-Lake of the Nine-
Kratos, Bruce and Atreus continue to row across the large lake. As they row across the massive lake, they see a statue of a large, muscular man holding a hammer of some kind towards the sky.
"Look! It's a statue of Thor!" Atreus says as he points at the statue.
"Thor...God of Thunder." Kratos adds.
"Thor? He's here?" Bruce asks in his mind. Ever since he arrived in this world, he wondered if any other heroes from his dimension were here as well. If only he knew the Thor that Kratos and Atreus were referring to was nothing like the one he was thinking of.
"Yeah, that's right. Wait. I never thought you listened when Mother spoke about the gods." Atreus says. If there was one thing that was obvious about Kratos, it was that he didn't care for gods, so it was a surprise to Atreus that he paid attention to his late wife.
"I seldom did. Did your mother speak of a god that could feel no pain?" Kratos asks.
"Oh. That would be...Baldur." Atreus says.
"Baldur..." Kratos says, repeating what his son said.
"Yeah. He's the son of Odin and Frigg. Why do you ask?" Atreus inquires, to which Kratos doesn't answer.
Eventually, the trio coming across a statue that was partially submerged in the water and had some runes etched onto it. "Hey, there's some writing on that statue!" Atreus shouts as Kratos moves the canoe closer so he can read the inscription. "Sacrifice your arms to the center of the water, awaken again the cradle of the world." Atreus says as he reads the inscription out loud. "What, we supposed to throw our weapons in the water? Guess that won't be a problem for you." He says to Kratos, pointing out that he can recall his axe upon tossing it. Kratos grumbles as he stands up, withdraws his axe, and tosses it far, hearing a light splash. Almost immediately after this, Kratos holds his hand out to call the axe back, but nothing happens.
"The axe...It did not return." Kratos says softly.
"Uh...oops?" Bruce says awkwardly just before the water starts to shift violently, forcing the canoe to shake as its three occupants hold on to the sides before the shaking subsides. Suddenly, a large object slowly emerges from the water, though the three in the canoe gasp as they see an eye open, revealing it was a large creature, which then rises even further out of the water, revealing the creature to be a large serpent that seemed to be at an infinite amount of feet long.
(Bruce's POV)
"I can't believe it...I am looking at a serpent that might be as big as Galactus...How can a creature this massive even exist...?" Bruce asks himself in his mind as he gazes at the large serpentine beast in awe.
"It's the World Serpent!" Atreus shouts, having heard tales about it from his late mother. As the Serpent opens its mouth, Kratos' axe falls out and embeds itself into one of the canoe's seats, which Kratos then pulls out and gets into a fighting stance.
"Stay calm, boy!" Kratos shouts to his son.
"I am! This is great!" Atreus shouts back.
"I wouldn't say that..." Bruce mutters to himself as he gazes at the World Serpent. He was at a loss for words, amazed by how gigantic the giant snake was. Next to Galactus, the World Serpent was the largest thing Bruce had ever seen. Suddenly, the World Serpent gargles out a series of strange noises at the small people in the canoe.
It was then that the three realized...it was speaking to them.
"It speaks?" Kratos asks.
"Whoa, that thing can talk?" Bruce adds, still shocked beyond belief.
"Yeah. Mother used to tell me stories about the Serpent; said it was friendly." Atreus answers. As the World Serpent spoke to them, his voice sounded suspiciously like thunder rumbling, which was confusing to them, seeing as how they were just talking about Thor.
"What did it say, boy?" Kratos asks, still clutching his axe tightly.
As the Serpent speaks again, Atreus winces as he tries to listen, but is unable to translate; he doesn't speak the Serpent's language. "I don't know! I can't understand him!"
"Great..." Bruce says in his mind as the Serpent gargles once again before turning away from them, nestling its massive head on rocks surrounding the lake.
"Wow...that was amazing..." Atreus says in awe as Kratos sheathes his axe and resumes rowing the canoe to a large golden structure that seemed to have been revealed due to the Serpent's sudden appearance in the lake. As the canoe docks, the three get out and walk along the structure, spotting a snow-covered mountain that towers over the others. That was their destination, and they seemed to get closer with each new area they arrive in. "Father, is that the mountain?" He asks.
"It would seem to be..." Kratos answers lowly as he gazes at the mountain.
"That's a big mountain." Bruce adds before a familiar voice calls out from behind.
"Well! If it isn't the bearded beefed, his sac-seed, and some pathetic weakling." The voice says as Bruce, Atreus and Kratos spin around, discovering that it was Brok, who had somehow beaten them there, despite how far back it was when they first met the blue dwarf. "Have I got something for you."
Atreus tilts his head in great confusion. How did Brok beat them there without any form of transportation, aside from the slow lumbering beast still accompanying him? "Brok? But-But how did you-?" Atreus asks, only to be cut off.
"None of your fuckin' business; now get in here! And don't go making claims at my spot! I saw it first, so it's all mine!" Brok says in his rude trademark tone as he pushes open a heavy set of double doors. "That goes double for you, meatsack." He adds, directing that at Bruce, unaware of who Bruce was, or that he and Hulk were one and the same.
"Okay..." Atreus says lowly before looking up at Kratos. "What do you think Brok wants, Father?"
Kratos simply responds with, "To test our patience."
"You know, when word gets out about my spot, it'll finally make some unsavory folk come out of hiding; they'll be clawing all over one another just to get their hands on my wares. You just watch!" Brok says as he walks towards a surprisingly already constructed and fully operational forge.
"Wow. You sure work fast..." Bruce says as he admires the forge.
"I have my share of skills, human." Brok says before lightly tossing a bright blue stone at Kratos, who catches it and looks at it.
"What is this?" Kratos asks.
"That there is a Key of Yggdrasil. A stone covered in the dew of the World Tree." Brok says before focusing the three's attention towards a pile of rocks, which quickly pile up into a doorway of sorts as the Key of Yggdrasil glows. "With that Key, you can open a magic door to the branches of the World Tree itself. Tis' a shortcut between realms. If you see any other doors like that, you can use em' to get back here quick...but it's only a one-way trip back to here and nowhere else. Oh, and whatever you do, never, never, ever, never, ever throw yourself over the edge of the path...unless you want death." Brok warns.
"Noted." Bruce says, taking in all this new information.
"Yeah. I don't see us wanting to die anytime soon." Atreus adds. "Oh! Brok, remember Hulk? From when we last met?"
"Sure! I remember that beefy old draugr slayer. What about him?" Brok asks.
"This guy, Bruce...he's him." Atreus says, which makes Brok chortle in disbelief.
"Ha! Really? That scrawny meatsack? This weakling couldn't kill a fish." Brok says.
"Oh, really?" Bruce says as he takes a deep breath before slowly growing in size and muscle mass as he transforms into Hulk, quickly making Brok jump back in surprise, now knowing that Bruce and Hulk were the same person. "You were saying, blue?" Hulk retorts at Brok's earlier remark as he crosses his arms.
"By a draugr's withered nutsack!" Brok says as he gazes at the familiar beast he saw before. "He turns from that pathetic human meatsack into this mountainous behemoth?"
Atreus nods and smiles. "You bet. Pretty much whenever he wants."
Kratos grumbles at this; they were wasting time again. "We must press on, boy."
"Mm...always rushing..." Hulk grumbles back as the three resume their journey. "Bye, tiny blue man."
"I'm a dwarf!" Brok says, correcting Hulk, but the Jade Giant could care less.
-Foothills-
Hulk, Kratos and Atreus make their way past another set of large doors, which Hulk easily opens with his super strength as they enter a foggy clearing with a view of the large mountain that they were getting closer to.
"It's pretty foggy here..." Atreus says lowly, commenting on all the fog that surrounded the area. As the three walk on, Atreus catches sight of a dwarf. His light brown hair wrapped in a very short ponytail, his body covered head to toe in gold armor, and his hands covered with red gloves. "Look, another Dwarf." Atreus says, getting the dwarf's attention, though he screams and cowers back rather comedically upon spotting Hulk.
"Ahhh! What in the Nine Realms?!" The Dwarf shrieks rather comedically at the sight of the Jade Giant as he runs behind a small wooden table for 'cover', though it wouldn't protect him at all if Hulk intended to harm him, which he did not. "G-Get away! Don't eat me!"
"Ha! The little man is being funny." Hulk says with a smile, finding the Dwarf's reaction to him to be rather amusing, if not a bit rude.
"I-It's okay, mister. He's with us. He won't eat you. I promise." Atreus says assuredly to the cowering dwarf.
"Y-You sure? He won't do anything...unsavory?" The dwarf asks, shaking in his boots with fear.
"Yeah. I promise. You won't hurt him, right?" Atreus says as he looks up at Hulk.
"Mm...Right." Hulk says lowly.
"See? He won't hurt you." Atreus says. "Unless you try to kill him." He adds awkwardly.
The dwarf nervously chuckles as he very slowly walks out from behind the table, still wary of Hulk's imposing form. As he collects himself, he notices Kratos' axe blade and gasps softly. "Hey. Um...where'd you get that axe?"
"That is no one's business but my own, dwarf." Kratos replies with a rude tone.
"Uh...while I won't argue with that...I know that blade anywhere. One of the best. But, uh...it wasn't made for you." The dwarf says as he stands in front of Kratos.
"Move aside." Kratos says, not in the mood for any more distractions. "Now."
"I...I cannot do that. The woman that blade was made for...I was...am...very fond of her. So, if you did something to her..." The dwarf says before raising his fists, getting into a fighting pose, which none of the others took seriously.
Stepping in to stop the tension, Atreus sighs and steps forward. "That axe was my mother's." He says to the dwarf. "She left it to Father before she...died." Atreus halters as he says that last bit. He still missed his mother, and it's hard not to show it.
A shocked expression makes its way onto the dwarf's face as he lowers his fists. "Faye is dead? I'm...I'm very sorry to hear that. Faye was a fierce warrior...and a very good woman." He says as he holds back tears of sorrow before looking at Hulk, Atreus and Kratos. "Okay, then. I will make improvements to your axe." He says to Kratos confidently.
"Huh?" Hulk asks, confused by the dwarf's sudden desire to help them out.
"That's nice and everything, but...nobody asked you to..." Atreus adds.
"Well, that's true, but...knowing your mother, she'd insist I repair the act of vandalism perpetrated on her axe by my...brother." The dwarf says, his voice raising a bit when he mentioned his brother.
Atreus smiles, realizing that this dwarf was related to Brok. "I knew it! I moment I saw you, I knew. You're Brok's brother!"
Kratos, however, seems troubled by this revelation and scowls at the dwarf. "The blue one...is your brother?"
"Uh...y-yes, though my talents are vastly superior to his own. N-No boast there. I swear to Freya." The dwarf says fearfully as Kratos slowly walks up to him intimidatingly.
Kratos responds to this by swiftly pulling the axe from his sheath and holds the weapon in front of the dwarf. "Don't undo his work; only improve it."
The dwarf winces, noticing some dried blood stains on the oak handle. "Okay...but can you put it down...over there?" He asks, motioning Kratos to set it down on the small wooden table from before. "T-That handle is-"
"No." Kratos interrupts him.
"Hmm. You're afraid of blood." Hulk teases as he crosses his arms.
"I am not! Just...cautious." The dwarf says to Hulk as he clumsily takes the axe and walks up to the wooden table and sets the axe on it. "Okay...improve, you say?" He asks, getting a grunting nod from Kratos.
After upgrading the axe, the dwarf stands back as Kratos picks up the axe and tosses it at a statue of a troll, embedding it deeply into the stone. A lot deeper than usual. It seems the blade was sharper and more durable than before.
-Author's Note-
I am fully aware of the World Serpent's length in the game, as I looked it up, so I decided to over-exaggerate its length in a perspective from Bruce's POV.