Ibaeran looked at the person that stood before with a look of awe and wonder, taking aback by the familiar face that looked so unrecognizable. And looking back at her was the face of a girl she knew all too well, the of slave that had been bound by shackles and chains of fear her entire life, living a pathetic life servitude and constantly bowing her in obedience to her cruel and heartless masters, the face of someone who after struggling and fight with all she had, gaining strength and power beyond anything she could ever imagine or comprehend, still had to bend a knee to a cruel and heartless monster didn’t even care for his own kin, the face of coward trying to be a hero. But at the very same time that wasn’t what she saw.
The person before that her stood, where silver armor that glimmer and shun with beautiful and radiant, along with a pair of steel wings on her back identical to her, standing tall without showing an ounce of fear or doubt in her eyes. She might have worn the same face as Ibaeran but she was not Ibaeran, no, the person that stood next to her was everything she was meant to be but isn’t, warrior willing, ready, and able to do what was needed to be done with hesitation, doubt, or fear, a person that understood what she was and what she had to do, a person that was not a slave.
As Ibaeran looked at the superior version of herself, she couldn’t help but feeling an overwhelming wave of shame wash over her, seeing everything she should be was.
“This is everything you can be but choose not to”, the entity spoke.
Then Ibaeran’s copy then began to move, taking what seemed a single step forward before zooming in at impossible to comprehend speeds and appearing right in front of Ibaeran.
“Strong”, said the entity.
The copy then struck Ibaeran in the stomach with so much force that caused the entire island to quake and shake, and Ibaeran just had even time to look in to the familiar eyes of her copy and the fierce look in her eyes, void of fear and doubt, and filled with only power and determination, before she was sent flying away by the impact of that one blow.
“Resilient” said the entity.
Ibaeran flew straight out of the island and on to the ocean that surrounded in but before her body to make contact with the waters the copy appeared before and struck her once more, this time sending flying high up in to the sky.
“And powerful”, said the entity.
Ibaeran felt her body racing high up in the sky, feeling as though she was about to reach sky’s edge before her copy appeared once more, clamped both her hands together before slamming back down and crashing hard in to the island. There Ibaeran laid on her back in immense pain, feeling as though every single bone in her body had been completely broken apart and reduced dust, she couldn’t even bring herself to move her smallest finger as the slightest movement from any part only served to worsen the pain. With flashes of the blows and strike had just received from someone where her own face, recalling the fearsome power behind each and every blow she received along with the look in her eyes, the look void of fear and doubt of any kind, an unhesitant look brimming with power and determination, a look she wished she could wear on her face instead of one of shame.
Ibaeran, looking at the sky above with her back leaned against the ground, found a shadow looming above her, the shadow of the one who put her down to the ground and all while wearing her face. Ibaeran, at that moment, while she was enduring the aching pain of beaten and battered body, looked at the eyes of her copy, with a single thought on her mind, how could a mere clone of herself be this powerful. Looking deep within the copy’s eyes seeing, feeling the raw power being emitted by her gaze a lone, and then wondering why, after everything she had been through, did she find herself there at the ground with the shadow of her own copy looming over her. It didn’t feel right, no, it wasn’t right.
Ibaeran began to feel the blood underneath her skin begin to ignite, her gaze slowly shifting and morphing in to look of fury and, pure and utter rage. She had not fought all those battles and made it so far just to fall to the hands of a person who wore her face but did not have to fight, struggle, and lose so much just to make it that far. Ibaeran felt a heat began to envelope her body, her pain vanishing and replaced with raw strength and power. Ibaeran then looked at the copy above her with an intense look of her own, the look of rage warrior that understood just what it meant to have to fight, bleed, and sweat for very speck of power they possess, the look a person who refuses to brought down, the look of person who has lost too much and fought to hard to fall.
Ibaeran’s body then erupted with power before blasting of in to the sky with the steel wings of the Su Baera appearing and propelling her with immense speed even further to the ground, reaching the copy from high up in the sky in the blink of an eye and delivering a blow so mighty that it shake the sky itself, made the sea beneath to rage, and the island below to quake, The copy’s body, taking the full brunt of that single powerful attack, was completely destroyed, turning in to golden pollen and blowing away in the wind.
Ibaeran upon seeing what she had just did with only a single blow looked down at her fist still clenched tightly, feeling the raw and immense power flowing through her, recalling just how powerful that copy of her was and how very strike felt as though she was being rammed over and over again by a thousand fists, and yet, she was able to put her down with nothing more than a single fist.
“Do you understand now Ibaeran” she had the voice of the entity speaking to her in her head.
“Do you understand just what you are capable of doing as the Su Baera when you let go of all your doubts and fears”, the entity’s voice rang once more in her ears.
Ibaeran, still looking at her clenched, began to recall all the amazing and seeming impossible things she had been able to accomplish, feats which were beyond her scope of comprehension before she accomplished them. From spitting the earth in two to fight a living wave and a devil of the deep, Ibaeran could not deny the fact that she had come a long way from the frail little slave girl who could only watch from afar while her entire world along with her people fall in to ruin and now she had the power to save the world along with her people and all she had to do was let go of the fear and doubt she had in herself, that was all she had to. Not fight a great beast or monster, a simple task that almost anyone could accomplish even without the power of the Su Baera but yet….
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Ibaeran let out deep sigh before her fist began to unravel. She then slowly descended down from the sky, landing on the island next to the entity with the wings vanishing out of sight once she did.
“Please”, Ibaeran spoke with a soft voice and her head bowed down.
“Give me the Dumo Stone”, Ibaeran spoke with a voice so faint it almost felt like a whisper in the wind.
The entity then let out a deep sigh before saying, “You still don’t understand or maybe you do but you’re just too scared to accept it”.
Ibaeran, upon hearing what the entity said felt a wave of shame and guilt consume her heart, she then spoke with a trembling voice and droplets of tears falling down from her eyes, “Please, give me the Dum Stone”.
The entity then let out a deep sigh before place a hand on the stone on her chest.
“What you call the Dumo Stone and perceive to be a bargaining tool to save yourself and your people is the very heart of life itself, everything about life spawns from it, it is the very essence of life itself and you expect me to just hand it over just because you to scared to do what needs to be done to save your people”, the entity with agitation and a bit of rage in her voice.
“I…”Ibaeran couldn’t bring herself to utter a single word in her defense as she was unable to deny truth in her words.
“Tell me Su Baera, do you understand the purpose of life itself?” the entity asked, taking Ibaeran aback as she didn’t expect it to ask her such a question.
“What?” Ibaeran spoke in shock and confusion.
“Life simply wishes to be, live is the true reason every creature that can draws breathe, feels and comprehends the world around it, does. It’s why the fear of death is a universal thing across all works of life, no one truly wants to experience death and as result they are willing to do absolutely anything to stay alive”, said the entity.
Ibaeran then looked up at the entity with a baffled and confused look on her face, wondering why exactly it was telling her that and what it was trying to convey with its words. As Ibaeran internal pondered to herself as to what the entity meant by her words, she felt the ground underneath her began to rumble.
“This truth is universal among all walks of life, from creatures of the skies, land, and seas, to the very embodiment of life itself which why dear Su Baera, I cannot give the core of my very essence”, said the entity with the very moment she completed her sentence massive vines and roots emerged out from ground.
The roots and vines sprung out of the ground underneath Ibaeran’s feet causing her to instinctively take to the sky in a massive leap, manifest the Su Baera in mid air and hovered over the island. Ibaeran then watched as the entity returned to the tree it formed from with the vines that formed its body unraveling and becoming one with the tree once more and the Dumo Stone placed at its center of it.
Ibaeran, spotting the Dumo Stone, saw it as the perfect opportunity to swipe it, and so descended down, flying swarm of twisting twirling vines, moving swiftly and dodging them as they tried to grab hold of her. Ibaeran managed to make it to three but just as she was about to grab hold of the Dumo Stone vines sprouted out of the tree and dragged it in itself, sealing within itself.
“Leave this please Ibaeran, I do not wish to fight you and I know you do not wish to fight as well”, the entity’s voice echoed from the tree.
“I do not have a choice in the matter”, said Ibaeran before she began to striking the tree as hard as she could with her fists charged with the power of the Su Baera, hoping she could pry the Dumo Stone out of the tree, shaking the entire island along with the surrounding seas upon impacting the tree.
“Oh but you do Ibaeran, you’ve always had a choice, you’ve just been too blinded by fear to make it”, the entity spoke through the tree.
The vines that sprouted out from the island’s floor then charged straight for Ibaeran, grabbing hold of her arm tightly as she readied it deliver another blow.
“You’re scared aren’t you Ibaeran”, said the entity spoke once more, softly.
Another vine sprouted out from the ground and restrained her other arm.
“Scared of what may happen to your people if you fail”.
A vine wrapped itself around Ibaeran.
“Scared of the Uha Tamunarans empire”.
Another vine sprouted and restrained Ibaeran.
“Scared of Datubo”.
Another restrained her once again.
“And finally you’re scared of allowing yourself to hope”
A final vine wrapped itself around Ibaeran.
Ibaeran was trapped and constrained within the hold of vines and was unable to summon enough strength to tear through them.
Then vines then pulled her closer to the tree. Then familiar face of Preyina formed from the vines of the tree.
“You don’t have to be afraid anymore Ibaeran. Just look at how far you’ve come, at what you’ve accomplished, can’t you feel it, the immense power flowing through you Ibaeran. You are capable of so much Ibaeran but yet you still let your fears and doubts command and control you, you continue to allow yourself to be enslave when you have the strength and power to break shackles that bind you”, said the entity.
Ibaeran, upon what the entity said, gritted her teeth in frustration, knowing that every single what she said was true. She had the strength and power to do what need to be done, to fight for herself and her people, and yet she could not bring herself to believe that she was capable of fighting for herself much less her people and she feared that if she dared to fight and failed it would spell nothing but doom for both her and her people.
Ibaeran then raised her head to look at the entity’s, knowing the face she gazed at was not her but she couldn’t help but her through it and was then taken back to that moment, lying on her bed die in front of her while she stared, helpless watching the person she loved the most die in front her. She then heard her last words leave her lips before she died, “Promise me you’ll try”.
A small tear then made it’s was way down from Ibaeran’s cheeks as those words continued echoing in her mind.
Ibaeran then looked at the entity with tears streaming down her eyes before saying, “I made a promise to the one I loved the most in the world. The same person whose face your currently wearing”.
The power of the Su Baera began flow out of Ibaeran’s body as spoke.
“I know you’re not her but I have to say this. I’m trying Preyina but it’s not easy. I miss you, I wish you were here, maybe if you were I might have had the strength to truly be the Su Baera instead of being a…” even more tears flowed out of her eyes as spoke with the power within her rising to the point the vines that held her in place along with the ground underneath and the entire ocean began to quake.
“…a slave”, Ibaeran spoke softly with a final tear leaving her eye before release all the pent up power within her in a massive explosion that engulfed the entire island.
And once the explosion had died down Ibaeran found herself hovering in mid air surrounded by a cloud of ash and smoke that was all that remained of the island.
“So you’ve made your choice”, a familiar voice echoed from smoke and ash that surrounded her.
Ibaeran then spotted something in the distant glowing with a faint green hue.
“You’re not Su Baera, you’re nothing more than a pathetic little slave bound and control by fear” the voice echoed once more.
The cloud of ash and smoke then slowly began to swarm and gather faint green hue Ibaeran spotted from the distant before coming together form something that was truly monster and horrifying.