But not everyone was happy with the new order.
As the waters calmed and the ice settled into a healthy rhythm, a group of traditionalists led by LORD KETIL, a powerful northern warlord who believed the old ways were the only safe ways, made their move.
Ketil had watched the ice melt and the currents shift with growing horror. To him, change was corruption. He believed that the integration of magic from the Sky and the Desert had tainted the purity of the North and the deep sea. He had gathered followers who wanted to see the world return to the way it was—silent, still, and controlled by the strong.
While Mira and Orin were still deep in the southern seas, and Eira was exhausted from her confrontation with the Warden, Ketil seized control of the upper ice tunnels. He intended to use the Warden's machinery not to regulate, but to dominate. He wanted to force the entire world into a permanent deep freeze, "purifying" it of all the new, chaotic magic.
"They have infected the world with their wild energy!" Ketil shouted to his followers as he rewired the ancient controls, overriding the new settings Eira had established. "They have turned the sky into a carnival and the desert into a power source! They will unravel everything! Only ice is pure! Only stillness is safe!"
He slammed his fist onto the master lever. Massive valves ground open, far wider than they were meant to be. Instead of a gentle release of cold, a flood of ancient, absolute zero energy surged downward, rushing through the earth's crust toward the equator.
"It's happening again!" Orin yelled, sensing the drop in temperature instantly. "But worse! This isn't natural! Someone is forcing the cold!"
Mira felt it too—a wave of freezing cold rushing toward them, intent on freezing the oceans solid from the bottom up.
"Eira!" she called out. "We have a breach! The North is overcooling! Someone is hijacking the system!"
Eira was already moving. She knew exactly who was responsible. "Ketil," she growled, strapping on her armor once more. "He thinks he is saving us, but he is killing us. I will stop him."