Chapter 5 #2
Looking down at my feet, the bones between the heel and toes begin to elongate too.
My vision goes blurry, but only for a moment before coming back sharper, crisper. I can see things in much better detail than before and I can now spot things that are hundreds of yards away like they are right in front of me.
“Serafine, stop,” my wolf yells, catching Frida by surprise or at least I thought as she stands up dropping her guard.
“How did you know my wolf’s name?” Frida asks.
“Serafine, don’t you remember me? It’s Fenrir,” my wolf, I mean Fenrir, asks.
Stepping forward she reaches for us, “It can’t be… I watched you die, this isn’t possible,” Serafine, taking control, responded in disbelief.
Again I hear Frida’s voice. “Serafine what are you doing? Who is Fenrir?” she shouts, trying to regain control, but Serafine’s emotions are overwhelming her as she runs up to us, and our embrace is that of kindred spirits. I have no fucking clue what is happening.
“It’s been a long time, but somehow I’m back,” Fenrir tells her, holding on tight. As they both settle in the embrace, allowing Frida and I to regain control and shift back. Still embarrassing, we quickly realize what’s going on and we both retreat a little.
“Well that was fucking weird,” Achilles shouts. “Frida what the hell happened? It’s been centuries since you’ve lost control of Serafine.”
“I have no idea Serafine saw Evander’s wolf, and when he said Fenrir she lost control and took over. That has never happened before,” she replies confused.
“I remember a person, must have been more than two thousand years ago, his wolf was named Fenrir. He died in battle fighting against Satan himself, so I thought he and Fenrir were obliterated. Maybe I was wrong, we will see,” Achilles mutters with a weary tone.
“Well you were able to shift, not the way we had hoped but you still did. Just remember this if you and Fenrir are in sync with each other, the transformation becomes, well kinda like sex; it gets easier, less painful and even fun the more you do it,” Frida replies, blushing a little.
“What does she mean fun?”
“I mean that the more you transform the less it hurts, the faster you can transform and like with what Perseus did you can make the transformation fun. As soon as he started to transform he attacked. That red mist you saw was his skin disintegrating from the power of his attack,” she continued.
“I think I get it now, I can communicate with my thoughts to other wolves and with Fenrir.”
“Hey, look at the big brains on Fido here,” she snickers. “Now that you have figured out how to transform… kind of, try turning back. All you have to do is embrace the rage and get in sync with Fenrir and you will change back.”
“But it wasn’t anger or rage when I shifted. What was that?”
Trying to embrace the anger I felt when I fought that demon, control it, I feel Fenrir fighting me and try to take over. He is fighting me so hard, he is so powerful. I grab my head and violently shake it back and forth, trying to keep in control.
Frida sees this and quickly runs over to me. My vision narrows as Fenrir takes over, all of my muscles tense and I begin to violently throw myself about trying to regain control. My scream turns into a howl as Frida reaches me and grabs my maw, forcing me to look at her.
Her hand gently caresses the side of my face and Fenrir’s rage forces me to swing at her. She ducks quickly out of the way and places her hand on my face again.
This time I’m able to make eye contact and her deep green gaze anchors and entrances me.
Then I feel it, the rage begins to subside and I fade back into my human form.
“There you go, come back to us,” Frida says in a soothing voice.
“Not bad, Evander, not bad, but that’s enough for today. Go get some food and rest. Frida, show Evander where the banquet hall is,” Achilles says just before he walks away.
“Come on, let’s go get some food,” Frida says, taking my hand.
“Good, because I’m starving. Wait, why am I hungry and why do I need to sleep, aren’t I dead?” I ask, confused.
“Yes you died, but when you were given your power, God resurrected you in your healed body. That is why you’re not just a formless spirit floating around.
And just like on Earth you will get fatigued, hungry and tired.
Also eating and sleeping increases the effects of your healing ability.
So let’s go, they have anything and everything that you could hope for. ”
Grabbing my arm now, she leads me from the training ground, through a golden archway, to what looks like a hanging garden with huge tables throughout. We sit down and a drinking horn suddenly appears in Frida’s hand.
“How the hell did you do that?”
“You’re in Heaven still. If you want something to eat or drink just think about what it is specifically and it will appear,” she replies.
Okay, then. I want an Angry Orchard with ricotta stuffed manicotti, marinara sauce, green beans and garlic bread. I think, and just like that it appears in front of me.
I can’t believe it. I pick up the knife and fork, cutting into it, seeing the steam pour out. I raise the manicotti to my mouth and as soon as it touches my tongue, it hits me, this is real and fucking delicious.
Grabbing the cider, I take a swig and as it hits my mouth, I feel like I’m back home, hanging out with my friends, having a good time.
“That looks good, whatcha got there?”
“This is one of my favorite meals that I used to have when I would get back to the States after a deployment,” I reply.
“What kind of a drink is that?”
“It’s a hard cider. Here try some,” I say as I hand her the bottle. She looks at it and takes a drink, then shakes her head.
“Nope, not for me. Here try mine,” she says as she hands me her drinking horn.
I’ve never drunk from a horn before, but what the hell, why not. Raising it to my lips, the liquid hits my tongue and it has a sweet taste to it that is really nice and refreshing.
“That’s a honey mead that we made in my home Birka,” Frida says as I return it to her.
“It’s not bad, a little sweet for me, but good.” I grab my cider again and take a sip.
We continue eating and discuss our favorite foods as we share stories about all of the different things that we did in our past lives.
I learned that she was a Viking when she lived on Earth. The thing that surprised me the most was that she had been to North America just centuries before I was born. And she died in England when her raiding party was ambushed by Englishmen, as they were outnumbered ten to one.
When she died, Uriel greeted her as Thor and welcomed her to Valhalla and she has been fighting back demonic hordes ever since.
She also told me all about Fenrir and how he is one of the most ferocious Gods in her religion. While she is telling me all about this, he keeps chiming in arguing with her about his past.
After we finish eating, she walks with me back to my room. When I open the door, she grabs my hand.
“That dinner was the most fun I’ve had in a long time,” she says as she looks deep into my eyes. Before I can say anything she leans in and kisses me on the cheek.
“I’ll see you tomorrow for training. Get some sleep.”
“I’ll see you tomorrow then,” I reply, smiling as she lets go of me and walks away. Slowly turning, I walk into my room and fall onto the bed with a sigh, then yawn.
What a crazy fucking day that was, crosses my mind as I drift off to sleep.