With the sun sinking under the horizon not long after lunch, Maddie found herself captive in her own mind. She watched from the window of her room how Birger and Jörmun ensured that everything was in place for the Skuldelev to be ready for departure later in the evening.

She could still not shake off the thought that she was likely not going to see ever again neither Eloise nor Jörmun. She had lived with the thought that once the ship was built, their path to retrieving the missing sibling was set. Not only that she had been deceived into believing into that beautiful scenario, but she also found herself robbed of the only two people she ever cared for aside from her family.

Maddie buried her face in her folded knees and sobbed. Her arms wrapped around her head, as if attempting to isolate herself from the reality around, while she succumbed deeper into a cry. She remained there, isolated with her thoughts for the hours that followed, unable to convince herself to meet with the other two, despite hearing them chatting fairly lively in the neighbouring room.

---

With a loud knock at the door, Maddie jumped awake from the exhausted nap she fell into. She couldn’t tell what time it was, since the darkness outside was rather confusing during that time of the year; she could not think fast enough to reach for her phone, as her steps carried her straight to the door.

“I know it’s getting late and cold, but myself and Birger are ready and we were wondering if you’d like to join us.”

“For what…?” she asked on a faint tone, while trying to make sense of what was happening. She wondered for a moment whether they had dinner or not. She couldn’t even recall having breakfast.

“My leave?” he smiled briefly, but his gaze spoke of concern. He looked Maddie in the eye and saw her being lost between confusion and panic. “Are you all right?”

“I’ll grab my jacket and meet you outside,” she eventually replied. Her heart was racing as fast as her thoughts. Nothing was the nightmare that she hoped to wake up from; it was real. It was happening and she was far from ready for it, regardless of how long she allowed herself to mentally prepare for it.

Jörmun stood in place and watched the girl wander around, searching for her belongings aimlessly. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Birger waiting for him at the entrance. He made the man a sign to go ahead, then stepped inside the room and closed the door behind his back.

“I told you to wait outside,” Maddie threw him the quickest look after hearing the sound of the closing door without any departing footsteps.

“I won’t go without you.”

“I will come in a moment,” she eventually stopped before Jörmun, while still battling the scarf around her neck. Her hands shook so badly that she found even wrapping up the piece of clothing around her neck to be an impossible task to achieve. Maddie sucked in her lips and averted her eyes from the other; she could feel the heat raising back to her face as tears filled her eyes. She knew this was to follow. She knew why she asked him to wait outside.

“You said that earlier today too and you never turned up…”

Did she really promise that? She had no memory of it. Was he playing tricks again or was she really losing the grip on her thoughts.

“You’re lying.”

“You can ask Birger if you’d like. I understand I am not trustworthy enough.”

Maddie brushed off tears from her eyes and glanced back up at Jörmun. It was odd to see him speak on a serious tone. There was no trace of hidden mischief; no hidden smile. It made her feelings weight even greater.

“I don’t want you to go,” she murmured what her feelings whispered to her for a while.

“I have to go, Maddie…” he reached for her hand and trapped it between his own. He dropped into her palm the emerald ring, then pressed her fingers into a fist. “It was my father’s wish that I give you this.”

The girl slowly opened back her palm once it was released from Jörmun’s warm touch. She stared at the jewelry piece. Her eyes immediately drifted to his fingers to check if it was the same ring he had been wearing; the very one they received from the charmed wooden cabin.

“I thought you said it’s bind to the wearer. And what do you mean by “your father’s wish”? Jörmun please don’t confuse me further than I already am,” she begged. 

“Apparently, if you wish hard enough for it to come off, it will.”

“But I-,” she paused only to stare at the ring one more time. “I can’t do anything with it, can I?”

Jörmun shrugged. “Only time will tell.”

“Was that supposed to be funny?” she scoffed and watched him smile. It was ironic and suspicious that he chose those words to associate them with an artefact responsible for the manipulation of time.

“You should put it on,” Jörmun urged her and after a moment of hesitance, he watched the girl eventually let the ring slide down her finger. With a bittersweet feeling, he watched gold tighten itself like a snake. He could recall the thrill he felt when he first put it on; time had been bending around his fingertips for a while ever since.

“It’s not my style,” she concluded after a bit, which made both of them laugh. A welcome sense of relief under the unending pressure.

“You’re likely the only Midgardian parading with a God-forged ring.”

“I still don’t think the style fits me.”

“It’s the world that doesn’t fit you, Maddie,” he smiled.

“Then take me with you,” she stared him in the eye while voicing her wish. “How long would it take you to get to Asgard and open the Byfröst for me?”

Jörmun stared at the girl baffled. His chest began to shake with a growing laughter, despite the serious tone of Maddie’s idea.

“If I asked you to sit here and wait until that happens, you would?”

“If that would grant me the ability to then stand before Odin and have a word with him, then I will sit as still as a deeply rooted tree.”

“Tempting, but sadly I don’t believe it’s possible.”

“Until you showed up I didn’t think magic was possible either, but here we are.”

“Fair,” he agreed, then took Maddie’s hand. He brushed his finger one more time over the emerald he grew so accustomed to. “Let’s go.”

---

With Maddie and Birger before him, Jörmun clasped his hands together. He glanced at the Skuldelev, then put his hand out to the side and out of thin air he materialized an arrow. He then allowed himself a moment to wrap around its tip the silk cloth the sail once was sealed into.

Jörmun handed the arrow to Birger, who was already holding the longbow. He looked a bit intimidated by the fact that he would only have a shot.

“I believe I should get more than an arrow. My fingers are frozen enough to not open on release,” the man joked while admiring the engraved details on the metal tip.

“I trust you will do well with one,” Jörmun said with confidence. He then hovered his hand over the silk piece, which to the surprise of the other two, caught fire; it burned the same shade of green that his magic gleamed with.

“I will do my best then,” he pressed his lips tightly, while a soft frown busied his wrinkled forehead. “Tell me again, when do I have to shoot it?”

“Well, remember the training that we did in the forest?” he waited for the man to confirm, before elaborating further. “Try and approximate the same distance from the shore to the boat. Once you have that, loose the arrow.”

“Should it hit the boat?”

“It should hit me,” Jörmun added, then laughed it off, seeing the raising eyebrows and panic on the others’ faces. “The boat should do.”

“Okay…” Birger said slowly. He was still not sure how any of it was going to work, but it was too late to question it any further. If Jörmun was truly who he was saying he was, then he must’ve had his means of doing things.

“Then, we’re all set!” Jörmun threw his hands in the air, flashing a broad smile, hardly matched by the other two. “Thank you once again for your help, Birger. I promised you songs and poetry of gratitude in Asgard. I didn’t forget!”

“Oh, please…” he shuffled a bit, visibly flattered by the mere thought of it. “Do take care, Jörmun.”

“I will.”

Maddie hid her face behind a tissue as she grimaced at sound of Jörmun’s words; she knew very well that he won’t be careful from the moment that he would be stepping onto the boat. She nearly choked on her breath when the other’s eyes eventually shifted from Birger to herself.

“Maddie, promise me you’ll visit Birger once in a while.”

“I didn’t even get to leave yet.”

“She’s welcome anytime,” the man smiled, giving Maddie a soft pat on the back.

“I hope you will both ride the longship in the next year or two,” Jörmun looked at them in turns, but his eyes lastly settled on the girl. “Keep an eye out for the Bifröst,” he winked and with a last glance at the still burning arrow, he took a step behind. “Be well,” he wished to them before eventually turning around and make his way to the pier, with the snow crunching under his feet.

Maddie watched Jörmun’s silhouette walk down the frozen wooden planks of the pier. She let him go without even being able to voice a proper goodbye. All that she had been able to do was to briefly wave, while hiding half of her face behind the tissue, drowned in tears.

The sail of the ship came loose with the green veil of magic flowing over it. Captured by the same wave of energy, the boat set itself into motion, breaking through the thin layer of ice that managed to form ever since Birger cleaned it.

“That should be about the right distance,” Birger mumbled to self while slowly locking the arrow into place. He focused on the ship and he could swear that he saw Jörmun wave a hand at him.

Between tears, Maddie observed the man tense the bow. It flashed through her mind to try and nudge him as he took the shot, in order for him to miss, but would that do any good to an already poisoned and dying Jörmun?

A high pitched cry left the girl’s throat as the arrow eventually got released with a swooshing sound. She watched alongside Birger how the lit tip pierced through the night and hit its target, engulfing the entire boat in green flames as if it was coated in fuel, waiting for the spark.

“No, no, no,” she moaned in her bundle of used tissues. She could hear the wood crack under the fire.

However, the green flames soon paled in comparison to the apparition of the northern lights. They manifested out of nowhere solely where the ship was and looked as if they were descending from the sky. A massive, ghostly gate, composed out of two rune-decorated doors, formed ahead of the burning vessel. With a roar worth of a close thunder, they began opening.

“This can’t be happening,” Maddie gasped. She threw Birger a quick look, only to see him completely mesmerized by the sight; he likely did not even realize what they were given to witness.

In the frenzy of the moment, the girl spotted the motorized boat they used during the first time the northern lights showed up. Without a second thought, she left Birger’s side and made her way down the small, snowy slope of the shore.

Maddie slipped down the frozen pier and nearly fell into the water when she brought herself to a halt. She landed straight into the boat, onto her four, and despite not being able to feel her fingers anymore, she managed to untangle the rope that held it in place.

“Maddie, wait! Where are you going?!” Birger yelled and attempted to make his way to the pier. However, he was only halfway through when the girl disappeared into the night, with the sound of the motor fading into the distance. “What are these kids doing?!” he pressed his hands over his hat, sliding it slowly off his head as he stared ahead at the Skuldelev being swallowed into the pitch black beyond the gate in the middle of the lake.

Birger gasped and murmured something unintelligible under his beard when he caught glimpse of Maddie disappearing with his small motorized boat into the void, before it all vanished, as it had never been there.

The man stared into the stillness ahead of him for a long while. He questioned if all he had been given to see was real. He wondered if anyone else saw any of it and for the first time ever since he met Jörmungandr and Maddie, he pondered upon whether what he contributed to was going to please or heavily anger the Gods.

To be continued…