PROLOGUE
Once, the god Loki removed a little stone from the wall surrounding Asgard, the home of the gods. Loki was jealous of the other gods’ close bond with mankind, and he wanted to prove how fallible and weak mortals really were. The stone landed in the ocean and formed an island. Loki knew that, with this stone, he had sent a piece of divine magic to Earth.
He delighted in exploring his island: the idyllic forests, mountains and rivers – but he could also see its fiery soul. He was particularly taken with a grotto where a spring burbled away cheerfully to itself. This seemed to him to be the ideal place for a sneaky trick. At the source of the spring, he spat a pip from one of the goddess Idun’s golden apples of immortality into the earth. From then on, the seed would release into the water the power of eternal life. Loki was sure no human being would be able to resist this temptation.
Pleased with himself and his work, he kept an eye out for a suitable victim and soon found one in Viken Rangnak, the leader of a Viking clan. Loki revealed himself to Viken and showed him the way to a promising new homeland: Rulantica. And so began the game of life and death.
Not for the first time, the young god V