On the morning of the 12th day, the gods relented. The sea grew calm, the fog lifted, and Valhalla offered broken shafts of warm sunlight across the waves and sky, which helped to lift our spirits.  After several more days, our pilot drew the boat near to a rocky shoreline, skillfully guiding the ship to safe port. Yet, few were at ease. Many knew and feared this place, it was the land of witches, nightmares and whispered tales of death; this was the land of the Dragon. If our people were to ever again know peace, much less reclaim the many riches spoken of yet lost since ancient times, I alone would have to confront the colossus, Fafnir.

Following both council fire and intuition, I began my quest. My kinsmen bade me well, banging their swords and axes against their shields, a final salute. Then I was off, alone, seeking to find and slay a mystical foe.  Finally, after a fortnight’s journey, I found it: the cave so spoken of, in hushed, feared even sacred tones since antiquity: Fafnir’s lair! Summoning all the courage the gods could offer, cautiously, I entered the cave, when then I found him: the mighty beast, slumbering, buried deep beneath its treasure of vanity, precious stones and contempt. I first considered slaying the creature while it slept and then thought the better of it; surely there would be little honor in killing a sleeping foe. Instead, I cried out, challenging the monster: “Fafnir! Dragon Demon of the Western Isles! Awaken you wicked beast! It is I, Sigurd, son of Arkyn! I have come for your life, and to reclaim that which has been stolen from my people!’ For his part, the dragon appeared unimpressed. Judging by the many headless skeletons wrapped in varying degrees of burned and disfigured armor strewn all about the lair, it was likely that others had offered similar challenges.

The beast slowly opened its contemptuous, perturbed, and blazing-red eyes. Slowly the dragon  rose, as the sound of gold and silver coins cascading from some long dead merchant’s money pouch, echoed far off and into the black depths of the deep, sulphur-filled cavern. Extending its massive and ancient wings, the Dragon’s neck and head rose up to full length, which seemed to be many times the height of a ships’ mast! Looking down upon me, the creature scoffed a haughty laugh, flaring its mighty nostrils, and drawing its eyes to a contemptuous glare, so cold and loathsome. Drawing back, the beast then blew the mighty and feared blast of Demons Fire! I raised my shield, leaning into the conflagration. The power of the blast and heat was enormous; it required all of my strength to simply remain afoot!  After what felt like an eternity but was surely only moments, the attack ceased. The creature seemed to pause, shifting its enormous weight from one mighty leg to the other, then back again. It lowered its massive head; its eyes now drawn into thin evil red slits. The creature continued peering at me, only a short mooring lines length from my face! I felt a rush of much-welcomed, cool cave air pass from behind then over me, as the creature began to inhale, and continued its long, slow, malicious breath.

“It seems my slumber has been disturbed by another human worm. Why have you come here to die, man-child? Are you so through with life’s procession?” Peering from behind my smoldering shield, my gaze was somehow drawn - or did the god’s direct my purpose, I do not know – to a small, missing scale-plate, on the beast’s breast; I knew my mark. Perhaps one of the many skeletons scattered about had long since drawn first blood? These and similar thoughts raced through my mind; focus man focus! Then, acting or reacting perhaps on instinct, I do not know, I drew my Ulfbehrt and charged forward, instinctively driving the heavy blade deep into the dragon's breast, then on into the creature's dark heart. Stunned, the Dragon stared at me, as it stumbled sideways then backwards, it’s mighty wings collapsing under the weight of its own massive hulk. Blowing one last fiery breath, the Dragon then uttered this final warning: “Beware, young son of Arkyn! Greater treachery awaits beyond these walls…” Then, the Beast breathed its last.

While sheathing my now sanguine blade, my finders happened to touch the dragon’s still tepid blood. Immediately my fingers were seared, much in the way one's hand would be burned by grasping a red-hot iron from a longhouse fire pit! Reacting, I drew a scalded finger to my lips, fortuitously tasting the Dragon’s blood, it’s spirit-essence. What happened next is almost impossible to describe, for that would require a far greater poet than I. Still, I shall try: it was as if a veil of darkness, no, ignorance, had been lifted from my soul! My mind flew to many distant stars and knew many distant heavens! So much color, light, music; birth, death then rebirth! I saw and understood eternity, and spoke with my ancestors and many gods and goddesses; I understood the single voice of a thousand languages, as if played majestically yet simply on the perfect lyres of Valhalla; and I understood that the universe was eternal, forever growing, learning and expanding; yet nothing beyond this single moment in time could ever possibly matter more; this moment is everything. And, I knew I would never, ever be the same simple Norseman that entered this cave, just moments before.

After what seemed an eternity of revelations, my mind returned; from where, I do no know. I stepped out of the cave and into the cleansing sunlight of a new day. The sun was brighter, the sky bluer, and the clouds were more stunningly beautiful, more spectacular than I ever remembered seeing them. There was music, subtle laughter, and even quiet strength in the gentle breeze. The trees,  plants even the rocks themselves, seemed to offer hints of  timeless, eternal wisdom. And the birds; the beautiful, majestic, and most delicate of all creatures, gently offered their ‘Die Vogelgesang’ – The Birdsong - the original and perfect language of nature, spoken of in tales and legends of Old. And I, Sigurd Lofnar, finally unde understood. I would now return to my people with a legacy and treasure far greater than all of the gold, silver and precious gems that I had recovered from Fafnir’s lair...