New-Found

In the Age of the Vikings, the Nordics had sailed and plundered the Baltic to even the Byzantine Empire. Their journeys were recorded in legends, and set them to a whole new land… the New World.

Norway was proud of those days. All he did was sailing and roaming freely in the High Seas, it was the life of only freedom. The best was that he was alone on this journey for change.

"No Denmark being noisy, no Sweden and his creepiness… this is the life…" Norway thought.

"Mr Norway, we have hit land!" a Viking called out.

Suddenly, the teenage Norwegian snapped out of his calm and placed his horned helmet on his head. He then proceeded to the deck, where his boss Leif was already there. Over the distance, the faint sight of a landmass was seen.

"Erik, what is that?" Norway asked.

"A new land, perhaps similar to Iceland or Greenland," Leif claimed.

"Hope it's not like Greenland…" Norway remarked, "And no one will fall for going to a place just because it has such a nice name to it."

"Perhaps this land will be better," Leif said, "we will land there soon, so we should get down there."

Soon, the Viking ships landed on the strange land. At that point, it was a nameless land, but it would be later called Newfoundland in coming years. Norway disembarked first, and saw snow and a few grassy patches.

"This land is like the rest…" Norway noted, "Is the world beyond the sea and the Fatherland frozen in ice?"

Suddenly, a shape darted out in the grassy patches and Norway took quick notice of it.

"Someone else is here…" Norway said, "Leif, stay behind with the ship. I'll be going there alone!"

"But Norway, I cannot allow the Nation to just…" Leif argued.

Without hearing his boss out, Norway ran off to find that mysterious entity that moved deeper inland. The land deep inside was still empty and seemingly devoid of life. However, Norway still kept his guard up for any trouble.

"Strange… I could've sworn there was something…" Norway said.

Suddenly, a large bear sprung up and roared at the petite Norwegian. The great beast stared down at the armed Norway with its beady eyes, and proceeded to strike its paw at him. Luckily, Norway dodged that on time.

"C'mon, I've dealt with bigger folks than you," Norway spoke.

The bear growled at the Norwegian again, as it was ready to attack again. At this moment, another person jumped in front of the bear and blocked Norway.

"No, please don't hurt him!" the person pleaded.

The bear stopped its attack, and went on to the wilderness beyond. Norway took a closer look at his saviour, a small child with silky blonde hair and a wild strand. He was wearing a tunic as pure as the snow around them, and the child looked innocently at the Norwegian.

"Glad you're okay," he responded, smiling gently at the Norwegian.

"How a child like you can control a beast as wild as t-…" Norway pondered, before he realised, "wait, you must be a Nation. That has to be it! What is your name?"

"Name?" the child wondered, "what is a name?"

"You… you have none..." Norway remarked, "Very well, I should give you one…how about Vinland; that will be your name."

"Vinland…" the boy repeated, "what does that mean?"

"Uh… that depends…" Norway said, "But a plausible one would be the land of pastures."

"And you're…" the boy asked.

"Norway, the Kingdom of Norway," Norway answered, "my house is beyond this sea, and this place would make a great extension. Welcome to my Kingdom."

Thus, Vinland became under the rule of Norway in the form of L'Anse aux Meadows. However, many problems soon aroused with Denmark and Vinland was completely forgotten over time.

However, modern excavation had uncovered this tiny piece in the threads of history.

The Dominion of Canada lay back on a wall as he took a break. He was up in his attic with his bear, Kumajirou, and doing his own spring cleaning.

"Kumajirou, this spring cleaning is really not as easy as it seems," Canada remarked, "no wonder Alfred has troubles with his attic."

"Who are you?" the bear asked.

"I'm Canada, Kuma…Kuma… something," Canada hastily replied, "okay, let's go back to that pile."

Canada stood up again and rummaged into another pile of old items. He pulled out the rifle at the bottom of the pile, and caused the other objects to scatter all over the floor. One of those objects bounced off the Canadian's forehead and landed near his hand.

"What was that…" he moaned, picking up the object.

Upon closer inspection, it was a small blue pebble. It contained several markings on it, of an alphabet foreign to the Canadian.

"Huh, this is strange…" Canada remarked, "I don't remember this thing…"

But he saw the pebble and stared into it again… and a memory flashed by…

A much younger Canada sat by a small pile of firewood in the middle of a cold blizzard. There was no flame from the firewood, only an insignificant glow and the wind continued to blow it out.

"So… cold…" the boy muttered softly.

Suddenly, a large shadow walked towards the child and bent down towards the fire.

"Ah Little Vinland, the fire's dying… I see…" the man spoke calmly.

He then put his hands into his pockets and produced a couple of blue stones. He stroked them and a spark flickered; the glow suddenly erupted as a proper bonfire.

"Until the house can be rebuilt, this will do for now," the man added.

"Big Brother Norway, will we be okay?" the child asked, "was it because of me that the natives attacked?"

"No child, they love you," Norway replied, "it's me they're after."

"Vinland… where did I heard that from?" the Canadian wondered.

"Who?" Kumajirou asked.

"Vinland, though I'm not sure who that is," Canada admitted, "but I saw it as it had happened…"

He stared into the rock again and his mind took him to a place deep within his mind.

"No please wait!" cried the same child called Vinland.

He ran across a snow-white field brutally whipped by winter winds, looking out into the sea ahead. There, a ship was about to disembark and its occupants were packing up. Norway stood by his men as they proceeded to board the vessel.

"Ah Vinland…" Norway spoke.

"Why are you laving me?" Vinland cried.

"I'm sorry… things got ugly… here and back home…" Norway apologised, "but we had a great time while we can…"

"But what about me… can't I follow you back?" Vinland pleaded.

"I wanted to… but things are rough back home," Norway answered, "you'll be safe here, in your homeland alright. Farewell, my little Vinland."

The Norwegian stepped on board his ship and began to leave the New World for good. Vinland could do nothing; only see his "first brother" leaving him in the wilderness of his homeland. He wept bitterly as the ship faded in the icy winds.

However, something shone in the ground and Vinland picked it up. It was one of those pebbles Norway used to light up fires. As if by instinct, the child rubbed it and his hands felt warm again.

"What a strange flashback?" Canada wondered, "But why I had seen this in my memory?"

And such, it was a mystery about the New World. While most acclaim that Columbus (and hence the Spanish) to the discovery of the New World, the Vikings had went there earlier and vanished just as quick.