The Journey to Find Mimir

Chapter Fifty-Five: Down Came the Rain and Washed the Smallings Out

Okay, I have a confession. It is a rather silly thing to admit. I mean, I knew that the plan ended with us going down the drain. I was aware that the Vimur River ran through the frozen land of giants. I understood temperature and the properties of water.

Okay, here it is:

I was surprised I was suddenly cold and wet. 

Hearthstone and I fell through the air, hurtling towards the floor beneath the floating bowls of Utgard-Loki's fountain. The excess water from the third bowl spilled artfully onto the ground, causing the Vimur River to pool slightly before making its way down the drain. Thankfully, this is where we were headed.

My body smacked into the freezing river. I gasped, accidentally inhaling a mouthful of ice water, causing me to choke. Shock hit me like an avalanche. Every drop of Jotunheim winter soaked through my clothes. My veins flooded with glaciers, with frostbite, with ice. 

With a grunt, Hearthstone hit the water directly after me. I barely had time to process what was happening -- the cold, the fall, if Hearthstone was okay -- when the water pulled me down the drain. I disappeared into the dark. 

If the drain was a gaping mouth, the tunnel was a frozen throat. 

Hearthstone and I scrambled inside the small, slick tunnel. An extreme slant shot us downwards at unbelievable speeds. Darkness took our vision; the river's roar took my hearing. The frigid water rose to my chest, and I started to shake uncontrollably. I began to hallucinate, imagining a furious, faraway wail in all the noise, the enraged cry echoing in my ears.  

Just as we managed to orient ourselves in the tunnel, me first and Hearthstone somewhere behind, the slope began to sharpen. Faster and faster, Hearthstone and I flew down the drain. 

Suddenly, it hit me. What was at the bottom? 

The Vimur River led to the well, of course. But Hearthstone and I were racing at high speeds. What exactly were we heading towards? 

The slope continued to sharpen, the water rising higher and higher. Ice water climbed to my neck. 

What would happen first?

Would we drown? 

Hit a wall?

How long did it take for hypothermia to run its course?

My chattering teeth and violent shaking refused to stop. 

My only solace was the feeling of Hearthstone nearby. In the darkness, there was no way for us to communicate. No notebook. No choppy ASL. No shared glances. We weren't even within arm's reach. But somehow, amidst the chaos, his presence calmed me. 

I laughed out loud, the sound silent against the roar. 

How could this be possible? 

How could one person make you stronger than you actually felt? 

But it was true. I was different with Hearthstone there. 

To my surprise, hope blossomed in the dark.

We would make it to Mimir. 

Hearthstone would learn to do magic. 

I would avenge my father and earn the respect of Nidavellir. 

And as the light began to shine softly up ahead, as the slope of the tunnel disappeared completely, throwing us into the open air, as we fell into darkness, into nothingness, into Ginnungagap, into the Gap, into oblivion, into a gaping abyss of forever and always, I realized that the two of us would be okay as long as we were together.

The tunnel was gone.

We were falling through the air.