Chapter 3

My new telekinetic powers make my telepathy look like some parlor tricks. In these two years, my telekinesis has progressed at an alarming rate. I can lift twice my weight and bind anything I wish. From what I can tell, my power is limited to push, pull, binding, levitation, and maneuver.

A pretty nice skill set. I am twenty-two years old now and I think it's about time I found myself a mate. The powers are nice and all, but I haven't come across anything like me and I want to start a family. Once Ingun learned of this, she went crazy playing matchmaker; I was quite surprised to find that many females were interested in me.

All but one, her name is Freydis, the fact that she is not interested in me makes me all the more attracted to her.

She is a first generation shield maiden; she is five feet ten inches tall with curly dirty blonde hair. High cheekbones with green eyes. Due to her training she has an Amazonian physique, thick muscled thighs, a taut abdomen with nice perky breasts. But to be honest, I'm more of an ass man, and damn is her ass fine.

I go to the training field as Ingun told me that Freydis goes there to train every morning long before anyone else arrives. Now, I've never been with a female before so my pick up game is non-existent.

At this point, I'm just relying on my reputation and good looks. I stand at six feet five inches, platinum blonde hair with a fade and messy top. Sapphire blue eyes and a beach-body physique. After making my way over to the training field, I can hear the whacking of wood on wood.

She seems to be extremely focused at the moment so I wait, when she finishes I bring her a bucket of water for her to drink. "Morning, you have excellent form" shit, what the hell kind of introduction was that? Fuck me, this is just pathetic.

"Thank you my king, I don't want to be rude but why are you here?" Wow, straight to the point huh, "would you mind a spar? I woke up early and wish to get a good sweat in to start the day."

She is seventeen years old and has not been claimed yet, a miracle really, I must act before she gets snatched up. Just to be safe, I won't introduce her to father yet.

"I would love to spar with you, I have heard of your prowess from many of the warriors". Ah, I must reward my men for setting the stage for me. We enter the ring and she has a shield and wooden sword. I wield the same and we assess each other. I've been in many battles and patience is my strong suit, so I wait for her to make the first move.

Eventually she moves forward just into range and does a wide slash. Now I have my shield covering most of my upper body with my sword tip lined up with the edge of my shield.

Once I see the wide swing, I thrust my shield at her sword arm then step into her, she only has her shield to protect her now but with how close we are she can't bash me with it.

She raises her shield to cover her face, wrong move. I sidestep toward her shield arm, passing her defense and striking her thigh. "If you cover your field of view, how do you expect to know where the strike is coming from?"

She nods and we continue. With my telepathy I can read her mind to know her moves, but I won't as it's just a spar. We spend a whole hour sparing with me giving her tips as I see fit.

"You did well, know that if you fight another man, the defensive approach you adopted at the end will be a bad idea. While you are strong and might have better experience, a man is generally physically stronger than you. That's just how it is. In such a case I suggest staying nimble and exploiting any mistakes."

She nods, "I've learned much from this, thank you my king". I nod then make my way home. Days went by like this, with us sparing and me correcting her mistakes. Unfortunately, I have made no progress on making her mine. How the hell did she become my disciple?

We have continued to conquer more land and villages. My kingdom is the size of New Jersey, and our population is five thousand. With this many people I have increased the size of my village to accommodate such growth. I have had roads made, nothing fancy, just flattened earth with stones to pave the way.

Tamed a few beasts with my power and introduced them to the people, showing them ways that animals can make their lives easier. I've been spending more time outside of training with Freydis, she is a very headstrong and stubborn woman, but that's what I like about her. I finally mustered up the courage to ask her to be mine. We are at the training field after our routine workout and I say my peace.

"Freydis, we have been doing this for a year now. I truly enjoy your company and find you to be one of the smartest people I know. You're strong and independent, I have never met another woman like you. What I'm trying to say is, will you be my mate?" She looks into my eyes as I speak, and she looks surprised at my declaration.

"I am flattered you think that way about me". Oh shit, sounds like I'm gonna get rejected.

"I'm sorry Sveinn, I'm not interested in having children. I am a warrior and it's all I want to be. My sisters all have children and I see the life they live. I don't want that for myself, I wish to fight until I meet my end then go to Valhalla with the other warriors. I see you as my mentor, my best friend, my brother. Please forgive me Sveinn, but I don't feel the same and I don't want to lose what we have."

Damn, this hurts so bad. I want to crawl underneath my furs and just cry, what men cry too, just not where anyone can see. I never thought she would reject me. It wasn't even a plausible scenario in my mind. I could have easily read her mind earlier to know how she felt, but I never did out of respect for her. Looking into her mind, I can see she genuinely sees me as a brother and that's all.

While I am extremely special to her, it's not even close to being romantic. "I understand, don't worry, this won't change how I see you" I reply as my stomach feels as if it's in knots. After that event, I didn't bother looking for another mate as nobody caught my eye.

Freydis and I still remain close, and she has become my right hand. She is always by my side in battle and I wouldn't want anyone else watching my back. I even gave her command of her own squad of warriors. I call them the valkyries, and they are by far my most formidable and devout followers. I gathered up all the shield maidens, including Freydis, and trained them in the most horrific ways. I led them on raids, hunts, patrols and anything I could think of to forge them into weapons of death. Their group became recognised throughout my kingdom, and I was honestly proud of what they became. They answered only to me, their king. An entire group of deadly warriors, ready to fight and die if I so commanded them. A little brainwashing here and there and they became quite fanatic.

I spared Freydis from the more heavy brainwashing that her fellow sisters endured. But with a constant mind scan, I knew she was loyal. She wanted to fight, to have a warrior's death. Well, I made sure she would have it.

They were not the only ones I personally trained. The second group I formed was the king's guard. All men, the finest warriors I could find. Their training was far more grueling than the valkyries. But at the end of the day served the same purpose, the protection of their king. I put my all to create a culture that would withstand the test of time, so that in the future people would speak of my King's Guard and Valkyries with as much awe and respect as the roman legions or the Spartans. However, this left me little time to work on a love life.

After accepting the fact that I most likely won't find love in this life, I threw myself into leaving behind a legacy another way. I made sure to archive all I have done, how I was the prophet to Odin, how I was the first king of Norway. Yes, I have come to the conclusion that I'm in Norway, and from my scouts Rome is not known in the world. So with all that information, with the tools that were in use when I first got here. I'm guessing it must be between nine thousand and six thousand BC.

Just a guess, but it doesn't matter. We are at war with the future Danes. Maybe sending scouts might not have been the best idea, as I have attracted a lot of attention to myself.

As we fight, I feel as if I'm being watched, I can't pinpoint it but I just have a bad feeling. Before the eyes of everyone a figure approaches from the south and once they make it to the Danes, bodies fly.

Heads being decapitated, an unstoppable force creating a path of death on the battlefield. I attempt to peer into the mind of this new arrival and I'm shocked by what I see. This is a vampire. Not just any vampire, but a cold one from twilight. She seems to not notice my intrusion into her mind, so I delve deeper. She heard of a new civilization up north and decided to lay claim to it before another can move in.

Fuck, "Freydis, sound the retreat. Tell everyone to run now! I will try to stall for as mu-" I never got to finish my sentence as the most horrible thing happens.

A sword is thrown right through Freydis's chest. I looked on in shock; I did not see it coming. And even if I did, I lacked the reaction time to stop it. "Nooooooo!" All my men look towards me, away from the carnage that they just witnessed by this unknown lady. Only my King's Guard and Valkyries take up positions around me, protecting their king.

All knew of Freydis, and how close we were. Once they saw her fall, they charged the lady. "No! Don't do it! Retreat, run for your lives! Run!" With my final shout the army stops its mad suicidal charge and looks toward me, their king.

"This is not the day you will enter Valhalla! Go to your family! I will await your tails of triumph when we meet in the great halls!"

Some men openly cried, but they knew what I was capable of and did as I instructed. Even knowing what I could do they all knew instinctively that this will be the last time they will see their king.

With a powerful roar, the army turned back and ran home with tears streaming down their faces. All but my Valkyries and King's Guard. "Did you not hear me? I said to leave". The captain of the KG steps forward. "My king, it is our duty to die at your side. That is our only fate, that is our duty". I look into his eyes and know that nothing will change his mind. I don't even have to look at the Valkyries to know that they feel the same.

I stand taller at their devotion, their absolute faith in me. I look them all in the eye. "What is your life?" They all stand at attention and answer in unison. "My honor is my life!" "What is your fate?" "My duty is my fate!" "What is your fear?" "My fear is to fail!" "What is your reward?" "Valhalla is my reward!" "What is your craft?" "My craft is death!" "What is your pledge?" "My pledge is eternal service!" "What is your duty?" "To serve the King's will!" "What is the King's will?" "That we fight and die!" "What is death?" "It is our duty!"

I bask in their pledge, and with a scan of their minds I know they believe it to their very bones.

"How valiant, you almost moved me to tears. You are quite famous to lead this group of monkeys to such heights. I will make you mine." She runs towards me at full speed and I know I can't keep up so I force push in all directions. I see her being pushed back and acting quickly, I bind her with all my strength and she seems to struggle for a few seconds.

"So you are gifted, even better" she says as she licks her lips and applies more strength to try to break free. My Valkyries rush her with their most powerful war cry, ready to kill that which threatens their king. My KG encircled me, standing as the last line of defence. I care not for my life as I have already left my mark on this world. I struggle for two whole hours, but my stamina fails me.

She breaks free, slaughtering my Valkyries and KG in mere moments. Then all I see is darkness, I'm sorry I couldn't save you Freydis, may we meet in Valhalla.