Burning Soul

“Not enough!

You can’t even scratch me with that!” Aeneas was mocking Theo while training him.

“God damn it!

I can’t master it in just a day!” Theo was panting after trying his newly learned skill on Aeneas.

“Huh! You were able to use the other with efficiency!

Anyway! It’s just extra skill!

If it works, it works.” Aeneas gave him a hand to stand up.

“Are you ready?” Lumiere walked in closer to ask Theo.

It was time to challenge the Guardian of the entrance so as to exit the Skadi’s world.

.

“Huh!

I am ready!

We shouldn’t waste any more time.” Theo replied with shining eyes.

“I can’t believe we are doing this!

It took us almost 9 months to get here!

You really have an affinity to fight.

Moreover, did you find a good reason kid?” Aeneas asked him while patting on his shoulder.

“I...I can’t say I have one yet.

But I do want to know a lot of things!” He replied.

‘Yeah, a lot of things.

Why am I being pushed to do all this? What really happened all those years ago?

And what is actually happening.’ He couldn’t help but think for now.

.

.

“Let’s get going!” Aeneas took a step and shouted in excitement.

“Yeah!

They are waiting for us after all!” Lumiere rubbed his forehead looking at him laughing out loud like some pirate.

.

.

…

The test Lumiere was talking about was to be held at the core of the forest or let’s say

In the deepest region.

After walking for about half an hour they reached the entrance. By the looks, it was way more majestic and mesmerising than anything Theo had ever seen.

A huge cave with walls as high as they could get. The walls were lined with crystals not only that, the roof looked like a sky filled with glitter. There were large sculptures of warriors and their weapons. In comparison to everything, they were so tiny and small. The whole place was carrying a discrete aura of a certain being. As if some holy land or a temple of some powerful god.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?

Skadi was a goddess of Illusions, but one must not underestimate her tremendous power and command on a certain type of magic.” Lumiere explained

He pointed towards a tree in the distance, “What do you make of it?”

Looking at it, the tree looked rather ordinary, just it was missing leaves and any greenery.

“Some old tree left behind?” Theo scratched his head before responding.

Hearing him Lumiere let out a peal of laughter,

“That thing is no ordinary tree kid!

Well, I can’t blame you for not knowing. Skadi left behind a piece of her soul in that tree before departing.

She didn’t die off, but no one is sure what happened to her.

After the fall of Serena, a lot happened which is still unexplainable.

Well, you’ll find answers one day, for now, you have to confront the guardian of this place.

Aether!”

.

Theo looked at the tree once more before turning to Lumiere, “I have a question,”

“Yeah go ahead.” Lumiere turned to him to answer,

“Every time I hear something about Gods, it gets more and more confusing.

Who can help me clear these unsettling questions? “

His point was rather profound, it was really getting more and more incoherent for him to comprehend if the Gods were really as mighty and Righteous as he believed or if they were just putting up a facade and were holding some utter motive which was not in anyone’s favour.

“No one blames you for that as well, one might say one thing while the other would say different, but the truth is still unknown and no one can really acknowledge that ‘yes this is what happened,’.

For now, what is your priority?

Do you want to keep thinking about this or get stronger and step out, try finding the answers by yourself?

I can advise you this only one thing,

Humans have personalities, they have emotions like anger, greed, lust, jealousy which gives rise to conflicts.

Humans will always have to face these emotions, always!”

.

saying this he took a step forward and pointed towards Aeneas who was dozing off in the middle of their conversation, “some humans have stronger emotions.”

He went ahead and pinched him waking him up with a scream, “laziness”

.

.

“Ah,

Cut it!

It hurts, stop it will ya?“ looking at him like that made Theo show a peel of laughter on his face.

“You are right!

Right now, I have to pass this final trial,

As long as I have friends like you by my side, I can worry less about gods and demons.” He then turned to face the battleground.

The place had a stage that was suspended in the air.

It was really a mystical place. At the centre of the stage, there was a sword that was stuck in a stone. It was a shiny crystal sword with a faint golden halo surrounding it.

“So, your trial is to tame that sword!” Lumiere told him bluntly,

“Tame?

What do you mean by tame it?” Theo couldn’t understand him a bit.

Tame a sword, that’s not something you hear every day,

“ Yeah, you heard me right,

The sword right there is called Spirit of Creation, one of the five. Artefact level swords still in existence.

That’ll be your companion on your journey from now on and as for other,”

He then took a wooden crate from his item bag

“It’s in here, you deal with that and take this one home too.

Unfortunately, there is only one you can set your hands on, as for other swords,”

“It’s in possession of some unknown God” Aeneas replied interrupting Lumiere

“You can only utilise it’s divine strength if you have a set of swords otherwise you can only have half of its strength.”

“Is it a bad deal?” Lumiere asked on Aeneas’s comment to which he nodded in disagreement,

“Even if it’s half a set, it’s still an artifact!

You can never underestimate its true potential.”

Seeing him reply seriously was something of a spectacle though what he said was the truth.

“Okay, but still what do you mean by tame it?”Theo was still unanswered.

“Go and take it out of that stone, you’ll understand what I mean by tame it.”

“That’s it?” Theo was rather stunned,

But deep down he knew there was more to it.

“Just keep this in mind,

She was a goddess of illusions, and nothing is real! “

Lumiere passed his advise before letting him step in

“What is he going to face in there?” Aeneas asked him while putting his hand on his shoulder,

“Something even Duvrion couldn’t surpass,

True hell if you ask me.

.

.

...

And Skadi herself..” Lumiere countered while looking at Theo’s figure in confidence.