The clear skies of Jötunnheim that night were lit up from the Sky Lights dancing across the sky in shades of green, red, and purple. They looked like rippling streams or curtains of light. This phenomenon happened every night, each night with a different pattern, but could be only be seen on the rare cloudless night. Humans would call them the Aurora Borealis.

All of the Jötnar still awake in Útgarðr would look at them from time to time as they walked. Despite it being the day before the Midwinter's Eve festival, there were few Jötnar out as most had gone to bed early so they would be well rested for tomorrow. Many Jötnar had come to the capital to partake in the festival, so there were a lot of new faces around.

The guards around Laufey's palace were not worried, and amused themselves by leaning against the gates and watching the dancing lights. Despite being on shift, they weren't doing much of guarding.

Prince Býleistr was also outside watching the dance of the lights, and enjoying the view. The adults had told him that before The War, before the Æsir had stolen the Casket, the Casket used illuminate the entire palace grounds with its blue light. That blue glow was thought to be picked up and reflected in the Sky Lights. Ever since the Casket had been taken the Sky Lights had lost their blue color, so maybe it was true.

Býleistr knew that his uncle Laufey had gone to bed early for once, and so was missing out on the Sky Light's dance. The Deus Praesidio that had attached itself to Laufey would undoubtedly be with him. A Deus Praesidio, translated into God's Protector, was a serpent that Ymir had created during the time of the Elder Gods fifteen thousand years ago. They were so rare that many Jötunn believed them to be a creature of stories only, at least until a black-scaled one had appeared in Laufey's throne room eight days ago.

Of all the stories of the Deus Praesidio, one thing they had in common was that they had dusky white scales, yet the one with Laufey had black scales. According to stories there was only one Deus Praesidio with black scales, and it was something quite remarkable for it...

An exciting yipping sound interrupted Býleistr before he could finish his thought, and he looked away from the sky to see three bundles of fur running towards him. They were snow wolf pups, and the one in the lead hopped off of the ice patio and onto the snow. He vanished with a puff when he landed in the deep snow. The two others tried to come to a stop. One managed it, but the third slid into him and knocked him into the snowbank as well. The third one looked off the patio over at the two in the snow.

Býleistr smiled at the antics of the three pups. One of the pups in the snow hopped up, and you could see his ears flop above the snow before vanishing again. The other one in the snow started whining for its foster mother to come rescue him.

"I'm coming," a Jötunn promised in a tired voice as he walked into Býleistr's sight. "What did you three do now?"

"Hello Ryg," Býleistr greeted the visitor with a smile, crimson eyes from his royal blood bright.

Ryg nodded, "my prince."

Both of the pups in the snow started whining, and Ryg knelt on the ice and fished them out. He set them next to the one wolf pup that hadn't fallen in, and the two boys started swatting at their sister until Ryg shushed them. Býleistr did not envy Ryg's task of raising the littermates one bit.

"Out watching the skylights?" Ryg asked Býleistr as the pups finally stopped picking on their sister and the alpha male of the three swatted at his brother playfully, soon breaking into a tussle.

It was something of a game to the younger Jötnar to watch the skylights to try and find blue in them.

"No blue yet," Býleistr promised. "Are you still looking for a hawk?"

Ryg was a Warg, which was why he had such control over the pups. The number of familiars a Warg could have was not determined by anything. Ryg had the pups, but what he wanted was one of the rare hawks that lived in Jötunnheim's mountains – eyes in the sky he called it.

"Yes," Ryg promised, "But they are not easy to find."

Despite the fact that Ryg was in his mid-teens and Býleistr wasn't yet a teenager, he felt comfortable around the young prince. He was much easier to get along with then his elder brother. It was a pity that Helblindi was the older child, Ryg reflected, for Býleistr would likely make a better king.

"It doesn't look like there's to be any blue tonight," Ryg said nonchalantly. "Care to help me get these three inside for the night?"

He caught the boys as they rolled off the patio and almost fell into the deep snow again while their sister watched. Býleistr knew that Ryg was trying to make him go to bed subtly, but it might not be the worst idea. It was getting late, and there was the festival tomorrow, so Býleistr nodded.

"All right Ryg," Býleistr said in his gentle voice that came partially from him being a healer. "That's fine."

Ryg made his pups walk instead of carrying them since they obviously had energy to burn, and escorted his prince back into the palace. The once grand castle had collapsed partially, and the clear ice that made up most of it had become cloudy and dull. It was another side effect of losing the Casket.

They were still on the lower levels on the palace when the alarm hissed in their magic. It vanished after a few seconds, but the two hesitated where they were. When things remained calm, Ryg sighed and shook his head.

"Wow, someone's already drunk enough to trip the alarm and the festival doesn't even start until tomorrow," Ryg scorned. "That's actually a little impressive."

Ryg's snow wolf pups didn't dismiss the alarm as he did. The little girl pressed herself against his leg with a whimper, and one of the boys stepped back with his fur on end. It was the eldest of the three, the self-proclaimed Alpha, who drew his lips back from his fangs and growled at the air.

Býleistr glanced at Ryg worriedly, and let a little of ice creep along his fingers in preparation to crystallize a weapon. The reason why Wargs like Ryg were so useful was because of their familiars, for animals could sense things others couldn't.

The Alpha pup turned his growl towards the hallway with flattened ears, evidently able to hear something. Ryg didn't meet his prince's look, but held his ground and remained quiet to try and hear what it was that was upsetting his pups. He had never seen them react quite like this before, and their emotions were starting to scare him a little.

Ryg suddenly formed a blade around his hand and fell into fighting stance, prompting Býleistr to copy his actions.

"Ryg?" Býleistr asked softly, hand trembling.

Four Jötnar turned the corner from the direction the pups were growling in, and stopped when they saw the duo and the pups. They also had blades crystallized around their hands. Býleistr froze under their glares, and his magic recoiled form the darkness and bloodlust in their auras.

"Prince," One of the four mockingly greeted Býleistr.

Býleistr didn't understand how they knew he was the prince until he remembered his eyes. Only those of the royal family had eyes so bright a crimson. His eyes had given him away.

Ryg stepped in front of Býleistr too late, and raised his blade horizontally in front of him as warning. "Who are you?"

These were unfamiliar faces to him, but there were many newcomers for the festival. He mentally shushed his pups, and told them to stay back with Býleistr. They were too young yet to aid him in battle. Thankfully, they did so.

"Noble brat, you're not our concern," one of them called out to Ryg.

"Considering you just waltzed in her and scared my pups I think it is," Ryg challenged. "You four must have quite the bloodlust to make them react as they did."

"If you insist on trouble then you shall get it," another warned in a slurred accent that Ryg had never heard before. "We're only interested in the boy behind you."

Býleistr felt faint. That voice... that accent… he remembered it from his mother's death.

"Raiders," he whispered as his blade started to tremble. "You're Raiders."

The four Raiders smiled at Býleistr's declaration and Ryg's surprised reaction. It had been painfully easy for Forad's raiding party to enter Útgarðr. They changed from their furs and bone and kept their distance from each other so they weren't such a large group. It was all the disguise they needed.

They carried no weapons, and no one bothered to search them. Only the Asgardian-sized Jötnar carried steel. Unlike with other races there was no way to disarm a Jötunn from their ice weaponry, so no one tried.

Their smiles when Býleistr said the word "raider" made it obvious that Býleistr was correct, and it put Ryg on the defense. It was little wonder his pups had reacted as they had for they obvious did have bloodlust, and they wanted Býleistr. He had no idea what they were doing raiding, or what the Fel they were doing within the capital, but Ryg did not stand down.

"I'll take the trouble," Ryg assured them, and materialized a blade around his other hand as he elbowed Býleistr to stand back.

One of the Raiders collapsed to the ground unexpectedly, and one of the other four glanced at him just in time for the new attacker who had appeared to slash his claws through the air. A boomerang of shimmering silver magic flew from the claws and slammed into a raider's chest, tossing him into the wall like a toy. The attacker continued his move. Steel flashed in the light as he neatly dispatched the third Raider, and then spun in midair to kill the last of the four. He landed neatly on the floor, and the last two bodies slumped to the ground.

There was blood splattered across his face almost artistically, and the Jötunn seemed to relish in it as he smiled at them. "Hello you two, I think there is an attack."

The excitement at the prospect of killing more which laced the attacker's voice made Ryg cringe. He sounds like an Asgardian.

"Viddi," Ryg addressed the Jötunn who had just killed the Raiders as levelly as he could manage. "You have interesting timing."

Viddi gave an innocent child's smiled, and stood straight. On each arm were a pair of leather bracers and attached to them were three metal claws as long as his forearm. The claws were extended now over his wrist and fingers, dripping with red. They retracted back onto the bracers.

"Not just timing," Viddi corrected Ryg. "This is the second group I've come across."

"Second," Ryg hissed with widening eyes. "There are more Raiders loose?"

Viddi nodded, and his long raven black hair swayed with the movement. "I don't know how many though, and I doubt anyone else knows since there's no alarm."

Ryg remembered the alarm that had gone off briefly grimly. It hadn't been a Militia guardsman who had gotten drunk after all. Someone had managed to activate the alarm, but judging by how quickly it was shut off they must have been killed shortly after. Like Ryg, many people would assume that it wasn't anything to worry about.

"I thought they might be fun to play with," Viddi continued speaking to Ryg. "No one else is fun to play with since they die so easily."

Ryg pretended he hadn't just heard what Viddi had said, and asked instead. "Where did you encounter the other squad?"

"Back there," Viddi flicked a hand over his shoulder.

"They're probably still only on the lower levels," Ryg spoke quietly.

"How did they get past the shields?" Býleistr whispered softly and let his blade dissipate. "I thought those with bloodlust couldn't enter."

"The Casket's gone," Viddi told Býleistr in a straightforward voice. "Its aura was shielding the palace from harm, but it's gone."

"And the defenses with it," Ryg sighed. "Geez, most everyone is probably asleep already, and I doubt they were woken up by the alarm."

"You two go turn the alarm on," Viddi told them with a shooing motion made with his claws. "I'll play with our guests some more."

Viddi was one of the Asgardian-sized runts that Ryg had been thinking about earlier. Like all of his kin, called Rhutistics, Viddi had dark black hair and had metal weapons made of Vibranium with a crystal core. He was also similar to his kin by the way that he didn't have a conscience to speak up, or any real emotions. What made the Rhutistics so much more dangerous than other Jötnar was the fact that they, like Viddi, had not just natural instincts to kill but extremely powerful magic. The Rhutistics were actually the most powerful mages in the Nine Realms, if the rarest, and somewhat… over-powered.

As Ymir had created the Rhutistics to be, Viddi was a living breathing superweapon.

"Try to leave a few of them alive," Ryg informed Viddi. "I'm sure the others will want to hear from them."

Viddi tssked in a mimicry of irritation and jerked his head away. Leaving his opponents alive spoiled his fun. "I can try, so stay back. If you fight, then there will be less for me to play with."

The words he spoke were a stark contrast to his young age, barely four centuries old, and the child's voice he spoke them in. His tone of voice he used as he spoke was similar to a child who had been told he could only have one sweet before dinner.

"We better go get your uncle," Ryg told Býleistr quietly as he looked away from Viddi, a dangerous move. "He might be able to raise the palace's defenses."

"That'll take time, won't it?" Viddi asked as if pleading for a second sweet.

Ryg nodded, and Viddi smiled with eager joy as if he had been told that he could have the second sweet.

"So I still have time to kill some more of them," Viddi said triumphantly.

The eagerness vanished suddenly and unpredictably as he turned his head back down the hallway and unclicked his claws. There was a slight hiss sound as the claws slid back out, and Ryg's pups began to react again. He had felt the bloodlust before the wolves this time, and he turned to face his new "playmates."

Ryg knew that Viddi's personality switch was because he was given the opportunity to kill and he did not want to miss it. He mutely scooped up all three pups with one arm and grabbed Býleistr's wrist, dragging the prince unceremoniously behind him as Býleistr looked at the blood and bodies left by Viddi in uncomprehending shock. Býleistr would snap out of the shock once they got far enough away, so Ryg kept dragging him.

While the two of them went up, Viddi quietly paced through the shadows of the hall to find the playmates he had sensed. He found the four Raiders quickly enough, and materialized a ward across the hallway in front of them. It looked like a shifting sheer curtain of silver stars, and the Raiders weren't quite able to stop before they crashed into it. Viddi had made it strong, so it was the equivalent of running into a wall.

Viddi stepped out of the shadows while the Jötnar recovered and shook off the ambush. "Will you be any fun?"

The Raiders gave a start when they heard the child's innocent question, and watched him approach in shock. They thought for a moment that the Jötunn had red skin, but soon realized that he was simply covered in so much blood it looked like he did. When he walked forward, the soles of his sandals left a red track behind on the dull blue-gray floor. His silver eyes that reflected his magic glittered, and blood dripped steadily from the three metal claws on each arm.

"Are you any fun?" Viddi asked them curiously, hopeful that they were. "I've never found someone whose fun to play with, and the other Raiders I saw were no fun either."

"Other… Raiders?" One of the four asked hesitantly.

Viddi looked up at them seriously. "They were no fun to kill, died too quickly."

"Rhutistic," one of the other Raiders whispered in horror and turned to try and break through Viddi's ward.

His effort made Viddi giggle, and he shook his head, splattering blood on the wall from his black hair. "You're too weak to. I can tell you won't be any fun to kill either, but I suppose I do get to kill."

Not just a Rhutistic, the Raiders realized, but a battle Rhutistic, and he appeared to be blood-touched. There was nothing more psychotic or dangerous then a blood-touched battle Rhutistic, not even the Dökkálfr's Kursed soldiers could stand against one. Young though he was and no bigger than an Æsir child, he was the equivalent of a small army and they were very much dead.

A moment later Viddi attacked them and they actually were dead. Viddi dismissed his ward and looked at the new bodies with disdain and disappointment. It was rare for a blood-touched battle Rhutistic to be born, and sometimes there was not even one born every generation. There had not been one among Laufey's troops during the War with Asgard four centuries ago, and that was one of the reasons why Laufey had lost.

"Not again," he grumbled to himself and walked off in a huff.

He charmed himself with an invisibility weave as he began to hunt for someone, anyone, who might satisfy him and lift his boredom. His hunt took him in the direction of the dining hall where he sensed a ripple of essence dripping in bloodlust that he had learned had belong to the Raiders. According to his magic, there were two in the room beyond.

"Where are they?" A voice snarled in a Raider's accent.

"We spotted on of the prince's briefly, but he's vanished within the castle," another Raider whined.

"Imbecile," the first snarled.

"I-I'm sorry Forad," the second Raider stuttered.

Viddi saw that first Raider grab the second and throw him to one side. The stunned Raider quickly stumbled to his feet and retreated.

"I am surrounded by worthless soldiers!" The first one named Forad growled darkly to himself.

"They don't look like soldiers," Viddi observed, making his voice echo with his magic.

He knew it would likely scare his target, and the fear made it more fun. Blood tasted sweeter when filled with fear. The Raider jumped and spun around, trying to locate the source of Viddi's voice.

"You don't look like you belong here either," Viddi continued in a child's scolding voice. "I won't mind if you're fun though. The other intruders died too quickly, so I didn't get to have any fun with them. Are you their leader, Forad?"

Forad stopped trying to find the source. This was magic, so his opponent was either a mage or a Rhutistic. He hoped it would be a mage because he had no illusions about defeating a Rhutistic. Ice crystallized around his hand.

"Come out whoever you are and fight," he challenged the echoing voice.

"You are the leader then," Viddi smiled as he walked inside.

He dismissed is invisibility as he hopped onto a table. His claws slid out as Viddi straightened and raised his void silver eyes at Foard. He hopped over the table and landed silently on the ground. He ended in a crouch, arms by his side.

"If you're the leader then you might be a little fun to fight before I kill you," Viddi declared in a happy voice.

Forad stepped back when he realized that his opponent was a Rhutistic. The young Rhutistic's smile, and the way the blood ran down his cheeks filled him with an unreasonable fear. It was obvious that he was a battle Rhutistic, but Forad could almost feel the blood oozing from this child's cursed soul. Was it possible that this child was a… a blood-touched?

Since Viddi had used his claws to kill the last few Raiders he opted for his magic to kill this one. He crossed his claws in front of his chest in an x-shape, and channeled a killhex through them. They reacted to his magical pulse, and the crystal core of the metal resonated with his magic so the claws began to glow silver. Then Viddi slashed his claws downward and an energy blast shaped like an 'x' exploded from his blades and shot at the Raider. Forad jumped aside, safely out of the way as the attack deeply scorched the wall behind him.

"You're fast at least," Viddi said.

He looked at Forad as if he were a bug that had caught his attention. That was about how Forad felt, and he started slowly backing up. If he could make it to the doorway then he might be able to lose this thing.

"No running," Viddi scolded him as he pulled his right arm back.

The claws on that arm glowed. He shoved the arm forward and three darts of silver light shot through the air and towards Forad. Forad jumped through a doorway, kicking the door closed and letting that get the scorch marks.

Viddi quickly went after Forad. Not very many could survive his attacks, but he was only using his magic. He wasn't trying to kill him yet. This Forad was creative though, so he might be fun. Maybe he wouldn't die as quickly as the others.

With a happy smile as if he was suddenly allowed to have a third sweet before dinner, he flicked his hand in front of him and the doors slammed open. There was no sign of Forad in the hallway. Viddi carefully paced down the hallway, magic extended out. This one was fun, for Viddi love hide-and-seek.

Where was he? His magic chimed of a lifesign. There! Viddi pulled is arm back and slashed forward horizontally. This time it was a crescent of light that flew from the blade as someone stepped around the corner.

Viddi realized that it was not Forad at all, and ordered his magic to stop the slash an inch from the Jötunn's face. The Jötunn jumped back in shock.

"Oops," Viddi whispered, and canceled the attack and the ribbon of silver vanished. "I didn't know that was you father."

The Jötunn he had almost killed, General Mimir, glared at him. "Who did you think I was?"

"The leader of this raiding party," Viddi answered. "He's fun to play with. He wants to play hide and seek instead of tag like most do. He's good at the hiding part, I seem to have lost him."

"He would be," Mimir sighed. "Do you know who he is?"

"Forad," Viddi told him.

"Vasad's second," Mimir muttered. "Well, Forad must have slipped past you. Their attack's over, and they've scattered. I could use your help to round up what's left of them."

Viddi pouted a bit. "No, they're just basic soldiers. They're no fun to kill you. You can do it on your own."

Mimir swallowed back a retort, not wishing his son to become upset. "One of them might be fun to kill though. You'd never know unless you fought them."

Viddi thought about it, "all right. If you find Forad I want to play with him. He was able to dodge me. It would probably be fun to scatter his blood around."

Mimir forced a nod, not trusting himself to smile.

One word can sum up Viddi: monster. And a dangerous one at that. Forad really messed up to not take him into account. Blood-touched is just their way to refer to Viddi being a psycopath and someone who takes such joy in killing to try and lift his boredom. Vibranium is not just found on Earth either, and yes, Loki is a Rhutistic like Viddi.

The War, the Ice War, and the War of 965 AD all refer to four centuries ago when Laufey fought Odin on Midgard. It's just different names for the same thing.