The Tale of the Blade of Emner

Prologue:

          Frank was looking around his yard at all the toys that had been left on the ground. His little sister had left all of her toys outside after her birthday party. Now if some other child than his little sister did this, he would scold them harshly.

          But it was his little sister who did this. It was his little sister who brightened up his day. So, he went along with her antics. It was a windy day today. The wind had picked up pace so much that his little sister’s friends and herself had gone inside.

          That was the whole reason he was out here. He looked across the yard and then to the leaning trees. They were precariously perched on one another. It seemed like at any moment the two trees would fall over.

It made him rather nervous if he was being honest. Then he noticed a tall tree man looking at him with concerned eyes. Frank blinked and the tree man vanished. It must have just been his imagination.

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Surely, he didn’t just see a Norse tree spirit. Surely that wasn’t the old guardian that protected his family line. An old legend said that his family had brought an idle of a spirit with them over from Iceland.

He began to pick up the toys left on the ground and then heard a great crack. The tree had fallen. He was dead. But death was a lot quicker…

There was no great pain, no grief, just embracing. It was just the embrace of the reaper, and cold touch. He looked towards himself. There his body lay. It was crushed beneath the tree that he knew was going to fall.

A cough woke him from the revere of his lifeless corpse. He looked toward it only to find the tree man. He was tall and gave off an elderly air, like those old war vets who want to tell a war story or two.

“Hello, you have just died,” the man pointed out.

“It seems like I have,” responded the peaceful Frank.

“It seems like I failed to protect this household once more,” cried the tree man.

He had suddenly turned very sad. Frank did not know why this was. He had just learned of this man, and now it seemed like he had known Frank for all his life.

“No man, I knew it was going to fall. I simply didn’t know when. Don’t beat yourself up about it,” frank consoled the old man.

“You know what?! I have a blessing of primordial rule. How would you like to be reborn?” he asked Frank.

“That sounds like a deal to me,” he responded.