Disclaimer: Turning Red and it's characters are the property of (c) Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios.
Elements are borrowed from God of War (2018) and Ragnarök, owned by (c) Santa Monica Studio/Sony Interactive Entertainment
C/W: Fart humor, graphic violence, murder and blood.
(ᛜ)
Vanaheim (Old Norse: Vanaheimr / Nordic: ᚢᚨᚾᚨᚺᛖᛁᛗ):
(HOME of the VANIR)
Now that each group had obtained what they've sought on both sides, it was time to reach the home realm belonging to the peaceful Vanir.
This new realm was enriched with a beautiful green rainforest-like swamp that was as barren and saturated as a Florida freshwater wetland and as luxurious and wild and tropical as an Australian jungle with a stunning variety of trees, including some of the same species as baobabs. Birds flittered and sang, bog water bubbled and squirted and the surrounding atmosphere was humid and moist. On either side of the land in the Eastern Barri Wood where a massive bog laid in the middle where a ginormous murky brook rested, two separate mystic gateways opened up and the women's group led by Thrùd emerged and just about a little ways, say 20 kilometers, from where they stood, the male group emerged from their end. Mei had the compass in her bag with the plant bulb.
From their side, the men, accompanied by Ratatoskr and the dark elf brothers who decided to join them for a while, dressed in dökkálfar armor and weapons, had parted ways with Týr and now held both the ax and the bow on their person. Svir had sleek, black-tinted metal armor plating crafted from Svartalfheim steel and Thrum had on the typical wear that the other dark elf natives had and they both wore these scary-looking monster face masks with Svir's looking like an angry demon with black fur attached to it and Thrum's looking blank and emotionless with some black fur attached around the bottom, fashioned as a beard of some sort.
As for weapons of choices, it was a double-bladed staff named Röskjǫptr for Svir and Thrum stuck with a simple sword called Duginheill.
"Are those masks really necessary?" asked Roar, perturbed by them.
"Yes, wise human." Thrum nodded. "It's to scare away any dangerous animals away. These haunting faces will scare the shit and piss out of anything that sees them."
"Are you scared yet?" Svir got up all in his face.
"Boo!" The both of them shouted.
"Ahh!" This succeeded in scaring the wits out of poor Rudolf, making run away in terror.
"Rudolf!" Jin called, then he and the other boys went after him.
"It works! Yeah!" The two half-witted dark elves cheered for themselves, sharing a congratulatory handshake, much to the group's annoyance.
"We're screwed." Ratatoskr moaned.
"Are you sure you guys should be tagging along?" Tom exhaled, remembering they're punishment was still at hand.
"Pfft, they'll never even know we're gone." replied Svir, waving off their concerns.
"Yeah, we'd still be in Svartalfheim, picking yummy crops for those midgets." Thrum bragged.
"Thrum, please."
Rudolf kept running and running through the bushy green leaves and thick, vine-covered trees, his mind momentarily blinded by the sudden fear of the hideous masks the brothers wore, with the others behind the scared Inuit boy trying to catch up to him before they lost him so they could try to settle him down.
But then suddenly, as luck would have it, Rudolf tried over a root on the ground and ended up tripping until he found himself unable to stop himself from tumbling to the ground and straight off of a cliff, yelling helplessly.
"Rudolf!" Roar shouted fearfully for the sake of his friend's life.
By the time they made it to the edge of the cliff the boy fell off from, they heard a splash.
A splash?
Sure enough, ten feet below them was the murky lake and ripples in the water where Rudolf had landed. Seconds of worrying later and hoping that the boy hadn't drowned, Rudolf bursted through the surface water, spitting it out of his mouth and coughing and gasping for air.
"Rudolf?" Jin called from up above.
"This water reeks!" Rudolf called back, cringing. "And it tastes like armpits and gym clothes!"
"He's fine." Roar let out a sigh of relief, knowing his friend was okay.
"Don't ever do that, you dummy!" Stig shouted down at him.
"You almost scared us to death! I'm supposed to be keeping you boys safe!"" Jin sternly hollowed downward.
"Are you okay, at least?" Roar shouted.
"I'mwet!" said Rudolf.
"Okay, just stay right there! We'll come to you, alright? Don't move!" Stig ordered the soaking-wet naive boy.
"Ok."
Then they left to rejoin the others, leaving Rudolf behind temporarily. However, he was concerned that they may not reach him in time. And he sure wasn't joking. But it wasn't just the water that had a fetid stench, but the entire bog itself. It was almost like stepping blindly into a landfill full of trash. Lots and lots of either tall or small, smooth and moss-covered rocks sticking out and standing up tall and prominently, lily pads, leaves and such other floating along the water's surface.
However, the young Rudolf was too engrossed in the environment around him to realize that…there was something in the water.
It swam slowly, but ominously below and it was too murky to see what it was. However, there appeared to be skyward-facing vertebrae-like spinal blades poking dangerously out of the surface like the back fin of a shark ready to attack its prey. Bubbles were forming from where it could be breathing and they were leading straight toward the boy in the water.
All of the sudden, Rudolf yelped as he grabbed from underneath and yanked under the water in a split second. However, all though he couldn't see what it was that snatched him up, he started kicking at it really hard, then when it released him, they broke through the water's surface and started to wrestle each other with Rudolf trying to forcefully free himself from the grimey grasp of his unknown attacker, only until now does he have a full scope of the creature trying to eat him alive.
It was somewhat humanoid in shape, but much rather less human and more beastly.
Pale green, teal and bluish slimy, wet, scaly skin, a pair of faded pink thick, bulbous ink sac-like gills on its neck, two bulging blank, pupiless eyes that burn a hole into your soul not unlike that of a piranha, a grotesque, skull-like face with the flesh that seemed to sag due to the water, webbed claws with the thumb and pointer finger an inch bigger than the rest, its body was covered in a thick, curtain-like bush of seaweed and marine plants with lose sticks and twigs sticking out most likely for camouflage, long and straight black hair, the vertebrae spinal plates beginning at the top of its forehead where an anglerfish-style membrane was placed and its mouth - split from ear-to-ear - opened up to reveal a huge, gaping maw filled to the brim with rows of sharp, jagged teeth as it roared a spine-tingling, trilling, screech-like roar.
A nøkken.
Rudolf was terrified beyond belief and now even more desperate to avoid being this water fiend's dinner, so he fiercely started punching at it, kicking at it, all the while trying to keep the nøkken from chewing his arms off with those scary jaws. Every time it dragged him back under the water with it, Rudolf fought his way back up.
By now, Rudolf was on its back, starting to beat the living crap out of its head as it attempted to fling him off, then he sneakily covered the nøkken's eyes as it lumbered forward and then…
BAM!
The freshwater creature smacked painfully face-first into the boulder ahead the split-second Rudolf jumped right off its back into the water once more. And as the Inuit boy resurfaced for air, he was just in time to see the spinal bones of the creature protruding from the water, swimming away.
Apparently having given up.
"I guess I showed him." Rudolf smugly declared to himself.
"HEY!" He jumped when an angered man's voice screamed into the air about a few feet from where he sat in the bog water. There sat on a boulder away from him was a furious middle-aged Vanir with a net and a harpoon. His cosmic reason for being here? Most assuredly to capture the nøkken inhabiting the swamp, which Rudolf had just ruined. "YOU SCARED AWAY INN FRÓÐI!"
"Uh, who?"
"Damn Midgardians!" He growled, boiling red at losing his chance. And in his rage, he started throwing large rocks at him. "Get the fuck outta here, you little turd! Go on! Get!"
"Ow!" Rudolf cried out as one of them actually hit him, starting to frantically swim away further into the bog away from the jerk pelting him with stuff. "Dude! Okay, okay! I'm going! I'm going!"
"Maybe next time, don't have the masks on?" Jin reminded the two brothers sternly as they all started hiking through the dense forest for a way to reach Rudolf in the swamp before any sort of danger reaches him first.
"Why not? They're sure to get the monsters away." Thrum remarked.
"And I am adamantly depending on that said logic." said his older, taller brother.
"Well, the masks work too damn well." Charlie snarked at him. "You wanna risk scaring the little dude again this time?"
"That boy may not have what it takes to enter the realm of the dead, specifically." Ratatoskr mused.
"Shut up with you!" Tom snapped at the squirrel.
"I really hope nothing bad happens to Rudolf." Roar remarked.
"I wouldn't worry. If he can avoid a bear, he's bound to avoid something else out there. He'll do whatever it takes to stay alive no matter what." Stig said with confidence.
"Guys?"
A familiar voice broke through the forest somewhere next to them. Looking in the direction it came from, they all saw Lily standing there, a big smile plastered on her face.
"Tom!" She rushed to her boyfriend and brought him into a massive embrace and a passionate kiss. "Thank god I found you guys. I was really starting to miss you!"
"Me too, babe!" Tom gave her another well-deserved smooch.
"Where are the others?" asked Jin.
"They're coming ov-AHHHHHH!" His niece started to say, but then screamed when she saw the dark elf brothers with their masks on and thinking them to be a threat, she went into panda mode and tackled them to the ground, holding them down with her giant red paws. The other men rose to try and defend the two lamebrains, but couldn't help but scowl in annoyance since the masks did it again.
Prove their purpose in the worst way possible.
"Who the hell are you?! Answer me!" She ordered angrily.
"Owie! My face!" Thrum cried.
"Hey, wait a minute!" Svir held up a hand in surrender. "These aren't our real faces! See? Look!"
To prove it, Svir ripped his mask off his face as well as Thrum's to prove they are not there for sinister reasons or are a threat in any way. However, Lily was still disturbed by their grotesque faces that she started pounding away at them, making them both shout helplessly in pain before the others decided that this charade had gone too far.
"Lily, stop! Leave them alone! They're with us!" Tom shouted at his girlfriend.
"Who are they?" Lily demanded, now confused and exasperated.
"Nice to meet you, red furry ma'am. Name's Svir, at your service." Svir greeted her with a dumb smile.
"Thrum, be mine."
"Just a couple of dark elf idiots from Svartalfheim who decided to tag along with us…..for reasons." Stig, with his deadpan, decided to explain to her.
"Idiots are we? Damn thee!" complained the shorter elf brother.
"Get off them, please." barked Tom as he removed his red panda girlfriend off the duo of bumbling elves. With her off them, they stumbled to their feet, both still taken aback.
"What a woman!" Thrum chirped mirthfully.
"You said it!" His brother agreed, putting his arm around his shoulder. "Where do you get magic babes like that?"
Lily was gawking at them both as if they were growing giant boils on their faces, then turned to aim a dumbfounded expression at her Japanese-born folklorist boyfriend.
"I know, they're clowns." He shrugged.
"Guys!"
Everyone both looked to see Elsa, Ming, Mei and all the rest march over to them through the jungle-like forest they all reunited with each other. Chen hugged Charlie tightly, Helen gave Adam the biggest kiss on the lips ever, having missed him the most and even Jin and Ming were not without their happy reunion of smooches and hugs.
And Elsa herself brought her adopted son into a bear hug of her own.
"Thank god, you guys are okay." She beamed happily as Stig hugged her back. "Did you guys have any luck?"
"We did." Stig said, showing her the dwarf-made longbow. "It packs quite a punch."
"Well done, Stig." Mei smiled.
"Yes, indeed." Ming said next, but devoid of any grateful feeling. However, she appeared to have a regretful glance on her face when she looked Stig in the eye and to her secret surprise, he had one on his face as well, truly a rare sight from such an angry, mouthy and apathetic young goth like him.
As for Stig, he was unsure of how to even begin speaking with the Asian-Canadian woman after remembering their fight earlier. But he has now started to feel remorse for that whole ordeal on Midgard.
"I'm…glad that you're okay, too." Which was all he could muster at the moment and Ming took it as a start.
"Y-Yes, quite." She stammered, with no other words she had the strength to say.
"Well, we retrieved the compass." Thrùd started off with, showing it off to them to see. "It'll help you all locate Hel's lair in Helheim, which should be where Kris is."
"Thank god for that." Adam smiled.
"And who are you guys?" asked Ping to the two brothers with them.
"These two lads followed us from Svartalfheim." Mímir replied. "Don' ask fer their reason fer comin' along with us."
"Adventure!" Svir shouted, pointing his spear upward.
"Danger!" Thrum cried along with him in the same manner with his sword.
"Thrills!"
"Penance!"
"Love!"
"Vegetables! And not the one I just ate!"
"Shut up!" Svir snarled, punching his brother on the head. "You're embarrassing yourself!"
Everyone eyed the two dimwits strangely, but that's to be expected. Here they were, a couple of dark elves from Svartalfheim and they're like a couple of Silent Era vaudevillian comedians.
"Do I need to explain it?" Adam shook his head.
"Man, you guys are dumb." Helen quipped.
"Vileness! Such a woman should have such venom on her tongue!" Svir gasped at her.
"And how are you two gonna help us?" asked Ming skeptically, not sure about them joining their group.
"I'm glad you asked!" Svir shouted, holding up his spear. "We're weapons of mass destruction! Nothing stands in our way!"
"And lives to tell our tales!" Thrum holding up his sword.
"We have many exclusive tales. Many of which you'll be hearing every so often as long as we live and breathe." And as Svir stood proudly in his dramatic pose, he accidentally swiped at Thrum with the blade end of his staff, almost cutting him.
"I hate you so much right now."
"Quiet, Thrum. I'm building up a dramatic effect."
Their annoying, half-witted antics only served to ignite another expected collection of aggravated reactions and exclamations from the group, many of them either facepalming or pinching the bridge of their noses.
"How are you guys gonna stay alive?" Mei bleated with total disbelief by their stupidity.
"At least the elves in Alfheim were more competent." Ping shook her head.
"I remember you guys. You work for my human husband, right? The old viking?" asked Thrùd, now recognizing their faces.
"Yeah!"
"That's us!"
"Wait, what?" asked Ming. Now that statement has really piqued her interest and confusion.
"What does that mean?" Elsa was just as stupefied.
The old viking that Thrùd had raped and had children with and a couple of dark elves working for him. What could that possibly detail?
"Could I say something!" Ratatoskr finally made his presence known to the group and everyone gasped when they saw him and heard him speak. Seeing a couple of dumb dark elves was baffling enough, now there's a talking squirrel with them now. "Is it possible we could continue searching for the other boy?"
"What other boy?" asked Elsa, not bothering to question a talking animal. Then she realized Rudolf wasn't with them. "What happened to Rudolf?"
"Yeah, where is he?" asked Chen, now scared.
"He fell into a swamp somewhere over there and we're trying to get back to him." Charlie hurriedly explained, pointing in the direction where they're sure the bog was.
"Well, what are we standing around for? Let's go get him!" Elsa urged everyone as she full-on ran into that direction with Stig following her, followed by Ming, Mei and the rest.
"Yes, now it's an adventure!" cheered Svir excitedly.
"Bestianados!" Thrum spat out as they followed the group, making Ratatoskr roll his eyes at them.
They kept calling out for Rudolf as they fled deeper through the Vanaheim forest, trying to see where the swamp was. But luckily, the further and farther they went, the more they started to see the light reflecting off of the dirty water of the murky lake within the wetlands. And finally, they had all reached the swamp where Rudolf was and then they all retched in disgust by the foul odor clinging to the area.
"Oh, Sun Yee!" Wu yakked.
"This has to be where he was." Jin stated, looking all around for the boy, but he wasn't there anymore.
"Where'd he go?" Stig was confused. "Rudolf! Rudolf!"
"Hey, guys! Over here! Yoo-hoo!"
Rudolf's faint voice was calling back to them from far away. Yes, he was now standing at the very far end of the bog lake, having swam a great distance, now drenched in filthy swamp water as he waved his arms around to get their attention.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE!" Stig thundered.
"What's he doing over there?" Mei asked, narrowing her eyebrows.
"Can you come back over here?" Elsa called out to the boy on the other side of the lake.
"No way! I'm not going back in there again! I'm too delicious!"
"Nevermind." sighed Roar. "Guess we're going to have to cross this lake to reach him."
"What?!" Wu complained about the idea. "Cross this?! Out of the question!"
"Well, I don't see anyone other way around and there's no way I'm gonna keep hiking around just to catch up to the doofus." Stig disagreed with her. "And if he's not coming our way, then we're coming his."
"But won't our clothes get dirty?" Helen asked.
"Nonsense. Clothes are super absorbent!" proclaimed Svir proudly.
"You shut it!" She hissed at him, not in the mood.
"We'll provide some fresh clothes for when we get back to Asgard until we have your clothes cleaned up. It's no big deal." Thrùd stated comfortingly as she began to wade into the bog water herself, completely unbothered by it, much to their shock. Sure, her clothes were getting dirty in the process, but she didn't care too much.
Elsa shrugged as she started into the water after her, but kept her hands above the water to keep the rest of her clothes from getting any wetter and dirtier.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Wu groaned in despair.
"We'll go with you." Ping comforted her, joined by Chen and together, they all waded into the disgusting water and tried to ignore the musky natural smell of foliage all around.
"That boy's gonna answer for this." growled Wu under her breath, angry over her now ruined attire.
Their decision was to go into small groups and cross the water one after the next. After Ping and Chen escorted their stingy mother across while making sure not to accidentally step into anything underneath that may hurt their feet, Jin, Adam and Charlie were next. Adam wasn't too bothered at all, being an ex-soldier and all that. Being a soldier means you gotta brave anything that crosses your path, such as a giant stinky swamp lake with lord knows what swimming in it. After them, Roar went next with Helen and Lily who both held on tightly to his arms.
All of them unaware of the strikingly familiar pair of spinal blades poking out of the water, swimming by them unnoticed. Then Shan went in next with Tom, his future son-in-law, leaving only Stig, Mei and Ming left with the duo of knuckleheads and the squirrel on Svir's head to be safe from the water.
"Alright, let's do it." Stig sighed in resignation.
As the dark elves went first, he and Mei went second as they followed their lead as Ming followed close behind following theirs. For her part, Ming was just as disgusted about having to wade through the filthy, murky waters, but she fought back her revulsion and carried on as they all kept their hands above the water.
However, Ming was starting to get the feeling that something was moving around in the water nearby.
Something huge and deadly, but she desperately tried to keep it together and stay focused on crossing the bog. Unfortunately, this did not help the gurgling feeling in her stomach right now, which earned a wince from her as it bubbled downward through her digestive system the more edgy and unnerved she got.
"You know, I feel we're supposed to be remembering something here." Thrum brought up suddenly.
"Oh, yeah. These Vanaheim swamps do have these strange creatures floating all around." Svir noted.
"Uh, what?!" Mei cried in shock.
"And you're remembering this now?!" complained an angered Stig.
"Oh, not to fret." Svir assured them all. "I hear they're only attracted to something that stinks."
"This whole bog stinks!" yelped Mei in annoyance.
"Yeah, but this is a natural smell around here. I mean, like a gross kind of 'stinks'. You know, like something died, like something that makes you wanna gag."
"Yeah, we should be good." Thrum nodded. "We don't smell a thing."
"Oh, thanks." Stig deadpanned.
This, however, did not lessen Ming's worries, though. She could still feel like something dangerous was lurking somewhere in the water close by, just waiting to strike and attack her.
And then it happened. Something embarrassing.
Her eyes widened when it did and her body froze up, stiff as a sculpture.
It came from underwater behind her, a loud rumbling sound that was muffled and sounded like an off-key trumpet note. And all of the sudden, huge bubbles rose abruptly to the water's surface from right behind her and her mind scattered in every which way once it did until she inwardly groaned to herself. It must've been that weird fruit she ate back in Alfheim.
It had to be.
Mei and Stig both stopped when their noses picked up a new scent that overpowered the otherwise pungent natural pong all around and they both cringe with disgust as it burned and singed their poor nostrils. A very dirty, rotten, foul odor that reeked of moldy foods, miasmic cheeses and aged vegetables and fruits. They both looked each other in the eye, wondering if one of them was the cause of it. Stig shook his head no and Mei knew it couldn't have been her.
So they both turned their heads toward Ming who looked at them both with a beat-red face, biting her bottom sheepishly.
POOF!
Her mortification turning her into a red panda.
Mei couldn't even begin to conjure up any words, other than to look at her mother with revolt. At that moment, however, the vicious and hungry nøkken's powerful nose picked up the gross stench from underwater and started to swim towards the source of his new snack, making sure to remain unseen until its moment to strike.
Svir and Thrum also picked up the stench themselves, but they weren't too disgusted by it. However, Ratatoskr suddenly passed out from the smell and fell into the water.
"Yeah, something definitely has died." Svir nodded in affirmation, unfazed.
"How did you know?!" Thrum balked at him.
Suddenly, Ming yelped in surprise as she felt claws grab onto her tail from underneath and then yank her down under the water with great, immense strength, catching everyone off guard.
"MOM!" Mei shrieked helplessly.
"Ming!" The rest of their family shouted in horror.
Mei was about to risk it all and jump down in the water to the panda to save her mother. But then Stig pushed her aside and dived downward himself, feeling a certain need to take care of this on his own and just as he plunged into the murky, brown/green-tinted watery abyss, he felt himself changing again like before. Only this time, his skin turned scaly and slick, his limbs disappeared and his front canines lengthened and sharpened.
As for Ming, the poor woman was struggling for her life, fighting against the animalistic nøkken and trying desperately hard to wrestle herself out of its tight grip, but it was tough to see in the thick, messy water and reach anywhere with her big, fluffy panda body. Not helping is her increasingly depleting supply of oxygen, putting her in danger of drowning. The lake beast only became more incense and enticed the more the giant panda fought against it and then it opened wide its terrifying, gnarly-tooth maw about ready to take a huge bite out of its new, captured prey…
….but then the head of a large green snake lunged at the nøkken and bite down on the beast's face as agonizingly hard as it physically could, make the freshwater monster from the deep wail in tremendous, excruciating pain, forcing it to relinquish its grip on Ming, freeing her from its dastardly clutches and then the snake coiled himself around her body and swam back to the surface with her.
Ming was resurfaced with the snake wrapped around her midsection and as Mei and the others watched, the snake shrunk down and morphed back into Stig with his arms protectively embracing her as she calmed herself down while gasping for air, then returned to normal. Looking down at him, Ming's shock transformed into mild surprise as she realized that he must've saved her from that monster. But Stig hated her. Why would he risk his own life to save hers? The others back on the land were so transfixed on the scene that unfolded, they had no way of understanding what had occurred, not even those who had already bore witness to the goth boy shapeshifting into a brown bear back in Niðavellir.
"Did you guys know he could do that?" Helen asked her boyfriend.
"You should've seen him back at dwarf city." Adam answered.
"Mom!" Mei cried in relief as she hugged her mother tightly, glad that she's safe and okay and Ming hugged her back.
Unfortunately, their joy was short-lived as the lake beast burst through the bog water surface with fierce ferocity and pure primal rage and everyone finally got a good look at the nøkken, Inn Fróði. The snake bite on its face was bleeding so now it was absolutely furious. It roared at them and they all screamed in terror. The beast lunged at them, claws at the ready and scary-looking mouth open wide. Elsa was already heading back into the water to try and do something to save them.
"Swim back over here!" She screamed.
The fight or flight response was triggered immediately. Everyone vainly raced away through the water, past the giant boulders, but the Inn Fróði was faster than them. It leaped out of the water, jumping from one boulder to another like a giant leapfrog, until it blocked their path to safety. Then Stig realized he still had the ax with him. So in a desperate attempt to rid themselves of the monster, he whipped the weapon out and aimed it right at the nøkken's face.
"Stig, what are you doing?!" Mei was baffled by his attempt at heroics.
He didn't answer, except he swiped at the nøkken with the ax several times, even making it back away. But Inn Fróði was not about to back down because of a scary-looking boy and his ax as it swept back at him with his claws. Everyone stood still and watched with voiceless awe and astonishment as Stig didn't give up yet. He kept fighting back at the creature, his adrenaline pumping like crazy before he was finally able to slash at the monster's arm, making it wail with agony.
Stig swiped at the beast again with his ax, this time aiming for its neck, rupturing its sac-like gills and spilling out its black, inky contents. And now time for the finishing blow. Stig let out a battle cry while the ax began to glow a bright blue and engulfed with frost and ice as he raised the blade high above his head and swung it right down on the nøkken's head, plunging it deep into his head, spurting a fountain of blood.
However, the magical ice on the ax caused it to spread around the creature's body, causing it to freeze everywhere until it was cold and frozen like an ice sculpture as Stig, Mei and Ming were gobsmacked by this phenomenon.
"Holy crap." gasped Mei.
Reaching for the ax and ripping it from the frozen nøkken's head, it led to the top half of the dead creature's body shattering into several blocks of ice and the other half to fall into the water.
Inn Fróði was no more.
"What the fuck?" Adam said aloud, voicing everyone's thoughts.
Afterwards as they hiked through the Vanaheim forest away from the swamps, all had a mixed series of reactions to the baffling occurrence that happened a while ago. Some of them were a bit shook at seeing the nøkken as well as witnessing it get killed, some of them were unable to believe that Stig had transformed into a snake and some of them were amazed at seeing Stig singlehandedly defeat a ferocious monster on his own.
While Wu was still complaining about her outfit being soiled and ruined from walking through mucky bog waters, Stig, on the other hand, had no words to express himself after just murdering a beast by himself with a magic ice ax.
"Oh my god, that was insane!" Roar exclaimed.
"And that was the thing that tried to eat me!" Rudolf shouted.
"Mind blown." Svir beamed while Thrum imitated an explosion to express his amazement.
"I've never seen a human actually go up against a nøkken and win." Thrùd paid a compliment of her own. "Nobody's ever emerged victorious against those things."
"A what now? That's what it's called?" Ming asked curiously.
"Wha-? What happened?" Ratatoskr, who was being held by Svir, finally regained consciousness after being knocked out.
"Only the most badass thing ever!" answered Svir.
"Yes, he was very brave back there, but he could've gotten killed if it wasn't for that ax." Elsa looked at her son sternly.
"I don't think I'll ever get over that." Stig moaned monotonously.
"But you did save my aunt!" Lily reminded him with sincere gratitude, hugging him tightly and warmly.
"That you did." Ping agreed, joining in on the embrace and soon all of the aunties, Chen and Helen especially, came forth and brought the ill-tempered goth boy into a huge group hug.
"Such a brave little boy." Helen mused softly, rubbing his head.
Stig didn't share the enthusiasm, however. He only grumbled incoherent profanity to himself under his breath to ignore the fuzzy feeling this auntie hug was giving him.
"Okay, ladies. I think he gets the point." Ming chuckled.
Reluctantly, they all freed the scowling boy from their giant, soft group hug and they kept forward on their journey.
"And you just turned into a snake back there. How did you do it?" asked Thorsdottir.
"How the fuck should I know?" Stig sighed, rolling his eyes.
"How can you not know?"
"I'm new to all this, alright? Can we drop this….whatever this is?" Stig snapped, growing more and more impatient with her.
"Fine."
"Maybe he's a wizard." Thrum whispered into his brother's ear.
"Maybe he's a giant." Svir whispered back, remembering that giants are capable of altering their appearances.
"So the ax has ice powers. Hmm, that's really something." Chen noted with curious fascination. "That'll sure come in handy once you're inside the land of the dead."
"Well, I'm not sure how it'll work against those who are, you know, already dead." Charlie vacillated.
"Hel-walkers may be dead already, but they can still be killed again." Mímir explained.
"So what does the bow do?" asked Mei.
"I'd rather not show you here." Stig informed her warningly.
"Aye, that bow will be jist as useful in the land o' the dead." said the God of Wisdom.
This new area they were traversing through was becoming less like a moist and untamed jungle-like landscape, but more of a healthier woodland with beautiful green grass and oak trees filled with delicious looking apples sprouting from every branch above their heads. Pleasantly abundant of pure life and absurdly lustrous glory.
"So what are we looking for again?" asked Roar.
"A rope." Stig exhaled.
"Maybe I can be of help." A harmonious, gentle, sweet-as-honey feminine voice filtered through the air and turned their attention to a young maiden, sitting by an apple tree.
Getting a good look at her, the woman was admirably beautiful and glamorous that it puts even Sif to shame. She had pale chestnut hair that stretched long past her waist and fashioned into braids above her brow, pure white and pale yellowish flowing gown and robes.
"If it's a rope you need, I shall provide." The mysterious woman got to work climbing the tree with astoundingly adept dexterity.
"Oh, that's quite alright, miss." Elsa gently tried to politely decline.
"You may address me as Idunn. I'm the owner and guardian of the grand garden." replied Idunn (Old Norse: Iðunn, Nordic: ᛁᛏᚢᚾᚾ), the wife of Bragi; the Norse Vanir Goddess of Spring and Eternal Youth, the Keeper of the Apples and the Granter of Eternal Youthfulness as she worked her magic in sprouting a sturdy vine from the tree. "Each apple grown here provides eternal youth to whoever eats them. So I wouldn't recommend feasting on them, unless you wish to remain young forever."
"Really?!" Lily's wide eyes jolted all around at the apples on the trees.
"Hmm." Rudolf picked one up off the ground and was about to eat it, when Mei snatched it from him.
"Alright,..." Idunn mumbled to herself as she concentrated on her work, fiddling with roots and stems, until she finally came through with it. An elongated piece of rope constructed from tree vines and roots, then she hopped down from the highest point branch she was on and landed perfectly safe on her feet in front of them all.
"Wow." Shan marveled.
"Not what I had in mind, but okay." Elsa shrugged it off and accepted the rope from her. "Thanks, by the way."
"Happy to be of service. Please help that poor boy out. I cannot imagine what that evil devil woman could be doing to him as we speak." Idunn begged them with pleading, moist eyes.
"You bet we will." Mei assured her tenderly. "We won't rest until we help him."
Idunn smiled gratefully and hugged the young girl like a mother would her own child, which she accepted.
"We better go. We have everything we need." Ming reminded her daughter.
"Yes. Finally." Elsa exhaled a sigh of relief and exhaustion.
And with that, Idunn the keeper of the apples, bid them all a fond farewell and wished them the best of luck on their mission once they all took off away from the Goddess of Eternal Youth's personal apple grove and started their hike in an opposite direction. But before Stig could summon Huginn and Muninn, Ming suddenly felt that gurgling feeling again in her stomach, making her wince and clutch her stomach.
"Mom, are you okay?" Mei asked, catching onto her mother's borborygmus distress.
"I'm fine, Mei-Mei. I just need to…." Ming whimpered as she rested her hands against a thick tree and aimed her shapely backside outward and for a brief moment, attempted to relax herself and tried to let it out carefully and noiselessly. After a few quiet seconds, Ming's pained expression softened and diminished, replacing it with a look of relief.
"...ooooh. Finally." She exhaled longingly.
Everyone was confused…..until a huge wave of stink soured their nostrils. Although they didn't hear it, they could smell it and by god, did it stink like hell. They all coughed, groaned with disgust, gagged, fought back to urge to vomit, some of them fanned the air, held their noses shut and tried to avoid breathing the horrendous stench.
"Ewww, Mom!" Mei hissed, pinching her nose shut, eyes watering. "Gross!"
"That stinks even worse than gym clothes!" Rudolf roared with his shirt over his nose. "I think I'm gonna be sick."
"My poor little nose can't take this!" squeaked Ratatoskr who was resting in the boy's coat pocket and holding his nose shut.
"What crawled up in your butt and died, cousin?" Helen fanned the air to keep the miasmic fog away from her face.
"I'm sorry about that, but I think that fruit thing I had isn't agreeing with me." Ming sheepishly stated and blushed with embarrassment for her shameless release.
"Feel better now?" Her husband asked, hand on her back, while still gagging on the odor.
"Yes, hon. I'm okay. I think it's over now." Ming nodded.
"Not bad." Thrùd smirked at her, surprisingly impressed by the woman's emission. "But I've seen and heard better than that."
"Please call the ravens." Mei ordered Stig, really wanting to get back already and not deal with any more of this ridiculous nonsense.
"Huginn! Muninn!" Stig shouted, summoning the mystic birds forth and before they all knew it, everyone was gone, leaving only Svir and Thrum all alone.
"Wow, they just up and abandoned us, didn't they?" Thrum peeped after a ten-second silence.
"Yes, you scared them away. Great job." Svir scolded him.
They've gotten the last item they need! At last!
As for the creature they ran into: it's known as the nøkken (also known as the nixie, nixy, nix, näcken, nicor and nøkk), a shapeshifting water spirit.
Everyone's gotten back together in Vanaheim just like they planned it and the boys have the dark elf brothers and Ratatoskr still with them, much to their chagrin. Stig and Ming seemed to be close to regretting their actions against each other either that caused them to split up in the first place.
And of course, to be honest, I couldn't help but throw in a little subtle fart gag. I mean, Alva did warn her not to eat the fruit too fast. Lol
Just arrive in New York. Everything's going smoothly so far and they apartment we're staying in is rather homey and comfortable. Like I said I'll try my best to keep writing my story and post it. However, the next chapter may come in late.
Next Chapter: With all the items collected, a huge party is thrown in the hall of Valhalla for their success. Ming and Stig reconcile and things start to go bad in the real world.
Next Chapter: March 16, 2023