Bell gulped slightly as he looked up to Ottar. Even after growing a bit, Bell was only 172cm tall, Ottar was nearly 40cm taller. Not to speak about the sheer difference in mass.
And strength.
Even when Bell was one of Orario´s strongest adventurers now, in terms of pure status numbers the second strongest...Ottar was still much stronger than him. And he had the deepest connection to Freya, as well as the strongest determination. He would protect Freya from harm at all cost.
But there was also something else about Ottar, something that was hard to believe for Bell when he saw this mountain of a man before him.
Hedin told Bell that Ottar was often like a child when it came to Freya. That Freya was Ottar´s everything, not in a romantic way, she was like his mother in many ways.
That when Ottar was a child, he was abandoned and didn´t even know his own name. When he was dying from starvation in an alley somewhere, Freya found him and took him in. She was the one to give him his name. By Freya´s hands, Ottar experienced support and emotional warmth. She became his everything.
And yet, Ottar wasn´t blindly obedient nor was his mind clouded by his loyalty, like it happened to Allen and Heith. Sometimes he would even argue against Freya´s wishes, pointing out the consequences.
Of course Freya mentioned some of her ideas just so that Ottar would argue against them in his calm, stoic way. It was her way of teasing him a bit. He was one of the few members of the familia that wasn´t jealous of her love for Bell.
With all of his abilities, magic and skills, Ottar was the absolute pinnacle of adventurers in the world. And yet he still saw himself as weak, since he was already an adventurer when the familias of Zeus and Hera were still around.
"Bell, explain the situation. Why is lady Freya like that?"
If he would say something wrong, Ottar would kill him without mercy.
"I assume you are aware about Syr, Captain?"
Ottar nodded.
"I discovered it this morning, it was quite the shock for me."
"So you broke up with her?"
"No, I went out to get a clear head, since I didn´t want to hurt her feelings by saying something stupid because I was confused and agitated. But I guess she misunderstood my actions or I choose the wrong way. By no means did I hurt her body or forced her to do anything."
Ottar just looked in his eyes for a while.
"Hedin let you pass."
"He did."
"I assumed as much, he even taught you about the weaknesses of us."
"You knew that?"
Ottar just stared at Bell. While Ottar didn´t have the brilliant and cunning mind of Hedin, his warrior instincts told him as much.
"He has his own way to do things."
"Why didn´t you stop him?"
"He did it for lady Freya, Hedin had the best intentions."
"But just because someone has good intentions, doesn´t mean the actions will have a good outcome."
"I trusted that elf to be smart enough."
"Then will you let me pass, Captain? I want to talk with her."
"Lady Freya or Syr?"
"Both are the same for me."
Ottar nodded.
"I see that you have a strong determination, good. You beat up all the Einherjar, Heith, the Gullivers, Allen and even beat Hogni. Hedin refused to fight so I am the only member of the familia that you didn´t beat."
"Correct."
Bell knew it was better to not mention Mia and Anya.
"What is your reason to get so strong so fast, Bell?"
"It´s her, always her, will always be her. So that I can be worthy of her, to protect the woman I love."
"Then we have the same reason, even when our feelings are different."
"It seems so, will you let me pass?"
"Prove to me that you´re worthy."
"So I have to beat you?"
"Hit me with your strongest attack, with all you have. That means if you can charge it up."
Ottar knew about Bell´s charging skill, it would take five minutes to charge it up to it´s full power. Bell understood the intentions of Ottar. For the mayor part of the Freya familia, Bell was a traitor and deserved death, since they had misinformations about what happened to Freya.
For Ottar, this was the chance to fight against the second strongest adventurer in Orario, to drive himself and Bell forward. It was a character flaw of Ottar, that he couldn´t resist such a chance. It was also the final test for Bell to show that he was worthy protecting Freya. And also, Bell could show to Freya that way how much he loved her.
Since it would be a wonder to survive Ottar´s punches for five minutes straight.
Bell opened his weapon belt and carefully placed the Rabbit Fangs on the ground, then he took off his armor and his jacket. Ottar also took off his jacket, soon both stood with bare upper bodies there.
Bell was quite muscular due to his intense training, bit in an alluring way that would let most women become red and a certain fox maiden faint. Ottar on the other hand was really a mountain of a man, he believed that muscles were Justice!
Bell raised his fists, small particles of light started to gather around the right one.
"Here I come, Captain."
Ottar nodded and raised his fists.
.
.
In the darkness of her mind, in her room, Freya´s depressed, lonely, destroyed personality reacted for a splitsecond to something...a very fine sound reached her ears.
The room in her mind showed two women, one a goddess so beautiful that she was impossible to resist, the other a normally cheerfull, young woman. Both parts of her mind were shattered and nearly half of their bodies broken to pieces, dissolving more and more.
""Bell...""
A single tear rolled out of the right eye of both.
.
.
Bell´s baptism had begun.
He didn´t try to evade Ottar´s fists, he knew what his captain expected from him. Ottar´s first punch met Bell´s left shoulder with a force that would´ve killed any adventurer below level four. Bell staggered, but continued his charge and countered with a punch of enough strength to sent a level five dwarf flying. Ottar felt the impact, it was rare that he did that.
The stronger Bell got, the more Ottar hoped to have found a true sparring partner. Not one of the Freya familia members ever noticed that, but due to Bell´s kind nature and determination, he "charmed" not only Freya, but many of her familia members.
He became the respected student of Hedin. The number one pupil of Hogni...even when he was the only pupil. All of the Einherjar had at least respect for him and Ottar saw him as a trainings partner. Anya was really fond of Bell and saw him as a dear friend now, Mia had even admitted that he would make a good son-in-law once he married Syr. Even Horn actually really liked Bell, but her feelings were twisted. She received many feelings for Bell through the link to her goddess, so she despised and loved him at the same time.
Thankfully Freya was able to control the link a bit, so Horn got spared from "detailed feelings" when Freya and Bell made love.
Not one word fell between Bell and Ottar, only their fists talked and that was enough.
Punch after punch met their bodies in a loud smack. Bell moved with Ottar´s punches to take the biggest part of the impact away. Ottar couldn´t do that since his body was such a big target and Bell was faster anyway. In terms of pure status, Bell´s numbers were almost equal to Ottar´s...almost. If Ottar would activate his skills and or magic, he would destroy Bell immediatelly.
Both aimed only for the upper body, not the lower body and not the heads. Not that Bell was able to aim at Ottar´s head...
At first the blows came slow and heavy, but soon both started to sweat and a literal rain of blows landed on their bodies. One time their right fists collided and Ottar heard how two of Bell´s fingers broke. His respect for Bell grew when he saw that Bell didn´t even flinch a little, he continued to punch Ottar with the wounded hand.
It was rare that Ottar got so lively during a fight, but when he exchanged blows with Bell, he got reminded of the past.
When he challenged members of the Zeus or Hera familia on a daily base. Never did he win or even stand a chance...especially not against Hera´s witch "Silence", who defeated Ottar with a single attack. That duel sealed Freya´s fate and bound her to Orario on Hera´s order, which Ottar thought was the cause of Freya´s problems and troubles. He didn´t notice that Freya herself made it all worse.
In reality, Freya didn´t want to be a goddess anymore, she had enough of all of it. Hedin guessed that could be the case. Ottar couldn´t since his thoughts didn´t go that far, not because he was dumb, but because he sometimes just didn´t know what would be the best for Freya.
But right now, Ottar got this old feeling again, of facing an opponent that was really strong. Ottar was always a bit frustrated when he thought what kind of monsters were in the Zeus and Hera familias and that even he didn´t manage to rise up to level eight. He was sure Bell would reach level seven one day, maybe even go further. So it was good that Ottar finally found someone worthy fighting. If Bell managed to get up to level seven by defeating him in a duel, it would be even better for Ottar! He would finally have a worthy opponent!
After one minute, Bell was already covered in bruises, Ottar only had one.
After two minutes, not even Allen or Hogni would be able to stand anymore.
After three minutes, even Gareth Landrock of the Loki familia, the sturdiest adventurer in Orario after Ottar would´ve hit the ground.
The chimming got louder and louder, got replaced by the mighty gong of a grand bell as Bell rememberred the story of Argonaut. Argonaut had fought against the Minotaur to save his beloved princess. His situation right now was pretty similar.
GONG!
GONG!
GONG!
Ottar heard this sound, Hogni and Hedin heard this sound...a few of the Einherjar that came to their senses heard this sound. The god Hermes, his follower Asfi and Raul of the Loki familia heard this sound, wondering what it was.
No words fell, but both screamed while they punched each other faster and stronger. For other people it would be hard to even follow the speed of their fists. For most people and adventurers in Orario, it would look like Bell and Ottar stood still while their punches flew through the air.
Just like in the famous hero story of a young man with black hair, having a fist fight duel with a blond vampire.
Blood flew down Bell´s upper body, but all the pain he felt was nothing compared to the one in his heart. If by accident or not, he made Freya...made his Syr...suffer. He had to get to her, to show her that he still loved her, to talk to her.
After four and a half minutes, Ottar hit Bell so hard that it felt like he threw a road roaller at him and the sound of the grand bell got so loud that it hurt Ottar´s trained ears. Bell´s right fist shone like a star, he still charged further. Lightning rippled across his body, his eyes glowed a bright red, briefly blue as a bolt of lightning shot across them. White flames sprang from Bell's shoulder, flowing down to his fist. Light, fire, lightning...everything gathered in Bell's right fist and still he kept charging.
Ottar felt the bite of Bell's magic as his fist hit the body and small bolts of lightning bit into his fist.
All of his skills and magic made Bell very special and immensely powerful.
In Ottar's eyes, he was truly a worthy warrior, on a par with some of the Hera and Zeus familia, guaranteed one day to be at the level of their strongest.
Perhaps it was better that no one but Hermes in Orario knew that Bell was actually a direct descendant of these two familias. It freed Bell not to know.
Bell gritted his teeth, to withstand the pain and also because the lightning forced him to do that. .
.
Five minutes had passed.
.
Over the last seconds, Ottar had started to chant his own magic, Hildis Vini. He would met Bell head on, to see which attack was stronger.
"OOOOOOOOOORAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"FIIIIIIIIIIIREBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLT!"
.
In the splitsecond before their attacks collided, Ottar had a memory of the past. He saw Hera´s witch standing behind Bell, the right hand raised and her eyes closed as usual. Without knowing it, Bell had the exact same pose.
Ottar smiled in his mind, seeing the same pose as the witch, he was sure his mind had accepted Bell as a true warrior.
When Ottar´s fist met the firebolt, he got thrown back by an explosion that ripped one fifth of Folkvangr away...going away from the direction of Freya´s room.
Ottar´s tattered body hit the ground, he was scorched, burned and heavily beaten up...but by no means would´ve this been enough to defeat him. But Ottar was satisfied.
.
.
"Huff...Huff...Huff..."
Bell´s body never hurt that much before, but this pain meant that he was alive. He turned to the door to Freya´s rooms, they were locked.
Locked to give Freya some peace so that she could be alone.
Bell didn´t have the key, but he was an upper level six adventurer. After destroying so much of Folkvangr, he would surely be able to apologize for a single door.
So he grabbed the door and just ripped it out, tossing it away.
Bell entered the entrance room, Freya´s main room was behind another door.
He knocked at the door.
"Freya?"
No answer.
Bell knocked again.
"Freya?!"
No answer.
"Hah...It´s against my nature to enter a woman´s room just like that, please forgive me."
Bell opened the door and went inside, when he let go of the knob, the door closed silently behind him.
.
.
Freya sat on her bed, a pillow hugged to her chest, Bell saw that she had cried...a lot.
"Freya?"
She didn´t react to him, her eyes were open but Bell saw no real light in them, they looked kind of dull.
He slowly walked closer to the bed, it hurt him to see her like that.
"Freya?...I´m here."
Still no reaction, she just sat there. Bell noticed now that he didn´t hear any noises from the outside.
He didn´t really know what to do, how to get her attention. Bell gently took Freya´s left hand, caressing it carefully.
"Freya."
He leaned towards her ear and gently whispered her name a few times. After thinking about what to do, Bell got an idea. He slowly pulled the pillow away from her, Freya´s arms slumped down next to her body and she stared into the air. Even when he would stain her bed, Bell didn´t care. Bell climbed onto the bed after taking off his shoes.
He sat down behind Freya and leaned her against his chest, similar to how he and Ryu sat on the 37th floor. Then he closed his arms around her and hummed slightly, whispering her name now and then.
Bell promised her that he still loved her, that he wanted to be with her, wanted to talk.
.
In the darkness of her mind, Freya drifted around, the left half of her body had crumbled to dust, just like Syr´s right half had. The two parts of her mind were lost in the endless darkness, there was no light there.
But...for a short moment, both eyes that were left reacted when there was a glimpse of light. It became dark again.
.
"Freya..."
.
"Sy...r?..."
"Ye...s..?..."
"You...call..ed...m..e..."
Syr shook slowly the half of her head. "I..didn´t..."
.
"Freya..."
.
"You...di...d...i...t...ag...ain..."
"N...o..."
.
"Freya?...I´m here."
.
"Who.."
"calls..."
"us?..."
Both half mouths mumbled at the same time, with both voices.
.
"Freya...Freya...Freya..."
.
The gentle voice came from everywhere and out of no direction at the same time.
And then...they felt something.
"My back..."
"Our backs..."
"Our back..."
""Are warm...""
They were confused, why would their backs feel warm?
.
Outside of her mind, Bell eventually whispered the one word that would get her attention.
.
.
"Syr."
.
.
Syr´s body half shivered, Freya´s twitched. There was definetely a voice calling them...or calling her? Both body halves looked at each other. Each of them only had a half body left, not able to live on their own. Both felt more warmth in their half backs and around their hips. It was as if strong yet gentle arms closed around them, pushing the halves together.
"Syr.."
"Freya.."
"I..."
"We..."
Bell held Freya from behind in a gentle, loving hug. Without knowing it, he pulled her mind out of the darkness, by pushing the two halves closer together, until their edges touched. .
.
Bell heard it, Freya suddenly took a deep breath and her head moved slightly. His arms closed a bit more around her, to show her he was there.
"Freya, Syr. I´m here."
She reacted more to it.
.
"What is happening to us/me?"
"We DoN´t KnOw..."
"wHo Is HoLdInG uS?"
Slowly, both halves met and became one, Syr´s body half was the left side, Freya´s the right. Their right cheek felt a gentle touch and slowly their head got turned towards the left.
""?""
.
.
When Bell´s lips met Freya´s, she finally blinked. The darkness inside her mind got the first cracks, a gentle, loving, white light fell inside. But they weren´t blinded by it, it was really nice to look at.
"Be...ll...?"
"Freya, I´m here."
She blinked but wasn´t fully aware of her surroundings. Bell kissed her again, longer this time. He heard her inhale stronger again, Bell kept his lips onto hers. Slowly, at first shy and gently, Bell felt a touch at one of his hands. Freya moved her hands up slightly and touched his.
Slowly, while they kissed, their hands entangled. Bell had a pretty unique way to get Freya out of her mind, but it worked.
Eventually she blinked again and her eyes looked like she was aware of her room again. Except, her left eye had a grey color, just like Syr´s eyes had, the right had the usual color of Freya´s eyes.
"Bell?"
He squeezed her gently for a second. "I´m here, Freya. I´m sorry for leaving you there alone."
Bell thought she might start to cry, but she didn´t, Freya just sat there and kept touching his hands.
"Bell...are you mad with me?"
"I will be hoenst, I was a bit at first, but I want to talk with you about it."
The expression on Freya´s face was one that normally Syr would have.
"I´m sorry, Bell...for lying to you."
"Freya...Syr...will you explain it to me? I will listen to everything, I won´t get mad."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
"Bell, there is a secret about me that I have to tell you beforehand, I never told that anyone."
She turned her face forward, looking into the empty room, while Bell held her from behind.
"You are aware that we gods have our Arcana sealed when we come down to the surface. But a few things remain active, like my natural charm or Ishtar´s. Like Demeter´s green thumb or Hestia´s, Artemis´ and Athena´s resistence to divine charm. Or for example Ganesha´s cheerful nature, that makes him the perfect god of the masses, it´s a form of charm itself if you want to call it that."
Freya took a deep breath...this time she talked with Syr´s voice.
"But Bell...there is something else that I can do. I can see the souls of people, the color they have. Like a glowing orb above their heads, I can see the change in color when they are enraged, in love, scared or lying."
"Is that...the reason why Ryu and the others could never win against you when you played games?"
"Yes..." Bell noticed that Freya´s cheeks and ears were a bit red.
She continued. "The soul tells me everything about a person. Even when someone seems to be charming, friendly and all the good things a person could be, the soul would tell me if this person had actually an ugly personality. Trust me, this is just like my divine charm and beauty more a curse for me now than it is a gift. The only time I was really grateful for it, was when I met you for the first time."
"Me?"
Freya nodded. "Your soul was unique, so clear, like a crystal, there was no real color...you were pure, without anything bad inside you. I´ve never seen anything like this before. All gods can tell if someone is lying or not, but my soul sight takes that a step further. Your polite and kind behaviour matched your soul so perfect. This is what led me to invite you to my familia."
"So..."
"I liked your very being, Bell. I wanted to know you more. When I saw how depressed you got over the baptism, I saw how your soul became dull, I couldn´t allow that. It may be selfish, but I wanted to see how beautiful your soul and you could become one day."
"I don´t really understand that."
"It´s a concept for deities, don´t worry. Anyway, I got more and more interested in you. I wanted to spend more time with you, but as you know, people treat me different from others. Even you did that and you are immune to my natural charm."
"I treated you different?"
"Yes, you might not be aware of it, you were always so polite, because I am a goddess."
"But...you gods...I mean..."
Freya gently caressed his hands, as if she had to convince herself that he was there with her, that this wasn´t a dream.
"I understand you, Bell. That´s when I decided to meet you as Syr. You probably already guessed it or Mia told you, but Syr is a part of me for many years now. It is thanks to Horn´s unique magic that we can swap places, at some times in the morning, you talked actually to Horn instead of me, I´m sorry for that."
"But she...I...we...ahm..."
"You never kissed her or something like that, it would´ve broken my, her and your hearts."
"Hm."
"I really enjoyed spending time with you as Syr, I got to see the real you, how friendly and shy you acted around me. You stole my heart."
"I stole it?"
She nodded slightly. "I fell in love with you, Bell. Not as Freya, but as Syr. This never happened before. And the feelings didn´t stop there. Even when I turned back, my heart sitll raced when I saw you. My heart is completely filled with you and you alone. Never in my long life did I feel something like this."
"Long life? How o-"
He felt a strong squeeze for a second. "Don´t dare to end the question how old I am..."
"I´m sorry."
Freya sighed. "I can´t explain to you just how troubled I felt. Never before did I have these feelings, for the first time in my life, I felt like a young maiden in love. That was the start of my problems."
He just listened for now.
"I know that if you learned the truth, your feelings would probably change. Even when you say that mortals and gods can love each other, you don´t really believe it could be the same love as between two mortals. I know that you´re not aware of thinking that, it is something deep inside your soul."
"Hm."
"Bell, tell me, do you have the same feelings for me as you have for Syr?"
"Freya...I..."
She slightly shook her head. "This is answer enough, I know that you love Syr not me."
"But I-!"
"I mean romantically, as your partner. You love me as your goddess. And Bell...it is the same for me. Syr loves you more than anything, she wants to spend all her time with you, grow old with you, have kids with you one day. But it can never happen...because I am immortal. It´s not only that which tears my heart apart. One day I have to say goodbye to all of my children, to everyone at the pub. Then to their children...and grandchildren...I can´t bear with that thought anymore."
She turned her face towards him, the Freya eye was glowing slightly, the Syr eye looked normal.
"Bell, we gods are very different from you mortals. A mortal couldn´t bear with spending thousands of years alive, they would start to forget many things of the past or they would go insane. We gods are like that from the start, we think the mortals are so precious because their lives are so short compared to ours. In the past I could bear with it. Unlike the others, I didn´t come down to the surface just to have fun, I was searching for my Odr."
"This..you called me that a few times."
"I did. My Odr is the one person that can truly love me, that I can truly love. Living as a goddess of love and beauty is so tiring and no one can ever truly love you. You, were able to do that. You let me feel true love...and true fear. I thought that if you ever learned the truth, it could make you hate me, for toying with you. I know you can´t tell if I´m lying or not, but this was the one thing I was truly afraid of...that you wouldn´t love me anymore."
"Freya...it´s not that I don´t love you anymore, I just went out to get a cool head, this news was a bit much to take in...in such a way on top of that."
"You mean that I...during..."
He shook his head. "That you talked with Syr´s voice, just like you do right now."
"I do?"
Freya blinked perplexed, when she opened her mouth again, it was Freya´s voice again.
"Bell...I´m losing myself...I can´t go on like this anymore."
"What do you mean?"
He saw now that Freya started to cry. "I don´t want all this anymore...I want you. Only you and my life at the pub. I don´t want to be a goddess anymore!"
Bell never heard he would one day hear a deity say something like this.
"But Fre-"
She kissed him before he could finished his sentence. Bell felt how intense, passionate, loving and desperate this kiss was.
"I want to be with you, Bell. I love you from the bottom of my heart. But it can´t be...not with me being a goddess. And even when Horn and I would change places forever, I would still be immortal."
"And...what...now?"
She looked up to the ceiling, gently taking Bell´s left hand and placing it on her chest, right above her heart.
"In the past, there were very few times when a god fell in love with a mortal so much, that he or she returned to heaven when their beloved died. So that they could be in heaven forever. But I don´t want that, I don´t want to spend the eternity with you trapped in the heavens...because this isn´t what you would want. I want to have a life with you. A true life...as your wife."
"Freya, y-"
"I´m sorry...I saw the ring one day by accident..."
"Oh..."
"Nothing would make me more happy than to say yes. But now that you know the truth, that you know the difference between us...are your feelings still the same?"
"I love you, I always will."
Freya showed him a sad smile. "I know that, I know that you believe that...but your soul tells me otherwise. Oh how I hate this soul sight...how I hate everything about being what I am. Bell, please do me a favor...close your eyes and think about our life for a while and imagine that Syr never grows older."
He did as she asked...at some point his soul pulsed and his mouth twitched slightly. It was just a tiny gesture, but enough for Freya.
"See? It can´t be."
When he opened his eyes, Freya saw tears in them. "So...this is...the end?"
Freya turned slightly in Bell´s arms and put her ear on his chest, to listen to his heartbeat, it went really fast.
"Bell...it shatters my heart..I will go insane...I´m sure of that...it will break your heart...but...I see no way it will work. Not really. Not truly."
He held her, felt how she trembled and cried.
"Freya...Syr..."
Bell hated to admit it, it broke his heart...but she was right. They could say it would work, they would live happy for how long? Ten years? Twenty? Thirty? Bell would start to get old...Syr would remain looking like eighteen. Of all her friends, Ryu would be around her for the longest time, maybe two, three or four hundred years. She could share the pain of losing their friends at some point with her, look over their offsprings...but one day...Ryu would be gone too. And Syr would remain...not that Syr would be around that long. When the day came and Horn passed away, Syr would die too. So only Freya would remain.
Sure, she could hope that her friends would be reborn some day. Freya would be able to find all her friends and children again, bringing them into her familia and keep them safe. Make sure that Allen and Anya have a better life this time. But there was a high chance that they would be different from the past. Freya knew who Ryu´s past life was, a person as cheerful as Ryu was in the past. She knew that about more than a few mortals that she had seen. Not everyone was the same. Siblings could be strangers in a new life. Maybe Chloe would become a nun in her next life, living abstinent from all desires.
A mortal´s life was so short compared to her own...and so much more precious. Living a life, finding friends and family, the soul returning to heaven afterwards and being reborn some day to live a new life...it sounded much more pleasant to Freya than her existence.
But she was a goddess...one day she would return to heaven and do her job, taking care of souls. The souls of Mia, Anya, Lunor, Chloe, Allen, Hedin, Hogni and all the others might go through her hands dozens of times over thousands of years...but they wouldn´t remain the same. While Freya would sit there...never find her love...and maybe one day end things for herself by asking Odin to destroy her.
To use Gungnir to ram it through her celestial body and destroy her essence, killing her truly.
.
.
Destroying my essence?...
.
.
The essence of gods were different from mortals. Mortals had souls, gods had an essence. As long as a god didn´t meet his or her end in the dungeon, they would return to heaven.
As long as they weren´t on the surface, gods were omnipotent, some stronger than others, like the lead gods of the mythologies. Zeus, Odin, Amaterasu and the others. When Zeus demanded a strong storm in the past, other gods could argue against him, but they had no chance in the following fist fight.
Gods couldn´t become pregnant or impregnate mortal women. Gods couldn´t have children directly, they had a special form of children, the spirits. Each spirit had a creator god, a parent in a way.
Like Zeus and Jupiter, the great thunder spirit.
Like Hephaistos and her "daughter" Ursu, the great fire spirit, that slept in the blood of a certain friend of Bell, who had red hair.
Even Freya had created a spirit or two. She really hoped not one of them would ever meet Bell, they were similar to their parents and might fall for Bell too...that would be a problem.
Gods...mortals...spirits...all of them were different.
Freya´s mind started to race.
Spirits were the favorite children of the gods, different from mortals. Unable to have children with either of them.
Except that it was possible. Loki´s princess was the proof. Freya saw in her soul that Ais Wallenstein wasn´t just a human woman. Her mother probably mixed her essence with the seed of her father, creating the little Ais in that process.
So it was in some way possible for mortals and spirits to love each other truly and create offsprings. But not for gods. If it were possible, many gods would have countless children over the past...especially ones like Zeus...or she herself.
For a moment, Freya thought about the Falna. The higher the level of an adventurer got, the stronger they became. Someone as strong as Bell or Ottar were far above normal mortals. Someone like Hera´s empress or Silence were basically demi-gods. No one ever reached level ten, the gods argued what would happen then. Would the mortal turn into a god? Would their body get destroyed? No one knew.
But Freya´s thoughts went in the other direction now. Maybe the mortal would turn into a spirit, who could say? But if gods were omnipotent, their power had nearly no limits...what...what...
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What would happen if a god decided to...become mortal?
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What if Freya...what if she reached so deep into her very being, the core that only the deity herself could touch...her essence...and destroyed it while changing it.
She was on the surface, using her Arcana was forbidden, but destroying her essence would take less than a second...probably. .
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"Bell?"
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"Yes?"
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"Do you think you could love me truly...if I were mortal?"
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"Freya?"
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"Call me Syr, please...one last time."
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"S-Syr?-!"
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Freya launched forward, pressed her lips onto Bell´s and reached deep into herself.
Maybe this will kill me, then I want to die in your arms, Bell.
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"Oy, oyoyoy...what is happening here?!"
"Lord Hermes, keep his head up!"
"Hay, Hay!"
Hermes and Asfi were busy carrying Allen´s body away. After one fifth of Folkvangr got vaporated in an explosion, they helped wherever possible.
He was about to say something...when a giant pillar of light shot up into the sky.
"Oh no..."
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"No way!"
Raul could only watch in shock as the titanic pillar of light shot out of the home of the Freya familia.
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Cassandra screamed while Daphne tried to hold her down.
"She is dead! The Queen of Love is dead! She died in the hands of the killer rabbit!"
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Loki´s eyes widened in shock as she jogged with her high executives towards Folkvangr.
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All of Orario saw this pillar of light. They knew what that normally meant.
But this pillar was twice as big as a normal pillar should be...then it changed to a purple color...to red...then it shattered and started to dissolve.
Every single god in Orario that witnessed this was stunned in shock.
This pillar didn´t mean that a god returned to heaven.
This pillar meant that a god got destroyed.
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"Unyanf..."
Anya slumped to her knees, her boyfriend immediatelly tried to hold her.
"Anya?!"
Ryu and the others whirled around when they heard a loud crash.
Mia had dropped to her knees, dropping the plates she had carried.
"""Mama Mia!"""
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Every member of the Freya familia suddenly got extremely weak as their Falna got sealed. Even Hedin didn´t assume something like that would happen.
Ottar was about to destroy the door and kill Bell for sending Freya back to heaven, even without a Falna he would be able to do that. Before he could open the door, it opened by itself.
And Bell appeared.
Ottar was about to lash out and jump at him, then he noticed that Bell wasn´t alone.
He carried Syr in his arms in a princess carry.
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"Lady...Freya?"
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Syr looked weak at Ottar. "No, Ottar...Syr...just...Syr.."
What Ottar couldn´t see...or rather only Bell could see, Syr´s eyes had changed.
Others would only see the grey eyes that Syr had. For Bell, there were fine sprinkles of purple in them now.
This was the woman that Bell loved. Neither only Syr, nor only Freya. Both, he loved both and both had become one. Were one ever since Syr came to be, but now "separated" no longer.
"I don´t understand..."
"I´m sorry...I couldn´t live with it anymore...I want to be free."
"To leave Orario?"
"No...free from being a goddess..free to be the real me..."
Ottar saw it in her eyes, she was finally free.
When Bell passed Ottar, Syr weakly put a hand on Ottar´s massive arm. "I´m sorry...will you...remain my friend?..."
An enormous load of emotions ran over Ottar´s face, in the end he smiled the tiniest possible smile.
"If that is what is necessary to make you happy, of course."
Syr smiled. "Thank you, my friend."
Exhausted, she put her head against Bell´s chest again while he continued to carry her out of Folkvangr. On the way they met Hedin and Hogni.
"Hedin...Hogni...I´m sorry."
Hedin shook his head slowly. "You don´t need to, as long as you become happy, I´m satisfied."
Hogni grinned. "You freed us in the past, now it is time that you become free."
"Thank you two."
Both elves gently patted Bell´s shoulders.
"You did well, my student. Make her happy."
"I will."
Hogni winked. "Good work, my former pupil. I will keep an eye on you."
"I´m glad."
Bell continued to carry Syr in his arms. She had her eyes closed and listened to his whispered vows of love. Syr couldn´t say much, after destroying what made her a goddess and become mortal, she felt very weak. She didn´t care what the gods would think now, Syr was finally free. The lights of the souls was gone and she felt much different.
"Bell...will you love me forever?"
He smiled. "And ever and ever."
Bell carefully kissed her forehead while she closed her eyes again, exhausted.
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And eventually, they arrived at the entrance of Folkvangr. Two groups stood there facing each other. One were the weakened Einherjar with Heith, the other...the Loki familia.
And not only the Loki familia, a large group of the Ganesha familia and the guild arrived too, after seeing the special pillar.
Bell just continued to carry the now sleeping Syr, aware of Ottar, Hogni and Hedin following him. Ottar now carried the unconcious Horn, they splashed a few potions onto her, she would wake up later.
The two elves and the boar man carried their belongings, Hogni also carried Horn´s, while Hedin carried the stuff of Freya that belonged to Syr.
Smoke was rising in the backround, they had set Freya´s room on fire after they left.
Bell didn´t look at the Einherjar or Heith, the only one that mattered to him was the girl in his arms.
Ottar stopped for a moment.
"Freya familia, from this moment onwards, the familia is disbanded. Goddess Freya is no more, she is gone. You are free to go wherever you want. This was her last will and you´re not to bother these two here. If you do, I will come for you. That is all."
The Einherjar were too shocked to react, Heith broke down to her knees and started to scream. If Freya had still be around after Bell´s visit, however things had turned out, Ottar would´ve executed Heith for her deeds. But now...it was enough that she had to live with the fact that the subject of her fanatism and worship was gone. Which, except from death, was the harshest punishment for her.
Loki made a step forward, with her three high executives. Right now, without a Falna, the former Freya familia was so weak that if Loki decided to kill them all, it wouldn´t even take a minute.
"What do you mean she is gone, big guy?! We saw that strange pillar! That wasn´t a god returning to heaven!"
Ganesha also burst out. "What happened here?! What happened to her?!"
Bell´s arms were screaming, Syr wasn´t heavy, but after all these fights, he was beyond exhausted.
"Could you please stop yelling? Syr just fell asleep."
Loki came close with a dangerous expression on her face. "Boy, you will answer my question. Is Freya dead?"
"She is."
Loki´s expression became dark. "Did you kill her?"
"No. And also no one of the others. She did that herself."
Loki´s eyes widened in shock and horror, as did Ganesha´s under his mask. Bell spoke only the truth.
"Freya...is dead?"
"No way!"
"Please let me pass, goddess Loki, lord Ganesha. I have to bring Syr home."
Too shocked to react, Loki could only watch when Bell passed her and her familia. .
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Things would change now in Orario, there would be an emergency Denatus, where Loki and Ganesha would tell the gods what Bell told them. .
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Whatever happened would happen, the only thing for Bell that mattered was that Syr was safe. Accompanied by three of the former high executives, an unconcious Horn in Ottar´s arms and an also unconcious Allen on his shoulder, they made their way through the streets of Orario towards the Benevolent Mistress.
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Bell was sure people would wait for them there.
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Author`s note: So this was the big climax of the story, Freya is dead. Only Syr remains. Cassandra´s prophecy about all the familia members beaten up and Freya dying became true. This isn´t the last chapter of this story, two or three will follow. Some people complained that the pacing went so fast all of a sudden, but I have to remind you again, this is a short story and that each of the short stories will be written a bit different.
At first I thought I would end the chapter with the pillar of light, but I had enough cliff hanger.
Now all that is left for Bell is to make Syr happy and make sure she gets a new last name. What will happen to the members of the former Freya familia? Which familia will they join? Will it be more than one? You will see all that. I have plans for the important ones...even for Heith.