by Ryan Johnson
“And when someone does get that naginata spear, then they will be number one. They will consider themselves the master of this training unit. And it will take more than just bare hands to get it; it is going to take determination, faith, and a sheer will of refusing to die. And until that person shows he or she can, he will get it, but it won’t be today.
“For today, we start by running through the terrain of mountains. We will be carrying the heaviest of boulders carried on sticks while running through the mountain range and steep cliffs.
“And after today, everyone can compete to see if they can get the spear I’ve flown at the pillar’s top. Tomorrow and the days after, many will try to retrieve the spear. And when they do, it will go to show how much of a Pangaean they are. Now, my assistants will hand out each to you a stick attached with two rocks enhanced by elven magic to make them heavy.”
The three Amazons that marched with Okinawan carried many sticks and bags at both ends on their shoulders. They stopped at each recruit and heaved each stick over each recruit’s shoulder. A few dropped to their knees upon impact.
Valverno saw an Amazon woman in front of him, and she had one stick she heaved over Valverno’s shoulders. His legs suddenly dropped to the ground in a kneeling position. The weight he lifted was heavy just as pushing back against a Minotaur’s incredible weight with its spear. He remembered pushing against the bull as his fists gripped against the Minotaur’s spear and trying to push the bull back. He felt that weight again, but it was with a stick. He thought the rocks tied inside the bags would have been lighter, but it turned out they were heavy as holding back a Minotaur. Such weight was bringing back such memories from his passed.
But Okinawan said the rocks were enhanced by Elves. And Valverno thought he had the necessary strength to hold against the heaviness, but his legs barely stood down. He lifted heavy weight like carrying a big, rounded boulder-sized Minotaur on his shoulders. He was figuring out Freyya was right: he was better taking on a beast with five heads.
“Now, all you off, run off in the direction toward rock to the northeast,” said Okinawan. He pointed at a mountain with a strange, triangular shape curing like a crescent moon. “There you will find a head-shaped rock standing on a ridge for thousands of years.
“There will be steep edges and cliffs you will walk through, but you can always try to run,” suggested Okinawan. “It’s ten miles of different terrain, and then even more miles of mountain terrain going from top to bottom then you will see the steep edges and cliffs. No need to worry; no one will die unless you want to die. I suggest you try to keep up. That way, no one won’t die in the wilderness. But if you fall behind, you will be left behind. And you might as well get to that mountain before night, because night is around wild beasts roam wild.”
The line of recruits only goggled when trying to stay standing on their feet, due to the heaviness they were lifting. Even Valverno had difficulty trying to stand on his feet from the heavy weight he lifted over his shoulders and his last wing hard difficulty lifting the stick with its own strength.
“What are you recruits waiting for?” snapped one of the three Amazons accompanying Okinawan. “You’re wasting previous daylight, and your time as well as ours.”
Valverno’s ears flickered when he heard the woman’s voice. He was the first recruit to finally lift the stick as high as his shoulders can lift it and dashed off, in front of everyone as they watched the hybrid being the first one to take off.
“No way am I waiting for the slowest and weakest person to slow me down,” he shouted from the front of line.
“He has a strong spirit!” said Okinawan, seeing the hybrid being the first to take the lead. “But not enough to make it to the mountain, the others will surely catch up, and I made sure to have an Elf make his training stick heavier than every other recruit’s heavy stick.”
For the distance, Valverno kept ahead of them of everyone else, but the heaviness he carried slowed his speed. At first, he could bare the weight of the magic-enhanced rocks. From his calculation, he walked straight forward in open terrain for five miles. And after he walked the five miles from the other recruits that gave him a few-second head start, Valverno felt his strength leaving him. He was breathing hard, and his legs were kept him moving and at a slow paste.
He felt his brain was becoming dizzy and exhausted like carrying a giant boulder tall as a mountain through the desert heat. Fortunately for Valverno, he wasn’t crossing any desert terrain, and he wasn’t carrying a large boulder; he was holding a stick with two rocks in bags tied at both ends of the stick. And the stick he could tell was made from a bamboo tree. He had no idea where the Pangaeans found any bamboo trees, and he didn’t need to think where a forest of bamboo trees was as he was trying to stay ahead of the crowd.
And in no time, about a dozen of the Tokagehebi had caught up to the hybrid and taken the lead. Valverno felt discourage he should have more muscle than the lizard people. But his strength wasn’t its full strength, and his muscles were straining from his legs, but his arms remained strong.
He slowly kept his paste in the next four miles and very close to the next mile. And in no time, few other Tokagehebi and all the Amazons, who are only numbered of five, have passed ahead of the slow moving hybrid.
At the current point, Valverno felt his strength leaving behind him, and his legs fell to the ground. He was breathing heavily. The weight he carried was too much for his hybrid body to carry. Now, he had the feeling of what a human feels like when carrying a heavy bag of flour over his or her shoulder. If he still had his draconic strength, then he been running nonstop and reached his destination in minutes.
Valverno grunted as he got back up to lift the heavy weight, but he wasn’t going to let himself go down. Valverno had always learned giving up was a rookie’s will, but he was no rookie. For all his life, he has been an outsider, and he never gave up trying to be a part of a society. He never gave up when he was almost crushed in a collapsing cave, and he never gave up on saving those he loved. And mostly importantly, he never gave up on living his own life, even if Marina wasn’t there with him before his mortal eyes. She wouldn’t want him to give up, so he would have to bare the strength to keep moving forward and don’t stop until he had reached his destination.
With one small step of his legs, Valverno could feel a need to live, a need to keep moving forward. He moved his legs and at a fast paste. He moved slightly faster but ran slowly. He grunted and growled softly as he was carrying a heavy burden over his shoulders like carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
As he pushed himself onward, Valverno saw the flat terrain turn into treachery steep, ragged hills of narrow cliffs. Luckily for him, his wing would catch hold of a narrow fall and grab hold of a wall before he could slip; he was just lucky of have one wing to prevent him from falling, even if Okinawan mentioned no one would die.
He may no longer have the power to fly, but having one wing can help him greatly on the ground, either as a shield or as a third arm.
After spending much time trailing over the slopes, Valverno still felt being left behind, and he saw he was getting closer to the strange head-shaped mountain Okinawan pointed to, but he still had a fair distance to go.
At his slowing speed, he could make it in just a matter of hours, and the sun was already at the bleak of an early evening. It was almost dark out but still plenty of light to see where he was going. The sun was barely out, and Valverno could see where he still needed to go.
Then suddenly, Valverno suddenly dropped to his knees, and he ended up falling behind. The last of the few Tokagehebi that trailed beside him got ahead of the hybrid collapsing to the ground.
Valverno’s strength felt weak as a human and his draconic strength felt hasn’t returned to its full power. “This isn’t going to end well for me,” said Valverno, standing back to his feet while lifting the stick with magic-enhanced rock
s tied on both ends. “And why do I have a bad feeling the worst has yet to come?”
He now felt he was the last one who has fallen behind: the last recruit to take last place. He found it ironic he was the first to run from the starting line and only to finish in last. While all the recruits were ahead, he was falling behind. Valverno was drenching in sweat, and his strength was all but spent. His muscles no longer had the stamina to proceed, and the heaviness of the weight was weighing him down to the ground like a nail hammered into a wall.
“I will not go down without giving up,” he whispered. He weakly brought himself back to his feet, and he slowly kept walking forward, step-by-step. And he kept moving forward at a slow paste moving like a snail with a heavy shell.
He kept walking for two hours until it was pitch black with little light on the horizon. Valverno walked up a small hill trending upward, and he saw many lights of campfires and shadows reflecting from the mountains’ wall.
“I knew it, I knew it,” cried Ívarr, in a cheery voice. Ívarr was talking with a few Tokagehebi, and he sounded like he was mouthing against the hybrid. “That hybrid was always a weakling. I just knew he couldn’t keep up. Fighting a rare lion with a tough hide is out thing, but carrying rocks enhanced by elven magic is entirely different. And I heard he used to have magical power, but that power was sucked out of him by his sworn enemy. Some demigod he turned out to be. Why couldn’t I be chosen to be a demigod? My strength is superb compared to his.”
“And not entirely overconfident as you, Ívarr,” roared Valverno, trailing up the hill.
His loud voice caught the attention of all the recruits and even Ívarr, who seemed surprised the hybrid has made it from the many miles they walked or ran.
“So, you did make it, hybrid? And here I thought you gave up and were mauled to death by carnivores. But still, you don’t have the necessary strength to keep up with us. You come nowhere near to my strength.”
Valverno walked closer to the large squad of recruits. He then halted and lifted the stick higher than his head. After the hybrid lifted his stick above his head, Valverno, who used the last ounces of his strength, flung the stick, which sailed in the air like a rock release from a spinning slingshot, toward the head-shaped rock and knocked at it.
The flying stick struck the head-shaped rock, and the rock tiled over and rolled over the ridge the rock was balanced on.
All the recruits had their jaws dropped open and gazed back at the hybrid, which seemed barely to be standing on his own two feet.
Valverno sighed heavily with every breath he was inhaling and exhaling. Sweat dragged from his head and skin if a rain cloud had pour over him. Then the heavy sighs turned into small grunt, and he unleashed a loud roar echoing through the peaks of the mountains. Then, he allowed his legs knee to the ground.
“Wh…what was that… you said: nowhere near to your strength?” asked Valverno, dropping to his legs. “You-you under…underestimate me… and… who I… am… and what I am. And… I…” Valverno was breathing heavily as he was kneeling on both legs. “And I… don’t feel the need to give up.”
“Impressive!” echoed Okinawan’s voice. Okinawan appeared from over the ridge where the rock rolled over. “Very impressive. No one I’ve seen ever thought about rolling a rock over the ridge that’s been sitting there for thousands of years. But it takes more than just muscle strength to throw a small stick at your true enemies.”
Why do I have the feeling the worst has yet to come, thought Valverno.
And in the next day was even worse than the hybrid expected, Valverno and trainees underwent hand-to-hand combat, and no weapons were given. The fighting training wasn’t with weapons but with legs and arms. A few of the Amazons faced against the other, and one Amazon faced against many Tokagehebi; the Tokagehebi had difficulty fighting against one Pangaean woman who could move faster and fighter strong than twenty Tokagehebi. They were located in the same location they dashed toward; they spent the entire land sleeping on the hard ground and woke up at first light creeping over the ridges’ tips.
On that morning, they found the rock that had been pushed over by Valverno’s stick standing back on the same spot. Okinawan and his Amazon assessments brought the rock from the spot it landed on and placed it right back to where it originally was.
As for the hybrid, Valverno could hardly fight at all; he was barley standing on his own legs. The weight he carried strained him from his muscle fiber to his bones. And to make matters far worse for him, he was sparring with the arrogant Tokagehebi, Ívarr.
The hybrid was being tossed and twisted by the skill of the Tokagehebi. Valverno was easily beaten after trying to get a steady read on Ívarr’s speed and flexibility, which he showed to be as like a ballet dancer. Ívarr can turn his head around like an owl’s head, and his waist in a full circle without even having to turn his legs.
After enduring a hard fight against a Tokagehebi fully experienced in a fist fight, Valverno was punched and kicked around easily and heaved to a wall, with his face meeting it head-on. His nose felt the bulk of the impact and felt the bone of his nose crushed. He growled loudly when his face slammed against something hard.
Then he was dropped to the ground, and he covered his nose with both hands. Blood was spilling from his broken nose. And he found it hard to breath and had to take the air through his mouth.
“You showed great strength when you carried a heavy weight, but now you are showing how weak you are,” said Ívarr. “Was it too much for you to carry a heavy weight? Perhaps for you, but it shouldn’t be for me. I still have finished first, so I should be the demigod. Why should you be the demigod and not me?”
“Because,” whispered Valverno, scoffing. He still held his nose with both hands. He stood up one foot while kneeling with one leg. “I was the first to have been asked by the gods. If I had refused, then they would have kept on asking until a mortal would say ‘yes’ to being a demigod.
“I was the first mortal they ever asked to be a demigod, and the only mortal to have ever been asked. I saw all kinds of young people you’ve been with, and I’m the only grownup you’ve come across.”
“You did not just say that,” said Ívarr.
Valverno smiled vilely and stood back up. “Read my lips, Ívarr: I. Just Did. Otherwise, I’d have no tongue or you’re really deaf you can’t hear the flap of a wing’s bird.”
“Why you…” Ívarr suddenly threw a punch at Ívarr.
But it was stopped by the three claws of Valverno’s wing. “And it is the more sensational for me to evaluate you and see what skills have,” said Valverno, wiping blood coming his nose. “You have strength of fighting and mouthing off too much.” Then Valverno’s wing used its force and spun Ívarr in a full circle and tossed him to a wall.
Ívarr slammed into the wall hard enough his body got stuck in the wall of rock. In seconds, Ívarr’s body fell, and the impact he left on the wall a small hole in the rock, imprinting Ívarr’s body on the spot he was flung to.
“And you are overestimating my strength of my resolve. I can grow stronger than someone could imagine, if they do have an imagination. Otherwise, they are just zombies I can just chomp off the heads off.”
Valverno let the blood from his nose drip down. He showed everyone else watching him and Ívarr what true strength was. Valverno was feeling strength in his heart and mind more than he was feeling strength in his muscles; it must be the sensational feeling of his divine power.
Suddenly, Valverno’s ears flickered to a strange sound. He turned his eyes away from Ívarr and saw the three Amazon warriors and even Okinawan standing in front of him, and they surrounded him like a pride of lions cornering their prey. They, for sure, were there suddenly not to say “hello” but to show a little violence.
Valverno could fight, but his muscles weren’t up for a fight, especially going against three Amazon warriors with great skill
in speed and strength that could outdo someone like Galvin. One Amazon woman could easily beat down more than a thousand soldiers and still remain fighting.
But Valverno decided to take the risk; he spun and widened out his wing.
All four jumped into the air, Valverno lifted his left leg and spun again. He gripped hold of an Amazon who landed right behind him. With a mighty force of his leg, Valverno slammed the Amazon to the same wall he flung to Ívarr, but with more force to the Amazon.
After he did that, he felt his wing tugged and pulled by a small grip from Okinawan. Okinawan had his own force of strength, and he pulled from Valverno’s wing and tossed him high into the air. Then the third Amazon jumped into the air-punched Valverno in his chest and launched him to the ground.
Valverno landed to the ground like a comet falling from the sky and struck the ground. Just like Ívarr, Valverno smashed and made a hole into the rock, imprinting the shape of the hybrid’s body.
“Just because you can show some strength that isn’t muscle doesn’t mean you can conjure it at will,” said Okinawan, putting his foot on the hybrid’s chest. “It’s going to take more than just sheer will to fight. You need a lot more than muscle and sheer will to keep on fighting; you also need speed and durability to keep on fighting.”
Valverno coughed right after Okinawan was done speaking. He grunted to respond, but he only coughed out blood more than words.
“And you are still resisting to stand down,” said Okinawan. “Looks like you do have durability, but you don’t have speed. If you ever went against a stronger enemy, you would meet your end already. You best stay down, hybrid. If you keep moving, then you are likely to die, and no Elf will be coming out to save you from dying.” Okinawan removed his foot from Valverno and walked away, with the three Amazons walking behind him.
