If there is no punishment for the wicked, then you are accepting the gospel of inclusion where ALL men reach heaven in spite of how they live their lives, or you must incorporate a philosphy of reincarnation where we will have many opportunities to become perfect.
I think you are conflating two concepts, Free-Will and Salvation.
The Gift freely given is Salvation. No one, believer or non-believer starts off damned. GOD sent Jesus to tell us that All Men begin forgiven.
Free-will though is not a gift. It is a capability. It is related to the capability,
Knowledge of Good and Evil. The capabilities did come with conditions though and they were laid out at the time of acquisition.
We have the ability to know right from wrong.
We have the free-will to do either.
We are expected to use our free-will to try to do what is right and to try not to do what is wrong.
We will be judged based on how we use those two things.
Aslan is not a
Tame Lion