I walked through the starry night on a path of darkness. I knew it wouldn’t be instant, Alexander had told me it would take a few steps and as expected, on my fifth step I saw the exit. On the sixth step, I found myself in a small hut with the door in front of me. Looking behind me, I saw the image of the archway disappear and the destroyed remains of an orb.
Your Lesser Blessed Orb of Salus has been destroyed.
You will be brought to your original position in fourteen days. Countdown started.
Walking out of the hut, I did a double take as I looked around. Other than the hut, the plateau was empty, void of any living people or monsters. Raising an eyebrow, I sent out a mana pulse and sensed nothing around me.
“Strange.” Muttering to myself, I looked around to see if there were any clues to why nothing is here. Not even the campfire we had all sat in front was here, no other buildings other than the hut here.
Closing my eyes for a moment, I ran through the possibilities. I knew when I had left they had been working on building new huts for everyone and there had been nearly five hundred Hybrids here, they couldn’t have just all disappeared? The thought that they had been wiped out came to mind but why would this hut be left standing, surely whoever would’ve wiped out the Hybrid’s homes wouldn’t just pass off the hut.
So either they moved elsewhere or they’ve had to escape somewhere. Though if they escaped why would they dissemble the huts? Sighing, I shake my head and think of my next actions. Either I can look at going to Crater and seeing if the Hybrids might be there, since another possibility is that they wiped the humans out after gaining strength, or head to Cerberus’s Domain.
Instinctively I felt like heading to Cerberus’s Domain would be the best option, and trusting those instincts I decided to head there first. As much as I wanted to meet with everyone now, I needed to ensure I completed Cerberus’s Domain and find my mother first, otherwise I can’t get strong enough to return here.
As I stepped into the air, I thought over my future plans once again. I had decided to remain in Vale, and would head back here to bring those who wanted to leave back to Vale itself. At some point I would leave Vale, I wanted to know more about this world, I had been limited to Vale or Crater Hell, never really leaving the two nor finding out much about the world.
Alexander had once told me there is a lot to the world and that crossing the Crossroads is considered the start to most as from then on the quest to gain strength is extremely steep. Cities and countries were a very tiny part of the world, in fact he had said once I reached Black Grade I really should be looking at exploring the world more since I may make discoveries no one else has, or meet those that could become my ally.
I had also made the decision to have nothing to do with the Gods except for one, the God of Cooking Gastron. I had figured that a God of Cooking wouldn’t want to consume me for my power…right? I had thought of being His Chosen, but right now I wanted nothing to do with Blessed or Chosen or anything like that, even though I am his Blessed.
Sighing, I knew I still had so many different things I needed to do. I still didn’t know exactly who I was, my personality has certainly changed and I’m more on guard now. I felt shocked at how much I had changed once I had recovered my memories and reflected back on my past. It’s only been over a year, nearly two, but so much has changed in that short span of time, it honestly felt like another life.
With everyone back in Vale working to get stronger, I wanted to get through the Crossroads quickly so that I can relax for a while. I still wanted to open a restaurant, help the twins, help Olivia’s party, do more requests at the Guild, learn more about cooking, spellcasting and fighting techniques and finally figure out the direction I want to walk. I knew I had enemies that would be coming for me eventually, and I knew I’d have to deal with them, but what is my ultimate goal in all of this? Become a Goddess and rule over a domain? I didn’t have any particular drive to do that though. At the moment, I simply want to become stronger to protect those I love and make sure nothing happens to them.
Landing in front of the dungeon doors to Cerberus’s Domain, I looked around at the clearing and smiled slightly. This is where it had all turned for us, that day of the slaughter that was for the human’s entertainment. I still don’t understand why they had done such a thing, nor why they had let us escape. Did they think we would just die in the wilderness and not bother? Whatever, I’ve already killed Gerald, I don’t care for the rest of Crater.
Folding my arms and looking at the dungeon doors, I saw it remained the same, level 16. I knew it would be likely that these trials wouldn’t exactly be level 16, nor did I know if it would be the same as before. Cerberus had said the trial we were given was different to the actual dungeon, yet the humans failed in clearing the actual dungeon and it still stood today. I was aware that mutated dungeons would disappear once conquered, and the fact it stayed here meant no one had either returned or conquered it.
Pursing my lips, I stepped towards it and pushed the doors open, walking into the dungeon itself and after a flash of light, I opened my eyes to find myself once again on a patch of grass, surrounded by a desolate battlefield filled with weapons, a night sky high above. In front of me stood Cerberus, his gigantic body reaching into the sky and craning my neck I could see his three heads. Crouching slightly, I leaped into the air and after two leaps I stood in the air in front of his heads.
“You’ve returned, Child of Melody.”
“It’s Alisha, and yes, I’ve returned because I’m ready.”
“Hmph. You believe yourself ready, yet you don’t know who you are. Just because you have your mother’s talent does not mean you are ready.”
“I don’t care if I’ve inherited her talent or not, I’ve made this strength my own. Come, Cerberus, stop talking and bring about your trials. I want to spend time with my friends.”
“Insolence. You know nothing about the strength you hold, you go around casting your Lunar magic casually, not understanding it completely. You have only recently awoken the Darkness within you with the help of a God. You think you’re ready, pup? Fine, show me you’re ready.”
Cerberus raises a large paw and slams it down. I felt something change within the dungeon and frowned when I saw the System.
Warning! Cerberus’s Domain is mutating!
Cerberus’s Domain is now a Delta-Class Dungeon!
Trial One: Trial of Strength Started.
Overcome the army of the dead.
Unique Dungeon Quest: Cerberus’s Trial.
Cerberus has responded to your demands and given you a chance to participate in his trials. He will not accept failure, this time.
Rewards will be given, if you survive.
“If you can’t overcome this, I will kill you myself.” Cerberus fades as pressure hits me hard, forcing me to the ground.
“I see, he won’t let me into the air. Alright, this will be fun.” Looking around, I saw thousands of skeletons rising out of the ground, grabbing weapons. But this time it wasn’t just humanoid skeletons. Wraiths, skeleton dragons, zombies and many more types. Closing my eyes, I raise a hand but stop as an idea comes to my mind. If I could use Celestial Eclipse magic and Primordial Darkness together, what would the result be?
An idea came to mind very quickly, one that could finish this much faster than one might think. I hear the army approaching me fast this time, and having checked their levels I knew they were all level 100, with some unknown meaning they would be above the Crossroads. Smiling at the idea that came up, I raised one hand and kept one low. Opening my eyes as moonlight energy surges outwards, marking all of the enemies and visualising Artemis and Ophiuchus. Visualising the magic I want to use, I felt all of my mana empty out as two massive magic circles appeared, one high in the sky and one on the ground.
“Darkfall.”
Slamming my hands together, silver beams smashed down while dark tendrils wrapped around everything. In a sea of light, the beams connected and uncovering my eyes, I found myself ecstatic at the results. Over 90% of the enemies had died, with those who remained corrupted by the spell. This spell was outrageous.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
You have created a unique merged spell!
Darkfall. Unique to Alisha.
Uses the power of Lunar magic and Darkness magic to bind enemies with the constellation of Ophiuchus and strike them down with the constellation of Artemis. Those who did not perish will be corrupted by the darkness with Primordial Darkness.
Cost: 100% of your mana.
Primordial Darkness.
Corrupts the darkness of one's heart, soul or body, causing continuous damage from within.
An extremely powerful spell and though it used all of my mana I wasn’t worried. I could already feel mana returning and looking at the one hundred or so injured enemies remaining, I smiled lightly as I removed my hair tie. It’s been a while since I let loose.
Breathing out, I submerge myself into my monster release form, my hair growing longer, the muscles on my arms and legs increasing in size, my hands turning into claws as a red aura erupts out of me. Feeling my bloodthirst overtake me, I roar at the sky and charge at the first enemy, a Delta-Class dragon.
True Monster Release
Gain 2x to your Strength and Agility
Natural Regeneration is disabled while in this form.
You can not use magic in this form.
***
Trial One: Test of Strength completed.
Slamming my foot down and destroying the skull of the dragon I had just killed, I released my monster form while panting. These enemies were not weak, but they weren’t strong either. I was covered in my own blood with my injuries slowly healing and after chugging down a healing potion I walked back to the patch of grass, sat down and pulled out a teapot, tea leaves and a cup. Using a heating gem, I make a pot of tea imbued with mana as Cerberus reappears.
“Exhausting yourself to defeat that weak army? I had expected better.”
“You say I’m exhausted but I feel quite good right now.” Drinking some of the tea, I close my eyes and relax. He wasn’t entirely wrong, I had used a lot of stamina and my entire mana pool, but both were recovering quickly, in fact I had recovered nearly half my mana pool already.
“Then you’re ready for the next trial?”
“Yes.”
I felt a sleepiness fall over me, and placing the teacup down, I closed my eyes and accepted the sleepiness. There, I found myself strapped to a table in a room that was filled with various types of daggers, poisons lined shelves in different types of vials and a door that opened as my eyes laid on it. As expected, Gerald walked in and I wanted to sigh. I already knew what was going to happen and over the next ten minutes I experienced all types of pain, torture and verbal abuse, even being fed my own eyeballs.
I laid there, not making a sound. I didn’t care for this torture, I had experienced more pain then what he could do to me, the poison hurt like hell but I didn’t care for it and the verbal abuse wasn’t even worth the time to process. In this state, even before Gerald had started, I had no strength or magic and I knew what this trial wanted to do, test my mental fortitude. I had failed last time because I had given into the voice that promised strength, my monster side at the time, meaning I failed to have the mental fortitude back then.
The vision disappears and I find myself opening my eyes to see I was back on the grassy patch. Picking up the cup of tea in front of me, I continued to drink as if nothing had happened.
Trial Two: Test of Mental Fortitude complete.
Cerberus stayed quiet this time as I continued to drink my tea, wondering if he would start the next trial, but unexpectedly Cerberus started to shrink down to the size of a slightly tall human. He had three dog heads, fierce paws and arms of a hound, three tails and the feet of a hound. He sat down in front of me and wordlessly I handed him a cup of his own and he took it.
We sat there in silence, only drinking tea. Cerberus looks at me with all three heads as he puts his cup down.
“Your mother had no talent for making tea, it’s good that you’re different in that aspect.” Speaking with a soft growl every few words, Cerberus stood. “I have realised it will be pointless to put you through the other trials, so I have modified the dungeon to give you two paths. The first path will send you into a dream where you relive the moments of glory from your mothers legacy, allowing you to gain inspiration into her magic and fighting ability.
“The second path will reveal one natural affinity for you, you will gain the opportunity to either upgrade one of your magic or merge multiple of them and lastly cleanse your soul completely. These are trials, if you pick the first one you will feel everything your mother felt, feel the deep connections she had with those she was friends with, deal with the same pain she felt losing them or the feeling of powerlessness she felt in those situations.
“The second will test the very limits of your newly found natural affinity, the upgrading or merging of your magic will be extremely painful and same with the soul cleansing. Now, pick.”
“Second one.” Speaking as soon as he finished, I put everything away and stood up. Cerberus stared at me with all of his heads.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I am my own person and I’ll figure myself out.”
“Good answer. If you fail any of them it will be considered as if you failed the trials and I will kill you myself.” Cerberus snaps his fingers and a plain wooden door appears. “Go through it when you’re ready. I will be waiting here for you.”
Walking towards the door, I open it and walk in. I enter a training hall like room, with several large golems sitting there. In my hands a circular blade appeared with a handle in the middle of it. Looking at this weapon I felt a bit confused, what exactly is this? Trying it out a bit, it felt wrong to handle and didn’t seem intended for slashing or stabbings.
The golems started moving and leaping back as they smashed their fist into the ground they slowly moved to surround me. Slashing out with these strange blades, I dealt damage to the golems but it felt all wrong. Backflipping to avoid a blow, I leap off a golem and in desperation I throw one of them at one of the golems. As it left my hand I noticed a light chain wrapped around my wrist that was connected to this circular blade.
An idea comes to mind as the weapon bounces off one of the golems and grabbing the chain and pulling the weapon back I throw it, this time flicking my wrist and adding a spin to it. The circular blade goes upwards, slicing the golem cleanly in half, surprising me.
You have discovered a natural affinity.
Pulling back the chain and catching the weapon, I realised what these weapons were meant to do. Smiling deeply, I threw both and started to get a feel for using these strange blades as more golems appeared. I tried many different types of throwing and controlling them, swinging one around me to cut everything in a circle around me, slicing everything and the more I got used to them the more fun I had.
As the minutes turned to hours, I felt the strain of using an unfamiliar weapon but I kept going. The golems were getting faster and stronger, and keeping my distance to use the weapons I knew these would be wonderful to use for when I needed to fight at range against enemies I couldn’t get close to. Perhaps there would be times where magic would be inefficient, and considering my magic consisted of large scale magics, I knew these would be helpful for group fighting as well.
After what felt like a day, I threw a spinning circular blade at the last golem and sliced it with both blades before it fell as I knelt, panting. Every muscle in my body protested, my arms heavy but I felt excited at the prospect of getting these weapons made for me when I returned to Vale. Hanging the blades loosely in my hands as I stumbled up, I turned to the presence I sensed and saw Cerberus standing there.
“So you have an affinity for Chakrams? Interesting.”
“I guess my mother did too?”
“No. She despised weapons, preferring spellcasting. She was never one to fight with her hands unless needed, in which case she used a two handed sword.”
“Not her monster form?”
“Evolved monsters can not use monster forms so freely unless they have completely mastered it. Unlike you Hybrids, they can easily lose themselves to the instincts of a monster while in the form and may never be able to return from it.”
I never knew that, then again I never needed to know. As I stand the Chakrams disappeared as Cerberus snapped his claw once more. Another wooden door appeared.
“You’re not doing this because I’m my mother’s daughter, are you?” Asking this as I looked at Cerberus he snorted.
“No, I am not doing this as some sort of repayment or favour. What you achieve today will be with your own power, I am simply giving you the opportunity. I do not care if you survive or not, you are not Melody nor will you ever be. I had planned to kill you if you had chosen the first path, regardless of the reason.
“I believe it would have been pointless to throw more trials at you because they are related to combat in some form, and considering your performance in the first trial you would have no problem getting through them. This next stage isn’t easy, it is no longer about combat but your potential with your magic. Upgrading or merging schools of magic isn’t a walk in the park and you will experience pain beyond measure when you attempt either. The soul cleansing afterwards isn’t just some refreshing bath either. Prepare yourself before you enter, pup.”
Taking a deep breath, I step towards the door and open it. I had been intending to visit the lake under the Guild but all things considered I never had the time and now I could finally merge Wind and Lightning magic, both of which I had slowly stopped using. Perhaps I could add in Water magic as well. As I walk through the door, I find myself in a large, deep blue lake with a dense blue fog surrounding me, making it hard to make anything out. Knowing this was all mana, I sat down with the mana reaching up to my chin and closed my eyes, intending to figure out Storm magic.
As I go to imagine combining those three magic and thinking of a heavy storm with wind and lightning, instead I find myself amongst the stars, no ground under my feet.