I awoke, alarmingly uncomfortable within water. I had forgotten I had slept there, whilst leaving Aegle last night... the air howled above me. The sign a storm may be coming...
I stood, my parted gold fur dripping, I could feel my skin wrinkled, and a cough began in my throat that told me of my foolish place to rest. Tiredly I lifted my feet, and stumbled onto the bank where I rested my head in the sunlight for a few minutes... my bag of runes was soaked. My only piece of home. My beloved villiage, and my altar... my love to whom I will never see again. She would think me to be dead... he golden hair twisted around me in a memory, shimmering golden braids and pale blue eyes watched me lovingly. I could not have been with her...
A run began in my noze, and I sneezed. My body began to quiver with a chill in the sunlight. The cold was not on me it was in me... what a strange feeling. I had seen others from a distance, sleep in the water for hours on end, and never be cold. I was still vulnerable to this place, and everyone within it... I was still, human . A joyous swell within me made me want to cry out, to know that was still part human... I was still Odin ... but I held it in... Shrinking at the thought of something even bigger than I discovering me. What would I do then?
A few more moments passed, and then only the ends of my hair were wet, and I thought perhaps they would dry if I ran. I picked a silent spot, where it was flat and I was able to run long distances without anyone seeing me.
No one is here. my ears told me. And so I bolted, feeling my new lungs pump the fresh morning air into my body... the wind above me raced among the leaves, who cheered with an earthy voice.
Run. Run, Odin! Race the wind! My ears folded behind me, and the weight of my antlers became heavier, and my knees began to ache, yet my spirit was kicking inside of me to just run. Not from anything, for the first time... but just because I had the strength to.
Stop. Stop Odin! Someone approaches! the trees hissed to me as I raced them by. Their branches now held out to me, to catch me. To slow me down. How could I? How do I stop?
A fawn ran from behind a large maple, and stopped within my path. My hooves scraped at the hard-packed dirt, and dust flew behind me in a cloud. My knees buckled under my own weight, and I righted myself, hanging my head.
"I- I'm sorry, little one. My actions have done you no good! Please forgive me." The little thing let out a cry, and as I approached the little thing curled into a small oval, and shut its eyes. My mind raced.
What have you done? Timidly I stepped forward, sniffing the air around it. It's heartbeat pulsed into the air. It was still breathing... I let out a deep sigh of relief.
A clearing came before me now. The sun peeked through the leaves that were pulsing with life, the same as I. The bug crawling on the ground in front of me, was the same. The will to live, everything shared. It seemed not to make everything so scary somehow as these thoughts came racing in... The trees that moaned and spoke to me, when the wind caught them held their aura of life also. Everything was one. Part of an in-escapable dance... a place in the universe, shimmering as one.
I pulled off my bag of runes, and spilled them out on the ground.
Runes of everything sacred. Tell me now what I'm to know for the days and weeks ahead. I reached down, scooped up on rune, overturned it, and there was Berkana , the rune of birth and growth. In the shape of a pointed "B"... Telling me everything has a beginning and an end... I heard it speak.
Odin...Odin. In the coming days, you will change. You heart and mind will begin a new path. hear my words and be open... Be clear, and controlled. I shut my eyes, not pleased with the Rune's words... I would not question them, but only accept their voice. I decided not to draw another, for fear of insulting the Rune's message.
Not too far away, the Great Oak loomed. The words of the Old Norse chant came back to me now... Everything spun in a dance around me, and the wind pushed my legs to approach it.
I know I hung on that windy tree.
Swung there for nine long nights,
Wounded by my own blade,
Bloodied for Odin,
Myself an offering to myself:
Bound to the tree
That no man knows
Whither the roots of it run.
I clawed to remember the rest... the last two verses. I could have hit myself for not remembering... those words, I knew. I breathed. And now I could hardly remember who wrote them... I truly was changed .
My name... Odin. I was blessed to have such a name as my God. But something shameful stirred within my heart... I was never worthy to carry such a name. Such a mighty name, that even a Rune was named after. i was not worthy. I brough shame to it by running away, fearful of others... hiding under the branch of any tree.
I hated myself....
--------------
Does anyone know how to "indent" paragraphs? It's driving me nuts.
Thisis great!
Thisis great!
Thanks so much sweety!!