by Ryan Johnson
Ganymede stood back to his feet and brushed off the dust from his cloak. “Strength to resist evil. Weakness in showing your inner evil. Misery for giving up. Folly in one’s mind. And yes indeed, failure. Failure is what you’ll find to be your best and worst teacher.” The High Priest placed a hand on Valverno’s shoulders. “We are what we are meant to be. This has been the burden of all mortals, mostly the parents in raising their own kids.”
Valverno looked away in deep thought. He had his own kids he wanted to have with Marina. Even though they weren’t part of the Mortal Realm any longer, he still could have been. But when he turned into his demonic form and went to face against Lusìvar alone, he left Marina and their unborn children in the dirt. He felt like a mysterious Demon instead of a loving father he should have been.
“If I had been the father my kids needed me to be, then I should have stayed by Marina’s side then to rule two islands as a ruler. I had three years to retrieve the last armor artifact, but I neglected to do so. I choose conquest instead of family. By now, I’m starting to see the mistakes I’ve made in my three-year career of a ruler. Now, I have the chance to go back and do what I kept failing to do for three years, and now I also discovered something else.”
Valverno lifted his hand and thought of a blue flame on his hand. A blue spark flared from his palm and spurred over his entire red-scaled hand. “My divine power can only be unleashed if I only can belief I can. Having faith and a belief in the gods can make me unleash it.”
“Now you have learned, hybrid.” Ganymede walked behind Valverno and fetched his staff Valverno tossed away and preventing the Wizard from using his sorcery power. “Now back to the question: who are you?”
Valverno sighed as he stared at his divine power, in the form of a blue flame covering the red scales on his right hand. “I am no longer the Demon Prince I used to be.” He silenced himself and turned to see Ganymede. “I am—”
“High Priest Ganymede!” shouted a male voice interrupting Valverno’s sentence. A voice Valverno didn’t recognize and a scruffy Dwarf came running from the crowd that watched Valverno and the Wizard. “High Priest! There’s stranger that appeared and is attacking the settlement’s southern border!”
Without a moment’s notice, Valverno dashed readily and passed the Dwarf, with the faith he can use the divine power to get into his legs. And in seconds, Valverno passed through every Pangaean who seemed to walking or moving in such a slow motion it was if the hybrid was making time move slower for everyone and rolling time faster for him.
He didn’t stop until he got to the spot where loud screams were shouting. He halted and saw a figure in such poor torn rags. The figure he caught the scent was of a human male, and he instantly knew it too familiar to an old companion. His eyes looked closer at the face of the human and saw him to be an old companion.
It was Monico.
A FAMILIAR COMRADE
Monico stood in front of Valverno’s eyes. Valverno was in shook to see an old companion in the Pangaean settlement. Monico’s eyes filled with dread and fright if he witnessed a dark ritual that brought a skeletal corpse back from the dead. Monico looked horrified beyond Valverno’s imagination, and Monico was waving the long axe in many directions.
“Stay back,” warned Monico, waving the axe in the air. “I warn you, creature of the deep!” Monico’s eyes were drunk white if he had been blinded by burning metal. Monico still stood on his feet but swung the axe from low and high angles. Despite having the sight of a blind man, Monico swung the axe endlessly and perfectly as he torn down three tents, thinking they were tall enemies standing tall like a Minotaur.
Valverno ran toward the crazed warrior with the flinging axe. He grabbed hold of the axe with his hands and pitted Monico’s strength with his own. “Monico!” Valverno shouted. “Snap out of it.”
But Monico gave a war cry and tried to heave Valverno away. It was if the warrior was processed by an evil ghost. Then Monico kicked Valverno in the chest, but Valverno resisted Monico’s kick and head-butted Monico in retaliation.
Monico fell a distance away as Valverno gripped Monico’s axe, which he tossed behind him. Seeing how Monico wasn’t in his persona, Valverno ran toward him and jumped on Monico and pitted Monico on the ground with a foot.
“Monster! I won’t go down.” From his waist, Monico pulled out a long dagger and tried to stab Valverno’s foot but Valverno’s scales were strong like armor to defend him from a stab. “And I still won’t die like a caged animal!”
Once again, Monico attacked with the dagger flinging toward Valverno’s face, which Valverno moved out of the way. Then Monico grabbed Valverno’s foot that was pitted on Monico, and with a small ounce of strength, he moved it high.
Valverno was caught by surprise that his foot was easily being lifted, and he thought he had the strength to hold Monico with a foot. Monico may have magic power, but even he shouldn’t have the strength to push Valverno’s foot with ease. Then Valverno felt his leg being shoved from Monico’s grip as Monico shoved Valverno’s foot and rolled away.
Monico got up and pulled out another dagger from his waist. “I’ll not go down, monster, hear me? I will not—”
Suddenly, Monico grew silent, and his head moved down. Halvdan stood behind Monico behind Monico’s head. Then Monico moved his head back up, and his eyes blankly stared at Valverno. “Valverno… is that… yo.. yo…”
Monico’s eyes snapped close before he finished talking and collapsed to the ground face first.
Valverno stood by as he saw his old companion fall to the ground; Halvdan stood behind the collapsed Monico. Apparently, Halvdan hit Monico’s head hard with a slap of Halvdan wrist that made Monico get knocked out.
“What’s wrong with this guy?” asked Halvdan.
“If a human brain goes very unstable or drunk on alcohol, he is hallucinating false images. There must be something swarming in his eyes or in his brain or he is possessed by something. Either way, we need to try to help his mind become more stable before he can cause harm to this settlement.”
Valverno walked closer to Monico who was knocked out cold. It was strange how a White Knight could go from a majestic person to a monster of insanity. Valverno’s face was lit with a sorrowful gaze, to see one of his own companions and a personal White Knight fall from grace and become an axe-swinging monster trying to kill the settlement.
“Your face appears to show a big sign that you know this man,” said Halvdan.
“More than you could imagine, Halvdan. Before I go into detail of how I know this man, we better him get him a lot of medical attention. I don’t believe a human will be a sane mind if he has been slaving for a full year, plus a few months. And belief me, he is not a monster but an old friend who fought alongside me for years.”
Later in the day, Monico was lying in the tent with Valverno standing at his side with a sigh of relief. Alfhild healed up the human as easily as counting sheep; Alfhild maybe still an apprentice in the art of healing, but depending on what kind of species; she can heal anyone up in seconds. And she can heal humans in less than counting to one.
With Valverno and Alfhild, Ganymede and Halvdan were in the tent. Freyya, too, was there. The same people Valverno saw for the first time were in the same tent he woke up in were the same people in the tent to watch Monico wake up.
“That should patch him up, seeing how humans don’t have a big complex anatomy like we Pangaeans do. Compared to the anatomy all Pangaeans share, a human’s is small like an ant. Their systems of their bodies are denser and simpler than a Pangaean’s body. I wonder how they even manage to stay alive through the years they have been evolving.”
“It would depend on what kind of human they are and what anatomy they do have,” said Valverno. “If one has magic, then they would have the same complexity of a Pangaean’s body. If not, then they are weak as an ant. This person has the power of a Wh
ite Knight.”
“So, you know this man?” asked Alfhild.
“Yes,” answered Valverno. “He is one of the four White Knights and a human who possesses Pangaean power I once thought was human magic. In other words, he holds Pangaean power once carried from another Pangaean: Desmond. I thought I and four others were the only survivors. Desmond, Sora, Herus, and Hector were my long life friends we’ve been around since we were kids.
“And among them, two had human bloodlines and carried the Pangaean power into the next generation: Herus and Hector had bloodlines. Sora somehow had her power reincarnated into many people before it came to a princess who died, and the power was passed back to Sora. And there was Desmond. I don’t know what people may have carried Desmond’s power, but it is likely Desmond never gave his power to anyone and lingered in the Mortal Realm since he died and waited for my return.
“And I guess after his ghost was lifted from this Realm, his power may have been incarnated into me, and I passed that power onto a mortal human: him.” Valverno pointed at Monico. “And I wonder if it was the right choice to let Monico inherit such great power. I mean, he is a sprinter, a runner. He isn’t a magic user, but I made the choice, so he ended up having the same power Desmond used to have, thus making Monico the second White Knight of Trust.”
“Big choice,” said Halvdan.
“Indeed, but risky,” said Ganymede. “How could a human with a weak anatomy wield a powerful power that only belongs to a specimen that has an anatomy that has ten times more complexity?”
“How I see it: humans are a subspecies of the demihumans,” said Valverno. They look similar in very aspect but one thing: the animal traits. Humans don’t have animal ears or tails like demihumans do. So, there could be some DNA structures in the anatomy that can withstand the mighty force magic can conjure. But it is only a theory. A few humans could use magic, but in this generation, it is the creatures that have magic. Mostly the Dragons or the Unicorns.”
“We get the idea,” said Halvdan. “Most importantly look at his left hand.” Halvdan pointed at Monico’s hand that was clutched into a tight fist. “One of his hands is still shaped into a fist with a tight grip, despite him being sleeping deeply; it looks like he is holding something.”
“It has to be important then whatever he is holding,” said Freyya.
Then Monico’s mouth gasped for air loudly and made everyone look at him. At first, he was breathing softly, but now he was breathing hard. Monico eyes slowly opened like the sun rising from the east. He blinked several times as his eyes widened open. Then he sat himself up and rubbed his neck.
“Who? What? Where? When?” he asked confused if he was being blind.
Valverno walked closer and knelt beside Monico. “You’re inside a tent on the most northern part of the island of Isla Maeli. And you’re still alive, to let you know.”
Monico turned to Valverno where his eyes were crunched and narrow eyed. He blinked his eyes a few times before raising them wide open. “Valverno, you’re…you’re alive?”
“More than you can hope for,” said Valverno.
Monico smiled and looked back at the people behind Valverno. “But who are they? They look human, but there is something different about them.”
“You’re not going to believe this, but they are Pangaeans. Or what’s left of them.”
“Wait. I thought you and Sora were the last Pangaeans.”
“Or so we thought. Apparently, there were other survivors, and they had descendants of their own. Now, they live here in this settlement, and they are living peacefully.”
“Then hope is still alive but futile,” said Monico, losing his smile.
“What do you mean?” asked Valverno.
Monico slowly stood back up on his own feet, and Valverno stood back up as Monico was getting to his feet. “Things are dire where they stand. Basically, everyone that fought against Lusìvar has been chained up and seated in cages. He basically has everyone, including Sora, chained up. There is darkness floating over the terrain where no light dwells. Life itself looks dread and what horrors you tried to kill ended up taking over.”
“That sounds bad,” said Alfhild.
“It’s much worse than that,” shouted Monico. His shout startled Alfhild and walked back. “Under his reign, people haven’t eaten or slept for months to a full year. We lost a lot weight and body mass. Our health is depleting. In short terms, the mortals should have died already, but Lusìvar is using a magic power from keeping us from dying. You have no idea what horrors the mortals are facing right now.”
Everyone was silent.
Valverno stood up with no sign of backing away and asked, “How did you find your way here?”
Monico held up his fist with a stern look. “This,” he answered. His fist opened and revealed small strands of red hair. “Your hair came blowing in the wind to my chained feet and suddenly melted the chains. It seemed like a sign that you were alive. I tried to show Sora, but as I mentioned; she’s being held prisoner close by the Shadow King’s throne.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Halvdan.
“What do you mean by ‘what do you mean’, Pangaean? As I just said, every mortal specimen is chained and bound like a cage animal. That is what I mean. And it was all because of one hybrid that turned away from us all and left us defenseless.”
“What exactly has happened?” asked Valverno.
“After you left us behind, we were leaderless. Sora and Teutates tried to battle for leadership. Sora was close enough to family you had, but Teutates carried the sword you once possessed, Valverno. So, there was a rift among the leadership and that was the end of it. From the infighting, Lusìvar’s forces surrounded us.
“We manage to hold out against Lusìvar’s forces but only just. His small creatures were easy enough to deal with, but with the Titans, we stood no chance. Seven tall, huge, gargantuan, mountain-sized giants! The seven you, Valverno, mentioned were buried beneath the waters of the seas were free! We never stood a chance against those giants. They were big and eon-indestructible like your skin you used to have when you used to go by the name ‘Vaeludar.’
“And you might as well have. Lusìvar told us you were dead. And he had proven you were dead: he showed us your left wing, and a memory of him shooting two spears through your left wing and your chest: an instinct kill.”
Valverno blinked.
“That’s right. Lusìvar told us and showed us the memory of you getting shot and impaled by two spears and brought back you wing as proof you were dead. And now everyone thinks differently of you. You ditched your demigod persona and embraced your Demon persona.
“Your sister thinks you’re dead. I thought you were dead. Everybody, but me now, thinks you are dead. All mortals, loyal or disloyal mortals, think you are dead. And worse yet, we saw the form when you left us leaderless: the form of the Demon Prince Vaeludar. The Demigod Who Turned Demon.”
“I-I did not know,” gasped Valverno.
“All mortals who trusted you, loyal ones who trusted you, soldiers who trusted you, and everyone who trusted you for a long time are in chains. Those who once trusted you to end Lusìvar have all lost faith you are a demigod. The people who fought side-by-side with you for years feel betrayed and casted aside like an old glove. I fought by your side for three years, and I feel I was gutted down in a second.
“Basically, you had the trust of all humankind and the creatures, and you betrayed us all. How would Sora feel… no! How would Marina feel if you turned your back to turn and left her and your three kids to die in the hands of Lusìvar? Hm?”
“Don’t listen to him, Valverno, I know you better than that,” said Alfhild, standing in front of Valverno.
Valverno lifted a hand on Alfhild’s shoulders and calmly said, “No, he is right.” Valverno moved Alfhild aside and walked closer to Monico. “I did abandon and
left everyone behind, thus casting my demigod persona aside and embracing my demonic persona. The love and Light I once had I decided to put out like blowing out a fire from a candle and embrace hatred and anger to the one I was once: the Demon Prince.
“And by doing so, that killed the demigod and ended up joining the Shadow King. And I thought to kill a monster; you would have to become one. And I did. I became a monster and casted all Light and love I had for everyone, even Marina. I even almost killed my sister, and I looked without remorse as she cried in defeat.
“There are limits a mortal can take I ended up losing my limits and just choose straight to the Shadow. And since my ‘death’ was at the hands of Lusìvar, I don’t know what I am or yet alone who I am.”
“It’s too late to set things right, even if you do something miraculous. As far as all the mortals are concerned, you are a Demon, not a demigod, and Demons shouldn’t be trusted. I know the history between the spiritual war between Demons against the Angels and the Three Gods. Your father, your real father, was the leader of the Demons that were casted down, and you were the one who killed the Titans. You are the reason why we’re all here now.
“You want to make it up to ALL the mortals? There is only one thing: your personification. Toss aside your doubts and become whom you were asked to be: the Demigod of the Mortal Realm. Then and only then, will you regain the trust of all the mortals, even if they are your enemies like Teutates. Even Teutates couldn’t stand against one Titan. He may have the strength of the White Knight of Strength and the Crystal Sword. However, it was nothing but a bug bite for the Titan.
