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Sophie and Trom stepped through the door and entered the same forest they’d passed through the first time they’d gone to Loki’s palace – though this time the forest was nowhere near its previous lush and vibrant self. The colors were fading. Leaves were falling off the trees, and flowers, bushes and grass were all withering. The pleasant, summer warmth that had greeted them on their first visit was gone, and a cold wind blew through the naked trees. Winter was on its way.
They both spent a moment taking in the sad surroundings before moving on. They knew what their goal was: The wooden chest that was drawn on the outside of the fifth door. And hopefully inside the chest they would find the Dimension Door’s treasure.
Sophie glanced over at Trom as they walked through the dying forest. He hadn’t said a word since they’d gone through the door. Elva’s outburst had certainly had an effect on him, but Sophie still wasn’t sure if it had been for better or for worse.
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”Trom, do you still feel bad about the Grox?” As usual, Sophie’s question had blurted from her mouth before she’d had time to decide if it was the right thing to say or not.
Trom’s shoulders and head both slumped. “Of course I do. If it weren’t for me, the Grox would never have got in. And what’s worse… I couldn’t even do anything to help when we fought it.”
Clearly, Trom still hadn’t gotten his confidence back.
”Elva’s right, though, Trom. You have lots of good ideas. Remember, you were the one who figured out the floating steps in the sky!”
”That was just one thing, the rest was all…”
”And then you figured out how to make a new staircase out of books when we needed to get the bird up to the ceiling!”
”I mean, that was nothing special…”
”Yes it was! And if it hadn’t been for your staircase, I’d never have been able to get back up to the energy container and hit the Grox with the lightning bolt!”
Trom grew quiet for a moment. “I hadn’t thought of it like that… But it’s not like my ideas are ever anything spectacular like the stuff you come up with.”
”I think they’re pretty spectacular – they’re just different from mine!” As Sophie spoke, she suddenly realized something about Trom’s ideas and the ways he’d handled problems throughout the entire trip. And suddenly it all started to make sense to her.
”That’s what all your ideas are about! They’re ways to make things easier! You figured out the floating staircase riddle because you weren’t happy with the solution we’d come up with – and your solution turned out to be much easier and safer! And when you built your own staircase, it was the easiest solution too! You had your idea to make a bridge because you wanted to make life easier for the people in your village, and when you couldn’t do that, you built the raft instead. Not only are your ideas all about making things easier, they’re about making life easier for everyone! And I’d say that’s spectacular!”
Trom wasn’t looking gloomy anymore, but now he looked at Sophie with confusion instead.
”But is that a good thing? I wrote in the book to make things easier, and that’s how we got the Grox after us. And the bridge and the raft were total failures too.”
”Maybe you just need to talk to people about your ideas before you try to do them – and get their help! Like, if you’d asked for help from someone who knew how to build a raft or even a bridge, I’m sure it would have worked… But you can’t just give up straight away! If you keep trying, you can make anything, heck, maybe you could even be some kind of inventor! In the human world, there are lots of people who invent stuff to make life easier! You could do that too!”
Sophie stopped talking, fully out of breath. All those words had just flown out of her mouth.
Trom stared at her. “… That… That might not be a bad idea. And me… an inventor? I kinda like that…” He stood up a bit straighter and gave a little nod.
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Sophie liked it as well. Inventing stuff also fit well with something else she’d realized about Trom: He worked best when he had time to come up with a solution in peace, like when he’d worked out how to get to the floating platform or when he’d built his staircase out of books. It was when he was put on the spot, like when the Grox showed up, that he would sometimes freeze. And dealing with that kind of situation, Sophie noted with a certain satisfaction, was one of the things that she did well.
Where Trom was great at meticulously working out how to do things, Sophie was great at coming up with wild solutions on the fly. And sure, Trom would occasionally reach an answer before her, but it wasn’t like she couldn’t hold her own. And she had other skills too!
She felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Trom had his way of being creative, and she had hers. She’d still be the best at using her own kind of creativity. And she knew her classmates would appreciate her for it.
Perhaps some part of her sensed that there was something more about her feelings that she hadn’t quite worked out yet. But for now, this was good enough.
”All right, we better figure out what we’re supposed to do here,” Trom said, pulling Sophie out of her thoughts. “The others are waiting for us.”
They resumed walking, both of them scouting around for Loki. They’d met him behind every other door they’d gone through, so they fully expected to meet him here as well. But when they finally spotted a familiar figure, something seemed off.
Sophie stopped in her tracks. At first she thought she was looking at someone else entirely, before she finally recognized the figure as Loki. At least she thought she did?
Loki was sitting on a tree stump in the middle of a clearing. Once again, he had grown older. His beard had grown longer, with parts of it braided together. His hair was still wavy, but both his hair and beard were growing gray. The wrinkles on his face were growing more prominent, and he’d grown wider and rounder. He was no longer the young Jotun they’d first met, but an old one. An old Jotun that they’d met somewhere before.
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Sophie and Trom studied him at a distance.
”I mean, that should be Loki sitting over there. He’s the only one we’ve met on the other sides of these doors, and it does look like him. He just also looks like…” Trom sounded like he couldn’t quite make sense of what he was saying himself. “… like Skrymir?”
”I don’t get this at all,” Sophie concluded. “So I guess we better ask.” With that, she briskly walked over to the Jotun that might or might not be Loki.
The old Jotun sat hunched over with his elbows resting on his legs, gazing emptily at the ground.
“Loki?”
The old Jotun wearily raised his head. “Sophie. Trom. What a surprise.” His eyes were sad, and his voice was hoarse.
”So you really are Loki? I don’t suppose you might be called Skrymir as well?”
Loki looked at her without understanding. “Skrymir? No, that’s not a name I’ve ever used.”
”You just look like someone else we’ve met,” Trom added.
”He sounds like a real specimen,” Loki said, attempting a smile.
”Loki, what’s happened? Why is the forest dying?” Sophie asked.
Loki let out a deep sigh. “I did all I could, Sophie. I searched everywhere for a solution – and I even found it. But the price was far steeper than I could ever have thought. A mysterious man with a long beard told me that I could save my land from its doom, but only if I would give up the power source itself.”
Loki put his hand over the pocket of his jacket.
”He said that everyone who knew about the power source and its abilities would forget all about it, until the day that it was discovered anew.” He raised his head and regarded the forest that surrounded them. “My entire kingdom, doomed because I always wanted more… Utgard will cease to exist, and the White Desert will return. And nothing I’ve done will have even mattered.” Loki seemed to sink into himself as he stared blankly at the ground.
Sophie put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Is there anything we can do to help?”
”As a matter of fact, there is. The mysterious old man gave me a final task, which I’ve been pondering for days now without coming up with an answer. He told me to pass on the name of the power source to someone or something that will make sure its name is never forgotten.”
Sophie and Trom exchanged a look. They didn’t even know that the power source had a name.
”Um… What do you call the power source?” Trom asked.
Loki looked up. ”Ah, that’s simple. I have named it The Power Source.”
Trom stared blankly at Loki. “You named the power source ‘The Power Source’?”
”No, no, listen to me! I named it The Power Source.”
”That’s what you just said, though!” Trom seemed like he was about to explode.
”Trom?” Sophie said pensively. ”What if figuring out the name of the power source is this door’s challenge?”
Trom’s expression changed. ”Well… I guess that would explain why we haven’t been able to see it.”
”And maybe if we guess its name, that’ll get us the chest. And maybe the other four doors contained the clues we need for this challenge – otherwise, why would we be the only ones who were allowed to go through the final door?” Sophie concluded.
Trom tapped the side of his nose. “That would mean we have all the clues we need already. So now we just need to figure it out!”
Sophie smiled. “In that case… Let’s play a game I play with my dad sometimes. It’s called ‘What-do-you-know?’…”
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