Hiccup Haddock was having a perfectly ordinary day, which involved investigating a realm with active volcanoes trying to hunt down a fire giant. Normally, this would not be an activity for a 17-year-old going on to 17, but Hiccup was, you call an ordinary boy.

He was, in fact, a demigod, the child of both a human and a Norse god, so these tighter excursions were quite the norm. However, the situation was far from normal; he was now trying to hunt down the Fire Giant King Surt to see what he was up to.

To that end, he had travelled to Surt's home realm, Muspelheim. This realm had everything a fire giant would want: active volcano molten lava pits, and a poisonous atmosphere.

Hiccup was only able to survive since he used the powerful spell to prevent him from being burnt to a crisp and allow him to breathe. However, the spell would not last very long, so we had to hurry up and find Surt.

"Do you see him yet?" a female voice asked behind him.

"Quit pushing!" said a male voice voice.

Hiccup was alone; accompanying him was a pair of twins who went by the name of Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Just like these two were demigods, they were both children of Loki, the God of Tricks. One could easily tell this by just simply looking at them.

Thankfully, they were nothing like their mother; by that, he meant evil. It would normally be weird to call a male god a mother, but Loki was a shapeshift, so there was part of the course. He was also the main villain and would want nothing more than to start Ragnarok to get revenge for those who imprisoned him.

Thankfully, the twins were on his side, but that didn't stop them from committing pranks day in and day out. Though he was pleased to have the two of them at this point, despite spending most of the time arguing, the twins were very good at espionage.

"No trace of him," said Hiccup.

"He's a giant. We should be able to spot him," said Tuffnut.

"Except we're on his home turf, and he can easily merge in with his surroundings," said Ruffnut.

"We need to figure out what he's doing here to see whether he is in league with your mother," said Hiccup.

"Do you really think that our mum will be here?" Tuffnut asked.

"I don't know," said Hiccup honestly. "Even if he is who we don't have the means to catch him."

Loki had managed to escape last year and was now on the loose. The God of Asgard had been working non-stop to track him down. This was because Loki's escape was a key aspect of Ragnarok, which was basically the end of the world.

"Surt once to destroy anything anyway, so why wouldn't he join up with Loki?" Ruffnut asked.

"It could be that he's not ready yet," said Hiccup.

"But he's had centuries to prepare," Tuffnut pointed out.

"Look, I don't know, but these are two of the biggest bad guys in the known universe, and the last thing we want is for them to join forces."

"Yeah, things are bad enough back home without them running roughshod across the Nine Realms," Ruffnut agreed.

In the human world of Midgard, there were concerns that Loki was about to attack Midgard Academy, a school for demigods. It was also one of the few safe places for their kind, and if it were destroyed, they would be out on their own easy pickings to be killed off.

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that," said Hiccup.

"So, if they are meeting each other, why aren't they doing it in Surt's palace?" Ruffnut asked.

Hiccup was wondering the same thing himself, but his visions were clear that it was an open space. Hiccup was the son of Frigg, the goddess of prophecy, enabling him to see into the future. Though sadly, it was not always clear what he saw, he saw a meeting between Surt and Loki.

"Maybe Loki didn't want to give Surt a clear advantage in case something went wrong," said Hiccup. "And, of course, Surt would want to leave his home knowing how deceitful Loki is."

"But are you surely going in the right direction?" Tuffnut asked.

"Mimir seems to think this is the most likely place they would meet," said Hiccup.

"And what are we supposed to do when we get there?" Ruffnut asked.

"We just listen to what they have to say and nothing more."

"Wait, you mean we can't go down and beat them up?" Tuffnut blinked.

Hiccup looked at him. "We deal with two of the biggest bad guys in the known universe. I very much doubt the Phoebus would stand a chance against both."

It was a little longer scaling the molten rocks and trying to avoid the lava falls and thermal vents, but they eventually reached the clearing. That said, it wasn't exactly what one would call a clear.

It had a lot of jagged rocks and thermal vents, but it was certainly big enough for a meeting to occur. Also, they could see that there were already people down there.

"Looks like we arrived just in time," said Ruffnut.

She was right; Hiccup could see Surt down, and he was pretty hard to miss, with his molten skin and devil-like horns shooting out of its head as a crown. He was with a few fellow Fire Giants, and they weren't better looking.

On the other side, there was a human he knew all too well. It was Ryker. His skin was extremely pale and very wet as if he had just stepped out of the ocean for the first time in centuries. In truth, that was pretty much what happened to him. Over a thousand years ago, he ended up getting drowned by his ancestor, who, fun enough, had the same name as him, and he carried a grudge against him.

Ryker was alone; there were several orcs behind him.

"Looks like we found the right place," said Tuffnut.

"You think?" Ruffnut asked.

"Looks like they're about to start the meeting," said Hiccup.

To avoid getting spotted by either party, the three of them immediately press down against the ground.

"I thought Loki was supposed to be here?" Surt growled.

"My patron had some urgent business to attend to," said Ryker.

"More urgent than this?"

"He is preparing his final assault on Midgard Academy, not to mention there is the completion of Naglfar. Plus, as you know, it is not easy to remain hidden from the likes of Odin."

"Odin has very little influence in the primordial realms, as you well know."

"Does not mean you cannot send a scouting party to investigate."

Hiccup didn't like the way Ryker was talking, but it didn't seem possible that he knew about them. This was a top-secret mission; the only other person who knew about this was Mimir.

On the other hand, Loki practically invented deceit, so it is very likely that he anticipated such a move. If that was the case, they're in even more danger than first believed.

"Shall we carry on with our neutral arrangement?" Ryker asked.

Surt looked at him suspiciously but nodded.

"Loki wishes an alliance to help better coordinate our efforts during Ragnarok," said Ryker.

"And why would I need Loki's help? Come to Ragnarok, I shall be destroying Asgard single-handedly," Surt reminded him.

"Nothing is so certain."

"But it has been prophesied."

"Loki believes that small discrepancies can alter the very course of Ragnarok. Additionally, you're forgetting what comes after the apocalypse. The creation of an entirely new world for the survivors to inhabit, and you will be no more."

Surt looked as if he was fuming. Clearly, he didn't like what Ryker was saying.

"Loki is merely suggesting that an alliance between us might accelerate Ragnarok; getting to our end goal will become all the easier, and the best way to do that is to stop promising young soldiers from joining Asgard's army."

"My that you wish the total destruction that Academy on Midgard," Surt assumed.

"Exactly; with gone, the demigods will have nowhere to train, and if they do not die in battle, they go to Helheim and join our army."

"What makes you so certain that the aesir and the vanir won't stand idly by and help their children in this coming battle?"

"Because doing so might very well start Ragnarok, and that is the last thing they want. They have been delaying Ragnarok for centuries and will do so again. If it came to the choice of sacrificing their children or preventing Ragnarok, they would always choose the latter."

"Even the gods do not intervene. What of the elves and the dwarfs?" Surt questioned. "It has never been clear what plot they will play Ragnarok."

Ryker laughed. "The mortal races have been divided for centuries, the likelihood of them joining forces unlikely."

Surt gave him a suspicious look. "I heard that there is a new king of the dwarfs on the throne, and the elves are preparing for war themselves."

"The dwarven king is young, and very few elves are capable of battle."

"The Light Elves may be what of the Dark Elves?"

"They are currently in a little skirmish of their own, thanks to our allies."

"And what of the frost and mountain giants?" Surt asked. "I haven't heard much from them. Will they be joining us in this endeavour?"

"The mountain giants are being unbelievably stubborn, but I am certain they will join us once they see that we are indeed the winning side. Don't forget that the jotunn have a deep hatred of the Aesir gods ever since Odin and his brothers killed Ymir."

"Yet that has not stopped them from inter-marrying."

Hiccup was somewhat pleased that Surt was being suspicious, but he didn't know how long that would last.

"Say that I do agree with this alliance. What would that entail?" Surt asked.

Ryker smiled. "Merely a joint military assault upon Midgard Academy, that is all that we're asking. Though Loki would hope very much that this partnership will become stronger, especially during Ragnarok."

"And what truth do I have that I can trust Loki to be honest within this partnership? I am nowhere near as tolerant as the Aesir were to him previously."

An evil smile appeared on Ryker's face. "Why, we have some delightful offerings for you. In fact, they are right here…" His eyes suddenly turned towards the ledge where Hiccup and the twins were observing them. "…isn't that right, Hiccup Haddock?"