Ragnar awoke to a world stitched together from fragments of pain and a weird alchemy of elongated shadows and prickling light, his consciousness slowly clawing its way back from a dreamless abyss.
The air in Valknarr's giant stone house was heavy with the scent of damp earth and the faint char of pine logs smoldering in the hearth. His body felt like a ship battered by a storm, every muscle rigid, his left eye socket pulsing with a dull ache.
The furs beneath him clung to his sweat-slicked skin.
He stirred to the lingering fatigue, the vision from his good eye and the "All Seeing Eye"—as Ragnar was calling it—intermingling, as it fluttered open to meet the dim glow of the room.
The double heighted ceiling was braced by worn out beams. Robert was sitting beside him, hunched in a creaking chair as he read something from his catalogue which he followed to forge different weapons.
His frame had gotten much broader over the years, however, his mustache and beard was something new, something Ragnar didn't notice when he first crawled out of the Altar after his Rune Praxis. He was draped in a clean, new tunic made out of white coloured leather.
Suddenly his warm and steady eyes met Ragnar's who was struggling to keep the constant voices and hallucinations at bay. Suddenly, as Robert locked eyes with him, the incorporeal imagery and voices took a stronger hold of Ragnar..
His mind reeled as images pierced his mind—a scene of Robert's birth, a squalling infant slick with blood, his mother's birthplace stretched to a horrifying extent. The air in the vision stank of iron and sweat while the woman's cries echoed in his skull.
He gasped, slamming a hand over his left eye to choke the flood of…whatever it was. The pain from the slap to his eye anchored him back into the real world, but the whispers slithered on, albeit tamer.
"Steady." Robert stood up and murmured. His voice had a low rumble to it, like stones shifting in a riverbed. He walked towards the table beside Ragnar and plucked a leather eyepatch before offering it to Ragnar with a calloused hand. "Try this."
Because Ragnar could not control his powers and were extremely chaotic, it was impossible for Robert and Hannah to not know about his powers. While the full extent of it was unknown, they at least knew that most of his powers stemmed from his eye and that it made him go crazy while losing control of himself.
Because it wasn't just information related to people or objects, but rather their origins, and delving into the origin of anything sometimes leads to things that no sane human can endure without losing themselves.
Ragnar's fingers trembled around it, and the contact sparked another deluge. The leather sang its story—a stag, felled three winters ago near Drakensfjord's border with Branholdt.
A flint-tipped arrow made its way to its head, killing it immediately. He saw the hunter's steady hand, the glint of an obsidian blade slicing through hide, the tanning in oak-bark vats by Starlake's edge. The thread flax spun from meadow stalks, patched with stitches by steady hands of a woman.
"Stag hide… three winters… flint arrow… oak-tanned… flax thread…" The words spilled from him in a fevered mutter. Robert's brow creased, but he did not panic—unlike the first time Ragnar acted like he was possessed—and pulled the eyepatch over Ragnar's eye and tightening it until there was no loose place around it.
After a moment, Ragnar calmed down. "Thanks…"
"Are you feeling alright, Ragnar?" Robert leaned in and slapped his back a few times.
"I am." Ragnar confirmed and then smiled at him. After a while, he let out a deep breath and looked at him. "Thanks, father."
After the trial inside the Rune Praxis, his meeting with the apparition dressed as his father had somehow turned him soft when it came to Robert. Perhaps it was the idea of a "father" figure which he had grown attached to growing up, but he finally realised that in pursuit of someone who had probably forgotten him by now—naturally, since it had been over a decade—he was shunning the one present in front of him.
Robert was his father as well. There was no denying that.
Robert smiled warmly. "No thanks, kiddo. That's what parents are for." He said before standing up and grabbing a thick cloth, submerging it in cold water and giving it to Ragnar. Taking it from his grasp, Ragnar wiped his neck and then his underarms.
While he was doing so, Robert stood up and walked towards the door.
"Where is mother? I have not seen her recently...well, ever since I came back. What has it been? Like a month? Two months? I have not seen her at all. Is she ok?" He inquired.
"7 days." Robert replied to the second question and then his brows knitted together before he cleared his throat. "As for Hannah, she is…unwell, has been for more than a month now." He explained, standing in the door frame.
"What…" Ragnar blurted out, his single red eye widening. "...she seemed ok when she met me." Realising he had barely seen her before fainting, he sighed. "Well, at least for the few moments I saw her. And then on the 4th day, she was able to come as well. Although I was not in my senses, I sensed her."
"Well…" Robert rubbed the back of his neck, "...the primary reason why your mother is like that is because she's expecting."
Ragnar's eyes widened. 'Wha…I mean, that's good news, but her belly is barely swollen enough. Why is she feeling unwell already?' As someone who had no idea how pregnancies worked, he mentally passed a remark.
"Yeah, I know, thanks, thanks, I did quite the job." Robert chuckled but seeing Ragnar's deadpan expression, he coughed and spoke again. "That said, she has been experiencing weird pains. Due to that, the Village Chief has postponed training the new adults and the optional raids to The South have been rejected as well, since Harald and Hannah are the only ones who are sent."
"I am sure Harald can watch his own back." Ragnar spoke while trying to get out of bed.
"Of course, but the real danger is not the Southerners. Without Hannah, personal enmity from one of our own can kill him, and blame it on them. That is why it's either at least two people or none of them." Robert explained and then shifted from leaning on one side of the doorframe to another. "Leif offered to go this time, but he has not undergone long-range training under Hannah, so he was deemed unfit as well."
Ragnar looked down at his hand and curled and uncurled his hands. 'If someone like him is not selected, I am sure I will be rejected as well.' Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. "Uhh, can I ask something?"
"Sure."
"Is there a way to tell if someone's marked?"
Robert looked at him in surprise and then chuckled. "Well, you can just tell. Since you can't even control the blessing, let alone use it, you are unable to "feel" it, but once you get it under your knee, you'll be able to tell if someone is marked or not. Although it's very faint and requires actually focusing to be able to tell. Additionally, if someone tries to hide it, you can't sense it as well, but that too, needs active focus."
Letting Ragnar digest the information, Robert spoke again. "Your friend is marked." Ragnar looked up at him and Robert turned around, chuckling to himself. "He is not very subtle when it comes to hiding important things. I will leave to tend to your mother. Go get fresh if your fever has subsided and go meet your friends in the lawn if you are able to."
Ragnar's face reflected pure perplexity. "Friends?"
"Yes. Your friends, Leif and Sofia have been coming every day for the past week to see you. Since you were unstable, I told them you were still in the "integration" of the prepossession." He then let out a tired breath. "If, and I mean only if, you are feeling good enough to meet your friends, come and sit with your mother for a while as well. She needs your company as well."
"I understand." Ragnar nodded and then removed the eyepatch from his eye.
Robert's eyes widened. Seeing the reaction Ragnar bobbed his head sideways as if juggling with the half-formed thoughts and the creeping, sinister murmurings. "I need to learn to control it. Merely putting an eyepatch over it jeopardises my pathway's identity to more educated people."
Robert nodded in a knowing manner before sighing. "Alright, if you say so. You are an adult now, so I will respect your opinions."
Ragnar's lips fluttered. It was mostly instinct but he wanted to say: I would still appreciate your inputs and advice from time to time, but he withheld his words and instead let the single corner of his lip curl in a grin. "I suppose you are letting me drink some of that Bjǫrnǫl tonight."
Bjǫrnǫl literally translated to "bear ale" in English. It was a famous delicacy in Drakensfjord that was made by fermenting Blóðber—translating to blood berry—which was grown by watering the Blóðber plants with blood of wild monsters.
Robert let out a cackle. "Sure. I have had some Yellow Elk simmering under the lawn since yesterday. Still can't believe how none of us ever thought of rendering tough meat by cooking it for days under high pressure and low heat. It was ingenious!"
Yellow Elk was a huge, rough-coated monster that was a hulking version of the earthen elk with twisted antlers like tangled black thorns. Its hide was very tough and its meat was dry and gamey, stringing between the teeth. Only the marrow is worth the trouble. However, Ragnar's method of cooking it underground with loads of coal helped to tenderise it.
'Well, it was a common cooking method back on earth in the Middle East and was all over my social media in my cooking era. Feels wrong to be called a genius over an idea that is not even mine, but invented literally thousands of years ago.' Ragnar lampooned. 'It would've been much better if this damn place had some spices, other than peppers and salt!'
"Anyways, I will see you after the lights go out. Alright?"
"Sure. I will go meet Leif outside."
Robert winked. "Sofia as well."
"Yes, yes. I know." Ragnar rolled his eyes while Robert just walked out of the door.
*************************
After quickly scrubbing his body with turmeric & butter soap and taking a quick bath, Ragnar made his way outside of the house and into the lawn.
While bathing, Ragnar tried to not let anything pester him, and to an extent he was successful as well. Whenever his "All Seer" characteristic took effect, he would try to think of something. Like something that would divert his attention, but the drawback of doing so was that he soon ran out of things to think about.
And thinking about a specific thing again and again made his mind go back to his original state, since it was connected to the maddening state, so he could not follow that approach. Another method he tried was directly taking control of the effects of All Seer.
While it was an extremely enervating procedure, it was much more effective. From his knowledge of magic—albeit as fantastical as it was, since it took inspiration from magical theory from multiple novels—he was somehow able to focus inwards and use the "magic" itself to hold the magical effects in place.
Kind of like how barriers worked. Like forming a temple around the back of his mind. He didn't really envision a grand palace or shrine, but instead just an old fashioned Hörgr which was a construct made out of stone and was used by heathen Scandinavians for sacrifices. The structure was greatly inspired by Uppsala which had become famous in a lot of stories and tv shows.
Envisioning his power as a bright bulb, he created a Hörgr around it, while "he" himself hovered outside the Hörgr in a non-corporeal matter. Picturing a crack inside the Hörgr, he saw a single streak of the bright, sun-like light from the giant bulb and at the same time, he felt some voices and images creep through the edges of his mind.
At the same time, Ragnar closed it and the visions faded.
After a few tries, he came to the conclusion that so far he could only use around 20% of his power. Any more "light" would be impossible to let loose without Ragnar needing the eyepatch. He decided to call this procedure and the construct as "Hörgr," since, well, because it was a Hörgr.
The sight of the lawn came into focus and a drifting dandelion caught his gaze. At the same time, the dandelion grew larger and it was right in front of his face. As Ragnar focused through the sting of turmeric soap, he saw that the drifting dandelion was actually Leif speeding here and there, testing his powers.
'A significant leap in physical attributes, huh.' Ragnar smiled to himself. 'He really is not subtle about it.'
"Good evening, my bosom friend!" Leif closed his arms around Ragnar in a bear hug.
'What the fuck…' Ragnar struggled to breathe as Leif exerted so much force that it made his ribs feel an insurmountable tension.
"You'll kill me, you freak…" Ragnar squeaked as Leif let him go and then let out a guffaw.
"Sorry, sorry. I forgot that I am now…" he flexed his bicep that looked big enough to tear through his shirt, "...exceptionally stronger than you mongrels."
Ragnar straightened the creases of his shirt before looking up at him. Keeping a little focus on his conversation with Leif and more on the Hörgr, he tried to keep his focus on restraining the All Seer's effects.
Ragnar's lips curled into a smile. There were considerable improvements to Leif.
Moving a single brick inside the Hörgr, he let two streaks of light penetrate through the semi-tightly packed stone walls. From the edges of his subconscious and his tactile senses—hearing and sight—he started to enter the same state of hallucination again. Albeit this time, the effects were extremely tame—like a semidomesticated monster.
Leif's muscles, sinew and nerves came into focus and he saw a light blue coloured aura permeating from his sternum and regulating like blood through his body. As he retracted his focus a little, he noticed that even without him actively trying to use his powers, Leif's muscles were bulging from the inside, like a compressed spring.
"Congratulations." Ragnar congratulated as he smiled at his 'friend.' Looking over his shoulder, he looked around before turning his head towards Leif. "I was told Sofia's here as well."
"Oh, right." Leif combed his fingers through his much shorter hair and ruffled them. "She went back a few moments ago." He explained and then as if remembering something, spoke again. "There is something wrong with her though."
Ragnar's indifference to Sofia was not something new to Leif, hence why he was the only one around Ragnar who didn't used to tease him for it. However, it was still something he wanted to tell him.
"As in?" Ragnar raised a brow and imagined the stones to fall back in place as the light dissipated. A slight headache invaded him immediately. "Something is always wrong with her. She has that victim look on her face all the time. Plus I was pretty sure she was a mute."
Leif rolled his eyes. "Well, you know, she had a tough childhood. Their parents kept trying for a son and couldn't get one. Instead her mom died in the process. Her grandparents have been strict on her as well. Plus, she is not really allowed to leave home much, and her father is such a fucking boring guy that it makes me vomit."
"You've been keeping tabs."
Leif looked to the side. "It's not like that."
Ragnar wanted to push him a little further but considering himself as a nigh 30-year-old, he refrained from doing something so childish. He was in such a situation once as well.
While they were still in the lawn, a man who looked to be in his late thirties came strolling towards their house. He had bleached golden hair that was tied back in a small, tight ponytail. He had a pair of dark blue eyes and a scar over his cheek, long beard and moustache. The runes on his neck and hands were visible.
Anders—Robert's good friend, and also the first person, other than his parents, that he saw in Drakensfjord.
Unlike most people, Anders did not feel the need to hide anything about his Sequence. Part of the reason was because he was on the upper end of lower sequences: Sequence 5—Forager. Everyone knew he was a Sequence 5: Forager of the Stalker Pathway.
"Uncle Anders, good evening." Ragnar turned to him.
Anders raised his hand and shook Ragnar's hand before pulling him in a tight hug. "Uncle? You're a man now, Ragnar, call me Anders now!" Anders rolled the "R" in Ragnar's name before patting his back so hard that it made his eyes bulge out.
After a few more bone cracking pats on his back, he greeted Leif in the same way as well. Leif was two heads shorter than Anders but still quite tall for his age. Meanwhile Ragnar was much shorter than Leif, and then even more than Anders.
While they were talking, Harald—Leif's father—came in as well. He was wearing a single shirt with a pendant made out of long monster nails around his neck. Despite having looked at his face for so many times, Ragnar could still not shed the overwhelming emotion of fear whenever he looked at him.
He looked, in all senses of the word, an apex predator. The huge prominent scar below his left eye that reached to his left ear and another scar at the tip of his right eye gave him a look that looked like the leader of a wolf pack.
Instead of greeting everyone with exultant hugs, he extended his hand and shook Anders arm first and then Ragnar's.
"Congratualtions, Robertson. I can tell that you succeeded." He dropped the sensitive topic like a bombshell. However, Anders and Leif did not seem to be surprised.
'Judging by their reactions, I can tell they already sensed it. And here I was, thinking I was doing a good job trying to suppress it. Sigh…'
"Thanks." He managed to smile. A prickling pain was taking birth behind his eye. It was not a coherent one, but rather a mix of voices that did not make any sense. Trying his best to not show any kind of pain or loss of control, he looked at Anders. Noticing the wood tied to Ander's back and three barrels by their home's outer door, he spoke up.
"Am I missing something here?"
Harald looked at Anders and spoke first. "I am here to inquire about Hannah's state. I had also brought some high quality ǫl that I managed to bring back from our raids in Brighton."
'As in the one in the UK?' Ragnar's brows creased. "Brighton?"
"Yes. There was a raid last year in the "Southern Peninsula" of the South. Your father told us he was holding a small fire feast to bolster Hannah's spirits. I had heard the Southern heathens drink ǫl when they gather around something they call a 'bonfire.' And it's something your mother likes as well. So, I thought why not bring it."
Anders spoke next. "True. That's why I brought some highly flammable wood that my wife cut and dried."
"Oh…" Ragnar let out a long breath and felt his lips curl ever so slightly. He had stayed away from the village's people, and had avoided socialising. But despite that, there was an odd sense of comfort that gripped his heart at this moment. Everyone, despite how detached the seemed, was trying their hardest to look after each other.
Ragnar bent his head a little and his voice grew mellow. "Thanks…it means a lot."
Anders and Harald looked at each other before looking at Leif who just shrugged.
"He's weird." He remarked nonchalantly.
******************************
The guests—Anders, Harald and Leif—had gathered around the small "bonfire" with the yellow elk's meat being served in deep wooden plates by Ragnar. Slicing the meat in moderately thin slices and then topping it with thinly sliced blood mushrooms and broth made from the elk's bones with its own grease that it released while cooking mixed inside it, he went in a full circle and served everyone.
"Is Lagertha not coming?" Anders asked nonchalantly as he held the slice of meat in his hand and extended it upward to look at it. "This looks a bit raw, Ragnar."
Leif answered first after seeing his father's mouth was full. "Mother had some work to do. She will arrive later to spend the night with Hannah though."
Ragnar answered once Leif had finished talking and seemed to have the same concern as Anders. "It tastes better than it looks. Give it a try."
Hesitatingly, Leif and Anders both took a small bite out of it. In an instant their eyes widened, almost comically, and looked at each other before lashing out on the meat like animals. Harald had finished his portion of meat and was now sipping on the broth.
Ragnar smiled and reached out for the thin filament and uncrumpled it, revealing a warm loaf of bread. He extended it towards Harald who broke a big chunk out of it.
"Try dipping it in the broth and pick a blood mushroom along with it as well."
Having already tried the oddly delicious meat, Harald had no qualms against his methods. He dipped the piece of bread in broth until it had sucked a lot of it and had become soggy enough to reduce its size two fold.
Harald's reaction was tamer but how quickly he started to break pieces from it, Ragnar knew he liked it.
"I didn't know you could cook this well." Leif complimented, bits of flesh and bread flying from his stuffed mouth.
Ragnar's brow twitched. "Well, you barely spend time with me."
His tone was non-accusational. In his subconscious he was aware that it was his own fault. He had opened up to Leif a little due to Harald being Hannah's good friend and because they used to frequent their house.
The depressive spiral before attaining his rune was something he deeply regretted, especially after looking at his old life with his earth father.
Yes, he still missed him just as much, but a certain part of him was letting go of the attachments. He had lived in this world for almost as long as he did on Earth. He had once wished to go back home, to the place where he "thought" he "belonged" but it all started to sound absurd later on.
His body would've decayed by now. And he was sure seeing him come back to life would send his father in a cardiac arrest. His lingering feelings for Olivia were there as well. And the thought of her moving on did not move him much.
"True…" Leif spoke up and looked crestfallen, "...well then, by the Gods—both Æsir and Vanir—I shall spend more time with you."
"You don't need to swear." Ragnar said with a roll of his eyes and cut some more elk meat and served it to everyone.
After he was done serving another round of food, he made a plate for Robert and Hannah whom's steps he felt approaching and then sat down himself. While he used the Hörgr to control his powers and fully shut them off while he was around a huge congregation of people, there were some additional effects to his body as well.
While his All Seer gave him, well, extremely strong Seer like abilities, when he managed to shut his "sight" ability, his other senses would grow stronger. Like the sense of hearing, the extreme sensitivity of touch. If he concentrated enough, he could even feel the stagnant air and the few dust particles in the atmosphere—which came to Ragnar as a surprise as Drakensfjord air was the freshest and most crisp air he had ever encountered.
Luckily, controlling his other senses wasn't that much of a hassle. His other senses depended on his focus.
If he focused on his eyes—while the Hörgr was sealed off—he could see until very far. If he focused on his ears, he could hear the ravens cawing from beyond the village's boundary, and if he focused around himself, he could feel every change in the atmosphere—the drifting of clouds above him, the rising or falling humidity and much more.
"Swearing on Gods' names can result in divine punishment, Leif." His father joined in and lightly reprimanded. "Their familial names are not to be taken so lightly."
As they talked and ate, the main door that led to the house's hall opened, revealing Robert and Hannah.
Ragnar felt his eyes widen a little.
Hannah was a beautiful woman. Incredibly so. She was wearing a grey ankle-length skirt. Tucked inside it was a white cotton blouse with long sleeves. The neckline, cuffs, and the chest area above her breasts had delicate lace embroidery. She was wearing a fitted bodice over the blouse.
However, her beautiful thin waist was not the same anymore as her swollen belly poked out of the bodice.
Atop her head was a net shawl which she used to cover her hair.
It was a tradition in which pregnant women would cover their heads after 6 months of pregnancy.
Harald stood up, putting his plate down as he looked up at her. It was rare to see Hannah in traditional clothes as she was mostly dressed in her work clothes.
"Good evening, Hannah!" Anders exclaimed with a mouthful of bread.
"Good evening!" Leif joined in as well.
Hannah smiled at the two and greeted them back. "Good evening." She then turned her attention towards Harald. "Thanks for coming."
Harald stared at her for a moment before slightly mumbling. "Of course."
Robert guided Hannah towards the fire and then brought a giant stub of log that they had made in advance for her. Since she couldn't squat down, the log was made specifically for her.
As she sat down, she adjusted her skirt and placed her one hand under her stomach and the other around her scarf. Once she was down, she held her hands out to the flames and closed her eyes, letting out a groan as the warmth spread through her aching bones.
Harald's features creased. "Are you sure it's just a slight fever?"
"I am positive." She replied almost instantly.
Robert patted her back and got closer to her, his shoulders touching her knees. "I have some doubts regarding that." He spoke up, getting everyone's attention.
Ragnar looked at Hannah, only to find her eyes fixed on him already. Ragnar felt himself smile, but the worry in his eyes was too evident.
"Oh you worry for no reason." Hannah chimed into the conversation of the men but kept her focus on Ragnar. Motioning her hand to him, she called him to her side.
"No, but think about it!" Robert explained as he looked at Anders. "She has never once experienced a fever ever since we met, and that says a lot because we've been together for 15 years out of our 30 years of life!"
"You should get yourself treated by the All Seer." Harald spoke with a serious tone.
Ragnar, who had taken a seat by Hannah's side, almost choked on the meat.
'Say what?!'
"The herbalist in Vallund?" Robert raised a brow.
"Yes. His medicine has done wonders." Harald pressed.
"I do not need some phony herbalist's medicine. I will be fine in a day or two…Ragnar, press my shoulders, please." Hannah cracked and massaged her neck while Ragnar got up and stood behind her, gently massaging her shoulders.
'God, that almost gave me a fright. I thought he was talking about me. But the exact name…it can't be a coincidence, right?'
"Funny name for an Herbalist." Ragnar tried to investigate.
"Funny?" Harald's piercing gaze landed on Ragnar and Ragnar almost jumped in fright, once again. There was an odd animalistic aura to Harald, and the way he looked at Ragnar, he felt that there was some degree of maliciousness in them. Perhaps it was just him overthinking it, but Ragnar felt like Harald had something against him.
His lips twitched. "Y-Yeah, I mean, if he is a herbalist, a different name would've suited him better. All Seer sounds like someone who does divination and knows things."
Harald looked away like Ragnar had said something extremely wrong.
Anders let out a mocking laugh. "Well, people with a bit of knowledge tend to give themselves grandiose names. I mean, look at those idiots in Vallund, always engrossed in the Årl's library, and being so detached from reality that it makes you want to laugh your guts out."
Hannah chuckled and Robert did the same. Ragnar nodded and brought his focus back on massaging Hannah. However, as he was doing so, he had a small idea. Letting a little bit of light spill out of Hörgr, he looked down at Hannah's inflated stomach.
In the dark of the night, Harald and Anders, both saw Ragnar's left eye light up, just a little. Ragnar felt his own name echoing inside his ear, like someone from very far was calling on to him. He tried to drown the voice since he had heard it before as well, and was a common occurrence.
According to "The Vast World," written by Bethel Abraham, The Northerners had a tendency to go mad.
The reason behind this phenomenon was not known. Perhaps it was the effect of the "cursed biome" known as "The Fallow," or maybe it was just purely psychological issues due to the majority of the year being drowned in the dark of the night and snow.
While it being a common trait amongst a lot of Northerners wasn't comforting at all, Ragnar had accepted it. He was still curious about the source of the voices, and wanted to investigate them, but right now he had something else in mind.
Focusing on his eyes and the amount of light spilling out of Hörgr, he saw a faint glimpse. A curled up fetus inside Hannah's womb, its chest going up and down slowly while feeding on the nutrients from its umbilical cord.
However, something was strange. There was a dark grey-ish aura surrounding the child.
Ragnar looked around. Leif had a light blue one, and so did Robert and Anders and Harald. He looked at his own hand and it was covered in the same fresh blue aura. However, Hannah was covered in a murky black one while the child was covered in grey one.
'How odd…I am assuming the auras are supposed to show that we are normal? Is the black colour supposed to show sickness? But blue and…black? Black is never a good sign. I mean…wait! No!' Ragnar shook his head. 'Anyways, am I overthinking? What if it's not sickness? What if it's something else?'
"I am better now, thanks!" Hannah smiled sweetly and Ragnar skeptically sat back with her. Closing the Hörgr, he let out a deep breath and decided to investigate it later on.
After that, a few hours went by in a haze. They had a few mugs of Blóðber and then Harald took out his stash of ǫl. Hannah in particular really enjoyed it.
After taking both of those, Ragnar was dumbfounded and a little bit disgusted.
The coveted Blóðber that was made from the blood berry was extremely metallic in taste and smell. It looked like someone had mixed tequila in pig's blood. It disgusted him to no end. However, on the flip side, what impressed him the most was the "ǫl." It blew him away.
It translated to "beer" in English. However, what surprised him the most was that this "ǫl" not only meant beer, but it was exactly that. Cold, foamy and hitting the right spot, a taste he was not foreign to at all.
Much to everyone's surprise, Hannah and Ragnar almost finished the entire barrel of ǫl before Harald had to close the lid and hide it away.
Leif passed out after a while of drinking and was taken back by Anders to his home. Since Runa was still there, they did not need to worry about him being alone. Meanwhile his mother and Harald's wife, Lagertha Ulfrik came to sleep with Hannah and offer her a company a male couldn't provide.
She was a tall woman—almost as tall as Hannah—and had short golden blonde hair and almond grey eyes. She had puffed lips and a small chin with a high nose.
Once Hannah had drunk enough—within the safe range—Lagertha held her by the arm and started to take her inside. Harald had already left with Anders and Leif. As Lagertha took Hannah with her, Ragnar felt voices from the edges of his consciousness.
'Valknaaaarrrrrrr!'
Through the hazy, drunk stupor he followed Hannah being carried inside the house. Robert had lit the inlaid, brightly lit enchanted candles. However, as she moved inside, her shadow moved unnaturally and extended, before contorting into the shadow of a woman with long hair that flowed like flying snakes in the air.
Suddenly, one of the locks of hair in the shadow seemed to open its eye and look at Ragnar!
Almost on an instinct, Ragnar closed his fist around one of the rocks and threw it at the shadow.
A bright arrow of light pierced through the rock, splintering it. Hannah looked back and frowned.
"Have you lost your mind, Robertson?" Lagertha scolded.
Ragnar blinked his eyes once.
Her shadow was back to normal!
Ragnar blinked again and raised his hands, visibly plastered. "Sorry…I…might be seeing things."
Lagertha looked at Robert.
"Shouldn't have let Ragnar and Leif drink that much. I know, I know." Robert sighed before Lagertha could say anything.
Huffing through her nose, she took Hannah inside as Robert turned to Ragnar and sat down beside him. "Come on, let's get you to bed."
—-----------------
The dark night had gotten even darker. Robert was sleeping in the guest bedroom.
Since the area that covered their home was quite huge, there were a lot of under utilised rooms in their home. The guest bedroom was one of them.
It was moderately decorated with a direwolf's severed head preserved and nailed to the front wall.
The background on which it was nailed was made out of a raging bison's hide while the giant mat by the fireplace where Robert and Hannah made Ragnar was made out of the same direwolf's fur.
Robert at first decided to sleep with Ragnar, to keep an eye over him, but the entire evening he was totally ok. Other than a little bit of wincing and stealing glances here and there, he seemed to be doing well. And since he was technically considered a man now, there was no need for him to share a room with him over a menial task like this.
Hannah, on the other hand, was restless. Lagertha was fast asleep by her side but Hannah was awake. Her eyes were shut, but beads of sweat continued to roll down her neck.
There was something strange happening to her. She had never experienced bodily pain like this. Even when she gave birth to Ragnar. This pain in her sixth month was almost comparable to when she delivered Ragnar!
She used her hand to wipe the beads of sweat rolling down her neck when she felt something. She was not feeling hot anymore. Instead, it seemed like her entire body had gone cold.
As cold as ice.
She opened her eyes and looked around.
The door leading to her room was open, and in the door frame she saw a tall woman. Taller than the door, her six eyes focused on Hannah's. There was no colour to her eyes, just a milky white with an extremely small dark iris.
Hannah froze. Her heart lurched and she could feel her heartbeat inside her throat. She tried to move, but she was pinned down, like a wet, woolen blanket over a child. She tried to raise her head, but even her neck felt like it had dislocated.
The woman took a step inside and the silvery ornament in her feet jingled as Hannah felt another chill throughout her body. She shuddered, feeling as if her legs were being submerged in icy water.
The woman who walked in and stood by Hannah's bedside was even taller up close. Her head almost collided with the roof, and from beneath her fishnet shawl that covered her body, two pairs of hands revealed themselves.
Hannah opened her mouth to scream, but the woman covered her mouth with one hand. Since her entire body was paralysed, she couldn't protest.
Hannah almost fainted from fright as blue rays from the moon illuminated her room and she saw the woman up close. She had a completely tar black skin with giant molars visible though her open mouth. Saliva bridged between her teeth which seemed to protrude out every time she exhaled.
She had six unblinking eyes, 5 of them being dark coloured while one of them was a pale red, much like hers. Her hair was floating in the air, as if her hair was in space. Hannah could only look in powerlessness as her mouth opened and a blood red tongue that was akin to a slithering snake licked her chin before 5 of her eyes looked down and the red eye kept its focus on her.
Slowly, moving down, the woman's head stopped right between Hannah's legs.
A muffled scream tore through her lips as the tongue entered through her vagina, wriggling through her inside before reaching her stomach.
Hannah screamed, trying to reach out for her source of power, but all she felt was silence. She prayed, as the snake-like tongue wriggled inside her, causing her insides to feel like they've been caught on flame, however, all of her prayers seemed to never reach as the weapons of light never materialised.
Suddenly, Hannah felt like her womanhood had been torn apart as the woman withdrew her tongue, the long snake-tentacle thing gripped around a small, juvenile leg.
The woman removed her hand from Hannah's mouth whose eyes had gotten blurry but she understood in an instant what, or who it was.
"No…my baby…" She breathed out, screaming, as she tried to focus all of her strength into her limbs to somehow stand, to somehow unleash all hell on the Witch in front of her. "...leave my baby…"
The woman's tongue receded, and she caught the half-developed fetus by its leg. The rough handling caused the little bone inside its leg to snap as the Witch held it up, its head dangling down while the umbilical cord was still connected to Hannah.
Treating the fetus like a grape, she opened her giant mouth and swallowed its head in one motion as blood splattered from its neck and fell over Hannah who just looked silently at the Witch, slowly crunching her baby's head in its mouth while shivering in excitement.
The blood from the fetus got into Hannah's eyes, and the white of her eye totally blended in with the red as a scream tore through her throat.
"Gaaah…." Hannah suddenly sat up, panting heavily. She looked down at her stomach and found it full. The life inside it, she felt its lifeforce complete, yet somehow…
Suddenly, a foul-smelling breath blew her hair.
Slowly, she turned, looking at where Lagertha was sleeping.
3 pairs of eyes stared at Hannah as Lagertha hung in air from a noose which was held by one of the slender hands of the Witch from before. Hannah's body froze again. Her eyes quickly moved towards the Witch's face, only to find it grinning.
Her grin, between her yellow teeth, was a small ear as she crunched it before Hannah.
A giant trident formed behind Hannah which was enveloped in a grey fog as it zipped through the air towards the Witch.
The wall behind her crumpled with a giant explosion as she woke up again. She looked down at herself and then at Lagertha who was standing in the corner of the room, panting. The wall she had seen in the "dream" was blown off as she saw a small black cat sitting between the rubble who darted off as soon as Hannah laid her eyes on it.
Lagertha looked at Hannah as if she was possessed.
"Lagertha…"
The woman held her hands by her chest.
"In the name of Odin, the All father, whose wisdom pierces the nine realms, I summon the strength of Thor's hammer, Mjölnir, to shatter your hold, come forth, Freya's light, I banish your shadow from this innocent soul, in the name of all the World Tree, rooted in eternity, your hold shall break. Begone, filth, to Hel's cold gates! I summon thee, O Norns!"
Lagertha recited and then looked at Hannah who stared at her with a pained look.
"I am not possessed, Lagertha." She spoke as she placed her head against the back of the bed. "But…I think I am going into labour…"
Lagertha could only stare in horror as the door of their room flew open with Robert and Ragnar bursting in.
Ragnar looked at the broken wall and let his Hörgr open completely. Suddenly, he spotted a giant miasma of dark, murky black aura outside that was connected to Hannah.
As Robert ran to ask the two women what happened, Raganr ran out, following the aura's connection to Hannah.
As he went out, he saw a small cat sitting at the edge of the Fjord where their house was situated.
Suddenly, Ragnar's eyes glowed before thin streams of blood started to flood through them while the cat jumped down.