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(( I got a lot of kudos on my last writing, so this time I felt like something a bit more humorous and light-hearted.))
Skaald Silvermane was a Berserker in the truest sense. He was not a mindless brute, or a savage. He had learned to control his anger, and tame his rage. He kept them stored, bottled up, contained within a cage of wisdom and inner peace. But when he needed it the most. When he needed that surge of raw, unparalleled power the man could release it with the power of a raging storm. It was battle that brought out the fury within him. The Berserker invoked the righteous fury of the Battle Lord Tempus to rend his foes asunder and leave a trail of broken bodies in his wake.
But not now. Now, there was no berserker. There was no fury. There was only peace...and fishing.
It was a hot summer's day in the Mirakus post. The miners of the Exigo entered and exited the Sundrite mines as their shifts came to an end, mired in sweat and covered head to toe in Sundrite dust, the magical properties of the mineral causing their skin to gleam like starlight, reflecting the mid-day sun.
Taking a break from the chaos of his training the Northerner Skaald Silvermane sat upon the bridge by the pond. Taking off his Full Plate, his helmet, and his heavy boots he quietly perched upon the edge and stuck his gigantic feet into the water, soothing his joints that ached from the long march of the day, and having born his heavy armor since sunrise.
Fishing was Silvermane's zen. His meditation. His means of finding inner peace. Time to collect his thoughts, relax his muscles, and think. The spot he was sitting upon was, indeed, known almost solely as "Silvermane's Spot" among the Blackwood by now. The goliath of a man was seen there almost every day, fishing the waters with a warm smile on his face. The one place the Berserker found it easiest to find serenity.
Fishing was also, in his mind, a metaphor for War itself. Because with War, the battle itself was not the worst of it. It was the waiting. The tension. The suspense. Pondering when and where your opponent was going to strike next. Pondering when the enemy would see fit to make themselves known, and attack with vigor. Silvermane thought of many things by the pond. Thoughts of family. Thoughts of home. Thoughts of battles fought and hard-won. Thoughts of the past. Thoughts of his future. A thousand and one scenarios and memories cascading across his mind. Questions of what he could have done differently. Questions of how things could have been. And he sat there and he thought, and he thought...until finally he felt a tug.
Having nearly fallen asleep, the Jotunbrud jerked awake. A rush filled his heart, a smile sprang into existence across his face as he focused upon the water. One could have heard a pin drop from a league away. He was determined, anxious, the thought of freshly cooked Salmon danced within his mind. He pulled on the line, hoping to reel in his prize.
But this fish, it seemed, would not go peacefully. And so it began, the epic struggle between Man and Nature. A War within the pond between two giants, a Titan of the earth and a Kraken of the deep. The line jumped and darted across the pond as the "sea monster" defied the fisherman, not willing to yield. It was a battle for the ages! Man fighting for his Dinner, fish fighting for it's very life! The water splashed about violently as the two juggernauts fought for dominance, neither willing to surrender to the other, Behemoth battling Behemoth for the right to call themselves "victor!" The fish leaped from the waters, pulling the fisherman's line to it's breaking point, and then battle took an incredibly odd and unexpected turn......the fishing line broke in twain, the meager fishing equipment Silvermane had purchased was not up to this herculean task.
The fish fell back into the water, and began to swim off. Silvermane could almost hear it laughing a diabolical laugh beneath the waves, assured of it's victory over the Northern Giant. He shook his fins at the man, taunting him.
But Silvermane would not relent. And he would never surrender.
With a Barbaric cry of Rage the silver-haired Gargantuan leaped head-first into the water! The Exigo miners that had been watching the normally peaceful man fish shouted as he, like a rampaging Bear, jumped into the pond after his quarry! He would not be denied! The water splashed about like a tsunami upon the shore....and then all went quiet.
The Northerner disappeared under the water's surface. The pond that Silvermane had so fallen in love with was mired in dirt. Cast-off from the Sundrite mines. The water was murky, the perfect place for a Catfish to hide. The miners watched, and they watched, and they watched....but the water was still.
"The damn fool has drowned!!" shouted one of the workers. The miners gazed upon the stillness of the pond, their hearts sinking as one of their own, a fellow Grunt of the Blackwood, had sank into the deep, claimed by Umberlee as one of the Drowned.
...but Silvermane would not claim defeat this day!! As the men turned about to go and fetch aid the water's surface broke, and a yell that thundered in the distance broke out from it! The towering Northerner, his long-hair soaked to the brim with the murky water stood upon the shallow lip of the pond, his arm and his fist shoved down the Catfish's mouth!! With a defiant roar he hurled the massive sea-beast onto the bank and then leaped upon it, snapping it's neck with one final motion of his enormous hands!
The Beast lie beaten, and broken. The Northerner red in the face, and his clothes and his hair dripping wet with pond water. Gazing out among the Exigo the Northerner picked up the nearly 100 pound Giant Catfish and slung it over his shoulders as one would a sack of potatoes!
His victory achieved, the proud Battle Lord of Tempus turned to his comrades that had thought him lost. With a proud smile across his face, and a gleam within his eye that shined with the fires of rage and conquest he raised the Sea Monster above his head and shouted for all to hear with his thunderous voice:
"Grunts of the Blackwood!!!! the man shouted with a defiant cry "TONIGHT...WE DINE WELL!"
Skaald Silvermane was a Berserker in the truest sense. He was not a mindless brute, or a savage. He had learned to control his anger, and tame his rage. He kept them stored, bottled up, contained within a cage of wisdom and inner peace. But when he needed it the most. When he needed that surge of raw, unparalleled power the man could release it with the power of a raging storm. It was battle that brought out the fury within him. The Berserker invoked the righteous fury of the Battle Lord Tempus to rend his foes asunder and leave a trail of broken bodies in his wake.
But not now. Now, there was no berserker. There was no fury. There was only peace...and fishing.
It was a hot summer's day in the Mirakus post. The miners of the Exigo entered and exited the Sundrite mines as their shifts came to an end, mired in sweat and covered head to toe in Sundrite dust, the magical properties of the mineral causing their skin to gleam like starlight, reflecting the mid-day sun.
Taking a break from the chaos of his training the Northerner Skaald Silvermane sat upon the bridge by the pond. Taking off his Full Plate, his helmet, and his heavy boots he quietly perched upon the edge and stuck his gigantic feet into the water, soothing his joints that ached from the long march of the day, and having born his heavy armor since sunrise.
Fishing was Silvermane's zen. His meditation. His means of finding inner peace. Time to collect his thoughts, relax his muscles, and think. The spot he was sitting upon was, indeed, known almost solely as "Silvermane's Spot" among the Blackwood by now. The goliath of a man was seen there almost every day, fishing the waters with a warm smile on his face. The one place the Berserker found it easiest to find serenity.
Fishing was also, in his mind, a metaphor for War itself. Because with War, the battle itself was not the worst of it. It was the waiting. The tension. The suspense. Pondering when and where your opponent was going to strike next. Pondering when the enemy would see fit to make themselves known, and attack with vigor. Silvermane thought of many things by the pond. Thoughts of family. Thoughts of home. Thoughts of battles fought and hard-won. Thoughts of the past. Thoughts of his future. A thousand and one scenarios and memories cascading across his mind. Questions of what he could have done differently. Questions of how things could have been. And he sat there and he thought, and he thought...until finally he felt a tug.
Having nearly fallen asleep, the Jotunbrud jerked awake. A rush filled his heart, a smile sprang into existence across his face as he focused upon the water. One could have heard a pin drop from a league away. He was determined, anxious, the thought of freshly cooked Salmon danced within his mind. He pulled on the line, hoping to reel in his prize.
But this fish, it seemed, would not go peacefully. And so it began, the epic struggle between Man and Nature. A War within the pond between two giants, a Titan of the earth and a Kraken of the deep. The line jumped and darted across the pond as the "sea monster" defied the fisherman, not willing to yield. It was a battle for the ages! Man fighting for his Dinner, fish fighting for it's very life! The water splashed about violently as the two juggernauts fought for dominance, neither willing to surrender to the other, Behemoth battling Behemoth for the right to call themselves "victor!" The fish leaped from the waters, pulling the fisherman's line to it's breaking point, and then battle took an incredibly odd and unexpected turn......the fishing line broke in twain, the meager fishing equipment Silvermane had purchased was not up to this herculean task.
The fish fell back into the water, and began to swim off. Silvermane could almost hear it laughing a diabolical laugh beneath the waves, assured of it's victory over the Northern Giant. He shook his fins at the man, taunting him.
But Silvermane would not relent. And he would never surrender.
With a Barbaric cry of Rage the silver-haired Gargantuan leaped head-first into the water! The Exigo miners that had been watching the normally peaceful man fish shouted as he, like a rampaging Bear, jumped into the pond after his quarry! He would not be denied! The water splashed about like a tsunami upon the shore....and then all went quiet.
The Northerner disappeared under the water's surface. The pond that Silvermane had so fallen in love with was mired in dirt. Cast-off from the Sundrite mines. The water was murky, the perfect place for a Catfish to hide. The miners watched, and they watched, and they watched....but the water was still.
"The damn fool has drowned!!" shouted one of the workers. The miners gazed upon the stillness of the pond, their hearts sinking as one of their own, a fellow Grunt of the Blackwood, had sank into the deep, claimed by Umberlee as one of the Drowned.
...but Silvermane would not claim defeat this day!! As the men turned about to go and fetch aid the water's surface broke, and a yell that thundered in the distance broke out from it! The towering Northerner, his long-hair soaked to the brim with the murky water stood upon the shallow lip of the pond, his arm and his fist shoved down the Catfish's mouth!! With a defiant roar he hurled the massive sea-beast onto the bank and then leaped upon it, snapping it's neck with one final motion of his enormous hands!
The Beast lie beaten, and broken. The Northerner red in the face, and his clothes and his hair dripping wet with pond water. Gazing out among the Exigo the Northerner picked up the nearly 100 pound Giant Catfish and slung it over his shoulders as one would a sack of potatoes!
His victory achieved, the proud Battle Lord of Tempus turned to his comrades that had thought him lost. With a proud smile across his face, and a gleam within his eye that shined with the fires of rage and conquest he raised the Sea Monster above his head and shouted for all to hear with his thunderous voice:
"Grunts of the Blackwood!!!! the man shouted with a defiant cry "TONIGHT...WE DINE WELL!"