Pa!

“Too slow.” Bam!

“Get up and fight again.” Sylvester, handing over some tough love to Xylena, trained her in the art of fighting. Being a Queen with only a single Grand Wizard to help her, he needed her to be able to defend herself. Although her major abilities were magical, he still tried to make her physically stronger. “Is that all you can do? Channel your inner rage and push beyond the boundaries. That’s how I was able to rise through the ranks without much training. Since the month I was born until now, I’ve been fighting for my life again and again,” Sylvester scolded her while swatting her around like a fly, making sure she felt powerless and weak. “Aaaaaa!” She lunged at him again with the treasured sword of her family, once belonging to her father. “But you’re a Supreme Wizard!” “I’ve killed Grand Wizards while being an Arch Wizard. You also practice Elder Magic, and beyond that, you know space magic, something I don’t. The wizard and knight ranks are not absolute, Xye. With enough training and planning, one can punch way above their weight,” he replied and showed her one of his new abilities. He increased the effects of gravity on her body. “Ugh… It’s hard to move.” “Exactly. If I wanted to, I could kill you right away without batting an eye. Simply with metal manipulation, I can puncture your heart. With electromagnetism, I can implode your brain and also control gravity. There are abilities beyond the basic elements that people master, Xye. You have space and Elder Magic; go crazy with them and train them to the peak.” Panting and bleeding from a few places, Xylena stared at Sylvester and tried to utilize her magic along with the sword. Quick on her feet, with one hand, she threw her sword at Sylvester, making him dodge as the blade flew past him. “Haaa!” But Xylena didn’t stop rushing towards him, and out of nowhere, her sword appeared back in her hand as she tried to swing it at Sylvester. Ting!

She struck him with her blade, using as much strength as she had in her body. Yet, all she heard was metal hitting something hard. The blade didn’t even make a dent in his clothes. Sylvester smiled and started clapping for her, “That was wonderful, Xye. That sort of ingeniousness is what I wish to see in a fight. Be unique and confuse your foes. However, against folks like me, there is no shame in running.”

Woosh!

Sylvester blew air from his mouth towards Xylena. It created such a strong gust of wind that she was thrown hundreds of meters away, forming a long trail of dust as she dragged her feet to stop herself. “Have you ever run away?” She asked, shouting from a distance. “I’ve spent a few years running from the late Shadow Knight. Remember, as long as you’re alive, you can have your revenge and accomplish all your goals. So, never let your pride and ego take over your mind,” Sylvester walked closer to her. “Kill, scheme, backstab, curse, cheat—do anything you can to gain an upper hand. Because I can tell you that your enemies will never go easy; they will do worse things to you than you might do to them.” She smiled, appreciating his lessons, “Is this a lesson of the brain or the brawn?”

“You’re too young, Xye. You have a lot to learn, and there isn’t enough time. At the speed I’m planning things, the world will be changing too rapidly once the engine of growth turns on. You will have to be ruthless and political, while not losing your humanity,” he said, giving her a warning about what was coming. “I can be firm, have morals, and dictate the order across the world because I have the strength to back it. Otherwise, I used to scheme a lot—still do.” She quickly saluted, “Understood! Win at all costs, as long as the cost is not me?” “Almost there, yes.” Sylvester relaxed a bit and removed the gravity suppression from Xylena. “Let’s go and check the Darkpit Sea again today. Your affinity with gravity is high, and control has significantly increased. I have no doubt you will be able to teleport one day.” Xylena’s lips curved into a big smile, her eyes appearing like a cat’s. “Hehe… Stab, stab, stab… I’ll win so easily with it.” “…”

Sylvester couldn’t help but chuckle and wonder what Xylena’s future would be like.

‘Perhaps I’m creating a monster… a pretty one at that.’ …

In no time, the two rode a bone dragon they borrowed from Emperor Raz, who was nearby. Flying over the blue ocean with its ever-changing weather, they ensured to stay above the clouds at least. “Why aren’t you flying, father?” “…”

Sylvester solemnly sat on the back of the bone dragon, arms folded while surveying the sea. “There are some treasures not all men are destined to carry, my daughter.” Xylena stared and saw the look of disappointment in his eyes. This was a first in her entire life, making her even more curious. But she focused on the sea to find the spatial distortion. “That’s a big fish!” “That’s just its head. The real body is big enough to devour three hundred three mast ships in one go.” Xylena shut her mouth, absolutely terrified of the sea they were flying over. The little outing with her father she enjoyed a little while ago started to seem like an anxiety-filled journey. “Can you sense anything?” “I can’t.” Silently, they flew around as much as they could and covered the sea. Sylvester tried to feel the concentration of solarium around them to find any abnormalities. But the problem was that the creatures were so massive that their collective energies confused his senses, making it hard to differentiate if it was a creature or an abnormality. Woosh!

Still, with a swing of his hand, he easily repelled the clouds away to get a better look. Being a Supreme Wizard, he could do many things, but entering that sea was still something he felt uncomfortable with. Gigantic octopuses, shark creatures, and so many strange things they saw from the sky. The Darkpit Sea was beyond salvation. But then again, it brought up the question as to why those creatures weren’t moving from the Darkpit Sea to the other areas.

“Let’s focus on the density of these creatures instead,” Sylvester decided and steered the bone dragon around. There was nothing much to do when traversing the ocean. For as far as one could see in all directions, there was just a blue ocean. It was boring, but they diligently tried to follow the creatures and compare their numbers in various places. “There!” Sylvester’s head turned to where Xylena suddenly pointed, “You felt something?” “Yes… like a force of attraction. Similar to what you made me feel that day.” Sylvester steered the bone dragon. ‘Force of attraction? Then, it could be similar to a portal. But technically, it should be spewing out matter, not taking it in.’

“Tell me when the sensation increases or decreases. Let’s pinpoint it today before heading back.” He lost all the drowsiness from the constant scenery of the sea and focused on his senses to feel the solarium change as well.

The creatures slowly began to change. Xylena led him in the right direction. Along with the numbers, the creatures appeared far bigger and seemingly swimming in a large circle. The farther they were, the bigger the circle became. And in that moment, Sylvester realized something. ‘All the creatures in this sea are circulating around this center. I only saw them from one place and didn’t notice it before.’ “There!” Sylvester again changed direction and swung his palm to remove all the clouds. The sea surface became even more clear, and the size of the creature left him and Xylena in horror.

Large enough to swallow even the Pope’s Palace in one gulp, it was a mix of a whale, shark, and a caterpillar. Disgusting and frightening, every single unique living thing in those waters was an abomination of nature itself.

“You want to go in there?” Xylena asked, feeling goosebumps on her skin. Sylvester kept steering and slowly but surely found what the center was. “I don’t have a choice.” At last, they arrived right near the center of the circulating creatures. There was a massive black hole in the sea, as if it was a bottomless well, kilometers wide, dark as an abyss with an unknown depth. The water of the sea was entering it, but where it was going was unknown. Only the creatures circulating around it were worth mentioning.

“Grand Wizards!” Sylvester exclaimed, feeling some sweat on his face. “Every single creature from the center to five hundred kilometers around it is as physically strong as a Grand Wizard.”

“They can kill you?” Xylena realized.

“No… Not unless they also possess high intelligence,” Sylvester replied, already plotting how he was going to enter it and find where the hole in the sea led. “Let’s return for now. I’ll start preparing to enter it later.”

He felt comfortable with returning since the creepy feeling in that area of the sea was unsettling. But it was a similarly long ride home, and thankfully, the bone dragon didn’t feel tired. “Father, who else will you be bringing along to explore that hole?” She inquired, wondering if there was any upcoming adventure. “Just me.” “But you’re the Pope.” “Just me, since I am the Pope,” Sylvester clarified. “We’re near the shore now. Remember to keep what we found a secret.”

“Understoo—”

BOOM!

Xylena’s voice was suddenly cut off as, out of nowhere, a deafening explosion echoed throughout the sky, and all the clouds were pushed away, followed by intense sound waves and heat waves brushing against their faces. “No!” Xylena cried out at the fright. Sylvester rushed forward, bringing the dragon down. “Jump to your castle and oversee the evacuation of the villages. I’ll keep Mount Eternal from fully detonating!” “Can you? It’s an ancient volcano!” “We’re called gods among mortals, Xye.” Sylvester held not an ounce of doubt in himself. “This is why.” ________________