A/N: thank you all so much for your patience and well-wishes. Enjoy the story.

Third P.O.V:

A young woman stood on the edge of the ice facing the dark, half frozen waters.

The white snow lacked its brightness as the sky churned grey and a bitter wind sliced around the landscape.

As the moments passed, the sky grew steadily darker, as if the heavens were preparing for something horrible.

The woman stood, mere feet away from the edge of a jagged cliff made of ice and snow. Below her, black waters crashed against the icy shoreline. A fall from here would mean death to anyone else.

This was lawless place. Somewhere beyond the reach of the ancient gods few even remember; much less believed in.

This place was beyond help. Beyond reason.

And it was cold.

From a distance, the young woman on the cliff would have seemed to be a statue. Cold and unmoving. Her face may as well have been stone.

Dressed in simple bronze armor that all though new and polished, most would assume it hadn't seen battle in several thousand years. They would assume wrong.

The woman's hands were folded on the hilt of a sword that was stuck down into the ice at her feet. A simple, leaf like blade about three feet long. It's bronze glow was the most prominent light in the area, casting a light gold color on the the snow beneath it.

Like the armor, the blade looked like it would have been wielded thousands of years ago. However, it was freshly sharpened. Its leather grip redone. This blade was not for show. It was ready for something wicked.

The frosty wind whipped through the air once more, blowing the dark hair out of the closed eyes of the woman.

A crunch of snow could be heard throughout the dark scene. It seemed to ring out over the sound of the howling wind and thrashing waves below.

The heroine inhaled a sharp breath and slowly exhaled, a fine steam escaping her parted lips. Her eyes opened. Once, they were a peaceful sea green color. Today, they matched the cold, dark rage of the violent ocean below.

"You've chosen an interesting place, little girl." A calm voice announced from behind the woman. She did not turn to face the man standing behind her. Her hands twitched on the sword hilt. Besides this, she showed no indication she had even heard him speak.

The man was also dressed in armor. His was dark. It radiated pain. If someone looked close, they could find the faces of horrid creatures and monsters, screaming out in silent agony, just beneath the dark surface.

In contrast to the simple armor the woman wore, his was extravagant and horrid. It resembled some hulking beast out of a nightmare.

The man was impossibly large. He towered over the slender frame of the woman. If she was a fish, the man before her was a shark. A hungry beast. A killing machine. The perfect predator.

Form behind the twisted helmet of the man, he had no face. Merely a void. A black hole full of hate and pain. An eternal damnation to which there was no escape. In his hands, a double headed battle ax with blades the size of a tank. The blades were sharpened to a sickening point. The dark metal drawing the shadows of the area towards it, consuming the light of everything near.

Still the woman did not waver in his presence. She did not twitch or cower at his terrifying aura. She held her back to him. Open and defenceless. Waiting.

"The land beyond the gods. Never did I imagine you would pick here. I must question your reasoning, little girl. You have chosen the one place where no one could possibly help you. You are all alone here. Just like you were down there. You are all alone, trapped out here with me." A small smile played on the woman's lips. She straightened her back and raised her head.

"I would disagree." Her voice was calm and light.

"Oh?"

"Yes. I am here with out help. This is Alaska, the land beyond the gods. No monster, god, demon, or even spirit can reach this place. Even you are only here because I have given you a way to tether yourself to this place for our battle. You're desire for me is all that connects you to this place. And with it, the majority of your consciousness." The woman slowly pulled her sword from the ice, its bronze glow seeming to increase as the held it in her hand. She turned, facing the monster in front of her. She held his gaze.

"You will die here, Tartarus. If you tell me where my sister is, I will make your death painless." Her tone held no room for negotiations. No room for any change. The woman was planning to kill the monster of a man standing before her. And for a second, the demon believed her.

The old God's dark laugh filled the air.

"You believe you could fight me, little girl? And you believe you could win? I could crush you with the snap of my fingers. Level this entire world without even breaking a sweat. I am the primordial god of the Pit. You are nothing to me." The god bit out. His voice coated the air like oil, slick and dangerous.

"If you are so desperate for your sister, little girl, tell me, why didn't you just come to my domaine in the first place? It would have been so much more enjoyable." The woman quirked an eyebrow.

"You think I am actually stupid enough to try and fight you in your own domain? I might as well hand you myself on a platter if I stuck with that plan. No. Here, I have a chance."

"A chance of what? Prolonging your death? Face it little girl. It doesn't matter whether you fight me in the Pit or in Alaska. You are still going to loose. You are out matched, out classed, and a dead man walking. Even if you miraculously defeat me, you must still march into my domain. And you must still be able to find your sister." The primordial laughed again. "This can all be avoided. Come back to me, little girl. You know you want to. It's just so much easier with me. No more gods. No more responsibility. No more death. Join me once again, little girl. Come play with me in the Pit. You had so much fun the last time." The ancient God's words hung in the air like a shadow. The woman's face remained impartial. Passive. Stone.

Her eyes simmered with a powerful rage.

"Give. Me. My. Sister." She repeated. The god laughed again. He walked toward her, the ground shaking with every giant step. He crossed over to her in a single one. Her head barely reached to the middle of his shin. He knelt down, and with great delicacy, lifted her chin with the edge of his battle ax.

"Come with me and she is yours. Just come with me, save your sister, and admit it. You liked it in Hell."