Maria withstood the buffeting wind storm of the Void Realm’s skies and safely made it to the castle with Odin. Her feathers were completely ruffled and her hair was in a complete mess, making her look completely disheveled. She quickly began straightening out her hair in a panic after looking at her reflection on the black crystal-like floor.
While Maria was doing that, she unfortunately made a big mess near the castle's entrance as her feathers began falling all over the floor. She cleaned it up really quickly as she controlled those feathers to merge back into her wings. Since she was already proficient in using her [Angel's Rage], this much was nothing.
She began looking around the interior of the castle and saw that although the outside looked extremely majestic and grand, the inside seemed a little bleak. There were monuments of various monsters displayed across the halls and Odin explained that these were all of the foul creatures that tried to upset the balance of the Void Realm. As for why they were now being displayed inside of Liwash Castle, it was because the owner of this castle had defeated all of them and turned them into trophies that would serve as warnings to those that wanted to try and test him, the balance bringer of the Void Realm.
“Why bring me here, master Odin?”
“I want you to meet this person. I’m sure you’ll be happy to meet him.”
“...Okay?”
They walked through the long halls of the castle and climbed a few staircases to get to the top-most floor of the castle. Along the way, Maria saw numerous realistic monuments of creatures displayed through the halls and there were inscriptions on the pedestals in front of them. The inscriptions showed the name of the creature, its species, its crimes, and what year it was vanquished. There were so many and all of them sounded incredibly powerful. However, the monuments stopped appearing after Maria and Odin neared the castle’s highest floor.
Odin explained that it was because the castle expanded every time the number of monuments neared the top-most floor. The highest floor of the castle was where the owner resides but when they arrived there, Maria couldn’t find the castle’s so-called owner anywhere. It was just a large empty room that had a simple bed, table, and a few chairs inside. There was nothing else and Maria could tell that the owner was a rather bleak person if he stomached living in such a bland place.
“This child, she’s thinking about something rude, isn’t she?”
Maria heard a voice appear behind her and she immediately turned around. However, at first glance, she couldn’t see anyone, only a black, scaly-looking thing. It was only after she looked up did she see the rest of the person who had just spoken.
“W-What the─a dragon?”
Maria’s eyes trained on the large creature that had suddenly appeared behind her. If she had to compare her height to this creature, she would only be able to reach a little over its ankle. She didn’t know who this was but she had an inkling of who it might be. She turned to look at Odin who nodded at her. Her eyes shined because now she knew who this large dragon was. She counted the number of wings on its back and there were 12 pairs in total but they were conjoined to form one massive pair of wings.
They were crimson red in color and when she saw the metal halo rotating just above its back that looked similar to Ultima’s mechanical halo, she was even more sure that this dragon was Primal Ultima’s twin brother, Bahamut.
“Primal Bahamut, it is an honor and one of my greatest fortunes to meet you,” Maria said as she slightly bowed her head and curtsied.
“...Hmm.”
Bahamut only grunted in response while Odin immediately stepped forward and asked, “Well, what do you think, Bahamut? Quite promising, yes?”
“...She’s just like me…”
“That’s right. She has the same attributes as you. A being of both light and darkness who found harmony between those elements.”
“I vaguely felt it earlier...I wondered why you didn’t bring her to Chaos instead, but now I see why. She would be wasted on that bastard.”
“Now will you accept her? And I mean truly accept her? Not just because of the bargain you made with me.”
“...Without a guide, she might just fall into the extremity of darkness just like Chaos...fine, I will accept the pact, but she must pass my trial.”
Odin was elated to hear the former part of Bahamut’s words but turned immediately puzzled after hearing the latter.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“What do you mean by this, Bahamut? She doesn’t have much time left on this plane!”
Maria was listening to their conversation and felt quite grateful to Odin that he had gone through such lengths to help her but she felt that it was wrong to just continuously rely on the old Primal.
She stepped forward and immediately spoke up, “Primal Bahamut, I’m willing to take on your trial. If I fail, then it could only mean that I wasn’t worthy enough!”
Bahamut nodded at Maria and said, “I like your attitude, mortal. See Odin, not everything can go your way. You can’t always take care of your disciples.”
“Bah...do what you want.”
Odin waved his hand before moving to the side and sitting on a chair.
Bahamut turned to Maria and said, “My sister, Ultima, is the guardian of the lands while I, Bahamut, am the ruler of the skies. My trial is simple, prove that you’re worthy enough to soar with me, the king of the skies!”
*DING*
Quest initiated: Bahamut’s Trial
Quest: Bahamut’s Trial Rank: A+ Description: You have met with the Primal of many names and battles, Bahamut. To form a pact with the Primal, prove to him that you are ready to spread your wings and soar alongside him. Objective: Fly around Liwash Castle amidst the wind storm of the Void Realm for a week. If you touch down or get blown away, the timer will stop. Remaining Time: 168 hours Remaining Time in the Void Realm: 504 hours Reward: Bahamut’s Summoning Crystal, Bahamut’s Primal Blessing Failure: Ejection from the Void Realm
Maria read through the quest and saw the number of hours left for her to remain in the Void Realm. She didn't know why she suddenly had a time limit to be here in the Void Realm, but she had no time to question it. Since the clock was ticking, she immediately ran towards the room’s balcony before she hesitantly opened her wings. She stood on the balcony and saw the very turbulent winds of the Void Realm. Maria was eager to start but she remembered how hard it was to even just stand her ground while she moved towards the castle being buffeted by the winds.
If she tried flying, there was no doubt in her mind that she’d be tossed around like a ragdoll, and if she fell from such a height...Maria didn’t even want to think about it as a shiver ran down her spine.
“Gotta be brave, gotta be brave...I can do this…”
Just before Maria was just about to jump from the balcony, a large wing suddenly blocked her as Bahamut said, “With your wings, you’d just be falling to your death…”
“Th-Then how am I supposed to─”
“Look at my wings, see how they’re shaped?” Bahamut said as he cut her off.
“Yes.”
“If you want to fly in these winds, you have to adapt.”
“...”
Bahamut said nothing more as he took off into the skies from the large balcony. The humongous Primal turned around and just floated in the air as the chaotic winds buffeted him but made no impact whatsoever. Maria saw the 24 wings on Bahamut’s back subtly adjust themselves while he just stood there in the air. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to adapt to that kind of wing shape but she tried.
She couldn’t conjoin her wings but made them align with each other as she ‘glued’ the joints together by tightly wrapping her chains around them before she jumped off the balcony and took off into the air...and was immediately blown away by the winds.
“AHHHHH!!!”
The winds were too strong that she wasn’t even able to get herself upright as she was tossed and thrown all over the place. There was no pattern or anything as the winds would randomly come from below, above, and behind. They would blow from right to left before suddenly changing from left to right and even from a diagonal direction.
“C-Crap!!!”
Maria closed her eyes as she remembered Bahamut’s advice to adapt so she tried reshaping her wings again but this time, she used her chains to semi-conjoin her wings just like Bahamut’s wings. Unlike Bahamut’s wings that had 12 ‘feathers’ on each pair, Maria only had 4 ‘feathers’. At least the shape was similar now and it did work for a moment as she was able to get herself upright before being blown away again.
However, with the new shape, she just needed to adjust her ‘feathers’ a little bit and the angle of her wings to the direction from where the wind was blowing. It took just a little bit more effort before she was able to glide through the winds. She couldn’t fly or anything as a single shift of her wings would send her tumbling away but at the very least, she wasn’t completely helpless like earlier. She had succeeded after only her second attempt at retrying where she even adjusted herself while she was being knocked around in the sky.
Bahamut had to commend Maria for this. It didn’t matter to him if she was flying or gliding. Just being able to stay stably in the air was enough for him. The timer on the quest began to countdown and Maria let out a sigh of relief though she wasn’t completely satisfied with just this since she wanted to actually fly. Right now, she was being blown in any direction the wind was taking her and this was unacceptable.
After spending a few days getting used to just gliding, Maria began making attempts at actually flying. Unfortunately for her, this was easier said than done. The clock kept on ticking away and by the time the last hour passed on the timer, she still hadn’t been able to master flying in the Void Realm’s skies. It was honestly just too difficult to master and she only had 1 week to try.
“Little one, that’s enough. You’ve passed the trial!” Odin called out to Maria who was still in the skies even after she received the notification that the trial had been completed.
“But...ah, fine…”
Maria saw that the time she had left in the Void Realm was running out so she quickly landed. She still had a few weeks left but Odin wanted her to leave as soon as she acquired Bahamut’s Summoning Pact since cutting it close was simply too dangerous for her. She landed on the balcony and loosened the chains binding her wings. She stretched them out a bit before binding them again.
“Hm?” Odin saw this and had a questioning look on his face.
Maria shrugged and said, “Bahamut’s the ruler of the skies, his wings are like this so shouldn’t I take him as a role model and do the same?”
“Oh, little one...it took Bahamut eons before his wings transformed into what they look like right now, but I won’t discourage you from copying him.”
“Mhm.”
“Anyway, congratulations. You’ve completed Bahamut’s Trial!”
*DING*
Quest: Bahamut’s Trial, has been completed!
“Phew...that means I’m done here, huh?”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to miss you, Odin.”
“Hahaha! I hope you’ll show the other plane the glory of my blade and my techniques, little one!”
“Mhm.”
“Now go, you still have to receive Bahamut’s rewards!”