The wind blew from the north with a force that could extinguish even the hottest bonfire. Sigrun corrected the fur imposed on her shoulders and looked from under her squinted eyelids at Sigurd, who was walking a dozen paces ahead of her through the snowy expanse. Cursed was this country of the far north - wild, icy, alien. But it was here, far from the fjords of their native Iceland, that something was about to unfold that could change not only them, but the entire village. It all started during the long night, when the light of the aurora borealis danced across the sky in colours they had never seen before. An old rock painting they had found in a cave during an expedition for wood looked innocent - a spiral surrounded by runic signs. However, in the torchlight, Sigrun noticed that one of the runes was glowing with a faint, greenish radiance, as if the aurora borealis had seeped into the stone. Siegfried, intrigued, touched the symbol and suddenly the ground trembled beneath their feet so hard that they both fell into the snow. Siegfried caught his breath, trying to make sense of what had happened. Sigrun rose cautiously and looked at him anxiously. "Did you see that? The runes moved... I've never seen anything like it! Maybe we should go back to camp?" - she asked, hearing her own voice echoing off the cave walls. However, curiosity was stronger than fear. They both walked deeper between the damp rocks, where the air was thick and heavy. Around the next bend, they saw something that froze their blood in their veins: a fissure appeared in the rock wall, and inside it an unearthly light shimmered, pulsating like a living thing. Footprints could be seen on the ground - human feet, but leading deeper into the fissure, where the light became more intense with each passing moment. Siegfried reached for his axe, squeezed it tighter than usual. Sigrun silently spoke the names of the gods, asking for protection. They moved slowly, aware that from what they would discover, they might never return the same. Footsteps echoed when suddenly an icy blast swirled from the depths and a muffled sound like the ringing of ancient steel. At the end of the gap, amidst the swirling colours of the aurora borealis, something moved.... and then everything around froze for a moment.