"A proposition?" I asked, tilting my head.
"Yes, I'm intrigued by you. Most boys your age are out practicing their sword fighting or beginning their assimilation journey with their fathers, but you… I found you here holding a book."
"Well, that's because I'm too sick to train or learn how to fight. The least I can do is learn how to read."
"That is exactly the right attitude!" he shouted, his voice dripping with passion. "Don't get me wrong; learning the ways of combat is an important subject, but so is acquiring knowledge. But here, all anyone cares about here is proving themselves in combat and seeing how many people they can kill. The art of acquiring knowledge is a lost art that very few pursue."
"My proposition to you is this: You'll allow me to teach you the ways of a skald, and in return, I'll teach you a technique that will improve your sickness."
"The ways of a skald?" I asked, not understanding his meaning.
The seer grinned, revealing his rotting teeth.
"The weaver of words, the teller of truth, the one who dares to question the ways of the world. That is what a skald is, and as I said before: it is a lost art."
I imagined my eyes were sparkling at this point. I was a sucker for a good story. He needn't ask again, but he did anyway.
"Do you accept?"
I nodded my head vigorously.
"I do, I do!"
"Good!" the seer said, clapping his hands. "In the mornings, I'll teach you the ways of a skald, and in the afternoons, you'll learn the technique that allows you to drain your mana."
"How does this technique work exactly?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity.
"To understand how it works, you'll need a fundamental understanding of Mana and Máttur. You see, everyone is born with what is called an energy core. When you are born, your energy core contains mana. For most other races, it stays that way, except for us Northerners. Since we aren't naturally born with a lot of mana, if we relied on it, we would be considerably weak."
"So, shortly after a child is born, we perform a special naming ceremony where a god plants a seed inside the child and gives them a true name to claim them as their own. The seed remains dormant until it is activated by a special sacrifice."
"A sacrifice? What kind of sacrifice?"
The seer didn't skip a beat, his brown eyes reflecting the flames of the fireplace behind me.
"Blood," he said, not shouting, but his voice rang ominously. "You must kill, whether it be human or a wild animal, but blood must be shed, and a life must be taken."
Floki! The mark appeared on my arm after I killed him. That was also when I met Hodr.
"A special tattoo will appear on the back of your hand when you've done the deed. The form it takes depends on the god that granted you your powers. This is also when your energy core receives Máttur and your assimilation begins. The mark only appears when you are using your Máttur or during assimilation. The further along you go in your assimilation, the more the tattoo spreads on your body."
I nodded along, understanding what he was saying.
"So how do I go about removing mana?" I asked, to which he quickly responded.
"Through meditation. Through meditation, you will forcefully remove mana from your energy core. Draining your core in a sense. If there is no mana in your core then you won't get sick from Mana and Máttur attacking each other. However, this is a temporary measure, as your energy core will naturally produce more mana. Especially for you, since you were born with a lot of mana. It is a fate you will forever be bound to unless you figure out a way to stop producing mana entirely or find some other unknown method."
"What about the mana?" I asked, an idea slowly forming in my head. "Since I have a lot of mana, can't I just use that for power instead?"
He shook his head solemnly.
"Once you've received Máttur, it is impossible for you to use mana as a power source. Its path is forever inaccessible to you. This is because the moment you get Máttur your energy core changes shape based on the god that granted you favor."
I couldn't help but feel disappointed after hearing this. I hung my head, feeling frustrated about everything the seer had told me, and that's when he rested his hand on my head.
"Cheer up, boy. That is why learning the ways of a skald is so important for you. With knowledge there is no limit to what you can achieve. With the knowledge I'll impart to you, you'll have the skills to figure out your own path for yourself," the seer said. "It will take some time for you to fully master this technique. First, you must be able to sense your energy core. This is something ost people can't even do. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing; every breath you take siphons energy from your energy core so just follow the flow of energy."
It was similar to what Hodr told me. Following the seer's instructions, I closed my eyes and focused on my energy core.
"The main idea is for you to build awareness of it. To sense it. The form your energy core takes depends on your god patron."
My energy core felt like a dark ball of energy, and I could also feel a chill emanating from it. It felt as if it was drawing me in.
"This brings me to another question," the seer said. "Who is your god patron?"
"Oh, it's Hodr."
"Hodr!" he sounded surprised. "The blind god?"
I nodded.
"Is there something wrong with that?" I asked.
"No, it's just that it is almost completely unheard of. Don't get me wrong, it is always considered a sign of good luck to have a pantheon god as your patron. That being said, most pantheons are picky in whom they choose. In fact, most Northerners have a connection with either Odin or Freya. Most of the other gods are very stingy in who they select. Hodr for one is notorious for being selfish. There are no records of him ever choosing a patron. This is strange indeed..."
I guess that made sense, but there was something else I wanted to know.
"Can you tell me more about Hodr?"
"Hodr…" the seer said in a grim tone, "Hodr was never loved by the other gods."
He was never loved?
"He was never hated either… well, not until he killed someone who was truly loved, his brother Baldur."
Huh? His story sounded eerily similar to mine. Is that why he decided to reincarnate me?
"Baldur and Hodr were both sons of Freya and Odin. But Baldur was deeply loved by his mother, Freya. She loved him so much that she created a potion of immortality for just him so he would never get hurt.
The mischievous god Loki managed to figure out a way to kill Baldur despite his immortality and he tricked the blind, naive god, Hodr, into shooting Baldur with an arrow made of mistletoe. From then on, Hodr was hated for killing the one child his mother ever truly loved. The one god everyone loved.
Eventually Hodr was killed for his crime. But if you ask me, his only crime was never being loved."