"The Trickster God," Part 3: "Twilight of the Heroes." The Skeleton Man and Tarot's mother are transported to a frozen harbor by Loki's magick. There they face the mighty jaws and teeth of the Midgard Serpent, Jormungand. A tragic end is foreseen! Heroes die! A dark witch stands defiant in the face of a God. A terrible grieving begins.
Skeleton Man and the Tarots mother have been transported out into the blizzard waste that is now Salem. Jon still possesses Mjollnir and motherly witch is still drained from her battle with Loki, now in the knee deep snow they see the frozen hull of the USS Friendship at the Salem Harbor. Jon swears vengeance against Loki for destroying the town but Tarots mother tries to calm him down saying she “loves him like a son” but warning him that a man cannot hope to defeat a god.
In an angry monolog Jon declares that mankind no longer needs the gods that they are cruel, absent, and meddling and that man can be responsible for his own actions. He is determined to find Tarot and put a stop to this and her mother reaches inside her sleeve and gives him an enchanted locket containing a single strand of both Raven and Tarots hair. She instructs him that to activate it he must hold it tight in his hand and think about Tarot in his heart, this will transport him to her location.
Just then a Jormungand a Midgard ice serpent bursts from the ground and attacks. Jon suggest using the locket to transport them both out of the path of the beast but Tarots mother informs him it will only work on one person at a time and she engages in battle with Jormungand. In just seconds she is crushed by his huge jaws and her body devoured, Jon reigns down on the creature with all the force of Mjollnir, breaking the serpents jaw. Before delivering the killer blow Skeleton Man is knocked back by Jormungand tail but gets to his feet to hurl the mighty hammer at the creatures head killing it as it collapses destroying the frozen USS Friendship in icy harbor.
After the battle Jon sees the ghost of Tarots slain mother in the snowy sky urging him on to find her daughter. Jon activates the locket and is transported to another part of Salem where two frost giants, huddled around a fire, are eating the broken body of the dead Tarot. Jon sees the remains of his beloveds corpse, still in its unique Black Rose armor, impaled on a spit roasting above the fire. In a rage Jon attacks the frost giants quickly opening their skulls with the power of the hammer Mjollnir. After destroying them in a bloody rampage he retrieves the lifeless body of Tarot and cradles her in his arms, with tears in his eyes he tells her “I loved you,” and cries out to the heavens.
Then hearing the words “I love you too, Jon” he turns around to see the ghost of Tarot in the sky above him. She tells him not to grieve, that she is in the Summerland now and her time on Earth is over. Her last request is that Jon use the locket her mother gave him and go to Raven Hex, to rescue her from Loki before it is too late. Begging her to stay, with tears streaming from his eyes Jon collapses onto his knees as Tarot vanishes with the words “I love you too, Jon. I always did …and I always will.”
Back at Black Rose Manor we see one image of Raven Hex screaming as the issue concludes to be continued in the final chapter Tarot #69 “The Hammer.”
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