"I've seen this before," Njord said, looking the white crack.
They stayed on guard. Nicolo whispered to Sigurd, "You know what it is?"
"No idea. Stay behind," Sigurd replied.
Suddenly, a huge, indescribable noise came from the crack, and it widened. A silhouette emerged from it, then the fissure sealed itself shut.
Nicolo couldn't believe his eyes. "A raven?"
Skadi and Njord lowered their guard. Skadi laughed. "It's been a long time since we last saw him."
Njord, on his side, wondered aloud, "But, is it Huginn or Muninn?"
Nicolo was puzzled. He was the only one surprised by the magical arrival of a raven. For the others, everything seemed normal. 'Huginn or Muninn? Where have I heard those names before,' The raven flew toward the window, gliding majestically straight at them.
Suddenly, it slammed into the glass and fell.
"It's Muninn," Njord concluded.
"Is he dead?" Nicolo asked.
A few seconds passed before the raven came back, pecking angrily at the window. Hodr walked over and opened it.
"About time!" the raven complained as it flew into the room.
'The bird is talking now' Nicolo thought, exasperated.
The crow flew straight to Magnus and landed on his left shoulder.
Magnus smiled warmly, happy to see a familiar creature.
"You sure took your time!" he exclaimed.
"The gods gathered in Gladsheimr. I had to stay there or it would've looked suspicious!" the raven explained. "But who are all these people?!"
He scanned the group. He didn't recognize the blond man with slicked-back hair, nor the bearded one beside him. Then he noticed the other two.
'Oh—Njord and Skadi?' he realized. "Njord! Skadi!" he cried. "I didn't realize! What a pleasure to see you!"
"Likewise, old friend," Njord replied.
"But you, I feel like I know you," Muninn said, staring at Sigurd.
"That's Hodr," Skadi announced.
Muninn fixed him with his small, dark eyes. "Hodr? The one who forsakened us?!"
"That's right," Sigurd replied.
"You look nothing like your former self! You used to be clean-shaven, with your hair falling over your eyes!"
'I kinda did look like that when I was younger,' Sigurd realized.
"So—why are you here, Muninn?" Njord asked, crossing his arms.
"I'm the one who called him. I need a favor," Magnus announced.
"What kind?" the black bird asked.
"I need you to contact the man who lives within Yggdrasil. Tell him someone is coming."
—----------------------
Tachi had crossed more than a thousand kilometers over the Norwegian Sea separating the country from Iceland. He finally reached the coast.
Without wasting a second, he headed inland, until he reached Vatnajökull. This was where the Jokülsvardur stood, somewhere on the surface of the immense glacier.
He lowered his altitude to better scan the terrain, searching for a tree that clearly didn't belong there.
Akyo's body was still motionless inside the coffin of air.
"I can't find it," Tachi growled. "I'm not searching the right way," he realized.
He stopped and hovered in place, closed his eyes, and focused.
He inhaled.
Then exhaled.
Suddenly, he felt a faint energy, coming from a place he was sure he had already checked.
He headed toward the source and crested a hill. Before his eyes stood an immense weeping willow, right in the middle of the ice sheet, as if it had always been there, and the glacier had formed around it without daring to disturb it.
"How did I miss this?" Tachi wondered.
He approached the tree. It was over ten meters tall, maybe even twenty. In any case, Tachi felt insignificant beside it.
'How old is this tree…'
He moved closer to the trunk. That was where the energy source seemed to originate.
The closer he got, the more the tree seemed to glow. With a simple gesture, Tachi gently floated Akyo's body toward him and took him into his arms.
'I'm afraid that if I don't hold him, I'll be the only one to enter Yggdrasil.'
He took a few steps, surprisingly heavy steps, for someone not used to feeling his own weight, always relying on his powers.
He finally stood directly before the bark and placed his hand against it.
"Well, how does this wor—"
Suddenly, the energy of the Jokülsvardur exploded around him.
Tachi felt as if thousands of cosmos were being born all around him. The vision blinded him. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was no longer in the same place.
'It worked?' Tachi now stood in a magnificent garden, bathed in spring colors. The grass was lush, and tall flowering hedges surrounded him.
He instinctively tried to take flight,but failed. 'I can't fly?'
He scanned his surroundings, but the hedges only allowed him to see straight ahead, where two paths lay before him.
'How am I supposed to know where to go…' He walked forward until he reached the point where the two paths diverged.
'Right or left?' He buried his face in his hand. 'I always have terrible luck with choices like this… I can feel it.'
He looked at the two paths. They were identical, hedges, stone slabs set into grass, straight paths with nothing at the end to help him decide.
'I'll go right.' He took a step forward when, unexpectedly, he heard a whisper, like someone speaking directly into his ear.
"Svartslær."
He turned around. "Is someone there?!"
He was alone.
Suddenly, a growing shadow swallowed the entire landscape. 'What the hell is this?!'
He turned back toward the two paths, but they too had been consumed by the void.
Everywhere around him, beneath him as well, everything was deep, absolute black.
'What happened..?' The paths were gone. Only a strange glow remained several meters ahead of him.
'At least I don't have to choose anymore'
He moved forward with difficulty. It felt as if he'd been deprived of sight itself.
"Walking without knowing where to place your feet is really not pleasant," he thought as he approached the light.
When he was close enough, he stared at it for a moment.
"A crack,"
He reached out. When his hand touched the glow, the same sensation he'd felt when touching the Jokülsvardur rushed through him, similar, at least.
This time, he didn't feel cosmos being born.
They were exploding.
He didn't close his eyes. He didn't need to. Tachi stepped back as the crack began to widen. The space around him seemed to shatter. The temperature dropped drastically, and a violent blast of icy wind slammed into him.
Parts of the crack began to lose their light, until it completely surrounded him, and a landscape unlike anything he'd ever seen was revealed.
The sky was gray. The ground was covered in snow. Immense black mountains rose as far as the eye could see, each sharper and more menacing than the last.
but it was difficult to contemplate them
'This snowstorm is striking cold… where am I?'
Tachi dropped to one knee and coughed, his throat quickly irritated by the freezing air.
"Damn it…" He lifted his head. "This place… I feel like I've fallen into the wrong destination, I knew it couldn't go well."
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning roared and struck the ground several meters in front of him. He took flight by reflex, and realized he could use his powers again. But where the lightning had struck, a wave of electricity rippled through the ground, instantly erasing all the snow.
"How," Tachi hovered several meters above the ground. In the blink of an eye, the storm that had blocked his vision vanished.
He opened his eyes, and his throat tightened. Below him, a man, or rather, a monster, sat cross-legged. He was several meters tall.
"Hey, Who are you big boy?!" Tachi shouted. The figure didn't even lift his head. He spoke calmly.
"Welcome to Jotunheim, god of wind. Welcome to your tomb. I was waiting for you."