Rodrigo and his companions had been advancing through the dark cavern for more than thirty minutes. With every step forward, the light grew dimmer and the cold intensified to extraordinary levels.

  The cavern walls were covered with drawings depicting marine creatures and celestial beings, like primitive cave paintings. However, the lack of light made them difficult to discern.

  Rodrigo, his body completely coated in frost, began to feel his feet sticking to the ground, making it nearly impossible to walk. The icy wind blowing through the dark fissure froze everything it touched.

  “This cold isn’t normal,” Ana protested as she continued moving with great difficulty.

  Suddenly, Anpiel’s legs shattered, and the angel fell face-first to the ground, his face instantly freezing to the floor.

  “Anpiel!” Epona cried out.

  The equine goddess tried to lift him, but his body had frozen completely. She then turned to Rodrigo, only to find that he too had become a statue of ice, unable to pull his feet free from the ground.

  “This can’t be happening!” Epona screamed in despair as she felt her own arms freezing beyond recovery.

  At that moment, Tania created a massive fireball between her hands, shouting, “Galad esh maat (Fire Sphere number 100)!”

  She hurled it forward, but after traveling only a short distance, the flames were completely extinguished.

  “The cold in this chamber surpasses even the power of the goddess I fought on Mars,” Tania said as she watched her legs and body begin to freeze as well.

  “Press onward, I beseech thee. We must not tarry; our course must be maintained with all haste,” Susanoo urged, struggling forward as his own feet froze to the ground.

  All the members of Orniskem were beginning to turn into ice statues when a sun appeared in the cavern. Menrva had created it using most of her remaining strength, even as the lower half of her body froze solid.

  “Rath Lauchum Usil (Royal Sacred Sun),” she said trembling. “A sun made of pure static energy.”

  The warmth shattered the frost encasing the others, allowing them to break free and rise again.

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  “We can’t go on. The cold is too strong,” Tania said as her legs thawed and she struggled forward.

  “How much farther?” Epona asked, trying to revive Anpiel with ambrosia, only to discover the liquid was completely frozen.

  “That man said it was several kilometers, and we’ve only been walking for about thirty minutes,” Ana replied.

  Another blast of freezing wind swept through the cavern, frosting over the sun Menrva had created. One by one, they began freezing again.

  “Don’t give in! I don’t know how, but we have to keep moving!” Menrva said, trying to summon another sun—only to realize her hands were frozen and she could no longer generate electricity.

  Tania tried to summon fire as well, but only icy vapor poured from her palms.

  “We’re going to die here,” Tania thought in terror as she felt her body freezing, powerless to stop it.

  “Ana! Tania! Anpiel! Rodrigo! I don’t want to die yet—please help me!” Epona screamed as her tears froze against her face.

  “We’re going to die… we’re going to die…” echoed through the minds of Menrva and the others. At that moment, they stopped struggling and began to accept eternal freezing.

  “It’s pointless to keep fighting. We’re going to die,” the thought repeated in Tania’s mind as she realized that only she and Menrva were not yet completely frozen.

  “So, in the end, you did need my help after all, didn’t you?” Loki’s voice said.

  They had all lost sight of him in the cold, but to Tania’s and Menrva’s astonishment, the Norse god was neither frozen nor affected by the cold at all.

  Loki walked calmly between the two goddesses, his frozen chains clinking softly—then, before their stunned eyes, he shattered them.

  “You know,” Loki continued casually, “if I wanted to escape, I would have done so a long time ago.”

  “Do whatever you want. Just leave us here to die,” Tania said, with only her face still free of ice.

  “Forgive me, Athena. I am a failure as a leader. I deserve death!” Menrva cried, sobbing as the cold finally claimed her face.

  “Tell me, Tannit—do you want me to save you?” Loki asked the fire-haired goddess, whose face remained unfrozen.

  “It’s pointless. I’m already dead,” Tania replied weakly.

  Loki laughed.

  “I see now. It’s not just the freezing air—it’s those creatures the Skr?ling mentioned,” Loki said with a grin as he leaned closer to Tania.

  “The shadow men?” Tania asked through her sobs.

  “Exactly. As your bodies die from the cold and your minds weaken, they cloud your thoughts, breaking you from within,” Loki said with amusement.

  He leaned against the frozen body of the Punic goddess and fixed her with a malicious stare.

  “Would you give me your soul to save your life—and the lives of your friends?” he whispered softly.

  Tania closed her eyes and remained silent.

  “You’re free now, Loki. Go. Save the father you speak of so often,” the fire-haired goddess said at last.

  “You’re right… something keeps telling me not to fight, to give up… but I—” she continued.

  Images flooded Tania’s mind: the people of Ibiza she had lived among, the children she had healed, the women she had helped bring new life into the world, the countless lives she had saved. A warmth lit her heart.

  In that instant, Tania shattered the ice encasing her, her body engulfed in flames as she transformed into her Manticore form.

  “I’m sick of hearing voices like this in my head,” she shouted. “And for Rodrigo and the others—I refuse to give up!”

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