SKAIA - Winterborne - Chapter 5 (Graphic Novel Format. PDF Version) (Patreon)

SKAIA - Winterborne - Chapter 5 (Graphic Novel Format, PDF Version)

I am Skaia of the Rekkr Clan, Skajldmaer of the Ulfar Regiment.

There was a time when we were many. Our people, the Rekkr Clan, were strong, fearless, and full of life. Led by the vision of Odinsdottir, we travelled across the stars on the shining sky city, Valhalla, to this new world, Winterborne. Made for us by The Alrikr and bond-promised to our clan, we came down from Valhalla like the conquering heroes of yore, riding on the wings of the Valkyrie. Our tasks were many and our labor was great. We caged the wind, we shackled the sun, we bound the tides, and we tamed the land. Life was hard but our people were strong. For many solar cycles, we flourished.

Then, the dark machines, the Myrkalfar, came.

Now, we are but a passing shadow, like ragged clouds moving across the mountainside. All that once was is lost, and there are few now who remember it. Our people are scattered. Our cities are no more, save Eisheim, our last stronghold. Everything we built is gone. The machines consume all. Their hunger is unquenchable, insatiable. They hunt us like we are wild beasts. Why they seek to extinguish us, to erase us from this world and to what end, I do not know. It does not matter. We persevere.

To stay alive, we rarely venture below the 80th parallel as it is past that line that Winterborne’s magnetic distortions no longer protect us from the Myrkalfar. We are like dust that is blown in the wind. Everything we need to live, we carry with us for we know not what each day will bring. What we do not have, we take from the machines, raiding their outposts for technology we can bend to our own purposes. Our engineers use what they can to make us faster, stronger, tougher. We survive.

For we have hope.

As each new day dawns, we, the Children of Odinsdottir, rise to greet the sun and her children. A shining star sits low on the horizon. It is a gift. It is a promise. It is our sky city, Valhalla. One day, the Rekkr Clan will reclaim our home in the heavens. We will defeat the machines and leave this world forever.

I am Skaia, Skajldmaer of the Ulfarr Regiment, Rekkr Clan, and this is my story.

DISCLAIMER: No AI was used or abused in the making of this art or the writing of this story.

Story and art by Aaron Hanson (c) 2023