Beginning the Ritual (3/5)

The following events that happen in that hidden house are far too terrible to be told in great detail. None of the parties involved would ever speak of the details to anyone, though any passersby would hear frantic shrieks coming from the lone house.

"WHAT ARE YOU-?" *BANG* *CRASH* "-DOING FREYYA!?" comes a terrified man's voice.

"AAaaah! I'm so sorry, but I have to do it! Just give up and agree!" comes a sorrowful woman's voice.

The sound of breaking bone echoes in the cave, accompanied by more shrieking.

"NO! NO! Freyya! I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!?" The sound of a toilet flushing is heard. "FREEYAAAAA!"

"Give it to me, Jenri! Give it, and all your suffering will be over!" the woman's voice calmly replies.

"Ow ow ow ow! That hurts! Fine! I give up! Just take it!"

Everything goes silent for a few minutes… but after that, the front door slams open, and Freyya is seen darting out the door with her head bowed low in embarrassment. Like a startled mouse, she's running as fast as she can to the entrance of the face.

"I'M SO SORRY!" she screams as she spreads her wings and takes flight.

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

Once Freyya gets a safe distance away, she sets down on the ground and pulls something out of her pocket. She then looks down at her new prize and examines it.

There, in her hand, is a large, black scale that's about the size of her entire palm. The thing is smooth and mirrorlike, yet the edges are tapered so thinly that she has to hold it carefully, lest she cut herself with it.

Sure, nothing is supposed to be able to cut a goddess's skin…, but Drakavar's scale certainly isn't "nothing".

It's best to be careful.

"Ah!" she yelps at the sudden, biting pain in her hand.

Somehow, the scale suddenly budged to the side of its own accord and nicked her thumb with its sharp, knifelike edge.

Freyya frowns at the unnatural sting in the cut. Her frown grows deeper when she notices that the cut is gradually growing wider… and wider… and wider. Her blood is starting to pour out more and more dramatically.

At the moment when the scale cut into her skin, Freyya noticed that the scale still has some of Drakavar's lingering Will inside it, and it was this Will that moved the scale to attack Freyya.

It's like… the scale was upset that it's being held by her. Freyya could sense no hatred in the scale, though – only disdain.

When Freyya sees that the cut is getting so wide that her blood is starting to pool on the ground, she starts to panic.

Feeling a little afraid, Freyya closes her eyes and concentrates. With great effort, she moves all of her innate mana into the cut – hoping to close the wound and get Drakavar's ill Will out of her body.

Alas, the more she pushes, the more quickly the cut on her skin grows. It's like the scale's Will is laughing at her pathetic challenge.

Freyya is starting to feel dizzy from the loss of blood, and she's beginning to get a little desperate. Sure, this won't kill her (what with her already being dead), but if this body perishes, then it'll take a while for her to reform. That would mess the Ritual up.

So, being unable to think of anything else, Freyya bows her head and whispers, "I'm sorry for holding you."

The cut immediately stops growing, and her bleeding stops.

Realizing that the scale is actually listening to her, Freyya explains herself, "I'm trying to complete a Mantling Ritual. Well, all the forces in the universe are trying to keep my husband alive, and I need your strength to kill him. Will you allow me to use your scale for this?"

The scale remains silent.

"There's no Goddess stronger than you, oh Goddess of Power. Only you can break this fate."

After receiving her compliment, the scale's hold over her loosens, and her cut finally starts to heal.

"Thank you."

With that out of the way, Freyya clutches the scale tightly and she flies off.

This time, the scale doesn't cut her, no matter how many times the sharp edge brushes against her palm.

'Well, what now?' Freyya thinks. 'I'd liked to have Mantled Drakavar's escape method, but from what Yiirkavar told me, we never could catch her in the act. All we know is that the dragoness succeeded in escaping.'

'That means I'll have to find my own way off this world.'

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

Freyya heads over to the main plaza in the Death King's world – the one that leads to the World Tree's portal.

It's always important to teleport to that higher dimension while in that plaza since it'll take you directly to the right Tree Crawler.

So, when Freyya gets to the plaza, she finds that the teleport circle is surrounded by the usual set of guards.

All of these guards are 7th Gate Ascendants… but she's a goddess. If she wanted to beat them up, then there'd be nothing they can do to stop her.

'Still, I can't be too high profile at this point,' Freyya remembers. 'If the Death King finds out that I've left, then he'll use his contacts to shut down the Tree Crawlers that I need to take.'

The Death King has so many people who owe him favors in the Living World that there are really a dozen more ways he could stop her from completing her journey.

'Yeah. Let's just play it cool.'

So, as Freyya approaches the guards, she does her best to restrain her powers. For a large part, she's successful… Though, the Aura of a high Ranking Death goddess can't be completely hidden - especially from a dozen guards who are all specially trained to read and recognize Auras.

Freyya approaches the guards… and any second now, she's expecting them to stop her and ask her for her traveling credentials.

However, what she doesn't know is that the dragon scale in her hand is canceling out her Aura and masking it well.

But… if Drakavar's scale has so much power in it, why aren't the guards noticing it the thing's presence?

That's a good question. Not even Freyya can answer that.

(Author Note: Drakavar's Aura fills the entire universe. All the "ambient mana" that people feel and absorb when their mana pools are low... that's all Drakavar's Aura. With this in mind, it really would be impossible for anyone to notice Drakavar's Aura unless she wants to be seen, since her Aura is everywhere. It's like asking a fish to point out where the water is.)

(There is, however, no real reason why Freyya would know this about the strange, black scale in her left hand. So, this detail was omitted from the main script.)

Freyya walks past the guards and approaches a large, open archway. This archway is the final security measure set in place against unauthorized people leaving the Death King's capitol.

Indeed, this archway's official name is "The Death King's Shadow" – suggesting that the King himself is watching and that his presence is looming over this place.

The Death King's Shadow is an ancient enchantment as old as the Death Realm itself, they say. Countless gods have tried to slip past this thing in the past, yet to this day, not a single person has ever made it through.

What makes Freyya think that she can get through if no one else has done it before?

Well, she's hoping that her luck will somehow make things work out.

After all, she's already started this Mantling Ritual. Seeing as how she even got approval from Drakavar's scale, then the ritual must be working, right?

If the Mantling is working, then her fate will have sufficiently been linked to the beginning of Drakavar's journey, and her Fate would continue to push her along that same path.

If Drakavar escaped that pocket universe, then so, too, will Freyya escape the Death Realm.