I suppose you've never heard the story of my near death experience?
So, now that you're here on this island to hear this tale. This was when I was still, discovering myself, beyond that rough exterior mask I portrayed to most of the archipelago.
Ah, so at first it was a good few days of smooth sailing, aimlessly. Yes, I know how to navigate- learned it from my father- We wouldn't be vikings would we if we couldn't navigate through our lands now would we?
Then- a fierce windstorm hit. Huge waves battered the deck of the ship, winds blew the ties off the sails. I struggled and struggled to keep the ship afloat. The waves got as high as the sea stacks.
Everything from then on is a blur. The deck got slippery, and I knew going below deck was more dangerous with waves this big. Before I had time to realise what had happened, the ship turned over. I was soon under water, one of the big waves above me.
I struggled to swim to the surface. The waves pushed me under. I recall trying to grasp for air for mere minutes before another wave would push me down. The storm must've raged on for hours.
This is where it gets interesting.
I lost consciousness at some point, struggling against the waves. I remember- I think I saw Tyr and Odin, and my father, Oswald the Agreeable. The whole area just seemed like the most lavish Great Hall ever build. My mother was there too, who, by the way, looks like an older version of my sister.
"Oh great, just who I don't want to see." I sneered at my late father. "Mom, you don't know how bad it got after you.." I ran to her, longing for a touch I haven't felt in years.
"Dagur." She embraced me.
"Mom."
"Am I dead?" I asked, after pulling out of the embrace.
Mom looked at me, with a proudness my dad never expressed toward me growing up.
"I missed you."
"Dagur." My dad tried to join in.
"I don't want to talk to you, you ruined my life!" I snapped at him.
"Dagur." My mom was shocked.
"Mom, you don't know just how much he's done to us since you died." I said, "he took my sister away to live with the Outcasts, he barely gave me anything besides orders."
"Dagur, how dare you disrespect me." My father said.
"I don't care if I disrespect you, when you separated me and Heather, you ruined my life the day you did that."
"I was just doing what I thought was best."
"May as well have sent me off too! I will never forgive you for separating us!" I yelled.
"My sister is amazing and I don't want anything bad to happen to her." I said, looking Oswald in the eye. "I don't know what drove you to separate us."
"Dagur." My mom took me aside.
"I'm not sorry for being mad at him."
"I'm not asking you to do that."
"How…how am I going to regain Heather's trust? She doesn't trust me anymore."
"She'll come around, you just need to show it." my mother reassured me.
"I don't want her to get hurt." I said.
"You did good out there."
"Thank's mom." I smiled at her. "I want to do good now, I don't want to keep on causing others problems." I sighed, "All I want to do now is fix things."
"May the strength of Magni be with you."
My mom kissed me on the forehead, as I soon found myself back in the cold water, grasping onto a piece of the wood.
I breathed, climbing up onto the board, praying it will take me to dry land.
It was a calm, clear night. The ocean surrounded me. The vetrarbrautin*stood above me, lighting the sky like the sparks of a fire.
I yawned, exhausted and soon fell into a deep sleep.
I woke up, the sun bearing down it's light on my face. I sat up, careful not to tip over the piece of wood.
"Just my luck, I get stuck out in the middle of the ocean."
I dreaded the idea of swimming to land, after the storm, I was exhausted, hungry, and desperate.
I prayed the current would land me on an island, preferably deserted.
Hours must've passed until- "Hey wait." A seagull flew high above me, "There has to be land close." I told myself.
After a few hours of rowing and swimming- I found dry land.
"Finally!" I ran up the shore off the sand and onto the grass. "Thank the gods!"
And that, is how I found myself shipwrecked on this island.
*Icelandic word for The Milky Way, "Winter Way"
(A/N- sorry for this being super late- January threw me for a loop and life got in the way- on a good note- I'm finally seem to be creating a habit of writing as often as I can)
