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The next realm was very different.
Alfheim was a world of eternal light, with crystal cities that reflected sunlight in a thousand colors. The light elves were elegant and diplomatic beings, very different from the straightforward warriors of Vanaheim.
Lord Celeborn, leader of the light elves, received them in a garden of flowers that glowed with bioluminescence.
"Welcome, heirs of Asgard," he said in a melodic voice. "We have felt the change in the cosmic balance, and Odin's power is no longer what it once was."
Vidar nodded.
"It has transformed into the Vidarforce. And with it, I bring changes to the relationship between Asgard and the Nine Realms."
He explained the same proposal: freedom to choose their own path or an alliance as equals.
Celeborn listened attentively, his bright eyes processing every word.
"A noble proposal," he said finally. "But we light elves have learned to be cautious with the promises of gods. Odin also spoke of protection and alliance. Those words became control and tribute."
"I am not Odin," Vidar said firmly.
"No," Celeborn agreed, studying him. "You are not. There is something different about you. Something I cannot fully identify."
Hela intervened.
"My brother is serious. I myself was a victim of Odin's tyranny. I will not repeat his mistakes."
Celeborn considered this for a long moment.
"Very well. Alfheim will observe. If your actions match your words, then we will consider an alliance. But for now… we will remain neutral."
It was not exactly what Vidar had hoped for, but it was a beginning. The light elves were cautious by nature. Earning their trust would take time.
"Understood," Vidar said. "When you are ready, Asgard will be open to dialogue."
The third realm was the one Vidar had been most cautious about.
The Bifrost left them in an icy wasteland of Jotunheim, where the wind howled with fury and snow fell constantly. The temperatures would have killed a human in minutes, but Vidar and Hela barely noticed.
"I hate this place," Hela muttered, looking at the desolate landscape. "I spent too much time here during the wars. Too much blood spilled on this snow."
"I know," Vidar said. "That's why I came with you. This is going to be… delicate."
They approached the ice palace of Laufey, king of the frost giants. It was a massive structure of blue ice that glowed with its own light, towers rising into the gray sky.
Jotun guards—giants three meters tall with blue skin and red eyes—immediately surrounded them, ice spears in hand.
"Asgardians," one of them growled with contempt. "You dare come here after all you've done?"
"We come in peace," Vidar said, keeping his voice calm. "To speak with King Laufey."
"The King does not speak with murderers," another guard spat, looking specifically at Hela.
Hela clenched her jaw, but did not respond. Vidar could see the effort it took her not to attack.
"Let them pass."
The voice came from the palace entrance. Laufey himself had stepped out. He was enormous even for a frost giant, with ancient runes carved into his blue skin and eyes that burned with cold hatred.
"I want to hear what excuses you have for your intrusion," Laufey said.
The guards stepped aside reluctantly, and Vidar and Hela entered the palace.
The interior was as cold as the outside, with ice walls reflecting the light in unsettling patterns. Laufey sat upon his throne of black ice, surrounded by his counselors.
"So," Laufey said, his voice like cracking ice, "Odin has fallen. And his son and his forgotten daughter come to… what? Continue where he left off? Demand our submission?"
Vidar stepped forward.
"No. We have come to offer something Odin never did: an apology."
Silence fell over the hall. Even Hela looked at him in surprise.
Laufey leaned forward, his eyes narrowing.
"An apology?"
"For the wars. For the conquests. For everything Asgard did to Jotunheim," Vidar said. "Odin was wrong. And as the new bearer of Asgard's power, I acknowledge that mistake."
Laufey remained silent for a moment, then… laughed. It was a cold, humorless laugh.
"An apology? Do you think apologies erase centuries of oppression? Thousands of my people dead?" He rose from his throne, his massive form casting a shadow over them. "Asgard stole the Casket of Ancient Winters from us. It left us weak, unable to defend ourselves properly."
His eyes locked onto Hela.
"And YOU. You personally led the massacre of the Ice Plains. Three thousand of my people. Women. Children. Elders."
Hela kept her expression controlled, but Vidar could see the tension in her shoulders.
"I cannot change the past," Vidar said. "But I can change the future. The Casket of Ancient Winters will not be returned. Jotunheim will be free to rule without Asgard's interference."
"And I'm supposed to believe you?" Laufey spat. "Trust the word of an Asgardian?"
"You don't have to trust my word," Vidar replied calmly. "Judge my actions."
Laufey studied him with narrowed eyes, then a cruel smile appeared on his face.
"Very well. Here is my judgment."
He raised his hand, and ice surged from it, forming a massive spear.
"DIE, ASGARDIANS!"
He hurled the spear directly at Vidar with enough force to pierce a mountain.
Everything happened in an instant.
Hela shouted, her swords materializing, ready to intercept.
But Vidar was faster.
He extended his hand, testing his new power, and the Vidarforce flowed from him in a wave of golden energy. The ice spear stopped in midair, centimeters from Vidar's chest, as if it had struck an invisible wall.
But it did not only stop. It began to… balance.
The ice partially melted, reforming in the air, transforming. The attack that had been aimed at Vidar now floated between them, completely neutralized.
Vidar closed his hand into a fist, and the transformed spear shattered into a thousand fragments of ice that fell harmlessly to the ground.
The hall fell into absolute silence.
Laufey stared with wide eyes, genuinely surprised for the first time.
Vidar lowered his hand slowly, his golden eyes glowing with contained power.
"I did not come here to fight, Laufey. But if you insist…"
The Vidarforce pulsed around him, a silent but unmistakable warning.
"…you will discover that I am very different from Odin."
Hela, recovering from her surprise, stepped forward with a savage smile.
"Enough of this!" her voice echoed through the hall. "Laufey, you attacked an emissary who came in peace. By the ancient laws, that justifies retaliation."
Her eyes gleamed with the kind of battle hunger Vidar had been trying to restrain.
"Let me slaughter him right here. That will remind the Jotun what happens when they attack Asgard."
The Jotun guards tensed, preparing for battle. Laufey himself summoned more ice, ready to continue the conflict.
But Vidar raised his hand, stopping them all.
"No."
Hela turned toward him, frustration on her face.
"No? He attacked us! By right of war—!"
"NO," Vidar repeated, more firmly. "This is exactly what we will NOT do. This is exactly the cycle we are here to break."
He turned to look directly at Laufey.
"I understand your anger, Laufey. I understand your distrust. If our positions were reversed, I would probably have done the same."
He walked forward fearlessly until he stood directly in front of the Jotun king.
"But you are wrong if you think killing me would solve anything. My death would only bring another Asgardian to take my place. And that one might not be as understanding as I am."
Their eyes met.
"So here is my offer, once again: peace. Freedom. And if you reject this, if you choose war…"
Vidar's power flared brighter.
"…then I will defend my realm. But not with massacres. Not with genocide. With balance. I will stop you, but I will not destroy you."
He turned to Hela.
"And that is the difference between the new Asgard and the old. We do not slaughter those who attack us. We stop them. We give them the chance to choose a better path."
He looked back at Laufey.
"So choose, King of Jotunheim. Eternal war? Or the possibility of something better?"
Laufey stared at him for a long moment. Vidar could see the conflict in his eyes—centuries of hatred weighed against the logic of this new proposal.
Finally, Laufey lowered his ice weapon.
"I do not trust you, Vidar Odinson," he said slowly. "And I will never forgive what Asgard did to my people."
He sat back down on his throne.
"But… I acknowledge that you are different. So I will do this: Jotunheim will remain neutral. Not allies, but not enemies either. For now."
He looked at Hela with evident hatred.
"But SHE is not welcome here. Ever."
Hela opened her mouth to respond, but Vidar placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Acceptable," Vidar said. "And the Casket of Ancient Winters will never be returned to you."
"Then leave. Before I change my mind."
When the Bifrost took them and returned them to Asgard, Hela exploded.
"What were you thinking?!" she shouted the moment they landed. "He attacked us! I had every right to slaughter him! The ancient laws allowed it!"
Vidar turned to her, his golden eyes still glowing with the power of the Vidarforce.
"The ancient laws also allowed Odin to conquer half the universe. Are those the laws you want to follow?"
Hela opened her mouth, then closed it, with no immediate answer.
"Hela," Vidar continued, his voice softer, "I understand your instinct. I understand that for centuries, the response to an attack was total annihilation. But that is exactly what we are trying to change."
He walked toward her.
"If I had let you slaughter him, what would we have achieved? Laufey dead, yes. But we would also have validated every fear the Jotun have about us. We would have proven that Asgard has not truly changed."
Hela looked at him, conflict visible on her face.
"It is not weakness," Vidar said. "It is strength. Having the power to destroy your enemies but choosing not to—that requires more strength than simply killing them."
Hela remained silent for a long moment, processing this. Finally, she sighed.
"This whole 'balance' thing of yours…" she shook her head, "it's going to take time to get used to."
"I know," Vidar replied. "But you will. Because I can see that you are trying."
Hela looked at him, surprised by the acknowledgment.
"And that," Vidar added with a small smile, "is more than Odin would ever have done."
Hela did not respond, but something in her expression softened slightly.
Heimdall approached them.
"Your diplomatic tour has… generated mixed reactions among the realms," he said. "But it is a beginning. More than many expected."
Vidar nodded.
"A beginning is all we need."
He looked toward the golden palace of Asgard in the distance.
"The other realms can wait. For now, we have work to do here."
That night, Vidar was alone in the vaults once more, studying the Tesseract and strengthening its seals.
He could not stop thinking about Laufey.
In his previous life, he knew that Laufey had abandoned Loki—his son—in the temple after the war. Odin had found him and adopted him, but had never told him the truth.
Now, Vidar had information that could change everything. He knew that Loki was Laufey's son. He knew that eventually, Loki would discover his true origin, and that it would break him.
The question was what he would do with that knowledge.
Would he tell Loki the truth now, before he discovered it in the worst possible way? Or would he let destiny follow its course?
His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of approaching footsteps.
He turned to see Hela entering the vault.
"You can't sleep either," she observed.
"Too much to think about," Vidar replied.
Hela stepped closer, looking at the Tesseract.
"Today…" she began slowly, "when you stopped my revenge against Laufey. Part of me wanted to ignore you and attack anyway."
"I know," Vidar said.
"But I didn't," Hela continued. "Because… I trust you. Not completely, not yet. But enough to follow your example instead of my instincts."
She looked at Vidar.
"That's new for me. Trusting someone. Following another person's leadership."
Vidar nodded slowly.
"And it's new for me to have someone who trusts me enough to go against their instincts."
Hela smiled faintly.
"We're a strange pair, little brother."
"Yes," Vidar agreed. "Yes, we are."
They stood in silence for a moment, simply sharing the space.
Finally, Hela spoke again.
"The next realm we visit… it will be easier, right?"
Vidar thought of the remaining realms. Svartalfheim with the dark elves. Nidavellir with the dwarves. Muspelheim with Surtur.
"Probably not," he admitted.
Hela laughed—a genuine laugh that Vidar rarely heard from her.
"Of course not. Why would anything ever be easy?"
But despite her words, there was an almost… cheerful tone in her voice.
Because for the first time in millennia, Hela had a purpose that was more than just conquest.
She had a family that saw her as something more than a weapon.
And maybe, just maybe, that was enough.
END OF THE CHAPTER