The deeper into the blizzard, the more foreign the world became. At its heart, at the very top of the mountain, it might as well have been a different world. The wind blew the snow in all directions, casting everything from the sky to the ground in a gray haze.

  While thick snow confused most creatures, the frost jotuns were right at home. ?sa could sense Sigyn marching closer long before her silhouette manifested from the void. She moved with the conviction of a spirit on their way back from the gallows.

  "Finally done running, Ransdottr?" ?sa said with a smirk.

  Sigyn stopped, a lifelong fury blazing in her eyes. She was sick of feeling out of control. Powerless. If she had to die, she was going to be a bitch about it. "You're a fucking moron, and your going to follow my father straight into the grave."

  Two of the Vorer seized her arms, jostling her body. The winds halted, leaving the snowflakes suspended in mid air. At least the storm was over, and now Sigyn could worry about herself.

  They shoved her to her knees and bound her hands in silver chains. The lock pinched the thin skin of her wrists, but the temporary pain was nothing to the burning that followed. It was the same kind of burn from the silver-tipped arrow Kark had dug out of her shoulder. Her skin instantly turned an irritated red. The silver acted like poison, seeping into her blood and rendering her whole body weak. When the Vorer yanked her to her feet by the chains, it only intensified the pain, and she stumbled in agony behind her captores.

  While Sigyn was being led away, she had no idea Jess was making her way up towards her, fighting a losing battle against the deep snow. She didn't even know if she was going the right way, but she figured the nastier the storm got, the closer she was.

  "Jess!" Kark yelled as he chased after her. "I must insist you get back inside."

  Jess refused to slow down, even a little, though her legs were burning. "She saved my life. I can't let her die like this."

  "You think this is easy for any of us?" Bodi chimed in. "She was our best friend long before you even existed! These affairs are not safe for you to meddle in!"

  "If they didn't want humans to get involved, they shouldn't have frozen our town!"

  Bo groaned in frustration, but it was such a good point, Kark had to stop and appreciate it.

  Jess kept talking as she walked. "There's gotta be something we can do. You two both have powers. There's gotta be some sort of wild-card we can throw or something."

  "A wild-card?" Bodi laughed. "We're not gamblers!"

  Just then, everything stopped. The winds went silent, and the air cleared of snow, the last flakes floated to the ground.

  "We're too late," Bodi said, staring up at the sky. "They have her."

  Kark stifled a whimper, so Jess walked over and gave him a hug. It wasn't much, but she couldn't just leave him lost in the cold.

  That's when the darker clouds rolled in, just as the sky was clearing. Bodi heard the first rumble. Her eyes snapped up, and her whole body tensed at the front looming closer as if it were a fire-breathing dragon. Once Kark noticed, he stopped crying and took a few steps back.

  Jess looked between them, noticing the shift in their demonors. "What's wrong? It's just a thunderstorm."

  "No," Bodi said, the color draining from her face. "It's worse."

  "You have nothing to worry about." Kark gave Jess a reassuring pat on the back as he gulped his own fear. "We do. We better get back to the lodge and lay low."

  "He's probably going after the others," Bodi thought out loud. "They won't even make it to the portal."

  "What does that mean?" The questions were mounting in Jess' mind, but there were frustratingly little answers. Why were they so scared of a storm cloud? Looking closer, it was weird how quickly the storm formed out of nothing, but they were staring at it like it was a death-omen.

  Bodi turned, her eyes deep in thought. "It might work..." she mumbled.

  Jess asked for the hundredth time what she was talking about.

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  In no hurry to answer, Bodi looked at Jess with a renewed interest. "If you're still up for it...We just found our wild-card."

  The chains around Sigyn's wrist clinked as she walked, a lonely soundtrack of her death march. Part of her was relieved the chase was over. The rest of her fumed with burning hatred imagining her father's smug face when she would be knelt before him in front of all of Jotunheim.

  Then came a rumble, soft and distant, barely louder than the sound of feet crushing snow. No one acknowledged it until Sigyn heard the second one, closer, closing the distance. She stopped dead in her tracks. The silver chains were pulled harder, but the pain was not enough to overcome the terrible fear.

  She fell hard on her knees in a blind panic. "You idiot!" she screamed at ?sa. "You damned us all!"

  No one was moving. No one bothered to look at the sky. They just stared at her with dumb, blank expressions as she thrashed against the chains. If she could have, Sigyn would have started gnawing at her own wrists to get free, but that would be too slow.

  ?sa became annoyed, not because of Sigyn's temper tantrum, but for the distraction slowing their return to Jotunheim. "I've had enough of this!" She growled, marching down the line ready to beat Sigyn into submission.

  Finally, they all heard the rumble. It was unmistakable. Too close to ignore.

  Everyone froze. Even Sigyn ceased fighting, curling into herself, trying to get as far from the sky as possible. The clouds swirled above them, illuminated by flashes of lightning. The air turned swampy, melting the mountain snow at an alarming rate.

  ?sa's eyes grew wide. A bellowing roar of thunder rattled the mountain, down to their very bones. She commanded the Vorer to run. The one holding Sigyn's chains dropped them instantly.

  The Jotuns scattered as the sky opened.

  Unleashed was the power of a thousand suns, blinding them, clearing any trees, rocks, or bodies that dared stand in its wake. Sigyn landed not too far away. As she pushed her face up from the snow, she tasted iron. She couldn't tell if it was her own blood or the metallic crackle of the air.

  She scrambled to her feet, slipping in the snow turning to slush. No one bothered to seize. Every Jotun for themselves. They scattered like cockroaches from the light.

  As she ran, Sigyn cursed the chains around her wrists. She might have made it right alongside the other Jotuns that turned into birds and flew away. But no: she was stuck on the ground, scurrying away with the other powerless Jotuns into the forest that offered no real protection.

  Behind her rose a chorus of screams. Without looking back, she knew the exact moment another Jotun was picked off. A scream would be cut short. Running footsteps would go quiet. A bright flash of light would illuminate the entire forest.

  She dived behind the nearest tree and hoped she would be able to stay here just long enough to catch her breath.

  There was another flash, and a short scream. Blood splattered across the tree trunks.

  "Never underestimate their cruelty," her mother had warned. "They will kill out of boredom. We are but the stepping-stones to their golden palace. Heed their warnings. Keep your life."

  Sigyn hardly needed the warning. She had already seen the kind of devastation the Aesir caused. Weeks before, rumors buzzed that Mjolnir, the most powerful weapon forged to slaughter jotuns, was missing. All of Jotunheim held its breath, clinging to the first spark of hope they had found in centuries.

  Confident with the threat of violence neutralized, Trym and his Vorer traveled to Asgard for peace talks. The long years of battling between the Jotuns and Aesir could end, solidified in matrimony to Freya, the most beautiful of the Vanir and ally to Odin. The Aesir accepted the terms. Freya had even picked a Jotun house to marry into. No one caught on to Odin's plotting.

  The entire village joined the celebration the night of the wedding, and the rest of Jotunheim watched on ready to herald a new era. Before anyone in the village realized what was happening, they were dead.

  Her father and the Vorer had gone to assess the damage. There wasn't much left. Sigyn remembered walking through a sea of charged remains. The ones that still had in-tact faces had a permanent look of terror. The air smelt of burning hair and garlic lamb that had been served during the feast.

  Sigyn had looked to her father with tears in her eyes, not for comfort, but maybe strength, or at least reassurance the scene was as horrific as it looked. Her father barely looked disappointed. His people hadn't lost their lives - they had failed him, and he couldn't be bothered to fear sorry.

  That was the first moment she saw him for what he was.

  A scream pulled Sigyn back to the present. The fighting was too close - she'd have to make a run for it. No sooner did she leave the tree, it was swallowed in light and scorched. She ran like a white-eyed horse through a blazing fire. No single direction guaranteed safety.

  Crashing through a thick line of bushes, she found herself in a clearing. She turned back towards the tree cover and heard branches snapping as something ran towards her. A pair of feral eyes locked on her. Sigyn realized too late that the open meadow was a safer option.

  She forced her legs to go faster, knowing it would never be enough. She could feel death looming over her shoulder. She was nothing but a little fluttering bird about to be seized in the talons of her greatest enemy.

  ?sa waited until Sigyn was far out in the open before sending the spear of ice into her back. She wanted to make sure she couldn't be missed.

  Pain pierced Sigyn's spine. It didn't hurt nearly as bad as the silver. In fact, the ice was refreshing. But her spinal cord had been sliced clean through, and she face-planted into the snow.

  She tried to force her legs back under her, but they wouldn't listen to her brain. The heat of the storm was strong enough to make her stomach turn, and she could do nothing. She was trapped, and doomed to face her kind's worst fear.

  A foot kicked her hard on the shoulder, turning her to face the sky.

  ?sa loomed over her with a grin of satisfaction. For her final insult, she threw Sigyn one last obnoxious snicker before turning into a raven and flying her away to safety: "Say hello to Thor for me."