465 Endless Promise
Freya smiled and waved at the crowd that had gathered around them happily. A few of them crowed on about how they had seen the whole fight (from afar) and were utterly wowed by their capabilities. The others simply thanked her for what they had done in removing the minotaur from their lives.
A handful even wept out of some mixture of joy and relief.
While she regaled the thankful townsfolk, Lucifer chatted with the town’s magistrate, who was an older, gray-haired man. Though all the townsfolk wore tunics of various earthy colors, the magistrate also wore a loose and flowing off white toga over top of his.
He slowly counted out a number of gold coins into a simple leather pouch. Then, when he was done, he pulled on the purse strings, tightened it up, and plopped the whole thing onto Lucifer’s open hand.
The pouch gave off a few satisfying clinks as ze estimated its weight. It certainly had a bit of heft to it, considering what it was filled with.
“Thank you for ridding us of that terror,” said the magistrate. “It had been plaguing the countryside for nearly a decade now.”
“You’ve been dealing with that thing for ten years?” Lucifer guffawed. “I’m surprised it took you this long to get rid of it.”
“Oh, we’ve certainly been trying. We’ve even sent multiple missives to the capital. All they ever sent were young soldiers who easily died trying to fight it. We… we became tired of burying their bodies.”
The magistrate gestured to a hill just outside of town, where a stone entrance led down to the catacombs below. Lucifer sensed it was close to full.
.....
Freya walked up and stood beside hir, even as a deep lament washed over the magistrate.
“Well, they can all now rest in peace,” she said. “The thing that interrupted their lives is finally gone.”
The magistrate nodded wordlessly in affirmation.
“Also,” Freya continued, “we’re sorry about your temple. We kinda… wrecked it a bit.”
“Don’t you worry yourselves about that,” he replied. “Things like stone and marble and terracotta are all easily replaced. The dead, not so much.”
“Like those soldiers?”
“Like the many children it… that the monster consumed over the years.”
Both Freya and Lucifer grimaced on hearing that the minotaur actively preyed on the townsfolk’s children. That they were its food. Worse, both realized just how much the township had been left to fend for itself. That whatever official military forces that were sent to them were actually tokens meant to be thrown away and forgotten.
Can you believe this garbage? Lucifer telepathically told Freya. Republic my ass. We oughta do something about them.
At some point, maybe, Freya replied wordlessly. Right now, let’s just try to do good by these people.
The very thought riled them up greatly underneath, but they continued to smile and remain cheerful for the townsfolk around them.
“Well, regardless, we’re sorry for its destruction, along with all your losses,” Freya replied after a moment. “We’ve got to move on to the next township for another job, but we’d be happy to help if you need rebuilding afterwards.”
The magistrate was taken aback for a moment, but quickly nodded his head. Their phenomenal strength would be a huge boon to the township’s recovery.
“Of course, of course,” he said. “But how could we reach you two? Do you want us to send a horseman to follow after you?”
“No need,” Lucifer replied. “Simply send a message through pigeon to the township of Corvosa. The two of us operate out of there.”
With a few gestures, Lucifer produced a small scrap of papyrus, then wrote on it with liquid ink telekinetically. When ze was done, ze handed it over to the magistrate, who read it with squinted eyes.
“Mm. That’s the coastal township to the southeast, yes?” he said. “If I recall properly, it’s roughly a hundred or so kilometers away… Beautiful place. Surrounded by cliffside vineyards, right?”
“That’s the one,” Freya said. “We figured we wanted to indulge ourselves in oceans of both wine and water.”
All three chuckled lightly.
“Very well,” said the magistrate. “I’ll make sure to preserve your details. Should we ever need you two for anything in the future, we’ll know where to reach you. Perhaps a few of us might even make the trek ourselves. If only to enjoy your company.”
“And our wine, too,” Freya said with a grin.
“You… you also own a winery?”
“We couldn’t resist,” Lucifer replied.
The trio then said their goodbyes before Freya and Lucifer resumed their travels. Some of the townsfolk even followed after them for a while as they walked down the relatively smooth gravel road out of the town itself.
There was even a small gaggle of laughing children that chased after them for a few minutes. At least, until their caretakers and parents called them back.
The others who followed gave their final goodbyes and thanks and even small pouches with trinkets and food. But they all ultimately turned back towards their town after a short period of time.
Which left the two alone once again. Their soft leather-wrapped boots made little crunching noises as they walked over the semi-loose gravel pathway that spanned the landscape. Both their strides were easygoing, yet somehow lengthy.
Neither seemed in any particular hurry to get to their next destination – they were rather immersed in the view of the countryside itself.
Much of what was around them were grassy flatlands occupied by numerous large farms. There were numerous rolling hills in the distance, which were often topped with thick copses of trees. A few even had towers jutting out of them.
In a word, it was all stunning.
“Let’s take a short break after this next job, then maybe visit the capital,” Lucifer said after a while.
“Nah, we oughta deal with the powers-that-be some other time,” Freya replied. “Besides, not like either of us are capable of executing a coup by our lonesome selves.”
“That – that’s not what I meant. I mean, we oughta visit the Ravens. Maybe have Azrael give you a look-over.”
Freya glanced over at Lucifer with surprise in her eyes.
“What for?” she said. “I mean, I’ve got a few sprains and aches, but that mino wasn’t nearly strong enough to break bones or anything like that.”
She extended an arm slightly, then flexed her hand in and out of a fist, as though to test her body.
“Seriously, you got hit pretty hard back there,” Lucifer replied. “You were out for at least three seconds… Never happened before, so… you know, you should get checked out.”
“You’re fretting ‘bout nothin’,” Freya said with a sigh.
“Yeah, well, it seemed like to me you didn’t even know where you were when you got back up. I mean, genuinely confused. Doesn’t seem like nothing to me.”
Freya slowly nodded in agreement.
In those few moments where her vision came back, she honestly didn’t know where she was. It seemed almost like she was a completely blank slate who had lived through a whole different life.
And not just the Old Earth kind of life – more like something in between here and there.
She barely remembered patches of memories even as she stumbled back out into reality. They seemed like fragments of dreams, and were completely unreal.
Freya did her best to recall one of those dream-like memories. And in the bits and pieces she could recall, she flew starships and fought against galactic powers. All of them certainly intrigued her – she remembered there was some space-based VRMMO back in her Old Earth. It was hugely popular, of course.
But she was much more interested in the Ancient Roman MMO Umbra Mortalis and so never really paid much attention to most other games.
Though she was sure that if she liked that other game instead, she would have been transported there, rather than there. And she probably wouldn’t have met Lucifer. They certainly wouldn’t be living this life.
She turned towards hir and smiled widely.
“I love that you’re that concerned about me,” she cood. “But seriously, don’t worry about it. I did a run-through with Ascendant Form while you did your attack – which was awesome, by the way. And yeah, still the same me as I’ve always been, everything checks out fine.”
Lucifer flattened hir lips in mock disbelief.
“Mhm,” ze said. “I’ll take your word for it. But if you start doing weird things again, I’m gonna have to knock you out and drag you to Rome in a sack.”
Freya simply chuckled at Lucifer’s teasing. But then another dreamlike memory hit her out of nowhere, which bothered her to her core.
“There is something,” she said. “Not anything we need to worry about. But it’s like… It’s kinda like I dreamt I was in a whole different universe in those few seconds. I don’t really remember most of it now, but little bits and pieces keep coming out of nowhere.”
Lucifer’s eyes went wide for a brief moment out of concern, but ze quickly adjusted them back to normal. The last thing ze wanted to do was alarm Freya, or put her off. Or, rather, ze wanted to put her at ease.
“Tell me more,” ze said curiously.
“I was with Raijin,” she began. “We were in some kinda space station, I think? I can’t really remember exactly. But the two of us were fighting this thing…”
“What, like you and me against the mino?”
Freya shook her head adamantly.
“Nothing like that,” she said. “And no, you weren’t there. Just me and Raijin. And whatever it was we were fighting.”
“What was it? Can you describe it?” Lucifer asked.
“I… I can’t. It’s like I don’t remember what it was. Only that it was really powerful. Hundreds of times more powerful than that mino. More, probably. I can’t really tell exactly.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, really. I think it beat us.”
Lucifer nodded hir head as ze listened intently. Of course, ze tried to analyze her words, to apply them to their conscious, present selves. But instead of attempting to interpret them like some kind of psychotherapist, simply embraced Freya with an arm.
Ze pulled her in tight for a moment before ze let her go.
“Well, good thing that was just some dream and not reality,” ze said.
“Yeah, exactly,” Freya replied. “I’ve got you here, and that’s all that really matters.”
“Buuuut now that you’ve told me that, then I think we really oughta go see the Ravens. Could go see Azrael (just in case, you know), and also talk to Raijin. Maybe she could help with those memories?”
Freya smiled as saw the concern on Lucifer’s face. Or, rather, the concern ze tried hir best to hide.
“Yeah, let’s do that,” she said as she quickened her step.
“When was the last time you saw them?” Lucifer asked.
“Three years, six months, two weeks, and five days.”
“Do you, uh, regret splitting with them?”
.....
Lucifer scratched the back of hir head somewhat sheepishly as ze asked.
“Course not,” Freya said with a sigh. “They’re my sisters for eternity. Nothing could ever split us up. At some point we’ll meet back up again, do our thing.”
“I still feel kinda bad for taking you away from ‘em,” Lucifer replied. “And maybe going this path is getting you hurt…”
“Hey, it was my choice to go with you. I don’t regret that for even a second. When I promised to be by your side, I really meant it. And besides, I know I won’t get hurt. I’ve got you watching over me.”
She stepped closer to Lucifer and gave hir a nudge, even as ze became somewhat glum and forlorn. Freya decided to switch topics, seeing as Lucifer was becoming despondent.
“Say, how much did they pay?” she asked. “Was it worth the trouble?”
“Yeah, fifty aurea,” ze said. “Plus extras from the townsfolk… Hold on! You’re the one that accepted this contract – you oughta know how much they were paying!”
“Issat so? I musta forgot… Maybe I did knock my head a bit back there.”
“Now you’re just messing with me.”
Freya chuckled lightly then gave Lucifer a peck on hir cheek.
“You know you love it,” she told hir.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om