(SIGYN)

The flow of people coming from the back rooms was too thick to pass through. I was squeezed against the wall, moving against the tide.

"Vali? Narvi?" I cried, lost in the sea of other mothers who screamed for their children and couldn't find them. My heart never beat so hard. Hela tumbled within me, amplifying the sickness of my sunken stomach. One hand protected her while the other stayed straight out, leading for me.

"Sigyn," Grid yelled, waving for me in the second room back, nearly to the door. She hunched over under the weight of our bags and a thrashing Tiwaz, whose yowl changed when he heard my voice. "The boys are out here somewhere. Vali came through first."

"Already? I saw nothing. I've been trying to get to our camp and can hardly move."

"I'm certain. Vali's already far ahead." She adjusted the rope of her rucksack and was pushed forward by the anxious folks behind her. "I thought I saw Narvi, too."

I felt no comfort from her words. Even a shred of doubt would tie me to the marble forever. "You're not certain for him?"

The way she readjusted Tiwaz meant she avoided the question. Grid couldn't lie. "My faith is what I'm certain of. They're needed in new Yggdrasil, Sigyn. Come." She gave me a heavy nod and closed the gap between her and the next person, allowing more frantic people to squeeze through the doors.

Part of me always trusted Grid and her odd Vanir superstitions. But something deep inside told me not to believe her. Only my very own eyes would convince me. If I couldn't find them here, I could at least confirm where they weren't.

"Excuse me," I said, trying to reason with anyone who would stop and acknowledge me. "Have you seen two Vanir boys? One with brown hair, one black. Their tunics are long. They would've come by here. Please—"

Tear-stained people met my gaze and kept walking. They clutched one another, dragged their feet together. Some were carried, injured, covered in blood and unable to speak. The further back the line went, the more they were covered in debris, like the palace was falling apart from the far room to the front by design. Only more reasons to worry.

"Move," a boy yelled, shoving through the dazed evacuees. He forced his way through the crowd without care, making room where there was none.. His coiled coif marked him. "Let me through."

"Modi?" I shouted for him, yet he didn't turn. It was futile to keep trying. I could only hope my boys could be equally assertive when it mattered.

I swallowed every sensation the best I could to keep my wits about me. The next room was notably darker than where I'd just come from, with torches hanging off the walls. As the people thinned out, another familiar face found mine.

"What are you doing here?" Freyr yelled. "Turn around. Now."

"No. Not until I'm certain the boys aren't still inside."

He grabbed my elbow. "They're not. I've watched for them. You have to leave."

I wrenched myself away. "No. I will leave no room unchecked, Freyr."

"Sigyn, wait—"

"Tell Loki I love him. If our children don't get out, there's no point in my living anymore." I didn't linger with him or ask for his help. "I won't dawdle, I promise."

A tremendous crash above us knocked us in opposite directions. I clutched the pillar at my side and pulled my skirt up not to trip while tiptoeing around the piles of fallen ceiling debris.

Just scan through the rooms and come back. Just once. Bravery was never my strong suit, but performing in panic certainly was. Only I knew the difference. Of all the destruction and evil I'd seen, a quiet, dark basement didn't rank very high. It was only what I searched for that made me so anxious.

The unfortunate reality of working my way back was finding more and more people who had given up. Some lay against the walls. Some sprawled on the floor. Weeping loved ones wouldn't leave those who'd been killed or injured by the quaking; it would've been too much for me to see whatever remains they clung to, so I cautiously averted my eyes. Some were mothers, like me, screaming their children's names in foreign tongues—they weren't Aesir or Vanir. Maybe Alfir, given their white hair, though I didn't know and had no time to ask. They screeched in pain that I felt in my very soul. The longer I listened, the more I was convinced that their grief was far more scarring than anything that could ever cut my skin.

Beneath their tears and heart-wrenching screams... a child's voice. Perfect, clear, and calm. The child was singing.

It stopped my heart. I froze and scanned the room again. "Narvi?"

He sang in my mind. Our favorite lullaby.

"The lonely shore I walked upon..."

"Narvi?" I asked again, louder this time, working my way to the next empty space. "Where are you, love? Can you hear me?"

"...you saw me standing on my own..."

"I can hear you." I screamed it into the next room, which echoed deep, like an empty throat threatening to swallow me. A draft blew a few strands of hair in my face. The chill kept me where I was since I couldn't be certain of my footing. "Narvi? Answer me!"

His voice stopped in my mind and cried out in real space. "Mum!"

I slapped my hand over my heart. The anxiety that made even my teeth ache calmed the pounding in my head. "Oh, thank gods. Sweetheart, is Vali with you?"

"He ran ahead. Probably out by now." Narvi grunted, wherever he was. "I can't see."

I clapped quickly, hoping to ignite any of the remaining torches. Two caught my magic and gave light to the room, but it only made things worse.

He was a full room away, clutching the frame of doors opposite mine. Between us, the floor had mostly given out, dropping into endless darkness. Only islands of ground remained, like an unwelcome game for our circumstance.

I immediately ran for the closest stable pillar to ease my vertigo. "Gods. What happened in here?"

"Father said Asgard is falling." Narvi reached his small foot forward and leapt for one of the floating islands. He teetered on the edge a bit before finding his center.

I gasped every time he moved but didn't dare close my eyes. "Please be careful."

"I am, Mum." He did it again and rubbed at the side of his head for a moment. His body wobbled in an inebriated way.

I squinted to focus on his delicate features. "Is that blood coming down your face?"

He didn't answer and went back to quietly singing out loud while he hopped to me. "The moons and stars gave me a sign..."

"That's it. I'll sing with you." I kept my hands outstretched for him so we could meet as soon as possible. "Now here you are, and you are mine."

"And if the world comes...t-tumbling down..."

"Your precious feet lose solid ground. Come on, love. Just a little further."

He shakily stood and took a deep breath before jumping to the next. His eyes met mine and locked on.

"Two more. You can do it. Reach out for me, our hands entwine..." I did as the lyrics said and sat on my knees with my arms outstretched. The second he'd be close enough, I'd clutch him to my chest.

Narvi landed on the next platform with one foot, preparing to take a second step and fall to me.

Just a bit more...

Asgard had other plans. She shattered. The abyss below opened to a vacuum of never-ending space, spiraling to darkness I could never fathom on my own. The palace walls couldn't protect us. Nor could the hopes and dreams of our future, which stopped in an instant. Perfection meant nothing. Potential was wasted. Our lives, meaningless.

His fingertips grazed mine, if only for a moment. The soft skin of my child, barely giving contact to the edges of my hand. Time slowed to a merciful and maniacal crawl, letting me appreciate the gift of his presence and the curse of etching everything deep into my psyche. My heart threatened to shatter my chest. The walls around me tumbled, but were silent. Even my own screams were lost to the void.

Cutting the madness, again, was his singing. Narvi's perfect conduction, reaching even me, free of stutters and heavy breaths of exhaustion, coming straight from his soul.

"Our hands entwine...and close your eyes, for you...are..."

Then quiet. So quiet. Silence deep within my core. Reality became the ending of my grandest dream. It vanished with the final light of my son's eyes gleaming back to me in fear.