Valhalla For All Warriors V2

So I thought The original was a speculative poem and it was close but it needed to be expounded upon in order to be one. So please enjoy this extended version of Valhalla For All Warriors. My thanks go out to Pixie Bruner for her help with this poem.

Valhalla used to be a place just for those who died in glorious battle, but times were changing.

Those who died in glorious battle were changing and were becoming fewer and more far between

No longer did they battle with sword and shield but with rifles and explosives most of them didn’t fit in with Odin’s warriors

What with medicine being what it is nowadays and Medics and doctors being a thing So often were warriors snatched back from the jaws of death that the Valkyries had a hard time finding souls to collect on the modern battlefield

Where once the loss of a limb was so often a life ending injury now it was almost a mere inconvenience 

So, Odin decided to loosen the rules a bit so that his halls might once again be filled with a flood of new faces

Not all of his warriors liked the idea, but his Valkyries had long awaited the chance to bring some of these warriors home to Valhalla

The first were those who had suffered with mental illness all their lives but had never succumbed.

When the first one arrived, the warriors argued with Odin when the first arrived long into the night until finally Odin had enough and shouted do you doubt the All Father 

I gave my eye for Knowledge Huginn and Muninn travel the world and return with secrets and knowledge do you doubt them.

Watch tomorrow and you will see the heart of a warrior inside them though they may be clumsy at first you will see why they were brought here.

As for the new recruits, they reveled at the chance to take out their righteous anger at their demons that had haunted them for so long though laughably clumsy with most weapons.

They attacked with a ferocity that rivaled that of the warriors they faced as for Odin’s old guard they finally understood why Odin would accept these new warriors to Valhalla

When night finally fell the men and women, they had fought against accepted them as their own and bid them join in the revelry

The next were those who had succumbed to their demons and lost the war with them. They came with hollow eyes and hollow hearts, defeated and empty to Odin’s fair halls.

Where he welcomed them with a booming voice

Welcome warriors, you fought long and hard battles that few could see and fewer cared about it till finally you could take no more and succumbed, but you fell with a weapon in your hands

And though your enemy at times may have been yourself you died in a battle that was never ending.

Welcome to Valhalla warriors Again Odin’s warriors balked at these new weaklings they took their own lives what good could they possibly be as a warrior.

Huginn and Muninn whispered in Odin’s ears of the sayings of the warriors, and he saw with his own eyes the emptiness of these new recruits he decided he would train them himself before they joined the others

He declared that he would train these new warriors for a few days before they joined the others and though discontent was thought most knew better than to voice it for fear Huginn and Muninn would voice it to Odin.

Odin taught them the basics of fighting with war axes and told them here you can let out all your anger and rage at the unfairness you faced here you can battle with my warriors and take out all your frustration from your demons on them every day then celebrate at night

The first day they joined with the rest they walked out on the field empty till the horns sounded the call to start then it was like a switch flipped and their eyes seemed to glow.

They fought like the berserkers of old with ferocity unmatched they fought like men and women possessed they cared not what wounds they gained they kept on fighting and fighting until their bodies and the adrenaline finally gave out and they collapsed.

The berserkers of old recognized in them a kinship and immediately welcomed them that night and told them aye you’re with us now and gathered them to their tables.

Slowly they healed from their wounds and started to carry their scars with a strange sense of pride.

And they became just like the rest.

Full of Vigor and life, no longer hollow and empty they thrived in Valhalla.

The next were those who died to illnesses like cancer who never gave up.

The old guard no longer balked at the new recruits Odin brought in the previous ones had shut down all their doubts.

But slowly they came around as they watched and saw the warrior’s heart, they all possessed how though many of them had never fought their resilience in the face of death propelled them forward just as it had in life

They had hearts of steel and iron wills forged in the valley of the shadow of death just as Huginn and Muninn had told Odin.

Huginn and Muninn had sung the praises of these warriors who would allow themselves to be injected with poison and endure the pain and sickness that came with it for just another day with their loved ones.

But the addition that finally broke all of the old warriors resolves against the addition of these new breeds of warriors

Was when Odin reached back through the sand of time and brought back an old warriors’ own child who had died of a long illness while her father was away

She had been but a child of 7 small and weak all her life but had been the apple of her father’s eye when she died so long ago the last thing she saw was her mother looking at 2 ravens and the last thing she heard was her mother questioning why Huginn and Muninn would look upon her sweet child

For 7 long years she fought against the disease that threatened to claim her until her poor fragile body could take no more even though her will was of the strongest steel and tougher than diamond her poor body could take no more

The Valkyries stood ready to receive her as her, strong and effervescent soul left the tiny frame that had imprisoned it for so long The Valkyries welcomed their new sister born of strife and illness into their fold.

All the warriors wept that day as they saw father and daughter reunite and saw the newest Valkyrie bow before Odin and arise as the newest Valkyrie chosen to usher in the youngest of souls.

And soon others started to come through from the sands of time other children who had the hearts of warriors but were not welcome before for even gods may change and the All Father himself was not immune to change.

Yes, Valhalla has changed but no one would ever think it has changed for the worse