She could remember the days of old, when the Norse were in their prime and feared by so many other peoples. She could still feel the kiss of salt on the air as they tread waters never before explored by Man. She could see the great temple at Uppsala, with the grand figures of the gods within. She could hear voices raised in unison, shouting out their glory and devoting it to Odin upon the battlefield.<br/><br/>And she also remembered their decline and eventual fall with the rise of other religions. They were labeled pagans and heathens, converted or killed. Only those like her slipped away unscathed - those hard to kill by mortal means and could shed their human skin.<br/><br/>Remembering such a vast history was tedious at best. Often, Anlaf simply forewent thinking about the past and focused on the present. The world as it was before Ragnarok was no more, there was no need to dwell on things that were gone. But, there was something that stuck out so profoundly, she would never forget.<br/><br/><b>"Maybe in another life..."<br/>
</b><br/>"<i>Earl Anlaf</i>..." a man broke her reverie, making her scowl and huff in annoyance.<br/><br/>Anlaf was sitting next to the large fire pit in her great longhouse. Servants milled around the place, cleaning, working, and generally keeping it tidy. The longhouse was at the heart of her city, Kaupang - which sat on the coast. Like the days of old, this version of Kaupang was a great trading port. Their peoples' natural inclination toward water and sailing made it easy for them to take to the seas again.<br/><br/>"<i>What is it, Gunnar</i>?" she questioned. In the time after Ragnarok, as the shifters gathered together and began rebuilding their own society, they had fallen back to speaking their mother tongue, Old Norse.<br/><br/>"<i>A disturbance has been reported not far from the city. There was a great rumbling that was heard and scouts reported the earth shook as well.</i>"<br/><br/>Anlaf looked up at Gunnar, a man who had been her friend since the old days, perking a brow. "<i>And? Why are you still standing there</i>?"<br/><br/>Gunnar grinned. "<i>I thought you'd like to know about it before I left. I shall return soon</i>." He excused himself and left the hall. A small group of scouts was waiting outside for him, horses at the ready. They rode out of the city together, heading for where the disturbance had been reported.<br/><br/>The countryside was vibrant, plants had more color than Gunnar remembered before Ragnarok. Or, perhaps, it was surviving on the surface through a long nuclear winter that made the colors richer. Animal life had been changed by the radiation following the great war. There were variations among species, and individual mutations were common.<br/><br/>Before they even came upon the spot where the disturbance had been reported, enhanced hearing picked up sounds of distress and he could smell blood on the wind. It wasn't a group of shifters they were approaching, though. No - he could smell... humans.<br/><br/>The scouts, dressed in wool, linen, and fur with bladed weapons at their sides, broke free from the tree line to find a group of humans who had apparently fled from their underground bunker. Many were injured and they were all obviously disoriented. Worry seemed to grow among them with the appearance of the scouts.<br/><br/>"<i>It's alright. We won't hurt you</i>," Gunnar said as he dismounted his horse. When it was clear no one understood what he said, he switched back to English - which felt strange to speak in after so long. "We won't hurt you. We can help you back to the city and see the wounded tended to."<br/><br/>The rest of the scouts got down from their horses to help the humans. It wasn't often that humans were reported to come topside - most of them were assumed dead. In fact, this was the first time that humans has surfaced near Kaupang. The scouts would help the humans get back to Kaupang, then let Earl Anlaf decide what to do with them from there.