Celestial Saga: Exiled To Earth III 23 Stage Twenty Three: The Prince Of Phrein

"She's been like that ever since we came here." Keon worried, looking at Freyja who's been quietly sitting on the window pane, silently staring at the sky for quite some time now.

"Freyja, want some?" Alaric sat beside her, handing her a bag of bite-sized chocolate chip cookies. Freyja grinned and took some. "Gee, thanks Alaric." She was smiling, but it was obviously forced.

"Hey guys! I'm going out for a bit!" She said, waving her hand at her friends. "Aren't you going to eat first?" Alaric asked, she still hadn't had breakfast yet. "Nah, I'm full. Later!"

"She's not eating? Now there really is something wrong with her." Keon said, looking at an equally quiet Kirin. Just then, Kirin stood up and followed Freyja. Before she could get out of the inn, Kirin grabbed her hand, stopping her. "Wait, where are you going?" He asked. Freyja gently shoved Kirin's hand off. "Just around, somewhere." She replied, without even looking at him.

"Will you be alright by yourself?"

"OF COURSE, I WILL BE!" Freyja sounded agitated, but soon calmed down. She apologized. "I'm... I'm sorry, Kirin." And she dashed away from him.

"I can't blame her. It's her guardian s.n.a.t.c.hed away from her just like that. Not to mention Aluanthi too. But are you really sure she's gonna be alright?" Alaric asked, sipping his hot coffee. "You saw how those phreinian's easily caught Afra. And I was sure it's meant for her."

"She hates phreinians more than anything, no wonder she'll get so angry." Keon added.

"It's not that." Kirin said. "I think, what hurts Freyja the most, is her pride. She hates feeling helpless the most. It must have been traumatic to appear weak right before the very people who ravaged your homeland, like they did when she was first exiled."

"But doesn't that mean that she needs us now more than ever?" Alaric asked. "We are friends, for goodness sake!"

"If we follow her right now, she'll feel even more helpless and worse! Let's give her time to sort things out herself, and when she's ready, she'll return." Kirin argued.

Keon stood up and walked away. "I'll do things my own way." He simply stated before leaving.

Alaric too, left.

And Kirin, was left by himself, waiting for Freyja's return.

Freyja wandered. She walked around the town, to the farms, everywhere her feet took her. The face of those phreinians that took Afra deeply etched in her mind all day. It was exactly the same, when Alfiore Kinju was killed, when Reyrah Fiega pushed her into that portal to earth, when she saw the home she loved so much burning. Nothing changed.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was weak." Tears rolled down her cheeks, they just won't stop. "I'm sorry."

"Hey."

Looking beside her, she saw Keon. She instinctively wiped her tears and looked away. "Yeah, what are you doing here?" She asked, trying to sound normal. Keon sighed and sat beside her. He tugged her hand, urging her to sit with him.

"Kirin said to leave you alone. But this is the perfect opportunity to give you a taste of your own medicine." He chuckled.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you aren't aware of how nosy you are." Keon rolled his eyes. "You just won't leave me alone ever since."

Realizing that, Freyja blushed, and chuckled. Seeing her genuinely smile relieved him. He gently wrapped an arm around her, pulling her closer to him. "Don't ever think you're in this by yourself, okay? Or I'd feel bad." Keon whispered. "We can always try again, and again, and again, until we succeed, right?"

Freyja could no longer hold back the tears she has been suppressing for so long. She sank her face into Keon's chest, tightly gripping his shirt wet with her tears. Keon gently wrapped his arms around her. "You are very strong, Freyja. Don't dare think otherwise."

He felt Freyja nod.

Suddenly, they both felt a strong presence coming towards them. Keon and Freyja stood up, readied themselves for an attack. But there was no attack. Instead, a tall man, with his face and body covered in a thick grey cloak with golden linings, appeared before them. "What do you want?" Keon asked, summoning a dagger from his aura.

"Lenfiare, please calm down and hear me out." The stranger said, with a deep, low, voice. Seeing that Freyja was willing to listen, the stranger sighed in relief and threw a scroll in front of her and hurriedly left. "It may be hard for you to trust me, but know that I am not your enemy." Freyja wanted to run after him, but decided to look at the scroll first. Keon cautiously picked it up, and sensed no trap or malicious aura in it. They both opened it, and read it, the letters written in celestial language which only Freyja was able to read.

"The Celestial guardian Afra is with the second prince of Phrein, Galun.

Galun holds a very powerful weapon against celestials,

the most important treasure of Phrein,

the one and only thing that can defeat celestial aura.

Galun wants to extract the celestial core inside the Lenfiare. Be careful."

Freyja tried to chase after the stranger, but he was gone. But on the back of the scroll, there is a rough sketch of the map of that world. On the far south, there is a very small island, around as big as the Kingdom of Haia. On that island is a red 'X' mark.

"Freyja, you're back." Kirin was relieved to see her and Keon back, but noticed the unsettling look on their faces. She handed the scroll to Kirin. "A stranger handed that to me. It might be a trap but…"

"What does it say?"

"The stranger was tall, and I believe, was a phreinian." Freyja said, much to their surprise. "But it said that it's not our enemy. And we both didn't feel malicious intent from it either." Keon added.

"The scroll says they have Afra, and that he's held captive by Phrein's second prince, Galun. And that…" Freyja hesitated, but she continued. "… and that they have a trump card against me. They have something that can defeat celestial aura."

"I am guessing it's that orb we saw." Kirin was sure of it. It's the same kind of soul orb the Aethelmaer clan once produced and kept to keep him under control. The soul orb that Freyja destroyed six years ago. Not knowing more than the tiny fragments of Phantom Lord's memories frustrated him to no end. If only he can look into his memories, he may be able to help her.

"Kirin? You okay?"

"Yeah. Anyway, it's getting late. Let's rest and we'll all plan about this tomorrow, when Alaric is back."

Agreeing, they all headed to their separate rooms.

It was in the middle of the night, and Kirin woke up, only to see Freyja practicing in the inn's garden. He could totally see her from his window, a sigh escaped his lips. Whenever something frustrates her, excites her, she works and practices her heart out.

Out there, Freyja is holding a wooden sword, not a trace of her aura, slashing a wooden dummy over and over. Every slash, emanated her frustrations and anger, her pains, her ails.

Kirin jumped down from the window and silent like a shadow, he headed straight to her.

"I see you improved a lot." He suddenly whispered, surprising her. "How about a match?" He asked, grabbing one of the wooden swords on the ground. Freyja smirked. "Sure, why not?"

The two readied themselves, the atmosphere was quite serious. Freyja was the first one to attack. It was a good attack, but Kirin is still out of her league in terms of physical combat. Without breaking a sweat, he disarmed her, as easy as taking candy away from a little child.

"DARN THIS s.h.i.t." Freyja cursed, continuing her aggressive attacks. Of course, Kirin warded every single one of them until he found an opening. Freyja winced, but Kirin just gently tapped her head with his wooden sword before walking away.

"It was great. But not enough to beat me." He said, calmly.

"I know." Freyja just sighed, turning her face away from Kirin. "I guess I'll just have to sharpen my skills again. Haha." She laughed, as if it was nothing. But Kirin could see right through her.

"Freyja!" He shouted, calling the attention of the girl. Then, with arms wide open, he called her again. "Crybaby Freyja! Come over here." Surprised, she didn't know how to react. Nevertheless, she found herself coming to his arms.

~ o 0 o ~

As soon as the sun rose, Freyja, Kirin, Alaric and Keon gathered over breakfast, planning their next move. Freyja showed them the scroll she got from the stranger yesterday. Despite the tense environment, Alaric suddenly took out a bowl full of fried squid and fish strips, Freyja's favorite food. "Look, I happened to find these. Want some?"

And Keon too, took out a few bottles of the lemon juice, and some cakes which Freyja loved so much. "Well these are…" The two aren't really good with words of comfort. And, they both wanted to cheer Freyja up without making her feel miserable or trampling over her pride.

Freyja immediately realized what they're trying to do. She glanced at Kirin, who's holding back a laugh. Freyja laughed out loud. "Gosh, you two. Thanks!"

"I'm sorry… I became all emo. I'm sorry for worrying you guys!" Freyja dashed to them, giving them both a big hug. "I love you so much guys!"

Freyja took a deep breath and faced Kirin seriously all of a sudden.

Kirin, I…"

"NO."

"HEY! I haven't even finished talking yet!"

"From the look in your face, you want us, and don't want us to go, right? You are worried that we might get caught up over some phreinian issue or something. We are already involved, and it's not like we have anything better to do." Kirin hit the nail on the head. He read her like an open book. "Well…"

"I can't speak for mister friend and little brother here. But don't you think its rude to set your lover aside?" Kirin's reply stoned Freyja, her face beet red. While the other two gave off an equally red face. "L-little brother what?"

"Mister Friend? How thoughtful of you Kirin, you deserve your face ripped off!"

Despite the banter, the tension, the anxiety, before they knew it, it all vanished.

"ALRIGHT!" She exclaimed, back in full energy. "We will go and save Afra!"

~ o 0 o ~