I had a dream, a dream of a magnificent creature of a sort; a life that is beyond the recognition of the bare mind. So big, so glorious, from the thick fog of snowy white came this colossal white beast. The size was incomprehensible; the teeth were like sharp white glass, and the most important thing – its eyes. Those big blue eyes. You didn’t want to see them so close. It will give you nightmares, you know, nightmares that will haunt you till your deathbed.

What can you do when such a beast suddenly appears in front of you out of nowhere? There is nothing but you, the beast, and the white fog of ice and snow. White-covered trees couldn’t make a move. They were full of snow, and perhaps they didn’t want to disturb the beast. Never a single branch nor leaf made a crack, but now I was in front of it – disturbing all that was left of the beast, for I was in its domain.

I did not move. You have to be careful now. A sudden movement could be misinterpreted, the beast might act, and your life might end. You don’t want that now, do you?. Your life depends on it. It depends on how you act in the next couple of minutes. Suddenly you realize the way your life is going to turn is actually in your hands. Right now it seems at least you are partly in control of the situation, of course, the other part is controlled by the beast, you see.

Oh you see, the beast has determined to move closer to me. Each step it takes toward me makes its size grow larger and larger. Its immense size justifies the sound of its steps. I can hear the earth’s trumpet. I can only hold still. Now, there is nothing I can do. It comes so close to me, I can feel its breath upon my face. The warmth of the breath makes me feel like the inferno of hell is unleashed upon me. Even in that mighty snowy land, it is hellfire. But what frightens me the most is its eyes. I am not sure whether it is my fear or the colossal might of the beast that makes the eyes so fearful. They are so up close to my face, those blue eyes are the only things that I can see now. Almost feel like I am in the middle of the blue sea, drowning in my fear and I think, nobody should see them up close – not when you are alive. Seeing such a mighty beast is the meaning, that the life of the one is about to end.

Beast; it is a beast, as I have come to expect, so much rage, so much violence in its eyes. After all, what I have seen in that forsaken land did not leave any soul uncorrupted and undisturbed. That is the way of that land, to make you or anyone walking on the pure white snowy land a deadly vicious and cunning soul. It is cursed you see, that land was cursed. So what I could expect from that beast? Such a beast of magnificence doesn’t exist in this world as it is, it must be some kind of magic right? I know that, and the very look of its eyes and hellfire breath is telling me all that I need to know. This is not the beast of nature’s making. It has magic, perhaps even the magic from the doors of Valhalla itself. Who knows, right?

But then this strange thing happened! As I was still pondering over my thoughts of the magic this beast could have had, that beast was as still as I was to me. Our eyes were locked, and I saw something that I had never seen for a long time – a very long time. Not since I have come to this forsaken land; this cursed land. I saw something still, like unmoved by this land’s curse. I saw calm and peace in it, somehow this land couldn’t corrupt it. No violence, no vengeance, but a steady stream of will was what I saw. The will to surrender to only its cause. Something that you do not see in the ordinary men. Though that beast was magnificent, those eyes, when you could look it up so close, it was not as frightening as the beast itself.

How could it be? Was the curse broken? Not by a man, but by a beast? After all, they are the beasts and are supposed to be violent and cunning! But how could it be? Those eyes… those eyes. Could it mean that I could be free too? Could I be free from this forsaken land and its curse? I do not know. So much blood’s been spilled, and so many screams have been heard. My soul is soaked in it. I didn’t even have a hope that I could feel my soul ever again. I thought it was long gone to the depths of Niflheim, I thought this cursed snowy land was nothing but an extension of Niflheim. But now I see this beast. I see what it could be. I see what it has.

There was this old saying of the natives, that I kept remembering, it went something like, only from the farthest horizon, you could see a full sunrise.

Perhaps that saying had some profound meaning in it. From the unexpected, the first change comes. The ever-cunning beast is the one to change first. The sign that I could change for good. The sign that I could see my soul again. The sign that this forsaken land might be turned good once again as it was ages ago.

You might wonder now what happened to the rest of the dream. What happened to the encounter and what had become of that beast and a man? You see, dreams are like unfinished stories. The story in the dream shall only propagate till the purpose of the dream is realized. The purpose of that dream was to realize what I was and what I could be.

Ah! And the beast you see is just right behind you, only you couldn’t see it. As I told you, it had this magic, the magic from the doors of Valhalla itself. It shall only show up when it thinks that it is time to meet you.

It waits till you are ready to meet it and when you are ready you shall meet Iruva, the lord of the Yggdrasil. The beast of your nightmares.