Chapter Twenty-Five Baldr

I awoke with a start, sitting straight up with a gasp. However, instead of happily snuggled with Mist under the trees of Asgard, I found myself sitting in a field of snow. However, instead of the glimmering white I expected, it was streaked with crimson.

The air was sharp with the metallic tang of blood, and my breath hung in front of me in frozen puffs of cloud. The world was eerily silent, save for the whisper of a distant wind that carried the faintest echo of something like a scream. My heart pounded in my chest as I looked down at myself. My hands were trembling, bare against the cold, but what froze me more than the chill was the sight of them—stained red.

I staggered to my feet, my knees crunching into the snow below me. The field stretched endlessly in every direction, vast and empty save for the crimson streaks that painted grotesque patterns across its surface. Something about those patterns unnerved me; they weren’t random splashes or chaotic smears—they formed lines, symbols almost, though none I could recognize.

“Mist?” I called out hoarsely, my voice cracking with panic. “Mist!” There was no reply.

I spun around, desperate for any sign of life. And that’s when I saw him.

Tyr.

He was standing there in the snow, his chest heaving and his Alpha form covered in blood from head to toe. In his remaining hand he clutched a ragged piece of paper. Upon further inspection, I realized it was the other half of my mother’s spellbook.

“Thanks for the help,” he growled, holding up the book before tossing it away. “None of this would’ve been possible without you.”

I glanced back down at the blood on my hands, realizing that it was only through me that Tyr had been able to get this far.

“Where is everyone?!” I cried. “Where is Thor and Loki?!”

Tyr glanced off to the left, then the right. I followed his gaze both times, my heart nearly coming to a stop in my chest. There, lying frozen and bloody in the snow, was both of my brothers, their chests torn open and their hearts lying on the ground beside them. Fear was the expression their faces were locked into in death. I let out a choking sob, but I couldn’t force myself to take a step toward them. I didn’t want to see any more.

“Everyone you love is dead,” Tyr snarled, inching closer all the time. “And now I think it’s time to deal the final blow.” He lifted his bloody claws toward the sky, chanting under his breath. “Then you can live alone and sad for the rest of your days!”

Fiery red magic coalesced in his claws before he aimed it directly at my heart. However, at the last moment he swung his arm to the left, and I finally saw who his target truly was.

It was Mist.

The world seemed to go silent as the spell raced toward him. I saw his eyes go wide and fill with tears as he stared at me, a plea on his lips that he didn’t have time to speak. Before I knew it, my wolf took over and I raced through the snow at an almost inhuman speed. Without a second thought, I threw myself in front of him, the spell colliding with my chest and exploding outward.

There was a white-hot flash of pain and my world went dark.

◆◆◆

I awoke with a gasp, bolting upright. This time, the ground beneath me was warm, soft leaves, not snow. The icy bite in the air was gone, replaced by the gentle caress of a summer breeze that carried the scent of wildflowers. My heart raced, confusion crashing over me like waves against the shore. My hands flew to my chest, expecting to feel searing pain or a gaping wound where Tyr’s spell had struck—but there was nothing. Just smooth skin without a single blemish, though I could still feel an ache deep inside, like a phantom echo of what had happened.

“Easy,” came a low voice behind me. Soft but steady. Familiar.

I turned sharply and saw Mist sitting nearby, sprawled out naked in a patch of sunlight without a care in the world. His eyes were fixed on me with a mixture of relief and lingering worry. “You okay? You were mumbling in your sleep.” He tilted his head to the side. “I tried to see what you were dreaming through the bond… but it was blocked from me.”

“I… I was having another one of my visions,” I replied, shaking my head. “One I’ve had quite a few times, actually.”

“Want to tell me about it?”

I shook my head again, a streak of anxiety twisting at my stomach. “No. Not really.”

Mist stretched and got to his feet, coming over to our makeshift bed and snuggling up next to me. I felt his warm flesh press against my skin, the feeling reassuring me that not only was he okay, but I was still very much alive. Although, for how much longer I would be, I wasn’t sure. It seemed as if the end was quickly approaching.

“Baldr,” he said softly, running the back of his finger of my shoulder in a slow circle. “You know you can talk to me, right? I realize we haven’t been together long, but you’re my oldest friend and I trust you. I hope you can feel the same about me and I’d like to help you with your visions if you’re okay with that.”

I let out a long sigh. “It’s not that I don’t trust you,” I replied quietly, unable to meet his gaze. “It’s just… not a good vision. I haven’t told anyone about it. Not even my brothers.”

Mist’s hand stilled on my shoulder. For a moment, silence hung between us, broken only by the rustling of leaves and the distant chirp of birds. Then he shifted closer, his warmth grounding me in a way I didn’t know I needed.

“Baldr,” he said, his voice low and steady, “good or not… visions come for a reason. Maybe we can figure out what it means together.”

I wanted to argue, to brush it off as something meaningless or fleeting, but the weight of the vision still smoldered inside me like embers that refused to die out. That persistent ache in my chest wasn’t just from Tyr’s spell—it was from what I had seen. What I had felt so many times before.

For all this time I’d been holding back this knowledge, hoping I never had to tell Mist about it until the very end. Unfortunately, I could feel that end quickly approaching. I knew we wouldn’t get another moment of peace like this again. And, at the very least, if Mist knew what was coming, he could prepare himself for it.

“I saw them again,” I finally admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “Thor. Loki.” The names felt heavy on my tongue, each syllable laced with grief that threatened to choke me. “I saw their bodies… dead in the snow.”

Mist’s sharp intake of breath told me that was the last thing he expected me to say. Too bad it was only going to get worse from there.

“The future I keep seeing is fuzzy,” I added. “But I know that Tyr is the one driving it forward. If we don’t find a way to stop him soon, he’s going to kill every single wolf in Fenris. He talks about joining the packs together and leading us all into a better future, but that’s not what he wants. Not what he will eventually want.” I glanced up at Mist, seeing the fear in his eyes. “I’m not sure exactly when, but soon he will want to wash Fenris clean of its werewolves. The ones he’s deemed disloyal. From there he hopes to lead the birth of a new pack that will take what it wants from the humans and return to a world of fear and violence.”

“But… he must know that would never work,” Mist said, the hint of a plea in his voice. “If any of the humans caught wind of what he was doing… wouldn’t they stop him?”

I nodded. “Of course. But not before he destroys us all in the process. Tyr thinks he’s invincible, which will be his downfall.”

“Did you see his end?”

“No,” I replied. “Thor and Loki’s deaths are fuzzy too. That tells me that portion of the vision can still be changed. It’s when things are crystal clear that I know they are set in stone.”

Mist stared for a long moment before his lips finally began to work again. “I’m… I’m afraid to ask…”

Taking a deep breath, I prepared for the most painful moments of my life to unfold. I reached out with my mind, laid a hand on the barrier I’d constructed between our minds, and in one fell swoop brought it crashing down. Emotions welled up through our bond, spilling over into Mist’s mind. I allowed the vision to replay in my head, letting him see every last moment of it. He gasped, his hand going to his lips as he saw Thor and Loki lying on the ground. However, as we neared the end of the vision and he saw my sacrifice, he just went silent. When I looked up again, I saw the tears running down his face.

“You… You’ve seen this before?” he croaked.

I nodded. “Ever since I met you.”

“Why… Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, a tone of accusation in his voice.

I knew he would be angry of course, that was expected. I’d been hiding my vision from him for a long time.

“The first few times I had it there was still a fuzziness around the edges that gave me hope,” I explained. “So I didn’t want to bring it up and make you worry needlessly. But as time went on, it got clearer and clearer. In fact, every time I spent time with you, it seemed to crystalize further. The way I go changes from time to time, I’ve seen at least a dozen different possibilities. But the end is always the clearest part.”

“Why didn’t you stay away from me then? If I’m the one making you have these awful nightmares!”

All I could do was shrug. “Because I love you. I’ve always loved you and I knew I couldn’t just leave you behind. Besides, abandoning you doesn’t change the end of my story, only the middle. So I chose to be happy instead.”

“Are your visions ever wrong?”

I shook my head. “Not ones like this.”

“What if I stay in Asgard then?” he said, his face lighting up like he’d just cracked the code. “It can’t take place if I’m not there!”

“One way or another, you’ll be there.” My voice was soft and low as I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder. “And I’m sorry you’ll have to see me die. But I need you to know it’s not your fault.”

“Not my fault? Not my fault?!” Mist cried. “It’s completely my fault! If I wasn’t here… if you hadn’t rescued me… then you… you…”

“If I hadn’t rescued you,” I said, forcing him to look me in the eye. “Then Tyr would’ve broken you and used your power to kill me instead.” His eyes widened in fear as I nodded. “That was the original vision. And the closer I got to you, the more it changed to what you see now.” I ran my thumb over his cheek pulling his forehead against mine. “I would rather die to save you then have you strike me down by accident and blame yourself for the rest of your life. This is the choice I made.”

“But you didn’t tell me…” he sobbed, his arms around my neck as he collapsed against me. “Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“I’m sorry, baby,” I said softly, holding him at the sobs wracked his body. “I wanted you to have good memories untainted by that knowledge, ones you could look back on and maybe smile someday. I tried to spare you as long as I could.”

“As long as you could?” he sputtered. He looked up at me, his eyes growing wide once more as the realization set in. “H-How long?”

“I don’t know. But we’re close to the end now. I have a feeling once we go back home, it won’t take long.”

“Then we’ll just stay here!”

“I can’t do that,” I said, cupping his cheek and wiping his tears away with my thumbs. “My family and my entire pack will be killed if I don’t go back soon. I can’t let that happen.”

Mist’s face twisted, pain flickering across his features as he gripped my arms tighter, as though he could anchor me here, in this peaceful clearing, forever.

“There has to be another way,” he whispered, his voice cracking. “We—I can’t lose you. Not like this.”

I swallowed hard, my throat dry as the ashy remnants of our fire. In all the times I had envisioned this conversation, I had never found the right words to soothe him. The truth was… there weren’t any. No words could soften the inevitability of what lay ahead.

“We’ll figure it out together,” Mist continued desperately, his hands trembling against me. “You said the visions aren’t always clear and maybe they’re not set in stone yet, right? Maybe we still have time—time to change it.”

I sighed, brushing a lock of dark hair from his damp cheek. His hope was a fragile thing, glimmering and warm despite the cold reality pressing in on us. It hurt to watch that lively green in his eyes fade until they were nearly lifeless. I could tell he knew my end was inevitable, he just hadn’t accepted it yet.

But I had. And it was time to go.