Notes

Soundtrack suggestions:

Náströnd:
- Crimson Aftermath - Bear McCreary, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season One, Episode Seven: The Eye) (Up to 01:30)
- Entering the Temple - Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough, The Northman.
- Gollum – Garry Schyman and Nathan Grigg, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.
- Therizinosaurus will be blood. Land of the Frost – Michael Giacchino, Jurassic World: Dominion (Up to 03:16).
- Inside Information – Howard Shore, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Up to 02:30).
- The Seduction – Alan Silvestri, The Legend of Beowulf (Up to 01:40).

Claire and Angrboda arrives at the well and the first visions:
- The Mirror of Galadriel – Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (From 02:03 to 03:07).

Vision of slaughtered family:
- Last Teardrop - Robin Carolan and Sebastian Gainsborough, The Northman.
- Family Killings Banished from Death — Garry Schyman and Nathan Grigg, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor (Up to 00:50).

Visions of the attack on the Middle-Eastern town:
- A New Star - Simon Franglen, Avatar: The Way of Water (Up to 01:29).

Visions of the Battle at Caer Draig and the destruction of the Grey Guard:
- Prologue - Bear McCreary, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season One, Episode One: A Shadow of the Past) (From 05:00 to 05:45).
- A New Star - Simon Franglen, Avatar: The Way of Water (Starting from 01:30).

Visions of the Indoraptors' rebellion, their multiplying and the fall of InGen amidst the collapse of civilization:
- Camelot in flames – Daniel Pemberton, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
- A Leaf burns - Bear McCreary, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season One, Episode Seven: The Eye) (Starting from 08:28)
- The Successor - Bear McCreary, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Season One, Episode Three: Adar) (Starting from 01:55).
- The Mirror of Galadriel – Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (From 03:07 to 03:42).

After the visions:
- The Mirror of Galadriel – Howard Shore, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (From 03:43 to 04:27; and then from 05:08 to the end).

-o-

That night, the fallen park director had another bad dream.

She was wandering through a dark, cold and smelly tunnel. The light came only as thin rays through cracks here and there in the rocky walls and ceiling, and it was so dim that Claire couldn't know if it was that of the sun, the moon, or an artificial source. From the ceiling and the walls, a liquid oozed and flowed to the ground, which it flooded, forming some sort of river which reached up to Claire's calves and staining the bottom of her dress. The fallen park director realized soon enough that it wasn't water as it was very viscous and tended to stick to the skin. Leaning her head to look at the drops on her bare calves, she saw that the liquid had a pale yellow colour.

Don't tell me I'm walking in piss... If so, what is this place? The pipe of a giant's latrine? Why couldn't it have been pastis instead…?

Scowling, she bent down to take some into the palm of her hand and carefully brought it up to her nostrils to smell it. She was surprised to notice it was odourless.

Reassured that it was not urine, she nevertheless thought she better avoid tasting this liquid and continued straight, following this strange river.

Further on, the tunnel led to a vast cavern, whose floor was also flooded with the mysterious liquid. In the middle of the lake that the latter formed, there was an islet and on it, the Indominus was lying, chewing the flesh and sucking the blood of the human corpses gathered around her. Connecting what her old nemesis was doing to the liquid, which was actually snake venom, Claire knew where she was.

Not only am I still in the Underworld, but I'm in its worst part! And of course, wherever I go, I stumble on her!

Then in a pocket of darkness, Claire believed that the Indominus had not yet spotted her, but the latter raised her head and turned it in her direction.

"I know you're here! Step out into the light!" She said.

Despite the fear, Claire decided to move forward and head to the monster.

"Náströnd, the Corpse Shore. The afterlife for the worst criminals and traitors. Nice place, isn't it?" She added before leaning over to suck the blood from one of the bodies, which Claire recognized a moment later as it was the assassin who had almost killed her.

The other bodies were also familiar to her: There was the other assassin, several of the Gavilanes they had directly confronted during the Shitpiercer's attack, but also Benito.

"Is this what awaits me?" Claire asked hesitantly.

The monster took her mouth off the assassin's body.

"No, mother," she replied before pushing Jesse's body away with her hand. "That one tastes like shit..." she hissed in a lower voice.

She stood up and said to Claire:

"Follow me. This place is not the best for having a conversation."

The Indominus left the islet and went into another tunnel. Claire began to follow her cautiously, fearing that she would lure her into the darkness to play a dirty trick on her. She stayed a good distance from the monster, until she soon couldn't see it anymore and the sound of her wading faded away. Having just lost her, Claire let out a curse, then another as the tunnel split into three. She stopped.

"Hey! Where are you? Unlike you, I can't see in the dark, dammit!"

The echo of her voice was the only answer.

"I'm not going to call you Indominus. That would be ridiculous," she muttered. "Gods, it really was a stupid name!"

"I completely agree!" The Indominus said, emerging from the darkness behind Claire, not without startling the latter.

She tilted her head towards her.

"Let me think. Hmm…," she thought. "Angrboda," she said a few seconds later. "I like Angrboda."

"After Loki's wife and the mother of the underworld goddess Hel, the wolf Fenrir, and the world-serpent Jörmungandr? The one who brings grief? Well, it's an appropriate name... Okay, I'll call you Angrboda from now on," Claire declared. "Goodbye Indominus, good riddance!" She added in a low voice.

"Enough chitchat! Follow me closer this time, so you don't get lost. You looked like a little girl in a mall... Don't make me take you in my claws and carry you. This would cause some discomfort..."

"Could you tell me where we're going?"

"You'll see…"

They set off again and while watching Angrboda's face and hand, Claire made sure this time to walk next to her and not behind. A little further on, they stopped wading through the venom and left the tunnel soon after.

The walk seemed to last an eternity for Claire and they crossed many places which she forgot when she woke up. Finally, on a moonlit night, in a land more hospitable and verdant than any from her other dreams involving Angrboda, they came in sight of a large tree with gnarled roots. It was taller than any Claire had seen when she was awake, as tall as a Sequoia or even larger. Under that tree, there was a sort of circular pool, as big as the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, New York. Angrboda led Claire there.

"What are we doing here?" the latter asked.

"Look in the well."

Claire eyed the pool cautiously.

"What am I supposed to see inside?"

"The well shows many things…" Angrboda explained to her. "Things that were, things that are..."

"And things that have not yet come to pass. I got it, it can predict a possible future!" Claire interrupted her. "You can stop your Cate Blanchett impression."

"Lean over."

Claire approached the edge and leaned over the surface of the well. The water had a hard and dark appearance.

"Closer…"

Claire knelt down and looked into the water. Ripples appeared on its surface and the visions began.

The fallen park director first saw a column of trucks on a road surrounded by evergreens, transporting the animals towards the Lockwood estate and this first vision faded to make way for the next, which showed an assembly seated in front of a platform where an auctioneer stood. The scene took place under a marquee, which Claire recognized, since it was that of the estate, and then came the next vision, in which InGen's management knocked their flutes of champagne with a beaming smile on their lips, while on a screen nearby, InGen's stock price was going up...

Torres and Wu appeared next but the euphoria of the successful auction and InGen's saving had given way to a much more serious mood as there were no smiles on their serious faces while they spoke quietly. The visions appearing to her like silent films, Claire didn't know what they were talking about but in the background she saw men from InGen Security loading a large cage into an articulated lorry, which was then sent to an unknown destination.

The vision blurred and a new setting appeared, that of a wooden house in a meadow. The scene took place during a dark night and only the flames that escaped from the house provided any light. Claire suppressed a cry of anguish when she recognized the house and the body of a man lying in front of it, lacerated by claws.

While parts of the house crumbled, an ominous silhouette appeared in front of the flames. Larger than Blue but smaller than a carnotaur or Metriacanthosaurus, it moved on its two hind legs, although the forelegs were long enough to allow quadrupedal locomotion, and had the general shape of a predatory theropod dinosaur. A long tail, powerful legs, clawed arms and a fairly large head proportionally speaking. It had sickle-like claws on its feet, like raptors, but its scaly skin was more like that of a crocodile, a carnotaur… or the Indominus. Just like the latter, the monster had a rather long neck as well as a row of long spines similar to those of some lizards along its spine. It was a creature that, in its morphology, seemed to be halfway between the Indominus and the raptors. The Indoraptor.

Between its jaws, it held a small lifeless body, that of a child. Tears of horror streamed down Claire's face.

"Why are you showing me this?" she gasped. "It's horrible!"

She wanted to move away from the pool but Angrboda prevented her, keeping her kneeling with her hand. Claire tried to struggle but the creature pressed even harder, almost threatening to make her fall into the well headfirst. The house, the Indoraptor, and the bodies of her boyfriend and their son disappeared into the darkness.

The water's surface whitened and another place appeared, seen from the sky. It was a small town of sand-coloured buildings and mostly flat roofs, perched atop a rocky plateau in an arid region. When the vision showed her various scenes of daily life inside the town, Claire knew it was probably taking place somewhere in the Middle East judging by the appearance of the inhabitants. She saw veiled women shopping in the market, boys playing in the streets, craftsmen working in their stalls while the sun was high in the sky, men squatting in a shady alley, others looking at the horizon from the roofs…

Suddenly, several explosions occurred and while the women, children and the elderly rushed to the shelters, the men gathered and seized weapons in one of the houses. A battle broke out, smoke rose from the town and despite the resistance of the defenders, the enemy soldiers succeeded in entering the town and gradually taking its control, shooting all those who opposed them, even simple civilians who were throwing stones at them in desperation. Since the soldiers were masked and had no insignia, flag, or logo clearly visible on their uniforms, Claire didn't know where they came from and who they served. A large form suddenly burst into one of the streets, passing between the soldiers to swoop down on a small group of stunned and terrified defenders and tore them to pieces with its claws and teeth. It was an Indoraptor but unlike the one in the vision set at their home in the Sierra Nevada, it wore armour that protected it from bullets and slashes. Once all nearby defenders were killed or incapacitated, it sniffled and walked towards the wall of one of the buildings. Under the eyes of the soldiers, he leaned against it with his front legs, rising almost vertically to look inside a window. Its tail waggled with excitement and it let out a hoarse bark. Several of the soldiers then rushed into the building and while the chaos inside could be glimpsed through the battered door, the Indoraptor suddenly turned its head and ran down the street, pursuing a man who had fled the building by a backdoor. It caught him in the blink of an eye, with far more ease than a human soldier, knocked him down with a head-butt, then flipped him onto his back with one of its sinister looking four-fingered scaly hands, which had an opposable thumb like those of primates, and used it to keep him nailed to the ground. Even though Claire thought the man was going to have his head ripped off, the dinosaur did nothing and just stared at him intently. One of the soldiers came, patted the animal on the side and gave it a piece of meat as a reward while two of his comrades picked up the man.

Then they left the ravaged town with their prisoner and the Indoraptor, which walked quietly beside its masters without showing any sign of aggression towards them.

The vision blurred and more images of war appeared. Claire saw an airship fly over a cape in the middle of the night and bombard the fortified village built on it. The fallen park director recognized the village by its Japanese and Indonesian-inspired architecture as well as its great hall which overlooked it from the cape's end: It was Caer Draig, the Grey Guards' stronghold. The airship, as well as the flag flying atop the warships off the fortress, bore a distinctive logo, that of the old masters of Isla Sorna. It was not just an invasion, it was a war of reconquest. Inside the fortress, between explosions and burning buildings, fierce fighting raged. The defenders faced the full military might of InGen: hordes of infantrymen in uniforms armed with bayonet rifles, shock troops in heavy armour whose equipment strongly evoked that of the Slayers, attack vehicles and helicopters, as well as all a squad of indoraptors which were shredding their enemies to pieces and even an Indominus, also trained in addition to wearing pieces of armour on its chest and belly and even some kind of a helm. The Grey Guards resisted bravely but ended up pushed back inside the Great Hall, whose doors were smashed by the Indominus. The last Grey Guards fought to the death against their human and dinosaur opponents. At dawn, the fort was nothing but smoking ruins and streets strewn with corpses which Edward Torres, now in his seventies, gazed from the terrace outside the Great Hall's door with an expression which mixed the disdain he had for his vanquished enemies and the pride he felt for his forces. Beside Torres, the standard of InGen was now planted while that of the Grey Guard had been slashed with knives and thrown into a fire. For InGen to not only have a real army but also a navy, and to be allowed to invade the Five Deaths and exterminate the Grey Guards, Claire thought that the corporation had must have grown so much in power and influence that it had possibly become something of a new British East India Company in that dark future. The fallen park director didn't dared to imagine the fate of the Five Deaths' ecosystem in it, and the visions showed a new location.

The coast of Isla Sorna and the ruins of Caer Draig gave way to a large city with austere buildings with a brutalist style. Among them, Claire recognized the steeple of an Orthodox church and knew that she was now in a country of the former Eastern bloc, which was further confirmed by the Cyrillic characters written on the banners and the placards of the hundreds of protestors gathered in a large square, located in front of a large building of neoclassical inspiration which she guessed was of governmental nature. In front of the gates of this building, anti-riot forces were lined up. There were police with batons and shields, others armed with flash-balls, dogs, water cannons in the rear, a squadron mounted on horses waiting further away, at a respectable distance from the one deployed in front of the men, a squadron whose terrible nature and appearance filled with dread the hearts of even the most determined protesters. It was made of indoraptors, equipped with body armor and protective masks which looked like an extra-large version of those of their canine comrades leashed nearby. The monsters were lined up in the front line, in order to intimidate the demonstrators. But those held on and no matter the presence of indoraptors and the warnings given by one of the policemen in a megaphone, they were going to stand their ground.

Seeing that the situation was getting bogged down, the commander of the anti-riot forces gave an order to one of his men and the latter blew a whistle. In response, the indoraptors stepped forward and instinctively the protesters backed away, before regaining their courage and stop to hold their positions, letting the monsters close in. The policeman on the megaphone spoke again but the protestors did nothing. Then another whistle blew and the indoraptors rushed forward. A wind of panic blew among the protestors and before they could react, several of them were seized by predators and pinned to the ground between their talons, like a rabbit just caught by an eagle.

Fearing for the physical integrity of their comrades, several of the protestors charged the dinosaurs with pitchforks, hunting spears, old bayonet rifles as well as pikes and halberds probably stolen from a museum. Keeping a hand on their prisoners, the dinosaurs tried to deter them with their arms, even snatching several halberds and spears from the protesters' hands. A few meters behind, the trainers looked at the scene with a distraught air, fearing to see one of the animals being pierced by a pike, and they turned towards the commander, asking him with their eyes to send forces to repel the demonstrators. . But he was content with watching the scene...

When one of the indoraptors was pierced in the chest with a pike, it cried out in pain, stood upright like a bear, broke the pike in half with its hand, then clawed at the pikeman, killing him in a single blow. Excited by the sight and smell of blood, one of the indoraptors lunged at the pikeman's body to devour it. Rocks and even cobblestones were thrown at its face to repel him but this only annoyed it and he threw itself on those defending the pikeman, starting to tear them to shreds with its claws and fangs. As they witnessed the scene and had more than enough to be jabbed and stoned, several of the other indoraptors decided to copy its example. The trainers wanted to call them to order but the dinosaurs did not complied. They froze and stared at the scene in dismay.

In front of the gates, the anti-riot forces were seized by a notable confusion and while some officers watched the slaughter impassively, without showing the slightest will to stop it, others and several troopers exchanged worried glances. An argument broke out between two officers and some of the men ended up breaking ranks, running towards the massacre. They yelled at the trainers to get out of the way, drew their service weapons, aimed at the indoraptors and fired, while the trainers begged them to not do that. Said weapons being only pistols, their bullets were insufficient to seriously injure the dinosaurs and they immediately spun around, staring intently at the police officers. Then the monsters turned away from the protestors, many of whom had begun to flee, and turned against their allies. Facing this unexpected mutiny, the commander ordered his forces to stop the predators.

The indoraptors slaughtered everything that wasn't them. Police, protestors, horses, the few dogs which had not scampered off and were defending their masters at the risk of their lives, several of the journalists who came to cover the event... They showed no discrimination and it was a real carnage that unfolded before Claire's eyes. The square was stained with the blood of Men and that of their equine and canine auxiliaries. Noticing those staring horrified at the scene from the government building's windows, several of the predators scaled or broke through the gates and entered the building to engage in further slaughter. Later, the indoraptors heard the helicopters and tanks the authorities had sent to the square to crush their mutiny, and they fell back, fleeing down the narrowest street they saw. Claire saw them leave the city in the middle of the night to reach the countryside, where the monsters, which had meanwhile got rid of the equipment provided by their former human masters, disappeared into a dark forest.

The well clouded for the umpteenth time, there was another time jump and civilians appeared, screaming in fear as they fled a village on the edge of a forest similar to the one seen at the end of the former vision. Perched on the roofs of the houses or on top of the church like horrible gargoyles, watching with interest the panicked villagers, there were not one or two indoraptors but about thirty, more than the squadron of the riot's scene. They had multiplied.

Then a field appeared, littered with wrecked vehicles and dozens of human corpses, along with a few horses and other farm animals. It was all that was left of a convoy of refugees, and crows were feasting under a pale sun. Like if it felt watched, one of the birds croaked and flew away and another passed right in front of Claire, obscuring her vision with its black feathers for a moment.

When it disappeared, the field, its corpses and the pale sun were gone and had given way to the night and a restless crowd. Although Claire saw them from behind, she nevertheless noted that its members were mostly dressed in black and a good number had their faces hidden by balaclavas or simple scarves. They brandished various weapons: Baseball bats, iron bars, chains, Molotov cocktails and even firearms, axes and machetes.

At the head of the crowd, a large vehicle started, accelerated and charged the wide glass front door of a building, which it smashed like a battering ram. The vehicle disappeared inside the building and the crowd ran after it, rushing with the same uncontrolled excitement as an army about to sack a city. When the crowd disappeared in turn, clearing the large alley leading to the door and the lying bodies of several rioters, shot dead by gunmen posted in the building, Claire also saw men hanging from the lampposts lining the alley. She noticed that some were wearing uniforms on which she thought she discerned a very familiar I and N and turning her head, she saw the InGen logo and the slogan "We Make Your Future", stained with blood. While the fallen park director thought of the simple employees that the angry crowd was not going to spare and of the combination of circumstances that had led and allowed this massive and violent assault on the corporation's headquarters, the vision blurred and the water became dark and quiet again.

Angrboda released Claire and she fell backwards onto her backside, where she remained shocked and dazed for a moment, like someone who had just survived a car accident. As for Angrboda, she was as motionless as a statue and the horrors shown by the well had left her indifferent.

"With the gift of prophecy, comes torment," she said.

"Bullshit!" Claire exclaimed while getting up. "It's just a sick dream! Like all the others…"

"Perhaps this well reminds you too much of the mirror of that elven witch from Lórien, but what you just called a sick dream was influenced by things you know, things you saw and heard while you were awake. This is just one way of illustrating what are actually realistic predictions."

Claire sat down on a rock nearby and lowered her head, trying to collect herself.

"How can I prevent this?" She finally asked.

"Begin by fixing that misunderstanding with the Costa Rican authorities."

"Easier said than done…"

But when Claire looked towards the edge of the well, she realized that Angrboda had left, leaving her alone under the giant tree. She stood up and looked around for her.

"Angrboda? Angrboda! Where are you? Angrboda!" she shouted in vain.

Around her, the scenery began to fade, like fresh paint splashed by water, and in the distance, a jingling sound could be heard. Claire's vision blurred and then darkened. The jingling, metallic in nature, got closer and louder.