Death God's Successor

Haalfrin is sitting across from Das again on the Tree Crawler while they make the long journey back to Dralys – the name the gods have apparently given his world.

They're not long into the several-day journey when Haalfrin finally can't take it anymore. "Das," he asks with a measured tone, "Why did you really bring me out here? All this fuss to bring me around the Death Realm and show me the sights?"

The old god crosses his legs and looks down. "I wasn't sure how to tell you this… In fact, I was deliberating whether or not I was going to tell you in the end… But since you asked, I'll just spit it out."

Haalfrin swallows his spit, and his heart thumps loudly. He's not sure what the god is going to explain, but he has the feeling it'll be serious.

Das looks Haalfrin in the eyes and asks, "Do you know Soul Script at all?"

"Yeah," Haalfrin answers, "It's a very simple language to learn, and hardest to read. My teacher also said it's the most important language to know."

"Do you know," Das asks, "What the word for 'death' means in that tongue?"

"…I don't."

Das writes with his finger in the air, leaving glowing letters hovering in place. "Felwynyar (Last Transformation) Aryar (End of One, Beginning of Another)."

"…Oh," Haalfrin offers an unenthusiastic acknowledgment. "Why's that important?"

"I'm a Death god, Haalfrin. A god's existence and powers are shaped by their Names." The god leans in seriously. "There is no Death god who can stay a death god forever. One day, their powers will end."

"!!!" ~ Haalfrin

Seeing Haalfrin's alarmed look, Das leans back and gives a little laugh, then continues more seriously, "You may have figured it out by now. My time as the Death Reaper of aged souls is coming to an end. What do you think will happen when the universe is short of a Reaper?"

"… Chaos?" Haalfrin offers.

"That's… an understatement," Das coughs out. "With no Reaper to take away aged souls, every person who dies of old age will linger in their world as a ghost. If enough ghosts accumulate in one world, then that world will be cloaked in Death Aura and become like the Death Realm."

Haalfrin looks down upon hearing this. That certainly sounds bad.

Then, he thinks of the sprawling cities he saw in the Death Realm, and the apparent peace he found there. If the Death King is short a reaper, then a lot of people will be denied their afterlife.

"I assume that since I'm compatible with Death, you want me to take your place once you retire?" Haalfrin asks.

The god across from him nods.

Feeling troubled inside, Haalfrin looks down and mumbles, "I'll think about it."

---------------------

Kalastros is sitting in his office high in the tower, and he has stacks of papers on his desk full of property deeds, projects, and tax documents, as it's that time of year again. Despite the wind howling and the rain pouring, the archmage keeps his windows wide open.

The archmage has wind-protective enchantments over his desk, and he enjoys the feeling of the cool wind on his skin. With so much magic in his room, what's stopping him from getting comfortable?

The archmage's blue cloaked guest standing across from his desk is looking with a displeased eye at the open balcony. His boots are soaking wet from the rain, and he's shivering from the cold.

Of course, Kalastros ignores his guest's well-being, as this guest is quite unwelcome in his tower.

"Sir Taalka," Kalastros says while sifting through a few documents, "I've told you again and again through letters and far speak notifications that my apprentice is out on important business at the moment. You're welcome to find an inn to stay at while we both wait for his safe return."

The knight frowns and says while pulling out a scroll, "It's been several weeks since Mage Haalfrin has disappeared… right after receiving royal summons no less. To put it bluntly, the king suspects you of hiding your apprentice and disobeying a royal decree."

Kalastros puts his papers down, leans back in his chair, and chuckles sinisterly, "Ha…ha… You, me, and the king all know that I'm supplying the majority of the royal treasury with my tax money revenue now. It's not that hard to move to another country."

Taalka grows a little red in the face. The knight himself doesn't care at all whether or not the archmage gets in trouble, or if this "Haalfrin" really answers to the king; he only knows that he'll be in big trouble if he doesn't come back with the boy... and he knows how angry the king would be if the Archmage actually left to another country with all his wealth.

Archmage Kalastros sees the perplexed look on his visitor's face, and he grins gleefully in his heart. 'What great timing!' the old man gloats in his heart, 'The god of Serene Deaths chose a perfect time to take my apprentice away; that way, he won't be anywhere near enough to visit the king in his court…'

Feeling like he's won already, Kalastros pulls out a letter and says, "You see this? This is a copy of the note that was left by my apprentice. I'm afraid Das might have taken him far away."

Taalka has a curse word visible on his face, but he takes a few deep breaths to calm himself. "Pardon me," the knight says with admirable composure, "but if you say, 'my apprentice is accompanying a god,' then the king will take this as an excuse and accuse you of treason. You know he has the full power to halt your travel and seize a traitor's assets by force."

…And King Galver is certainly looking for any excuse to do just that. Kalastros's vast wealth certainly is tempting, and it's got to make any monarch uneasy realizing that one of his vassals is both more powerful and more wealthy than himself.

Despite this, the archmage isn't fazed by this potent threat. Instead, he smiles at the knight's aggressive statement and pulls out another document – this one a set of travel plans and an appointment with the church in the capitol.

"I'm afraid," the archmage explains happily, "that I really am telling the truth. We all know that the god of Longevity is paying close attention to Haalfrin. All it would take is a quick trip to the temple of the divines, then get an oracle."

"So," the smile on the archmage's face grows even more wicked as he continues, "once the public learns that the king has placed his own decrees over the gods'… you must know that the court is legally allowed to overthrow him, right?"

"And…" the old man starts cackling as he pulls out yet another document, "this here is one of the king's letters to me. It says here that he doesn't care about where Haalfrin has gone, and that he has to come to the capitol by tomorrow evening. It's all the written proof I need to bring to court.

The knight staggers back and puts his hand on the doorpost. "You'd… really go that far?"

Naturally, the old mage wouldn't be so confident without good reason; he already has dozens of guards staked out in Haalfrin's room, around the tower, and throughout the city – all awaiting Haalfrin's return.

Once Haalfrin comes back, the boy will not be told a thing about his royal summons. Before anyone can know he's come back, the boy can then take an extended vacation in the forest he used to always try running off to.

'The child's always itching for practical training anyways, so he'll be happy to be let loose unsupervised.' Kalastros reasons.

Standing up, Kalastros holds his hands out and announces, "Ha! The king can blame himself for constantly targeting my disciple! Heh heh… It feels great when that little fart can't do anything to save himself!"

Sir Taalka steps back in fear. What gave the archmage the courage to curse the king out loud? Is he really that confident the king won't be able to do anything to him?

More than being confident, Kalastros is a little mad with anger over how the king's been trying to sacrifice his disciple, so he couldn't quite hold in his childish outburst anymore.

Right when the archmage's mood is at its peak, there's a screeching creak coming from the door downstairs. The knight turns around, and Kalastros looks over the guest's shoulders. Kalastros drops his papers, and Taalka chokes on his own saliva.

"Am I interrupting something?" Haalfrin asks from the other side of the door. Kalastros immediately deflates and droops back into his chair, and Taalka looks down nervously and stuffs a scroll into the boy's hands.

"This is a royal decree," the knight explains as he puts his hood back on and shuffles out of the room. "The king expects you in the capitol by tomorrow evening."

Sir Taalka himself can't explain the ominous feeling he has when looking into the boy's eyes; in fact, Haalfrin wouldn't really know either. The boy wasn't actively using his Deathly Aura at all, so the knight had no reason to be afraid.

What Haalfrin hadn't considered is the fact that the Death Realm is so thick with Death Energy that his soul had been subconsciously absorbing the substance throughout his entire trip.

After his Death Energy reserves had grown over 10 times larger so quickly, his soul hadn't had enough time to grow to match the size – resulting in him releasing a feeling of death without realizing it.

This is also the reason why none of the guards Kalastros posted to get Haalfrin into the forest dared even approach him to give the master's orders. They just slipped away or tried their best to be invisible.

What's also a strange twist in fate is that had the teleportation rune not broken in the Death Realm, Haalfrin never would've spent an extra day in the Death Realm… and if he hadn't spent an extra day there, he'd have missed Sir Taalka completely, and he never would've received the king's orders.

By now, Haalfrin would've been safely tucked away in the forest, and the archmage would be able to continue to pretend Haalfrin was still gone.

Alas, perhaps Haalfrin's fate with Freyya is too strong by now, since they're destined to meet more often. It only makes sense that if the king is planning to deploy Haalfrin in battle, that fate would steer the boy towards that path – especially after that path had been neglected for so many years now.

…Perhaps, fate chose now to intervene in Haalfrin's life because had he never been bound by the king's summons… his life would've gone in a completely different direction…

And so, with no living person being aware of Fate's machinations, Haalfrin reads the scroll, then notes his master letting out a frustrated sigh and resting his face in one hand. "Master?"

"It's fine," the weary old man tersely responds. "You have your orders. I'll… I'll go to bed now."