Disclaimer: I do not own the Inheritance Cycle book series or the Young Justice TV show, nor do I make any money off of writing about them. And with that said, let's get on with the chapter!
(A/N): Hello everyone! New chapter (obviously). This chapter is going to cover most of the year of his training, so it is kind of a lot of time skips. Sorry if that's not to your liking. Also, I just want to say thanks to everyone for the favorites and follows. Special thanks to Incursio, Nanarech, and Aster-Red for the reviews! I'm going to try my best to answer questions if I can, and shoutout reviews as a sort of thank you. Those will always be at the top, so if you're not interested in them, feel free to skip. Hope you all enjoy the chapter.
Nanarech and Incursio: You guys both had kind of the same question: How does better remembrance of the Ancient Language in the book series actually make him more powerful? Short answer is, it doesn't. I had overlooked that there isn't that many words in the books, so I kind of retconned that this chapter. If you like how I fixed it, please drop a review! If you don't, I'd love to hear back about how to improve my writing. Thanks again for the review!
"What. The. Fuck," I said, absolutely baffled as to how this could have happened. Upon closer inspection, I had realized that I was not quite an elf. My features were far more delicate than they should have been, but were too rugged for an actual elf. I was also quite a bit broader than a real elf, not nearly as willowy. I had almost a runner's physique, but just a little bit more built. I looked basically like an elf with some human ancestry thrown in the mix, something I didn't remember from the Inheritance Cycle at all. I wasn't sure that it was even possible for humans and elves to procreate together. The closest approximation I could come up with was that I looked like I had gone through the same ritualistic process that transformed Eragon, the protagonist, during an elven celebration. For all intents and purposes, I had all the same benefits of being an actual elf that I had anticipated gaining later such as the enhanced strength, speed, and durability I had mentioned to Queen Hippolyta earlier.
"Well, young Rider? I grow impatient. Tell me what you are. You are no manner of creature or being I have ever met," the Queen stated imperiously. I had to come up with some reasonable explanation for all this. I decided to just spew random bullshit that was close enough to the truth.
"I am an elf, Your Grace. I was once a normal human, but as a Rider, it is expected that I would slowly gain an elven heritage due to my bond. Truly, it should not have appeared so quickly. I suppose either my god's meddling or my transfer from my universe must have sped the process somehow," I said, still somewhat nonplussed at my new look.
"You're right on the money with the first count, boyo. And if I must say, you look much better this way. Why be human when you can be better?" Morgan spoke in my ear yet again. And he wasn't wrong. I was objectively better looking. I figured this was one of the things he changed about my wishes, so I just internally sighed and got over it. I had agreed after all.
"Hmm. Indeed. Well, you've taken up enough of my time. With my curiosity sated, you will be granted the help you so desire, but only because of the order of the Goddess. Should you abuse our trust, Hera herself will strike you down. Now remember, boy, who helped you in your time of need. I must go inform my daughter of recent events, but you will be given a guide to help you around," Hippolyta said before gracefully exiting the throne room.
That went about as well as it could have. I pet Mace on his head as he purred in a catlike fashion. I took a moment to catch my breath after all the tension in the confrontation with the Queen. Fortunately, I'm going to get all the help that I need. The first step, I decided, was to get training in the sword. I needed to develop a style, or borrow the Amazons', whichever worked out best for me. Once I had done so, I could forge a blade for myself with my brightsteel. This… was going to take a while.
"Boy, I am to be your guide. My name is Artemis, and I am one of the best warriors of my people. I will be training you. What do I call you?" she asked, not unkindly. That… was actually a good question. I couldn't remember my name. I knew that I had one, and I knew I certainly hadn't disliked it, but I just couldn't recall it. I figured Morgan must have wiped it from my mind. When I got a spare moment alone, he and I were gonna have a talk. In the meanwhile, I had to come up with a new name.
"Cyrus King. You may call me Cyrus King," I decided. It was a strong, but not too unusual name. I certainly didn't want to be called Drake Stormcaller or something ridiculous like that. That would be just asking to be made fun of.
"Awfully presumptuous name, isn't it," Artemis snorted dryly. I blushed. I was getting teased anyway! It wasn't even that weird a name! Oh well. At least Mace had a badass name. No one was going to make fun of him, I was sure of that.
"Anyways, basically, I have a few goals for my time here. Firstly, I want to become proficient in swordplay. Secondly, I want to become proficient in hand-to-hand combat. And lastly, I want your best weaponsmith to forge me a sword and maybe a dagger if I have enough metal for it. Are those doable within a year or so?" I asked Artemis. I really had no idea how long these tasks were going to take, so I figured it best to ask a professional warrior. A quite terrifying smile grew on Artemis' face.
"You'll be no master, that's for sure, but I can teach you which end of the sword is which. As for hand-to-hand, I can get Pythia to train you. She's the undisputed master of hand-to-hand among the inhabitants of the island. As for the weapons, Io can take care of you. She's not going to like you a bit, but she'll do it for the chance to forge with your fancy metal there," she said. I got the feeling that I was going to dislike her training methods.
I was right. She woke me up before dawn the next day to get started on training. She had me doing basic exercises to strengthen myself before she realized my elven body granted power on par with her own Amazonian constitution. After that, we got down to brass tacks. She started by teaching me how to hold a sword and move my feet. We didn't spar at all that day. I figured that was going to be the case. We hit up the palace for some food at lunchtime, then she turned me over to Pythia, my hand-to-hand instructor.
Pythia's teaching style was completely different. She just beat my ass up and down the field, shouting critiques the whole time. This continued until she called it quits at around suppertime. My body was just a giant aching bruise. Neither of the devils had taken it easy on me because of my elven body. I ate and then decided to try magic for the first time. I was so excited to be actually casting magic.
I knew how this was supposed to work, so I sat down in my bed and calmed my mind. In a similar way to when I communicated to Mace, I had to find the part of my mind that held my magic and tap into it while speaking the Ancient Language. I had a spell in mind and a pebble I picked up for this exact purpose. I found the part of my mind that governed my magic and tapped into it, taking a moment to calm my nerves.
"Stenr risa," I intoned. The pebble stayed still. No worries. I hadn't expected it to work first try. I would just keep going until I figured it out. Everything was perfectly fine. At least, it was until Morgan the Annoyingly Omnipotent showed up to drop a massive bombshell on me.
"That's not going to work, you know that, right?" He asked after poofing into existence with a shit-eating grin. The question stole my breath away. Did he remove my ability to do magic? That was one of the greatest strengths of a Dragon Rider! How on earth was I supposed to succeed as a hero with less than half my arsenal?
"Relax, you still have magic," he said. "Just think about it. How did the Ancient Language come about, and why wouldn't it work here?"
"The Grey Folk," I breathed in disbelief. The Grey Folk were an ancient race of Alegaesia that bound the magic of the world to their language. But this world had no Grey Folk. No Grey Folk meant no Ancient Language, and different magic. I groaned. Morgan had nerfed my build. I couldn't be the spell-slinging swordsman I had imagined.
"Well, you're right, not quite the way you imagined, but I didn't destroy your build, just modified it. I've enhanced your ability to use magic that doesn't require language at all! Now, magic for you is purely mental, no verbal components needed. The only downside for you is that it will take a little bit more concentration, so you can't go casting spells mid-battle. Otherwise, your versatility just increased a hundred-fold! Aren't you happy?" the obnoxiously happy god asked.
I mean, he wasn't wrong, I wasn't screwed over too badly. He had essentially just changed me from a focused damage dealer to a jack-of-all-trades type deal. I could work with that. I had never expected to be some godly wizard or swordsman anyway.
"You changed a lot more than I thought you were going to. What's with the elven body thing anyways? That wasn't part of the deal," I said. Even though it was overall a benefit for me, I was a little miffed that my body now looked even less like I used to. It was getting harder and harder to recognize me compared to my old self. Sure, I looked better, but I didn't quite feel right in my own skin. Not yet anyways, though I figured I'd grow into it.
"Those were the last surprises. I can grant you your human body if you like," he offered, still with that stupid smile. I sighed.
"No, you probably helped me, it's just… hard to be so different to what I used to be. I'll get used to it," I said, exhausted. I was tired of being surprised over and over. At least this was the last big surprise. Probably.
He poofed away again. I decided to give magic one more shot for the night before I went to bed. I tapped into my magic and willed the pebble to rise. To my shock, it rose immediately and hovered in front of my eyes. Suddenly, I realized that I had bottomed out my magic with my poor control, and I fell unconscious.
This process repeated itself for the next week, practicing swordplay in the mornings, fist fighting in the afternoons, and magic in the evenings. Neither Artemis nor Pythia made it easy on me, so I decided not to go easy on myself with magic practice, so I made sure to drain my reserves at least twice a night in an effort to increase my skill and efficiency with my purely thought based magic. I quickly came to realize that magic was going to be far harder to become proficient in than physically fighting, especially so considering my lack of a teacher in the mystic arts. Unfortunately, due to my unique style of magic, there was no one on the island that could help me master it.
At the end of the first week, I got a big surprise. Wonder Woman herself, Diana of Themyscira, showed up. I suppose I should have expected it, considering that a random guy just showed up on her heavily secured and warded home island. We had our first meeting in a small room adjacent to the throne room.
"Hello, young Cyrus. I have heard much about you from my mother. I was hoping you had some time to spare to speak with me," Wonder Woman requested politely. I shrugged. I had no real reason to refuse. We both sat down on the surprisingly comfortable chairs around the long table, Wonder Woman directly opposite me.
"How can I help you, Wonder Woman? I'm sure you can make much better use of your time than talking to me," I said, a little confused as to what she even wanted to know. I assumed she would have heard everything she needed to know from her mother.
"Perhaps. And please, call me Diana. I merely wanted to hear from you personally I suppose. I just want to know, what are your goals here?" she asked. I was even more confused. She knew I was here to train.
"Umm, I'm here to train. I was a fresh recruit among the ranks on my world, so I have little to no combat experience, bar any tactical advice I picked up when being taught the history of this world," I figured this would also help flesh out how I knew so much about a world I had supposedly never been to.
"I do not mean what you are doing here on Themyscira, I mean here in this world. Why would you come here, to a place far from home, where you cannot be with your loved ones? I suppose my question boils down to this: why would you come here to help those you have no duty or responsibility to protect, at the detriment of your personal life?" she asked seriously.
"Firstly, I didn't really have anyone back home. I wasn't close with any of my family, and I didn't have any friends or mentors among the ranks of the Dragon Riders because I was such a fresh recruit. Secondly, the main reason I came here is because, even though I have no connection to the people of this world, I want to help. I need to help. Because with great power, comes great responsibility, and I would be failing to live up to that responsibility if I refused to come to your aid," I said, barely managing to hold back a smirk at the classic line.
"That's quite the burden you put upon yourself. To put yourself at risk for people not your own is quite admirable. I'm curious now, what other reason do you have to become a hero? You mentioned your main reason, but what else was there?" she asked curiously.
"Well, I kind of want the admiration and praise of the people I help as well. It's definitely not the main reason, but it certainly would be nice," I said with a hint of a blush. Diana gave a bubbly laugh at that, amused by my reasoning.
"I have a proposal for you, Cyrus. Many of my fellow heroes are mentoring sidekicks, younger and less experienced heroes, to give them the experience they need to become fully fledged heroes in their own right. I feel you would be a good fit to fight and save alongside me, as my own sidekick, as soon as you have been suitably trained of course. How would you like to work with me?" she offered with a twinkle in her eyes. I was shocked. This was the perfect opportunity to not only ingratiate myself with some of the other sidekicks early on, but also to get some high quality, on-the-job hero training.
"I accept," I said immediately. Not a chance in hell was I going to miss out on this opportunity. I would become Wonder Woman's apprentice. This was going to be awesome.
"Very well. Continue your training, and at the beginning of the summer, I will come and test you. Should you be suitably skilled, I will formally accept you as my sidekick, and you will accompany me on official missions. Be warned, if you slack off on your training and become a liability, I will leave you here. I will not bring you to your own death. Is that understood?" she asked firmly. I nodded. I would not fail.
Wonder Woman left shortly thereafter. She was busy being a heroine and a diplomat for Themyscira after all. My routine normalized into the same format it had before Wonder Woman's visit. What would have been a literally impossible training schedule was merely brutal for my enhanced body. An amount of exercise that would have killed any baseline human just left me with aches and tiredness. Thankfully, I no longer slept in the same way. Instead of falling asleep, I went into a restful trance that only required four hours to fully rejuvenate me. That meant that I had some small amounts of free time to myself to allow my mind some rest.
During the course of my training, Mace and I got much closer. He learned to communicate in complete sentences, with no hesitation or stumbling. He hadn't yet gained the ability to breathe fire, which wasn't unexpected. If I remember correctly, he wasn't likely to gain it for another year or two. Thankfully, with a steady and healthy diet, he continued to grow steadily.
About 10 months into my training, Artemis deemed me capable enough to have my own personal weapon forged. I was so excited to finally get my own unique sword. She sent me to Io, the only weaponsmith on the island capable of even smithing the brightsteel I brought to the city. Unfortunately, Io was being particularly stubborn about needing payment to forge for me, payment which I, obviously, did not have.
"Please, Io, this metal is unique. You will never get another chance to forge with it ever again if you refuse to work with my stash," I said pleadingly. I didn't know what else to do. Not only was no one else willing to help me, no one else was capable of helping me.
"Bah, I will not help you for free! I refuse!" she shouted angrily. This argument had been going on for almost an hour. At this point, Mace jumped in with his own idea, and to be fair, it was quite a good one.
Dude, there's enough metal for, like, at least two swords. Just give her whatever extra there is as payment. Such a super rare metal has to be valuable to her, right? he said as he blew steam onto my neck from his position on my shoulder. He was honestly too big for that now, but I didn't have the heart to tell him to stop.
That's… not actually a bad idea. However, I'm going to try to wrangle at least a little bit more out of her than just one sword though, I thought back to him, greed infused into my thoughts.
"Okay, okay, Io, I get it, you have to be paid. Fine. Take the extra metal as payment, but in return, I want a sword and a dagger forged especially for me from the metal. Agreed?" I asked, crossing my fingers behind my back. If this didn't work, I was going to have to give up. She held the large lump of purple metal I held out to her, judging the size, before she huffed.
"Humph. Fine! Fine! I will help you! Just stop nagging me. Is there anything else?" she drawled sarcastically. I had a sudden thought. I pulled out the shards of eggshell from Mace's hatching.
"Can you do anything to enhance the blades with these? They are pieces of Mace's shell from when he hatched. I've been holding onto them," I asked. Her nostril's flared and her face went red. I got the feeling I might have pushed too far.
"You stupid, stupid boy! This is dragonshell! And you've just been carrying it around?! Of course I can enhance the blade with a material so powerfully magical! Moron!" she screamed in my face before snatching the bag of eggshell from me and marching to the forge muttering about stupid boys. I followed behind her as she stormed over to the forge.
"So, how long until they are done?" I asked, eager to gain my new weapons. She spun to look at me, almost knocking me over. She stared at me for a moment, allowing the red to seep out of her face, and, presumably, the rage to seep out of her body. She took a deep breath.
"Firstly, with the amount of dragonshell you gave me, I can only enhance the dagger. Secondly, it will be a week before the sword is done, and another three days before the dagger is done. Now come with me, I need to take your measurements and see you wield both a sword and a dagger so I know what I'm working with. After that, you will leave me be until I bring your weapons to you. Is that understood?" she said, still a little angry. I nodded quickly and followed her, allowing her to observe me using the sword and dagger. My style was the same as that of the Amazons', as building your own style is far too difficult. I was reasonably skilled in the sword, but nowhere near good enough to make my own style. Io followed up by taking my measurements and shooing me off so she could get started. I left and went about following my routine.
The week finally ended and Io brought me my sword. It was a thing of beauty, with a scale-like pattern adorning the metal, edging from a darker purple to an almost lilac in the middle. It had a hand-and-a-half grip so it could be used with one hand or two. It came with a dyed purple scabbard the same color as the edge of the blade. There was even a large purple diamond embedded in the hilt to store magic in. It was perfect.
"What will you name her?" Io asked with something bordering on reverence. I thought for a moment. The perfect word from the Ancient Language came to mind. Even though the language technically had no power in this world, it only felt right as a nod to my heritage.
"Her name is Sverdorum, the Serpent Blade," I said, sure of my choice. Suddenly, Mace hopped from my shoulder and placed his claws on the blade. The sword exuded a bright light then dimmed down. Mace hopped back on my shoulder. I almost squealed like a giddy child. Mace must have just cast his first piece of magic. As a highly magical creature, he was capable of great feats of magic, but only at random, as he has no control over it.
What did you do to it? I asked.
It will now return to your hand whenever you're disarmed, and you can send it to a sort of dimensional storage until you want to summon it, he said, sounding smug. I had been teasing him about his inability to do magic on command recently, and now he was going to rub it in my face forever. I looked back at my new sword. Worth it, I decided.
Also, he continued, it has all the same enchantments as any other Rider sword from Inheritance Cycle. I tared at him in shock. I had never told him anything about the book series or the fact that everything around us had been fictional in my universe. He snorted and sent me a concept, one of brotherhood and camaraderie, a sort of sense of togetherness forever. I smiled at him. I would hold no more secrets from him.
A few days later, I had gotten used to my new sword. Due to being made of brightsteel, it was a bit lighter than a normal sword of similar size, so it had taken some time to adjust. Io had had enough time to craft my new dagger, and I was excited to see it after all the hype about enhancing it with the dragonshell. I had done some research, and she was right to be annoyed. Dragonshell is essentially magic in physical form, an ingredient so rare and powerful that many would kill me on the spot just for a chance at the material
Io brought me the dagger while I was eating lunch in my room in the palace. She handed me my dagger, already sheathed. She looked excite to see my reaction, a far cry from the grumpy woman that had refused to help me. I guess crafting must have lifted her mood a bit.
I unsheathed the dagger. Unlike my sword, it was one solid shade of purple, and it sparkled like it had been covered in glitter, which I assumed to be the work of the dragonshell. There was a slight bevel down the middle of the blade. The hilt had a small amethyst embedded in the hilt, but not nearly of the same size or quality of the diamond in Sverdorum. All in all it looked like a solid weapon.
"Wonderful work, Io. What benefit has the dragonshell granted it?" I asked, excited for my second magical weapon.
"I'm glad to tell you, boy, that the blade can have magic channeled directly into it. Any normal blade, even when made out of that fancy metal of yours, wouldn't be capable of bearing the power of magic running through it. With the help of the dragonshell, you can pour pure magic into the blade and make it sharper, heavier, lighter, or you can even imbue it with magical effects like lightning or fire. This, boy, is what a well-crafted blade looks like," she said, smiling a conceited smile. It was well earned. I tested it out by imbuing the blade with lightning. Crackles of electricity jumped from the edge of the blade to the tip. I could feel the dagger hum in my hand. It felt as if I was holding a live wire in my hand.
"Thank you, Io. It was everything I hoped for and more," I said, smiling genuinely at the blushing smith. She smiled back and patted me on the cheek.
"Why thank you, boy. Maybe you're not as bad as I thought. Goodbye you two. Keep him out of trouble, okay Mace? I'd hate to see all my work go to waste," she said as she left. I spluttered indignantly. Mace was more likely to get me into trouble than keep me out of it! Mace chuckled in my mind. He and Io got along far too well in my opinion.
I groaned as I got up out of my seat. I left my room, summoning Sverdorum as I did so. It was time to get back to training. Diana would be back to check on my progress and test my ability to fight alongside her in just two short months. I would not fail.
(A/N): And there's the chapter! A little bit longer this time. I think I'm kind of starting to get a feel for how to write a story like this, so chapters will (hopefully) increase in quality and length as time goes on. As always please follow or favorite if you enjoyed the chapter. Also feel free to leave a review, even if it is critical of my writing. I'd love to use you guys' feedback to increase the quality of my writing so you guys enjoy it even more. Next chapter will probably be the last introduction type chapter before we get into the events of the show. As always, hope to see you guys next chapter. EmperorCyanide, out!