I decided to attack Utgard-Loki, hidden within an illusion, an illusion in the semblance of Thor. I’d met Thor in the Universal Senate after I claimed my kingdom on Talahm, so I knew what he looked like and how he spoke.

I’d considered impersonating Loki, but he was more of an ally to the Jotunn than an enemy. Hidden within the guise of Loki might have allowed me to get close to Utgard-Loki without risk. Utgard-Loki was Loki’s son, after all. But I thought my illusion would likely be broken without knowing the history between the two men or how they behaved together.

The Thor illusion I created into a wisp of possibilities, a shell made of light and shadow that allowed me to create a [Fetch], a body double that might live and breathe if I had any of the essences of Thor to use to base my creation of the [Fetch] on. Once I added [Glamour], the incarnation of Thor I created became real.

The hard part of this [Glamour] was to imbue the [Illusion] with the power and strength the real Thor exuded. I needed to replicate his strength of arms, the power of Mjölnir, and his ability to control lightning.

I used sympathetic magic to craft the characteristics I was looking for, linking the effects I needed to myself and my companions. My magic and strength combined with Ag, Tia, and Draioct’s empowered the [Glamour] with a combination of power far greater than the sum of each part.

The last bit of magic I cast allowed me to see, hear, and speak through the simulacrum I had crafted.

The only thing left was to create the effect of Thor’s [Domain]. It was easy to reproduce the thunder and lightning that was his to control. Storms are a function of heat and cold, properties I was able to reproduce using my affinities for fire and ice, but Thor’s control of storms was much more involved than just creation.

As I experimented with the two elements, I wondered why I’d never considered this approach to merging my magic before. With the amount of heat and cold I could unleash, it was a matter of seconds to have storm clouds form and rain begin to fall. I continued to experiment, finding that if I varied the amount of cold and heat I used, I could reproduce the variables needed for a tornado.

A tornado I could control if I kept it tethered to my magic. That link connected and spun the air pressure, keeping the clash of fire and ice frequent enough that the path of the tornado could be established.

If I exerted my magic to the fullest, if I added [Fairy] and [the Wild Magic] into the mix, I could unleash hurricane-force weather. I gained that knowledge when I entered the [Ring of Hidden Depths] to practice and perfect the new spellform I had created. The vagaries of the ring and time dilation allowed me the time needed to master the mixing of magics.

“Balfour, are the Azi-fey in place?” I asked once I was satisfied that I’d done all I could to reproduce a fair approximation of Thor.

“They are. Deidre, the Azi-fey assigned to Utgard-Loki, has confirmed he has returned to Utgard,” Balfour replied.

“They’ve been informed what I need them to do?”

“They have. And a few dozen of them have been supplied with Elfshot,” he assured me.

Attacking Utgard-Loki where he was strongest was already going to be hard enough. I would need more than [Illusion and Glamour] to sow confusion. I would need a way to keep him under control as I transported his body out of the city and held him in the prison I’d created.

I had the Azi-fey test Elfshot on some of the Wargs and wild Draioct that roamed the ice fields. Enough that I was satisfied it worked on the Godlings and that the divine nature of the Asgardian realm had no influence on the properties of the poison.

Elfshot was a unique extract from a plant found on Talahm. In small enough doses or mixed with other narcotics, it was highly addictive and insidious. It destroyed an individual’s free will until, eventually, it destroyed any sense of self.

Elfshot had another function. That additional function was the reason that I was using the poison for this. If a purified extract of the solution was administered, it induced [Sleep]—a faux version, similar to but weaker than what the Tuatha de Danann slumbered under.

Without an antidote, a person injected with extract of Elfshot would sleep for years. The higher that initial dosage, the longer sleep would last. The amount of Elfshot we used to coat the head of an arrow would induce sleep for two years for an Immortal Sidhe.

I had gifted the Azi-fey twenty arrows, enough to force Utgard-Loki into sleep for fifty years, or at least I hoped so.

Krampus and Thrym had tasked me with proof of concept and decided on the target. But they had left the means up to me. I’m confident they wouldn’t have chosen Utgard-Loki if they had known he might be lost to [Sleep] for decades.

But if my idea worked, if placing an individual in time-out without the release of death worked outside the rules of reset, then the System requirements should not be met. Utgard-Loki would be effectively sidelined. If the Jotunn used this technique on the Asgardians, they could slowly decimate Odin’s forces.

With periodic injections of more Elfshot, his sleep could last as long as the supply of Elfshot remained available.

[Illusion and Glamour] active, the Azi-Fey in place, Tia, Ag, Draioct, and I pooled our magics to serve as pillars to establish a circle of power. Each of them offered their entire pools of magic to me and my control.

I began with the tornadoes, sending first one, then another until a dozen were rampaging against the walls of Utgard, two of them slipping inside to destroy buildings at will.

The lightning was next. A storm of energy that continued to assail the walls of Utgard as the Jotunn warriors moved into position to defend the walls, and the Jotunn mages formed their own circle of power to support and strengthen both walls and warriors.

I continued in this vein, waiting for Balfour’s signal. The wait wasn’t long before I knew Utgard-Loki’s location and that he was on the move. It was only then that I released the trigger holding the spell that would activate the most challenging illusion.

Thor, in all his glory, thunder and lightning serving to announce his arrival, Mjölnir whirling with a speed so intense that new tornadoes were formed and released to deal their damage as he flew like quicksilver.

Thor, who ignored the walls of Utgard.

Thor, who ignored magic attacks and hurled missiles as they passed right through him.

Thor, who landed, the ground cracking, and Utgard-Loki and his guards collapsing as the Azi-fey released their poison-tipped arrows.

Thor, who picked up Utgard-Loki and used him as a shield before he leaped skyward to streak out of sight, the only sign of his passage, the diminishing peals of thunder and flashes of lightning.

The residents of Utgard were stunned. The walls remained standing. Not a single person had been killed, and although it was impossible to wake those who guarded Utgard-Loki, they were in no danger.

A new type of warfare had come to Asgard. My kidnapping of Utgard-Loki would serve as proof to Thrym and Krampus. I dismissed Thor and repurposed the circle of power once the illusionary Thor had placed Utgard-Loki within the bounds of the prison, linking the [Illusions and Glamours] that I had established to hide the jail from scry, sight, and escape.

I would leave him here, waiting for the antidote to Elfshot until Thrym or Krampus arrived. I would allow them no recourse, no excuses, no recriminations, or accusations that I had cheated. They would get the antidote when they enacted my plans and began picking off the Asgardians one by one.

They wanted proof, and I had supplied it. I had done my part; it was time to test the Jotunn and see if they had any honor. I would find out if they were the treacherous, mindless barbarians the Asgardians had branded them or if they had the conviction to keep their word once given.