4 reactions
I saw a Viking battlefield in the desert.
You wouldn't think that I'd forget something like this. But therapy does wonders or so they say. It only takes one simple pull of the string to unravel what was tied up so long ago. It all started when I owned a street rod car, it was too expensive to drive and I wanted to go camping with my friends. So I made the trade, an old beat up Bonneville with an engine way too powerful for its own good for a lifted Jeep Cherokee. I made the plans with my two friends, Travis and Jacob about a month in advance. I texted them.
“Hey beanpole, I'm going camping at Paprika Canyon. Come with me. I'm going exactly a month from today.”
He texted back.
Travis: “I'm free, let's do it. Do I need to bring anything?”
Me: “A sleeping bag. And a tent.”
Travis: “I have both, see you in a month.”
Me: “What up dude. I'm going camping at Paprika Canyon a month from today. Travis will be there.”
Jacob: “My parents are out of town that day so I'm good to go. I'll pack my camping stuff now before I forget.”
Me: “Sweet. This should be fun. First camping trip with the boys!🤘”
It was final. I looked online to see the pricing for camping at this campsite. Three dollars a day, I grabbed $15 from my camping fund. I put my money in my wallet. I wasn’t paying for all of them. A week out I started to pack, I also invited a friend of mine named Kruse. A little short notice but I figured better late than never. He’d be pissed if I went camping without him.
Me: Kruse! Bro I am going camping next week, Travis and Jacob are coming. We are going to Paprika Canyon, the one at the base of Mount Lemon.
Kruse: Hey. I won’t be able to make it. Especially not out there, not this time of year.
Me: What’s wrong with that area this time of year?
He didn’t answer. I continued to pack more hesitantly now, thinking if I should even go. I decided he was probably just messing with me and he couldn’t get off work. He was a workaholic like no other, but he made a life for himself that I cannot judge.
The night before, I texted the group chat.
Me: “Well well gentlemen it is the night before the big day. Please meet me at the QT in town at 6am sharp.”
Travis: “Bad news bro I won’t make it. Something came up.”
Jacob: “Same for me, the boss called me in.”
I didn’t answer out of frustration. I couldn’t believe we’ve been planning this for a month and now I have to go alone. I didn’t want to, especially since what Hunter told me. I decided to say screw it and go. What’s the worst that could happen?
The next morning I loaded up the Jeep. I took in the morning air and was almost hopeful. The cool breeze from the spring morning chilled my back and I buttoned up my flannel. I hugged my parents good bye, not knowing it could have been the last time. I hopped in the Jeep and took off, my big tires throwing dirt in the air. I drove down the driveway and ran over a snake, it was a rattle snake…..was. I thought about stopping and taking pictures of my Jeep, but I didn’t want to take any longer on this trip than I needed. The drive didn’t go bad at all, quite the contrary. It was pleasant, I had the windows down and the radio up. I felt seventeen again, I felt alive. The window blew threw my longer hair and I felt free.
I pulled up to the gas station about a mile from the campsite. I panicked as I remembered I forgot to get ice. All of my food had gone warm in my ice chest with no ice in it. I silently cursed at myself, calling myself stupid. I went to the gas station, even more pissed off. I began to hate my friends for abandoning me.
“Better lose that hate kid. Before you get there.” The counter lady yells out at me across the store.
“Is it that obvious?” I replied.
“Yeah, he knows the hate and he kills those with a grudge.”
I was very weirded out and put my snacks for dinner on the counter. I checked out and her eyes never left me. It’s almost like she was telling me the same thing Hunter was. Whatever that was. I packed my snacks into my Jeep and looked back into the store, still feeling her eyes on me. They were, she was pleading with me not to go. I could see her lips mouthing the word “don’t”. I didn’t listen of course, I drove off into the campsite.
When I arrived I noticed no one else was there, this should have been another sign. The area around me was a thick mix of pine and cottonwood trees. Only a few of the campsites were clear, not taken but overtaken with brush. I parked and I unpacked everything and decided to drive up the mountain trail and go get an ice cream. It reminded me of the days when my dad and I would travel here just to go get an ice cream. Not even good ice cream, it is pre-packaged ninety ingredient ice cream. I drove to the top and when I was almost to the top and my Jeep started to overheat. Of course, just another thing. I make it back down without issues, but still overheating. It was almost dark so I decided to eat my “dinner”.
As I was coming back down the mountain I saw some campers. Great I won’t be alone, I mean I won’t talk to them but at least I’ll know they are there. I parked the Jeep and blew up my air mattress with the cigarette lighter plug. I laid it across the red hood of my Jeep, it blew up slowly. It started to rain lightly. I quickly stuffed my mattress in my tent and realized I forgot to stake it down. I went to the back of my Jeep to get my hammer, only to realize it was gone. I swore I packed it, maybe my friends were here and they were messing with me. I just decided to go primal and use a rock. I did not work but it wasn’t windy so I wasn’t worried about the tent flying away. But just in case I hammered or rocked them into the ground. I sat up for a while not really wanting to go to sleep. I got my guitar out of my jeep and started to play. The sound of an acoustic guitar mixed with the smell of the pine trees was exactly what I needed. I played songs like Nutshell, Horse with no Name, and others I had learned in my guitar class in high school.
As I continued to play I looked over to the other people camping, I noticed something. There were no tents, no camping chairs, not even a campfire. It was odd, it was only 7:30 and it was barely dark. Were they old and went to bed this early? But there's no tents, maybe they are sleeping in their vehicle. I tried to ignore my paranoia and continued to play my guitar. I struck a b9 chord and saw a flash of symbols in my head. Strange symbols of lines intersecting, one of them was a vertical line with two parallel lines at the top. Like an F but the two lines were pointing down. As I was being shown the symbols, I heard a crack behind me. It dragged me out of my trance and whipped my head around, behind me I saw a deer. A very large dear, it had huge antlers and I will always remember its eyes. It had human-like eyes, they were green and beautiful, not at all like a deer. The deer then scurried off quickly after sniffing at me.
I immediately stopped playing guitar after seeing this. After the sound of my guitar faded I heard chanting. Far away chanting, I looked to where the campers were and I saw the deer again, I heard the deer say my name. I felt my legs hoping off of the picnic table I was sitting on. I didn’t want to answer the deer but I couldn’t stop myself. A powerful force pulled me towards the deer. Just then I saw more things, my head flew back and my eyes rolled into my head. I saw a battlefield, an old battlefield. I was transported here, I began to walk around. I was on a mountain side, the mix of hot and cold air was confusing but also intoxicating. Around the lower part of the mountain was a thick fog, the ground was green and if it wasn’t for the blood strung everywhere I would say that it was beautiful. There were bodies everywhere. Hundreds of corpses on the ground, in the trees and on the tall stakes, acting like trophy pieces or a warning I couldn’t tell. I looked to my left and there was a man on a stone slab, he was on his stomach with his back flayed open. Like a set of bloody wings were his ribs protruding from his back. I knew exactly what I was looking at, but I didn’t know why. This was a Viking battlefield. I lived in the middle of the Sonoran desert, why was I seeing a Viking battlefield of all places?
I saw a long house up on top of the hill, I started to walk towards it but then realized it was a bad idea. Just as the thought entered my mind I felt a rush of wind, it threw me up the mountain and at the front door of the long house. Just before I could push the door open they flew open and I was back in the forest. I saw the deer stand, he took a different form. That of a man, a giant man. He stood towering over the other campers' vehicles, he had horns like that of the deer. He had a brown hood over his face, he turned it towards me and then darted off into the trees. I thought to myself, I should just leave, but how could I? I have to see where the deer man thing went. As I was running after it I was thinking what this could be. I started talking to myself.
“A skin walker? Nah. A Wendigo? Couldn’t be, neither of those explain the vision.”
I ran after the man deer and I was halted in my tracks when I saw people. I hid behind a section of trees. They were dancing around a fire, they had a man flayed just like the one in my vision. I could hear him wailing as he was still alive. He had candles around him and a drawing at the center of the stone slab. A picture of a tall man with deer antlers and long red hair. They were chanting in a tongue that sounded old and forgotten. Every word wreaked with evil, I wondered what they were saying; just then I could understand them. As soon as the thought entered my mind it was like a translator switch turned on. They were chanting.
“Oh great god of mischief. Accept this wailing man as the new moon passes. Spare your people another year. Keep Ragnarök from destroying us all, stay chained in the depths of Yggdrasil for another year.”
I was panicking by this point.
“Loki? He’s real? He can’t be.”
A harsh wind flew above, the air went sour. The fire they had been dancing around extinguished. From the ashes, he rose. There he was, the one they wanted. Loki, the god of mischief.
“You are pathetic. You worship a god who cares does not care for you. I hate you all, I hope Ragnarök kills all of you whimpering little gnats. Especially you, SHUT UP!!!” Loki yelled as he shoved a spear through the flayed man.
The sword went through him and split the stone table. The fire relit with a blue flame, I felt the heat from it on my face.
“As for the rest of you. You will get what you deserve.”
Seconds later the people who were once worshipping Loki were now pleading for their lives. It did no good, Loki killed all of them. He killed them in ways too brutal to share here, some of which I still see to this day. I ran off after only seeing a few. I left my tent, my air mattress and everything. I jumped in my Jeep and took off. I figured I was safe when I made it to the gas station. I went inside to call the police, but she was standing there giving me an I told you so look.
“Well, did old dad give you a scare?” She said as half of her body rotted away and revealed a stench of death and decay.
I bolted out of there and went to start my Jeep, but it wouldn’t crank. I knew this was very bad. That is until it got worse, I saw Loki and what I later found out to be his daughter Hel standing in my headlights. I was dead for sure I thought, then an immensely bright flash of blue. An even taller man with a fur cloak and blue shining eyes landed in front of my Jeep in a golden chariot pulled by two goats. It shook the ground when he landed. I definitely was dead now, two was bad enough now they have a friend. That was until I noticed his right hand. On it was a gauntlet made of metal, metal not of this world; and in the hand was a hammer. It had a triangle shaped head and the handle was short. I have seen many Marvel movies and I knew who exactly this was. He lifted his hammer and the flash that came from it lit his face. He was ugly and hairy, a large red beard with beads and rings covered his face. He smirked at me and touched the hammer to my Jeep. Immediately without the crank of the key it started. I drove away with Thor in my review mirror, he took Loki and Hel by the hair and carried him to the chariot. He took off into the night and I never saw them again.
So there it is, the camping trip where I was spared by a Norse god and almost killed by two more. Like I said in the beginning, lots of therapy and I can almost forget it happened. But just in case I will never strike a b9 chord ever again.
#entertainment
source
You wouldn't think that I'd forget something like this. But therapy does wonders or so they say. It only takes one simple pull of the string to unravel what was tied up so long ago. It all started when I owned a street rod car, it was too expensive to drive and I wanted to go camping with my friends. So I made the trade, an old beat up Bonneville with an engine way too powerful for its own good for a lifted Jeep Cherokee. I made the plans with my two friends, Travis and Jacob about a month in advance. I texted them.
“Hey beanpole, I'm going camping at Paprika Canyon. Come with me. I'm going exactly a month from today.”
He texted back.
Travis: “I'm free, let's do it. Do I need to bring anything?”
Me: “A sleeping bag. And a tent.”
Travis: “I have both, see you in a month.”
Me: “What up dude. I'm going camping at Paprika Canyon a month from today. Travis will be there.”
Jacob: “My parents are out of town that day so I'm good to go. I'll pack my camping stuff now before I forget.”
Me: “Sweet. This should be fun. First camping trip with the boys!🤘”
It was final. I looked online to see the pricing for camping at this campsite. Three dollars a day, I grabbed $15 from my camping fund. I put my money in my wallet. I wasn’t paying for all of them. A week out I started to pack, I also invited a friend of mine named Kruse. A little short notice but I figured better late than never. He’d be pissed if I went camping without him.
Me: Kruse! Bro I am going camping next week, Travis and Jacob are coming. We are going to Paprika Canyon, the one at the base of Mount Lemon.
Kruse: Hey. I won’t be able to make it. Especially not out there, not this time of year.
Me: What’s wrong with that area this time of year?
He didn’t answer. I continued to pack more hesitantly now, thinking if I should even go. I decided he was probably just messing with me and he couldn’t get off work. He was a workaholic like no other, but he made a life for himself that I cannot judge.
The night before, I texted the group chat.
Me: “Well well gentlemen it is the night before the big day. Please meet me at the QT in town at 6am sharp.”
Travis: “Bad news bro I won’t make it. Something came up.”
Jacob: “Same for me, the boss called me in.”
I didn’t answer out of frustration. I couldn’t believe we’ve been planning this for a month and now I have to go alone. I didn’t want to, especially since what Hunter told me. I decided to say screw it and go. What’s the worst that could happen?
The next morning I loaded up the Jeep. I took in the morning air and was almost hopeful. The cool breeze from the spring morning chilled my back and I buttoned up my flannel. I hugged my parents good bye, not knowing it could have been the last time. I hopped in the Jeep and took off, my big tires throwing dirt in the air. I drove down the driveway and ran over a snake, it was a rattle snake…..was. I thought about stopping and taking pictures of my Jeep, but I didn’t want to take any longer on this trip than I needed. The drive didn’t go bad at all, quite the contrary. It was pleasant, I had the windows down and the radio up. I felt seventeen again, I felt alive. The window blew threw my longer hair and I felt free.
I pulled up to the gas station about a mile from the campsite. I panicked as I remembered I forgot to get ice. All of my food had gone warm in my ice chest with no ice in it. I silently cursed at myself, calling myself stupid. I went to the gas station, even more pissed off. I began to hate my friends for abandoning me.
“Better lose that hate kid. Before you get there.” The counter lady yells out at me across the store.
“Is it that obvious?” I replied.
“Yeah, he knows the hate and he kills those with a grudge.”
I was very weirded out and put my snacks for dinner on the counter. I checked out and her eyes never left me. It’s almost like she was telling me the same thing Hunter was. Whatever that was. I packed my snacks into my Jeep and looked back into the store, still feeling her eyes on me. They were, she was pleading with me not to go. I could see her lips mouthing the word “don’t”. I didn’t listen of course, I drove off into the campsite.
When I arrived I noticed no one else was there, this should have been another sign. The area around me was a thick mix of pine and cottonwood trees. Only a few of the campsites were clear, not taken but overtaken with brush. I parked and I unpacked everything and decided to drive up the mountain trail and go get an ice cream. It reminded me of the days when my dad and I would travel here just to go get an ice cream. Not even good ice cream, it is pre-packaged ninety ingredient ice cream. I drove to the top and when I was almost to the top and my Jeep started to overheat. Of course, just another thing. I make it back down without issues, but still overheating. It was almost dark so I decided to eat my “dinner”.
As I was coming back down the mountain I saw some campers. Great I won’t be alone, I mean I won’t talk to them but at least I’ll know they are there. I parked the Jeep and blew up my air mattress with the cigarette lighter plug. I laid it across the red hood of my Jeep, it blew up slowly. It started to rain lightly. I quickly stuffed my mattress in my tent and realized I forgot to stake it down. I went to the back of my Jeep to get my hammer, only to realize it was gone. I swore I packed it, maybe my friends were here and they were messing with me. I just decided to go primal and use a rock. I did not work but it wasn’t windy so I wasn’t worried about the tent flying away. But just in case I hammered or rocked them into the ground. I sat up for a while not really wanting to go to sleep. I got my guitar out of my jeep and started to play. The sound of an acoustic guitar mixed with the smell of the pine trees was exactly what I needed. I played songs like Nutshell, Horse with no Name, and others I had learned in my guitar class in high school.
As I continued to play I looked over to the other people camping, I noticed something. There were no tents, no camping chairs, not even a campfire. It was odd, it was only 7:30 and it was barely dark. Were they old and went to bed this early? But there's no tents, maybe they are sleeping in their vehicle. I tried to ignore my paranoia and continued to play my guitar. I struck a b9 chord and saw a flash of symbols in my head. Strange symbols of lines intersecting, one of them was a vertical line with two parallel lines at the top. Like an F but the two lines were pointing down. As I was being shown the symbols, I heard a crack behind me. It dragged me out of my trance and whipped my head around, behind me I saw a deer. A very large dear, it had huge antlers and I will always remember its eyes. It had human-like eyes, they were green and beautiful, not at all like a deer. The deer then scurried off quickly after sniffing at me.
I immediately stopped playing guitar after seeing this. After the sound of my guitar faded I heard chanting. Far away chanting, I looked to where the campers were and I saw the deer again, I heard the deer say my name. I felt my legs hoping off of the picnic table I was sitting on. I didn’t want to answer the deer but I couldn’t stop myself. A powerful force pulled me towards the deer. Just then I saw more things, my head flew back and my eyes rolled into my head. I saw a battlefield, an old battlefield. I was transported here, I began to walk around. I was on a mountain side, the mix of hot and cold air was confusing but also intoxicating. Around the lower part of the mountain was a thick fog, the ground was green and if it wasn’t for the blood strung everywhere I would say that it was beautiful. There were bodies everywhere. Hundreds of corpses on the ground, in the trees and on the tall stakes, acting like trophy pieces or a warning I couldn’t tell. I looked to my left and there was a man on a stone slab, he was on his stomach with his back flayed open. Like a set of bloody wings were his ribs protruding from his back. I knew exactly what I was looking at, but I didn’t know why. This was a Viking battlefield. I lived in the middle of the Sonoran desert, why was I seeing a Viking battlefield of all places?
I saw a long house up on top of the hill, I started to walk towards it but then realized it was a bad idea. Just as the thought entered my mind I felt a rush of wind, it threw me up the mountain and at the front door of the long house. Just before I could push the door open they flew open and I was back in the forest. I saw the deer stand, he took a different form. That of a man, a giant man. He stood towering over the other campers' vehicles, he had horns like that of the deer. He had a brown hood over his face, he turned it towards me and then darted off into the trees. I thought to myself, I should just leave, but how could I? I have to see where the deer man thing went. As I was running after it I was thinking what this could be. I started talking to myself.
“A skin walker? Nah. A Wendigo? Couldn’t be, neither of those explain the vision.”
I ran after the man deer and I was halted in my tracks when I saw people. I hid behind a section of trees. They were dancing around a fire, they had a man flayed just like the one in my vision. I could hear him wailing as he was still alive. He had candles around him and a drawing at the center of the stone slab. A picture of a tall man with deer antlers and long red hair. They were chanting in a tongue that sounded old and forgotten. Every word wreaked with evil, I wondered what they were saying; just then I could understand them. As soon as the thought entered my mind it was like a translator switch turned on. They were chanting.
“Oh great god of mischief. Accept this wailing man as the new moon passes. Spare your people another year. Keep Ragnarök from destroying us all, stay chained in the depths of Yggdrasil for another year.”
I was panicking by this point.
“Loki? He’s real? He can’t be.”
A harsh wind flew above, the air went sour. The fire they had been dancing around extinguished. From the ashes, he rose. There he was, the one they wanted. Loki, the god of mischief.
“You are pathetic. You worship a god who cares does not care for you. I hate you all, I hope Ragnarök kills all of you whimpering little gnats. Especially you, SHUT UP!!!” Loki yelled as he shoved a spear through the flayed man.
The sword went through him and split the stone table. The fire relit with a blue flame, I felt the heat from it on my face.
“As for the rest of you. You will get what you deserve.”
Seconds later the people who were once worshipping Loki were now pleading for their lives. It did no good, Loki killed all of them. He killed them in ways too brutal to share here, some of which I still see to this day. I ran off after only seeing a few. I left my tent, my air mattress and everything. I jumped in my Jeep and took off. I figured I was safe when I made it to the gas station. I went inside to call the police, but she was standing there giving me an I told you so look.
“Well, did old dad give you a scare?” She said as half of her body rotted away and revealed a stench of death and decay.
I bolted out of there and went to start my Jeep, but it wouldn’t crank. I knew this was very bad. That is until it got worse, I saw Loki and what I later found out to be his daughter Hel standing in my headlights. I was dead for sure I thought, then an immensely bright flash of blue. An even taller man with a fur cloak and blue shining eyes landed in front of my Jeep in a golden chariot pulled by two goats. It shook the ground when he landed. I definitely was dead now, two was bad enough now they have a friend. That was until I noticed his right hand. On it was a gauntlet made of metal, metal not of this world; and in the hand was a hammer. It had a triangle shaped head and the handle was short. I have seen many Marvel movies and I knew who exactly this was. He lifted his hammer and the flash that came from it lit his face. He was ugly and hairy, a large red beard with beads and rings covered his face. He smirked at me and touched the hammer to my Jeep. Immediately without the crank of the key it started. I drove away with Thor in my review mirror, he took Loki and Hel by the hair and carried him to the chariot. He took off into the night and I never saw them again.
So there it is, the camping trip where I was spared by a Norse god and almost killed by two more. Like I said in the beginning, lots of therapy and I can almost forget it happened. But just in case I will never strike a b9 chord ever again.
#entertainment
source
| 10,000 mlx | |
| 14 | |
| 4 |