Treachery!

For the first time in over 10,000 years, Haalfrin uses his Fel Name to generate an unbelievable amount of mana. That, coupled with the strong body provided by his Dra Name, allows him to shoot across the landscape nearly as fast as Dakka can fly.

Like a comet burning a red trail through the air, Haalfrin streaks across the sky, and he arrives at the capitol building in less than a minute.

Once he arrives there, the first thing he notices are the bodies strewn all over the stairs leading up to the senate building.

Other than that, part of the senate itself is caved in, and several of the pillars are toppled sideways. There are hundreds of broken war golems scattering and broken in all corners of the place, and there are hundreds of mages and commoners alike, all bent down and cleaning up the mess here.

Luckily, the ambient smell of Death and blood still fills the air. 'Good. There's Death Aura. That means that Freyya might still be here…,' Haalfrin smiles.

And so, Haalfrin flies around the building anxiously, looking for any signs of his wife.

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Due to his strong Spiritual connection with his wife, it doesn't take him long to find her.

When he does find Freyya, she's sitting on a rock with her silver spear on her lap and her black lantern at her side – full of souls already.

As Haalfrin gets closer, she perks up and looks in his direction.

Within seconds, Haalfrin has crashed into the ground next to her. He doesn't even bother to dust himself off before he reaches out and pulls Freyya in for a hug.

They both just stand there, and they don't say anything. They just lean into each other and listen to each other's heartbeats gradually calm down.

After several minutes of just standing there, Freyya finally pulls apart from Haalfrin. She looks up at his face and remarks with a smirk, "You look terrible."

"You look beautiful too, Freyya."

Freyya stops and smiles, "What? You not going to give me a welcome kiss?"

Haalfrin looks down in shame, "It's… Eh… It's a little embarrassing when I look this old and ugly."

Freyya rolls her eyes and laughs, "What? You forget that my Spirit is far stronger than yours."

Without waiting for his approval, Freyya lifts herself up, pulls Haalfrin down, and plants a big fat kiss on his lips.

As they kiss, Freyya slowly exhales the breath that she's been holding, and torrents of her mana start pouring into his body and sinking into his heart.

Their kiss lingers longer and longer, and as her Spiritual Aura starts seeping into him, his white hair gradually darkens, and his skin becomes supple and youthful again. Even the sunspots dotting his skin are going away.

"You seem to have forgotten something so basic," Freyya smiles as she pulls her face away. "You forgot that the party with a weaker spirit will be given health and youthfulness by the party with the stronger spirit – me."

Haalfrin suddenly pulls Freyya in for another hug. "Wha- WAIT!" Freyya shrieks, but Haalfrin isn't listening. He just stands there with his wife in his arms.

"Geez…," Freyya grumbles, "Haven't you hugged me enough already? You're not wanting to do anything *special*, right? Now's not the time."

"I know it's not the time," Haalfrin sighs in a low voice. "Hugging you is therapy. You can keep talking."

Freyya rolls her eyes, then twirls her finger in a spell.

Haalfrin is lifted into the air, and he's forcefully sat down on Freyya's rock by her magic. She then sets herself down on her lap and says, "Now we can talk."

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"What have you been up to these past few years?" Haalfrin asks.

Freyya suddenly cuts him off. "No time for that. I have a VERY serious matter to discuss with you," she says.

She looks him in the eyes and says, "Listen, there's only one chance for me to tell you this. I know that Das has got you working at a school, but you HAVE to get away from there! He's also offered for you to sit on his god-king throne for the time being. No matter what, DON'T accept his offer! It's a trap!"

"What are you talking about?" Haalfrin asks, confused, "I mean, I'll do as you say, but what's going on?"

"Remember the Mantling ritual we've been attempting to change your fate?" Freyya explains, "Well, I was snooping around the divine realms, looking for a way to find a way to break your fate, when I came across some terrible information.

"The fate we've been working towards this whole time was your ORIGINAL fate! You were born with a destiny where you were SUPPOSED to die in battle and become a warrior god at my side!"

Haalfrin blinks in confusion, "But… that doesn't make sense?!"

"It was all Das!" Freyya says through gritted teeth. "He divined your birth before you were born, and he Mantled your fate to a death by old age when you were very young. Your entire life has been a mantling ritual that he's arranged for you!"

She doesn't have time to give the details, but Das himself began his life as a warrior. In fact, he was the most powerful warrior of HIS world. Then, he became a teacher in his retirement. Then, he took his god-king's place and achieved divinity this way.

Then…, he spent the next few thousand years as a god-king – enjoying a life of luxury and responsibility.

However, god-kings DO age, seeing as how they don't get their Divinity from an imperishable concept, like Time, or Death.

Nearing the end of his life, Das had an existential crisis, where he wasn't sure if he could let go of his life as a great king.

However, when he accepted that everything has a time-limit, and that it's ok to move on, his Divinity evolved into the Decay realm, and he became the first Death Reaper to work under the Death King.

…And Haalfrin's life was about to finish going down that route too.

"So, Das was close to making me take his place?" Haalfrin asks.

"No! It's worse!" Freyya practically shrieks in a panic. "There's this ritual I found... Well, it's a derivative of the Mantling Ritual."

"What's the difference? What's wrong with it?"

Freyya explains, "So basically, Mantling Rituals is all about walking the same path as a greater figure and sharing their fate. However, when this ritual is cast with dark magic, it can be used to devour the soul of another person.

"You walk the same path as another. You follow their fate. Then, if you take it a step further, you can become like them. If you become like them, then the stronger soul will devour the weaker one."

"Why would Das want to do that?" Haalfrin asks with panic slowly rising in his heart.

"I don't know!" Freyya exclaims, "I just found the book on this ritual when I was rummaging through his office (secretly). I think he wants to prolong his stay as the God of Decay by making YOU the next god, then devouring your soul – thus, taking your place as the new god."

The god of Decay is a much greater office than a simple god-king. Giving up that much power is, no doubt, very painful for Das.

Freyya shudders when she says this. "I thought I knew Das well. I thought he was a kindly old man. But... I never thought he was capable of planning something so cruel like this for so long."

Of course, Freyya's words would sound quite far fetched to anyone else, but Haalfrin believes her… and it's not just because he trusts her. Her words also make a lot of sense.

After all, Haalfrin had felt his Names shaking and threatening to change over the last few years. He could feel himself slowly accepting a new type of existence over these years of peace... He was even starting to feel the joy of retirement and passing knowledge onto the next generation.

He'd been having thoughts lately like, 'I'm not needed anymore,' and, 'I don't have to be a warrior any longer. I'm miserable because I'm stubbornly living in the past.'

With these thoughts, he could actually see his divinity evolving into what Freyya was describing - the god of death by time!

Besides, how did Das describe his own Name? "All things die eventually - careers, character, life... but what is death but making room for something else to take its place? When one generation dies, it's replaced by another."

Just the same, Haalfrin's time as a warrior would die, only to be replaced by... a life of teaching… which would be replaced by kingship… which would finally evolve into the life of a Death Reaper.

Thinking these thoughts, Haalfrin is finally convinced.

"What are we going to do about it?" Haalfrin asks.

Freyya smiles mischievously. "Obviously, I have a Mantling Ritual too – one featuring the Fate of a being far greater than Das could ever dream to be. Naturally, my Ritual will carry more weight."

"Who is it? What must I do for the ritual?" Haalfrin asks.

"Oh…," Freyya sighs as she pulls out a notebook, "I'm afraid I can't tell you too many details. Just study this book and follow everything TO THE LETTER! Do NOT deviate!"

She pulls Haalfrins' hand up and places her notebook on his palm. "Don't let anyone else ever read this."

Haalfrin leafs through the front pages, and he frowns, "What time will we do this? When is this happening?"

Freyya smiles. "Get your armies ready. Polish up your skills. Be ready for my arrival."

Haalfrin furrows his eyebrows. "Wait… Now?"

Freyya doesn't answer immediately. Instead, she stands up and prepares to leave.

As her avatar's form is slowly dissipating, she leaves him some parting words. "Hold on tight, dear. When I come back, it'll be time to begin the ritual.... BE READY FOR MY RETURN!"