《A Viking's Rise in Power》 Ch.1 The cold wind of the night blew past John, who was sprinting away from the enemy''s ambush, trying to reload his gun, to keep the enemy at bay, and to stop them from giving chase. ''Bang''. An ear-piercing sound rang through the cold night, making John''s senses scream, and making his face go pale, at the sudden realization that he was about to be hit by the bullet of an enemy sniper. As a last attempt at preserving his life, he tried crouching and moving out of the trajectory of the bullet, but that soon proved to be impossible as he was running at high speed, and the last thing he managed to do was crouch. Unfortunately, the bullet that was meant to hit his knee, to keep him alive, ended up scattering his brain on the ground, as a result of him crouching. After minutes, an enemy soldier found him and checked his body. ''Haaah''. A long sigh could be heard escaping the soldier''s mouth. "Mission failed, the target has died, return back to base immediately."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, an entirely different thing was happening in John''s mind. ''Huh?''. Everything was dark, John was in a panic, and fear was creeping up in his mind. He didn''t know where he was, all he remembers is how he died, and now everything seems consumed by darkness. A sudden thought spurred in his mind. ''Is this death?''. The moment the thought entered his mind, he was filled with an overwhelming sense of loneliness. He decided to wait, maybe something will happen, he was already 35 years old, so waiting wouldn''t hurt. He wasn''t even sure that he was still alive. Time passed by, days, weeks, maybe even months? John couldn''t remember how much time passed, and he couldn''t handle the loneliness anymore. He flew into a rage, kicking and attempting to scream, but nothing was happening, he could feel nothing, only pain at the attempt of moving. His rage died down, and curiosity took over his mind. He never felt pain since the darkness took over. John was not afraid nor hurt by the pain, as he was used to it, but one thing was for certain. He was curious. Trying to ''move'' again, he felt a bit of pain. His mind was in a panic, he was uncertain and afraid about what might happen. Realizing that he might lose himself if he panics now, he tried calming himself down and shutting down his mind. He fell ''asleep''. After ''waking'' up, he decided to think calmly about his situation and what was happening. Ever since waking up in the darkness, he never ate, not even drank water and never saw the sun. There was no way he was still alive. Deciding to wait, he kept falling asleep at random times, until one fateful day... Chapter 2 Pain. Too much pain. He could sense he was being pushed out of somewhere, by something, but he had no idea what it was, as he didn''t have time to think because he was assaulted by overwhelming pain again. He started screaming and kicking for it stop, but it felt like it was endless. The pain finally stopped after what seemed like years, and John finally opened his eyes for the first time, since darkness took over. Even though he could barely see, he could make out some colors, and that was enough to bring tears of joy to his face, after being tortured by darkness for an unknown amount of time. By the time he stopped crying, he found himself in the arms of a woman with flawless blonde hair and sparkling brown eyes, gazing at him gently, before he felt sleepy from all the tears and emotions running through his mind, and passed out. The last thing he heard before blacking out from the woman''s voice. "Your name will be Johnhild" Even though he didn''t understand most of the sentence, he somehow guessed ''Johnhild'' will be his name now. -------------------------------------------------------------- In a room, a boy with pale skin and short blonde hair, with sparkling blue eyes was lying in a bed with a book in his hand, before he heard the dinner bell.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. He threw the book back in his bed and walked out of his room, going through a corridor, before arriving in a spacious room, and finding a woman in her 30s setting up plates and bowls. "Johnhild, let''s eat" The woman''s voice was gentle as the words were directed at the boy. The boy was John, 5 years passed after he was born again in this new world, and he came to know a lot of things. He was born in a family of 4, he has a younger brother, Reinhardt, and the village he was born in was named Svitsby. His mother''s name was Jutta, and she was a typical Danish woman, having skilled hands for weaving, even though she was mostly at home taking care of the kids, she was sometimes going to the market to sell some of the things she made, and buy food and other necessities. His father, Ove, was a 6''2 tall man, and his body was made of muscle, and he had short blonde hair and blue eyes. He had an intimidating presence, but he was gentle to his family, even though he wasn''t there sometimes, as he was a soldier in the jarl''s army. His aunt helped his family in the house, feeding the pigs for the winter and taking care of him and his younger brother. Jarl Grimwulf, the one his father was working for, was one of the 5 Jarls who was leading the Danes. There were no kings, and only the Jarls, who were occasionally fighting each other for more land and influence on the Danish people. There was a truce between the Jarls, as summer came, to stop any aggression between themselves, and focus on raiding other places, like Russia, where they pillaged Baltic tribes, and sometimes continuing to go east, and raiding the Khazars. John''s younger brother was born a year ago, and he was taking care of him occasionally if the slaves or his mother weren''t there. John was curious about how and why he was born in this world, he wondered about his purpose, but there were no answers, and if he wanted any, he would have to work for them and gain more information as he spends more time in this new place. At 4, he started running laps around the outskirts of the village and started doing chores, helping his mother and the two slaves occasionally when they needed it, and taking care of his brother if there was no one else home. Time passed...