Chapter 11: Garmr

Opening File: Helheim

Helheim, also known as Hel, is one of the Nine Realms of the World Tree, the final destination of the dishonorable dead. Helheim is known as the Realm of the Dead - and the location that those who die a dishonorable death are forced to tread through the icy lands where no fire can live.

The Realm of the Dead is a nightmarish land of intense darkness and unyielding cold, being locked in a state of permanent deep-freeze, the extreme temperatures are so lethal that even Odin himself is unable to survive there for very long. Those who die as criminals, of disease, mishap and age end up spending eternity in Helheim, where they are forever tormented by visions of their past.

The realm possesses dark clouds covering the skies, an emerald-colored thin fog and mist, mountains of ice, structures made of stone and human-shaped metal statues. An ever-present wind current, known as the Winds of Hel, always blows throughout the entire realm. There are spherical devices that can hold the winds, which are usually used as door locks. Despite the overwhelming cold and abundant ice, there are non-frozen rivers of water that flow from waterfalls where Týr's Temple is located. A ship there can be used to traverse these rivers.

Helheim's architecture consists of bridges, gates and buildings made of an ebony black stone, most of which are covered by thick layers of ice and snow. Most of the metal statues scattered throughout the realm depict humans in lament states, and others hold wind-retaining spheres in their hands.

Groups of savage undead marauders including Hel-Walkers, Travelers, and Revenants can often be found roaming the endless wastelands presumably looking for new victims or perhaps a way to escape back to the physical world. In addition, other creatures can also be encountered as well such as Nightmares and Ogres. Because of this, Helheim is often viewed by many as being a very lawless and violent place.

Those who die and go to Helheim seem to appear primarily as dark featureless silhouetted spirits lacking any physical form of their own. They appear to be mostly indifferent in nature, however they have only been forced to respond to others when the demon Fenrir feasted on several of their souls and when they felt the power of the Carlos Hunter's Semblance.

Past the bridge itself is where the residents are usually tormented by visions of their pasts created by the emerald fog taking shape. In this place rises the highest building in all of Helheim, where an enormous silver eagle, Hraesvelg, sits and simply watches over Helheim and its inhabitants.

The ruler of Helheim is Loki's daughter Hela who was forced to be its ruler by Odin, and she is unable to leave the realm. It is rumored that she is trying to make Hraesvelg the new ruler so she can finally leave the realm of the dead.

Close File

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Opening File: Fenrir

The wolf monster known as Fenrir has had two different interpretations as to what it is. Norse legends claim that Fenrir is the son of Loki and the Jotun Angrboda, sibling to Hela and the World Serpent Jormungandr. All of them were born in Jotunheim. Once the Gods found out about their existence, they began to fear them as there were prophesies that these three siblings would bring great misfortune upon the Gods due to nature of both of their parents, their father Loki in particular.

Subsequently, Odin commanded the other Gods to journey into Jotunheim and bring the three siblings to him. When they arrived in Asgard, Odin proceeded to throw Jormungandr into the ocean of Midgard and banish Hela to Helheim after giving her authority over the dead. Fenrir however was kept in Asgard, but inspired such fear in the Gods that only Týr was brave enough to approach the wolf and give him food. The Gods noticed that Fenrir was rapidly growing bigger with every passing day, which only made them more fearful of him due to the prophecy that the wolf would bring them great harm. Thus, they decided to try and imprison Fenrir.

The Gods then forged the fetter (chain) Leyding. Bringing the chain to the wolf, the Aesir suggested he test his strength with it. Judging that the chain was not beyond his strength, Fenrir let the Gods bind him with it. With the first kick, the binding snapped, and the wolf freed himself.

The Gods then forged a second chain twice as strong as Leyding, which they named Dromi. Confident that this chain would imprison the wolf, they once again approached him. Claiming that he would achieve great fame for his strength should the wolf break of this binding, Fenrir once again allowed the Gods to place the fetter on him noting that the chain was indeed very strong and that he needed to take risks to earn great fame. Fenrir strained hard against the fetter, eventually breaking it into many pieces which flew off into the distance.

Fearing that they could not bind the Wolf-Giant, Odin commissioned some Dwarves to make an unbreakable binding that Fenrir could not escape from. The Dwarves then crafted a chain using six mystical ingredients: the footfall of a cat, the beard of a woman, the roots of a mountain, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish and the spittle of a bird. The resulting binding was as soft silk ribbon and was named Gleipnir. After it was delivered to the Aesir, they took Fenrir out onto an island called Lyngvi, which lay in the middle of a lake called Amsvartnir (pitch-black). There, the Gods presented Gleipnir to Fenrir, stating that despite the chain looking like a silk ribbon, even the Gods could not tear it and demonstrated this by pulling at the fetter with all of their might, but it did not break. However, the Jotunn became suspicious due to the deceptive appearance of the chain and refused to let himself be bound, stating that he believed the ribbon was made with art and trickery.

However, the Gods appealed to his ego, stating that Fenrir could easily break such a pitiful silken strip, as he had broken two great iron bonds made by the Gods themselves previously. They also added on, that if Fenrir was not able to break the silken binds, then it would be very clear to them that Fenrir was no threat to be feared at all and he would be set free immediately. Fenrir, still suspicious, responded that he would only allow himself to be bound if one of the Gods present put their hand in his mouth as a show of good faith. If he could break free of the chain, all would be well, but if he did not, the God would lose their hand.

Hearing this, the Gods looked amongst themselves, knowing that someone had to sacrifice their hand to the wolf if he was to be imprisoned forever, but none of them were willing to do so. Týr then silently stepped up and placed his right hand inside the wolfs jaws, after which Fenrir allowed the Aesir to bind him once again. As Fenrir kicked and thrashed to free himself, Gleipnir only grew stronger and tighter. Seeing that the wolf was finally imprisoned, all of the Gods laughed except Týr, who lost his right hand to an enraged Fenrir. The Gods then took singular cord called Gelgja (fetter), which hung from Gleipnir and fed it through the stone slab Gjöll (Resounding) and fastened it deep into the ground, after which they put another great rock Thviti (Batterer) on top of it to act as an anchoring peg. Further enraged, Fenrir attempted to bite the Gods, who then thrust a sword into his upper jaw, so he could not close his mouth.

Other legends state that Fenrir is a demonic spirit who consumes the bodies and souls of his victims. Recent reports of Fenrir coming into conflict with the Slime Elemental Ed Hill have made it seem like the second rumor to be true. However, that is not the case. Recent information shared by Nari and master wizard Douxie Casperan have revealed that both legends are in fact true.

When Sammael invaded Asgard it was with the help of Loki who had become corrupted by the Grimm Essence. When they invaded, they went to where Fenrir was imprisoned and freed him but not before they corrupted him with the Grimm Essence and lent him loose on Earth where his legend of being a demonic spirit became known.

After Fenrir was defeated by Ed the souls he had consumed were released greatly weakening him. In this weakened state Fenrir went to Helheim where his sister allowed him to feast on the souls to regain his strength.

Close File

Xxx

Helheim

The frozen realm of the dishonored dead, a place not many among the living would usually venture to, and one group of people was one of those few who would come here.

A Todash portal had opened up and stepping out of it was Jim in his Daylight Armor, Claire, Douxie, Archie, Roland, Toby, and Steve. Taking a moment, they saw the realm before them. A frozen wasteland of rocky terrain, emerald-colored mists could be seen in parts of the land, dark featureless silhouetted spirits lacking any physical form walked by paying no attention to the group, and in the distance perched on a mountain was an enormous silver eagle with four wings.

"That's a big bird." Steve said with a little unease in his voice.

"That's Hraesvelg mates." Douxie said to the group. "She's a Jotun who's responsible for the cold of Helheim. She won't bother us so we should be fine."

"If we go this way, we'll find Garmr." Roland said as he pointed to a pathway cut through the mountain. "Though I recommend we all stay close, who knows what dangers lurk within this place."

"Plenty."

The group drew their weapons and turned their heads upward to see who talked. Perched on a cliff above them was a barefooted woman clad in black and green armor that was worn out. She stepped off the cliff and landed in front of the group without any sort of pain from her landing. She had long dark hair and green eyes, her overall appearance was haggard and appeared almost sickly.

"Hela." Archie said as he perched himself on Douxie's shoulder.

"Daughter of Loki and Angrboda, sister of Fenrir wolf, and goddess of Helheim." Douxie said with narrowed eyes.

"Indeed," Hela said as she walked around the group. "Sometimes called Hel, though most mortals dare not speak my name at all." Hela turned to see no reaction from the group but glares from them. "No jokes, humans? Who the Hel are you? What the Hel do you want? You look Hela bad. I was expecting more bravado."

The group still said nothing to the death goddess but soon their attention was caught by a dark chuckle. Soon black like flames appeared to form a humanoid body next to Hela. This figure had a muscular frame with the head and claws of a beast, resembling a cross between a dragon and a wolf. It has small, round eyes with black pupils and a mouthful of permanently bared fangs, giving it a savage expression.

"You can't expect much from these creatures' dear sister." The dark being said. "After all they no nothing of the power we possess."

"What is that?" Jim said as he ignited Excalibur with its light magic.

As soon as Hela and the dark being saw Excalibur's power, they instinctively backed away a little from Jim.

"The power of that sword contains both light and anti-magic." The dark being said. "Lady Nimue's god killer blade has entered this place."

"And if your wise you'll stay away from us Fenrir." Douxie said to the dark creature.

"Wait, Fenrir? As in Fenrir wolf?" Claire asked.

"Indeed." Roland spoke up. "My father told me legends of Fenrir, one of Norse myths and one that claimed he was a malevolent spirit who feasted on souls."

"And both stories talk about the same Fenrir." Archie said. "What they don't mention is that when the Grimm invaded Asgard Sammael was aided by Loki who had been corrupted by the Grimm essence. They freed Fenrir and turned him into…that."

"Your words wound me young dragon." Fenrir said with feigned pain. "I am a devourer who feasts upon the souls of mankind."

"I heard you recently went up against the Slime Elemental and lost all the souls you had." Roland said to Fenrir causing the Fallen Jotun wolf to growl at the Gunslinger. "But it seems you've come to Helheim to recover, eating the souls of others to gain strength like the coward you really are."

"Mind your tongue Gunslinger."

"Though I must say this is a rather unique gathering of individual." Hela said as she paced around the group once. "A magic dragon and six humans whose own lives have changed. Each and every one of you has had your souls altered one way or the other. The Gunslinger who has taken the Light of All and mastered the Seven Chakras of Aura, both powers turning him into something that can match the gods. The Wizard and Shadow Witch, thanks to your connection to magic. The wizard possesses semi-immortality allowing him to live without aging. The Shadow Witch may not possess that same immortality but ages at a much slower pace. The same thing for your three friends here though this is due to continued expose with magical items and beings for so many times."

"Wait, Jim, Steve, Claire, and I are going to live forever?!" Toby asked in shock, surprised by the fact that he will outlive most people.

"Only for a few hundred years." Hela said.

"As well as anyone else that's been involved in all the magic adventures we've been on." Claire said.

Jim wanted to say something else but noticed that Fenrir was looking at him and Claire rather suspiciously.

"What do you want?" Jim demanded from the Jotun wolf.

"You and your mate have met Rolf. I can smell his scent on the two of you, no matter how faint it is."

"You know Rolf?" Jim asked as he remembered the blue-haired preteen from the Crom Crisis.

"His family are my enemies. I slew them when he was still a boy." Fenrir said causing the group to scowl. "He took the Slime Elemental and other children around his age under his wing to teach them how to be Hunters. I will enjoy destroying him when the time comes."

"And as for why we are talking to you all we know why you are here." Hela said to the group. "You've come for Garmr and as much as I wish to stop you, I've lost interest as the goal I wanted cannot come to pass."

"What are you-" Douxie tried to ask before he noticed something on Hela's hip. It was a sword, one that he'd only seen in Merlin's books. Acting quickly, he used his magic to telekinetically take it and caught it in his hand much to everyone's shock. Looking it over he confirmed as to what it was.

"This is Freyr's sword The Sword of Summer!" Douxie exclaimed. "Fuzzbuckets! You were the one who freed Garmr."

"Quilty as charged." Hela said nonchalantly.

"Wait what?" Steve asked.

"Douxie what are you talking about?" Toby asked.

"What he means is that Freyr's sword was the only thing capable of breaking Garmr's chains." Archie explained as he glared at the goddess. "The chains were made from metaphysical concepts to keep that soulless Jotun-Wolf from eating them. The only thing capable of destroying them was a particularly sharp blade that is believed to be capable of cutting through anything. A blade that once belonged to Freyr before he offered it to Skirnir for the hand of the Jotun goddess Gerd. Though this begs the question, how did you get it and why did you release Garmr?"

"Odin forced me to be the ruler of this realm and as such I am unable to leave it." Hela said as she narrowed her eyes. "I'm tired of it so I sent some of my Hel-Walkers to retrieve the sword and used it to cut Garmr's chains. I had hoped it would bring about Ragnarok so that my time as ruler of this realm may finally end, but alas I learned the truth behind the prophecy."

"What do you mean?" Roland asked as he trained his guns on the goddess.

"Ragnarok was predicted by the Jotun Groa who claimed that all of the Nine Realms would be destroyed." Hela explained. "However, I have learned that she made that up to protect the realms from Odin's paranoia. Ragnarok isn't the destruction of the Nine Realms, but rather the destruction of Asgard itself."

"But that would mean…" Jim said.

"That prophecy was a lie." Claire finished.

"Odin was already paranoid about the Nine Realms being destroyed but if its just Asgard that will be destroyed who knows what damage he would do just to keep his home realm safe." Douxie said with widened eyes.

"And while it may be interesting to see how much more he would fall it still wouldn't end my time as this realm's forced ruler." Hela stated. "Which is why I won't stop you from trying to fight Garmr, no matter how pointless it may be. You can keep The Sword of Summer; it serves no purpose for me and Surtur is too depressed to take it when I offered it to him. I can only suspect that both he and his estranged wife Sinmara know the truth about Ragnarok as well."

"We thank you for allowing us to continue our work in your realm." Roland said as he and the others continued down the path.

Once the group was out of earshot Fenrir turned to his sister.

"Hela, I know you sensed the contained wolf soul the Trollhunter had on him. What if they did find a way to defeat Garmr?!"

"It matters not to me." Hela said as she turned around and walked away. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go back to my original plan of making Hraesvelgr the new ruler of Helheim."

Fenrir watched as his sister left before turning to where the humans and dragon went before turning into wisps of black flame and followed them.

The group treaded through the realm of dishonored dead, coming across souls spending their afterlife in eternal damnation that paid no attention to the living. As they made their way, they began to hear the faint sounds of growling and chains rattling. Carefully and slowly, they approached the sound once they got to where it was coming from, they found themselves in a clearing, and in front of them was Garmr. The giant Jotun Wolf had got its chain stuck on a sharp rock and was using its teeth to try and pry the chain off the rock. The Jotun-Wolf hadn't noticed the group who then quickly hid behind a boulder.

"This could be our one chance to do this." Jim whispered as he got out the knife holding Barks' soul and handed it to Douxie.

"All I have to do is just stab Garmr with this and say the word to release the soul." Douxie whispered back before he slowly approached the Jotun-wolf.

The tension in the air was so thick that you could practically cut it with a knife. Douxie slowly and carefully made his way to Garmr's right back leg and drew the knife from its scabbard.

"Vekja." He whispered before quickly plunging the blade into the Garmr's leg.

Garmr managed to get its chain off the rock and howls in pain from the knife and begins to thrash around forcing Douxie and the others to scatter from the giant wolf. Garmr's actions were that of confusion and pain. He looked around and saw the humans and small dragon, he growled at them but then he brough his head to the ground and out his paws on top of it. He was now making a sound that seemed to be a mixture of a growl and a whimper.

"Is it working?" Steve asked.

"I'm pretty sure it is." Toby said next.

"Barks are you their!? Barks!" Jim said to the Jotun-Wolf.

The wolf in question just looked around in confusion before running off into the distance.

"BARKS COME BACK!" Jim shouted as he chased after the wolf giant.

"Wait up Jim!" Claire said to her boyfriend as she, Steve, and Toby chased after Jim and the wolf.

"Did it work?" Douxie asked as he saw that the knife had fallen off of Garmr and picked it up.

"It must have." Archie said as he perched himself on a rock. "Barks' soul must be in some sort of shock from dying and suddenly finding himself in a new body."

"And now he needs help." Roland said next. "The least we can do now is help Jim in calming down his pet."

"A pet that's now bigger than his house." Archie dryly commented on as the three chased after the others.

What no one realized was that they were being watched. Black flames materialized and formed the body of the monster known as Fenrir. He had observed the group and couldn't believe what he had saw…

"They put a soul in Garmr's body?" The corrupted Jotun wolf said in shock.

He had seen many things but soul taking over Garmr's soulless body was something he had never seen before, but it provided an opportunity for him. One that could help him with all of his plans.

'If a soul can take over a body as strong as Garmr's it will inherit his body's immortality and power making them more powerful than what they once were. I could never consume Garmr because he lacked a soul but if I were to consume the soul of the one who has usurped his body…' Fenrir thought to himself before saying…

"Then I can exact my revenge on the Slime Elemental." Fenrir said upon realization. He had already returned to full power but with this soul he can exact his revenge on not just Slime Elemental but all of his enemies. "You may not have the same ambition as me my dear sister and it is for that reason that you will be left behind."

Xxx

The group had followed the trail of destruction left behind by Barks/Garmr's running off with wrecked rocks and Garmr's giant chains now removed. The Jotun wolf had hidden himself in a dark cave, they couldn't see the wolf's body, but they could make out his glowing eyes. Garmr's once deathly icy blue colored eyes had turned brown and glowing hazel irises. He growled at the group that had gathered outside of the cave.

"So, what do we do now?" Steve asked with uncertainty in his voice.

"I hope you have a plan here Jimbo." Toby said to his best friend.

Jim attached Excalibur to the back of his armor and slowly approached Barks.

"Barks…" Jim said in a calming voice to his pet wolf. "It's me, Jim, remember?"

The Jotun wolf in question stopped growling and slowly emerged from the cave, the gigantic wolf's fur had changed color. Gone were the blood stains, the white fur with cyan highlights had turned gray (and white), with vivid hazel irises and light brown pupils. The fur on the left side of his face was discolored a bright white. The wolf looked at Jim curiously before going down and started licking him and given the wolf's giant size his tongue was the same size as Jim getting him wet with the wolf's saliva.

"Ok, ok, ok!" Jim said getting the wolf to stop licking him and started petting Barks' nose. "It's good to have you back boy."

"So, I guess he's going to need a bigger doghouse now." Toby spoke up.

"So, I guess that's it then." Claire said as she summoned her new Shadow Staff. "I didn't even need to use this."

"At least you have a new staff." Archie said.

"Am I the only one who thinks this was a little anticlimactic?" Steve asked.

"Our duty is not to have excitement but to protect the world from the forces of darkness." Roland said.

"But was I the only one who was expecting like a final boss fight like in a video game or something?" Steve asked.

"Why did you have to say that?" Toby said in a deadpan voice.

Suddenly the group heard a dark chuckle all around them. Barks himself was growling at the voice. Black flames appear in front of the group and forms into Fenrir who has taken his giant wolf form. Jim, Claire, Douxie, and Roland took point and had their weapons drawn on the Fallen Jotun wolf.

"What do you want Fenrir!?" Douxie demanded from the monster.

"I want that wolf." Fenrir said to the group. "Taking over Garmr's body has allowed it to gain its power and immortality. I could have never consumed Garmr because of its soulless nature. But now thanks to your pet I can and gain strength from it."

"That's not going to happen." Jim said with determination in his voice.

"Good, I was going to consume you all anyway." Fenrir said as he lunged towards the group.

Jim, Claire, Douxie, and Roland charged forward to meet him head on.

To be continued