Freyya's Birthplace

After Haalfrin makes his way out of Lord Fheldin's territory, Dakka finally decides to wake up again. "I-I see you're still alive?" Dakka mutters.

"Yeah…"

"What now, bro?" the dragon spirit asks.

"Your grandfather told me there are healers in the Threshold who can regrow my limb," Haalfrin answers. "Once I'm healed up, Fheldin is willing to duel me."

"What're you waiting for!?" Dakka exclaims, "Let's gooo!"

*SMACK!* Dakka's ax is hit roughly on the ground. "Not so fast, sunshine," Haalfrin laughs, "There's something I'm curious about first."

He then holds up the ax and stares at it. "Where's the Crow Clan?"

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When Haalfrin decides to walk to the Freyya's Crow Clan (which is thousands of miles away on another continent), Dakka thinks he's crazy.

Haalfrin shuts him up by saying, "My lifespan is several thousand years by now. Plus, what other human has the privilege of sightseeing this world? Just because I want to find a cool death, that doesn't mean I'm averse to enjoying myself!"

Another reason Haalfrin wants to take his time is because he has the feeling he'll be stuck underground for a long time again once he goes to get his leg healed; he just wants to enjoy the outside while he can.

And so, during the long journey, Haalrin meets many strangers – most of which have no idea what he's saying, due to language barriers. He notices that the folk he meets always point and gawk at him.

For the few Clans that he DOES share a language with (courtesy of Kalastros's teaching), he finds out that most Rehkin Clans never travel far from their own territories. This makes travelers like Haalfrin a VERY strange sight to see.

One of the reasons is that most Rehkin are VERY territorial. The other reason is the language barriers. Most Clans don't bother learning each other's languages.

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As it turns out, there are, indeed, bandits among the Rehkin; Haalfrin only finds out because he feels like walking for a while, instead of shooting across the landscape with Dakka like before.

However, instead of there being random bandits from various backgrounds, most of these robbers and murderers are part of roving clans whose way of life is pillage and plunder - much like the Kareen.

The first time someone tries to rob him, he's trekking through dry plains filled with brittle grass and large patches of dirt. A pack of strange Rehkin surrounds him from all sides. Unlike cat or dog ears, they all have huge, round animal ears atop their heads and dog-like paws. Dakka introduces them as part of a Hyena Clan.

… Needless to say, they smell the dragon scent on him, and they immediately turn and run away without actually spilling blood. "Well, that was boring," Haalfrin laughs.

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Haalfrin ends up meeting many different raiders over his travelers, but most of them run away, just like the Hyenas from earlier. The first group to actually ignore any self-preservation instincts and attack him are a pair of Badgers.

…Yeah. He woke up one night to a pair of Badgers going through his things. When he went to kill them, they bit, scratched, and clawed with no care for their own lives. One of them takes his bag and runs off with it, while the other stalls for time – seemingly unperturbed by Haalfrin's Aura.

Of course, the sacrificial Badger ends up dying as a result, though it was actually hard to kill them. Huh. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.

Dakka explains that Badgers have racial abilities that help deflect damage. They're almost immune to grappling and biting damage, since their skin is so loose that most damage is moved away. Plus, they're stupidly fearless sometimes.

After the little battle, Freyya shows up, though this time she doesn't have a box of cake with her. "Haalfrin!?" she exclaims, "When did you get on this world? If I had known, I'd have prepared something for you!"

"Eh, it's fine," Haalfrin says while reaching into his pocket. "Instead, I got you this." He presents her a necklace made of carved mana stones. "I traded for it during my journey. I thought you'd like it."

"So, where are you headed?" Freyya asks while happily pocketing his gift.

"To the Crow Clan. I heard you were born there, and I'm a little curious."

Freyya gets a complicated look on her face upon hearing this. After a moment of thinking, she says, "When you get there, you should find my house; it should still be where I left it. You should wait there."

"Why?"

"Because," she explains, "I've been spending these last few centuries trying to divine your future."

"Is seeing my future that hard?" he asks with raised eyebrows.

"Yes! Any future with Drakavar as a main character is VERY hard to read!" Freyya cries out in frustration. The painful memories of her long years of research… Ugh!

She goes silent for a moment, and her face goes red. "A-anyway, I can't tell you much now, but something good will happen if you stay in my house for a while."

"How do I know when it's time to leave your house?" he asks.

"You'll just know."

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Many years go by, and Haalfrin finally reaches the Crow Clan, as per Dakka's instruction. (Of course, Dakka knows where it is solely because he's a Freyya worshipper.)

Upon reaching the place, he finds a tall cliff overlooking a forest. "It's here?" Haalfrin wonders aloud. "This doesn't look like the place I saw in my vision… Oh, wait… I recognize that cliff… That means…"

Since Freyya's Yiir Name is forever attached to his soul, he ends up using that link to watch the vision again. Then, Haalfrin starts looking around, trying to compare an old memory to what he's seeing.

After refreshing his memory, he starts heading in the right direction.

"Be careful," Dakka says, "Most of the Crow clan live atop those cliffs. Ever since they were warned that the goddess's childhood home is down here, none of them dared to set their houses up too close."

"…Yes," Haalfrin adds, "But they'd probably try to kill me if they caught me trespassing."

Contrarily, he looks up and sees a few Crow Clansfolk flying overhead, yet they ignore him completely. Why is that?

What he doesn't know is that the Crow Clan is the hub of Freyya's cult. Because they regularly have sacrificial battles to "please the goddess", she's able to communicate with them sometimes.

Thus, she recently warned them that a human with her mark on him will come, and that none of them are to disturb him in any way.

Since none of the Crows dare get close, Haalfrin is left to forever be curious about their odd behavior. Still, despite being curious, he's not THAT curious; he won't go chase them down just to ask them a meaningless question.

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And so, Haalfrin goes further into the woods and he rummages around for a few hours until he finds a small clearing.

He nearly missed the house, since the area around it is completely overgrown with trees that it looks nothing like it did in the vision anymore.

Haalfrin looks at the cottage and sees the archaic design and… notes how the walls and furnishings are oddly preserved.

He remembers from his vision of her Yiir Name that her people would always take their shoes off before entering the house. So, he slips off his muddy boots, and he steps inside.

The Vision embedded in Freyya's Name showed her last memories in this house before she was kidnapped and sold as a slave by fellows from another Crow Tribe. He saw every window, chair, and furnishing in every detail.

Honestly, it's… a little disconcerting how everything here looks exactly as it did in the vision.

What's low-key disturbing to Haalfrin is the stew boiling over the fireplace. It appears to the be same rabbit stew young Freyya was making for herself, right before she was taken away from here forever.

... It's like… everything here has been frozen in time.

Upon looking closer, he sees what he assumes is a more advanced version of the Time Lock spell. 'I guess Freyya didn't want her childhood home falling apart,' Haalfrin scratches his head. 'I guess she can be sentimental too, sometimes.'

Almost feeling that this place is sacred, Haalfrin pushes down the urge to eat the stew in the pot. It's best to leave everything the way it is.

The man doesn't know what it is, but being here makes him feel uneasy.

Only after a few minutes of thinking about it does he realize that the Yiir Rune in his soul is quaking and attempting to hide itself.

Haalfrin quickly dives into his soul realm, and he looks up at the Realm's sky, where his Yiir Rune is. High above his own soul gate is a glowing black Rune – Freyya's Yiir Name.

Ever since she gave it to him so long ago, it's been hanging out here – completely silent until now.

Before, her black Rune was silent and dead. Now that he's stepped into her house, it began glowing with an ominous, black light. The power it's emanating far outstrips his own Yiir Name. (She IS a goddess, after all.)

"Ah," Haalfrin remembers, "I remember something I learned, though I don't remember where I learned it."

He points up at Freyya's Yiir Name. "The Yiir is essentially your Fate – the things you're destined to do. A Fate is at its strongest in its beginning, and in its end."

Haalfrin is in the place where Freyya's Destiny had begun. Naturally, it would grow unreasonably strong here and overpower his own Fate.

Still… didn't Freyya tell him that he needs to wait here for something good to happen? Isn't this place trying to harm his Yiir Rune? Can he really stay for that long?

"Whatever," Haalfrin grumbles, "I trust she knows what she's talking about."

So, he exits his Soul Realm, sits cross-legged on her porch, and tries to bear with the pain steadily growing in his soul.