Bonds

"Yes, the boy speaks the truth, we goblin kind are friendly with the dragon, and on top of that, me…I mean…I can lead you to the spring," Ginsu touched his nose, "I can smell warm surfaces." it said with a creepy smile glued on its face.

Ellen sighed, "Fine. The goblin will help,"

Ginsu jumped.

"But, if it dare gets its hands on me, I will burn it to a crisp," she made a flame on her finger just to scare the goblin, which was successful because of the haunting look that was in her eyes.

Ron just laughed at what was happening, this entire journey so far was the greatest adventure in his entire life. These two were his first friends because, after his father's death, he had shut almost everyone out and had left the door only open for his mom, to him she was the last person on earth, to him she was his best and only friend. That's why, if it meant crossing a realm of fire and fighting a bounty hunter or even giants. He knows he could have done it with or without the powers bestowed on him as the reincarnation of the king of gods.

Nathan and Ellen had changed him, he cared about them and didn't want to lose them. Back on the train when he saw Ellen was in a bad position all he could think about was saving her, even though it meant him losing his life in the process. He felt connected to her, not because they are both reincarnations of powerful deities, but as friends, he was learning how to care and love. This is why he believed what Thor said, that he's different from Odin. The main reason for Odin's loss and downfall was that he had no support from the other gods. He was too proud.

"Hey, man." Nathan walked up to him holding two bottles of cola he had pulled from Ellen's bag.

He gave Ron one, then sat down right next to him.

Ron suddenly laughed, "How does all this fit in her bag?"

A magician never reveals her secrets," Nathan also laughed along, "I've heard." he continued,

Nathan looked exhausted, his hair was stained with snow particles that had failed to melt and of course, he didn't notice since godslayers don't feel cold. They were made to kill gods after all.

A silence grew in between them.

"I can't believe we've made it this far, and to mention we fought a giant. Can you believe that?" Nathan said, staring at the fire.

"Best moments of my life," Ron commented

"Truth is I don't know why I followed you that night, it was like a voice woke me up and told me to follow you that night," Nathan continued,

Ron sighed. Nathan deserved to know the truth, with all they had gone through, he deserved to know. "The voice is called Thera," he blurted, "she's the guardian of the world tree, she mentioned something about a prophecy, the prophecy claims that the world tree will revive one of the oldest gods who will end the reign of the godslayers," Ron didn't like the last part, because Nathan was a godslayers.

"I know Ron, the prophecy was given to the Valkyrie thousands of years ago. We chose to keep it secret because Thera asked us to,"

Ron was stunned, "Wait, you knew all along?"

"Most of everything, I didn't know about the Aesir till I used mindsight on you and Thor," Nathan said. "I know that the death of the world tree is Ragnarok, and I am going to help you stop it,"

Ron's eyes shimmered with tears trying to escape. He didn't know why this made him happy, but seeing Nathan accept to help him save the world was amazing.

"Guys come see this," Ellen called, she moved towards them holding the map. She showed them and the whole thing was blank.

"It's blank,"

"Exactly," she said. "I think this place is messing with the magic used on this map."

"Let me take a closer look," Ron pulled closer to her and stared at the map. He held out his hand with the ring and tried using magic. But the ring did nothing, it didn't even bother to glow.

"These are uncharted lands, finding your way around this place isn't easy," Ginsu spoke, "We will have to use the dwarf tunnels."

Dwarf Tunnels?" Ron hadn't heard of this yet.

"They are ancient pathways the dwarfs made in worlds to support their kind, and this looks like the perfect place to build an entrance," Nathan explained.

Ginsu smirked, then went on its fours, and then started sniffing the ground they were all standing on. It sniffed while moving around till it stopped on the stone wall behind them.

"Telpa," it said which meant here in goblin. It teleported and appeared on Nathan's shoulder.

"There's a tunnel," it pointed at the wall. Then Ellen blew it open with a fireball. And the entrance revealed itself.

Nathan was the first to step in, his eyes wide like some child looking at a Lego toy collection. The entrance was modern for something that was built in the time of the gods. The lights automatically turned on to light the way. And the floor was metallic, the walls had the history of dwarfs engraved on them, their wars, their victories, and their losses were all carved on the metallic walls.

"Dwarfs treasure history, because they believe that history repeats itself," Nathan said while running his fingers on the carvings," These walls tell the story of Dwalin, the first dwarf king, who ruled for years with the god's blessing when he was murdered the dwarfs demanded justice and wanted war, " he said as they walked further, "the war lasted three hundred years until Thor chose to interfere and negotiated by offering them fragments of places in the nine realms and that's why most places are advanced, because of the dwarfs."

He continued reading the walls. "During their travels, the dwarfs met with Vulcan; the Greek god of fire and forge who they shared their secrets with and that's what made the god even better at his works."

"How come you know so much about the dwarfs?"

"When I was still a child I would sneak off and play with dwarfs all day, and that's how I picked up on their stories,"

"Stop," Ginsu yelled, then sniffed the air. They had stopped at a T tunnel with two corridors splitting the path.

Ginsu disappeared and appeared on the ground, he stretched out his neck and sniffed both sides. Then disappeared and appeared back on Nathan's shoulder and pointed left. He looked worried. He had picked up another scent.

Nathan saw the terror in the goblin's eyes, "What is it?"

"Wolves," the creature replied in a mumble. They might have attracted a pack when they broke through the wall.