Child Of Two Afterlives
Darkness parted way, as the child disappeared into true nothingness for a moment. She felt a pull, something in her soul as she looked in the darkness. Death was a first for her; at least that she recalled. It was cold, but there was something. A faint light in the dark. Her father's blade was nowhere to be found; but in her hand she usually wielded it was the source of that light. Faint. But warm. Accepting. It felt like the warmth of her father's arms around her, and as she looked at it, it spread. The light spreading through the dark abyss around her.
The warmth made her want to curl up, made her want to stop. It made her happy, as heat washed over her, as love washed over her. It was like everything was right in the world for once, like she wasn't judged, hated, like she wasn't failing to be who her family wanted her to be, like she was whole, complete. It was everything her Father promised her, when he taught her of his God. Of why his faith was so strong, even so far from home. In a moment's hesitation she almost abandoned everything; embracing the foreign, comfortable feeling.
Behind her was the void. Empty. Waiting. It was cold, it was dark, and it was the home of her Mother. No god waited for her, for it was not her Fated Day. And for a moment she knew that her choice today was final - there would be no second chance. She was not worthy of her Father's afterlife, she was not worthy of the heavens he resided in. She was not faithful, she was not kind, she was not without desire. The idea that she might be offered entrance was a shocking revelation. But the offer was made, by a being of boundless kindness. That sought a daughter from a foreign land. Once, and once only. For his Faithful did not Die and Live again - not as she could.
Her soul would find eternal rest, eternal peace if she accepted it. She would find the joys of the Heaven her Father promised awaited him. She would find him; ready to embrace her once more in the warmth of his love. All she had to do was reach out to the light, and embrace it.
But her path still had steps on it.
And so she turned away.
Odr flooding her soul in that moment, as she felt the pain of a thousand branding irons on every inch of her incorporeal form. As sensation flooded back.
To be Norse was to Live. Through suffering, through pain, through tragedy, through loss - until your Fated Day came. She was the daughter of Khair. But she was also the daughter of Revna, Skald borne of Gotland, who embraced her ending only when she knew the time had come.
She could not stain her Mother's memory by leaving before her time was up.
--------
As her soul was shocked awakened by the Odr of the Seeress, she gasped for air - desperate as her whole body shook awake from the second most permanent sleep. As she tried to get her bearings, Something stirred inside her, and she felt a tear form at her eye - not from the pain, but from a sense of loss. A sense that she could not place, as she remembered the last thoughts she had - the raising of her blade, the release of her self, the embracing of whom she was in that moment.
The single tear drop fell to the ground as she gave her thanks to the Seeress in a single bow. It was not out of gratefulness, she thought, nor was it fear that made the tear form. It was something more core to her, something she felt a true loss for, as complete as the loss of her parents. But only silence greeted her as she tried to find why.
But some reason, the sword in her hand felt heavy, as she gathered it. Like it was part of what she was missing.
But she could not place it.
Hope this is a fine Omake, IF. Had the idea and wanted to post it.
