“I remember being alone, cold and hungry. Just me and my axe. It was quite a frigid night!” a voice recalled. “All of a sudden, I hear a howl! Before I knew it, I was surrounded by the beasts! Their eyes glowed, their mouths watered, craving my flesh!”

  “Then what happened?” a young girl asked.

  “I mustered up the last of my strength and raised by axe. I stared back at the leader of the wolf pack and I shouted “MY WILL TO LIVE IS GREATER THAN YOUR HUNGER!” the voice said.

  “Is that how you got the scar on your arm?” another young girl asked.

  “Aye, my inquisitive dóttir. Before the battle got worse, I was saved! Precise arrows rained down from the heavens themselves! I look up and see a fire haired goddess standing tall.”

  “Móeir!” a third little girl added.

  “Yes, that, is how I met her. After a long courtship, we wed. We loved eachother very much. And when I found out she was with child, I felt I could take on Thor himself!” the man said, tucking the three girls under a thick, woolen blanket. “Sadly, her greatest battle would take her. While giving birth to you three, she had to choose. Her life, or yours. Her beautiful heart was so large, it was split into three and I was blessed with all of you.”

  He looked down at the three identical girls, with hair as fiery as their mothers. He kissed each of their foreheads as they slowly dozed off. Torvald Gunnarson was a large man. A warrior on respite, as his daughters needed to be raised. He too, was covered in thick red hair and an ever-thicker beard. He quietly stood to his feet and walked to the door of his longhouse.

  He stepped outside into the crisp, night air. His only company was the white breath escaping his mouth, cooler than normal for this time of year. He thought back to the unexplainable lights that shot around in the heavens a few nights ago, still heavy on his mind. His eyes then looked over at the unfinished well he knew he’d have to tackle tomorrow. A closer water source meant he would not need to walk kilometers for just two large buckets. This was a harder task, but completely worth the trouble. One issue that prevented him from completing it alone was the rocky soil. Some small, some very large. In fact, such a stone was preventing access. Luckily, Einar, an old skjaldbroeir would be coming by to assist.

  “One more thing to conquer,” he said to himself.

  He retired for the night. Before laying down, he looked at his daughters one last time before sleeping. Torvald had many raids and battles under his belt. He could kill a deer and skin it before it even knew it was dead. None of his campaigns and hunts could have prepared him for raising children on his own. But like everything he has tried before, he excelled. Their bellies are always full, they are always warm and never thirsty. He learned to braid hair, specifically to keep theirs managed.

  He often dreams of the day they are old enough to hold a bow or a sword, so he can teach them how to be self-reliant. As it stood now, no one's son would be good enough for them when they reached adulthood, but he knew it was his overprotective nature influencing these thoughts. Still, it is important to learn to defend yourself, especially any children they may have. His thoughts slowed as his eyes grew heavy and dozed off.

  ***

  The sound of a rooster crowing woke Torvald from his slumber. He sat up and looked over at his daughters. They were already awake, quietly practicing braiding on eachothers hair. He greeted them, then started breakfast. A nice, hot porridge for them and reheated dinner from the previous night for him.

  They enjoyed their breakfast together, Torvald finishing first. He waited for his daughters, because they enjoyed helping him feed and brush his horse. While performing chores, Einar appeared with his own horse and daughter behind him.

  “Einar, welcome! Thank you again for helping me,” Torvald said.

  “Oh, it is never an issue, my friend! Embla, go play with your friends while we work,” he said.

  They watched the young girl run toward the triplets and embrace each other. Einar hitched his horse and together, they walked over to the unfinished well. They both looked down the muddy hole and saw a stone overhanging, blocking the path to water, which could be heard underneath.

  “How far does it go down below the stone?”

  “I’m not sure. Whoever lived here before started this, but it is easy to see why it was abandoned.”

  “Let’s get to work, I’d like to give you some of the mead I have been brewing when we finish!”

  The aging warriors got to work. Using their horses and rope and other ship scavenged items to create a rudimentary pulley system. The horses were readied by Einar, while Torvald stood near the hold to keep watch. With a hand signal, he instructed the horses to pull. He could see the stone begin to lift and shot Einar a smile.

  The stone moved further upward, shifting the ground. Torvald made sure Einar knew to keep going. He shot his hand up, which Einar mistook as a signal to pull harder. With a snap of their reins, the horses increased their speed and force. The ground around him cracked and shifted further. Torvald looked up in surprise, but before he could stop Einar, the ground below him gave.

  He fell down the hole, trying to grab onto the near-vertical stone. His weight caused it to shift and follow him below. He landed on his back and braced himself for impact by putting his arms in front of his fact. In that moment, his deceased wife and his daughters flashed through his mind. He was also saddened he would never see valhalla and rejoin his fallen shield-brothers.

  He laid there, a few seconds passed, and he felt nothing. He slowly opened his eyes and moved his arms. His body involuntarily sat up in shock to see the stone frozen above him.

  “Bor’s bones! Jartegn, right before my very eyes! Odin surely watches over me!” he said.

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  He began climbing out of the hole, finally making it to the top. He turned toward Einar, who stood still with a fearful panic on his face.

  “That was a close one, old friend!” he said.

  Torvald stared at his motionless friend with a strange expression. He looked at the horses, his own steed frozen mid-rear. He walked over to him, placing his hand on his shoulder.

  “Einar? What manner of sorcery is this?”

  He walked around, inspecting the horses. He looked over at the girls, stiff while feeding the chickens.

  “What is going on, have I passed on? Is this the transition to Helheim?”

  Torvald touched his horse and began to ponder his scenario and question his reality. Just as he tried walking over to his girls, a random explosion caused him to nearly jump out of his skin.

  “Heimdall’s eyes! What is that!”

  He observed an unidentified contraption flying erratically through the sky like a drunk raven. Underneath it, appeared to be a figure in all black holding on. Torvald observed it change course to the direction of his small farm. He sprang into action and ran into his home to retrieve his trusty axe, blood-letter, and stood battle-ready.

  The flying vehicle lowered, skidding across the ground and emitted a brilliant display of sparks. The blackened figure was flung forward, rolling to a stop mere meters from Torvald. He tightened his grip around his weapon and walked over to the being.

  It was unlike anything he had ever seen before. No face, entirely pitch-black and covered in spikes. It laid there lifeless, but Torvald knew better than to let down his guard. The vehicle hissed and the doors opened.

  “Wings…like a dragon?” he whispered to himself.

  Torvald watched as something emerged from its left side. It was oval in shape, from his distance, almost egg-like.

  “By the Bifrost! It’s laying an egg!”

  He cautiously walked over to the fallen ‘creature’ and its egg, holding his axe ready.

  Grygglebee rubbed his temples.

  “Ugh, my everything hurts! Jacob, are you and Mimi okay?”

  “Yeah, we’re okay. I’m gonna leave her in here,” he said, exiting the vehicle.

  The cog smith removed his calibration device and closed the door. He walked around the front of the craft, looking at the damage. Smoking black holes were along the side.

  “Grygglebee…” Jacob said pointing forward, “Look…”

  It was a three-way stare down between Grygglebee, Jacob and Torvald. He was just as wide-eyed as them, with his hands gripping his axe. Jacob was a child in his eyes but wearing strange attire. Grygglebee was, well, there was no explanation for him he could even think of.

  “From where do you hail?” Torvald demanded.

  Jacob looked at Grygglebee, then back at the large Norseman.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t understand…” Jacob said.

  “We are obviously not from around here, but fear not. We come in peace!” Grygglebee said in his language.

  With a surprised expression, Torvald lowered his axe and slowly walked over to them.

  “Are you responsible for this?!!” he shouted.

  “Grygglebee…he seems angry…” Jacob said.

  “What manner of beast is that?!” Torvald yelled.

  Grygglebee fiddled with his device, navigating to a translation program to identify his language.

  “I’m working on understanding him! Just need him to say one more sentence to calibrate…” the cog smith said.

  “Why are we the only unfrozen!?” Torvald said.

  Grygglebee’s device calibrated and translated successfully. He and Jacob’s eyes met, then gazed back at the ancient warrior.

  “According to the program, it’s ‘old Norse’ a long-dead language,” he said as he lifted his device up to his mouth slowly. "We are trying to figure this out, please remain calm…” he spoke into the program, which translated back.

  Torvald’s eyes widened.

  “What sorcery?!”

  “It’s not sorcery, it’s technology! I can help, but you must calm down!” Grygglebee said.

  “Help? Can you defrost my daughters?!” the warrior asked in a hopeful tone.

  “Take me to them…”

  Torvald led the pair to his small farm, not too far away. Such as with Jacob’s timeline, everyone and everything was frozen in place. Grygglebee opened his scanner program and noticed the same type of fast blinking anomaly was nearby. He tracked it to a hole in the ground and looked down.

  “That well is where I crawled from and found everyone like this…” Torvald said.

  Grygglebee looked up from his screen and eyed the worried warrior. He turned his attention to Jacob, then the well.

  “What exactly happened down there?” Grygglebee asked.

  “We were trying to remove a stone obstruction. It caused the ground to shift, sending me down. The stone almost became my undoing, were it not for the freeze.”

  “The stone froze too?”

  “Yes, right at the point of impact!”

  Jacob whistled in disbelief, catching Grygglebee’s attention.

  “Jacob why exactly were you in the hospital?” he asked.

  Jacob pondered for a moment.

  “I can’t remember why, honestly. The last thing I remember was trying to save Mimi…I must have gotten hit by a car…” he said.

  The cog smith pondered for a moment.

  “I think you two are ‘unfrozen’ because whatever is happening, happened at the point of your…well…”

  “Well, what?” Jacob asked.

  “Um…deaths…” Grygglebee said solemnly.

  Jacob felt the air escape his lungs and hunched over, placing his hands on his knees. Torvald turned to his daughters, nearly shedding a tear at the revelation.

  “Wait, but I was in the hospital!” Jacob said.

  “It is possible, based on what I know of your timeline, emergency services may have revived you. But judging by all of your loved ones being there, I surmise your life was ending there.”

  “Oh my gosh…I need to sit down…”

  A frown grew on Grygglebee’s furry face. He never had to deal with mortals before, let alone a mortal acknowledging their own mortality. He watched Torvald walk into his home and wondered what to say next.

  “Say, remember when you asked to accompany me? Well, I am off to see the King. Maybe, I can put in a good word for you guys. Get you a redo or something?”

  Jacob looked up, his eyes slowly shifting around in thought.

  “You think that’s possible?”

  “Y..yeah man, look around. What isn’t possible at this point? Look, you’ve been a huge help, I’m sure that has to mean something!”

  Jacob beamed a hopeful smile and stood to his feet.

  “You’re right! I’ll talk to him myself and plead my case!”

  Before Jacob could even celebrate the idea, he was interrupted by the stone from the well exploding into the air. Torvald ran out of his home with his axe and sword in hand. From the well, three spike-covered shadow entities.

  “Aw man, is this going to be at every gate!?” Jacob shouted.

  “What are these!?” Torvald shouted.

  “I do not know, at least not yet! But we have to go!” he said running back to his chariot.

  “Wait, my daughters! My friend and his daughter!” Torvald yelled.

  “They will be safe! They only seek out the ‘unfrozen’!” Grygglebee yelled back.

  Torvald looked at his children, then back at the faceless threats and followed. Jacob opened the door for the warrior as he caught up. A fourth shadow jumped into the clearing and ran straight to the raider, with a tendril aimed straight for his stomach. Torvald countered with the sword in his left hand, bringing down his axe with his right hand, cleaving it in two. The group watched as it shattered like glass.

  “Whoa!” Jacob shouted in awe.

  Before Torvald could turn and face the others, the pieces began to clump together. Torvald sheathed his sword and ran toward the chariot and jumped in.

  “Get in!” Jacob shouted and closed the door.

  Grygglebee started the engines, noticing the hesitation as it rose off the ground. He navigated toward the well, positioning the craft right over it.

  “I have read sagas less fantastic than this. No one would ever believe I rode in a dragon!” Torvald said. “Are you sure my daughters will be safe?”

  “I guarantee it! Or you can chop me in half yourself!” he said while leveling the chariot toward the gate. It reflected a desert wasteland, and like before, they had no idea what to expect. He looked over to the left and saw the entities returning to hunt them. The cog smith plunged the lever forward, sending the craft hurtling toward it.