Hiccup fell asleep, but once again he had a vision and this time he found himself on the deck of a grisly looking Viking ship. It was the biggest ship he had ever seen able to carry an entire army easily and still with plenty of room, but it looked as if it was yet being built as though many holes in the main deck the figurehead wasn't complete either.

"A work in progress isn't she?" said a charismatic voice.

Hiccup at her that voice plenty of times that he turned around and found Loki standing on the deck. He was dressed like Admiral Nelson, he even had a telescope in his hand.

"Loki, what do I owe this displeasure?" Hiccup asked, folding his arms.

"Now is that any way talk to a friend?" Loki smiled.

"Friend you say and yet you had your son tried to kill me," Hiccup reminded him.

"How are we not bogged down with such details, I merely wish to help you."

Hiccup scoffed. "You help me? Excuse me if I don't take your word for it."

"Now now there's no need to be angry, it might surprise you to discover that I don't want Ragnarok to happen just yet," he said as he looked over the side.

"Last time we talked, it was the only thing you want to talk about, and now you suddenly have a change of heart?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong I still want the revenge of my adoptive family, especially what they did to me and my sons."

"After you got my brother killed," Hiccup pointed out.

"He had it coming, I just want to show everyone that he was not perfect, is that a crime?"

"No, but murdering him is."

"We agreed to disagree, but right now I suppose you're curious where you are at the moment?" Loki asked with a smile. "Well, we're standing on board the Naglfar."

Hiccup eyes widened, he knew the name. "Ship of the Dead."

"Yes, this will be the very ship that I will set sail on the day of Ragnarok where the dishonourable dead shall board and fight against Odin's champions."

"Looks like you still have some work to do," said Hiccup noting the holes.

Loki nodded. "Yes, the ship is created by the nails of those who died outside of battle. That is why the Vikings removed the finger and toenails from the dead, a practice which in modern days your people don't seem to do any more."

"How are we just get to the point instead of dancing around the question," said Hiccup in patiently. "You wouldn't come here unless you wanted something so spit out."

"So hostile, you must get it from your mother," Loki smirked. "But yes we are seen to be straying from the point. My mind is to advise you not to trust your Dark Elven friend."

"Why?" Hiccup asked.

"Well, obviously she's hiding something."

"As do a number of people does not mean she's planning something insidious. I mean, I've hidden things from my friends from time to time."

"Ah, but what she's hiding will certainly change your outlook on her and then comes the issue of your girlfriend, Astrid."

"She's not my girlfriend," said Hiccup plainly.

"Keep telling yourself that, but regardless she is quite jealous of Heather," Loki smiled. "Are you really going to lose her over the friendship of the Dark Elf?"

Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "You can try, and pet is against one another all you like, but it's not going to work."

"I'm just trying to help you because if you go down this path, you might end up losing dear Astrid one way or the other."

"I won't lose her, now get lost!"

"We will have this conversation again some other time, and hopefully, you will heed my words."

Hiccup then awoke and found himself back at the dorm despite what he told Loki, he was now more worried about losing Astrid than failing this quest.

The next morning everyone was prepared and meeting them at the Plaza were Mimir and Gobber were waiting. Eret was dressed like a hiker except for a pair of twin swords strapped to his side, and Heather was wearing a black hoodie that covered her head and strapped to her back was a twin-bladed axe.

"Got everything packed?" Gobber asked.

"Everything we might need," said Hiccup.

"Good, now be wary this journey may end up being more dangerous than your last," Mimir warned.

"And we nearly died on that one," Fishlegs added.

Hiccup remembered wasn't as if it was hard to forget getting attacked by a giant squirrel, falling into the void and getting poisoned.

"We'll be fine," said Hiccup trying to reassure himself most of all. He then turned towards Heather. "Heather if you would do the honours."

Heather nodded and placed her hand on the tree creating a portal and one by one, they stepped through it.

Hiccup soon found himself on a massive tree branch which was connected to the World Tree. Making one's way through the world's was not an easy task as there were hundreds of different creatures existing on the tree all of them dangerous.

"I really hope we don't run into that squirrel again," said Fishlegs.

"You mean Ratatosk?" said Eret.

"Yeah, not exactly a highlight," said Hiccup.

"Yeah, what if we run into him again?" Fishlegs asked.

"Then we run like a pack of wolves on our tail," said Hiccup simply.

"I just hope we don't get blown off like last time," said Astrid.

"Sadly there is no way we can plan all those events," said Eret. "But with Heather, we should at least get some warning."

"Ah, so will know when imminent death is on top of us good to know," Snotlout grumbled.

Hiccup sighed. "Look the longer we stand there arguing the more likely that one of those things is going to happen. So, let's get to Svartalfheim as quickly as possible."

"Follow me," said Heather as she took the lead.

They began making their way across the branch, get into one of the Nine Worlds is not as easy as hiking across a mountain range. There were so many different branches that they intertwined and speared off, so without a proper guide, they could walk around in circles.

The other problem was that there were some dangerous creatures on the World Tree, Ratatosk was only one of them. There were four deer that were very territorial, additionally to an enormous eagle that created hurricanes down the tree.

"So, did you come here before when he made the journey to Midgard?" Hiccup asked, looking at Heather.

"No, my father was the one who took me there," she said.

Astrid looked at her. "So you're telling us this is your first time."

Heather gave them an awkward smile. "My people very rarely leave their home."

"So what are Dark Elves like?" Fishlegs asked. "I anything like the Light Elves?"

Hiccup freighter Odin that was not the case, he did have fond memories of meeting the Light Elves last year when they visited Alfheim. The ones they met were basically hippies, and they were very unreasonable, though it was hard to tell whether it was that tribal Light Elves in particular, so he was in exactly one to judge.

"I suppose the human equivalent would be that of Goths," said Heather.

"No wonder the Light Elves look at you with suspicion," said Astrid.

"Sorry, but what exactly is a Goth?" Snotlout asked.

"A Goth is basically someone that sees beauty in things that others consider dark," said Ruffnut.

"Which led to the misconception that Goths unkind and violent and it is mostly influenced by rock 'n' roll," said Tuffnut.

"They're actually right," said Heather. "The Light Elves seem to think that we're anarchists, but in fact, it can't be any further from the truth we just look different."

"Now I'm starting to understand the importance of this marriage," said Hiccup. "It's an exchange of culture."

"I just can't believe that they're forcing the Princess into an arranged marriage, I mean doesn't she have a say on who she wants to marry?"

Heather looked back at her. "And what if she wants to marry this Light Elf?"

Astrid gave her a curious look. "Do you know something about the Princess?"

"N-no, I'm just saying that she might surprise you," she said rather quickly.

Hiccup was getting the impression that heaven was indeed hiding something important from them, but right now, he just wanted to get off the World Tree as quickly as possible.

"So how long will it take us to get to Svartalfheim?" Hiccup asked.

"Possibly a few hours," said Heather, who looked pleased with the change of subject.

"Took us nearly a full day to get to Alfheim," said Snotlout. "Perhaps Ragnar was not the ideal guide that he pretended to be."

"Actually it might have something to do with the fact that we're not going onto the very top of the tree," said Fishlegs timidly. "Instead of going up we'll be going down, and generally it's easy to go down."

"Shut up, Fishface," Snotlout muttered.

"Let's just keep an eye out, I don't want any surprises jumping at us," said Hiccup.

Hiccup regretted the moment he said that as the entire tree then shook violently.

"What's going on?" Snotlout yelled as they hunkered down.

"The tree is shaking!" Fishlegs yelled.

"But why?" Hiccup yelled.

"It has to be Nidhogg, the dragon chews the roots of Yggdrasil," said Eret. "Every now and then the tree vibrates violently, but don't worry, it will pass!"

Sure enough, the shaking started to stop much to everyone's relief.

"I can never understand why all the creatures on the street trying to destroy their home?" Astrid groaned she picked herself up.

"Who can say, it's been going on for thousands of years," said Eret.

"We better move before something else happens," Hiccup advised.

"This way," said Heather.

They continued walking for hours making their way down the tree, and so far there weren't any other problems.

"So what can we expect when we get to Svartalfheim?" Hiccup asked.

"My people will come out as rather moody and isolated, just try not to be put off by it," said Heather.

"Any rules that we should follow?" Fishlegs asked.

"We don't have too many rules, we like to live free," said Heather. "However, such things as theft and murder don't go unanswered, though most crimes usually depends on the local sheriff."

"Sounds rather chaotic?" said Astrid.

"The Queen has tried to bring some sort of stability, but that hasn't gone terribly popular with most of the people."

"Hence the rebellion," said Hiccup.

"Exactly, they want to bring about the old days where there were no rules that we could do whatever we like. I've heard the stories of those times and then not exactly bedtime stories."

"So how are we going to meet the Queen?" Eret asked. "I very much doubt that we can go through the front door and ask for an audience."

"Actually that's exactly what we're going to do," said Heather.

"It can't be that easy," said Astrid.

"Actually it can be because tomorrow is Wednesday or rather Tyr's day," Heather smiled.

Fishlegs eyes widened. "Of course, that's the day where people visited their chiefs to tell them of their grievances."

"But one there be like a lot of people there?" Astrid asked.

"Maybe, but our grievance should come before anyone else's given the state of our mission."

"I hope the Queen sees it that way," said Hiccup.

"Oh, don't worry, she will, and if not, I think my brother can help us," Heather assured them.

"And how can your brother help us?" Astrid asked.

"He's a general in the army, and he wants the rebels hunted down more than anyone, he might even have some word on Ragnar."

Astrid then came to a stop. "Look you've been dodging around the question, and since we're so close to your home, I think we deserve to know the truth. Who exactly are you, Heather, and what is your relationship with the Queen?"

Heather took a deep breath and looked back at them. "I'm her daughter."