Dusk of a Hybrid

by Ryan Johnson

  “I thought it was a bit harsh forcing her to become a handmaiden, and I do feel sorry for her. Yet somehow, I feel relief when she had become one. Sometimes, I think it is the perfect role to suit her. Now, I feel like you are perfect to rule this island.”

  “I believe I’m not that perfect.”

  “I believe you are, Demigod Valverno.”

  “If I was perfect, I would be a god, not half. An immortal being living among mortals. Perfection isn’t everything, Queen Marina. And what is not perfect enough is that you and I aren’t joining the party.”

  “Then let’s get going and join the others,” said Marina, smiling big and marched passed the demigod.

  Valverno trailed after the Siren walking ahead of him and kept up to her. Together, they held onto the hands and both walked in unison to the village.

  When they got there, people had crowded every corner of the village of every building, and humans weren’t the only ones; Centaurs marched through narrow tight corners, carrying a few baskets.

  Griffins flew from the sky and dropped several baskets from their claws and the Centaurs would catch the fallen baskets. A few Pegasi, carrying humans on their backs, also joined the Griffins of dropping baskets down below, but with the humans dropping the baskets. And several soldiers helped with carrying and heaving many of the dropping baskets.

  No Dragons were seen above the village’s houses but a few were sitting by the bonfires where they were surrounded by lots of kids.

  Valverno and Marina stayed clear from the crowded village and stayed close to the bonfires that were relatively close by the borders of the Greenwood Forest.

  Near the bonfires, a small crowd of dancing people waved and circled in the rhythm of flutes, harps, and shamisens, which was a long stick attached to a circular narrow drum-like tied with three strings at a tone of a harp’s string. Men and women danced very simple of left-and-right momentum, under a night of stars and three moons shining brightly.

  The people danced if they were under a magical trance. The rhythm of the music and the softness of the dancing feet of the people brought a balance of sensitivity through everyone’s ears.

  Many other people surrounded the dancing people, clapping their heads in the beat of the soft, toned music fluttering in the air. Valverno and Marina walked behind the large crowd and watched the dancers swing in the center of attention of the crowd. A few noticed Valverno and Marina walking among the common folk but paid more attention to the dancers.

  The two rulers stopped in the middle of a small space of a few people crowding their eye view of the dancers dancing very closely. Valverno and Marina had maneuvering room to move their feet, and Valverno made sure his dragon tail was curled thin that he didn’t want anyone want to step on it and fell from it.

  “So, you two have joined to walk among us common people,” said a man voice speaking at a tone louder than the music rattling through many ears.

  Marina and Valverno looked at each other first and smiled. They turned their eyes to Monico standing a short length from them.

  The new White Knight of Trust stood beside them. A long silver cloak was slung over his left shoulder. He was dressed in fine a silver robe plastered with silver diamonds. He had grown a small beard and a thin mustache, and his hair was short.

  “The Rulers of the Two Islands,” said Monico. “Come to join the dancing party? It just started.”

  “Thanks but no thanks,” replied Valverno. “The last time I danced, my tail was caught through feet of several dancers and made them trip over many people.” Valverno’s talk made him squeeze his tail closer to his own feet. “It would be the best if I don’t dance with anyone.”

  “Then do you mind if I take a small dance with the Queen of Shimabellia?” asked Monico.

  Valverno and Marina stared at each other for a short moment and Marina, without a single word, walked straight to Monico. “Dance with your beloved Queen, Sir Monico,” said Marina. “White Knight of Trust.”

  Monico smiled and took Monico’s hand and both went to join the dancers. Monico led Marina to an open spot and placed his right grabbed Marina’s left hand and his left hand around her waist while Marina’s right hand grabbed Monico’s shoulder. Then they both danced to their heart’s content.

  Valverno felt a tang sense of jealousy in his heart. His wife had ditched him for a man who seemed to be a better dancer than the demigod. But can he blame her? Valverno was a dancer but with a long tail that could get tangled with human feet Valverno would cause a big disturbance than a big dance.

  However, he could dance, but it would have to be in an open area where no people were standing on. He would dance perfectly without causing a distracter.

  While Marina danced with a White Knight, Valverno moved away from the crowd and walked, with his tail uncurling and back to slivering on the ground. Valverno distanced himself from the party dancers to the border of the Greenwood Forest. He halted about ten steps away from the closest trees to stare through the woods.

  He remembered the day that changed his life forever, when a Minotaur was chasing the twin boys and he slain the beast and led to where he was standing at the moment. It was where he found the second armor artifact and his true identity.

  The one time he was close to the border was when a pack of Black Dogs crawled from the trees. He was ready to fight them, but the pack was driven back into the woods without a fight.

  Valverno never wondered why the pack of Black Dogs didn’t attack the hybrid on sight. It maybe they sensed his power and dared not attack the hybrid and retreated back into the woods. But whatever reason that caused them not to attack, he was glad the hounds went back to where they came from.

  After staring at the dark woods, Valverno swirled his body away from the trees and marched back toward the bonfires the dancers were dancing close to.

  Suddenly, there was a twitching noise like a branch was stepped on. Valverno quickly spun and ignited his hands with red flames. The light from the flames spurred through the darkness going into the trees.

  From the bright light the flames gave, a dark figure with a woman’s face moved from the darkness of the tree’s and revealed herself to Valverno. The woman did have the body of a woman, but her lower end was wrapped into a long snake body, which shocked Valverno when he looked at her.

  It was the Gorgon he battled while taking a hike through the Greenwood Forest finding the second armor artifact. The Gorgon, which Valverno spared before he married Marina, was near the village where people were keeping watchful eyes on.

  “Well, well. The Gorgon I’ve spared has come to join us,” said Valverno, dimming the flames from his hands. “Wish to join the party?”

  “I don’t wish to join,” hissed the Gorgon. “I don’t wish to join anything. I have no wish to be part of anything. I wish for one thing: death.”

  Valverno blinked. The Gorgon he spared and the Gorgon that told him the location of the Secret Laboratory wanted to die. “Why do you wish death?” he asked, with a frown. “I’ve spared your life and you want to die? Why?’

  “Got nothing to live for. I want no happiness or sadness. I’ve crave death because all Gorgons are meant to turn people to stone. But sparing me defied was such… unnatural behavior. Kill this Gorgon.”

  Valverno shook his head. He wasn’t a killer, and he wasn’t going to slay the creature he spared. He didn’t have the heart to harm the Gorgon, as he can see she wasn’t corrupt and vile as the Shadow King Lusìvar.

  “You did slay the witch and king. You won’t slay me?”

  “Not on my life,” said Valverno. “Find someone else to do it, because I won’t do it. I am not a killer as Lusìvar is.”

  “So be it,” replied the Gorgon. “Then I’ll be incinerated when the great fire comes raining down from high.” Gorgon hissed her tongue at the demigod and left. She disappeared into the darkness of the Gre
enwood Forest.

  Valverno had a feeling that would last time he would see the Gorgon. But what she said about “incinerated when the great fire comes raining down” led him to wonder what she meant. Fire raining from the sky? That didn’t make sense in his case; water rains from the sky, not fire. Unless it was a few firedrakes spitting fireballs from the sky, there wasn’t going to be any fire raining from the sky.

  Valverno shook his head of the thought and walked away from the borders. He decided to fly to Geraldus’s house and walk inside the mansion. The one house he grew up in doesn’t look it has changed; it remained the same with the same stones and materials with no new painting style.

  Valverno entered into the mansion through the front door and marched right in. The inside remained the same as ever. The living room with the chandelier and a few chairs was where they were left. Then the demigod walked into the kitchen and the dining room, and still, everything remained the same.

  After staring endlessly at the rooms he and Geraldus’s children ran around in their childhood years, he walked up the stairs and went to his former chamber. Inside, the same bed was there and a few other maidens dusting the walls, and one maiden stood out with a terrible face Valverno really didn’t want to see: the former princess Stephanie.

  Stephanie was dressed as a maiden and simply refused to work with the other maidens of the household to carry out their duties.

  “How supplemental to see a princess not carry out her new duties,” said Valverno.

  The maidens were startled by Valverno’s voice and suddenly lined up and bowed their heads. “Welcome home, Valverno,” they said. “What can we do to make your stay feel like home again?”

  “That won’t be necessary, girls,” said Valverno, wishing for the maidens to stay on their work. “Don’t let me stand in your way, maidens, carry out your duties. Carry on.”

  “As you wish, Demigod Valverno,” they replied.

  The maidens resumed with their work immediately except for Stephanie who just stood staring out the room’s window, the same window he gazed from for years when he isolated himself from the outside world.

  Valverno walked up to the former princess with his arms crossed. “Not working today?” he asked. “Compared to lifestyle of peasantry, this was a way better life.”

  “You took everything away from me,” said Stephanie.

  “You weren’t his daughter,” argued Valverno, “you were adopted into his family, so you have no blood relations with that family. Teutates would now consider being the heir to Shimabellia’s throne.”

  “But you stole it,” said Stephanie.

  “You could say that, and I end up destroying it. Many regional leaders proclaimed their ruler and not Teutates; he fled back to Isla Maeli. And I remained ruling this island as the demigod, and I wiped out Uragiru’s loyalists. And the Snake Clan was the last among Uragiru’s loyal servants, and now nothing remains of his loyalists.”

  Stephanie remained silent as she looked out the window. Her eyes stared aimlessly at the people outside, the people she desired to rule over. Now she was in the same position Valverno once was.

  “Be it as it may,” Valverno continued. “You’re not going to sit upon a seat of this island. Once I depose of the Shadow King, I’ll more than certainly give this island to Teutates, and he will rule as its ruler, and I will be living my own life with Marina until the day I die. You should be grateful I didn’t order an execution on you, and this was a better than an execution. Be grateful I have spared your life, Stephanie.”

  Valverno turned away and left the former princess standing and staring out the window.

  Then Stephanie turned and yelled, “I will be grateful, when you give me MY throne!”

  The maidens were startled and Valverno halted. There was a tense moment of a feeling Valverno and Stephanie were going into a head-butting fight that could tear down the room and the house. Valverno puffed hot steam from his nose and said, “Then you will have fight Teutates for it because I won’t have be there at the capital city.”

  Then Valverno left the room. He left the door wide open and hurried out of the building. In the breezy air and nosy crowd, Valverno felt relieved he wasn’t dealing with a former princess of royalty, and he’s glad he wasn’t related to her.

  Valverno was glad to be out of the house, with Stephanie not working in the bed chamber he lived in. He didn’t want to have to deal with a former princess who still has a spoiled attitude.

  Outside, he felt more refreshing than inside the old mansion. He felt more warmth on his skin with other people than the spoiled maiden. Valverno widened out his wings so he would fly into the air and stay clear of the big crowd of walking people.

  Once he was high enough to see the entire village and its people, he looked toward the northeast and observed several Griffins and three Dragons landing on the village’s outskirts; none of which were of royalty.

  These must be the messengers from their leaders, Valverno thought.

  But no matter what Valverno thought, they were creatures entering near the village’s outskirts. Thanks to his eyes that enhance his ability to see afar, Valverno thought the ceremony wasn’t going to be for a while with none royalty had yet come.

  Valverno then looked at one of the Griffins separated from the group of Griffins and Dragons and headed directly toward Valverno. He raised a lip of a near-smile that Flarefur was coming his way. His old Griffin companion couldn’t resist being with the demigod.

  Flarefur halted when he approached Valverno in the air. “Remembering things of the past, I assume?” the Griffin asked.

  “This village is where my adventure began and this village could be where it ends,” answered Valverno. “I still vaguely remember Pangaea, but this is where most of my present memories lie. I lived here all my life it feels like home. Now, it is the spot of a ceremony and a passage where ruling creatures are going to accept young adolescents as full grown adults, a ceremony hold every few decades. I am willing to see how this goes.”

  “It is fairly short, and rarely would we allow humans to see a ceremony,” said Flarefur. “However, it is a rarity to have a demigod present, so the leaders decided to hold the ceremony here. We think you may have some divine power that could help our adolescents grow and mature faster. I don’t all details, but there’re legends you hold secret power that can be bestowed upon and make those grow stronger and powerful like you did with the White Knights.”

  “That could be true, but the reality behind the White Knights is that I never gave the White Knights my power; their power is their own. It’s their Pangaean power inherited from their parents. That magic power courses through in their blood, in their veins. Each Pangaean has a bestowed magic power

  “How’s that possible?”

  “Remember the Pool of Shadows? The Titans used that for their power, but the Pangaeans had their own Pool: the Pool of Light. During the Second Generation and after the Crystal Dragon casted Lusìvar away, the early Pangaeans feared such dark power and bathed in the Pool of Light, giving them power of Light and love.

  “And for hundreds of thousands of years, each newborn Pangaean is placed in the Pool of Light in hopes of not falling corrupt like the Titans. I, my half-sister, and three other Pangaeans didn’t bathe in the Pool of Light because my mother and a few Pangaeans not to have their children bathed.

  “She saw how flawed the Pool of Light was and how it could be like the Pool of Shadows. Pangaeans who bathed in the Pool of Light would have their love enhanced. But not just to their families, to their homes as well. And when the time came, it was the end.

  “Each Pangaean had become so attached so their own home and family, and each Pangaean gave up all their magic power they had from the Pool of Light so save both their homes and children. But in the end, it wasn’t enough because a Pangaean still had limited power and ended up giving their lives in vain to
safe two things at once and proved to be too much. This led to the destruction of the continent, which was already doomed from the day it was created, and the people living on the continent.

  “I, my half-sister, and three others were the only ones to have made it out alive. My mother and a few other Pangaean parents didn’t bathe in the Pool of Light gave their powers to save their children, not the houses.”

  “No wonder why there were so few of you in the past,” said Flarefur. “But I’d never heard of this Pool of Light.”

  “It is a secret best kept to us Pangaeans,” said Sora’s voice. Sora was seen by Valverno and Flarefur flying up to them. Sora wasn’t dressed in her White Knight armor but as a beautiful full grown woman dressed in an emerald-ruby dress and a long red bow tied like a ribbon across her belly with a string of diamonds braided in her hair, which was folded inward over her head. “The Pool of Light can make a person become nonviolent and make them pure, which made us an opposite persona of a Titan.”

  Valverno gazed at his sister’s beauty and never seen Sora dressed like royalty. Drawn by Sora’s appearance, Valverno’s mind was blank with words he can’t suddenly say.

  Sora saw Valverno’s eyes staring upon her and made her smile, with a small blushing face. “What’s the matter, Elder Brother? Do I look so pretty in a yukata you don’t have anything to say?”

  “Um, let’s head down first before we talk about anything else,” said Valverno. The hesitant demigod drifted back to the ground halfway between the village and the bonfires. He was followed by Sora and Flarefur.

  “So you were saying?” said Sora.

  “The three years you’ve been with me, I’d never seen you dress up before,” said Valverno.

  “And in all my years of observing humans, I’d never seen one dress that way before,” said Flarefur.