Journey of an Einherji - The Sword of Summer

Eggs and Immortality

I slept like a baby. Thankfully I didn't slept with glorious death, done that already.

When I woke up next day, for a moment, I thought that everything had been a strange nightmare, that I was back at te university's campus and my day would consist of going to classes and maybe go to the movies. The illusion broke as soon as I sat up on my bed, king size, in Valhalla.

Shortly after I got up I went to the living room. While I was at dinner or while I was asleep (hopefully not then), the armchair and the TV had been repaired. In the shelf with books I looked for one about norse mythology, surely Valhalla had one that explained things better than the manager. There was one and it was eternal. I counted, roughly, over two-thousand pages detailing all myths, their variations through time, all gods, creatures and worlds. The weirdest thing was that everything was written in present tense.

After going back and forth I found what I was looking for; my father. According to the book: Ullr is the god of archery, snow, hunting and ski. Son of Sif and stepson of Thor.

Now I knew who my biological father was. The god of hunting and snow. No wonder everyone was surprised at dinner, I remembered, despite being the god of winter Ullr wasn't very known. Probably the reason why he invented ski, to add a new thing to his <<god of>> list.

Did this changed what I thought before? Nop. Once I had cared, I tried finding out my father's identity, I thought that it would fill me with something I was missing. That lasted for a few weeks at most. I knew who I was, who my father was. I was the son of Catalina Gomez and Pablo Sazzione.

I still had questions: why had he abandoned my mom? Why had he even done what he did if he was going to leave? Did I liked snow because he was the god of snow? I certainly hoped not.

I started looking in the book about Johul the Second. The amount of information on giants was unbelievably long, all the wars, the marriages, even a family tree that lasted for nearly twenty pages with a tiny writing. This time I didn't found much: Johul the Slayer, count of the Glacier, was an ice giant, he was killed by Odin in battle.

Great. Not a word about Johul the Second or who was his mother, if she hadn't died by Odin's hands. I felt like a complete idiot, Johul had probably gone and cause destruction to draw Odin's attention or maybe one of Odin's children and have his revenge. Had I not intervened maybe I would still be alive. No, I was fooling myself. Again. If I had not done anything, probably I would have been eaten by Mister Cold Breath.

I went to shower. Why you ask? I was getting angry and I didn't want to throw another armchair. As I showered the image of the Norns looking at me replayed in my mind. And their words.

Harbringer of the Wolf. That was Magnus. I could tell he didn't liked wolves, when the Norns mentioned that part he looked like he was remembering something terrible or maybe he knew what harbringer meant.

Wrongly chosen, wrongly slain. Well, it was clear that first part. The thanes had banished Sam for that. But, didn't she said she had been ordered to take Magnus to Valhalla? Who ordered her that?

A hero Valhalla cannot contain. I didn't understand that line really. Maybe he was going to escape out of here. I liked that, if that was going to happen I was going to tag along.

Winter must cool the fire, before it burns with rage. I didn't liked those lines. Now, I guessed why had the Norns looked at me before they vanished in the fog. Ullr was the god of winter, making me the winter the prophecy spoke of. And the fire, what fire were the Norns reffering to? The fire of a lighter? The fire of the the giant that killed Magnus? Apparently he had attacked Magnus and he had faced him with a corrosed piece of metal. It looked like a sword, which took me to the last lines.