Meanwhile, on the surface of the planet Adlivun, a tan-skinned man with sharp, slanted eyes floated in the air. His hair was tied back in a braid, two white feathers adorning his head. He wore a necklace of small stones shaped like fangs, a white-and-brown decorated skirt, and was armed with two knives and a bow. With that bow, he fired arrow after arrow into the mountains that shaped the frozen planet. Each impact sent violent tremors rippling across the surface.

  From above, Adlivun looked like a vast ocean scattered with ice islands, towering icebergs, and frozen mountain ranges. Snow fell relentlessly, and the sky was entirely gray.

  “If you do not come out immediately, I will be forced to continue my attacks!” the man shouted as he prepared another volley of arrows, their white feathers taken from his quiver. He was magically crafting the arrows as he drew them.

  He took eight arrows at once, nocked them, and aimed toward a massive frozen mountain range rising from the center of the ocean. Suddenly, from a whirlpool that opened in the sea, the goddess Sedna emerged in majestic fashion.

  “Sosondowah,” said the polar goddess coldly, “you dare come alone to attack my lands.”

  “My mission is merely to retrieve a man you are hiding within your kingdom,” the hunter god replied. “If you refuse to hand him over, then we will be forced to attack.”

  At that moment, the already gray sky darkened completely. Behind the hunter god, a red circle bearing a cross at its center appeared, glowing with such intensity that it bathed the entire planet in crimson light.

  “Come forth, great and mighty Gaasyendietha!” Sosondowah shouted.

  From within the circle, the head of a colossal dragon emerged. Its skin was green and scaly, its eyes yellow, and two enormous horns crowned its head. Lava and sulfur poured from its mouth, and where they struck the surface, parts of the vast ocean and the icebergs evaporated without ever melting.

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  Sedna, however, remained utterly unmoved.

  “Will you give me the man now,” Sosondowah asked with a triumphant look, “or do you prefer that Gaasyendietha raze your little planet?”

  “Well then, Sosondowah,” Sedna replied calmly, “go and tell Sawiskera—”

  At that moment, she formed fingers of ice where she had once lost them. The icy digits broke away from her hand and fell into the ocean.

  “—that the affairs of my kingdom are personal matters,” she continued, as hundreds of ice sculptures of marine animals began to rise from the sea: seals, sea lions, fish, even massive whales.

  Seeing the countless creatures, Sosondowah burst into laughter.

  “Do you truly intend to attack a hunter with animals?” he mocked.

  Instantly, he drew hundreds of arrows from his quiver and fitted them to his bow, releasing them all at once toward the ice creatures. They shattered rapidly, yet more and more beasts continued to rise from the ocean, until the entire visible surface was covered.

  The hunter god kept unleashing wave after wave of arrows, but the creatures did not stop.

  In desperation, he shouted to the colossal dragon behind him, “Gaasyendietha, destroy them all!”

  To his shock, the ice animals lifted their gazes toward the invaders and, with imperceptible speed, struck like blades of frozen steel.

  In an instant, the attacks severed the dragon’s head, its fiery breath freezing mid-air. At the same time, Sosondowah was pierced by hundreds of living ice blades, unable to move. Each cut froze his body further, until he became a floating statue of ice suspended in the air.

  The assault ceased, and the ice animals vanished. Sosondowah’s frozen form hovered with an expression of agony, while the colossal dragon had disappeared, summoned away before it could truly die.

  “If Sawiskera wishes to negotiate,” Sedna said, “tell him to come himself.”

  As she spoke, three icy fingers grew once more from her wounded hand and shot forward, shattering the hunter god’s frozen statue into pieces.

  Yet Sosondowah regenerated instantly, unharmed. Even so, he had witnessed the goddess’s overwhelming power. After steadying his breath, he lowered his massive bow.

  “I am merely a messenger,” he said with anger and frustration. “Be assured there will be consequences for defying Sawiskera’s orders.”

  “We will be waiting,” Sedna replied resolutely. “You will not take anyone from us.”

  Sosondowah turned and flew across the frozen surface, vanishing into the distance.

  “Good,” the polar goddess thought with a faint smile. “They still do not know the members of Orniskem are here—but we must act quickly.”

  Sosondowah was a hunting deity in Iroquois culture.

  Gaasyendietha was a mythical serpent in Seneca culture.

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  Next chapter tomorrow!