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Slamming the sides of her closed fists together, she stared into the brilliant kaleidoscope of color and sneered maniacally, “And then I will combine the stones with the sheer Force of the soul-crushing sorrow and devastating defeat of each and every one of those Amazonian Dragon freaks as they die by my hand. I will create the largest, most powerful Rainbow Stone in existence and then I will crush everyone who ignored me, acted like I didn’t exist, forgot about me, and left me for dead. ”

Slowly stalking to the farthest corner of the room, she turned, snapped her gaze to the left and stared into the terror emanating from Tveir’s eyes. Laying the palm of her right hand on the cold, damp stone wall, she whispered, “Opna.” Then repeated the Old Norse word in English, “Open.”

The rough, raw scratch of rock sliding across rock filled the chamber. So excited that goosebumps jumped to life, danced up and down her sallow, gray arms and legs and a single drop of sweat rolled down her crooked spine, she refused to look away from her twin.

Reveling in the feel of the snide smile spreading across her face, she slowly nodded, “Yeah, that’s right. I got secrets hidden all over the damn place.”

Waiting until Tveir finally blinked, Einn slowly turned first her head then her whole body until she was poised at the entrance of what she called her War Room.

One foot in front of the other, a shiver shook her ample frame as she stepped through the Mystical security veil and entered her inner sanctum.

Without so much as a glance to either side, she headed straight for the gigantic, stainless-steel workstation she’d appropriated from some unknowing, dim-witted human during the last trip to Earth.

Leaning forward, she held her breath as the twinkling red like scanned both her irises.

Once the bell chimed three times, she stepped onto the platform, pulled out the lime green and black chair she’d swiped from yet another inhabitant of the third planet from the Sun and placed her plump patootie on the cushion.

Pushing an intricate series of buttons, turning explicitly placed knobs, and flipping four switches in perfect sequence, her hands were poised over the tabletop as the panel before her slid open and out skated a large silver box.

Placing her the thumb of her left hand and the pinky finger of the right onto the appropriate touchpads, she smiled brightly when the Twinometer 5. 0 came into view.

Shiny and new, untouched by anyone’s hands but her own, Einn was so giddy with excitement that her hands shook as the tips of her fingers skimmed the tungsten barrel.

Designed to loosely resemble her favorite hero from Earth television, Dirty Harry, the Twinometer 5.

0 was a marvel of design and ingenuity if she did say so herself.

“And I do,” she giggled. “I really do. I outdid myself, and I tricked my arrogant, asshat of a twin at the same time.”

Wrapping her crooked, sinuous fingers around the flaming red polymer grip, her swollen, knobby knuckles popped and cracked, and her palm tingled as the Sorcery she’d poured into every molecule of her creation registered her as the one and only creator, owner, and user.

Ever so gently lifting the Twinometer 5.

0 from its velvet lined cradle, she spun the chair to the left, extended her arm and took aim.

Closing her right eye, she looked through the laser sight and targeted a tiny Scrub scurrying toward a crack in the wall. Pretending to pull the trigger, she imagined the kick and resulting tremors that would soon ignite the muscles in her arm and shoulder.

Out of the chair and on her feet, she let the Twinometer 5.

0 slowly lower to her side as she marched to the opposite wall.

Once again placing her palm on the wall, she waited until the safe she’d installed only six months before clicked opened before reaching inside and retrieving an intricately etched white ash box.

Returning to her desk, she returned the Twinometer 5.0 to its cradle and remained standing. Carefully lifting the lid of the wooden box, she slid her hand under the silk bag and let out the breath she’d been holding.

Untying the knot with her hand, she pinched the corner between her thumb and forefinger, ready to feel the cold weight of the stone against her flesh. No sooner had the Volcanic Bloodstone fallen into her hand than did streaks of crimson and black shoot up her arm.

“Oh, my little beauty,” she breathed. “You and I are gonna created beautiful chaos together.” Kissing the flat surface on the top, she snickered.

“Won’t dear old daddy be surprised when he sees what I do with his gift.

” Bouncing her shoulders up and down, she added a wiggle of her hips to the mix then added, “It’s the only thing I got for being the first-born twin. Can’t let it go to waste.”

With the Volcanic Bloodstone in one hand, she lifted the Twinometer 5.

0 with the other and paused for a moment of silence.

When she could stand it no more, Einn turned around.

Inhaling as deeply, she held the breath to the count of three then stepped off the platform and headed toward the door.

Stepping over the threshold, she stopped and stood at attention until the mechanical whirring of everything in her private sanctum stopped and the door slid shut.

Walking toward Tveir, she stopped when the heat of the Black Iron bars touched the tip of her nose.

Holding her twin’s terrified gaze, she lifted the Volcanic Bloodstone and mockingly declared, “This was my prize for being firstborn. When Father gave it to me, he said it was very important to my future.” Letting her head fall to the side, she feigned indecision then cackled, “Boy, he had no fuckin’ clue, did he? ”

Head upright, she lifted the Twinometer 5.

0, flipped open the chamber on the top with a flick of her thumb and snapped the Volcanic Bloodstone into place.

Pointing over Tveir’s left shoulder, she bit the inside of her cheeks to keep from laughing when her twin jumped off her hard, metal bunk, fell to her knees and army crawled to the corner.

Snickering sarcastically, she taunted, “Oh, T, I would never shoot you. Lock you up, gag you, and leave you alone for the foreseeable future…” She shrugged.

“Yeah, that I would do, but I would never kill you.” Motioning with a nod, she added, “Oh, and I would put my target behind your cage to scare the shit out of you.” Another shrug.

“Sorry, I found long ago that I don’t forgive and I don’t forget.

Sue me. I like a bit of revenge, even where you’re concerned. ”

Taking aim at the giant globe, floating midair right behind Tveir’s cage, Einn took aim a small green isle in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean–Dreki Island.

Letting her index finger hover over the trigger for exactly two beats of her black heart, she pulled the tungsten lever back as far as it would go.

Heart pounding, sweat beading atop the orange whiskers covering her upper lip, she exhaled as a strong incandescent stream of Black Magic shot from the muzzle of the Twinometer 5.0 hitting dead center of Dreki Island. Wave after wave of Sorcery filled the air as Einn’s invention started to whine.

Louder and louder, more shrill with each passing second, the sheer magnitude of Alchemy was more than she’d could have imagined. No longer able to hold the Twinometer 5.0 steady. She clasped her left hand around the opposite side of the grip and slid her feet shoulder width apart.

On and on, there seemed to be no end to the power Einn and her invention could create and it was intoxicating.

She never wanted it to end. Her mind was reeling with the possibilities.

She wouldn’t stop at Dreki Island. After Hel, Hope, and those Amazonian Dragon Freaks were gone, she would take Asgard, and then the Nine Realms. Nothing and no one would be able to stop her.

The shaking of the Twinometer 5.0 pulled Einn from her plans. The massive barrel had turned a bright red and steam was pouring from the chamber housing the Volcanic Bloodstone.

Switching the Twinometer 5.0 off with a slide of her thumb, she couldn’t resist celebrating the completion of step one.

Shimmying her shoulders and shaking her hips, she waved her invention overhead and cheered, “Oh, yeah, I’m the shit.

I’m gonna kick ass. Oh, yeah. I’m Einn. Numero Uno. The best. No one can touch my finesse.”

Stopping when she’d boogied her way to the back of Tveir’s cage, she snapped the gangly fingers of her free hand and pretended to blow a kiss. When the massive, Mystical globe disappeared, she pointed the Twinometer 5.0 at the empty space and pulled the trigger.

With a bolt of red lightning and a flash of eerie, black light, a huge swirling portal opened, revealing a vast glow that could only be the Primordial Magic of the universe.

Whooping with joy, Einn jumped up and down and pumped the air with her fist before looking over her shoulder and laughing, “Hasta la vista, Sis. See ya’ when I see ya’. ”