by Jamie Ott
"This is Sestin. He's an ancient Norsemen who came to my country a millennium before the first Viking."
Starr's eyes settled onto his colorless skin that made Kris, the albino, seem rosy. Its texture looked as solid as stone.
"He's slipped into semi consciousness, but, if you ask, he might speak to you."
Semi consciousness was the stop between awareness and pure unconsciousness. It was the place where all vampires who tired of living, ended up, sometimes never to return.
"I found him by accident. I was walking about my father's property when, like you, I sensed his energy. Strong, he was, and more alluring than the scent of human flesh. He'd buried himself in the ground, and he'd been there three millenniums already."
"Does he know we're here?"
"Oh, yes. He won't open his eyes and be with us, physically, but he'll communicate with his mind. Semi consciousness is sometimes misleading, for at this stage, most vampires are very aware; they just choose not to use their bodies."
"Will it be easy to wake him?"
"A semi conscious vampire never truly sleeps, but you can arouse his awareness. If he wants to engage you, he'll acknowledge you; otherwise, he'll simply lay there like an inanimate object."
'Leave us,' a loud soft voice whispered into their minds.
Starr jumped.
"Was that him?"
"He's agreed to speak with you, but he wishes it to be just you two. I will return to my office. Be sure to bolt the door back down, when you're done."
After Keagan had gone, she merely stared at Sestin's still form, wondering if she should say something.
'Sit.'
She said into his mind, 'Would you, at least, look at me? I'd feel much more comfortable.'
'Why should I? I see you plainly.'
When she didn't reply, he said, 'I know you want to find Valhol. I will show you where it used to lie, but, first, you're going to see me. I need to make you understand.'
"Understand what?"
'Be quiet! There is a reason people speak silently to gods; they don't want to disturb their physical bodies.'
'You're not a god,' she thought with disgust.
'Of course not, but people commonly mistook the hardened forms of immortals for gods. They, like myself, slipped into varying states of consciousness. And we're always disgusted by the rudeness of people, like you who cannot respect the fact that we wish to let our bodies inanimate. No, you think we want to listen to your pathetic ramblings, as if we haven't had enough of life as it is.'
He paused a moment.
'Your chances of making it to Valhol are abundantly none; even if you make it past the elements, the Primordials would destroy you, rather than bare the sight of a lowly human vampire. Only a few of us are strong enough to take on a Primordial, and you've already seen how easily they can kill with just a thought.'
Sestin commanded Starr's eyes shut.
'Stop it!' Starr spoke into his mind. 'I hate visions.'
But he didn't. Instead, a heavy buzzing feeling overwhelmed her brain.
'Relax; breath,' he said. 'Your problem is you resist the visions.'
An image played itself, like a movie, in her mind.
She saw a land that was sunny and bright. To her left and right were dozens of clay houses with straw roofs.
Extremely tall people walked and worked, here and there; even the women were at least six feet in height. They all wore drab linen smocks, like Sestin's, even the men.
These were a golden people, with bright hair and eyes that glowed as much as their tanned skin.
They spoke in an old Scandinavian language that Starr knew not, but she understood them anyway.
In the hut directly across from where her consciousness viewed, a gorgeous man in a leather skirt was putting clay pots into an oven. He shut the door, turned around and looked right at her. Instantly, Starr was affected by the way the sun reflected off his penetrating eyes.
He bent over and picked up a couple logs of wood, tossed them in the back of the stove and put a metal top on.
A couple of people walked by, saying his name. Sestin nodded and raised his hands, which were large enough to engulf an entire basketball, in acknowledgement.
Starr couldn't help but notice that they were a very handsome people, these primitive Norsemen.
Sestin was especially handsome then, and very muscular. Though most of the people were already large, Sestin had the physique of a warrior; with shoulders wider than the entrance to his hut, and calves thick like tree trunks.
The brooding look on his face, as he wiped his forehead with a cloth instantly made Starr feel soft for him.
More people nodded to him as they passed. Clearly, he was respected, but something was troubling him.
A woman with calf length waves came from the hut.
"Sestin," she said, "be sure to take the little one, when you go tonight. We can't spare any more than that."
"Yes, Mother," he said, tying his waist length hair back with a piece of cloth.
"Sestin!" screamed a young girl who was running up the dirt. She was a frantic young girl with tears streaming down her face.
Looking back at Sestin, and seeing the concern on his handsome face made Starr feel even softer.
"What is it?" he ran up to her, and knelt to the ground to look her in the face.
"Jin and I, we were playing. He climbed the tree out in the field, but then that tiger came. Mother warned us, but we didn't listen!"
He leapt up, ran back to the house and grabbed a double edged battleax, and ran back to the girl.
"Go home," he said to her, and then ran past.
Just like a pan shot on a screen, so did the vision, as it followed Sestin down the road of houses, and right into a large clearing.
A mile out, she heard the boy crying, but couldn't see him anywhere.
"JIN!" he yelled.
Sestin followed the cries to the large leafless tree in the distance. As he got closer, Starr was able to see where the boy and the tiger were.
Together, they sat on the same limb of a tree. Jin was as far out to the edge as he could be, without falling, and the tiger was slowly putting one paw ahead of another, and pushing down on the limb, testing to see if it would take his weight.
Hearing the boy's cries made Starr uneasy.
Sestin didn't hesitate. He dropped the ax and climbed up the tree. The tiger paid no attention to him as he climbed up the trunk, except to turn his head and deliver a hiss warning.
He ignored it and climbed a foot past the limb on which they sat; then he leaned back and grabbed the tiger by its tail and yanked it off the branch.
It screamed and clawed, and tried to jerk itself upward, to get at Sestin, but its tail was too long.
There was a curdling scream that rent the air. Starr looked back and saw a woman running toward them.
Sestin climbed further up the tree.
"Go, Jin!" he shouted as he climbed further up.
The boy scooted, gently, across the limb, and grabbed the trunk.
When he got half way down, the woman ran up and grabbed him.
Sestin groaned under the weight of the tiger, as he watched the woman return to their settlement.
He let go of the tiger, and it crashed through several branches before hitting the ground. Instead of taking off, the cat sat on its rear and reached up the tree trunk, threatening to climb it again.
Sestin leapt to the ground and rolled.
Instantly, the tiger was on him and trying to bite his neck.
Starr gasped.
Sestin quickly blocked the tigers attempt to bite him by crossing his fisted arms across his chest and up to the sides of his neck.
He cried out as the tiger sliced its teeth into his wrist. Despite the pain, Sestin pushed his arm further into the mouth of the animal, forcing its head back.
He put his free hand around the cat's throat and squeezed with all his strength.
The cat relented, p
ulled back, giving Sestin a moment to stand.
Sestin and the tiger looked at each other for a second. The cat leapt at him once more. Sestin put up both his hands, and grabbed the animal's neck.
He squeezed tight, and pushed forward against the animal's weight, stumbling onto his knees; the cat's back was slammed, firmly, into the trunk.
Amidst screams and repeated gashes to his back, Sestin showed no pain or fear. Instead, he looked to the battleax, and appeared to be calculating his chances of getting the weapon before the animal tackled him again.
Sestin braced himself, let go of the animal's neck and grabbed the ax, but he froze just as he was about to bring the head down.
The tiger wasn't moving.
Unbelievably, and even to his surprise, he'd suffocated the tiger.
Foolishly, he kicked the tiger's side.
The cat's leg flinched.
Quickly, he raised the ax, and brought it down, severing its neck.
He pulled a large knife from his belt and gutted the animal almost the same way she'd usually do; peeled off its fur and then cut through its abdomen, and cleaned out its innards.
When he finished, he quartered the meat, emptied the skull, and made his way back to his people.
Starr exhaled.
As Sestin walked back to the settlement, people came out of their huts and cheered. Many of them ran up and gave him gifts; mostly baskets of fruit and bread.
Starr smiled.
But Sestin still looked unhappy.
The scene changed. It was late afternoon. Sestin was pulling the pots from the oven. He looked right.
Starr looked right, too.
A thin woman walked beside a man who carried a basket. She looked back at Sestin. His already serious eyes became even more serious, and the corners of his mouth clenched into little wrinkles.
He looked down as his face turned red. "Hi, Sestin," said the woman and the man, and they went inside.
For a moment, he didn't move, but he stood stiffly, looking at the ground. When he looked up again, Starr thought she saw shame on his face.
The scene changed once more.
It was a little later in the same day. Only, they must have just finished their dinner because Sestin came outside, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. He stood a moment and over arched his back.
He exhaled and walked alongside the house, toward the back.
The scene followed him down the side of the house, and into a woolly sheep pen. Sestin grabbed a looped rope from the ground and put it around a runt's neck.
The vision continued to follow Sestin back out of the pen, and down the road; animal in tow.
As he walked, other men joined him, and they, too, had brought animals, as well as other things. One man carried a little stone jar, which he said held frankincense. The man next to him had a small bushel of wheat.
It didn't really dawn on Starr, what the men were walking into, until she saw, in the distance, a ring of torches highlight a large unlit altar pyre.
Men stood around it, praying and singing.
As they got closer, she saw that from the pyre stood three stakes: two small ones and one very large in the center.
The sight frightened her; goosebumps rose on the back of her neck and arms, briefly waking her from the vision. She didn't want to see anymore.
She tried to open her eyes to end their connection, but Sestin held her firm.
Sestin walked past a man with a horned skull on his head. The man said, "Happy Eostre, Brother."
He said nothing as he looked, quickly, away.
With his lamb he walked over to an empty spot where he sat on the grass. The animal crawled into his lap, where Sestin ran his hands, tenderly, over its head and back.
Starr watched him stroke the animal into a calm manner. It only took a moment for it to drift into sleep.
The man with the skull called his name.
Sestin looked up.
This time his eyes weren't penetrating and severe, but rather weak and dull. His jaw looked tight and his eyebrows were furrowed down.
For a moment, the sadness she saw in him made him even more attractive.
Gently, he held the sheep into his chest, tucking its furry body under his neck. It woke up and bleated softly.
Then he stood and walked it to the pyre. He tied it to a small stake to the left of the large one in the center, and continued to pet it.
Others came up and tied their animals to the two smaller stakes.
A moment later, there was a sheep, deer, goat, and llama on the unlit pyre.
The man with the horned skull walked up the steps that lead to the altar. A man with a basket followed him.
From the basket, he pulled a rich red cloth, and laid it over the altar. He pulled a goblet, a dagger, and a little bronze dish, upon which he poured frankincense into.
The man put his hands together and prayed, silently. Using two fingers, he traced a circle around the mouth of the cup, the incense dish and the dagger.
"Sol, we call you," he said. "Bless us, for we are your children."
He grabbed the dagger in one hand, raised his arms skyward and said, "Happy Eostre, brothers. And now we will start the blessing."
He lit the frankincense, raised the chalice and knife to the sky and said, "Come to me and bless me on this spring equinox, Goddess. Give me your power, so that I may bless the land, the people, so that we might survive plentiful. Tonight, we bring you the ultimate sacrifice, the gift that you bestowed upon us: life."
Still holding the cup and the dagger, he walked down the steps of the altar and around to the front of the pyre, where he approached the deer first.
The man who held the basket followed. He held the deer still, so that the dagger could pierce its neck easily.
He waited a few minutes as blood spilled into the cup. The deer, dizzied, now lay on its belly.
Next, he went to the runt lamb and did the same, and then the goat and llama.
He turned around and said, "Now, for the final sacrifice."
Everyone in the group got real still. They all looked at each other in complete silence. Suddenly, there was a scuffle in the back of the group. Starr couldn't see what happened, but she heard a man shout.
"NOOOOOO! SESTIN! HELP!"
The man whom Starr saw walking beside the woman earlier, was dragged to the front of the crowd.
Sestin flinched, almost as if he was going to help the man, but then he stopped himself. His face turned red; his eyes glassy.
He didn't even look up to see as they tied the man to the center stake. Instead, he looked, cowardly, to the ground.
Once again, the man with the horned skull cut his jugular, and caught his blood in the cup.
The man's cries died down as more and more blood flowed from his jugular.
Starr was disturbed with the scene, and the softness she felt for Sestin turned to disgust.
"We thank you for your sacrifice, Brother; that the land be blessed, and that we might live with our bellies full once more. The goddess, Gottfiona, will take you in her bosom and breathe into you, life that will give you powers of the gods."
Then, the man dipped his finger into the chalice and made the shape of a circle on his forehead, and did the same to the lamb and the others.
He walked to the line of men with items for sacrifice, and made the same circle.
He walked back to the front of the altar.
The men with the torches went around and lit five sections of the pyre.
"Sol," he shouted over the flames, "you are center of the cosmos. Let your rays sing their songs and sow our fields, as Thor beats back the ice blades of winter, and rises once more in the dawn of the year. With this dagger, I bless the Earth."
He dipped his finger in blood, smeared it over the dagger, and stuck it in the ground.
"With a sip of this blood, I rejuvenate the Earth." He turned the cup upside down on the ground. The blood ran around the sides.<
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The fire had finally consumed most of the edges of the pyre, making a large circle of flame. In a line, the men went up and tossed their offerings in.
The animals and the man, still alive, and very much aware, screamed and cried as the flames got closer.
Sestin stood with his head down, looking as if he were suffocating on his conscience. When, finally, the screams reached an unbearable pitch, he ran, screaming at the pyre, leapt into the air, and wrangled his arm around the torso of the man.
The weight was too much for the stake, and it broke off. They flew to the other side of the pyre and rolled in the dirt.
Sestin sat up, but it was too late. The man lost too much blood; he died when he hit the ground.
"Why did you do that?" asked the man with the skull.
"Because Sol doesn't care about these sacrifices! Now, you've killed my sister's husband! She's pregnant!"
"How dare you say such things! We do this so that we may eat. Now, we'll starve and it's your fault."
"We did these rites last year, and we still nearly starved! These sacrifices are pointless. This land is getting warmer. If we want to survive, we must find new territory."
When they said nothing, he said, "To Helheim with all of you! I'm going home!"
The men parted, allowing him through the crowd.
Some of them didn't want to let him go. A man leapt onto his back, and attempted to suffocate him with his interlocked arms. Sestin pulled him off with ease, and threw him a dozen feet back through the air.
They looked like they would have tied him up and burnt him at the stake, but they all stood and stared motionless. Perhaps because they knew they could never take him.
He ran back up the road to the hut. He stumbled inside, screaming, "Mother, Tatia!"
They came from the rooms in night clothes.
"What is it?" asked his mother.
He told them everything that happened.
"No!" cried his sister. "You monster! How could you let this happen?"
"How can you be such a hypocrite? You had no issues with them killing poor Jutnat, last year."
"He was feeble!" she screamed at him through a fountain of tears.
"He was a human being! And someone's son! He was scared, and died crying for his mother, and for his father to save him, but he just stood there."
"Like you did, tonight?" she retorted.
The scene changed. It was the next morning; they set to work as usual. Except people weren't as friendly, but regarded them with cold shoulders.