by Ryan Johnson
Valverno found himself at the heart of the fortress. He remembered smelling his scent from that bottle in which he was kept in when he was in an embryo form. Valverno could find the entrance to the chamber he was kept in for ten thousand years (if he was the demigod and the son of the Crystal Dragon God) if he could only smell his scent. Valverno raised his nose to the sky and not surprisingly he did not smell his scent anywhere.
The hybrid was going have to search for it with his own eyes than his nose. This was like traveling to the Northern Region all over again; Valverno travels to a spot marked on the map, but gets redirected to a different place. He had been wondering why he was doing the hard work of playing find-and-seek. Valverno was agitated of playing this game of going around the island searching for armor items to increase his magic power and will and be able to fight a dead king who is supposed to be dead.
The areas surrounding Valverno had many open stone walls built with so many square openings; houses built in a castle-like structure. Valverno had assumed these buildings were once stone houses or huts had the tops ripped off and shown what the houses look like on the inside, without the roofs covering the houses’ insides. Strangely enough, Valverno somehow could see ghost figures walking around him.
Ghosts of human being walking around him, walking passed him if they didn’t paid attention or didn’t see him. Valverno could see the ghosts walking around and going about their business like in a market place where people buy and sell products. Then the figures disappeared when Valverno heard his new name being called from Geraldus’s voice.
Geraldus, Flarefur, and Marina had caught up to him when they were considering they would be left behind again by him, going at it alone. “Leaving without us again?” asked Geraldus.
Valverno saw the group catching up to him. It seems every time he goes ahead of a group of people the group catches up some time later. “Well, there is a way to make progress and to get people moving,” said Valverno to himself, “Move on solely and the other people will soon follow after. I’ve got to be moving more often.”
The group caught up with Valverno and they had been ready to move immediately after Valverno suddenly left them behind again. “Going without us again?” asked Flarefur.
“As I understand, you wanted to stay behind and stay with her king,” said Valverno.
“It takes certain persuasion to convince me otherwise,” said Flarefur.
Valverno gave a small smirk and walked forward. He remembered Flarefur has mentioned Marina convinced him to journey with Valverno. It was too bad the rest of his other companions couldn’t come. This was due they were soldiers from King Uragiru’s army. They were only selected to accompany him to the Northern Region, by the order of the king. Flarefur serves as a temporary scout for King Uragiru but his loyalties lie with the Griffin King.
“Shall we proceed then?” asked Geraldus.
Marina strolled by Valverno without looking at his eyes, completely ignoring him and pretending his is someone else and not the hybrid she married. “Where are we to start?” she asked. “I don’t see any doors or arches that lead anywhere. It’s all just a building?”
“Let’s spilt up,” said Geraldus. “Marina, you’ll come with me and we’ll search the western part, and Valverno and Flarefur can search on the eastern side.”
Marina nodded.
And Flarefur nodded his head.
“It’s decided then,” said Geraldus. Geraldus moved across a hill of a small ruin tower and Marina followed him.
Valverno was left with his old Griffin companion to seek out anything that could look like an entrance leading underground whether it goes to a tomb or to a place unknown. These two walking creatures shared a small glare before turning their attention to the surrounding ruins.
“So, how has the winter been for you?” asked Valverno.
Flarefur gave Valverno a small glare before continuing to walk forward. “What kind of question is that?” asked the Griffin.
“I’m just trying to do small talk. I haven’t seen you in the past winter.”
“Well, if you want to know, it’s been chilling. I had to shed some of my feathers from bitter frost. And if you’re wondering where I had been, like all us creatures, we had been on the Valley of Creatures.”
Valverno looked at three still standing statues of human-like beings with curved ears holding spears. “I’ve always wanted to the Valley, but I got easily got distracted by several obstacles and the winter blizzard. What I’d do to go there for one day without any fights or distractions.”
“People are always welcomed there,” said Flarefur. The Griffin saw a bottom half-torn, human statue lying on the ground. “All creatures welcome to any visitors, including the likes of you.”
Valverno stopped to think about the Valley of Creatures. He thought of the Valley, but he didn’t take to heart of where the place was. “It’s on one of the smaller islands to the eastern ocean border of Shimabellia, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” answered Flarefur, walking in a different direction from Valverno.
Valverno turned his head away to look at smaller sections of the ruins. He saw several holes plastered on the ruins’ walls were windows. The ground he began to walk on was taking shape of more concrete ground than dirt and dead plants. At the furthest end of the ruins the hybrid laid his eyes on was a half domed-roof with a curve-in wall and a three-step staircase heading toward a chair erected onto the wall.
Then he saw more ghost figures again. Valverno stopped in his tracks and could easily see a straight line going up to the stone chair. Valverno thought the empty chair had to be a throne where the ruler of the ancient ruins sat to deliver judgment or a royal choice over the kingdom. Valverno followed the line up to the small stairway so he could have a closer look of what exactly what ghost was sitting on the abandon throne.
The ghostly king Valverno was seeing blurred and couldn’t identify the king’s face. He could make out a red-green mitre hat, a large silver staff, and a draggy green robe decorated with ruby linings.
One-by-one, Valverno could see the ghosts from the long, straight line coming to the ghostly king and present him with many golden gifts or earthly treasures, which seemly the king was turning down. But a strange ghost that shape of a large red bird with golden wings came forward. Valverno saw the bird ghost giving a small feather from its wings and presenting it to the king. Suddenly, the king ghost stood up and walked to the bird ghost and accepted the gift.
The ghosts faded once again from Valverno’s eye visions. He made a stern face of what he just saw, especially the red ghost bird he saw. Valverno instantly knew that red bird had to be another mythical creature called the Phoenix.
The Phoenix was a very legendary creature of a mighty red bird with golden wings bright as the sun thought to be immortal. It is said when it dies the body bursts into flames when they die and turn to piles of ashes. From the ashes, the Phoenix is reborn as a whole, a true immortal bird that can die but rise up from its ashes. This kind of power is said to stream through the wings of the Phoenix.
The ghostly Phoenix that gave a feather to the ghostly king would have had the power of a Phoenix, being able to die in flames and turn to ash, but rise up from the ashes. And the ghosts Valverno was seeing may have been a memory of what happened in the past.
However, he did question the fact of why he was seeing the ghosts and not his other companions, and if these ghosts were real or just illusions.
The throne he was looking at was built larger and wider than a usual throne built for a human. This throne was built for something slightly bigger for a man. It was built from chalk rock and made in a standard of a certain figure to sit on it. There were two holes big enough for Valverno’s tail to sliver through.
Valverno decided to try to sit down on the empty throne. His tail slipped through one of the holes and he sat down with ease. There seemed to be a small stone built by the throne’s legs for Valverno to put his feet on. The three claws of his wings
found holes of the right size and slipped in, holding his wings in place. This throne was a perfect fit for him, being able to sit down with ease was a first time experience for him.
The hybrid gave a small smile, but the smile faded, seeing how he couldn’t be the ghostly king. “Ghosts are spirits (or souls) of the dead, and I am not dead,” he said. And the ghostly king Valverno saw didn’t have dragon wings or a tail, so the ghost had to represent someone else.
“Hey, Valverno, come over here. I may have found something,” called out Flarefur.
Valverno heard the Griffin’s voice and rushed over. He found the Griffin near two still standing pillars carved with pictured snakes. A wide wall standing about twenty feet wide and about eleven feet tall stood next to the pillars. Pictures of dragon and unicorn were carved in the wall and a ruined, wooden door had lain before the two.
Valverno guessed the Griffin may have found a way underground: through that door.
“Do you think that could lead underground?” asked Flarefur.
“Let’s find out,” said Valverno. Valverno walked and budged the ruined door down with a single whip of his tail. Then he ignited a fire on the palm of his right hand to light the bitter darkness.
The entrance led to a small stairwell descending ten feet underground before seeing an arch and part of the ground floor. Valverno walked in first followed by Flarefur. “That wasn’t hard to find,” said Flarefur.
“Easier than I thought,” Valverno agreed.
Valverno took several seconds to descend into the blackness and stroll into a dark room. He may have found the underground, dark chamber. Valverno used his left hand to send out five sparks of fire that would brighten the dark room and see what’s inside.
The sparks lit the room with great, fiery light. Valverno first gazed at six pillars built from ceiling to floor to hold the room in place from collapsing. The walls were built with many stones and bricks. Cobwebs drabbed half way from the ceiling. There was a fowl stench in the air.
Valverno held his breath for the moment and browsed right in. He looked passed every pillar he came across and walked close to the walls. He looked at all the sparks he summoned and saw those sparks lit to show nothing. He quickly looked up and down through the room and nothing special in the place. There was a dead end at the end and corners that led nowhere.
“Find anything?” asked Flarefur from the entrance.
Valverno checked the last inch of every square inch of this underground room but he found nothing. The room was empty like a human skeleton with no skin or organs. “No, this is not the underground chamber I thought it would be. It looks more of a cellar where wine bottles were once stored.”
Valverno walked back to the Griffin and walked up the stairs. Before exited, Valverno waved a hand and the five sparks he summoned dimed like candle lights. He exited the room after the Griffin.
They both walked out with no luck in finding the entrance to the underground chamber. They had no-luck written on their faces.
“Nothing there, so I hope Geraldus and Marina are having better luck,” said Valverno.
“Valverno! Flarefur!” called Geraldus.
“Speak of the devil or dragon or unicorn or whatever that saying goes,” said Valverno.
Geraldus and Marina walked over a small pyramid-like staircase and walked over to Valverno and Flarefur. They both had the same expressions Valverno and Flarefur had; no luck in find any entrances dug into the mountain.
“No luck I can see,” said Valverno.
“The same to you,” said Marina. “Just where could the entrance could be?”
Valverno stroke his chin, thinking the entrance wasn’t on the mountaintop but someplace on the side. “I may have a slight idea where the entrance could be,” said Valverno. “What if this fortress was supposed to serve as a castle or a watchtower, while the front entrance was built someplace else? Like on the side wall? There is a ruin city built on this mountain’s side. An impossible thing for human to build, a city within a straight wall going downward with a hundred percent chances of falling.
Geraldus raised an eyebrow. “A city built on a mountain’s wall? I wonder how these ancient people manage to build such a place on a straight wall.”
“However they made a place is a mystery to us,” said Valverno. He widened his wings and was about to talk off again. “I’ll fly for a closer look at the city built beneath this mountaintop.
He started to float in the air, but his quickly caught his attention of Marina’s emotionless face. Seeing her face with no expression was making him feel his humanity started to grow in his heart. In his mind, Valverno was conflicted if he should be the one carrying Marina to every place he would go.
It seemed the hearts of a Siren can easily be broken than the human heart.
Valverno signed and asked, “You want to come flying with me?”
Marina gave a small smile.
Valverno drifted to Marina. She walked to him and wrapped an arm around his neck. Then he placed his arm around her waist so he wouldn’t fall from his flight.
After he made sure they were secured tight to each other, Valverno floated back to the air and made his way to the mountain’s side. He flew slower than usual in his flight, so Marina would have time to touch his skin and made sure she wouldn’t forget he was her hybrid husband, and not everyone else’s hybrid husband.
Valverno flew to the mountain’s walls and saw the city had been built. The cliff dwelling city was more suburb than the fortress on the mountaintop. The city managed to stay intact without any crumbled buildings or collapsed piles of stone, unlike the fortress built on the mountaintop.
“The ancient people knew how to build without falling over the cliff’s edges,” said Valverno.
“And there were very well discipline when it came to building, and I wonder how long it took them to build that entire place,” said Marina.
Valverno flew down an open, narrow walkway he saw as a passage built right beside the cliffy city. The passage was thin and narrow, barely to fit a single, walking person acceding or descending to or from this city. The small area Valverno landed on had a great overlook of the entire city, from where he was standing. He released his arm from Marina, so she can walk on her own free will.
A few thin, tower-like, square-shaped buildings with small windows without glass reached as high as the ceiling. Many more had been seen built lower and in square shapes, which may have served as stoned houses, and they were built half as tall as the few towers.
Valverno preceded first and walked the built pathway leading to the city dwelling on the mountain’s high cliffs. Marina followed after him.
Behind them, Flarefur landed where Valverno landed on and Geraldus dismounting from the drifting Griffin immediately. They both caught up with the married couple and all walked together.
Geraldus and Flarefur had also seemed awed and greatly influenced by the site of the still-standing city and how it manage to endure many years of weather, population, decay, and many natural disasters.
Valverno walked close to the back to the hole carved into the mountain. This part looked part of a curve-in cave that was carved by claws. Valverno could tell by lots of claw marks marked all across the backgrounds of the cave. So Valverno now assumed there were creatures such as Dragons or Griffins helping out with the construction of the city.
Marina stopped and looked at the near the very back corners. Flarefur dove to the city’s front view, toward the edges and steamy cliffs. Geraldus walked into one of the houses and wanted to see if he would be welcomed as a house guest.
Valverno stayed toward his left side at the curved cave’s end. He looked at the higher walls to the hole carved into the mountainside and the people making the buildings out of the inside the mountain itself. What hard work it would have taken to have endured the construction of the place. This was truly a wonder if how the people could have made the city without any use of magic and how they manage to build it.
Before
Valverno could see what’s on a roof of a stone house, Valverno’s eyes were drawn to a stick figure painting on the inner walls followed by a dozen more. He gazed at the walls many paintings featuring the human figures look like stick people holding spears and hunting down large strange animals that weren’t painted as lions or bears or as any creatures like Dragons or Unicorns. Just strange animals depicted with two-to-four legs, a long neck and tail, and two heads: one a human and the other a bird.
Strangely enough, many other animal pictures painted on the walls Valverno wasn’t recognizing, which meant those ancient animals must have been hunted down to extinction. Then he turned his attention to a bird picture colored in red spreading its wings wide, facing upwards to the sky. Right below it was a human figure holding a red feather.
Valverno took a moment to look at the picture. The red bird just had to be a Phoenix and the human below it had to be the king the Phoenix gave its feather to like the ghosts Valverno saw on the mountain’s top. “This must have been what early humans witnessed of a Phoenix giving a feather to a human,” said Valverno.
“What giving what to a what?” asked Flarefur.
Marina, Flarefur, and Flarefur joined Valverno at looking at the picture of a Phoenix giving a feather to a man.
Valverno saw the group staring at him. He placed his hand on the red bird picture giving its feather to a single man. “This is what I’ve just mentioned: a Phoenix giving a feather to a human. Ever heard of that?”
Flarefur, Geraldus, and Marina shook their heads.
“As I expected, we only heard about the birds, but no one has ever heard of an immortal bird giving a yellow feather to a mortal man,” said Valverno.
“But we never seen a depiction of the Phoenix,” said Flarefur. The Griffin had his feathered wings unfolded from his body. He looked at the red bird painting with a great amazement. “For some time, only pictures drew on frames and paper show what the ancient Birds of Fire look like. No creature other than me has ever gazed on an ancient drawing on rocks and boulder.”
