Entering The Threshold (Legally) (1/2)

Hot blood drips from cold steel, and it blends in perfectly with the rich, red carpet of the emperor's palace. "Sire," an old man in armor says reverently as he gets on one knee and puts his sword on the ground.

It's improper to even have a weapon on you when speaking to a royal, after all.

The sickly emperor looks over at his chief knight and nods his head. "Thank you for protecting me yet again." He's abruptly thrown into another violent fit of coughing. "D#mn them! I'm this old, so can't they just wait for me to die instead of trying to kill me all the time!?"

He doesn't know which of his sons is behind this, but everyone is impatient for him to die! Now that he's so old, he's lost a lot of the courts' support, which has made his unfilial sons more daring.

The palace knight bows his head, "Sire, I'm just glad you're still safe. Their plan to separate you from your guards was almost successful this time. Please punish me."

"Bah!" the old emperor waves his hand, "and who would I replace you with? Someone less competent, that's who. Get off the floor please and-"

Before he can finish his words, a powerful black mist appears in the center of his bedroom, and a mighty pressure bears down on both of the old men.

The palace knight hastily picks up his sword again and leaps between his lord and the center of the black mist. He was expecting an attack, but instead, a tanned woman with wide black wings low on her back materializes.

The emperor's eyes go wide. "The Crow goddess!" He waves his knight. "Down! Stand down!" Even if the goddess came to kill him, his knight wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway.

Freyya sees their exaggerated reaction, and she smiles a little. These mortals can act a little cute sometimes.

Then, she steps forward and says, "I don't have a lot of time to chat, so listen carefully. Haalfrin is headed towards the Threshold again from the Crow tribe. I estimate he'll arrive at the Threshold in a week, at the pace he's going."

The emperor is more susceptible to Death Aura than most, so he's almost completely incapable of thinking coherently while in Freyya's presence. So, the goddess rolls her eyes at this pathetic man, and she withdraws all her Aura into herself.

Now that she's not intimidating them anymore, the emperor takes a moment to compose himself, then he asks in confusion, "Wasn't Haalfrin already in the Threshold?"

Taking a quick glance at the old man's surface thoughts, she sees that he's completely unaware of the fact that Haalfrin caused a ruckus there and broke through the fortress at all; that's why he hasn't bothered Haalfrin through the slave collar at all.

Knowing that the emperor and the Threshold's commander don't get along, Freyya realizes that the commander probably didn't tell the emperor about Haalfrin's absense on purpose. (In fact, the commander doesn't tell his majesty much of anything at all other than, "Everything's good. The walls still stand.")

Thinking about it some more, she decides that it's better that she take the blame for Haalfrin's reckless choice to attack the fortress and escape, rather than do his job tasked by the emperor.

So, she says calmly, "I had an errand for him to run back to my birthplace, so I instructed him to break through the fortress and run into the Rehkin lands instead of joining the Threshold's forces."

She shakes her head. "Anyway, give this token to this Commander Fisco. Say that I'm vouching for Haalfrin's trustworthiness and that he should be allowed inside."

She reaches up and unclasps an eerie black token from around her neck. She tosses it over to the emperor's guard, seeing as how this man is much more resilient to her Aura and, subsequently, the Aura in her token.

The goddess then narrows her eyes and warns the emperor, "Do whatever you have to do, but Haalfrin MUST be in the Threshold within 100 years. A great calamity will strike both your world Dralis, and the other world, Arra. If he's not there, then all of you will die, and no life will remain."

Then, just as abruptly as she appears, the goddess of Defeat vanishes.

The palace knight bends down and picks up the token. For a moment, his hands sting, yet he feels a powerful divine energy contained within. He also feels images and memories of the conversation they just had with her flit through his mind.

Evidently, this token contains her instructions, her warning, and proof of her identity.

The emperor sighs heavily. What could possibly be happening within 100 years? Would both worlds REALLY be destroyed, despite having a host of dragons in the world Arra? Maybe the dragons ARE the threat? Who knows?

Either way, the old emperor doesn't dare mess up her instructions. Within the day, the black token makes its way to Commander Fisco, and his part in this is done.

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Once Freyya leaves, and her soul fragment returns to her main body back at the Death Realm, she leans back on the floor and sighs while looking at her room. Unlike before, her previously barren room is covered with scrawling notes and various other papers.

Over the last few centuries – sometime after Haalfrin was trapped in the Pit, she had been studying his Yiir rune VERY intensely. She's even been taking it to oracles to have the truth of his future extracted even further.

Ever since Elshi-rothe's Name had become clear on his Yiir Rune, she knew she had to look into it!

Of course, there were some other personal reasons for her curiosity, but never mind that!

As for why she wants Haalfrin there, in the Threshold, for this "calamity"… even she is a little confused about why; she just knows it needs to happen.

For example: You can think of your Fate as a roadmap through life. Your life begins somewhere, it follows a certain path, and it arrives at a certain destination.

Freyya has looked at Haalfrin's roadmap of destiny, and she has read clearly where he needs to arrive at. She has even plotted the most reliable path to get there. However, if you ask her WHY this path is the most reliable, she can only offer some shaky guesses.

Anyway, because of her consistent delving into his future, she knows a few things.

First, she knows that the quickest and surest way for him to die the way she wants is for his leg to be healed up, which would take about 20 years. Then, he would challenge Fheldin to a duel and lose instantly.

However, this mysterious calamity she mentioned to the emperor could also potentially kill Haalfrin… though it's less likely.

"It's weird though," Freyya thinks, "I mean, the source of the calamity is more dangerous than Fheldin, yet Haalfrin is more likely to lose against Fheldin! Rather, he's 100% guaranteed to lose against Fheldin, yet the outcome of his battle against the calamity is unclear."

Fate doesn't make sense like that sometimes.

Still, Freyya knows that it's important for Haalfrin to be there to protect the Threshold in 100 years. He'll NEED that encounter for the day Elshi-rothe – the Demon of Hunger – returns, and the day the gods fall into oblivion. If he dies to Fheldin so quickly, he'll be missing something important…

Freyya had spent hundreds of years trying to find another way to get him what he needs to fulfill his destiny as her Warrior god - all without sacrificing his most sure chance of a quick death. Alas, there is none.

Thus, when the time came, she chose to push Haalfrin towards the Threshold, instead of into Fheldin's jaws.

She may want Haalfrin's soul, but she's not THAT heartless.

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Once Commander Fisco gets a sealed box handed to him with a message that this is an urgent gift from the emperor, he opens it up and feels the memories within the token.

Despite being around Death Aura all the time (due to the stuff permeating his fortress), even he goes pale after being subject to such a powerful Aura and divine imprint.

As for getting the news of a calamity within 100 years, Fisco takes the news much more calmly than the emperor had. Instead of fretting about it, he just puts his hands behind his back and considers ways to make the Threshold more resilient to the coming danger.

Then, he thinks of the random dragon slayer who blasted his way through the fortress. He was actually about to forget about the guy, until he got this token.

'Huh,' Fisco thinks, 'so I have to make sure this man is inside my fortress when the calamity strikes?'