(Jokul’s POV)

I jumped as high as I could, reaching a height of fifty meters, covering the distance between me and the dragon almost instantly. However, the dragoness didn’t waste time though, creating several more ice spikes and hurling them in my direction.

I smile, and swing my axe, glowing blue with ice magic. The first icicle that I hit creates an explosion with an enormous radius, destroying the icicles. As I approach, I scream to the dragon as I raise my axe.

(Jokul): “You gonna need to do better than that!”

(Dragoness): “That’s the plan!”

She flapped her wings, the wind throwing me back. As soon as I felt my direction changing, I hurled my axe, glowing with the power of ice in the direction of her body, a bigger target than her head.

Instead of avoiding, she created a floating ice shield that is quite thick, while preparing a giant icicle aiming for me. Unfortunately for her, my axe goes through the axe like butter and creating a small but deep wound in her body.

(Dragoness): “Ouch!”

She yelped in a surprisingly cute way, her magic being disrupted as the axe went all the way through her scales and burying itself deep in her body, completely disappearing in the draconic flesh.

My feet touch the ground and I break into a sprint, gouging the stone below as the wind hits my face. The dragoness glares at me with fury in her eyes. I smile back, raising my hand, making her yelp again as the axe flies back to me.

However, this time, I don’t try to get closer, even if I do making a wound big enough to cause damage with the size difference is impossible. Doesn’t meant that I won’t attack though! I hold the leviathan axe with two hands, the head glowing in blue and white, being covered in magic ice.

I pointed the blade to the dragoness and a beam of ice magic is shot from it. she looks at it surprised, jumping to avoid it. the beam hits the mountain, instantly creating a giant ice cluster of spikes half the size of the dragoness.

(Dragoness): “You can use magic?!”

(Jokul): “Gotcha bitch!”

I screamed as I hurled my axe once again, aiming for her as she’s in the air, a bit distracted by my display of magical prowess. Ah, little dragon, you are powerful but doesn’t have that much of a battle sense.

The difference this time is that my axe isn’t just glowing, it’s leaving a trail of white and blue ice magic, spinning, creating a rotating giant disc of magic, enough to cause her a big and probably fatal wound.

She flaps her wings in a hurry, barely avoiding the attack, being wounded in her belly, creating a deep gash from where crimson blood gushes, staining the mountain and snow below. She screams in pain as I recall my axe back to my hands.

I can smell the hatred coming from her. The wound isn’t that deep, but it’s wide and certainly painful. She hasn’t gone through battles at all, has she? In her anger, a dark blue aura surrounds her, the wind gets even colder and dark clouds instantly cover the whole sky.

This energy that she used to make the icicles… let’s call it mana to shorten it, fills the sky, making the air tremble. The temperature goes down even more, if that’s even possible. I look down to my feet as a strange sensation goes over them.

There’s ice growing around them. fuck, she’s so strong that she’s even freezing me! I hit the ice with the handle of my axe, breaking the ice and freeing my feet. She roars, the mountain shakes and so do my bones.

Fuck me, this is amazing! I can’t get the smile off my face! She breathes in, a white aura gathering in her mouth. Ok, that’s a breath, right? Fuck, that’s a breath. How the fuck do I deal with a breath? It’s a fucking dragon’s breath!

She aims. What do I do? Erm… barrier? I don’t know how to make a barrier. The dragoness prepares to shoot and I hold my axe with two hands, preparing the beam. I hope this works…

She shoots her breath, and I respond with my beam. I have luck, since her breath is similar to my frost beam. They collide in mid-air, the weight of her attack immediately pushing me back, my feet digging the stone.

I slide back for a few meters before managing to stop. The beams struggle in the air, I feel the energy used to sustain it being drained from me. It’s the first time that I ever felt tired! The dragoness seems surprised as well that I’m able to match her.

(Jokul): “I’m not going down yet!”

I force more power in my axe, the beam thickens. The extra power pushing her breath back. She lands, raising her output. Fuck, I can’t push more than this! We stay at a stalemate for a few seconds, that changing with the colliding beams.

A sphere of blue energy forms at the center, feeding from our attacks. And when it reaches its critical mass, it explodes violently, interrupting our attacks, creating a wave of ice magic, freezing the mountain instantly.

A layer of ice covers my body, but a simple movement is enough to destroy it. The dragoness looks at me, shocked. I smile at her, spinning the axe in my right hand.

(Jokul): “We’re just starting!”

(3° person’s POV)

A pair of children stand in the middle of the forest, looking up to the clouds above. One of the is a tall boy, with red hair and pale skin and green eyes. He should be around eight to ten years old, with an axe of appropriate size in his waist.

(boy): “Hilda, we should go back.”

The girl nodded, her hands holding a basked full of fresh herbs. Her hair is long and blonde, a bright yellow, with pale skin and green eyes as well. She has a cute face and a small build, a great contrast to the boy beside her. She’s quite small, but her age is the same as the boy.

(Hilda): “Let’s go back before the snow starts fallin-“

She was interrupted as the earth shook, and a loud roar coming from the mountain at distance. The trees shook, some of the snow falling on their heads. They looked at each other in horror.

(boy): “We should go back!”

(Hilda): “Yes, Ur!”

They start running towards the security of their village while Ur curses.

(Ur): “I should have stopped you from sneaking out, not coming together!”

(Hilda): “Shut up! I need the herbs for my mother! And my dad is out with your brother hunting and he took Ulf too! You were the pussy that didn’t want to go!”

She swore back at him, her personality being a clear opposite of her delicate appearance, her wavy golden hair shaking behind her. Ur frowned from being called a “pussy”. For their kind, being called a coward is one of the worst offenses.

(Ur): “Hilda! Don’t call me a-“

He was also interrupted when another massive noise shook the forest, an unbearably cold wind following the shaking of the earth that was more violent than before. This time, they noticed from where the noise came from.

From the distance, visible from even between the tall trees, they see the tallest peak covered in gigantic spikes of ice, the top half of the mountain covered in ice spikes threatening to slide down and destroy anything below.

(Hilda): “By the gods…”

(Ur): “We’re running back to the village right now!”

They broke into a sprint, much faster than their previous jogging. Amazingly, they have no problem running in the forest, as they are used to the trees and roots. The wind gets stronger still, the now starting to fall heavily.

(Hilda): “What is happening?! Is there a frost giant around?!”

She screamed above the sound of the storm.

(Ur): “Less talking more running!”

And they ran as much as they could. They weren’t the only ones running, they could see silhouettes beyond the snow, running on the opposite direction of the mountains. Some they could recognize, such as deer, elks and wolves.

Not only that, they recognized beasts such as Frost Wolves, Trolls and Frost Bears, monsters that you don’t see that often here… and that certainly wouldn’t ignore the two kids that they just ran by without batting an eye.

Ur didn’t pay much attention, glad that the monsters chose to ignore them. Hilda, however, is much more curious, and she almost stopped to wonder why the monsters aren’t attacking, like the common wolves.

Another loud sound ensues, this time louder than the two before, making the earth shake so violently that Hilda and Ur lose their footing, making Hilda fall. Ur, in panic, barely manages to stay standing.

He hesitates, cogitating running away instead of going back to help Hilda that’s five meters behind him, since he is faster. However, during his hesitation, Hilda looks up and widens her eyes.

Confused, he also looks to where she is, looking up to the frozen mountain. And then… he sees a falling star.

A gigantic sphere of blue and white light, leaving behind a trail of white mist and crystals of ice. Both stay there, mesmerized for a second of the bizarrely beautiful sight… that lasted for a short time, however, as he noticed that the crashing site of the falling star…

Was where Ur was standing.

The boy immediately ran in Hilda’s direction, and the girl herself got up and turned away and ran as the fallen star fell down, crashing on the ground and felling trees, raising an enormous cloud of snow. The ground shook violently, Hilda and Ur hugged trees to not to fall.

Whatever creatures in the area ran away, scared from the collision. Mysteriously, the strong wind died as the snow settled back in the ground. Ur, now a bit more calm, said out loud in al almost panicked voice:

(Ur): “What the hell was that?!”

Hilda didn’t answer, instead looking to the sky.

(Hilda): “The snow… stopped…”

Ur also looked up, the wind also stopped, and lightning doesn’t cut the clouds anymore. Even the previous darkness seems lighter. Ur looks at the sky completely flagger basted while Hilda looks to where the star fell.

(Hilda): “I’m taking a look at the star!”

She said, darting off. Ur was one second too late to stop her from running.

(Ur): “Hilda! For fucks sake, wait for me!”

He said as he didn’t have that much choice. Meanwhile, Hilda, with the surprisingly intact basket in her hands, arrives at the edge of the crater with Ur in tow. She kneels at the edge, settling the basket on the ground.

(Ur): “God dammit Hilda! Can you stop with this habit of running face first in danger?!”

She glared at him, taking her eyes off the center of the crater where she still can’t see well due some mist.

(Hilda): “And you still call yourself a nord? You’re such a pussy!”

She said the “p” word once again, making him flinch. Before he could retort, she courageously jumped down the crater, making Ur have a short heart attack. She slid down the wall of the crater straight to the bottom.

Ur hesitated before jumping in too. When he got there, at the bottom of the six meters deep and twenty meters wide crater, he saw Hilda kneeling besides a figure, most likely what fell from the skies. She looked back at him with wide eyes.

(Hilda): “Ur… I think this guy is a god…”

He looked down to the figure, a child of their age more or less, dressed only in a fur skirt, fur bracers and fur around his shins. Black hair, slim body, closed eyes, his right hand strongly gripping an axe.

(Ur): “A god?”