Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
I knew I didn't have much time.
Once you're chosen there is no going back.
You have to fulfill the elder's wishes. The village's wishes. Your parents' wishes . Or in my case my father's wishes. Defeat was not an option nor was failure. I wasn't allowed to back down. I wasn't allowed to be scared or afraid. I'm a Viking. A true Viking doesn't know the meaning of the word fear.
But I'm not really a Viking, am I? At least, I'm not my family's definition of Viking. If you can call them a family. A father that hates and blames me for my mother's death. Not to mention he considers me a failure. A cousin that in the eyes of the village is the perfect Viking, the next great chief that will lead them to greatness and who, sometimes, makes me wonder if life is really worth living. Every day of my life I feel like the Gods hate me more than anything and punish me for their own amusement.
And, finally, when I gather the courage to give up, I find a reason to keep on going. A reason to keep on fighting. A reason to keep on living.
Suddenly, life is not that simple. There is a new meaning that I hadn't discovered. Maybe life is not the survival of the strongest but the survival of the one with the purest heart. Maybe the Gods were more merciful that I once thought. Maybe they didn't really hate me. Maybe they prove that by giving me a friend. A true friend that will always be there for me. That will never betray me or turn his back on me. Someone that listens to me even if he doesn't understand what I'm talking about sometimes. Yet, my first and best friend is my "family's" natural enemy. He is a dragon. I'm a Viking.
Since the beginning of time, dragons and Vikings have been fighting to destroy each other. That is how it always was, that's what I were taught since my first day in the mortal world.
Everything that I knew about life was wrong.
It was like I was a blind person that never knew how the real world was like. But, I was finally able to see because for the first time I had someone that cared about me.
And there I was. With a choice in my hands.
Take an innocent soul in order to be accepted among the people that used to hate me for who I truly was or abandon the village and leave my dark past behind me.
It was my choice.
And here I am now, laying in the middle of the battlefield with my best friend beside me. I could feel my soul slipping out of my body and pass to the other side.
And yet I couldn't make myself regret my choice.
Everyone makes mistakes. At least my family doesn't make the same mistake twice.
I closed my eyes and whispered a word.
"Goodbye".