THE COIN TOSS

"I HEARD YOUR WORLD'S RAYQUAZA WENT MISSING. SO SAD. I WONDER WHERE IT IS?" Father Winter takes note of the coin toss' result with discerning eyes. He continues to smile, betraying little. "ONCE YOU'VE RECOVERED YOUR PRIZE, HEAD BACK. THE PORTAL WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU."

As the swirl of the portal consumes you, he snaps his fingers. Immediately, his UNOWN-D swirls around and seals the dimensional door, the cycling strokes of black dissipating in mid-air. On the other side, you would notice the deception immediately. The portal closes behind you, leaving you to fend yourself against the foreign elements of this new plane.

You have LOST THE COIN TOSS. Father Winter intends for you to die in another realm.

---

INSTRUCTIONS

TO CONTINUE, make a post or several posts detailing your character's adventure into an alternate universe or timeline.

Below this post are prompts that you must fulfill during your post or posts. Although there is no minimum word count, please write something meaningful, whether it is a poetic drabble, a concerted narrative, or an experimental foray into storytelling.

Once you are done, TAG SHIV in #wintry-wagers on Discord or on Proboards. Afterward, shiv will post a small follow up to end your thread.

TAGS: freya morningstar

☉

beckon

she's lived with snakes long enough to recognize one in the grass. it is with a bow of her head that she accepts her fate, eyes narrowing at the figure behind the portal until she's staring into the expanse of another plane.

gravel crunches underfoot. thin tufts of vegetation poke out from about her, still as death. there is a silence in this grayscale void. she runs her hands down the length of the silver wire that twines around her like ivy. the pokeballs knitted upon it bring her comfort, but she wonders, as one only would, if she's damned them all.

and miles away a beast, towering above all in this realm, raises its head, scales shuddering. it feels her intrusion like ripples upon an otherwise placid pond.

freya's blood chills as she hears this beast's cry - a harrowing sound filled with foreboding. 

she must move. 



there is no setting sun here, no way to measure the timeline of her days. calcifer is her constant. upon his back, they cover much ground - floating, crumbling spires of impossible heights; churned earth suspended in air, frozen in time; labyrinthian caverns of ice depicting MIRROR images of themselves. 

and always, that occasional growl, that menacing timbre of the beast that hunts them. 

once, she thinks to meet it, convinced that it may be the god she is after, but calcifer and the rest of her dragons react otherwise. and when she has nothing else, she must trust them. 

"it must be here." embers spark from calcifer's maw, the first sign of his resolution cracking. she seeks to quiet his frustrations, but something about that echoing call threatens to drive him to madness. and so she calls for his rest, brings forth another.

hunger gnaws at her belly and aeris shares her pain.

☉

cower

time has lost its meaning. they liken to the beast that hunts them. the first time an unsuspecting staravia happens upon this world, they pounce. and they find others like it - glitches in the system, she supposes. beings that weren't meant to slip through, but the TEMPORAL threads that separate her hoenn from this realm are coming undone (she thinks, anyway). 

and after hours/eons, they make progress.

they come upon a shore with waves that lap against the sand. she slips off the back of her tyrantrum, tears spilling from her cerulean eyes as she watches the foam gather, watches the water move. knees hit the sand; hands plunge into the rolling waves. 

she bows, braid slipping from her shoulder and into the water.




her stomach lurches and the world shifts. a low growl thrums in her ears. when she lifts her head, she is several feet from the shoreline. a purple sun casts a frozen reflection on equally frozen waves, but it's not this horror that makes her stiffen. 

bodies litter the shore. the RANK SMELL OF DEATH cloys her nose. killian's nostrils flare at this same moment and she throws her weight to the side, howling in a fit of rage. freya scrambles for the beast's pokeball, but her fingers are shaking. 

the ball plunks into the sand because her eyes are betraying her. killian's ball left forgotten, she crawls forward, hands finding purchase on the VISAGE of an old friend. 

alexander stares up at her with blank, white eyes, mouth twisted in a grimace. he is cold to the touch and as she draws his head into her lap, as her tears fall upon his brow, his porcelain-esque skin rots, crumbling in on itself. 

from behind, she hears herself say, "release him."

☉

dredge

"THIS ONE IS ALREADY LOST."

alexander's exposed bones crumble. killian's ceaseless rampage continues. sand sprays. those porcelain bodies crack and shatter under her tantrum. the indigo eyes of this impossible stranger flick from freya's and to the beast; with a tilt of her head, a flick of her wrist, the tyrantrum stills. 

the silence that hangs between them breaks by a low growl and the stranger regards her, seems to make a decision. 

"kyurem approaches. hurry - we must flee."

freya snatches killian's ball from the ground and returns her, finding instead the painted ball at the hollow of her neck. the stranger mimics her movements, but instead her hand wraps around a vial at her neck, hidden under the fold of her black cloak. 

there is something in her indigo eyes as freya releases lyune, a grief so powerful it nearly brings freya to her knees. lyune steps forward and without hesitation, presses his snouts against the stranger's brow. freya mounts, hesitates, and then offers a hand to the other. 

"you lost yours," freya murmurs, looking behind her as lyune's wings unfurl. the stranger, though not a stranger at all, does not speak.



they find refuge and with it, understanding. at the shore of a fogbound lake, scent hidden from their relentless hunter, her other self watches over her.

☉

exalt

"we came to these shores to save your rayquaza," she says. and the story that follows is a long one, spoken in hushed whispers so their pursuer does not hear. for in this realm, words have power and can travel great distance. it's how, freya discovers, her alternate self had found her to begin with.

artemis, she calls herself, having shed her orphan name when her morningstars took her in. and her world was ravaged by the same beasts that have come to plague hoenn - family and companions slain, she'd been left only with a version of the god freya so desperately seeks. 

and the we, freya assumes, is artemis' last companion left - a charizard of black scales, standing guard at the lake's entrance while her master recovers her strength.

"my rayquaza knew it would die, but it seemed to think yours was more important." her words aren't bitter, but still she looks away from freya, fingers tightening around the vial around her neck. she sighs. 

a spark flies up into the air, bursting into a spray of blue embers. artemis stands at the announcement, shoulders slackening, as though the weight of the world no longer rests on her shoulders. freya stands as well, confused, gaze sliding from her horned doppelganger and into the forest. 



her breath hitches as alexander emerges. artemis steps past her and they embrace; she nuzzles into his neck and sighs deeply. and it's as he slides his arms around her waist that she spies the ring on his finger. 

we. 

"you found her," he says to artemis as they draw apart and his voice is just as freya remembers.

artemis whispers something to him that freya can't hear and alexander's eyes tighten. he nods solemnly and then approaches freya, hand outstretched. she reaches up and he covers her hand with his own. she breaks, finally, and closes the distance between them, face twisting, tortured with what could have been and what will never be.



artemis watches with a calm sort of acceptance. alexander tightens his grip around freya and says, "you need to help us find your rayquaza. with it, we can return you to your world, but we can't find it without you."

☉

faith(less)

they will have one chance. while artemis and soleil had sought freya, alexander had pursued rayquaza. in the frozen reaches of a wasteland to their north, it waits. there will be a clashing of the titans. of this, artemis is sure, but its patience leads she and alexander to believe it waits for a proper vessel from its own world. 

freya and lyune fly closely behind the couple. there is a sword at alexander's hip, an edge set in his jaw as he holds artemis close. she knows, deeply, that this is not her alexander, but freya feels, for the first time in years, something akin to loneliness. 

and her craving for tapu fini grows ever stronger. thirst for that mist slakes her throat and as though sensing her change, artemis looks over her shoulder, brows furrowing. 

they come upon the wastes. ash and snow circle around them. the snarls are a constant now, a low thrum that looms ever-closer. artemis and alexander speak freely now, knowing that it will draw the beast's attention. 

"come," artemis says as freya dismounts. the jagged mouth of a cave looms before them. the sheer cold from outside dissipates all at once as they cross the threshold. water trickles and a soft glow emanates from the cave. 

freya steps ahead of the two, drawn by something. there's a ripcord tug, though, a barrier that makes her feel sluggish. she is split, nigh in two, but then her steps falter as a sharp pain lances from her throat, down her side. 




artemis' fingers tighten around her neck, dig into her hip. her pupils flash brilliant gold, sclera black, and all at once something is ripped from freya's body and mind. blood splatters and pink veins worm their way across artemis' face, pulsing as she lets loose a guttural growl. 

a fairy's poison to the dragon woman. 

alexander shouts, ripping artemis from freya as the infection spreads, but the mist has already taken its toll. she collapses against him and as the pair fall to the ground, she reaches up to the hollow of her throat. with the last of her strength, she rips the vial free, cord snapping, and presses it into alexander's palm.

freya's hand flies to her neck. blood slicks her fingers. and she feels it, or rather, the lack of it. immeasurably. undoubtedly. her mind is her own. fernando's influence is gone.

gold eyes glimmer in the darkness and then the dragon god makes itself known. 

☉

guardian

it rears its head, maw parting. fangs larger than her forearm glint as an orange glow gathers in its mouth. a low hiss whistles from it, smothering the sound of alexander's despair, of the thumping pressure of their pursuer's approach. lyune's pupils pulse and he steps forward at the dragon lord's command, head bowed. 

rayquaza exhales and searing hot flames engulf both dragon and tamer. freya starts, embracing what will be a swift death, but the flames billow around her harmlessly. her hands find lyune's side; energy ripples from him, glancing off of her.

the flames die and the god shifts. its large head slides past her as it slithers towards their fallen companion. it touches her brow and looks intensely at alexander. 

the cavern shakes. freya is thrown off of her feet, against the illustrious green scales of the deity. rayquaza's body coils around her, around alexander and his beloved, around lyune, and darkness swallows them.

when freya opens her eyes, the cavern has stretched. blue mist, freezing against her skin, lays like an oppressive blanket across them.




and from the mist, the predator emerges. 

rayquaza uncoils and makes a stand between its allies and the behemoth. the icy dragon's lower jaw cracks as it opens its mouth to screech in maddened fury.

freya scrambles forward towards alexander and artemis, lyune a bastion beside her, muscles rippling with anticipation. he stands guard while she tears alexander away from the body. artemis' eyes are as white as the corpses on the beach.

"go." alexander, beside her, holds the vial out to freya. suspended within it is a SINGLE BLACK SCALE, the last surviving remnant of artemis' own patron deity.




simultaneously, rayquaza springs forward. the ball of energy forming in its mouth becomes too much to bear. heat vaporizes the mist surrounding them as the blast tears its way through space. but its mark is not the angry kyurem squared off before them.

no, it skyrockets, bursting apart at the ceiling of the cave. bright white tendrils gather under stalactites and knit themselves together. energy ripples. the air grows thin. and as freya grabs the scale and ties the ripcord around her neck, a gust of wind blows over them. 

she looks up and sees sootopolis.

"you have to go. now," alexander urges again.

this one is already lost. / mine knew it would die, but it seemed to think yours was more important.



steeled with newfound resolution, she says, "i won't let you die again."

"lyune." she swings herself up onto the salamence and it rushes forward, wings snapping. the kyurem screeches again, aiming an icy blast at the fugitives. 

alexander is ripped away from artemis as lyune's claws wrap around his sides. grief-stricken, he howls as they climb. kyurem's neck jerks as rayquaza collides with it; the ice beam goes wide, narrowly missing lyune's golden-glow wings. 

light gathers around them. energy from the portal above crackles, meeting the power of the DRAGON'S ASCENT.  the last they hear of the battle is a draconic cry of triumph, though whose she cannot tell. 

when free, she twists, looking behind her, but the portal snaps shut. lyune flies onward. alexander hangs limply in his claws.

later, she will be plagued with nightmares of her minutes/years in this other realm. but for now, exhausted and spent, they fly onward toward the setting sun.

☉