Past the Mountains, Among the Clouds

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Freya did not speak a word. Just one answer. Just give me an answer.

"I bet your eyes have opened quite a bit." Bierra remarked. A remark to me. A remark to my trust.

"Hey, Autumn kid!" She called out to her.

"I don't know what you're thinking right now, but keeping that mouth shut would only sour your image even further for the kid." She said.

I'm not a kid. I wanted to address that, but she was right. I had been way too naïve. Still, I didn't want to give up on Freya. She still felt like the victim.

"Freya..." I voiced out. It was low. I was unsure. 

"I think..." I tried to form a sentence. It was difficult.

Bierra sighed. She could see the turmoil behind my eyes.

"Freya, I think. I think you have a pretty good reason to hide whatever you are hiding." I said.

Silence.

"You know? When you held me over the cliff. You must've thought that I was stubborn enough to not tell you anything. You even called me sharp." 

Silence.

"It wasn't anything like that. I was scared. I was so scared that I was paralyzed in fear. I couldn't speak up."

Silence.

"So, you don't have to think I was sharp or something. In reality, I'm just as Bierra points out to be."

No response.

"I'm gullible. I'm stupid. I believe in others easily. It's a flaw. I know that, but you know what's even worse? I'd still want to help you. I'd still help you no matter the reason-"

"How immature can a person be?" Bierra remarked. I didn't stop.

"I'd still help you because I know. The reason you've been quiet all this time. The reason that you can't answer our questions is that.... you're scared. You're scared to die. You're scared cause you are alone!"

Intrigued. Bierra was intrigued. 

Freya was quiet as ever. No sign of a response from her side. That was disappointing. Something would have definitely helped. A word. Maybe a sigh, even. However, as things were, it seemed my judgement about Freya had indeed been incorrect. I was just as gullible as ever.

Deafening.

Speak something.

Haunting.

I believe in you. Please, speak something.

Disheartening.

"Eirik."

Marshmallows. Roasted marshmallows. A voice I'd identify among a crowd of a million now. A voice so unique there couldn't exist anyone who'd possess it.

Freya had spoken. It was like a miracle. Her first words after what felt like an eternity of silence. My name.

"Don't call yourself stupid ever again." She said.

"It'll hurt my pride as a goddess to have you be called stupid." She said with a firm look.

She turned her gaze to Bierra, who had possessed an expression of surprise. 

Damn. Even she had not foreseen such an outcome.

"Miss Bierra." Freya said. Her demeanor had changed. She was confident, a stark contrast to her silent and depressed self just a minute ago.

"You're right. Keeping quiet would only hamper my relationship with Eirik." She said.

I'm not sure if "relationship" is the correct word here.

"You're correct. I had yet not told him about what I'm hiding. I was just playing the victim. The damsel in distress who wanted to be saved without taking any responsibility for her actions. But now..."

"But now?" Bierra asked.

Freya looked at me.

"Knowing someone who understands me. Knowing someone who I feel would be there by my side no matter what the situation presents itself to be. Knowing someone like Eirik has given me a new sort of strength. I promise I won't be hiding anything from here on." She proclaimed.

"That's a lot of trust in a guy you've just met." Bierra stated the obvious. Yes! She was correct. Freya's wording was making the alarms in my head go haywire. She was getting the wrong idea! Yet I didn't speak a word. Interrupting her in between to voice my trivial concern would be both disappointing and disheartening for her. So, I stayed quiet.

Freya, on the other was unaffected by Bierra's remark. She just said a content-

"So that's what you think."

"Eirik. Miss Bierra. I'll now tell you what I have been hiding all this time. Like Miss Bierra said, it would be useless. It would be pointless. Despite that, I have someone believing in me right now and telling the tale of mine is the best way I think I can do them justice." Freya said.

"So I think the best point to start this tale of mine would be when I became like this. When I became Freya Pomon Archion."

"Wait, Freya—what do you mean by 'became' Freya Pomon Archion? Isn't that just… your name?" I asked. Some great of a listener I was.

"Kind of. Kind of not." She replied. That's one way to clear some confusion. By not clearing any, that is. 

My puzzling expression must've been visible since immediately she followed up with-

"My bad, that's not the best answer to give, I suppose. Hmm..." She thought for a while then said-

"Oh yes. The best way would be to explain this is, I was a human once."

Human. A mortal. Just like me, she was a human. More aptly, she had been a human.

"Your eyes tell me Bierra hasn't told you this." Freya looked at Bierra.

"What do you mean? Told me what?" I asked.

Hidden. Bierra had also hid something. I looked at her.

"Don't give me that look. It's not like I need to tell you everything." She rebuked.

"Still, Miss Bierra, don't you think it's apt to have Eirik know something as important as this? After all the harsh words you said to me, it appears that they were equally directed towards your own self." Freya's voice had developed a sarcastic touch to it. It wasn't much but I could catch it.

Bierra lowered down her gaze. Was she embarrassed about something? If that were the case, I NEEDED TO KNOW THE DETAILS!

"Yes, Miss Bierra. I think you should tell Eirik." Freya pushed Bierra even more.

"Yes. Tell him that.." She continued with her persuasion.

"Tell him that?" I asked.

"That I used to be human, too." Bierra finally said.

"WHATTT?!" I exclaimed.

"There's nothing to be that shocked about you know!" She scolded.

Oh no. I was not letting her get away this time.

"Oh god! You mean all that sense of superiority complex. All that condescending attitude. That wise persona, acting all cold and distant. Like you're some being that existed before the dawn of time and you had been a human in the past?" I raged. Well, I wasn't angry, but I was certainly frustrated.

"It- It's not like I enjoyed acting superior in your presence." 

"LIARRR! You just stammered, didn't you? That's a dead giveaway." She wasn't going out of this unharmed now.

Seriously, she even killed me once over a small fight. Acting like she was some primordial being! She even said she had existed for more than a billion years! Not to mention that condescending attitude she had been giving to me and Freya.

"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry, alright." She replied in a hurriedly apologetic tone.

"A sorry isn't enough to buy your way out of this." I scoffed. 

"Okay. Then what is it? I'm sorry for the way I have behaved with you till now. Now tell me, how can I apologise?"

Freya had this troubled smile all this time. I suppose she didn't foresee my reaction.

"Help us." I responded.

"Help?" Bierra asked, confused.

"Yes. Help Freya. Prevent whatever is going to happen to her." I responded.

"What? That's not possible." She responded.

"It's that or I'm never forgiving you." I declared.

"Do you even know the scale of what you're asking?"

"I don't, but for the price of killing me twice, I think it's a fair thing to ask."

Bierra went quiet. Her expression changed for a short while.

"Listen everyone. I know I can't be helped. You don't have to once again fight over it." Freya came in to mediate.

"But-" I tried to oppose.

"And Eirik, I think if you really want to help me. You should listen to my tale completely at least once." An earnest tone.

She was right. I had interrupted her in between her story. That was disrespectful.

Bierra and I went back to take our place. Our entire episode had had us pushing and shoving our fingers into one another.

"Alright, you can continue. This time I won't interrupt you." I promised.

"Good, so like I said. The day I became Freya Pomon Archion. With the first ray of tomorrow's sunlight, it'll be three years since I became a God."

Three years. That must've been ninth grade. A ninth grader was chosen to be a god.

"Eirik, how is your relationship with your parents?" Freya asked suddenly.

"Huh? My parents? They're nice. A bit strict at times, but I care about them and I guess they feel the same for me." I replied.

"Right. Miss Bierra, I wouldn't ask you that. I don't feel we are close enough right now to get into familial matters of each other, but since you're a goddess, I guess you'd know my condition very well." Bierra just nodded.

Something Bierra understood. Something about being a goddess.

"So, Eirik. It looks to me you're very close to your parents. I kinda envy that."

Envy.

"I didn't find my parents redeemable a single bit." She said with a disdainful look in her eyes.

Hate. 

"No. Actually, back then, I didn't find a single person in this world redeemable. I hated all of them. Each and everyone. I hated them with my guts. I hated this superficial world. And so I became the Autumn Goddess."

"Wait, Freya- I'm not sure I understand how does you hating the world made you a Goddess?" I asked. It wasn't sensible. If anything, I would predict her to become someone cold-hearted and distant in this situation. If anything, it'd be more sensible here to become someone like Bierra. I thought to myself.

"Yes, I completely understand that Eirik." Her voice sounded hollow. It had lost the touch of marshmallows I'd had grown to associate with her.

Maniacal.

"My hate."

"My despise."

"I never showed it to them."

A sociopath.