Some of these are short, and some seem longer, I was pretty inconsistent with length regarding chapters. Thus, the adventure originates.
My mother used to tell me, "To be visited and selected by the Dwellers Above the Clouds was the greatest honor and achievement for anyone on Fenris." I thought of them as legends told by the older men of my tribe to inspire great deeds among us youthful. Armor clad giants that selected the worthy among us in death or with some great deed, and one of whom I would soon meet.
The times on Fenris, were as usual filled with much hardship and endurance; constant raids and warfare among rival tribes, the mauling of our people by the great beasts that inhabited the landscape, even the planet itself sought to kill us. It was around one such time that a brutal raid was carried out against my tribe. I recall the chieftain's name as Hrolfr the Just, and his rival was Ragnarr the Deceitful; it was at a meeting between two tribes, a prospect for a future alliance against the native beasts and other tribes that Ragnarr earned his treacherous name. I was but a boy, slowly turning into a young man, when the feast in the Great Hall turned violent. Shouts of woe and vengeance being declared, then the noise of calamitous battle. I rushed out of my home to see my village engulfed in fire and smoke; blood soaked ground littered with the dead, severed, and dying. Ragnarr had unleashed his waiting tribesmen and they waded through defenders and defenseless alike. I kept to the shadows, stalking lone tribesmen or parties of two to gain some knowledge of why. I found out soon that it was only through torture that I learned what knowledge I needed. That Ragnarr had grown jealous of Hrolfr's rule, and apparent benevolence toward his people. He sought to remind my old chieftain that the nature of our people is violence, and not benevolence. With a sudden searing pain the back of my head leaked blood upon my body and I fell into the earth to only dream of legends.
I awoke to the smell of charred corpses, and smoking ruin. What few survivors remained hid themselves away among the once Great Hall with shame to reveal themselves. I sat up and worked my way through the bodies with some fear that my parents would be among them. A short search was all that was required as I saw my father with sword in hand, and there too, my mother with a knife clutched in defiance of death. My knees buckled and my heart wept; but seething anger and vengeance compelled me to lift myself and seek Ragnarr so that he could pay for his treachery. I gathered what weapons and food were left then left for the wilderness surrounding Ragnarr's settlement. I waded through waist deep snow for three days while being stalked by Fenrisian beasts. I swore to those Above the Clouds that I would have my vengeance and no man, or beast would stop me. As fortune would have it, the settlement appeared and I retreated to the treeline to plan my attacks. It was around this time that I was set upon by a great wolf with hunger in its eyes. The chieftain Hrolfr once regaled to us about once killing a wolf. I took his story as boast but soon found myself steely believing its words, and so I struck out with spear and axe to slay my would be attacker. The battle of survival was something born to us, to face nature itself was something I was not yet used to, yet I fought for my survival and to fulfill the blood debt I owed to my tribe. Scores of light scratches, deep enough to be medium wounds found their way onto my battered and cold body. The fight was fierce, but my fury fiercer as I finally slew the beast. I once then remembered a tale told to me by my father in one of our sparring lessons of the Ulfhedinn, beserker humans who wore the pelts of wolves to strike terror into the eyes of their foes. I set about taking the beasts hide as my own, then set my wounds aflame to staunch the bleeding; and with a great howl of defiance I lay in the snow to let the pain wash over my mind; the pain of loss, the pain of survival and battle, the pain of doubt. I woke the midday then made my way closer to the settlement and my victory, or death. Waiting until nightfall I draped the wolf pelt around me, covered in nothing but my leather pants and scars of survival upon my bared chest. One sentry, another, then two, three more I swiftly dispatched avenging my fallen tribesman. My prey, my main desire for vengeance remained and there he sat in a Great Hall of his own, exclaiming loudly for all to hear of his heroic victory and plunder. The rage seethed in me to boiling and I walked out into the square to declare my vengeance upon him.
"I am of the Tribe of Hrolfr. You who have slain my Chief, my family, and my friends, and those whom I called kin. I challenge you, Ragnarr the Deceiver that you may fall forever here and now amid the sight of your people and those that Dwell Above."
The sentries guarding the Hall called out to their Lord of an intruder, and all in the Hall ceased their clamor to see this spectacle of myself standing challenging their Lord. The Deceiver himself left the Hall amused at this taunt. A jest he though surely? A wayward boy who thought himself a legend? He ordered three of his men to apprehend me but I deftly parried their attempts and repaid their trifle with my axe. The crowd murmured now, staring from me to their Lord as I killed three among the best of them. Ragnarr himself felt obligated now, by passive decree of his people, to answer my challenge and thus strode out to meet his would be killer.
"Who are you, boy! To challenge me? Slayer of hundreds and taker of heads?"
"The only head to be taken, is yours Ragnarr the Deceitful, now enough talk, let us see who is favored this night."
He launched himself with contemptuous arrogance, believing he would easily best this child. An axe bit into his armored shoulder and I was then thrown from his presence. Tumbling backward I picked myself up and howled my rage, charging, I lunged and grappled his upper body, my hands clawing at the flesh on his face. Screaming his annoyance he attempted to swat me down again, but my hand grabbed the handle of the axe I buried, then with a forceful jerk, pulled it free to smack him across his blood soaked face. He staggered back and I gave no respite, no mercy to him who had slain my life. My axe found his knees and then lopped a hand off. With a tortured scream he bellowed his pain and astonishment. He dropped trying to coddle his ghostly hand when I kicked him in the spine to send his face crunching into the ground. I raised my axe and took a few swipes at the base of his skull, and with a fleshy crack, severed his head. The horrified onlookers and bewildered guards suddenly armed themselves to kill the one who had killed their chieftain, so they too would gain renown and perhaps claim ownership of the land. I set myself in a defensive stance, surrounded and heard what sounded like another great beast perhaps scenting the kill. The loud footsteps drumming into my ears and all who surrounded me melted away from its presence. My back to it I stood ready to strike, but as I turned I could only stare in awe, and drop to my knees. The legend made reality, as He Who Dwelled Above the Clouds ventured to this site for a purpose I would soon find out.
"Rise! I have watched you, child, as you found your home in ruin, and swore yourself to vengeance. I have watched as you endured this land, with nothing but the fire in your heart and the zeal of fury to claim the lives of those you made foe. You have slain a great beast, as naught but a very young and barely able man. Yet despite all of the odds against you, you have succeeded in fulfilling your oath to you slain kinsmen, even so far as claiming the head of your sworn enemy. Here, among these who seek your death, I now ask you to come with me, to see if you are truly worthy of us. You may refuse however, and may fight this mob, you may even claim its ownership since you have killed its Lord, but you may never meet one of us again if your answer is no."
My eyes widened with disbelief. Was this to be my future? A legend myself? The furious rage of vengeance settled and I thought back on my tribe, which is all but gone. With no home and no people left I dropped my axe and knelt, bowing my head in acceptance.
"I see you wear the pelt of your first great test, and with it claimed the head of your sworn foe, you shall be now be known as Ulfhedinn. Rise again once more, and face the trials to become what you once called legend."