Laz was taken to a room where he could rest and change clothing after being released from his restraints. As far as they knew, he didn’t have any clothes on him and his garb was what we was wearing when he had been fighting the final battle in the gate so although he had pants and a shirt, they were silken things that hadn’t held up well in the cold and were barely staying attached as it was. As for his Asuran armor, Laz had no idea as Kat wasn’t answering him currently.

The one escorting him to his room was the big, burly man who Laz had just met, a man by the name of Sven. He didn’t seem like the talkative type, but he didn’t seem mean either. In fact, from the way he constantly was looking back at Laz, Laz couldn’t help but think the man had some questions.

"Alright. Just ask. The backwards glances are making me really self conscious," Laz finally said.

"Ah. Well... sorry. I didn’t mean to make it noticeable. But I’ve been told I’m not to subtle..." Sven explained somewhat sheepishly.

"You’re not. Anyway?"

"Well... You’re clothing doesn’t leave much to the imagination. I was just wondering what you do to maintain those delicious abs of yours..." The burly man asked, causing Laz to get a chill down his spine.

Although Laz stopped for a second, Sven didn’t seem to mind and had a kind smile with nothing hidden beneath it, allowing Laz to breath again. While he didn’t fear this hulk of a man in any way, Laz didn’t want to sour the relationship so quickly either.

"Ah. Alright. Well that’s a surprise. But I can’t say I really do anything per say. I’m just active. I guess maybe you could blame it on good genes? I mean if I had to narrow it down to something. I used to be really small and gangly but... you know. Puberty and such."

"Ah. Ha ha ha. Well blessed be your parents for passing on such a thing. I’m forced to work out daily just to keep in shape and yet I noticed Annie couldn’t keep his eyes off of you so I was hoping it was something that could be shared," the man said with a laugh.

"Annie? Wait... He?" Laz heard the words but somehow missed a lot of the meaning.

"Ah. Sorry. Dr. Anton when we are working. He is my fiancée. I’m very blessed that we were both able to work here together. He is a wonderful man but his career drives him so when then opportunity came up, I couldn’t tell him no but I also didn’t want to be separated from him for three years either which was the length of the mission. Luckily I am no sloth myself and my work in thermal induction allowed me to get funding to get a place on the research team," Sven said with a content look on his face, clearly happy that things had worked out.

"Ah. I see," Laz said, now thinking that he had been wrong in his assessment about the man not being a talker.

"So what do you do? You know, for a living... When you’re not waking up in giant blocks of ice?" Sven asked with a laugh.

"I... Uh... well... I worked as a bartender. Although that was a while ago now... Huh.... I guess I don’t really have something. I’d never thought about it until now," Laz said, coming to understand that although his wives made massive amounts of money doing whatever it was Kennedy did, Laz himself... didn’t actually do anything."

"Well... you’re still young so you’ve still got plenty of time to decide. No need to rush. Life is a marathon, not a race or so my pa always used to say. Although most of the time that was because he was drunk and didn’t want to get off the couch. But still, he had a point. I enjoy my job, but it wasn’t what I had planned on doing. I’m sure others feel the same way. My dear Annie never expected to end up a doctor, but now he is and enjoys every minute of it. So no rush. Ah. Here we are. It’s a spare room that’s sometimes used as a bed room when certain mechanics are needed and Jun can’t be bother to fix it or doesn’t know how. Either or..."

"Jun?" Laz asked, wondering which of the two women that referred to.

"Ah. Yes. The angry looking woman who came in with the captain. I don’t believe she likes him that much but her job requires his approval at times so she has to remain civil. And that’s good, otherwise she would have choaked him in his sleep by now. The other woman’s name is Saanvi. She’s our head researcher in climate and weather. While Shelly handles what happens below ground, Saanvi is focused more on what happens above it. If I’m being honest with you, I think the captain gives all of them a bad vibe, or so they told me before. He tries to get too close and isn’t the most appropriate guy. Although I’ve tried to mention it to him before, he does not like to listen. I’ve felt, more than once, that he only tolerates myself and my boyfriend because we have each other and are not interested in the girls that way. I don’t like to speak badly, but I felt I should warn you since you are obviously well... not like us," the strong man said with another good natured laugh.

"I bring you over some fresh bedding soon so get yourself situated, relax a bit. There probably isn’t much in there to do and I am sorry about it, but during the winter, we are basically blocked off from communication and can’t even receive a tower signal. If I can find some books, I shall bring those by as well. Dinner is in a few hours so Ill come get you again for that. Welcome to the frozen desert my friend. It maybe not be comfortable, but at least it’s warm," Sven said before heading out, leaving Laz alone with his thoughts.

The small yet very thick window in the room showed a vast wasteland of nothing but snow and ice, something Laz hadn’t seen for a long time since he had lived in New Orleans and Texas for a while. While it was dark currently with a snow storm raging over head and dark clouds as far as the eye could see, Laz almost had the feeling that he was back home again, back in New York during the coldest months of the year.

As he sat there, thinking about it while looking out, a voice suddenly sounded in his head.

*It’s good you’re awake. I didn’t think you would be able to wake yourself up from that. God or not, being buried in tons of ice makes even the strongest of gods powerless," Jormungandr said now that Laz was alone. While others couldn’t hear it, he knew enough not to try speaking while Laz was both waking up and learning of his own situation.

"I’m beginning to wonder if being a god really matters much..." Laz responded back, out loud, knowing that the sword would hear him.

*If you weren’t a god as strong as you are, you would be dead. Or at least brain dead. Your brain can’t just pop back to life after being frozen like that,* Jormungandr told him.

"There are some scientists on this planet that disagree with you. But whatever. What happened?"

*From what I could tell, something made the tunnel collapse when you were in it, causing your transport back to this place to be... well... set wildly off course. You came back, luckily, just not where you were suppose to. Still, it could have been worse. Had you not been able to travel the residual road, you could have ended up anywhere space. And that kind of floating around frozen would have lead to your death, a thousand times out of a thousand.*

"Small favors I guess. Still, it’s good to be alive. Now I just have to get out of here," Laz said, knowing he couldn’t stay.

*I wouldn’t recommend that for the moment,* Jormungandr responded, although hesitantly.

"Why not? I can fly. It’s not like the ocean would stop me..." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

*While I don’t know the makeup of this world, I can say that the energy here is sparse to an almost non existent degree. So prolonged flight is almost impossible. You could carry on, at most, for maybe twenty minutes at a slow speed. I’m not sure how far that would get you in this weather. Besides, that wasn’t why I warned you boy. Spread out your senses and tell me what you notice," Jormungandr told him with an edge in his voice.

Spreading out his sense, Laz could sense that several members of the crew were having a heated discussion and Laz could imagine it was about him, but he didn’t think the sword would care about that. So he kept going, out into the nothingness. He sensed nothing to the point of wanted to question the blade again when he suddenly came to some sort of massive chasm under the ground and within it he was able to sense massive men, made of ice, sleeping... What’s more, massive spiders seemed to be moving around, doing something to the sleeping giants.

"Holy shit... What the hell is that?"

*I don’t know boy, this isn’t my world. But I can feel signs of life from those things. While you slept, I observed them and though I am not sure, I think they are being roused from their sleep..."