Marriage by the Soul (1/2)

Once Haalfrin is left alone in the temple, he looks up and says aloud, "Freyya. I know you're here."

Black mist materializes right in front of him, and an older and wiser version of Frey appears. Indeed, her younger self dying and becoming a goddess still counted as a "death", so her avatar was summoned from the Death Realm… as usual.

"H-hi…" she waves awkwardly. She looks down. "I didn't actually think myself dying would summon me here… but I'm here, I guess."

Sighing heavily, Haalfrin sits down on the temple floor and unpacks a honey cake he'd made. "Sit down. I got something for you."

Unexpectedly, she shakes her head. "Later. First, there's something I need to do."

Haalfrin expected anything from her, but not…

…Without warning, Freyya flutters her wings and lifts herself into the air. Resolutely, she wraps her arms around his neck and pulls herself in for a kiss.

Since she's too short to reach his face without making him bend down, she continues to float in the air. The way her wingbeats keeps her afloat is completely unscientific, but Haalfrin isn't paying attention to that. Instead, he's feeling the blood rushing… places… and he feels his face flushing too.

After a few seconds, Freyya pulls her lips away, then rests her forehead against his. "Haalfrin… I've waited long enough now. We're getting married. Now."

"N-now?" The man is so unaccustomed to her being assertive that he actually doesn't know how to respond to her properly.

Seeing the man caught off guard, Freyya actually cracks a smile and suppresses a laugh; seeing him like this is so rare that she has to remember it well. "Yes!" she growls as she pecks him on the lips again. "Now!"

"I… I thought we were going to wait until you claimed my soul and we both became Death gods for us to get married?"

"That's what we agreed on THEN," Freyya asserts as she kisses him again…

…It's like she's strategically kissing him to disrupt his clear thinking. It's obviously working, since he's uncharacteristically unable to come up with a counter argument right now.

"Haalfrin!" she says calmly, but firmly, "I've waited far longer than you can imagine for this day. Just this once, listen to me."

"What if Das claims my soul?" Haalfrin finally sputters out. "If I become a Black Soul as well, our Marriage Contract would be broken. I can't imagine the consequences if that were to happen."

"Oh, I know…," Freyya shrugs. "We'd both be destroyed, and our souls would fall apart with little hope of repair."

"Freyya!"

"Hush!" she hisses as she kisses him again. "Trust me! I've had a lot longer to think about this than you!"

Out of frustration, she bangs her forehead on his (softly) and says, "Come on! Does a real warrior plan on losing? I WILL claim your soul. You WILL fall in battle. To lose this battle to Das would mean both of our destruction. Isn't that the way of the warrior. When you gave your life to the sword, weren't you prepared for your own demise?"

Indeed, given the many years she's spent in solitude, she's had a VERY long time to think this through. Back when she was younger – when Haalfrin and she first talked about getting married – she was unable to offer a counter argument simply because she didn't have enough time to consider all her options.

Now? Now she's had enough time to fully realize what must be done. "Haalfrin. Marry me."

He looks down and sighs heavily, "What if you don't claim my soul, and my soul turns Black? If our Soul Contract is broken, you'll die… for real."

"You forget…," she smiles and kisses him again. "… that we're Death gods! Since when were we afraid of being destroyed?" She breathes in deeply through her nose and pecks him on the lips again. "Come to me. Give me your body."

"M-my body?" Haalfrin almost shrieks. "When did you get so bold!?"

Freyya rolls her eyes. "I mean your Name for your body… your Dra Name! Haalfrin! When did you start getting embarrassed? I thought being uncontrollably embarrassed was my job?"

"S-sorry," he fumbles, "I can't think clearly right now." His mind being muddled is entirely Freyya's fault too, with the way she's been "teasing" him.

He looks down and breathes in deeply to calm himself. "Fine. I'll give you my Dra Name."

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

Without another word, Haalfrin summons his soul gate, and Freyya does hers. Just before he starts reciting his Name, Freyya stops him. "Husband. It's the Name for our Body; we have to be touching to share this Name."

"R-right." He steps forward and takes her outstretched hand.

One they clasp their hands together, Haalfrin starts reciting his Name. For whatever reason this time, Freyya doesn't pass out and go unconscious. Instead, she continues staring into his eyes.

Haalfrin himself… feels like something is being taken from him, though he's not sure what.

What Haalfrin doesn't know is that if Freyya were to pull away and not give him her Dra Name as well that he'd have forfeited control of his body to her.

"Body" is "Power", and "Power" is "Control", after all. To give another your "Body" is to give another Control over you. What Haalfrin felt being taken from him was his freedom.

Fortunately, Freyya does genuinely love Haalfrin, so she immediately starts reciting her Dra Name to him once he's done talking.

As her magical words reverberate in Haalfrin's skull, he's oddly surprised that he's not receiving any visions from her soul. What he hasn't considered yet is that the "Body" Name isn't a thing experienced in the mind or spirit… but purely in your skin and bones.

While the goddess continues to speak her arcane words, he feels… his entire body tingling. He then becomes acutely aware of what Freyya is feeling. He feels the hard stone beneath her bare feet, and he can feel her breathing deeply.

"…It's done then," Freyya smiles.

"Done?" Haalfrin asks. "We're married already?" He looks up and recalls how Lord Fheldin had taught him about dragon marriages are Mantling Rituals imitating the dragon wedding. "Is there really nothing else to do?"

Knowing what Haalfrin means by this, Freyya smiles, "Oh, our marriage was already a Mantling Ritual. You've cooperated splendidly. Why else do you think I was so assertive? You know I'm not usually like that."

"…What do you mean? What great event were we Mantling?"

Freyya sits down with a relieved sigh and motions for him to sit next to her. "Do you know of Lessa and Mora?"

"…A little," Haalfrin admits, "but I don't know much."

"Lessa is the goddess of Existence – of material and mana. Mora is the god of Identity – of Names and shape. They're the very first 2 being to exist, and they created everything. Lessa provided the material, and Mora shaped it – gave things like you, me, and the world their own Identity."

"…What about these 2 gods?" Haalfrin asks in concern.

"Huh…," Freyya scratches her head shyly, "Well, they both loved each other for a very long time, but Mora was afraid if marrying her and creating the Universe with her; he knew that the moment the universe was created that mortality and Death would be created too. After all… the Universe is destined to die one day, just like everything else."

Haalfrin smiles. "Let me guess. Lessa held him down and bullied him into marrying her."

"Yup. Legends say that they spend countless eons in the dark of the Void. They spent it loving each other. The only left the Void when they grew satisfied with exploring each other and decided to get to work."

"…Oh…?" Haalfrin shifts a little uncomfortably.

"Yessss….," Freyya smiles shyly, "That means the Mantling Ritual isn't technically over yet. You see, their marriage only consisted of sharing their Names, then literally sharing their hearts and bodies with each other."

She looks towards the doors of the temple, which are still shut tight. Shen then closes her eyes and wills the lights of the temple to dim until the place is left in complete darkness.

Haalfrin looks around and gulps. Before he can activate a spell to give himself night vision, he feels Freyya pull him close and whisper in his ear, "Don't bother with silly spells like that. Our bodies belong to each other now. You know what that means. You don't need eyes for that."