"Hey Flora, I'm back," She was sitting at the table, with her little creatures in front of her, she was crying, "Flora? What happened?"
"I failed, I realized something, and I realized I failed."
"What did you realize?" He moved near her and kneeled next to her, she rested her head on his shoulder, sobbing, "Tell me."
"All of the recent creatures, that have died, have, have, have three, three growth stages, I thought they only had two, two."
"Shhhh, don't worry, we all make mistakes, you realized it now, at least you did, that is important, you can't change the past, just work for the future."
"I know, but, but, I love all the creatures I raise."
"Where is Bumpy?"
"He is in the larger pen, he got too big for the room, I think he matured entirely, he unrolled himself and is taller than three times me and Grissel stopped by and saw that, so we tested him a little."
"And?"
"He is extremely strong, and his shell broke one of Grissel's root hammers, so I think, he is mature, he still needs to train more," She had stopped crying, Vidian removed a tear from her cheek with his thumb. She lifted her head and looked up at him. He smiled at her. They stayed like that for a while.
"Still want to leave the city?"
"No, not really, actually, I didn't tell you everything, about Grissel's visit."
"What happened when he came?"
"He apologized and then explained why he didn't like you staying with me," She paused, "He wanted me to be his partner, like, his partner, his only partner, I didn't know what to say."
"Well, he had talk to me about it yesterday, drinking and speaking like a guilty child after he had hit you."
"I don't know, it is so much, and all of a sudden."
"Then take your time," He sighed as he remembered Tea, "I made a mistake some time ago, back when I was in my hometown, far from here, I was madly in love with a girl, the first person that actually cared for me, I never told her anything, for a long time, but recently, I met her again, when leaving another Natura community, she had been engaged to a man, Roger Gill, I hadn't seen her in a few years, since I had moved a little from my hometown to work, so I had lost track of time and of my heart," He rolled his eyes, "I am no lover, but I can see it, I have tried, and succeeded in my travels, with several women, but I can't stay with them, I have a quest, you, you on the other hand, you have all the time in the world, as long as it lasts, to find love, and maybe Grissel is the one you love, maybe he isn't but it is worth trying," He paused, "You will never know if it is true or not, if your reaction is love, or just surprise, I assumed, and never, never checked, she probably got tired of waiting for me, you might as well."
"I don't know, I don't know, maybe, maybe that is why he hasn't having any 'partners' with him at night."
"Well, maybe because he wants you to see him being just for you, if he is that romantic."
"I'll tell him tomorrow," Vidian didn't respond and continued rubbing Shelly's small head. She sat on her thought for a while, before smiling and getting up. Shelly moved to the edge of the table that was closest to Flora, waddling over to where the two others were sitting. She placed a plate on the table for them and gave Vidian a plate. She sat down, smiling, and they ate silently, only the noise of the three creatures as noisily ate, playfully fighting over pieces of food and their spots around the plate. He stood up, walking to the window, then sighed.
"What is wrong Vidian?"
"I don't know, I don't know, I just, feel, lost, I know I have a quest to complete, but, but it is so much, I don't even know how I am able to still walk today, it has been a month and a half since I left my home, without an actual rest, I don't know if I should keep going," He leaned on the window sill and looked over the city, "You have a purpose, so do I, yet I feel like I don't, I know Lord Eternum expects a lot from me, but I fear I will betray him."
"You won't, there is no way," She try to comfort him, holding the golden and silver egg in her hands, "I wonder what this one will be, the one you saved."
"Lady Fuanila knows, only she knows."
"I know, you seem to put a lot of hope into what the gods have destined you to."
"I used to be less faithful, I used to not worship at all, my life, well, wasn't a role model life, nor that of a hero, I am an ordinary man, with ups and downs, and I think I am at a down, right now."
"Happens to all of us."
"I know, I know, but I don't know if I am losing hope," He began muttering, "In this world, and my own will."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, nothing."
"Lord Eternum!" Draktha stood in the middle of the room, "What have you done? You are more insane than people think I am! Have you lot heard what he has done?"
"Speak Draktha, tell them," Eternum stood in front of him, "Or should I tell them? Since all of you must be aware, Naturania already knows as well, I gave a quest to a human, a mortal."
"What quest? Lord Eternum?" Zenith said sitting up for once, "Tell us."
"We all remember the Death of the World, we all remember the creature of pure chaos I assume?" He paused, "I gave the task of being its killer, its last opponent, to a human," The other supreme gods were speechless, "If I fail, if he fails, at least we would've tried."
"Correction, you would've tried," Zenith grunted, "I have no say in this."
"He drains energy from you during the day, and Diana by night! You are as important as air for him, without the day night cycle he loses power, and to all of you, trust me, like you did when I created your sub gods, as much as you did then, as much as you did then."
"I trust you, as much as I did then," Eternum turned his head and saw an armored figure, with a large white spear and silver plate armor with golden engravings, his winged helmet was under his left arm.
"Volarus, I am glad to hear that you still trust me."
"If you allow me to hand out some pain to the beast."
"Well, if you insist, but, as we agreed, nothing else on the Eternal Domain."
"Always count on my trust, like my armor, nothing can break it or make it rust away," He turned and left the room, as if he never was there.
"Then I trust you as well," Naturania added, the rest of the gods nodded, "You are the supreme one, may your choice be the right one."
"That is what I hope, he is nearly done with the blessing of nature."
"He has moved quite fast."
"There are still your gods to come, Draktha, you know what they do," He smiled wickedly.
"Of course I do, Lord Eternum, of course I do, they have already started testing him, I allowed them to."
"Then tell them to stop, demons are not tests, they are your servants, and they shouldn't try to kill him, not yet at least."
"I guess you are correct," He sighed, "I will tell my gods then."
"And don't make me correct you again."
"Lord Eternum, why did you give it to the human?" Zenith asked.
"He is a willful and hopeful being, he does things for others, not selfishly."
"He is, I have seen it myself," Naturania spoke up, "He just needs to make it, he just needs to make it."
"Then how about we watch him?" Celenstia asked, "If he is that important?"
"I like your idea, sister," Draktha hissed, "Let's watch him."
He stood in front of Fuanila. She sat looking at him, gently stroking a small, extremely furry creature.
"Hello Vidian."
"Lady Fuanila," He knelt down, "I am here to ask you to give me a work to show myself worthy of the blessing of Lord Tardunus and Lady Temprania."
"I know, why else would a human want to meet a Natura god, well, goddess, my test is a little special, but I'll allow you to do this," She let the small creature scurry off into the forest, she got up and signaled for him to follow her. He got up and did, letting his wings stay folded behind him and his horns laying on his head.
He looked down at a pond in the forest as they stopped in the forest. He looked down at himself, seeing his new appearance. His left cheek was dug out by the blessing of the night, showing some of his teeth that had sharpened. His eye was green on his left side and golden was his right eye. Each horn from the blessings followed the tone of the blessings, black like night and bright like day. His wings stuck behind him, two black, webbed wings of black scales, and two white wings, white feathers with a few blue ones mixed into the wings. He looked at the pound for a while, looking at himself.
"If I had created you, if you were a creature, you would be my pride," She said, seemingly to comfort him about himself, "Unfortunately, I didn't create you."
"Naturania created me, like all other beings."
"She did indeed, I have summoned four of my strongest creatures."
"What for?"
"Each of them are defects, failed creations that can easily be taken by demons, but, I cannot kill my own children,"
"I have to kill them?"
"What else can you do? They are hopeless."
"Are you sure?"
"I created them." As she finished her sentence, four creatures emerged in the forest.
"They will know why I called them, and they already hate you."
"You are a cruel goddess," Vidian responded as his armor and helmet formed.
"Nature is cruel."
The first beast Vidian saw was a bipedal creature, a large haired beast that was missing an eye, leaving only the right one, it had broken claws and its body seemed uneven, yet extremely powerful. The second, was a beast that seemed like a mistake, it had several different animal parts and seemed to be more aggressive than anything else. The third was an unbalanced creature with a large, armored arm and a small puny arm. It snarled at him as it showed itself and its scaled body. The last was a creature that stood on all fours, with thorns all over its body and four tails that ended in blade like bones. It had two huge, broken fangs leaving its mouth, one going up and the other going down. Fuanila snapped her fingers and the beasts readied themselves.
They surrounded him, it would be impossible for him to defend every blow, especially from all of the creatures at the same time. The big armed creature roared and charged him, placing its arm as a shield as the broken clawed creature leapt at him. The claws barely missed him as he bat down the creature but it felt like a brick wall had just been hurled at him as the big armed beast hit him. He left his feet and was tackled out of the air by the big toothed creature and then the mistake creature grabbed him and hurled him like a ragdoll into a tree, breaking it. He wasn't in pain, just extremely surprised at the power of the four, seemingly, mistake creatures. He got up and tried to keep all four of them in front of him. He kept his eyes on the beast as then slowly separated to try to surround him again. He blocked the charge from the big armed creature, with his feet digging into the floor as he forced against it. He rolled out of the deadlock to dodge the big tooth creature leaping at him. He turned and saw the mistake creature leaping at him. His body lit up with green markings. Time seemed to slow down as he exhaled before his fist slammed into the creature. The hit sent ripples through the creature's body before it burst, scattering into a million pieces, dead. He was flung once more as the broken claws, slashing his armor and then its fist slammed into him. His body stopped meters after the impact. He slowly got up as his body was already sore. The creatures moved towards him again. He decided that if he was going to make it, he need to attack, not just wait for openings. He lifted his arms in front of him as the beasts approached him. Each of their steps, each of their movements, information sped around his mind, looking for a flaw or an instability that he could use. He found one in the broken claw creature, its body was unbalanced. He spun away from a charge and slid under a leap from the fanged beast and slammed his fist into the creature as it begun reacting. His fist found its mark in the middle of the beast's neck, before the beast shoved him away, reeling. He pushed off of the ground as a blade formed on his right arm and drove it into the creature's jaw, before slicing through the beast's neck, letting the body and head fall separately to the floor. He turned to the two other creatures, sweat ran down his forehead, the blessing he was using was draining his energy and the shade wasn't helping. He moved to keep the two remaining creatures in front of him as he realized that the easiest target was the creature that wasn't heavily armored, the big toothed one. He created a spear in his hand and held it in both hands. The armored creature's shell arm expanded as it charged. He used the spear to get over the charge and then slammed it down, going right into the beast's mouth and impaling it. He pulled the spear and absorbed it back into his body. The big armed beast roared as it realized it was alone. It stared at him and then hit its fist on the floor and reared up and hit its chest. Vidian smiled and did the same, only making the creature growl with rage. The creature charged again, only to be met with the same force hitting it as Vidian slammed into it, stopping it dead in its track. He spun, getting under the creature's arm and swept one leg from under it, making it fall, exposing its unarmored head. His arm glowed with green markings and he drove it right through. An explosion of blood and brains painted the ground and trees around them red, finishing off the last creature. He pulled his arm from the earth and sighed, breathing heavily and sweating as his wings and horns returned to their normal state. He got up before one of his legs gave out, falling to his knees. Fuanila stood next to him, smiling, "I didn't warn you about any of it, did I?"
"No," He was panting, she knelt down next to him, "Is this the end of your work?"
"Yes, it is, you did well, thank you, go to Lord Tardunus and Lady Temprania, they will do the rest, but not, like, right now, they are 'occupied'," She said holding herself from giggling, "And you should rest."
"Thank you," He slowly got up, "This shade, its day but I can't feel the sun," She snapped her fingers and branches moved, pulled by small creatures, letting the sun pierce through the forest and the rays beamed onto his wings. He felt his pain slowly fade away as his wings bathed in the sunlight, "Thank you, Lady Fuanila, I will return tomorrow, to claim my blessing, thank you."
"Good luck."
He stood in front of Grissel, "What did you want to do?"
"I wanted to train with you, the gods told me that you possessed a lot of power, and maybe you could train me."
"Sure, but in the sun."
"We have enough light here."
"I said, in the sun, unless you don't want to train with me."
"Fine, fine, sure."
They stood face to face, Vidian had no visible mutations while Grissel had summoned his root hammer and held it in both hands. Vidian looked unimpressed, with his arms crossed behind his back. Grissel ran at him and brought his hammer down. Vidian dodged it effortlessly, with his hands behind his back. He gently pushed Grissel with one finger and sent him to the floor. He stood with his side to Grissel as he got up, nearly taunting him. Grissel withdrew his hammer and created a mace and a large shield. Vidian pushed off of the floor, with the blessing of the conqueror active. He slammed his shoulder into the shield and sent Grissel to the floor once more, shattering the shield, he hopped back and let Grissel get up. Grissel chuckled as he got up, "I see you indeed have power, not that I doubted the gods."
"Whenever you want to stop."
"Nah, keep going," He summoned another hammer and held it in both hands, "But didn't you have another 'ability'?"
"I do have another ability, I don't want to use it that is," He dodged Grissel's swing, "Nor do I want to kill you," He moved his head away from Grissel's punch, "You only have so much energy," As he said that he noticed a second creation forming in Grissel's hands as he swung his hammer. He dodged moving towards Grissel before sliding, then sweeping his legs out from under him. He rolled back onto his feet and waited for Grissel to get up. He launches another attack, that Vidian partially dodged, but got tagged by Grissel's sudden shift towards him, shoulder bashing him. He stumbled back, quickly regaining his balance, "That was unexpected," He smiled as Grissel withdrew his hammer and created two maces in his hands. He moved towards Grissel and leapt at him. Grissel anticipated the blow and put his weapons to protect himself, but nothing hit him. Vidian was hurled to the ground, he looked up and saw a massive horned and shelled creature with hundreds of legs, he laughed as he realized what it was.
"Grissel! Are you okay?" He recognized Flora's voice, "Why were you two fighting?" Vidian got up and walked towards Bumpy, before it screeched at him.
"Flora, it's nothing, I asked him to train with me a little, you overreacted."
"Oh, really? I am sorry, I just asked Hiya and she said that you would be here, I didn't think you were training, I, I, I," He grabbed her shoulders, "Grissel?"
"You don't need to explain yourself like that, it's fine, did you think of what I asked you?"
"Not, not really..."
"Okay," He turned to Vidian, "Thanks for the little training session, it was fun."
"Of course, no problem."