by Ryan Johnson
“Lusìvar must die for what he tried to do to my own children! My triplets! My two sons and my one daughter! I want my husband to kill the Demon Prince for what he has done to my children. Whoever kills a child or an unborn child is a monster and a disgrace to all mortals in this Realm. That Demon Prince needs to die.”
“Marina.” Valverno quickly hugged Marina and drew her close to him. He sensed the anger within her growing. The same anger he had when she and their kids died. “Don’t give into anger. Don’t give into rage. That was a mistake I’ve made, and it costed me my life, even though I was the former Demon Prince. Such feelings can lead to the darkest Shadows.
“For longest of time, you’ve been my Light. Now let me be your Light and shine through your Shadow. I’ll take care of Lusìvar, and you take care of our children. I lost you once in my arms. Don’t make me feel the same feelings again. And don’t count on me saving you next time. If I cut out my last half heart, then I will end up forfeiting my mortal life with ending Lusìvar’s life first.”
Marina’s angered expression melted away in a look of joy. “If you say so. After all, I’ll be the one doing the delivering, and I want you to be the one to the carrying out. And after that is done, make me feel like a real human!”
Valverno smiled.
“With my divine power and the powers I carry from the Pools of Light and Shadow, I could turn us both into human and see we both can roll over on a soft ground.”
“I’ll be looking forward to tossing-and-turning on the soft ground with your little worm trying to dig into the hole.”
“Um… I want don’t to intrude on this family reunion, but we should discuss…”
There was a faint sound like a whale’s hum that sounded from the windows. At first, it was faint but grow louder by breathe of the air. It sounded as war horn blowing.
It drew the attention of the five people in the room and looked outside as to what the horn being was.
“That is no human horn,” said Teutates.
“And it’s nothing I’ve never heard of,” said Flavius.
“Then it means one thing, and I told them not to get involve!” said Valverno. “Excuse me as I’ll go see what’s going on with a lost civilization!” The demigod jumped out of the open window and flew off in the direction where the horn was coming from. He saw a large group of people, all whom were peasants from Geraldus’s village, surrounding a long line of a big battalion of armored figures marching through the hills. Hundreds marched directly in a straight line through many gazing eyes.
A hundred wore green armor with many blonde hairs march in front. Another hundred behind were tall lizardlike people with heavy bronze-steel armor. Along the sidelines, some thirty muscular women wearing only armor strapped around their shoulders and wore long armored bras across their chests and large leather skirts around their waists.
Behind them, more than five hundred human figures with different animal ears marched forward, and a hundred small, fat-sized figures with heavy beards march alongside the five hundred humanlike figures. Ahead of them all, a large brown hooded figure with a tall green staff with a ruby-sapphire diamond on the staff’s top; he was leading the legion in the hills and valleys below.
Valverno saw a legion of about seven hundred Pangaeans marching and armed ready for battle. Thirty Amazons, one hundred Elves, one hundred Dwarves, five hundred demihumans, and one hundred Tokagehebi marched in a single legion in the fortress’s grounds.
Valverno flew down to the spot where they were passing over another hill and a small tower that had an entrance at the bottom. He stood by the curious humans gathering to watch the sight of strangers marching toward the fortress. He saw Ganymede leading the battalion of Pangaeans and Ganymede walked straight to the demigod.
“I thought I told you people I didn’t want the last of the Pangaeans getting involved,” said Valverno, smiling.
“You told ‘didn’t want’, but you never ordered us to stay behind,” said Ganymede. The Wizard moved aside and revealed a soldier in a pale blue-white armor with a long spear: Monico.
“These people really are something,” said Monico.
“So, you’re doing better?” asked Valverno.
“Thanks to this, Elf,” said Monico, pointing to one Elf: Alfhild.
Alfhild stood ahead among the one hundred Elves gathered and bowed her head in gesture. She wore a long emerald armor like all the Elves behind her and her hair was curled into a short ponytail.
“I gotta say these Pangaeans are heavily skilled and talented. They are such an incredible civilization. I wonder why they had to live in hiding for such a long time and never revealed themselves to humanity.”
“I want to wonder that too,” said Sora’s voice. Sora, Teutates, and Flavius came flying from the sky. Flavius carried Marina while they were flying with white feathered wings.
Marina walked close to the Demigod’s side and looked at the Wizard. “I thought these people would be shorter!”
“And I thought Sirens were shorter as well,” said Ganymede. “Small as fish.”
Ganymede and Marina smiled as they commented each other of being small in size.
“So this is Marina. She is quite beautiful.” Ganymede removed his hood and looked at Sora. “And I see you have grown into a fine warrior of your own, after your mother and I used what power we to save you and Valverno.”
“Wait? What? What are you talking about?” Valverno asked in confusion.
Sora’s eyes flashed brightly and gasped.
“F-f-f-f-f…” Sora was slurring in her speech of her voice at the appearance of the High Priest Ganymede. Then she jumped and warped her hands around Ganymede and shouted, “FATHER!”
AN ODD FAMILY REUNION
Valverno only just stared at Sora gripping tightly at the Pangaean she called and shouted “Father.” This made no sense to him; her father (his stepfather and the husband of Celestreá la Mùne) gave their lives to save Valverno and Sora. Valverno did see them get drag under in the collapsing wave of landmass destroying Pangaea and all its cities. Their home city was spared but the lives, the people, were lost in the sinking of the continent.
“That can’t be so,” groaned Valverno.
“It is so, my stepson,” argued Ganymede, embracing Sora curdling her arms around his neck. After a minute, he placed Sora back on her feet and raised his staff to make a portal: a portal to the underground city. “How about we talk somewhere private? Someplace like home? And do bring your family and followers with you.”
Ganymede walked through the portal, and Sora followed after him. Valverno looked at Marina for a quick moment then back to the portal. “He better have a good tale to tell, that stepfather I long thought was dead.” Valverno went through the portal and found his feet standing in section of a courtyard with the dried fountain he remembered seeing once before.
Behind him, Marina entered through the portal. Behind her, Flavius, Monico, and Teutates came exited from the portal. The group of the underground city consisted of Ganymede, Sora, Valverno, Marina, Flavius, and Teutates. Ganymede’s staff lit brightly enough he casted many sparks from his staff and lit the entire city with giant flares floating in the air.
“Now to the point. I am, indeed, your stepfather, and I am the father of Sora. I used all my magic power to save you and your half-sister from instant deaths. Your mother had more power than I did, and she gave up her angelic power to save many more. Since she was an Angel, the first children of the Three Gods, she had all the power in the world, and gave it all so that a few other Pangaeans could survive.
“In her dying power, she had foreseen the future. What would have happen and who would try to destroy us. She gave every bit of mortal power and the power of her Angel being to save lives and preserve us. But the Shadow King found us and killed her so quickly and suddenly her remaining power died before she could save a
nyone more.”
“Wait,” said Sora. “It was Lusìvar who destroyed Pangaea?”
Valverno and Ganymede looked at Sora with blank faces. “Sora, Lusìvar confessed he did after he stabbed Marina,” said Valverno. “You were there with me, or did you not here?”
“No, I didn’t hear. I heard nothing when we were with him. I only paid attention to the battle. I never heard him confess anything.”
Ganymede signed and continued what he was saying, “As I was saying, we all were in bubblelike barriers she shielded from Pangaea’s sinking, and we were brought down to the city of which was spared and not harmed in the process.
“The Shadow King did everything he could to prevent the Pangaeans from trying to rise up against him. He knew we would be more than a match for him. So, Pangaea’s destruction was not from revenge but a test of his power. It took him more than hundreds of thousands of years to dig his way out of the Pool of Shadows, and he came out as a ghost. To see his power of Shadow, he used it against the land of which we live on. Thus, casting our fate and our future beneath the land of this current Generation was sealed.
“However, a few of us survived. Thanks to the Pool of Light created by your mother, Demigod Valverno. The Pool of Light didn’t consume us like the Pool of Shadows did for the Titans. It enhanced our bodies and gave us magic of Light. We didn’t stay attached to our homes but to our families. And when the time came, we tried to save our children as best we can, but Lusìvar’s power of Shadow was more powerful than ours and tried to destroy the cities we lived in.
“Your mother alone gave half her heart to save the city we lived in, just after she casted you and Sora into your own bubblelike barriers. Then, during the sinking of our home city, she cut out half her heart to save the city itself. The buildings were protected from harm, but the people were not. So, she created a bubblelike barrier for me, and she was about to use her power to save a few hundred thousand Pangaeans from death, but the Shadow King found her rather quickly and killed her. I watched helplessly as I saw the Shadow King throw her body into the sinking sands of Pangaean, but I didn’t grieve; I used what mortal power I had left and used it to save the lives of my fellow Pangaeans. I only ended up saving only a few hundred people.
“And for the longest of time, we stayed trapped in the underground city while the surface was still taking into formation. Lucky for us, there were a lot of magical staffs here and Elves still had their magic skills. The Amazons, Elves, Dwarves, demihumans, and Tokagehebi were all scattered throughout the city in sheer darkness. It was years before we got to find our way out from the underground world.”
“So you were the ones who built and carved the entrance to the underground world?” said Valverno.
“Not us, the Shadow Men,” said Ganymede. “They couldn’t kill you as the embryo they turned you into, and they hid in that underground chamber and placed my crystal-imprisoned daughter in the temple that still stands here. You both were imprisoned by different methods, and she was dragged under. Those Shadow Men didn’t realize we Pangaeans lived, and we managed to hid from them. As soon they came, they were gone.
“We tried setting you both free, but there was a barrier you both had no one could break; there was nothing any Pangaean had of setting you free. You both were stuck in your spots like the roots of a tree burning deep into the ground. So, what we did is paint the history to leave behind. In case, someone did come and try to break you free. They would have seen painted on the walls carved by the Shadow Men.”
“So, if Sora and I were trapped during our hibernation and no one could pick up easily, then Belverda and Ralenskrit must have gain special power from Lusìvar to retrieve me. And they must have been ordered by him to have me be used as a puppet or try to harness my divine power. But, in the end, they failed to do either and ended up giving me to Geraldus, a descendant of one of the White Knights.”
“Perhaps, but now here we all are. Pangaeans and two human descendants of Pangaeans and a Siren married to a Demigod. Here’s everyone, and we all now know each other. And we all now know what happened through our history’s past. Now, it’s time to pave the way for the future.”
“Not before something else we need to look at,” said Valverno. The Demigod walked away from the group and the plaza they stood at.
“Where you going?” asked Ganymede.
“To reconnect the house you, I, Sora, and Celestreá la Mùne all lived in. The house we lived in for a few hundred years before it was destroyed.” Valverno led the group through the underground city and alleyways to his destroyed house. He snapped his fingers to raise the house back from its crumpled form and back into a livable, suitable building to live in.
“And there it is. Home sweet home.”
Valverno was the first to enter the building. Inside, everything was nice and shinning. A lot of polishing like a clean silver armor. Pictures that hung from the white marble stone walls displayed different magical staffs held by different hooded figures. The flooring was of marble make. A few pillars stood from floor to ceiling that held the house in place. Three marble stone-made heads were displayed on a wall-carved shelf in a small corner: an Elf head, a human-shape lizard head, and a human head with wolf ears.
The demigod walked toward the back and looked upon the few beds that held large cushions made from a soft cottonlike material Valverno didn’t recognize. The three beds were used by his mother and his stepfather, who was stood behind the demigod, him, and Sora.
“Good to be home, and its nicely polished the way I remember it use to be,” said Ganymede.
“For three years I’ve been a ruler of Shimabellia. During that time, I have long thought of bringing this house up from this city and back to the surface. I have always thought using this house once again for my family. For Marina and me to use to raise our own kids. Also for me and Sora. And as well as expanding the house to with two or three more levels to add above the roof and add different kinds of rooms: extra storage space, a training room, more bedrooms, and even fun rooms where kids can play or break stuff to their hearts’ content.
“So many plans with this family house. It’s been our house for years, and I still want to live in it again with people I have come to love.”
Valverno looked passed and saw Marina walking to him. The others stood next to Ganymede, but Sora stood in front of her father. “This is a nice place,” said Marina. “But we already have our own house. A cottage house. Why would we need a second house?”
“Kids grow up fast, Marina. And our cottage house was on Shimabellia that got destroyed by a rain of comets, and we basically rarely used it. And with three kids on the way, we will need extra space for them to grow. And I have no doubt every building on Shimabellia has been destroyed, including the capital city. We’re going to need another city to rebuild for humans to live in. This city was spared and still remains intact, and there are a few Pangaeans who still live and can live back in this city. So, once the fight with Lusìvar is done and over, this city will come back to the surface and every mortal can settle in.”
Valverno looked at the toy ragdoll lying on the floor by the two small beds. He walked and picked it up with one hand. “Everyone is going to need a home to come back to. I can use my own powers to rebuild Shimabellia, but I don’t know how much power I will have left after this battle against Lusìvar. I maybe half god, but I’m still mortal. There may be a chance I could die in the fight, and no one will be left to safe guide the Mortal Realm. And I feel I can’t do this work on my own alone. Humans, creatures, and Pangaeans will have to work together now and for the future yet to come.”
“You think it’s possible?” asked Monico.
“I don’t think so,” answered Valverno, placing the ragdoll on the bed on the right.
“Then why do you say its—”
“I know so,” said Valverno. “This is the Mortal Realm of which I was given to protect and ru
le. I am the half god of this Realm, and I will say of what needs to be done with it. Pangaeans and humans can live together. There are a few of us left, and all mortals need to pull their strength together if we are to survive for the future.”
“If you say so, Demigod Valverno,” said Monico.
Valverno tilted his head forward and turned his back to the beds. The one small bed to the right was bed Sora slept in as a child, while the bed on the left was the one he slept in.
“Stepfather, do you remember that one time when Sora and I were playing on this floor, and she came running to you when she asked an odd question?”
“What one time when she asked me an odd question, stepson? Sora always asked many odd questions? Which question would you refer to? Indulge my memory.”
“Yes, you just made me curious now,” said Sora. “What time are you referring to? All Pangaeans have good memory traits, so indulge my memory as well.”
Valverno gave a weak smiling sigh. “If memory serves me correctly, I was wearing a little black cape and holding a little stone toy sword while you held onto your toy doll. After we were done playing a game called Slay the Demon Prince, you went running to Ganymede and asked him and I would quote: ‘Daddy,’ you said first. Then Ganymede would answer you, ‘Yes, Sora, what is it?’ And you would ask him, ‘Can I marry Big Brother when I grow up?’ ”
Sora’s face lit bright red and a few people held hard breathes and prevented themselves from bursting out in laughter. Even Ganymede covered his smiling mouth and withheld a laugh from blurting out. And even Marina, the wife of the demigod behind him, giggled without making a sound.
“Not… that…. memory!” Sora said in embarrassment. “I was a… child… Children can be…mischievous.”
“And very damn cute when they say the most damnest things,” said Valverno. “The magnificence of childhood innocence, Sora. You were just the cutest little sister I’ve had in the early days of the glorious Pangaea, and you were the small cutest thing in all the land, back in those days.”
