Twilight of a Hybrid

by Ryan Johnson

  “What was that about?” Flarefur asked Vaeludar.

  “I don’t know,” said Vaeludar. “When I last saw her, she acted normal and released everyone she turned to stone. I last saw her in a cave and she concealed herself in that cave. I’d say she was a creature with a lost, confused mind. Maybe not all Gorgons are evil as we thought they might have been.”

  “Don’t be thinking about that,” said Geraldus. “Gorgons turn people into stone at sight. Don’t expect the next one to be a posttraumatic like the one we just met.”

  Vaeludar nodded his head and proceeded onward. He was starting to think what has happened with that Gorgon in her past, but he had no interest in the Gorgon or what difficulties she may have. He had to focus on his main journey. Vaeludar was close to find the second artifact of an armor that would give him power to make him to be powerful as the Shadow King Lusìvar. The last thing he wanted was any obstacle or distraction getting in his way and thus delaying his search longer by minutes, hours, or days.

  As they walked closer to the hills, they felt the ground more rock solid and becoming less sandy. The hills also grew more in size, and the trees became even more dreadful by the step the group took.

  “What a dreary, dreadful place to have a secret lab,” said Marina. The Siren clutched to Vaeludar’s right arm, which he allowed her to do since she was his wife after all. Marina seemed to be frightened by the very sight of a quiet, mysterious place. “Why hide such a secret lab in the Greenwood Forest?”

  “A secret lab hidden in the Greenwood Forest,” said Vaeludar. “The Greenwood Forest is supposed to be a large forest with only green trees and plants or things, but we have stumbled onto a wasteland. Whatever happened it must have been a deadly battle that has caused this part of the forest to lose its emerald coloring, and I must have been caught in the middle of it. I do remember the Dragon King or the Unicorn King mentioned I was caught in the middle of a bad conflict back on the day I killed the Minotaur. I just hope giving up to Geraldus was a wise decision for my parents made, and make sure that choice was well worth it.”

  Vaeludar had sniffed the air carefully. He could smell the scent of dead rats and garbage filth floating among the air of the near horizon of the wasteland. His mind was shaking that they shouldn’t maybe be there. He sensed they could be coming into a graveyard or a trap could be lurking in wait for them to lower their guard and attack them. Even they are walking on solid ground, Vaeludar felt they were walking on ground that was once covered in dead bodies now completely melted to ash and dust.

  Then a small weak gush of a cold wind blew. Blinding dust rose from the ground ashy ground. Dead branches of the dead, petrified trees screeched loud noises and dropped without warning. The hills began to swirl around, if the group was seeing them though an underwater look. Dreadful sounds began to take hold of Vaeludar’s nerves, which made him feel strange of his legs feeling thin than muscular.

  A sudden cold chill ran up the Siren’s spine, which made her clutch Vaeludar’s arm tighter. The Siren was spooked by the surrounding area and she needed to make sure Vaeludar’s untouchable skin would keep her safe.

  Vaeludar had always thought of Sirens weren’t scarred of terrifying places. He’d always thoughts Sirens’ personalities told in those tales Vaeludar has heard of: Sirens being such monstrous, flesh-eating, humanoid fish, but Marina was displaying to Vaeludar that Sirens have more human characters than a monstrous human-eater.

  After feeling the chilling wind and the dust partly blinding the group’s eyes, Vaeludar blew his own windy power to counter against the dusty wind. Then his yellow-sclera, red-iris, green-pupil hybrid eyes gazed at a strange figure from a distance that the human eyes would see as a blank spot of an illusion.

  He then released his windy power and suddenly strolled off in the direction he had his eyes on a building made of stone. It was that moment the hybrid had been seeking: the laboratory. He knew he has found it.

  Marina, who was still holding Vaeludar’s arm, lost her balance and collapsed at her husband’s sudden turn. She saw him flying off all of a sudden and not looking back.

  Geraldus and Flarefur, too, saw the hybrid flying from his wife and off in the distance. They were suddenly confused why Vaeludar changed direction and didn’t tell them anything without a warning. “What are you going?” they asked.

  Vaeludar didn’t answer; he soared several feet from the ground and glided toward the one direction was the right direction. As he drifted faster, he could feel the feeling of negativity fade away and hope growing in his heart. He closed his eyes as he was flying and felt an entire island being lifted from his shoulder and dosing beneath his feet. His felt the weight of his body decreasing if his muscles were thinning.

  Vaeludar kept his eyes closed as he brought his flying to a halt. He could feel a great brightness being taken over by the power of hope, which was starting to fill up in his heart, but he could feel his heart being filled with many thoughts of darkness. One was filled with so much positive energy while the other was consumed by negative energy. He breathed a gasp of air and reopened his eyes. He reopened his eyes to see a dragon statue standing in front of him.

  The dragon statue looked so terrifying as if encountering many painful stabs with spears being thrusted into its body. The dragon’s head expression looked like it was in agony.

  Vaeludar couldn’t tell if this statue was supposed to scare off intruders or be a scary decoration. Vaeludar twitched his eyes at the statue, seeing how it wasn’t relevant and not very important to be searching for a long-lost statue but a long-lost laboratory.

  But maybe after his search, Vaeludar could take the statue and place it close to his cottage home and have it as a decoration of his own; it would look nice to scare the crows away if he started farming cornfields by his cottage. Then he took a step to the side away from the dragon statue and took a peak behind it and gazed upon the ruins of a building.

  The ruined building matched its looks more of a greenhouse than a laboratory, a house that stores plants and herbs as to which the place Vaeludar was looking for where Ralenskrit and Belverda had conducted their experiments. The building was big as a three story peasant mansion and the width of the walls stretch some twenty yards long. What makes this building a ruined building was a giant hole, which had been burst through the roof and a wall, which caused the entire building with dents, bent walls, and crumbled stones. Otherwise, the building was still standing strong and still could hold a baby dragon on its roof.

  The building wasn’t mind blowing or catchy as Vaeludar thought it would be. The first time he had expected to see something magnificent was the time he found the Lost Castle in the Northern Region of the island and where he found that princess who then died. “This is supposed to be the place my parents worked at?” he asked himself. “What could have happened here that led this to be a ruin?”

  “Vaeludar, wait for us!” Marina called out.

  Vaeludar turned his head to see Flarefur flying while Marina and Geraldus running up to him.

  Geraldus shook his head. “Don’t be so hasty,” said Geraldus, taking out a spear. A long weapon this man has brought was a single spear with a blade almost a foot long and nicely curved of a skinny half oval. “Don’t be so rash going into unknown territory. Remember, hybrid, we—”

  “Don’t the same powers and the same indestructible skin like I do,” said Vaeludar, annoyed of hearing the same thing. “Don’t do anything so reckless. I keep hearing this many times, and I don’t need any reminders.”

  “Then why don’t you stay with us?” asked Marina.

  “I try, but this body is very much more conflicted than yours,” said Vaeludar, “I have two minds in two mind: a dragon mind and a human mind. It’s like two different ghosts fighting over the same body. One is trying to be the wise thing and the other is trying to be hostile. Many spilt multiple personalities fighting over the same body and hard to tell to which is fully in control. And it’s hard to maintain a perfe
ct balance between my humanity and my draconic… whatever; one hard decision can tip the balance between the two off course.”

  Marina looked confused of Vaeludar’s explanation. She couldn’t tell the difference between the human side or the dragon side of Vaeludar. Geraldus seems to understand what Vaeludar was trying to say.

  Flarefur seemed to be understanding very well; he was a Griffin who had half the brain of a bird and a lion with human intelligence, but the Griffins weren’t part of the eagle or the lion family trees. Visually, Griffins looked lion and eagle, but the Griffins weren’t considered to be part of the animal kingdom with all the other mythical creatures there are.

  Vaeludar signed of seeing Marina not understanding. “Look, I don’t know how much better I can explain it,” said Vaeludar. “There are many elements science just can’t explain. These things just happen like me; born from a human and a Dragon and how they manage to do it is a complete mystery to me, so I won’t question it; it just happened.

  Geraldus walked close between Marina and Vaeludar’s conversation. “I don’t mean to intrude, but, Vaeludar; we’re this close to finding your armor, so time to cut the chatter and talk about science later.”

  “I thought you said don’t be hasty,” said Vaeludar.

  “To you going in alone and leaving us behind,” said Geraldus.

  “Alright, let’s get going before we get into another heated argument,” said Vaeludar.

  “Agreed there,” said Flarefur.

  Vaeludar nodded walked passed the dragon statue. As he walked away from the dragon statue, he took one more quick glance at the facial expression the statue shown to any curious watchers. “I wonder why this statue is supposed to be here. Scare off intruders? Or a very scary decoration they thought to be amusing?”

  Marina took a quick glance at the statue they were passing before walking beside her new husband. “If they have this, why does it look sad? This statue is showing the Dragon look more human than dragon… by personality that is. But what does it matter, dear husband? I have you.” Once again, Marina kept close to Vaeludar, but instead of clinging to his arm, she leaned more against his shoulder as they walked. This Siren wouldn’t stop at nothing to stay close to the hybrid she was married to, if she was someone too obsessed with fairy tales, stuff that has the knights-in-shining-armor rescuing the princess from a dragon.

  Vaeludar couldn’t compare himself to be as equal to the knight or the monster; he could compare himself to the both of them: the son of the knight and dragon and the princess being left down in the dumps from the knight: a certain incarnation of good and evil in one body and both forces fighting over that one body. It was just like he said; two ghosts fighting over the same body, and someone couldn’t tell which was in control. It was nether the dragon or the human, and his appearance reflex what his current personality was. And a single person could easily Vaeludar’s personal statue by judging by the colors of the hybrid’s eyes.

  Vaeludar drew closer toward the one building believing it to be the one Secret Laboratory. Vaeludar drew a breath of relief; his quest to the second armor artifact was nearly complete; he was only hoping the armor would be in this ruined building and not underground, because the place he found the armor for his right arm was a very serious rocky situation that he barely survived in, but he survived and now it was time to get the second part of the armor. Vaeludar came to the hole, which seemed to have been blown from the inside of the laboratory and entered.

  At first, it was dark inside, but as seconds passed several rays of light flickered through and many small smalls and cracks throughout the laboratory that caught Vaeludar’s eyes, which he couldn’t believe he was suddenly and unexpectedly gazed upon.

  Glass jars filled fill with dried organs and body parts filled and placed on wooden shelves. Skulls had been shelved on shelves near the ceiling top. Empty jars had been placed near the bottoms and many glass shards laid across the floor. Vaeludar never expected to see so much body parts and skeletal remains of mythical creatures to be laying around such a dreadful, abandoned building. Organs and bones from all the mythical creatures were placed in this now little lab. And that would range from the good creatures: Centaurs, Dragons, Fairies, Griffins, Merpeople, Pegasi, Sea Serpents, and Unicorns. And of the evil creatures: Banshees, Basilisks, Black Dogs, Chimeras, Cyclopes, Harpies, Manticore, and Minotaurs. Horns, fur, skin, eyes, and every body part there was to be seen outside or inside the body of a mythical creature Vaeludar was seeing here: in the glass jars or different parts like fur or heads hanging on the walls.

  This didn’t seem like a secret laboratory at all; it was more like a secret torture chamber of horrors.

  The room, which Vaeludar entered to, was squared and aligned that looks like a large bed chamber for royalty. And in this one-room laboratory, as Vaeludar saw, lots of filled and empty glass jars stood and placed upon shelves hooked up to the walls, and he could smell the scent of death everywhere. Vaeludar saw broken glass jars where he was stepping on. In the central part of the lab, he saw three broken tables and one table barely standing on its four wooden legs.

  The hole he saw had black burnt all over; an explosion had occurred in that one spot he was standing on.

  Vaeludar gazed in great shock of a great many things that were beyond his human dragon brain. “What, by the name of the islands and the face of the Three Gods, is this?” Vaeludar took a few steps inner while Marina, Geraldus, and Flarefur followed after Vaeludar entered through the exploded hole. They too were horrified by the horrific look of the now-scary laboratory.

  “This is supposed to be a science lab?” said Geraldus.

  “It’s more of a house of death,” said Flarefur. “I can smell many feathers and blood of my species within these walls, and I don’t like it.”

  Marina kept silent and didn’t say anything. Her eyes were wide open and shockingly afraid a first small glance of a jar filled with parts she now wants to forget she saw. This mere laboratory of horrors she was seeing was making her wish she stayed in the sea and not set foot on land in her fishy life.

  “Just what kind of experimentations did Ralenskrit and Belverda preform in this forsaken place?” Vaeludar asked out loud. “And their supposed to be my parents? What kind of parents would they be if they even had me?”

  Geraldus looked at Vaeludar. “I’ve own your mother the longest, but I’d never expected to see she would go far as… this stuff.”

  Vaeludar nosed a soft roar-like grunt and rolled his eyes. He stayed silent at the sight of his parents’ lab where their dark secrets were kept hidden from their friends. He walked close to the glass on the shelves that remained in place, even though he had noticed a large explosion happened inside the lab. He wondered how the shelves and glasses remained intact than broken in shards and dust on the ground. Something just wasn’t adding up in his mind.

  Amidst this collection of body artifacts, Vaeludar walked toward the intact table where a large hardcover book was placed. It was covered with lots of burnt dust and fur filth. Vaeludar used the paper-like skin of one of his wings to wipe the filth off the book’s hard cover.

  After dusting the book and making it tidy, his eyes had saw the book cover was almost blank: pictures or words burnt. Whatever was decorated with or written on it had been scorched away, erasing what was on the book cover.

  He was too curious to know what it was and called to his companions. They came to him, but Marina walked slower than the others; her eyes were closed, not wanting to look at anything but hear Vaeludar’s voice calling to her and guiding her where to walk. “Whatever happened in this scary place had been recorded into this book,” said Vaeludar. “Hopefully, the answers I’m looking for better be in here, if they haven’t been caught in whatever might have exploded. But, at the same time, I want to continue to explore and see what other dark secrets that aren’t hiding in plain sight.”

  Marina opened her eyes and walked quickly to Vaeludar’s side. Her eyes were on the book. The
n she turned to face her husband. “I’ll read it. A Siren’s eyes can read any words that have been burnt or erased from it.”

  Vaeludar seemed that his fishy wife was volunteering to read the book while he investigates the walls, floor, and the entire interior of the strange, horror lab. “You can read?” he asked her.

  Marina glared at Vaeludar. “I was raised in the capital city for five years, in the royal family,” she said. “Yes, I can read. Are you questioning my abilities to read?”

  Vaeludar raised an index finger and opened his mouth to speak. Then he lowered the finger and slightly closed his mouth. He seemed to be overestimating the Siren’s skills. “I’ll let you do the reading then.” Vaeludar drew his eyes away so he could explore more of the building that had a small portion destroyed in an explosion.

  Marina opened the book cover gently. For her, it had some weight to it, if it was made from pure gold. The first page she glimpsed at was a picture of a Minotaur’s half body on a horse’s body; a rotten take on a Centaur, but a creature that would have been half horse and half bull.

  Geraldus glimpsed over Marina’s shoulder and saw the picture himself. He was shocked by the mere sight like the sight of the lab he was in. “Is that what those two were doing here? Were they trying to create creatures from other creatures?”

  Marina flipped to the next page and saw another strange creature that seemed like a Manticore’s body but with a dragon’s head and claws and a snake’s tail. Then Marina flipped the course of a few more pages; all of which shown disfigured bodies of different mythical creatures being morphed into one body composed of many different body parts, and many more pages showed more of these strange figured pictures. Marina couldn’t find any words or notes written on the first few pages of the book she was trying to read.

  “Were they being Frankenstein?” asked Geraldus.