It was the evening of the same day that had Jörmun attacked by the huldra. However, while trying her best not to let it surface, Maddie was slowly feeling as if she was going to lose her grip on reality. She doubted that she managed to hide her state of mind completely from the old woman’s eyes, but it was likely only as visible as the tip of an iceberg; nothing compared to what she dealt with internally.

Under numerous circumstances, the old lady tried to divert Maddie from calling emergency help. Despite the fact that she managed to stop Jörmun’s bleeding, she still had next to none of Maddie’s trust.

The girl had an unpleasant gut feeling about the situation. Even if her travel companion’s state was somewhat stabilized, he was still lost to a deep slumber, which she liked none. He was nowhere near a regular human being; he should’ve been already much better. And even if she couldn’t convince herself to like the old woman, she was unable to tell why she couldn’t simply disobey her guidance and call for help.

“I prepared you dinner,” the lady popped her head inside the room where Jörmun was laying down. Maddie sat in the wooden chair at his side.

“Thank you, but I had a snack earlier.”

“Nothing is better than a warm meal though,” she tried to persuade the girl further.

Maddie shifted in her seat. She didn’t want to abandon Jörmun. What if he woke up in the meantime and found himself alone in the dusty bedroom of an unknown wooden cabin?

“I appreciate your kind gesture, but I will pass. Thank you,” she sketched a small, polite smile and looked away, hoping that the woman would give up and leave.

“Have no fear, dear. You friend will not be going anywhere soon,” she returned the smile. “He needs rest.”

The pause in the sentence didn’t land well at all with Maddie. She wanted to desperately crawl out of that house, through the tiniest hole, with Jörmun by her side. If he was awake, he would've surely done something about it; not necessarily shrink them enough to escape through a crack, but talk his way out of the situation better than she had been able to so far.

Without making an active decision on it, Maddie found herself on her way to the kitchen. She caught glimpse of the food bowl, which looked far from desirable to be consumed; it appeared to be a disgusting looking gravy with unidentifiable vegetables.

“I knew you couldn’t resist the smell. It’s strong enough to wake up one from the dead,” the woman chuckled as both of them sat at the small, square shaped table.

“Foul smell, but not bad nor powerful enough to have awaken Jörmun,” Maddie thought to self. With a quick glance around herself, she remarked how old everything around her looked. She could’ve sworn by the fact that they were not in a regular house, but in some living museum.

“Your friend must have been longing for closeness, giving in to a mere huldra.”

“She knows about the huldra!” Maddie’s attention shifted back to the woman. She said nothing and waited for the other to speak again, which proved itself to be a long while.

When the woman finally stood up and took the bowl from under Maddie’s nose, the girl realized how it was empty and she was holding the spoon. But how was it possible? She couldn’t recall a single gulp, nor any flavour. She was either extremely tired or losing her mind.

“You are so silent, my dear. You must be exhausted.”

“I would love to go back to the bedroom,” Maddie expressed, while her body did not move an inch. Her heart was thumping rapidly in her chest, as if anticipating danger. She heard the old lady’s footsteps stop nearby, while the shadow of her body loomed above her seated self.

“Tell me, how is to travel at the side of Jörmungandr Lokison, the Midgard Serpent and Forger of Ragnarok?” the voice came out hoarse and demanding, though it was barely above a whisper, making Maddie shrink and shriek in terror internally, while being still frozen in her seat.

---

Jörmun’s hands waved through the mist as if he was swimming through it. The density of the fog was unbearable; enough to make one feel claustrophobic. He desperately tried to peek through it, while continuing to attempt at piercing beyond the veil with his body.

“You’re close. I can hear your footsteps,” the echo of a familiar voice welcomed the young Asgardian.

Jörmun’s feet picked up the pace at sound of the guiding words and just as he had been told, he soon emerged out of the thick mist, nearly landing on his four. He allowed himself a moment to shake off the uneasy feeling, then glanced around; his eyes desperately sought for the owner of the voice.

“Where are you?” Jörmun asked, feeling unable to track anyone.

“Descend into the cavern. You should know the way by now.”

“Father,” he gasped at the sudden realization and set himself into a rapid stride. The confusing fog he had to navigate through disoriented him enough not to find the path he followed so many times in his sleep.

“Jörmungandr, you have to listen to me closely,” Loki said as soon as he felt his son’s presence nearby his ghostly silhouette. He turned around and studied the other from head to toes. There was urgency in his voice as he spoke again. “You have been poisoned and you are asleep under a charm.”

“My travel companion saved me from a huldra,” he explained while desperately trying to recall the most recent events.

“This is not the work of the huldra alone,” Loki stretched his translucent hand towards Jörmun’s shoulder only to pass right through it. He sighed briefly. “That is the doing of a Jotunn.”

“I would’ve surely spotted it if there was one, before I passed out,” Jörmun frowned, trying to remember what happened after Maddie reached out for him.

“Or probably not, if it was wearing a disguise,” Loki advised. His ghostly eyes stared into his son’s, who seemed to have realized something.

“I have a faint memory of an old woman.”

“There you go,” Loki attempted at proudly tapping Jörmun on his shoulder, but faced the same situation as before; his hand went awkwardly through his son’s arm. “I should refrain myself from doing that,” he murmured, more as a note to self.

“But what would a Jotunn want from us?”

“Something tells me it’s not their doing alone, but likely a deed for a higher authority,” Loki said it in such a way, that it insinuated exactly the person he had in mind for that specific higher up individual to be.

“Odin.”

“One of his kin if not him,” he nodded briefly. “However, let’s have this talk another time. For now, you must go back. Fight the charm you are under and get out of there.”

“I hope Maddie is okay,” he mused, forgetting that Loki could hear his thoughts while they were there, together.

“You have grown fond of the Midgardian.”

“She’s helpful,” he dismissed his father swiftly.

“Don’t shy away from feelings, Jörmungandr. Some may have painted us in horrid ways, but you’re not the real monster,” Loki smiled.

“I suppose you can’t tell how I can break the spell without knowing what it is exactly,” Jörmun gave one last look to his father as he slowly began to walk away.

“Don’t shy away, Jörmun,” Loki repeated. “Show your true colours,” he offered him a wink accompanied by a mischievous smirk before watching his son disappear back into the dense mist.

---

With a loud gasp, Jörmun awakened from the deep slumber he had been forced into by charms and infusions. As he pushed himself up on his feet, he clutched his hand where the huldra’s stabbing wound still throbbed with pain. He gave his broken clothes a look and noticed how a fresh drip of crimson stained the improvised dressing around his injury.

Jörmun looked around and his attention only got caught by the girl’s backpack. It was abandoned nearby a wooden chair. With a sloppy move of his foot, he managed to push it under the bed; they would retrieve it later, he thought as he opened the door and made his way outside of the room.

However, as soon as he set foot into the neighbouring room, he was greeted by a shocking sight; Maddie was held mid air by a spell, looking unconscious, while the old lady was what his father presumed it would be. A jotunn in its full might, bent over the girl’s silhouette; pressured by the low ceiling of the old wooden house.

“Lay one finger on her and it will be the very last thing you do.”

The jotunn chuckled low, resonating within the room like a silent rumble. “I have underestimated you, Lokison,” a sly smile spread on its pale blue lips. “The brew I made to dress your wound should’ve put a giant to sleep for a week.”

“Who sent you here?” Jörmun pressed on, uninterested in the dose of poison he received.

“Fate,” the jotunn grinned maliciously. Its eyes darted to Jörmun’s bleeding wound. “You won’t get very far with that, this if you manage to leave at all.”

“Release her at once and let us go,” he demanded, seeing that the other was not willing to open up. If it wasn’t for his degrading state and for Maddie’s safety to be under threat, he would’ve surely engaged in a much more thorough questioning, without allowing the jotunn much room for choice.

“And let you wander in the search of a way to bring Ragnarok? No, no dear boy. You won’t get out of here alive, unless it’s over my dead body,” its face grimaced with hatred. Without any further hesitation or will to negotiate, the jotunn forged a sword out of thin air and after abandoning Maddie’s body, collapsed on the floor thanks to the magic channeling being interrupted, it launched itself with all its might at Jörmun.

With his attention distracted by the girl’s fallen self, Jörmun found himself brutally pushed through the wooden wall. He screamed in pain when bits of his body felt as if they were breaking under the Jotunn’s weight. Jörmun saw his opponent raise its sword to stab it through his chest and it was through the blink of an eye that he shapeshifted into the serpent he had once been. His ever growing body crashed the cabin and threw the jotunn down the mossy hill, while trees and rocks rolled along, broken under his newly claimed, massive body.

Jörmun levelled to the ground anything that grew in the valley below the former wooden house, in his desperate chase for his opponent. His voice roared and echoed through the very fabric of the mountains.

“You should be grateful to being offered the first death among your treacherous kin, before the Ragnarok. A prelude of the worlds’ abyss,” the snake slithered towards the jotunn as he caught glimpse of its fallen silhouette between a couple of broken tree trunks.

Jörmun’s scales shone a bright red into the setting sun. He watched the other struggle to release itself from the trap. The blue-tinted skin giant eventually collapsed back, despite all of its efforts. But even if it was clearly bounded to its dying fate, it started to chuckle, then to laugh; louder and louder. It only paused when the snake gargled deeply and displeased.

“Paint me red, Jörmungandr, the Midgard Serpent. Son of Loki and Forger of Ragnarok. But I am sad to let you know that I am not the first one to have fallen under your ruthless acts,” it starred for a moment into the direction where the cabin used to stand, then back into the snake’s eyes.

With a mad smile still spread across its features, the jotunn met its end, decapitated by Jörmun’s agonizing fury.

At the realization of what his reckless act may have caused, Jörmun gave in to the burning rage. His serpent self lost its form, to be replaced again by his humanoid shape. He snatched the blade from the jotunn’s lifeless hand and started to cut and slice through its limp body until he collapsed on his knees, panting heavily as his legs were becoming soaked in the puddle of his opponent’s blood.

Jörmun eventually dropped the sword and stared at the massacred Jotunn. A cold shiver crossed him as he fully acknowledged the gruesome sight. He whimpered with a soft cry as his trembling fingers ran through hair and tangled in it, holding onto it while staring ahead blankly. He obtained no information, he gained no benefit from the battle; quite the contrary. He caused havoc, just like the monster others described him to be. Others who he had been banished by; others who knew he couldn’t love or be loved.

“Don’t shy away from feelings, Jörmungandr,” his father’s words echoed in his head as tears started to roll down his cheeks. He shook his head, as if in denial; disappointed in himself and saddened for those who thought they could see beyond his veil of scales.

His heart jolted when he heard a sound coming from uphill. He stared over his shoulder at first, and eventually decided to head back and check. Perhaps the huldra chose to pay a visit and see what it was all about. He didn’t want its cursed fingers to touch Maddie’s body, even if she was likely no longer among the living.

---

Once stopped before the broken remains of the wooden house, Jörmun caught no glimpse of the huldra. However, something moved again and a noise came from the collapsed building.

Without a second thought, Jörmun went straight for it; he climbed the broken wood, once part of the walls, and began to search his way to the source of sound. His heart raced in the hope that Maddie would be still alive.

A hoarse cough left her lungs as soon as she could breathe the fresh air of the forest again. For a moment, Maddie too thought herself to be lost to the timeless slumber, but when she saw Jörmun’s hand reaching for her and eventually help her out the pile of broken logs, she knew it couldn’t have happened; not yet. She couldn’t tell if she was in pain, but feeling her legs give in before she could even stand, was enough of a sign that she wasn’t exactly well.

“You’re alive. You’re safe,” Jörmun repeated in a shaky but relieved voice to the girl’s ear as he clutched her against his chest.

Maddie had no idea what had happened. Her head hurt heavily if she attempted to remember anything past them arriving at the old lady’s house. She was unable to tell why Jörmun‘s clothes were burdened with a retching smell, but she minded it none. She was thankful that they were alive. She could only hope that she will learn, at least a partial truth from her travel companion, about the events that took place, while she had been lost to a world she couldn’t recall.