Daughters of Sol

This is a continuation of the previous chapter. Please read chapter 1 or this won't make much sense.

***

I slept so deeply that night, deeper than I ever thought possible. Suddenly I was falling into a pit, ever feeling farther away from myself. I hit the water hard enough it should have killed me, but it felt more like a bucket of water thrown into my face. Still, it was enough to feel out of breath. I was swimming, trying to stay afloat, coughing for air. A strong hand grabbed me by the hair, and a big hairy arm encircled me. The hand was firmly grasping my breast, but the man was also pulling me up; I felt confused, scared, and grateful all at once.

I'm in a boat but…nobody is here? It was a dark, moonless night; a thick fog surrounded me, and the sea was pitch black. The boat was small enough it could probably only hold a handful of people. The sail was still large and squarish, with the symbol of what looked like two suns on it adjacent to each other. The style reminded me of the kind my Ancestors would use when fishing around the North Sea. A bitterly cold but gentle wind pushed the boat forward.

I moved to the front of the boat to see more. I found two bowls. One had some kind of liquid and something was floating in it. The other held liquid as well…smells like some kind of oil. As I moved my hand to test it, I felt a rope hanging down and it caught fire. A lantern! I could see the other bowl contained water, and a small wooden circle with an elongated rock was floating in it; a compass?

I contemplated the historical inaccuracies of this technology; it must be that I am either

not

in the past, or this isn't real. It must be a dream. Usually at this point I wake up.

Wake up!

Hello?

Nothing. I was still in the dream. I found what looked like a very small well-polished shield by the bowls.

This must be a mirror. To shine a light perhaps?

I held it up next to the lantern, but the light seemed to just diffuse into the fog around me.

What's the secret here? Ah yes! I need to use the concave side.

I turned it around and found that I could focus the light into somewhat of a beam. As I moved it around, the direction of the lodestone changed. It seemed the boat was following the beam of light somehow.

I pointed it in the direction of the stone. The tip started to glow with a bluish hue, and I could hear the sound of waves gently lapping on the shore. The stone got brighter and brighter, and I saw land ahead of me. It was a beach of some kind. The boat washed up to the shore; I supposed I was to look around, so I got out and pulled it up onto the sand. It was surprisingly light for being made of what looked like very solid wood.

I turned around to face a man. An older man, sitting on a large wooden shield next to a fire, staring deeply into it. I approached cautiously…

He raised his face to me and said, "Come Astrid and sit."

"Grandfather!" I exclaimed, excitedly. I felt as giddy as a little girl again, but the weight of the air around me seemed to thicken. I sat down where he beckoned, on a stone next to the fire.

"Daughter, listen." he started. I found the use of the word "Daughter" confusing, as I was not his biological daughter. But I guess he meant in the ancestral sense? "Your mind wanders around like a raging wind. You have been chosen for a great purpose, but you must calm the storm before it destroys all around you."

"Grandfather, what must I do?" I asked. The wind picked up, and became cold.

"All is not as it seems." he said, in that typical foreshadowing voice you'd hear in a movie. It started to rain. "You must learn what was not taught, speak words untold, and know the unknowable."

Thanks for the clarification, Grandfather.

I sarcastically thought to myself, more confused now than ever. The rain turned to hail.

He pulled the shield from under himself and tossed it to me. It knocked me over, and it was sooo heavy! How did he just throw it like a piece of cardboard at me? I managed to pull it up and position myself behind it.

"Just as I gave my shield to you, so also my Hamingja. Hold it close, and it will guide you." I tried to remember, what was a Hamingja? Some kind of ancestral spirit or something.

Just then, a powerful gust of wind whisked him away into the sky. "Grandfather!" I yelled helplessly. I watched as he was carried to a mountain in the distance. Suddenly a face of gleaming yellow light formed on its slopes, and the mouth opened to swallow Grandfather.

"Noooo!" I cried out. As it stood up, it had the form of a great rock golem. It looked at me, and its eyes burned with a great fire.

"Hugr", it said in a deep earth-shaking voice. This was my mind, my conscious self. It started walking towards me, each step shaking the earth to its core. I saw villages destroyed and forests laid flat. I could hear the screams of thousands running for their lives, only to be cut short by the next foot stomp.

It looked down in pity. I knew that it didn't want to hurt anyone; it was just unfocused, unsteady. A third eye appeared, and suddenly hurled itself to me as a meteor. I tried to move out of the way, but fighting the storm took all my strength. It struck me right in the forehead and I screamed in pain as it seared the flesh, broke the bone, and sunk into my skull.

I woke up from my bed drenched in sweat and screaming. My forehead burned and I grabbed at it, trying to knock away whatever it was.

"Gods, what's happening!" my father yelled as everyone was startled awake.

I felt the pressure of a hot poker searing into my forehead, but nothing was there. "Get it off of me!" I screamed. I was crying and flailing about my head trying to find whatever it was. Suddenly a set of big hairy arms encircled me and pinned my arms together. It was Hagen. Instantly I felt an overwhelming sense of calm. Everything faded to black, and the last thing I felt was my head falling back into the pillow.

* * * * *

I awoke again, but all in peace. Everything was quiet—almost. I heard soft moans and whispers. I looked down to see my mother riding my father's cock.

This is where my life began,

I thought. It looked so big, but she took it all again and again. She was facing away from him, toward me. Each thrust shook her body, sending waves through her flesh.

Her boobs were amazing. They were full without being too large. They were somewhat firm, but pliable enough to bounce around in random directions with each upward thrust into her pussy. I could tell by her face that she was having absolute ecstasy right now. I moved my hand down my body and started playing with my clit, which was super sensitive right now. I rubbed it with my thumb gently, but firmly. The other hand found its way to my breast and I played with the nipple. I couldn't take my eyes off of the sight before me.

She opened her eyes and looked directly into mine. The room was dark, and her eyes glowed a firey yellow.

This is inhuman! What is that?

I was appalled and terrified of the sight at first, but the light seemed to emit a wave of calm over me. Now it felt like… pure love. My mind reeled and I felt myself getting ever closer to the climax. I heard my father say "Baby, I'm coming! I'm coming!" and he groaned out his pleasure, as his seed plunged deep into my mothers' womb. My mother joined in the climax, making her own noises of excitement. As she did, her eyes were locked to mine. It looked like a beam of light flowed from her into me and waves of pleasure racked my body. I came again and again, it seemed to go on forever! And then it all went black again.

* * * * *

The first light of sun came through the windows. Despite all of the trauma of last night, I felt amazingly rested. I sat up in bed and stretched my arms out. I went to the window to watch the sunrise. Somehow I felt energized, everywhere the sun touched my skin felt electric.

I looked over to find Runa right next to me, appearing to bask in the morning sun as well. I reached an arm around her shoulder and gave her a little hug. She reached out as well for me and leaned her head on my shoulder. So we stood there embracing in the sunlight.

Her hand moved up a bit and she pulled me closer. Soon I felt her hand cupping my breast in full. Yesterday I would have been appalled at this, but today something felt so different. I turned her toward me and we kissed gingerly and deeply.

Runa pulled me close and whispered in my ear "It seems I'm not the only one needing comfort right now." And she smiled at me. I hugged her and we just held each other.

The stirring of other people woke us from our bliss. We quickly set about getting dressed and taking care of all the usual morning business. Dad and Hagen loaded up the car while Mom, Runa and I prepared breakfast.

We had set the table and were all ready to eat, but Dad and Hagen were still not here. "Did they get lost on the way to the car?" I asked sarcastically.

Mom went over to the front door and looked out to the driveway. After a few seconds she nodded and came back to the table. "They're just shooting the breeze. You know how men are when it comes to work." That evoked a hearty laugh from both Runa and I. So we set about eating, and they came in to join us a short while later.

"Took you guys long enough!" chided Runa playfully.

Hagen started to speak, but Dad beat him to it. "Oh you know, just guy stuff. Father-son bonding and all that, right?" He asked as he turned to Hagen.

"Yes, we are quite bonded now." Hagen said with a playfully serious look on his face. We all had a laugh and continued eating.

I felt this unspoken tension building through the silence as everyone's mouth was full of food; I needed to address the elephant in the room.

"Guys," I started nervously, "I had this really weird dream last night." I felt the room tense up, but everyone was trying to hide it.

Hagen broke the ice a little with his usual "What was his name?" comment. Normally I'd just laugh it off, but I just answered somberly instead, "Grandfather".

Dad choked on his food a bit, and mom set her fork down. "Look, darling," she said as she put her hand over mine, "it's natural to have some bad dreams about traumatic events. Pay it no mind for now. Let's just focus on happy thoughts and sunshine." The huge smile on her face disarmed my apprehension.

I smiled back, and got up and started to clear dishes. It's good to re-focus my mind on other things sometimes. The image of the golem looking at me with its piercing yellow eyes appeared in my mind.

Focus.

I shook it out of my head and continued on. We wrapped up things pretty quickly, and before we knew it, we were on the plane for the

very long

flight to Norway.

I had gotten a seat next to Runa, but everyone else was strewn about the cabin. Last minute flights don't tend to have many seating options. Luckily these were the "in-between" Premium class seats; not as nice as Business Class, but better than Economy.

I got out the books and tried to put all the events of yesterday behind me. I had stumbled onto something important and I wanted to get back to it. I felt a renewed sense of urgency, as if this was going to be very important in the days to come. After quite some time, my furious note-taking and page flipping had peaked Runa's curiousity.

"So, looks like you're going to tear a hole in that notebook." Runa pointed to my raggedy-looking pad of paper where I was keeping track of my thoughts. "Did you find something interesting in those old tomes?"

I looked around the cabin, checking to see if anyone was listening. I'm not sure why I was being paranoid, it's the kind of thing that's probably only important to me.

"Yes, definitely." I said. I leaned in to tell her the details.

"Based on the map, this village appears to be on a hilltop with a valley surrounding it. Such a location would have been strategically important to Ancient Norsemen, so it was probably the heart of a major stronghold. According to village records, the surrounding valley was good farmland; they produced a lot of things year-round. I found the ancestral link to an old ruler of the city, King Odinsen. The name is significant, as it means "Son of Odin". I have no geneology records prior to this, and at least one account indicated that King Odinsen was a very powerful warrior; he conquered great swaths of territory, and settled on the village as his base of operations.

"Wow, that's pretty cool." Runa said, with genuine excitement on her face. "Kinda neat to be descended from such a badass."

"Well, it gets even more intriguing." I continued, "I almost missed it because it's such a small detail. His rule just sort of disappears into the history books. Such a badass guy shouldn't just vanish. Tax records from before and after his rule seems to indicate a massive population decline and a large transfer of properties into the hands of a few Jarls—probably a large battle of some kind. Anywho the Jarls probably just sort of faded into history, and it became just another village."

"I think there's probably ruins there; maybe an old crypt. Norsemen weren't known for writing a lot of things down, but somehow this town managed to have a few scraps of written records. I managed to find this old map of the city's defenses, probably drawn by a spy." I showed her my copy of the map from the notebook.

"See this big area of nothing right here?" I pointed with my pen.

"Yeah… what's so important about nothing?" Runa asked.

"On the original map it's just a big dark spot of nothing. Mom had told me that the village was once home to 'a great place of power'."

"That's pretty cool," said Runa. "But probably nothing we can do anything with. Maybe tell the Elders when we get there, but I doubt they'll worry about it. Whatever it was is sure to be gone by now." She yawned and said "You can't save the world by yourself, sister. I'm tired, gonna rest up so I have energy when I get there. You should, too."

So as she leaned back into the pillow, those words resonated in my mind.

You can't save the world by yourself.

As I pondered them, I drifted off to sleep again.

* * * * *

Blackness. I looked around and saw nothing but blackness. I felt very heavy, as if I was wearing extremely heavy clothes, but still there was nothing to see. "Hello?" I called out to the darkness.

The voice of a woman answered me with a question. "What do you see, Daughter?" I didn't recognize the voice at all; it certainly wasn't my mother, but it still

felt

familiar.

"Nothing", I answered.

"Yet there are things all around you. How do you not see them?" she asked.

This irritated me slightly, but I figured it was another kind of spiritual vision or test; so I just went along with it. "Because there is no light." I answered.

Just then, something that looked like a golden circle appeared in front of me. All was still dark, except for this. "What is this for?" I asked. No response came. I stepped forward onto the circle, expecting some kind of light or something to appear.

Nothing happened. I wanted to ask more about this, but I had no idea how to address the voice. Since she called me "daughter", I figured I should respond appropriately. "Mother, why is there no light?"

She responded softly, "The light is yours to give, my child."

Well if that's the case… Since light usually comes from above, I reached upward; a light appeared overhead, shining down upon me. I held my hand up to shield my eyes from it, and saw I was dressed in a heavy robe with all of my skin covered in a dark fabric wrap of some kind. I tried to expand the light, point it somewhere else, or do… something with it. But I could not affect it at all.

"Mother," I said, "it's not working. I don't know how to control it."

"Daughter," she responded so tenderly, I felt like a little child again trying to figure out how to tie my shoes. "I didn't say to control it, but only to give it."

I tried to grasp it, but it was too high. I jumped up and tried to grab at it, but it was yet higher. This outfit was truly stifling me, and I felt hot under its weight. I pulled back the hood and let the robe slip off. I felt like a mummy in this fabric wrapped around me. I peeled the wrap off of my head and face, letting my hair flow freely. The cool air felt refreshing, and the light caused my skin to tingle. I peeled it off of my left arm and I noticed my skin was sparkling under the light, as if there were tiny crystals inside.

Crystals reflect light,

I thought to myself. I removed more and more of the wrap, and found I had nothing on underneath; soon I was naked in the light. I held my hands up to the light and closed my eyes as I felt it absorb into my skin. The tingling sensation increased, and soon I felt as if every pore in my skin was open. I opened my eyes to see a vast valley unfolding around me, shadows retreating as the light radiated from my body. The light should have been almost blinding, but didn't hurt my eyes anymore. The disk under me was glowing brilliantly. I stepped off of it, and my skin returned to normal as it rose into the sky.

The voice spoke again, "Now you can see." I turned to face a woman that bore a faint resemblance to my mother. She was barely clothed with just a see-through silk robe, which had an almost ethereal quality to it. "Come now daughter, follow me and I will show you that which has not been seen."

With that, she spread a large pair of wings and flew up into the air. Then started gliding down the hillside to a dark valley below. Almost instinctively I flexed muscles in my back, and my own wings appeared. I found it surprisingly easy to follow her through the air, almost as if by thought or willpower alone.

Below, a great battle raged. I couldn't tell which side was which. As I got closer, their hearts seemed to glow within their chests. I could see they all had different color auras. A man with a green glow fought against a man with a red glow. The red man's heart was strong; he fought with courage and conviction. The green man's heart was timid; he fought because he had no other choice. Both struck a mortal blow to each other, and they collapsed. The woman scooped up the heart glows out of their chests and threw them in opposite directions. Each disappeared with a flash of light.

I came up beside her and asked, "What's going on? Where are they going?"

She turned and explained to me, "The green hearted man honored peace and harmony; his heart belonged to Freyja. The other man honored courage and valor; his heart belonged to Odin." As she spoke, the bodies and the rest of the battle around us faded out of existence. "In the past, Valkyries would determine the fate of these men after they die. But in the new order, we can guide their fate while they yet live."

She pointed to the field where the battle was, and a small shrine appeared. It was a small white circular platform made of stone, with only room enough for one person to stand; there were a couple steps leading up to it all around. On top were two pillars, and at the top between them hung a pot suspended with chains. In the pot burned fire and incense. I landed before it gracefully, and my wings collapsed back into my body. She set down beside me as well and nudged me toward it; so I walked up the small steps to stand in the center of the platform.

Two men appeared out of mist before me and approached. One held a basket of bread, the other a basket of fruit. Naked as I still was, I flinched to cover up. But they paid me no heed in any case. They brought the baskets and laid them at the altar in front of my feet, then bowed down into a fetal position. A woman and child appeared out of the mist to my right with ragged clothes and a disheveled appearance. They slowly approached and bowed down; having no offerings, they instead stretched out their hands.