"The dead must stay dead!" echoed in my mind, like a chant over and over again.

My body ached all over, and as I was being pulled out of the muddy water, the only thing I could feel were a pair of arms holding me tightly.

"I told you she won't make it," a child's whisper made its way to my ears, "you ought to give me that vermillion claw now."

The ickiness of the water that had been submerging all around me was still lingering.

Cold splashed against my face violently, and duckweed rubbed against me, clinging onto my hair and skin.

As the waves formed on the surface pushed me around, I tried to pull myself upward, but I couldn't feel my arms and feet.

"I will give you thirty-five Valkyries, if you agree to let me hollow out her eyes, and fifty for her hair," a mumbled voice echoed in my ears.

"We are not bargaining on dead bodies, merchant."

At any given moment, I could have been crushed under the pressure of the waves.

As I moved viciously through the water I felt an unbearable pain in the back of my head, and from all sides I was being pushed down to the depths of oblivion.

"I'm telling you; she can't be dead!" another voice whispered in the distance.

"But look at her, she's all cold and we can all see she hasn't been moving since he brought her here."

My lungs begged for air, and I gasped for my last breath, letting the freezing water fill my lungs, my throat burning as blood pounded in my ears.

"She is not breathing! Why isn't she breathing?" a deep hazy voice questioned.

Paralyzing sensations persisted to dominate against my will, clouding my judgement, and I could feel the water dripping from the tips of my fingers. Warm rough hands brushed against my forehead.

"Please don't look at me like that," entreated the same voice as indistinguishable mumbles buzzed around. "I know I'm not supposed to do this."

The foul water stung my eyes. With my last breath, everything around me seemed to have calmed down, and above me, I saw the shine of moonlight rippling on the surface of the lake, mocking me and my fate, as if it already knew what was about to happen.

People say that just before you die, your entire life flashes before your eyes. But ironically, I didn't see anything.

"I'm telling you, Rex," I ultimately was able to distinguish a woman's voice, rather raspy, as if belonging to a chain-smoker, "even if it's not in my power to help her, if Mother chose her, she will make it." She paused, and exhaled sharply. "But you are just making things worse."

Blinding light burned against my eyes, which made me struggle to keep them open, leaving the fuzziness in charge.

My hair, still wet and tangled, clung onto my face, making me feel icky all over. The smell of wet soil, mouldy and rotten, clogged my senses and poisoned my insides. Filthy blood flavours stained my tongue, metallic sensations scrambling down my throat. Shivers were running through my back, and my insides churned like milk with lemon, ready to bubble up.

"You said it would bring her unharmed," he argued, "So, tell me...please...what went wrong?"

As my vision cleared, right before me, I spotted a woman with a thick brown fur cloak resting on her shoulders. Jet-black curls graciously contoured her tanned face which glistened against the torch in her grasp.

The pair of golden feline eyes immediately moved its focus onto me.

"Where... am I..." I managed to mumble, but instantly felt an excruciating pain in my abdomen.

I felt miserable, in the truest sense that one can be. And before I knew it, I was spilling my guts out.

My neck was burning, and it was as if I was throwing up venom.

"She lives!" the young boy from earlier shouted, much to my surprise, "The Goddess is alive!"

"Just so you know, this obviously doesn't mean anything. I will not be giving you the vermillion claw...She was clearly dead!" the other slightly older child argued, "my father said we don't make bets on the dead."

He sprinted around us howling like a pup, much to his friend's vexation, his small bare feet running through the shallow water of the lake. He stopped in front of me for a few moments, his big brown eyes curiously gazing over. Before I could get a closer look at him, he quickly ran back and clung onto the woman's arm.

"Does this mean there is finally hope for us, Annia?" the child's eyes widened in anticipation as the woman's gaze lingered on me. But she offered no response.

My heart was beating wildly, and I could have sworn to God that it would crack a rib.

To my very late realization, a group of people that looked as if they had jumped straight out of the TV series "Vikings" seemed to have been my uncanny, possibly lunatic, saviors.

Under the heavy dustiness and the grim lighting, everything metamorphed undistinguishable to my recalling.

There was no storm to begin with. Shriveled surroundings marked all that I could see. The lake itself, with its restless waves and uneasy lamentations, seemed to have dried out beyond absolution.

The horde of people, clothed in fur and leather, stood around on the edge of the stone bridge like creepy sentinels, the moon gracing them and the night sky with only half its fullness, yet it was brighter than any city lights.

I thought to myself that the entire situation must have been a joke of some sort.

An incredibly bad joke.

It was either that, or I must have lost it for good.

"Is this some kind of prank?" I struggled to speak, turning my head to look at the person who was holding me firmly.

A man with a pale complexion, and poorly tied white hair which obscured his features, was facing down at me, his gentle gaze studying me quietly.

"Could you let me down, please?" I asked him, and tried to release myself from his secure embrace, but to my surprise, the man didn't move an inch.

Hesitation covered his face as his bushy pale eyebrows contorted together. He tenderly brushed away the strands of hair that stuck to my face, almost too softly, as if I was about to crumble under his touch.

"She is clearly injured," the man said quietly, avoiding my curious gaze, his intimidating demeanor making me reconsider for a second if I should or shouldn't struggle to set myself free.

"Listen here mister I-go-to-the-gym-regularly," I said, feeling my cheeks flush pink as my hand reluctantly pushed him away, my heart beating fiercely against my ribcage, "I have no idea who you people are, but I'm not looking for any trouble. So, you can keep on doing cosplay in your pond, and I will be on my way..."

I quickly looked over to the woman they called Annia, still wondering if all that had happened a little while ago was just in my head.

I died, undoubtedly. I could vividly recall my heart bursting as the water kissed me goodbye. The pain in my chest tightening under its own constriction.

But, what the hell was this?

"I'm not going to eat you," said the child, prompting his chin on the man's arm. "Despite what everyone says, we are not like that."

The child curiously grabbed a strand of my hair in his small hand, and gave it a strong sniff, before twitching his nose in confusion, and running back to his friend, tackling him down. He softly muttered something to his friend, and both burst out laughing. They continued to whisper to each other, stopping from time to time to steal glances, pointing fingers and exchanging giggles.

Before I knew it, the group gathered closely, and the woman from earlier led the way away from the lake.

"What is your name, child?" she asked me, soon after we entered back into the woods.

"I don't think I want to tell you my name. You guys need a reality check." I answered after pondering on the matter. "You can't just take me away like this! I don't even know who you people are. And I don't see us being best buddies any time soon."

The woman stopped, turning to face me. She looked me up and down, then glanced over to the man she spoke to previously.

After silent exchanges, she sighed and clasped her hands together.

"This is Rexsus, youngest son of the one they call Nix," said Annia, tilting her head towards the white-haired man in whose arms I was being carried, "and his blood is the one who summoned you."

Those were the last words she uttered to me that night, as the mist veiled us, and the woods engulfed us from all sides, entangling behind.

The darkness and the cold seeped into my soul as my eyes closed once more.