Chapter 118 - World Destroyers (End of Book 2)

  Nathan Evenhart:

  Cyl y beside me and began expining with a tohat mixed enthusiasm and seriousness.

  "They have many names in various nguages. I don’t know their true names; I only know that my people rose from the ashes, surviving a great disaster, and that the progenitors used their power to allow us to tinue living. It is from their power that we gained our beast form."

  Cyl paused for a moment, thinking, then resumed her expnation.

  "The Earth Destroyer was a colossal nd giant who dominated everythiepped on. His strength could level mountains as he ran. He was a grand and feared being. His armor was resilient, and his bite was deadly. My body in that form ied the quadrupedal aspect from him and possibly other traits that may still appear."

  I looked at the small fged phoenix beside me, refleg on what she had said.

  She really did take on a quadrupedal form, both in her rger form and now.

  "The sed progenitor was the Air Destroyer, a giant bird that domihe skies. The beating of its wings eclipsed the suns; when it was seen, the wrew dark, so vast was its size. From this destroyer, we ied the wirait to master the skies."

  "I don’t uand. You’re already a bird, so how did you i the trait of another bird?"

  She seemed to think for a moment.

  "I don’t have access to that information. What I know is that my people had the power to transform into phoenixes, or we were the phoenixes, I don’t know. The progenitave us their power. This allowed us to awaken a much rger and more powerful beast form. I also don’t know why they did this."

  As I listened, I started to uaer. Some things made sehis way.

  "My previous form was merging the Earth Destroyer’s traits with those of the Air Destroyer, which is why I looked like a bigger fged bird, and then my beak transformed into a jaw."

  "Did it hurt?" I asked.

  "It was just like what happeo you with your eyes. Our bodies o adapt to these ges, and the same happeo me. Now that I’ve uood the Aspect of the Body better, I transform into this form a my body ge while I’m like this," she said, happily.

  "And the st World Destroyer?" I asked, curious.

  She leaned closer to me, her voice l.

  "The third progenitor was the most dangerous of them all, the legendary serpent, the Water Destroyer, sidered an Ouroboros."

  "What!?" I shot up, surprised, staring at Cyl with a mix of shod curiosity.

  Could this be the creature sleeping in my soul? That seems impossible, right? From what she said, they died thousands of years ago. But Sisika mentiohat the guardian of the Celestial Eyes was someone who survived...

  "What was this Ouroboros like? Do you know?" I asked, trying to remain calm.

  She thought for a moment before answering.

  "It was a monstrous white serpent. Its sheer weight and size made the o waters rise as it moved. It was the most dangerous of all, as it could also reach the skies with its size and walk on nd, but it preferred to stay in the o, deep below, in the darkness."

  These Celestial Eyes I have... are they the eyes of that creature?

  "These were the three World Destroyers, beings that survived a great chaos and helped my people stay alive by sharing their power with us. My body is entering incubation to adapt to the traits of these three progenitors. The st oo be added was the serpent’s trait, and now everything will merge so that I access my beast form... someday, at some point."

  "But what about that previous form you had? Wasn't that your beast form?"

  "What you saw was my body adapting to the traits of the Earth Destroyer and the Air Destroyer, creating a quadrupedal version of me with jaws and wings. Now, I’ll i the serpent's trait, and the incubation process will be responsible for unifying all of that. My beast form will have parts of the armored quadruped, parts of the mystical bird, and parts of the deadly serpent."

  As I listened, I tried to imagine what that fusion would look like, what kind of result it would create.

  She had a human-like appearance as Sisika, so her race isn’t the fusion of all that. This is actually a beast power of hers. Kiold me she was born in the form of a fox and then became human, but when she grows older, she’ll awaken a beast form. So, maybe the power of these progenitrants Cyl access to a beast form simir to what happens to Kinue? What really is a phoenix?

  Sisika was her human version, so that must be her form outside the beast shape...

  "Does everyone in your species have the same beast appearance?" I asked, still trying to process all this information.

  "Not everyone is the same traits. The more patible you are with iing the three progenitors' traits, the more powerful the form is. Some beings of my raly i one progenitor. I’m powerful because I ied parts from all three," she said, with a touch of pride.

  "So, you're not just this little bird form?"

  "No, this is my egg form. But one day I’ll have a humanoid version, like the one you saw in my adult form. Most likely, she had wings ahem hidden. I’m currently in the birth form, which is our first beast form."

  First beast form? That’s a lot to process.

  "Does all this e from the Aspect of the Body?"

  "Exactly, our body trol es from that Aspect. Our Celestial Eyes are already awakened when we’re born. With that power, I take on a more human-like form to be closer to you..." she said with a hint of shyness.

  "What do you mean, 'closer to me'?"

  "Because we’re married, silly."

  "What!? When did I get married?" I asked, surprised.

  She let out a pyful ugh.

  "You know my species falls in love with the soul, right? It happened whe... it was love at first sight."

  "I'm pretty sure my soul isn't very pretty... I’ve caused a lot of destru..."

  "That’s for me to judge. A person’s soul tells a story, and I saw a glimpse of yours when I fell in love."

  So all that talk about being 'beloved' and falling in love was... in that sense? Is that what being a Phoenix Master means?

  "And when did I agree to marry you? Don’t both parties have to sent?"

  "You saved me from the hellish suffering of those s, and I saved you from death. Isn’t that what husband and wife do? They protect each other forever."

  "I guess that’s true..."

  "Even my other version was in love with you. That means I fell in love with you twice, which is proof of my love."

  I decided to set aside the whole marriage thing for now, but as I looked at Cyl, aruck me.

  " you teach me how to use the Celestial Eyes?" I asked, feeling the heat rise to my face upon realizing that, to her, we were already married.

  If she’s thought we were married from the start... I’m so embarrassed now, realizing how many things suddenly make sense...

  I remembered all the times she hugged me, lig my face, and how she was even jealous of Kinue and Chloe.

  Now everything makes sense...

  "I try to teach you, but I was born already knowing how to use part of them, just like a child knows how to blink and breathe. Your Celestial Eyes are also different from mine because they evolve, and they're alive. So, I'll be limited in how muowledge I pass on to you."

  "That’s fine. I’ve already mastered many powers in another life, and I'm mastering mana at my current level. I o master the rest of my elemental powers and these Celestial Eyes. Expin to me a bit from the start. I want to know everything about the Six Celestial Aspects. I want to uand what they are: Body, Soul, Time, Space, Life, ah."

  She jumped excitedly closer to me.

  "It’ll be my pleasure to help you, my beloved."

  "Just callihan is fine..." I replied, embarrassed.

  I’m married... and my mother is going to kill me if she finds out...

  And so began my jouro master the 6 Celestial Aspects, alongside my beloved phoenix... and whatever that serpent creature sleeping inside me was.

  "Don't fet about me!" Athena chimed in.

  And also alongside the damn Goddess of Strategy.

  "Go fuck yourself, Icarus.”

  Eira Green:

  We gathered in that forest, a pce where the tray former ander had finally been found after years of pursuit. She, who had abandoned us and bee a fugitive.

  "What do you think?" my superior asked, his gaze fixed on the location.

  "It must have beehis is the trace of the st breath of a Valkyrius," I replied as we observed the mana particles dispersing in the air, remnants of the fire from a phoenix’s end. She had chosen to cease existing.

  "Why would she do this before her time?" Lars asked, his voice filled with disbelief.

  Our superior, with his intimidating and wordless demeanor, looked at me, waiting for an expnation.

  "Maybe she really did fall in love..." I muttered, taking a wild guess.

  "Hahaha, that bloodthirsty warrior, falling in love?" Lars ughed, incredulous.

  My superior shot me a furious gre.

  "Lady Eira! Take that back!" he anded, his voice dripping with anger as a crushing pressure filled the air, suffog me.

  "Alright... I take it back!" I quickly responded.

  He tio gre, narrowing his eyes.

  "General Sisika would never fall in love, let aloh human scum."

  Lars and I stayed silent as he assessed the area.

  "You feel the human mana too... And she entrusted her Heritor body to a human. The signs are clear, whether you like it or not. She fled with those eyes arusted them to a human. The mana we're sensing indicates a new bearer, and she performed a soul-bond, sacrifig herself for the future of her beloved. She chose to cease existing before pleting the Heritor cycle, and you have to admit what that suggests," I challenged.

  He pointed his sword at my throat.

  "Sergeant Eira, are you tellihat the legendary Red Valkyrius simply gave up her life for a human?" he asked, pressing the bde against my skin. "Are you telling me she would lower herself to that?"

  Bck lightning started crag across the bde.

  "We should go, sir. We 't stay here any longer," Lars interverying to defuse the situation.

  My superiave me o look before sheathing his sword.

  "For your sake, I'll pretend I didn't hear that bsphemy e from your mouth," he said, turning his bae.

  I pced a hand on my o heal the wound.

  As I looked around, I tried to uand what had really happened. We lost two Generals at the end of the st war. One died, and the other chose to walk away.

  Sisika, did you find what you were looking for?

  "We'll tell the Great King that my fiancée is still missing," my superior said with determination. "I 't let this discovery leak until I uand why she did it."

  "Yes, Prihorsten," Lars and I responded in unison.

  Or maybe she had po run away ever since she found out she was being forced into this e?

  I did my best not to let those thoughts show on my face.

  "I'll get the authorization to search these human nds," he said, venom in his voice.

  "And what will you do when you get that authorization?" I asked, feeling the weight of the situation.

  He shot me a cold look.

  "I’m going after the bastard human who's with Sisika, and I’ll kill him. I'll retrieve her and the Eyes of J?rmungandr, no matter the cost. I swear by Thor and Odin, I’ll kill that human!"

  We left that pce, transf into phoenixes, and flew towards Asgard.

  Author's Note:

  Dear reader, thank you so much for reading this far.

  You’ve just fihe sed book of my story. We’ve been on quite the jourogether, from that vilge to the storm on the beach where we found our little Valkyrius phoenix. I think I say this now without it being a spoiler, but I sider these first two books as just one long chapter. Everything we've seen so far is simply the prologue to what’s i.

  Our young general is in unfamiliar nds, in a strange world, unaware of the surprises awaiting him.

  Wele to my fantastical and adapted hology.

  There will be many mysteries and battles ahead, and I want to ask you a question: I t on you to tihis journey with me?

  Book 3 will be a test of what’s to e. There, we’ll uncover many of the mysteries and answers of this world.

  I’ll leave you to refle everything you’ve discovered.

  I’m taking a short break. We’ll begiory of the third book after this period. Apologies, but life gets a little busy. However, I guarantee you’ll enjoy the first chapters of the third book.

  The ime you meet eneral, he’ll be 15 years old.

  Both he and you will experieime skip, haha. I’ll see you in a few days... and if you think the mysteries are over, you’re wrong—there’s so much more to e.

  P.S.: Chapter releases will resume oember 20th.