Viking King | ATEEZ Fanfic

San pt 2

"San," Hongjoong began, slightly gently "be honest. Who are you?"

San's gaze went everywhere it could to not be met with confused, enraged, or disappointed faces. Settling for the ground, he took a long, deep breath in then exhaled sharply. Crouching down, his index finger poked the sand gently as he began quickly scribbling runic symbols "I hate explaining myself." his usual cheerful tone was now one void of emotion "it's best I show you." he stood up quickly, dragging his foot in the sand to form a circle around the group. Once completed, golden flakes of light gradually danced out of the sand. "Don't tread too deep," San warned as more and more flakes flickered around the men "some paths are darker than others." his gaze landed on Yeosang before the group was fully blinded by the lights.

With the warmth from the light dissipating, Yeosang dared to open his eyes. Instead of the beach with San and the others, Yeosang found himself in darkness so vast he felt as if he were floating. Shrugging it off as a regular morning, he just started walking forward. "Hello?" he asked the void "guys?" grew louder "where is everyone!?" his voice boomed as loudly as he could muster, only to be met with silence. Sighing exceptionally loud, he felt himself becoming slightly agitated. "Of course," he exclaimed "ask San a question" he mocked "only to be thrown into some weird shit." rolling his eyes whilst strolling through the dark, a small flicker golden light appeared for a split second.

Second guessing his vision, Yeosang rubbed his eyes. Slowly, thousands of golden specks began flickering before him. As more light took over the darkness, a faint cry of an infant could be heard in the distance. Opting to keep moving forward, Yeosang noticed the cries getting louder and louder as it began ringing in his ears.

Blocking his eyes from another flash of light, he found himself inside a large tent. The thin stitched up animal skin was held up by two massive logs. In the center of the tent, embers glowed lightly in a circle of rocks with an iron rod sticking out of it. Various animal skins littered the ground, handmade spears sat up against the log pillars, and a freezing breeze crept through the tents cracks. A pale woman laid dead on a bed of stacked animal skins while an elderly man stared down the crying newborn with pure disgust. "Let's get this over with." a man said from the fire pit. Picking up an red hot iron rod from the embers, he made his way to the child. The elderly man swaddled the kid tightly in soft leather and presented the child to the man. High pitched screams emitted from the newborn as the iron touched it's soft skin.

Yeosang instinctively went to grab the man but his hand just went right through him. The man took his time scarring up the baby's face. By the end of what felt like forever, half of the child's face had two vertical parallel lines connected by a diagonal line from the mid top right to mid bottom left etched into it's supple flesh. "Hagalaz," the man uttered "the cursed child of a whore." roughly grabbing the child, the man moved to leave.

As he left the tent, the scene flashed and suddenly Yeosang was in a forest. The cries of that baby echoed through the woods. Yeosang frantically followed the cries. Even though he knew he couldn't do anything, he just felt like he had to follow them. As the cries grew louder the more familiar the area looked. Yeosang realized that he was on Faroe as he approached a pristine shrine "Yggdrasil..." he gapped. The entrance he remembered was crumpling and old, but this one was new and well kept.

The old man from the tent appeared with the child in his arms. Hobbling to the entrance, he placed the kid before it. Grabbing a hefty stick, a flat rock attached with old tatter twine decorated the tip, he fell to his knees in prayer "Allfather," his voice pleaded "lord of Aesir, rid us of this cursed child, bring prosperity back to our lands." bowing before the entrance, the old man aligned the stick to the child, his eyes never leaving the ground. With a quick but harsh shove, the child rapidly rolled through the entrance.