Dust and Time
The very next day, Haalfrin gathers his generals together, and he tells them all some rather surprising news.
"I'm going to have you all place a sealing spell on me." He turns to Laura – the chief architect of the Time Lock Spell. "I know you've been working on modifying the Time Lock enchantment. I'm well aware that you can cast the spell on living things now without killing them."
Laura's face goes a little pale, and the other generals all stand up to voice their concerns.
"But sir!" one general protests, "Why? We should be enjoying our retirement!"
"Who's going to resummon us? What about the Death Aura we need from you?"
"Is the Valor Hall disbanding!? Are we all going back to the Death Realm!?"
This castle had long ago become the home for every Arkin soldier here. The idea of leaving… strikes such an emotional blow on all of them.
No! They can't accept this!
Haalfrin takes a deep breath and explains his reasoning. He tells them all about his fears of his own mortality. He also reminds them that the gate to their homeworld will open up one day.
"If I'm dead by then," Haalfrin asks them all, "Who's going to protect the World Gate? Is the Hall of Valor going to be empty when our world needs us most!?"
"What about Dakka and the goddess Fina!? The only reason they'll refrain from destroying our people is out of their friendship with us. What happens when we're all gone? Do you think the dragons and Rehkin will have any warm, fuzzy feelings for the humans?"
Everyone goes silent at this. Clearly, he has their attention now.
"That's why I said that you all need to seal me away," Haalfrin says. "I don't care if 10 million years pass away. One day, we WILL be needed again. When that time comes, we WILL be here."
The room is still silent, but Haalfrin can tell with his Spirit vision that his speech has won most of them over.
The dead don't change, after all. The prospect of fulfilling their duty has certainly moved their hearts.
"What are we?" Haalfrin asks them all. "We're soldiers of the Threshold. More accurately, we're guards. What do guards do? They're vigilant. They're ready to draw their swords when the need arises."
"…But it's not today. Today and tomorrow don't need us. That day is still far in the future…"
"… So until then, I'll have you all seal me with a Time Lock spell."
Haalfrin then turns to one of the generals who asked him a question earlier. "You," he says while pointing at him. "You asked me what we'd do about the Death Aura if I'm sealed away?"
The man nods.
"Well, I'll just project my Aura around the castle and the World Gate." He tilts his head towards Laura. "She'll Time Lock me at that moment. That way, the Aura in my soul will be hung in place without moving."
Everyone nods their heads at this. This… makes sense.
"What about our numbers?" another one asks. "Only you can resummon us. What if any of us gets our bodies killed?"
"Eh," Haalfrin shrugs. "Try not to die, then. Remember that time when you were all mortals? Yeah. Remember how it felt to be careful with your life? Well, try to do that again."
Indeed, the Arkin are used to carelessly throwing their lives away in the war. This apathetic feeling towards their own lives is so ingrained in their souls that they'll often jump off cliffs and splatter on the ground for the fun of it, as well as cut each other to pieces during sparring sessions.
Yeah, that needs to stop now. With Haalfrin sealed away, they won't be coming back again if they get themselves killed.
All the generals understand this.
Feeling their agreement with his Spirit, Haalfrin nods his head and lets out a heavy sigh, "Well, now that I got you on board with this, I'll let Dakka and Fina know."
Dakka in particular will be quite upset when he hears the news.
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Indeed, when Dakka is told of Haalfrin's plans, the dragon is so upset that Fina has to calm him down by promising him an extra round of ############.
Still, even after being placated by his wife, Dakka is sure to at least throw a huge party for his friend.
… And the celebration is great indeed. All the clans are invited to the feast, and there, many tales are told of the Eternal war.
There, the clans hear the old stories of how their goddess was once a murdering beast – cursed with a split soul.
Dakka tells tales of how General Haalfrin and the Arkin army of the dead fought the cursed goddess for 10 thousand years. They neither tired nor slept on their duty. Without ceasing, they fought bitterly in hell.
Finally, General Haalfrin managed to destroy the cursed goddess. Yet, a miracle occurred then. The Goddess's soul was healed as she died, and the phoenix of death was merciful enough to return her to life.
Then, almost like a fairy tale, everyone lived happily ever after.
The celebrations continue going for several months. In fact, Dakka keeps on making up excuses to drag the party on for longer and longer.
Eventually, though, Haalfrin has to sneak away from the dragon's palace. Luckily, Fina agreed to keep her husband occupied for a whole day – giving Haalfrin time to return to his castle.
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Once he's back in the Valor Hall, Haalfrin takes one last look at his castle, and he almost lets a few nostalgic tears fall from his eyes.
It's kind of odd. The war never quite felt like it was over until now.
Funny. It's been hundreds of years, yet he's barely feeling this.
'Onec I'm sealed, am I ever going to wake up again?'
'What will the world be like when the seal is broken?'
'Will I be conscious when I'm put in my seal? Oh, goodness. I hope not.'
Haalfrin has somber thoughts like this as he lumbers over to the old throne room.
Of course, his castle used to be the Brancotte emperor's palace, and there used to be an ornate throne.
However, when Haalfrin refashioned the throne room into his war council chambers, he ripped out the tacky-looking throne and threw it away.
It was only after some time that the throne was replaced by a large, stone-carved chair. Many of the Arkin subconsciously thought of him as their king, yet this simple stone chair is the closest they could get to giving him a throne.
So, when Haalfrin enters the "war council room", he immediately spots the stone-carved throne on the far end of the room.
"I'll be sealed there," he says while pointing at it.
"You sure?" Laura asks. "You said you hated that thing."
"… It's fitting, I suppose," Haalfrin shrugs. "Plus, if any strangers come here and you're not here to stop them, then I'd like them to know who's in charge of this place before they even wake me up."
And so, Haalfrin lumbers tiredly over to the throne and sits on it. He pulls out his old Kareen sword and unsheathes it.
He looks at the cold steel for a second before setting the naked blade on his lap.
It's best to have his weapon ready for battle, after all. Presumably, he'll be unsealed during an emergency.
Then, Haalfrin jostles his armor and puts his enchanted helmet on. He straps himself up tight and gets comfortable.
Once Haalfrin extends his Death Aura again for the last time, he doesn't even glance up at Laura. He just says, "Do it," in a low voice.
Laura reaches out with her glowing hands, and she starts speaking her spell.
Her soothing voice and long chant is like a lullaby that puts Haalfrin to sleep.
By the time she's done casting her spell, everything has gone black for Haalfrin, and his mind has entered the land of dreams.
There, he'd dream of battles he's fought and friends he's met. Most importantly, he'd dream of Freyya.
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And so, the Arkin soldiers stand vigil at the Hall of Valor. Their days are long and boring – the long hours only being consumed by their tireless training and their daily parties.
Over the years, with no cause to fight for and no charismatic general to keep them here, some of the Arkin grow bored and wander into the Rehkin clans.
Perhaps it's due to the legends of how the Arkin fought to cure the cursed goddess, but the Arkin are received warmly by the Rehkin clans. Some younger clansfolk even treat them like celebrities.
Some of the Arkin actually stay for so long with the Rehkin clans that they find wives to marry, and they actually make their own families.
Indeed, the Arkin are their own separate race from humans, and this race is forever trapped in limbo between living and death.
Thus, despite being denizens of the Death Realm, the Arkin are capable of siring children with mortals.
And so, as more and more Arkin mingle and marry, fewer and fewer soldiers return to the Valor Hall to fulfill their duties – instead choosing to follow their wives and children into the Death Realm when they inevitably pass away.
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The millennia tick by, and the Valor Hall becomes more and more desolate and empty by the year.
As fewer and fewer Arkin return, the remaining guards start to feel trapped, lonely, and without purpose.
Languishing in the empty fortress with no point to their existence certainly wears many of them down.
Thus, if the Arkin aren't lost to the "family man" life, they're lost due to depression and mental illness. Those Arkin throw themselves off the edge of the Valor Hall, and they end their miserable lives – banishing themselves back to the Death Realm.
Sure, they'd be perfectly willing to come back and fight for Haalfrin, should a need arise. However, staying there is far too depressing!
By the time 20,000 years have passed, only 100 Arkin remain faithfully behind – patrolling the walls and keeping careful watch over the World Gate.
With so few left to man the fortress, most of the rooms and faculties are completely abandoned. Instead, they all cram together in a small corner of the castle.
They end up keeping a small garden in one of the courtyards, and they all pile into a single tower and live there together.
Living, dining, and sleeping in such close proximity to each other is the only way for them to diffuse the lonely chill they feel in these empty halls.
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Despite the sealing enchantment placed on Haalfrin, the spell isn't perfect. It can't completely stop Haalfrin from aging, though it greatly slows down the process.
Still, at the rate those grey hairs are popping up, he probably won't actually die for another 100,000 years.
If Freyya had more visitors in her secluded house in the tree stump, then they'd see her gazing into a scrying mirror with a sense of loss. That mirror would be reflecting images of the World of Arra.
There are images of the previously hostile Rehkin Clans dancing together and intermarrying. This is something she thought impossible for so long, so it still seems magical every time she sees it.
There are also images of her husband waiting on that throne – decked in armor and with a naked blade on his lap.
Seeing him like this, and seeing those 100 Arkin soldiers vigilantly keeping to their duty, Freyya can't help but feel her heart ache.
Finally, there are images in the mirror of what looks like a large garden of swords that's kept in one of the Valor Hall's courtyards.
Whenever an Arkin soldier would leave the Valor Hall behind, they made it a tradition of stabbing their weapon in the ground and hanging a nametag around the hilt.
With enough Arkin doing this, a garden of swords was quickly created – their own little memorial to the past they all shared here.
Now… now the majority of Threshold soldiers rest in the Death Realm – swords ready to taste blood again.
Now, they wait for the day to come that their general calls on them again.
But until then, they feast together in the Realm of the Dead.
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Now Lord Haalfrin's left alone,
for there he sleeps on carven throne.
Empty halls of stone and gold,
the torches there are dark and cold.
Where beast and man have once vied,
song and dance have long since died.
The towers empty - walls forlorn,
the bonds of duty have been torn.
Empty, chilling, dust and grime-
the Valor Hall's been killed by time.
From spires high down to the base,
dust and time have buried this place.