Carefully Thor made his way through a narrow shaft. You could feel that Tyr was not far away.

The beat of your heart was different from before, as if you were finally seeing a long friend again. You thought you could smell the familiar scent of a forest.

"The boy seems willing to sacrifice everything.", , Thor said to break the silence.

Lightning danced through his red hair.

You managed to bring your eyes up to him.

"He wants the same thing as us.", you said. "Survival."

"Hm...", his eyes narrowed. "There is light."

You nodded.

"I can feel it. It's getting warmer. Let's go."

But instead of walking towards the light, he retreated into the shadows to look through the gap in the wall of dusty stone.

You frowned. Restlessness made your fingertips tingle.

"What are you doing?", you asked. "Move. I want to see Tyr again."

But he did not move. Instead, he listened to see if anything was going on.

Your gaze tried to detect something in the light, a movement or shadow.

But there was nothing. At least nothing you could categorise.

"I...", he stopped himself right away, frowning. "No..."

Confused, you looked at him again. Tiredness made your head feel heavy again. But you refused to sleep through this moment.

If Tyr was still alive, the first thing you wanted to do was to look him in the eye. You wanted to know what had become of him after all those years there, of what had filled his life.

Impatient, you wiggled out of his grip. Your legs gave way for a moment but you straightened up again to walk towards the light.

"You are too weak for a fight.", Thor tried to argue, wanting to hold you back.

Hastily you grabbed a sharp stone to cut your thumb. Warm blood wet your skin with goose bumps. The smell of iron hit you in the face.

"Hagalaz...", you whispered.

Red sparks embraced you. Taking a deep breath, you let your body take a moment to absorb the magic.

Your muscles contracted. It felt like a cramp was tearing your limbs apart. But it made you feel awake and you could stand on your own again.

"What are you hiding from me?", you asked when your breathing had calmed down and the world no longer blurred before your eyes. "You know... something, don't you?"

Thor did not answer. His eyes roamed over your face.

"You're sweating.", he just said, wiping your brow.

With gentle emphasis you pushed his hand away.

"What do you know?", you asked with more desire to get an answer in your voice.

His lips pressed together in a line, he tried to pull away. There was something in his eyes. He knew something. He just didn't want to tell you.

Your fingers grabbed him by his clothes.

"Thor.", you look deep into each other's eyes.

A deep breath made his nose crunch. It sounded like he was about to summon a thunderstorm in this very cave.

"I'm wrong.", he tried to talk his way out of it.

But your grip tightened.

Without saying a single word, you just looked at him. The gleam in your eyes made it clear that silence was not an option.

"What makes you so uneasy, pumpkin?", you asked. "I can see it. You are nervous. Are you afraid?"

"No.", he shook his head.

You knew he was lying. There was something behind that light he didn't want to face.

"Thor."

"My mind is tired. I'm wrong."

"Tell me what about."

Gritting his teeth, he averted his eyes. Lightning danced across his skin. Mjölnir rose trembling into the air.

You let him go.

"I can... sense something evil...", he finally said, wiping his face while his hands were trembling. "Allfather."

Your eyes twitched.

Quickly, you made your way towards the light.

"Loki!", as you stepped out of the tunnel, the world before your eyes went white for a moment.

Everything was drowned in warmth.

Blinded, you felt your way into the room while shadows moved around you.

Sounds reached your ears. A battle raged. Metal struck metal.

The hairs on the back of your neck stood up.

Still holding the stone in your hand, you cut deeper into your flesh to reveal more blood.

"Algiz!", you called into the brightness.

Blue light grew around you into a solid sphere. Something banged against the surface. Under pressure, the light curved but bounced back, sending the shadow reeling.

"(Y/N)!", Thor shouted in a thunderous voice. "Get back here!"

Blinking again and again, you brought tears to your eyes. Your vision cleared.

Soft sunlight fell from the stone ceiling into the mine.

A battle raged around you.

Thor had followed. Mjölnir chased through the air followed by lightning while Odin's fighters poured out of every crack in the walls.

Your eyes jumped through the chaos.

"Loki?!", you shouted, writing a rune of attack in the air with blood.

A ring of fire wrapped around you.

One of the warriors immediately ran into the flames. It didn't take a second for his whole body to crumble into dust.

"I'm here!", the boy's voice called out.

Your gaze jumped up.

Between two huge beams that held the ceiling of the mine together sat Atreus, bow in hand, raining arrows down on the enemies.

"What happened?", Thor asked, turned on his heel and smashed a head with his bare fist.

"I followed the knife!", the boy said and shot one of the attackers that tried to jump you from behind.

"A dead end?", you asked and painted another rune into the air to make a snow storm rise. "Jera!"

As if a rift to Helheim had opened between the worlds, the air suddenly became colder.

Ice began to crunch under your feet while snow blocked the vision.

Confused, the enemies stopped, intimidated by the alien power that shrouded everything in white.

Thor snapped his fingers.

Mjölnir was wrapped in lightning.

The cave began to tremble as if the earth would split in an instant.

Thunder and blue lightning mixed with ice and snow. It felt like a thunderstorm in winter, clouds of darkness, rain of ice.

Holding your breath, you stared into the mist.

Shadows moved.

Metal struck metal.

Suddenly something splashed towards you, but it was stopped by the magic surrounding you. Blood dripped from the barrier into the snow.