The Self Evolver.

Unlike before where he would always hide in the Great Hall alongside the other children during such an attack, this time a combination of factors including the sudden surprise attack, the fact that he was a newly graduated Viking trainee who had been acknowledged as a great fighter and finally his general curiosity as to what normally happened during these attacks and so he had ventured out his house only to nearly die to a Monstrous Nightmare. He would have accepted it if it was a death that came due to being overpowered by an enemy after a glorious fight. Such a death would have a death worthy of Valhalla but instead he was almost killed by him freezing up in shock and…fear.

“Fear” scoffed Turyn mockingly at himself as he glanced at his father who was looking at him in concern. “Was I actually afraid?” he asked himself in a low tone.

Chief Bjorn heard clearly the words mumbled by his son and given the current situation he needed to deal with the dragon that had attacked them first however if he didn’t speak with his son now, his fighting spirit may be damaged beyond repair.

And so, he calmly looked at his son and spoke.

“Son, there is nothing wrong with being afraid. Everyone experiences fear from time to time however what differentiates a true man from a coward is what you do after you experience it.” He looked him in the eye as he continued...

“A coward succumbs to their fear while a true man faces his fear head on. Normally I would give you the chance to decide which type of person you wish to be but there is currently a crisis going on and as this year’ newly declared champion I need you to be brave. I already know that you possess great fighting skills and a natural born fighting instinct, all you need to do is develop a brave heart capable of utilizing these two aspects of yourself. If you do that, I promise you that there is nothing in this world you can’t defeat.”

“Bravery is the ability to confront one’s fears and you have just experienced the fear of death which originated from this dragon.”

“And only by confronting your fear, which in this case is this Monstrous Nightmare, will you begin your first true step as a man.”

He reached out and grabbed an iron axe and wooden shield from a neaby weapons rack which he handed to Turyn.

“Face your fears son” he said before he turned around and ran towards the centre of the village where more flying figures could be seen setting everything ablaze.

Turyn equipped the axe to his right hand, the shield to his left hand and turned around only to notice that the Monstrous Nightmare from before was also staring at him. It hadn’t attacked this entire time due to its new fear towards Chief Bjorn who had managed to break a few of its teeth with a single attack. It had stayed behind because it wants to let the dangerous Viking out of its sight while also thinking of a way to kill him but now that the large scary Viking had dashed away to Odin knows where, it no longer needed to plan how to deal with scary Viking but could instead enjoy killing the other Viking who seemed weak and harmless. This deduction was due to the fact that it had almost killing the young Viking before, and it would be currently scraping the young Viking’s flesh off its teeth if weren’t for the large scary Viking attacking it but now, he was all alone with the young Viking as the more threatening of the two had already left.

The Monstrous Nightmare smiled with an evil grin as it lunged towards the young viking ready to tear him apart.

Tuweryn watched as the beast lunged towards him and for a moment time seemed to slow down to the extent where everything around him looked like it was standing still and in that moment, Tuweryn’s entire life flashed before his eyes from the time he was a child learning to walk and listening to his father and mother telling stories about their various adventures to the last five years he spent learning how to fight using various weapons such as the sword, shield, axe, spear among other weapons common to Vikings. He then remembered how he had almost died just a few moments ago and the words that his father had spoken to him reminding him that the decision he made in the next few seconds would determine whether he would be a man or a coward.

After everything he had been through up to now, there was no way in hell he was going to give up now.

Tuweryn quickly dodged to his right side by taking a few steps to the right and just as the dragon’s mouth bit into a now empty space to his left, he quickly turned around on his left foot, his right hand bringing down his axe, that was moving at a rapid speed containing both the strength of his body and the centrifugal force gathered during his turn, on the monster’s neck.

The sharp blade of the axe dug into the Monstrous Nightmare neck creating a deep gash on its neck from which red-hot blood sprayed out. The Dragon roared in pain from the axe wound and immediately left backwards as it looked at the little Viking in shock. What it had once thought of as an easy hunt had turned into quite a dangerous, and judging by the amount of blood gushing from its neck, and deadly situation.

For a moment the Monstrous Nightmare thought of running away to recover from its wounds however the fact that it had been injured greatly hurt its pride and filled it with anger strong enough to override its instinctual desire to survive. Now it just wanted to kill the little Viking however it would focus on a physical confrontation anymore, no this time it would use a weapon that has proven far useful in the past when dealing with this type of enemy.