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The Dimension Door opened up, revealing a clifftop that had transformed into a ravaged battlefield. The books from the Dimension Room came flooding out, flying into the sky and off into the distance, all heading in different directions to far-off destinations.

Only two of the hooded Grox were still standing, along with General Frigus, the ice troll. The rest were all either lying unconscious in the snow or held captive by Nimum's plants. But Nimum was trapped as well. Her lower body had been frozen in a block of ice, and she was covered in scratches from the battle. General Frigus was in the process of freezing the rest of her body, but as the Dimension Door opened, he stopped.

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Whatever Frigus had expected to see when he looked through the door to the Dimension Room, this probably wasn't it. Most of the room had been cleared of both furniture and debris to make room for what looked like an enormous plank of wood that stretched all the way from one wall of the room, where it was attached, to the other side, where it wasn't. What's more, the loose end of the gigantic plank was stretched back as far as it could go. (Which was surprisingly far – Beto had examined all the furniture in the room to find the most elastic type of wood for Elva to work with. Apparently tree sorts were yet another of Beto's many areas of expertise.) And holding the stretched-back plank in place was a simple wooden block that, underneath the floorboards, connected to a lever behind the enormous device.

Right in front of the point where the wooden plank was pulled back the furthest stood another contraption. This one was a big, wooden sled, long enough for almost the entire class to fit on it in two rows of three. Sitting on it were Trom and Sophie in the front, Mek and Vix in the middle, and Varis and Beto in the back, while tiny Fiff was perched on Sophie's shoulder.

The sled itself had been equipped with some extra features compared to a traditional one. Most impressively, Trom had managed to devise a simple steering wheel attached to a control stick at the front of the sled, between Trom and Sophie. At the sides of the sled were levers that you could pull to make it brake, and at the back was a simple wooden handle that Fiff could push against if they needed to gain more speed.

The only students not on the sled were Rok and Elva. Elva had spent all her magic power shaping the contraptions and could barely walk. And Rok's heavy stone body would have slowed the sled down too much, so he'd stayed behind to protect Elva and to pull the lever that would release the plank, sending the sled flying forwards like a sideways catapult.

General Frigus and his two minions turned towards them. Frigus let out an annoyed snort as he saw the Grox tied up inside the Dimension Room.

"Useless Grox. Couldn't even handle a gaggle of children."

"Rad! You kicked the Grox's butt!" Nimum cheered. "Now just give me a couple of minutes, I'll deal with the rest of these crooks."

"Nothing but empty words," Frigus said coldly.

"Oh, is it now?" Nimum made a sudden jerk with her frozen arm, and the ice started to crack.

Frigus flinched, then hurriedly raised both his arms to resume freezing her.

"Grox Two-Four and Four-One! Get the Dimension Door key from those children!"

The two Grox smiled cruelly and ran towards them.

"Get ready!" Mek yelled. She was sitting behind Trom, who was at the steering wheel.

One of the Grox lifted its hand into the air. A ball of fire took shape in the palm of its hand, and it tossed it at the class.

"Rok, fire the catapult!"

Rok obeyed Mek's order straight away. He pulled the lever that connected to the block which held the catapult stretched out.

The students were thrown forwards with enough power to make them all fall backwards on the sled, with the exception of Trom, who was holding on tight to the steering wheel.

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The sled was flying straight towards Nimum, but one of the Grox jumped in front of them. Spikes started to grow from its skin. Long, sharp, deadly-looking spikes. It spread out its arms as if to give the entire class a big hug.

Trom took a sharp turn to avoid the gruesome embrace. He just barely managed it, but now the sled was aiming straight towards the edge of the rock pillar. Trom pulled at the steering wheel again, but the sled wasn't turning fast enough. Sophie grabbed at the lever on the right side of the sled and pulled with all her might. The sled slowed down a little and started to turn a bit faster as well, but it wasn't enough. If they didn't do something, they'd all have to jump off the sled just to survive.

"Everybody! Lean right!" Mek yelled. With all their weight, the students all leant to the right. The sled's left side lifted off the snow. It turned. With inches to spare, the sled turned away from the pillar's edge.

"Trom, we need to get to that tree!" Sophie yelled, pointing to one of the plants Nimum had left behind. It was a small tree with a trunk that went around in circles, forming a spiral. The frost didn't seem to have overtaken it yet. Trom turned the sled towards the tree, but just then a fireball flew towards them. Trom dodged it by a hair's breadth, but two more fireballs were already heading in their direction.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"We're losing speed! Fiff, you've got to push!" Trom yelled.

Fiff flew to the handle at the back of the sled and started to push with all her strength. The sled dodged the fireballs, but the last one hit so close to the sled that Beto and Varis, who hadn't been holding onto anything, fell off. They tumbled into the snow – though at least Varis had some extra padding from his long, poofy fur. Now the only ones left on the sled were Trom, Sophie, Fiff, Vix and Mek.

Frigus aimed one arm towards them, while keeping the other aimed squarely at Nimum, still freezing her. Above him, he conjured several frozen arrows, which darted towards the sled. Mek had to dodge out of the way to avoid three of the arrows, which cut into the sled, right where she had been sitting. As she moved, she briefly exposed The Northfire, which she had been hiding close to her chest.

Frigus saw it at once. His cold demeanor evaporated instantly, and what little color his face had disappeared.

"Get me the flame that the Gorgon is holding! And don't let them get close to the plants!"

With just a glimpse of the flame, Frigus had worked out their plan. He raised one arm high above his head and conjured an enormous spear of ice in the air, big enough to level an entire house.

"W-w-we'll never m-m-m-make it!" Vix stuttered, clinging onto the left lever.

Trom ignored Vix's panicked yell. His eyes were locked onto the spiral tree. "We're almost there!"

Sophie looked back at Frigus, who was pulling back his arm, ready to send the spear flying. Nimum was still frozen to the ground. But to Sophie's surprise, Nimum gave her a carefree smile and pointed towards the ground with her free arm. At first, Sophie wasn't sure what Nimum was hinting at, but then she noticed a shadow growing larger and larger on the ground below Frigus.

Frigus didn't seem to notice the growing shadow. His eyes were locked on the Northfire and his mind on forming the giant spear.

Sophie looked up at the sky to see where the huge shadow was coming from. Whatever it was, though, it couldn't help them against Frigus' frozen spear before it was too late. It hung menacingly in the air, ready to be thrown.

"Mek, get ready to jump!" Trom yelled.

Mek braced herself. Frigus swung his arm with all his strength, sending the ice spear flying. Mek leapt from the sled towards the tree, holding the Northfire in outstretched arms as she flew through the air.

Something hit the clifftop behind Frigus like a meteor strike. The entire rock pillar shook, and the sled got knocked on its side. Before Sophie got thrown off, she caught sight of Mek touching the Northfire flame against the tree in mid-air. The tree grew with the speed of an explosion, and a massive root blocked the incoming ice spear, right before it could hit them.

Over by Nimum, Frigus was standing very still. The two Grox were staring in terror at what was just behind their general. Stiff as a board, Frigus turned around, and found himself staring into the face of a fifty feet tall giant.

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"I don't recall granting the Order of Terram passage into my country," sounded the thundering voice of Skrymir. He swung his arm at the ground.

Frigus darted backwards to avoid the giant arm. But it wasn't him Skrymir had been aiming at. It was the block of ice that held Nimum captive. The block of ice shattered into pieces. Nimum was freed.

"Retreat!" Frigus yelled.

"No way! Not before you get the butt-whooping that I promised you."

Nimum reached out an arm in the direction of the spiral tree, and the branches immediately started to grow, extending and moving like long, thick snakes towards Frigus and the two Grox.

In sheer panic, the Grox with the fireballs threw ball after ball at the enormous branches, but they bounced off like tiny gusts of wind. The Grox only just managed to let out a tiny scream before the branches wrapped around it, trapping it. The Grox with the spikes dodged the massive branches as they lunged for it, but it failed to look where it was going and ran straight into a thornbush that Nimum had made earlier.

Frigus, on the other hand, made it to the edge of the pillar. Without hesitation, he threw himself off the side.

Nimum rushed after him, but by the time she reached the edge, all she could see was the ice-cold and raging sea at the bottom of the pillar. For a moment, Nimum looked like she was going to jump in after him, but she managed to control herself as she looked back at her students. Frigus had escaped, but victory was theirs.

"Check out my awesometastic students here!" Nimum cheered, beaming with joy. Vines shot out from her arms, grabbing each and every student, pulling them into an enormous hug. "You've all been so brave! And brilliant! And creative!" she said, putting the students back on the ground.

"I mean, it wasn't quite the school trip I was planning for you guys... Especially 'cos I wasn't even there! So now we're all going back to Mr. Skrymir's place, so you can all get something to warm you up and I can get all the juicy details!"

"Actually, his real name is Loki, not Skrymir," Trom pointed out, as he walked over to the edge of the pillar. He could see all the way to Loki's house.

"Is that right?" Nimum said, looking over at Loki.

"It's a long story," the old Jotun said, clearing his throat. He then turned towards the class. "I don't know what you did, but I have to thank you all. After 500 years, I finally have my memories back. Better late than never, I suppose. And now I know why I had to stay by the Dimension Door. I was waiting for whoever could bring back the Northfire!"

"Don't you remember us helping you, though?" Trom asked. "We met you in the Dimension Room – I mean, the younger you."

Loki shook his head. "The door and all its challenges were created from my memories. So what you've seen has all been versions of my past – but not the one I lived."

Trom's ears drooped a little. "Oh. So you don't know about any of the stuff we went through with the other you."

Loki got down on one knee and put a hand on Trom's shoulder. "I don't. But I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done, and I'd be very honored if you'd tell me all about it over a cup of hot chocolate."

"Sounds like a plan to me! Now let's get back to Mr. Loki's cabin!" Nimum gathered up the remaining trapped Grox with her vines.

"All the way back," Trom said with a shudder. "Hey, Nimum, if you used one of the roots from the giant tree, couldn't we make a giant slide all the way down to the cabin? Then we could all just ride down on the sled."

Nimum looked at Trom with surprise. "You know, that's a brilliant idea, Trom! Where'd you get the sled anyway?"

"Trom made it!" Sophie volunteered.

"With my help," Elva stressed.

"Look at you go, Trom! You're a mad genius! And an inventor! Looks like I've missed out on more than I thought behind that door."

None of them got much sleep that night. They were all too busy talking about everything they'd experienced behind the Dimension Door. Loki told them about how all his memories had returned the moment the door had opened. Then Nimum tried to explain to the students how the door had been created with Creation Magic in the first place, and how it was the most complicated of all the seven types of magic, but you could use it to do almost anything, assuming you had the knowledge and power necessary.

By the time everyone was done telling their stories, it was late into the night. Most of the students had already gone to sleep. Even by the time Sophie turned in, she could still hear Nimum and Loki talking. The last thing she heard before she drifted off was them discussing the Northfire – and what should be done with it.

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