Chapter 4 – Rose Like a Phoenix, Fell
Like a Demon
Two months pass in the world that
Freja has created. The world, for the most part, is at peace. Freja has most
people under her control and the ones that she doesn’t are people who would do anything
for her anyway. Those who choose to rebel or come to their senses and try to
take Freja out of power are quickly dealt with typically within the same day
thanks to her extensive network of spies and citizens who will snitch on their
own. The Divine Flame of Cognizance slowly but surely begins to burn brightly,
so all worries about it fading slowly begin to fade. In her castle, Freja
enjoys her time with her husbands though she is still unable to conceive of any
children. Still, she is satisfied with how the world is. This lasts until the
day a strange number of citizens approach her gates. She doesn’t take note of
them until she sees the sun being turn red as red and orange lightning strikes
across the sky.
“You will release the people from
your control and step down as the head of the Church or you will pay with your
head,” a woman says from below.
“Why should I listen to you because
you can put on this light show? Show your seriousness with your strength,”
Freja says.
A singular man steps out from the crowd
as black flames form from his arms. He breaks down Freja’s castle walls and
through her guards. To counter this and demoralize them, Freja sends out
everyone in the city after them to bring this annoyance to a quick end, however,
it starts raining flames that burn away Freja’s veil from their souls. There
are some who burn to dust as they resist the flames’ cleansing influence while
others join forces with the mysterious group. Freja tries to counter by raining
her golden flame from the sky, but this flame is snuffed out by the red one. No
one, not even those in the castle or the buildings outside of it, is safe from
the influence of the red flame as thousands of people have Freja’s control lifted
from their souls.
“What is going on?” Freja says to
the black dragon as she frantically heads down to face the group head on.
“I don’t know. You should’ve had
every situation accounted for and every rebellion snuffed out before it could
begin,” the dragon responds as it struggles to fly Freja down the ground while
avoiding the rain of fire.
The black dragon is eventually hit
by the raining fire. Freja and the dragon crash to the ground as they are engulfed
by the flames. Seeing that their target has fallen down, the mysterious group
heads back down to face Freja. Meanwhile, the dragon burns to ash while Freja
struggles to put out the flame.
“Adulterer, murderer, false idol,”
voices say in Freja’s head, “tyrant, thief.”
“No, no, no!” she responds to them
only for the voices to repeat her sins to her along with the others she’s
committed.
“Heresy, self-indulgent, slave
master, liar.”
When the woman and the man with
black flames for arms approaches her, Freja can clearly see that the woman is
the one that she tried to force to sell her own while the man is the priest
that she cut the arms off of.
“You may not remember me, but I
remember you. You tried to have me sell off my family and friends, but by God’s
grace, He gave me the strength to stop me before I did so. I then conducted my
own rebellion under your nose. It’s a miracle that it worked out the way it did,”
the woman says.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Freja says as she continues to burn.
“Because I want you to know your
failure. You couldn’t write history the way you wanted to even though you
controlled the world. You couldn’t puppet the daily lives of men for long and
override what real truth is. You couldn’t even be the head of the Church and punish
and gave mercy to those who you deemed worthy of it. All in all, you couldn’t
play God for long because you aren’t God. You aren’t even close to being
divine.”
“I did more for the world than God
ever did. People suffered and many were led into Hell because no one put them
on the path of righteousness.”
“You may have been necessary for
punishing us for our sins, but now that time is over. God is allowing you to
live despite your severe burns through His mercy. Use that time wisely to repent.”
The priest with arms of flame takes
the archbishop’s staff. Freja’s flame fade from the staff as a cross flame
begins to burn in its stead. In the
cross flame, a symbol of the Flame of Cognizance, Freja sees three faces in
one. Though the look the face is giving is stern, it is nevertheless calling
out to her. The flames on Freja cease to burn her as she repents, however, her
beauty has burned away and a crown of flames now adorns her head. This crown of
flames burns her as penance for her sins. A Purgatory on earth for her to
suffer as a sign of mercy.
For the rest of her life, Freja is
an unknown woman who people scorn more than they pity as she travels the world
looking for a place to belong, but she never does find it. This is until she
sits by the Flame of Cognizance and uses her body to keep it going until her
body turns to ash. Though no one will remember her name on earth, she will be
remembered in Heaven. She may have played God for most of her life, but don’t
we all when we choose to sin rather than do what is good?
The End
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