their points. Her expression was pensive—thoughtful, even. If she was worried about falling, she didn’t show it.
At last, she turned to me. “All right. I think it’s time.”
But this plan still unsettled me. Fear tightened my chest—such an unusual feeling for me. It was fear for Ali.
We didn’t have another choice, however, and she’d been right that I might not make it back to her even if I survived the fall.
I reached out, then pulled her in to me. She wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and I breathed in her jasmine scent.
With her so close, I felt the warmth of my soul. My mind shimmered with memories of a distant life before Ragnarok… Something I’d forgotten completely. I’d had a pet once: a tamed wolf who’d walked by my side and slept by my bed. I could feel his soft fur.
Then a completely unfamiliar memory: sitting on a sofa before a TV, drinking wine from a box. A man sat across from me—a Night Elf with silver eyes and a mischievous grin.
That wasn’t my memory. That was Ali’s. And that man who smiled at her—I had a feeling that was Barthol.
I exhaled slowly, forcing the images from my mind. I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around her shoulders. Gods, I wanted to drink her soul, down to the last drop, and to taste her lips while I was at it. I wanted her vitality…
She seemed oddly trusting of me, even knowing what I was.
With my arms curled around her, she whispered softly. Even through my closed eyelids, I could see a purple flash as we teleported to the vergr crystal.
I waited for the whistle of wind in my ears, the sense of vertigo as we began to free-fall, but instead I found my feet firmly planted on the ground.
I opened my eyes, and at first, I couldn’t even comprehend where we were. There was no sign of Yggdrasill’s mighty roots, no enveloping darkness. Instead, warm sunlight met my eyes, wind ruffled my hair, and I breathed in the scent of grass and wildflowers.
As my eyes focused, I saw that we stood in a great plain of yellow grass, so tall that it nearly reached my waist. The wind gusted, blowing the grass in undulating waves. The plain spread all the way to the horizon, to where it eventually ended in a range of blue mountains.
It was quiet but for the sound of the wind, and I turned to see Ali standing next to me, her mouth half open. Like myself, she looked out on the vista, almost not comprehending what it was. I closed my eyes, exalting in the feel of sunlight on my skin. When I opened them again, I saw Ali doing the same. A glorious, beaming grin lit up her face, and warmth flickered in my chest. She’d never felt the light of a summer sun.
A bird called. I looked up to see a solitary raven crossing above us in the sepia sky. Thin clouds masked the sun, but even so, golden light filtered down. I realized that, for the first time in my life, I had no idea where I was.
That thought unnerved me, and I scrubbed a hand over my jaw. We were no longer in Yggdrasill’s cosmic domain, which meant we’d probably ended up in another one of the Nine Worlds. We weren’t in Midgard, since it was perpetually frozen after Ragnarok, but unfortunately, that left eight more.
Next to me, Ali spoke softly—the same question. “Where are we?”
I shook my head and drew out my notebook. I’m not sure, I wrote. I’ve never seen a place like this.
Ali looked down at her splayed fingers, tinged with faint gold in the sunlight. “Is this what summer is like?”
I nodded and realized I didn’t really care where I was. As the wind ruffled my hair again and I heard insects for the first time in a thousand years, a deep peace settled over me. This place felt primordial—it had clearly escaped the ravages of Ragnarok. It was heaven, and with Ali here, I nearly felt alive again. I had the strongest impulse to give her the gift of music now.
Dust rose in the distance. A chariot pulled by a brace of horses sped toward us. Instinctively, I stepped in front of Ali.
As it neared, I saw that a single figure drove it. A man with thick black hair that flew out behind him like a lion’s mane. Not speaking, he drew up the