harald1223

[harald1223]

Saphire

The clouds gathered densely in the sky, releasing great dark drops like a curse. In the streets, these drops pooled in enormous puddles, concealing the irregular cobblestone alleys. Thunder rumbled, followed by a blue bolt of lightning that cleaved the heavens. It was colossal, and its light briefly illuminated a neglected corner of the city, where a man in a dark leather coat, a black hat, and gloves hurried. He pulled his hat low over his face and carried a silver-adorned walking stick, which made a clinking sound as it splashed the water from the puddles on the ground.

Only one lamp lit the alleyway at its far end. It occasionally flickered, then relit. The man paused for a moment. He turned around and gazed between two garbage bins, surrounded by litter and long, creeping shadows, but saw nothing beyond that. "But it seemed like there was something." He stared at the dark corner for a moment, then hurried on. Another deafening thunderclap was followed by a lightning flash, illuminating the space between the bins.

Two intensely glowing azure eyes stared out. When the creature blinked, turquoise smoke wafted from the corners of its eyes. The creature bared its sharp white teeth and could sense the scent of prey, the fear still lingering, yet courage remained. It watched as the man hurried on and then disappeared into a barely visible dark alley, even narrower than the one they were in now. The creature took a deep breath of the damp air and cautiously emerged from its hiding place. It moved swiftly and silently to the corner of the alley, pressing against the wall and listening. A wisp of turquoise smoke escaped from under its hood, signaling that it had blinked.

As another bolt of lightning briefly lit up the sky, the creature became visible for a second. A long sword hung at its waist, adorned with sapphires on the hilt. Its tall boots had an additional sheath, reinforced with leather to prevent it from falling off during a run. This sheath held a dagger, perhaps about a yard long, with a sapphire also adorning its hilt.

When the creature pulled back its hood to listen more carefully, its face became visible. Its long silver hair fell behind, and a large scar ran across its face, passing beside one eye. Its blue eyes sparkled, its ears were pointed but not too large, and its features were sharp, almost resembling those of a human. It sensed the man moving away and quickly peeked around the corner, then immediately pulled back, snarling.

The man reached an old, worn door. It seemed to belong to a wine cellar, as the lock was long corroded by rust. Instead, a new padlock had been placed, which was currently not locked. The man glanced around one more time to ensure he wasn't being followed, then knocked on the door. Water dripped from his hat. Shortly after, a dim light began to seep through a small window next to the door.

The light grew stronger for a moment and a female voice spoke, "Who is it?" The man replied with a single word, "El Szüró." Slowly, the door opened, and the shadow of a slender woman emerged. The man nodded, and as she let him in, he quickly checked behind him. The door creaked shut, and the alley fell silent again, with only the sound of rain.

Two blue eyes reappeared above the door. For a while, they silently watched the door, then retreated to the roof and vanished.

The creature squatted between two chimneys. It pondered in silence, fiddling with the leather hilt of its dagger. After a moment, something flared in its gaze, and it bared its fangs again. It sat on the wet rooftop, took a deep breath, clasped its hands together, closed its eyes, and released a wisp of turquoise smoke into the air.

It sat there for a while, silently in the rain, and then began making circular motions with its hands. After some time, a faint blue light appeared between its palms, immediately enveloped by a dense black smoke. The smoke began to swirl around the blue point of light and then suddenly burst from its hand. It hissed as it traced a circle around the creature, then slammed into a nearby clay rooftile, transforming into a pitch-black raven. The raven croaked once and curiously looked at the creature. This time, there was no snarl, just a genuine smile.

Carefully, it reached out its hand, and the raven hopped over. It lifted the bird to its face and murmured something incomprehensible, "Dorr en garad, nor nyík darav em zudar." The raven looked at it, croaked once, and the creature took out a small scrap of paper from its coat pocket, which it placed in the raven's talons.

"Fly, Razar, to Dol Amroth!" the creature said, then tossed the raven into the air, and with powerful wing beats, it disappeared into the stormy night. That's when the door below squeaked open. Our hatted gentleman emerged once more, looked back, exchanged some words of gratitude with the lady, and pulled his coat tightly around him as he hurried toward the end of the alley.

The creature was already waiting for him behind a garbage bin, in the darkest corner, where no light could reach. As the man stepped out of the alley, he paused, and looked around, over the creature crouching about one or two yards away. Then, he hurried to the left. He had barely taken two steps when the creature agilely jumped off the ground, spreading its large black wings and silently glided over the man, who stopped in horror.

He reached for his revolver in his pocket, but it was too late. The creature lifted off the ground again and soundlessly inserted the ornate blade into the man's throat. The man watched in astonishment as the hilt of the dagger emerged from beneath his chin, then stared at the creature in terror. The creature, with its blazing eyes, snarled as it watched the man collapse before it.

The man fell to the ground, and the rain began to wash away the blood gurgling from his throat. He spat one last time, and his eyes rolled back. The creature waited until the man stopped convulsing, then silently approached and removed the dagger from the man's throat. It reached into the man's coat pocket and pulled out a white handkerchief with two letters side by side, embroidered around a heart: "E-M."

The creature inspected it and used it to wipe the blood from the dagger, then smoothly returned it to its sheath on its boot. It looked at the man one more time, the one whose life it had just taken. Then, it turned and began to run. Three steps later, it spread its wings and, with a powerful stroke, ascended into the night. Silently, it rose into the black sky, disappearing into the storm after a few more beats.

[harald1223]

Unexpected Rendezvous

The early evening had settled in by the time I reached my usual, favorite café. From across the street, I could already see the warm, inviting, orange-hued lights illuminating the cozy interior. Most of the tables were empty, with only one or two guests remaining. As the traffic lights turned green, I stepped off the snow-covered sidewalk, traversing the road, avoiding the muddy, snowy piles left by passing cars. I continued past a bookstore, where the owner was just closing up. As I passed, I courteously greeted him, and he reciprocated with a simple nod. A few more steps on the crunchy, white snow, and I found myself at the entrance of the café.

Once inside, I brushed off the snow from my shoes and removed my scarf. Warmth embraced my face, and after taking off my coat and gloves, the comforting heat spread throughout my body. Glancing around, I noticed only one more guest leaving, leaving just five of us, along with two young servers. Thanking one of the waitresses, Lara, as I passed the counter, I made my way to my usual spot at the far end of the café, in the corner. When I arrived, I placed my coat, hat, and other winter clothes on the inner chair, let out a deep sigh, and sat down. From the corner of my eye, I saw Lara, one of the servers, approaching with a wide smile, holding an ashtray and... interestingly enough... a tray with two steaming beverages.

"Good evening, sir!" she said brightly, with a friendly grin, as she placed my usual frothy Irish whiskey coffee in front of me. To my surprise, she set down a cup of steaming, incredibly fragrant hot chocolate in front of herself. Pointing at the hot chocolate, she asked, "May I?" and smiled again. "Of course, go ahead, Lara," I replied graciously as she gracefully pulled out the chair and sat down after smoothing her elegant black skirt on her knees.

A slight blush tinged my cheeks, and I quickly looked down at my coffee, taking a sip and relishing the way its bitterness merged with the taste of whiskey. When I looked back at Lara, she was already looking at me while slowly stirring her drink. Unintentionally, I formed a half-smile, prompting her to quickly lower her gaze, although it wasn't enough to conceal her slightly flushed face.

"What do I owe the pleasure of your delightful presence?" I asked, taking another sip of my coffee. Lara looked at me again and smiled. Her white teeth created a beautiful contrast against her ruby-red lips, and she playfully twirled a strand of her brown hair. It was captivating. Her dark eyes shimmered brightly. "Just because," she said, "I thought since my work for today is done, I could stay here and keep you company... You don't always have to sit alone with your boring papers." Then, with a graceful gesture, she brought the cup to her lips and took two big sips of the hot chocolate.

Her words made me smile. "Well then, I won't bother taking out my papers. They can wait. Now that you're here, you can't wait," I said, and we both laughed. The sound of her laughter lingered in my ears. Without taking my eyes off her wondrous face, I finished the last of my coffee and then reached into my coat pocket. "Care for a cigarette?" I asked Lara, who pondered for a moment before nodding. I pulled out my silver cigarette case and handed her one, and she gifted me with another half-smile.

I felt my cheeks redden again, but this time, I couldn't hide it, and I laughed at myself. I took another cigarette and, with a soft snap, closed the case and slid it back into my black coat. As I searched for my lighter, I stole a brief glance at the girl. She was stirring her hot chocolate and looking outside at the peacefully falling snowflakes. Occasionally, a car passed by the window, but otherwise, the road was quiet.

When I found my lighter, I flicked it open and first lit Lara's cigarette, then leaned in to light my own. I took a deep drag and, tilting my head back, exhaled the smoke, listening to the jazz music playing in the background. Lara also took a puff, and I could almost hear the spark at the tip of her cigarette.

"So, Lara," I asked, "What are your plans for the holidays? Will you be spending Christmas with your family again?" The question seemed to catch her off guard, looking at her sweet features, but she wasn't offended. She took another drag and, while exhaling the smoke, seemed lost in thought. "No, not this year... I'll be staying in the city this time." "Really?" I asked, surprised. "But why? You don't have anyone here, and spending Christmas alone isn't pleasant." She looked at me. "No, it's not, but you've been doing it for four years," she said, locking her gaze deeply with mine. It wasn't uncomfortable, in fact, I felt as if I were swimming in her brown eyes. The café's lights shimmered within them. "That's true," I said, and as I exhaled a puff of smoke, a question that had been circling in my mind finally emerged. "But why would you stay here?" As the words left my lips, something began to build rapidly in my mind. Lara's gaze remained fixed on me. I was about to open my mouth to ask another question, but Lara beat me to it. There was no trace of the earlier self-assurance; there was no mischievous smile at the corner of her lips. Now, she seemed slightly nervous... She was charmingly bashful! "Well, I thought... Since you're here, and you always spend Christmas alone..." With a careful glance up at me, she continued, "I thought maybe I could spend Christmas with you...?" A moment of silence.I even forgot about my cigarette. I tried to process the events of the last few seconds. My blood was pulsating in my neck, and thoughts were racing through my mind at record speed. Then Lara's gentle nod and her head tilting questioningly to the side broke the silence. And finally, after what seemed like ages, the smile I had longed for all day, and perhaps longer, stretched across my face. "Of course!"

[harald1223]

Hey there dear reader!

This time I'm going to cover something that is very very close to my heart and way of living, presenting myself. You must know that I am a viking reenactor. This means that I (and the community I am part of) try to represent the way of living like the vikings did as accurate as possible, relying on written and physical sources as gravefoundings, drwawings and art. Also we go regurarely on so called "events" Where we not only live there and make a camp but also fight in an historically accurate way. For example the vikings didn't have heavy plate armour nor horned helmets or two sided battle axes as is often picturen in art. Yesterday I came home from such an event called Karpacka Troja in Poland. First of all, this was an amazing event and I can't wait to go next year. The people are very nice and kind. We had the opportunity to feast with a polish group who invited us to their part of the camp where a lot of beer wine and meat was served with delicious bread and potatoes. This may sound simple food, but when you have been fighting the whole day (at least in my case, I'll get back to this later on) it is a feast of the gods. This all was amazing and very nice and all but for me the most inportant part was the duels. Let me quickly explain how it works. We fight with steel weapons ,but they are obviously not sharp. Well you may ask isn't this dangerous? I have to say yes, but you get used to it. You have to be careful because injuries can come very easy. (Like right now I have a hard time typing, because my right hand got hit in the finals and it was right behind my leather gauntlet, right on the wrist.) We mainly have 4 tipes of weapons wich we use in combat, namely the spear, danish axe (long, two handed axe), smal axe and shield and finally the sword and shield. My main choise is sword and shield because then you can feel the thrill of the front line combat and I am not tall at all so I would have a very hard time to fight from the second line over the heads of the warriors in front of me. One more reason is since you are holding two separate things, shield and sword and both need to do different things it is a bit harder. I have years of experience in several martial arts and swordfighting so when I started of with this viking reenactment the choise was simple, sword and shield.

Fast forward a bit, this event I was introduced to a new kind of competition stile called buhurt. This is usually only practided by people who have full plate armour because of the brutality and chance on severe injury, I am not going to cover that here, you can find tons of vids on youtube, check it out if you want. (here is a link to Igor Parfentev) https://youtu.be/JFWpkWEA5xg but since I only could borrow chainmail form my captain I was a bit hesitant at the begining because the rules where not that you need to have 3 clean hits (points) but it was tied to time. The participants got one minute (+30 seconds if it ended with draw) to fight, and didn't had to stop when a point was scored. Well all I can say is this was exhausting to say at least. One minute quickly became an eternity and when I finished my first round and qualified for semi finals, I felt like I would vomit out my spine, breathing became painful to the point where I'd rader lay down and just stop moving my chestmuscles because I was to tired to breathe. This was something whole new to me, I had to push myself physically and mentaly to points I never tought I could reach. Fast forward evenmore to the last day when the finals came, We were left with 3 fighters and we were fighting for the first second and third places so I knew I am already in the top 3, but why be satisfied with third place if I can get to second or first? I won one duel and lost one to a very talented warrior who was left handed, I have no shame at all losing to him, he was better than me, he has earned it but atleast I gave him a damn hard time. Now you may ask why I put myself trough the mental and physical pain for this. The answer lies partially in the fact that every man has a warrior within, wich needs to have a place, a name, be aknowledged in some way or another. Yes this comes with pain and risk of injury but what doesn't? It helps to improve determination and confidence and strength not only for the body but also (mainly) for the mind. When you feel the weight of the armor and weapons baring down on you, and you know you can give up and lose or push yourself beyond your borders and maybe win, it is always an adventure. The other reason I do this is to get to know myself, and have an opportunity to learn how to handle pain wich will be usefull later on in my life when I am presented with challenges, and finally the third reason is simply the fact that it is just an amazing feeling to be thrown back in time and be able to fight alongside honorable warriors, shieldbrothers and friends. It can feel at times like in a story, legend, movie. You hear the clank of weapons, people shouting, the heath of the sun or the mud and rain, the exhaustion and the adrenaline flowing in your body, your hearth pounding in your throat and when the battle ends, you have a beer or a smoke with the the rest of the guys no matter on wich side you fought on. This is what I like to call, respect for every warrior, no matter why he fights, you don't have to agree with him, but at least respect him even if you are better than him.

Thanks for reading!

Have a nice day!

Harald

[harald1223]

When noise becomes silence

And everything becomes calm

When toughts become peace

In an endless spiral fall

I feel the missing part of me

Within my soul a missing peace

The part of me I gave to you

hold it dear within your heart

I feel how you are not right here

Beyond the wickedness in this world

It is you out of everything

That I love so dear

I miss you beyond words or songs

Like a tree that misses its leaves

Without you I feel so naked

I miss you, I miss you, Oh my dear

Dear reader!

Now that I maybe got your atention, I'd like to shortly introduce myself. My name is Harald Lőrinc G. I made this Tumblr account mainly to share my toughts and post poems and short fantasy like writings (these may later change or never continue, I don't know yet, I'm new to Tumblr.

As my first tought to share here would be the following: "Sometimes it is astoneshing how little I need to feel comfortable, maybe even happy."

This begs the question, what is happines?

Is it a thing? Is it something you can hold in your hands, a sound, a smell, maybe a sight? Well for me it is none of the ones above, or should I say all, but yet none of them specific. For me it is a feeling, that can be felt by experiencing several different things, maybe even all at once. For example, currently I am sitting outside in my yard. The clock tells me it is 23:26. It is dark outside, it is warm, but not to hot, and the only things I hear is the smoldering of my cigharette every time I take a drag from it and the sound of the cicadas. At first this may be nothing, but if I examine my mood closer I can feel a sence of calmness and peace. I do this almost every night. Go outside, listen to the same music every night and smoke my cigharette in peace. It gives me a feeling if comfort. Why? I'm not shure. Since I am writing this on the spot without any toughts before it might be a bit chaotic as I am sharing my tought but bare with me for a moment. Why? Why does this make me feel good and happy? Certenly not because of the tought that smoking is unhealthy :D. More because of the silence. I love silence, I love to be at times alone and take a break from all the rushing and stuff that has to be done eventho I concider myself a very social being. Silence gives me time to think, without having to worry that my tought might distract me from my current task, chalenge or whatever life trows at me. The reason I do this every time before I go to sleep is to make sure I don't press down any toughts or feelings that might need some atention or time. If I do that, I'll have a hard time sleeping. So if we put this all together, for me happines can be achieved by something as little as giving myself 15-20 minutes to just sit here in silence and let my toughts levitate trough my mind without having to worry about anything. (They can be good or bad, joyful or painful toughts or feelings, they all should be given time and atention at the right time.) By just absorbing my surrounding and being aware of the fact that I am alive and that I am feeling comfortable being myself.

What are your toughts on this?

Maybe leave a comment below.

Have a nice evening/morning/day.

Harald