"So, why don't you tell me how it happened. After all these years, you never have told me how it all started. When did you realize that you were immortal?" The fisherman sat down across from the ancient Viking of island legend and pushed himself back against the smooth worn-in green leather seat of Haldir’s favorite booth.
The handsome blonde man with steely, blue eyes and an impressive bushy, blonde beard peered out the window at the frozen ground as his hot breath fogged the glass. While his freckled pointer finger wiped a porthole big enough for him to peek through, Haldir's mind stumbled back through long ago memories. "It’s a bit of a long story, Bose."
Bose shrugged his shoulders as he waited for his coffee to cool. He heard many of Haldir's tales over the last decade, but he always skimmed over the beginning. "It's not like I don't have the time. Entertain me, old man."
The loneliness of it all settled in his chest making a miserable sigh pass through his nose. Haldir glanced back to Bose and agreed with a small nod. The new batch of visitors from the mainland wouldn't be arriving for at least another forty-five minutes, and she probably wouldn't be among them anyway. "Very well. Believe it or not, I was out fishing one day..."
Arctic Region of Norway 1001 A.D.
Between the two ice-covered cliffs sat Haldir as he peeked over the side of the boat into the unnervingly still and dusky waters that bordered his village.
Scratching his cheek through his bushy beard, he glared up into the sky and cursed the bright cruel sun beating down on him. In all his 35 years living in that arctic settlement, he had never seen a day so warm as this.
As the sweat beaded on his forehead, Haldir pulled his shirt over his head and wiped it off before throwing the tattered cloth to the other side of the tiny fishing boat. His long, strong arms and chest appeared as if they had picked up a heavy object or two and then picked them up a few thousand more times the way they rippled and bulged in the hot sun.
When he finished tying the knot in the frayed and rotting rope, Haldir tossed the net into the frigid glacial waters and said his prayers to the gods for a plentiful catch.
Staring out over the fjord, Haldir took a deep breath of the abnormally warm air as an eerie, gnawing sensation filled his chest. It had been days since he caught a single fish and his empty belly was making him anxious.
If his fortune didn't change soon, he may be forced to move on to another village. Not that it would matter much at all, after the last skirmish they had with the neighboring town, there was barely anyone left in his homeland. Not even a single woman to keep him warm at night.
As the curiously warm air swept through the surrounding gap, Haldir heard the haunting sounds of cracking coming from the ice-capped cliffs above him. Dread washed over the simple man as the mammoth chunks of melting ice came crashing down into the surrounding waters.
His trembling hands reaching for the rope net, Haldir leaned over the side and pulled it hand over hand to his small boat until it caught on something below. Gritting his teeth and grunting like an animal, Haldir pulled with all his might to free his net.
With a blood-curdling snap from above his head, a chunk of ice crashed into the water. Like the hand of Njord himself, a dark, unforgiving wave swept through the waters and seemed to call out his name as it tore through the narrow gap.
Haldir's pupils dilated so that his eyes were a wall of black as he faced down the enormous surge rushing towards him. As it slapped the tiny boat onto its side, Haldir was plunged back into the icy glacial waters as the wave crashed down upon him.
When the waters stilled, Haldir erupted from the blackness like a volcano gasping for breath and warmth. Frantically trying to turn his boat right side up again, the cold abyss staked its claim on Haldir inch by inch as he sank back down into its deadly embrace.
While Haldir's blood pressure dropped in response to the sudden blast of icy cold, his heart desperately struggled to continue its right pace. As the last final beats of life sparked across his chest, Haldir's fingers gave up and lost their grip, sending him backward into the dark, wet chasm again.
Before his fixed human eyes saw for the last time, a burst of brilliant gold and white light came from above and comforted his panicked mind as it ceased to be. No more worries, no more battles, no starvation. Only peace, or so he thought.
Floating lifeless face-down in the frigid waters, Haldir's body bobbed back and forth on the settling ripples as they smacked against the rocky shore. While the bright, ethereal light of the princely Seraph warmed Haldir's back, Michael lifted him from the water and slung the dead man over his shoulder like he was nothing at all.
As the towering Archangel walked upon the water to shore, he declared in the language of the ancients, "Your struggles are only beginning now, my friend."
When he got to the humble, thatched-roofed shack, Michael dropped Haldir's body on the ground as he knelt beside him. The frozen hairs snapped like twigs as the angel pushed them from the corpse’s face. The sound of a hundred deafening trumpets blasted through the land as Michael bent down and placed his open mouth on Haldir's then blew the breath of life back into his lungs.
His eyes fluttering open, Haldir threw up his hand to shield them from the light of a brand-new world that burned him with its bright, iridescent shine. Seeing the bronzed man bathed in gold light kneeling by the fireside breaking branches over his knee, Haldir pushed himself up to his elbows to catch a better look. In his native tongue, Haldir asked, "Who are you?"
Offering him a kind and sympathetic grin, Michael answered back to him in words he could understand. "I am Michael, the gatekeeper of the human world."
Haldir ran his numb fingers through his crunchy hair as he struggled to remember what happened. "I thought I was dead."
Throwing another pile of sticks into the fire, Michael nodded. He had received many orders over the entirety of his existence but breathing life back into a mortal had never been requested of him before. Whatever the gods had planned for Haldir must be significant. "You were. That part of you is gone now."
Haldir's heart pounded in his chest as the stranger's word reached his mind. He thought to himself he must be dreaming, but the pain beginning to radiate from his wakening nerves told him that everything was all too real. "But I'm sitting here talking to you now."
Michael sighed as he sat on his bottom on the dirt floor of the shack Haldir lived in. "The human you is gone, Haldir. You are something else now."
The truth never was so hard to swallow as Haldir wrenched his neck and tried to make sense of Michael's words. He was merely a simple man; the only education afforded him was the survival skills he picked up as he went along in this life. “I'm a spirit? A sorcerer? A god?"
Michael shook his head because he genuinely didn’t understand what was in store for Haldir. "A bit of all of those things now, maybe. I can't give you many answers, I'm afraid; I only follow orders. Your new gods and my God made an arrangement. You, my friend, are the recipient of their covenant. A gift, if you will."
"What gift?" Haldir asked as his eyes darted around his rickety hovel. No one had ever given him anything that he didn’t have to pry from their dead hands.
Michael gave Haldir an apologetic look of understanding because he had a similar gift thrust on him many, many millennia ago. "You will live among the Others in their world. Since you can never truly be like them because you were born of human blood, the gods gifted you immortality. No weapon ever used against you will succeed, you will not age and you will never experience illness."
The deep sound of Haldir’s raspy, throaty laugh bounced around the shack, then he pulled down his lips and nodded. "That is quite a gift. Give them my thanks."
Michael sighed as he gazed into the flames. "Is it? I have lived since the beginning of all things here and, believe me when I tell you, it can be quite a long and lonely time. Someday, you will have to leave this little island and seek out people like yourself. I will be back to check on you from time to time until you grow used to your new life."
With his hand pulling down his still thawing beard, Haldir thought about life outside this unforgiving land. The loneliness of the island had been nearly unbearable in his living days and the idea of meeting new, exciting people sparked the forlorn man’s curiosity. "So, there are others like me, you say?"
Michael shook his head no. "There are supernaturals in the world, but there are none like you. Even they die in time and return to their world. But the gods did not forsake you to be alone forever; you may travel to their world at will and seek out adventures amongst them once you have had your fill of this place if you wish. It will be difficult for you to continue living among the humans, you'll find. Watching all those you care for grow old and die will be difficult. I caution you to never become too close to them, it will only lead to pain."
