May 31st, 2010
Our walk to the golden gates was filled with discussion of how we would convince Heimdall to allow us to travel to the Jotunheim while attempting to discreetly prepare ourselves for the bitter cold without attracting more attention than was necessary. Several attendants assisted in our preparations, from saddling horses for our ride to Himinbjörg to passing us our weapons, freshly sharpened and polished.
"So, how do you suggest for us to get past the golden gatekeeper," Sif asked Thor as she pulled her gloves on.
"Have faith, Sif; Loki and I will handle everything."
"I should like to see this for it will be no easy task," Volstagg muttered as he set his axes to his belt. "It is said that the gatekeeper can see a single drop of dew fall from a blade of grass a thousand worlds away."
"Yes, and he can hear a cricket passing gas in Niffelheim," Fandral laughed as he finished pulling his fur-lined gloves on.
"Jest not! He heareth all," Volstagg warned as he wrapped his cloak around his shoulders, passing an extra fur to Sif.
"Please, getting past him should be simple enough now; since he seems to be letting Frost Giants sneak by under his nose," Fandral grasped my shoulders, shaking me as he laughed, nearly knocking my daggers from my grasp as I shook my head.
As Volstagg begged that no offense be taken to the sky, I took the moment to sneak aside corning one of the guards lining the gates while the others headed toward their horses. I motioned him closer, keeping my voice soft. "You are to go to Odin the moment you can no longer see us upon the bridge; tell him that we have gone to the Jotunheim. He will know what to do from there. Understood?"
The man nodded, bowing slightly before stepping back into line with the others while I ran to catch up. Hogun shot me a look as I mounted my mare yet said nothing. I would need to be leerier of the silent barbarian. Thor turned from his white steed, a greater cliché there could not be, smiling charmingly before he turned his horse and took off down the bridge Sif close behind. As we rode, we battled for position, her ever-cold stare spurring me on as I continued to keep her from taking up a place beside my brother. Our ride across the great sea was swift, the wind helping to keep us cool in the warm evening air. The great golden observatory stood within our sight then as we slowed our gallop to a canter, slowing further within the last few yards until we came to a stop a hundred or so feet from the ever-watchful warden.
"Please tell me a plan has been decided upon," Sif muttered as we dismounted.
"Keep your weapons sheathed and your mouths shut," I said. "This is going to take subtlety and sincerity, not brute strength. Leave it to me."
"This should be good..."
Paying her ill temper no mind, I stepped forward smiling as charmingly as I knew how. "Good Heimdall-"
"You are not dressed warmly enough," he boomed, his deep voice quiet despite its monotonous authority.
"I'm sorry?"
"The freezing cold of Jotunheim; it would kill you all in time, even Thor." His golden eyes seemed to burn holes into me as the slightest smirk fell to his lips. "You think you can deceive me? I who watches all, I who has stood here since the dawn of time; who can sense the flapping of a butterfly's wing across the cosmos, or even hear a cricket passing gas in Niffelheim..." He trailed off then as his gaze turned to a bewildered and worried Fandral.
"That, that was just a bit of jest..."
I chuckled, trying to break the tension despite enjoying watching Fandral stew. "Heimdall, you must be mistaken, we are not-"
"Enough," Thor interjected brutishly as he pushed past me in voice and body. "Heimdall, may we pass?"
The great golden giant looked down at Thor, his mighty sword held in front of him as if to hold him and his armor up. "For eons, I have guarded over Asgard, my watch unending, to keep it safe from those who would attempt to do it harm. In all that time, never has an enemy slipped by my watch until this day... I wish to know how that happened."
"Then tell no one where we have gone until we have returned, understand?" Without another word, Thor strode past Heimdall and into the globe, the others following suit.
"What happened? Silver tongue turned to lead," Volstagg teased, clapping me on the back with one of his sticky hands as Fandral passed snickering.
"Get me off of this bridge before it cracks under your girth," I snarled, pulling myself from his touch to storm into the observatory.
No time was wasted as we gathered on the platform to enter the Bifróst as Heimdall set to preparing the control panel, aiming the globe towards Jotunheim. He paused, his sword standing in the apparatus, turning to address us, his eyes watching each of us closely. "Be warned, young warriors, I will honor my sworn oath to protect this realm. If your return threatens the safety of Asgard, the Bifróst will remain closed to you. I will not hesitate to leave you to die in the cold wasteland of Jotunheim."
"How touching..."
Thor shot Fandral a warning look. "I have no plans to die today."
"None do." Plunging his sword deeper into the control panel at the center of the globe, the great turret whined to life, the brilliant light of the Bifróst slicing through the night sky. "All is ready; you may pass."
"Could you not simply leave the bridge open for us; we should not be long," Volstagg attempted gently.
"To keep this bridge open would unleash the full power of the Bifróst destroying all of Jotunheim with you upon it."
"Ah. Never mind, then."
"Never fear, my friend; we will be back before you know it. Now, let us away, no need to be bashful," Thor teased, pushing his girthy friend toward the maelstrom.
"Good luck, young warriors; and do not forget my warning." I gave the gatekeeper a curt little wave before I allowed myself to be pulled within the vortex, landing in the snow; the tundra air stealing my breath for a moment.
I stood beside Thor, staring out into the vast nothingness with a mixture of horror and awe. Buried beneath all of the softly whining and crackling ice was what appeared to be a city in the distance, the exact place Thor had his sights set on.
"We should not be here..." Hogun muttered softly, his hand already upon his mace as if waiting for something to jump at him at any moment.
"Too late now," Thor said as he started forward, the ground crunching beneath him and giving way as we all leaped forward. Volstagg, in all of his mass, failed to jump far enough, his heels left to teeter on the edge of the freshly made cliff. Before he could cry out, Thor's arm reached out, quickly grabbing his burly friend by the belt and pulling him forward with a grunt. Lifting the hulking warrior took more of his strength than even he had imagined. "I've got you, big fella; never fear."
"This belt! This belt is now my lucky belt that I shall never remove; even when bathing!"
"You bathe," Fandral asked, not hiding his surprise- feigned or not.
"We should go back," Hogun said, once more repeating that we should not be here as we continued forward.
"We are not going back."
"Why not? We could turn right around, hop back to Asgard before anyone even has a chance to miss us, and share a mug by the fire," Fandral offered only to be ignored by Thor completely. "I thought it sounded nice..."
I continued to watch Hogun, the way he moved had me on edge as well and I was not even supposed to be here. "Perhaps we should wait..."
"For what," Thor half demanded, sparing me a short glance as he continued to trudge through the knee-deep snow.
"To survey the enemy; gauge their strengths and weaknesses from a distance."
"I do like the sound of that," Volstagg acknowledged, pulling one of his axes anxiously. "Gauging... Surveying; particularly the distance part."
"We already know all we must. It is time now to act."
"He just has to swing his hammer..."
"A hammer is a better thing to swing in this cold than-"
"I do not need another of your euphemisms, Fandral. Do you even know where you are going," Sif demanded.
"There is a city in the distance, that is where we shall find them."
"And if not?"
"Can you just enjoy the comradery of adventuring on another world once more? It feels good, does it not?"
"Adventuring," Fandral muttered, pulling his furs around him further. "Is that what we're calling this?"
"What would you call it then?"
"Freezing."
"Starving."
"Whining..."
Thor chuckled, rubbing Sif's shoulders as she came to stand beside him. "How about a song then? Perhaps that will not only lift your spirits but bring out our enemy."
"No," Hogun snapped bitterly.
"Please do not make us sing again..." Sif groaned in agreeance.
"If I have to listen to Volstagg's caterwauling one more time, I will throw myself on my sword!"
"Oh, well then I have changed my mind," Sif smirked as Fandral shook his head, rudely holding up his gloved hand in a crude gesture.
We continued toward the city, the biting wind picking up the closer we got as tunnels slowly formed lifting and moving the piles of snow in spirals across the icy path. The closer we got, the easier it was to make out just how ancient and dilapidated the crumbling remains of jade and ice were. At one point, it had probably been an awe-inducing creation of skill and beauty, yet now, sitting ravaged by the warfare of long ago, it just seemed to add to the depression around us. Wandering deeper still, I could not help but notice how... barren everything was; a thought that did not seem to escape the others.
"Where are they?"
"Hiding. As cowards always do," Thor muttered in response as his gaze fell into the shadows. I noticed the figures as well, quickly noticing that there were more than I had expected.
As we stepped into what was presumably the central plaza of a once great city, a voice like crackling ice called out to us from the shadows to our right. "What is your business here, Asgardians?"
"Thor," I tried, quickly ignored as he pushed forward further.
"I shall speak only to your king. Not to his foot soldiers."
"Then speak," A deep voice echoed from above. Sitting on a balcony of a nearby temple before a cascading fall of ice and slush, sat an ancient yet still formidable being that even veiled in shadow commanded respect. "I am Laufey, king of the Jotunheim."
"And I am-"
"We know who you are, Odinson. Why have you brought the stench of your blood into my world?"
"I demand answers."
The noble Frost Giant rose, coming into the light; his pale blue skin and deep scars seemed to shimmer as if softly coated by ice. "You... 'Demand'?"
"Thor," I whispered, moving to stop him as the Giant King's ruby gaze continued to hold my idiot brother's blue-eyed stare. "Stop and think for just a-"
"How did your people get into Asgard?"
I balled my fists with exasperation, looking to the others for help only to see just how surrounded we were. I held up my hands, keeping them low as Fandral and Sif began reaching for their weapons, the Jotuns moving in as their king chuckled mockingly. "The house of Odin lies rife with traitors."
"Do not attempt to dishonor my father's name with your lies-"
"Your father," the giant growled, quickly silencing Thor; "is a murderer and a thief. He stole what was ours and left our world in ruins. We have the right to reclaim the Casket."
"Not when you would use it to wage war upon the Nine."
More mocking laughter, the sound echoing around us as I continued to beg Thor to back down. "And yet you have come here, longing for battle. You crave it; I see you for what you are, Odinson- nothing but a boy, trying to prove himself a man. You should heed your brother's counsel. You know not what your actions would unleash, but I do. Go now, while I still allow it."
"And we will accept your most gracious offer," I quickly said, standing between the men as I grasped Thor's shoulders in my hands, silently imploring him to relent before we all were doomed.
Reluctantly and with a deep scowl, Thor turned to leave. My breath of relief had not fully risen in my lungs when a Jotun guard jeered toward him. "Run back home, little princess."
"Damn..." I saw Thor stiffen, saw Mjolnir slide down his palm as the others turned as white as the snow drifts all around us.
With a speed I could not anticipate, Thor turned, swinging the hammer up and into the giant's chest sending it careening across the plaza and into the side of a crumbling tower with a sickening thwoop and crunch. "Next," the idiot smirked as I held my arms out, a dagger conjuring into my hand in an attempt to stop him and the encroaching Jotun.
"Silly hammer... Has a mind of its own really." Before me, ice formed over the giants' bodies creating a type of armor around them to extend from their arms like swords and shields. "Double damn..."
"I am hoping that is just decorative," Fandral muttered, pulling his rapier from his hip as Thor swung on the next closest giant.
All Hel broke loose then as the Jotuns attacked; swarms of them seeming to pour like an avalanche from the surrounding buildings and shadows. And all while Thor wore a smile on his face, enjoying every moment. I let a dagger fly, shattering the sword and arm of a giant bearing down on Fandral while Hogun swung his mace up and into the frozen wall of the building closet him, hoisting himself up and out of the way of a second giant's swing only to land behind the beast, smashing his morning star into a third before turning to fell the one he had leaped over. I spun, kicking and hurling daggers at those who came toward me and Sif, calling toward her as one of the giants she had thrown to the ground gripped her ankle, pulling her down beside it.
"If you do not treat me like a lady, I will not act like a lady," she snarled, extending the second blade of her sword into the beast's face.
I ran from a giant, quickly doubling myself as I hid in the shadows, the false me backing up toward a newly formed crevasse. Arrogantly, the beast lunged for me, allowing me the easiest position to destabilize it as it fell into the crackling crevice. "Pathetic..." I mumbled, turning and tossing two daggers into the endless barrage, felling two easily.
"At least make it a challenge for me," Thor bellowed somewhere behind me. Beside me a burly Frost Giant grinned, leaping into the air as it iced itself up and punched straight down into the ground. Pillars of ice exploded outward, sending myself, Sif, and Volstagg to the ground. "Now that's more like it!"
"Thor will you stop patronizing them," I called sending a dagger into the chest of a giant poised to split Sif in two.
"Why? They are ugly and stupid," he laughed, knocking another brute head-over-heels; his hammer floating back to him.
"What move do you think," Fandral called to Volstagg as they moved toward the other.
"I say we use 'The Norn's Revenge'!"
"At this close of a range? I think 'The Alfheim Lunge' would be a better choice."
"Perhaps if they were three feet tall. How about 'The Randy Valkyrie'?"
"Shut up and fight better," Hogun snarled as he hurled his mace at a giant that had almost managed to overwhelm Volstagg from behind.
I conjured a spear, my daggers no longer sufficient as more brutes fell from the tower Laufey sat in. Thor growled as one came near, roaring in his face before headbutting him across the way. I called for Volstagg, nodding in my brother's direction as I swung the spear at the giant before me. I conjured a second me to race past Sif, drawing the attention of two of the giants chasing her down as the third knelt and sent a torrent of ice shards at her as she spun back around. I utilized the same illusion to send the giants racing through my illusion and into the abyss below, trying to let a dagger fly to aid my ex as Hogun beat me, a hidden dagger sinking into the beast's neck with ease.
"So glad I taught him that," she said with a sharp exhale as I helped her to her feet before dashing away to attempt to further help Thor from getting himself killed. Father would never allow me to live such an event down; even if it was curated by Thor's inanity.
A short distance away I heard Volstagg cheering as he smacked a giant away with his mighty belly. "You may be taller, but I am wider!" His chuckles quickly turned to screams of agony as a giant came from behind, grasping him by the arm. "Do not let them touch you!" He cried, groaning as he pulled a flask from his beard and drank before crushing a healing stone to his arm.
Volstagg turned then, driving his axe into the chest of an oncoming Jotun before it grabbed him, bringing its head down atop his as the girthy warrior fell to his knees. Seeing an opportunity, Sif raced forward, using the stooped warrior's back as a springboard to send her up high enough to kick both feet against the axe, driving it deep into the giant's chest with a bone-shattering crunch.
"I nearly had him."
"Of course you did."
A brilliant light filled the air, mist rising as Hogun blew fire at a Frost Giant while another turned the puddle at his feet to solid ice, trapping him there. Yet before the giant could even lift his weapon to strike, Fandral drove his sword through it. "Hang on," he said, quickly stabbing at the ice, hacking it away from the grim warrior's ankles.
"Watch the legs!"
"Hold still and there will be no reason to-"
"DUCK!" Hogun cried, yanking Fandral down into a crouch as a brute threw himself at the vulnerable men. I hurled my spear, pinning it to the ground as Fandral nodded in thanks, pulling my spear before he tossed it back to me as Hogun worked to melt the remaining ice from his legs.
With a boastful laugh, Fandral began to fight another giant. "You think your icicles are a match for Asgardian steel?" He taunted, brandishing his blade with the same display of showmanship he always did. The unimpressed giant quickly batted the blade away, watching with a knowing smirk as it skidded across the ice. I slid, grabbing the blade and passing it off to him as he slid toward me through the giant's legs, both of us rising to our feet as we bested the giants we rose before. I turned in time to see another giant snap Fandral's sword in half before he took it and plunged it into the beast's side. With a great roar, it swiped at Fandral as I called out in horror, watching as his body flew through the air as a brute sent another shower of ice spikes toward him; the pieces coming to create a great stalagmite that impaled him through the shoulder.
I raced toward him, watching helplessly as he tried to free himself as the giants bore down on him. I hurled daggers in every direction, sending a few back a pace or two as the others hit the ground. I stood before him, fighting off the onslaught; determined to keep him from more harm as Sif called out to Thor once more. Volstagg and Hogun hurried over, cutting down giants as they made their way toward me from the back of the crowd, helping me to pull him free.
"This is unfortunate," Volstagg muttered.
"I think I will need more than healing stones," Fandral groaned. "Not a good look is it, boys?"
"Just try not to bleed," Hogun said as he quickly packed the wound with snow.
"How's the face?"
"Flawless," Volstagg reassured him as they began to move him with Sif screaming for Thor at this point.
"Thor, we need to go NOW!"
"Then go," He shouted back, hurling his hammer as a group swarmed him; preventing Mjolnir's return.
"Thor this is not a game," I called, plunging two daggers into the chest of a giant as I rolled out of its falling path. In its dying breath, the giant reached out and took a firm hold of my gloved hand; its icy touch freezing and shattering my glove as I prepared myself for the same necrotizing pain that Volstagg had come under. Yet nothing happened...
Instead, when I looked down I saw my skin slowly turning the same pale blue as the giant's. I stared in shock, the giant's red eyes widening as well, its mouth set in a firm line as it just stared at me. Stabbing the monster a second time then, I pulled my hand free, the color remaining on my now exposed forearm and hand for several seconds before it slowly began to fade. I turned my hand this way and that, watching as the blue receded, my breathing labored with a mixture of fear, curiosity, and a deep sense of dread. What had just happened and why, why had I been untouched?
A loud and foreboding-sounding crack of ice pulled my attention as I looked up to see Laufey, his hand pressed to the cracking wall as it filled with dozens of shadowy figures just beneath the surface. "That cannot be good..."
"Thor, we have to go!"
"There are too many of them, Thor, let us retreat while we still can!"
"I can stop them!" Thor, consumed by his bloodlust, continued to fight; his hand rising from the pile of squirming giants that dragged him down.
As Mjolnir flew toward him once more, Hogun nodded, turning to flee as Volstagg tossed Fandral over his shoulder to follow closely behind. The crackling continued as giants began to pop up like snowdrops from the ground, reaching for our legs as we hurried past only to fall into pursuit once fully emerged. Yet that was not all that hunted us. From the temple, a fierce roar echoed across the tundra as a beast unlike anything I had ever seen before, reared up on its hind legs before charging after us; stomping several giants into bloody messes as it did. Behind us, a great lightning strike could be heard; the shockwave lifting us as the ice began to shatter beneath us as we raced over the black void of space below.
"What has Thor done now," Volstagg demanded as he ran with Fandral on his back, leaping from ice path to ice path as they crumbled around us.
"Likely killed us all," I muttered as we ran; sliding and leaping out of the way of the half-troll, half-dog creature swiped and pounced. Sif slid, the ground rising and falling beneath her as the behemoth swiped at her with its tale. I turned, pausing as I held out my spear catching her with it as she jumped and swung to safety while the beast slid down, disappearing into space.
"Run, run; faster would be better," Fandral called, smacking his girthy friend as if he was a horse as a sea of angry giants caught up with us again; a heavy mist quickly overtaking us, no doubt spurred on by the Jotuns closing in.
"Heimdall, open the bridge," Volstagg bellowed pleadingly as we were forced to a halt before a crackling ice bridge to the outer edges of the planet, the mist quickly coming for us.
We waited, huffing and puffing in the frigid air for the gatekeeper to call us back. Instead of the golden giant answering us though, it was the troll-dog once more; the beast climbing up from the underbelly of the planet to stand before us once more. As the swirling mists engulfed us, the temperature dropping even further as it did, it became impossible to see. Each step gave way to more cracking, making each of us afraid to move as the fog thickened. We could hear the beast moving as the bridge crinkled into the ravine below, but we could not see it to protect ourselves. Just as I was prepared to teleport myself away, a stomach-turning squelch echoed around me, closely followed by an earth-shaking thud.
"Loki, we need to see," Thor said from somewhere on my left as he landed with a crunch that made my stomach nervously flip about with threats of losing what little it contained.
I lifted my arms, concentrating as Mother had taught me, pushing the mist away with my Seiðr as if it was an extension of my hands. I heard Volstagg mutter about bringing it back as the mist moved out further, revealing not just the hideous troll-dog lying before us, a hole pierced clean through its head where Thor had presumably thrown his hammer, but the hundreds of waiting Jotun. I gulped, this had not been how I had wanted to die; I had so many things left to do, so many pranks to pull, and then there was Eibhlin... If Thor killed us, I would spend my days in Valhalla strangling him for keeping me from ever having the chance to see her again!
As I opened my mouth to tell him so, the Bifróst opened across the chasm from us. The familiar sound of thundering hooves echoed over the maelstrom as Father came tearing out into the frozen wasteland upon his eight-legged steed. The dark beast easily cleared the gorge as it carried Father past us, straight toward a waiting Laufey; the Jotuns parting for him without a word or order.
"Father," Thor cheered; "We shall face them together!"
"Silence," Father hissed back, as he glared at him; the first time I had truly ever seen him angry with Thor, perhaps unforgivably so. I could not help but smirk at the thought of Thor's fall from grace; this might not turn out so bad after all. "Laufey, end this now."
The king of the Jotunheim, moved with the ice then; as if he controlled it the way his warriors had controlled the mist. He came right up to the old man, no fear in his eyes as he greeted him curtly; a smirking gleam in his eyes. "Your boys sought this out."
"You are right. These are the actions of a boy; treat them as such. You and I can end this, here and now, before there is further bloodshed."
"We are beyond diplomacy now, All-Father," Laufey stated, his voice dripping with disdain as ice began to creep over him. I wanted to say something, to call out to him, yet I worried about what would happen if I did. Would it make matters worse for all of us, or save Father? "Your sons will get what they have come for- war and death."
As Father defeatedly accepted that there was nothing more to be done, Laufey struck; yet not fast enough. With a bright burst of light from his spear, Father sent Laufey sailing back and into his warriors as the Bifróst opened, dragging us all back to Himinbjörg.
Heimdall stood at the controls as we entered, Odin storming to him as he ripped his great sword from the apparatus and threw it at him. I watched nearly in shock, having never seen Father act in anger toward the gatekeeper before. He had been so brash with me before, with guards, but never with Heimdall and certainly never with Thor. Yet as he spun around as Thor demanded to know why we had been brought back, the anger in his eye held nothing but loathing.
"Do you realize what you have done? What you have started?"
"I was protecting my home!"
"You cannot even protect your friends! How dare you believe that you have hope to protect a kingdom," He barked, turning toward me and the others as he pointed exasperatedly toward our waiting horses. "Get him to the healing room. Now. You stay," his attention fell on me then and I wondered if I too was in trouble as the others scurried away without another sound, Heimdall following after.
"Father, I-" His cold glare had me bowing my head as if I was still five hundred.
"There will not be a kingdom to protect if you are afraid to act," Thor snarled up at Father, boldly stepping upon the first stair of the control panel to square up with him. "The Jotun must learn to fear me just as they once feared you. Whatever the cost, the world must know that the new king of Asgard will not be held in contempt!"
I took in a breath as I watched Father's jaw clench harder and harder as Thor raged, while I had not wanted it to go this way, I was glad that at least he would see that his eldest son was not prepared to be king just as he had feared. "That is pride and vanity talking, not leadership! Have you forgotten everything I taught you? What of a warrior's patience-"
"While you wait and be patient, the Nine Realms laugh at us. The old ways are done! You would stand giving speeches while Asgard Falls!"
"You are a vain, greedy, cruel boy," Father yelled through his teeth, the words hitting not just Thor like daggers, but myself for reasons I did not understand.
"And you are an old man and a fool!"
The silence that gathered then as both of the men I respected and sought the approval of realized just what had been said was deafening. I could only stand there uncomfortably, regret creeping into my mind like the chill of Jotunheim. It was as if the world had stopped for all of us then as the weight of everything hung in the air, so heavy that I did not know who would be crushed beneath it first. As Father bowed his head, his eyes closed as his face sank further into his melancholy, he began to mutter words I swore I had not heard correctly. Had he truly just admitted that Thor was not ready?
I stepped forward, bowing toward him with respect. "Father-" He snarled at me, holding his fist up and at me, forcing me to step back in fear. I returned to my same pose against the wall, silent and hurt once more. How was it that no matter what I did, even when it was right, he could not accept my actions; could not accept me?
With a heavy, shaking voice, Father turned his attention back solely upon Thor. "Thor Odinson... You have disobeyed the express command of your king; through your arrogance and stupidity, you have opened these peaceful Realms and countless innocent lives to the horror of desolation and war," his anger grew then. No longer was he a disappointed, sniveling man who was accepting that he had to punish his favorite son with something more than a slap on the wrist. No, this was a man who was filled with rage at not only the failings of his son but the failings of himself as a father... I watched, the only thing I was allowed to do as Father began to further belittle Thor, pulling from him his commander disc off of his breastplate, and then his cape before turning and driving Gungnir into the control panel, lightning filling the globe, striking Thor as it began to dissolve his armor. "In the name of my father, and his father before; I, Odin All-Father, CAST YOU OUT!"
I watched in shock as the unthinkable happened, Father struck my brother with the very hammer he had once given him as a symbol of his impending reign, knocking him into the swirling vortex of the Bifróst. This had not been my intended plan at all and yet somehow... Somehow I did not hate it.