Sorry it is so late. I will also apologise for how short this chapter is. I'm usually writing each chapter between 2000-5000 words now, and this just doesn't meet that target. I hope you enjoy it all the same. Also thank you for all you guys who carry on reading and enjoying this story.

There was a lingering darkness that appeared to cling to the young god's skin; except it wasn't skin anymore. Hiccup tried to move, but he felt weighed down by something, and that something was both worrying and alien.

Hiccup didn't dare to open his eyes. He kept them closed even when his other senses where going AWOL. It was hot, really damn hot! It made hiccup wonder if the spirits of the lost, the damned and the unfortunate faced a future of death and then heat and darkness. If Helheim was like this then Hiccup was prepared to enter the bloodiest war imaginable, just so that he could save a special place for himself in Valhalla.

Hiccup felt smothered by both heat and smell. He breathed in warily, expecting some form of bad smell. This place smelt like brimstone and molten rock. It was the smell of the rock Meatlug melted within her belly; except here the foul smell was impregnated by the smell of blood.

Hiccup allowed the smells to linger. He smelt sea, air, earth and fire. The blood was a mixture of all these things, coalescing into a primordial mixture that shouldn't exist in this world any longer. It was the essence of creation. Hiccup could feel it within his awakened cells.

Braving the unknown, Hiccup opened his eyes. They widened when he saw the place he was prisoner within.

The belly of the world serpent wasn't at all fleshy and disgusting as Hiccup expected it to be. Certainly there was flesh, blood vessels and pools of some kind of suspicious liquid, but the colours were all strange.

The meat of the belly was a light, pearlescent pink that shimmered like the inside of an oyster shell. There were tiny islands of earth topped with gorgeous fruit trees within the pools of green liquid. The trees themselves were wrapped up in veins of ocean blue and green and the fruits were blood red. Hiccup took a guess at what was feeding these trees and shuddered.

Not only where there trees and small flowers, there were splinters of wood that had shattered and were scattered everywhere. Hiccup deduced they were the remains of ships that ran afoul of the monstrous serpent during their time spent out to sea. Hiccup could see the debris of hulls, masts and sails scattered throughout the belly. Hiccup felt sad when he saw a few skeletons spread against the walls with their arms clawing up the sides; no doubt seeking escape from the cloying heat within.

Then there was the fire. Hiccup remembered Loki saying something about fire within the belly, except it wasn't actually fire. It was steamy, like a volcanic vent. Hiccup presumed it was as hot as fire in here. The place was partly obscured by light blue steam which probably hung about within the whole area of the stomach. Hiccup wondered how far this place went.

Hiccup stepped out, except he fell once again amongst pretty blue flowers when he lost his balance. His instincts worked before his brain as his front leg moved to step out instead of aiding in picking himself up.

"That's odd, why am I…?" Hiccup looked to his hand to see a paw tapering into claws instead. His whole arm was scale; glittering, golden, like armour.

Hiccup sprang up, inclining his neck so that he could see down his body. It was then he noticed the extra length in his now rather long neck. He saw a long and lithe body resembling a serpent with feathered wings and slim legs.

"I have six appendages," hiccup shouted out, "and a long neck. Spines, claws. OH GODS, WHAT DOES MY FACE LOOK LIKE?"

Hiccup sprung towards a pool of green water, hoping the surface was at least slightly reflective. It was strange moving in a bigger, alien body. Everything felt wrong, although very right.

Hiccup peered into the, water? It was reflective. Actually the water was still like a pond and mirrored the startled boy beautifully. Hiccups eyes were still green, except they were slit like an angry dragon.

His face was elongated, like a monstrous nightmare, except his teeth didn't protrude from his lips, and rounded around his cheeks. His jawline sprouted fur that became a mane of lustrous white fur that met the fur atop his head. Two golden horns sprouted from the back of his cranium; both were straight and honed into sharp points. Between each horn, spines sprouted and got larger as they ran the length of his back, finishing near the end of his horned tail. It was like a sword was melded to the end of the long and sinuous appendage. His ears were like Toothlesses, perky and able to give away his emotions as if he were a book ready to be read. Not only that, but his left leg had grown back.

'Oh no, what happened to Toothless? Dad? Astrid?' Hiccup walked away from the pond, worry over his family overtaking his joy at his regrown limb. His head went down and tears started collecting within his eyes.

Hiccup simply slumped boneless onto the squishy floor and began to cry. Never had he ever felt like this. This type of aloneness, real isolation with no way of knowing where he was or who was there to talk to him was a terrifying prospect. He was in a strange new body, away from his friends and family with no idea about how to regain his human body and find his way home.

It was rare Hiccup ever cried. Hiccup was stubborn, like his dad, and no matter how often he was knocked down he would always find a thing to grasp to pull himself back onto his feet. No matter what ridicule he went through in the past or how often he was picked on he never stopped being who he was.

But know he felt overwhelmed. This was all too overwhelming. Hiccup had to calm himself. He would not allow himself to panic. Panicking prevented one from thinking, and thinking was the best route out of this place.

Stemming the tears by wiping his scaled wrist over his eyes like a dog scratching its face, Hiccup stood up on all fours, raising his head high and resolute.

He walked forwards and into the azure haze.

They were descending into darkness, deep unrelenting darkness full of death and despair.

The edge of the ocean deeps where the roots of the Yggdrasil began was a difficult realm to traverse. The dark haired God looked beyond the scattered light of hundreds of abyssal creatures with their gaping mouths and snuggle- toothed teeth, beyond the darkness and into the realm beyond.

They were near the gates of Helheim. They simply had to cross a paper thin line of dreams and despair; the hopes and losses of the mortal realm, before they could enter the realm of death.

The shimmering purple line was razor thin, but difficult to cross, even with the force of the world serpent trying to traverse the door. The crossing would be turbulent, but only last a fraction of a second.

"I wonder how our little friend will cope with the crossing only gods can breach whilst they breathe."

The great serpent beneath Loki chuckled, the sound similar to that of rolling waves. Loki was sat cross legged over harsh scales, a simple silver light coating him protected him from the cold and pressure of the deep. It was a god's protection, a magic all gods held within their genes which allowed them to go anywhere they wished.

"He will be fine. The little gnat rests within my belly. I already know he has passed through the metamorphosis unscathed."

Loki nodded whilst he held up his hand and opened his fist. He saw the stolen rune, sat innocently within his palm. The glow was faint, pulsing no doubt in time with its master's heartbeat. Right now the pulses were frequent, like a mouse's natural beat.

"Indeed!" Loki smirked.

They both braced themselves, expecting the sting of the river dream to gush all the way through their bodies, expecting to take root and relinquish the emotions of the millions. Loki hated witnessing the visions he was forced to see within the split second it took to cross. So much pain, happiness, sadness, hurt, anger, apathy, vengefulness, love; the basic emotions one didn't need smarts to possess.

"I think the little guy just fainted, I can feel all he does, all he feels; I suppose it was a little strong and unexpected." The serpent's tail was still breaching the purple stream, although it was nearly all the way over. Jormungand actually chuckled once it was crossed.

"It is the first crossing after all," Loki replied, thoughtful, "but then again he has only just awakened as a god. I remember feeling washed out when the All-father first recruited me. Odin pulled me from the flames and practically forced Godhood on me. That was a special time!" A dreamy look passed over his face, but then his nose and brows scrunched up, "Pledging my brain and wit to benefit those in Asgard was the first time I made a foolish decision."

"It was not the last though was it. Skadi, Thor, Sif, as well as others who still have a bone to pick with you. No wonder you are on the runabout all the time. Father, you are a busybody and no account trouble maker. Even mother wants to get her hands on you."

"Thank you for pointing out some of my finer moments. I work to displease. I got the Alias trickster for a reason."

"You will get yourself killed for good one of these days."

I won't die. I will just be locked up in endless darkness for all eternity." It was said so nonchalantly that the great snake suspected that his father was actually hiding his true feelings on the matter.

The snake swam through the water until he came across a ginormous chasm that was open to the abyss they were swimming within. The crack was so large that it should have made the ocean water drain through into the worlds crust, causing the sea level to fall.

There was a magic covering the entrance, repelling the water and forcing it away. There was no life this deep down, owing to the fact that mortal beings couldn't cross the dream conduit. There was only darkness down here.

Jormungand crawled through the crack, forcing his head through the filmy feeling magic and into rather fresh air. Immediately light and wind met the faces of the god and snake, signalling their arrival to the land of the dead.