Twilight of a Hybrid

by Ryan Johnson

  Sora was caught by surprise. “You remembered your promises of us being together?”

  “Fighting together,” said Valverno. “I’m married now, and you have another sister in this family. And remember what mother taught us: family is the greatest golden treasure. And so you and the Siren are my golden treasures: the greatest gifts I’ve ever received.”

  “Oh, Valverno, you are so annoying with this family bonding,” complained Sora. Sora squeezed her brother harder than he was holding her.

  There was some kind of bond they both were sharing, and it looked like it was shining as the moonlight under a starless light.

  “They really are lovable siblings,” said Geraldus. “I’ve never seen my own children this way before.”

  Geraldus, Flarefur, and Marina were once again staring at the odd siblings acting a bit over the top, or the three were thinking of Valverno and Sora could be more than regular siblings.

  “There really are somewhat close, despite seeing each other for several hours,” said Flarefur. “I know of family bonding, but this is too much. I wonder what family bonding means for ancient Pangaeans.”

  Marina was looking slightly happier than growing jealous. Marina was slowly starting to accept Sora into the family Valverno had created. She would need more time to fully accept Sora into Valverno’s new family.

  Valverno released Sora from his arms and walked over to the bridge. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get that body part of mine, attach it to my leg, and get out of this city graveyard. I’m dying to see sunlight again.”

  Suddenly, a loud roar was heard.

  Valverno stopped just at the bridge’s start.

  Two large floating orbs came from the darkness of the other platform, near the armor artifact. From the deep shadows behind the armor, a large beast with a long body with two long legs, a long neck, and a goat-head with two curved horns emerged. Now there was a greater obstacle standing in the demigod’s path of the armor he was looking for.

  BATTLE WITH AN ANCIENT CREATURE

  The group gazed upon the large creature reaching up hundreds of feet, if not a thousand feet, into the air. This was a giant creature they’d never seen before. Of a might of a hundred Dragons, there was no way for the group of five could make it pass the creature without a fierce fight. No creature massive as the capital city had ever been seen on the surface islands of Shimabellia and Isla Maeli.

  “What is this creature?” asked Marina, horrified at the giant’s gigantic form.

  Valverno had stared at the giant’s red-orange, glaring eyes of the beast while the beast was staring the demigod. In his demigod mind, he could feel a strong presence, a strong aura, coming within the giant beast. Valverno knew the presence he was feeling was ten thousand times older than him or any other breathing creature living on the surface world.

  Fear and horror struck his mind while Valverno’s eyes remained vagrant looking at the monster. “This is no ‘ordinary ‘creature’ we see very day or something we get to see every seventy-six years. It’s a Titan, a surviving beast from the Colossal Age, the First Generation of Living Life.”

  “A Titan?” gasped the Griffin. “That-that’s impossible! No creature could THAT long. They should be dead. You know, killed by the gods.”

  “We were taught gods don’t kill their creations,” said Sora, “so they casted the Titans into a dark, infinite abyss: a very small hole buried beneath rocks of the earth, water of the sea, and a large impenetrable fog under a cloudy sky. And that is no ordinary Titan; it’s the King of the Titans: the Leviathan. It is believed to be the first of its kind, and right now, the last of its kind. And its standing right there in front of us, the only obstacle standing between us and the armor artifact.”

  The Leviathan, the King of the Titans, stood between the group and the armor. The Titan stood high and tall and ten times bigger than a Dragon. Not a thousand Cyclopes or Giants could bring down this titanic Titan. The Leviathan is now the only obstacle between Valverno and his part-ripped leg armor that would be able to awaken the next third of his power: then his power would be two-thirds restored and his speed agility would increase.

  “Now our strength is being put to the ultimate challenge,” said Geraldus. The middle-aged man remained firm, despite the fact they were very easily outmatched by a single, colossal animal standing in their way. “There is no way we can suppress this ancient being, Valverno. Do you think you can fight against this creature on your own?”

  Valverno took a moment to study the body size of the Titan. It was a thousand times bigger than he was and hundred times more colossal than a fire-breathing Dragon. He could have the potential dragon to fight the Titan but he wasn’t at his full strength. “I would if I was able to,” said Valverno, “but the godly power I wield is not at its full potential. It is like Sora said, the power, along with three body parts of mine connected to my half god side, has been ripped from me and distorted from my grip. In order to restore my power, I need to reconnect my hybrid body with those other things.”

  “Well, the thing you’re looking for is behind that beast,” said Geraldus. “And a Titan? Just look at that thing. We’re going to need an army to bring that thing down. And with the bridge there as the only way toward the other side, the casualties will be humongous. We have to fall back and come up with a plan.”

  “We came this far way down, and you’re telling us to retreat?” asked Sora.

  “Without an army or Valverno’s complete power and his lack of power to fly overhead, it would be impossible.”

  “I agree with Geraldus on this,” said Marina. “That beast is too big for us to fight and we are outmatched by size and power. Sirens have heard about the colossal power each Titan wields. We alone can’t take on a Titan.”

  While the group argued of what to do, Valverno listened to them infighting of what they should do next: retreat, come back with an army or try to take on the Titan and get the armor artifact. The chances of surviving against the Titan were very, very slim. Valverno did make a long journey from the surface world in order to find what belongs to him on his own natural body, which would be the leg.

  Valverno was conflicted. He wanted to get the armor and not have to make any second trips back into the city buried beneath the surface island of Shimabellia. Yet he needed to retreat since they lack the power to defeat the Titan, but if they did retreat, Valverno would try to search for the next armor artifact and come back later for this one being guarded by an ancient creature.

  Now that Valverno had found the armor artifact he was looking for he was facing a tough choice and there was still time to think. The Titan could size the chance and fight them all at once. If the group tried to run, the Titan, with its long, massive legs, could easily outrun them all. Valverno thought the Titan could walk to the other side of the city in just ten small steps with those legs.

  Valverno signed, coming to a decision he just may end up regret doing. For a second, attempt Valverno took a few steps away from the cliff with his back turned toward the Titan.

  “See, Sora?” said Marina. “My husband is agreeing with us: he wants to go back,”

  “I have an idea.”

  “You have?” asked Sora. “What is it?”

  “Don’t go against the Titan,” said Geraldus. “You won’t win.”

  Valverno spun around and looked at his four companions, with his wings widened. “Just do as I say: distract the Titan,” Valverno ordered. Valverno made a ran dash toward the cliff, passing through his companions.

  “What are you doing?” shouted Valverno’s four companions.

  Before they could react to stop the hybrid demigod, Valverno leaped off the cliff and his stretched out his wings. Knowing he can’t fly, he was taking his chances to glide to the other side. However, there was no feeling of wind blowing to make him glide directly toward the other side.

  Valverno had his wings spread out wide, he was barely managing to glide to the other side; he was facing downwards tow
ard the Pool of Shadows. Falling at an incredible speed, Valverno angled his arms around his head so he could drift in the air, which was relatively working.

  Then he started to flap his wings and making him inch closer toward the other wall and away from the other side. As he inched closer to the rocky wall, Valverno’s eyes could gaze upon the Pool of Shadows he was getting closer to than the wall he was trying to glide to.

  There is no way I’m going down without an effort, he thought.

  Then he quickly whipped his tail behind him and bent his legs and he suddenly floated forward at a speedy pace. With one whip of his tail, Valverno reached the other wall and slammed his arms and wings into the rock. He slid down some feet before coming to a full stop. Gladly, he stopped first before looking downward; he was ten feet away from the Pool of Shadows.

  Up close, the Pool looked like a long river flowing in the deepest parts of the undercity. The liquid was a water source but colored black. Waves of the liquid swirled and twisted with each moving particle within the Pool of Shadows. Echoes and whispers of taunted voices taunted Valverno by his name.

  Valverno could hear many voices in his mind, calling to him to bathe in the Pool of Shadows and see what glories await him beneath the black waves.

  Valverno shock his head and looked upwards. I’m not going to take a bath just yet, thought Valverno. A celestial, half-god has something more important to do than to play in water. Valverno released his hands and used his hind legs to jump to a higher altitude.

  In a single bound, Valverno had jumped about fifty feet before falling again of some twenty feet. The three claws of his wings slammed into the rock and held his body by their pointy ends. He impressed himself he could jump that high.

  Then he jumped again and this time jumped up a hundred feet before stopping in the air again. He used his hands to grab to an edge and pull himself closer to the wall. With his hands and wings holding his body to the wall, Valverno moved his arms and wings and started to climb. He moved and slivered at a speedy paste he was putting his arms and legs through, with his wings shagging with his shoulders.

  Valverno crawled along the wall like a spider. Even he couldn’t fly from the edgy cliffs, he did have the ability to climb to great heights. His hind legs were easy enough to bend for Valverno to push off and making him walk and climb at the same time. Valverno was glad he was a specimen of two different species of one being a mortal and the other being an immortal, but he couldn’t figure out the science of how a god could interact with a mortal woman.

  As he neared the higher cliffs and the roars of the Titan growing louder, Valverno had splint seconds to think of how to get past the beast, yet along how Flarefur, Marina, Geraldus, and Sora were doing. A giant beast like the Leviathan would be able to squash the people if they were just ants. But Valverno believed he could survive a beating of the Titan’s hand, since a past incident involved with many boulders crashed over him.

  He could see the many lights flashing from a fog that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. In a one single bound, Valverno leaped toward the nearing edges of the wall he was climbing and where the item he was seeking would be at. His hands latched out and grabbed onto the edges. Valverno lifted himself over the cliff’s edges and stared through a thick fog.

  Valverno could easily see through the fog, but for a human, it would be blinding to see anything through this strange, mystical fog that appeared out of nowhere in matter of seconds. His eyes saw the shadowy figures of Geraldus, Marina, and Flarefur standing on the other side of the bridge, but he couldn’t find any sign of Sora being among them. He was worried Sora must have been caught by the Titan and killed.

  From a short distance, Valverno could see the Leviathan moving its long, slivering head at a small object close to its eyes if it was a fly.

  The Leviathan paid no attention to Valverno or anyone from the small group across the bridge; the only thing distracting the eyes is the thing flying across its eyes. The object flying close to the Leviathan’s the Titan had to move from one side to the other to swipe away the little insect.

  Valverno’s eyes zoomed over to see what the little insect was flying around the large Titan, only distracting it like Valverno said just before he jumped off the cliff. Valverno had little thought his own sister, Sora, would have been the little insect bugging the Leviathan at a very close range to its eyes, something a little fly would dare to do to a human’s eye.

  Away from Sora distracting the Leviathan from looking at Valverno, who was trying to find a way to sneak up away from the large beast, the demigod looked at the small light shimmering shielded behind the Leviathan’s legs. And there was little chance he would get past the eyes; four eyes were rounded its goat-like head.

  Even though the Leviathan was easily distracted, it’s body was in front of the armor sitting at the summit a staircase leading up to the pillared top. Valverno had no good angles to sneak around or get through the Leviathan. Its feet, which was a bear’s paw with aligned with a fox’s paw, moved every two seconds and not staying in the same place twice; the Leviathan was always moving with no little chance of getting past its thin legs.

  Valverno waved his hands in the air and ran toward the Leviathan, which still paid attention Sora flying closely around the Titan’s eyes. The fog behind Valverno followed him behind and bogged the around him when Valverno came to a halting positioning.

  The fog rose ten times bigger than it was. The demigod flapped his wings against the fog and exhaled a beating wind from his mouth, making the fog rise higher than the Titan’s head. Valverno had a strong hopeful feeling this fog would be a blinding weapon to conceal his presence and get past the Titan unnoticed.

  And since Valverno has a man, a Griffin, and a Siren behind him, they wouldn’t be enough to toe-to-toe this giant beast, not to mention a single experienced White Knight was fighting the beast alone.

  After Valverno made the fog denser, he could smell the presence of someone close beside him. With his hybrid eyes, he looked to see Sora standing right next to him. It appeared when Valverno had made the fog; Sora took noticed and decided to give some restful thought beside the important demigod. “Sora, you can fly?” asked Valverno.

  “Yes, I can,” answered Sora, floating beside Valverno.

  “If I can’t fly, how can you fly? It doesn’t make sense.”

  “You’ve taught me of how to harness the power of gravity, remember?”

  “I did no—” Valverno had a triggered memory running deep in his skull of a child version of him being able to fly over the ground without a single flap of his wings. Valverno saw his child-self floating while in a seating position if he was sitting across a loveseat.

  This memory also showed Sora (as a little girl around age five) looking at a teenage Valverno of how the demigod was floating in the air, without the power of flight or wings to give a creature the ability to fly. The small child Valverno was remembering himself has looked more gullible than a four year old girl.

  “Now you remember,” said Sora, seeing Valverno’s eyes rolling away from her. “How is it I can do this and you can’t? You’re older than me.”

  “Well, when comes to my memories, I can’t remember everything immediately,” said Valverno.

  “You were raised by these old primates and adapted to their cultures for so long, you have forgotten what a specimen from the Second Generation was meant to be. Seriously, after we get you your body fragment back, I’ll be drilling old memories back into the small brain of yours.”

  Valverno smirked.

  “What are you smiling about?” asked Sora.

  “You are starting to sound like our mother,” answered Valverno.

  “Well, one of us has to look out for the other. If you can’t act like a leader of this family or a demigod the Crystal Dragon you were chosen to be, I might as well take over your position and become a demigoddess.”

  Valverno shook his head in disproval. “No way. No how. Un-huh. As long as I have the power within
me and keeping me alive and high-and-mighty, you’re not going to become a half goddess.”

  “Says who?” asked Sora.

  Valverno swung his sword out and whipped it close to Sora’s neck. “Says the Elder Brother. Anyone who dares rebel against this family I have created will be expelled from it.”

  “Including your sister?”

  “Two words: tough love,” said Valverno, putting the sword back around his back. “But right now I need you to keep distracting that thing before it—LOOK OUT!”

  In a reaction, Valverno saw the large tail of the Leviathan coming toward him and pushed his sister to the ground. Valverno raised his hands and wings to create a plasma barrier around them.

  The tail banged against Valverno’s barrier, which faded and sent Valverno soaring to a wall far across the platform in one sling of the Leviathan’s tail. The demigod foresaw the attack swinging while talking and protected his sister from the attack, which bounded for only him and not her. The energy flowing throughout the barrier channeling from Valverno’s legs and his wings rebounded through his human body, making him feel numb to dodge from the attack itself.

  “Brother!” shouted Sora.

  Valverno still remained alive. He weakly removed his body form the impacted hole he made into the wall and jumped down to the ground. Shaken by this impounding experience, Valverno’s legs struggled make him stand up and caused him to collapse in very few steps. He felt his entire body shaking if he survived from an earthquake; even his tail was slivering ten times faster than usual.

  The energy he made barrier from his dragon parts paralyzed most of his human muscles and stop the majority flow of his blood flowing in his veins.

  However, among his paralyzed body, his dragon wings and arms remained under his controlled and untouched of his barrier’s energy rebounding on his body.