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Once again, Sophie, Elva and Trom were standing in front of Loki's palace, but everything looked completely different from when they'd last seen it. Around them, a powerful storm was raging, strong winds pulled at their clothes, and thousands upon thousands of lightning bolts flashed across the dark sky.
The village near Loki's palace had grown at least a hundredfold since their first visit, but now it was being blown apart in front of them. Each bolt of lightning struck with such power that entire buildings were decimated. And right above Loki's palace, the clouds gathered in furious circles, as if they were preparing to attack with devastating force.
"Mother of trolls! What's happening!?" Trom seemed deeply shocked by the scene in front of them. Both Sophie and Elva had a strong suspicion about what could have caused the storm, though.
"No time to figure it out now. Trom, you know how we're going to get the lightning bolt, so hurry up before the Grox follows us!" Elva yelled.
Trom shook off his surprise and looked towards the palace. "We need to get to Loki's treasure chamber! There should be an energy container that looks like a big bottle. We can use that to catch the lightning!"
They hurried into the palace and ran through the long hallways. The rooms and corridors they passed through were all completely deserted. They didn't see a single person on their path.
"That Grox you mentioned," Sophie asked, "is that that hooded thing with the swords for arms?"
"Exactly! And they're some of the nastiest creatures you could ever run into!" Elva replied.
They reached the treasure chamber, where they found Loki sitting in a chair, holding the book of wishes in his hands. He looked up as Sophie and Trom came rushing through the doors, still half-carrying Elva between them.
"Sophie, Trom, Elva – what happened?" He got up from his chair and walked over to greet them, then lifted up Elva and placed her on the chair [https://img.wattpad.com/4d527eb0962d0046b82d2675b99e4389a0101efd/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f57717368466f4b507a5a562d6d773d3d2d313338333535393836322e313738363139306161326161306333353438303733343537333937302e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]
"Sophie, Trom, Elva – what happened?" He got up from his chair and walked over to greet them, then lifted up Elva and placed her on the chair. Sophie and Trom began looking for the energy container among the treasures.
"We're being chased by a Grox," Elva explained, still out of breath.
"A Grox? That's impossible – they hail from a completely different continent, and they've never gone near Utgard before."
"What is a Grox, anyway?"
"Soph, is this really when you wanna be asking questions? It's dangerous and it's after us – now just keep searching," Trom vented, tossing aside gold piece after gold piece. "That consequence was so not worth it," he muttered, and Sophie could hear the bitterness in his voice.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Trom, are you okay?"
"You're asking if he's okay!? It's his fault we're even in this situation," Elva said angrily.
Trom winced as he dug deeper into a pile of treasures.
"What's worse, when the Dimension Door opened, you just stood there like some kind of dummy," Elva went on. "We need to be able to depend on you!"
"He snapped out of it, though," Sophie said. "He saved me from getting slashed by the Grox!"
Trom stopped digging, looking extremely miserable. "I'm sorry, guys... I promise not to try any more of my ideas."
"Well, good!" Elva scoffed.
"Elva! Trom has plenty of good ideas, he just made a mistake – you don't have to keep picking on him." Honestly, Sophie was angry at Trom too, but he'd finally been starting to believe in himself, and now he was looking even more dejected than before. So she felt she had to defend him, even if she felt a bit bitter about it.
"I know he has good ideas, but the lazy bum never wants to work for it! And then it turns into this kind of mess, with half thought through ideas blowing up in his face and everyone else's!" Elva turned towards Trom. "Just pull yourself together, you bum! You've got so much to offer, and it all just turns to nothing because you never wanna put in the work!"
Sophie was speechless. Elva actually had noticed Trom's good ideas. And not only that, she actually thought he had potential.
Trom looked up too, staring at Elva with confusion.
"Elva, you really think my ideas are good...?"
"I have no interest in repeating myself," Elva said dismissively, then cleared her throat. She seemed a bit embarrassed about her outburst.
Elva pushed herself from the chair. "I'd better help look, before the Grox shows up." She was about to start digging along with the others when she spotted something on top of one of the tallest treasure piles.
"So which of your problems did the wishing book cause, anyway? The Grox or your li'l spat there?" Loki asked.
"The Grox, obviously," Elva replied as she scaled the mountain of riches.
"You still got off easy, then." Loki walked over to a window with a view of the town and the terrible storm that was tearing it apart. He sighed. "The lovely weather outside is another consequence of my wishes, I'm afraid. Just right for a picnic, don't you think?" Loki tried to flash one of his signature teasing smiles, but all it did was highlight how sad he looked.
"All this destruction is because of my greed," Loki said, letting himself fall back into the chair that Elva had just been sitting in. Sophie walked over to his side.
"I've ordered everyone else to leave Utgard, so there's only me left. So much for my kingdom."
"Why haven't you left too?"
"A captain goes down with his ship, and a king should go down with his kingdom," Loki sighed. "You know, I once met a thunder god and made a complete fool of him. So maybe it's fitting that it's lightning that'll destroy everything I have. It can't be long now before an all-destroying lightning bolt tears this whole palace asunder."
Sophie looked at Loki. She recognized that defeated attitude from herself, from when she'd been made fun of at her previous schools. She'd completely given up on the idea of ever making real friends. What had helped her through it had been the encouraging words of her parents. She attempted some of her own.
"So you're just going to give up?"
"What else can I do?"
"Loads of stuff! Somewhere in here you've got an energy container that can capture the big lightning bolt before it destroys the palace. That's what we're looking for!"
"Stopping one bolt of lightning won't save my kingdom."
"But it'll save your palace! And you have to start somewhere if you want to save your kingdom – and that's what you want, right?"
Loki raised his eyes to meet Sophie's. "More than anything."
"Then start by saving your palace, and then you can move on to the rest of your kingdom."
Loki sat still for a long time, not saying a word. Elva and Trom looked over at him as well. Then Loki nodded to himself. "I believe you're right. You've been right about so much else."
"Found it!" Elva yelled. In her hand was a glass container. It really did look like a big bottle.
"Now we need to take it to the town's highest point," Trom said.
Then a cruel voice cut through the room.
"I'll cut you all to pieces!"
The next chapter will be out on Monday 25th of september [https://img.wattpad.com/f786ea7410969c3a2c84a29d0bf413d828fa522b/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4c486c426e57754d58305f5659413d3d2d313338333535393836322e313738363139306231303565646663303239323633373337393633352e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]