"Right here."
Elsa made the ice rise a little more.
"No, seriously. This is your sister. I would be very careful."
"It's fine. If that is the case, who are you?"
Anna stopped to think.
"I suppose you can call me Oblivion."
"Oblivion? What kind of name is that?"
"I can not remember it!"
It exploded in laughs in front of Elsa's stunned look.
"Bad joke, sorry..." she said, calming down, with a tear in her eyes. "It is a long story that I have with the history!" She answered fun with her pun. "Winners write the history and, sometimes, they forget to include the losers."
"Is this what happened to you?"
"Yes, but I do not want to bore you with my problems."
"No, please. I insist"
"No, no. Seriously, it is a very boring story."
Elsa thought it would be better to leave that conversation for later. There were many other things that she wanted to ask and she didn't want to lose too much time.
"It's okay... Oblivion," she said. "What the hell are you?"
"Oh, Elsa! Are you telling me that you do not recognize one of yours when you see it!?"
"Are you a spirit? Like the forest spirits?"
"Of course I am! Wouldn't you think that they were the only spirits there was, right?"
Elsa kept an uncomfortable silence.
"Oh, well... I suppose it is normal. After all, the spirits never link to anything or anyone... rather, almost never."
"Then, what are you? The spirit of possession or something like that?"
"Oh, no, no! Please! That guy is disgusting, taking advantage of the poor victims of him without giving them the opportunity to defend themselves..."
Elsa crossed her arms, waiting for it to continue.
"You will not believe that I am going to tell you what my power is, right? I would be in a mess if it did!"
The ice climbed little by little.
"Hey, hey! Remember that you are freezing your sister! If you kill me, you will kill her, just so you to know."
Elsa stopped the ice. She wasn't sure that it was true, but she didn't want to take risks either.
"So, Anna is here?"
"Yes, of course, although she can not see you or hear you."
"Let me talk with her."
Her tone didn't admit any replica. The spirit thought about it for a few moments.
"Okay... I guess a little talk with your sister will not hurt anyone..."
Astrid followed the platoon through the castle wall until they reached the courtyard of arms. There, those soldiers marched until they occupied his place.
"Fifteenth unit, complete!" Someone shouted.
Astrid peeked to see better and ran out of breath. The courtyard was completely crowded with soldiers. The Viking had participated in many battles, some of them huge, and she had never seen so many soldiers together. All still, motionless, looking at the front as if they were statues. And there, supervising them all, was the blond guy with his reindeer.
"Ok... Time to go back."
She tried to go back, but an arm emerged from nowhere and tried to grasp hard her neck. Luckily, Astrid was faster and she managed to lower her chin to protect her gorge. If she had not done it, she would have been in serious problems.
The soldier, without emitting any sound, struggled with her to reduce her but Astrid, used to fighting, hit him a couple of times with her elbows, and took advantage of the momentary distraction to get rid of that arm.
Face to face with the soldier, she threw his ax to him and, with a dry blow, she sank his helmet, knocking out him. And then she knew that she had committed a tremendous mistake. Although the Viking tried to hold him, the soldier's body fell to the courtyard by drawing the attention of all the soldiers present there.
"Oh, Thor..." she said for herself as she was discovered.
Afterward, she ran out with all her forces without looking back.
The spirit closed its eyes and Anna's head fell limp forward. Then the young woman opened her eyes, blinking with difficulty.
"Elsa?"
"Anna, is it you?"
"Elsa!" Happy to see her sister, she tried to get closer to her, but she found she couldn't move her body because of the ice. "What is this? What's going on?"
"I'm sorry, Anna, but it's necessary."
Anna seemed to understand.
"I'm sorry, Elsa."
Big tears rolled down her cheeks.
"How do I know it is you?" Elsa said suspiciously.
"I don't know..." she answered without stopping crying.
Elsa thought for a few moments.
"How did mother and father die?" She asked, clenching her fists.
"Elsa..." Anna said.
"Tell me how it was."
Anna sighed sadly. It was a subject they avoided touching.
"People believe that they died in the South Sea, drowned, but actually they died in the Dark Sea looking for the origin of your magic..."
They had jealously guarded that discovery they made long ago, sharing it only with those closest to them.
"Oh, Anna..."
Moved, Elsa approached her and wiped her tears with her hands.
"Don't worry, I'll bring you back no matter what..."
She rested her forehead on her sister's, and suddenly Anna giggled.
Elsa withdrew immediately.
"I am sorry, I could not contain myself anymore! Pff... hahahaha!"
Elsa, between irritated and confused, took a deep breath trying to curb her anger.
"Damn you... let me talk to my sister!"
But the spirit didn't seem to be listening, busy as it was laughing.
"Oh, Elsa..." it finally said, calming down. "Come on, why that face? You have not gotten angry, have you? Come on! Where is your sense of humor? It has been great!"
Elsa couldn't take it anymore.
"It's over," she said, and prepared to use her powers to completely freeze Anna.
"Yes, we agree on that," replied the spirit. "I would love to continue playing with you but, unfortunately, I have more urgent things to do and I'm out of time."
Like someone who dusts himself off, the spirit got rid of the thick layer of ice that imprisoned it before Elsa's astonished gaze.
Hiccup faltered and dropped his knee to the ground.
"It hurts, right?" Said the voice.
The Viking tried to ignore him, but it was very difficult.
"It is normal, after so long by her side, and now she wants to go with the first blonde that passes her by."
Hiccup shook his head.
"Going home without her, can you imagine? Having to explain to the whole village where Astrid is... I do not even want to imagine the series of rumors that will spread about her... and about you. 'He is such a bad lover that his wife left him on the honeymoon for a woman', 'Hiccup? Yes, he is the chief of the village, but it is better not to go out with him if you do not want to end up hating men'. How cruel people can be, right?!"
The images of everything that the voice related to him took shape in his head, without being able to avoid it. The Viking shook his head over and over, covering his ears, but the voice echoed inside his head.
"No, no, no..." he said over and over again.
"What would your father think of you if he was still alive?" And what will your mother think of you?"
The image of his father, disappointed, appeared in his mind, and Hiccup could barely bear it.
"Don't worry," the voice told him. "I'll take care of everything for you. You just have to relax and let me take over. That's it..."
The light in Hiccup's eyes slowly faded away.
"But, how...?
"I understand your confusion, it is normal. I must thank the spirit of degradation for helping me escape."
Elsa looked around her urgently, searching.
"No, it is not here," she said, gesturing with open arms to the room. "It is here," she continued, pointing to her body.
"Are you the spirit of degradation?"
The spirit rubbed its frown with its fingers irritably.
"No... I am not. But somehow I am. Do you follow me?"
Elsa was looking at it with a frown, trying to understand.
"By all spirits! I am not the spirit of degradation, but I have its powers. Like the powers of other spirits such as silence or life."
"And how do you want me to know if you don't tell me what your power is?!"
The spirit smiled in understanding.
"Nice try, fifth spirit."
Elsa cursed to herself.
"Alright, time to stop kidding."
The spirit snapped its fingers and Elsa was suddenly trapped by a creeper, unable to move.
"As you see, I have gotten myself a few lesser spirits but I need to hunt down the great whale, get the jackpot, you know. However, your dear friends seem to be protecting themselves behind some spell and I cannot reach them, so I have no choice but to use the bridge to do it."
Elsa was trying to free herself from her bonds, but that plant was really tough. The spirit stepped in front of her and put a hand on her head.
"And now, with your permission... let's get started!"
Elsa felt a torrent of pain in her head that slowly spread through her whole body. She tried to resist, but it was too much.
"Oh! I already see them! Hello, little ones! It's time to play! Come on, come to me!"
Elsa began to rave; she no longer knew what was real and what was not. She heard a loud crash and saw a white dragon, with shining scales, burst into the room through a huge hole in the wall.
"You again!" Anna yelled, between surprised and annoyed.
The dragon gave her a powerful blow to withdraw her and, without waiting for anything else, caught Elsa with her jaws, threw her on her back, and flew away while the girl tried to hold on to her back so as not to fall.
It took a few more moments for the Arendellian to compose herself long enough to see that it was not a dream and it was really happening. The icy wind on her face and the remission of her pain helped. Then she saw Astrid running, desperate, with a horde of enemies behind her.
"There!" she pointed out weakly.
But the dragon had already started a very rapid fall to grab the Viking with its claws.
"Fury!" She exclaimed in surprise. "How glad I am to see you!"
The dragon gained height quickly to leave behind the arrows of the archers and get out of there as soon as possible.
"Where's Hiccup ...?" The Viking asked, but the voice died in her throat.
She saw her husband through a window, prostrate on the ground and clutching his head. They were moving away from him.
"It's there! Fury! Elsa! You have to turn around!"
But the dragon didn't change her course one iota.
"Fury, please! We can't leave him there!"
Tears welled up in her eyes.
"Elsa, we must go back! Please!"
"No!" Said the Arendellian instinctively, clinging even tighter to the dragon, her eyes closed. The very idea of returning seemed like a world to her.
"No, Fury, turn around! Turn around, we've to rescue him! They're doing something to him! It hurts! Fury! Elsa! Please...! Hiccup! I'm here, Hiccup! Hold! Hiccup! HICCUP!"
Heartbroken, Astrid struggled tirelessly as she was drawn into the dead of night.