STAGE FORTY ONE: This is my Choice

A few minutes before sunrise. Freyja tied her hair up in a ponytail, zipped her jacket and secured her short sword in her belt. According to Keon, the summoning will start around sunrise, and will be completed in around an hour. This leaves them less than an hour to escape.

Their escape route was well planned. Though the celestial medallion is still in the hands of Ahrin Aethelmaer, they all agreed that their lives come first. But more than her life, she worried about Kirin. She waited, until the very last second but he never showed himself again. Freyja clenched her fists, but relaxed soon after. With eyes burning with resolve, she called Alaric and Keon. "Are you guys ready?"

The two nodded.

BOOM! A gigantic, strong fireball blasted the walls of her room wide open. Keon summoned a flying rune-beast the size of a horse. As expected, Aethelmaer soldiers came rushing towards them. Keon jumped onto the beast, followed by Freyja. Alaric conjured one last fireball to drive the soldiers before jumping onto the flying beast, behind Freyja. Keon's rune beast fled as fast as it could, away from the manor.

The Aethelmaer rune masters started attacking them from below. Fireballs, lightning bolts, all sorts of attacks flew at them. But this is something they expected—and prepared for. With Keon's knowledge of their troops' formations, he maneuvered his rune beast just in time to minimize the impacts while Alaric conjured a rune barrier protecting them from below.

After around thirty minutes of flight, Alaric was already pale with fatigue. He's been singlehandedly protecting all three of them with layers of strong barriers, without a second of rest. "Alaric, get a hold of yourself!" Freyja tried to encourage him the best she could. While Alaric rested, she summoned a thinner, but relatively decent barrier from her white aura. "Sorry, this is the best I can manage without the celestial medallion."

"It's okay, there aren't as much enemies here."

"Look! Something's covering this place!" Alaric saw a massive amount of black aura piling up around the Aethelmaer territory. Keon clicked his tounge. Keon too, started feeling the fatigue. Sustaining a rune beast that long was no easy task. Still, he increased the speed of his rune beast, challenging the limits of his stamina. "Hold on tight!"

The black aura started creeping around the manor, the courtyard, the gardens, forming a dark dome above, covering the skies. Their escape was in danger. Keon couldn't go any faster than this, his vision started getting blurry.

Freyja wrapped her arms around Keon. She embraced him from behind, surprising the boy.

She smiled in relief. Seeing the exit just meters away, she's sure they can get out safely. "Thank you, Keon." She whispered in his ear.

Freyja turned to Alaric, and smiled. "Thank you. And I'm sorry."

Freyja let go of Keon, stood up and without second thoughts, she jumped down.

The momentum made it impossible for Keon to maneuver his rune beast in time. Alaric tried to reach for her hand, but it was too late. He barely touched the tip of her ponytail.

Alaric could only shout, as he watched her fall like a lightning bolt and disappear into a sea of trees.

"FREYJA!"

Alaric and Keon went through the dark barrier.

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