Chapter 7
Childhood Memories.
Soundly and silently Thor slept in his bed, away from the commotion of the everyday life of the Brotherhood deep in his own mind. His mind forbade him from remembering his dreams often, but every now and then his mind let the transgression go, normally those that he remembered were those of great terror, panic, pain and fear. But every now and then a flash, a vision, a memory of his past life surfaced. His life before he became this beast, a vampire. He stirred softly as the vision came into clear and in his sleep, he his facial expressions conflicted at the memory.
It was in the humble town of Riverwood where wood was chopped, fisherman fished in the river the town was named for, dogs barked and children played. One of those children was but a humble boy of six, the outcast. It's not like the other children didn't want to play with him, but he was scared of them. He feared they would mock him and ridicule him for his features, his wiry frame and silvery hair that resembled the snow on a cold winter's night. They had arguments in their home, him and his parents. Unlike other Nords who were more assertive with their children, the silvery haired child's parents listened to him more.
"No, no NO!" Cried the silvery hair child as his striking violet eyes welled up with tears, he had gone through this argument almost every night. He had told them a thousand times over that he didn't want to go and play with the other children of Riverwood, and damn it he would tell them again. His mother rushed over to him and stroked his hair, the same color as hers. She wiped his tears from her face and pushed his chin up to look at her. "Sweetheart, you never told us why you were so scared, why?" His father watched from aside at his wife comforting his son, he appeared to take after his mother more than her. He was good with a dagger and at dodging blows, but he would never do so good if he joined an army of any kind, his first kill would send him over the brink of madness. "I'm nothing..." Replied the child, his mother tilted her head in confusion. "What do you mean, son?" His father asked. "I'm not strong like them, I wouldn't be able to defend myself if they attacked, and they'll laugh at me for what I look like. I can't because I'm not a Nord."
His father yanked him from his mother's arms, crouched down to his level and looked at him dead in the eyes, considerably aggravated. "Thor, I did not become a soldier, fights the Imperials and the Aldemeri Dominion for twelve years and train my son in my ways just to have him deny where he comes from. You are a Nord; your grandparents are directly from Altmora. The child nodded, remembering the times he would cross into that continent and go see them, he felt even more at home in the snowy land then here in Skyrim. "Can you at least try? if not for yourself then for your us?" His mother asked, after a few minutes he nodded.
"Ok, Mommy." His mother looked stunned, he only called her that if he was truly happy, scared or upset, and he looked happy as a soft smile on his face, and doubled the fact that he agreed to something he never did before. His mother took her child in her arms and stroked her hair, placing a motherly kiss on his forehead. "I love you, Thor." she whispered to him. "Love you too, Mom." His mother released him from her arms and went off to her and her husband's room to go to bed, leaving him with his father. He too kissed his forehead; he as well was more affectionate then other Nord fathers. "I'm proud of you, son. Now get some rest, you'll need it." His father said with a smile as he walked off to bed, Thor following after a few minutes. As Thor slept soundly, his father held his mother in his arms with an astonished look at his face. "How did you do convince him?" His father asked. The woman smiled softly "Thor's a very sensitive boy, I think a combination of my near begging and your explanation worked." The man looked concerned, "Do you think it will work?" The woman snuggled closer to her husband and sighed, "I'm not sure, it depends on how the other children act to him. Now let's get some sleep, darling." The man smiled and kissed his wife, drifting off to sleep.
The next day school was cancelled, perfect opportunity for the children to play. Thor awkwardly crept out the door, but not before receiving a kiss from his mother. Some of the other children ran and played tag with eachother; others hid and sought out eachother. Some children tended to the chickens that ran around the village, Thor however was clueless of what to do until he heard the cry. It was Diana, the high elven girl who moved here several months ago. She was being harassed by the local bully of the village, Frodnar. Thor had only escaped his wrath because he never left his home except at night, Frodnar started to punch the elven girl and pull at her pointed ears. In the five minutes it took Thor to find his voice, all the other children went in to hiding. "Leave her alone!" he shouted.
The much larger boy stopped beating the girl and she sunk down and cried as he snickered and turned to Thor. "And what are you going to do, protect her? You can't even protect yourself!" Frodnar laughed as he delivered a sharp blow to his ribs. Thor crumpled down and took the massive beating the much larger boy was giving him, tears flowing down his face in pain and fear until a larger voice called out to him. "Fight!" called out his father. Frodnar cackled and continued, he couldn't fight, he never could and sure as hell never would. He turned out to be dead wrong as Thor screamed in rage and lunged at the boy, slamming his head down on the cement as he straddled him. Beating him senseless and biting him, the other children looked on from their hiding places as if Thor was a vampire, and in that instant he felt like one. The relentless attack went on for several minutes until another, more pained voice came out. "THAT'S ENOUGH!" Cried his mother. Thor got up and delivered a sharp kick to his ribs as he walked over to the still crying elven girl, he hugged her and rocked her back and forth as his mother had done to him. "It's ok...he won't hurt you anymore."
He said as he breathed, the hug calming him down as it did for her. Diana looked up at him with a bright smile "Thank you!" and surprisingly enough, kissed his cheek. With a girlish giggle she ran home, and the other children clapped and came out of hiding. Frodnar had limped home in defeat. Thor was in an apparent catatonic state due to the kiss until a boy clapped him on the back. The other kids came out and congratulate him, he whooped in triumph as he went off to play with them. His father and mother watched from the door of their home, a warm smile on both of their faces. "Our son finally has friends..."The woman said softly as her husband ran a hand down her back and they went inside.
Thor awoke moments later to see none other than Alyce sitting on his bed in a nightgown that made her look very pretty. "What are you doing here, Sister?" Thor asked in a groggy voice, still waking up. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok, Brother. You were talking in your sleep." Alyce said concernedly. "Really?" Thor said sheepishly, "Yeah...is there anything wrong with your dreams?" Alyce asked.
Thor nodded and explained the dream to her, up to the part where Frodnar started beating him, tears welling in his eyes. Alyce started to tear up as well, astonished that someone would want to hurt such a gentle person as him. "What happened afterwards?" Alyce asked, Thor let out a ghost of a smile and explained the rest. Her tears dried and she smiled "Well it's good that you found yourself in time, but please remember that no one will hurt you here, here you have family who loves you and will always have your back." She smiled and placed a sisterly kiss on his cheek; he blushed and did the same to her. A light blush spread across her face as well before she went back to bed. It took him twenty minutes to go back to sleep, looking up at the ceiling thinking about his past and previous life, and now he was confused, because in the back of his mind, he was thinking about Alyce.
