Chronicles of the Red Sovereign

Poseidon’s trial was not as easy as it sounded. Sure, I only had to gather like a dozen fruits from a golden tree but the way to get there was treacherous and dangerous. It was very unforgettable it’s not hard being poetic about it.

I faced sea monsters (the Kraken was definitely on crack) and these metal bees that shoot something out from their tails. I was pretty sure it wasn’t magic and the bullets were like highly concentrated energy; like my fox fire, only it was shot on a straight line and could go through things, like my body.

-I heard Bernard talk about these things before back in the Imperial Academy; he was planning on making some. He called them robots. And I think what those ‘robots’ are shooting is something he called ‘lasers’.

I had always thought Bernard as strange, especially with his ideas. I had always wondered where he got them since they seemed… out of this world.

Good thing though, I found their weakness; the little red core on their heads.

Fortunately, I succeeded my task but with a lot of injuries.

“Here’s your stupid fruit.” I said to Poseidon as I boarded his ‘yacht’.

-I still don’t get why it’s called a yacht. What is even a yacht?

“It’s not stupid especially when it’s magical.”

I could only grunt and rest against the wall of the small ship. I tried to regain my breathing as my healing abilities kicked up.

“Here.” Poseidon said and handed me one of the golden fruits, a golden apple. “It’s effects are much different in this world but it has good healing properties. It’ll speed up your healing by a lot.”

I stared at him for a few seconds before accepting the fruit, and then stared at the fruit,

“Don’t worry, it’s not poisonous. Of course, mortals can’t really eat it but you’re no longer one so I guess you won’t evaporate when you do take a bite.”

“Excuse me?”

“Take a bite and get some rest. I’ll bring you to the doors that will get you to the next floor. You are obviously exhausted.”

I was still a bit skeptical at the fruit but then I saw him take a bite of one of the other fruits so I took a bite of mine as well. When I finished the golden apple, I strangely felt fresh but then sleepy. My eyes were very heavy and I slipped into unconsciousness.

When I woke up, I was no longer in Poseidon’s small ship and was instead in front of a pair of pillars with a yellow vortex-like thing swirling in between it. Poseidon was nowhere to be found.

“He didn’t even say goodbye.” I shrugged. “He is a cool guy. I wonder if I’ll see him again.”

***

“Oh you have got to be kidding me.”

The ninetieth floor, where Odin was in charge, was a classroom; a classroom with fancy desks and what he called a whiteboard. It was very different from the sky castle theme the last ten floors had going.

“Ah, you’re here. Good. Take a seat.”

I glanced at the enormous classroom and was deciding where to sit since there were a lot of available desks. I mean, I was the only other person inside, so there was bound to be a lot of vacancy.

“Uh… what is your challenge, Odin?”

“Something very different from all the trials you’ve faced so far. We won’t need the swords dear, you can put them away.”

I put my twin swords away, which I noticed to have started getting chipped away.

-I need to talk to a blacksmith after this. Or maybe I should get new swords.

Odin was a tall man with a golden eyepatch. There was this twinkling in his eyes which reminded me of scholars; people who always searched for answers they want. And according to Thor’s stories of his father, Odin exchanged one of his eyes for wisdom.

I sat in the desk nearest to his table, which I noticed to be a teacher’s table, and made myself comfortable there. All of a sudden, two wooden poles sprouted from the floor not that far behind me and two huge ravens flew towards it and perched on it.

“I suppose they’re Huginn and Muninn, thought and memory, your precious ravens.” I commented while eyeing the ravens that seemed to be looking at my very soul.

Well, not really but it felt like it.

“Oh, you know of them?” Odin asked with a smile on his face.

“Thor is… quite the storyteller.”

“Ah, yes. If he is not fighting the foes of Asgard he does like telling stories on his free time.”

“So, uh what will your trial be about?”

Odin looked at me with a smile on his face.

“Knowledge. I want to test how much you know about many things; politics, history, folklore, etc.”

-O…kay?

“Just to be clear, we’re talking about Afasia right?” I asked for clarification.

He only smiled at me and then gave me a test booklet with an answer sheet.

“You have three hours to complete the exam. My ravens will guard you and see you did not cheat.”

Before I could even retort, he already had his nose on a book.

Seriously, I didn’t think I could even cheat since I never really studied nor knew there was going to be such a challenge inside the Pagoda Tower.

-I guess this is why Xiwangmu said the tower can be unpredictable. But seriously? A written exam? And is this… economics? Oh my gods.

Suffice to say, I managed to snag an eighty percent in the exam which was quite the decrease when compared to my performance back in the Imperial Academy.

Well, the exams in the Imperial Academy did not involve knowledge about a whole other universe and we did study the coverage of the exams beforehand.

“I suppose this is acceptable.” Odin commented while scanning my answer sheet. “The last time people found themselves in my classroom was about two hundred years ago. I think you’re quite familiar with them since one of them was your sister. Of course, since she had knowledge of our world her exam was quite… different.”

“Oh.”

It was the only thing I could say.

“You can proceed to the next floor. I warn you though, the last challenge will be the most difficult and most dangerous. And oh, I hope you don’t mind storms.”

Storms were an understatement.

The moment I stepped inside the ninety-first floor, I was immediately drenched by the heavy rain in less than two minutes. The setting was still akin to a sky castle, but the skies were filled with dark clouds and had lightning churning within them, ready to strike once given the chance.

I could already guess who I was going to face once I get to the last floor;

“Zeus.”

The moment I said the name, thunder rumbled loudly and lightning struck the tree only five meters away from me.

-Right. Names have power.