Screams and roars mixed with the splintering and breaking of wood. The boat shook heavily, and everyone held on for dear life. Some sailors couldn't resist the impact's force and were tossed, screaming, overboard.
Meanwhile, Rurik was sailing through the air. Eilin was far lighter than he remembered her to be, and his jump was further than he planned. To his surprise, he found it hard to control his landing.
The harsh stones of the beach were rapidly approaching, and Rurik roared. His speed was far too high. In his arms, Eilin clung to him tightly and screamed.
Fortunately, he was able to aim for a spot with smaller stones. He turned to aim his back at the beach just before impact, both because Eilin was in his arms, and because he had a shield and a thick cloak on his back.
Finally, impact. They crashed down on the beach with extreme force, and Rurik was forced to release Eilin. They both roared and screamed in pain as they slid across the stones, now using their free arms to cover their heads.
At the same time, several more boats crashed against the beach around them, creating a massive surge of screaming and splintering.
Finally, after a few hellish seconds, the sounds started dying down. A heavy silence descended on their surroundings.
Then, groaning began to rise. Rurik was on the ground and looked up at the sky, his gaze unfocused, still dazed from the crash. 'It looks normal…' he thought to himself strangely. 'Did those crones lie? She said I'd end up in Midgard… which I always thought was supposed to be Earth, but from context, she definitely didn't mean that.'
He laid there thinking for a few seconds, before finally starting to come back to his senses. He quickly shoved useless thoughts to the side, and slowly sat up, groaning in pain. His entire body was burning from tiny cuts and large bruises, but he didn't mind feeling those… because pain was good. It meant he was still alive, and relatively unhurt.
After a quick inspection, he didn't notice any serious damage. His clothes and shield had seen better days, but his wolf cloak had made it out relatively unscathed.
He quickly struggled to his feet, noticed Eilin near him, and immediately made his way there. "Eilin? Are you alright?" he asked with a concerned frown.
Fortunately, the ginger-haired firebrand groaned to indicate she was still alive and slowly struggled into an upright position. She grabbed her head and looked unwell. "Fuck… my head…" she groaned softly.
Rurik crouched next to her, taking her head in his hands, still frowning. "Let me take a look."
Eilin was happy to let him care for her and smiled slightly. Her head was swimming a little, but since Rurik had absorbed the initial impact, and Eilin had a shield on her back as well, she appeared to be in good shape.
Rurik quickly realized the problem when he noticed a bump on her head, and a larger stone behind her. He sighed with a hint of relief and plopped down on the ground next to her. "You're fine, just a bump on the head. You might have a bit of a concussion, but you should be fine. Just take it easy for now."
Eilin's vision was a little blurry and she found it hard to focus. Her lips curled into a silly smile. "A— Alight… Master… L— Love you!"
Rurik smirked and chuckled as he pulled her against his body. He leaned back against a large rock himself and let her lean against him. "I know you do, Eilin. You're a good girl, and I'm glad you're still with me."
Eilin didn't seem to mind his lack of a similar response and simply settled against him with a sigh and a smile. Her light concussion didn't allow her to think about the situation much.
With the two of them settled in and seemingly safe, Rurik finally started to look at his surroundings.
As was painfully obvious, the beach was littered with gravel and some larger stones. Behind him and on his left, towering stone cliff rose sharply for dozens of meters, marking an end to the small beach. The cliffs were capped by a thick line of trees.
On his right, the gravel beach stretched out a little further, until it reached a small slope that went up into a forest. The sea stretched towards all sides in front of him, but after the beach ended, the shore became a small, with about a meter of vertical rock before the tree-filled shore.
Finally, six longboats were marooned against the stones, their splintered hulls silent and broken. Several bodies were strewn about, some groaning, some moving, some unconscious, others clearly dead and gone. He could see no other ships, whether at sea, on the beach, or anywhere in between.
'I guess only six ships made it through with me,' he muttered in his mind, already having come to terms with the idea he wasn't on Earth anymore. He hadn't seen any distinctive proof yet, but with everything that happened so far, it seemed hard to deny. Not to mention that, if this was still Earth, they should be in the middle of the North Sea right now, not a distinctly un-sea like stone beach.
'Another world, though…' he sighed inwardly. 'It's a little ridiculous to think about, although I guess it's not much weirder than reincarnating into the past.'
He looked up at the sky and frowned. 'I wonder what this world is like… and how it's connected to Luna. Did she come from here originally? Did she always know? She said she was alive somewhere; did she mean here?'
But before his thoughts could spiral much further, he sighed and shook his head. 'Whatever… I already decided I'd trust her like I always have. Although I will need an explanation when we can finally have a real conversation again!'
His attention drifted over to his conversation with the crones. 'So… to sum it up, what have I learned?'
His arms were wrapped around Eilin, but he extended a thumb. 'First of all, those crones were responsible for my reincarnation, which… I'm not sure if I should thank them for or not. They clearly don't give a shit about me, and Luna is in opposition to them, so I doubt they're allies, but I did get a second life out of it…'
'Second of all,' he continued, extending a second finger. 'I have a rebellious fate, whatever that means exactly, and because of it, I will be hunted by a group calling themselves the Children of Norn… A group of unknown power who can't track me directly but can find me through the people I came here with.'
He held up a third finger. 'Which leads me to the third and final point: I still don't know who those crones are exactly. I thought they were the Norns, or any of the other three-person fate-related myths in existence, but they clearly have goals running counter to these Children of Norn who, presumably, want to relieve my body of excess fluids… and not the fun kind.'
He stopped extending his fingers and smirked wryly. 'Basically, I know I'm at least a little screwed, but I'm not even sure how screwed exactly yet…'