Chapter 16 - New Life in God of War

"Hyperion, wait..." Freya was stunned and didn’t quite understand what she had done wrong, but she tried to stop Hyperion from leaving.
 At that moment, Hyperion turned around and prevented Freya from grabbing his shoulder.
 "Freya, you are a selfish woman, and I’ve always known that, but I never tried to change you because I wanted to accept you for who you were. But I’ve realized that your selfishness is not who you are, but who you’ve become. Freya, what I asked of you was not much. I didn’t ask you to kill your son, I didn’t ask you to enslave your people, nor did I ask you to humiliate yourself before me. The only thing I asked was that if you loved me, you’d be willing to be my wife completely." Hyperion spoke seriously, but there was bitterness in his eyes.
 "But I am willing, so why do you refuse?" Freya asked, confused and anxious.
 "Because you are treating me like a merchant, or worse—LIKE ODIN!" Hyperion shouted the last part.
 At that moment, Freya collapsed to the ground, her eyes filled with tears and confusion.
 "What I want is your heart, not a contract. I don’t want your soul in exchange for allowing your son to live. No, I want Freya, out of love, to leave behind who she once was." Hyperion said and turned away.

He then jumped onto Nymeria and looked at Kratos and Faye.
 "Girls, let’s go!" Hyperion called them.
 The girls didn’t move. They looked at Freya, who was now lying on the ground with a lifeless gaze.
 Over the past year and five months that they had known Freya, they had become friends and sisters, so it pained their hearts to leave her like that.
 "Girls!" Hyperion called once more.
 The two looked at each other with hesitation, but in the end, they decided to follow their husband and climbed onto Nymeria.
 Bitterness grew in Hyperion’s heart as he watched Freya’s figure fade into the distance. In the end, he could only sigh and pray that she wouldn’t make a foolish decision.
 And as Freya watched the silhouette of the giant wolf disappear, more tears streamed from her eyes. She kept wondering if she was cursed to live alone and despised forever.

A few miles away, atop Nymeria, Faye couldn’t help but ask,
 "Why did you do that?" Faye asked with furrowed brows.
 "You heard everything. Why ask the reason?" Hyperion responded, annoyed.
 "I heard, but I want you to explain it better." Faye said.
 Hyperion frowned slightly but soon sighed.
 "I didn’t like the way she looked at me or how she spoke. It didn’t feel like a declaration of love. It felt more like she was accepting an unfavorable deal with someone extorting her." Hyperion said, getting a little angry just remembering it.
 "Alright, but how is leaving her alone and hurt going to help?" Faye asked again, still frowning.
 "I DON’T KNOW! Alright?! I was angry and wanted to be alone. In the end, I didn’t think much—I just wanted to leave. We’re going to continue reforesting Alfheim. If she wants to find us, it won’t be hard, just follow the damn forest that appears out of nowhere." Hyperion started shouting, irritated by the questioning, then simply spoke a bit more and stopped caring. He then sat farther away and got lost staring at the horizon.

Faye wanted to question him more and try to make Hyperion change his mind, but at that moment, she felt a hand on her shoulder. When she looked to the side, it was Kratos, who shook her head at her and then gestured with her eyes toward Hyperion. Only then did Faye notice how dark and sad Hyperion’s eyes were.
 Kratos might seem stoic most of the time, but often, she was the most sensitive to the feelings of others in the group.
 Faye sighed and scolded herself for forgetting that, even though he had started this argument, he was one of the ones hurt by it too.
 Faye and Kratos then went over and sat beside Hyperion.
 Feeling the warmth of the women, Hyperion’s gloom lightened slightly.

Hyperion took them to the chamber where time passed at a rate of one second outside for every year inside.
 He then removed Kratos’ chest wrap and rested his head between her breasts.
 He loved lying on his women’s bare chests.
 Faye also bared her breasts and laid them behind Hyperion’s head.
 Hyperion felt incredibly comfortable surrounded by breasts.
 Soon, a little of his depression was swept away.
 And then, a steamy night began.

Thus, they continued their adventures for another eight months.
 This time, their adventure wasn’t as fun. Many times, they came across situations where Freya’s arrows were needed, but instead of finding their own way to substitute them, they tacitly ignored those places, leaving them for later—when their group was whole again.
 Because of this, their adventure on the surface progressed faster, and they finally arrived at the last place where they would plant a seed.

And so, they were quite discouraged. It had been eight months since they had seen any sign of Freya, and planting the seeds was like leaving a trail of breadcrumbs, yet Freya never seemed to follow the path.
 Once that breadcrumb trail ended, their chances of finding Freya would be very slim. After all, Hyperion hadn’t broken the curse—he had only created a backdoor to Alfheim. Once their adventure ended and they moved on to other realms, Freya wouldn’t be able to follow them to find them.

So they did what they always did—exploring the surrounding area, killing monsters, looting, solving unnecessary puzzles that could have been broken with a punch but were done to make it feel like an adventure, and more.

Soon, they arrived in front of the seed altar. They fought against the hundreds of monsters there and defeated them after a long and fun battle. Of course, they had been holding back.
 Then, they looked around before glancing at the altar with bitterness.
 "She didn’t come." Kratos said softly, placing a hand on Hyperion’s shoulder as he felt down.
 Hyperion sighed deeply with sadness, placed his hand over Kratos’, and squeezed it.
 "Maybe it’s for the best." Hyperion whispered.
 "Are you just going to give up?" Faye asked softly, feeling bitter about losing the friend and sister she had gained. But she didn’t blame Hyperion—she respected his decision. And she, too, felt that Freya’s mentality simply wasn’t right for their relationship.