The day the world changed forever was a Wednesday. It started like any other, the sun was just beginning to rise over the American continents when a sudden and horrible sounding rip appeared in the sky.

At first nothing happened, the jagged tear simply hung there, thousands of miles long and hundreds wide. News stations began to report on it while consulting with ‘top scientists’, none of which could explain what was happening. One would claim that it was a cosmic anomaly but appeared to be harmless to Earth, while another would claim that the tear was technology from a distant civilization that were going to arrive any day.

All of them were wrong but that would not be known for many months. After the first day passed people began to calm down since nothing had happened yet. The Rift as it had been dubbed remained in the sky, giving off a horrific gray-black glow but besides being menacing it did nothing else. Two months after it appeared however it began to eject millions of crystals onto the planet below, but only on populated regions, none landed in lakes or oceans.

Michael Thompson was on his way back to his small apartment when one of the crystals crashed in front of him, a common occurrence around the world. Jumping back thinking he was in danger the tall but slight college student stared at the crystal that floated about three feet from the ground. Looking around he saw that there were many of the crystals and they all landed in front of people, even crashing through the roof of vehicles to land in front of the drives, instantly stopping all forward motion of the cars and trucks struck.

“No way…” Everyone seemed frozen unsure of what to do with the crystals in front of them. Michael reached out and gripped the crystal, what was the worst that could happen anyway? They clearly weren’t trying to kill the people they were going to.

Suddenly a voice sounded out in his head. “Crystal shard activated, beginning synchronization with subject: Michael Thompson. Process will complete in approximately twenty minutes allowing subject to enter the Ancestral Lands.”

“The fuck?” Michael whispered to himself as the voice finished speaking. “What are the Ancestral Lands?” The voice remained silent, though it said he had twenty minutes before he could join it, whatever it actually was. Slipping the crystal into his jacket pocket he ran home, of course he was not the only person rushing somewhere. Whatever was happening this was world shaking, was this technology? Magic? How did it know all of their names? Beyond that, how did it stop all the cars that had been going forty miles an hour without causing any damage besides punching holes in their cabins?

Upon reaching his apartment Michael took out the crystal and placed it on his desk, staring at it for a couple of minutes before it began to shine.

“User: Michael Thompson. Bloodline: Af Munso, main line descendent, percentage: 15. Allowing User to challenge for the right to inherit Af Munso bloodline. Do you accept User?”

Michael began to laugh a little hysterically. “Uh… hah… sure?”

“Challenge accepted, please place hand on crystal shard once again to enter the Ancestral Lands.” The voice in his head requested. The voice also seemed to be becoming more human sounding, previously it was robotic, almost like a synthesized voice used by tech companies.

Reaching out Michael touched the crystal again and the world went black for a moment. Next thing that he could see was grass and red mud in his face. The sound of metal striking metal echoed out around him as he began to become aware of his surroundings.

“On your feet boy! The Northumbrians on almost upon us!” A large man with a large beard and a wild smile called out as he grabbed Michael’s arm and forced him to his feet. “Mikael!” He slapped Michael who had been staring at him in shock. “Grab your spear boy, Bjorn and the rest of your brothers will be here soon. We just have to stay alive. HA!”

Michael shook his head to clear his mind. “What?”

“User, please know that you have chosen to challenge for the right to inherit the bloodline of the legendary Viking Raider and Explorer; Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ Odinson. Survive the battle and you will be recognized as the inheritor.”

“That voice again…” Michael muttered to himself before realizing the wild man was forcing a large stick into his hands. After just a few seconds he realized that the man had forced a spear into his hands. “Wait… what?”

“Here they come!” The man roared as he hefted an axe and shield before charging five men that came out of a large forest. “ODIN!” Blood sprayed out as he cut down one of the men who didn’t even have a chance to react.

“No way… no way… This is a joke right!” Michael stumbled backwards from the battle. “Let me out!”

“User Michael you must either survive the battle or die to leave this realm. Good luck.”

One of the men got past the large wild man and came rushing at Michael with a club raised. Michael stumbled back a few more steps before he slipped on something and fell on his back. The man continued to charge at him, a cruel look on his face. Pressing his eyes shut Michael hoped he would wake up before suddenly something in him took over.

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On instinct Michael gripped the spear and struck out, feeling a bit of resistance before the spear continued forwards suddenly becoming very heavy. A voice was shouting but Michael didn’t recognize it as his own. “ODIN!” Pushing on the spear then suddenly pulling back as if having done it countless times the spear slipped from the man’s chest easily. Coming to his feet his hands shook, there was blood on the end of the spear and a dead man at his feet now.

“Oh God, I’m a murderer…” Babbling to himself he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder, the wild man was back, covered head to chest in blood but none of it seemed to be his own.

“No boy, you are a warrior. Now stand with me, another group is coming. I’ll be able to take most of them but some will try and get past me, those ones are yours.”

“Okay… okay…” Michael nodded, was this a simulation? Another world? It felt so real, but his body acted without his mind telling it to do so. There was muscle memory for actions he had never accomplished before. “Who are you?”

“Ha! The boy doesn’t recognize his own grandfather! Ha! Took a hard blow to the head I guess. I am Ragnar! Do you remember me now?”

Shaking his head Michael tried to figure out what was happening, Ragnar? Like the message from before? Ragnar Lothbrok, the legendary Viking raider who ‘discovered’ England for the Vikings. “The Ragnar?”

“Boy! Pay attention, they’re coming again!” Another group of men burst from the brush, charging with hate on their faces as Ragnar roared his challenge, assaulting them with his axe and shield, cutting down two men in as many breaths.

Michael rushed up behind him, gripping the spear in white knuckled fists. Half-heartedly stabbing out with the spear, though he did not want to kill anyone he did not want to die. A minute passed before Michael realized Ragnar was no longer yelling, a quick glance showed that he was watching, waiting for Michael to kill his enemy.

“Come on boy, finish him and let’s be off. More will arrive soon if you do not hurry.” Ragnar chuckled as he waved his bloody axe at the man Michael had been circling with.

“But…”

“Kill him damn you!”

“AHHHH!” Michael rushed the man with a roar, stabbing through his chest viciously. The spear became tangled in his ribcage and wouldn’t come out no matter how hard Michael pulled.

“Leave it, grab an axe.” Ragnar spoke again, his voice more level this time. “This group will be much larger than these last two. I will need your help this time, do you understand. That blow to your head may have rattled you, but I need you to be strong, be a warrior. Be one of the sons of Odin.”

Michael nodded a couple of times and picked up one of the axes that the men Ragnar killed had dropped. It was top heavy but that suited an axe, somehow, he knew it was good one. Eventually testing the edge with his thumb without thinking.

“Yes… Grandfather, I’ll do what I can.”

“That is all you can do.”

The brush exploded out with nearly fifty men, shocking Michael but Ragnar roared out another challenge. “Come you sons of whores! I will send you to your dead god!” He rushed ahead shield in front and axe held so he could brace his shield as he bulled through half a dozen men.

Michael hesitated for a moment before rushing up behind Ragnar, following in his wake he lashed out with the axe, clipping a man across the face, brutally splitting the man’s cheek open. The man fell down screaming in agony as Michael tried to block it out. The next man had a short knife that Michael knocked out of his hand by nearly severing it at his wrist.

The next minutes were a blur of blood, screams, and adrenaline. Michael sustained a couple of cuts and hits from the men trying to kill them, but they failed to bring either of them down. The only thing keeping him standing at the beginning was the fear of dying, would he die in the real world too? Was this a dream where he would wake up? Without being able to tell he fought like a man possessed.

Michael came back to his senses as he was straddling one of the enemies and beating his face with the broken haft of his axe, much of the man’s face was a sunken cavity. As he returned to his right mind Michael was terrified about what he had become and, darkly drawn to it. During the battle he felt no fear that he could remember, instead he was beginning to feel invigorated, excited, yelling his own challenge at the terrified men that had surrounded them. Though his body was not as large and bulky as Ragnar’s he was not a small man.  

As he slowly made his way to his feet Ragnar came over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. “Good fight boy, we survived this long. Even if we die tomorrow we will live on in song and legends.” Laughing he slapped Michael’s back as he let him go. “Though I think we will live! There! Your brothers, father, and uncles!” A large group of men appeared from mist, armed with axes, spears, a couple swords and the same type of shield Ragnar wielded.

“Hail father!” One of the men called, raising a sword. If these were Vikings then a sword indicated a man of great stature or a renowned warrior, they were not cheaply made.

“Hail Bjorn! Ubbe! Ivar! Found our lost sheep Mikael and we fought off these wild dogs!” The names called out were all men that claimed the legendary man known as Ragnar as their father. “We should return to the ships and head home.”

“Aye, we should, come Mikael, let’s go.” The man known as Bjorn waved him over. As Michael approached his vision faded and he ended up standing in a black void.

“Welcome to the Ancestral Lands User Michael.” The voice came from all around him at this point. “Your name within the system shall be Mikael Ragnarson, when you return to the Ancestral Lands your body will be relocated to the appropriate region for your bloodline. Along with the relocation you will receive several items and status bonuses in line with your bloodline. Along with the bonuses you may receive special missions and tasks to accomplish to increase your standings. In the Scandinavian locations status is based on Legend rating. Increase strength by increasing your own renown and legend, loss of renown will cause a loss in strength. Good luck Mikael Ragnarson, fight, struggle, and honor the gods.”

“Wait! I have questions!”

“You will return to Earth shortly, please wait twelve hours before returning to the Ancestral Lands for the relocation to complete.”

The black void flashed brightly and Michael was standing alone in his room, hand wrapped around the crystal as if he had never left. Looking at the clock he realized nearly two hours had passed in the Ancestral Lands and he had been standing the entire time. Slowly his body began to report the aches and pains that came from maintaining the same pose for two hours.

“Gods, ow, my shoulders are killing me…” Michael groaned as he slumped to the floor. As he laid flat his phone began to buzz, someone was texting him.