Fjalltusk took his inaction as a no and slammed his foot into the back of Jalen’s knee. He fell down on one knee and whipped his head, pulling Fjalltusk forward before slamming his head into the face of the troll. The troll wailed, holding on to his ruined face. Murmurs spread out in the council room amongst all Jötunn present.

“Such a disgraceful act,” the Lawspeaker remarked.

He maintained eye contact with queen Laufey throughout the exchange, his gaze stern and unwavering. The queen glared back at him.

“Esteemed counselors and high queen Laufey,” Jalen spoke loud and clear. “My name is Jalen Nkanga and I am from Earth. I had just finished my business in the void beyond creation. So I embarked on a return journey to Earth, only to be ambushed by the Hrímgard Legion. Of course, I defended myself. Who wouldn’t? All I have wanted before and now is to reach my home in a timely manner. To reach my home during the lifespan of my loved ones.

I have entertained this parley frankly because I found it amusing. But I assure you. My mood has soured. If the people I care about have passed when I make it home, I will come back here and raze everything to the ground. Let me go now, and I will forget this farce ever happened.”

“To threaten the queen?” The Lawspeaker bellowed. “You imbecile. Guards! Throw this outsider—”

“Jokull! Be quiet.” High queen Laufey raised her arm, signaling the guards to stand down. Then she directed an icy glare at Jalen.

“What business did you have in the void?” She asked.

“One of vital importance to me,” Jalen said. “The specifics of which I will not divulge.”

Queen Laufey drummed her giant fingers in thought. “I know you are a god. Your kind, plus your business in the void, concerns me. After all, we protect this sector of creation from the beyond. I need to know you are not with the void beasts.”

The revelation about his godhood induced the council into another round of murmurs that was soon stopped by the high queen’s raised hand.

Void beasts?

Jalen racked his brain, trying to remember if he encountered any other life forms in the void. He didn’t. But he knew that if he could survive, some other life forms could as well. Not to talk about the sheer size and dimension sorcery of the place.

“Look if it will ease your concerns,” Jalen said. “I’m a Cosmonar and I’m not affiliated with any void beasts. Please, let me go.”

“What?” Queen Laufey shouted. “Do not use that name lightly.”

“It would explain his dwellings in the beyond if he is not a void beast, that is,” One counselor said.

“Prove it,” Queen Laufey said, her eyes narrowing. “If what you say is true, prove it. Then I shall grant you a safe and swift passage.”

Jalen glanced at the calculating gazes of the counselors, then at the shocked expressions on the trolls. He wanted to see the look on Helbrindi’s face, but he wouldn’t give the Jötunn the satisfaction of acknowledging him.

Jalen looked up at the high queen once more. “Release the chains that bind me. Then I will bath you in my life force. I assure you, it won’t hurt.”

Queen Laufey leaned back on her throne and drummed her fingers on the armrest.

“My queen, this is madness,” The Lawspeaker said. “He would attack you.”

“Unbind his chains,” Queen Laufey said, a sly smile appearing on her face. “If the god attacks, you all have my utmost permission to flay him.”

“Mother! Please reconsider,” Helblindi pleaded somewhere behind Jalen. “The outsider is bloodthirsty.”

“I have made my decision.”

It took considerable effort to unbind Jalen. The keys were not with the trolls, so Lifthrasir rushed off to retrieve them. Once the chains were unlocked, Jalen rubbed his sore wrists. He could fill the combative atmosphere eluding from the trolls. His life force reclaimed its rightful place, coursing through his very being.

“Step away, trolls,” Jalen said. “Your ugliness might break my concentration.”

The high queen stepped down from her throne and stopped before Jalen, her cocky gaze falling on him. One of the hill giants fixed the back of her flowing robes. Jalen couldn’t blame her. If he was that much taller than most people all the time, he’d be just as cocky.

Jalen charged up the cosmic beams in his eyes, then unleashed a stream of powerful golden light on the high queen. The cosmic life force he designed for his god form, when released, could do many things. Currently, the most used feature was its offensive capabilities. This time, the beams sent queen Laufey into the mind of his vessel, then past the connectors that linked this vessel to his true form.

“What do you think now, Queen Laufey?” Jalen said.

The colossal dark mass of his Cosmonar’s head, orbited by rings of light, gazed down at the high queen. To Jalen, she was no bigger than a microscopic organism. It was a wonder he saw the dropped jaw of the queen and heard the stuttering curses she let out.

“Let me go now.”

“Wait!” Queen Laufey said. Her eyes darted around the black island she found herself on. The sky was a vivid aurora of swirling lights, framing a face that encompassed everything. No doubt, she understood now, that the island she stood on was his hand. “This could easily be an illusion.”

“Do you really believe that? Will you waste my time, and possibly the lives of your people on a hunch? For the last time, let me go.”

Queen Laufey sighed. “Fine. I will grant you passage. But in exchange, you will lend me a boon. In a time of my choosing, I will make a request and you will heed to it.”

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“Why do I have to do that?”

“You are free to go now, Jalen. But I have a way to shorten your trip significantly. The price is a boon.”

“You know where Earth is?”

“Of course, it was our home once.”

It was Jalen’s turn to sigh. “Fine. You have your boon.”

Jalen blinked back into the council room. The counselors had eager looks fixed on their faces. An air of quietness permeated the room, not one person uttering a sound. To Jalen and queen Laufey, minutes had passed. He wondered how long it was that they were truly gone.

“Send my giants to my private chamber,” Queen Laufey declared, regarding the chained giants. “Please, follow me Jalen.”

❊ ❊ ❊

Jalen, Queen Laufey, and a retinue of her frost giant guards descended many layers under the citadel. He had lost count of how many gigantic hallways lined with intricate patterned columns they had passed through. Presently, he was more worried about staying away from the giants’ feet, rumbling around him. Sure, it won’t hurt him, but why put his hand into an open fire?

“Here,” Queen Laufey said.

They had reached the end of another hallway. One of her guards fumbled with a set of keys before unlocking a dusty wooden door made of tied tree trunks. Upon entering the room, crystal fixtures on the walls lit up, illuminating the dust riddled room in warm light.

“My apologies for the state of this room,” Queen Laufey said.

“There is none needed, Queen Laufey,” Jalen said.

“Just Laufey would be fine in informal settings at least. Considering what I know now, addressing me as queen feels like mockery.”

“Still, my current stature doesn’t mean I intend to disrespect authority. Particularly, the monarch, in charge of a planet. But I will respect your preference.”

Old artifacts fit for giants littered the room. Jalen recognized the weapons, suits of armors, wooden tablets and even a few longships hanging on the walls for regular sized Jötunn, perhaps. Laufey commanded her guard to retrieve an old wooden door. The guard rested the door on a bare part of the wall. Then Laufey proceeded to inscribe runes on the frame of the door. When she was done, her eyes lit up in a blue light similar to runes. She reached for the handle and opened the door.

“We go in, Jalen,” Laufey said.

Beyond the door lay an expansive ice cavern, sparsely lit by bioluminescent crystals. Upon stepping in, Jalen was hit by a foul scent of rot and decay. In the distance, outside the mouth of the wide cavern, a thick, frosty mist clung to the surface of the frozen wasteland.

“What is this place?” Jalen asked.

“This is Niflheim, a primordial realm.”

“And how exactly does this get me home?”

“Our destination is Hvergelmir, the roaring well,” Laufey said, feeling the snow in her fingers, her eyes peeled. She must have discarded her robes before coming because now she wore a top and skirt fashioned from animal hides and fur. “From there you will climb Yggdrasil. Follow the branches along the tree of life and you shall arrive at your home realm, Jalen.”

Jalen wasn’t knowledgeable about Norse mythology. He knew the prominent characters in the most popular stories, but not much else. In school, he took mythology classes but used that time to sleep instead. Fucking brilliant, Jalen. When he got back to Earth, he resolved to learn different mythologies and history.

They began their long trek to Hvergelmir. Laufey suggested to Jalen that they run to save up on time. She even offered to carry him. Jalen was pleased and tempted, but he could fly, and so he did. The bone-chattering cold of Niflheim did not faze him one bit. He thought about changing into his human vessel to better experience the cold before quickly discarding the idea. He wasn’t a masochist.

The desolate air of the frozen wasteland gave way to a deep chasm, with jagged, frost tipped hills flanking them. He gained altitude to better scout the area. It wouldn’t do him any good to be complacent and ambushed again.

The frost giants had insane stamina to match their size, Laufey included, jogging for over two hours nonstop on the rugged terrain. It seemed they could go on all day. Yet they came to a stop. Jalen surveyed the area, spotting a sprinkling of human sized lifeforms. His attention lay on the surrounding hills and beyond, so it was understandable that he missed them.

Laufey knelt on one knee, to the disbelief of her guards. “Fellow lizard folk, we come in peace and request safe passage. Show us to your master.”

Before her stood a group of bipedal beings with reptilian features, round, fattened frames, and scaly skin.

An elderly lizard man leaning on a rattling staff spoke. “Oh, yes. That is no problem for one as beautiful as you are. But that ugly one must stay.”

The lizard man pointed at Jalen.

“That one is a god,” Laufey said. “And I’m afraid he must come with me.”

“I am saying it for his own good,” the lizard man stabbed his staff into the ice. “Master Nidhogg would eat him just for his offensive face. He has done it plenty of times before.”

“We will take our chances.”

The lizard man huffed and turned around. The frost giants followed, their pace slowed to a crawl, matching that of the round lizard people. Jalen soared through the blistering sky, unbothered by the previous interaction. The journey took them a long time until they spotted a vast, steamy mist rising from an enormous boiling river that carved a winding path across the landscape, stretching into the horizon. Before the river was a boiling waterfall wedged into a dark, rocky mountain. A massive tree, bigger than any Jalen had ever seen, sat atop that mountain and stretched into the heavens. Its roots, long and thick, intertwined at the tip of the mountain, no doubt an extensive root structure existing below.

Though Hvergelmir, with its otherworldly presence, wasn’t the focal point at the moment. That was the colossal green and blue dragon resting at the lip of the boiling river. It was slender and sinuous, with spikes and ridges running down the length of its body. Its malevolent gaze sized Jalen’s group as they approached.

“Head back to the horde,” Nidhogg said to the lizard people, its rumbling voice reverberating off the ice. “Now, what do we have here, Jötunn? Come to finish our old business? I cannot wait to finish what you started!”

“Wait great, Nidhogg,” Laufey raised her arms, stepping forward. “We have not come to seek conflict. I understand that our parting wasn’t the most amicable. But you must grant passage to Midgard on a matter of greater calling.”

“I… must?” The dragon expelled a large breath, a visible wave of heat radiating outward. “Greater calling? What could possibly be greater than my everlasting desire to feast on the treacherous Jötunn?”

“The god named Jalen. He must reach Midgard.”

She pointed up to the heavily built, coal-skinned, golden-eyed god levitating high above the frost giants. Jalen gazed down at the ancient dragon—who dwarfed the frost giants—with his arms folded behind his back. Nidhogg stood up on his hind legs and stretched his neck, easily reaching Jalen.

“What kind of god gives himself a name as weak as Jalen?” The dragon asked.

“It is the name my mother gave me before I ascended,” Jalen said.

“Still, this does not change the fate of things. I will eat the frost giants as is right, then you and I shall talk.”

Laufey’s guards adopted battle stances and drew their weapons.

“That, I cannot allow,” Jalen said, descending to the ground. “They have gone through the troubles of guiding me home. I would like them to keep their lives.”

Jalen did not care for Laufey’s guards or any of the Jötunn, in fact. Laufey, though, had caught his eye. It would be a shame to let her die.

“You would put your neck on the line for these insignificant backstabbing lifeforms?” Nidhogg asked, his stance lowering and his massive wings folding.

“Yes, I will.”

“Then it is decided. We shall duel till one of us concedes. If you win, I shall grant you passage and the lives of the Jötunn. If you lose, you will remain in Niflheim, serving me to the end of time. Try not to die in the process. What say you, god?”