The Tale of Xenosa

Power On

Cheska's POV:

It was about an hour after they showed us the legend of Hangin and Dagat. We were preparing for battle, well actually Lacresia was the only one who was actually preparing since she had her gifts already. I on the other still don't have any idea what mine would be. I just hope some kind of miracle would happen later considering that neither of us had manifested the demigod mark yet. The demigod mark is a sign that you have fully gotten your powers already, it's a sign that you've fully accepted and mastered your powers. Some demigods are fortunate enough to be able to display the mark in their lifetime but some sadly never do. I'm kidding it's not that sad since having the mark had negative aftermaths as well. But Lady Rita told us that in most of the legends that involve demigods only the strongest could have the mark on their skin. The stories say that when they manifest they never get etched out of your skin. But there are also talks about the mark being inconsistent. It varies from one demigod to another. Well, at least that's what Rita told me. It depended on whether the mark would stay on your skin twenty-four hours a day during the seven days of the week or the mark will only appear when the demigods use their powers. There's a catch to it though, the negative effect I was talking about earlier. When the mark manifests permanently on your skin your life span would then be greatly reduced. It's actually the reason why demigods who manifest the mark die early. The reason why their life span is reduced is still a great mystery to the magical world. It's either the use of their powers that diminishes their life force or if they die due to normal demigod circumstances. How a demigod gets her mark is an entirely different story. It's not as easy as getting a tattoo or henna as I've mentioned a demigod obtains their mark when they've fully mastered their powers but based on the stories they only appeared in serious life-threatening moments. I was just thinking about possible strategies we should take. I mean Lacresia could fly that would certainly give us a great advantage over them. If she can shoot while she's in the air then that would be great. She gave us the black blades as well. To our astonishment the blades were real, at first we thought they were just a metaphor but turns out they were the real deal. Instead of a knife, Rita gave me a sword with a black blade, I wanted to protest at first but then I realized if I was going to use a knife I'd need to be in such close proximity with the black nymphs. The sword had a golden handle with white triangles on it. The design reminded me of the waves, I'm not sure why but I could smell the sea on it. The sword would be a much better option, I think. The first time I held the sword I didn't expect that it was going to be this light. I mean it looked heavy, but it had just the right weight. It wasn't too heavy or too light. A properly balanced sword. I haven't had any chance to practice with it yet, I don't know why but I had this sense of familiarity with it. Lacresia was given a bow, well I guess that made sense. Her bow had gold accents while the arrows were all black. Like the entire arrow is pitch black, Rita says that it was imbued with magic so she didn't have to worry about her arrows running out. It was sundown, Rita says that it's safer for us to go to the dark nymph's lair at dawn. Since they dislike the sunlight so much we figured that would be the best time we'd go. The thought actually helps ease my mind, I mean yes they're able to go out in the sunlight but considering that we know that they dislike it then that would mean they'd try to avoid it as much as possible. Right? As of the moment, the sun had already gone down but since we were guests the nymphs didn't go back to their usual plant forms nor did they go back into the river. None had attempted to bathe in the river again, well that was understandable. It makes sense, no one wants to see dead dehydrated bodies that were still in there. Apart from it being gross, I'm sure it's pretty traumatizing to see the lifeless bodies of the other nymphs. Rita had told the other nymphs to prepare dinner, we didn't want to hassle anyone so we said that we'll just sleep the night off. We weren't that hungry anyway, none of us had the appetite. But Rita insisted, she says that we needed to eat since we were going to fight powerful forces of evil. Plus the others insisted as well, who were we to stop them. Right? An hour later the food was ready. We feasted there in the forest with the other nymphs. After we ate they even sang songs. I could they were sad about the incident since they sang of their sorrows and regrets. Lacresia and I built a campfire to keep us warm as we slept. We prepared our sleeping bags and laid them on the ground, Not a while later we were both dozing off to dreamworld. I'm pretty sure we had the same question in mind though and that is how the heck are we supposed to defeat the dark nymphs. I didn't want to flood my brain with negative thoughts since it will only make me overthink more. I needed all the rest I can get if I want to have a chance in defeating the dark nymphs tomorrow. With that in mind, sleep had completely taken over. When we woke up, it was almost sunrise. We hurriedly packed up our things and got ready for the journey. We went to the river and said a quiet prayer for the deceased nymphs, hoping that they'd find peace in the afterlife. Do nymphs get to go to the afterlife? Or was that just a common misconception? But no matter, the important thing is the intention. It was a good thing we refilled our water bottles before the attack happened. It wouldn't be a good idea to go to their place dehydrated or something like that. After that I called Rita from the forest, she then appeared in front of us. I thanked her for taking care of us last night and said sorry for the trouble we caused. Cresia also said her goodbyes because apparently, we weren't going to come back here. Rita says the gate is just a day's walk from their lair. It would take too much of our time already if we were going to go back here after the entire thing. Cresia and I then began our journey. The dark nymph's lair is just north from here, if we followed the stream then we'd get there before the sun even rises. As we were walking we noticed that the surroundings got darker and somehow dirtier. I looked over the stream and saw that the water wasn't as clear and healthy-looking compared to where we're from. "We're getting close Ches," Cresia said. "I should fly and check the perimeter" she added. I nodded my head at her agreeing with what she planned to do. We've talked about our strategy while we were walking and agreed that she'd take out threats from afar. Since she had unlimited arrows with her, she could just attack the dark nymphs with arrows from above. Cresia flew back down, disappointed at what she saw. "Did you see anything?" she shook her head and said, "No. I feel like something is going on, perhaps a trick or something. This is the only area that is hidden from the sun". My eyes widened with what she just said, "Cres I'm afraid we're already here." And with that, I whipped out my black-bladed sword. As if on cue the entire place moved. Dark nymphs have started to appear. Some morphed from the trees, and some from the shadows. There were also nymphs that came out from the river. That's why it seemed dirty and polluted it wasn't water that was flowing there after all. It was actually the dark nymphs. Cresia immediately flew to the sky and started to aim with her how and arrow. I don't know why but I had the urge to say something like "Aim well!" or "Please don't hit me" but then I figured I'd only distract her more." Ches there's a lot of them. But I think we can take them" she said from above. Yeah, that's what I thought as well over the years they've had the chance to regrow their numbers. It seemed like they were all very eager to eat for the dark nymphs had started to attack. Some saw that Cresia flew, they bowed their heads and suddenly I heard bones cracking from their backs and cutting through their flesh. They had wings. It wasn't pretty, it actually matched the entire look. My eyes widened at the realization that they could fly. Rita didn't warn us about this. This was a surprise. "Cres look out the others have wings!" I yelled from below. I think I just made the wrong move, as I caught their attention from below. One sniffed the air and said in a strange old man voice" Ah demigods, it's been a long time since we've feasted from the likes of you." she then smiled at me as if expecting I'd agree to what she just said. I didn't expect them to be able to talk at all. Most of them only made animal noises but I guess some could "Nah uh not gonna happen. I don't plan on becoming breakfast any time soon" I looked up above and saw that Cresia was already fighting, I gripped my sword and began to fight the nymphs that came at me. I noticed that every time my sword cut them they'd explode into red and black smoke. It was much like what happened with the legend. So they weren't immortal that's good news. We could finish this. I gripped my sword tighter and screamed a battle cry. With all my might I slashed their throats and beheaded the nymphs that attacked. I don't have an idea of how I did it but now wasn't the time to doubt my demigod blessings, right? And so we fought the damned nymphs with the hopes of defeating them once and for all.