Hey, what's up, guys. So listen, me and my family are leaving for a vacation in Las Vegas on Sunday and we won't be back until next Saturday. This will probably give me enough to write more chapters, but I won't be able to post any more updates until we get back. So I'll probably have the next chapter after that. Either way, here's the next chapter.
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: Violence
The dismayed 4*Townies were sitting there on the ground with Tyler in angered boredom. Neither one of them were feeling like camp was fun anymore and neither were as excited for the next group activity since they had an inkling that Heather and her friends were gonna be there and ruin everything for them.
"You guys sure you aren't up for a little basketball?" Tyler asked to try and lighten them up.
"We could. But those QRQs will probably be there and try hitting us with the ball instead!" Miriam shouted angrily. "I will never go ziplining again! Never, never, never!"
"I've been waiting forever to tell that story to a wide audience." Priya seethed.
"Well, we still have a couple more days of camp left. They can't ruin everything." said Tyler.
"Right, you keep believing that." Mei muttered sullenly.
"At least none of you were given laxatives." Abby complained, clutching her stomach. "But I think it's worn off by now."
"Good. So at least now you won't hog the bathroom anymore." The Indian-Canadian girl retorted with vexation.
"Where else do you want me to do it? Outside in the bushes?" Abby shot back in defense.
"We literally have a unisex bathroom just right down the trail from our cabins. And you know this because we've walked past it a dozen times already." Mei reminded her with a soft glare.
"That's too far away! I'd never make it!" countered Abby in childish anger.
Mei groaned at her friend and smacked a hand to her face in discontent, grumbling to herself, "That shallow bitch is gonna become the death of me."
And speaking of the devil, Heather and company came scampering past the group from behind them, all snickering at them in seeing them at their lowest, which always brought them such great joy. On the receiving end, however, it only threw in more tinder to the already blazing wildfire with Mei and the gang growling so hard you can almost see smoke coming out of their mouths. The first to rise to their feet like a tigress being rudely disturbed from its catnap was none other than Mei as she stomped with her feet pounding really hard against the ground with each step until she stood before the queen bitch herself.
"Oh, we meet again, Lee. Enjoying your camp?" She, herself, snarked.
"Zip it." Mei hissed, keeping her eyebrows furrowed and knitted. "Now listen here, prissy-pants, this shit is going too far and I think it's time we made a deal here because we came here to have fun and this thing between us is getting in the way of that. So we'll stay out of your way if you stay out of ours."
"Where's the fun in that?" Jill teased.
"We never wanted to come to camp anyway." Heather goaded the girl in front of her. "Getting a rise out of you and you dumb friends is the only thing keeping me sane."
"Well, too bad. Because we're only making total asses of ourselves. You, mostly." retorted Mei irately, trying to keep her patience from crumbling underneath the cheer captain's pigheadedness.
"Excuse you?" Heather scoffed at her with a vein throbbing and an eye twitching. "You don't get to tell me what to do or how to act! If I only had it my own way, I really would've killed, bribed or blackmailed to have gone anywhere but here, stuck here with you clowns!"
"It's not our fault you got dumped here for the summer instead of on some beach showing off your ass in a scanty bikini!" Mei yelled back at her face, nearing a point where a panda outburst was close to boiling to the surface. Her friends, on the other hand, were starting to worry if Mei was about to go feral panda on her in the middle of camp just like she did at Tyler's party years ago.
"You better watch your fucking mouth or else I'm gonna-" The blonde brat snarled right back as she reached a hand out for Mei's tamagotchi around her neck, to which Mei jerked back instantly, holding it protectively in her hands, safe from any harm while firing the look of a mother bear right into Heather's lime green eyes.
"Don't touch that! Leave Kris Jr. alone!"
"Kris Jr.?" Heather quipped with a barely-stifled derisive snicker. "What are you, 8? Who the hell plays with those things anymore?"
"It was a gift from my boyfriend after I saved his life." Mei thundered. "You know, the one that doesn't treat me as an object? Like I'm someone to show off to all of his 'bro's? What's your boyfriend ever gotten you, except maybe, I dunno, a coupon for free breast implants?"
"UGH! WHY YOU….!" And that, ladies and gentlemen, was the sound of a raw nerve being struck.
In her fit of rage, Heather was quick to defend her boyfriend's honor by snatching Kris Jr. and yanking it off Mei's neck and despite her screaming at her pleadingly to stop, the rich girl threw the tamagotchi with insane arm strength right at the nearest tree, hard enough to almost break it. Flying into protective mother mode, Mei full-on ran over to where her precious toy had landed on the grass, running faster than normal and checking to make sure Kris Jr. was okay. The toy was fine, nothing was broken since Heather wasn't that strong of a thrower anyway. However, as the girls watched with bated breath and uneasy tension - mostly from Mei's friends - something ripped itself free from inside Mei like it had been trapped in a cage forever before finally tearing away the bars.
POOF!
"You BITCH!" Mei has gone beast mode now. When she turned with a primal glare that would scare the hairs of anyone unlucky enough to lay eyes upon it and risk themselves nightmares, Mei let out an animalistic roar into the air and charged at Heather like a stampeding rhinoceros before turning into the red panda half way, pouncing her like an apex predator capturing a weak and defenseless prey.
Now Mei was REALLY letting her have it.
Scratching at her face ferociously, growling through her grit teeth and fangs, eyes burning with a flame that'll burn you if you get a trifle too close and attacking those good looks Heather was so damn proud of and Heather was a stifling concoction of terror, confusion, anger and panic. She was screaming her head off as the giant red panda attacked her like a beast in the wilderness and Miriam, Priya, Abby and Tyler rushed to get the fury-blind Mei off of her, yanking on her fur and her tail while Mei kept it up before settling down, still panting rigidly with rage.
But now Heather has blown her own top as well, screaming like a banshee with a wail that would rupture your eardrums if you heard it and tackling Mei to the ground, attacking her in retaliation, even pulling and ripping off her fur before Mei bit her hands and before everyone one knew it, it was a huge catfight.
Or more specifically a….human-red panda fight. However you slice it.
By now, both parties were struggling, struggling, struggling to pull the two fighting predatory cats apart until a whistle blew nearby, forcing everyone to freeze and Mei to poof back to normal in a cloud of pink. Director Marty Koulz and Counselor Clemens arrived on the scene, glaring at all of them, fists to their hips.
"Alright, girls, that's it." He declared sharply in a tone that made everyone wince with anxiety. "These obnoxious romps have gone on long enough. If it's gonna be like that between the two of you, I'm afraid you've left me no other choice. All eight of you are gonna have to share a cabin together for the rest of camp, effective immediately."
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTT?!" All eight women screeched, eyes nearlying popping out of their skulls, colors fading from their faces and the air feeling a lot hotter suddenly.
And now camp has become completely unfun for all of them. As if things weren't bad enough.
"You heard us. It's about time that you all learn to get along and work as a team or else." Clemens warned them, crossing her arms.
This was purely tragic without any hint of exaggeration. Both Mei and Heather glowered and snarled at each other like two cougars while their friends all felt like they wanted to be swallowed up by the ground beneath their feet.
Being at camp with the QRQs was just a nightmare before.
Now it was hell.
Sitting outside Valaskjálf with his friends on the top of the steps, Kris waited patiently and quietly, but with subtle tiredness from having to drag two dueling gods apart from each other all the way back to Asgard and he, himself, was surprised by how strong he was to keep even Thor, strongest of the gods, in a headlock for most of the way back until he had to call upon the ravens. It may not take too long to get that hole in Valhalla's ceiling fixed, but only now things are far worse than they were before. Apart from that, though, the teens were still conversing amongst themselves about the recent fight earlier and suffice to say, it was unlike anything they've witnessed before in their young lives.
"I mean, you don't see that everyday, right?" replied Toshio.
"Bonkers, I say. Bonkers." Willow chuckled with mirth and amusement. "Never thought I'd live to see the day that two gods fight to the death in front of me."
"That was nothing compared to the comics. But I don't think Marvel has anything on this." Rudolf commented like any fanboy would.
"What was that all about anyway?" asked Carter curiously.
"Loki isn't really the most well-liked god among the other gods. He is the God of Mischief for a reason." Stig explained, looking ahead. "He's done a lot of bad things in his day, some more costly than the rest. I think it was only a matter of time before Thor kicked his ass. And Loki's been looking pretty pissed off lately."
"How so?" asked Stacy.
"Well, the gods did kinda take his three children away. Fenrir, Jörmungandr and Hel, the queen of the dead."
"Wait, Loki is that maniac woman's father? If so, then maybe he can-"
"There's nothing Loki can do." Kris interrupted her, exuding a flinty aura. "If so, he could just tell Hel to stop all of this but, you know."
"This queen of the dead sounds like ah maniac. Ah mean, why wouldn't she be if she's been stuck rulin' over the dead." Moose contemplated. "So maybe it's the gahds fault she's like dis."
"Then maybe it's also the god's fault the world is ending." Willow huffed an aloof sigh. "Tragic. To think, and I mean to think, that we're the ones looking up to them all these years and they become the ones to cause our undoing. And they say humans are the real danger?"
"Way to sound like a prophet." muttered Stig, shaking his head.
"Maybe don't mock them when we're, like, here…in their kingdom or something?" Stacy winced worriedly, fearful of incurring a dangerous wrath.
"Oh, don't be a wet blanket." The goth girl rolled her eyes at her.
"Hey, I'm not interested in hearing this kind of talk when-" Just as she was about to fire back at her, the doors to the hall thundered open and the exhausted God of Thunder marched out of there.
"So how'd it go?" asked the apathetic Stig.
Ignoring the lukewarm question with disinterest, Thor let out a disgruntled sigh when he felt Loki's presence behind, just as peeved as him at the moment, both were as weary from their scuffle. To let truth be told, this was actually the first time the two of them physically fought in a straight-up fight. They've butted heads more often than not in the past before, the mischief-maker was infamously known for getting under the thunder god's skin quite effectively, given the Asgardian prince's explosive temper and affinity towards bloody violence. Nothing escalated any further than a threat for bodily harm or a hammer to the face.
"In spite of my many detestations with you, we have to learn to get along eventually in everyone's time of need." Thor grumbled in his direction. "Provided that you overstep any boundaries."
"Yeah, yeah, I love you too, you fat lard." Loki gave a huge eye-roll, groaning indignantly before turning into a falcon and taking off into the skies.
"Dumbass." Thor hissed under his breath as he walked towards the steps and started walking down past the teens. "Kris, come."
"What now?" asked the boy as he got up and followed him obediently while Stacy, Stig and Toshio also followed with the latter two hoping to be part of the next adventure, promising the others they would be back soon. Out of curiosity, Moose came with them as well.
"You're going to need a weapon. Something that will be useful when Ragnarök comes. The only ones who can help are the dwarves." answered Thor when Huginn and Muninn flew over.
"I don't think I'll need a weapon." Kris debated.
"You may be a strong force on your own, but your powers won't be enough when you're in battle."
"Now this ah gotta see." Moose smiled with excitement since he's been dying to see the dwarves in work since he first met them and heard of their wondrous skills as extraordinary craftsmen.
"Dwarves?" asked Stacy with a raised eyebrow.
"Huginn! Muninn!" The heavyset thunder god called forth the ravens to first take them back to his realm in Asgard for a quick stop to pick up his goat-drawn chariot to escort everyone to Svartalfheim. Enduring a turbulent flight through the skies riding a lightning bolt, Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr strike land in the city of Niðavellir. It was a wild ride for sure as attested by their bewildered and terrified expressions. Moose even tossed his cookies on the ground. Leaving his goats in the care of Lúnda, Thor escorted his descendant and his friends through the city streets while the first-timers, mainly Stacy and Toshio, got a good look at the place around every angle with voiceless admiration.
"This is insane." Toshio blurted, brushing his hair. "A tiny little city for tiny little people."
"I know, it's so cute." Stacy gushed. "It's like a ToonTown from DisneyLand, except with….well, little people. I hope I'm saying that right."
"So who are Narfi and Vali?" asked Stig suddenly.
"...what?" deadpanned Thor.
"Loki mentioned someone named Narfi and Vali. Who are they?" The goth simplified for him.
"That's…nothing you should worry about now." Something in the burly man's voice sounded like a hint of remorse and a sliver of darkness overshadowing his tone, despite his gruffness. At this, Stig decided to leave it be for the time being, but was still urgently curious about it since it felt like something Loki felt the most disdain towards the Æsir about since he sounded the angriest when he asked it to Thrúd's face.
Nevertheless, Thor brought everyone up to the home of Eitri and Brokk, the creators of his hammer, where the two brothers were still whistling away, hard at work, at their personal forge. Once there, Kris caught note of the giant, wooden 'Trojan Rabbit' structure outside their house, possibly used for storage of tools and such. When they were rounding up near the small dwarven home, Brokk was the first one to descry their visitors.
"Sunnova' gun, lookie here." He told his brother, turning him away from his work.
"Why, ol' Son of Odin, what a surprise this is, indeed." Eitri greeted him neutrally. "And Kris, nice to see you alive and well again."
"Don't remind me, but thanks." Kris shrugged.
"Brokk, Eitri." Thor began seriously. "I have come to ask for your prowess in something very important. Kris, here, will need a weapon. A damn good one, I may add. Something powerful enough to assist him in battle for when the time Ragnarök comes."
"Hey!" Moose greeted them.
"Glad to be of service, but how do you plan on him using it?" asked Eitri, disregarding the rotund boy while the others boredly walked around the site as god and dwarves debated. "If you don't mind my asking?"
"He'll need a way to overcome several foes at once. He's not yet at the peak of his form. A weapon to secure means of defense and protection." Thor explained.
"Cocksuckers comin' in ev'rywheres n' ye got no way's t' fend 'em all off on yer own. Well, we's got jist th' one fer that. Sindri, go fetch the ring." Brokk ordered his brother.
"Draupnir? But we need that. Our supplies." Eitri protested.
"Oh, we's got plenty." Brokk waved it off with cool assurance. "An' lots t' spare."
"Draupnir?" Stig came up after hearing the familiar word. "As in Odin's ring?"
"Yep. All-Father bequeathin' it back t' us long time." The grizzled dwarf brother answered as he and his brother led them inside their home and like most other regular-sized guests to step inside their house, they had to crouch down a bit to enter through the door frame.
"You guys say you're gonna use a ring?" asked Toshio, not following.
"A ring that multiplies." Eitri spoke as he looked around. "Of course, we'll gather other supplies along the way. Not to mention, we'll have to pay a visit to….the Lady."
Both dwarf brothers perked up when he said this, which, to the humans, must mean that this mysterious specter of a character they called 'the Lady' must indicate someone of a vast importance and relevance to all in Svartalfheim. Whoever this 'Lady' was, judging by Eitri choice of tone, must be viewed as someone valuable, someone famous perchance and someone of a higher power than them.
"The who?" asked Stacy.
"Is there a queen here?" Toshio asked next.
"Not precisely." Eitri answered with a shrug as he flipped a secret switch on a bookshelf. "Just someone with the most powerful forgery skills surpassing all of us dwarves in Svartalfheim."
"Then she'll be our key." Thor concluded.
The bookshelf disappeared into the wall, revealing a secret opening to some kind of lift of sorts being suspended by a rope, but fit only for a dwarf and Eitri stepped inside, lantern in hand, and activated the lift so that it lowered slowly into the moist darkness below with the light of the lantern being his only sight throughout. Not a moment later, the lift was gently placed inside of a dark, underground cave underneath their home which houses thousands upon thousands of golden, shiny rings inside for storage, countless even, like a large, unmoving pool of gold. Eitri was able to tell which one was the real one. After all, he and Brokk created it together and they remember everything they manufacture. Reaching in with a fire poker-type instrument into the heaping pile of endless wealth, Eitri fished around until he captured Draupnir in its hook. Giving it some comforting whispers, Eitri commanded the lift to ascend and rejoined the others.
"Wow, that's it?" Kris examined the ring in his fingers with his eyes. "Doesn't look like much."
Suddenly, the ring exploded, creating nine more copies of itself onto the floor, much to the teens' surprise.
"How about now?" Eitri murmured almost teasingly.
"Okay, that's pretty cool." The boy shrugged his shoulders, slightly impressed, though still not seeing much of the appeal.
"Well, I've gathered what's fit fer gatherin'." Brokk came over and held out a bag to put Draupnir in for their little journey and Eitri hesitantly dropped the ring inside.
Moose, on the other hand, picked up on the ring copies on the floor and inspected it more closely. Interested, he slipped it onto his finger and hummed in appreciation. It was a perfect fit.
Once that was out of the way, Eitri and Brokk took the lead, bringing the group with them down a goat path that should take them to the aforementioned Lady, who is surprisingly a well-known figure to the dwarves in Svartalfheim. Through the rock terrain surrounded by sharp, high cliffs and mining structures seen from afar, everyone took in the sights of the mountains and foothills surrounding the area as the shining sun painted the landscape with a watery blue sky. Kris still had no need for a weapon. He had only agreed to use one if it was to help save the world. Though, in the back of his head, he wondered what this Lady could possibly be capable of in comparison with the dwarves. As for Stacy, she couldn't stop sending peaks in Toshio's general direction while a blush appeared on her cheeks. For a long while, she's been harboring certain feelings for the Japanese boy. He was a daring good swimmer, she loved and appreciated his athletic aptitude and he was funny to her. However, she has yet to think of a way to tell him with confidence while wondering if he felt the same way about her. A tiresome hike later, eventually, they came across a gateway with a sign in Elder Futhark.
"'Forge Ahead'. Pun intended, I might add." Eitri translated the message with a curious hum when Thor used his strength to push the doorways open, allowing everyone to meander through a camp of dwarves. So it would seem that they were getting close to their destination. The two brothers found a nearby forgery station and told everyone to stand by while they got to work on something for a hot moment, something that could be used to build this weapon for Kris. And as they worked, Kris casually stood upon a rock and looked upon the valley far ahead with Stig sitting down with legs in a pretzel while Thor stood next to him as the question asked to him earlier reappeared in his head, to which Kris discovered the troubled look on the large man's countenance.
"What?" He asked him.
"Narfi and Vali." His beer-bellied ancestor responded with difficulty.
"Yeah?" Stig urged, turning to him.
"This won't be easy for me to explain, but I hope you're prepared for what you're about to hear." Thor got to work in the explanation. "They were Loki's…human sons."
Then both brothers turned to face him wide-eyed as he proceeded, his face melting into a somber bearing.
"Yeah, he had human children as well with a young woman, Sigyn. After Baldur's murder, my father ordered Loki to be imprisoned far beneath the earth as punishment. However, he needed some way to keep the shape-shifter from ever escaping so easily, so he gave the order to have his human sons assassinated and Thrúd volunteered to do so." Thor swallowed his spit as he spoke. "Looking back now, it really fills my heart with dread with how eager and ready she seemed to murder some humans for Asgard's honor. Odin used their organs to make the chains to bind Loki to a rock with a snake dripping venom on his face until Ragnarök."
"And he still escaped." Stig muttered with a poker-face.
"Yes." Thor sighed. "I suppose, in some way, I do feel some remorse for how both their lives had to be sacrificed for a bigger purpose. They never asked to be killed because of what their father had done. And I think that Thrúd, deep down, feels the same way now."
"Do you think maybe the reason Loki killed Baldur was because Odin sending Hel away to the afterlife or something?" asked Kris stonily.
"I can't say for sure. But either way, they were still his children no matter what. The wolf, the serpent and Hel, respectively." Thor mumbled weakly. "Can't change the past, though. You can only learn from it and move on."
When he was here the first time, the Norns already showed Kris everything to know of the history of the Nine Realms, including the bloody parts that no child under the age of 20 should ever see. But still, he considered Thor's words at the end. You cannot change the past, but what you can do is move on from it, because it only distracts you from the present and the future. An example of this would be him not giving Ming the recognition she truly deserves after everything she's done for him after the unspeakable SkyDome event. Meanwhile, Stacy gently approached Toshio, but carefully. Every time she looked at him, brought that blush back shades redder like a blossom.
"So, uh…what a week, huh?" She nervously stated.
"Yeah, you bet." Toshio also smiled in a similar fashion, unbeknownst to her. "Being a realm full of gods, monsters, sea monsters. Training to fight to save the world from ending and stuff. Not my ideal summer break."
"I'll say." The blonde girl giggled. "Still can't believe I'm related to a goddess this whole time. And these powers, insane. Totes insane. Nothing like it."
"Being related to a sea god is just crazy to me." Her crush countered.
"Not to me. You do love to swim." Stacy disagreed with a smile. "Though, did you say you met a sea monster?"
"A kraken, yes. And I thought they were just a myth."
"Well, I sure hope not to run into a kraken myself anytime soon." vacillated Stacy, tingling at the idea.
"H-Hey, sorry about you…getting captured by the Goddess of Death and getting tortured and all that." Toshio apologized to her. "That must've been really scary for you."
"It's fine." Stacy stated, trying to shut out the horrible memory. "I'll get over it eventually. Soon, I hope. I really love red pandas."
"Done!" Brokk called out to the group, bringing their attention to him and his brother as he held out a spearhead that they crafted out of iron as a component. They continued their way forward, sauntering past geysers spewing sulfur and boiling springs of water spraying into the air, emitting steam. Before long and in no time at all, they upon a gondola lift that would carry them all into the mountain above. Brokk commanded the platform as everyone hopped aboard with the lift, able to support all their weight combined, ascending them slowly up above, through the whistling winds.
"Listen t' that wind." Brokk sounded above the brisk, roaring mountain air. "I think I'll grab some fer th' Lady."
"Uh, capture what? The wind?" asked Toshio.
"Naw, naw, the sound of the' wind!"
"How?" asked Kris.
"Watch 'n learn." The bald dwarf blacksmith stepped close to the edge with the bag out, fumbling it open. "See, dwarven magic's all 'bout the intangibles. The relationship between what ye can tough 'n what ye cain't. It's all 'bout understandin'."
And then as he held the open bag out into the winds of the mountain air, blustering all about and howling into everyone's ear,...in seconds flat, they heard nothing anymore.
Not the whistling, not the howling, not the blowing.
Nothing, but peaceful silence.
"It's th' nature of a thing that's more important than its form." Brokk explained sagely, tying the bag back up, sealing in the captured concept.
"Wow!" Stacy gasped, her eyes beaming with childlike wonder.
"Ya gotta teach me dat someday." Moose chirped.
"Sadly, you gotta be born with dwarven magic to use it and you aren't a dwarf. It's not something anyone can learn." Eitri shook his head, allaying the sudden eagerness just as the platform reached the other end at the top of the summit.
"Damn it." grumbled Moose with disappointment.
"Shucks." Stig smirked.
From there on, the path was more rockier in nature, but the further downward they went, moss and grass sprouted from the rocky mountainside walls and cliff edges around them while Moose was the only one brimming with anticipation at seeing magic forgery at work. Though, Stacy was hoping that it would turn out to be something big this time that would try to eat or kill her like the giant back in Utgard. However, she was still getting used to being in a world full of mythical creatures that you'd only find in books and fairytales in the real world, especially movies and cartoons. Giants were a huge stepping point to this for her. During the hike, Brokk and Eitri passed the time by sharing tales of the Lady and how most of their dwarven kin had learned their famous forgery skills from. And by now, Brokk and Eitri brought everyone over to a dock that led to a massive bell-like structure hanging over the water of a large lake by large chains connected to the cornerstone walls, which by design, would appear to function as a sort of diving elevator.
"And you're sure this….Lady is harmless?" Stacy asked fearfully at the glaring possibility of meeting something with teeth and a hunger for humans.
"Don' worry, girl. The Lady is widely known fer her acute elegance. She ain't nothin' t' fear." Brokk calmed her down when everyone marched onto the curious-looking mechanism. Upon Eitri's instructions, Thor activated it by turning the lever and then held onto Kris and Stig's shoulder tightly for support as the bell did indeed dive into the water, plunging in a beeline down below the depths. Windows around them had no glass. However, by some peculiar, magical nature (possibly dwarven magic), the water was kept at bay, keeping the mechanism airtight and the passengers from drowning. Thor's never been inside this thing, so even he was fascinated by it. They sank deeper and deeper until they reached the bottom with kelp all around.
"So where is she?" asked Kris impatiently, looking all around.
"Where is the forge?" Thor asked, being that this is his first time here.
"Shh!" Eitri shushed them, clutching the bag tightly, whispering, "You're in it. She prefers the seclusion."
"Here she comes!" Brokk piped up when he felt it.
Then they all felt it.
An unseen figure swimming around in the depths around them. They looked closer, but couldn't see who or what it was. And then it swam over to them, being visible the closer she came to her visitors and the teens' were all blown away with no words to express their immediate amazement.
The feminine creature before their unfolded eyes was an amphibious-humanoid being with a magenta-colored body with multi-colored scales, a long fishtail with glitter on the end, fish-like features with some gills here, fins there, scales on her head that simulate bright hair, golden decorations on her arms and calming yellow eyes with black sclera. She did not appear to be hostile at all to those before her, no intentions to cause any harm. Everything about her was of an intimidating characteristic, but was still majestically beautiful by all means.
As Eitri and Brokk contained their inner excitement, there she was.
The Lady of the Forge.
"Oh my god, is that…..?" Toshio couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"A mermaid?" Stacy's eyes enlarged with stars, glittering with explosive admiration. "An actual mermaid?!"
The mystical sea maiden gingerly poked the outer layer of the water wall, sending a singular, perfectly circular ripple in it and watched it tentatively spread outward before she reached a hand out into the diving bell, sensing something that they had for her. Eitri nervously stammered, still clutching the bag, looking like a groupie meeting their idol for the first time.
"I'll do it." Kris sighed, taking the bag from him and handing it over to the Lady's outstretched hand, her clawed hands gripping the straps and pulling it back into the water with her.
As everyone watched, the Lady delicately danced about the water, bringing out the items required from the bag, Draupnir, the spearhead and combined with the sound of the cool, whistling mountain winds, the proud mermaid did her work. Utilizing her innate magical fortitude and forgery expertise at the base of her fingertips, she twirled the items around in the water, spinning them around and around in a circle until they all combined and merged together into one single object of her own meticulous design.
A golden spear.
"Woah! Cool!" Moose cheered like a kid in the candy store.
"I've never seen anything like it!" Stacy expressed.
"Now what?" Kris asked.
With her work nearly finished, the Lady of the Forge looked toward the passengers of the bell and held out her hand again.
"She needs the final ingredient. The blood of a god." Brokk explained, nudging Kris forward. "Ye got the blood of an Æsir coursin' through ya, bucko. Give 'er yer hand."
"Okay?"
Reluctantly, Kris pushed a hand through the water wall, offering up his hand to the mermaid, so she swam over and gave him a little nick on the finger, earning a wince from him, seeping out a drop of blood from his wound. She let the blood dance around in circles around her face and allowed them to form a shape in the water, the shape of the Thurisaz, the rune associated with Kris's ancestor. Then with the flick of her wrist, the crimson ooze morphed into a red flag around the bottom of the blade of the spear, completing its creation finally. Afterwards, the spear vanished into the shape of the Draupnir, indicating its newfound ability to change shape if needed. With her work done, the Lady swam back over and reached outward, handing the ring over to Kris.
He inspected it more closely. It only looked a tad the same as before, only now it was brand new and had a magical glow to it. He slips it onto his ring finger and with some quiet concentration, he lifts his open palm and the Draupnir spear materializes in his hand, much to everyone's surprise. The other teens couldn't deny that they were baffled and beyond amazed.
"Wow!" Brokk exhaled.
"Oh, yeah. That was awesome!" Moose cried with zero restraint to control himself.
"How does it feel?" asked Stig, hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Not bad." Kris admitted, then let the spear disappear once more.
Stacy approached the water wall to get a better look at the mermaid, drinking in the mysteriousness of her wondrous appearance. She had heard stories, read books and even watched movies about mermaids, but never had she thought about meeting one in person before. The Lady of the Forge looked down until she locked eyes with the girl and gave a maternal smile, then reached a hand to give her a boop on the nose, to which she gasped. Then just that, the magnificent mermaid swam away and was gone from sight.
"She touched me." She gasped, feeling her nose. "And she said I'm an adorable human with bright eyes. Wait, how do I know that?"
"Mermaids can't exactly speak to our corporeal bodies, you see." Eitri told her as he turned the wheel so that the diving bell took them back up to the surface. "They speak to us from deep within our souls."
"O.M.G…." Toshio held the gobsmacked girl's arm as she looked at him, grinning.
"Daufi fretr! Almost forgot!" Brokk cursed. "It needs th' blessin' of a god."
"The spear?" asked Stig.
By way of response, Kris brought the spear into existence, almost narrowly puncturing his brother in the head with it.
"Be careful with that thing!"
"Kris…" Thor ordered the boy, gesticulating for him to bring the spear over to him. When he did, Kris held the spear in both hands out to his ancestor and upon calling Mjölnir to his palm, the thunder god pressed the steel of his hammer against the gold of the handle and shut his eyes, focusing all the energy within him.
"...May this weapon strike true. May it be wielded by wisdom. May it bring no harm to its holder and those it protects…."
All eyes watched the scene without uttering a single world. While Thor may be a destroyer, a fighter and an all-around brute through and through, blessings have also been his forte as it was his job as a god to pass down favor to the mortals, passing on all their divine wisdom. Kris felt his heart pumping against his chest as he tightened his fists against the spear.
If this was the weapon he needed to stop Ragnarök, save everyone and get back home to his family, his friends and his dear, beloved girlfriend, Mei, then he would use this weapon for the greater good.
Be the hero the world needs right now.
So things have gotten from bad to worse at camp with the girls. Heather managed to strike the final nerve in Mei by messing with her Kris Jr. and now both feuding groups of women are forced to share the same cabin together as punishment. We'll see how THAT turns out for them. Lol.
Back to the Realms, Thor takes Kris and his friends to Svartalfheim to build a weapon for him, capable to causing maximum damage to his enemies in battle situations while keeping him safe at the same time since he's not yet a formidable fighter like Thor is with his hammer. With the aid of Brokk and Eitri, they sally forth to meet a mysterious character named the 'Lady of the Forge', who turns out to be a mermaid. And now we get to include actual weapons from the God of War game, like th Draupnir spear. Of course, I added a few changes. You see, even though Kratos keeps the weapon by the end of the game, the story makes it seem like the spear was created for one purpose and one purpose only; to kill Heimdall. However, the story here will take that into a different direction. Now Kris has his weapon of choice.
It's through Thor that we get some personal backstory about Loki's human sons and yes, Thrúd was the one who murdered them for Odin. Even though she insists that it had to be done and that it's primarily Loki's fault they endured a grisly demise, Thrúd shows sign of heavy guilt for this act.
Next Chapter: Late that night, Kris and the teens sneak out to go explore the Nine Realms together, practicing their powers and running into some creatures, like trolls. Then they meet the bird Jötunn named Hræsvelgr before encountering the Nörthfölk members.
Next Update: September 1, 2023