Life and Death.

Neither can exist without the other, and eventually what lives must die. But, what if you had to die... to live?

This was not something that Laith thought of as he faced certain death. No. As he and fourteen of his fellow tribesmen faced down the massive army of invaders from the South, he thought of much simpler things.

He thought of much simpler things, such as the smile on his sisters face after he came home safely from a hunt, the laughter of the children that ran about in his village. Then, he thought of darker things, the look of horror on his sisters face when he returned from his latest hunt only to discover her dead body in their hut, his village razed by the Southern invaders, the children captured and put in cages.

He shook his head and thought back to the happier memories, wanting to cherish them before he died. And so, with a feral grin he hefted his hunting spear and charged forward, the few remaining members of his tribe following close behind.

Each one carrying similar primitive hunting implements. As they rushed across the open field they were quickly spotted. Horns were sounded and Southern Archers let loose a volley of arrows that blotted out the sky.

The field was wide open and had no cover, that was fine. The fifteen tribesmen had not intended to live past this night anyways, rather, they wished to show one last act of defiance before joining their families in the afterlife. As the arrows whistled down upon them, the last thought on all the hunters minds was to question if this act of defiance would make up for their failure to protect their families and allow them a seat in the hall of their god, Ullr. Once the arrows descended upon the hunters, they thought of nothing else. However, hours later, Laith woke. Once he checked his body he realized he was no longer injured, and was wearing odd clothing. It was a simple burlap shirt and trousers however it was much finer than the furs and pelts he was used to wearing.

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After taking stock of his body he looked about his surroundings only to find that he was in the same field he had died in, however the sky was blotted out by darkness and a heavy fog was obscuring the ground. As he looked around he saw no signs of life, and then he heard it. A beautiful yet incredibly sad voice was singing further in the fog. After making his way to the voice he discovered a woman in a black dress of mourning sitting on a rock. As he approached, he had a sudden urge to kneel that grew stronger by the second, yet he refused to kneel no matter how much weight was pressing down on him. Eventually however, his body could not take the pressure any longer and he collapsed upon the ground. Once he did so the woman got up and approached him. She asked him a simple question, "Do you wish to stop the slaughter of innocents?"

"Yes", he replied, and then the world went dark.