Threads Of Fate

CHAPTER 6: Longing for Again

Wake up, sæti.

I try to remember. My memory's still a little fuzzy, so I start by imagining the dream I've always had. For some reason, lucid dreaming comes easy to me. After keeping my eyes locked on one object for some time while thinking about being awake during a dream, you feel drowsy and fall asleep. After sufficient practice, you succeed. Maybe it's because of my powers, but I got it on the first try. I was asleep, yet awake. I close my eyes, focus on the dream. On the burning buildings, the rising smoke, the ash. The thick smell of blood, and thicker smoke. When I open my eyes, I end up there.

I feel like saying something along the lines of "Hello, old friend." But as much as I miss this torturous scene, this isn't what I'm here for. After thinking about it, I realize this scene isn't right. There's destruction everywhere. So whatever happened to Astrid, this scene clearly comes after it. I have to think about a memory before this.

So I focus. As hard as I can, as hard as I ever have. I swim through the vastness of my conscious, my subconscious, and the murkiness in between. Time passes. Minutes turn into hours, but it doesn't matter. Time flows differently in your head. A day inside is an hour outside. I keep searching. After what feels like a lifetime went by, I find it. The right moment. The perfect moment. Óvinir said I'd know what moment to choose. He was right.
I focus on that moment, every detail of it. The surroundings, the people, the smell, the feeling, everything. I bring it all in, and get ready to say the word. The Three Sisters. The celestial beings responsible for the fate of the world, and everyone in it. The ones who tie the Threads of Fate. The Norns.

"Urd."

As soon as I say the word, an ethereal sensation comes over me. This mystic feeling. Like I'm being transcended to a higher existence. I feel myself exiting my body. The pain follows immediately.

An excruciating pain that makes your knees turn into jelly, and you lose all reason except to try and stop it. Like someone grabbed a hold of my spine and started yanking on it. The pain is too much to bear, and I scream. No, I howl. A shriek so loud I could shake the very ground in Asgard. A bone-shattering scream, befitting of a bone-shattering pain. Óvinir told me I'd feel pain, but not this.

As my consciousness starts fading, and I start thinking I might actually finally die at this rate, I just give up hope. I succumb myself to the pain, not having the will to live a life like this anymore. Why am I this cursed? I don't know how much time passes with me on the floor, screaming. But a few seconds after preparing to die, like always, a voice in my head cheers me on. It tells me to live, to survive. It tells me that all the pain I've felt, all the suffering I've gone through, will not be for nothing.
"Fight.", whispers the voice from beyond the void in my mind. Soon after, the voice reveals a face. A tear rolls down my cheek as I recognize the person.

"Astrid." At this point, my 'mind' has been seperated from my body, and I lose consciousness.

.

.

.

"Up."

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"Ke up."

"Wake up, sæti." A voice whispers in my ear. Whose is it? It's strangely familiar, yet unrecognizable. I try to open my eyes, but I can't. I feel this strange sensation. Something warm covers me. Then it fades, only to come back, but this time only on my cheek. My eyes open, but my vision is blurry. I smell something faint. Something I've smelled before. Centuries ago. A strange, soothing scent. Jasmine and sandalwood.

My vision starts coming back slowly. I can make out a figure. It's a person. A bright light comes in through an opening behind her. It's a window. I move my hands around, and find a bed. But it's not mine, I can tell. The person comes in closer, their figure becoming clearer. It's a woman. She leans closer to my face, her smell permeating through my nostrils. A sweet scent, a familiar scent. I feel as if I've longed for this scent all my life. It caresses me.