A New Reason To Die

There's a soft pitter-pattering down the death-ridden hallways, as bare feet sticky with blood slowly make their way through the silent Floor 33.

The woman walking through the hallway pauses for a moment, sets down her basket, and runs forward with a frantic look in her face.

"HAALFRIN!" Freyya calls out with unexpected energy in her voice. "What did they do to you!? You look like you're about to starve to death!"

She falls to her knees and starts feeling his emaciated limbs. Haalfrin rolls his head over and looks at her with a look that seems to say, "I'm done with the world. Do what you will."

Freyya doesn't miss this blank look in his eyes, and she gets even more angry. It's one thing to break a man's body, but to break his spirit is entirely unnecessary, right?

She pivots her waist and reaches out for her basket. "Hold on for a second. I have something for you." The basket lifts off the ground and floats over to her outstretched hand.

The crow goddess adjusts her posture and opens the basket, revealing a small portal spell on the top. She reaches in and starts pulling out a few random things – among them including a clear jug full of frosty cold water, as well as napkins and eating knives.

"Now, you must be sick, and your stomach is shriveled up. I got some light soup for you… somewhere in here." She reaches even further in her basket and fiddles around inside.

The tired boy peers over and looks into her basket; it appears to be connected to her pantry back at her house; he recognizes the shelves seen through the inside.

"Aha!" she exclaims as she pulls out a few cans. She punctures her finger directly in the can and carves out the lid with her fingernail. Then, she conjures a metal pan by rearranging the molecules in the stone tiles on the prison floor, then she pours the can's contents into the pan.

…To Haalfrin, it's a strange sight watching her place the pan on the palm of her hand and manually heat up the soup.

As the soup starts to boil, she randomly starts adding some salt and a few basic spices. She looks over at him embarrassed and says, "I'm sorry that I suck at making food."

Haalfrin takes a good whiff of the soup… and it's not only his stomach that's calling out in anticipation; it's his spirit as well. Something about smelling good food for the first time in over a hundred years...

"…Haalfrin?" Freyya flinches in shock. "…Are you… crying?"

The boy wipes his eyes for a second and blinks really fast. "No."

After the soup is done warming up, Freyya pulls out some slices of bread from her pantry, and she claps her hands together over the bread – instantly toasting it.

"Here," she says as she hands him the bowl, "It's better when you use the bread to dip in the soup."

Haalfrin slowly takes the bowl and wolfs it down. Every time he's tempted to show his emotion, he's careful to tilt the bowl up higher and drink the broth – hiding his face from the girl out of embarrassment.

The boy ends up not being able to finish the bowl since his stomach has shriveled up so much. Seeing Haalfrin appear to be such a pitiful and starving "child", Freyya instinctively reaches out and ruffles his hair. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to bring good food every time I visit."

Haalfrin doesn't immediately answer; instead, he stares down blankly at his bowl.

Right now, the young mage's mind is full of strange thoughts. 'Why is Freyya being nice to me? I know she wants my soul too, so is she trying to get me to willingly die for her? Is she trying to manipulate me into being her lapdog?'

If this were the Haalfrin from a few hundred years ago (yes, he's been imprisoned that long), he'd not have second-guessed the woman's intentions. He'd have accepted her kindness.

Now? Being consumed in darkness and negative thoughts for so long, all the meaning and trust in his life had long bled away.

'Meh. Mind as well ask her directly. What do I have to lose?' "Hey Freyya?"

"Yes?"

"Why're you helping me?"

The crow goddess pauses for a second, and her face softens. "Stupid. We're friends now. Friends don't keep track of debts."

'Friends?' Haalfrin scoffs in his heart. 'I don't have any of those.'

Despite thinking this, some deep part in Haalfrin's spirit wants to believe her. Humans ARE social creatures, after all, and social creatures aren't meant to be alone.

Still, Haalfrin is far too bitter right now to admit this. Instead, he crosses his arms and stares rebelliously at the floor.

Freyya doesn't miss Haalfrin's distancing gesture, and she looks down - disappointed. Suddenly feeling sour and uncomfortable, the woman stands up and does a quick bow. "I'm leaving, Haalfrin."

She gathers her things - a pack slung over her shoulder, a silver spear in one hand, and a black lantern in another. Just when it looks like she's ready to leave, she suddenly asks, "Haalfrin... do you need help escaping?"

"Are you offering to help? What do you want in return?"

She looks down and sighs. She can understand how he feels right now, so she's sure to be careful with his words. "Well... I don't want you to die cooped up in a prison cell. You know as well as I that you need to die with a sword in your hand."

'Well,' Haalfrin considers, 'I was thinking about escaping anyway.' "Fine, and thank you."

Feeling a little relieved, Freyya pats him on the head again, then looks up. "Haalfrin…," she asks, "Where are you exactly? None of the guards I've picked could answer me, even when I questioned their spirits… a little harshly."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," she answers, "they said we're in a prison called the Pit, but everyone except the Vanteri Family, who owns the place, has no clue where it's kept. They do this in order to prevent outside armies from busting the place open.

"The only entrance to the Pit from the outside world is a teleportation circle in the central square on the first floor.

"On top of that, the entire Pit is underground, which means none of the guards or servants can even look at the stars or landscape to even estimate at what part of the world they are."

Haalfrin rubs his temples. "That's troublesome… But what're you going to do if you can figure out where we're at?"

"Remember," she replies, tapping her finger on the side of her nose, "I've got a dragon from my cult in this world. He's still hibernating, but he'll wake up soon. Once he's awake, I can send him to break you out… He'll be a 3 or 4 horned dragon by then, so it should be a piece of cake for him."

After some consideration, Freyya suggests, "Why don't you try extending your Death Aura all the way up? That way, I can float to the top and take a look at the surface?" She smiles. "I can use magic to capture an image of the surface, go back to the Death realm, and hire somebody to read the stars and landscape to find where the Pit is."

"Hmm. Good idea." Haalfrin looks up and reaches out with his soul. His Aura explodes out, then elongates into a giant black spear that shoots into the sky.

Freyya knows she doesn't have much time left before she has to leave, so she flies up into the sky along the black Aura as fast as she can.

A few moments later, Freyya lands back down next to Haalfrin with a disappointed look on her face. "Huh. You're REALLY deep in the earth – more than 2 miles, at least.

"Oh?" Haalfrin perks up in surprise.

"Yeah. I went up there through a couple of floors, and each floor is about 1 or 2 thousand feet apart. Luckily, there are labels on all the floors near the teleportation circles, and my translation magic let me read them."

She looks up and recalls, "The floor just above this one said, 'B32'. That means this one is Basement 33. If we assume each floor is one thousand feet apart to be generous… that means you're about 2 miles underground, actually. Yikes."

Haalfrin sighs. "How high up did my Aura reach?"

"Floor B19."

The disgruntled mage looks down and lets out another tired sigh. "I only have enough Aura to get less than halfway up to the surface?"

"Yeah…," Freyya scratches her head. "I don't know what to do about that." She looks up and suggests, "I don't know about you, but MY Death Aura Name lets me move my body anywhere there's the Aura of Slaughter, specifically. That's why I'm able to know where to go at all times for my main job."

"And mine lets me absorb Wills anywhere there's Death Aura," Haalfrin adds his own.

Freyya and Haalfrin think a little more together… and Freyya speaks up first. "I don't know about you, but when I was a mortal – not a goddess yet, I was able to collect Death Aura into my soul. I had noticed over the years that if my own Death Aura is touching a foreign aura, it automatically becomes tainted with my soul's flavor, and it melds into my own aura."

Haalfrin nods with a straight face and finishes her thought, "That means that if I can extend my Aura near another person's death site, I'll be able to absorb more Aura."

Freyya shrugs, "I'm afraid you'll have to make do with this. At the very least, you can grow your stockpile of Aura for a while whenever someone within reach dies. Once you have enough, you can find a way to summon me, then reach up to the surface and let me take a look."

As she says this, her form starts to fade. Haalfrin staggers to his feet, and he gives her a bow. "Don't worry. I'll figure the rest out."

"I know. You're a smart man," she laughs. "Well, at least you're not stupid."

"..."

Freyya chuckles and adds, "Well, I've already realized that there's one thing you can't figure out… and that's food."

Haalfrin stares into her eyes without changing his expression. "...Yes?"

Freyya lets her laughter out this time. "Haha! You look like a stone now!" She coughs awkwardly, then looks down. 'I shouldn't have said that.'

Once Freyya shakes away the awkward moment, she stands up and says matter-of-factly, "How about this? Every time I visit you, I'll bring a large stockpile of food. I'll also have a talk with Das. He doesn't want you to starve to death down here either; he wants you to age. Thus, he should be willing to cooperate with feeding you… I'll also talk with the other 3 Death Reapers and see if they're willing to do me a favor. This is a very minor thing to ask, so they should be willing to do it."

Haalfrin nods slowly. "Thank you. I'll be sure to escape. And..." He was about to ask her to smack Das for him, but he's not close enough to this goddess to ask that from her.

"...And?"

"Nothing."

"...Sure... Whatever." She steps back and waves as she disappears in her usual burst of black Aura.

And with that, the crow goddess is gone, and Haalfrin is left alone once again… Well, alone except for the plethora of prisoners down here with him. What to do with them, anyway?