by Ryan Johnson
“Hot springs? This settlement has hot springs as well? I still didn’t those existed. Another form of terrain only exited in Pangaea, but those are here on Isla Maeli?”
“No, there is other place on Isla Maeli or Shimabellia but here, and the only one is here on Isla Maeli. No other spot will have a hot spring. Hot steam and a pond of hot water. Good enough to give yo the smooth skin you need and killing any skin you don’t need. Maybe good enough for you, with your hybrid body and all.”
“And where would this terrain of hot springs would be?” asked Valverno.
“To the south from here,” answered Alfhild. “Just follow the river from where you helped that dead tree grow. You’ll see hot steam rising in the air.”
“Hot steam rising near the river,” said Valverno. “That’s easy enough to remember. Follow the river until I see hot steams rising. Anything else?”
“Yes. The hot springs will be in a small canyon by the river. Since the hot springs will be near the river, you will be walking through a ridge of mountains. There will be a path that leads away from the river to a small ridge where you will walk to the canyon. Follow your way through the canyon, and you will find the hot springs around edgy corners of the canyon’s walls.”
“Well, that’s more details than one could imagine, but I’m sure I can find it.”
“Good luck to you.”
Valverno nodded and walked out of the tent. He headed straight toward the river he remembered seeing south of the settlement. And would follow it until he would see the terrain Alfhild said to him.
It was difficult for Valverno to find the flat terrain Alfhild had told him. It was all plants growing over small peaks of small mountains. The river flowed through a wide range of flat ground before the land ascended to a higher elevation. He strolled from the forest until no more trees were in sight, and more piles of crumbled rocks started to show. He climbed over the rocky rubbles and down from the pointy tops, and as long he would follow the river, he had the slightest feeling he would find the hot springs Alfhild mentioned.
And she said hot steam like smoke would reveal the location of the hot springs, but Valverno wasn’t seeing any. He was thinking she was fooling him into thinking there were hot springs in the valley of mountains. However, there was a mild wind blowing and steam wasn’t thick like smoke; steam easily faded in the wind like blowing out a small ember from a burning candle.
He traveled from the forest’s border downriver and entered into territory of more rocks. It seems everywhere he his feet walked on rocks or mountains or hills. The Pangaeans have settled in such a vast terrain of different shaped mountains in north, east, and south, and the sea just to the west at the upmost northern tip of Isla Maeli.
Valverno slid down from a small ridge and landed on his feet. When he landed he walked more ever so on. He kept looking for hot steam on the other side of the river he thought would be rising in the air. Then there was a stone bridge linking over to the other side of the river.
That must be the path to the hot springs, he thought.
Valverno leaped on the bridge and strode over it to the other side with ease. Once he reached the other side, he saw flat ground stretching out a mile long before ascending to ridges he would end up climbing. On the land he saw ahead of him, a roadside of stone bricks laid in view on the ground his dragon feet stood on.
The road reminded him of the streets of the Shimabellia’s capital city. The city where he spent his time for three years as Shimabellia’s ruler, and the city he spent with Marina. During the free time of his three-year reign of Shimabellia, he and Marina would take long walks on the streets of the city and admire all the detailed architectures the city had to offer. More importantly, Marina didn’t resist singing in a large crowd with a small band of musicians.
Those were the best days Valverno lived with Marina and were sadly long gone. The only hope now is for Valverno to unleash his divine power and use the skills he learned to put to the test and fight against Lusìvar, but for the moment, he was looking for the hot springs to lie down and get some washing done.
He walked on the road and followed it as it led a mile on the flat ground that Valverno felt relieved not to climb any mountains yet. However, the road curved away and went uphill through a ridge of mountains, just like Alfhild said.
Valverno halted as the road came to an end, and he looked down and saw a narrow canyon. It looks like the Elf was telling the truth, he thought, gleefully. Instead of climbing down the ladder, he bolted his feet and arms around the ladder’s edges and slid down. With his claws on his feet, he could easily break the ladder and make it difficult for anyone to climb up or down in the narrow canyon.
He hit hard on the rock-bottom with his feet. He stepped away from the ladder and walked through the canyon looking pretty. It wasn’t deep as he thought the canyon would be. Valverno saw the edges reach a pretty fair distance that he could climb out easily. The canyon’s edges rose five times higher than a Dragon’s height.
The canyon itself was very narrow and slim that in order to fit a crowd everyone needed to walk single-file. Valverno squeezed his body through the narrowness of the canyon’s walls. He, at least, didn’t have to climb on the canyon’s walls but only to walk in the canyon.
For a short time, Valverno walked through in the canyon, and the sun glimmering in the sky above. As he walked further into the canyon, the more he felt his skin starting to warm up.
The air suddenly began to feel warm. Hot steam is what Valverno felt quickly in the air. Even though he didn’t see any hot steam, he could feel the hot steam rising on his skin.
He was feeling the hot springs was nearby. And across the canyon’s left walls, a passage turned around a small corner. Valverno peeped through the corner and felt a hot breeze coming to him. A spree of hot steam rose from the ground, and there was a layer of water flowing on the ground.
He had arrived at the hot springs, and he felt relieved.
Valverno took off his kimono robe and folded into small square-shaped segments. He placed it on the ground and walked to the edges of the hot, steamy water. The scales on his legs made him immune to the heat of the water, but his human skin on his half-human torso wasn’t immune to the heat.
“By the damndest of things, I’ve never experienced such a relaxation,” said Valverno. The hybrid slid his hips to the shallow bottom and sat down. The water reached to his chest and felt the hotness of the water heating on his skin. The few faint aches that still pained from his training felt were melting into the water like snow melting from mountain peaks. “I should have tried to discover this long decades ago.”
Valverno sat for several minutes as he enjoyed the sensational feeling of his fainted aches smooth away in the water and embrace the heat that seems to be submerging into his scales. He felt a layer of skin melting and another layer of new skin growing like a snake shedding its skin. He leaned his back backward and leaned his arm on the edges, and he folded his right wing as thin as it could go; the size capacity took a large section of the water’s walls, making it hard for Valverno to lean back.
“At first I was skeptical about this place, but it turns out to better than expected,” he said. “These hot springs are really good for the skin. And why do I feel so… good here without having a thought of a regret.”
“That’s because hot springs are the best,” said a female voice, not identical with Freyya or Alfhild. The voice sounded deeper compared to a man’s voice.
From around a rock, Valverno turned an Amazon woman appeared from around the corner and caused Valverno to turn away. He still sat down and looked where he was not needed to look. “I should have known others would have been here before me, and I just got in.”
“You’re that hybrid,” said the Amazon. “I assumed you would come, and I was right.”
“Ah, Alfhild. That Elf. I should have known she would set me up.”
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“Don’t blame the Elf, hybrid. You came here and you own record, and you’re arrived in a set of a beautiful Amazon.”
“A beautiful Amazon who knows how to win over a man in bed. Opening herself up to him and going all out in their stamina, if the man wants to the victim or doesn’t want to lie in bed with an Amazon. You Amazons have a reputation of kidnapping men and taking them to beds to have your ‘ways’ with them.”
“You do know about the lot of us,” said the Amazon, seductively.
“I remember the old land of Pangaea and the Amazons around that time, and my mother, Celestreá la Mùne, told me everything about the Amazons. And I will let you know, Amazon; I will not partake in any activities you would want with me.”
“You don’t have to call me ‘Amazon’, Hybrid; you may call me Atalanta. I was one of the three Amazon trainers you saw with Okinawan.”
“A trainer, huh? Well, aside from the Amazons’ reputation of seducing men, you do have some manners. And the name is Valverno, but it seems everyone is calling me ‘Hybrid’.”
“Quite right, Hybrid. Everyone knows about it. A lost hybrid that doesn’t who or what he is. The son of Pangaea’s founder: Celestreá la Mùne. And also the son of the, what was the title of your Demon father: Demon King? Devil King?”
“Devil King. I am his son, the Demon Prince. Then became to become the son of a god then turned into an embryo to be experimented on. I have no idea how I manage to live this long without dying first.”
“You do sound like you need a strong refreshment,” said another woman’s voice that wasn’t Atalanta.
He felt there more than just the one Amazon woman in the springs with him. His ears picked up the sounds of small dripples of water of leg movements. His skin started to feel hotter when he felt there were three more Amazons with him.
He picked a wrong time to be in a hot springs; he had the knowledge of the Amazons’ reputation not as warriors, but as men stealers. Like a Siren, they had seductive skills to lure men. In his case, they see him as a brute fighter and a strong warrior. And there were about five of them with him, and he was put in a bad spot. And he sensed they weren’t there to clean themselves; they were there to see what more to the hybrid than his looks.
And even as a kid, he saw all the Amazons with the facial features that made the entire race look the same like identical twins. Each face was in the same shape, size, and structure, and it was proven difficult which Amazon was named what. And their voices sounded identical as well as the eyes.
“It looks like I arrived here too soon, so I’ll be getting out,” he said. Valverno got up and shook his body to drip the water pouring down his from his chest.
“Going so soon?” called out a third voice, sounding the same as the second voice and Atalanta’s voice. The voices of the Amazons all sounded exactly alike any human would get easily get confused but not Valverno. His hybrid ears caught the different in a person’s vocal chords and easily spot the differences between different people.
How I got myself into this mess, he thought. I only needed a simple wash, but I came across an army of women with lustful eyes.
“Your tail looks like a snake,” said Atalanta. “And your legs do look steady and firm as a Tokagehebi.”
“What is I can offer to any of you, Amazons?” Valverno asked, without looking at the Amazons. “I know the reputation of your race and what you do to the males when they’re in bed. You know how to turn the wimpiest of people into the strongest of men, with such seductive skills and towering over them. I don’t want to get entangled between your wildest actions or become a father of any Amazon children.”
“Don’t worry about our reputation. We are not recruits or freshly trained trainees; we are experienced women. These others are Penthesilea, Lampedo, Marpesia, and Orithyia. We five wanted to see you.”
“Well, Atalanta, Penthesilea, Lampedo, Marpesia, and Orithyia; you should know I already gotten married, and I will stay that way until the day I die.”
“But did you do the ritual that comes after marriage?” asked one of them.
“How can I if I don’t have the worm to put into the hole?” stated Valverno. “I lack the process if I don’t have the worm as all others do when it comes to the correct process of making a life.”
“Oooooh,” all five said.
I don’t like that sound, thought Valverno.
“A married virgin,” said one of the woman.
“You must be right, Penthesilea,” said Atalanta. “And he is so innocent looking when he is not looking at us.”
“I don’t want to see naked females around me. Not only would it be inappropriate, but my… lovable wife is watching from me the afterlife, and I would be saving myself from a scolding if I don’t feel the need to cheat on her.”
“Would you just turn around, hybrid? We are not naked.”
Valverno thought that was Penthesilea’s voice talking. Each wore a dark brown strip of cloth around her their own chest and light brown pareos around their hips. He thought those thin clothes they wore were swimwear clothes, but the Amazons did reveal a lot of skin. To their appearances, he looked away. “I can’t look at other female species.”
“So, you’re not into other female species?” asked Atalanta.
“From a spiritual sense of marriage, no I’m not. I married only one female attractor, and still need to be faithful to that girl, even if she is dead. I am not going to be drawn to half-naked girls behind me. Now I’ll get going before any more females come along.” Valverno took a step forward and halted suddenly when an Elf appeared from the entering corner.
It was Alfhild, and she was still in her same dress as Valverno saw her in earlier. She stared with a blank face at Valverno and at the five Amazon women behind him. “You say you’re already married, yet you got five Amazon women behind you and an Elf in front of you,” said Alfhild. “You really must be some special demigod all ladies want to have their child with.”
Valverno stared at the Elf who stared back. “We all make choices in our lives here in the Mortal Realm. I chose to be in the hot springs, and they chose to be here as well. And it seems they want to seduce me into loving them. And I choose not to fall for their looks that other men would easily fall for.”
“So, you’re not a man wanting six women: five Amazons and one Elf?” asked Alfhild.
“A half man. A half man who wasn’t want five women to be his concubines. One and one alone is enough for me.”
“And I hear that one is a fish, seafood,” said Atalanta.
Valverno turned to the ladies and snarled with a Dragon’s growl, and it spooked the five ladies and the Elf so rashly. “Don’t speak to her in that manner. You may call her a fish, but she has the heart of a human. Don’t give insults to a dead persona of a good person.” Then his hybrid eyes turned to the Elf. “And I see you’re not dressed for the heat of the hot springs, so you have come to deliver a message.”
“The High Priest wants to see you,” said Alfhild. “As a matter of fact, he came finding you just minutes after I told you about this location.”
“Well, I better get to him before the Amazons want to get their hands on me.” Valverno said. Valverno walked passed the Elf and grabbed his kimono robe and walked off. “Why did I pick a bad time to walk to this place instead of listening to spiritual guidance?”
THE HYBRID’S FINAL LESSON
Valverno trailed back to the settlement to see what the High Priest Ganymede need to see the hybrid for. He had the thought it was going to be a spiritual lecture or another storytelling to children. He trailed back to the settlement from the hot springs. On his trail, he memorized the location by following the river, walking under a forest of cherry blossom trees, the small farmland, and back to the settlement.
Now, he knew where to find the hot springs the next time he needed to some quality time and hopeful
ly not run into any more females; he didn’t need any competition from any more females that want him to be drawn to them. Marina was the only female for him.
At the settlement, everything was just the same. The Pangaeans were moving and enjoying themselves without a thought in the world evil excited. Valverno hoped no evil catastrophe happens to the last of the Pangaeans he stayed with for four months.
He saw Okinawan taking down the roof of a tent, and ten other Tokagehebi helping Okinawan taking away the stands and folding up the tent’s roof. Ten Elves their hands raised and glowing a blue color like a burning torch. They chanted words Valverno didn’t quite understand; five pillars ignited in green flames spurred in place of the fallen tent.
Valverno walked passed until he was caught in sight of Okinawan. “Hybrid, it’s you,” called out Okinawan. “Going where in a hurry? Why not help us out?”
Valverno halted, not wishing to be rude and walk off without saying anything. His face turned to Okinawan. “Not right now, Okinawan. Alfhild came to find me to say that the High Priest needed me. I don’t know what for, but it must be important.”
Okinawan nodded in agreement. “That wouldn’t sound surprising. He is one of the few survivors in this settlement that lived to tell the tale of the original Pangaea’s destruction. It may be curious as to why he may want to ask you.”
“I’m wondering that myself,” Valverno agreed. “After all this time, I wondered who he is. Maybe he’ll tell me, but I’m for sure he would want to guide me on a spiritual journey. But I don’t see how that’ll help; I lack faith in gods, as I once mentioned, and he just may lecture me into believing the Three Gods exist.”
“Good luck with your existence after death, even if you are a demigod that end up lacking in a divine presence,” replied Okinawan, before turning back to the other Tokagehebi.
There was one Tokagehebi that quickly turned away from Valverno’s view, hoping he wouldn’t be recognized by the hybrid: Ívarr. Ívarr turned his back to the hybrid, too late, as Valverno could tell Ívarr still felt humiliated when Valverno managed to complete the training course. From the hybrid’s perspective, Valverno felt like a showoff, and Ívarr was a loudmouth; Valverno showed off superior skills while Ívarr bragged how strong he was.
