AN: Hello all my dear readers. I would first and foremost like to apologize for the late update. I had a busy day today and then when I got home promptly fell asleep. Second, I haven't forgotten you all and here is the next installment XD I hope you will all enjoy XD  

Chapter 3

More than a month had already passed and both Valka and Stoick were happy with the progress at the site. It was nearly two months and they had found out that the slab extended further into the ground so more excavation was needed. After painstaking hours and days of carefully digging they finally revealed the entire entryway of the tomb. Norse runes were carved at the bottom of the slab. Valka had copied the runes and had sent them off for translation. It came back a few days later as the workers were beginning to pry open the heavy granite slab.

'The Valkyrie shall soar once more.' was what was carved into the slab according to the translation team at the museum. Valka wondered if it was a metaphor. Valkyries were depicted in the sagas as charging into battle on winged horses.

Stoick and Valka gasped as they had finally managed to get the tomb open. It was bare, which was unusual for a viking tomb. The only thing in it was a plain granite sarcophagus with the same seal as the stone slab carved into it.

"This is it." Valka breathed out. "We've finally found her."

"Should we open the sarcophagus?" Eret asked.

"No!" Both Stoick and Valka shouted. Their voices echoing in the room.

"Even if this place has a cold climate we shouldn't risk exposing the remains to it." Stoick said. "It would be better to open it in a controlled environment like the one set up at the museum. But first we need to catalog the layout of this place accurately. How many total stations do we have available?"

"We have enough." Eret said. "It will take awhile to get such a heavy piece to the chopper. If we need to avoid damage then we will have to be very careful in lifting this."

"We might as well go and get the scroll." Valka said as the question the elder posed still rang in her head. "We are this close."

"Very well." Eret said. "I'll have the extraction team standing by. They will help the workers load it onto the helicopter. We can head to the village in the meantime.

The Haddocks nodded and followed Eret to the jeep and headed for the village. They were still on the end of mean looks from those living in the village. Eret parked the car in front of the elder's house and they stepped out. Stoick observed the curtain move a bit and then the door opened to reveal the elder's granddaughter. "You've come back." She muttered as she looked at them unimpressed.

"Were you hoping we wouldn't?" Eret asked rhetorically but the lady simply gave him a glare before saying "yes". She motioned for them to follow her inside. The elder stood, with staff in hand, near the window before she stepped into the backyard and started scribbling.

"Have you made your decision?" Her granddaughter translated.

"We have." Stoick said. "We would like the scroll."

"Very well" Gothi wrote. "But remember. You have been warned. What you will unleash will be an age old battle which has been waiting to be fought."

"I highly doubt that." Eret muttered and Gothi walked up to him before smacking him on the head with her staff.

"Hey!! OUCH!!" Eret shouted as he covered his head.

Gothi started to furiously scribble in the dirt now. "You will be meddling in the affairs of the gods!!" Was translated to the trio. "Do not take this lightly!!"

The Haddocks still thought that it was simple fantasy but they chose not to say anything. The elder motioned to her granddaughter who grumbled but stepped out of the room. When she returned she was carrying an ancient looking scroll. She held the scroll delicately and gave it to Valka. "Thank you" Valka said.

"Don't thank me." The woman muttered. "I'm not happy about this but we villagers are peaceful people. Your organization would have come in guns blazing since I'm sure they already suspected that we were in possession of it."

The Haddocks frowned but said nothing as they left the residence. Gothi watched them drive off and then she looked to the square where the statue stood proudly.

"Grandmother are you sure about this?" Was asked as the young woman came to stand at the door. Gothi nodded and then pointed to the sky.

"Are you sure something ominous is coming?" She asked to only receive a nod.

Meanwhile back in the jeep Valka was carefully holding the scroll as they drove down the road. To her it was a precious find. She loved finding written records and this was no different. Sadly she could not read it. "We need to be careful with this." Valka stated. "Especially when we send a scan to Alvin."

"Of course dear" Stoick agreed.

Valka and Stoick ended up sending the scroll off with Eret after instructing him multiple times in the process of how to handle delicate ancient scrolls. They then decided to oversee the movement of the sarcophagus which would take approximately two days to complete, however the weather had other ideas as storm clouds rolled in late that night. The rain continued on the following morning which caused work to halt. They finally managed to load the sarcophagus onto the Chinook before departing back to Oslo.

"I've arranged for us to land at the international airport. The cargo plane that brought you here is already fuelled and awaiting our arrival." Eret explained as he glanced to the giant wooden crate in which they had carefully managed to place the artifact. "My time here is up so I'll also be accompanying you back to Berk."

Stoick and Valka nodded. They knew what would happen once they arrived. They had even formulated a plan to notify their son that they would be returning home. Unfortunately that would be when they have already landed at Berk International airport. They would be overseeing the delivery to the museum as well as watching the ritual The Society was planning to perform.

Valka could see the giant cargo plane which was waiting for them as they descended. The Chinook landed at the back of the cargo plane. The cargo doors opened as the staff gathered up their gear while a heavy duty forklift was used to get the giant crate out and into the cargo plane.

They were planning on boarding the plane when Stoick frowned and pointed to something. "Eret are those men ours?" He asked as he spotted several heavily armored SUV driving at top speed towards them.

Eret looked and cursed. "No they are not!! Everybody on board now!! We have to leave immediately!!" Eret shouted. The security guards which had accompanied them took up firing positions as the last of the crew was boarding. The captain started the engines and was planning to take off as the cargo hatch was closing when the first bullet hit. It ricocheted off of the plane but Valka still grabbed onto her husband for dear life. Their guards managed to fire off a few rounds themselves, hitting the tires of the SUVs, stopping them on the tarmac.

"Eret do you know who those men are?" Stoick asked as he held his terrified wife as more gunfire could be heard.

"I don't know." Eret stated as he himself looked worried. The plane finally lifted off and Valka let out a relieved breath when the gunfire had seized.

Once in the air Valka managed to calm herself. She was still slightly in shock by what had happened and was glad that no one was hurt. She looked at Eret "What the hell was that?!!" She then exclaimed.

"I don't know." Eret said looking very tired. Stoick had tried to calm his wife down.

"Then what do you know?" She then asked.

Eret looked at the security detail and he knew that they were thinking the same thing. "They were professionals, I'm guessing. They were much to organized to be random thieves."

"They were also targeting us. Or to be more specific, that." Eret said while jabbing his finger at the crate. "It's the only thing of value we have."

"You said we were covered. No one was supposed to know what we really were doing?" Stoick whispered to Eret now while Valka nodded.

"And no one should have." Eret muttered. "I'm very good at my job. The only thing I can think of is that we could have a traitor in our midst."

The plane ride to Berk after that was peaceful. Everyone was worn out and they were dozing onto each other.

"This is your captain speaking, We will begin our descent to Berk International within a few minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts." Came over the speaker as the passengers roused.

"Did we really sleep for nearly 7 hours?" Stoick asked as he stretched and popped the kinks out of his back. The landing this time was much smoother and Valka let out a happy sigh. She was glad to be back home.

Eret left to take care of the crate while the Haddocks went through security here. He had given them the papers which shouldn't arouse any suspicions.

"Dear I better call Hiccup." Valka said after they had passed customs and were waiting for Eret at the designated spot. She fished her phone out of her bag and turned it on, immediately noticing the missed messages and emails. Valka dialed a familiar number and waited for Hiccup to answer.

"Hello?" Came from the other end of the line.

"Hiccup darling, it's mom."

"Hi mom. Haven't heard from you in a while." Hiccup said through the receiver.

"Yes, the connection there was terrible." She lied. "Good news though. Our expedition was successful and we'll be flying home tonight. How is everything over there? Have you been eating well? You haven't been running through the rain have you?"

"Good mom, everything is good. I was just heading to work." She heard and hoped that her poor baby hadn't been exerting himself.

"Alright honey, we'll talk when we get home. You're father sends his love and be careful!!" She said as she spotted Eret coming through customs.

"Sure, sure mom." Hiccup replied before the call ended.

"It's loaded onto the truck." Eret spoke casually as to not arouse suspicion. "Follow me. Alvin is already aware of our arrival."

"The sterile room is set up?" Valka asked as they left the airport.

"Yes, it's set up in the museum basement." Eret said as he showed them the way to the car waiting to pick them up.

"Savage?" Stoick asked as he recognized the guard from the museum behind the wheel.

Savage gave the Haddocks a salute. "What are you doing here?"

"Alvin asked me to pick you all up. He had Snotlout cover my shift for the morning and he'll be too tired to really patrol tonight when we start the ritual."

"And the other staff?" Eret asked.

"They've been given half days." Savage laughed. "They probably think Alvin's gone mad!!"

The truck followed the car all the way to the museum and parked in the loading dock. Several staff members belonging to The Society helped unload the crate and bring it into the sterile room where Stoick and Valka proceeded to carefully pry it open.

"Oh my Thor Stoick." Valka exclaimed when the sarcophagus was finally opened. They looked in wonder at the approximately 1300 year old mummy which lay preserved with its armor still on.

"It's definitely female." Stoick concluded as he pointed out details in the armor.

They spend quite a while examining the remains when Alvin came knocking.

"So?" He asked over the microphone.

"It's definitely female and the armor seemed to fit the period. Other than it being well preserved we can't tell." Stoick concluded. "There is no name etched in the tomb or anywhere on the sarcophagus. The seal is the only identifier we have."

Alvin nodded. "Well we have the complete ritual now and it was all thanks to your boy." He told them. Stoick's eyebrows shot up while Valka looked equally surprised.

"Hiccup.... Knows about this?" She asked.

"No, he just translated the scroll." Alvin said. I sent him home afterwards. "Why, Dagur and the others in the linguistics department were up in arms. I might have to give the boy a job there, he's a regular savant with languages."

"Now it's getting late. I've given the staff the day off and the museum has been closed for inspection." Alvin explained as he gestured to some men behind them. "They are here to move her to the ritual room. You two can follow me as the others want to congratulate you on your finds. The scroll especially was informative."

The men wore protective masks and gloves when handling the mummy while Stoick and Valka followed Alvin. They had been very carefully lifting the slab when a voice startled them. "What in blazes is going on here?!!" They turned to see Snotlout standing there with his flashlight pointed at them. "Who are you and what are you doing in this area?!" Snotlout asked threateningly. "I've never seen you lot before!"

"We were just transporting this to the proper place." One of the men said as he tried to get them out of it. "Likely story." Snotlout huffed. "I know all the employees here and you don't work here!!" Snotlout then picked up his walkie talkie as he was about to radio it in and sound the alarm when someone tasered him from behind.

"Egh" Snotlout said as he fell to the ground and spasmed before he was tasered again. He managed to stay conscious long enough to see who had attacked him. His eyes widened when he spotted Savage, his colleague, standing over him. "Why?" Snotlout groaned as he was unable to get up.

"Alvin, we got a problem." Savage said through his own walkie talkie. "It seems our little guard decided to actually do his job tonight."

There was some cursing on the other end before some orders followed. Snotlout however had blacked out. Unbeknownst to Savage the twins were also in the building and had seen the attack. They knew they were outnumbered so they rushed upstairs intent on sounding the alarm when they ran right into Fishlegs who was busy yawning and closing up his office.

"Oh Thor! What did you two do again?" Fishlegs groaned as he saw who had crashed into him.

"We need to go right now Fishlegs!" Ruffnut said as she and her brother tugged him up. "Snotlout just got knocked out by Savage and some guys are doing weird stuff in the basement."

"Wait what?" Fishlegs shouted perplexed only to have Tuffnut clamp a hand over his mouth.

"Shhhhh" Ruffnut said as she looked left and right. "We need to get out of here fast."

"I'm afraid you three aren't going anywhere." Came from the hall as the trio spotted Alvin and some men coming towards them.

"How did they find us?" Ruffnut asked as they tried to make a run for it but were now also blocked from the other side.

Fishlegs looked up and cursed as he noticed a camera trained on them.

"You guessed right Fishlegs." Alvin grumbled. "I really should have made sure all of you were out of the building first."

"So what are you going to do to us?" Fishlegs stammered as the men began tying them up.

"Oh can we kill them?" Dagur asked when he came down the hall.

"No we can't Dagur!!" Alvin yelled and then sighed in exasperation. "I'm not leaving these guys alone. Especially those twins. Just take them to the ritual room."

"Oh great idea Alvin!" Dagur exclaimed. "They can be witnesses to The Society's rise to power!"

"The what?" Fishlegs asked as they were being dragged away.

They were shoved into a basement room where they saw Snotlout bound and propped against the wall. He was grumbling obscenities to the men who were watching him.

"Wow, Snotlout could make a sailor blush." Ruffnut commented as they were shoved next to Snotlout. "Hey watch it!!" Ruffnut growled while kicking one of the men. "How dare you manhandle a lady!"

Various snorts of disbelief came from those in the room at that statement. Even Tuffnut rolled his eyes at his sister. "She'll be a lady when I fly a dragon." Tuffnut mumbled.

"Quiet!!" Alvin shouted at the group as a headache was already forming. It was then that they noticed Hiccup's parents with the weird people.

"Okay what is going on here?" Fishlegs squaked.

"The birth of a new age!!" Dagur exclaimed before glaring at them. "So stay quiet or you'll become a sacrifice!!"

The twins, Fishlegs and Snotlout shut their mouths as they had no clue if Dagur was kidding or not. 'He probably wasn't.' they all thought as the group started a chant around the mummy in some weird language. The were being led by Dagur.

Fishlegs noticed Dagur's sister Heather, their receptionist, also among these people along with Viggo and Ryker from the linguistics department. The chanting intensified as the candles in the room started flickering. A glowing aura shone over the mummy as the chanting reached a crescendo and it immediately died down as the chanting stopped.

Everyone in the room looked confused. Dagur most notably as he reread some papers.

"Was something supposed to happen?" Ruffnut asked perplexed when suddenly the arm of the mummy moved slightly. "Eh... nevermind." She said as Dagur let out a girlish shriek when the mummy suddenly sat up.

"Where am I?" suddenly came from the mummy. Dagur recognized it as old Norse and replied in kind.

"W....Welcome great Valkyrie. We The Society bid you welcome to the future. We mean you no harm." He had practiced this countless times yet it still came out with a bit of a stutter.

The mummy looked around the room and Snotlout shuddered as it's eyes landed on him and his friends but the eyes didn't linger. It seemed that they were focused on something far away.

Stoick and Valka were speechless by what had just happened. They thought that the ritual would fail but it seemed that something else has been at work here. "Stoick, we need to figure out what has happened." Valka muttered. "None of this makes sense." She whispered as she couldn't believe she had just seen the dead rise, yet the proof was staring at her. The mummy rose up from where she lay and then looked around the room.

"Where is my ring? I sense it near." She asked Dagur who looked perplexed. She could sense the presence of her ring in this strange structure she had landed herself in.

Those in The Society were asking him what she had said and were posing questions to ask the Valkyrie. Dagur was being overwhelmed by the suggestions of what to say to her that no one noticed the mummy walking off of the podium and out of the door in search of one of her items.

"What a strange place this is." the shield maiden thought as she walked through one of the halls. She knew she had died and had somehow been revived. It seems that she could still sense her mystical items if they were close by. She knew the Dragon ring was in this building the moment she awoke and she intended to find it.

She stopped in the hallway when she was sure she was within a few meters of the ring. It was then that she saw a young man come out of one of the rooms. She let out a small gasp as she saw the ring in his hand. She knew of the curse on the items, Odin had whispered it to her as she lay dying. 'The greedy could not touch the items without being consumed by fire.' She thought and then cocked her head slightly. Then it meant that this young man had no thirst for her power. He either had absolutely no knowledge of what he possessed or he did and he did not yearn for it. 'Interesting' the Valkyrie thought as she started to approach the man.

The man turned and called out a name as she approached. She passed by a window and the moonlight illuminated her figure. She guessed by the widening of his eyes that she must have been quite a sight but you tend to not care about appearances once you're dead. She stepped towards him, he stepped back, repeatedly. As she came closer she saw the shock and horror on his face. His mouth opened but nothing came out. Now she really felt bad. She didn't mean to scare him. He fell back and then meekly said "uhm.... Hi."

The shield maiden took her chance and extended a hand to help him up, trying to show the man that she meant no harm. What she didn't expect was for him to faint right there in the hall.