Hallowed

Ever been ripped apart, glued back together, and then crushed all in sequence before? No? Then you have no idea whatever this was felt like. My body was being torn from the area around me in a way that caused more pain than I can even begin to describe. Abby was in tears in my arms. I could only imagine that she was feeling the same pain.

I managed a look around as the world fell apart. Everyone at the party seemed calm, like nothing was happening. So calm, they didn’t even appear to be moving. Now that I think about, I don’t think they were moving, which only makes things weirder. Peering through the crowd, I noticed Ulrich lying unconscious over Cass, a 4x4 broken somewhat over his back.

I would’ve gone to help him, but I couldn’t for two reasons. I wasn’t willing to leave Abby alone, and I couldn’t move my legs. Well three if you include the fact that the frat house was falling apart around me.

Then everything was silent. A shroud of black fell over the air. Cold filled my veins. I pulled Abby into my chest and held on tight, but then she vanished in front of me.

“What the..?” I choked out, frost tipping my tongue.

The pain from before grew tenfold as the world faded, yet before I could scream out in agony, it stopped. Everything was quiet again. The air was still cold, but more like winter and less like permafrost. The light came back as well. It was dim, like a sunset, but it was nice to see.

Summoning some energy, I lifted myself from the ground and pushed my glasses back to my eyes. As the haze cleared, I saw something very off putting. I wasn’t in the frat house. I wasn’t even in a house. It was more like a hut. Walls built of thick straw, a ceiling of hay, and a floor lined with a mixture of grass and furs. It looked like it was torn out of a Renaissance fair.

Upon further wondrous looks about the hut, I noticed the others were here as well. Abby was passed out not far from me. Helen was crying on Chris’ lap, who was serious for the first time I’d ever seen him. Ulrich was checking on Cass, who had a scratch over her brow. He looked perfectly healthy, like the giant support beam hadn’t nearly broken his back.

When he saw me wake up, he walked over to me and asked, “You alright, Jimmy?”
I nodded and replied, “Yeah. What happened?”

“That’s the question of the year, man,” he joked. I couldn’t see how he had a sense of humor right now. “Can you check on Abby? I’m gonna try and figure out where we are.”

I nodded again and then crawled weakly to where Abby was. Before I reached her, Abby stirred back to the waking. “Hey. There you are,” I whispered to her.

Abby smiled, “Here I am.” I smirked and helped her sit up. “Where are we?” she asked.

“Norway,” Ulrich cut in before I could say anything.

“How could you possibly know that?” I asked. That seemed like a pretty far jump.

Ulrich looked back at me, eyes shining maliciously, and answered, “Vikings.”

“Do what?” Chris questioned.

Ulrich didn’t bother trying to explain, but instead pointed a thumb to the cloth hanging over what I imagined was the door. Me and Chris rose to our feet fast and rushed to the door. As Chris pulled the cloth aside, my heart jumped. Ulrich wasn’t lying. Vikings. Not the football team. Real beard bearing, ship sailing, plundering Vikings. And they were headed towards us. More specifically, the village this hut was in.

“I don’t know what to say to that,” I admitted.

Chris let the cloth fall back into place and started pacing, “What the hell, man? Those are Vikings! Why are there Vikings?”

Ulrich looked at me like I had an answer. I rose my hands and stopped his thoughts, “Dude, I’m an engineer. I don’t know anything about Norway.”

That only put Ulrich into deeper thought, but then something caught his eyes. I turned to where his gaze laid and saw what he saw. A table lined with an array of medieval weaponry sat still at the back of the small hut. Everyone stared at the weapons for some time before anyone managed to speak up again.

“What do we do?” Cass asked Ulrich, who seemed to be the only level headed person here.

I joined in at staring at Ulrich, hoping he had some good answer. An escape plan maybe. Ulrich sighed and gave us a really stupid answer, in my opinion, “Survive.” I was sure someone would yell, but everyone just remained quiet, leaving Ulrich to keep going. “Chris grab a weapon and give me that sword. Helen,” he said and knelt next to the cheerleader, “you have to get up and fight.”

I watched dumbfounded as Ulrich led the group in collecting weapons. Ulrich tucked a thin three foot long sword in the back of his belt. Chris found a slightly larger sword and held the hilt firm. Helen was given a spear about her own height and was shown where to hold it by Ulrich, who I knew to have some fighting background. Cass was given a strange spear that had two points, which looked like two sword met together at the hilts to make one weapon. When each of them got their weapons, Ulrich turned back to the table and saw that it was empty, save for a thick leather book.

Abby and I looked at each other then back to Ulrich, who had the book open in his hands. “Well I can’t read this, but I think I know what it is.”

I stepped closer and asked, “How?”

“Pictures, man,” Ulrich smirked and showed me the book. What I took to be Norse runes were scattered across the pages, circling around several pictures of orbs of fire or large waves of water. “I think it’s a spellbook.”

“That’s the second crazy thing you’ve said today,” Chris muttered.

Ulrich laughed, “Only the second? I’m slacking.”

I ignored them and stared at the book. There was something about it. The runes danced as I looked at it. Eventually, I got impatient, and I snatched it from Ulrich’s hands.

“You could’ve just asked,” Ulrich said sarcastically.

“You don’t understand,” I whispered and looked up to everyone, “I can read this.”

Chris clapped me on the back, “Congrats. Now you’re the crazy one.”

I could see everyone was thinking the same thing. So was I. I don’t know how to read ancient Norse runes. This was stupid. Only Ulrich remained serious. Something was working in his mind as he looked at me. He knew something we didn’t.

Then he spoke and snapped me out of it. Pointing to the ball of fire on the open page, he ordered, “Get reading then. And learn fast. Cause we will need that fire soon.”

He was right. The village outside was in a frenzy. The Vikings were here.