Despair and Hope (6/10)
Being in space is a strange thing. Due to there being no reference point – no real landmarks, and nothing to slow you down, it's very easy to lose track of where you're heading.
With all the flying and being knocked around during this fight, Haalfrin only starts to realize now that he's drifting toward the sun.
Freyya seems to realize where they're headed too, and she momentarily gets distracted by the attractive, golden glow of sunlight.
Noticing the greedy look in Freyya's eyes, Haalfrin's heart drops, 'Oh no…'
Seeing Freyya come closer to the sun – even bypassing him completely, Haalfrin thinks in despair, 'I just wanted to change my fate and die properly. The Mantling Ritual never said anything about endangering my world!'
'Who knew that one of my wife's artifacts would drive her crazy?'
'Well, the best I can do is try to stop her.'
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Further and further they drift toward the sun. Just as things are starting to get unbearably hot for Haalfrin, the man looks ahead and sees his crazed wife extending her hands towards the golden sphere and making frantic squeezing motions.
No doubt, if the moon was very pleasant to eat, then wouldn't the sun be a much greater treat?
Yet unexpectedly…, despite Freyya's best attempts to shrink the sun down and swallow it, the sun remains still.
After a few futile attempts to Command the star, Haalfrin suddenly hears a strange woman's voice burn into his mind. It asks him in a deep, almost sleepy tone,
Haalfrin has already learned about Elemental spirits from Freyya a long time ago, and how all worlds and stars have one. So, he knows the truth of who the speaker is.
It seems that Freyya's constant knocking on the sun must have woken up its elemental.
Knowing who he's talking to, Haalfrin bows his head respectfully and replies, "She's... a normal goddess, and she's somehow bonded with one of Drakavar's scales. It's driven her mad, so please don't hurt her! She's not at fault for waking you up."
An invisible Force suddenly takes ahold of Haalfrin and holds him perfectly still.
The Star continues saying,
As the Star speaks, a golden tendril of light snakes out of the star and touches Haalfrin's forehead.
As the light sinks into his head, he feels a foreign Will rummaging through his mind. Feeling the Star touch his mind, Haalfrin's mind is filled with illusions of his brain melting, and every atom in his body exploding into fiery energy.
The whole experience is deeply painful, yet with the Star's power holding him still, he can't even fight back or run away.
After a few moments, the Star withdraws her power from Haalfrin's mind, and she remarks with a chilling voice,
Just when Haalfrin is starting to feel like the Star is going to burn the marrow from his bones, the Star's angry tone is replaced by one of melancholic mourning.
The Star's Elemental pauses and reflects to herself for a moment, then she finishes saying,
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-The Far Future-
Hour after hour, Drakavar diligently walks up and down the endless plains of Everywhere and slamming her tail on the ground – each blow sending miles upon miles of earth and rock tumbling into the Nothing Void down below.
With every blow Drakavar gives to Creation, she feels herself straining beyond her abilities.
With no Soul Stone, she doesn't have an endless supply of strength and mana; she can't even heal her own injuries.
And so, bleeding to death and quickly spending her strength, her many thoughts press on her mind like a weight on a drowning man's ankle.
'I want to sleep.' 'What's the point of doing this?' 'I'm hungry.' 'I want to die.' 'Everyone else needs to die.'
The only thing that keeps Drakavar moving is the sight of the falling World Tree and the complete, abject destruction all around her.
'There's nothing left to save anyway. I'd mind as well finish the job.'
Sometimes, Drakavar looks down into one of the holes she's made, and she thinks apathetically, 'I wonder what it'll be like to be Unmade? Will it hurt?'
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Once Drakavar disappears, Haalfrin is unsure where she went at first. Maybe she overshot her target during one of her leaps, and she wound up in some strange corner of space?
General Haalfrin doesn't have to wonder for long. It's only a few minutes after the Goddess of Power disappeared that he notices the air rippling and the ground quaking; even the fabric of space is tearing at the seams in some areas.
It's like the Universe is trying to rip itself apart from the inside out.
Urgently, Haalfrin contacts some of his generals, "What's the Demon doing!? Where'd she go!?"
'General, I was just about to get ahold of you,' a man's voice answers Haalfrin, 'You need to come back to the World Tree's Realm. Now.'
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Obediently, Haalfrin goes back to the Realm of Everywhere, and he sees a massive Black Dragon stomping on the ground, sending bits and pieces of the universe hurling into the Void.
Of course, the World Tree's Realm is connected to every location in existence, so every bit of damage that Drakavar does here reflects across the entire Universe, and every Realm of Existence.
After looking in shock at what the Dragoness is doing, Haalfrin looks over at the grey layer of ash coating the entire Realm, and he sees the World Tree, which is still falling after all these years.
All the planets of the Living Realm were on the World Tree. Even if the Tree died, Haalfrin still felt motivated to fight Drakavar, since fighting for the Death Realm is just as worthwhile to him.
Perhaps the universe would enter a new era in which no new souls were born, and everyone lived together in the land of Death? All of existence would be a perpetual Afterlife.
However, killing the Mortal Realm wasn't enough for that disgusting Demon. Now, she's ripping apart the endless plains too – destroying the Death Realm in the process.
Seeing the complete devastation, General Haalfrin loses the strength in his knees.
Looking down in sorrow for a moment, the General's beating heart calms down when he feels a soft hand rest on his shoulder.
Looking up at his wife, Haalfrin asks her, "There's no more Death Realm to save. No more Living Realm… What's the point in fighting that monster when everything worth saving is already gone?"
Freyya leans over and caresses her cheek against her husband's back. "I know…," she replies in a sorrowful voice.
The Reaper then extends her left arm out in front of her husband, showcasing the pair of birds perched on her arms. One of the birds has glistening white feathers, and the other has feathers of the deepest black. Other than that, they're both completely identical.
"What are these?" Haalfrin asks. He leans over and squints his eyes – studying the white bird's bronze-colored eyes. "Wait… Is this Felkawyn!?"
Being a Death god, Haalfrin has seen the 7-winged, White Phoenix residing at the Gates to the Death Realm countless times. It only took him a second to recognize the bird because the Elder God had shrunk down to an… unusual size.
"Yes. I am Felkawyn," a brassy, monotone voice echoes in Haalfrin's head.
Haalfrin looks over at the black bird. "Is that… I'd assume that's… Felkavar?" It's a little strange, seeing the Black Phoenix God.
As far as Haalfrin knows, nobody's ever seen this creature before. In fact, its existence was only speculated to exist. Nobody's ever found its Realm before, and nobody knows how it contributes to the Universe. The White Phoenix transforms the Living into the Dead, but what does the Black Phoenix do?
Haalfrin looks up at Freyya in confusion. "Dear…? What are you doing with Felkawyn and Felkavar? I'd think that they'd be off doing other important things?"