REQUIEM

A PROMISE OF PURPOSE

"I WILL." Fernando excuses himself with the same haste that Freya had used to dash their exit from Stone's funeral. Now that the commonality is dead the distinction between them widens. They are two people from different worlds, brought together by circumstances above them. And when that falls through so do their ties. But fate's red string refuses to let her go. She will yo-yo, spun around his finger when duty calls, until he severs the cord himself.

"Good night, Freya." Her name sits on his tongue with the same intensity of sea salt. It leaves his mouth dry.



The next time he calls for her isn't anything special. No more than a visit. At least on the surface. But behind every call, every action, there is purpose. Today, Fernando reviews what she is and what she can provide to him. A weapon left unpolished is prone to rust. For the events to come, he needs he primed.

Ready.

freya morningstar

REQUIEM

A PROMISE OF PURPOSE

WHAT HE SEES IS A GHOST REVITALIZED. She rises to his call rather than the powers slumbering under his finger tips but the method means little. Freya Morningstar will fall in line with the specters that haunt under his influence. The difference is she remains malleable—the human factor, one he values but also anticipates as a living liability.

“If that isn’t a sight for sore eyes.”

The last time he had seen her in such wear, bow and hand, the world was only at the beginning of its tipping point. Their issues were simple: criminal organizations of people, not aliens. And now, since their dissolvement and subsequent rebranding, he relies on her to come out once more.

Fernando responds in kind, just as amiable as before, but seemingly more open than their first meeting.

freya morningstar

REQUIEM

A PROMISE OF PURPOSE

AN EMBRACE FROM THE VERY WOMAN WHO ENTERTAINED WHISPERS OF A COUP D’ETAT. He finds the distance of their journey ironic despite the gaps they’ve taken in-between. No matter how far they diverge, their actions have brought them back together. All over the death of his greatest rival.

“Things have changed. Battles are fought differently. They’re more personal yet also waged at a greater scale.”

She is his guide through what remains of the estate. How much she can spruce up since her absence, is left to be seen. He’s never cared for it really, having his own impersonal feelings about raising Pokemon, but his curiosity resurfaces at her offer.

“I want to see where you stand and where you fit in.”

freya morningstar

REQUIEM

A PROMISE OF PURPOSE

THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE ESTATE THEN AND NOW REMINDS HIM OF HER. It lacks the same life he had once admired—perhaps too strong a word, appreciated being the more fitting choice—about her and her entirety.

At the sight, he can’t help but wonder: how much of this would have been reserved if he had stepped in earlier? If Freya never had the chance to shirk from her responsibilities and title? A fool’s errand but one he questions for the sake of settling his resolve.

None of that matters because Fernando took the best option at the time. Whether or not it proves the correct one doesn’t matter. He has no room for second guessing.

“Not allegiance—I trust you, which I find very hard to do,” Fernando confesses between narrowed eyes. “Where do you stand compared to your former glory? Where does the Freya of today rank against the enemies of tomorrow?”

The last time she had challenged him, he bore the powers of a God.

No, he merely tilled the soil. What bloomed since then is the true machinations of something beyond.

freya morningstar

REQUIEM

A PROMISE OF PURPOSE

HOW PREPARED CAN A RELIC BE? No more than a year passes but the escalation of war has revolutionized the art. An agreed upon rule—that Pokemon are for sport, never harm, gleams in the twilight of what brought him here, to Hoenn.

Fernando’s scowl judges the ornamental weapon she dons. It still proves lethal, yes, but effective? That remains to be seen. Human kind has evolved to wield a new weapon, divinity personified.

“We shall see. The art of war has changed, Freya.”

His essence, his MISTY TERRAIN, plumes around him. She’s seen it once before but that was when he was powerless. Nothing more than a blanket against suffering the worse of common ailments. Now? A sinister influence instigates those that find themselves swept away by his mist.

It spreads as down his smile as his expression inverts.

“I do.”

He hides his timing well, waiting to spring the puppeteers trap.

freya morningstar

REQUIEM

A PROMISE OF PURPOSE

FERNANDO MAKES NO MOVE TO STOP HER. He doesn’t need to.

Each action she performs fulfills the ritual of the kill. It brings her closer to pulling the trigger. And, to no surprise, she does.

The arrow splits the air with a menacing whistle. Enough to pierce his ears before it’ll skewer his throat. The wound will be clean. A perfect puncture to leave him drowning in his own blood.

But the satisfaction of the kill never comes. The arrow b ounds off the black carapace of his Tapu Fini’s shell. As long as Fernando lives and breaths MISTY TERRAIN so too will the Pokemon appear at his beckon.

The island deity, guardian of Hoenn’s sea, looks to her. It lacks malice. Or anything, really. Just a deep, blank stare that beckons at her soul. To ask her to unwind what she keeps buried inside.

Tapu Fini will find no answer from Freya because she is not the only one to exist within the terrain. Her Pokemon will find its loyalty tested, corrupted as every synapse within its brain becomes rewired. Raw instinct will be given the reigns as the Pokemon comes under Tapu Fini’s jurisdiction.

The command is simple: Freya is the enemy.

freya morningstar