Beginnings
805 AD
Two males of Nordic lineage barley in their adult winters lay low in in wait somewhere in the icy fields of the fjord as quiet as the night sky that covered their hiding spot. Their tunics of wolf’s fur and cow hide lightly covered in a fresh powder of snow indicating the wait that they have endured in order to remain unseen from the elk’s eyes that they had been stalking for their family’s super.
“Easy does it Yigrain” whispered a man known as Yardrel to his younger brother.
“May Odin bless our blades this day so that we won’t bear the wrath of mother should we blunder another hunt.” He continued in a hushed tone to his brother.
The two brothers slinked their way closer to a nearby shrubbery covered in berries in the hopes of maintaining a downwind position of the elk.
“Hey now, that business with the boar was your blunder brother” Yigrain started in a snide manner “Had Thor not intervened in the manner he did with that strike of lighting, we would have gone hungry that night, so try not to rope me into your failings”
Yardrel gave a light chuckle and replied “and who’s fault was it exactly shortly thereafter dropping said boar down Old Crows cliff when he was ill paying attention as to where he was going hmm?”
Yigrain scrunched up his face for a moment then gave a slight smirk “now brother it is neither here nor there, we mustn’t dwell on past failings, however, if it’s all the same to you, I’ll let you take point on this one”
Yardrel crept closer to a slight opening of the shrubbery that they inhabited for this hunt, as he reached into his hide pouch, he noticed the elk perk its ears up in a quick fashion, almost as if the slight rustle of Yardrel reaching into his pouch alerted it, it scampered away with haste.
Yigrain gave a chuckle “oh Odin’s beard this will be a grand story to tell on how the famed elder brother caught a great meal for the family…. oh wait.”
Yardrel covered Yigrain’s mouth and hushed him “hush brother” in a dull voice “that was not of my doing, something spooked it, have care brother, I will not be here all the time to save your hide on a hunt”
Moments had passed before the brothers realised it was all clear, they stood up from the cover of the bush they were concealed in, brushing themselves off of the coating of snow they made their way without a bounty for dinner, dragging their feet and walking in silence through the valley back towards their village, until, the silence was broken by Yigrain trying to ease the tension by asking his older brother “Odin knows how mother will scold us for blundering a hunt” Yardrel gave a slight chuckle “I haven’t a clue, however I dare say it won’t go away anytime soon, mind you, mother is a kind soul when she chooses to be, odds are, she will make us chop fire wood for a whole day, I wonder though if she’d—“ Yardrel’s words were cut abruptly short as they came to a clearing that overlooked their village of Trajagorn.
Yigrain replied with “mother would? why’d you stop brother?” as he was saying this he bumped into his brother and turned his gaze in line with that of his brothers, his face turned from one of jovial expression to sheer horror and sadness. The brothers had stumbled over the crest to only to find their village in ruins as it burned a harsh read and green flame while the screams of the villagers were still heard and the clash of swords echoed the valley indicating that their home was currently being raided.
Yigrain in a shaky voice “broth…brother? Who is doing this??? What are we to do???”
With his fists shaking in a combination of disbelief and anger Yardrel gave a slight snarl followed by a single word that echoed the valley “VOLDRESH!!” the moment he uttered those words his body started to change and within an instant his clothes dropped to the ground as his human form changed into a larger than average raven with feathers as black as night. Startled in disbelief Yigrain took a few paces back “Ya…Yardrel? What sorcery is this?? are you agent of Hel?” after the question was proposed to this large bird there was no words as such spoken, but Yigrain heard his brothers voice as an echo through his head.
“Brother, I will explain all after we save mother, gather your courage and jump on my back, we shall make safe mother and all we can, together as Odin as my witness”
Yigrain closed his eyes as he took a breath in and opened them whilst exhaling as he walked towards his brother despite still having reservations that this monstrous sized raven was still his brother. Yigrain mounted the raven, his feet placed in the crook of the bird’s wings, leaning his upper body closer towards its head, clutching at the black feathers for safety. Yardrel’s wings began to unfurl and reveal the size of the wingspan being 3 meters long.
“Hold on tight…” Yardrel telepathically said to his obviously frightened younger brother.
With that, the raven flapped his wings once, the snow covered ground quickly turned into a white powder surrounding them and with unnatural speed they ascended into the sky. The brothers hovered in mid air for a moment, Yigrain looked frantically for any sign of their mother amongst the chaos of the battle ravaged village.
"THERE!" Yigrain pointed almost falling off the raven form of his brother.
"Here we go" the moment Yardrel said that he gave one mighty flap of his wings and descended toward the village as if Hermod himself gave Yardrel speed as he tucked his wings in to give him even more speed on the decent to the village. Yigrain was struggling
to maintain a grip on the feathers of his brother, as they sped down Yigrain could hear a increasingly loud whistle as they moved closer to the ground.
