The Tale of Xenosa

Fresh Air

Cheska's POV

We were exhausted. To put things simply. We were on the verge of collapsing, well I was on the verge of collapsing. I don't know about how Cresia is doing but it would be dangerous for her to fall considering that she is hundreds of feet above the ground, so I think she's going to be fine. I hope she was going to be fine. I don't have the energy to cath her if she falls, so she better be fine.I felt sleepy but I know it wasn't the right time to sleep and let exhaustion takeover my body. To be honest, neither of us were sure if whether the battle really was over but we hoped it was. I knew were thinking about the same thing since we had the same look on our faces. You know the look you give your teacher after you had done your report or thesis defense, hoping that she didn't have any more questions to ask you 'cause you've said everything you've studies so if they were going to ask more questions, you wouldn't have any bullets left. That's how I felt as of the moment, unsure and nervous. But I'm actually trying my best to calm my nerves. I personally didn't experience that but back when Nana taught me, those were the moments I'd hope she wasn't treating me as a student but as an actual family member. That woman had no sense of the word chill, heck I don't even know if she knows of that word's existence. Therefore a few minutes right after the battle and when we ensured (kinda) that it really was truly over Lacresia and I took the initiative to clean up the place, I think it was about time this place got a major makeover. The place still smelled of trash bins, sewers and garbage but the good news was it wasn't multiplying anymore. What I mean us that nothing was adding up to it now. Unlike before with the dark nymphs here it was impossible to get this place cleaned, those things despised anything that was clean or shiny. I don't even know if they were even able to touch one bath soap or shampoo for thousands of years to clean themselves. They smelled that bad. Weren't they aware of hygiene? Well being mindless zombies what could we expect from them, right? The leader could've told them to take a bath every now and then. I guess it was a part of their deal or something that apart from having to give up their souls and everything good in them they also had to give up being able to take baths, do hygiene or to have the sense to clean themselves. Good thing the toxic swamp wasn't here anymore, fishes can finally get here and habitate the place. The river was now filled with fresh ocean water, it would take a while for that to turn to fresh water but it was good enough for now. The plants here were still dead, the tree were barren and the grass were non existent, so we still had to replace those with ones who were actually alive. None of the animals in the forest attempted to live her as well, not even pigs who loved to play and roll over on mud. But who could blame them? No creature would be able to survive the state this place wa in before. Anyways since the dark nymphs morphed into one huge monster there were nobody left of their kind now. I wasn't sure if we had actually killed the monster since we didn't see it explode, but we did feel the explosion deep within the ground. If I recalled correctly, the Earth's mantle was made up of very hot magma, so if I was able to open the ground up all the way there then I'm sure it monster is long gone. I'm not sure if I was trying to convince Cresia that the battle was indeed over or if I was actually trying to convince myself. It was hard to make ourselves believe since again we didn't see the entire thing happen but I don't want to fill my head with negative thoughts so I think it will be better if I'd focus more on the positive. I tried to recall the events, I caused an earthquake to happen which opened up the ground, I threw my sword and and trident at the monster so that it would fall right into the hole. When the monster tried to pull itself up Cresia had the winds ush the monster down, loosening it's grip thus resulting to the monster finally falling. A few moments later we heard a very loud explosion happen. After that I closed up the ground. So I think we were able to finish it right? I mean c'mon, I'll admit the battle wasn't easy. In fact it was very difficult. If you really thought about it if we really were the ones that legend was talking about then it would have been actually a bit more easy if we have gotten both our demigod marks already. Because as I've said a mortal or should I say a demigod that possess that mark is of the highest level already. It is a person who had mastered their powers and skills already. Cresia and I on the other hand have only gotten our gifts quite recently. So on that note, I will proudly conclude that we both rock! We're both novice demigods who battled semi immortal creatures who had a massive powerup from the dark lord himself. I think we both earned that kind of thinking praise for ourselves. Rita and the other light nymphs showed up after the battle as well. It turns out they wanted to try and help us once they saw the huge monster the dark nymphs formed, they said it was something that wasn't foretold and something they didn't warn us about. I came up to her and said that it wasn't their fault, there was no way they could've known. I assured her that we weren't mad at them and things actually turned up pretty good in the end. I apologized for losing the sword she gave me. She says that it didn't really matter since we were able to finish them all. "As long as the rule of the dark nymphs is finally over the black bladed sword won't be needed anymore. And if they were to comback you need not to worry. That sword belongs to you now Ches, so it will comeback. one way or another. It was designed for that purpose. Therefore there isn't any need for you to apologize. Infact we should be the kne ones who should be asking for your forgiveness. Because not only did we risk your lives but we did it without knowing fully what you were getiing yourselves into" she said in one breath. I was able to unlock my gift and Cresia's as well, so in any case we should really be thanking them. I'm not one hundred percent surebif those were my only gifts, as long as the marks hadn't fully manifested yet I knew that ability was only the beginning. As for the Lady that made a sound in my head, I'm not particularly sure if it were my mom or somebody else that wanted to help us. I couldn't recognize the voice right away. I was in the middle of battling a giant it wasntthe timw to ponder on who the voice was. Why I trusted it is a completely different story. If I thought about it now, it was actually a very stupid and reckless decision. I did what the mystery lady told me to do without even thinking about the possible consequences or what could've happen. I didn't even know if she was someone that could be trusted. I'm not a very trusting person, but I don't know there was something about that voice that soothed me, that convinced me to her and her words. I don't know if I trusted her, the voice, because of my desperation at that moment or because she had seemed familiar. All I know is that the idea she told me worked. And it helpedbus indefeating them. To be completely honest, I'm kinda hoping for that person to be my mom. There's just something about that person that you know you can trust. As I was saying the light nymphs thanked us for the service we've done for them, they couldn't stop showing their gratitude for us. They truly were kind and wonderul creatures. The only downside to their nature is that they're extremely playful with mortals and even to theor own kind. They even wanted us to go back to their side of the forest and throw us a feast. That is actually a great idea but as fun as that could have been Lacresia and I decided to stay with the original plan as we had a deadline to beat and gate to get to. Nonetheless, we decided to tidy this place up a bit. Cresia was in charge with the sky and letting the other animals know that this place was now habitable. I don't haveva clue as to how she did that, all I knew is that she whispered something to the wind. She says it's a part of her gift. Whatever it was it sure worked. I was in-charge of planting new trees and magic up streams of water, we needed as much water as possible if we wanted to do this place the makeover it needed. The nymphs were in charge of the actual magic stuff. Like purifying the sea water to make fresh water, cool right? We planned to try and set up mangroves but Rita said that would be time consuming. As of the moment I just continued ro help the nymphs with cleaning out the rest of the forest. I've also planted several seeds. The nymphs will be the ones to tend to it when we leave. They say that they're going to expand their territory to here. More territory meant more nymphs to join them in taking care of this forest. By the time we finished tidying up the place the sun had already set. Contented with our little clean up project Cresia and I decided to stay for dinner and leave at midnight, the moon was full so it wasn't going to be dark out. I took a deep breath of the air that surrounded us right now, and to my delight it was finally fresh. Finally.