Twilight of a Hybrid

by Ryan Johnson

  “As for the army of monsters, Belverda confirmed to me there are other army units around the island of Shimabellia. My fight with her left me wondering how many units of evil creatures she has and when she may unleash them.

  “Not to mentioned King Uragiru and Belverda are minions to Lusìvar. His only using them as his puppets, to wipe out any rebellious people Lusìvar may think are his biggest threats. I need all five clans united, either I lead all five or if the five clans join an alliance with no leader at all, to march south.”

  “March south?” said Teutates. “To the capital city?”

  “Where the throne and your distant cousin is? Let me think. YES! You want the throne, don’t you, Teutates?”

  Teutates took a small interest of his face; Valverno knew Teutates would want to take interest in the throne; the political power point any man passes down royal power.

  “If you have a desire to sit on the throne, what king are you going to be: one keeping balance as I do of life and death or you going to take the same persona as King Uragiru? I don’t need servants; I need allies for the battles to come. So suppose you and I join a part-time alliance, and then we can—”

  Suddenly a large glow came shooting out of the sky like a shooting star. It shot very fast Valverno was surprise by it when the glowing light came down to him, the three clan leaders, and Teutates. The light dimmed and revealed a large, floating crystal orb.

  “Attention, people of Shimabellia, hear what I have to,” said King Uragiru’s voice. The crystal orb showed King Uragiru’s face as he was talking toward it, if he was actually speaking to a person or a group of people in front of the orb. “The Watcher of the Western Region, Geraldus, made an assassination attempt on my life. He is hereby sentence to death to trying to assassinate me. Anyone who brings me his head wins the hand of my daughter.”

  Valverno growled angrily. “Lair! He is only putting this out so the person who falls for this would do the hard part and Uragiru would lazily sit back and watch. And Geraldus is the man who raised me since Belverda and her dragon partner used me like a lab rat.”

  “As for the hybrid,” the king confuted, “Vaeludar the Minotaurslayer has conspired with Geraldus and tried to assassinate me as well. This heroic hybrid is believed have battled a Dragon with five heads and welcomed us to the clans of the Northern Region. However, beneath that hybrid appearance, he has been hiding a great evil from us and waiting to deliver a final blow that could have won Geraldus the capital of Shimabellia.

  “Both he and Geraldus are hereby guilty of treason and sentenced to death. And to Vaeludar, I say this, you can be spared if surrender yourself to me. Swear me your allegiance and you will be pardoned and Marina goes free.”

  Valverno shock his head. “My allegiance lies with Three Gods and the life they all created, not to a single lifeform. I won’t swear any loyalty who thinks himself above mankind.” Valverno turned to see the clan leaders and Teutates. “This man owes his loyalty to Lusìvar. There is no way I am giving this false king my loyalty.”

  “But if you do anything to resist me or make any reckless,” resumed King Uragiru, “she may end up being executed for your poor choice of reckless behavior.”

  Valverno looked closely at the orb, as it switches from King Uragiru’s image to the face of Marina, his Siren wife. Marina’s wrists to be chained up and the chains to a ceiling: Marina was being held captive.

  “NO!” Valverno grunted at the sight of Marina being held a prisoner. How did Marina get from being a free person in Geraldus’s village to being a prisoner at the capital city? It was about a two-week horse ride from Geraldus village to the capital city, a few hours by Dragon, or less than a few minutes of Valverno’s speed.

  “If you try to defy my generous offer of making you change your mind, Minotaurslayer, you, your true love, Marina, will be deemed enemies of the Crown and sentence to death. You call yourselves an ally to the Shadow King Lusìvar. But if you swear your allegiance to me, it means you are not enemies to the Evil Spirit and a true servant of the gods. You have until the Spring Equinox, which makes the first day of spring, to make your choice. And that is three days from now.”

  Valverno’s eyes burned with great anger. “That can’t be? Marina is being held hostage?” Valverno’s face turned very, very bright red if he came within inches close to the sun’s heating rims. He was just ready to make a powerful earthquake, which was going to but not with all the people around.

  Valverno flew high to the sky and by all means very high into the sky to where the clouds were soaring in the sky. He growled loudly and whipped his tail through heavy clouds, which faded into small clouds. Then he would blow fire and strong winds everywhere.

  After two minutes of letting out his anger in the sky, the clouds suddenly formed into one giant view of heavy, rain clouds and began to rain.

  Seeing how he changed from a clear, sunny day to a cloudy, rainy day, Valverno drifted back down to the building roof and returned to see the other leaders. “The king has Marina? How did he manage that?”

  Then he remembered how Belverda disappeared. She casted a black magic sphere which she and her dragon pet went through. This must mean Belverda’s spell must be some kind of portal. Belverda must have gone to Geraldus’s village or the Southern Swamps, kidnapped Marina, and take the Siren to the capital city. Whatever method it took to get Marina to the capital city wouldn’t matter, as she was being held prisoner there right now.

  His face was swelling with anger at King Uragiru: the same anger he has towards Belverda. “That man is going to die, along with Belverda. The both of them are going to die.” His voice spoken made him crunch the claws of his feet into the roof of the building.

  “You shouldn’t be going there. If you go recklessly into that castle, it would mean death for you, demigod!” said Kelda. “I don’t know how it managed but you have a scar on your eye.”

  Valverno had his ears flinched and paid Kelda no mind as what she said. “Marina is more important to me than my own safety,” he said. “I have made a sacred vow I would protect her from harm on our wedding day. Clan leaders, I have to go and save her.”

  Valverno leaped into the air. As he did, he pressed his fingers on his head and into his hair. He pulled out and had two glowing liquid dripping from his finger-claws. He saw them as memory power and disrupting thoughts. In those, he spoke very quickly of names of Sora and Geraldus that he was going to the capital city to save Marina.

  After speaking after fast and sending shooting one of the glowing liquids to the south and the other to Sora, who Valverno didn’t know where she was, Valverno was ready to take off.

  “Wait, if you go, you may end up dying. Just what is a fish to you?” asked Orinù.

  Valverno turned to see the clan leaders. “Marina is more than just a fish; she is a Siren I’d fell in love with. I’d die for her. People live only once and death goes to everyone, but I’m a demigod. I’m an embodiment of humanity and divinity. If I die, then I may, just may in theory, become a god like the Three Gods: a minor god born from the Three Gods. And I am willing to great lengths to protect the people I love, even if I die trying.

  “Lastly, while I have your attention, do whatever you to start moving your soldiers south. I’m going to the capital city. And tell the rulers of the Dragons, Unicorns, and the other creatures: under the orders of Demigod Valverno: we are going to war! And I am going to have my love.”

  Then Valverno took off and into the direction of where the capital city and his true love being held captive.

  SAVING A CAPTIVE

  Valverno landed in the courtyard of the capital city. His speed made him jump-fly fast to the capital city, out the frustration and anxiety he has for Marina. She still calls him by the name “Vaeludar”, which he still hated and will forever hate. But he is her husband and he made a wedding vow to protect her. He wasn’t going to stand by and wait for Marina to be killed in a dreadful manner; he was going to right in, pull her out, and get out of
the capital city, if it meant fighting his way through King Uragiru’s army.

  As he went landing in center of the courtyard, there were about five hundred soldiers waiting on the top. The demigod was surrounded by the king’s personal bodyguards and their spears were pointing at him.

  He was considering trying to go for the Crystal Sword. However, with his brute strength and his high speed, he could fight all the human soldiers in his way. He knew the soldiers have been trained to fight giant lizard beasts and other humans, but he just knew they weren’t trained to take on a specimen that is an embodiment of both.

  With his speed and strength stamina, there was no chance they could easily take down the hybrid. And there was a chance the soldiers could be carrying the same metal the Piper used to place a scar on his right eye.

  But Valverno wasn’t going to find out; he flapped his wings and jumped from bent knees to the tall castle-like tower where the throne room lingers. He jammed open the door wide open and whipped the two doors with his tail close melted the liquid between the central door line and connecting the two doors into one.

  Valverno turned to see the throne room in perfect shape. The ground floor was still a shining marble and the ceiling was covered in black tapestries painted with white colors: displaying a man’s head in a helmet.

  When he looked in the central point of the throne room, he saw Marina lying on the ground. He sniffed around to pick up any scent by the Piper, the king, or the witch; he couldn’t pick up the scent of anyone else but Marina’s fish scent. He instantly knew there was a trap set up somewhere and someone would spring in nearby and Valverno would get stabbed again, which he didn’t want to experience again.

  “Marina!” Valverno called out to his fishy wife.

  Marina weakly pushed on her arms to give a small look at Valverno. She gave a weak smile at his sight before collapsing.

  “Away with traps if there are any set up!” grunted Valverno. He dashed to her and came to her without anything falling upon him or any knives being thrown at him from the shadows. He wasn’t going to let Marina become a hostage for King Uragiru to use against him. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Valverno lifted from the ground in both his arms. He let her head rest on the dullness of his spikes on his shoulder. Flapping his wings, Valverno would fly out the stained glass window, which have been repaired with King Uragiru’s and Belverda’s images. The window would soon break again as Valverno plowed through the window. What was broken the first time was broken a second time, and Valverno wasn’t going to pay for breaking something that isn’t his.

  But as Valverno went out of the window, there was a suddenly chill going up his spine. His eyes blinked from a sudden flashing light and he stopped his flying of speed. When he reopened his eyes, he found an empty place of darkness. Little sparks of stars sparkled everywhere.

  Suddenly, Valverno felt a powerful force pulling him down. This caused him to let go Marina and lose his ability of his flight. He and Marina stopped after falling for several seconds and landed on something solid but couldn’t tell what it was he landed on.

  Valverno felt a solid floor with his hands but he could see through it, if it was a see-through window. He saw an endless space of darkness with a few glowing lights sparking from a distance. He wondered if he was all of a sudden traveled through a magic portal and came to the night sky above the world.

  But he wouldn’t want to get curious as to where he was right now; he wanted out of the castle, not transported somewhere else. He slowly could stand up, but he felt something like he never has felt before. He felt weaker than he was, so much weaker he could not lift a bread crump.

  His muscles were stiff cold frozen and the swiling lights of his dragon wings and legs began to dim. His human half torso was shivering cold it was like a demonic spirit went into his body and possessed him to become weak, turning his hybrid strength to the strength of a newborn infant.

  He looked at Marina, who seemed to having the same problem: her strength was dwelling form her Siren body. “Marina, are you alright?” he weakly got up and slowly walked to her. His used his wings and lift his body and go to Marina.

  “My love? You did come, but you shouldn’t have.”

  “Why? We gave each other promises on our wedding day we would look after each other, and I, as your lawful-wedding husband and as a demigod, I am not going to leave you at some stranger’s house. And I just might as well humiliate King Uragiru when I summon forth my—”

  Valverno fell silent as his mouth suddenly spoke a few words but no sound came out. He spoke with his mouth again and still not sound came out. Then he felt his wings started to flip from their standing balance and made him completely fall to the ground. He couldn’t tell what cosmic force was draining his hybrid strength and forcing him to become weak.

  “Humiliating, didn’t you say?” asked a man’s voice.

  King Uragiru came walking from the shadows feet away. His face was completely different. His white hair was now dark brown and he no longer had wrinkles that made him an old man; the king shown himself to be forty years younger.

  “I’d say with all your power and strength given to you by the gods, not even you can rival against the parallel word in which my ancestor has created: the man who almost killed by Teutates’s ancestor. The place we are in is a place where the power of time can be controlled by me. I can turn back time on a person’s physique, making his body and his muscle or magic strength weaker or the same strength when they have breathed their first air when entering into the world. You must be humiliated that your power could not beat against me power.”

  Uragiru walked up to the down demigod and the Siren.

  “The raw power, known as Time Control, I wield can only work on the human body. I can turn a human back into a small baby just born from the mother, kind of like the Shadow Men did to you, Valverno, but you and Marina are not humans. My power has no effect on non-humans, but it does work on their mental strength. In this different dimension created by my ancestor, there are number of possibilities I can do.

  “All thanks to my ancestor who bathed in the Pool of Shadows, the place where the element of magic was created and created from the Titans. When the Titans dipped themselves into the Pool of Shadows, magic was created and wanted to become gods. But, as the legends go, they were casted away, leaving behind only Lusìvar to set them free.

  “When Lusìvar does set them free, the witch and I will do away with him. Lusìvar trusts us both and we’re going to use that trust to our advantage. When the Titans are free, the Shadow King dead (or under my control), and the Titans under Belverda’s mind-controlling spells, there will be a new order.”

  Valverno grunted at King Uragiru’s plans of conquering the two islands. There was no way Lusìvar was going to have two backstabbers take control of the Titans; he knew Lusìvar would strike them first before they could touch him with a dagger.

  “If you think you can kill the Shadow King, you’re wrong,” grunted Valverno. “He doesn’t have a physical body, remember? How could you kill a Spirit that doesn’t have a mortal body?”

  King Uragiru snapped his fingers and Marina and Valverno rose sharply into the air. Their bodies floated in the air, with their feet barely touching the invisible ground. Valverno’s wings were folded against a measure of power that far succeeds his own. His arms, legs and tail were pulled down, as were Marina’s arms.

  Valverno saw Marina struggling to break free, but to no sign of winning. They were both appeared if they were chained through a magical force being control by the king standing before them; he is not the old, wise king they came to know as he was an entirely different person now.

  “You underestimated the capabilities of magic, demigod. You have been using your divine power all your life, after you killed the Minotaur with it. When the news reached me that a Minotaur was killed by a single specimen that was human and dragon, I knew it was you and a matter of time you would find the truth about yourself. And here
I have all the divine power I need and I just could steal yours away right away.”

  “Similar how Belverda’s sister witches stole the youths of young girls and tried to stay immortal? Now I know why Teutates hates magic; it can twist a person’s mind and make them forget to be human.”

  He softly placed his hands on her shoulder. “Such a beautiful creature. It is quite a shame you married the wrong specimen. You should have chosen me instead. How could you turn your back on me I was the one who took you in, gave you the food of my table, and gave you a place of live?”

  “I’d already taken her,” shouted Valverno. “I’ve already won her heart, and she couldn’t come to love a human or a god, besides me. So, if you want to win her over, you’ll have to become me.”

  The king ignored Valverno and only glared at the Siren. “Since you are refusing to be with me and be more loyal to a worthless half-specimen, I will show you how worthy I am to you. I will make you forget about Valverno and make you only remember me. Or maybe I should call him Vaeludar, the name he now hates. But I guess it doesn’t matter. So, as you both are trapped here under my command, you will be each other be tormented, in two different methods. One for each starting with Marina as I will try to make her my wife.”

  Marina glared at the man she thought to be a father figure. She saw Uragiru with impious eyes and a hand ready to mind control her. She suddenly spat in his face, and he made a loud growl.

  “Do what you want,” said Uragiru. “You can’t win against me in this realm. This is my realm and my kingdom. I am the god here.”

  “No,” grunted Valverno. He wasn’t going to keep floating in the air and watch Uragiru does want he wants to the Siren. There was some strength left in him and he suddenly start to pull free from whatever was chaining him in the air. His feet landed on the ground and rushed ahead with sharp claws.