Authors note: Hi, welcome to another chapter of the winter berry! A lot more will be happening now, hope you all enjoy.
Summary:
Adopted and Raised by Freya the goddess of love, beauty and war who is an extremely overprotective mother, when older Hans was made a serf where he hopes that if he works hard enough he will gain a reward. As the day grows closer an terrible tragedy happens, Bauldr the god of happiness is killed signaling the beginning of rangarock. Or is it? As it seems something had changed when the Goddess Elsa of Helhiem, daughter of Loki, offers an alternative deal which will change everything. For the better or worse it will be seen.
Any way, enough of me blabbering, hope you all enjoy this new story and please leave a review when done as your opinions mean a lot.
Illness, it did not spread but the news did as the realm was plunged into panic at the though of Elsa, the ruler of the realm, passing away and for good.
Moving her to an tub the servants poured icy water unto their queen, praying that the ice cold water will work on reversing the heat illness.
Pacing back and forth the servants, Hans, Hemrod, Bauldr, Magni and Mordi spoke and discussed what to do.
"It's no use, it's not working" said Ganglöt,
"How could this happen? She was okay for days" said Hans not understanding,
"Her body was probably not processing it or maybe she took a turn for the worst" answered Modgu,
"Regardless of how or what happened we need to know, how do we make her better?" asked Hans.
The servants looked nervous, hesitating, before Modgu said "There is one way",
"Which is?" asked Hemrod,
"We might need to take her to the grotto of souls" said Ganglöt,
"Then let's go there" said Modi,
"But it's too far away, to get there it would take us days and she might be dead by then" said Ganglöt "We could take the fast route but it's too risky",
"What's the fast route?" asked Hans,
"Straight through the pools of helhiem, but it's dangerous, that's where all the condemned criminals and every single bad memory and though is sent" explained Modgu "Even if you fight off the evil dead that place can show you your worst nightmares and crimes, everything hidden will be shown and eventually if you stay too long you will succumb".
Hans though then got up and left, "Valdr? Where are you going?" asked Bauldr,
"Have the boat prepared, I will be back!" Hans shouted as he ran out of the meeting.
Sitting down on a table the king Thrym and Utgara loki played a game. A kind of chess one, ancient but well known.
"Your turn" said Thrym but before Utgara Loki made a move they heard "Your highnesses! Your highnesses!"
Turning they were surprised to see an old lady walk in with some jotun guards. Falling to her knees she said "Please hear me out! We have no time!",
"No time? For what?" asked Thrym confused as he and Utgara got up and stared at her.
"The Vanir and Aesir! They are teaming up and are going to attack both Jotunheim and Helhiem!" She cried out, barely able to hold back a glimmer of sick pleasure when she saw the two jotun kings look worried.
Her plan was working perfectly as she spun her sob story, while both kings were eating the lies like a starving bear would eat honey.
Loud clanks and bangs were heard, sounds of hammers hitting metal and fire roaring. It was the sound of work and working was what Brokk and Sindri were doing.
"Okay, that's good, keep it up" said Sindri as he shaped and hammered a weapon while Brokk pumped the bellows.
When done they set the sword in water to cool when Brokk suddenly looked up, "Brother?" asked Sindri, he smiled a little and said "We got company", as soon as he uttered those words they heard footsteps and calls "Brokk? Sindri".
Turning they looked to find Hans enter the workshop, looked to be in distress.
"Brokk, Sindri, I need a weapon" said Hans, a bit out of breath as he had made his way over to the shop as fast as he could.
"A weapon? And why the rush?" asked Brokk then joked "Not like somebody is dying" then laughed.
His laugh soon died when he noted that Hans was not laughing with him, what's more he also looked on grimly before he said "Goddess Elsa of Helhiem has fallen ill and I am afraid it's because of me".
Frowning Brokk nodded and said "I see, and a weapon is for?",
"We're heading to a dangerous place to get something that will help heal her, so a weapon is needed to protect her and ourselves while we travel" explained Hans "I don't have anything to give now but if you can offer me a weapon, any weapon, I promise after all this is over I will repay you both in full".
Brokk though then asked "What if I offer you a broken weapon?",
"That's fine, even a broken weapon can be used to protect others" said Hans,
"So that's why you want one? To protect others?" asked Brokk,
"Yes and to make right what I did wrong" explained Hans surely.
Brokk though then said "Wait" before turning and going further into the workshop, gesturing Sindri to follow. On the back they seemed to be talking about something before Brokk came back, he had a trunk with him.
"I think I got the weapon, but first I got to ask, where are you going?" Brokk asked,
"Helhiem, further in, there are pools that we need to go to but to get there we have to go through the bad areas" explained Hans,
"That's serious" said Brokk before nodding and placing a hand on the trunk he said "This will very much help" turning to face it he whispered something followed by pressing some runes. This made the trunk opened to find it was a trunk inside a trunk inside another trunk which was covered in chains. Unlocking the chains Brokk opened it and took out something covered in cloth.
"Using the stuff you gave us me and Sindri made this beauty" said Brokk then declared proudly as he placed the bundle on the table for display "It is our masterpiece, perfect in every way, beautiful, powerful, dangerous, cold" as he pulled the cloth to reveal an ax, but non Hans has ever seen before.
It had a wooden handle which was nicely carved with runes and lines connecting the handle to the blade, the metal of the ax blade was one Hans had never seen before.
"I call her Vargr" Brokk said as he gestured Hans to take it.
Reaching Hans could feel the power radiating from the ax, it was so much he felt it was making the hair on his arm stand up on end. As he touched it he felt a strange vibration which he could not only hear but also feel when his hand gripped the handle.
"The wolf?" asked Hans as he gave a couple of test swings, it was a lot lighter than Hans had thought it would be, it also made a strange metallic sound when he swung it, somewhat reminded him of the sound Thor's hammer made whenever he swung it.
"I feel it's fitting" said Brokk nodding,
"It's also perfectly balanced and adaptable to use the elements" added Sindri "Though right now it can only use fire and ice, but if you find the right materials you can bring them to us and we can upgrade it for you",
"Thank you" said Hans then paused as he looked at the weapon, this was too good to be true,
"Now, Uhh the subject of payment" said Brokk,
"I knew it" though Hans as he held the weapon out to give it back as he said "I am sorry but I don't have anything now I can-" Brokk raised his hand and said "All we want is one thing, small, nothing too great",
"Which is?" pressed Hans with a bit of distrust,
"A vow, a blood oath, that you will never use this weapon to shed innocent blood, that you will only use it to protect others" said Brokk seriously "It is needed to bind and make the weapon stronger, make the blood oath and it is yours, no strings attached"
Hans looked seriously and said "Nothing in life is free", to that Brokk chuckled and said "Not necessarily true all the time",
"Why make the exception for me?" pressed Hans,
"Like I said if I am right about you then we will benefit by everybody knowing we helped aid you thus bringing more customers to our door" said Brokk mysteriously.
To that Hans did not argue as it did make sense, so taking back the weapon Hans cut the palm of his hands and gripped them both unto the handle. Muttering in old Norse as he made his blood vow, the blood flowing from his cuts began to seep into the wood, traveling up the lines and runes and into the blade, turning red for a brief moment before vanishing as the blood oath was made and accepted.
"It's done, now get going" said Brokk, with a nod Hans turned and left as fast as he could.
"Heave!" A chorus was heard as the dead prepared a long boat, meanwhile others prepared to open the gates which would lead to the pools of helhiem.
Meanwhile Elsa lay on the long boat, turning a bit to her side, it seemed that every minute that passed was of pure agony for her as she gripped unto the cot, meanwhile Bauldr had a hand on her forehead, using his own ability to try to alleviate her pain and lessen her condition.
"Where is he? We need to go now" muttered Hemrod as he, Magni, Modi, Kristoff and Ganglöt prepared the ship, even Skumring was doing his part by bitting unto a rope to help hoist the sail.
"I am here" they heard as Hans quickly jumped on the boat.
"Where did you go!?" demanded Ganglöt,
"Was picking a weapon up, figured we might need an extra hand in case something were to happen" said Hans "and since I had non before I would not have been much help",
"Well it would be useful if you were here faster" scoffed Ganglöt as the gates open and the long ship was pushed, slowly guiding it into the pools of helhiem.
"Here we go" said Modi unsure as they entered the area, passing through the fog while behind them the gates closed. They were on their own for now.
Meanwhile:
Sitting in his throne Odin was stoic, but his mind and emotions were running a mile a minute, rage consumed him, his mind plagued with thoughts of how could this have come to this?
"Even now your fate it sealed" he heard, turning he saw the Norms, the three sisters who he had not seen come in, but was not surprised as he knew the sisters tended to appear out of nowhere from time to time.
"Sisters, how can it be? Bauldr is alive, missing but alive, Rangarock was prevented and that beast is still tied up" said Odin, his words calm and betraying his feelings of fear and desperation.
"Odin, despite your vast knowledge, despite all you learned and know, all the years you have lived, you have proven lacking in true wisdom" Urd said shaking her head "Despite getting the best advice, despite being warned, you walked yourself to your own fate on your own",
"Sisters that is not true! I will live as Rangarock will not come to pass" snapped Odin as he hit his fist against the arm of his throne,
"Is it? Then why is it that nightmare plagues your dreams?" Said Urd then shook her head "Those are not dreams, that is your fate",
"So you expect me to believe that a mere midgardian has the power to defeat me" snarled Odin,
"You underestimate the powers Midgardians have Odin" Verdandi interjected "Midgardians are truly remarkable, though they do not have powers like us they have something that sets them apart from the rest of us, for despite all the hardship they endure they continue to live and thrive",
"They had before and so they shall, even when our days are done" nodded Skuld "No flood has vanquished them, no fire or disaster, no plague or illness, they can be down and yet they will find a way to rise even with all the odds against them" she paused then added "Maybe you should watch them more often, you could learn a thing or two Odin".
"Those simple creatures are not worth my time" said Odin waiving it off,
"And yet one of them will be the one to end you" said Urd,
"It has been declared" nodded Verdandi,
"It has been decided" nodded Skuld,
"You, Odin, the Raven feeder, scourge of wolves and giants, along with many other tittles" Urd declared "For all what you have done, your fate will be to die"
This was not what was expected. That though ran through the mind of Hans, Hemrod, Magni, Modi and Bauldr as they row their way pass the thick fog and through the pools of Helhiem.
"This is not so bad" commented Hemrod "Usually I was expecting-",
"Shhh! Do you want to temp fate you fool!" Hissed Ganglöt.
This made everybody quiet as they looked around, on high alert.
Taking a walk back and forth Hans looked and kept an eye out but then paused when he walked next to Elsa, he felt something on his cloak. Looking it was Elsa, she weakly gestured him to come.
Walking over and sitting next to her, Hans asked "Something wrong?", Elsa looked and asked "Can you tell me a story?",
"A story?" asked Hans, rather surprised at the request,
"Helps distract me" whispered Elsa tired,
"Alright, let me think" said Hans then paused before he began "Many years ago, before I was born, there was a powerful sorceress",
"You trying to flatter me" Elsa laughed a little,
"No, I mean, it was somebody else, my mother used to tell me this story a lot when I was a child" explained Hans,
"Alright, please continue",
"The sorcerers would travel from realm to realm, learning and dazzling people with her magic and skill till eventually one day she found her way to Asgard where she was greeted by Heimdall and given an invitation to a banquet" told Hans then moved his hands as if to mime the story "In the banquet she impressed the gods with her feats of magic, from illusions to tricks she pulled them all to the gods amazement and amusement, for the end she saved her best trick",
"Which is?" asked Elsa interested,
"Using magic and an old spindle whorls she would take small stray strands from the fabric of fate she would undo and reweave it, changing some events" said Hans,
"She did that? Impossible" said Elsa amazed,
"I said the same thing when my mother told me" chuckled Hans,
"Then what happened?" asked Elsa,
"At first the gods were amused but then they-" he stopped when there was a loud thump as the boat hit something and it began to shake a little.
"What was that?" asked Kristoff as everybody was on alert.
Sitting up and holding their weapons they looked around, ready for the attack.
"You stupid whore!" Hans heard making him jump, it also seems that Hans was not the only one as Kristoff who was nearby heard it too as he asked "What was that?",
"You heard that?" asked Hans,
"Heard what?" asked Bauldr before the boat began to shake again.
"Okay I am getting nervous here" said Modi when all of a sudden there was a gust of wind knocking them all back, looking up they cursed as they saw a skeletal figure swoop down unto the boat, it's metal armor was decay, bone decaying wings on its back.
Cursing Hans yelled "We have company!" as the undead cried out and it's cry alerted the dead to start reaching from the pools and trying to get on the boat.
Reacting the group cut and attacked the dead, pushing them back into the pools, meanwhile the winged undead, a Valkery that had fallen from grace swooped down and attacked from above.
Hans looked and swung the ax, trying to hit her. As he did he held his head as he heard more yells "Liar! You horrid woman! You think I will fall for your lies! I will show you not to mess with me" followed by cries of a woman.
Suddenly he was knocked back, the undead valkery on top of him trying to claw his eyes out.
"Help!" Yelled Hans as he held her away from him as she had him pinned down and tried to claw at him before she was knocked back by Elsa who short some ice spikes at her.
It hissed and switched her target from Hans to Elsa as she made her way over and tried to attack Elsa. Trying to defend herself Elsa tried to use her ice but was unable to summon it, only coughed and spit out blood as her condition got worse, leaving her with no strength to fight.
Throwing it's hand she tried to claw at Elsa only for a growl to be heard.
The undead valkery turned and found itself face to face with a ferocious wolf, it snarled and snapped causing it to jump back and as it did Hans took the chance and chop off her head.
The body collapsed to the ground with no head, which Hans pushed out of the boat before tossing the head away and checking on Elsa.
"You okay?" asked Hans, she nodded as the giant ferocious wolf turned back to its pup form to reveal it was skumring, it walked over and lay besides Elsa as if saying "I will protect her for you".
Nodding in understanding Hans turned to help the others take care of the dead when more cries were heard.
Stopping they all looked around, "What is going on?" demanded Magni as the last of the dead was pushed out, as if answering his question the mist began to swirl around. Creating forms and playing out a scene before them.
"Mother?" whispered Hans as they all stared as Oor stood before her and much to their shock began to savegly beat Freya.
"You whore! You sick! I know the truth! You and your sick brother made that thing you pass off as a blood son!" Roared Oor,
"No! That's not true!" Pleaded Freya,
"Liar!" Screamed Oor "I will teach you a lesson you will not forget! Nobody makes a fool out of me!",
"Stop! Please!" Pleaded Freya as she was beaten, suddenly from behind the man a child appeared,
Hans eyes widen, it was himself but only he was 6 years old, on his hand he held a hammer when all of a sudden.
"Leave my mother alone!" The figure yelled as he swung and struck Oor on the head knocking him down before running over and hugging Freya.
"Mother! Are you okay?!" He asked trying not to cry,
"Yes yes it's nothing it's-" Freya looked at Oor, he was not moving, "Mother?" asked Hans,
"Valdr, I need you to go to Friggas home" said Freya seriously,
"Mother",
"Now" said Freya firmly before sending Hans away, when she did she took Oors body and began to drag him away.
The illusion ended.
Silence followed at what they had just witnessed when they heard a loud crash followed by the sound of splintering wood.
"We have to go!" yelled Ganglöt as they had crashed on the other side of the pools of helhiem, jagged rocks crushing the boat.
Nodding they all grabbed their stuff and jumped over board, followed by Hans who carried Elsa and Skumring jumping off as the ship was crushed by the combination of the rocks and force of the pools currents.
"Well, at least we made it" said Ganglöt as he gestured to the other side where there was a cave with an entrance.
"Great, we need more things to go easier" said Modi as they began to make their way over to the cave.
Entering they looked around, the place was somewhere between dark and light, the walls were dark and covered with runes while water can be heard being poured inside, so they walked further and found a hole on the ground full of water, said water was pouring down from an orb of light suspended on the ceiling, connected to other sources of light like they were the roots of a tree while the orb acted as the tree, the water coming down from it shown with light as it fell into the crystal clear water hole.
"This is nice, if you ignore what we just went through" commented Bauldr,
"At least when we head back the long way back we can avoid the pools" explained Ganglöt as he gestured Hans to place Elsa into the water.
Hans nodded and bend down, letting Elsa enter the pool, which he noted that he could not see the bottom as it was so dark and before his eyes she vanished under the waters as if absorbed by it.
"Where did she go?!" yelled Magni, as they were all ready to jump into the water to go after her.
"It's normal! She will be back soon!" promised Ganglöt, stopping them.
"Where did she go?" asked Hans,
"Into the chamber where the pure souls and memories are kept" explained the servant "A place of cold, healing and spiritual energy, she will resurfaced when healed, but for now we can set up camp and wait for her to come out"
The group looked and nodded as they placed the supplies down and began to prepare the area, as they did Hans asked "Ganglöt... that.. what we saw... what was that?", the servant stopped then said "I should be asking you that, because it's something you did in the past".
This made Hans eyes widen, how can that be!? He did not do that! At least, he did not remember doing anything like that.
"Hans did you?" asked Hemrod hesitating,
"No! I would never, I mean... I did not do that" said Hans surely, they looked at him before nodding, deciding to take his word for it as Hans was not one to lie and out of all of them they doubted he had the capability to kill anybody as he was more of a homebody compared to them.
But then again Oor had not been seen in years, he had disappeared and rumor had it it was because of Freyas infidelity. Though Hans had heard the rumors he did not believe in them it made no sense to him, his mother would never had slept with Dwarfs to get a something as shallow as a necklace... his mother was not that kind of person.
So was it possible that there was some truth about what they just saw?
Shaking his head he decided not to think about that. After all it was probably a trick from the pools to scare them.
Yes, that's what it was... nothing more...
To be continued...
Fun fact: There is a huge difference between Vanir and Aesir. We actually know more about Aesir than Vanir, though we know that Vanir were known as gods of nature, magic and fertility. (The story Hans began to tell Elsa was the beginning of what caused the Vanir-Aesir war)
And Oor, Freyas husband, we really don't know much about it other than the fact that he disappeared. There was a story that Freya had sex with dwarves for a special necklace and he disappeared because of it... but the truth about this is that the story most likely did not happen and was not true as it was a story that was dated to after christianity took over so it was most likely a story made to bash Freya as in earlier versions there is no mention of this story and what happened... so the truth is.. we really don't know what happened to the man and why he disappeared and sadly we most likely will never know.
The grotto was slightly based off of the krystal chamber of the Atlantis the lost empire movie.