by Ryan Johnson
They made good timing too; they covered more distance at a slightly faster speed. The time they spent flying to the northwest was almost a two-day flight, and they spent all that time flying endlessly. Normally going that long would mean they haven’t had food to eat with them.
The comets that destroyed Shimabellia came quickly no one had the time to grab food for emergency.
Luckily, Marina found some fish while she was sleeping in the water, since Sirens are still considered fish and she could breathe underwater. It was just tuna that she found during the night. Everyone quickly snacked on the few fish they had, and they were bigger than the average size tuna; they were big enough to feed one person breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
After they quickly stuffed their mouths with the fish that was fried crispy from Valverno’s fire-breathing throat, they departed from their sleeping spot and took to the air. They soared endlessly until they got to the northwestern corner of Isla Maeli.
Then they drifted back to the ground after a long day of flight. They rested their wings, and they walked for most of the journey. Valverno kept Marina under a guarded wing, and the membranes of his wings were strong enough to resist any attack, magic and metal weapons.
As they walked for a few hours, Valverno quickly looked to the direction they needed to travel.
From the distance, they saw a large tree. It sparkled brightly like star in the night sky.
A gut feeling was rumbling in Valverno’s tummy; he remembered seeing a tree that looked like the same one he saw in the image, after he met with Galvin who surrendered himself to the demigod. It was the place that had to be holding the last armor artifact. He could not help but run with the greatest speed. His speed caught everyone off-guard.
“Valverno,” cried Sora. “Where are you going?”
Valverno spent no time in listening; the sight of the three was exiting Valverno could die with a smile on his face.
He dashed more than a mile to move closer to his target. Then, he would slow his running as the tree came closer into view. He halted so suddenly when he came running to a small pond surrounding the tree; the tree was positioned toward left of the pond’s edges, with half its bark touching the dirt and the other half touching the pond’s surface.
Up close, the tree was large and wide. Bigger than any tree Shimabellia had to offer, and its bark was wide as ten Dragons. The branches on the tree’s top reach outward with golden sparkle glittering in the sunlight. A light shined through a narrow gap at the bottom of the bark like a large scratch, and it stood by the dirt that led up to the gap.
While the tree was inspiring, Valverno’s attention was drawn to the pond that surrounded the tree. A light shined with the lake like the blue cloud swirling within the Crystal Sword. Valverno knelt down and placed his face over the pond’s surface, seeing the reflecting in the crystal clear water.
Then he gasped at the sight of his face; his reflection showed something different about his facial expression. His eyes, mouth, nose, and ears were distinctively human with white hair and brown-tanned skin in comparison of the redness of his own skin and hair; his horns, draconic-shaped eyes, and funny shaped ears were missing. Valverno was looking at his own shape of a human, although he still had his wings he was seeing in his reflection.
Valverno heard footsteps walking toward him knowing it was his allies running in behind. He heard them breathing hard since he dashed a great distance and they sprint in the speed their bodies couldn’t keep up with.
“You’ve done it once again: charging somewhere and leaving us behind,” said Flavius. “And let me guess: you want to take a bath in this little pond?”
“Not in this pool,” answered Valverno.
Sora stepped beside and looked at the pond, if they both had seen the pond before. “Valverno, do you know what we’re staring at?” asked Sora.
“How I ever forget?” replied Valverno. “It is the Pool that all Pangaeans bathed in of their source of magic of purity and led to their doom: the Pool of Light.”
THE POOL OF LIGHT
Valverno still gazed at his own reflection in the Pool of Light, the Pool that white gives magic instead of black magic and personifies a person in purity. The little pond of water Valverno was looking at was the source of the Pangaeans’ way of life and their power. Opposed to the Titans getting their black magic and corrupted personalities from the Pool of Shadows, Pangaeans mostly got their powers from the Pool of Light that granted them a personality of purity and not tainted evil.
“What did you say?” asked Marina.
Valverno stood up and looked at Marina. “This is the Pool of Light, Marina. This is the source where the ancient Pangaeans got their own magic power and their pure hearts. This was the source that was our salvation, but it also became our damnation.”
“So, this is where your livelihood was at?” asked Monico. “At this one small pond this tree is growing?”
“Yes, Monico,” answered Sora. “This is the Pool of Light, as my brother just said. But for some reason it is smaller than what I remember. I remember this being bigger to the size of a lake.”
“That must be from the powerful cosmic earthquake and a giant whirlpool that destroyed Pangaea and broke two small pieces of small landmass into the islands,” suggested Valverno. “Most of the Pool’s water must have been absorbed into the land to keep them from dying. However, how the two Pools survived is beyond my knowledge.”
“So, this Pool is something like the Pool of Shadows you bathed in?” asked Flavius.
“The Pool of Light gives the opposite effects from the Pool of Shadows. Anyone who bathes in the Pool of Shadows is given black magic and a corrupted persona. But anyone who bathes in the Pool of Light is given a sense of purity and good natural magic, even if someone may consider it a natural source like a Unicorn’s magic horn.
“The Pool of Shadows is what gave the Titans evil personalities and power they thought that could rival against the gods. In the end, they failed and were casted away. Same thing with the Pool of Light; Pangaeans got hearts of purity and magic to help each other. In the end, the purity they had become an obsession to their families and their houses and used all the magic to try to save both, houses and family. In the end, they failed.
“Both Pools may be magical enhancements, but also give a sort of corrupted sense of selfish desires. For the Titans to become gods and for the Pangaeans consumed in love for homes and families. I find them both forbidden because not only will they will you power, but also a greedy desire for such things.
“Pangaeans didn’t need to bathe in the Pool of Water; each individual had their own magic power they’re born with. And each Pangaean had their own magical staff made from rare wood that would help them harness their magic power. Above all, they only needed each other and not the Pool of Light. Family love is the most powerful magic of all; no one needs physical magic or a sword of divine power to enhance a person’s love.”
“Both Pools are forbidden to bathe in and you did bathe in one,” stated Sora.
“I didn’t want to take a dip into the Pool of Shadows, Sora. I was dragged in. You were there, you know. I was dragged into the Pool of Shadows by a whip of its power. How would I have been able to resist its strength from dragging in?”
“Yet you still went in,” said Sora.
Valverno sighed. “I did it to save Marina. She was the target the Pool was getting to, but I pushed her out of the way. If I didn’t have, she would have been corrupted by the Pool and the Siren I loved would have wanted to rule Shimabellia, without me by her side. And I did a selfless act and pushed her out of the way, and I managed to resist the Pool’s corruption with my divine power.”
“Yeah, whatever,” said Sora. “I wasn’t worried in the least. I knew you could be able to resist its dark corrupting power.”
“On the upper hand, I managed to summon forth a god from
the Realm of the Dead. Either by the Pool of Shadows’ power or my own power, I brought worth a god and ended the battle with a king and a witch rather quickly.”
“But that was Origenes, the God of Shadows, you have summoned,” said Sora. “I’d say it was the power of the Pool of Shadows that summoned the god. You might as well do the same thing to Adelpha and bathe in the Pool of Light.”
Valverno shook his head in response. “I won’t. I am not going into this Pool as I was forced into the Pool of Shadows. The Pangaeans made their mistake of going into the Pool of Light, which I won’t make, Sora. I’m going to stay on the surface.”
“But your love for the Siren would be greatly enhanced by the Pool’s light.”
“Or maybe you should jump in, Sora. You have someone else you do love, and you have yet to confess to Flavius who is standing right here. You can tell him you love him already.”
Sora remained silent; her face was blushing red. Flavius was right beside her. Valverno did the same thing just a short time ago; Valverno, Sora, and Marina were together, and Valverno falsely called out Flavius, who Sora was deeply in love with. Sora thought he was right behind her and thought he had heard, only to find out he wasn’t behind her. But he appeared a few moments later. Then she felt sickly and left to go somewhere.
Now worse, Valverno was telling loudly enough for Flavius to hear it. Flavius had a blunt reaction and Sora was gushing red; she was feeling the same way when she thought Flavius was behind her the night Shimabellia was destroyed and Valverno loudly said, “Flavius, since when you were behind Sora?” and made Sora blush as red as red can get.
“Elder… Brother… Demigod… Valverno…,” said Sora, from a soft tone to a very loud tone. “You are the most annoying, despicable, unreliable, embarrassing, humiliating, un-divine, obnoxious, twisted, hybrid, demigod brother I ever had. Yet alone how blood-related I am to you. Saying loudly enough I am indeed in love with this man, but I just can’t!”
Then the demigod closed his eyes. Valverno lifted up his right hand with two fingers: his index and middle fingers; he closed curved the two other fingers and his thump into his palm. Then he snapped his two fingers together, and Sora and Flavius suddenly moved and slipped to each other’s grasp; both people grasped each other’s shoulders and they suddenly gasped a loud sound.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife; despite the fact we’re not holding a wedding.” Valverno opened his eyes and saw Sora and Flavius kissing each other; his own power forcible made the two people fall in love.
Sora and Flavius were gazing at each other’s eyes from Valverno’s magical gripping intervention that drew them closer to each other. And after a quick short moment, they moved away from each other and gave embarrassing shouts.
“And now that should do it, Sora. You can marry him whenever you want to wherever in the Mortal Realm you want to.”
Flavius turned to face to Valverno giving a sly smile. “But she… you…”
“You are the White Knight of Loyalty, are you not?”
“Yes, but…”
“Then be loyal to her as she is in love with you. Get to know her better than you already know. And if you manage to stay close to my half-sister, then you will truly live up to the title. Sora, you are aimlessly staring at him for three years now.”
“BROTHER! YOU F—”
“You’re a White Knight of Charity, are you not? Which means you are meant to give things out of love. And giving your heart to Flavius means it’s an act of charity. It proves you do live up to the title. Good to know you love Flavius. And after we’re done here, you both can get married, have children of your own, and teach them the values of life like how Mother taught us, Sora.”
Sora, having been embarrassed beyond her measurement, felt steam rising above her hair and shoulders. She felt her feet sinking into the ground like quicksand. She felt her embarrassment turning into frustration and her mind exploded. “You… you… you… YOU IDIOT!” Sora shouted and dashed to Valverno with a white glowing fist.
Sora dashed to Valverno and pushed him in the chest. Sora punched Valverno hard enough to make him pushed backward and nearly landed into the Pool of Light.
Valverno floated above the water with his wings flapping him. “You hit your last family member and want him to die? That’s my sister,” he said, like a father praising his son saying, “That’s my boy.”
Then Valverno floated back to land. “Glad to see she is going to get a man of her own. And I totally approve of this and I can die smiling right now.”
Sora walked away from Valverno and hid herself behind Monico. “When this is all over, you have my permission to kill my brother, if the Shadow King doesn’t kill him first.”
Flavius had his face turned away and stayed clear from Sora and Valverno. On his face, Flavius was showing the signs of a man who acts as nothing had happened. But in his mind, there was embarrassing thoughts circulating. Flavius was trying to act manly to not show any emotions, but Valverno can see clear through Flavius emotionless face.
“Now that solves some things right now,” said Valverno. “Now, you two can get married and live a love life. Right, Marina?” Valverno turned to see Marina standing next to him, but she was nowhere next to him. “Marina, where are you?” Valverno’s heart underwent a nerve rack when Marina wasn’t beside him, thinking the Shadow King has taken the Siren.
“Over here, Blind Hybrid,” called Marina’s voice. Marina was running on the lighting gap in the tree’s bark. She was running and looked at Valverno, who quickly flapped his wings and flew toward the Siren close to the tree. “Catch me if you can.”
Marina vanished into the light shining in the tree’s gap. Valverno flew in after her and his eyes caught the brightness of light, affecting him blindly before what he saw within the tree’s bark: a giant crater looking like the underground cavern that held the first armor artifact.
THE HYBRID’S DARKEST IDENTITY REVEALED
When Valverno entered through the gap, he was looking at the tree’s interior of a dome-shaped cavern. He and Marina were standing on a ledge overlapping with a body of water down below. The ceiling was burning bright, if the tree had a white sun sparkling its bright blaze within its bark. The wooden falls stretched as far as the tree ascended straight upward without end. A lake of pure water flowed at the bottom of the cavern.
Valverno saw Marina standing close to a cliff, looking down to see the giant lake. He joined her to gaze at the lake. It was he Pool of Light and its smoothing water flowed inside the tree as well as outside. Valverno was thinking the water was filling the tree with life, and the Pool of Light could be of great value to him.
“Thinking of jumping in?” asked Marina.
“No, I won’t. While tempting it is, I won’t fall into the Pool of Light. I was pulled into the Pool of Shadows and I did, resist the corrupting it gave. But it may not be the same with the Pool of Light. I may grow to attach to you and to any personal homes. I may end up forgetting about Lusìvar and my ability to fight him. If I fall in, I may gain some natural magic power, but my hybrid process won’t be balanced between violence and peace; my mind will be swayed toward a peaceful, loving hybrid spending more time with birds and plants instead of you and the three seeds you bear.”
“Three seeds?” called out Monico’s voice.
Sora, Monico, and Flavius appeared from the gap, and they saw Marina and Valverno staring back at them. Monico had a confused opposed to Flavius and Sora’s realistic faces.
“Has someone started a garden with only three seeds?” asked Monico.
“No, it isn’t that,” said Valverno. “What I meant is with that is Marina is pregnant with triplets. My triplets. My children. Marina will give birth to my three kids.”
“Oh, that makes sense... Wait! What? A Siren is pregnant? Three of them? And their own children? Why, that shouldn’t be possibility. Consideri
ng you are already a hybrid and she is a Siren, I just can’t how a hybrid child of two different species and a full-bloodied Siren specimen could breed.”
“Well, it did,” said Marina.
Monico glared at Valverno’s hybrid body. He looked at Valverno’s face, human torso molded with dragon scales, and down to his legs and didn’t find what he was looking for.
“Eyes forward, Monico,” warned Valverno, in a serious tone. “You don’t need to know how Pangaeans need to breed and make kids. I did things differently with Marina since she’s a Siren, and you don’t need to know how the kids came into living.”
Monico swirled his eyes away, never to think of how a hybrid, a child of a Pangaean and another specimen, and a Siren came to have kids.
“Okay, let’s see where that last armor artifact is,” said Valverno. He turned around and walked toward the ledge’s furthest point. From the ledge’s sharp corner, there was a column of pillared stones leading to a small island-like standing in the middle of the cavern. On it, a bright sparkling item was floating: it was plackart armor!
The plackart armor was curved and crafted to fit the size of a man’s chest. Two points curved upwards like a half-oval to fit between the shoulders, and the plating curved outward to fit the skin of a person’s chest. Unlike the other two, this artifact was shining and bright instead of being rusted or decayed; it shined brightly like the sun. The last artifact displayed a source of power to everyone looking at it.
Finally, after all the time he has spent searching, the last armor artifact was right in front of him, and a path of stone pillars leading to it. He only needed to hop on the few pillars and finally restore the power he has lost.
“Found it,” muttered Valverno.
Marina stood by Valverno’s side; she was ready to jump with him or ready to do the jumping for him. But she saw his face; Valverno’s face was lit caution. Valverno wasn’t taking the leap of faith to grab hold of the last artifact and reconnect it onto his body. All he had to do was to fly to it, grab it, and attach to his chest, which was the right size for the armor to fit.
