Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

“HERMES!” I screamed. “You bloody b-“

“I’ll stop you there.”

I used all my strength to get out of his grasp and when I did, I gave him a kick which he managed to dodge by leaping out of the way.

“Why did you- bring me back there! Those people need-“

“NO! You can’t! Not yet anyway.”

“Excuse me?”

“I told you! If you against that guy no, you’re only going to die!”

“You don’t know that!”

“I do! Okay? Five years ago, one of my kids tried to kick him out of the island.” I calmed down at his voice and expression. He looked really sad as he said those words. “The bastard evaporated my son! Nothing was left of him! Not even dust. Since then, we stopped giving blessings to any of our children so they won’t get ideas of standing up against him and just die! Our powers worth shit in this world!”

“Hermes, I-“

“Don’t even think about returning there and causing trouble. I showed you the Island of the Giants so you know we’re not entirely disconnected from Afasia like you thought we were, but I don’t want you dying for our sake.”

“That’s not-“

“I don’t know what kind of power that guy has but with your current status, you won’t be able to defeat him.”

“We won’t know until we try.”

Hermes just looked at me with a pointed look. I gave him a questioning look in return and then shrugged.

“At least until you complete your training, and have passed the trials of the Pagoda Tower.”

I had a feeling I had no say in the matter.

“Fine.”

***

Time has finally come and my training was finally over. I was standing in front of the entrance of the Pagoda Tower which sat at the northern edge of Kunlun Island.

Pagoda Tower had a total of a hundred floors. It was sort of like a dungeon that was filled with monsters and magical items, but rather than going down and having a dungeon core, it was a magical tower that had all the possibilities of killing whoever ventured inside.

Every ten floors, a foreign god – no, an outer god (they argued to be called that), would be manning the floor and issue trials for the challenger of the tower. Not to mention there was a big chance one could die while inside it. I heard many once tried to challenge it. Some succeeded and led an amazing life then had their names placed in the flow of history. Others failed and returned outside with nothing, while some others were unfortunate to have lost their way inside or died inside and was never found again.

Anyway, the tower was actually in many human legends and fairy tales.

I remembered Andrea telling me a story about a hero who received incredible powers upon completing the trials of some place called the ‘Tower of Desvos’, named after a mythical and powerful ancient sorcerer called Desvos.

That same hero then went and killed monsters, saved people and established his own country. Andrea told me the story was based on the founder of Praiji Empire, Emperor Hein, and his merry band of friends.

Which included Elthesia when she still carried the name of Marii von Chrishni, now that I think about it.

There were a lot of theories and conspiracies about the existence of the Tower of Desvos, but I think the tower in question was actually the Pagoda Tower. Unfortunately (or maybe not), the tower was not really mentioned in the history of Praiji Empire nor in the story of its founders.

I suppose they kept its existence due to its location.

Another legend called it the Tower of Alchemy, due to the descriptions of amazing potions and medicine supposedly found in the tower. Those who claimed to have been inside swore they found otherworldly items when they explored the tower.

Athena told me they would let people challenge the tower every now and then, especially those who tried really hard to look for it. But once they failed or succeeded, the location and the name of the tower were erased in the minds of those challengers so the tower remained a secret to the humans of Afasia.

It wasn’t a bad strategy really. The Pagoda Tower is basically a way to train someone by being always pressured to the mindset of survival to the fittest.

They did say experience is the best teacher.

-I just really hope he’s in a Mars mood rather than an Ares one.

I sighed at the thought. Mars was Ares’ Roman counterpart, or so was I told. The Greeks seemed to have a Roman counterpart. Athena told me it was similar to having split personality, they were different yet the same.

I knew psychology, it was one of the things I excelled at and they weren’t kidding. One moment Hermes is all friendly and smiles, and would have this twinkle in his eyes that suggested mischief, and all of a sudden he’s more disciplined, logical and he wouldn’t hesitate bringing you down in hand to hand combat.

I also noticed it in Athena once. One second she was this regal and powerful battle strategist who could make all military advisors in Afasian history run for their money, and then she’s suddenly all nice, soft and would start teaching me about handicrafts.

Not one of my finest days to be honest.

It didn’t happen usually but it was nice to know the differences.

Anyway, as I stood in the entrance, steeling myself for the horrors I was about to meet, I couldn’t help but turn back to the people who were there to see me off. And to be honest, rather than being glad, I was quite pissed off.

“A hundred gold coins,” Thor quipped with his booming voice. “She’ll finish the challenge in two weeks.”

“That’s too long Thor.” Indra argued. “I bet a hundred and fifty gold coins she’s finish it in a week and a half.”

Yep! They were betting on how long I’d take to complete the challenge.

“I bet a hundred gold coins she’d fail.” Freya inserted which made me double take at the goddess.

-Is she for real?

“Don’t be mean love.” Ares said and kissed his lover. “I trained the kid, I don’t accept failures.”

-Wow. Thanks for the confidence teacher Ares, even if it’s in a twisted way.

I could only shake my head at what was happening behind me.

“Seven days.” a new voice chimed in. “I bet ten high class spirit stones she’ll finish the trials in a week.”

We all turned to the direction of the new voice and my eyes widened when I saw Buddha standing there. I did not know what to feel actually. For one I was glad he was out of his seclusion, but I wasn’t sure if I appreciated the fact that he just joined the betting the others were doing.

“Good luck in there Nyxtriel.” Xiwangmu said and gave me a hug. “Whether you fail or not, we will be here, waiting for you.”

I only nodded and gave her a thank you. I turned to the people I had been spending time with for the last five years for the final time, hoping to not die inside and be able to see them again.

I took a deep breath as I watched the entrance open up. After calming my mind and heart, I trudged inside, hoping for the best.