They watched Sten claw and struggle to climb out of the gorge. He seemed to be tired and looked like a child trying to crawl up steps. Slamming one of his massive hands down onto the earth, Sten's bulky smooth fingers dug into the ground to get a strong grip. Nathan couldn't even think about getting up. The ground shook so much that standing was impossible when this close to him. Aputsiaq rolled up onto her belly, nervously watching Sten crawl out of the gorge and slowly stand up to his full height. Nathan gawked at his seer size. He looked heavy and sturdy. His smooth rock body dripped with water, and he panted heavily like the effort of moving was exhausting him. Snorting moss and water from his nose, Sten glanced around at his feet, before reaching down to pry a large rock with ease from the dirt. Taking the rock in hand, Sten twisted it into two pieces before throwing them at Aputsiaq. Aputsiaq leapt away from one and dropped down to her belly to avoid the other. Quickly getting to their feet while Sten wasn't moving to shutter the ground, Nathan pleaded out to Mark. "Tell me that you have a plan to deal with him?! Aputsiaq can't hold him off forever."

Mark shrugged, gesturing to Sten as he blurted out a little worried. "I don't know what to do. I can't even get close to him. He'll crush me! I don't want to test if I can be crushed by him!" Pushing Mark up against a tree to avoid a falling one, Nathan told him confidently. "Tame him like you did with the others!" Holding Nathan's arms as the ground started to slowly shake again, he asked him blankly. "How?! He can't even see me!" Nathan looked to Aputsiaq who was resorting to backing up slowly and calmly from Sten. She didn't look like she wanted to fight him anymore. Looking to Sten shortly after, Nathan relaxed. Sten looked hurt but his expression wasn't aggressive. It was defensive and a little sad. Tugging on Mark's arm, he told him hopefully. "Maybe we can get his attention in another way. Calm him with something." They both stopped talking as Sten turned a little, causing the ground to tremble violently. Falling to their knees, they watched Sten suddenly look around like he was seeing everything for the first time. After the ground stilled again, Sten reached out to very gently run his rock hand over the tops of trees like he was just standing in tall grass.

A small smile even formed on his face, before Sten uttered out in a deep simple voice. "Pretty." Silence seemed to fill the open air. Sten could talk but he sounded slow and childlike. Smiling to himself, Nathan chuckled out. "I think I know how we can try to get his attention." Stepping away from Mark, Nathan took a deep breath and raised his hands to make it snow. The thick clouds overhead crackled, causing Sten to look up at them before light flurries began to fall. Sten was so big that the small flurries didn't hold his attention, but as Nathan brought his hands together, he formed a large snowflake from the little ones. Sten gasped lightly, watching the large snowflake form before raising his hands to try and catch it. Catching it, Sten held it in his hands and chuckled happily as he uttered out giddily. "Snowflake?" Lowering his hands, Nathan chuckled to himself. He couldn't believe that worked. He liked it. After admiring the snowflake for a moment, Sten crushed it in his hands. Nathan's smile faded for a second, until he watched Sten sprinkle the water on some of the trees, mumbling out to himself. "Thirsty?" Straining off the tree trunk, Mark huffed out warmly. "He's not so bad. He's... a gardener."

When Sten saw Aputsiaq cautiously circling him, he pointed a finger at her in warning. Aputsiaq stopped, her body tensing as she watched his finger wag slowly when he said firmly. "No jump. It hurt." Sten then put his hand to his chest, his fingers sliding over the smooth wet rock before he coughed up water. Taking a step closer, Nathan told Mark softly. "Something is wrong with him. He looks sick... How can that be? The others were ok." Sten dropped to his knees to cough up more water that looked like mud, causing both Mark and Nathan to fall flat. Groaning, Sten smeared the mud on the ground until he could see an uprooted tree. Carefully setting it back up, Sten patted the mud around its base with a sad look to his hollow eyes. Nathan watched him press a thumb to the base, but when nothing happened, Sten cried. His large tears dripping over the ground and drawing Aputsiaq in close. Aputsiaq tilted her head curiously, her eyes darting from him to the tree. Lifting his hand, he mourned out to her. "Green thumb... not green. No help plant." Letting out a low purr, Aputsiaq crept up to him and rubbed her icy body against his side like an affectionate cat. Sten jerked from the contact, but eventually stroked her from head to tail.

Curling up close to him, she purred loudly and made Sten smile. Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her into a tight hug, mumbling out warmly. "Nice sound. Feel good." Rising back onto his feet, Nathan helped Mark up and asked him lightly. "He seems calmer now. Wanna try and talk to him?" Mark nodded, but only managed a single step, before a grumbly voice snapped out. "You will not!" Nate barely turned in time to see the large scruffy ram slam into Mark. Tackling him to the ground, the ram's thick sharp horns pinned Mark down. Braying angrily, the ram curled its lips back to reveal sharp teeth and drooled hungrily over Mark's neck. Lifting its front hooves, the ram began stomping on Mark's chest. Nate glanced back at the block of ice perplexed. How had the ram gotten out? He had frozen him inside it! Yet, as he looked at the ice, he saw how a lot of it was dripping wet as if it had been melted. Lifting his hands, he shot a frosty blizzard of icy shards at the ram. The ram's shaggy fur started to stiffen, and it began to shiver, until it had no choice but to retreat off Mark. Leaping away from Mark, the ram shook its body as a red crystal hanging from one of its horns glowed. Melting the frost and warming itself back up.

Snorting loudly, the ram growled out to him in a dark voice. "So. You've been reincarnated, Isak. Good. I'm going to fix what you broke!" Nathan took an uneasy step back, blurting out under his breath. "What...?" The ram's eyes shifted to look at one of his horns. Hanging from one of them was a small white crystal, but unlike the rest, it was small and broken in half. Darting his dark narrowed eyes back to Nate's, he sneered out with heated breath. "She made you to help stop me. To do what HE couldn't bring himself to do to me. Because of you... I wasn't able to cover the world in an ice age for a second time! To rid this world of YOUR KIND!" Nathan winced as he saw a flash of a five foot troll with a long tail and large ram horns standing within a raging blizzard on the North Mountain. By the time the flash faded, Nathan gasped out as he realized who this was. "You're Grand Pabbie's father..." Mark strained out his name from the ground as Nathan turned too late. The ram had reared on its hind legs, its body twisting and changing into its true form, before it punched Nathan in the gut and headbutted him to the ground. Nathan groaned, curling up into a ball. He could taste blood in his mouth and was sure his nose was bleeding.

The troll stomped over the ground on gnarly large feet that were disproportionate to his body. His long skinny tail flicking behind him with a tiny tuff of shaggy hair that matched the wool he'd had as the ram. Extending his hand down at him, the troll mercilessly snapped out. "Give me back my power, you inferior beast!" Roots sprang up from the ground to lash around Nathan's wrists and legs to stretch him out helplessly across the ground. A root even wrapped itself around Nathan's neck to keep him from thrashing. Nathan whined against the restraints, then let out a sharp scream as the troll put his other hand over his chest and started drawing his power out by force. Nathan couldn't concentrate and could only scream. It felt like the troll was crushing his heart in order to squeeze the power and life from him. As his power was being drawn out, Nathan saw flashes of his life that mirrored Isak's. He saw Isak touch Mark's cheek, telling him coolly. "You can't reason with Jara, Mark. Jara and Pabbie only want to take power from humans like us. They won't forgive and forget. We need to unite the kingdoms. Northuldra and Arendelle. It's the only way to stop them."

Mark looked away with a grim look, spurring Isak to coo out to him. "Let me talk to my brother. He's stubborn... but he loves Arendelle. If he can see what Jara did to the North Mountain... We can explain about the storm that he was trying to destroy Arendelle with... Maybe we can stop him before he recovers and comes for the power that I took from his crystal. Before he comes to kill us." Mark held onto his wrist, telling him a bit reluctantly. "Isak... I can't be killed. You know that. I'm more worried about you." Isak huffed, retorting bluntly. "Yes. You can. If he can separate you from your elements, he can. He's older than you, Mark. He's got more experience than you with the elements. He wants to replace you. If he kills me... He'll come to rip the spirits from you. He knows you won't fight if I'm gone..." Isak cupped Mark's face in his hands to coax him into looking at him. The second he did, Isak added hopefully. "Mark... Promise me that if something happens to me... you'll fight. You can't keep hiding from Jara and the world. You have to protect your people. You have to be the bridge between our worlds. Promise?" Sighing, Mark pressed his forehead to his and whispered in a soft voice. "I promise that I'll try. But that won't happen. Jara is wounded. No one will come for you for some time... but if you want. Go get your brother. We'll see if we can come to a truce."

Jerking, Nathan and Isak's screaming voices merged as a young Grand Pabbie drew out his power and Jara continued to draw out his. History was repeating itself. Same tune to different lyrics. Staggering up to his feet, Mark took a deep breath and let out a powerful yell that echoed on the wind so loudly that it blasted Jara off his feet and away from Nathan. Nathan gasped as the pressure on his heart stopped, allowing him to lay weakly on the ground. Raising a hand, Mark snapped his fingers and the roots holding Nathan disintegrated into warm ash. Shaking his head, Mark growled out darkly to Jara. "Not this time." Straightening up, Jara smirked as he teased back. "Oh? Got a little fight in you now, huh?" Jara's eyes looked up at the earth giant before chuckling out to Mark. "You're not fully restored. If you were smart. You would have run to collect yourself before picking a fight with me." Walking toward Jara, Mark fearlessly told him. "My strength isn't in the power I wield. It's bred into me." Jara rolled his eyes, then plunged a hand into the ground to remove a club made from thick intertwined roots. Rolling to his side, Nathan strained out to Mark. "Don't... Mark." Mark ignored him, lifting a hand to beckon Jara to come at him.

Jara snorted, smirking out. "I see... You think taunting me will distract me?" Mark shrugged, telling him confidently. "You think you are stronger than me. Here's your chance to prove it." Jara huffed, hefting up his club as he sneered out menacingly through his clenched teeth. "I know I am. Because your strength comes from protecting others. LIKE HIM!" Jara leapt off the ground, swinging his club down over Nathan. Mark sent a gust of wind to blow Jara off course, but Jara had moved too fast. Nathan weakly raised his hands, trying to use his ice to stop it, but his power sputtered. His body hadn't recovered from the pain yet and it was affecting his magic. He helplessly watched Jara's club come down, until icy claws slammed over Nathan's body to protect him. Jara's club struck the icy fingers and the force of her claws meeting his club knocked him back. Landing with a thud across the ground, Jara pushed himself up onto all fours, growling up at Aputsiaq's snarling face as she glared down at him. Mark relaxed with a smile. Aputsiaq had felt Nathan's pain and came to his aid. As her teeth parted, Mark stepped back as icy mist escaped from her maw angrily.

Puffing up her chest, she opened her mouth wider to gather the swirling storm of ice within her throat. While Jara chuckled out softly to himself. "I remember making a few of your kind... TAKE THIS!" Jara hopped up onto his feet and rubbed his hands together quickly before opening his hands to expel what looked like molten dragon fire from his palms. The molten fire hit Aputsiaq in the face, causing her to scream in agony and rear as she tried to protect her face. Water fell from her like a waterfall as the fire began melting her rapidly. The clash of fire and ice causing hot misty steam to burst around them. Shrouding the woods in a suffocating fog. Jara's laughter filled the fog and Nathan called out to Mark. Mark couldn't see any of them. He could just hear the hissing of steam and her screams of pain. Mark started to make his way toward the last place that he'd seen Nathan, when the ground began to shake violently again. Falling to the ground, Mark began crawling as he called out for Nathan. Nearby, Sten's voice stated out in sudden fear. "Little dragon...?" Mark reached the spot where Nathan had been but didn't see him. Lifting his head, he yelled out in a panic. "NATHAN?!" Had Jara gotten him?

Mark heard Nathan's distant voice call out to him and his heart raced. Was Jara taking him away from here? The ground stopped shaking and Mark pushed himself up, only to be shoved back down. Sitting over him, Jara grabbed his hair to pull his head back and put a sharp piece of wood against his throat. Leaning close to his ear, Jara whispered to him giddily. "You're not an easy man to kill... but even gods have a weakness. Should have gone for Sten. Then you could have tried to keep me from doing this again!" Jara lifted his arm to stab him with the stick but stopped as Nathan yelled out from close by. "MARK?!" Jara turned his head in Nathan's direction and as the mist faded a bit, Mark saw Nathan standing in the center with his back to them. Jara exhaled, dashing off Mark to run at Nathan. Getting to his feet, Mark ran after Jara, yelling out. "NATE! RUN!" Nathan turned to face them as Mark snatched Jara's tail and dropped to the ground. The sudden weight jerked Jara back before he reached Nathan, but Jara retaliated by rolling quickly back onto Mark and stabbing him in the shoulder with the piece of wood. Mark gasped, gripping Jara's hand in shock as the wood sank in deep into his flesh.

Leaning over him, Jara hissed out in a smug sneering tone. "Feel that? Mistletoe wood. My own creation from its poisonous stems. Good enough to kill Loki's twin brother... So, why not you? Second time should do it!" Mark didn't want to believe it was working... but it was. His heart was slowing by the second as the poison coursed through him. Powerful earth magic had been weaved into the woven stick of stems. Without Sten, his body didn't have the strength to resist it. Falling limp, he heard Nathan scream his name before the curse paralyzed him into a lifeless state. Grinning wickedly, Jara rose off Mark and turned to Nathan's shuttering body before purring out greedily. "Now I can focus all my attention and power on you." To Be Continued...