Wild and raging, I lunge at my former brethren, nostrils flaring and saliva foaming around my blood-soaked lips. My predator self wants to eat them all. I want to vanquish every last one of them in a cascade of blood and screams. Because such are the desires of a bear starved through months of hibernation.

I lash out. I snarl. I roar.

I stop, frozen among blood running over bluebells.

A cry, innocent and pure as untrodden snow, cuts through the red fog of madness, bringing my human senses back for a moment.

Signy. Even in the intense rush of anger, I remember her. The child still lays wrapped in a wool cloth upon the flat rock, now tainted by my father's blood. But Signy is free from blood, her delicate skin pale as snow. She's so small, so new, so fragile. One move of my paw would end her burgeoning life.

But I don't move my sharp paws. I just stand there for a moment, gazing at my daughter who lies exposes to all the violent elements of Greenland's shores.

I need to save her. Not just now but forever. I need to save her from every danger of the world, because that is the task of a father, even if my own turn out to be the worst danger of them all.

My blood-soaked nose nudge against the small body, wanting to soothe her. But how can a monster like I console such a small and delicate being?

Little hands, with even smaller fingers, grab at the air. Wispy strawberry blonde hair sway in the wind. Blue eyes gaze upon me without fear. Because how would she even know to be scared of me? Everything and nothing is scary to this little creature.

Other sounds become clear behind me as the flaring rage inside me subsides. Screams of panic and skittering feet. Everyone is fleeing in fear of me. They holler about fetching their swords and bows, to slay the beast who just slayed their chief.

I am the beast, but I have just slain a worse beast. I have freed them from his terror.

I turn my head to gaze upon my father's body, making sure he's actually gone. He's so still, the only movement being the blood that pours out of his flayed chest, from which ribs protrude like broken twigs.

Empty eyes, pale blue with a dark circle around the iris--just like my own eyes and just like my daughter's eyes--stare into nothing. He's not there anymore. The suffocating hold of his reign is broken. We're all free now.

Well, everyone except me. But my sacrifice is worth it if my daughter can live a life in the sun.

"Björn?" a voice that is familiar even to my perked ears calls for me. I turn toward red curls hanging over blue runes.

Without fear for my jagged teeth, she reaches in front of me to pick up Signy in her arms, rocking the baby back and forth to calm her. The shrill cry from the child's lungs soon turns into a light whimper.

Standing mere feet from my monstrous presence, Gudrun doesn't run. Instead, she looks me straight in the eyes, unwavering and unafraid.

She knows it's me. Somehow, she knows. Despite the coat I wear and the blood dripping from my teeth. Gudrun still recognizes me.

I look toward my love, with my breath heaving as I quench every urge to maul. She reaches out her hand toward my head, patting white fur with soft fingers.

Gudrun isn't scared of me, not even after what I've done. Not even when she's faced with the brutal reality of what I've become: a feral monster who can crush bone with its teeth and rip through limbs with its claws. I still hunger stirring right underneath the surface, soon I won't be able to hold back any longer.

"Run toward the ships," she yells as the last frightened villagers scurry away from the deserted graveyard. Her voice carries the poise of a leader. As the slain chief's wife, they will follow her lead now, and she knows it.

I want to tell Gudrun to run as well before I lose control. I want to tell her to leave me behind. I want to tell her to save our daughter while she still can. But my throat can do nothing but growl and roar. No words can carry my warning.

"Load all goods and tools you can carry onto the longships," she continues, hushing the child in her arms as she gives her orders while standing in front of a ferocious bear. "We're heading to safer shores. We're heading toward Vinland."

Vinland. The dream that can't be mine. But it can be my daughters.

Dreams of greener shores muddle into a dreary grey mush as the beast claws its way back into my mind. I try to hold on but I feel the humanity slipping out of my grasp.

Gudrun needs to run. Now.

That's when the sky turns dark like the night in an instant. All sunlight is blocked and the world dances in an eerie gray sheen.

Gudrun looks up toward the black sun. A halo of fire burns around a dark disc in the sky.

The beast is gone and only Björn remains. I stand on my knees among trampled bluebells, with blood covering my naked torso.

"What is happening?" I ask while marveling at the charcoal sky. A dark disc hovers in front of the sun. The only light is a burning ring of fire around it. The world is beset with darkness, just like Gudrun foretold.

She bends down next to me, with Signy snug to her chest. "The sun has eclipsed the moon," she says. "The barriers are broken. But we don't have long. I need to try to break your curse now."

I nod, but my mind is elsewhere. My eyes are mesmerized by the little being in Gudrun's arms. Before anything else happens, I need to greet my daughter. "Hi there, little one," I whisper, my voice no longer a roar but soft and caring. I stretch a rugged and blood-soaked finger toward a pink and delicate cheek. Sensing the warmth of the skin, a pulse of energy rushes through me.

No matter what I have to do from now on, I will do it for her.

While I coo over my daughter, Gudrun dips her finger in the blood on my chest. The blood of my father. She uses the red liquid to paint a string of runes across my pounding chest. Then, she puts her hand on my forehead, whispering an enchantment over and over. The words are unknown to my ears, unwieldy and old like the gods we no longer believe in.

The world starts whirling like a sudden breeze is grabbing a hold of every tree and stone. My ears ring and my eyesight grow blurry. I can feel the beast subsiding inside of me.

But before the beast can be vanquished, Gudrun stops, shaking her head in despair. "It's too strong still," she mumbles. "I feared it would be so."

"What does that mean?" I ask, turning my gaze from Signy toward Gudrun.

"It means I can't break the curse," she says, sadness tinting her beautiful eyes. "You will have to take the long road. But I will find you, Björn. I promise. When the moon once again shades the blood-red sun, I will find you."

"I don't understand," I mumble, feeling the beast once again lurking inside of me as the dark disc lets some sunshine through. "What do I need to do?"

"You need to wait," she replies. "You will need to wait for the saga to find you. She will bring the dagger that cursed you. Tell her to use it when the moon eclipses the sun during the eternal summer. Next time, the curse should be weakened enough for the beast to be vanquished. By using the dagger, she will ensure that it dies forever."

"But I will live?" I ask.

"You will live," Gudrun assures me. "You will be free, finally."

When a sliver of light transcends the darkness, I sense the smell of blood. The beast is awakening, and he's hungry.

"I will wait," I promise. "I will wait however long it takes." Sensing how long it may be until I see her again, I cradle her face in my hands and press my lips to hers. This kiss may have to last me many lifetimes. It tastes of blood, desperation, and longing. "Now, go," I urge her. "Leave this island, before I can hurt you."

A loving hand strokes my cheek as I look down onto blood-streaked grass. I can't look at Gudrun as she leaves, because I fear I may not let her. Soft lips press to my forehead and a hear a low whimper from a life that has just begun.

The next moment, they're both gone.

I wait there, standing in the blood-stained grass with my head bowed until I know they're safe. They're too far away for me to catch them once the sunlight once again blares its light on frozen shores.

While the world is still dimmed, I walked toward the cliffs that overlook the bay below. Smeared in blood and hollow inside from longing, I look down to see the longships leave across deep blue waters.

My brethren are making their escape from this cursed island, toward shores with the promise of a future. Hopefully, they will survive the treacherous journey there. They must because Gudrun and Signy are among them.

Perhaps I will never know what becomes of them. I believe Gudrun will come for me if she can, but unless she makes it to safety, she can't save me.

All I can do now is wait. For however long it will take. Decades, centuries, or even millennia.

Just as the ships disappear from my line of sight, the sunlight once again returns, bright as ever. And with the light, my other form returns, raging and hungry.

These shores belong to the bear now.