Chapter 6: What Dreams May Come

Chapter 6: What Dreams May Come

 

 

            Still blackness. Silent. Angry. Flashes of gray filled his mind. Unable to focus his mind's eye, Wade found a simple object through the blur to focus on. A long black line through the gray. Muddled. Unclear. With all of his might, Wade tried to focus. Red. At the base of the black line was a blotch of red.

            What is this thing? Wade asked himself.

            The shrill sound of a woman screaming rang in his ears. Looking down, the image cleared. A young man collapsed on a stone path. A large arrow protruding from his heart. A woman cradling his head. Looking around, Wade could see more and more. The stone path led to an enormous hill, difficult to see past the thick dropping of large snowflakes. At the top was a large wall made of sharpened logs. The wall surrounded a large stone and wood building, seemingly a dining hall, with a plume of smoke coming from the center of the wood and thatch roof, daring the snow to stick to it.

            Looking back to the man on the ground, names began to come to mind.

            Baldur. Wade recollected.

            Studying the woman over the man, Wade began to remember.

            Frigg. Wade began to panic. This is when my son was murdered. This is when my son Baldur was murdered.

            As if reliving the horrible nightmare, Wade looked back to the walls on top of the hill. A closer studying look revealed one more truth. A man holding a bow. Another man, aiming the bow for the other.

            The overwhelming memory through him back in the shoes he had worn countless years prior.

            “Loki!” Wade screamed. “Get down here and face me you coward!”

            The fury rose deep within him when he had realized who the man with the bow was. Dropping to his knees, Wade placed his hand on his wife's shoulder. A woman, strikingly beautiful even through her grief, rocked the head of her son. With her long brown hair draping her sons face, she screamed in agony once again.

            “Frigg, my love, our son is dead.”

            Frigg looked up to Wade. With no words sneaking past her sorrow she reached her head to Wade's arms, never letting go of her murdered son who lay dead in the fresh snow.

            “Our son is dead and the murderer is our other son.” Wade finished.

            Looking back to Loki and Wade's son, Hod, he swore to avenge Baldur's death.

 

            Pitch black. A sensation of spinning sent Wade to another place at another time. Quiet and peaceful, his mind's eye had focused instantly on an expansive field of grass, brown from the coming cold. Climbing the short hill in front of him, Wade looked upon a sea so vast, his only desire was to devote his life trying to cross it. Turning his back to the sea, his eyes met level with a large wolf. Slowly reaching for the blade at his side, Wade locked his eyes on the beast, daring it to move. With a sudden pounce, the massive wolf threw Wade to the ground. Teeth gnarling, like salivating daggers, the wolf buried his fangs into Wade's right shoulder. As if exerting no effort, Wade felt his collar bone snap in its place.

            A deafening howl let loose from the beast as it raised its head from Wade. Gurgling from the blood in its lungs, the wolf fell to the side. Wade fought his way from under the massive creature and pulled his blade from the side of the beast. Grasping his shoulder gently, Wade turned to find a man and his son hunting for game. Awestruck and bewildered, the man pushed his son to his knees and began begging the god to forgive their trespass. Wade studied the man and beckoned for him to come to the beast.

            The scrawny farmer stood from his knees and hesitantly approached the father of all gods. Wade simply handed the man the blade and gave him simple instructions.

            “My son. You are not trespassing on land that I have given you. In exchange for this land I simply ask you to tell others of the beast who has been slain by my hand. Let the others know that it is by my will and my sword that your village is safe. If it weren't for your gracious loyalty, I would have let loose this beast on you. Take this blade. Take this beast. Mount the hide in your hall and tell this story so my children may know my careful watch on you all.”

            The man reluctantly took the sword from Wade and nodded graciously.

Wade turned back to the coast and simply watched the waves break while the man and his son skinned the trophy of a god.