A rolling winds roar brushes across endless fields of verdant grasses and golden wheats, leaving a pleasured landscape of the shining magnificence of royal beauty. Though her voice brings the earth and the heavens alike to tremble, her touch upon life is a soothing and gentle caress, a winding cradle of natures freedom to hold gently against every soul. The stout forests of this land stand at an ever might attention abreast the borders of the endless field of muster. Upon this fertile cradle of land, the hills and outcrops are all but eliminated, endless time beneath the endless roar of the wind, blown away forever.
On one of those few which yet remain, defiant in the face of natures will, she sits beneath a grove of wise trees, themselves denying natures wish as they break up the flat plains, and hold the hill firm to its roots. Under this grove, upon this hill, she sits, as she does for many hours of near every day. Few ever come here, despite it's standing out over the land, but she does, time and time again, partaking of the shade and that gentle serenity which comes from the noble solitude of nature along all the senses. It is her hallowed place, a small land all for herself which she treasures, for she - like the hill, like the trees - comes here to bask in her own unyielding defiance of what the world yet demands of her.
This day has changed though, the wind is slightly different now, her roar the ever slightest gentler. Solitude has been broken, she does not yet see by whom, even from her forested perch, it is a merely a feeling which she possesses. There is nothing she can do now, but take each breath closely and deeply into her chest, serenity is more than natures presence, it is also within oneself, she cannot allow this disturbance to shake her resolve to conquer this day. She hears the footsteps now, and as she glances from the page where her hand arcs dashingly across in determined flourish, he appears. A man, alone, as he rounds the base of the hill. He looks lost - as do most - when they find themselves standing atop this lonely place. She is likely the first person he has seen in some time now, and instinct guides him towards the crest of her abode.
She sighs heavily, "Who sent you looking for me? Tell them i'm busy, not today..." The man stops, taking pause. He closer now, enough to see her clearly. She is young, a maiden before her blooming years, yet she radiates a simple and quiet beauty that brings questions to this land - its beauty - products of nature, or of this lone, young girl, far from anyone who must know her, yet speaks with total confidence and resolve, even to strangers. The wind roars gently once more, and its calming touch sways locks of radiant golden blonde across shimmering blue eyes.
"I uh... have no idea who you are!" The man says, as he relents the situation with an awkward laugh, "To be honest, i have just arrived here. I don't know where i am, but i saw a hill... seemed like a good vantage point to learn things from. I'm sorry, i won't bother you." He turns and begins to stroll away, back into the ancient breeze which had brought him in.
".... No, its fine. You can stay. No one really comes here, unless they're looking for me... sometimes it might be nice, not to be the only one." He turns again, looking back towards the summit of the hill, she remained ever focused on her. Once more, he begins to scale it, smiling gently.
"Gets lonely here, huh... uh... i didn't ask your name. I am Rune, Rune Erikson. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He says, crossing infront of her in his slow but deliberate stride, to take comfort beneath the next tree and rest his head upon it.
"Astrid... i, don't have a second name. Yours, you are human then, aren't you Rune?"
"I am or, i was, i'm not sure if being dead now changes that much... i suppose by your wording, you're... not?" At last her gaze rises up from the book below, as she brushes her hair back to look to him, catching a glimpse of her long, inhuman, ears. "Woah... an elf, i see." She shrug.
"Something like that, or... who knows what. Nobody has any clue who my dad is, and with my mom who she is... i could be anything at all." A look of frustration momentarily overtakes her face, as she begins to forcefully drag an eraser across the page, stretching the hand with which she wrote.
"Didn't know absentee fathers were a thing in the afterlife. Certainly not something i expected." Her hands begins to draw pencil on paper once more, accompanied by a long sigh.
"You're going to find lots of surprises here you're not exactly happy about, i assure you."
"Not everything hoped, that's why you're up here alone, drawing with such determination? What is it, you're drawing anyway." She pauses, looking to the sky as she gives passive thought, and turns to him.
"Normally i don't let anyone see anything in this book but... this page isn't secret or anything." She slides next to him, holding the page before him. It contains among many eraser marks, rather detailed drawings, diagrams, and even processes, in various stages of... a grain elevator?
"That's pretty good, might i ask though, uh, whys a little kid drawing a grain elevator? Like, building blueprints to one? And why do you erase so much? You're clearly talented at this, especially given, what, you're like 10?" That look returns, the frustration, now with an undercoating of sadness.
"Because i intend to build it. 'Talented' isn't good enough, it doesn't mean anything. Anyone can do that, whats the point if ive not mastered it, i dont have real strength, am i just supposed to accept this pitiful weakness, not even able to masterfully depict a grain elevator?"
"I... jeez kid, what the hell have you been listening to? Seriously what the hell is your mum doing to have a ten year old talking like this? What does she tell you how weak you are?"
"I'm not even ten! I'm
nine actually. And yes, she does, so does.... so does everyone. Everyone has always told me that, to stop pushing so hard, stop crying, stop throwing rage fits, stop desperately clawing at anything you can do. Just accept you're powerless, Astrid, like your sisters, just quietly sway in the breeze and do nothing, be nothing, it's not important. You're Powerless. Everyone... except my uncle, i guess, but he's even busier than mom is now."
"Who the hell is your goddamn mom - and - and your family at large!?" Rune shouted in shock, "I just... why?"
"Why? Probably cause its my family. My mom is Freyja. Yes,
THAT Freyja, fertility and beauty and war and yada yada blah blah blah mother of 3 total incomprehensible failures of daughters. Hi there, Astrid, i'm the newest one. Except unlike my sisters i refuse to just be a potted plant occasionally glanced at." Astrid by now, visibly showing her sorrow and anger, as her calm demeanor shatters under the stress. Quietly, Rune reaches out and gently pats her head. She gives pause, looking shocked towards him. "W-what are you doing?"
"Sorry, force of habit..." His hand recoils quickly from her reaction, "I had a daughter your age, on earth. She didn't get treated how you did, but, she was still filled with that bitter determination and stress. This calmed her down. I... hope she'll be okay..." He trails off quietly, choking back tears. Silently, Astrid stood up, to account for her height difference, and returned the head pats. "Yanno... nobody's ever done that for me before."
"Well, does it work?"
"Yeah... it does. Thanks, Astrid." He suddenly burst with laughter, knocking his head off the tree as he bellowed into the sky. Astrid shocked, stops back, gazing with worry at him. "Sorry about that! I just... i was thinking about what you said. Powerless... you know, Astrid i wasn't just a warrior in my world. I was their leader, i built my own elite team for our operations. When i started they'd always doubt my choices, always make bets that the 'weaklings' i chose would be dead in a week. I became a very comfortably lived man from their foolishness! It's hard to describe, i just, had this feeling. Like i could see a light in them, yanno? It was a faint sort of thing, but it was there, quietly shimmering beneath the surface, beneath all the fear and hate and sorrow and self doubt. No one else could see it, but i could. I can see it shining bright, that light, that power within everyone. Always could, i saw alot of it walking over here. Alot... alot except for the kids, Astrid. I'm guessing, native born here like you. All of them, actually, were like that..."
"Well, sorry to disappoint, but i guess its all of us here." Rune looked up, with a smirk.
"Nuh uh. Not even close. I saw many bright lights among the people down, there, many brighter than i'd ever seen. You, on the other hand, are not
bright. Nono, that word is too... powerless. I'd call it more, more of a, blinding elucidation. Like, i'm glad this weird power of mine can't hurt my eyes or i'd be blind for the rest of eternity." Astrid sighed, dropping to the grass beside him.
"Thanks, i guess, but a human and their superstition doesn't really mean much..."
"So... you want to be powerful and strong, but don't want to take any chances on it?"
"Couldn't if i wanted to, i'm not really allowed to do much but this, haven't even been in the Hjaðningavíg. My sisters were already by my age, thought maybe the pressure of battle would awaken something." Rune paused, staring at her, with a blank sort of exasperation.
"Well? What the hell are you waiting for? You just went on telling me your moms hardly around. Who is here to stop you? Your family all seems to be gods so i'm pretty sure i'd have noticed if they were around. There's no magical force, no chaperone, no guard - you're literally the daughter of a goddess running off into the wilderness alone. I'm not entirely surely how i feel about a kid my daughters age walking onto a battlefield but fuck, if it's what you want, YOU ARE THE ONLY OBSTRUCTION. Just do it."
"I can't just... what am i supposed to do when i end up like my sisters? Slapped around into a bloody pulp. I'm not chained in a dark room by them now, but my family isn't exactly appreciative of even my little acts of defiance." The end of her sentence is nearly perfectly punctuated by a painful flick on the nose, as Rune stands up and takes a few steps down the hill.
"When? I'd say you misspoke and meant if, but, honestly. No. No you didn't. There is no if. There's never been an if. I've taken this stand a hundred times on my soul in life, and i'll happily start the count again in death. This is count one. There is no if. Not a chance, not a probability, not a nothing. The only thing there is right now is another scared kid with no hope at best hoping for the light to come to them, while they hide in the goddamn shadows. 'Oh what do i do, oh what if, but i cant,' shut the hell up! You want to know what to do? You've got one thing you can do about it, Astrid, same thing they could do. It's your choice if you want to do it, it's your choice if you want to be anything what you are right now." She nods, looking both confused and taken aback at the sudden leadership pep talk, "Yes? Alright then, so stand up and fight, Astrid, because we're losing time. You're losing time." He turns, walking down the hill, and around the bend from which he came. He stops, for just a moment, as he looks back. She's stood up now, clutching her book to her chest, looking frightened at first, before she takes a deep breath, and runs off into the plains.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She runs across the field, back towards the mustering camp. She's not sure, yet, if she'll do it. Maybe not today, she needs time to prepare. For now though, she has to get back home to do that, racing across evergreen seas of grass as the autumn wind chases at her back. The whishing of the grains and whistling of the trees accompanied by the gentle roar of the skies... her hand reaches forward...
Everything is dark... then light again. Green tides and golden waves becomes blue and white sheets of glassy ice. Darkness. Then light, Ice, and then grass. Snow, and wheat. The gentle roar of the autumn winds, now a slicing, screeching shriek across a white void. The suns warmth has become the mountains cold. She grips her fist, but her hand does not move, not in the autumn world of endless fields. Her eyes dart around, as the world of ice and cold returns. There it is, her first, gripped tightly, her wrist a mere movement away from barbed chains of icy metal. It's covered in blood, some dried, some is fresher, frozen, a few small drops drip out even now from the digging prong.
She closes her eyes, her other senses hone. The whistling howl of the winter wind. There, the tearing of branches in the forests, an entire mountain below. The scent of the mist, far below this storm. The feeling of the ever biting cold against her skin. Her eyes open, the world of Folkvangr fades away.
Astrid breathes heavily, taking slow, labored deep breaths, as she slowly pulls her arm back against the wall. "Not today... you should've learned.... that on... one.... doesn't work. Not anymore..." She rests her head against the cold stone wall, completely exhausted. There is almost no light in this cave turned prison, only a small door of frozen stone lets through the slimmest glimpses of the frozen terror outside. She flexes her fist again, gently, a small crystal falls from her pocket and glows, transforming into a book. It was still there. She could never remember anymore if it was, it was difficult to know what memories were real, or what reality was. This, her most prized possession of all, was the only confirmation of where reality lie. It had everything, everything she knew, everyone, everything which happened. She'd even found ways, though she doesn't know how long ago, to fill page after page in this unending hellworld of eternal night and cold.
She released her hand, and the book returned to a crystal, and returned to her pocket. Her eyes became heavy, sleep rarely came in this world. Or, that's how it felt... there was no way to really know. She couldn't even tell when her eyes had closed, not until she would wake up. Whenever that may be from now.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Astrid! Astriiiiid! Astrid Astrid Astrid!!! WAKE UPPP!!!" Astrid yelped slightly, jumping a bit as the shouting and tugging was replaced with a sudden kick to the shoulder. Around her were several young children, orphans, some of them. All of them may as well be, they'd been all but abandoned here, the same fate as had befell her. With groggy vision she rubbed her eyes, quickly scanning the landscape. She had fallen asleep upon her sanctuary grove, for some time now it would seem, as the sun had advanced far into the afternoon. Hardly given time to take account of her consciousness, the children began tugging and yelling for her to come with them, pulling her down the hill.
"Guys... happened? I'm not even awake yet." She stumbled, in her half awake daze, she could feel herself tumbling towards the loamy earth. With instinct, she reached out her hand, digging into the ground as she vaulted herself over her right arm and onto her feet again, all in time to reach out the left and catch the young girl. "Sorry! At least i never fall right? What's so important?"
"Everyone's hungry!" She rolled her eyes, not this conversation again, surely not.
"I told you... eat without me, it's fine." The mustering camp now grew closer in sight, as some of the children began yelling to the others still there.
"They're not letting us! Stuff about warriors and hosts and things..." She had figured, this day might come. Traditionally, those who dined at the feast in the encampment were either warriors themselves, or, if they were not and were lucky, part of the host to a great warrior. Normally, orphaned or abandoned children would be taken under by such a warrior, or by Freyja herself, though, it's been many centuries since that happened. From time to time... there is no one to play host, and no one willing to do so. She sprinted ahead, into the encampment and the group of very hungry, and increasingly upset, children.
"Ahhhhh, the Princess has arrived from her fort upon high! To what do we owe this honor?" The sarcasm met with boisterous laughs from tables all around, as the grizzled and drunk man stood up to face her.
"Apparently the 'noble warriors' of the plains see right to starve children. You already knew that, though." He smirked, and laughed in her face.
"You are but a child yourself, Astrid. We did the whole asking around for volunteers while you were sleepin. So, now what?" She rolled her eyes, groaning.
"Just drop the bullshitting already i stopped buying this shit when i was 7. It's pathetic." Astrid crosses her arms, in the same instant the warrior, smashes his hammer into the table with a menacing glare. The children, now cowering behind Astrid, release a cacophony of shrieks and screams and jumps. Astrid, however, is completely unmoved, a fact which brings a most grand smile to his face.
"Ohohoho... you're ready, kid." She only sighs heavily at him.
"You know that's not happening."
"Why? Cause your mommy said so? She's far away, and these kids are hungry. Your sisters are cowards who ran away years ago, but when they were your age, they stepped in for the kids back then." Her eyes narrow into a glare, she had known once upon a time each of her sisters had the done she had. To an inferior extent, of course, as Astrid would remind, but did the same nonetheless. What she was not aware of, was that they had been meat piñatas in exchange for meals.
"So that's why you've been all for getting me in there. You want three for three on the useless daughters of a goddess. Glad i'm not a man, i'd really pity having a dick small enough that this is what i need to feel big again." An audience of surprised gasps and Ooooooo's echoes from the nearby tables, but the warrior just smirks.
"Cute words, lass. But those and your angry little eyes won't change shit. Nobody cares how mad you are. Nobody gives a fuck less your gonna do something about it."
"Astrid..." The smaller children, they were all children - Astrid is only nine - but the rest are mostly 4-7. Their frustration and hungry faces have subsidized now to fear, as she pats their heads.
"Aina," She says, Aina is the next oldest after her, she is merely eight. Though her ability is far from Astrid's in everything, she has done her best to help wherever she can, "Keep watch of them and maintain their safety. Don't let them watch. I'll be back soon." The warrior erupts into laughter, shouting into the sky.
"BOYS! WE'VE GOT ASTRID!" The whole camp explodes into cheers and, literally, sword rattling. All around the ringed off battlefield they start piling in, as Astrid heads to the fence, she closes her eyes, and breathes deeply into the calm, roaring wind. Her eyes open, but she does not look back, one last gaze of the peaceful golden plains of plenty before her, before their memory will be forever stained by blood. She hops over the fence, and is joined near her by one of... thousands, it must be, thousands of warriors.
"Hah! My lucky day!" He shouts, tossing onto the ground before her a seaxe. "At least is fair if you have a weapon, not that it will matter." She calmly picks up the seaxe, probably better than the swords would be for her, the last time she held one it only felt heavy.
The horns of war bellowed, and she barely noticed the sound, as the whole world became the endless repetitive clang of steel upon steel, she did not hear the wind, nor could she see the grassy plains. In an instant, everything became dark. Everything but the one warrior before her. Time felt like it had slowed. She was used to being told by the children how well she could hear, but she never put stock into the thought. She could hear him breathe, hear his heart beat, his blood rush, the grounds subtle crackles as his weight shifted. Every little twitch of every tendon, every ligament, stood out. The smell of blood, metal and alcohol was joined by sweat and adrenaline. Air tensed all around her, before every movement it shifted, and she felt every bit of its gentle caress. Blood and steel could be tasted in the air itself. Her body tensed, and she ran forward, the warrior cast, what may the laziest thrust anyone had ever seen, he did not take her seriously.
Neither did she. Easily dodged, Astrid lunged in to attack. With experienced quickness, his shield appeared readily, pushing her arm back and away, which he followed swiftly with a kick to her wrist, and the seaxe left her grasp. Without hesitation, the shield flung forward and darkened her vision with its impact. Her vision blurred as she reeled, her right side bled from the rimmed impact of the shield, stumble, spin, stumble, spin, stumble, stumble,... stand. She never did fall, even now.
"Oi ya must be getting weaker! The other two woulda been barely alive after that, she's still standing!" The muffled voices said.
"Nah nah, she's just alot tougher than those ones." He took several steps forward striking backhand into her head again. She stumbled to the right, nearly standing, as fate instead insisted her knees finally give out into the mud below. This was it, what her sisters must've felt. What death feels like. What it feels like, to be powerless, in a world where only power matters.
"Oh quit fucking around! She ain't dead yet! Use the damned sword already!" Some sort of argument ensued between them, though she barely heard it, barely listened. For some reason... she was standing up again. Her vision returned, the ringing pain faded, her heart began to beat speeds she did not know were ever possible. Every sound could be heard, every drink set down, mutton bitten into, every child's scream, every vein curdling blood from its wound. She could smell the stream miles away, and the fish within it. Her hill lie far behind her, but was seen clear as in person. The warrior, too, seems he lost the argument. His sword was coming. What was this feeling though, flush with immeasurable heat and power? This is what Rune had meant. No more
Losing Time.She spun around, right past his strike, everything was so slow. She took his hilt, ripping it from his hands, and jumped towards the sky. It was without thought, without a though she somersaulted, delivering a kick straight to the jaw, and landed with perfect balance. Not a thought, she charged forward, brushed the shield aside, leap, left leg on right shoulder, reverse grip slash, head down, right arm into the shield grip, forward somersault over the blade. A visceral sound of blood and bone, reverse flip midair to detwist right arm, land. She was breathing heavily now... not like exhaustion, something she did not recognize. Her vision turned black, the last sight of the shield flying forward, and striking one man in the head.
She had only faint memory of the next events, spinning, slashing, jumping, the sounds of thunder. The wind, the ice, rain, the power of it all. She lost memory of all her senses, save faint sounds of thunder and explosive force. Slowly, they came back, slash, thrust, evade, flank, jump, flip, spin. There was a dane axe. It broke in half after cleaving a man. She simply took the bit still attached to the head. Evade, take spear, thrust, turn, jump, left handed horizontal cleave to the head, overswing, spin, change orientation from vertical to horizontal, move weapon to right hand. Slash downward in spin, cleave in half. Axe head digs into ground, the handle disintegrates. Spin, land on right leg, jump again, reverse somersault, land on both feet.
The blurs rescinded to full vision. She was still breathing heavily. Her hands and arms... legs... her reflection in the puddle. All of her was covered in blood. All around her, the battlefield was empty, save for thousands of corpses, and small rampaging storms in what were clear skies not long ago.
She was smiling. In a ways she never she could. The haze began to fade, and Astrid held her hands towards the sun, admiring the glimmering red that had completely covered them. She began to laugh, right to the face of the heavens themselves. To the gods themselves. She smiled again.
"Whose powerless now?" Her smile became a smirk, as she left the battle field to the feasting tables. The calm winds roar had returned, louder than it had ever been. The green and gold blanketing the land did not shine, but glowed under the light of the sun above. Shouting prevailed all around the camp. "Astrid! Astrid! Astrid!" They yelled, everyone yelled. Over, and over, and over again. The children swarmed her, screaming shouts of joy and hugging her, not a care in the world she was covered in red. She reached out to hug them back...
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------