Chapter Twenty Baldr

I gasped as I came back to consciousness in a rush, my head pounding and my body aching as if I'd been hit by a truck. It took me a moment to get my bearings and realize I was still in the ruins. At first I was worried I was alone, but then with a sigh of relief, I realized Mist was kneeling beside me, his face etched with worry.

“Baldr? Are you okay?” he asked, helping me sit up.

I nodded, wincing at the movement. “Yeah, I think so. Just... disoriented.” I blinked, trying to clear the fog from my mind. “What happened? Did you get the answers we needed?”

Mist nodded, but there was hesitation in his eyes. “Mostly. We're in the ruins of Asgard, apparently. And we need to follow the river to its source to find something called the mouth of Fenrir to get home.”

“The mouth of Fenrir?” I repeated, frowning. “Fenrir has been chained or dead since the beginning of time. He was killed in Ragnarok with the rest of the gods.”

“That’s just what the spirit said,” Mist replied. “But now that you mention it, he also said all the gods ceased to exist long ago.”

“Alright…” I huffed. “What did he say about Loki?”

Mist smiled at that. “He’s alive.”

I felt my heart leap, a lightness coming back to me for a moment. It didn’t fix everything, but it was good to know my brother was still alive. That meant the Hati pack had someone on the inside looking out for us. His actions would save many lives, I was sure of it.

“And what about Tyr? Did he tell you how to stop him?”

That’s when Mist suddenly clammed up. Not only that, but he started glancing side to side. I felt a rush of nervous energy pulse through our bond and I had to grab his hand to steady myself. His emotions were so intense still thanks to the bond being so fresh. Not only that, but the turmoil bubbling inside him threatened those delicate walls around his magic.

“It’s alright,” I said, trying to calm him down. “Whatever the spirit said is fine. We can figure it out.”

“It said…” Mist paused, forcing himself to draw a shuddering breath. “He said Tyr would bring about his own destruction.”

I sighed. “Fuck. I already knew that.”

“You did?”

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I have visions, remember?”

“Oh. I didn’t realize you’d had one about him.”

“Several over the years, actually.” We were treading into dangerous territory, so I shifted the conversation back to the spirit. “Did it say anything else about Tyr?”

“Well… it said that there might be another way to stop him.”

“Which is?”

Mist took a long moment before speaking the words, his intense anxiety filtering through the bond. “He said I could stop him. With… With my magic.”

I stared at Mist for a long moment, trying to process what he had just said. The spirit had told him he could stop Tyr with his magic? That seemed like an impossibly dangerous suggestion. Mist's power was volatile and uncontrolled. Using it against Tyr could be catastrophic. Not to mention if he were to lose control, everyone within a mile radius or more could be affected. Asking him to use his magic against Tyr was like asking someone to drop an atomic bomb on Fenris.

“Mist,” I said carefully, “I don't think that's a good idea. Your magic is-”

“Dangerous, I know,” he cut me off, frustration evident in his voice. “But what if it's the only way? You saw what Tyr is capable of. He'll hurt more people if we don't stop him. I can’t let him hurt people like he hurt me…”

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. “I understand why you want to use your power against him. But you don't have control over it yet. It could backfire horribly.”

“The spirit said I just need to practice.”

That caught my attention. “It offered that information freely?”

Mist shifted nervously, his gaze dropping to the floor. “N-No. I had to use the last question for it. I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t think it wasn’t important… but that meant I couldn’t ask about your mother’s protection spell.”

I nodded slowly, doing everything I could to stay calm. I wasn’t mad at him for asking. In fact, if I had been in his shoes, I would’ve done the same thing. However, without that last question, it was impossible to know how far I could push the spell protecting me. My thought had been to use it against Tyr, but I wanted some sort of guarantee that my plan would work. But now I’d never know.

“I understand,” I said carefully. “Did the spirit tell you how to practice your magic?”

He shook his head. “No. Just that I should.”

“Did it do anything else?”

“It asked for your name,” he replied. “Twice actually.”

I let out a long sigh. “That confirms my suspicions then. We definitely got some sort of trickster spirit. They’re fairly common, but I’d hoped we would get lucky. Whatever it was, it gave you as little information as possible on purpose to waste our time.” I shrugged, getting back to my feet and dusting the dirt off my blanket I’d fashioned into a sort of toga. “But at least we know it was telling the truth about Fenrir. That will be the way home.”

“It also said the portal is only for wolfkin,” Mist added. “And their mates. So I guess it’s a good thing we did… you know… what we did.”

I had to nod because he was right. At least that rash action on my part had an upside.

“Well,” I said, placing my hands on my hips. “We better find a way out of here and back to the river then. Unless the spirit told you a quicker way out.”

“It did not. Only that this place is ancient.”

“I guess that means we better watch our step.”

Mist moved close to me, linking his arm in mine. “There,” he said, giving me a bright smile. “That should keep us safe.”

I couldn’t help but laugh, feeling the sudden rush of giddiness over the bond. “I bet it will.” I held him tight, pulling him down the dimly lit hallway. “Now let’s get out of here.”

We made our way through the dimly lit ruins, arm in arm, relying on the faint glow of the strange fungus to light our path. To our relief and possibly our doom, there was only one way to go. It seemed we’d somehow ended in a long underground corridor that had collapsed. I had no way of knowing if our side had a way out, but I tried to remain hopeful. The air was damp and musty, thick with the scent of decay and ages past. Our footsteps echoed off the crumbling stone walls, sending small pebbles skittering across the floor with each step. Here and there mounds of dirt filled the hallway that we had to crawl over, the walls having long since given way under the strain of the soil above us. I had a good feeling that the ruins weren’t exactly stable. But as long as we kept our voices low and moved quickly, I had to believe we could get out without inciting a collapse.

As we walked, I couldn't help but marvel at the ancient architecture around us. Even in ruins, there was a grandeur to the place that spoke of its former glory. Massive pillars, intricately carved with runes and symbols I didn't recognize, stretched up into the darkness above. In some places pure gold still clung to the stone, inlaid long ago by skilled craftsmen. Here and there, we passed remnants of tapestries and murals, their colors long since faded but still hinting at epic tales of gods and heroes. Maybe the spirit was right, gods really had roamed these halls at one point. I couldn’t imagine who else could afford such magnificence.

“I can't believe we're actually in Asgard,” Mist whispered, holding tight to me as we walked. “Do you really think the gods lived here?”

“Sure.”

“So you think they were real?”

“I think any god is real as long as you believe in them,” I replied. “And once you stop believing, they stop existing.”

Mist stared at me for a long moment. “I can’t tell if that’s wisdom or pure insanity.”

“You’d be surprised how often those two meet,” I chuckled. “But try thinking of it in a different way. Do you believe in gods?”

“I don’t know,” Mist said slowly. “It doesn’t seem likely does it? There’s not really much tangible proof they’re real.”

“But do you believe in love?”

“Of course!”

“But why?” I asked, shrugging with a smile. “There’s no tangible proof it exists. You can’t touch love or hold it in your hand. So shouldn’t that mean it’s not real?”

“But love is in all those stories!”

“So are gods.”

“But… But you can see love! And touch it! If you have a partner.”

“And what if you don’t? Does that mean love doesn’t exist?”

“It can feel like that sometimes…” he nodded.

“And it can feel like gods aren’t real either.”

Mist stared at me for a long moment. “I think I know what you’re saying, but it’s making my brain hurt.”

I laughed, leaning close and kissing his cheek. “Here’s my opinion. I think all gods recorded in history have existed at one time or another. I don’t know if they were once men or if they were ever mortal at all. But I think they were sustained by the beliefs of other people. But when those people stopped praying and believing and time marched on, those gods lost their powers and faded into the unknown.” I gestured to the ruins around us. “But phantoms didn’t build this metropolis. Something or someone did. So… I guess my thought is that the gods were real once and they might be real again if people start believing in them.”

Mist tilted his head to the side, looking at me with eyes filled with wonder. “That feels so… hopeful.”

I just shrugged. “I guess.”

“I should’ve known you’d be a dreamer. Especially with all the books you read and your visions.” He leaned against my shoulder. “I hope the future you see is just as hopeful.”

My heart sank, a cold sensation filling my chest. My stomach twisted, and I swallowed hard, forcing myself to smile. “Yeah. Me too.”