-Hali's POV-
[congratulation on your advancement to projection core]
As soon as the system announced my advancement to D rank and reaching the projection core, a bright blue trident started shimmering above my head and the voices of the court begun their murmur.
"Of course the princess would be a demigod!"
"The queen and now the princess, if this isn't a testament to talented blood…"
"No way our princess was a mere mortal with her prowess!"
Everyone was stating their void compliments my way. Voices of people that metered nothing to me, yet the queen herself was standing still. Of course she knew, she was the one to give birth to me after all.
No wasted words came from her, a simple command.
"You need to prove your worth to awaken your divine blood."
The decree was made, and a troupe of 100 soldiers came rushing into the hall.
We were to immediately depart and find the wondering time fissure. That was the extended of my quest to finally be able to use my divine blood, but something was strange from the very beginning.
[investigate the wondering time fissure.]
It didn't say [resolve], but [investigate]. As if it was impossible for me to begin with and that was not something I would easily accept.
I am the princess of Delos. Birthed to perfection and raised for it as well.
With my talent and effort, there was no way I couldn't resolve a time fissure, it simply didn't make sense for me.
We made our way to the docks, were a huge ship was awaiting for us to embark in this treacherous journey.
The first few days, nothing of notice really happened, we were following the indication given by my divine father and the sea itself seemed to bend to our necessities.
That's right, after all… I am the daughter of the Tides that shattered the ground.
The first island came into view after a week of sailing. Right in time for us to refill our resources. We reached land easily, but as soon as we came out of the ship and into land, a foolish group of warriors attacked us. With my people fighting for me, I didn't even need to lift a finger, but I decided to fight nonetheless. If not for them, for the thrill of conquering.
With nobody able to stand up to us, we quickly disposed of our enemies and started scourging the island resourses.
Everything was our and everything we'd take. We left after a single day of rest. That's how easy it was for us to conquer this poor island.
If this is the level awaiting for me, I might've stayed at home as well.
That was the moment things started to go downhill. After a couple of days at sea, a ferocious thunderstorm hit us hard, it derailed our route. A few lightnings even claiming the lives of some of my subjects. It almost felt like the Lightning Bringer was personally involving himself to make us fail, but that shouldn't have been possible, there were clear rules between divine families, rules created to prevent calamities as they happened in the past.
Next thing we knew, we were stranded on an unknown island, but something felt eerily wrong. The island itself was too silent, the wild life, although present, wasn't making a sound, I sent some men to hunt for food since our reserves were almost nonexistent.
They never came back.
After a full day of waiting, we realised they might have incurred in some problems and decided to go look for them ourselves.
We entered the dense forest and after only a few minutes of walking we found a view that'd give us nightmares for the months to come.
The five men I had sent to hunt some simple game, were tied to a tree, their gut laying on the ground forming foreign words, their eye sockets filled with earth and their limbs folded in unnatural ways, broken and bended to someone's pleasure.
Five innocent men, only trying to get their hands on some food, suffered such a fate for what? Who could be so cruel to kill for pleasure? This was beyond human, this was the work of a monster.
"Princess… what are we going to do?"
One of my worrier asked, clearly hinting that he wanted to leave and run away as fast as possible. Sure, whoever did this was bound to be strong, and even in they could easily subdue a group of five men, what could they do to a group of more then 70?
"We avange them. With the same level of disrespect they did to our comrades!!!"
The strength in my voice a clear sign of defiance, it inspired trust and hope in my men and we slowly made our way to bring forth our quest for vengeance.
However… what really awaited us… was pure carnage.
The island belonged to a tribe of elves that started toying with us, always hiding in the canopy of the forest, killing us one at the time when we least expected us.
Every time, a message spelled with guts.
What we dismissed as the strange shape of the original 5 men, was now translated in our language.
"Welcome, sacrifices for the World Tree."
That's when everything clicked together. We were against elves. Masters of mana. Mages of nature above all we could understand. And disgusting fiends that since the dawn of time had viewed humans as nothing more than sacrifices for their dying sacred tree.
The moment we understood what for was before us, we all decided it was time to flee. The terrain was unfavourable to us, and these monsters clearly held a big advantage since no one but me had experience fighting mages. They were a rare breed after all.
That feat was however harder then expected. Days passed and we weren't able to find a way out of the luscious greenery.
Gore and blood awaited at our every turn. At some point, the psychotic murderers started to openly follow us, sneer at us and kill us.
I too was on the verge of death. The elves had captured me. Alone tied, at their mercy.
They brought me near my ship. A twisted grin plastered on they faces. Their beauty morphed into pure horror. Their magic, a scream of desperation.
Then, out of the blue, above a nearby island, the mark of the messenger of the gods shone brilliantly like a second sun and soon after, a distorted voice speaking and unknown language, but clearly conveying their entire message directly to our thoughts sounded like the will of the world itself.
[Wouldn't sacrificing life to its own symbol (the World Tree) poison or corrupt it?]
An innocent question, the voice held no malice, only curiosity. Like a child asking their mother if the food was ready.
A genuine revelation.
Yet that same voice, had just revealed a truth the elven race was not ready to hear.
The elves fell to the ground, clutching their heads in despair. Tears folding their vision, but that moment of distraction was enough for me. I freed myself with the little sure left in my body and run for my life. I run even thought my legs were screaming in pain. This was a matter of survival. Soon enough I reached my ship and prayed for my father to bring me away.
My only mean of survival started to move, the elves on land, not even bothering to try and catch me, were still on their knees crying for the sudden truth.
I didn't know who that voice belonged yet, but I swore I'd find them and when I got strong enough, I'd come back here and kill every fucking elf on the island.
A wave of tiredness washed over me. After all the time spent running and trying to find a way to survive, I was finally safe.
Alone, but safe.
I won't forget you. For sure, I'll be back and bring solace to your lives.
With a silent vow and tears welling in my heart, I finally lost consciousness.
______________________
A week had passed from the nightmare island. Alone in the middle of the sea, I was determined.
It didn't matter what challenge lied in front of me. I would face it head on.
My trusted sword, made entirely with Olympian bronze, hung at my waist. In front of me, what you could only describe as a ghost ship, was awaiting my actions.
"Is this the wandering time fissure I'm to investigate?"
[yes, make haste.]
At my father's command, I jumped in action without a second thought, but what awaited me was the pure definition of doom.
Men in strange attire, speaking a language I didn't understand and holding strange weapons surrounded me.
I fought the best I could, but there were simply too much people to fight and even if a managed to kill a few of them, their strange weapons were just too powerful.
Soon chains that blocked my aura were bounded to my wrists and my personal hell begun.
I was locked in a dark room.
I was beaten up.
I was abused.
Their liquids flowing in me, a memento of the unending torture I was to be subjected.
I was healed, only to be beaten again.
The cycle continued.
I refused to eat, only to be forcefully fed.
I couldn't even escape through death.
When I bit my tongue to put an end to this all, and I was on the verge of death, I was brought back by a healer.
Beaten, abused again.
But now a shift occurred.
My father, who had been silent all this time. Who I thought had already forgotten me.
Sent me a message, simple, but with the weight of a thousand anvils.
[He's coming, you are safe.]
[Resist.]
Who was coming? How long would he take? What could a single person do against these weapons? Although my father said I was safe, I couldn't believe him. Not after all I had been through.
I closed my eyes, ready to forgo all hope.
It was useless anyway. I had been to reckless.
This entire mission, mistake after mistake. If I had even a slightly better judgment, I wouldn't be in this situation.
Time started to flow slowly. The door for my next executioner opened, but who entered was something else. Someone new.
Clothes I was familiar with.
A men with black hair and hazel eyes locked onto my position.
When he saw me, I could feel it. Unrestrained fury. This man, a stranger, was furious for the condition I was in.
He approached me bringing the two men he had killed, he offered them to me and asked for forgiveness for he had stolen my revenge.
He snapped his fingers and countless beautiful flowers bloomed all around me.
I was startled by the nature magic. It was a triggering thing for me, but his flowers felt different. His nature was different. It wasn't violent and domineering like the elves', it was gentle, full of sorrow, it was asking for forgiveness, as if he had committed the most terrible sin in the world. It was lonely, he felt lonely, like it didn't matter how many people surrounded him, he felt abandoned.
And even thought this lonely traveler had no reason for helping me whatsoever, here he was.
[trust him.]
But I didn't need my father to tell me.
The primordial rage I felt when he looked at me for the first time was enough proof for me.
_______________________
"Fucking finally! How much of my time do you wanna waste you half sardine!"
As I woke up, a pair of emerald eye were greeting me and despite his best effort to mask it with his foul mouth, something I had regrettably got used to and used as well, worry was etched in those gems.
Dimitris, my saviour, my brother.
"Yes bastard, I'm back."
"Right on clue, we found the elven camp! It seems they are from a dimension that still sacrifices humans, we can't exactly let those foolish stay here, people are still too weak."
Odysseus chimed in from my left, he felt different, his already disgustingly scary mana - or whatever energy they both used - control, was even scarier.
Dimitris pushed him aside and locked eyes with me.
"It's your call. You know I'm against senseless slaughter when I know there's a better way… but…"
I stopped him, he didn't need to finish his sentence, I knew how much he hated what we just did and only acted for me.
"Brother. I will take advantage of this situation. These creatures are far too dangerous for your family."
"They are not my family."
He sure is hard to please.
"You still value at least Aaron."
He stayed silent for a few moments, but eventually nodded.
"Very well, let's bring him along then, he can learn a thing or two from us. After all, we are all family."
[Conditions met: effort and recognition from the patriarch.]
[imprinting stigma: Crest of Damocles.]
A sharp pain stabbed my waist, like scorching iron pushing on my skin. I lifted my shirt, and there it was. The proof Dimitris was my brother. A sword ebbed into a black circle. The crest I so envied of Eurylochus.
"It seems I'm officially your sister."
"Hahahahahah! You sure are, but you still are a sardine, don't flatter yourself too much."
"WHAT THE FUCK? WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET THAT CREST?! DIMITRIS!"
While the monster was shouting, the shadow monster just shrugged. So I just asked.
"Odysseus, do you want to be his brother or his lover? I don't get it at this point…"
"What the…"
His face became completely red and just turned away with Dimitris laughing as if there was no tomorrow.