morphling, who shifted into Agnarr's form and answered gravely: "For Arendelle."
"For Arendelle," Iduna echoed with a grateful smile, and when the Mist Knight offered its hand to her again… she was beaming.
Kai miserably looked out of the terrace window at the night sky, wondering how in the world this had come to be.
Their beloved King had fallen into the claws of the Nightmare Spirit. Nearly all the guards have been possessed by the army of banshee created by the dark entity, and in turn they had shut the gates and had all the castle staff locked inside.
As if that wasn't enough, the Nightmare Spirit had summoned an army of magical creatures to harass the people out in town as well, tearing down houses and grouping everyone together. It was as if they were all looking for something…
Kai's thought went to Agnarr, probably sitting on the throne with empty eyes as he had for the last several days, only echoing those "Must… find… Iduna…" like a broken doll. Kai didn't have a doubt that the evil specter was manipulating the King's feelings for the vanished girl to seek her out, but for what? He had no answers.
As the young page yet again wallowed in his sense of helplessness, an unfamiliar sound reached his ears. It seemed to echo far away from the skies, but it wasn't the screeching of harpies that had been clawing at his eardrums for days. It sounded more like… bats?
The harpies responded to the new presence aggressively, shrieking in a horrible cacophony as they rose above the sky to meet the incoming –
"Gargoyles?!" Gasped Kai in shock as he finally saw the black shapes that were hurtling down from the clouds to engage the flying hags. He hadn't seen the earth spirits himself when they broke into the castle before, with Agnarr being wounded and Iduna leaving shortly afterwards. But there seemed to be much more then just three of them as they ruthlessly assailed the harpies, snatching them away from the skies and pinning them to the nearest floor.
Before Kai could wonder if that was a good thing, however, the Nightmare Spirit's other minions began reacting to the commotion. The Tunnelers, usually burrowed underground and keeping the rounded up citizens from escaping, abandoned their posts to leap up and try to catch the gargoyles in their sharp maw, while the Flame Serpent raised its gigantic head up and began breathing fire against the intruders.
Just when Kai was starting to believe that he was imagining things, he heard a sound that solidified that belief: a horse neighing above the clouds.
"What's going on?!" Exclaimed Gerda as she suddenly appeared next to Kai, and they looked up together in amazement as a knight on horseback rode out from the sky, its body airy and ethereal and its gallops unreally swift as it dodged the Fire Serpent's breaths.
But the blaze of eyes beneath its cloak and the turquoise sword it brandished was extremely real, as the gigantic snake found out the hard way when it was beheaded a second later.
"Is… is this happening for real?" Stammered Gerda as she stuck closer to Kai, who was alarmed by the fact that she was seeing what he was seeing and they weren't delusional after all.
The Mist Knight's arrival seemed to boost the gargoyle's morale greatly, while the Tunnelers, alarmed by the Fire Serpent's death, tried to flee back into their holes – only to see that it had been flooded.
"For Arendelle!" Kai and Gerda nearly jumped off the balcony in shock as water shot up from one of the pools before shaping itself in Iduna's form, crying out for everyone who could hear: "For Arendelle!"
The water spirit's cries (in Iduna's voice) also managed to reach the gathered citizens of Arendelle, who had been watching the whole scene unfold with panic and confusion. The battle call, if nothing else, assured them that these newcoming spirits were fighting on their side.
"For Arendelle!" They cried out in unison as they sprang into action, wildly scattering as they grabbed whatever tool they could get their hands on to finally start fighting back – for themselves, for their families, for their home, for their kingdom.
Meanwhile the Mist Knight had already found its next opponent – the Drowned Wraith, who had been guarding the harbor to stop anyone from escaping into the fjord. Now, noticing the riot, it lumbered into the town square, its ridiculously large armor creating cracks on the cobblestone and its giant anchor swinging dangerously.
The dual between the two entities would've been quite interesting to watch, but Kai and Gerda were distracted by a dull thud on the roof. By the heavens, were they sieging the castle as well?!
"How many more surprises can I take today?" Muttered Kai as he leaned over the balcony, trying to see who had dared to intrude on the castle rooftop – only to flinch for yet another surprise.
"Kai! Gerda!" Exclaimed a familiar brunette girl as she expertly slid down from the roof, slipping into the terrace and landing lightly in front of the two stunned servants. "I'm so glad you're okay! Where is the King?"
"Iduna!" Exclaimed Gerda as she flung herself into the girl's arms in a stifling embrace. "You had us worried sick, running off like that! Oh, it's so good to have you back!"
"Iduna," spoke Kai, desperately trying to stay calm and access the situation as he locked eyes with her. "Where have you been this whole time? You… do you have something to do with what's happening outside?"
"That's not important," replied Iduna, briefly looking away in an unreadable expression. "The Nightmare Spirit's back, isn't it? All the monsters outside are just illusions it created."
"Yes, it's back; it has taken control of the King, and it's been looking for you." Kai pressed on, even as he noticed that something seemed… different about Iduna. Was it newfound confidence?
Wherever she'd been during the last month, she had emerged from it changed.
"Then I have to get to him right now," said Iduna with a resolved face, but before Kai could question her any further the terrace door slammed, open, revealing a banshee-possessed soldier who eyed the three people with a blank expression.
"Iduna…" Whispered the soldier hoarsely as he pointed at Iduna, the other hand reaching for his sword – which Kai would not see happening.
"Oh no, you don't!" He cried out as he launched himself forward, absentmindedly noticing that Gerda had done so simultaneously. Though the soldier in question was a huge man, Kai and Gerda weren't exactly lean for their age… and two of them slamming into him had quite an impact.
"Go, Iduna!" Yelled Kai and he and Gerda dogpiled the soldier, desperately wrestling the possessed man as he struggled to throw them off. "Do whatever you have to do to save the King!"
For a moment Iduna seemed to hesitate, a pained look in her eyes as she saw the two servants tussling with a fellow castle staff. Then that hard, resolved expression returned as she locked her jaw, and nodded before sprinting down the pitch-black hallway.
When she'd seen the Will O' Wisp's visions, she hadn't realized that it would this soon of a future.
Iduna had almost collapsed in despair when she returned to find Arendelle already fallen, but in her head she knew that once the Nightmare Spirit was vanquished, this living nightmare that it had created would be gone as well. All she had to do was to reach Agnarr – and she knew how to create a distraction.
Praying that this would be the last time she'd ever use it, she called out to the spirits again, which was immediately answered by an entire flock of gargoyles; guess they hadn't been very far away from Arendelle after all. As the Mist Knight led the earth spirits to fight the magical creatures, the Sylph had carried Iduna into the castle, where she fortunately ran into Kai and Gerda.
But her obstacles were far from over; for every corner she turned in the corridor a guard jumped out, all of them possessed by banshees and out to get her.
"What a spiteful spirit!" Growled Iduna as she dove under the arms of yet another soldier, silently aiming more curses at the Nightmare Spirit as she made a break for the throne room. The Sylph and the Will O' Wisp were right behind her, creating walls of fire and fanning them to stop the possessed soldier from reaching her. It pained Iduna to set the castle on fire, but at least they were magical; when this is all over they will be withdrawn without leaving a trace.
It was no hard work finding the throne room; Iduna had lived here for five years, she knew every nook and cranny of the place by heart. In her sense of urgency she almost kicked down the door as she all but rolled into the heart of the castle – only to freeze at the sight before her.
"I…du…na…"
Not the most ideal reunion ever, huh? We'll see what Iduna has in mind to save Agnarr from the Nightmare Spirit in the next chapter :)