|| NOTHERN LIGHTS ||

00 || Prologue

Reach out to the Northern Lights

When I opened my eyes I saw the bright, blue sky above me.

The only thing I was able to remember was the darkness and a strange pain in my chest but as soon as I tried to remember more, everything vanished and left a throbbing headache.

I laid on a dry, dusty ground, surrounded by rocks and small, dark plants. While trying to steady my breath — taking one deep through my nose and exhaling through my slightly opened mouth — I thought about what I should do next. Obviously, I couldn't just stay on the hot ground under the burning sun. Sooner or later, in my case probably sooner, I would dehydrate and without food surviving was impossible. Sweat was already running down my forehead, my clothes were stuck on my body and I felt heavy.

Blinking a few times, I clenched my fingers and moved my toes. At least I was nowhere hurt. I sat up carefully and looked around, like expected I found myself in a desert. Nowhere was another person to be seen, not even animals that usually inhabited this area.

I frowned, brushed the dirt off me and got back on my feet. Suddenly, there was a small, calm voice that said my name beside me and then I saw a shining round spirit in front of me. The dark red color stood in contrast with the bright sand and the spirit watched me through concerned, clear eyes.

»Are you alright?« He flew to the other side and inspected if I was hurt. I smiled automatically and reached out to brush my fingers slightly over the spirit. My fingertips went through him and it felt chilly.

»I'm fine, Odin. But what happened?« My spirit leaned his head to the side, blinking in confusion as he pondered.

»I can't remember,« he answered honestly. »I think we battled a shaman team. But then something happened and everything turned dark and that's all I know.« He sighed and his head sunk gloomily. »I'm sorry.«

But I shook my head and smiled encouraging. »I know what you think but don't worry. It's not your fault, Odin. Maybe I just fainted because of this damn heat.« I shrugged and fortunately it was enough to calm Odin. He was a caring spirit and sometimes he could overreact and blame himself for everything.

»So what do we do now?«

»It's obvious, isn't it? We have to find a town or something like that. Staying out here will be our death.«

Odin nodded, then we made our move to search for a place where we could stay. As soon as night would come, it was going to be unbearable cold outside and I couldn't risk staying here. Another thing that bothered me was the faint smell of burned flesh that lingered in the air.