It feels weird, Asger is gone and the village feels like an animal without its soul. Empty. I’m standing there still staring at the spot where he walked into the woods, hoping maybe he would defy his calling and turn around – running towards me while calling my name. His name escapes me in the softest whisper but it is immediately absorbed by my surroundings. My knees give in and I fall onto the ground, softly crying. Why did it have to be this way? Why was Asger given his calling outside of the village? It could have been me! It should have been me! Before I know it the tears don’t stop rolling down my cheeks and melt the snow in front of me. I don’t know how long I’ve been sitting there crying, it could be minutes, hours maybe? The sky has darkened – it had now had a shade of blue only the depths of the ocean carry – my legs manage to keep me up and the road home seems to go on forever.
When I close the door my grandpa is busy kindling the hearth so it warms the whole room. The table in the middle of the room is empty except for Asger sitting there. “Gramps, not now. I am not in the mood, you know he left and is not coming back anytime soon.” As soon as my words reached my grandpa’s ears the Asger fades until only the still air remains. “I thought it would cheer you up. I know how close you two were, and how much you miss him. It reminds me of the time your grandmother left me.” His back is still turned, though I know how much this memory pains him. Crossing the room the warmth from the hearth is pleasant, covering up the ice-cold sense of loneliness. When I reach grandpa, my arms form a safety cage around him and his shoulders stop shuddering. “Grandma never left you.” Trying to comfort him is a hard task, he is strong in mind and body – my grandfather.
“Yes, she has. She is not with me anymore and I know that her spirit will never bond with me. I am too old.” The sorrow in his voice is obvious.
I let go and grab the little totem from the table in front of the hearth. It was my grandmother's, a wooden carving of a stag. Her gift was speaking with animals and when she passed away her spirit took on this form. I focus on the humming in my blood, wanting the power to surface. The words that come out of my mouth when I hand him the carving carry something. Something intangible that is woven in between the syllables of the words. “Nana will always be in your heart.” As they reach my grandfather his eyes go white for a second and then return to their usual shape and color. He sighs and grabs the carving and sighs. “I know you’re still with me. You will always be here.” He puts the carving back on the table and looks at me, his eyes filled with tears. “Thank you.” I smile and climb the stairs to the wooden flooring covering half of the hut. There isn’t much up here, just a bed and a chest with my belongings. A single book is located next to my pillow, it is about my gift. It says that my gift is powerful and if cultivated people will not even notice that I am planting thoughts in their minds that aren’t even theirs. The emptiness in me still isn’t gone and every thought reminds me of my dear friend. The smooth skin, the mesmerizing patterns, his blond hair and green eyes filled with happiness, his muscular build and the rough touch of his lips. I let myself fall on the bed, closing my eyes and hoping to find him next to me when I wake.
Morning arrives and I keep my eyes closed, hoping Asger will be there and give me a hug. It never comes. The disappointment and sadness spread through my body as a mold on rotting fruit. Life goes on, but that doesn’t mean it has to go on without him – or does it? Doubt springs to my mind. “Arkyn, come. Breakfast is done.” Grandpa’s voice bears no sadness anymore, it seems like my powers have worked. Although this brings me happiness, I cannot get a grip on it and pull it towards me. Getting down is a very slow process as if everything happens in a dimension where the flow of time is much slower than in my world. When I get down, grandpa already started eating. “Couldn’t you wait for me?” A smile forms on my face and a little bit of the lost happiness returns.
“No! You were taking too long, you shouldn’t have been so slow!” He says teasingly.
“Fair, I’m going to try to be here earlier tomorrow! In fact, breakfast will be made by me tomorrow.”
“You won’t Arkyn, I know you. You always take ages to get out of bed and down. By the time you’re down here, I will have turned into a statue.” He starts laughing like it is the best joke he has heard in ages. A familiar feeling starts to rise from deep within me and soon I am laughing as well. Suddenly there is a knock on the door. “Have you invited someone over Arkyn?”
“No, I have no idea who this could be.” Who could knock on our door this early in the morning? It could be the elder, maybe even Asger’s dad. I get up, gesturing to grandpa to stay seated and open the door.
Myrial is standing in the door opening. “Good morning!” He looks past me inside the hut and greets my grandpa, then he looks at me. “Can I speak to you? I need to talk about some stuff in private.” I can’t discern from his voice why he would even want to talk to me. “Alright, let me get ready and I’ll be out in a second.”
“Alright, I’ll wait near the town center, I’ll see you in a bit.” He takes off and I close the door. I look at my gramps in expectation, hoping he caught something, he shakes his head. Even his mind-reading ability couldn’t penetrate Myrials' mind. “Go.” One word, which still means the world to me. He gave his acceptance to go, even though I’m sixteen years old grandpa cares about me. I grab my stuff. The knife from my dad before he left, the pendant from my mom and of course my hat. I say goodbye to my grandpa and open the door. When I arrive at the town center Myrial is waiting for me. He beckons me to come closer. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” He smiles and shows his teeth. “How are you holding up now that Asger is gone?” Not that again, my mind is already going over that every second of the day. “Fine,” I reply, and I am sure he noticed how snappy my response was. “Why don’t we do something fun, to get your mind off of Asger and to prepare you for your calling.” Shoot, my calling. After all the overthinking about everything, I forgot about my calling. I’m supposed to be a diplomatic leader because of my gift to put thoughts in others’ minds. It isn’t particularly exciting and to be frank I don’t want anything to do with it. “What is there to prepare? What are you planning Myrial?” I’m not quite sure what to expect. “You’ll see.” The tone in his voice is a bad omen, or at least it sounds like he is planning something that I would normally not agree on. He stretches his arms and particles start surrounding it, the particles light up. My eyes widen as I recognize the gift. “I can’t do this! I am not ready, besides I won’t have to fulfill that stupid calling until I am eighteen. Why are you already bothering me with this nonsense?!” I turn around, hoping he won’t see the tears welling up in my eyes. My legs start running towards the clearing where Asger and I first kissed. On my way, people bump into me but I don’t care and continue straight on. I reach the clearing and fall apart instantly, memories flood back. 383Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXb8MQEp6nm
My dad coming into my room when I was eight years old and showing me his gift, he called it a solar aura. It allowed him to gather the particles in the air originating from the sun and collect them around him, only to let them flare up again leaving me in awe. It was beautiful, him surrounded by these solar particles. He was the sun itself. One night he came to my room and sat on my bed and started hugging me. “I have to go, Ark, the eldest asked me to fix somethings outside the village. I won’t be long, you won’t even notice that I’m gone.” It looked like he had everything under control. “Alright Dad, when will you be back? Will you tell me everything?” I remember being excited about all the adventures my dad was about to embark on. “Of course, my little Viking. You will be the very first to hear everything. Sleep tight” He hugged me tight and kissed me on the forehead one last time and he was gone. 383Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXXV3CxIH4Y
But now that Myrial has this ability that means - I clench my hands into fists, my nails digging into my flesh ignoring the pain and blood. That means my dad is dead. Everything is falling apart. My dad gone, Asger gone and nobody to comfort me. I curl up on the ice-cold perm frosted ground and let the tears burning in my eyes roll over my cheeks without holding back. I just want everything to be over. 383Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN7wbkRL8It
I wake from the cold, my mind still foggy from this morning. What time is it? I should have been home by now, I try to stand up and after a few attempts, my legs work again. I stumble back in the direction of the village and when I arrive there is a silhouette by my front door. Fear assassinates me and sweat starts forming on my forehead, who could that be. Only one way to find out. I continue forward with cautious steps and recognize Myrial standing there. He doesn’t look too happy about what happened, Myrial steps from outside the shadows. “Hello, Arkyn.” His voice is cold and raw, what happened to the nice, friendly, helpful boy? He stretches his arms forward and the particles start to glow. No, not now. What have I done wrong? “What is wrong?” I manage to squeeze the words out although fear dominates my body right now. The darkness in Myrial’s eyes doesn’t disappear as the glow around his arms starts to brighten even more. The brightness hurts my eyes. “Is the sun already getting too bright for you?” He starts walking towards me with his arms stretched out. I close my eyes while panic washes all over me. “I don’t want to do this, Myrial!” My voice comes out desperate and without looking I know the devilish smile of Myrial has grown even bigger. In a last attempt to save myself from being blinded I summon the power inside me. There is a slight tingling in my mouth as I speak the words. “Myrial, son of the lumberjack, lower your arms and step back.” The resoluteness in my voice surprises even me and I dare open my eyes a bit. Through my narrowed eyes I see the familiar white take over the eyes of my fellow villager. A few seconds later he lowers his arms and takes a few steps back while maintaining eye contact. The moment the last particle extinguished, I open my eyes completely. “Myrial, what were you doing!? Are you out of your mind?! You could have hurt me” My voice raises in volume as I notice the anger rising in me. He shakes his head and chuckles. “Don’t you know that I would have never hurt you, Arkyn.” The fear in me is now completely gone and replaced with anger. In the darkness, I can’t get a good look on his face but I’m sure I see a bit of hesitation. He turns around and walks away, casually raising a hand as a sign of goodbye. The anger slowly fades and only now I realize how tired I am. Guess using my power still takes a lot of energy out of me. Carefully opening the door so I won’t wake grandpa I get in the hut and tiptoe to my bed. I allow the fatigue to take over my body and welcome the darkness with open arms.
Grandpa wakes me up. “Arkyn, weren’t you supposed to make me breakfast today?” I shoot up. Oh no, I forgot. Why am I so stupid?! I sprint downstairs, only to find a table with breakfast. Grandpa gets down and laughs. “I already thought it would be like this. You weren’t here yesterday, tough day?” I silently thank him for not being too curious about it. “Yeah, I walked a bit in the woods and fell asleep.” He nods, thank god, he didn’t start about Myrial. We eat in silence, although I don’t talk to him thoughts come and go in my head. What happened to Myrial last night? Why did he act so strangely? I finish breakfast, kiss my grandpa goodbye and wish him a good day. “Will you be here for dinner?” I hear this just before I am out of reach. “Don’t count on it!” I reply. My first goal for today is trying to find out why Myrial acted so weird last night. The will to confront him doesn’t dominate my mind but I convince myself to push forward. I make my way over to the lumberjacks house and knock on the door. Beat. Beat. Beat. Beat. The door creaks open revealing a pair of concerned eyes. “Good morning, my name is Arkyn and I’m looking for Myrial.” The words come out sure, though the opposite is very much true. There’s a flash of recognition in the eyes and the door completely opens, uncovering a young boy with gray hair and brown eyes. They look at me patiently. I have never seen this boy before, the thought flashes through me in an instant. Before my body can react a silver liquid-like substance flows into the boy’s hands and solidifies into what looks like a spear, his eyes lock onto mine and in a fluid motion, he extends his arms. I barely manage to duck away – avoiding the spear with only a hairs length – and look at the boy with disbelief. Who is this boy? What did he do in the lumberjacks’ house? Questions I don’t know the answer to but appear in my head. As I focus on the rushing of blood in my veins, the boy on the threshold continues trying to stab me in my stomach. What is he aiming for? As I collect the power and form them into words, the familiar tingling is almost unbearable as the wanting to speak the words fills my whole body. “Lower your weapon, child.” I notice my empowered words are formal in comparison to my everyday use of the words. To my surprise, I don’t see the soothing white wash over the kid’s eyes and panic starts to make itself master over my body. “I know you would do that. You’re so predictable and easily panicked. Two times you already tried, although you did handle it pretty well.” His voice sounds mocking and he smirks. I can feel the contents of my stomach rising and burning in my throat. “Well, it’s sad that your powers won’t do anything now.” His voice sounds different. Deeper. I have no chance to think about it for the spear sends me back to the harsh reality, it is no longer in the hands of the boy. It rests in my stomach now. I fall on my knees and hit the ground, before the world goes dark I catch the boy running off, his silver hair waving in the wind as he makes one final sign – a raised hand.383Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh0M2VgoBkK
My eyes open and I find myself in a landscape made of white, as far as the eye can see. Although there is something in the distance. I push myself up ignoring the burning pain in my stomach and look down to see how bad it is. Blood is dripping on the white ground leaving behind an incredible deep red stain. A hiss escapes through my clenched teeth as I battle the pain while trying to advance in this endless space of whiteness. The figure seems not to come any closer, no matter how hard I try. My legs give in and the pain overwhelms me as I once again enter the welcoming dimension of darkness. 383Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIx86tcZ2w
