Tears ran down her cheeks. She was surrounded by severed limbs, beheaded bodies and mass amounts of blood. Some bodies were still moving, they stared at her with hollow eyes and their trembling lips uttered barely audible whispers.
Aella knew all of this wasn't real: all she saw were memories of a nightmare. Although it was more. This nightmare unfolded itself, but it was still all in her head. Nevertheless the silent, salty drops glided down her cheeks. There were no words to describe the suffering she was facing. Only tears. Whoever had caused this, had no soul, no heart...
Something cold spun around her wrist. She turned head aside. There stood a young woman. Jet black hair was curling over her shoulders, leaving behind a dark red trail. There was a deep crack in her forehead, as if somebody had jammed an axe into it.
"Rota," she whispered. "You've come. You can save us."
Aella stared at the creature. She had white wings. Despite the places where feathers had been ripped out, they reminded her of an angel.
She resisted the urge to tore herself away. "Where do I go? I don't know where to find you."
"Go to the place where worlds collide. You will know, when you look deep inside yourself."
Suddenly the woman froze. The point of a sword went through her eye and she fell down.
Nowhere was an enemy to be seen, he must be invisible.
"Eir!"
Aella had no idea where that knowledge came from, but somehow she knew the name of the young woman. She fell on her knees beside the body. Before she could touch her friend, the ice broke beneath her and she fell into an ice cold, black void.
"Aella?"
Hayes' voice was getting to her slowly. She looked up. She sat on the ground, her arms clamped around her knees. Her eyes felt swollen, she must've cried.
"What happened?" she whispered.
"I... I don't know." Hayes crouched down in front of her. "You were deep, I think. For a moment I was afraid that you... that you were stuck in your imagination – or whatever it truly is."
Aella loosened her stiff fingers. There was a sharp pain behind her temples and a pounding headache set in from the back of her head. She felt exhausted. Her thoughts wandered to the young woman. Eir. That had been her name. Had she known the girl? It felt like it. But how was that possible? She rubbed her blond hair. All this still made no sense.
"Take it easy. You're back now." Hayes took her hands. "Have you learned anything?"
"Rota..." she whispered. "She called me Rota. And her name was Eir." She took a deep breath. "I... I have the feeling I bear someone else's memories. It all feels so... real. Or maybe... Maybe my soul was transferred to another body, in another dimension... Man, that's just crazy."
Hayes bit his lip, pensively. "Could it be possible that your mind is somehow entwined with someone else's? On another planet – where there's definitely a war going on? Because of the lightning strike, you know?"
Aella shrugged. That could be. In theory, everything could be.
"And you haven't found a lead? A place where we can find more answers?"
"At the place where worlds collide," Aella sighed. "She said I should know when I looked deep inside myself." She shook her head. Riddles, it were all riddles.
"Hmm." Hayes rubbed his shaved chin. "Where worlds collide... I can't help thinking about Loki again. Where did he come to Earth? At least somewhere in the USA."
"Or we need to go to Norway. Where the Norse mythology is coming from."
A warm feeling shot through her shoulder, as if someone placed a hand upon it. In an impulse she looked over her shoulder. There was no one.
"Follow your heart. Follow us."
"Norway," she repeated. "I think they want me to go there."