Arcadia: Amorphous

Chapter 11: Bears, Wolves, And The Sister Snakes

My body hurts.

My feet, neck, back, and the ass I not too infrequently fell on; all of it is in pain. I hate combat training. I swear since day one Dragonhide has had it out for me. I don't know how, but I don't normal fall that much. I mean I do fall a lot, but not that much. Every time I got close to finishing one of the obstacles, I'd fall. Every time like my feet would just stop working long enough so I'd need to do it all over again.

I even prefer Profesor Tostain class of lectures and readings over Dragonhide yelling and humiliation. Not that I find history particularly interesting, but any class coming after hell would seem heaven by comparison.

"Good evening class!"

Speak of the angel.

"Today we will be going over the clash of the Aesir and the Vanir 2 of the greatest ancient tribes of Europe." Profesor Tostain tapped her monocle and images came to life in the front of the room. They weren't quite three dimensional, but definitely more than just two.

"These," she gestured to her right. "Were the Aesir, hard and forceful master of nature. Fire," the images on the right erupted in flames. "Earth," the classroom shook before a gust of air rustled our papers. "Air, and even lightning," the room went dark as flashes of light shot from the conjured images startling the class.

Honestly, I was a little freaked myself, if nothing else just the sound and the lights held me frozen like a deer in the road.

"And these were the Vanir," she turned to her left, as the images started to dance among rivers and painted fields. "Practitioners of a softer art; plants, animals, visions, and illusions. Can any of you possibly imagine what these two people could possibly have to fight about." She snickered a bit.

"The Aesir dominated all in their corner of the world, and the Vanir guided and shaped all that was in theirs. War was inevitable when they met, but can anyone tell me who was to blame for the ancient and bloody conflict, Class?"

A girl raised her hand, "It must have been the Aesir, they were the aggressive ones, the Vanir wanted harmony they even sent an emissary."

"Well, thank you, Miss Miller, you seemed to have done at least part of the reading, anyone else have an opinion."

There was a brief pause before the girl spoke again. "I actually did all the reading, Professor, I've even read ahead a bit. The Vanir sent Freya to offer aid and friendship."

Professor Tostain look around the class, "Anyone?"

Everyone was silent, the girl was right. The book makes it pretty clear that the Vanir wanted peace, and the Aesir wanted war.

"No one then?" The professor looked disappointed.

"Freya was a cunt!" someone yelled out from the back.

"Ah Miss Rush, please elaborate."

"The Vanir were mystics and con-men, pack of shifty pricks from the sound of it. They weren't as 'take what you want' as the Aesir, more 'trick people into giving you everything'. Freya was sent with gifts and a twat, and used them both in attempts to get the Aesir hooked. She was basically the Vanir's opiate. Make you feel good time, just do what we say."

"Crass, but enlightened. Finally, someone who read more than just the words on the page. Freya was what one might call a 'good time girl' and the Vanir very likely did want to bright the Aesir to heel, so who fault was the war?"

Miller spoke again. "Even if the Vanir weren't perfect, they lived in balance with nature, they didn't try to control it. The Aesir were violent and war-hungry before encountering the Vanir. The Vanir were just trying to make the world better."