And that brings the story to me...the real ''someone'' Is?lde, my mother, is, ''er was...whatever, supposed to teach how to fight. My name is Tore – you can pronounce it like ''tore, tore a page from a book'', or like the English political party ''Tory'', I''m fine with either. In my home language of Norway, it sounds more like TU-rah, but regardless of how it''s pronounced, it means Thunder Warrior. Ah, say hello to my horse too, if you like – the giant Shire, his name is Tiny. He is not only my main mode of transportation, but also the ''carrier of all my things''. We are currently waiting under this oak tree for the sun to set – I gotta nest of vampyr to clean out, but it gives me a bit of time to tell you a little about who I am, and how I got here.
I was born shortly after the end of that story there...my mother is definitely not human, so there was no ''pregnant for nine-months'' thing going on. It was apparently a bit difficult explaining to the village what and why things were not happening in the normal ''female'' way. Mom actually had to break down and ''angel out'' for those zealous folks, otherwise, there may have been some attempted burning at the stake action happening.
My birth date November 5, the year of our Lord 741 to one Magnus and Is?lde Godsson, my name is Tore Magnus Godsson – and I was taught to ''dance'', ergo - fight monsters and demons by my warrior angel mother – and, even I still don''t know her real name; apparently, it can''t be pronounced by human, or half human mouth''s...maybe it takes a dolphin or whale, but I don''t know, she''s my mom, and I love her.
Anyway - I got my dad''s looks on the outside and my mom''s strength and angelness on the inside – eyes the color of evergreen trees, long light brown, or dark blonde hair I keep in a loose Vikingr style braid – but I can''t grow a beard, or any facial hair for that matter. Mom says boy angels don''t shave, so maybe it''s genetics. My dad was not the tallest guy in the room...but I didn''t even get a little of his height,I''m only about 5'' 10. I have even been called a ''little guy'', but that fella regretted that. I''ve not really any neck to speak of...but a sharp jaw, broad at the shoulders and a massive chestal region. Not built like model for Roman statues, more like a black smith...or shipbuilder, go figure. Oddly enough, even with arms like oak trees I am extremely flexible – I can do the splits or a reverse round house without breaking a sweat. My appearance is one of my greatest assets – I look a bit unassuming, but I am not.
My mom''s genetic bits keep me from getting sick and I heal superfast. I haven''t tried to regrow anything...like a finger – but the first ogre I took down, nearly bit through my femur, it took me about a week to fully recover. I got bitten by a fanger once, she thought it''d be cute to see me as a vampyr – I had a high fever for about day, so I got that healing factor going for me. I am freakishly strong and fast for a human, as an angel I guess I would be considered freakishly slow and weak...I haven''t found person yet, including my dad, that can outpower me. Jager from the brewery likes to have me around ''cause I can load full kegs into the delivery wagon pretty easily. The downside to being so powerful...I really ''gotta be careful when fighting someone I don''t intend snuff out, one slip of focus could be bad. Mom really worked that into me, self-control wins fights – physical and psychological.
Mom is still around, dad – he lived to be over 100 years old. Mom took care of him until the day he went home. She even made herself look old too, so he didn''t feel weird. Anyway, she still doesn''t look a day past 28 human years. I don''t see her much now that I am trained, great grandfather wants me to operate by myself...mostly.
After I was born, did I mention I''m a Nephilim – and not one of the psycho ones... the spawn angels and daughters of man, no I am half daughter of heaven and half son of man...apparently, we are way cooler than the mutant offspring – sorry, I digress...it only took a few months after I was born, I was walking, and mom was teaching me how to ''dance''. We started small, just literally dancing and went from there – it''s like I didn''t even know I was being taught how to kick ass. She taught me empty handed fighting, stick fighting, sword, two swords, axes, rope dart, tonfa...everything you can think of – except for the bo staff, dad taught me the bo. Not even mom could beat dad without cheating when he used a bo staff. I still practice today, more so for meditation. Hunting monsters and demons takes me to the far reaches of the known world, and as such, I get to seek out masters of their martial crafts and spiritual techniques. Many proclaimed Christians say that all other belief systems are blasphemous, but I would tell you the Allfather has more than one story, and I have a learned a lot of good stuff from other cultures that are neither good nor evil. Meditation and focusing techniques to clear my mind and give me a better means to heed the guidance of my Great Grandfather.
Of course, I also learned about monsters and fae, along with angel alchemy – it is different than human alchemy ''cause humans don''t know about angels, or the fae, or heaven, or hell...and there is some really weird stuff that goes on behind the veil. One of the last things to mention about my angel heritage - their language. I can''t speak it completely, but I can read and write. There is a lot of power to be had in the runes of angels, hence the reason for the tattoos across my body. Mom inked me up when I stopped growing to protect me mostly from demonic influences. I have some basic protection from spells and witchcraft, possession, and demon fire balls – did I mention there is some weird shit out there. My weapons and armor are also engraved with runes. Angelic runes aren''t picky meaning you don''t have to be angelic to use them, some of the guys I work with, their weapons and armor are engraved too, they need all the edge they can get when working with me, otherwise they wouldn''t stand a chance.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
My dad, he taught me how to build boats...and by building boats, I learned how to build everything else to. He is my hero, and I miss him so bad; he was my cornerstone, he made me...me. Besides being a master ship builder, he had more black smith inventions than grandpa Bj?rn; after a trip to Syria where he came across a new ore, he came up with a Damascus steel that is better than any other in the world. He says it also has something to do with the iron we pull out of the town''s mine, extra silica or something.
He came up with the loom and weave that our sail makers use today. He could make glass and porcelain, and beer and bread – there wasn''t anything that dad couldn''t do, and he did it better than anyone else, and he never took any credit, he always gave credit to the Allfather. He and I smithed the hammer and axe I carry today from a meteorite, he is pretty sure that the Allfather sent it to us, specifically for my work for Him. The iron effect they have on the fae is amazing, they don''t rust, and the axe rarely needs to be sharpened. I named them Sirius and Arcturus after the bright stars we see in the night sky.
The village has had so many great craftsman as far back as grandpa Bj?rn who are making things that can''t be found anywhere else in the world, the clan trade routes are still solid and prosperous, and because of those connections, I was able to attend the best schools of philosophy, science, trade, and warfare of the times, regardless of where they were, anywhere in the world. Our people are respected and honored, I was able to get educated in Byzantium, India, Europe, the Caliphates – no school was too good or too advanced for me. My angelic DNA enabled me to meet all challenges head on and come out on top. Learning was easy, so I actually had to mess some things up so I didn''t come out on top of all my studies...that may have eventually looked suspicious. I also moved to a lot of schools, since I also didn''t age as normal humans. But it has all worked out in the end – I kinda, or a lotta...understand how things work, and with my dad''s influence, I just like to make things better.
The village now, well it''s more of a town, slash small city...has prospered. We changed the name to T?nsberg, it means the "fenced" town. We had to isolate ourselves from other villages – our ''sordid'' past is hard to explain to outsiders. We still trade and help our neighbors, we simply find ways to keep those outsiders from wanting to settle in the area... so, it just fits. That, and some big ass bear killed all of the elk in the area...so that didn''t work anymore. The village is run by a group of elders with me as the head, at least when I am there. I make any final decisions in a tie vote or overrule plain stupidity - since I am the oldest member...I just don''t look it. The village is extremely wealthy – we still make the best ships in the north, Brittania, Asia, and Africa. We trade timber, gems, and ore to Africa and the middle east for items coveted by the rich folk of Europe. The greatest investment we made though, was getting vested into the Silk Road between Rome and Beijing – the Chinese like good timber and the Europeans love silk. We like to play the role of wealthy merchants when we deal with the robber barons of Europe, and fleece them for what we can - their vanity is simply amazing. We have created industries to help our neighbors proser as well as ourselves...I can say nobody in our town or surrounding villages is worried about food or clothing. We also use our prosperity to further the mission of the Allfather, as he sees fit. We support and maintain many ministries that care for orphans, widows, and older folk. The year 841 is not an easy one to survive in – wars, cold, and sickness never seem to end, so we fill that gap. We support institutes of higher learning and trade guilds behind the scenes. We do what we can to maintain some modicum of honesty. Greed runs rampant at the moment, not just greed for wealth, but at times greed for the basic requirements to live - like bread, water, and some clothing – we do what we can and where we can.
So, the famous, or infamous, depending on your perspective, raid on Lindisfarne in 793 has already taken place now, many years ago, Vikingr occupation of the Britain''s is in full swing – I have been fighting demons...and fae...and shifters for over 70 years, and they don''t hold a candle to the world''s most terrifying monster – humans. Although mom was training me to fight monsters, what she did not realize at the time was that the most vile and evil monsters are mankind - humans. At least demon''s, shifters, and the fae types, at their heart, are acting within their nature and just do what it is, that they do, because of cold, hunger, or whatever to survive...humans are for the most part, just benign beings that go on about their lives, but when one of them gets greedy, even without selling their soul, greed will take a person to a whole new level of evil. The bulk of the monsters I have had to put down are not demons, not shifters (some of them are good folk when you get to know them), and especially not fae...but people, just downright greedy people. It makes me sad and angry, but when a human begins to enjoy hurting others for the sake of amusement – they gotta go, we gotta keep some balance.
That about sums everything up this point, especially about me...I am sure you''ll get to know me better as we go on – uhh...oh, I should tell you about my dogs Wu and Fu, short for Wu Zixu and Lady Fu Hao, they are a pair...oh, and my friend and Kung Fu master, Master Kai and his master, Grand Master Bao...but I think I will let the narrator do that, he''s very good.