Reverse Chronicles

A Part of One of Three

Buried under the burnt corpse of the undead dragon, the green jewel known as the Eye of Xinfonia greatly glows. Syrena falls on her knees as I sat on the ground. Every part of my body aches. God Wield is a powerful skill, but the repercussions are also great. My limbs feel numb as I catch my breath.

It’s over, we defeated it.

Syrena walks to the remnants of the dragon. She digs for the jewel whose glow is visible on the surface. She keeps it inside a pouch. Walking towards me, she begins to smile shifting her gaze from mine to the ground and the barrier which she eventually dispels.

“We only need to deliver the jewel to General Wisterion and our quest is complete,” Syrena reaches out a hand for me. I try to answer but my hands are too tired to move. They feel numb from that temporary surge of power and energy. “You can’t stand? That’s normal, God Wield is a divine tier skill. Looks like I have to fly us out of here.”

“It’s getting dark, shouldn’t we camp here?” I redirect her attention to the dark blue on one side and sunset orange on the other sky.

“We can’t,” Syrena looks at our surroundings. “Remember those monsters under the tunnels? They were afraid of the undead dragon that is why they didn’t climb up the dungeon. But now that we have slain the dragon, there’s no telling how many monsters will swarm and attack us.”

She’s right. We are still in the middle of a dangerous place. We have to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Don’t worry,” she begins to cast Levitate. “I will get us out of here.”

Syrena and I fly over the ruined city. We go even higher than the trees of the Chrallian forest. We pause for a moment as she casts multiple wind spells to fly us out. Several magic circles appear behind us.

“Let’s go!” she says as a powerful jet stream blows us away. “Keep your body straight, don’t fight the wind currents.”

I’m soaring through the sky like Superman!

We fly away from Chralle, passing the Chrallian forest in an instant. What appear next is an endless meadow. Then, we eventually arrive at the eastern river lands. Compared to the rivers of the Kealyn domain, the rivers east of the capital are small and are not as curvy.

“We’re almost there,” she weakens the jet stream. We arrive at a town in an island in the middle of the river. The island connects both sides by a series of suspension bridges. What was strange are the number of tents on the outskirts of town. “Just as I thought, the general is still here.”

She knew the general is still here?

“Where are we?” I ask her as we begin descending.

“This is Mesoarq, a town that marks the distance between the capital and the city of Morpheum,” she explains as we land. “The general should be in the encampment outside of town.”

Wait, I can stand? My limbs, they don’t feel numb anymore.

We landed at the edge of the army’s encampment. There was no hostility as the soldiers who we pass by recognize our faces. Wisterion’s tent is the largest tent in the middle of the camp. It was white with runners of red and gold fabric. There are soldiers that stood in attention outside the tent.

“Halt,” they cross their spears before we could come inside. “Nobody can enter the general’s quarters while he is away.”

“He is not here?” my mind begins to ask a question. “Where is he?”

“He is in a strategy meeting,” one of the guards reply.

“So, he is there?” Syrena points to a tent just beside. It is smaller but it the same designs with the tent in front us.

“Let’s go,” I grab Syrena’s hand leading her to the tent where the meeting is taking place.

There are no guards stationed outside so we intruded. Inside, Wisterion at the head of a table with decorated soldiers on each side. Laid out on the table is a map with one big wooden conic piece and several square pieces of wood. Everyone inside looks at us with surprise.

“General Wisterion,” Syrena pulls my shoulder down to make me bow down as she bows beside me. “We have retrieved the Eye of Xinfonia from the ancient ruins of Chralle.”

“It was one difficult battle, but we were able to pull it off,” I add. “Unfortunately, there have been unforeseen circumstances and only Syrena and I were able to make it back.”

“Great work,” Wisterion replies. “You have proven yourselves. Now our plan to defeat the hydra is complete.”

Syrena relinquishes the Eye of Xinfonia.

“You have done the empire great service,” one of the members of the table says. “You should expect to be rewarded by the emperor himself once we are done with our main goal.”

“We were just doing our duty, Vice General Mikhail.” Syrena replies.

“You have completed your mission,” Wisterion takes back the floor. “It is as what Mikhail said, after all of this is over, you will receive rewards from the emperor. For now, you may return to the capital. I will arrange a carriage to take you there at first light. Dismissed.”

“Thank you, general,” I bow down following Syrena’s lead. We take our leave and exited the tent, where soldiers waited.

“Cheers for the van Kealyn Squires Alan and Syrena!” They begin cheering. They welcome us to the camp and showed us our tents.

This is not so bad. It reminds me of the time we went camping.

As I retire to my tent, my body went on its own surrendering to slumber. The fight with the undead dragon and the God Wield skill have taken their toll on my body. There is nothing more I need than a good night’s sleep.

“It’s time to head out!” I can hear soldiers shouting outside my tent.

Is the army moving?

I get out of my tent to see that it is one of the last ones standing. There are three tents that remained. Mine, and two others, one of which I assume is Syrena’s tent. All the other tents have been taken down as the army is moving to its destination, Morpheus, the city rampaged by the hydra.

Hydra? Isn’t that from Greek mythology? And the details are very similar. If you cut one head, more heads will grow and replace it. The only thing that’s different is that jewel how would they use it?

“Squire Alan!” a soldier calls me from a distance. He was driving a carriage and is making his way towards me. He stops in front of my tent getting down from the carriage. “General Wisterion has ordered me to give you and Squire Syrena a ride back to the capital. Just tell me if it is time to depart.”

Is Syrena awake? Can I check her tent?

“Squire Alan, we have to take down your tent, now.” Two soldiers approach me to which I nod in agreement.

So, the third tent belongs to them?

“Syrena, the carriage is waiting for us,” I speak in front of her tent. “Are you awake?”

“I’ve been awake before you,” Syrena walks from behind me. Her hair and the rest of her body was wet. “I just took a dip in the river.”

“Well, we better get going,” I tell her as I place all of my things inside the carriage. I wait for her inside the carriage staring at the morning sky.

There are storm clouds to the east of here, is it raining in Morpheus?

Syrena finally enters the carriage and we make our way back to the capital. One the way, my mind kept crossing the thought that the hydra is in Greek mythology.

“Syrena, have there always been hydras?” I begin to ask her.

“Do you remember the Tale of the Three Divines?” Syrena replies. “They fought an entity called the Progenitor of doom, who created monsters that feed only on flesh and fiber of living things.”

“Then, the three Divines sealed him and divided the seals into three, correct?”

“Yes, but before it was sealed, it created beasts that continued to rampage even after its power no longer had an influence on the world. There was also a country that worshipped it, but now it is reduced to a frozen wasteland,” Syrena explains. “The hydra is part of those monsters.”

“Beasts that continued to rampage?”

“Yes, the Monstrology Codex has two classifications for those monsters, imperial and royal tiers,” Syrena adds. “Imperial monsters are truly powerful monsters, but there is only one of them that exists. Examples are the Behemoth and the Leviathan. The Behemoth is said to have been defeated by Marina before she established Xinfonia. The other is the royal tier. Monsters of this tier are still strong, but there are a great number of them that exists. An example is the hydra.”

“I see,” my curiosity has been partially satiated. “What about the Eye of Xinfonia? What does it do?”

“The Eye of Xinfonia is a part of Mairnsleif, Marina’s sword from the seal that was given to her. Mairnsleif is one out of three weapons called Divine Weapons that have unfathomable powers. The stories are just legends, but the Divine Weapons truly exist. In fact, General Wisterion has one of those three weapons.”