Reader: You could say that Kris has already faced his demons when he was rescued from Helheim. The demons representing his grief that is.
Reader: No, not even Hel can escape from Helheim. The gods had taken extreme measure to ensure that wouldn't happen. All entrances to and from Helheim via Yggdrasil had been closed off for this very reason.
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, murder, immolation, injuries.
That night back in the land of the gods, everyone was snoozing away in their beds after darkness fell upon the Realms. Kris slept peacefully in his bed at Bilskirnir, one of which used to belong to Modi, snoring softly and dreaming the most wonderful dream of when he and Mei are sitting on picnic table together, enjoying the hot sun and about to share a passionate kiss, but just then a voice interrupts the magical moment before it could happen, arousing him rudely from his dream.
"Yo, Kris, wake up!" whisper-yelled the voice of Moose. The sleeping boy just stirred and snorted in his slumber, still not waking up.
"Let me try." said Stacy with a glimmer of mischief.
Suddenly, a large and thick fluff of snow fell right on top of the recumbent snoozing form that materialized out of thin air up above his bed, covering him and the bed in a sudden chilly and and icy blanket over his original one that sent him shuddering and quivering underneath, effectively rousing him from his dreams and sitting up on the snow-covered bed in surprise. Then he saw both Moose and Stacy standing at the open doorway, both snickering at his reaction.
"What? What is it? I was having a good dream." Kris complained to them, irate at being rudely woken up.
"Sorry about that." Stacy apologized, inching further in towards the bed. "We didn't mean to disturb you, but we're actually wondering if you'd like to come and join us for a little outing or something. Explore the place and stuff?"
"You woke me up for this?" sighed Kris.
"We're just gettin' a little bored wit' all dis trainin' stuff." Moose avowed, crossing his flabby arms. "So we thought maybe take a lil' break for ourselves. Get out and go walk 'round, see the sights and ever'thing, take some time to enjoy ourselves. I mean, just because the world's endin', doesn't mean we can't have a little fun, right?"
"I dunno. The gods probably won't be happy about it." Kris looked hesitant.
"So what?" Stacy urged tenaciously and desperately. "I'd like to get some bit of fun out all this. It's not like any of us asked to be snatched up and made to train to fight in some war. Don't you want to have any fun?"
"Yeah, but…right now?" The boy in bed asked, seeking clarification.
"Yes, now. While everyone's sleeping. So what do you say?"
Kris did think about it, though deep inside, he was afraid of what would happen if the gods discovered them missing. They were adamant that they must be focused on their training lessons now more than ever if they should hope to succeed in saving their world from total destruction. The teens' help was needed for a specific reason. However, now that Kris thought about it, he was in the middle of something important that would help him and his friends enjoy their summer vacation right when Odin sent his ravens to abduct him and place him in Midgard on his own before he was escorted to Asgard. So it was only fair that he got some enjoyment and relaxation out of this whole affair, a brief interval for some fresh air from all this hard work and humdrum preparation periods. Apocalypse or not, they could really use this right now more than ever. They could just go out, have some fun as long as they return and be ready when the gods need them.
"Well, alright. I don't see why not. As long as we come right back soon." Kris shrugged, getting himself outta bed.
"Yes!" Stacy cheered, exploding with a grin.
"Now ya talkin'!"
Sneaking out of the building without alerting any unwanted attention in the process, Kris, Stacy and Moose scampered out into the night until they rejoined the other teens out in the forest who were all waiting patiently for the two to recruit Kris for their own little adventure. And once everyone was together in a group, on they all went, marching off into the darkness like a bunch of carefree schoolchildren with only the hypnotically bright and gleaming, phosphorescent light of the waning gibbous moon up ahead as their only light source to navigate the crepuscular woodlands to go explore the Nine Realms together. But of course for obvious reasons, Kris had to be the one to guide them through Realms via Yggdrasil since he's the only one in the group (that they know of) who could open mystical gateways without the need of a Bifröst stone or any sort of magical artifact.
Everyone watched with amazement as he caused a doorway to repair itself by simply approaching it and traced his finger over to a rune on the wood of the door before led them all through and it goes without saying that everyone's breath had been taken away to see they were now standing on a giant branch of the World Tree with the jaw-dropping, glittering cosmos everywhere.
"Holy shit, dude." Carter gasped, eyes enlarging.
"It's like we're on a giant…space tree or something." Toshio remarked, spinning around to get a full scope.
"Well, yes, it is a tree." explained Kris. "Yggdrasil, known as the World Tree. It's what connects all nine of the Realms together. It's what gives them life."
"There they are! How are my good friends! It's such a treat to have you all here!" shouted a voice that startled all standing on the branch, except for Kris and his three friends, when the shape of the one and only Ratatoskr appeared out of nowhere to greet them by pouncing on Rudolf and erratically running all over him as if he was high on caffeine. The squirrel - in his true form again - eyed everyone else new to him with a wiggle of his nose and hum of affirmation and doting curiosity. "Hmm, new faces, I see. Well, always good to have more friends."
"A t-t-t-talking s-s-squirrel….." stuttered Stacy with a shake in her tone. She has met gods of myth, discovered she has super powers and now there's an animal that speaks perfect English like a person.
"Nice seeing you again, Ratatoskr." Stig remarked cold-bloodedly.
"Rattata?" ….was all Toshio heard from that.
"Ratatoskr." The talking squirrel corrected with a deadpan. "And from what I've gathered through the branches and inner workings of our vibrant tree friend, I stand before other descendants of the gods, yes?"
"That's right." Rudolf nodded.
"What the hell are ya?" Moose demanded.
"I am the Guardian of Yggdrasil, good sir. Hey! No touch!" Ratatoskr explained before swatting at Stacy's hand when she came to examine the animal more closely. "Now what are you children doing out and about at this hour?"
"Well, we kinda got tired of all the training, so we decided to go explore a bit and stretch our legs." Roar answered for them.
"Yeah, I could really use some time off right now." said Rudolf, nodding. "Being a demigod is cool and all and I know we're supposed to save the world and everyone in it and all that, but I really need a break."
"They just kinda dragged me along." noted Kris.
"If you kids don't mind, I'd like to tag along. I'd like to spend some time with friends myself." requested the squirrel.
"Like, I don't mind having a talking squirrel with us. Still kinda freaky, though, to tell you the truth." Stacy debated, looking at all her comrades' faces.
"I think it's pretty awesome." Carter smiled enthusiastically.
"Great!" Ratatoskr cheered gratefully.
So saying that, the teens continued on their little excursion through the Realms now with the stouthearted Ratatoskr by their side. Most of them who had been here before were still getting used to the idea of a talking animal in their group. Stacy, on the other hand, was slowly warming up to it. After being viciously harrowed by a red panda nightmare, being with Ratatoskr helped as a remedy to those agonizing memories. Not only that, but she found squirrels to be adorable so that was a given. Entering through the gateway on the other side, they arrived in Jotunheim first. And by now, they were really starting to enjoy themselves. It was the valley of canyons they were currently located in, which was created by Thor when he attempted to wake Skrymir with his hammer, and they started by testing out their abilities.
First off, Moose challenged Kris to a rock-throwing contest, to which he reluctantly agreed. The wily Moose went first. He looked all around for something bigger than him. Finally, he came upon a large boulder sitting next to a giant statue and putting all of his newfound godly supernatural to work, Moose held the 100 lb. rock high above his head in a feat no chubby teen like him would ever pull off in real life and carried it back over to his opponent and then with the unsurpassable strength of an army of 20,000 trained soldiers, he threw the massive-ton rock 5oo yards away. Those standing by clapped and cheered Moose on his prowess, but then noticed Kris with an even larger boulder that probably weighed approximately 2,000 lb., heavier than the previous one and all watched wide-eyed and gap-mouthed as Kris effortlessly tossed his rock straight up high in the air until it vanished from sight, possibly 46,920 yards or maybe farther than that. Either way, it was no mystery who won this round as Kris had his strength longer than Moose.
"Not bad! Even better!" Rudolf shrieked while the others gave their standing ovation.
"That's farther than I've ever thrown!" Carter shouted.
"I do say, I've seen better." Though Ratatoskr just shrugged, confidentially impressed by both.
After that, they continued along their way, taking in more of the sights along their hike, telling jokes, singing melodies and popular songs, running into an abundance of creatures, even the dangerous ones like wulvers, ormrs, gulons, tatzelwurms and a wyvern. Of course, the kids had to put their training into good use when encountering these dangerous and aggressive predators, though they tried doing it without having to kill them and because they were only beginners, their progress was not without a few adversities, whether it be Moose's overconfidence or Stacy's lack of confidence. Whatever the reason, their collective combativeness was good, but not great and it's only thanks to luck that they succeed. For instance, the wulvers were like werewolves and Moose, Toshio and Roar tried scaring them away by standing on top of each other to appear larger and more fierce than them. Ormrs were like these little fire salamanders, so scaring them off was simple enough. However, they had discovered in the worst way possible that some of them can explode like bombs.
While the wyvern initially started off as a hostile threat to them, Carter tried calming it down and tried a less violent approach and with this, the wyvern settled and showed a more graceful demeanor towards something that doesn't communicate with force. It rubbed his head with its beak and flew away.
"Heh, pussy." Moose taunted its fleeing form.
In Svartalfheim, Stig, Roar and Rudolf took notice of the land they visited long ago for the first time since they've been sent back to the Realms and realized how unearthly and eerily dark it was at night as in it was like wandering in a haunted, barren wasteland where only the dominant of predators roam and lurk around every corner and this was dark elf territory they were in so they knew by memory that it was nothing like this before. Leafless trees all around, an unsavory feeling in the air, all of it unfriendly and uninviting to even the most warring of men. In any case, Stacy got to work on her powers by trying to create something other than snow. She was really struggling the most. No matter the concentration, no matter the focus, no matter the effort, the promise wasn't as adequate as she hoped. Snow covered the piece of land they were standing in. Though, she did manage to make a snowman body. And for this, the others salvaged whatever they could find to complete the rest of it. Sticks for the arms, pebbles for eyes and Rudolf put in the mouth by using his finger to carve a smile in the snow of the head. Then he grabbed another sharp stick and pierced it through the snowman's head for the nose.
"I shall call him 'David', because it fits." Rudolf declared, bringing his arm around the snowman's shoulders so to speak.
"That nose does not." Ratatoskr remarked jeeringly.
However, they were surrounded by a gaggle of crocodilian beasts called drekis with deadly jaw strength and a fierce disposition. In response, all flung into battle mode, fending off these vile creatures with everything they had, using everything they had at their disposal; arrows, swords, magic spells, anything. The drekis were a lot tougher than the other fiends they've come across, but not as tough enough since it was their aggression alone that blinded their judgment and made him unpredictable.
"Man, these guys just keep coming and coming." Stig complained while using his shapeshifting abilities to shift from one apex predator to the next in order to even the odds like a bull, an African lion or even a large wolf of the same size as Loki's.
One dreki smashed the snowman to pieces as it pursued Rudolf, much to his horror.
"David! You monster!" He wailed.
"Auka!" Willow cried, firing an arrow into a dreki's face just as it snapped its jaw at her, generating a purple mystical sigil on its head, allowing Stig to shoot a Bifröst arrow directly at the sigil like a bullseye on a dart board, which activated the hex's magic, igniting the creature in flames, forcing it to run away.
Like before, all their toils were abysmal and left to be desired, but not the worst and still effective nonetheless.
After that, they fled to Alfheim, which was now heavily swathed in sandy deserts with blustery winds blowing roughly from the east and the west like an autumn breeze, so much it reminded everyone of the Sahara Desert. There wasn't any of the beautiful freshness it used to have a long while ago. Needless to say, the teens were still having fun on their rebellious jaunt, but stayed alert and kept their guard up in case any more creatures came out trying to kill them.
"Boy, I wonder what beastly animals will try to gobble us up next." moaned Stig sarcastically, his long hair fluttering against the wind.
"What's this place again?" asked Carter, looking around.
"I think it's Alfheim." Kris correctly guessed. "Where the light elves live. But it doesn't have that spring-y look the last time I was here."
"That's funny." Stig brought up knowingly. "Because last time we're in Svartalfheim where the dark elves lived, it wasn't dark and scary. And I've yet to see any wildlife either, other than those crocodiles."
"They're called drekis and I do so agree." verified their squirrel companion. "Theoretically, it would be the drastic consequences of Fimbulwinter. Everything in all the Realms not being the same as they used to be. It's more humid in the dwarves' land for instance, plus sand and wind overtaking Alfheim. It's all a sign."
"Why do those gods even need our help anyway?" asked Toshio. "Why can't they fix it themselves?"
"They can't!" Ratatoskr argued softly. "They're not strong enough to prevent an apocalypse on their own."
"Neither are we." Stig argued.
"Not yet you are."
Suddenly, it penetrated the whistling air before anyone could answer back. The sound of low, but heavy breathing was heard nearby and it made everyone freeze in place. It sounded like it came from something bigger and heavier. Something that could be a greater danger than drekis or wulvers or even wyverns. They all turned for a cavern opening showcasing the inner darkness within the rhinestone mountain wall and although kept their eyes toward the blackness and kept still, while keeping their guard up and their weapons at the ready in case by newly-given instinct, thumping was the next sound that they heard coming right towards them and still, everyone did their best to not try to invoke a reaction out of it.
The thing was like a giant dragon without wings. Their best impression of it was an assorted amalgamation of various dinosaurs like the armored, bony plates and flanks of an Ankylosaurus, the V-shape crests of a Dilophaurus lined up on the base of its snout and a pair of tusk-like horns jutting out dangerously from its chin. The look in its eyes showed the glaring intimidation it held towards these small humans in front of it, though it marched forward with an unnatural glimmer of curiosity.
Most of them were nearing a flight-or-fight response the further it strided ever nearer, Stacy's hands glowed with ice and frost, though she held it back with all her might, Willow resisted the urge to reach for a bow and Stig's hand clenched his bow.
"W-What is this one?" asked Kris quietly.
"That thing is a drake. Cousins of the dragons. Strongest of the draconic family. Nasty ones, too. Best not provoke it if you know what's good for you." answered a terrified Ratatoskr.
However, all looked to see Willow start walking toward the drake ahead of them with caution and the hopes of not letting things escalate into another violent skirmish from a dangerous creature that wants to kill her and her friends. The scene only got more impressive or more insane when the pink-haired girl only got closer to the giant reptilian beast. The drake snorted and grunted at this courageous and bold move. A human was approaching it without fear of being attacked or harmed. Still, it stomped its feet to try and scare her.
"Please be careful." Stacy tried warning her.
"Shut up. She's just nervous." Willow sharply addressed her, keeping her eyes on the monster.
"She?"
"Stig, little help over here, please?" requested Willow.
Upon her orders, Stig stepped forward while following her example and started changing shape, taking the exact same form of the drake, much to her surprise. This was actually the first time the stingy goth boy metamorphosed into an animal outside of the known kingdom of fauna. The first time he's taken the shape of a mythical creature. Nevertheless, the transformed Stig communicated with the drake in its language while the other gobsmacked teens watched, only hearing grunts, growls and a couple of snarls in their ears. Kris, on the other hand, was hoping Stig didn't piss it off. Two minutes of this inhuman conversation later and the drake marched past the other drake and stampeded away, hopping down off the ledge, from rock to rock and off into the desert. After she was gone, Stig morphed back to normal with a visually disturbed look on his face.
"What did she say?" asked Willow out of curiosity.
"We should go." Stig said, ignoring the question and walking away.
After that encounter, they kept their way through the windy dust storms plaguing the lands of Alfheim before they all agreed that this was too unbearable for them. Getting strong winds blowing in their faces and the rough and coarse sand getting everywhere. It was time for a new locale. Navigating their way through the storm with difficulty, they entered through a mystic gateway and entered Vanaheim. The only ones in the group that visited the realm of the Vanir realized that that fetid swamp smell was much stronger now and everything looked less earthy and more gross-like. The plant life here has gotten much more wild and terrifying. Some with a life of their own and some having developed a taste for flesh.
"Careful 'round here, children. I don't like the looks of this place." Ratatoskr warned him, hiding inside Stig's pocket.
"Boy, this place is just full of wonders, huh?" Toshio replied.
"You said it." Carter agreed, nodding.
"Say, Kris, what else happened the last time you were here?" asked Stacy, looking over at the boy in question.
He shrugged as he answered, "Well, before I ran into the gods, me and the two brothers taking care of me did stuff like explore the lands and we saw a lot of stuff together, by the way. There was a giant waterfall that you could walk behind, it was really cool."
"Oh, really? That's really interesting." Toshio marveled. "I'd like to see this waterfall at some point."
"Then we sailed on this lake where we met this giant serpent beast named Jörmungandr." Kris responded, no longer feeling afraid of that memory. "To prove we weren't a threat, I tossed the ax into the water. That same ax right there."
He said pointing at the Fimbulwinter ax that Roar was using currently while he, Stig and Rudolf were gobsmacked.
"You gave him the ax?" Stig exploded.
"Yeah, pretty much." Kris spoke with a brief smile.
"Apart from the snake beast, what else?" Willow urged him while cringing at the grotesque fungi and flora they were passing by.
"We went on a little adventure to see the King of the Danes in Denmark. And we passed this group of, uh…forest guys on the way there. They're harmless, but they're real stupid." Kris blankly spoke with an annoyed expression.
"Ah, yes, the 'Forest Men' is what they call themselves. Inbred knuckleheads, they are." The squirrel replied.
"Svartal…..svratla…..svartall…-" Meanwhile, this one thing has been baking Moose's noodle for a while now and he's been trying to pronounce such a foreign word to him, but with little success.
"What are you doing?" Willow cocked a thin eyebrow at him, face contorting irritably.
"Some crazy-ass words ah've been hearin' around here. But this one word ah've been meanin' to get right." responded the big galoot. "But it's really tough, y'know. Svra-no, svartly…..svart-svart…..eh!"
"Don't worry, try to get there in your head." deadpanned the mellow and apathetic goth girl with a complete lack of interest.
"I just hope Mei is doing okay right now." Kris said to his friends. "If only I could write a letter to her right now. 'Dear Mei, I've been kidnapped by the gods who want me to help them save the world from ending'."
And then his friends howled with laughter.
"If I know her, she's grown to be a tough one for damn sure. She kinda picked that up from you, you know." Roar said to him. "And with that red panda of hers, she's like a tank."
"I'm more worried about how much fun she's having at camp."
"The girls are doing fine. Perhaps we can use that as motivation for saving the world and shit." droned Stig jokingly, but fondly as well.
"We should stop." Roar's face turned stony when his abilities kicked in at that very second when he sensed something about to happen.
"Why?" They all asked.
With a scope of the area they were standing in, all hearts halted their pace when the cold realization settled in. For they were now surrounded by a group of giant, hairy, grotesque and dangerously hideous trolls, each with their own disfigured and ugly appearance and countenance that furrowed, frowned and glared down at the human children frighteningly.
"Maybe they….w-wanna talk?" suggested Carter, whimpering.
They didn't.
Instead, they were after some bones to grind.
One of them acted first as it lunged at them with its giant, meaty claws and a loud roar hungry for a head to swallow, but Kris fended it off by socking it in the face and punching it meters away from them. And now they were fighting for their lives once again for the teens all readied their weapons and fought against the trolls trying to devour them for dinner. For magic and supernatural defense, Stacy blasted them with ice and snow, summoning powerful gusts of gale-strong wintry winds which blew them back, Moose had a massive amount of boundless strength that he used to punch, kick, dodge and pull of wrestling moves like nobody's ever seen, Toshio dodged every blow each troll landed on him and used his knife to cut at their sides and weaken them as was Carter, who only had superhuman strength, speed, agility, stamina and endurance on his hands as far as everyone else is concerned, Roar predicted every move their adversaries made, Willow fought back with magic spells and arrows, the trolls were no match for Rudolf and his invulnerability, Stig had magic and shapeshifting and Kris had powerful strength and electrokinesis.
"Skjálfa!" Willow fired an arrow at one of the trolls, stunning it and disorientating it while Stig jumped on its back and stabbed it with his own knife.
"Auka!" Then she launched another arrow at one troll about to tackle her, using some of that handy sigil magic and Stacy took the opportunity to activate it with her own powers. As a result, the troll froze like an ice sculpture. Then Moose grabbed and chucked another troll at it, causing it to shatter into pieces.
"Yeah!" He cheered, before getting tackled out of nowhere.
"Fálki lið!" Stig shouted out a galdr, summoning spectral falcons to rain down on the hungry troll, forcing it to release Moose, giving him the chance to fight back.
Meanwhile, Kris shot lightning bolts at a troll, electrocuting it painfully and once it was severely weakened, the boy grabbed its arm and fiercely snapped it out of place, earning a roar of anguish. Then he jumped right at it, going for the neck, gripping its head tightly in his arms before jerking the troll's head into a sharp turn until a snap was heard, killing it completely.
Suddenly, an even stronger gust of wind came out of nowhere from the east and it came in like a thundering hurricane, interrupting the battle and almost sending everyone flying back thanks to the currents sheer force of power and a gigantic shadow zipped across the land from above, temporarily casting a brief darkness over the teens and blocking out the moon's light. As soon as the figure flew in suddenly, all remaining trolls ran away in terror, all knowing this figure more than their would-be prey did. However, there was nothing dangerous about this new entity since it didn't attack them all like the trolls did. All it did was whisk through the air right over their heads like an F22 Raptor in an air show. They were finally rid of those nasty trolls, but what was this new creature? Everyone hiked over in the direction where they saw it fly in and as they came to a clearing that had a view of the hills ahead where it perched itself onto the ground…
.
.
.….it looked like a bird.
A very giant, big bird with four wings, sharp-looking feathers like the tips of awls and a large beak and a pair of gentle, glowing eyes. It looked quite passive and peaceful for a massive eagle-like giant and when Kris stepped forward, it looked down at him and although everyone reared back and got ready on the defensive, the humongous bird of prey didn't react or even try to attack them. So Kris took this as a sight that maybe it wasn't dangerous and that maybe it was only trying to help save them.
"Big bird." gasped Carter. "That's sick."
"Well, at least it's not trying to kill us, right?" Stacy winced to all her comrades.
"Oh, hey, it's Hræsvelgr." Ratatoskr noted, poking his head out once the danger had finally passed when he saw the airborne Jötunn up ahead. "Don't be too afraid of him. He's quite wise. I am absolute."
"I'd like to go meet him." said Kris as he started down a path that led over to the giant bird to get a better look at him.
His friends soon followed after him as he marched through the trees and then it turned into a rock trail that headed upwards into the hill that had a very stunning view of the marshlands below. Kris followed the sound of loud breathing, which brought him and the others through a rocky crevice in the mountainside and until at last, they were all standing at the edge of a cliff, awestruck at the magnificently and mysteriously large Hræsvelgr, the Corpse Swallower, the four-winged bird-like Jötunn, originator of the wind and a frequent resident of Helheim who keeps a close watch on the souls of the damned. The avian giant stood that inches or centimeters from the edge of the rocky cliff, resting four of his wings from that long flight before he slowly turned to look his visitors in the eyes, particularly Kris who bravely came closer.
And then, they were all caught by surprise when a loud, booming, mellow masculine voice emerged from the beak of the quadruple-winged beast before their unveiled eyes.
"Yes….?" Hræsvelgr asked smoothly and calmly with the gentle tone of a wise monk withholding all sacred wisdom of the universe.
"Oh, isn't he just charming?" Ratatoskr whispered into Stig's ear giddily.
"Hello, Hræsvelgr." Kris swallowed any possible fear that would surely arise immensely just from gazing upon him as he greeted him. His friends were all hanging back, but were just as surprised to be before this talking bird giant. Stacy had already had a bad experience with a giant before, but the impression this one gave off put her anxieties to rest, leaving her at ease. "Sorry to bother you, sir."
"Nothing is bothersome about you, child."
"Oh, uh, thanks." Kris hesitantly mused. "I'm Kris Bengtsson, sir. Have you heard of me?"
"Descendant of Thor. I remember seeing you there in Helheim. Poor boy, so glad you made it back out." responded Hræsvelgr warmly. "And your friends, I assume. Here to fight for mankind come Ragnarök."
"That's right. But we're kinda taking a little break. All this training is killing me." That's when Stacy finally gained the courage to say a few words to the avian.
"You mustn't be unsure of your prowess and you mustn't give up." Hræsvelgr reassured her. "You are nearing the peak of your forms. As of now, Fimbulwinter is affecting all the Nine Realms in a negative manner, interfering with the ecosystem in drastic fashions that will only worsen over time until Surtr arrives in his true form. All forms of life in each biome will suffer greatly as will the humans on Midgard."
"What about Surtr anyway? Why's he so obsessed with ending the world?" asked Toshio.
"The rivalry between the Æsir and the Jötnar dates far back to the time of Ymir, his brother. Nobody holds a big enough grudge against the gods more than Surtr himself. His wife, too, was amongst the spoils of war." explained the four-winged bird beast. "However, what Surtr fails to understand now is that he's being manipulated as a means to an end. The love he holds for his beloved only motivates his need to be with her again, even if it means the destruction of Asgard."
"Was there ever a time when he was happy?" Rudolf chimed in. "Like, was he always such a big grump?"
"No. Even the likes of Surtr has the one thing that humanizes him underneath his molten shell. Love. For it is love that conquers all. And the pleasant memories we share with those we hold dear is just as important."
"Memories?" chirped Willow, addled.
"It's the good things we must remember to help us see and understand the meaning of life. But we must not let the bad things of our past discourage us as it will only separate us from what truly matters. The least we can all really do is let go and move on." Hræsvelgr explained softly, soft-spoken. "Hel, on the other hand, remembers only pain and misery wrought on by irrational fear and injustice. Devoid of love is the reason she is how she is now."
"..." Kris tried to speak, but couldn't. Because it really had him thinking. It made him think of Ming again and the past before the SkyDome, before being freed from Hel's grasp. And with everything in mind of what he's been told, it sank deeper than ever. Sure, Ming was a total condescending bitch to him as a boss and sure, it was her actions at the arena that left him wandering the Time of Legends alone until the gods caught up with him, but she felt extreme guilt about it and worked to correct it before it was too late. And sure, he's already made it abundantly clear to her that he wouldn't be ready to forgive her yet, but maybe….maybe he's been too focused on the dark side to see what was in front of him.
"But even so, how can we help stop Ragnarök? We have powers and maybe we'll have the most battle training, but what good are we?" Willow demanded.
"Join hands. Touch my beak. Concentrate together."
Before they could ask why, Hræsvelgr came forward and presented his large break to them all. They all looked at each other, but nevertheless, they did as they were told, grabbing hands until they were a coalesced rope of trust and friendship. Kris and Stig were at both ends of that rope and they hesitantly looked at each other before grabbing onto the bird's beak. Then, they all took a deep sigh through their nostrils, cleared their minds, focused with all their might and allowed their consciousnesses to take control and within a second, they all merged as one. Darkness soon evaporated and lifted away as soon as the light erupted out of thin air, scaring away all the pitch blackness of the night until everyone saw that they were all sharing the same consciousness as each other, like a unified mind. It took them by surprise, it was like an explosion of colors and a growing and decreasing numbness. There was so much all around them all from everywhere they could look. It was all there right in front of them all.
All of their memories together here all around. All of the times they've spent in the past, everything. Everything like their minds were speaking to them and putting on home movies of their past activities like a flash of nostalgia. From their first steps to their first day in elementary school to their birthdays, nothing was left forgotten.
"O.M.G!" Stacy thundered with wide eyes and a flickering excitement. "Look at all this!"
"This is freaky, yet interstellar." Willow smiled pleasantly.
"Ah think my brain just exploded in front o' me."
"Woah, look at that!" Rudolf ran over to a memory of his back when he was 9, which was the time when he lost another tooth. "I think that was the fifth baby tooth I lost!"
"Oh, what's this?" Stacy asked and gasped when she saw a memory of her family doing a family picture together on Christmas when she was little. "Our Christmas family photo op! And Josh, you little stinker. Couldn't stay still for the first half."
"My swim meet from 1992." Toshio pointed at his own memory of when he participated in a junior swimming competition in elementary school. His parents - both his father and his late mother - were there, cheering him on. "Mom was so proud of me that day."
But then his smile was gone when he found another memory of when his mother got sick and bedridden in the hospital. There he was sitting with her by the hospital bed, looking quite worried for her. Stacy came over and hugged him tightly sympathetically and he hugged her back. Losing his mother was a terrible pain, but he had gotten a new mother so all was well for the Japanese boy.
Willow found a memory when her cousins were visiting her house one summer and she saw that one of them was grabbing her favorite doll and trying to sneak it away without her seeing it and it made her mad.
"Damn it, Amy! I knew that was you!" She growled.
Moose was reluctantly going through images and shadows of his past, none of which were any more thrilling to watch than the next. He had come from a very depressing and terrifying home life with a drunken single father whose wife had left him a long time ago and he's been trying to toughen his kids up and get them to act the way he needs them to, whether it be through brute force or with something that had such heft to it like a belt or a beer bottle or even a big and heavy rock.
And as for Kris, he was seeing so much of his past memories that were going right past him in the blink of an eye. The joyful times like when he played tabletop games with his brother and friends at the Heartstone, when he went karaoke with Mei and the girls, that time when he had given Mei her tamagotchi when she had then named 'Robaire Jr.' and the time when he and the gang when to see a movie together in the theaters; couldn't remember which one it was shown before him. And unfortunately even the glum times like when his father was murdered in front of him at that convenience store to when he started working at the Lee Family Temple and became Ming's practical slave and punching bag. All those times he yelled at him, cursed at him, blamed him for minor things, insulted him, spoke down to him, threatened him with bodily harm if any came to her precious Mei-Mei, the time at Tyler's party when she blamed everything on him and fired him without a second thought, when he had incapacitated Moose during his silent days and of course, the…you-know-what.
He glared at the Mingzilla clutching him in his hands and the sight of his broken guitar on the ground. Because of this, the agony and the puncturing pain of the abuse he endured returned with a vengeance. Tears threatened to stream from his eyes, but he angrily fought it back and marched off to go back to his friends.
Until….something else caught his attention.
And with it, the pain was gone.
He saw other memories of his past after he was saved from Helheim and returned home to his family. There was the sight of his birthday a year after when Ming repaired his guitar and gave it back to him as a present and what a grand gesture it was. He remembers being touched by this and those tears finally came, spilling down his cheeks. But there was more.
There was the memory of when he and his family were eating with the Lees at their temple together, having a gloriously fun time together like one big happy family.
Then came that time when he and his friends were at a talent show at a school and there was his mother and Ming in the audience, both filming it like a couple of proud mothers.
And then the moment when he was hanging out with Mei at her house, allowing Ming to join them since she had nothing better to do at the time. They watched soap operas together, which Kris only watched because he thought it would've been rude not to.
And then the time when he got very sick and Ming and Mei came over to help care for him. In fact, Ming even volunteered to give him his meds and gave him a kiss on his cheek to help him feel better.
….and then, just recently….
….at the Lee Temple days ago when she invited him over for dinner and offered to rehire him, but he was too haunted by her past behavior to agree. Ming begged him and begged him to reconsider when it happened.
"I SAID NO!"
Kris jumped at the sound of his own angered tone and it made his heart drop. Then he saw the look of hurt in Ming's eyes when he said that. Like she had been stabbed in the heart. And seeing this? It made Kris feel….pretty sad for turning her down like that. More tears came and stained his cheeks.
Has he been too harsh on her?
All of the sudden, in a flash, everything disappeared around everyone and they suddenly awoke from their trace, freeing themselves from their united mind as if they had awakened from a dream for they had found themselves back in front of Hræsvelgr. All were unable to comprehend the events that transpired because it was like they had gone back in time to revisit their old memories in their childhood. However, Kris was still pretty down in the dumps.
"Did you guys see that?!" Rudolf shrieked shrilly.
"Take care, young warriors. Time is of the essence. Darkness will be nigh." And with that said and done, Hræsvelgr spread his giant wings - all four of them in tandem - and lifted himself up off the ground, creating a strong, hurricane-like wind in the process as the avian Jötunn took flight and disappeared into the skies above out of sight, leaving the teens behind to watch him leave in utter and still amazement.
"See, what did I tell you? Isn't he great?" Ratatoskr asked cheerily.
"Yeah…." Kris moaned.
Although they all took in his somber voice like he wasn't amused or impressed by what just happened, they said nothing as they watched him take off back down the path from whence they came and went with him. Kris couldn't bring himself to say anything at the moment. A stirring feeling of guilt filled his gut, filling his mind with scenarios of things he could've done instead of screaming at her face to back off. She was only trying to fix things between them job-wise, trying to prove to him that she wasn't the same woman he knew her as anymore, but he wouldn't let her because was still upset at her for being such a bad boss. Maybe when they get back after they are done stopping the apocalypse, he'll find a way to make it up to her.
"What are you kids doing out here in the middle of the night?!" They all jumped when they all saw Stefan standing there feet away from them in the trees, carrying his sword and standing with his bandmates. "Don't you know it's dangerous out here?"
"I'm sorry, Stefan, but they really wanted to get out and explore but-" Kris tried to explain their situation, but it wasn't good enough.
"You wish to invoke the gods' wrath?" Hrafn chided.
"We just got tired of all the training and we wanted to have some fun." Stacy defended.
"Fun? Nothing around here is fun. And these are dark times upon us all." Diana reprimanded like a scolding parent. "Hel is seeking to doom the world and you all are running around here like a bunch of schoolchildren."
"But we're still alive, aren't we?" Stig snarked.
"Stig, please!" Kris hissed at him.
"What have you kids been up to?" Georg ordered, frowning dangerously.
"Just testing out our powers is all." Willow shrugged.
"Sure, we ran into a couple of dangers along the way like drekis and trolls, but we fought them off." Roar stated honestly.
"You….really? You actually fought them off?" Lars blinked.
Ratatoskr poked his head out and nodded to them, confirming everyone's claims.
"Yeah, ya shoulda seen us out there." Moose nodded, brimming with self-confidence. "So, what do ya say? Ah we warriahs yet?"
"Well…..you're getting there." Stefan admitted candidly, hands to his hips. "I will say, it is one hell of a shock seeing as how you all have gotten this far."
"Guess we're heading back to Asgard then, huh?" Kris replied, knowing what must be done.
"Not yet." Even Stefan's bandmates all directed their widened eyes onto him in disbelief. "If you youngsters are in that much need of a break, then I don't see the harm. But we're gonna have to stick by you from now on."
All of them were pleasantly surprised to hear that he wasn't going to rat them out for sneaking out into the dangerous wilderness just to have some reckless fun.
"Tell you what, why don't we have a little camp right here together?" Stefan suggested to them. "It's not that bad of a spot to have a camp, if you ask me."
"Yeah, sure." Kris agreed.
"Eh, whatever."
"Sounds like some fun."
"But afterwards, we're heading straight back to Asgard immediately. Understand?" Then Stefan declared sternly to them, surprising even himself by how much a dad was sounding right now.
"Okay…" All teens groaned miserably, some rolling their eyes and some sagging their shoulders.
"Great!" Diana beamed. "I'll get some firewood."
Tired of spending their summer vacation with endless, rigorous battle training, the teens convince Kris to come with them to go explore the Nine Realms together and try to make the most of it before the final battle. Like every other teenager, they wish to enjoy themselves and seek out some fun out of their situation. Of course, it's not gonna be without a few vicious creatures trying to kill them. And here it is shown that they are getting close to being the combative fighters the gods need them to be in their time of need.
During their excursion, they run into Hræsvelgr, the bird-like Jötunn who creates the wind. In the games, he was female and the game's version of Hel (being a title rather than someone's name). Obviously, I changed it around for this story and in this canon, he's very wise, speaks plain English and has abilities, like the "Mind Tap" as I like to call it, where you tap into one's memories stored within their or your subconscious. It's from them that we learn that we must try to remember the best parts of our past because it gives our life meaning, but also not let the worst parts of the past distract us from looking forward into the future. With this in mind, Kris should be able to realize how much Ming has tried to patch things up between them both.
Next Chapter: Back at camp, the 4*Townies and the QRQ's are forced to share a cabin together. Back in the Nine Realms, the teens have a campout together that gets interrupted by Nidhogg. During which, Hel takes the time to send Sköll and Hati on a chase for the sun and the moon.
Next Update: Sept 8, 2023