THE RISE OF THE VETERES

I FORGOT ABOUT MY LITTLE SISTER

After Helen woke, we had breakfast and continued to move. This time, we walked for hours in silence, unlike before where weird noises were occasionally heard, nor a pack of monsters in our way. It felt too similar to talking a night walk with a cool breeze.

I saw Helen drop her shoulders and light up a little. "It's been peaceful, hasn't it Yi?"

"Yeah, I hope it stays that way."

"Mm. I don't feel like fighting. Can we just run away?"

"If we can, sure. Haven't been able to so far, though. Let's hope we never run into anything."

And on that note, we run into something. A massive bull.

It was sleeping only some feet away from us. Thankfully, the beast was asleep. Which let me gaze at the beautiful scenery around it without dying.

I was now in some grassland - where the grass was blue yet again(what happened to normal green grass?). The minerals in the walls reflected this color, and there seemed to be an opening above us that let light pass through. And the grassland stretched on forever. Everywhere I looked, I was surrounded by impressive hues of blue. It felt so surreal, and I would have stopped to just take it all in if there wasn't a giant bull grunting nearby.

We tried tiptoeing past the bull, but it just had to wake up midway after Helen stepped on a branch. Ugggggggggggggh.

Elena and I went our separate ways as the bull tried ramming into us. Helen got off of me and immediately whipped out her bow. "Please don't tell me I woke it up."

"You woke it up." I rolled out of the way as the bull charged again and drew my sword. "Hey, sis, can you fight?"

Helen looked up and nodded. "I'm still a little dizzy. Distract the bull for me, ok? I'll try to shoot him in the head as fast as I can."

"Anything for you, little sis."

"Don't disappear again, then."

That was abrupt. I turned around, but Helen was already gone. Her voice...there was nothing but bitterness in it. Did I also sense resentment?

I used shadow travel to go behind the bull and strike it from the rear. I badly underestimated its agility. The bull parried my sword with one of its horns, and knocked me back.

Confession time. I wasn't good with spells like Elena was, so I didn't use them, except when it came to recovery. My shadow manipulation allows me to make stuff with "darkness," so I didn't need magic to create items. But doing so helped me to control my power, as they felt similar to casting a spell. And stopping time wasn't all it was cracked up to be, at least for me. Hades's powers worked on everyone and everything, but Kronos's didn't - especially not on ultra powerful monsters or gods. That's why Mei's been training me on anima utility. Hopefully, that gets me out of this.

The bull charged. I transformed my body into a shadow and watched as the beast rammed into a wall. I hopped on its back and drove my sword deep into its hide. Helen shot a volley of arrows while Elena went to work, impairing the creature's legs. But the bull still had some fight left.

It slammed itself and me into the wall as hard as it could. Hitting the ground knocked the wind out of me. My right arm...I wouldn't be able to use it for a while.

I found the bull staring down at me, but Helen fed it another volley of arrows before it could do anything. The bull went on its knees as Elena finished it off.

I felt the essence of the bull enter me, the energy going towards mending my arm. What a handy sword. That's what, four times it saved me now?

As I was about to sheathe my sword, I saw that the bull's body was still there. Why didn't it disintegrate? I prepared myself, but Elena raised her hand.