“The boundary between this zone and [Jotunheim] is just ahead,” Balfour informed me. We had been traveling for a week. Long enough that Balfour and the Azi-Fey were beginning to feel the effect of the environment, even protected by my aura as they were.

“Isn’t [Jotunheim] a zone of snow and ice?” Tia asked, the view before us not supporting his claim.

As far as we could see, there was no change to the landscape. The vista before us was the same realm of fire and lava that we had been traversing for days. I could understand Tia’s confusion, but Balfour was too talented at making such a simple mistake. There must be other variables in play. Divine trickery that we were unaware of.

Balfour had the Azi-Fey roaming ahead and scouting our surroundings. It was the primary reason the heat was beginning to affect them. They were cycling in and out of range of [Cyronax Aura], but the respite they gained there was short-lived.

Balfour was a hard taskmaster and had his colony range as far as usual. The heat might be uncomfortable, but they were Sidhe. Even if the fires burned and the air seared their lungs, they healed quickly enough to ignore it.

“The boundary between the fire and ice zone is strange,” Balfour informed us. “I’m not sure if an illusion is involved or something else, but between one step and the next, you transition between the zones. Fire becomes ice, and you are in [Jotunheim].”

“Maybe a layered effect across the Realm,” Tia suggested. “Asgard might be partitioned, so each zone is a realm complete in and of itself. The movement between each area would appear to be seamless.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Odin modeled Asgard on the Nine Realms the [World Tree] links,” I interjected. “Each zone a layer, so closely joined that moving from one to the next is effortless.”

I could see the dividing line—a ripple in the divine energy I could now sense with my expanded perceptions. I wasn’t sure how it worked, but I could see how the edges of each zone fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. The boundary where the [Fire Chasm] joined with [Jotunheim] mirrored the Bifrost bridge. A rainbow barrier that allowed each zone to be unique.

I wondered why I hadn’t noticed it when leaving the [Forest of Nightmare Plants].

The separation was thin, the dividing line undulating, a coursing river of energies with a chasm as small as it was infinite. The changes to my sight, to all my senses to perceive the building blocks that made up reality, were increasing daily. I wasn’t sure if it was because I walked a realm so steeped in Divine energies that it became easier to attune to them or if my body, soul, and mind were transitioning and taking the final step into Godhood.

“It’s beautiful,” Tia proclaimed in awe once we had taken that step that separated one zone from the next.

She was right.

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We had known [Jotunheim] was a land of snow and ice and had expected a harsh environment. Instead, we found a land of crystal ice sculptures, flowers, and trees hosting garlands of snowflakes and icicles.

[Jotunheim] was a winter wonderland, teeming with life. That life was constructed and infused with Divine energies that balanced the beauty that a fresh snowfall would leave with the possibilities that winter foretold.

Life existed.

Most of that life slept, waiting in eternal winter for a spring that would never arrive to warm the ground and melt the snow. But nature had a way, and those plants that were hardy enough to survive and thrive in the cold and snow flourished- energized and nurtured by the building blocks of creation that I was beginning to glimpse.

Animal life was just as abundant as plant life. Something made evident when a herd of Hrimfaxi galloped into view. Their hooves threw up clouds of snow as they barreled through drifts.

Hrimfaxi were both a species of animal and a [Named] godling. They tasked the godling Hrimfaxi with pulling the moon chariot of Nott the [Goddess of Night]. The herd of Hrimfaxi trampling the snow and destroying snowbanks was part of the family of that [Named] godling. They were herd animals, their appearance a cross between a goat and horse.

Creatures of moonlight, they each glowed with the same pale white light the Moon cast. Their manes were thick with snow and ice, and the patterns that formed as the snow accumulated added to the ethereal otherness they exuded.

They were beautiful animals and deadly. Nott ruled the night, and the night, the darkness that sprung up at night had never been kind. It had taken the nurturing of fire to push back Nott and claim some comfort and protection from her and her legions, but even if men had tamed fire and pushed back the night, her creatures were still powerful and frightful.

The animals noticed us, the herd alpha going so far as to snort with disdain in our direction. He was a majestic beast—powerful lines, glistening muscles, and a wildness that could never be tamed.

And that wildness called to me.

Meala was a fantastic mount. But her growth was limited. Unlike Ag and Tia, who were Sidhe, Meala was lesser. I loved her, respected her, and I would never abandon her, but she would never be able to ascend alongside Ag and me.

The Alpha Hrimfaxi was already a godling. He was as intelligent as any Sidhe. He and his brethren had been created at the moment the moon formed and Nott gained dominion over the Night.

He would never ascend and become a God, but he might evolve and claim a [Name]. He would make a suitable mount for me. My Domain of [Illusion and Glamour] was the stuff of dreams, and dreams shared a realm with [Night]. What better way to enhance my [Domain] than by weaving the realm of [Dream], like gossamer threads, with my [Domain] of [Illusion and Glamour]?

What better way to make a statement than to steal a godling from Asgard and make it a vessel of the Tuatha de Danann?

I was beginning to understand that a [Domain] was only the foundation a God built their power on. It was just one of many layers that would join in making the whole. I still controlled Fire, Ice, and Shadow even as I had claimed [Illusion and Glamour] as my [Domain]. Every God was able to borrow a small amount of the divinity from the members of their Pantheon, even more so if they shared an ancestry.

My control over the fire would never be as robust as Beleros’s, but he was the progenitor of my bloodline. I will always be blessed with his heritage. We would always have that connection. Even if I progressed from a [S- Rank] Demi-god to a [SSS Rank] Pantheon leader, that connection would remain.

The Tuatha de Danann would wake. It was inevitable. What better gift to greet them when that happened with a Hrimfaxi as my totem? I would empower their return by stealing some of the power of Asgard and Olympus.

It was only fitting.

They had used blackmail and coercion against our Pantheon to enforce them into [Sleep]. A bit of theft in retaliation seemed more than fair.