The Self Evolver.

“Yahhh” yelled the Vikings out loud shaking the very earth with their courageous and blood thirsty roars.

Turyn stepped forward and gripped the shield which was quite heavy and slipped his left hand through the arm strap located on the innermost wooden part of the shield, attaching it to his left foreman.

With his right arm, he gripped the leather wrapped handle of the silver battle axe and lifted it into the air, the head of the axe pointing straight into the sky and with his axe lifted, he let out a roar of victory, of courage, of bloodlust, a roar rivalling the Thor’s roar whenever he swings his hammer in the sky unleashing both his booming thunder and his ferocious  lightning and for a moment everyone present was mesmerized by the scene and they all unconsciously engraved this very scene into their very minds as they were right to do so as this was the day that a legend was born. The legend of Tuweryn…….the dragon slayer.

That night there was an incredible feast in which the trainees got to drunk their very first mug of mead. Turyn had expected the drink to be bitter but it was actually quite sweet and also very fizzy. That night all the villagers gathered in the Great Hall and drank themselves silly including Turyn and the rest of the trainees. There was also plenty of dancing and also plenty of terrible singing by Viking men and women which always aroused laughter within the halls. There was even a toast done by Chief Bjorn towards the trainees congratulating them on becoming real Vikings after which there was even more singing and dancing and story telling. It was truly a night Turyn, and the trainees would never forget.

The very next day Turyn woke up at home with a heavy hangover and an urge to vomit all his organs. That day Turyn could be seen sitting outside his house with a wooden bucket in his hands puking everything into it while his father laughed beside him. Of course, it wasn’t just him as many of the graduated trainees could be seen being supported by their families as they puked like there was no tomorrow.

**********

Later that night, just as Turyn was about to go to sleep in his bedroom,

Boom!!

A loud explosion was heard outside his home after which loud screams could be heard, rendering the once silent night into an endless symphony of despair.

“What in the name of Thor is going?!” he questioned himself as he quickly ran out of his room only to come face to face with his father who was also disoriented from having just woken up however as a veteran Viking, he was sobering up to the situation quickly.

“Son what’s going on?” he asked.

“I have no idea; I was just about to go to sleep when I heard what sounded like an explosion”

Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!

Three more explosions sounded shaking the very ground under their feet even further disorienting their already shaky balance causing Turyn to fall to his side luckily there was a wall next to him which he used to orient himself.

Chief Bjorn wore a serious expression as he walked towards the front door, he stopped momentarily to grab his battle hammer and shield before forcefully pushing open the front door allowing the two of them to witness what could only be described as a literal hell.

There were fires everywhere burning everything in sight from the houses in the village, to the vegetable field in the East of the village even some of the Vikings were on fire screaming their very lungs out as they burned to death. At first Turyn thought that they were under attack by some Viking village but that was until he saw something that he had seen quite a few times frequently in the last couple of months.

It was a large beast 20 ft tall and 50 ft long with long and narrow ended head containing a large wide mouth filled with large sharp teeth some of which jut out of its lower lip giving it an extremely menacing look. The large spines running along its spine all the way from its head to the end of its tail seemed to further support this look. The beast had just finished destroying a house a few meters away when it suddenly heard a noise and turned to find two people staring at it with one having an axe in its hand.

It immediately raised its guard as it glared and growled at them menacingly before immediately charging towards them at the full speed with its jaws wide open ready to shred them to pieces.

*******

Turyn watched frozen in shock as a large beast 20ft tall beast charged in their direction with the desire to end his life. He recognized the beast from the moment he saw it as he had read about it in the Book of Dragons. The beast in front of him was a famous and dangerous dragon known as a Monstrous Nightmare. A dragon from the Stoker class dragons known for being one of the most aggressive, powerful, and stubborn dragons.

Just as the dragon’s jaw was about to rip them into pieces, its head forcibly turned at a rapid speed causing its charging direction to change as it instead crashed into the house next door causing the house to crumble down to pieces.

Both the dragon and Turyn were shocked by the current turn of events as none of them could begin to understand what had just occurred. It was only when he felt someone grab his shoulder did he stumble out of his confusion only to meet the gaze of his father who was currently displaying a worried look on his face.

“Are you alright son?” he asked concerned as he performed a quick check on Turyn.

“yes…” Turyn took a deep breath “I am alright”

This was the first time that he had ever been so close to a dragon and also the first time he had experienced the brief kiss of death so to say that he was not panicking would be an understatement. Despite being a person who had been trained in the art of combat and emerged the best in his class he had never actually fought against something so terrifying so he was a bit stunted. The pictures and descriptions of the Monstrous Nightmare in the Book of Dragons truly didn’t do it any justice.