Sebastian hadn't planned to claim the Casket of Ancient Winters. Truthfully, it wasn't something easy to keep. Odin, Asgard's king, wasn't dead—just sleeping. When he awoke, if Sebastian wanted to stay on good terms with Asgard and gain access to their materials and magical knowledge, he'd have to return the Casket.
Unless he abandoned his plan and ignored Asgard's friendship, he could keep the Casket for himself. Asgard had Odin, but Earth had the Ancient One. Neither side feared the other.
Still, even if he gave it back, Sebastian knew he'd have a chance to collect treasures like the Casket later. He just had to wait for Asgard's Ragnarok, when the gods' treasury would be vulnerable. Then, he could claim its riches.
For now, Sebastian leaned toward his original plan: keeping peace with Asgard. The Casket would find its way back to him eventually.
Back at his rented house in Puente Antiguo, Sebastian felt a pang of regret. He hadn't salvaged any tissue from the multi-clawed serpent Loki summoned. Its nerves could've made a powerful wand core, letting him craft another exceptional wand.
But the serpent's body was ruined, scorched by hellfire and frozen by frost magic. There was no chance to use it now.
He waved his dragon heartstring wand, stepping out of the Mirror Dimension.
Sebastian retrieved the safe-like metal box holding the Casket from the Mirror Dimension. With care, he waved his wand, casting Finite Incantatem to undo the seals and lift the Casket out. Excited, he began studying it.
After hours of effort, he sighed. Despite his inherited magical knowledge, Kamar-Taj training, and combat prowess from his past life's magical mutation, his grasp of this world's magic was lacking. He'd spent most of the day on the Casket, learning its effects but not its secrets. Frustrated, he considered seeking outside help.
Forming a one-handed seal, Sebastian summoned a small fiery magic circle in his palm. "Master Ancient One, are you interested in studying the Casket of Ancient Winters, the Frost Giants' treasure?"
As he spoke, a glowing portal opened beside him. The Ancient One stepped through, her calm gaze settling on Sebastian and the Casket in the Mirror Dimension. Even her steady composure wavered, her eyebrows rising in surprise.
"Master Sebastian, you've truly shocked me," she said. "Kamar-Taj's core texts record many cosmic treasures. The Casket of Ancient Winters is among them. After the Frost Giants' defeat by Asgard, it vanished, supposedly sealed away by Asgard. How did you obtain it, Master Sebastian?"
"I beat a sneaky Asgardian who called himself a god and took it from him," Sebastian replied.
"Called himself a god?" The Ancient One's face grew serious. "Did he give a name?"
"He said his name was Loki."
"Loki… so it was him…"
Sebastian grinned deliberately. "Master Ancient One, who is this Loki?"
"If Asgard is a realm of gods, its people could claim that title," she said. "But to me, they're just stronger aliens. Only Odin, Asgard's lord, might truly be called a god. The rest fall far short."
"So, keeping this Casket won't bring trouble to Earth, will it?"
Sebastian already knew Earth, with the Ancient One's protection, could stand against Asgard. Still, some things needed saying.
"No trouble," she assured. "Asgardians invading Earth with such a dangerous artifact breaks the peace treaty. We're in the right. Asgard won't challenge us, especially not now—Odin has no energy for this."
With that, the Ancient One sat down, joining Sebastian to study the Casket.
Her magical skill was astounding, her knowledge unmatched. What stumped Sebastian for hours, she unraveled in under an hour. The Casket's secrets lay bare before her.
Sebastian was amazed. A phrase echoed in his mind: The master remains the master.
Worthy of the Ancient One!
"Master Sebastian," she said, "I wondered why the Casket holds such vast frost magic. It contains a large shard of ice authority. This authority makes its frost magic nearly endless."
"Ice authority?" Sebastian nodded. "That explains it… but it's a shame. It seems I can't use this power."
Just as Frost Giants wield the Casket, no Asgardian could. Authority wasn't gained by possession alone. One needed matching strength to harness it. Sebastian's Fiendfyre mutation let him tap a trace of hellfire's authority, allowing him to control it. Without that, hellfire would've been beyond him.
His magic was strong, but he lacked the ability to wield ice authority.
"Master Sebastian," the Ancient One said, "using the Casket's ice authority isn't entirely impossible. Fully controlling it is out of reach, but I can extract a tiny sliver of its authority. A small trace could be manageable. In exchange for my help, I'd like to take a sliver for myself. What do you think?"
"Better to hold a solid piece than stare at a mountain I can't touch," Sebastian replied. "Let's do it, Master Ancient One. If you need my help, just say so."
"Stripping even a speck of ice authority from the Casket is complex," she said. "Your assistance, Master Sebastian, will save me much effort."
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Early the next morning, Ancient One contentedly took a crystal ball that shimmered with icy blue-white radiance, opened a glowing portal, and vanished through it, while Sebastian received a ring adorned with a thumbnail-sized gem sparkling with frosty blue-white hues.
Looking closely, there was a faint shadowy wisp swirling within the gem's icy depths. This was a new magical ring, masterfully forged by Ancient One using a sliver of ice authority, transforming it into an extraordinary artifact of power. With this, Sebastian could harness the chilling might of ice authority, gaining a thrilling and potent new weapon for his adventures.
Moreover, the most important treasure to Sebastian was the arcane knowledge woven into the ring's essence. As long as he delved deeply into its mysteries, Sebastian was confident that if he faced such a relic again, he would not be left powerless, staring helplessly as he had before, unable to wield its secrets.
As for the Casket of Ancient Winters, it appeared unchanged on the outside, its surface gleaming with an untouched frosty sheen. Although some of the icy power inside was stripped away by Ancient One, the extracted portion was less than one-third of its total might. Unless Laufey, the formidable lord of the Frost Giants, came to inspect it himself, even Odin's keen eyes would fail to detect the subtle diminishment of this strange power.
Looking at the ring in his hand, Sebastian pondered briefly and slid it onto the middle finger of his left hand with a decisive motion.
The moment the ring settled into place, ice-blue energy threads, shimmering like frozen starlight, overflowed from the gem, tracing along the middle finger of his left hand, and burrowed into his flesh with a biting chill. Amid the sharp, frostbitten pain that pierced through him, the energy threads swiftly extended along Sebastian's arm until they reached his left eye, turning it a striking, glacial blue, before everything settled back to normal.
The ice-blue hue of his left eye's pupil and the radiant glow emitted by the ring faded simultaneously. Sebastian gazed at the ring on his left hand and reactivated its frosty power with a focused thought. Suddenly, when the ring cast a faint, shimmering ice-blue light, Sebastian's left eye transformed from its usual dark shade to a vivid ice-blue once again.
With a slight wave of his hand, a swirling icy whirlwind, crackling with frosty energy, materialized in front of Sebastian. In an instant, a gleaming ice cone, sharp as a dagger, condensed in the whirlwind's heart. As Sebastian waved his left hand with a flourish, the cone shot forward, swift as a loosed arrow, and vanished in the blink of an eye.
It's a magical artifact akin to my trusty wand, Sebastian thought. I only need to channel my magic through it, and with the ring's power, I can wield a trace of icy authority, bending wind, snow, and ice to my will with thrilling ease.
As he mulled over this, Sebastian ceased using the ring's power once more. His left eye promptly returned to its normal dark hue, and the ring appeared no different from an ordinary gemstone band, its blue-white gem glinting innocently.
Let's call it the Frost Ring.....