by Ryan Johnson
“What do you mean?” asked the voice of the Dragon King.
Valverno looked at the Dragon King, the Unicorn King, and several other ruling creatures were staring at him.
“Beforehand you mentioned something about Lusìvar saying something,” said the Dragon King.
Valverno shook his head, seeing how irrelevant it was now since Shimabellia has been destroyed. But seeing how they were alive, it still would matter what kind of forces they were dealing with. “Lusìvar gave a warning this day would come, and he said it to me on my wedding day.”
Valverno told everyone around him how he came face-to-face with Lusìvar’s spirit on his wedding day. Lusìvar chanted something bad will happen and it did: a rain of fire falling down from the sky. The sounds of Valverno’s talk sounded if Lusìvar had the power to tell the future and what outcome will come.
Everyone glared in great despair. They had learned Lusìvar could be more powerful than they could have imagined, not of magic power and power to foresee the future.
Sora released her arms and stood back up. Valverno weakly got back up and moved his left arm slightly. His left arm felt well but it was redly scarred with long, thin lines like the scar across one of his eyes.
The demigod was glad to have a relative to have mastered the art of healing. Sora’s healing power was more advanced than a Unicorn’s healing power that comes from its horn. With a healed arm, Valverno sighed. He looked one more time at the burning island of Shimabellia.
The island remained blazing as smoke rose like a volcano that erupted. He saved a small portion of the people who lived on the island, but everyone spread across the island weren’t lucky as the people who made it to Isla Maeli’s shores.
Valverno turned back to see the creatures of royalty and his female relatives looking at him. “Come on. We can’t stay here and keep mourning of what’s been lost. We need to keep moving forward.” Valverno looked at a group of kids standing near each other: Eliana, Naìra and Andrei, Nerio, and Arron.
Geraldus’s kids were alright and Flavius was standing behind them. Only Alaric, Geraldus’s eldest child, was missing from the group. And a girl standing at a near distance from Geraldus’s children was the former princess Stephanie.
Valverno sighed; relieved to see his foster siblings were safe and sound. As he took his first step toward them, he was stopped by the Unicorn King.
“Valverno, give these people some time to morn for their loss,” said the Unicorn King.
“Well, we mustn’t mourn of what has been lost. We need to keep moving forward. There’s smoke around here and the army holding steady up north isn’t going to have enough tents to hold a population that has a village population. We need to get moving away from this smoking field.”
“But, Demigod Valverno…” said the Unicorn King
“There is nothing we can do save Shimabellia! There is nothing I can do! There is nothing Unicorns can do! There is NOTHING any of us can do to save Shimabellia!” Valverno’s voice was loud enough it echoed through everyone’s ears.
Sora and Marina were blank. The creatures were stirred. Valverno shouted loudly enough to make everyone come to his attention. His voice echoed throughout the air and toward everyone around him.
“With all the power I have, it was nothing. A White Knight’s power would have been nothing. My power, the power of a half-divine mortal, was nothing. I can’t fix of what has been done. My home, Pangaea, was lost to me, and I kept moving forward. We can’t let our grievances get a better hold of our futures. We need to keep moving onward and keep looking to the future.”
“But where will we go?” asked the Dragon King.
Valverno knew the people who lost their home village had no houses or huts to go to. And Valverno had no idea of how far they were from the Seaport City and the army of four clans. Valverno was certain would be no room yet food to supply many thousands of unarmed people who survived an ordeal, and Shimabellia was the main source of the food supply to the three clans standing at the Seaport City.
With the island destroyed, the villagers would likely starve to death. Valverno wasn’t going to let the last residents of Shimabellia die of starvation, but they were on the other island: Isla Maeli. Isla Maeli is known to have soil not suitable for growing crops.
The only place Valverno could think of the people to go was the fortress located on the other side of Isla Maeli. “There is a fortress west from here, on the other side of Isla Maeli. Its walls are made from materials magic can’t penetrate and is fiercely prone to a great durability. Its long towers and stretches around for miles. It can act as a defense for the people there.”
“But what about the people?” asked the Unicorn King. “They don’t seem to have the strength to march out, and there is much debris here. Not to mention it is nighttime. It would prove most difficult if the humans marched at night than during the day. And we, the creatures, are limited in numbers.”
The Unicorn King did bring up a valid point; there were ten times more humans than there were creatures. The humans outnumbered the creatures and would be hard to watch over.
Valverno thought of it carefully before he ended up agreeing with the Unicorn King. “We leave at first peep of dawn. That will give everyone sometime to rest and time to grieve over what they had lost. And when everyone is settled, the White Knights and I will head north to the final place of the last armor artifact, and Lusìvar will be dead in the following days. For now, we must endure for what has happened.
“And first thing, these people aren’t used to sleeping on the ground, so we’re going have to make tents and beds for them. Make sure they get the feeling they are still at home. And smoke and fire are fuming the air. If these people keep inhaling the smoke, they will suffocate. The creatures must do what they can to change the terrain and make the ground suitable for the people to breathe the air they need to breathe.
“My fellow creatures. My White Knights. We have work to do. Do what you deem is necessary for the people to survive the night. I will be the only one to scout the terrain. I’ll make sure no evil being is nearby. Carry on.”
It took several hours for the Dragons and the Unicorns to put out the smoke and fire. Valverno flew out to scout the terrain not to scout but not to show how weakened he has become. The power he summoned to make the portal, and the comet strike left his left arm pulverized. He has found out he can no longer summon magic; his right arm still had strength to cast out power.
Sora was strong to the bone and moved quicker than the creatures. Flavius and Monico also helped with Sora. Flavius helped make good beds, and Monico tended to the terrain. The three helped out the villagers and made sure they had the right measures of encamped.
After two hours, Valverno flew back to the encampment and saw tents have been made and the smoke and fire have been put out. This was big progress the creatures and the White Knights have made, but Valverno could still hear cries of agony from the people.
Valverno knew it won’t take overnight for the people to overcome their grievances and not to mention the people he was among are the last people of Shimabellia; the rest have died!
But Valverno knew the villagers would need to overcome their grievances. Because he plans for everyone to be marching out at dawn.
DEPARTURE
The sun rose over the distant eastern horizon. Valverno stayed up all night long and stared at the burning fires flaring over Shimabellia. Black smoke rose from the distance as the flaring brightness of the great fires dimmed from the rising sunlight. Even though the island was far away, Valverno can see the smoke rising.
As the sun rose over, several people joined him in seeing the crimson flare of the fires die away and black smoke was seen rising overhead. For the villagers, they lost their only home. For Valverno, he lost his second home: Pangaea was his first home.
As the morning was letting a drift among the w
aking villagers, Valverno walked among the tents to get them up. They had a lot of land to travel, if they are to make it to the fortress. He had the option to make haste to the four clans to the north, since the Seaport City was that way. Valverno knew he and the villagers and the creatures were at the eastern coast of Isla Maeli.
But his mind was set on the fortress to the west, on the other side of the island. Its black walls resisted his magic from piercing a crack. And he thought the fortress would be a considerable defense the villagers and the last soldiers would have against a horde of evil creatures that could be lurking around Isla Maeli, the island Valverno has never been to.
And if the Titans were ever released, it just could prove to be a strong defense for the villagers and the soldiers who defended the Western Region.
Valverno still had enough time to get the armor artifact he desperately needed to find; the season was still spring and the ideal eclipse wouldn’t happen for the few months.
Just as Valverno was walking through the horde of tents set up by the three White Knights, the demigod came across Marina looking at a group of kids; he saw she was wearing her emerald armor garments with the skirt wrapped around her waist. She looked like the same Siren she was when she traveled with him to the Northern Region.
She was singing a soft song from her voice to them. Every time Valverno heard her singing voice, he felt at ease. He wanted to get her, but he felt too entranced by her wonderful voice that made him feel he was flying in the sky.
Marina sung to the children’s joyful hearts with her voice and she made them feel, if they went into a trance. Her voice was as tingly as a string on a harp and as soft as the wind blowing through a valley of grass:
When mountains fall and the ravens fly
When despair strikes high from the sky
Death may stomping to the door
But never be afraid of death’s strike
For it is a doorway to another life
Where there is such thing as strife
A life so peaceful and prosperous
It can’t be struck by a short knife
There is a place when mountains fall and ravens fly
You close your eyes and see a dull night
You open your eyes to see a bright light
The light you see reveals a place you can never cry
There is a place where you can sleep
A place you never have to weep
A place where you never have to die
After the mountains fall and the ravens fly
The parents of the children heard Marina’s singing voice nearby. They took notice of the Siren looking after the children and this made them feel at ease. The parents felt more at ease when the beautiful Siren had her voice stretched to the hearts of many people.
Marina’s voice was echoing through the army of tents and the people hearing her voice. The White Knights were hearing the Siren as well, and they felt at ease of hearing death was the ultimate pathway to another world where death would never exist.
Valverno had a tear drop from an eye and left Marina to where she was needed the most. Valverno wondered around the tents, and he saw the people inside still mourning the loss of their island home.
The trauma on their faces, the mourning muttering from their mouths, the horror in their eyes, and the suffering they experienced made them realize how a dreadful reality can be. And through Marina’s voice echoing throughout the encampment of the villagers, their horrified faces turned to comforted faces; this sensational feeling killed the horror and rebirthed that horror with a brightness of hope.
This Siren is just what these people need, thought Valverno. A queen they need to look up to after I am done with my quest against Lusìvar. She truly is a girl I really don’t deserve.
Valverno spent an hour walking through the tents and made his way to the shores. He saw a few Unicorns and Pegasi standing by the shores, gulping down the salt water the two different horses could drink from.
After Valverno stared at the Unicorns and the Pegasi, he looked to the sky and saw Dragons and Griffins flying.
During the night, several Dragons and Griffins flew to the southeast and they came back at dawn with signs of depression; the land they lived on was wiped out as well along with their own kin.
This made Valverno now realize about the creatures he was surrounded by: the Centaurs, Dragons, Griffins, Unicorns, and Pegasi were the last. Valverno thought the Merpeople and the Sea Serpents could have been out of harm’s way, and they could have survived, by swimming deep beneath the ocean’s watery surface. In any case, he had no high hopes of seeing them or the Fairies anytime soon.
Not only the villagers and creatures survived in low numbers, but Valverno’s army has demolished: the soldiers living in the village and the creatures that could fight. The only army fighting forces Valverno had left were the clans: the Eagle, Cheetah, and Tigress Clans. And there was the Lizard Clan with the fleet of ships, which Valverno thought there would be enough for the villagers to board.
But the fleet was patrolling the border of the Seaport City, which was nearly the same height of the capital city of Shimabellia. The west side was surrounded by land and the east was surrounded by sea. The four clans have surrounded the Seaport City.
So, the choice Valverno was making is to have the villagers be transported to the fortress to the other side of Isla Maeli. And no matter how long it would take, Valverno would get the villagers to the fortress, and he and the White Knights would set out to get the last armor artifact.
Valverno stood by the eastern shores as he watched the rising sun of the dawn rise higher beyond the smoking island. It had been a few hours since dawn had rose from the east and the villagers were ready to travel. Many of the people would be carried by the creatures that could carry them: Centaurs, Dragons, Griffins, Unicorns, and Pegasi.
All the creatures would carry a small number of humans on their backs. The Unicorns, Pegasi, and Centaurs closely resembled regular horses that carried up to two adults or a few kids. Dragons could carry a family of five people on their upward-curved backs. The Griffins were the same as the Unicorns, Pegasi, and Centaurs; they could carry a few people.
The biggest problem there was the numbers Valverno had to deal with: tens of thousands of humans and with a few thousand creatures.
Valverno felt that much anxiety growing in him he had no idea how long it would take him to move all the people from the east to the west. To travel by air would be easy, it would take a few days at most, but to travel by land would take weeks to months. There many people and very few creatures to transport everyone to the fortress in one trip.
This could lead to an ambush or a skirmish against all the villagers. He defended them once against a Minotaur and King Uragiru’s seventy thousand soldiers. Now, he needed to defend them while transporting them to a far distant corner of Isla Maeli lying to the west.
“Look, mom, Fairies,” said a girl’ voice.
Valverno caught the voice of a young girl, and the word of the girl’s voice was “Fairies.” Valverno rushed from the sands of the shores to find where he heard the girl’s voice, but there was no need.
The Fairies themselves flew from the sky like large boulders falling from the sky. The Fairies joined the many creatures standing by the shores.
Valverno halted as he saw the hundreds of them flying down. He followed after them and quickly trailed back to the shores. The demigod was glad to see another species having survived Shimabellia’s destruction.
And the Fairies surviving would mean magic power to have against Lusìvar, and their magic was similar to a Unicorn’s magic from the horn, which meant the Fairies’ magic was a purifying power that could melt any negativity like killing nightmares in peoples’ dreams.
Valverno made his way to the shores, but he wasn’t happy at the sight when they were gatherin
g with the Dragons; there were several Fairies flying among the living.
This made Valverno sighed with great relief other creatures had survived. However, the Fairies were very few in numbers at about five hundred.
Valverno saw the Dragon King conversing with a Fairy, not the Fairy Queen. He heard their voices loudly and went to join in their conservation.
“… and since having lost our home and the mainland, the Fairies are now disconnected with each other,” said the Fairy. “And without the Fairy Queen, there is no chance for the Fairies to survive.”
“That is terrible,” said the Dragon King. “It was the Fairy Queen that kept most of Shimabellia in a perfect balance. With the Fairies’ magic, they helped plants grow on Shimabellia. But, without the Fairy Queen choosing a successor before her passing, it seems the Fairies are doomed.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” said Valverno.
The Fairy and the Dragon King looked at Valverno walking to them.
“We still are alive as well as the Fairies that made it this far. As long as we live, hope still lives. We are going have to adapt to this land and move forward from last night’s experience. We still have a future to look forward to.”
“How do you suppose we do that?” asked the Fairy. “Just accept it? Just like that? We lost our home!”
“So did me when I lost my home Pangaea and the entire civilization. You lost some people in the millions, but I lost people in the billions, nearly ten billion about.”
The Dragon King and the Fairy gasped at the mighty big number. Compared to the numbers in ancient Pangaea, Shimabellia would be a small island.
“Yes, creatures; Pangaea was a mighty big and wide continent a thousand times bigger and wider than Shimabellia and Isla Maeli. It was painful for me to watch my homeland get sucked into an abyss below my eyes. How these people feel, how you creatures feel is how I felt when I lost my homeland.
“But I never went into despair. I stood upon my feet to keep moving forward. I was still alive with four others, with one of them being my half-sister Sora. We survived Pangaea’s destruction, and we managed to adapt to new land: the two islands.
