Re: A history lesson
Thor nodded as he accepted the can of beer; truthfully, he considered the swill loathesome and just held it unopened in his hands. He sat alongside the Space Wolf and let the larger man's voice compete with nothing other than the crackle of the fire.
The Norseman remained uncharacteristically stoic as the tale was recounted. Each word brought more confirmation of yet another war, yet another crusade, yet another genocide, all presided over by the perfect and infallible Allfather; my own subservience to Odin seems mirrored in the heart of every one of the Emperor's servants he thought to himself. And as grave as the crimes of Odin were, the Emperor had managed to commit far more heinous transgressions.
"How blind I was to believe that I had seen the worst of what the veneration of such father-gods could bring," was the sole sentence Thor uttered in reply; the typical bombastic declaration of his voice had been replaced with a low and solemn whisper made in the absense of eye contact.
When he raised his blue gaze back to the gold-brown eyes of the Space Marine, they shone with a glaze of unfallen tears. Death tolls exceeding the Midgardian population, an unquestioned and unquestionable tyranny which escorted the sacrificial lambs to the slaughter, and a reign of terror held up by an army of mind-controlled warriors. And Ragnar, before him, suddenly seemed to be a nonsensical contradiction made flesh; a wild and untamable berzerker rendered into an obedient, unquestioning servant. The pelt of a wolf worn by the most timid of dogs.
Earlier today, that wolf had nearly bitten off a hand; would I hath done such atrocities on Odin's behalf? Would I hath been in his place, masquerading as a wild beast whilst being held on a leash of faith? The answer was given by every century of loyalty he had rendered to his father. The fact that there were once millions of men in Ragnar's position was only the coldest of comfort.
"I know not whether your Emperor blessed you, or whether you were a human sacrifice to him," Thor whispered as one single tear began to slide down his cheek; he made no effort to conceal it. "All I know is that your world sounds like the opposite of everything I treasure."