Chapter: War on Hel: one L, not two.

Note: This chapter is just about pure action. This chapter does change when, I am was going to discuss Metaphysics and Philosophy, but I was going to get to them, sooner or later. Plus, and more important, it gives you a chance to see her family in action.

Njord thinks as he watches his mother, 'Even my team was there. None of us had even considered being in a battle. We were horrible. Canute's team had to guard us all the time. And all we could do was to try to disrupt Hel's mind control magic.'

The red color of the ice pulses, back and forth red to deep red, back and forth..

Joan sighs as she breaks the silence, "We left without a plan. Since we knew that we were going to war, we brought our modern weapons and gear. At the time, H&K's G3's with M203's attached, H&K21's or Carl Gustav recoilless rifles for the Rooks, M1911 pistols and grenades. Standard load out."

Herman says, "If we had even a week for planning, we'd have added a lot more fire generating weapons to the mix." A grimace, "Although convincing someone to wear a M9 would have a problem."

"Yes." A pause and in a hard voice, she states, "Elizabeth would have convinced someone."

A firm nod from Herman.

Queen Elsa speaks, "The trek across Jotunheim was without any major difficulties."

Herman rolls his eyes as he thinks, 'What with you freezing any monster that appeared? We never had a chance to use our guns. You created an icy path of destruction at least ten miles wide, you were that mad. Once we got to Helheim, things got tougher, much tougher.'

"Garmr, the hound of Hel, tried to block me at the gate of Helheim. He fled before I could destroy him." Elsa says, grimly. A hard laugh, "I found out later that Hel had problems trying to recreate the monsters destroyed at Ragnarok. We faced lessor copies of the monsters of legend, mainly."

She states with a smile. "Tyr destroyed the original."

"Canute and I destroyed the copy." Joan says, "During the main battle."

"Modgud, the Jotun Guardian of the Bridge to Helheim, though, was the original. She never left to go to war at Ragnarok." Elsa explains. "That battle was when I began to realize that I had made a mistake."

A twist of her lips, "My powers and the powers of my children are originally based on Hel's power. She is my mystical grandmother, if you will. My natural powers...were of limited use. I believe I and my children have in time grown to surpass her, but at that time..."

Herman and Joan roll their eyes as they think, together, 'We told you that. You ignored us.'

"We passed over the bridge after my children hit Modgud with their anti-tank weapons, knocking her off the bridge. After that we crossed the ice of Helheim, fighting whatever crossed our path."

'The one thing that mother did correctly,' Joan thinks, 'Once in Helheim she made a beeline to Eljudnir, Hel's Great Hall. That speed helped us: Hel could not concentrate her forces against us as long as we were moving.'

"Hel stood against me outside her home. I could see Anna in the distance. To taunt me, she had created a ghostly image of her being hurt by demons. Looking back, calmly, it was a psychological trick, not real. Anna's soul was probably sealed in something, perhaps a crystal, somewhere in her home. My rage…" Queen Elsa shakes her head. "My damnable rage."

Silence as the tower pulses red, faster and faster. Beating to the beat of her anger.

"I fought her. We battled, soul to soul. That battle… I was winning, breaking her… I knocked her out of the battle and was about to destroy her… Then." A rub of her jaw, a glance at Joan. "You will have to finish this story, Joan. I lost consciousness before I finish her off."

"Thank you, Queen Elsa," Joan begins with, as she finishes the story, "The battle that Queen Elsa mentioned was not a quick battle. We had to stop and defend her. That gave Hel's forces a chance to surround us and attack in waves."

"We fought mainly Icy-skeletons, mostly human-sized, a few giant-sized. Also, a few more dangerous monsters, either things that did not go to Ragnarok or newly created after that." Herman adds. He shrugs, "As soldiers, they were pitiful. It reminded me of some of the human wave attacks from WWII. As long as we had ammunition, we were golden."

Frigga thinks as she watches, 'For all my spells and powers… I and my team were unless. I just could not decide what spell or spells would be most effective. That was the problem. I was so used to taking time, to make sure that I was using my spells in the most optimum manner, that I was causing problems. Elizabeth and Joan had to protect me, not the other way around. I thought I was going to protect them, before the battle.'

Joan nods. "But, as we stood there, more and more monsters were arriving to attack. It was at this time, that Canute and I teamed up to destroy Garmr."

Herman says in an awed tone, "Everyone got distracted as the battle between Queen Elsa and Hel reached its climax. The… magical aftereffects of that battle, shocked the battlefield. That is when Vitez died. He got distracted and some demons destroyed him with soul shattering magic."

Joan nods acknowledging Hermas statement, and she licks her lips, "We all knew that Queen Elsa had, always, held back. Now, for the first time, we all could see her power in all its glory."

Elsa's lips twist, she thinks, 'I wish I could have seen it. Everyone commented on the glory, the beauty, but all I remember is my raw desire to see Hel destroyed.'

Joan sighs, "Sadly, one of Hel's demons took advantage of that distraction. He managed to get past our guard and attacked Queen Elsa."

Elsa rubs her jaw. thinking, 'He nearly broke my jaw, when he hit me. That… I was using my out-of-body technique, to increase my power. That, though, leaves my body very vulnerable. And, as I found out, the psychic shock of damage to my body was...great.'

Olaf thinks, 'All I could do is yell. Which, very luckily, Joan heard. I could not protect Elsa by myself.'

"I spotted him in time to kill him before he could kill Mother." Joan says with satisfaction. "But that left us in a desperate situation."

Joan remembers that horrible day.

Mother was down. Eric, the next strongest, was in some sort of mental shock as well. I was standing over the dead body of the demon that hurt my Mother. My knight Vitez was dead, thousands of ice-created demons surrounded us. Most of our special abilities were not effective against our enemies. My team was running low on ammunition for our non-magical weapons, which were the only things that were keeping us alive.

We were going to die.

Then...

Elizabeth yelled out, ordering Eric and Asa to create a wall of ice surrounding us.

"Yes, it will not hold, but it will give us a couple of minutes to reorganize. Besides, Hel is down as well, so it will take them a few minutes to reorganize as well."

She gathered us together and gave us the plan we used to escape from Helheim. "Njord, you are best with spells for mind control and communication. Hel must be using them, so find them, disrupt them, and break their chain of command and communication." Njord nodded, gathers his team and they begin to chant.

"Frigga, you and your team, stop trying to pretend that you are combat mages. We need support." She pulled out a 7.62mm round for their rifles. "Duplicate that. We need hundreds, now." She pulled out a 40mm grenade for the grenade launchers, "Duplicate this. We need dozens, now."

Frigga's eyes grew huge, "But those spells won't last, especially with all the heavy metals in bullets! You know how hard it is to duplicate anything heavier than Iron. They will vanish in a few minutes, hours at most!" Explaining why she has not used them already."

"They only need to make holes before that happens, Frigga! Your instinct for perfection is not helping. Do it, fast and dirty." Elizabeth ordered.

"Oooh! Less litter!" Olaf remarked, trying to lighten the mood, like he always does, "Elsa would like that!"

Nobody had time to laugh...

She pulled out a bag from her chest, "And duplicate this. We need hundreds of pounds of it."

"Napalm?" Frigga asked, her eyes wide.

Elizabeth nodded.

"Ok. Here is the plan people. We run home, now."

"But Anna?" I asked as I point to Eljudmir, Hel's great hall. "She is right there. Mother will never forgive us for leaving her."

"Mother has to live, in order to forgive us, Joan. If we stay, we are betting on Mother waking up before Hel. Mother has just suffered a psychic shock, so who knows how long she'll be out? Hel was just beaten physically. My bet is she'll recover before Mother will. We all will lose if Hel wakes up before Mother." Elizabeth said in a strong commanding voice. She laughs grimly, "Besides, does anyone know any spells to free Anna's soul? Put it in their pocket and take it back with us?"

Oops. Those were spells reserved for god-wannabes and their agents, something Mother worked hard not to be, and never created us to be. Mother was so mad that she probably never considered that problem as well. One of those 'irrelevant' details we would have considered if we had been given time to plan.

I nodded, "We run." I said, accepting her plan and her leadership.

Elizabeth nodded, accepting my actions. "They will have people guarding the gate to Jotunheim. When we get there, I will challenge that leader to single combat, delaying things."

She looked at Ragnhild, "You will generate a tornado, mix it with the napalm that Frigga is making."

She looked at Canute, "I know that you have a fire spell."

He nodded. "Common sense, Elizabeth." He said brusquely.

"When I give the signal, and you will know it, ignite the napalm, Canute." She looked at Ragnhild, "Spin it. Create a vortex. Drop it on them. Start a Firestorm." She finished in a callous tone.

The rest of the family shuddered. To us, a firestorm was and is one of the worst nightmares we could have.

Elizabeth looked at her family, "They are ice-based creatures, like ourselves. Our powers are useless against them. Only fire will get us out of here."

"Now, Asa create an ice platform for Frigga and her team to work on. We will drag it along, even if that slows us. Rooks! Grow to gain strength to drag it! We need that ammo, and more, now!"

She clapped her hands, "Now MOVE!"

Catherina and Carl gave out the first batches of new ammo.

We rocked and rolled as we moved toward the gate.

A couple of hours later at the gate to Jotunheim.

Between us and home there was an army of thousands, many thousands of icy skeletons and demons.

Above us was Ragnhild's tornadic wall cloud, gobs of napalm mixed in with the snow and ice.

At the head of Hel's army was Nidhogg, Hel's great dragon. Her project to destroy Yggdrasil, the great web of connections between worlds, was his responsibility. When we came through earlier, he was on Yggdrasil, but there is no avoiding him now.

"You will not leave, little children. Your mother, I will give to Hel. You, I will eat." The Dragon rumbled, as he uncoils and stands on his four legs, his wings spread. The Dragon was an icy Zombie of a dragon. His body made of broken scales, the wings tattered, pieces of flesh dripped from it, the end result of Hel's attempt to resurrect him. Magical shadows hide more detail. It was hundreds of feet long, the head was held forty feet off the ground.

"Now." Elizabeth ordered us. "Eric, you protect us from the coming firestorm." He nodded, his shock was fading. If he could do something, we would escape. "Asa, use your powers to create a path through it to the gate. Ragnhild and Canute you know your parts. Everybody else gather around Joan."

She looked at me. "I am counting on you, Joan. You must protect Mother and the others."

I nodded, accepting that responsibility.

Elizabeth then turned, grabbed Alexander's throat, and growled, "That demon got past YOU, you screw up! You take rearguard with me. Screw up again, and we'll find out if Mother will forgive me after I slaughter you."

I never knew that one of us could turn even whiter than snow. But he did. He knew, we all knew, that she meant it.

She threw him away and stalked in front of us, toward the enemy.

"Only if you can defeat me, Nidhogg." Elizabeth stated as she walks calmly toward him.

As she made that walk, she used the physical powers of the Rook to grow to fifty feet high. She manifests the Knight's magical ice sword, grown in size to match her current size, by using her Snowflake, but that was not the Knight's great power. Speed is that power, which she used to close that last quarter-mile in less than five seconds, hoping for surprise.

It is too bad the icy magical powers of the Bishop, the King and her own icy powers are not as effective against Hel's creatures as Mother's far greater powers were.

Nidhogg was a huge beast, who has fought giants, some that were even larger than Elizabeth. And, he has fought Asgardian warriors as fast as Elizabeth, and with a millennium of hand-to-hand combat experience, that she did not have.

Elizabeth tried to compensate by coating that ice sword in flame.

Which failed.

She tried again with the most realistic illusion of fire, spreading along his scales, that I have ever seen.

For a few seconds, it even tricks the Dragon.

But only few…

His coils have her Ice sword trapped, leaving her with only one arm free.

His jaws open as his head rises, getting into position to bite her head off.

Elizabeth's free hand punches into his open jaw, which closes instinctively, biting off her arm.

Elizabeth smiled.

The magically enhanced thermite grenade hidden in her hand went off in Nidhogg's head. Close to 7,000 degrees of heat burn in his head.

That was the signal for the rest of us.

The death throes of Nidhogg flung my sister away.

Ragnhild released the tornado's wall cloud. Canute used his fire spell to ignite the napalm. Elizabeth, as she rolled from the throw and stood, added her much more powerful fire spell.

She shrunk to normal size. I could see her activate the Bishop's power. Her arm is regrown. It is, like always with a Bishop's replacement, cruder and more limited than her real arm, but it will work for now.

"Now, Asa." She ordered as we look at the growing firestorm. "A path, if you please. Eric, keep protecting us as we go through that. Also, Asa, if I was them, I would have an ambush waiting on the other side of the gate, so be ready to attack and crush them."

A few minutes later we are at the gate. Fire is all around, with the only clear space being around the ice path that Asa has created. It was melting, rapidly.

I looked back, waiting for my sister to escape Helheim.

Elizabeth turned around, walking backward as she leaves Helheim. Some of Hel's creatures have begun to close, cautiously, very cautiously, with the rearguard.

"Tell your mistress that next time, we will use MY plan. Tell Hel to treat Anna with respect: Mother would appreciate that."

They ran away in fright.

The next day, still in Jotunheim, Mother woke up.

She ordered us out of the tower that Asa made.

Then she cried.

Joan looks at the camera, "Of course we survived. Elizabeth's backup plan got us out of Helheim and home."

Elsa nods, "I must thank her as publicly as I can. She saved the lives of my children."

She stands up and bows to the camera, "Thank you, my daughter Elizabeth. Your actions that day shall be remembered with honor, for as long as I live."

LIam and Richard glance at each other.

Queen Elsa sits down and still looking down says, "When I woke up, I had to think. I allowed my wrath to overcome my good reason. A mistake that I must not make again." A look at the camera. "Now, I am frustrated, disappointed, and yes, there is some anger. But I am not acting in a rage."

As she watches Liam form his next question Queen Elsa remembers:

When I woke up… I knew that I had lost. That I had made a mistake. And it was obvious what the basic mistake was that I acted in Rage.

I ordered everyone out of the room, that Asa had made to protect me, and I cried.

Anna… My true love… In the hands of Hel. What would Hel do to her?

After a few minutes, Olaf and the rest of my family reentered the room and comforted me.

After I had rested and been told about what happened, I asked Elizabeth to come closer.

Elizabeth cautiously approaches, "Mother?"

I hugged my daughter, tightly. "Thank you, Elizabeth. Thank you for saving the lives of our family." I said in a loud voice.

Still holding Elizabeth's hands, I turned, and raised our hands above us, and yelled, "Three cheers for Elizabeth!"

As the family cheered, I whispered to Elizabeth, "Meet me away from everyone, so we can talk."

A few minutes later, I calm down my family, "I'm fine. I just to take a walk around." I smile. "I just need to think about my mistakes. I almost lost everything. I need to think about what I did wrong." A pause. "I will return."

As I leave, Joan stops me saying, "Anna?"

I stop, closed my eyes, tightly, brushed away the tears, "I made a mistake. I was angry. I acted in a rage. I also… No. I deserved to lose. I risked your lives...without thinking."

I took a deep breath, and I looked in the direction of the gate, "I will free Anna. That I promise you, Hel. Next time, I will be thinking. Next time… I will free my sister. Whither or not you survive, that I will not promise." The words echo away, carried away on a simple spell to communicate at a distance..

I giggle at a sudden thought, then laugh out loud, "Besides, Hel, now that Anna is awake, you will have to deal with her. Sooner or later, she will melt your heart. Perhaps, if I am delayed long enough, you will release her of your own free will." More echoes as I send that message out.

While I am doing that, Elizabeth leaves the family, unnoticed, or so she believes. I noticed.

As I leave, I know that Joan will protect my privacy, even stopping Frigga's relentless curiosity. Elizabeth has been unhappy for years. Today…After the conversation that I have been wrong in putting off for years, I might lose her.

A few minutes later.

"Queen Elsa." Elizabeth stated, icily, to me.

"Daughter." I smile, warmly, gently, forgivingly, at my child. "Thank you, again, for saving my family."

Elizabeth closed her eyes. "Why? Mother, you know, you have to know, why I created those spells, carried those items. Why are you forgiving me?"

I smiled, a small sad smile, "Exactly, what am I to forgive, Elizabeth? Did you harm your siblings? Did you harm an innocent? No, to both. What did you do, that I must forgive you for?"

"Damn you, Mother. You know."

I shrugged, "I may be damned anyway, daughter. The God of Abraham is really specific about how he created life in his image. I created you to my image." I give a small laugh, "Which says things about me, as well."

"We are not human." Elizabeth growled.

I gave her a nod. "But, he is forgiving." And I smiled. "And who is to say, if God is infinite, so, then, are his images."

Elizabeth's mouth quirked, "I prefer to believe that the entity that gave birth to the universe is female. Males are not mothers. Mother Nature, even when she destroys worlds, I prefer."

I nodded. "He is infinite, so he must be female, as well. Who created the womb after all?"

I grabbed and hugged her. Elizabeth tried to escape, but finally hugged me back.

"If anything, my loving daughter, I should..." I whispered, then I stop as I realize that I am about to make another mistake..

I broke the hug and I went down on one knee before Elizabeth, "Forgive me, Elizabeth, I have made mistakes. I have, without asking, risked your life." I bowed my head, and waited.

I could feel her hot gaze on the top of my head, as she spat out, "Fine. Fine. I forgive you. You would just kept bugging me, until I do."

"There is something else, Elizabeth," I tell her, with my head still bowed down. "I was insane, or close to it, these last few days. I can not...that can not have that happen again." I paused, trying to find the words.

"Should I, truly, go insane will you accept the responsibility to destroy me?"

Even without seeing her, I could feel her surprise and shock.

"Mother…" She began to speak, then she paused.

"Damn you." I could hear the whisper, "I know you, Mother. Who else have you asked?"

I could feel her thoughts.

"Asa, for sure. Joan?"

"They would both hesitate, so no." I replied.

"Someone outside the family, then. Who? Not Merlin. The Lord of the West? He might be able to destroy you...Probably not, you and he do not get along. Lif, that's who it is, there is no one else."

I waited.

"Damn you." She pauses again. "Yes." She whispered.

"Thank you, Elizabeth."

I stand up and said, "I created you. IF something is wrong, I am at fault." I kiss, lightly, her cheek. "Tell me. I will do anything to help you, I owe you that, for the lives of our family."

"I just want to be free…" She whispered.

I let out a sigh, "Free to do what, Elizabeth?"

I waved my hand at the beautiful, if harsh by normal standards, mountains of Jotunheim around us. "Free to conquer the world? You do not have the power." I paused, and took a deep soul-searching look at Elizabeth. "In the future, maybe. You enjoy the magic and are the natural mage that I am not. Your power is still growing."

Elizabeth nodded stiffly.

"Now, though? All you could do is hide, slink along the edges of civilization, like the monsters we kill." I let out another sad sigh, "You would be hunted down and destroyed."

I gave her a humorous glance, "Unless you can kill all of your siblings when you destroy me. Can you?"

Elizabeth closed her eyes and slumped. "No. Joan would delay me long enough for Canute to kill me. Or the other way around. And if I act against them first, you would stop me."

I nodded, "Do you want to live like that?"

"No." came the sullen response.

I sighed heavily. "I know that you want to do your own thing, Elizabeth. I know that you are an adult and I should no longer treat you as a child."

"Yes." A hiss.

"In time, I promise you, I will release you. I will let you out, so you can do things. When… I do not know, yet." I quirked my lips. "I will have to think, Elizabeth."

Her eyes burned into me.

I slumped. "I should have done that already. I am sorry that I have not. I will release you….But it may take decades. Elizabeth, if I release you and my children now, what are the chances of peace? Will you be accepted or hunted down?"

"Hunted, at least, at first. Once humans see how hard we are to kill…." She pauses, "They will fear us more."

Elsa nods, "You will not be accepted." She waves at herself, "Oh, since I would support you, we would probably, at least temporarily win, depending on the definition of win you are using, but that would be a victory of fear and power, not peace."

"And...You will not do that, will you." Elizabeth says with anger in her voice.

"Not unless there is no other choice, Elizabeth. Right now, there is still time. Time to think of a peaceful solution. There has to be one, I just do not know it, yet." She grimaces, "I have a couple of ideas, but they all require time, decades."

"I have got to find living space for you and humans, which will also solve the problem with the pollution of Earth." She explains, as she waves to Jotunheim, "You know the known multiverse. Other intelligent beings occupy every world that we can reach. If we move to another world, the same problem will occur. Nor I am going to start another round of colonization. You know how much problems that caused and is still causing on Earth. I will not do that to another world, unless there is no other choice." She sighs, "so, we must find new worlds, without people in them to settle."

Elizabeth grimaces, "Those spells are hard and unstable. We can transport one maybe two persons. You can not create a permanent portal, though."

"Odin's great strength was his ability to create stable and large portals that you could transport armies through. Somewhere...not here, but on Asgard is the knowledge I need." Elsa says in a wistful voice.

"You have refused to investigate Asgard once we found out that Vali, Odin's son, is the Lord of Asgard." Elizabeth states.

Elsa sighs, "And… I will change that, Elizabeth. Just not right now, please? I think this stupidity on my part has been a lesson in being planned and prepared, so we will take the time to do it, correctly."

"Thank you, Mother." Elizabeth says with heartfelt relief.

Elsa shakes her head, "I had hopes in the space race, Elizabeth. Oh, the American shuttle will work, it is just more limited than I would have liked. You do not need air to live and most of the other problems with space travel are solvable."

"Radiation?" Elizabeth asks, "You know the limited tests that Frigga has done."

Elsa nods, "Yes. They indicate that you are more vulnerable to radiation sickness than humans. Given the limited numbers to test with, the exact amounts are still a bit vague." A twitch of her lips, "It looks like a common problem with all magical creations, although the effect does seem to vary. Then again, the effect does not seem all not that major, radiation protection for humans will work for you."

She looks up into the sky of Jotunheim, it is at night, but the larger than Luna moon lights the sky, as does a large nearby horse head shaped nebula. "There are science fiction stories… The stars are out there, Elizabeth. Frigga is very interested in some of the theories about gravity."

"Yes, I've seen them. The tech to build the tech to make them work hasn't been made yet, though."

Elsa nods, "Yes. It is a project that will take decades."

Elizabeth sighs, "So, what you are trying to say, is: You will free us, but only after more decades."

"Yes."

"How many?'

"I do not know."

Elizabeth's eyes narrow, "You know your own negative environmental forecasts, Mother."

Queen Elsa nods, "If things do not change… I will run out of time. I have got a century? Something like that, before the damage to the earth becomes so great I may have to act. If only the politicians of the world..."

Elizabeth snorts, "You are expecting politicians to be honest? You and I have both meet many whores that are more honest and have a better moral character than all be a few human politicians."

They grin at each other, the problems convincing politicians to think long-term, not just the next election cycle is something they can both agree on.

"I will hold you to that promise of freedom, Mother." Elizabeth growled.

"Of course." Then I smiled as I offered her something, "And if, after that, if you still want to rule the world, at least I will have taught you how to do it, correctly. Not the way the Merlin is using, nowadays. Or do you want to follow him, instead? I will release you, now, if you do."

Elizabeth laughed, "No. Not him. I will stay, Mother. I am not happy. But, I will stay."

I tightly hugged her, again. "Tell me, what can I do to make you happy?"

"I do not know."

"Good. You have learned at least that much wisdom. In the future, who knows how much more will you learn?"

She grunts.

"Want to know a secret of mine, Elizabeth? It is a maxim that I have tried to follow. When I do not follow it, I fail. Like I did yesterday in Helheim."

She looks at me, curiosity is Elizabeth's weakness.

"When I face a choice, I think about the evil tyrants of history."

A surprised expression appeared on her daughter's face.

"I will choose the opposite of what they would have chosen, my daughter. They lost, remember that, they lost. Choose something else, do not follow their bad decisions. In my rage, I forgot that. And, I came far too close to losing you and my family. I should have contacted Hel and negotiated. Which I will do when we return home."

Elizabeth giggled, "I threatened her, as I left, Mother. Perhaps not the best thing to do, but. I had to say something."

I laughed, "I understand, Elizabeth, and I will protect you to the best of my ability."

Elizabeth lets out a small laugh and shook of her head, "Always, Mother. You are always trying."

We paused as we looked at each...not knowing what to do next.

I gave her happy smile, at a sudden good idea, "I know. You, I, and Joan, when we get home, should spend a month or so on the ice sheets of Antarctica. Just the three of us, bonding, like a family should."

She gave me a hint of a smile. "That will not work, Mother."

I gave her a raised eyebrow, a laugh, "And how do you know, until you try?"

I placed my arm over Elizabeth's shoulder and lead her back to our family.

Queen Elsa smiles, 'That peace between us did not last long. She will be free. Soon. Either I have succeeded in teaching her, or...Genghis Kahn will be remembered as a kind and gentle man compared to her.'

Liam clears his throat, loudly. "Queen Elsa, I have no idea where to begin."

Joan thinks, 'Elizabeth made sure that everyone knew that Mother promised to release us. She, over the years, keep calling for Mother to give us a date. In 2015...Mother finally agreed to set a date. 2048, with a proviso about the Antarctic Treaty renewal. If that had been renewed, we agreed to give her another decade, but if not...We would be freed.'

She sighs, unnoticed, 'While Mother keep hoping for something to happen to make it possible for a peaceful solution, Elizabeth, Canute and I created most of our military plans. They were based on a predictable negative reaction from humans. But between the environmental crisis and then Mother's 'storm'...modified those plans to deal with them. Once we have dealt with these crisises, then we are free.'

Queen Elsa smile grows, "That is fine, Liam. When we practiced this, I mentioned that episode in as few words as I could. This was very unplanned and revealed far more than I had planned."

A look at the camera. "And I will face your questions." A smile to the camera.

"Ask."

End chapter 1

My basic outline said to brush over that war. My rough draft said to use 500-1000 words to go over this. When I actually started writing it… That happened. Sigh. Now, I have to deal with things, I and Elsa had hoped to put off as long as possible.

Sigh...

Note: God of Abraham reference: It is a way to honor everyone that follows him, no matter the details.

A scene from a world where EVIL won.

"Their defenses are down." is heard.

"The assassins succeeded."

Chanting begins.

Three cat-like Beasts chant, they wear a cloak made out of hummingbird feathers.

Their knives flash. Babies die. Again. And Again. For only the young, pure soul of a newborn, within hours of birth, can power this spell.

The chant finishes.

A wave of energy vanishes into...something?

The three world-class master sorcerers collapse. They will be unconscious for days. One might die. One of the other two will take weeks, if not months, to recover. The spell is that exhausting.

The world is circled by Ley Lines.

A large Ley Lines glows red as the pulse of energy travels through it.

It circles half-way around the world.

The spell of destruction reaches the city it was aimed at.

The spell tears a small hole in fabric of Space and Time. The hole in Space isn't so bad, that is just a couple of nanometers wide black hole, which vanishes in a few microseconds.

The hole in Time...though, triggers great destruction. Cause and effect change. The effect occurs before the cause. That can not happen and when the hole in time heals. Magic twists in impossible ways… a great explosion occurs.

The city vanishes in flame and destruction.

The blast, on Earth, would be rated around a megaton of TNT. The spell is that powerful.

The land the city occupied will generate twisted monsters from the nightmares of demons for a generation. The lingering Scream of the dying and shattered souls will cause insanity in any intelligent life-form for hundreds of years.

The land is useless.

It was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.

The rebellion is over.

The GOD-Emperor is pleased.

He will now conqueror more worlds.

Like Earth.

Due to various real life issues and a strong desire to get the various details correct, there will be a break in the publishing schedule.

I will be taking a two or three week break. There are a couple of small scenes, that I may post instead of full chapters, but the main story will be on hold until Sept. 7 or 14. If everything goes well, I will try to post a couple of chapters a week, for a couple of weeks, to speed things up, but DON'T hold me to that.

thank you for reading

jeff