Chapter 10 The Fall of the Hall
The Bifrost stretched before us like a bridge of shattered dreams—once a pathway of glory for me, now the road to exile. Caelan supported me as we walked, my stone wings so heavy that each step threatened to topple me backward. Behind us, Sigrid and a small honor guard of Valkyries followed at a respectful distance, tasked with ensuring our safe passage to the mortal realm.
"Just a little further," Caelan encouraged, his arm strong around my waist. "One step at a time."
The rainbow bridge vibrated beneath our feet—not the steady hum I was accustomed to, but an erratic trembling that seemed to match the instability spreading throughout the divine realms.
"Something's wrong," I murmured, pausing to catch my breath. "The Bifrost feels... unstable."
Sigrid hurried forward to join us, her expression concerned. "It's been like this since the Eye was restored to the All-Father. The divine networks are realigning, adjusting to the revelations exposed during your trial."
"Or to Odin's weakened state," Caelan suggested grimly.
A distant rumble drew our attention back toward Asgard. The golden spires of Valhalla shimmered strangely against the eternal twilight, seeming to phase in and out of solidity.
"By the Norns," whispered one of the honor guard. "What's happening?"
Before anyone could answer, a blinding flash of blue light erupted from the highest tower of Valhalla—the Chamber of the Eye, where Odin would have restored the artifact to its rightful place. The light expanded outward in a shockwave that raced toward us across the Bifrost.
"Get down!" Caelan shouted, trying to pull me to the ground.
But my stone wings made movement nearly impossible. I could only watch as the wave of energy approached, bracing myself for whatever would come.
The impact wasn't physical but metaphysical—a sensation like having my consciousness temporarily separated from my body. Images flashed through my mind: Odin placing the Eye in its receptacle; the artifact pulsing with unnatural energy; cracks appearing in its crystalline surface; the All-Father reaching out too late to contain the power that exploded outward.
When my senses cleared, the scene before us had transformed. The Bifrost shuddered violently now, fractures appearing along its rainbow surface. Behind us, Valhalla itself seemed to be coming apart—walls dissolving, towers tilting at impossible angles, the entire structure beginning to detach from its foundations.
"The Eye," I gasped in realization. "It's shattered."
Caelan looked at me in horror. "How?"
"I don't know," I admitted. "But divine consciousness is spilling out uncontrolled. The barriers between realms are collapsing."
As if confirming my words, the sky above tore open in multiple places, revealing glimpses of other worlds—Midgard, Jotunheim, Helheim—all bleeding into each other at the edges.
"We need to move," Sigrid urged, helping Caelan support me. "The Bifrost won't hold much longer."
We struggled forward as quickly as my burden allowed. Behind us, the honor guard had abandoned protocol, some flying ahead in panic, others frozen in shock at the destruction unfolding. The great hall of Valhalla was now fully detached from its moorings, beginning a slow, impossible descent toward the void between realms.
"All those warriors," I whispered, thinking of the souls I had guided there over centuries. "What will happen to them?"
"Look!" Caelan pointed to the disintegrating structure.
Streams of light poured from Valhalla's windows and doors—hundreds, thousands of them, each a warrior's spirit freed from the confines of the hall. They scattered in all directions, some ascending further into the heavens, others diving toward the worlds below.
"They're returning to their original realms," Sigrid explained, awe in her voice. "The Eye's destruction has released them from their binding."
A massive crack appeared in the Bifrost ahead of us, spreading rapidly. We were still only halfway across.
"We won't make it," I realized, the weight of my wings making our pace too slow.
Caelan's face set in determination. "Yes, we will."
Without warning, he swept me into his arms entirely, staggering slightly under the combined weight of my body and stone wings but refusing to falter.
"Caelan, you can't—it's too heavy—"
"Watch me," he grunted, pushing forward with renewed determination.
Sigrid flew alongside us, her expression anguished. "Let me help," she begged.
"No," Caelan refused. "Get yourself to safety. This bridge is collapsing."
Indeed, the Bifrost was now breaking apart in earnest, chunks of rainbow material falling away into the void below. The vibrations had become violent tremors that threatened to throw us off balance with each step.
"I'm not leaving you," Sigrid insisted, landing beside us and taking some of my weight.
Together, they carried me forward as the destruction closed in from both sides. Behind us, Valhalla continued its slow-motion collapse, the structure that had stood for millennia now falling like a stone through the heavens.
We were nearly at the end of the Bifrost when the final section began to give way. With a tremendous heave, Caelan threw me forward onto solid ground at the edge of Midgard, the mortal realm. Sigrid tumbled after me, but Caelan himself remained on the crumbling bridge.
"Caelan!" I screamed, trying desperately to rise despite my wings.
He stood at the very edge of the broken Bifrost, the void yawning beneath him. For one terrible moment, our eyes met across the growing gap—his filled with a strange peace, mine with desperate denial.
"No!" I reached out futilely as the section beneath him gave way.
But instead of falling, he leaped—a powerful, desperate jump that carried him just far enough to catch the edge of stable ground with his fingertips. Sigrid rushed forward, grabbing his wrists and helping haul him to safety.
No sooner had he collapsed beside me than the remainder of the Bifrost shattered completely, the fragments dissolving into the ether. Above us, the sky continued to fracture, revealing glimpses of other realms through cosmic tears.
"It's the end," Sigrid whispered, her wings trembling. "Ragnarök."
"No," I countered, finding strength to sit up despite my wings. "Not the end. A transformation."
The ground beneath us shook as Valhalla, now completely detached from its foundations, plummeted toward Midgard. Its massive structure, once ethereal and partly in another dimension, was materializing fully into the mortal realm as it fell.
"It's going to crash into the earth," Caelan realized in horror. "The impact will devastate everything for miles."
Indeed, the golden hall was descending toward a populated area—a small coastal town lay directly in its path, its inhabitants unaware of the divine catastrophe about to befall them.
"We have to do something," I insisted, struggling uselessly against the weight pinning me down.
Caelan looked from me to the falling structure, calculation and determination warring in his expression. Then, decision made, he pressed a swift, hard kiss to my lips.
"I love you," he said simply. "Remember that."
Before I could respond, he was on his feet, racing toward the impact zone.
"Caelan!" I screamed after him. "What are you doing?"
But he was already too far to hear, sprinting with inhuman speed toward the town below.
"What is he thinking?" Sigrid asked, helping me to a sitting position where I could better see what was happening.
"He's going to try to save them," I whispered, realization dawning with horror. "The townspeople."
We watched helplessly as Caelan reached the outskirts of the town. To my astonishment, he didn't continue into the populated area but stopped at a large open field between the town and the descending hall. There, he planted his feet and raised his arms toward the sky.
"What is he doing?" Sigrid breathed.
"Something impossible," I answered, my heart constricting.
As Valhalla fell toward him, Caelan began to glow—a soft blue light emanating from his body, growing brighter with each passing second. The light expanded outward, forming a dome that encompassed the field where he stood.
"The Eye's energy," I gasped in sudden understanding. "When it shattered, some of its power must have transferred to him through our connection."
Indeed, the dome of light continued to grow, strengthening as Valhalla approached. When the massive structure finally made contact with the dome, it didn't shatter the protection—instead, it began to slow, its descent cushioned by whatever power Caelan was channeling.
The effort was clearly tremendous. Even from a distance, I could see him straining, his body rigid with concentration as he absorbed the impact of a divine palace crashing into the mortal realm.
"He can't hold it," Sigrid said, her voice tight with fear. "No mortal form could contain that much power."
"He's not just mortal anymore," I replied, watching in awe and terror. "The Eye changed him when it restored his memories."
The ground shook violently as Valhalla continued its controlled descent, the blue dome flickering but holding. All around, the fabric of reality seemed to be tearing and reknitting itself—the barriers between realms dissolving and reforming in new patterns.
As the golden hall finally settled onto Midgard, the dome of energy collapsed inward with a thunderous implosion. The shockwave rushed outward, washing over us with a force that knocked Sigrid off her feet.
When the dust cleared, Valhalla stood impossibly on Midgard—its golden towers now visible to mortal eyes, its structure somehow both solid and ethereal. The town nearby appeared untouched, protected by Caelan's desperate gambit.
But of Caelan himself, there was no sign.
"No," I whispered, then louder, "NO!"
With strength born of desperation, I struggled to my feet, the weight of my stone wings threatening to topple me with each step. Sigrid tried to help, but I pushed her away.
"I have to find him," I insisted, staggering forward.
"Freya, no mortal could have survived that," she said gently, tears streaming down her face. "The energy would have consumed him completely."
"He is not gone," I said fiercely, each word punctuated by another painful step. "I would know. I would feel it."
My progress was agonizingly slow, each movement a battle against the stone that weighed me down. Tears blurred my vision as I approached the now-settled hall, searching desperately for any sign of Caelan.
"You can't die again," I sobbed, my voice breaking. "Not like this. Not for us."
I had nearly reached the edge of the field when my strength finally gave out. I collapsed to my knees, the weight of my wings driving me further down until my forehead touched the ground in a position of supplication or defeat.
Around me, the world continued its chaotic reformation. The sky above slowly sealed its wounds, the barriers between realms finding new equilibrium. Valhalla gleamed in the setting sun, no longer hidden from mortal eyes, a physical bridge between worlds.
"Please," I whispered to whatever powers might still be listening. "Please don't take him from me again."
Only silence answered me—the terrible silence of loss, of sacrifice, of a love that had defied divine order only to be defeated by divine chaos.
In that moment, kneeling in the dirt with the weight of stone wings and grief threatening to crush me entirely, I understood the true price of our rebellion. We had exposed corruption, demanded truth, refused to accept injustice—and the cost had been everything.
As darkness fell over the transformed landscape, I remained where I had fallen, unable to move forward, unable to go back, suspended in a moment of unbearable loss as the hall that had once been my purpose now stood as a monument to everything I had lost.
