Dusk of a Hybrid

by Ryan Johnson

  So, they could summon any magic power of their own hatred and anger emotions instead of using blood cells from their own bodies. And with Pangaean staff right behind them, it seems his power was going to be limited. But he has the experience; he dealt with two enemies he hated the most and glad to be rid of.

  Now, it was time to get rid the three fiendish, snakelike people and focus on the greater threats he must deal with.

  In his first move, Valverno twisted his hands and a snapping sound came from the hilt. He torn the one sword into swords: the two he found and could converge into one blade. The first he remembered he found in cave and the other in a pedestal. With two swords, the destruction would be doubled.

  Then one of the leaders spun and grabbed one of the three staffs: one was holding an emerald.

  Valverno wasn’t going to wait to see what the staff could do against him. He opened his mouth and casted out a white-colored fire from his mouth.

  The person holding the staff conquered out a green barrier and Valverno’s white flames spewed into three different directions. The other two people grabbed the remaining two staffs: one had a ruby and the other a sapphire. They move outside the green barrier and took hold of all three waves of the white flames.

  Valverno closed his mouth and flew toward the three people. His wings carried a great speed and he saw the three waves being whirled toward him. He stopped while flying in midair and covered himself with his wings.

  The flowing white flames crossed into his folded wing protection and rebounded to the walls. Valverno’s wings dusted away his own flames, as they were conjured from him and could be used to harm him. While floating in the air, Valverno unfolded his wings with a loud snapping sounding wind.

  A large wind gushed and a powerful hurricane-like spread throughout the room, tossing away every table and glass jar in the air and smashing in the wall or the ground. The three people used the staffs to protect themselves with three different colored barriers.

  “You dare messsss up our laboratory!?” snapped the snake people.

  “I desssstroyed Belverda’s laboratory when I found out I was being used as a lab rat for resurrection experimentation. Under my watch, I will not allow any more experimentation never again. Under my command, I hereby ban all experimentations on dead animals and the living. Your laboratory is going to be shut down right now and for all eternity!”

  Then Valverno pounded to the ground and swung the floor with his two swords. The fog covering the ground flew up in the air, and cracks of bright lights spread into the floor like a sickly plague of flies. “Your science projects end here, as well your lives!” He pulled out his swords and soared to the ceiling and placed his feet onto the ceiling.

  “The last of my predecessor’s loyalists will end today and go speak to him of how you failed!” Valverno snapping voice echoed through the room it made the tower quake by the sheer echo. With one powerful kick of his legs, Valverno fell directly to the floor. He angled his feet to align with the brightly cracked floor.

  He pounded hard the entire top floor broke open and a giant hole came into view. Valverno’s wings widened and he was flying in the air while he saw so many other things fall beneath his feet.

  Tabletops. Glass jars. Bookshelves. Skulls of animals. Metal trays. Every single item that is used for science experimentation fell from the top floor and into the opening of the tower’s interior chasm. His wings kept him from falling, and he saw the three snake people fall with the cracking floor.

  Valverno stayed above and as he saw the three leaders fall with everything else. Instead of hearing screaming to their doom which would be at the ground floor, he saw the men aiming their staffs at him. Colorful shots of different fire flames fired at him. He swiped many of those away with his swords and rolled away.

  After he swept (from his count of fifty shots), the three of them used their staffs made their bodies glow the same color their staffs’ jewel: red, green, and blue. This made them slow their falling, but they kept falling.

  Valverno stopped his flying and fell with them. He was falling as slowly as they were so he could keep up and try to sabotage their magic-using. And with his wings, he could easily glide with the momentum of the wind within the tower’s chasm. He glided over to the green person he saw was the closest and smelled was the weakest of the three.

  The flying hybrid soared above the feet above the one person he plans on killing.

  Then Valverno went atop over the one snaky mage. With the one mage right below his feet, Valverno grabbed onto the person with the claws of his dragon feet: one foot grabbed the head and the other an arm.

  The man made muffling sounds with his face in the palm of a dragon foot. And with one hand still holding a staff, he pointed it at the demigod’s left-side face. An energy blast was shot, but Valverno made an X shape of the two swords to block the energy blast. The blades were closely touching the jewel when it was charging its power fire when it fired and the blast backfired on the jewel charging the shot. Then the jewel exploded and the staff ran out of power.

  But a spiraling crack creeped within the staff and made irritating noises.

  Having to hear such annoying sounds from blocking an enemy attack from a staff once belonging to a Dark Pangaean, Valverno cut the cracked staff into two halves… just like he did with Belverda’s staff before he sent her plummeting over a cliff.

  And in a matter of seconds later, the ground was within view and Valverno increased his flying-falling speed with two flaps of his wings. Valverno made no hesitation to crash-land and crush the one leader into the solid ground, leaving behind a wide impact.

  Once on the ground, Valverno removed his feet from his fallen victim and it wasn’t bad as he thought it would be. The man had a long pale face and a small trail of blood dripping over the forehead down to the right cheek. He had killed one of the three leaders and had two more to deal with. His ear flickered of two windy noises coming on two opposite sides: left and right.

  The last two leaders landed on the right and left side of Valverno. Their staffs were aiming at the one who killed their comrade. They shot red and green lightning bolts at the demigod and hoped this shocking magic spell would kill the hybrid.

  Valverno sighed at this sight. He thought these people who would be better of using their magic power; with great ease, he held up his two swords, which connected to the blasting lightening blots. Their fighting style and their use of magic reminded him too much of Belverda’s style. He expected them to fight dirtier and rougher, but what they seem to have learned right the same way as the witch teacher did.

  He snapped his swords together. A large red pulse ignited upon the two blades clinging at once. The two different bolts he flung back at the users, by swinging his swords after he clanged hard, magical blades together.

  The duo used their staffs to quickly make barriers to protect themselves from having their own power being used against them. “Unlessss powersss.” The snake people were hissing loudly like they were trying to gather female snakes. “We needsss to ussse more power.”

  “Don’t even try it,” warned Valverno. “I had dealt with your kind before. Ten thousand years ago. The four original White Knights and I have dealt with Dark Pangaeans before. People who called themselves ‘Children of Lusìvar’ didn’t have a chance against the superior of the Light.” Valverno walked from the spot he was standing and away from the crushed snake leader. “I have memories of the past and you two act like I don’t. You’re fighting if you’re training a child mage. I received training when I was a kid and the training back then was more brutal than today’s military training. Fight with your full strength or give up and surrender.”

  “We will never sssurrender. You musst die!”

  “Then you’re going to die weaker than Belverda. She had the heart of a warrior, but you two don’t. The witch knew how to fight. You two may be able gifted in using ma
gic, but you don’t have the methods of how to fight. Prepare yourselves to see how a true Pangaean uses his power… without a staff.”

  Valverno hooked the two swords back into one and sheathed it. After he placed the sword away, he lowered his arms, shut his eyes, and breathed calmly. The glow of his armor and his wings dimmed. He set his mind at ease and swept away any thoughts of battle.

  Feeling the air gusting around him, he inhaled the calming air. The softness of the wind that gushed through the open archways that led outside to the bridges was soft has a lamb’s fur. His feet felt the vibrations of movements from his two enemies. His red hair swirled in the wind. His eyes garbled the sight of the dead person feet away from him. And with one swipe of his fingering touching his armor, the armor fell off.

  His human torso was bare as many dragon scales mixed with his human skin. A mix of red and brown scales covered nearly half of his half-human torso. Then, he raised his hands and the wind swirling within the tower’s interior chasm came to Valverno’s calling.

  Then a large grey, cloudlike fog ball was casted over Valverno’s left hand. In his right hand, a bright white glow erupted into an electric, plasma ball. Valverno opened his eyes and raised his hands higher so they were horizontally intertwined the length of his shoulders.

  As he did, his blood veins of his arms spilt open and glowed purple. All across his half human torso blood veins spilt open to show a purple glow emerging. This wasn’t blood that was going, but some kind of liquid emerging from his body. “This, you people see before you, is real Pangaean power. Every Pangaean had to use a staff to harness their own power, which laid within their organ hearts, and not go out of control and go wild like two rival male lions fighting over the same lion pride.

  “However, with discipline and perfect training, a certain Pangaean could harness their magical hearts without a staff. Staffs only serve as dams acting as open and close doors of how much magic is being used. I, for one, am used this kind of training and I can harness my Pangaean magic within my heart without a staff and use it at its full potential.

  “You two claim to be descendants of Pangaeans, but you use staffs meant for little Pangaean kids. You three could have harness your own hearts of your will, but it seems you two don’t have the knowledge to know how. And the last thing you will see in this world is a true Pangaean harnessing the power from his own heart.”

  Then Valverno clapped both his hands together and a pulse ignited upon impact. A high wind blew across the large chasm. A large red, electrifying globe spiraled from Valverno’s clamping hands. This was caused by both Valverno’s hands having two different power sources merge together and being slammed together to converge into one powerful magic source.

  Valverno had unleashed a great power he’d never unleashed. A twirling power from inside his organ heart, which was beating at the speed, was tearing through the tower’s interior walls. This awesome power he was wielding was indeed power of a true Pangaean.

  Between the two powers he has, Valverno could easily use both at once: divine power from gods and Pangaean magic. This would make him inferior to everyone around him like an immortal god living upon mortal creatures.

  However, Lusìvar’s power would still be able to outdo Valverno’s two powers. His divine power had yet been restored with one last armor artifact still missing. It was still hidden somewhere on Shimabelia: in a place called Siren’s Cove. Whatever the place was, Valverno would surely be there to get it.

  In his current situation, he had to deal with two snake leaders. Valverno looked at the two leaders standing on opposite sides of him, and holding up their staffs making barriers to protect them from Valverno’s charging, pulsing power.

  “Your barriers are not going to be enough to be against my power.” Valverno spread out his crimson wings and the wings’ small claws stretch outwards. He flapped them softly at first then flapped them hardly. He circulated the wind to swirl faster with every flap.

  A near tornado-like pressurized the barriers down to the heads of the magic casters trying to keep their barriers wide enough to protect a few foot diameter between within their magical barriers. But the presence of Valverno’s flapping winds was making those barriers weaken.

  Then Valverno raised his hands and simultaneously shot two energy blasts from both his hands. Both shot clear through the barriers, the casters themselves, and seemly the walls. For a full thirty seconds, Valverno kept firing his powerful blasts. After the thirty seconds were up, he withdrew his fists and stopped his firing.

  His ceasefire of his blasts left behind big burnt holes of the tower’s walls. Up to twenty-five feet long were circles blasted through of Valverno’s doing. This kind of power could kill an army of Dragons.

  Both people Valverno had blasted were on the ground and he was standing. However, one of them got back up to his feet. Valverno kept his eye on the still-standing figure. He raised his hand and used his index finger and a thumb to make the shape of an L. A small fireball lit at Valverno’s fingertip.

  Suddenly, there was a pulsing echoing sound stretching behind him. Still lifting his finger up, he turned to see the other person holding up his staff. Many colored rays of light floated from the staff, overhead of Valverno, and swirling to the last standing man.

  “What are you doi…?” He asked a ridiculous question. He recognized what the two people were doing: transferring magic from one person to the other. He managed to harm both but missed to kill them both at the same time.

  He thought it would have been impossible for the people he was facing to have mastered Dark Pangaean magic igniting from their hearts. He was proven wrong when he was facing against these unusual people. However, he was seeing only one man harnessing his own heart. The other man transferred what power he had to the last standing serpent-man and then the man transferring his power to his comrade gave one exhale of air and fell backward.

  It was two down and one to go!

  Valverno turned his hybrid eyes to the last snake leader tossing away his staff and raised both his hands to be holding two powering globes. Those were very similar to what Valverno two power globes he’d unleashed. Valverno withdrew his L-shaped hand and pulled out the sword hanging around his back and snapped it back into two. He thought this fight was going to be taken to a new level.

  “So, one of three managed to learn how to harness his magic with Pangaean magic while the other two only needed to serve as pawns,” said Valverno. “That is just pathetic. You people are too much the same of how I’ve met the other Dark Pangaeans I’ve met when Shimabellia and Isla Maeli born from the ruined lands of Pangaea. People who claimed to be ‘children of Lusìvar’ but still needed up dying because of the Light that the true Pangaeans have. Now I’ll kill the last of the Dark Pangaeans here in this fortress of which was built by the ancient Dark Pangaeans.”

  While holding the twin swords, Valverno ignited his arms to the brim with a blue fire. The blue flames scorched Valverno’s arms up to his shoulders. His horns burst into flames as well but in crimson-orange. His hair waved of a strong wind buzzling upon a forth of his body bursting into flames.

  “You fell into the Pool of Shadowsssss yet you still have the facccce of evil. You claim to be ssson of godsssss, but you usssse ssssuch forbidden powerssss. How isss it you sssstill fight for ssssuch things?”

  “I fight not for myself; I fight for all Living Life. I kill the corrupt and let the pure flourish. That is the way I did things ten thousand years ago and I still do to this day. You claim not to serve Lusìvar, but you still serve a servant of Shadow and you are an essence of Shadow.

  “I may have bathed in the Pool of Shadows, but that never changed my personality. I will never change my personality as long as I live. I am a demigod and a demigod I will always be until the day I die. So, until deathday comes, you are stuck with me, snake-man.”

  Valverno loudly tapped the twin swords together and a lar
ge circular explosion erupted from the single-tapping metal blades. The explosion was red and orange and blue and sprung fire every like an exploding fireworks. Fire was spread everywhere even at the feet of the last leader of the Snake Clan.

  The last snake man sent out his two electrifying globes at Valverno. Valverno swung the two swords diagonally of an X shape at once. Both balls of electricity were blown away by Valverno’s swords, and both sent out electrifying shockwaves after Valverno struck them.

  The thundering bolts Valverno didn’t find harmful striking his skin; those felt like he was feeling his skin being smoothened like soaking in hot springs for several hours. The only harm Valverno felt was his hair sticking upwards since hair is sensitive to anything electric. He felt sprung high once a large beam of a strong electric pulse touched a single strand of his red hair, which made it spring up like an explosion.

  After his hair stuck straight up, Valverno sliced a sword in the air next to him and a straight thin curved where the sword was waved. A mirror came into view and Valverno looked upon his reflection. He saw his hair was sticking straight up and widened out, if his own hair was doing its own stretching.

  He muffled at his hair appearance and dug a sword into the ground. With a free hand, Valverno raised it high. A small cloud sprung from the skin of his hand and rose into the air. The cloud formed to fully formed cumulonimbus cloud, a raincloud. After seconds it sprouted from Valverno’s hand, it poured rain on him.

  His hair suddenly fell and draped over his neck and close to his shoulders. His red hair then started to spark with flames like lightening in the clouds. After a full minute, Valverno snapped his finger and the rain from the small cloud stopped. Valverno swung the other sword in his other hand at the cloud and the cloud faded into the air.