With the exception of Astrid, other Celestial Guardians have never reached out to Freyja. She wouldn't even know about them hadn't Astrid desperately tried to reach her thoughts. At this point, she has absolutely no idea where to find the rest of them. Astrid too, couldn't give a single clue. Freyja had no other choice but to blindly follow her gut.
Kirin suggested to journey to the isolated islands between Lunchian continent and Di Continent on the East. The said group of islands is well known for being 'cursed.' Only the fiercest and the bravest of travelers reached it. Travelers wouldn't risk exploring the island either since there isn't much resources to get there in the first place. The risk is not worth the reward.
Some travelers who lived to tell the tale had one warning to the outside world: Its local tribes were very fierce and aggressive to outsiders, with ghastly sightings of creatures they have never seen before and otherworldly apparitions. According to the rumors, they despise foreigners and some were even sacrificed to their deities after cutting their stomach open. Some even say that the island is a 'portal to the underworld.'
Getting to that island can be quite a challenge, since there are no direct airships or boats that normally goes through that route. But Kirin was quite confident that with enough gold, they can charter an airship to take them there.
Through Kirin's saved up resources, along with the money Freyja and Alaric earned from the combat championship, they managed to get a first class ship going to Lunchian continent.
While on the airship, Freyja only did two things: One, requesting a guided tour in the ship's control room, eagerly learning about the mechanism that allows the humongous airship to fly, and two, training her body synch with Astrid's aura. Freyja would regularly summon the celestial guardian, which would eventually transform into the celestial sword. Even though this feat tires her body, she is now able to hold its form for three whole hours without fainting. This is a far cry from the first time she wielded the celestial sword and collapsed after 5 minutes. Like Freyja, Alaric wasted no time. He trained alongside Freyja by conjuring elemental runes. Kirin trained separately, in isolation, materializing hundreds of swords from his dark aura.
Noticing how Kirin would always train separately from the two of them, she went to his room and asked him to train with her, which he refused. This greatly worried her, thinking that she must have done something wrong.
"Is Kirin mad at me or something?" She thought, standing all alone in the ship's deck. "Is it because I ate his chocolates? Is it because I kept on pestering him? Is it because we kept teasing him?" She said it out loud.
"So you finally realize what you've been doing." Kirin appeared from her back and flicked her forehead. "No, I'm not mad at you." Kirin sighed, "I'm training my aura too."
"And I'd just get in the way, right?" Freyja sarcastically asked squinting her eyes.
"Yeah."
She pouted. "Kirin, how did I do? How are my skills?"
"You still have a long way to go... a loooong way." Kirin exaggerated, which annoyed Freyja even more. "But..." He smiled. "That's a good job." A smile that no one else sees but Freyja. Freyja's heart thumped faster and faster, gazing at the silver haired boy. She couldn't understand that such a simple complement could make her very happy. Very happy, that she forgot all her worries instantly.
"Huh? What's the matter?" Kirin asked, noticing that the girl has been staring at her for quite a while now.
"N-nothing...." She looked away, hiding her blush.
Kirin smirked. He held her face with both of his cold hands. And, gently he turned it to his. "You're hiding something." He confronted, spot on. Freyja's heart pounded faster and faster, as Kirin's face grew closer and closer to hers. "Tell me." He demanded with a low, husky voice, almost a cold whisper.
"ALARIC!"
The sudden high pitched voice snapped Freyja out of her thoughts. All of a sudden, a little girl riding a gigantic floating leaf, with long, curly violet hair, came flying towards them, from the skies! She fled straight to Freyja and attacked her out of the blue.
"Hey! What did I do?" She jumped back in surprise.
The little girl glared at her. "Are you... Freyja?" She asked with a cute but deadly voice.
"Um... yeah. I am. Who are you?" Freyja unsheathed her sword in defense.
"Give my ALARIC BACK YOU THIEF!" She started crying.
Kirin sighed. He stomped towards the little girl, mercilessly held her robe and lifted her up. "I'm going to throw you away if you don't speak!" He shot a murderous glare at her, which made her cry even more, "Alaric! Save me!"
"Freyja! Is there someth—" Alaric was just right on time. He headed to the ship's deck looking for Freyja but ended up seeing a familiar little girl running to him with open arms. "Alaric! You are here!" She hugged him tight.
"Um...." Alaric couldn't find the proper words to say. "R-Ryli.... What are you doing here?"
Alaric, Kirin and Freyja, along with the little girl talked it over a hot cup of coffee. Alaric knew he owed them all a long explanation.
"So..." Freyja's eyes narrowed, "You attacked me because of that?" Freyja sighed after hearing out the girl's motivations.
Before the world combat championship, Alaric trained in Riyada for six months. And this little girl named Ryli, happened to be the tribe chief's youngest daughter, who's madly in love with him. Alaric is kind and respectful to everyone by nature, and ended up helping her a number of times. She grew more and more attached to him until the day he left.
"Alaric, why don't you just go and marry this girl so that we'll all be happy?" Kirin commented, making the child really happy. "I didn't know Lord Kirin is so kind!"
"Shut up Kirin." Alaric glared at him.
Freyja sighed and smiled at the little girl. "But still, I think you're misunderstanding something. I didn't force Alaric or anything, right Alaric?" Ryli's glare never left Freyja a single second.
"No I'm not misunderstanding anything!" Ryli shouted. "Alaric left because of you! He said he has a promise with a pr—" Alaric quickly covered her mouth. "Ahahaha! Enough of that, okay?"
Because it was Alaric's request, Ryli finally kept quiet. But looking at Freyja, made her remember the day Alaric left them.
"Alaric, don't go! You can live here! You said you were exiled right? Then live here!" She begged him that time. But Alaric ruffled her hair and smiled. She's never seen Alaric look so excited before, it made her heart ache. "I made a promise with someone, that we'll see each other after six months. And I have to go to her."
"Who's her!?"
"She's Freyja." Alaric left, and never returned since then.
Ryli hugged Alaric tight and stuck a tongue out to Freyja. "I won't give Alaric to you!" She declared.
Everywhere Alaric went, Ryli would always follow, like a shadow.
One cold evening, just a few days before the ship was scheduled to land, Freyja was standing by herself, in the airship's upper deck. Her eyes closed, concentrating her white aura in her mid section. Focusing even harder, Freyja directed its flow to her feet, then to her hands and lastly, to her eyes. When she opened her round brown eyes little by little, she smiled, finally being able to see the auras of different things. The wood's aura, the birds flying under the clouds, and, as she looked at her back, she saw a huge clump of bright blue aura. Surprised, and at the same time, exhausted, Freyja fell down, snapped out of her concentration. It was Alaric, and he's by himself too, much to her surprise.
"A-Alaric!? Since when did you get there?"
Alaric clapped his hands as he walked towards her. "Here" He warmly extended his hand to help her stand. "Thanks." Freyja took it and together, they spent some time sitting under the full moon. Freyja, for some reason, was feeling awkward. "Er... you're alone? Ryli's not here?"
Alaric giggled. "Are you jealous of her, then?" He leaned towards her.
"No! Why would I?" She looked away, blushing. "If you said yes, I would have been happy you know."
"Stop teasing me." She pouted.
"Say," Said Alaric, with an unusual straight face that bothered Freyja a little. "Can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"How about Kirin? I mean, you're not in love with him, are you?" Alaric stared at her with his deep blue eyes.
"NO!" Freyja immediately jumped away from him, "Why are you asking weird things today?" Her heart thumped faster and faster. Alaric laughed.
"It's just funny. Your reaction, that is." He continued giggling, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to tease you a little. We've been working hard lately, a little laugh won't hurt."
"Kirin and you, you always treat me like a kid." She pouted, "I am almost fourteen years old. I'm an adult!"
"Yeah, your aura manipulation technique is pretty impressive too. It's almost scary that you might overtake me anytime now." Freyja was flattered with Alaric's words. But at the same time, the conversation became more and more awkward. "You think so? Well, I've been practicing really hard on that." She tried to act like her usual self. As Freyja talked and talked, Alaric only stared at her, with a smile on his face. "Is there something wrong?"
Without a single word, Alaric gently wrapped his arms around her and held her in a light embrace. The surprised girl didn't know how to react when Alaric suddenly kissed her forehead. Freyja blushed, unable to understand what's on his mind.
"Go to sleep now, it's pretty late." Was all he said before walking away.
"Alaric." From not so far away, a pair of eyes was glued onto them all along. It was Ryli, hiding behind a huge crate on the deck. Ryli's obvious hatred towards Freyja was starting to go overboard. First she's pestering her with pranks. But this time, Ryli wanted something that would totally erase Freyja from her way. She's serious about Alaric, and to get him, she must get rid of Freyja for good.
Now left by herself, Freyja stood on the ship's upper deck, staring at the bright round moon, which never failed to enchant her. Ryli has decided. She gathered all her aura on her palms and conjured her strongest winds directed at Freyja. "Just die already!" She gave her all in that one single attack.
It was all too sudden, Freyja was caught off guard. The strong winds blew her towards the edge, and toppled her over the ship's gunwale. Freyja managed to hold on for a couple of seconds, but it isn't enough for her to concentrate her aura on her hand, or call Astrid for help. She fell off the airship, flying kilometers over the ground.
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