Chapter Twenty-One - Freyja

"Tyler, can I talk to you for a minute?" Roxy asked, pulling at his arm and leaving Thomas standing with his arm extended.

"What's up?" Tyler whispered, just out of earshot from Thomas.

"Thomas is offering us a place as Vigilantes, right?"

"I mean, yeah? Why?" Tyler asked, confused.

"We can't join him, can we? We have a duty sworn to the Hunters."

"He does have a point, though. Think about how many people died because the Oni was left unattended for so long. We leave a trail of bodies wherever we go." Roxy sighed, knowing Tyler might just be right. She turned to Thomas, about to agree to his offer, but Tyler fell to his knees, groaning in pain.

"Tyler! What's happening?" Thomas asked.

"I have no idea!" Roxy kneeled beside him, "Tyler talk to me! What's happening?"

Tyler began to hold his head. His groans turned to screams, his vision grew blurry, and his mind filled with flashing colours, making it hard to distinguish where he was.

"What's happening!" He called, barely making out the words before fainting on the concrete floor.

"Quick, onto the table!" With this, Roxy lifted him onto the cold table where she had laid once before.

Tyler could barely make out his surroundings alone in an unfamiliar place. Everything blurred like a watery eye. He spun around, looking for some sort of landmark. But instead, the walls surrounding him were blue and abnormal. Almost like he was trapped in some kind of computer - reaching out in an attempt to touch it, his never found solid material, just the void stretching out like space.

His surroundings began to assimilate, the blue void turning into streets and buildings, filling with people rushing past him in a hurry. 'Where am I?' He wondered to himself, searching for a landmark to familiarise himself with but to no avail.

A hand reached out behind him, grabbing him by the shoulder;

"Mark! We need to keep running!" A voice told from behind. Turning around, Tyler saw a young girl, a little older than him, with blonde hair reaching down to her hips and green eyes. She wore a dark brown robe, much as the Hunters recruits wore, and what Tyler could only describe as black spots underneath her eyes.

"Did you call me Mark?" He asked.

"Did you hit your head after that jump?" She joked before pushing him with a gesture to run. "They're catching up with us!" She yelled - Tyler remained still, unsure of what was happening. In the distance, he could see three men wearing black robes charging toward them. The blonde girl began to move her hands like a Hawaiian dancer and created a ball of fire between her hands, pushing in the direction of the men and sending a blast of fire hurtling towards them.

"Mark! Move!"

"Who are you?" He asked, more confused than before.

"Now isn't the time for games! We need to move!"

Tyler saw the desperation in her face and began to follow her into the town.

"We can lose them in the crowd," Tyler said, grabbing the girl by the arm and leading her into the gathering of people in the middle of the town. Then, pushing past everyone, they eluded the perusing men and entered a small house on the other side. The girl began to look through the window, closing the wooden covers on either side of each window.

"What was that back there?" She asked, "You could've jeopardised everything!"

"Look, I don't know who Mark or you are. My name is Tyler. I was with a girl, Roxy! Have you seen her?"

The girl looked just as confused as Tyler felt.

"Get on the table. I need to check you over. I think the Dark Magicians may have done something to you."

"Dark Magicians? What are you talking about?"

The girl's tone became demeaning and cruel.

"Right. My name is Freyja, your name is Mark. We. Are. Married." She pointed between them both. "We are Magicians. They are Dark Magicians. We are enemies to them, and they to us. Now get on the god damn table."

Tyler could tell Freyja was getting angry and pushed off the pots and pans as he was told. Freyja began to move her hand over his body, a green glow emanating.

"Not Dark Magician magic. Do you know where you are? Could be a concussion."

"I have no idea where I am or what's been going on."

"What is up with you? You're in Norway, Bergen. It's 705! Why don't you remember?"

Sitting up, Tyler's mind began to race.

"Bergen? I was in Diamond City ten minutes ago! In 2022! What is going on!" Freyja's face turned red with anger, making her hand into a fist and punching him with a force he had never experienced before.

Falling off in a startle, Roxy raced to help him up.

"Tyler! You're awake! What happened?"

Tyler stood up, looking around in a frenzy;

"Freyja, what the fuck?"

"Freyja? Who's Freyja?" She asked, confused and concerned.

"What! I'm back? Where am I? When am I?"

"Tyler, what are you talking about? It's Diamond City. Where do we live?" She grew more concerned by the minute, helping him back to the table. "You passed out. I didn't think you would ever wake up, honestly!" Tyler looked at Roxy dead in the eyes and asked her again:

"When is this? What date is it?"

"It's May 27th 2022." Her words grew sad and weary, "Fourteen weeks after you fainted."

Tyler didn't know what to say, his mind racing as much as it did in Norway. Finally, he looked down to see a slight bump formed where Roxy's slim figure once was.

"Tell me what happened! What did you see? Who's Freyja?"

Tyler wrapped his arms around Roxy, pain in his voice, "I have no idea. I remember my head hurting, and then I was hunted by Dark Magicians in Norway. The second I was there, a girl took me, told me we were Magicians and her name was Freyja. Kept calling me Mark."

Roxy stayed silent, listening to every word like it was holy.

"I think we need to see the council. This Poppy Root is doing something to your head."

"No! We can't tell them! Not until I at least figured out who these people were! Is there any way we can do that without the High Council knowing?"

Roxy looked at Tyler's worried face, running her hands down each side;

"You have access to the archives, Tyler. You can see anyone you want to now. But the main thing is going to be getting back to school. They think we've been on holiday, Thomas told them. The Hunters think we're taking more time off. But you need to know something. It's about Robert. He's gone missing."