Authors note: Welcome to the next chapter of the Draugr. In the last chapter Elsa, Anna, Hans and Njord were pulled into darkness, what will happen next? Will they make it out alive? We shall see...
Kristoffs actions , of him running away is this. He always knew deep down that all the events up to that point were staged, there was never any real danger and because of that he always acted so brave as there is no danger and nobody would be harmed.
Till now that is, now that he is starring face to face with real danger and evil... well.. he ran away. To be honest we cannot fully blame him as even I admit I would have run away if I faced true evil.
This is based on a feeling I had when I watched frozen and it was reinforced by frozen 2. I always felt that in both events the danger was not real, that it was all staged... but not staged like in a theater and such... it felt like the events happening were faked or controlled... like when you see a movie and you feel like there is a trap but you don't see it yet, you just feel its there... or like whats going on is being influenced by somebody behind the scenes or that there is some unknown enemy manipulating you... it just feels that kind of staged...
Especially as a lot of it makes no sense like for example why would the Nokk kill Iduna? Okay I get why Agnaar (Revenge) but why Idunna if she was the fifth element? Would the Nokk had killed Iduna and Agnaar just to get Elsa there? Its strange... even more strange that the voice waited many years to start calling Elsa... I mean why wait all that time? And all those solutions... why did the tribe not think about doing that? Anybody could have come up with that solution! And most incriminating is this... if the dam was damaging the land... where is the damage?How is it affecting the land? If the dam bothered the spirits so much why did they not attack while it was being constructed to show their displeasure? Why was Kristoff not worried? I mean if I was in his shoes proposing and such in the middle of the woods would be the last thing on my mind...The list just goes on...
It just feels like some form of trap... like yes we have the story and such but somebody is pulling the strings... and its not Elsa or Anna or Kristoff.
Anyway, enough of me blabbering, please continue to read on to your hearts content and please leave a review when done as your opinions matter.
~I went through my darkest times alone. Sorry if I act like I don't need anybody~
Grabbing unto Hans arm Elsa pulled in an attempt to help, but she found herself being dragged along herself, but Elsa refused to let go and give up as she continued to pull and struggle as she was dragged along into the darkness.
Watching from the side terrified Kristoff looked at the group. With a hand Elsa reached and called out "Kristoff, help us". Terrified Kristoff looked between her and the darkness of the creature before fear won and he left the room, wanting to escape the darkness and the monster that resided inside.
"Kristoff!" yelled Elsa as she watched the former ice harvester run away.
A final tug made her loose her footing, a scream escaped her lips as she was dragged into the darkness with Hans, Anna and Njord.
It was fluid, the darkness that is, like water, but at the same time solid, it was almost like she was drowning in molasses.
Slowly she felt herself fall then landed roughly.
Groaning Elsa looked around to find herself alone, she had somehow she had been teleported to who knows where in the castle.
Getting up Elsa held her head, it was spinning as she felt dizzy. Shaking her head Elsa got her bearings before deciding to get another look of the room to see if she can figure out where she was.
It was a room, very small, there were canvases all around the ground, hanging on the walls or thrown about in a messy manner, a wooden desk was set next to a half finished painting, on said desk was four paint brushes, one had blue paint, another purple, the one next to it was brown while the last paint brush was set far away, its handle was broken.
Suddenly the palace shook so violently Elsa had to hold unto the walls to keep herself from falling as she though "I have to find Hans and Anna then get out of here!"
Yelling Hans fell to the ground, with a thud he hit it, not that it mattered as Hans did not feel a thing when his dead body made contact with the floor.
Getting up he quickly turned to look at where he had been holding unto Anna to find that she was gone and he was left holding only a piece of fabric, probably her sleeve.
Cursing in anger Hans though "Can this get any worse?!" before settled on he looking around the room to see where he was.
What he found was very disturbing. Puppets, they were scattered through the room, some were of strangers he had never seen before, other puppets he recognized.
There were puppets of his "father", "Mother" and "siblings", there was a puppet of Elsa and Anna, the two were tied together, they seemed uncomfortable, miserable even as they were in a way fused together.
Then finally he saw his puppet, he at first did not know it was his own puppet, but did when he recognized the clothing the puppet wore as his own, worse his puppet was the only one without a head.
Hans slowly backed away, he never liked puppets so being in a room full of them terrified him to not end.
Turning he made his way out of the room, as he ran down the hall he almost tripped as the room began to shake. Pressing his back against the wall Hans tried to keep himself steady as the violent shakes passed.
When they stopped Hans looked around before he continued to run down the hall while he though "I have to get out of here".
The shaking stopped, all the while Njord held unto a pillar for dear life. Finally when the shaking stopped Njord slowly slid down from the pillar and into the ground.
Laying down he breathed in relief before raising his hand to...
His hand?!
Looking at his hand, his human hand Njord jumped up to his feet in shock. Moving it he was in aw before running over to a nearby mirror that was hanging against the wall.
Starring at the mirror his reflection, his green eyes looked back at him through strands of the mop of strawberry blond hair that was on top of his head.
As he stared his hand flew to his forehead as pain pierced his temple, he groaned as memories began to swirl around his mind...
The storm battered the ship, sailors scrambled as they tried to keep the ship from sinking while the captain barking orders at them.
Meanwhile Agnaar ran around trying to help as best as he could, but to no avail, the storm just grew worse and worse.
"Agnaar" he heard a voice saw through the howls of the wind. Turning Agnaar stared at Idunna, the love of his life, she just stood there, the wind loosen her hair from the bun she had it in, the locks of hair spun wildly around the air as if it had a life of its own, her eyes looked at him with sadness and... remorse?
Before Agnaar could even speak the waves stopped crashing against the boat, leaving a strange calm, but that calm was interrupted as the water rose into the air.
The sailors stared in horror as the water shifted and changed till it became a large man ridding a water horse.
"God save us!" screamed some sailors before deciding to run and jump off of the ship as they knew there would be no saving them, others just stared as fear paralyzed them completely.
"Idunna welll done, you have kept your end of the bargain" spoke the figure, the voice that came from the water giant boomed like loud thunder making the entire ship shake.
Agnaar stared in shock as he turned to face Idunna, her eyes watered even more as he looked at her in shock, his mouth opening and closing as the words refused to leave his mouth.
"I... I am so sorry..." whispered Idunna as tears began to run down her cheeks "I just wanted a better life, I did not want to live in that forest! In the shadows of my sisters"
Agnaars face turned pale as he realized what she was talking about... she... she made a deal with this thing! This monster!
"We shall remember you fondly! Accept your fate!" yelled the being as he made the giant water horse charge over to the ship, as it got closer it turned into a huge wave.
Agnaar was only able to look back at Idunna one more time before the giant wave collided with them. Breaking the ship and sending them to their death.
"I died... but... I am here... why?" whispered Njord... no... not Njord... Agnaar as he remembered now.
Suddenly another violent shake broke his train of thoughts as he looked around, parts of the ceiling began to fall to the ground, they were small but Agnaar knew it was only a matter of time before the roof completely collapsed on top of him.
As he backed away he froze when he saw blackness slowly cover the mirror, it started out with small veins of darkness, like one would initially get when they would put a drop of black dye on water, but soon it became more and more till it covered the mirror completely followed by an evil chuckle.
Tripping on something Elsa felt her knee hit against the wood floor. Holding unto it Elsa bit her lips as she pressed her hands against the knee to sooth some of its stinging pain.
Wincing Elsa forced herself up to her feet and began to continue her way down the hall, dragging her injured leg a bit.
Turning she pushed pass a door, almost tripping for a second time as she did.
Looking inside he almost cried out in relief as she found Hans running down the hall.
"Hans!" Elsa was barely able to cry out as he nearly collided against the door she had opened, luckily he stopped just in time.
"Elsa" he said relieved then grew tense as Elsa immediately wrapped her arms around him and held him in a hug.
"I was worried about you... I though you were gone for good" said Elsa relieved, Hans glared before he placed his hands on her arms and gently pulled her away as he said "You? Worried about me? Somebody who nobody would ever love?"
He did not mean to sound mean but he was still angry about the words she said and the lying. She broke his trust and tricked him so whats stopping her from doing that again?
"Yes I... Hans... I am sorry, I never meant to hurt you" said Elsa softly "If anything all I wanted was for you to be happy... for my sister to be happy...",
"Sorry, but I find myself not believing you for one minute" growled Hans as he turned and continued to make his way down the hall.
"Its the truth Hans! I know we started off bad, but after everything that happened... I have never met anybody like you Hans! I swear you are the most genuine person I have ever met" continued Elsa as she went after him,
"If your trying to get on my good side its not working" said Hans as he picked up the pace of his walking,
"I mean it Hans! In fact... I am jealous of Anna! You could have gone after me yet you chose her after meeting! You chose the girl not the crown! And now that I know you! Oh God! I wish it would have been me who you met not my sister!" continued Elsa as she followed to match his pace,
"Quit it with the lies Elsa!" snapped Hans as he stopped to face her, his dead eyes full of anger as he stared at her.
"Its not a lie Hans, its the truth" said Elsa in a soft voice,
"How can I believe you Elsa?! After all you lied to me! For all I know you could be working with Kristoff!" Accused Hans,
"Thats not true Hans, I mean what I say" whispered Elsa sadly,
"How can I believe you Elsa?!" demanded Hans.
Elsa stared up at him, it was hard to do it without crying, she wanted to give him a reason for him to trust her, but she had non.
She wanted him to trust her, she wanted him to let her protect him. But all she has done is hurt everybody and make everybody loose their faith in her...
"I though so" said Hans with a dry chuckle, taking Elsas silence as an answer before he turned to leave only to yell when a dark force grabbed him from behind.
Dark chains emerged from the now blacken mirrors, wrapping around Hans, struggling against them Hans yelled as he was bound tightly before dragged off into the mirrors.
"Hans!" yelled Elsa as she grabbed unto his arm and pulled, but whatever was pulling on the chains was too strong. With a mighty tug it dragged Hans into a hall mirror where he vanished inside.
"Hans!" Elsa cried out as she ran over and touched the mirror, pressing and moving it, trying to find a way to find him but found non.
Slowly backing away Elsas mind was going a mile a minute as she tried to figure out what to do to save him as she back away before she ran to find Anna.
Surely between the two of them they will be able to save Hans.
But as she turned to leave she found herself starring at Anna. She was just standing there at the end of the hall, blocking the door.
When did she get there? How long had she been standing there? Those thoughts ran through Elsas head over and over as she slowly approached Anna.
"Anna, what a relief, we have to go! We have to save Hans" began Elsa only to stop when she saw the dark look Anna was giving her as she whispered "Its always about you Elsa... Its always been about what you want Elsa"
After being pulled through the semi thick darkness Hans yelled as he was dropped from the ceiling yet again.
Slowly getting up he looked around only to find himself in the throne room and he was not alone.
Several feet away from him was Kristoff who was busy prying open one of the large cathedral style windows.
"Kristoff?" Hans said, upon hearing him Kristoff turned around to look at him, his face pale with fear as he looked at Hans.
"Ah! Hans! Nice of you to join us" they heard, looking they saw a puppet sitting in the throne, it was a puppet of Stephen, its look was distorted, dark and worn, it moved around in an unnatural manner as whatever was controlling it could not be seen. All that could be seem were the strings that were being pulled on which led to a dark reflective mirror on the ceiling.
It chuckled as its voice grew distorted and said "Two enter but only one can be the hero of the story" it placed its wooden hand under its chin as if to talk before laughing and saying "I know, why don't you two fight for it? Whoever wins might get a chance to take the whole pot, become the hero, maybe save the day, get the girl and many wonderful prizes, isn't that just great?" Its distorted voice faked glee before clapping its hands and said "Now get to it, kill one another for the prize".
A moment passed before Hans and Kristoff stared at one another. They needed no excuse as the truth was that they were already ready to kill each other, though for different reasons. Hans wanted revenge on Kristoff for what he did and Kristoff wanted to live, so there was no hesitation on what they were about to do.
To be continued...
Now the symbolism of this chapter:
Paintbrushes: It represents the main cast of the story, the blue is Elsa, purple is Anna, brown is Kristoff and the broken one is Hans. The broken discarded paintbrush symbolizing that Hans already played his role and is not needed anymore there for he is discarded like one would discard a broken object.
Canvas: The unfinished canvas is symbolic of the "Stage" or "Setting" of a story, it not being finished is symbolic of the story or the events which are happening are not over yet.
Puppets: The puppets are often used to describe a person who is manipulative. The fused Anna and Elsa puppets are symbolic of how their bond is forced due to outside influences and probably not real... Hans puppet with no head is symbolic of how his actions are or were not his own.
All these things create an unsettling picture as there are paintbrushes and a canvas but no artist, there are puppets but no puppet master... all these things are symbolic of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Hans... they are the paint brushes, they are the puppets... but somebody or something is using them to paint.. they are the puppets with somebody or something pulling the strings and for the longest time they were non the wiser.
Authors note:... Their going to fight to the death... who is going to win? and if one wins what will they loose in the process? What will happen? This is not going to end well for anybody... (Covers eyes)
Any way hope you all enjoy this chapter, please review to let me know what you all think, but for now I bid you adue and will update the story as soon as possible. Take care.