Long Road Home

Aesir stretched, groaning until several glorious pops spread up along his spine and shoulders, and rounded the motion out with a sigh. It was now summer, or at least he was pretty sure it was summer, but the climate seemed to believe otherwise. At best he would call it a dreary ash-coated spring. The prey was sparse and flighty, wolves walked the lands with a gaunt, fearful look in their eye, and he spent his every waking moment looking over his shoulder. Aesir was eagerly hoping to find a familiar face, and... somewhat worried about the consequences that would befall him when he finally did.

It had been a long time since he last found himself in familiar territory. Even though he could not recall ever being here specifically he knew he was at least back in Boreas. The realm had changed significantly in his seasons away, due in large part to the damned volcano that had decided to spill its guts out over the countryside. Plants had withered, creatures had fled, and the closer he drew to Mt. Volkan the more radically altered his surroundings seemed to have become. It was hard to get his bearings.

He had left this realm for reasons that he was still trying to process. Once he'd discovered that his brothers had disappeared Aesir feared the worst. They had always stuck by one another. Even if one wandered afield for a short time they always came back. Always. The weight of the curse hanging over them generated far too much fear and worry to allow any alternatives. The idea that they might see one another for the last time, never knowing that it would be the last time, and as young as they were... Well, suffice to say it had given the antlered male his share of nightmares. When he'd been waylaid in his search, forced afield for so much longer than he'd ever anticipated he began to wonder. Would it be him? The sibling who vanished one day and just never returned?

In the end, despite sickness and injury, he found his way home at last. He prayed to the very gods he despised that he would find Halvar and Kvasir waiting for him. He prayed too that they would do so before Valkyrie. As certain as he was that his brothers might very well bite off an ear, he felt no shred of doubt that Valk might very well flay them all, so there would be strength in numbers. He gulped as a series of gruesome images flit past behind eyes. Yeah... Mission: find brothers, then find Valk... Hopefully in that order.

"Aesir Speaks" "Aesir Listens" Aesir Thinks