Chương 97: Chapter 94 – The Vision of Earth

Chelsea looked around for the source of the voice but found no one.

"Up here." She tilted her head back. A gigantic face peered down at her from above, its features stretching across what seemed to be the entire ceiling. Chelsea giggled.

"Oh, you're being Miss Sky-Face again." The enormous face smiled. It dissolved into a pillar of pale light that descended from the ceiling to the floor. The light narrowed, condensed, and slowly took the shape of Freya. She stepped out of it as though emerging from behind a curtain.

"Welcome to my room." Chelsea took another look around. The room was surprisingly... normal and very empty. A single bed rested against one wall. A sturdy desk sat beneath the lone window, scattered with loose papers, books, and a few maps. Against another wall sat what could only be described as a mountain of pillows piled haphazardly together.

"Not what I expected," Chelsea admitted as she slowly wandered farther inside.

"Expected more, I dunno... godly fanfare." Freya snorted as she crossed the room and flopped backward onto her bed hard enough to make the mattress squeak.

"I got all that shit out of my system centuries ago. How are you settling in?" Chelsea walked over to the enormous pile of pillows and cautiously leaned against them. Her eyes widened. They practically swallowed her. She shifted deeper into them until only her head and shoulders remained visible.

"Trying to get into a groove. Routine is rough when there's so much to do."

"And you still found time to visit little old me?" Freya asked with a smirk. Chelsea smiled.

"I figured I should check on you." Something softened in Freya's expression before she quickly hid it behind another grin.

"I saw what happened with you and the girls that first night. Seriously, don't worry about it. The shit they get up to would make a…" Freya paused and made a face as if trying to remember something, "porn… person… blush." Chelsea's face immediately reddened before Freya's pause.

"You saw that? How?" She reached over and squeezed one of the pillows with both hands.

"By the way, these are insanely comfy."

"Right?" Freya laughed.

"I see all that happens in Valhalla. Right now, your new best friend Brea is arguing with Virtue about if it's more honorable to be on the front line in a battle or to hang back and assist more fallen to salvation." she somehow rolled her weird glowing static eyes. Chelsea shook her head with a laugh.

"Wow. They really take this thing seriously."

"They've had centuries to practice." Freya stretched lazily across the bed before folding one arm behind her head.

"Speaking of which, when are you finally going to give up on Bodarex and let me be your patron goddess?" Chelsea looked over the top of the pillow she had nearly disappeared behind.

"Are you going to be able to give me something equivalent to four extra title slots?" Freya let out a long sigh.

"Yeah, no. I can't beat that. The shit he gets away with is insane. Where Magalesa did the bare minimum for you." Chelsea absentmindedly traced one finger along the embroidery sewn into one of the pillows.

"So what is with the gods? There seems to be a love-hate relationship between all of you." Freya rolled onto her side and rested her head on one hand while staring out the window.

"It's a lot like that... uh... what was the highest level of school?"

"High school?" Freya snapped her fingers.

"Wow, how did I forget that?" She laughed to herself before continuing.

"So there are groups and subgroups. Some mingle. Others hate each other. There are the in-groups, and if you're not part of one, you're seen as an outcast. Even then, the outcasts have their own little groups." She reached over to the nightstand and idly spun a small wooden carving between her fingers.

"Take Bodarex for example. He'd be the star sports person of the school." She tossed the carving into the air and caught it.

"He'd also be the first to slip something into your drink." Chelsea wrinkled her nose.

"Where do you fall?" Freya caught the carving one last time before setting it back on the nightstand.

"I'd be in the outcasts. But instead of making friends with the other loser gods, I created Valhalla." She rolled back onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

"The Valkyr originally were meant to be personality types that I could hang out with. We'd do cool shit and ride awesome steeds into battle." She let out a tired breath.

"But fuck did it warp into something obnoxious. Like seriously, that's why I stopped talking in front of them." Chelsea thought back to the feast.

"Oh hey, speaking of which, Passion heard you talking to me the other day."

"Oh yeah, I know." Freya reached over and straightened one of the pillows behind her without looking at it.

"I really don't care. They like to think I'm this strict, no-bullshit goddess. Maybe five hundred years ago. Now?" She shrugged.

"I really stopped caring." Chelsea smiled.

"So you'd be cool with me breaking the Havoc birthright armor?" Freya sat upright.

"Why the fuck... why?" She didn't sound angry. Only curious. Chelsea climbed out of the pillow pile and sat cross-legged on the floor.

"It's that soul-marked enhancement. It lets me basically wear broken armor and turn it into Rare gear. Can't really wear it otherwise. I technically own better gear based on attributes than the set, but that bonus for wearing the full set is really solid." Freya listened without interrupting. When Chelsea finished, she simply nodded.

"For you? Nah. Not really. Your Call makes it obsolete almost immediately." She pointed a finger toward Chelsea. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Speaking of which. When you do assign that title, let me know. It's going to give you access to something I've always wanted to see."

"What?"

"The full list of Havoc abilities." Freya grinned.

"I want to write them all down."

"Yeah, that's no problem." Chelsea leaned back against the side of the bed.

"Any idea how my family is doing?" Freya looked at her sideways.

"Don't you mean Ivy?" Chelsea rolled her eyes so dramatically it made Freya laugh. Chelsea stood, facing the mountain of pillows against the wall and dropped into it. The pillows immediately shifted around her, swallowing most of her lower body. She adjusted her wings, tugged one large cushion under her arm, and settled in with a contented little sigh.

"Yes, I'd like to know how Ivy is doing, but honestly any news. I sent off my first letters today. My mother is the only one who can read or write. And it's like at a second-grade level." Freya remained stretched out on the bed. She stared up at the ceiling, and some of the earlier amusement slipped from her face.

"Sorry kid," she said with a sigh.

"My omnipotence reaches the edges of the city." Chelsea had expected that answer, but it still disappointed her. She picked at a loose thread on one of the pillows, then tucked it back into the seam when she realized what she was doing.

"I figured. No worries. You know, you don't smell like food. It's really nice." Freya let out a laugh.

"Gee thanks." Chelsea smiled to herself and sank deeper into the pillows. The room did not feel godly. It felt lived in. Papers sat in messy stacks on the desk. One blanket had been kicked halfway off the bed. The pillow pile along the wall looked used rather than decorative, which made Chelsea like it more.

"What was your name before you became Freya? Back on Earth." Freya was silent for a long moment. Her hand moved absently to the edge of the blanket, smoothing a wrinkle that did not need smoothing.

"You know, I don't actually remember." Chelsea glanced over at her. Freya did not look upset exactly, but her expression had gone distant in a way Chelsea recognized. There were empty places in her memory, and Chelsea could tell she did not like finding them.

"That's OK. Freya is an awesome name."

"Oh, I owe you a steed. What do you want?" Chelsea's fingers paused on the pillow seam.

"I don't know. What are my options?"

"It's pretty much whatever you want. The others all were assigned theirs based on what was already available but I'll make yours. Anything tickle your fancy?" Chelsea turned the idea over in her head. Every Valkyr she had seen seemed to have some kind of imposing mount in theory, though she had not actually seen many yet.

"Oh, you mean like a war horse?"

"Oh come on. Use your imagination. If you're a horse girl then how about a rainbow colored flying unicorn." Chelsea giggled at that and hugged the pillow against herself.

"It's like you don't even know me at all." Freya returned the laugh from the bed.

"Then get creative." Chelsea stayed there for several minutes, half-buried in the pillows while she thought. She considered dragons first, mostly because she was Chelsea and because Pundukarack deserved to be considered. The problem was that she already knew what Freya would say. Then her mind drifted home. Not Earth. Junstruce. The manor. The shade tree behind the house. The wildflowers. The place where she had spent so many quiet hours before leaving.

She adjusted one of the pillows behind her back and narrowed her eyes at Freya.

"How big can it be?"

"How big were you thinking? If you're thinking of a greater dragon that's a no-go. I heard the story your mother was telling some of the girls about you wanting to keep the one you found as a pet."

"Actually? I hadn't thought of that. That should have been my first choice. Oh how I miss my poor Pundukarack. She was such a good girl." Freya laughed, and Chelsea waited for it to pass before continuing. She lifted one hand from the pillow and traced the shape she was imagining in the air.

"No, I was thinking of home and the shade tree and wildflowers behind our house. Could you make like a tortoise that could have something like that growing on its back?" Freya's expression shifted from amused to genuinely interested. She looked toward the ceiling again, but Chelsea could tell she was already picturing it.

"Wow. That is creative. And very slow. You know steeds are meant to get you somewhere faster?" Chelsea let out a breath of laughter and relaxed back into the pillow pile.

"You know I can fly faster than most steeds right? And just imagine it." She swiped her hand through the air again, letting the idea build while she spoke.

"Having to contend with the might of Valhalla but the enemy forces are slowly rebuking the attack."

"Good word use."

"Thanks. Then off in the distance a tree taller than the rest begins moving towards them. Bloodlust incarnate slowly descends. Is it the giant tortoise? No! It's the tiny little albino colored demon girl resting under the shade of the tree on its back. She starts by raining pain javelins down on the opposing army and takes to the sky to annihilate her foes." Freya's smile spread wider the longer Chelsea talked. By the time Chelsea finished, the goddess looked more awake than she had all night.

"That shit... is why I made the Valkyr in the first place. It's so dramatic. It's so... you know what? I'll make you your turtle but just remember. It is going to be slow." Chelsea lifted a finger to correct her.

"Tortoise. Turtles have softer shells. I think? I know it's something like that." Freya gave her a look, but did not argue. Instead, she settled back into the bed and let the quiet return. Chelsea shifted sideways in the pillows until she found a comfortable spot, one wing draped over a cushion and her tail curled near her feet.

"Tell me about your life from Earth. It's not that I miss Earth but like... I donno maybe I do? Maybe it's just nostalgic to think about?" Chelsea rested her cheek against one of the pillows and looked across the room at the desk, at the scattered papers, and at the faint light touching the floor.

"Alright." She took a moment to decide where to begin.

"Let's see. Umm so the Chelsea origin story. I had a brother. He was the worst and not like in a sibling way. I think he had something messed up mentally. He was one of those kids you hear about that would hurt animals just to watch them suffer. He found an outlet for that in video games. So my mother was happy to support his addiction by buying him stuff in the game." Freya's fingers stilled against the blanket.

"Video games. I forgot about those." Chelsea smiled and gave a quiet laugh. The memory felt far away now, more distant than it should have after only couple of months.

"Yeah. Was never a fan of them. Never thought I'd be sucked into a world that is basically a videogame."

"Is it?" Freya asked. Chelsea stayed tucked in the pillows. The question made her lift her head just enough to look across the dim room.

"Status screens and magic and yeah it's totally a videogame." Freya stared at the ceiling. Her expression shifted slowly, losing some of its amusement as she considered the world she had built part of herself around.

"Huh," Freya said quietly.

"It kind of is." Chelsea let her head settle again.

"We lived in Austin, Texas which isn't too far from w..."

"I lived there too!" Freya exclaimed.

"How crazy is that?" Chelsea pushed herself up on one elbow and looked at her. Freya's face had brightened with sudden recognition, but there was confusion beneath it too.

"I thought you said..." Chelsea hesitated before saying, "Houston."

"Oh, no I died in Houston. I went to school in Austin. I don't... remember why I was in Houston." Freya's voice faded as she looked away. Her brow furrowed in thought. For a moment, she seemed to be listening to something Chelsea could not hear. The room felt quieter around them.

"Ah, anyway. So you lived in Austin." Chelsea watched her for another moment before letting the subject pass. Freya wanted the memories, but every one of them seemed to come with missing pieces.

"Yup. My dad left us a few years ago. Came as a huge shock to us. He was a really good dad but then just disappeared. No, he didn't get Magalesa'd. My mother ended up finding out he moved to Oregon with his mistress." Freya's eyes narrowed slightly at the word. Her attention drifted again, and Chelsea could almost see her reaching for the memory.

"Oregon. That sounds so familiar," Freya said quietly.

"Sorry not trying to derail you. But you keep casually dropping memory bombshells on me." Chelsea smiled, but the expression was small.

"No, no need to be sorry. I'm telling you this because you asked. Get whatever you want out of it."

"Damn I love Havocs," she said, "Always so nice. Keep going. I'm enjoying this way more than you know." Chelsea let herself stay there for a few seconds before continuing. The words felt stranger than she expected. She had told pieces of her old life before, but never to someone who might understand all the parts nobody in this world could.

"OK. Umm, as you know I went to school. I was a senior in high school. That's twelfth grade. If you don't remember." Freya nodded against the pillow, and Chelsea felt oddly relieved by the small acknowledgement.

"I was trying to go for valedic... uh... number one in the class." Chelsea laughed at the correction.

"I had a best friend. Really, she was my only friend. I had to baby her grades for her as well..." Her throat tightened. She sniffed and turned her face slightly so she would not accidentally wipe her nose against Freya's pillows. The sudden emotion irritated her more than anything. She had been fine. She had been relaxed. Then Amber was there in her thoughts, and the distance between Valhalla and Earth felt impossible.

"As well as mine. Her name was Amber. Or I guess it's still Amber."

"Amber," Freya repeated. Chelsea noticed Freya go still.

"Amber." The second repetition was different. Freya's breathing changed. It grew heavier, uneven, almost panicked. Chelsea lifted her head, but before she could ask anything, Freya's eyes widened.

"Amber!?" She yelled. The room exploded. Chelsea jerked backward and scrambled out of the pillows as light tore through the walls. The bed vanished. The pillow pile disappeared. The desk, the papers, the wooden walls, all of it shattered into a place Chelsea knew did not belong in Valhalla. She was in a room from Earth. There were couches with blocky cushions. An old bulky flat screen TV sat on top of a wooden dresser. Flames crawled across the dresser and climbed the wall behind it.

Smoke poured through the room, thick enough to blacken the ceiling. Chelsea could smell burning wood, fabric, and plastic. In front of her, a young Amber lay unconscious, smaller than Chelsea ever remembered and burned badly enough that Chelsea's felt a horrified chill crawl up her spine. A firefighter grabbed her under the arms and was dragging her toward the window. Glass glittered across the floor. The curtains were already gone, swallowed by flame. Chelsea tried to move. Her body would not obey.

The fire surrounded everything, but no heat touched her. She stood inside the memory without being part of it, forced to watch while Amber was pulled toward safety. Then the flames consumed the room. For one blinding second, Chelsea saw nothing but fire. An explosion ripped through the vision. Then it ended. Chelsea was back in Freya's room. The god was half on the bed and half off it, with tears already rolling down her cheeks. Her breathing came fast. Her hands shook against the blanket.

Her eyes burned with blinding TV static light. The glow washed over the room, turning the desk and pillows stark and colorless. Her face was wide-eyed. She wasn't or amused or godly. For the first time since Chelsea had met her, Freya looked completely lost. Chelsea stared at her through her own tears.

"You," Chelsea said.

"Her sister died in that fire. Were you her sister!?" Freya's mouth opened, but no answer came at first. Her breathing was still too heavy. The light in her eyes flickered violently across the room.

"You were her friend?" she asked out of breath. They stared at each other, and the last missing piece fell into place.

"Your name. It was Ashleigh."...... Hey Guys, it's Riley. Thanks so much for reading! Really it still blows my mind anyone wants to read my writing. If you would like to get up to 20 chapters early, feel free to check Riley's Patreon. There are currently 2 tiers that give early chapters. As always, you are the reason I post. Thank you for reading!