18 Witby and travelling to Lunden

After about a week at sea, we spotted land ahead, an abbey atop a hill and a beach below, Whitby. Whitby had a lot of mystical folklore about it, some say Dracula travelled here and was staked atop a grave. Tales of mischievous goblins and sirens. Also, the Wold Newton Triangle was just south of here which was a haven for wolves and werewolves.

There was even a place of power close by, it was a megalith a standing stone almost 8 meters high that's already been here 10,000 years. I wanted to visit it on the way South to Lunden, the stone henge as well which was not as old but laid upon a crossing of ley lines. It was a bit out of the way but I didn't mind the journey.

But first to visit Ollivander the wandmakers. The temporary backpack wasn't going to last forever especially since I haven't processed the fur, it was beginning to smell but the Isa rune was prolonging it with the cold temperature.

As we got closer to the beach, a few men could be seen coming to greet us, they looked like Danes so there wasn't going to be a battle. Which I was glad about stuck in a boat for a week was hell, I ached everywhere.

When we anchored the fleet I went to talk to Brynjar and Vali to say my farewells.

"Brynjar thanks for the passage I'm glad we got to meet! Vali lets have another battle when we cross paths again!" I declared with a cheery smile as I patted them on opposite shoulders. They looked at me and smiled with melancholy.

"Aye lad it'll be sad to see you go, may the gods aid you in your search for the man you're looking for" Brynjar declared openly smiling sadly.

"I'll get you, next time boy! Just don't die before then!" Vali cackled with joy at the thought of another fight as he smacked me in the shoulder.

"Ratatoskr come on leave the cat alone! We're off!" I shouted at the little bugger. He was swinging on a rope above the black feline tempting it towards the edge of the boat, he'd actually gotten on its back at one point, rode it like his noble steed as we had all roared with laughter.

When he made his way to his perch on my shoulder I took off walking out of the shore and onto the beach heading south along the coastline, it was around a 12-hour walk to the megalith, and I arrived around sunset.

As I approached the place named Ruðstane, a lone stone stood in a clearing. It was a peculiar sight, I could feel the ancient mysterious power radiating from it, it felt chaotic like something was missing from a perfect picture. There wasn't anything around for miles so I decided to stay here for a while and rest.

As I sat down with my back to the stone, the energy it emitted urged its way into my body thrusting its way through my blood, it felt even more chaotic now I was so close. I needed to calm it down somehow so I started meditating, focusing on it was like catching fog, it seemed like it was there but wasn't at the same time.

As I urged the power to cycle around my system, it took a while to get a hang of it but eventually it started to divulge. I cycled the energy hundreds of times before I even let it anywhere near my magic core, fearing it would collapse with the anarchic flow of power. But as soon as it entered there was a fundamental change as I urged it to cycle in the centre creating a vortex. As the magic began to rotate rapidly, in the centre it condensed into a more fog-like state the gassy magic thickened until a mist embodied the whole core pushing it to its limits. Starting to expand slowly, I tried to contain the flow in the centre but it wouldn't stay revolving around forever, I just wanted it to lessen the strain I was beginning to feel, my body began to sweat and my brain ached slightly. concentrating completely on my magic I began to let it flow throughout my body.

It drifted smoothly, faster and was easier to control. I first directed it towards my limbs then my spine, lungs, heart and other major organs finally my brain and eyes. When the chaotic energy had died down and settled back into my core. I felt cathartic, my mind had been washed with soothingly cool energy and felt energized my spine and other bones and joints felt like they had strengthened but remained flexible. My heart began to heat up and beat in a melodic rhythm, my lungs felt clean and the air even had a different feeling as I breathed.

When I finally opened my eyes I could see clearer and in greater detail, each blade of grass in my line of sight was easy to perceive, I could see them dancing in the wind like it was a sunny day, even though the sun had set.

Getting up I decided to look around that's when I noticed Ratatoskr, he had grown slightly and the 3 blue stripes running along its length had brightened considerably. They had an electric blue glow in the moonlight and seemed more magical than before. I checked him over with my magic sight and noticed the aura surrounding him had begun to blaze like the sun, the honey colour he had was q lot more vibrant and seemed more amber then honey.

"Ratatoskr you really are amazing you know!" I mumbled in shock, he was certainly a magical creature. When he got back onto my shoulder he felt heavier and his tail was thicker. He had evolved somehow.

"Let's get going to get my wand!" I declared as I set off walking again. It was a 2.5-day walk to Lunden, but we made it in a day and a half after I transformed when we crossed the river in the night. When we got closer to the south people started to look at me differently I guessed we were out of the old Danelaw regions.

The language barrier wasn't as bad as I had expected it to be, the Anglo-Saxons just had different words for things but their written words we're like trying to read backwards it was similar but nothing like the runes of Scandinavia.

I had to ask an elderly lady from a monastery to teach me the Anglo-Saxon runes she was named Æðelflæd or Elfleda which meant noble beauty. Which wasn't surprising to say she was elderly she had silky brown hair and hardly any wrinkles, around her hazel eyes. She was happy to help seen as though I was polite enough, even I was a Viking in her words. It didn't take long since I know modern English and Scandinavian runes I could establish the language pretty easily.

When I did ask her about Ollivander and where I could find him she looked at me like I was crazy saying "that old coot? He's at his usual spot, just go down that path and take your 4th left turn. Don't let him sell you a useless stick!"