Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 420: Chapter 420: Strange Creeping Ice

Chapter 420 – Strange Creeping Ice

[Sometimes I wonder if I have made the right choice by blessing you.] Artemis said to Emrys as he walked through the Nest of Worms, passing through dead corpses and strange flies.

The whole surrounding was painted in grass as high as buildings, green and black, covering them on all sides.

To walk forward, Emrys needed to cut the grass with his wind constantly. It was no wonder that Naia got lost in such a terrible environment.

And the woman herself was sitting like a princess in the storm cloud, not knowing what exactly to feel.

’Why?’ Emrys replied to his goddess, listening to Naia’s instructions while choosing a direction, ’I did exactly what you said: I actually took the time to think.’

[You took the time, you said?]

’Around a few seconds but that has to count for something, hasn’t it? And after thinking about it, I didn’t see any reasons why I should not accept to marry.’ Emrys said in his mind, his steps causing waves of lightning to slither across the earth and kill any worm trying to attack them. ’I have no one, and I am at the age of marrying.’

[You don’t know her, Emrys. And you didn’t even ask her opinion. Didn’t you say you will listen?]

’I mean, she proposed it, not me. And I will learn to know her. I am doing it right now.’ The Chosen One ended the conversation there, focusing on Naia who was going through a kind of surreal feeling at that instant.

"How did you learn the language you are speaking?" Emrys asked, now more serious. After all, this concerned the matter of the suitcase.

"The god taught us the language." She said after a moment, then followed, "He called it the Tongue of Old."

"How did that god do that?"

"I don’t know. I am simply saying what the shaman had said about it."

"What else, then?" Emrys continued his questions, feeling like there were so many things he didn’t know at that moment.

Suddenly, he wanted to leave the Academy and travel the whole world, and discover things for himself. In all modesty, which he didn’t care to have, the academy could not teach him anything he couldn’t learn by himself.

He was better than all of them combined. In simple terms, it was useless to him. The only thing that made the Academy interesting was Cassius, and that made the man the only reason he hadn’t left yet.

He still needed to get back his win from the Entrance Test, after all.

And after that...

’The Amaris.’ Emrys thought coldly, his eyes flashing as he remembered that day with Anesthesia, ’Fleeing towards the Desdemona will not help you. You will pay the price, and that even if the Desdemona want to protect you.’

That would be a great way to pay back Cassius. And...

[...to kill him.] Artemis said plainly, without hesitation, [and I will let you take the time to think why you should kill him. Only when you know why, only when you have internalized the reason will you be able to do it.]

’He is my nemesis, isn’t he?’

[He is more than that, Emrys. He is a Desdemona, from Desdemona. I would not leave any descendant of Desdemona alive, for they are all sources of danger to us.] Artemis continued, [which means a source of danger to you.]

The goddess paused, watching Emrys slaughter yellow worms with beetle-like carapaces on their bodies with a click of his fingers, then continued, her voice solemn

[You want your mother to heal, don’t you? There are many ways to do it. You can go to Kruppe Kingdom and find The Dreamer, he will tell you where the Tree is, with a price. Or you could destroy everything of the Hood, and take the Origin Pool of Death.]

’But why death? I don’t understand?’ Emrys said, half listening to Naia who was slowly becoming more open.

[Life and Death.] the Virgin Goddess said, [Two sides of the same coin. If you get the Origin Pool of Death, you will glimpse Life, and if you glimpse it, with your nature, you can take Life within you. And with that Life, you will give back the Life you have unconsciously stolen from your mother.]

’Will that change anything with my relationship with her?’ He asked, his voice a bit meek.

Artemis sighed and slightly shook her head. [That, I cannot know. But what I do know is that there is still a chance of her loving you, or at least not hating you if you give her what she has lost, and more.]

’So it’s worth trying.’

[It is.]

Emrys nodded, saying nothing more. He didn’t know that this solution was possible, but he was not foolish enough to try it immediately.

He needed to talk about it with the Elders of Heavens. If all 7 of them were ready to fight...added to his father...then maybe it could be done.

’Maybe I should wait until I am done with all of that to marry.’

"Are...you listening to me, Emrys?" Naia said, snapping Emrys back to the current situation. He turned, looked at her, and her cat-like yellow eyes were so beautiful and beastly that Emrys forgot all the heavy thoughts and goals.

"Say my name again? The way you say it is so perfect."

Naia smiled wryly, "you were not listening, were you?"

Emrys realized his blunder, and immediately shook his head, "Sorry, I was thinking of something. Tell me again, I promise to listen."

The woman looked at him, then eventually nodded, "I said the Tongue of Old was taught by the god. But not only that, everything we know came from him. And from what the Shaman had said, we are not from this place."

Naia looked at Emrys, feeling strangely safe with him. No worms had attacked them until now, and she knew why when she saw Emrys’s feet.

He was killing them all by simply walking.

How strong was he? It was impossible he was only at Second rank. The Shaman was second rank but not nearly as strong as he was.

She was becoming more fascinated, especially because this was the first time she met someone outside her tribe.

"If you are not from here," Emrys said, voice curious, "Then where?"

"Dark continent." She said in a tone that sounded like she was repeating words she herself didn’t understand, "Have you heard of it?"

"I did, yes." Emrys nodded, "That’s quite far from here. Very far, even. I have heard that the sea routes to go there are just impossible." He narrowed his blue eyes at her, "Why did you come here from there?"

"I don’t know that. I wish I knew. I have heard a lot of things about that place. Maybe one day I will go there?" Naia said softly, then in her mind, ’if I survive today, then tomorrow, then the next coming days.’

Suddenly, it felt like it was quite impossible, but she kept faith.

Looking around, she noticed that they were now walking on a strange path, a path where the ground was covered by patches of grass poisoned by ice.

The temperature began to drop.

Emrys frowned. Snow in the Heartland? That was quite impossible.

"We are close." Naia said, now her fear returning to the fullest, "we are very close to the abode of god!"

Emrys didn’t need to be told that. He could feel a rather strong presence just ahead of him, in the pit made of frost a couple of steps from them.

He breathed, and noticed that his breath was freezing. Then he lifted his hand, clenching it. Emrys’s frown deepened.

’Why...do I suddenly feel weak?’

He thought as the two of them reached the very edge of the pit, peeked inside, and they saw nothing but a tunnel of frost with no end in sight.

Naia stepped down from the storm cloud, standing beside Emrys, hands clenched. She was shaking. And whether it was because of the abnormal cold or fear was lost to Emrys.

But he grasped her hand all the same, giving a faint smile, "You are with Emrys Stormblessed. You have nothing to worry about."

Without waiting for an answer, and without hesitation, Emrys grasped Naia and jumped down the pit, protecting the two with clothes of lightning to fend off the frost.

It barely helped.

They traveled down for a period of time unknown to the two. It was so cold that it seemed that time itself was under the same effect...frozen.

And the more they went down, the more the pressure rose and Emrys got an intense feeling building inside his chest.

It didn’t take them long to finally see the ground. It was white, different from the blue they had been used to, yet the white was abnormally wrong.

"We have arrived!" Naia cried out, all of this was the same scene the shaman had described to them.

"Hold me tighter." Emrys said, face dead serious, and just then his feet crashed down on the white ground with impact.

And yet nothing happened, the ground was perfectly fine, as if unable to be broken.

The moment they reached the ground, Naia let out a startled, fearful and high pitched cry, body shaking even more despite the lightning around her to protect her.

Emrys turned his head to where he was feeling a pressure, and saw something he had rarely seen in his own life.

The creature was profoundly black, with black fire coiling through the length of its body like a snake wrapping around it.

Everything of it was the same color. It was lying down on the ground, looking exactly like a hound, but 6 times bigger than normal ones, claws sharp and big.

Its mouth was slightly opened, and inside was a world of black fire. Its eyes were transfixed on them, confusion and anger clear upon it.

There was a throne made of ice inside that space, but the creature was underneath the throne. And around it were hundreds of bones, but even more disturbing were the heads frozen in some kind of ice, for Emrys wasn’t sure if it was indeed ice, and hung behind the throne like some esteemed prize.

"Mother...sister...Jaya...they..." Naia muttered in pure shock, looking surely at the heads of her family and friends displayed in such a way.

Her legs went weak.

"You have taken your time, sacrifice." The creature said, voice unlike anything he had ever heard, and Emrys realized it was speaking Jola. "But who is this..." its voice turned deadly, "...human?"

Emrys gathered himself fast, his power churning inside of him, dangerous and untamed, "I am known as the Chosen One." He said, "but for the likes of you, I prefer to be known as the Hunter."

The beast cocked its head, and the pressure intensified.

[Here is your task, Emrys.] Artemis suddenly said, [This is the beast I wanted you to hunt, Emrys. This is your target. Kill him.]

’What is this monster?’

[A Hellhound. Surely a beast that has escaped, somehow, the Underworld.]

Emrys’s eyes widened slowly. ’You—!’

"EMRYS!!"

[FOCUS!]

The creature struck.

—End of Chapter 420—