So, funny story, the laptop I write on somehow got water damage, and it had to be taken in for a couple days to see what exactly was wrong, so, now it only works when plugged in, else it will shut off. Ok, not that funny. So, there's that. I'm catching up, don't worry, thankfully, all my previous documents are safe and sound. Currently, I'm speed writing this chapter, and the project I chose this year isn't terribly time consuming, just…foreign. If any of you are somewhat interested in what I chose this time, I'll bring it up in the next update. Well, that's enough from me, let's go right into this!
Chapter Twenty Three, The Forgotten Temple.
It was not a good day for a certain deity. He sighed and looked across the once green fields. Everything was either burnt or covered in crimson. Soon, however, the escape plan would be put into place. The white eyed, large sword wielding deity looked behind him, gazing upon the temple where his…accomplice was going over what would happen. The deity knew, however, that the part of the plan he played, would not go like his accomplice thought it would.
"For the greater good," he mumbled to himself, drawing his large blade. He gazed upon the broken army he had defeated twelve times before, led by the Demon King himself this time. The deity stood his ground, and as the first of the demons reached him, they were cut down. Easily, he weaved in and out, cutting down the army with his sword and a couple spells. Soon enough, with minimal injuries, he stood before the Demon himself.
"You are a broken man, fighting for a broken cause," he remarked. The deity did not respond at first.
"Am I?" He replied, "to one man who sees something broken, another sees something worthy of repair," he replied. He extend out his sword, a sign that he was ready to fight. The Demon King extended his own, touching the deity's own. With that, they both leapt away, engaging in battle.
Hours later, the two still fought, each with great wounds, when it seemed neither would win, the deity's blade glowed blue, and with an unexpected lunge, he pierced the heart of the Demon King, sealing him into a keystone. The deity sheathed his sword onto his back once again, and took out a tome, where he place it into a cave, in a separate world, casting an enchantment onto it. He limped out of the cave, having one thing left to do…
The deity watched in content as he bled out, seeing the piece of land rise into the sky. He chuckled, knowing her, his accomplice, would not be happy. Content, he closed his eyes, taking what he thought would be his finale nap.
-Elegy of the no-name warrior deity, found in many a place…
Calcite woke up startled, staring out at the sea below her. She clutched her sheets unknowingly. She had no idea what woke her up, just that it wasn't a dream. She moved her claws from her sheets to her forehead. She then shook her head, climbed out of bed, and threw on some clothes. She did her normal morning routine, before heading out, a book bag the only thing she carried.
As she walked up the ramp, onto the ferry, which would take her where she needed to be, well, close to it anyway, she thought back on her conversation yesterday, with the Queen.
"It wouldn't be the first time, I guess," she had chuckled, surprising the young adult.
"Excuse me, but what?" Calcite responded, dumbfounded.
To be honest, it wasn't a long conversation, but it was…unexpected. Calcite shook herself out of her thought process. She then sat on a bench, and listened to her music with some headphones. She drifted into sleep.
Meanwhile…
A heart beat, once, twice, a third time. It cut off. It beat again, one, two, three. It stopped. It seemed he would never wake from his sleep. One. Two. Three…Four, five, six, seven. Faster, faster, and faster the heart beat. The man shot up from his sleep. He took deep breaths, his silver hair shone in the light of the forest. A serene song drifted in the wind, played by an ancient peaceful spirit. This was not his world. The man grumbled and stood up. He stretched, he'd worry about his location soon enough. He walked over to a small pond, he towered over most, being a grand nine feet tall. His muscular frame could be seen where only cloth covered him. His breastplate shined in its divine silver glory. His silver gauntlets which rested on leather commanded respect, his greaves, again silver, looked like they could take the world on if they wanted. And his sword…his sword?! WHERE WAS IT?! The man frantically looked around.
Thirty minutes later, he figured it wasn't near him. Too bad, that was forged specifically to be the greatest sword ever crafted by the divine blacksmith. He shook his head, he could worry about that later. He picked up his cap, styled like a cone and flopped behind his head, , white with silver etchings in the cloth. Yes, he liked silver. His white eyes betrayed his black war paint, something which could would go away. He shook his head again, wishing not to recall those memories. He had to make his way back to his land…clearly, now that he had cleared his head, he was in his world, but not his native country.
"Find the maiden…" he told himself, "you can do this…Steel," he picked himself up and got moving.
As the tall man moved through the greenery, the ancient spirit took notice.
"You aren't of the race of dragons, what is your place here?" the spirit asked, drifting as the giant walked.
"I seek my blade, firstly. Secondly, the warrior maiden. Thirdly, the race of men," Steel simply answered.
"The race which called themselves humans disappeared long ago, thousands upon thousands of years ago, no dragon has seen them since," the spirit remarked.
"Then I seek two and a half things," Steel answered, undeterred.
"What is your name stranger?" the spirit asked.
"I have many, I do not remember the name given to me after coming into existence through birth," Steel replied, before continuing, "The Great Warrior, the Fierce One, Courage, Deity of Human Protection, Steel, as some called me, and many more," Steel replied.
"You say you seek a great blade?" the spirit asked.
"I do," Steel replied, slowing his pace to a stop.
"This, warrior maiden appears to be searching for the same weapon I believe, black hilt, no?" the spirit replied, giggling before fading away.
"Then I have less to search for," Steel replied, sprinting in great strides to the forest's exit.
Steel's white tunic fluttered in the wind as he exited the forest, standing atop a hill, overlooking a small village.
"The architecture has changed dramatically," Steel noticed. Something tugged on his boot. He squatted down to greet a young dragoness, she probably only just learned to speak her language, thankfully for Steel, he was divinely bi-lingual.
"You're tall mister!" the dragoness giggled, turning pink.
"Ah, one from the jungle," Steel thought.
"That I am," Steel agreed, smiling at the youth.
"You talk like my grandpa!" The dragoness giggled, clearly it was a childish jest.
"I would say I am quite…experienced," Steel remarked.
"That's just another way of saying you're old!" she pouted. Steel chuckled.
"I guess it is," he replied.
"Oh! We're having a small festival in the village today! Would you like to join the fun?" she asked, while Steel was unsure, he didn't exactly know where to go.
"Lead the way," he responded, easily lifting the youth onto his broad shoulders.
The townspeople gawked at the sight of the deity. Steel was one to be social around the people of this world, well, when he wasn't fighting to protect them that is. At the current moment however, he figured it best to simply walk on and after this try to lay low. He walked until he passed a stage where someone had been speaking, presumably the mayor.
"Daddy!" the girl exclaimed, giggling and waving her claws, causing Steel to bend forward a little so the poor youth wouldn't fall off. Carefully, he set the girl down in front of the mayor.
"Look who I found! He calls himself Steel! Isn't he cool!" she exclaimed, excitingly pointing of the deity, who was slightly uncomfortable. The mayor was too shocked to reply.
"I should be going," even though he wasn't talking loud, his deep tone was heard all throughout.
"Aw! But you should have some fun!" the dragoness exclaimed.
"I will, I promise, I'll just have to do it while I travel," the deity replied, trying to reason with the girl. It worked, barely, as she pouted but happily waved nonetheless. Steel sent a wave of his own as he walked out of the town and onto the grassy plains, far from the roads.
Steel spent days traveling. At one point, he had found the ruins of an ancient town, dug up by some archeologists recently. A large, polished up, sharpened, mint condition claymore sat against one of the walls. Steel picked it up, examining it. It couldn't compare to his own blade, but this would do. Steel easily held the blade in one hand, before fashioning a sheathe later in the night from an unlucky cow. He had some good steak that night, not that he needed to eat, but hey, he didn't want to not use that cow to its full potential. Sword sheathed to his back, Steel moved on.
After a week, Steel saw a large city, with buildings that scraped the sky, and large residential areas. A battle had clearly been fought recently in these fields, Steel noticed. A crater filled the spot which flowers had once covered.
"The maiden was once here," Steel noticed.
"Oh?" He inspected closer. Others had fought with the maiden. Two human souls, strong enough to be detected, had once aided in the battle.
"It appears, the time of the prophecy draws near…I shall need to seek out another once I seek out the maiden, and hopefully, my weapon…" Steel didn't linger, instead, headed into the city, making it just as night started.
Steel stuck to the shadows, not wanting to draw unwanted attention, he could tell two strong places where the maiden had once been. One was a house like most others, the other, some kind of odd facility. Steel followed the soul's trail out to a place filled with metal contraptions purposed to fly like a bird.
"Do dragons not have wings? What is the purpose of these metal contraptions?" Steel questioned himself, dumbfounded. He shook his head, heading to the water's edge, and diving into the dark water.
Having much endurance, Steel swam for many hours, it was midday when Steel came onto shore. Steel found it best to wait and dry himself and his clothes in a nearby cove, so there he waited and napped, not that he needed to, but it was nice.
At an appropriate time the next morning, Steel redressed himself and carried on, following the trail to an impressive complex of buildings. It became clear to him that the maiden wasn't here, but a some spirits and close allies to the maiden were. He sought out one which was just about to leave the island, following the trail of the maiden.
"Wait, please," the deity called out to a beautiful spirit. She turned around, the essence of the maiden was strong on her. The spirit was surprised by the deity, but floated back to him.
"Who are you?" the spirit asked.
"I am the deity of courage, Steel, is a name I have been given,"
"What do you have need of me for?" the spirit asked.
"I seek the warrior maiden, the child of destiny," the warrior replied.
"I know who you seek, but she is far from here. She seeks the temple of the sea," lucky for Steel, he had participated in the building of said temple. He nodded.
"Thank you," he said to the spirit. She merely smiled before fading away. Steel turned to the building behind him, one where many stayed, he was closer already to the maiden.
Hey! Let me address a couple things, one, this chapter is longer because I feel like you readers deserve it. Two, Steel was inspired by the Fierce Deity from the Zelda series, but other than that an original character I came up with. Three, in a way, Steel is the same as the hero who failed where the maiden did not, but at the same time, they are two different characters, this will be explained later. Four, Steel seeks out the maiden for his own reasons, which you will see later, of course, no ill intent. Five, why hasn't he been introduced earlier? …I just came up with him…Alrighty! I'll see you readers soon, bye!