❄️Fimbulwinter

This is the storyline for Season 5 in Blockchain Cuties Universe

During one of the last days of Victor Von Stradovich, when he understood that his demise is inevitable, and nothing awaits his soul except eternal damnation, as the means of his last resort, he unearthed a once hidden artifact gifted to him by one of the emissaries from the Far South more than 300 years ago. The blade was given to Victor as a gift for saving the emissary’s life, right after he – the lord of the Volkavian Marches, disposed of this man of his would-be assassins. This event happened a long time ago, long before the count was tainted by the mark of bad blood.

Upon handing the gift, which looked like an odd bronze knife, the man said that this artifact was made from one of the shards of the legendary sword Darkir Tungu, which was used by an ancient colossal being to fight against the gods. It is said that this blade was tied with blood to its owner and brought him back to life each time the gods killed the colossal fighter. Legends say that the sword has to be placed in the water of a holy lake for the resurrection effect to occur, but because it was imbued with magic properties, the artifact flew to the lake on its own, as soon as its master was slain. Through many battles with this creature and the daunting resurrections, the gods figured out how the magic worked and caught the flying sword that was soaring through the air, preventing it from going into the lake again. Afterward, the god of smithery took the sword to his forge and shattered it into pieces. When the blade broke, an explosion followed, and the blade shards were scattered all over the land. Some say that many fragments flew away into the sky and became stars, while some of them landed in the nearby mountains, causing the ice to melt. The emissary told Victor that this item is considered to be a very high-value artifact in the Far South and can be sold for a fortune if Count ever decides to visit the region someday.

But these weren't the prospects of fortune that occupied Victor’s mind at this very moment. He believed that this item might be his only salvation – a way to cheat death one more time. He ordered for his most loyal minion, so that he could witness the ritual performed with the dagger, through bloodshed. The weapon reacted to the power held within the vampire's blood and absorbed it. The artifact then started to slowly resonate, as if it was trying to lift itself into the air. Intrigued with the chance he was given, Von Stradovich ordered his minion to head south, to the ancient continent of Kaldrheim and put the dagger in every lake there is, hoping to trigger the resurrection ritual.

After these orders, Libor, Victor’s most loyal servant, spread out his gruesome, bat-like wings and flew south, while his master went down to the courtyard, to prepare himself for his final stand.

After many months of night travel, Libor finally crossed the Sea of the Serpent and landed in Eosgard, the capital city of the Kingdom of EOS that lies on the northern shoreline of Kaldrheim. It took him several weeks to travel through the land and visit every lake and river on the continent, until he finally found it near a local landmark called Three Lakes, where the dagger started to vigorously pulse with magic energies.

Libor was certain that his master was already put to rest by the armies of Burhmere, as he felt weaker than before, but his loyalty to Victor required him to complete the quest. He believed that the dagger could bring his liege back to life if he found the right lake to submerge the artifact. Sadly, he was wrong — the artifact could only bring back to life it's only Master – the original one, – and blood of powerful creatures absorbed by the blade served as a source of power for such rituals.

This time, it was Victor’s blood that was destined to bring the colossal creature back to this plane of existence. A being whose tribes inhabited these lands millennia ago, long before those who the dwellers of Eosgard call the “Old Gods” came to this place. He was the last descendant of the Faomori – an ancient bloodline of demons of lakes, seas, and the underworld. His name was Daegna'ar – the last demon king of the Faomori.

As the Darkir Tungu sword was shattered, a single piece of it could not complete the ritual and bring the demon in full flesh to this world, but it could possess a vessel and put it under the control of its master. Until the sword is reforged. And for that event to occur, it required the life fluid of the host.

When Libor put the dagger into the water, it started to emit a dim red light, as it descended towards the bottom of the lake. Libor carefully watched the process hoping that his master was going to materialize from the fog any second, but instead, the dagger quickly flew out of the water and stabbed the vampire right in his heart.

Libor fell to the ground and his red fiery eyes quickly became absent of light, only to reignite with teal flame, moments later. A faithful servant to Victor in life was given a chance to fulfill another destiny once more – this time under another master and under grander circumstances.

After tens of thousands of years of slumber in the nether realm, Daegna'ar had finally made his presence in the material world. He was full of rage and hatred towards his assassins and the only thing that he sought after all this time was revenge. Old Gods must pay for what they did to his people and the hour of payback is nigh.

He took a deep breath and inhaled the cold air of the Three Lakes. There definitely was a presence of an Old God in Kaldrheim, he could feel it. The presence led his senses somewhere deep in the southern mountains.

Controlling the possessed body of Libor, the demon traversed through the Glacier Foot and traveled through Isvindur Pass towards Mount Sudarld, where energies of the Old Gods emanated the most. This was a solitary place, so far removed from the civilization, that only rare mortals dared to venture to. It is in these mountains where the demon king decided to make an ambush for his prey.

He understood that his host is not strong enough to take on a powerful foe such as an Old God, but thankfully, this wasn’t what he had in mind. If somehow the dagger could spill the blood of it’s prey, then Daegna'ar could haunt the creature and slowly possess it by driving it mad. It would create the perfect setup for Daegna'ar’s revenge plot, as no one would be able to understand the cause of such madness.

After lurking in the mountains for several nights, the possessed husk of Libor finally saw his prey – a beautiful female giant that hunted white stags in these parts. Demon carefully learned her hunting patterns and used them to lure her into a trap. One evening, when the sun had just set, Daegna'ar spotted a deer wounded by an iced arrow – a possessed vampire quickly tackled down the stag and choked it. After ending the animal’s suffering he removed the projectile from its body. He then drove the arrow in his host’s chest next to the dagger and placed himself on top of the slain deer, faking his host’s death. He knew that the giantess would reach for the arrow when examining the body of the vampire and this will be the moment when the trap snaps shut.

Skadi, the goddess of winter and skiing was hunting as usual. She knew that she injured the deer with an arrow and that the animal could not run far away in such a condition. As always, she followed the blood trail which led her to a narrow passage. Instead of a white stag, there was a big monstrous body with bat-like wings lying in the snow. Her iced arrow was sticking out from its chest.

This was very unusual, to say the least, but Skadi did not give it any mind, as she was the only celestial being in these lands and she knew that no one could possibly dare to harm her. Upon examining the malformed body, the giantess reached for the arrow as intended. When her fingers touched the plumage, the ancient dagger released itself in the air, cutting the jötunn’s hand and dropping Old God’s blood on the breathless vampire body. This was more than enough to initiate the possession ritual and set the Faomorian plan into motion.

Skadi was angry – she looked around several times, but saw and heard no one. There were no signs of the dagger either. She immediately healed the wound with her mind and loaded up the stag on her shoulders.

This was the day when everything changed.

Skadi was the only Old God left in Kaldrheim at the time and there was no one around to notice the changes happening to the giantess. It all started with dreams of various tribes of Cuties assaulting her kin – they searched for the Old Gods across the Cutieland, capturing them and then torturing – trying to strip them of their celestial powers. They used some kind of forgotten arcane knowledge together with modern technological devices. Each night these dreams repeated themselves becoming more vivid and violent. Each morning Skadi woke up in cold sweat from fear and shaking in anger. She became paranoid and started to look for the whispering voices surrounding her – each mountain path, each narrow passage became a source of possible danger. She began to think that her dreams might be prophetic and that her kin is trying to warn her of something. At first, she tried to fight these thoughts, but as time passed they became more and more obsessive. Her brethren might be captured and tortured and it is only her that is left hidden in these lonely mountains on the edge of the world – the last of both Old Gods and Jötunns. And if all of that is true, then it is just a matter of time until her enemies start sending trappers to Kaldrheim to hunt her down.

As grim thoughts rooted themselves in Skadi’s mind, her mood became worse with each passing day. She drafted plans and schemes of defense, becoming obsessed with the inevitability of future confrontation. As her mood became bleaker so did the weather around her dwellings. And all this time demon king Daegna'ar closely observed the transformations happening to his hateful enemy, learning of Skadi’s powers and weaknesses and waiting for the perfect moment to strike. The moment the jötunn will get weak enough to finally let him in, he will do as planned and assume full control.

As weeks passed, Skadi’s thoughts changed from surviving and defending herself towards aggression. She noticed that the weather is getting colder and strong winds are stripping the lands of all warmth; that the sun is almost always hidden by blizzards and that the world is becoming a darker place. She didn’t understand what the weather was her doing – instead, she interpreted these signs as the premature start of the Great Winter, a time before the final battle between the Old Gods and their enemies – the Ragnarok. Finally, an hour came when Skadi couldn’t resist anymore. She dropped down her guard and accepted the fate that the Norns had prepared for her and at this very moment Daegna'ar made a move, successfully possessing the body of the goddess.

Having access to all of her knowledge and memories, the demon wanted only one thing – revenge. He plotted to completely annihilate all of his enemies and then rule what’s left of the world as his kingdom. Skadi’s internal anger was nothing compared to the rage that Daegna'ar felt for all these ages. At the very moment of possession, the weather on the continent dramatically worsened. The coldest of winds started to blow from the top of Mount Sudarld towards the outer world, unending blizzards descended upon the Kaldreim and both the Sea of the Serpent and the Sea of Norns began to slowly freeze near its shorelines. Daegna'ar happily embraced the start of these catastrophic events as the world slowly collapsed into a dark and presumably long Fimbulwinter – a period that precedes the end of the world as we know it.

The demon king understood that his enemies and their allies will soon head towards the old continent to figure out what is really happening. He had all eternity to prepare his plan and prepare he did.

In order to defeat his enemies once and for all the last of the Faomori needed to complete the ritual and bring his true self into this world.

All of Darkir Tungu’s shattered pieces must be found and put together. The sword needed to be reforged and for that, the demon king needed an army.

The first thing on Daegna'ar list needed to be done was to find the magical dagger that was used to cut the goddess. It was an easy task, with Skadi in his full control.

When found, he used the dagger to perform a summoning ritual on the frozen body of Libor – an ancient chant that could bind the soul of a deceased Faomori to a new vessel if the creature was initially strong enough to host such a powerful entity. Once the dark rite was completed Libor raised from the dead once more, wicked and ugly. He slowly started to transform into another being – a crystal-like creature with horns and teal blazing eyes. His wings fell off, his hog-like facial features vanished as he grew bigger and stronger. Finally, he opened a small dimensional rift and summoned a powerful demon-blade through it. The first summoned creature was ready to serve his king once again. Every manifested demon, like this one, was a conscious entity capable of performing any physical tasks and bidding lesser beings to his will. Unfortunately, not every vessel could serve as a host for such a potent creature and thus, the search for capable candidates has begun.

Demon-controlled Skadi and her minion launched a series of attacks on the nearby villages and big settlements such as Skogmark and Eosgard, kidnapping the bodies of formidable opponents from the battlefield. More than four hundred Cuties were slain in these raids and around 70 of them could not be put to rest properly, as their bodies were nowhere to be found. Four villages close to Yggsvar Lake and Frostwind Foothills were completely wiped out.

The situation in the region became extremely grim. Each next attack hosted more ice-like creatures wielding demon-blades and each night brought Daegna'ar more soldiers for his army. When the Faomori force grew big enough to control the territory of the whole continent, the demon king started his quest to find the lost pieces of the Darkir Tungu. As the quest went on and demon-hosts were searching Kaldrhem for shards of the sword, Daegna'ar began the construction of the bleeding forge. It was planned to be built in the depths of Mount Sudarl – a place so full of energy, that the shattered celestial bronze pieces could reunite with each other taking a liquid, blood-like form. Then the blade could be reforged and Daegna'ar could materialize himself in this world.

Skadi’s mind inside the possessed body was devastated to see what he had done. She used all of her willpower to try and warn the other Old Gods of the dire situation, but her attempts were futile – Faomori had full control over her mind and body.

Within the next week, half of the missing blade shards were found and the demon army grew even bigger. Demon-hosts continued to ravage the land and slaughter, everyone, they encountered. But this time they have been attacking to build something of their own, creating an abomination from ice and stone using ancient magic. They’ve used the souls of the slain Cuties to bind them to the raised constructs, which allowed the servants to harvest their experience and become even deadlier in the combat.

As those who are left of the Old Gods heed the call of the Fimbulvetr and prepare themselves for their final stand in Kaldrheim, many Cuties from different parts of the world are trying to understand what is going on. Some leave their homes for warmer places, some flock towards larger settlements and faction capitals. As the weather is getting colder and harsher, natural food sources become less abundant. Many Cuties are starting to starve, smaller towns and villages all over the world are left to their own fate. The northwest territories of the Warring States are in complete chaos as local warlords are fighting for food.

There is almost no news heard from Eosgard, as tough eosians always try to solve their problems themselves. Some rare reports suggest that their settlements are frequently besieged by demonic forces and their populace is forced to fight off these attacks on their own. Continental ports of Eosgard and Skogmark are blocked by the floating ice sheets of magical origin, skies are covered with blizzards and the only open way left to reach this region is available by taking a naval detour, through an island port-town of Dal Duriada.

Both Tron Empire and Ethereum Federation were able to spot weather anomalies near the peak of Mount Sudarl and have already sent their expeditionary forces to the region. The Matic Republic is said to be dropping off their special forces in Dal Duriada three times a week, while the Neo States are represented by the members of Hikami Clan – a mysterious warrior organization that is said to have mastered the power of ice.

The Metamask strait that separates Dal Duriada from the rest of Kaldrheim is currently frozen, which allows the troops to travel between the landmasses on foot. As Cutie expeditions gather forces and prepare for their joint march to Mount Sudarl, the Faomorian demon king Daegna'ar embodied in a possessed jötunn Skadi is searching for the final pieces of Darkir Tungu.

The reforging of the blade would grant Daegna'ar the ability to manifest himself in his true form and would shift the course of the conflict in his favor.

The twilight of the gods draws near, but it looks like there are only mortal and demon chess pieces placed on the board. Whoever wins this game – decides the fate of the Cutieland.