With the evening’s entertainment dealt with, I focused on the main event. Above the shroud of shadows the Nidhögg had woven, the sun had set, leaving us in a wonderfully black night. There was no moon, only a scant, few stars, allowing us to view the complete and utter Darkness adobe in its full glory.

Lenore had already returned but we had decided that this would be a ritual only I would participate in, if at all possible. What we had planned was dangerous, of that we had no doubt, and it was quite possible that the incredible power would destroy my Avatar we planned to evoke. It was enough power to destroy a world, after all, and while the Tower would take some of the strain out of it, it was still a huge burden to be placed on a mortal body. Thus, Lenore would remain nearby and offer moral support but wouldn’t be in her Hallow and we wouldn’t use the Raven’s Shadow.

Sitting on my throne, I started to draw power from the Nexus, letting it fill the Tower and remain ready at my fingertips. At the same time, I could feel the Nidhögg draw power, parallel to my own draw but more diffuse, while I primarily took in power from the Nexus, it was able to take in power from everywhere, especially the infinite void above. I had no idea how that worked, but it felt quite fascinating and I tried to etch these impressions into my brain, not because I thought they would be useful in this world but out of sheer curiosity.

Neither of us spoke as we prepared, the power slowly infusing the world around us, filling it with Ice, Darkness and a whole lot of other energies, courtesy of the Nidhögg until finally, a saturation point was reached.

There was no signal, we didn’t need one, only a grumbling hum coming from the Astral Siphon, carrying with it a mesh of intentions, impressions and knowledge. It was no mere sound, it was pure power, vibrating everything in the vicinity, be it physical or magical. Even I felt myself vibrate, the power enough to shake my mind, body and spirit, but I had been prepared for it.

In response, I began to sing, softly at first, weaving together the sound of my voice and the power of the Nexus, allowing the Nidhögg to take the power I was drawing, to direct it further. Under its guidance, we delved into the Astral around us, following the currents of the river and I could faintly feel a bit of recognition, though not from my own memories, but from those of the Raven’s Shadow. It was in these channels where Lenore and I had thrown back the outside influence while cracking the Soul Prison, the power that had tried to choke us out had come from our destination.

And now, it was us who were going in that direction, following the metaphysical traces, the tracks of power the Nidhögg could somehow sniff out. I had no illusion that I was the Nidhögg’s equal, there was simply a wide gap in ability and experience between us, but that didn’t mean I was completely unable to watch and learn.

Soon, I could feel the vast power before us, a wide sea of verdant power compared to the unfathomably deep, freezingly cold well of the Nexus. There was no way to guess just which ultimately held more power, but the sea in front of me gave me the impression of lethargy as if the primary source was asleep. The honourable approach would have been to wait until that power was at its strongest, but neither the Nidhögg nor I actually cared about honour or anything but our own success.

Letting my voice echo through the Astral River, I returned the prior attack, letting the biting cold of winter rage across the endless Verdant Sea and the Nidhögg added its own melody and its strange concept-words spread across the world.

“Axetime, Swordtime, shields are sundered…” the Nidhögg invoked a song of endings, and the world started to burn. The Verdant Sea went up in flames as the Black Flames of Nidhögg started to spread out.

I continued with my song, even as I felt an additional influence, trying to rouse the Verdant Sea, while the Nidhögg was directing its own power at that sea, trying to drink it dry. Unwilling to allow this interloper to just do as they pleased, I began to focus my own magic at it, as I was singing my own song. A song of endings and of winter, of a world that was about to fall. Maybe there would be a new spring in the future, but only once my power waned.

Singing of Eternal Cold and perfect peace, I directed my magic, frozen sounds striking the Astral Presence, trying to bind and contain it, even as they were drawing power from the verdant sea and throwing it back at me.

Minutes turned into hours as we were locked in a magical struggle, vast amounts of power clashing as both of us tried to contain the other, to snuff out their essence to allow our partners to reign supreme.

All around us, the Black Flames of Nidhögg started to spread and I began to grin as I channelled my own Flames of Morgana, the cold, faintly blue fires not directed at the verdant sea, that had shrunk quite a bit by now, but at the interloper who tried to defend the sea.

They tried to block my flames, sending out energies of Life and Growth, trying to contain them in a lush, green jungle but there was no way for the jungle to contain the ever-hungry cold. I merely needed to keep my flames burning to win, and with the Nexus allowing me to wield an impossible amount of power, I was bound to outlast. I had eternity on my side, so this interloper was doomed to fail unless they managed to rouse the Verdant Sea.

But the Verdant Sea was a sea no more, under the Black Flames of Nidhögg, the sea had shrunk, and turned into a lake and even that lake was quickly fading, as the Nidhögg’s presence was getting stronger and stronger. If before, the Nidhögg had been intimidating, it was no utterly terrifying and only the knowledge that I was the Ice Queen and this was my domain kept me from shivering in abject terror.

Finally, the interloper was no longer able to withstand my flames and with a wordless scream of despair and fear, they threw a last, desperate attack against us, their very life fuelling this last struggle. I channelled my own magic, weaving a wall of solid Stillness, an eternity of Ice against the desperate struggle crashed, the energies ravaging my own mind, as I held on, the power of the Nexus quickly soothing my aching soul.

As the attack faded, so did the interloper, their life and soul spent and as they faded, so did the Verdant Sea, as if the two of them had been one. It took me a moment to understand, the Verdant Sea of power came from the Elder Tree, the giant tree in the centre of the Elven Forest and the interloper that had tried to defend against us must have been the Elder Druid, Leader of the Elves. That realisation made me laugh with glee, the leader of my enemies lay dead and with them, the precious tree of the elves. And unless I was completely wrong, the Black Flames of the Nidhögg hadn’t just devoured that Ancient Tree but they had set the roots of their entire forest ablaze.

For a moment, I considered creating a scrying construct outside of the Astral but I quickly decided against it. As much as I wanted to witness their suffering, to laugh as they were devoured, it would open the Nidhögg and me up to retaliation, our primary location was shrouded by the Nidhögg’s power, no need to give our foes any additional information.

Seeing that the Verdant Sea lay dry, Black Flames devouring the last scraps of power that were pouring in and following those shallow tributaries back to their sources, we began to withdraw. Our first blow had been struck and the Nidhögg, glutton that they were, had devoured the power of the Elder Tree, taking enough power for our next step.

Because as much power as the Nexus gave us, it was just not enough for what we were planning, we couldn’t use just that one source of power.

But now, with the Nidhögg having devoured the accumulated power of the Elven Race, their entire forest nothing but kindling to fuel our next step, we should be able to continue. And even if we were not, I was willing to bet it all and try, I had a feeling that the punishment for stopping and failing would be the same. For a brief moment, the image of the Bound Titan flickered in my mind and I had no doubt that divine punishment for a mortal like myself would be much, much worse.

Withdrawing into my body, I felt myself shake with both excitement and exhaustion. A brief glimpse into my log showed me dozens of messages, but I couldn’t bring myself to truly care. A few levels, some additional Ice-Magic and a title or two, nothing that would change our next step.

Nothing that would give me Sigmir back and thus, irrelevant.

Taking in a deep breath and pushing it back out, I focused once more, to weave the last spell I would cast in this world. And what a wonderful coincidence that it was the spell that would shatter this world.