3 The farmstead

I woke up after who knows how long,

I was squinting as the sun beamed down on me, I could hear water rushing past. As my eyes adjusted to the bright light I looked around I was in the front of a small rowing boat as the Viking man was rowing with his back to me.

Looking at him closer he had long brown hair tied up with string and the sides were down to the skin, he has broad shoulders and a large back. His cape was still wrapped around me so I started to move a bit to get my arms out, this seemed to alert him that I was awake as he turned to look at me I noticed he was smiling.

He seemed to say something but I don't know the language, probably old Norse it sounded Germanic anyway. I just stared at him I have no idea where he's taking me so might as well just wait hopefully I'm not a sacrifice.

Viking pov

I heard some rustling behind me so turned to look at the child. He was getting out of my cape.

"Ah boy your up!" I said looking at him with a smile, I kept rowing we're not too far from Birka the island trading centre he slept for a whole day must have been exhausted.

'hmm I guess he doesn't understand me, it's reasonable he's a child that was raised by wolves. I hope ubbe and Astrid will look after him, If not I'll teach the boy till he can survive on he's an adult' I thought looking at the child he looked hopeful of something, so I threw him some fish and berries I had gathered.

MC pov

As a sack landed in front of me I could smell a subtle fishy and salt fragrance from it, my stomach growled like a beast starved. So I reached for it and began to devour the fish, it was a pike luckily it had been cooked some cause I know pike can make you sick if eaten raw, not sure how I know that just do

'hmm I'm going to have to sort through my mind and arrange my knowledge into books in my mind palace, might be able to make a plan after I figure out what year this is, oh maybe I'll meet Ragnar or his sons, best find out everything I know about Scandinavia as well, I know some Viking customs like they teach kids to be self-reliant and they're classed as an adult when they're and that they sacrifice animals and people to the gods'

As I finished what was edible on the fish I threw the rest over the side of the boat, might as well feed other fish the leftovers.

So I lent on the bow of the boat and closed my eyes and slowed my breathing I soon found myself in my mind palace, it was a large cave in a mountain.

"Ah, this is probably the only memorable place for me in this world. Might as well get to work" I said out loud in English doesn't matter I'm in my mind anyway.

As I walked into the cave I could see all sorts of images overlapping and jumbled up floating around in the cave, this is all the knowledge I remember from my last life. So I sat down and began to catalogue everything by category.

The knowledge of the worlds I'd asked death to put together was one catalogue broken down by category of magic, species, creatures, and future events that may not even happen at all. Who knows Harry potter might be a squib in this world.

The signs of witchers could be helpful maybe I can improve them in the future.

I catalogued everything basic together like reading, writing, mathematics, languages I knew like English, French and a bit of Japanese

'hmm Japanese could come in useful there writing style of kanji is more efficient for runes and talismans'

Then came all the useful stuff I could use in this time like the bushcraft survival videos I'd watched hours of in my past life, I broke that down by category as well. Shelter, cooking, hunting/fishing, and gathering. This probably will help me when I get to the Pangaea dimension cause Hogwarts isn't founded yet I'm not sure about the Witcher schools. I'll just travel around and practice my magic and get in touch with the magical nature, maybe find a familiar I don't want an owl or cat something unique.

I also catalogued all the useful inventions I knew how to make. nature and plant life had its own catalogue I knew so much I never realized I even liked plants must be Gaia's blessing.

Then came everything I knew about Scandinavia there wasn't much just that it was made up of a few western European countries and had deep fjords and mountains in Norway. Not much to go on I know but hopefully, I'll find an entrance to Pangaea, maybe the highest peak of some famous cave?

After I was finished I looked at my work, the jumbled mess now laid out like a library of books each labelled and colour-coordinated. That's when I saw it my inner wolf it was laid down in the cave pitch black with a white head shaped like a crown. Must have been 8 feet tall and 10 feet long. It was asleep must have been because of my age I'm not ready to transform yet I'm only 2 I think.

Coming out of my mind palace I noticed I was in the Viking's arms as he made his way from a dock towards a town. It was quite busy, must be a few 1000 people in this town. Going about their day trading goods and children running around, the wooden single-story buildings were simply made.

He made his way down a road to the outskirts to the east. It looked like we were heading to some farmlands. I just kept quiet and looked around trying to figure out what would happen next.

Viking pov

'not far now, this kid quite heavy for a sprog. I haven't seen Ubbe and Astrid in a while it'll be good to catch up ' I thought as I looked down at the boy he was awake looking around at everything he seemed to hold some intelligence in his eyes.

As we approached a farm I saw someone ploughing the fields, it was Ubbe

"Ubbe! Come give me a hand will ya!" I shouted

MC pov

So where at a farmstead and there's a tall blonde haired man ploughing the field that's when I heard it "Ubbe" I knew that was a Nordic name must be this man.

The farmer looked at him then looked at me, and ran over, I still don't know what's being said I only caught a few words I knew one being Ulf which means wolf and Astrid which I'm sure is a female name. This language barrier is starting to annoy me that's when I heard another name it was Ivar l. Must be a coincidence Ubbe and Ivar? As in Ragnar's sons? But he's not a cripple so must be a coincidence. I must have been making a funny face cause Ubbe started laughing when he looked at me. I growled at him and heard another name "Fenrisúlfr" like the legendary wolf of Norse mythology.

Then I noticed a beautiful golden brown-haired woman with us she was completely stunning and she's looking at me with concern. I'm still filthy from the 2 years in the cave and woods I never realized until she reached for me with a wet cloth and wiped my face.

'that must be Astrid why do I feel like I know her? Or someone I used to know? But who? Ah, whatever she seems kind enough' I couldn't stop looking at her she reminded me of someone I just didn't know who.

When my face was cleaner she had the brightest smile on her face I'd ever seen I'm sure! It was mesmerizing I got lost in her emerald green eyes. Then the next thing I knew I was being ripped out of Ivar's hands and whisked away to the house not too far away as she ran as fast as she could with my head over her shoulder and I saw the incredulous look on their faces. I couldn't help but chuckle

Astrid pov

"Ubbe what's going on? Oh, it's just you Ivar Who's the child?". She said in questioning voice.

"I found him with an old wolf thought he was going to be eaten but the elder wolf just pushed him towards me when the boy got defensive and growled at me I think has been raised by a pack of wolves," Ivar said looking down at the boy

"Hahaha look at that face he's making" Ubbe started laughing at the boy which annoyed me a little bit until the young boy growled at Ubbe and I looked at him he was filthy.

The only thing that came out of my mouth was one-word "Fenrisúlfr" Ivar and Ubbe looked at me confused but then looked at the boy staring at me. He looked like he recognized that name and his bright piercing blue eyes lit up. I had a wet rag in my hand so I slowly reached for his face and gave it a quick wipe down when I saw the beautiful white skin under all that dirt I ripped the boy from Ivar's hands and ran to the house.

"I'm going to clean up the boy!" I shouted as I ran. When I got into the house and put the boy down in the washbasin, I took off the cloak wrapped around him and I saw the markings on his back just like Yggdrasil.

'it's like this boy is really connected to the gods' I thought as I scrubbed away the dirt as fast as I could I couldn't wait to see what he looked like clean.

MC pov

So I'm being scrubbed down by a beautiful lady and I'm a 2-year-old kind of awkward so I just sat there trying to think about other stuff.

'maybe I'll live here from now on? I wonder if I can? Well, I wished for full control of my wolf transformation and to be in touch with nature so I could possibly help out around here, maybe Ubbe and Ivar will train me as parents do to their kids in these times? '

That's when I was ripped out of my thoughts by a bucket of water thrown over my head. Looking at the water it was disgusting, to be honest, it was like id been in a mud bath.

I looked at Astrid and noticed she was heading to the door of the house, 'must be calling for Ubbe and Ivar' I think I was right because I heard her say their names. That's when all 3 walked in and stared at me, I must look weird or something because Ubbe and Ivar had that incredulous look again. 'then again what do I look like? I haven't paid any attention to it at all I know what I asked to look like but I haven't seen my reflection really the stream near the cave wasn't very good to check myself it was too shallow and I could just see the pebbles and rocks inside it' and that's when I heard another name I recognized "Bjørn" it was Ivar who said it he was older then Ubbe and Astrid looked in his 40s.

So yeah I'm staying in this farmstead with Ubbe and Astrid. They're calling me Fenrisúlfr as it's the only thing I answered to really, they never called me Bjørn again I must resemble him more then I've been here a few days and finally got my own clothes and a bed to sleep in the first few days I slept in the washbasin with furs as bedding, Ubbe had made the bed from some wood laying around. As months passed by I finally got the hang of the language and the first word I said was obviously Astrid.

As the months passed by I began to get used to walking and talking, I pretty much fit in with what a child was like at 2. At one point Ubbe had gone to see the seer and came running into the house when he got back looked at me in the eyes with a huge grin and said "Fenrisúlfr you are going to have a great adventure in life" and then ran to Astrid and whispered in her ear I couldn't quite pick it up over the gasps she was doing and looking at me.