Dave Woke Up in Vahalla

Writing prompt: Dave woke up in Valhalla, surrounded by legendary warriors, yet his only battle had been against the quiet, relentless enemy of depression.

Dave was not a warrior. Hell he wasn’t even from any country that worshipped warriors. He was just a working stiff who had been beaten down by life and his own mind.

His last memory was crossing the road and seeing a car skidding out of control as the driver lost control trying to brake and not hit the kids on the crossing ahead of him.

Dave didn’t know what made him do it but he took a step forward and pushed the kids out of the way of the car.

This was way out of step for him because he was suffering from anxiety and depression for so long that stepping in front of the car would have been more his reaction if he had been thinking at all. A mindless reaction and nothing.

Until he woke up laying in some green grass with a blue sky and scattered white fluffy clouds above him. Very different from the city he grew up in and lived all his miserable life.

As he got up and looked around, he noticed that his mind was much clearer and he didn’t feel down any more. It was a totally unknown feeling and he was feeling ‘off’.

As he looked around, he noticed a flock of large birds coming towards him from a city quite some distance away.

The city didn’t look like any city he had ever seen before on the TV except maybe from one of the sci-fy channel movies or shows. It looked like something from the medieval times on the history channel. But with a sparkle applied to it. Way too clean looking to be real.

Since it was the only thing he could see in any direction, it was the best thing to start walking towards.

As he walked, he started to notice that he wasn’t out of breath and panting from walking. In fact he felt pretty good physically. A quick check out of his body showed that he wasn’t fat any more and seemed to have a few muscles in places he didn’t know he could grow muscles. Hell he looked to be pretty good in a muscular/lanky sort of way.

As he continued to walk and look around, he noticed that the flock of birds had come much closer and they were much more than large. They were enormous.

And as they started to circle above him, little things like the horse heads and bodies with gigantic wings attached started to filter through his mind. The human figures on their backs didn’t quite click until a group of six of them landed a short distance away and started to walk towards him.

As they got closer, Dave was stunned to see that the figures on their backs were absolutely gorgeous woman. Blondes, brunettes, redheads in various shades and all magnificently full figured.

As they got closer, they halted and their leader spoke. “Sir David. We are here to escort you to Odin the All-Father in Vahalla. Come up and sit behind me as we travel.”

Dave was too stunned to form any real thoughts beyond agreement and was lifted up behind the blonde goddess on the Pegasus in front of him.

The journey to the city was wonderful and not just because Dave had his arms around the waist of a woman whose beauty outshone any of the women he had known in his life or seen on TV. And she was talking to her companions as they rode on the backs of their flying horses and expressed joy in their journey.

And Dave was feeling that his being there was right in a way he had never felt before, but he didn’t know why.

When he tried asking Eir as she had introduced herself, she demurred from answering and told him that the All-Father would explain all when they got to him. All she really said is that they were all excited to meet him and the rest were waiting for him to arrive.

The trip to the city took a while because it was much larger than it looked and Dave hadn’t seen the farms surrounding the outskirts of the city itself.

As they flew over the farms and the city itself, Dave could see hundreds and then thousands of people working, walking, shopping and relaxing, in the farms and the streets. As they got closer to the center of the city, the main central building grew larger and more magnificent with every wing beat.

Eventually they landed in a large field with a couple herds of horses and Pegasi and the crowd of Valkyrie dismounted to tend to their mounts. Dave and Eir dismounted and she led Dave towards a open doorway as she handed the reins off to a stable hand who came forward.