Chapter 4: Frey

Long ago, the gods of the planet Earth lived among the people living on her. They lived in harmony, even helping in the transition of humankind from simplicity to industry. The people loved them as well, they worshiped them so much to even build them altars and shrines to show their utmost respect. In this harmony did the gods intertwined their beings with the people. In that affiance, they created creatures that are different from the rest of the people that originally lived on Earth. The god of the sea created merpeople when he wedded his beloved human, the god of the sky created the fae and more. One of the gods that lived among the people was Frey.

Frey was one of the gods that coupled with the people but refused to share his gifts with his creatures. Frey was never the kind to copulate with lowly creatures. He was cold, acerbic, and oozed authority. He wasn’t the most powerful god among them however he was the most frightening one when he used his power. In contrast to his sister Vor, who is one of the most powerful gods in level with her brother. She embraced life with the humans and involved herself in everything they did and completely empathized with them. In one of Vor’s visits, she conversed with her brother with utmost sincerity after seeing his home. A cottage house found in the middle of the woods, surrounded by overgrown weeds and moss, a pile of firewood adjacent to the front door of the cottage. Opposite to the interior of the house, inside it was clean polished wooded floors and walls, a fire warming the home from the hearth, log styled sofa, and chairs in the center of the room. Candlelit sconce mounted on the walls set a warm light in the room and finally Frey’s presence as he stands near the hearth. Vor approaches him and sits by the sofa and asks him respectfully and formally as this was how Frey preferred to be spoken to.

“Brother, do you not feel the slightest form of lonesome?”  

“Most days I treat that emotion as a common fly.” Frey flicks his hand on the air gesturing as removing a fly from his space.

“Does isolation bring you utmost comfort?” Vor adjusts her long pale green dress on the sofa.

“It does” his jaw locking in irritability.

“Does my presence bother you dear brother?” she teases.

“Does your incessant questioning bring you peace?” he snaps. Vor stands to move closer to him.

“I came to tell you, that there is a woman not far from your home. She is nearing the limit of her strength and I pray you that help her.” She straightens her brother’s coat and walks towards the door.

“No. If that is her life’s end then it shall be.” His brows furrowed in frustration.

“Brother, learn compassion. It will favor many more lives in the future.” Her voice drops a few pitches lower than her usual and leaves with her eyes glowing. Frey was left speechless as he realizes that Mother had just spoken to him.

(Insert lady dying here and Frey nurses to cure)

Dusk comes and a light fog covers the forest, it becomes chillier and more difficult to walk around the land. Frey throws a couple of pieces of wood onto the hearth, he tucks his arms into his robe warming up when a weak knock sounds from his door. He looks at the door alert and remembers this is what his sister has told him about. He walks cautiously to the door and opens it ever so slowly. A woman covered from head to toe in shredded clothes falls on his floor. Frey takes a few steps back and comes forward after getting a clearer look at her. A frail pure human woman with wounds on her scalp that continued to bleed down to her face, her slim hand was too close to looking like her skeletal frame, and her breathing was too shallow to be safe on her health.

“H-help p-please,” her hoarse voice turns into silence.

Frey crouches to pick up the woman, places her on the sofa near the hearth, and fetches a cup of water for her. He stays silent, carefully moving the cloth that covers her face hoping to clean her wounds. His thoughts went from ‘my sister told me about this to who is she?’

“I will help you” he whispers to keep her from fright, “I will clean your wounds if you let me.”

She groans an audible yes and he proceeds to clean her face. Nothing significant comes from cleaning and helping her, he looks at her with the iota amount of empathy or compassion. Her presence made his place seem smaller but warm like his home looked similar to a perfect home that had been shown to him by Vor several times. His mixed thoughts made him feel confused and a little distraught. He wondered why he felt this way and came to the conclusion that this is a feeling he hasn’t approached yet and will openly accept it even if it was stepping over his comfort zone and knowing that this will affect him in his future.

He spent his time with the human. Her name was Felicity, she was a bride of a treacherous man who wanted her for her body. Her parents sold her to a man who had nothing in his name but only the right to wed a woman that he thought could bring pleasure to his life. Frey listened intently to everything she had to say, Felicity was grateful that she had been saved by him, in all honesty, she was grateful she was saved at all. The night she fled from her household was the bravest night she could ever be. All her bruises were from him, and her tenuous frame was by him as well. He starved her because she would give him pleasure. The horrors that Frey heard made him angry for her, made him feel too close to empathy and that didn’t make him feel good at all. His recognition of his feelings made it clear that this is what his sister and mother wanted for him. They wanted him to know and feel what the creatures on the land he inhabits do. It wasn’t enough that he lived on the land and, it wasn’t enough that he lived isolated in the woods, no, his family needed him to understand why he was there and what he had to do. They wanted him to feel human.

Months turned into years; he had understood the assignment. He became close to being a pure human. He even learned that the feeling he carried as he cared for Felicity was love. He bore children with the woman he loved and treated them with the utmost kindness. Vor once visited him and was surprised by how much her brother has changed. Warmth in his eyes, gentle with every touch, and for the first time in her life she saw him smile. Vor left walking ever so gracefully and turned over to her shoulder, Frey watches her leave with glowing eyes and smiles at her.

“Thank you” he mouths quietly as Vor walks deeper into the woods.

Frey felt glory and wonder of what pure humans were like, never again did he want anything from them after their rise in greed. The panic of the first war began started by man, the world he inhabited started to look uglier than it already was. The inevitable day arrived; dark clouds descended on the soil, unbreathable air trapped the people in their homes, and sounds of explosions surrounded the entirety of the land. People dropping to the ground from excessive coughs and cries, their eyes red and teary begging to be rescued, and helplessness and sorrow were the only expressions the pure humans were able to make.

Frey stands in his humble home immune to the attacks however his children weren’t. He watched his wife and children beg for his gift to survive but he did not budge. A god such as he with incredible gifts may reproduce but deny them of such powers in order to keep the balance of good and evil be intact. He swallowed his pain and closed his eyes; he summons his brothers and sisters’ presence. Using telepathy, he orders them a new mission: save their creatures.

He stands still on the corpses of his family, his grief buried deep inside him. He has no time with such emotion. He had responsibilities to his siblings and the creatures Mother had made. Voices of his brothers and sisters echo in his head as he hastens his pace towards the sea.

“We are ready dear brother” their voices ring in his ears.

He steps on the shores as his brother Gir slowly walks rising from the sea.

“Have you found a suitable place for us?” Frey asks, Gir moves closer to him.

“I have, brother. It is in the center of the ocean. No other land surrounds it.”

“Well done.”

Frey follows him to the center of the ocean. Strong winds accompanied by light showers and loud thunders. Amid it, Gir and Frey stood at peace on the water like there was no such weather around them. Frey extends his arms summoning his brothers and sisters to his side. One by one a bright glow of light shines and the gods appear.

“I summoned thee to protect our creatures. I call to your hands as we make a home, a new land.”

All the gods stood still and gathered in a circle with hands open-palmed as they raised their arms in unity. A large mass of land started to grow from below the waters. The sound of the land rising was covered by the thunders in the sky and the waves of water splashed against the land. The gods finished creating the new home by surrounding it with a barrier of invisibility from the pure humans.

Frey speaks in authority breaking the silence among them.

“I am grateful to you all for creating this new home with me for our creatures. I must insist on one law above all of us. No pure human must come in contact with any of our creatures.”

All gods nod in agreement, except for Vor.