Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

My journey inside the tower was quite, eventful – for the lack of word. Monsters started getting varied the higher floors I got. I faced wood monsters, golems, salamanders, undead, etc. But if course, those monsters were basically the side dishes when facing the trials of the Pagoda Trial.

On the twentieth floor, which still had the setting of an underground tunnel, I was met with Ares, whom I wasn’t expecting to be there, and was tasked to protect his chariot from a murder of crows for twenty-four hours. Of course, the crows weren’t normal crows; they could fling metal feathers that could pierce through rocks and wood.

The twenty-first to the fortieth floor had the setting of inside a volcano; there were lakes of lava, the temperature was unbearably hot and there were random spots where geysers would shot up. On the thirtieth floor, I was met with Bakunawa, a serpent-like dragon creature who was said to cause eclipses back in its universe. The task was simple, slay it. I succeeded in doing so but at the cost of a few burns and cuts from its horns and teeth.

On the fortieth floor was Agni, a god of fire from his universe. His task sounded quite simple, deliver a letter within three days, but when I thought it was easy, I was proven wrong when monsters started targeting me on route. I was thankfully able to deliver the letter in two and a half days so it was a success.

The forty-first floor was a forest, all the way to the sixtieth floor. On the fiftieth floor, I was given the task by Sun Wukong (the blasted monkey he is); find the real him within twenty-four hours in the sea of his clones. Now he could make clones out of his hair so while looking for him, I was quite worried about his hair count. I found him, the real him, inside a cave, chugging a jar of wine.

-What does my sister see in this guy?

Thoughts aside, I managed to give him a good talking regarding drinking too much alcohol. Not that he needed it.

The sixtieth floor was manned by Frey. In his universe, he was a Norse god like Thor, and had power over peace, fertility, wealth, rain, summer, and sunshine. He was a gentle god from what I could tell and his challenge was surviving for three days in his monster-infested sea of woods.

Not exactly hard to do with my stocked up experience.

The sixty-first to eightieth floors were set on islands. Ugh! It was torturous, just like the volcano cavern. The heat was overwhelming and despite my love for the sea, sea monsters were really not my cup of tea.

On the seventieth floor was one of my mentors; Susanoo no Mikoto, who had the strangest challenge.

“You have to prepare at least a satisfactory dinner for me. Of course, your deadline is before the moon reaches its peak in the sky. What cuisine you’ll prepare, is up to you.”

-O…kay?

One problem though, I wasn’t really a good cook. In fact, I couldn’t even cook to save my life! Last time I was in the kitchen before the trial, I was attempting to cook a boiled egg but the pot and the egg itself was set on fire. I remembered the look of shock, fear and amazement in the eyes of my mentors, friends and the nymphs.

I didn’t even know how it happened. It just started burning all of a sudden.

In the end, I managed to make seafood dishes, considering there was nothing else. I knew it was a task set by my mentor, but Susanoo had been cooking some of my meals ever since he became my mentor. He was a really good cook and he often mentioned how seafood was his favorite and that he was inspired to learn how to cook because of someone dear to him. Susanoo ate it with… vigor (I suppose is the right word) and finished his portion.

“It was satisfactory.” he said with a smile. “There are a few things that need improvement, but the most important ingredient was present; heart. You did good in this task Nyxtriel. You might not be a Michelin-star material but that’s not what I’m looking for.”

“Wow. Uh… I don’t know what to say.”

-What’s a ‘Michelin-star’?

I didn’t really voice that one out.

“Next time you cook though, try not to kill someone.”

My task with him ended with laughs and he sent me in my merry way.

The next god I faced was Poseidon in the eightieth floor. I knew of him, of his name, but in my stay in Avalon Isles, I had never seen him around. Athena once told me her uncle was fond of spending his days under the sea in the mortal realm. I was pretty sure the deep oceans had like, a lot of sea monsters, so I didn’t really know how it worked for him to stay there and remained alive.

The man had a dominating stance; tall, broad-chested, and his arms looked like he could bend me in half without much effort. His sea-green eyes reminded me of a certain white-haired cursed prince I left in Praiji, so I spent most of my time with him around avoiding his eyes.

“I was summoned rather urgently so I was not able to prepare your task thoroughly.” he said with a booming voice. “Therefore, I’m going to pull a Hera.”

“Uhm… what?”

He pointed to one of the islands in the seemingly endless ocean with his trident. “At the peak of the tallest mountain-island of this floor is a golden tree. Bring me a dozen of its fruits and you shall pass my task. Beware, there is danger lurking around the tree. You have seven nights to bring the fruits in my yacht.”

Without further ado, he vanished in an explosion of bright light.

-He could’ve just said I have a week to complete my task. And what the hell is a yacht?

I looked around and spotted a lone white err… boat-looking transportation not that far from me. It looked like a ship, only smaller, more sophisticated and definitely not made of wood like most ships I knew. I focused my eyes, to get a better look, and saw Poseidon sitting at the edge of the ‘yacht’ with a cool looking seat and a fishing rod beside it.

“He’s like the older, deadlier and grumpier version of Peter.” I commented.

After getting a few hours of rest, I began my journey to the highest mountain-island in the floor. It was not an easy journey.

When was it ever?