by Ryan Johnson
“Listen to the voices of the people around you!” shouted Flavius. He was on the defense against the tallest Shadow Man putting up a fight at a distance range of a long spear. “They’re voices are crying out to you. Shouting out your name, if they are praying for you.
“Hear those voices. Listen to their cries. Answer their preys. You are the hero they need and the one to pave way for a bright and better future. Every human fighter and those at faraway on Isla Maeli are watching your fight against this Demon. Take up the mantle and be the hero everyone desires you to be.”
Valverno felt a brightness of his heart. His ears could hear hundreds of thousands of terrified, tearful people shouting out his name. Everyone was shouting to fight back against the Shadow King. Thousands of voices crying out at once and shouting his name, “Valverno!”
However, Lusìvar expressed an angered expression of being annoyed. “Your minions are all annoying!” Lusìvar raised his sword up high with both hands, and the red blade had glowed brightly like a dim-red sunrise. He struck the ground and sent out a large explosion of dirt flying into the air, sending both his four minions and the four White Knights.
“Now I can see why you’re not attacking me with your full strength as I saw when you were slaying the Titans. You are transferring your power and your life-force into something else or more like someone else. Your sons and your daughter!”
Valverno’s attention was quickly drawn away; the mention of his unborn children lurking inside Marina, and she was on the battlefield.
Suddenly, Lusìvar charged forward and banged against Valverno’s Crystal Sword. Lusìvar kept slashing back at Valverno’s sword again and again and again, going on the full offence to kill the demigod.
“Not only did you sacrifice half your heart to bring a fish back from the dead, but you are going to pass on your divine power onto three different mortals and make them demigods. You knew full well the risks of giving up half of your life-force when you cut out half your heart. Not only cutting your life in half, but you spilt your power into smaller copies and inserted them into three children.”
Valverno clapped his wings together and made a gushing wind at Lusìvar who jumped backwards, and Valverno flew forward at a high speed but at a slow paste. He banged his sword against Lusìvar’s sword only once and held it there while flying in the air.
“And I can see it now,” continued Lusìvar, smiling. “You’re life-force is dwindling by the second. Every time you use any power from anything, mortal or divine power, years are subtracted from your body. And when you fought the Titans, you spent much of your needed power to kill them. As a result, you are slowly dying by the second.
“Your mortal life is barely tied to the edge of the string. What’s keeping you from dying is your divinity, prolonging your death from happening. Your divinity is making sure you stay alive until you have fulfilled your destiny. But it is not enough against me, for I have the power of Shadows, as wells as the Demons and Devils.”
Lusìvar swooshed back against the demigod who seemed to have lost his focus and his strength to fight. Then Lusìvar raised his hand up and rays of black mists rose from the ground, way beneath from the ground. Skulls formed within the mist, and there were deadly whispers from each black mists erupting from the ground.
“Every mortal that has died I can summon up their auras their rotten, dried corpse left behind, and I will summon those against you. And all the power of all the dead will end you, and this time you will watch from the afterlife as I destroy the entire Mortal Realm. You had this power when you were the Demon Prince, but you wasted it away and for what? To be a failure! Now the time has for your hybrid life to die!”
Lusìvar raised up his red sword, and it shined even brighter than Valverno’s crystal scales and the yellow sun. The sun and the blue sky were covered up the red-black clouds with red-yellow lightning zapping through the shadowy clouds. Many lightning bolts zapped the ground and in the faraway distance.
Then Lusìvar charged forward the a blistering red sword heating with a lot of dead energy form the countless dead bodies that died since the creation of the Mortal Realm. “Feel the powers of the dead, the powers of Shadows, and the powers of the Demon Prince!”
Valverno only stood up and held the Crystal Sword upside-down like a dagger. He held the blue sword horizontally just as…
…Lusìvar launched an attack against Valverno’s Crystal Sword, and sent a strong shockwave in the nearby landscapes and everyone caught in a tornado-like windstorm.
Valverno manage to stand on his feet against Lusìvar’s single attack, but found himself being pushed backward by Lusìvar’s massive force of a single stroke. His feet were trailing into the ground if he was being pushed into a grave he was refusing to go into.
“It is pointless how much you are resisting your final death,” shouted Lusìvar, pinning his sword on Valverno’s sword. “Just how are you refusing to die for everything you have done?”
“I refuse to die not for my son and daughter, but for myself. I need to reprimand myself for what I have done to your kind. I killed the Titans, not under orders from the Devil King or Origenes, but I made the choice to kill them. It was I who made you into who you are.
“So, until I have redeemed myself for what I have done, until I have saved the mortal lives for the mortal lives I killed, I refuse to give in. I refuse to surrender. I refuse to die, until I have fulfilled the duty that my FATHER gave me.” Valverno feet suddenly halted Lusìvar’s strike and swung his tail to Lusìvar’s left side and whipped off one of Lusìvar’s horns from his forehead.
Then Valverno’s let out a puff of blue fire from his mouth to fire at Lusìvar. His fire shot through Lusìvar’s chest and through his heart, even though it looked as if he was only being sent into a weakened state but not dying.
After a few seconds, Valverno stopped his firing.
“Clever power, but still it’s not enough to kill me. I am the new Demon Prince that you, a mortal, can’t kill. You are still weak as a mortal can get!”
“I am indeed a mortal, whose has been using all the power of Light, Angel powers from three armor artifacts, but NEVER unleashed the god power until now!”
Then Valverno clapped his wings, and his entire body shined a thousand times brighter than the sun and Lusìvar’s red sword that had its red glow fade. Then he marched his body forward and spun his sword at Lusìvar’s sword, which he tried to defend himself with but something happened the Demon Prince didn’t expect: he red sword snapped in half when it touched the divine Crystal Sword.
“You…”
Valverno wrapped his left hand around Lusìvar’s right wrist, his left foot stepped on Lusìvar’s right foot, his tail tied around Lusìvar’s waist, his wings around Lusìvar’s shoulder, and the other hand holding his sword like a dagger pushing directly towards Lusìvar’s chest. He charged his spikes on his back to glow blue again.
“…will…”
Valverno gazed upon the Demon Prince he was slamming to the ground, with the Crystal Sword stabbing a magic barrier forming around Lusìvar’s skin.
At the same time, Valverno brought up all the powers he had. The three armor artifacts, the power of Light and Shadow from two Pools, and his divine power had merged all into one blow exhaled from his mouth; the same power he is used to kill the Minotaur in Geraldus’s village.
“… DIE!”
Then Valverno all the power he exhaled from his mouth sank through the pommel of the Crystal Sword, plunging the blue blade through Lusìvar’s barrier, sulked a powerful thrust deep into the chest of Lusìvar, and quaked the ground into a giant earthquake.
Suddenly, a tornado rose from the ground. Windy shockwaves blow across the land. Dirt rose from ground. The clouds in the sky were separated.
The Shadow Men blowing off the ground and into the air and carried into the tornado. The people and creatures in t
he surrounding landscapes struggled to keep on their feet from the waving high winds blowing across the spot where Lusìvar and Valverno suddenly vanished into.
It felt like hours had just passed when the tornado stopped, but it was long minutes after the winds stopped. At first, the weather was wild and unstoppable. The winds and the single tornado were powerful enough to destroy all of Shimabellia together. If a battle wouldn’t destroy the land, then surely the weather would have seen Shimabellia’s destruction.
After the winds and the tornado suddenly faded and disappeared, Sora dashed across the flat terrain and to where the tornado was spinning: the spot where Valverno and Lusìvar fought. That spot left a large hole in the ground and she needed to see what laid at the bottom.
She trotted to the spot to see what happened. She looked down to see two strange figures lying on the ground where the tornado had spun. One was on the ground with a dead look in its eyes, and one was kneeling down. Both look cremated if they were smoldered by smoke from a volcano.
Then one stood up and lifted a strange object in its hand. It looked like a statue coming to life. And in a flashing moment, a blue-white lit was light and dirt was removed from the figure standing and a white glowing sword to the sky.
This sight caused Sora to yell across the plains, “Valverno stands victorious. The Shadow King is dead! Demigod Valverno he has saved us all!”
There was silence at first then cries of cheers from humans and creatures echoed across the landscapes as they heard Sora’s voice declaring the biggest moment of all: Lusìvar is dead and Valverno stands in victory.
People and people cheered loudly as they cried out loudly, “Valverno!” and they shouted his name endlessly an hour long.
THE HYBRID’S LAST FLIGHT
The dark clouds that once swarmed the clear, blue sky had all but faded. The bright, yellow sun shined its spectator, blinding light once again. The landscape of Shimabellia was a wasteland no more, but a blossoming land filled with green plant life and valleys of roses and flowers once again. Birds chirped on tree branches and a doe frolicking with its young fawn in the green valleys. Life was blooming again throughout Shimabellia after the demise of Lusìvar and his powers of Shadow.
The humans and creatures cheered in victory throughout the terrain each foot stood under the sun setting in the west. The sky was a hazy blue with purple clouds circulating in the sky, and the sun was near in the western horizon setting it as an early evening.
It had been several hours since the battle, and Valverno still stood on the spot he was standing in victory, even though his uniform was completely torn and his scales dimly shined. While he stood in silence for several hours, everybody across the battlefield had calibrated in victory.
With the passing hours after Valverno’s victory and the sun near the brim of a beautiful dusk, many of the humans, creatures, and Pangaeans gathered in the city raised from the ground. The city that was once the home of Sora and Valverno was now made the new home of humans and Pangaeans while the creatures prefer to live elsewhere.
And during the time, Flavius went back to gather the people still on Isla Maeli and bring them back to their island home. And the most of them were from his father’s village, including his siblings. There, they met with Ganymede, the stepfather of Valverno. All the mortals everywhere, no matter what they looked like, were having the greatest time of their life.
However, for Marina, she stood at the spot where Valverno stabbed and killed Lusìvar: a giant hole in the ground. At the bottom, Lusìvar laid slain and the Demigod Valverno stood with torn clothes and glow-fading wings, tail, and legs while holding the Crystal Sword, with its shining blade looking dimmed like a fire scorching what’s left of a candle’s inch-long wick.
“Hey, Marina,” called out Flavius. Flavius dashed to see Marina standing and looking at Valverno endlessly standing on the spot he killed Lusìvar. “Are you that worried about him?”
“He’s been like that all afternoon and going into the early evening,” she sighed. “If Lusìvar is finally been beaten, then he shouldn’t be near the villain. He should be walking upon us, but his eyes are drawn to the defeated evil and not me.”
“Well, Lusìvar did live for so long, along with the Pangaeans here. So, you can’t be too careful with an ancient Titan and one that has been turned into a Demon Prince.”
“Other than my husband, how is everybody else doing?” asked Marina.
“Everybody has returned and are apparently begun to settle in the Pangaean city,” said Flavius. “It seems we have a good future ahead of us.”
“And with no evil Titan to kill us,” said Sora, walking over to join Flavius and Marina. “I can see the future looking bright.”
“A future for all of us to share,” called out Ganymede’s voice.
Freyya, Halvdan, Okinawan, Alfhild, and Ganymede walked over to see the two White Knights and the Siren. “And we all can feast and drink until we die on this glorious evening.”
“Father!” Sora walked over and embraced her living father in her arms.
“Ah, my daughter,” said Ganymede, hugging her back and lifting her off her feet. “There is a bright future for all of us: humans, Pangaeans, and creatures.”
Flavius and Marina looked at the group of Pangaeans Valverno spent some time with as he was trying to find out who he was again.
“All my life I thought Pangaeans were a myth,” said Flavius, “but I am looking at a city full of them. Humans with animal characteristics. Lizard people. Small, bearded Dwarves. And Elves beautiful like a Siren. No offence, Marina.”
“None taken, Flavius. I’m rather glad Valverno didn’t get himself forced on by another group of women or an Elf or any demihuman or these Amazons stealing him away from me. I am the one who owns him, and no other woman is going to have him. And if anyone tries to steals him away, I will—”
Marina’s talk was quickly caught off when a sudden earthquake struck the ground. The land began to show wide open gaps like canyons, and pointy rocks suddenly rose from the ground. The city itself began to crumple from a quick and earth-pounding shake.
From the spot where Valverno stood, a black fog sprung from Lusìvar’s smoldered body and emerged into the sky.
“IF I GO DOWN, I’M STILL TAKING THE ENTIRE MORTAL REALM WITH ME!” shouted a demonic voice: Lusìvar’s voice.
Lusìvar was still alive but in a ghost form: the same form he had in previous encounters with Valverno before finally meeting the hybrid on Isla Maeli in a physical body now lying dead.
“ALL THE MORTALS, AND THE MORTAL REALM, WILL DIE TODAY!” Then Lusìvar’s ghost sucked itself into the ground and the surface of the land begin to spilt in a rapid paste with fumes of smoking rising from each crack being made into the surrounding areas.
“What’s going on? I thought he was dead!” shouted Halvdan, rolling across the ground on his feet.
“I can feel it,” said Ganymede, placing his hands on the ground and making them glow for several seconds. “All of Shimabellia and Isla Maeli are exploding. Everything and everybody everywhere in the Mortal Realm is breaking up and being destroyed, just like Pangaea.”
“And if this happens again, then Shimabellia and Isla Maeli will be…”
“NOT TODAY!”
Valverno was suddenly moving, and he jumped to the ground, and he sunk the dimming Crystal Sword into the ground. His wings were glowing dimly as a small spark on a candle burning a short wick that’s about to be burnt out.
“I will not allow this place to be destroyed by a dead Titan I have killed!” shouted Valverno. He sank the Crystal Sword into the ground, and then he lifted up his hands with his red skin growing ever redder if the sun was scorching it.
A magic barrier spread around the group of Pangaeans, the two White Knights, and Marina. A barrier looking like a bubble was casted around the group and floated into the sky li
ke a bubble, with a piece of land the group stood on rise into the sky.
“Wait!” shouted Marina, running to the barrier but was stuck inside and pounding it like hitting a wall. She saw her husband still standing on the ground. “What are you doing?”
Valverno looked up and saw the Siren and the others crowding around the barrier’s protective walls. He smiled and soared into the ground, with his hands raised down. Beneath him, thousands of bubble barriers formed around all humans, Pangaeans, and creatures standing on the exploding ground.
The barriers he created warped around every group and a rock that floated from the sky. In a flashing speed, Valverno soared through the air and all around Shimabellia where every mortal was a shielded barrier, and he let the barriers rise in the air. The land was being destroyed and sinking like getting sucked in a whirlpool. What he was doing for the mortals down below is what his mother did for him and Sora.
Now he was doing the same thing, but with all civilizations everywhere both on Shimabellia and Isla Maeli. He didn’t care about saving any buildings or houses, but the people who live mortal lives. He was saving the entire population of all morals, but he felt his strength draining him and caused his flight to lose balance in the air.
Then he drifted back to the exploding ground where fumes of smoke and lava poured through large holes. It was like Shimabellia and Isla Maeli were turning to islands of exploding, deathly, smoky volcanos.
Valverno slammed his hands into the ground again, and the land started to shake even more powerful. A tremendous earthquake of the surface only of both islands both, and it was land that stood beneath the feet of a mortals standing land.
With a hard push of his hard rising in the air if he was carrying an invisible boulder, thousands chucks of rock soared into the air, carrying humans protected by bubble barriers. And he felt all mortals were now saved, and there could still be a Mortal Realm to live in.
