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Norway thinks a lot about death.
It's not that he wants to, it's just circumstance. The first time he thought of death was a long, long time ago, back when his people were still nomads, travelling the land- unlike the land he knows now- going wherever the prey leads them. They depend on fishing and hunting to survive, and every day Norway would be exposed to death. He's confused by it, at first, but after the hundredth or so deer, the red liquid looks just like water to him. He accepts that death is a necessary thing.
This changes after he witnesses one of his tribesmen getting killed, gored by a boar and slowly going limp on the grass. Norway asks his humans, "What happens now?"
But they don't answer him. Instead, they cry. Once again Norway finds himself confused. He knows why humans cry- they cry when they're hurt or upset. But none of them cried when the animals they hunted died, so he thought that maybe death isn't something to be upset over.
So why cry now? Is it different when a human dies? Why is the entire tribe silent as they commit the body left behind to flame?
Norway is the only one to not shed a tear that day.
~~•~~
The next time Norway thinks of death is when people from a distant land introduced weapons made of stone to his tribe. But it's not only their weapons that changed; strategies and economies, as do the material culture, settlements, and society as a whole.
Norway walks along the shoreline, watching silently as his people change from a tribe that follows the herds, to farming crops and even breeding their own animals now, all in the span of a couple thousand cycle of seasons.
He won't deny that he feels rather proud; his people look far healthier and happier now. Still, he keeps his distance. It's not that he hates them, no. Absolutely not. It's just that he figured out how different he is compared to humans. It wasn't hard to notice. They die after a few cycles pass, for example, but he's already- what? Six… almost seven thousand cycles old now? He lost count somewhere along the way but the point still stands.
That doesn't mean he cares any less. He cares for them, deeply. In fact, today he's looking for a gift for one of his humans- a parting gift, to be exact. Because with the coming of a new era, so comes a new way of handling with death.
Humans have a lot of beliefs concerning death. One that he's been taught the past couple thousand cycles is that there is a life after it, no matter how paradoxical that sounds to Norway. He supposes it's a natural hope to have, when your existence is so short.
Norway finds a very nice seashell with blues and whites in the sand, and heads back towards the settlement. There, he watches the burial practice undergo. It's the biggest change, at least to him personally, aside from the language change. Now each burial represents the coming together of various people who created and participated in the funeral. It's elaborate and the dead are also given gifts. Norway wonders how the deceased would even take the items with them, but chooses not to speak his mind.
Surrounding the person are a great many gifts. Norway recognizes the eponymous beakers, battle axes, amber beads, amphorae, pottery, and some personal little trinkets. After the funeral, Norway presents his own gift.
He places the seashell he found on the person's chest and says his final goodbyes.
He is still not one to shed a tear.
~~•~~
When Norway looks up to the sky, now with little white things- the humans call them snow apparently- falling down from the grey clouds much more often than before, he thinks of death.
He's noticed a change in the climate, shifting to colder weather. When he looks to the left, the forests, which had previously consisted of elm, lime, ash and oak, are replaced with birch, pine and spruce. When he looks to the right, large white stones- he's not sure what they're called yet- are beginning to appear in the ocean.
And when he looks down, he sees himself in a cemetery, surrounded by the graves of his people. Now that the weather has turned cold, everyone's decided that staying put and creating villages is the way forward. But that also means he's able to see death every single day instead of moving on and leaving the graves behind like when they were still nomadic.
Everywhere he looks, his surroundings are now changing. This, too, makes Norway think of death.
Change is death, and he's decided that he doesn't quite like it.
~~•~~
Time passes and Norway understands something new.
As a species, humans are obsessed with the concept of death. He doesn't understand that part, no. And now his humans are starting to kill each other.
Vikings, his tribe calls themselves as of late, are well equipped; wear chainmail armor; well trained and have a psychological advantage over Christianity- also something Norway doesn't quite understand.
But that's not important to him. What is important is how his people are throwing their lives away so easily. They believe that being killed in combat would result in them going to Valhalla, wherever that is.
Norway hates it. One could say that he's grown a passion for despising it, all because it forces him to think of death.
When he stands before his people and pleads for them to stop, and they say that his empathy (is that what it is?) is disrespecting their bravery and commitment to their gods, he thinks of death.
When he sees his chieftain lead the troops into battle, axes high and banner flying, he thinks of death.
When he stands among the rubble and destruction, among bloodied bodies of people who were once full of life just a few moments ago, he thinks of death.
He retreats into his home which his people have generously given for him to live alone. He accepted it with a genuine smile then, now he only sees it as an act of cruelty. The silence lets his mind embrace him. He withdraws for long periods of time, and tries very hard not to think about death.
(He never succeeds).
When Christianization and the abolition of the rites in Norse mythology are first attempted by a human named Olav Tryggvason, Norway breathes a sigh of relief.
His chieftains fear that Christianization would rob them of power as Goðar, but unknown to them Norway himself is wholly supportive of the movement.
Anything to rid them of their nonsensical ways, he engraves deep in his mind.
The Battle of Stiklestad destroys their days as Vikings. It is a great battle where many perished, but among the tears of defeat…
Norway is the only one to smile.
~~•~~
Norway's seen humans die for many reasons. Thirst, starvation, battle, childbirth, disease. Especially disease.
Plague is particularly terrible. He's gone through plague before, one that depopulated many of his farms, but he grossly underestimated the Black Death.
The way his people die from it is horrifying, even after all he's been through. He speculates it's spread through vermin and fleas that they bring with them. But if there's one thing he hates about religion, it's that it makes humans illogical and superstitious. Just like with Norse mythology before, Christianity blames the disease on a dozen scapegoats, their fear fueling violence and feeding death even more.
Norway thinks that perhaps Christianity isn't as good as he once thought it was. Or rather, he believes that there's just no saving humans from their nature of passing the blame and trying to follow invisible things.
They'd follow anything, even at the cost of their own humanity. Do they truly believe that they'd go to this Heaven they speak of so lovingly when they behave this barbarically in the living world?
And then he wonders…
If he isn't human, then where does he go when he dies?
~~•~~
Norway studied belongings once. Old, ruined belongings, that were once owned by someone- someone he hasn't met. Someone he'd never meet, he reasons. He looks at them and he thinks: even traces of one's existence would someday fall victim to time.
Norway has pondered a great deal on whether countries like himself, as a whole, can truly die. He also wonders if this building he's currently in once belonged to a country, and that's why he's drawn to it unlike the others he found in the abandoned settlement.
"Do you think reincarnation is real?" He asks to no one. At least, that's what it seemed like to giftless eyes.
Despite the lack of a breeze, Norway's hair sways. Faintly, he hears someone answer him; "Many things are real, if not for everyone."
Norway frowns, that's not quite the answer he is looking for.
But he's not in any mood to return to his people yet, so he takes his time in the building, when suddenly Iceland- a small boy who he found a while ago- comes back with someone in tow, someone he says was wandering alone, with hair and skin as pure white as freshly fallen snow, someone he introduces as Greenland, then just a small child no bigger than Iceland.
Iceland is ecstatic. He begs for Norway to let Greenland stay with them. But Norway instead wonders, leaving his brother's request to hang in the air. His eyes wander the room, decrepit and frozen. Possibly centuries old. It's really a miracle it isn't flat to the ground yet. He assumes it to be the cold weather's doing.
Then his eyes land on the child in Iceland's arms, and he kneels before them, asking:
"Who were you?"
But Greenland merely blinks, seemingly confused by the question. Iceland shares the same puzzled expression.
"I just told you his name is Greenland, Brother. Were you not listening?"
Norway shakes his head, his gaze soft and patient. "Who were you?"
The two children fall quiet. Greenland looks up to Iceland, perhaps in hopes that he would have the answer. But Iceland's mouth falls to a thin line; he doesn't know either. So he tries:
"I'm… Greenland? Iceland just gave me the name, and I don't know anything else before he gave it to me, so I've always been… Greenland?"
Norway's eyes close, then he stands and gives Iceland a confirming nod. That's all it takes to make him drop the subject.
~~•~~
Days go by and Norway finds himself in battle with a young girl. Her hair is a beautiful red color, and she fights with just as much fierceness as the Vikings of old. Norway is impressed, but she lacks the years of experience he possesses. And yet he and the girl engage each other for years, and he feels like both of their struggles are going nowhere.
(He was wrong).
After defeat, Faroe- the name he gave to the girl- quickly attaches herself to Norway. Along with Iceland and Greenland, Norway too finds himself growing attached.
Despite his early days of keeping his distance from others, for this time…
This time he thinks it would be fine, that it would be okay. The three of them are immortal just like he is. It would be fine, he assures himself more than anyone else. Nothing bad will happen.
And open up to them he does. The four work together to make a small home for them to live in, away from prying eyes.
In this little home lies Norway's heart, and never once has he thought of death in it.
~~•~~
Norway doesn't understand what's so frightening about there being nothing after death.
This is true even after he's grown big, strong, and became a target for many. He's been passed around multiple times now between men he barely even knows. Their names being Denmark and Sweden, immortals just like himself though both significantly younger than he is.
Sweden is quite the charming man, and he does treat Norway well, but he's not fond of Denmark. The rambunctious sailor has rubbed him the wrong way before, even making his nine Viking chieftains so angry that they joined together their tribes to make, well, Norway.
But Norway barely even remembers that.
The thing that makes him anxious and hateful of Denmark is the fact that he took control of Iceland, Greenland, and Faroe, the three immortals that Norway has come to call his siblings, who he loves more than anyone else in the world, and Denmark had the gall to seize them from him.
The little siblings that once filled his home with joy and laughter. The happiness he felt with them was unlike anything he's ever felt before in his eight thousand years of life.
And now his home is left empty once more, his mind embracing him, and his worry over his three siblings plague him. He worries something horrible would happen to them; he worries that Denmark isn't treating them right; he worries that they're missing him just as much as he is missing their presence; he worries about his people and how they are feeling; he worries that they would all leave him. He worries, and worries, and worries…
And that's when Norway stops.
He stands from his seat, and he slowly walks towards his door. In a small home in the middle of nowhere, with patched up walls that he had to fix himself, surrounded only by snow and no other people around him, he realizes that humans have always worried over their well-being, and the well-being of those they hold dear.
And he realizes...
That he's no different from the humans.
Norway bites his lip, the ends of his mouth curling upwards in a useless attempt to stop what's about to come. He holds himself, his throat letting out whines of protest. His legs go weak and they give out under him. He's biting so hard he even tastes his own blood.
And for the first time in his life, Norway spills his tears.
For the first time in his life, Norway cries. Not because of death itself, but because of what he fears would come after it.
In his moments of loneliness, Norway thinks about death. And it's absolutely nothing like what he thought before.
It's not a necessity; it's not parting gifts; it's not change; it's not glory; it's not faith; it's not reincarnation.
In his moments of loneliness, Norway thinks about the cruel truth of death:
It's separation. It's the fear of never seeing your loved ones again. The fear of losing them forever.
And he's terrified of it.
"I beg of you… please... give them back to me…"