The Girl and the Curse

CHAPTER ONE: Sadness

Ragnar was a girl that had the usual characteristics about her: try's to be kind, mostly works hard, and was mostly responsible. Except, she also had the trait about her that was at the center of it all: Real compassion.

This short-story entails a Viking warrior-woman, who never allowed herself to follow the dark side of the moon......

She was always ready for life's next greatest mission. "What can I do today to make the world a better place?" kind-of-attitude. She was the one that was always using her mind to come up with ways to be happier, while on a day-to-day basis finding others to share that kindness with. Because, 1000 years earlier, a vile woman known as Malevolent had sent an evil curse against the Viking's, that had caused their land to become dead compared to its former beauty. But a woman named Ragnar did the opposite actions of most of her clan: kill the world with kindness.

She was gelid and icy. She had that "I'm cold-to-the-bone-cool" type of attitude. Like a modern-day Katniss Everdeen girl on fire. And her eyes were lightning blue... they pierced the souls around her.

"Ragnar! Ragnar! RAGGGNARRRR!" Roared her outlandish, brazen haired, golden bodied mother. (Ragnar had been given a boy's name at birth, because they expected her to be a boy.)

You mustn't forget, these were different times.

"WHAT!"

"Get your white bottom over here!" She hissed.

"I am connecting with the squirrels and the prairie dogs; I know they are trying to tell me something."

"Oh, come deer, you mustn't be SO naive! You must become a working woman like your mama, life is not meant to be creative, rather.... life should ALWAYS be taken very, very seriously. There is no time for writing, or praying, none of that matters Ragnar. I hope one day you will understand."

Ragnar responded after hesitation "No, Mom, you don't get it. I hope that one day you will understand that I am not the same as our clan. I was born different."

Her mother locked down at that instant with a tear piercing her left cheek. She was a strikingly beautiful woman, and she had had dreams once, too.

"Ragnar, Ragnar... please, just feed the chickens," she responded, as if robotic, with no true sense of emotions or passion. Gloria-Carol, her mother, had dreams that had fallen to the wayside after being brutally torn apart and crushed by words by her father, that seemed to always be in the back of her mind. He had taken her paints and dyes and thrown them all into the river one day, in a drunken rage. He was known for having an attitude that could not be controlled.

"You, my dear Gloria-Carol, will never be able to go ANYWHERE in life doing simple-minded things like the creative arts. ARE YOU BLIND? ARE YOU SO NAIVE THAT YOU BELIEVE YOU COULD EVER AMOUNT TO ANYTHING LIKE THIS? No, Carol....... it's simply not true...... You were born as a Viking, and you bet your white bottom that no Viking has ever gone anywhere in life being "CREATIVE." No.... that is FAR from the truth. You aren't ALLOWED to go anywhere in life doing these things, you would be cast to the wayside quicker than you could build your own shop and travel the world like other non-Vikings. Your mother and I agree, that you should have NEVER been born, Gloria-Carol. But, because your mother and I are strong Vikings with good-moral standing in the community, we choose to keep you, as to keep things looking nice to our clan." These are the words Gloria-Carol recalls that brutalized her by her father.

.....

........

....................Emptiness, sadness, fear, worry, dread..... deep-rooted depression.

Emptiness filled the entire beautiful wooded landscape in Gloria-Carol's mind. Emptiness, as if her entire world that she had hoped for one day, had just been brutally ripped out of her life forever. This was by FAR the most traumatizing situation she had, and would...... EVER endure. As you can see, being a Viking means no-no to the creative arts.

So, as you can well-imagine, Gloria-Carol had lived her life allowing the months to turn into years, with an emptiness inside her that was never quite-satisfied.

She couldn't shake off the feeling of "never being good-enough." And this led her into terrible thinking-patterns, because yes... hundreds of years ago people had thinking problems, too. Before all of the mental health wards existed, people had to typically fend for themselves. And her mother, like many Vikings, chose to follow the path that is, well, the most common: work from morning to night, feed the family, and that's how it went. Day after day....

But Ragnar was different. Because, Ragnar could see past her mother's dark expressions into the compassion that she always knew was what the world around her needed. So, she never said mean things to her mother, because she could see that her mother had been like a broken vase with no more flowers left inside it, shattered... on the ground. So, Ragnar was tested many times in this matter, whether she would be nice, or selfish.. in response to her mother and all the people she had ever encountered.

CHAPTER TWO: A Rebellious Act

Every night Ragnar would pray before bed, we'll more like beg, the night sky to unveil her life's mission: LEAVE THE CLAN AND DO SOMETHING FUN WITH HER LIFE, that was more productive and helped A LOT more people, more than putting food on the table.

So, on one cold and bitter night, she wept more intensely than she ever had before to the night sky.

"Please... oh PLEASE....... give me something more exciting and purposeful to live for. I want to leave this world a better place when I die! I want to help change the world! I don't want to wake up day after day after day after day.... doing the same things within the confines of this cruel Viking world! I am a butterfly and I must leave my vile cocoon! HELP! I am begging you for a SIGN!"

......

.........

................... There was no answer that night, but Ragnar's life soon had a shift in events.

Now, most people she had encountered simply ignored all of the sadness, and the madness, that never stops creeping just outside of their family's doorsteps. But Ragnar was different. She saw the pain, but believed in the power of hope....

One thing she had grasped as a youth from her late Grandmother was this: Life doesn't always make sense, but life is ALWAYS in the palm of your hands. You are the dictator, the master, of wherever your boat may lead you. That phrase never left her mind and heart........ EVER.

Now, these were indeed perilous times, of war and rage, and mostly all against "outsiders."

Rage against people groups that did not EVER have the choice to be born, where they would be born, who their parents were.... none of these choices could have EVER possibly been made. But the curse for the last 1000 years over her land turned most of her people against each other. And although no one chooses to be born, everyone can one day choose how they view the world they were born into, and a curse can truly only hurt the weak-minded.

CHAPTER THREE: The Sign Unfolded

Ragnar decided to leave behind the life of empty parties filled with drunken baboons, the long days of hard-labor that never actually satisfied the deep longings of her heart. She like, literally, straight-up, walked out of her living quarters in the middle of the night.....

And yes.... she planned it out well. Because, being she is the creative-type, sneaking out of boring situations comes quite naturally to her. And yes, she did NOT get caught!

One thing was certain, the animals had started acting strange lately, as if something terrible was about to unfold on the world around them they were accustomed to. Everything was moving in a direction that was strikingly different than times passed, SERIOUSLY different: rumors of plagues and sickness were circulating, while natural disasters and war was at an alarming rate.

We'll, this did not affect Ragnar, because she knew she must only listen to her soul and just keep on and carry on. To allow herself to just listen to her soul, and silence out ALL other voices......

"What can I do? What do I do?" These were the thoughts plaguing Ragnar's mind as she escaped from her home. She was out walking when she came across a boat left out, as if just for her, by the water's edge. Of course, being she is the curious type, she entered that boat and began searching around. She came across a loose floorboard, which had a rolled up scroll underneath it. And what she laid her eyes on.... contained vital information. So, without any hesitation, she did what the scroll asked, and found her way to the captains' quarters. At that she found another scroll underneath a slightly crooked floorboard. And within this scroll, it only told her eye's one... very... important fact of information. It was her hearts deepest longings coming to fulfillment, coming to life, FINALLY..... her conscience inside was telling her she was on the perfect-path. She was given knowledge that would defeat the curse that kept her Viking clan's creative beauty trapped for the last 1000 years...... since that woman known as Malevolent, murdered her entire household to have the power to send an evil curse to trap the Viking's creative flow for good, or so she had thought! Ragnar was instructed to remain on the boat until she arrived at No-Man's land.

Now, during the ENTIRE boat ride from her mainland to No-Man's Land, she was quite unsatisfied. And she knew this would be the case, until she officially (and forever) put her middle finger up to the corrupt world she was born into.

Upon arrival to No-Man's Land, The Phoenix of Legend felt safe at first glance. Without hesitation, this legend dropped one of its precious feathers on the side of Ragnar's boat at shore. And that's the moment everything made sense in Ragnar's mind..... she knew that animals and humanity were always meant to co-exist, in peace and safety between the two species. She had what I would call an epiphany, a new revelation.

Now, Ragnar was truly only known by her family and Viking outsiders. But, underneath, where no one could see.... she always had a uniquely deep compassion for the world, and everyone that was in it.

So, in the blink of an eye, she became like a hyperactive child on a "mission-possible:" take that precious feather and bury it in the rose garden on the side of Mount Phoenix and defeat the curse!

3 DAYS LATER......

She waited... hoping, praying, that the curse over her land would be broken forever. She knew evil people would still exist among her, but she knew the Viking's would get back their creative edge, the energy beneath everything they did.

Now, there was an evil altar that Malevolent had created 1000 years earlier, at the top of Mount Phoenix. And after 3 days, as per the instructions, a Phoenix literally flew up SO fast from beneath that evil altar, that everyone would have seen. To her utter shock, Ragnar saw that the feather she had buried 3 days earlier was in a burning flame in The Phoenix's mouth!

In the blink of an eye, anyone with eyes to see, or ears to hear, broke out into the most loud and joyful excitement, that had not been experienced for over 1000 years!

Peace was attained once again in the land. The flow that comes from a creative surge of energy would overwhelm that land, and bring excitement and joy, back... once again. Their community would become forever known as the community booming with immense creativity and knowledge, so much that they couldn't contain it! They had to share the new found knowledge of what drives the world around, around .... and around. It's the flow that keeps the world spinning.... the blood within our veins, that make us excited to enjoy just another moment of our short lives. Ragnar would forever be known as "the girl who sailed a ship just over the horizon, between home and faraway lands."

True compassion, my dear friends, is what made Ragnar a superhero for all to see that cared to see.... She lived her entire life with compassion for those that may never deserve compassion, because the eyes of Ragnar saw past the garbage and baggage of people's brokenness. She knew that ALL people dealt with some type of hidden scar, or bruise, underneath what they let the world around them see...

So that, my friends, is why Ragnar defeated the curse... the virus...... over her people's land: By choosing to ACTUALLY take action, and care, for the world she was born into.......... THE END.