Page 37 of Valkyrie Restored

Elin

Pain ripped through my head.A red, hot poker right into my temple would have felt like a mosquito bite compared to this. The limbs and muscles that were too fatigued, too heavy to move, curled into a fetal position, trying to protect me.

Scenes flashed before my eyes like a silent movie. I didn’t need sound. Not when every cell in my body cried out with the knowledge and context as if it had been written into the very fabric of who I was.

A tiny, red-headed baby wrapped in a rough woven blanket in a wooden cradle stared up at three old ladies.Grandmothers. My grandmothers.Their mouths moved as they sprinkled some sort of powder on the baby’s—my—forehead before pressing their thumbs on it.

The scene changed. A rural farm with a small sod cabin surrounded by old wooden fencing filled my vision. A vineyard, crops of barley, and an olive grove surrounded it. Ancient Greece my mind supplied. A man, a woman, and a parcel of young children, all with dark hair and tanned complexions except for one who stood out with red hair and fair skin, worked and played among them. They wore clothes not of this time. Nor were there any signs of modern machinery or modern life. They looked poor and haggard, yet happiness and joy shone from their faces. My parents. My brothers and sisters. People I knew who were long dead.

Dead for hundreds of years.

Time sped up. Scenes flashed by as if someone pressed the fast-forward button. The girl with bright red hair grew to a young lady of about sixteen or seventeen. Wings and amour sprouted, covering her before disappearing again and again as time passed. The same small farm continued to show up, but each time it did, I noticed small changes to signify the years. The other children—my brothers and sisters—grew starting their own families who worked the farm yet the woman—me—remained the same as I waited. For what I wasn’t sure, but I knew it was something big.

The visions slowed, allowing a new scene to take over the entire view. And with this new scene came sound. Not only had the years changed, but also the area. The people spoke in a different language. One that resonated within me but hadn’t been the language of my birth. It was market day in what I somehow knew was the capital city. Dust rose clogging the air. Stalls and carts filled with jewelry, textiles, and food filled the square. I wondered through the area, basket in hand when two women came into the picture. A mother and daughter. The daughter looked to be only a year or two older than I appeared.

“A völva. Two völva. The two everyone is talking about visiting the king today.” The words slipped out of my mouth.

“You, I’ve seen you before.” The older of the two women looked at me. “A great destiny awaits you.”

“Me?” I asked, pointing at myself. I knew I had a destiny, but even though she was a völva, I wasn’t sure how she recognized me. No one knew what I was or the destiny that awaited me. Not even me.

She stared at me as words began to flow from her mouth. “A destiny like none have ever seen.”

A Valkyrie made not like any have seen.

Not one to a single god she prays

Not to Odinn like those this day

But behold, a great tragedy will befall you first

A curse of the gods, to wander and live but to forget and live anew

Half an eternity the sun shall rise and fall before they free that which binds you

The woman slumped but I couldn’t move. Thankfully her daughter—Astrid, the name rushed into my head, Darius’ daughter who was in the pictures on the wall—caught her before she fell. A völva gave me what I’d been longing to know, the reason for my limbo. Yet I wondered what it meant to wander, live, and forget, before living anew. I’d already wandered. This capital city was not in the same land as the farm. And I lived longer than a mortal—a fact the völva recognized when she called me Valkyrie even though I’d been kept hidden from the rest. So the idea of forgetting and living anew scared me.

Time sped up again, but only for a couple of months. I walked down the road outside the capital city. I met a man who smiled at me and then everything went black. My memories ended until the moment I woke up in that hospital in Greece.

A Valkyrie.

That’s who and what I was. The knowledge rushed through me, filling me with power that had been steadily growing bust from me, flashing out of me like a supernova.

Wings popped out of my back. Amour covered me. A sword materialized in my hands. I stroked it.My old friend, I’ve missed you.

And with that, I flew out of the water and into the night sky. Anger coursed through me. I understood it all. All those random encounters with deadly animals, the falling of the branch, I recognized them for what they were… attempts on my life. It had been bad enough that the gods cursed me, making me lose hundreds of years, but then to try to kill me while I didn’t know who I was… despicable. Although no one had ever said that the gods treated mortals with any respect. And if I was in a forgiving mood—which I wasn’t really feeling—I’d acknowledge that to anyone within the mythological world, I’d been nothing more than a human which would have made me fair game according to their rules.

But I wasn’t human. I was a Valkyrie. A warrior. And no one attacked me and lived. Not even a god.

When the bright light faded, I felt Hurrit and Arran, below me, in the water. My chest filled with their love. And as much as I wanted to reassure them, to talk to them, they weren’t the only ones here.

“Show yourself.” My voice rang out almost like thunder.

Another bright light grew on the shore. It was bright enough to disrupt the view of the northern lights, but nowhere near as bright as the one my magic released. I flew towards it, ready to do battle. Hurrit and Arran raced me, climbing out of the water and changing back into the human forms as I landed.

“Wow, lass. You look badass.” Arran kissed my temple as he took up a stance on my right side. I snorted. As a Valkyrie, I’d never gone into true battle with allies at my side since I’d been kept separate from the rest, but I doubted any of the others had ever gone into battle with naked men standing on either side.

Hurrit wrapped his pinky around mine, letting me know without words that he was here, with me.

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