Rise To Annwn

Chapter 12 Strides

Pando spins the box he just pulled out and slots it onto his belt, he grabs his staff and extends it from the original shorten state.

He flicks his thumb flipping the box lid open. The box is a black box with a pirate skull on the cover that is on fire.

Inside the box were different colored cards.

Pando uses his index and middle finger to grab one, pulling it out soon it starts to emanate energy.

A Mandala, long ago people wanted an easier and stronger way of using Etheric. So some people thought of a great way, literature, they already know drawing a symbol made of Etheric can seal or increase someone's power, done right.

Mandala is a card or talisman with a symbol embedded inside of it. The symbol acts as a conductor or a restriction. It allows the user to command stronger spells quickly.

Pando takes one card out and proceeds to throw it on the ground.

"Shield mandala"

A transparent bubble appears around Pando. The beast attacks with a water breath attack, the bubble is not phased in one bit. The breath attack is reflected and hits a lighthouse completely cutting it in half.

Pando grabs two more cards out of his box. With a flick of his wrist, he throws the two in a straight line.

"Watergate Mandala times 2" Pando throwing his staff at the cards.

The card burst into dust releasing energy reshaping the dust into a gate. The staff flies through the two gates increasing its speed and power.

With blinding speed, the staff is sent into the beast's stomach.

Some Mandala can have a secondary effect like an eruption, where the energy stored in the Mandala can be fired in a controlled blast.

With a giant blast, the beast is taken down with one powerful attack.

"Oh no your not done yet, you are going to become one of my treasures"
Pando smirks, his eyes shining.

Pando takes a blank card out and reveals it to the dying corpse of the beast. The remaining parts of his body and energy quickly were sucked into the card along with its energy.

A double circle x shaped symbol appears on the marble showing the Leviathan was captured.

Leviathan can be captured once defeated in any object along as it has a Blank Seal placed on it.

Pando puts the card back into his box which he put back into his trench coat.

"Here we are now my much-deserved treasure"

Pando quickly and carefully takes the lock off, he peeks his head in to look inside.

"Wow!!! My gosh, it is beautiful!!!" Pando screams at the top of his lungs seeing the contents. He normally does not act this way but because this is the first venture he is really happy.

In the chest is a brand new staff, the new staff is completely black with white wave designs on it. Next to the staff is a treasure map with marked on it, all the treasure in Annwn, and finally a pile of gold.

"Hell yeah, I did it!" Pando shouts on a victory, jumping up for his first every venture ending up in loot and a leviathan.

His first real victory towards the goal he set for himself, he has taken his first real step towards finding all the hidden treasure on Annwn.

xxx

Back to Kitsune and Nekro, Kitsune was explaining the problems with the throne war. The empty throne is the throne the king left. In order to find his successor, he ordered his children to find who is the strongest out of the 15 and that person will be crowned King of the empty throne.

Problem fights happen regularly between royals causing people to flee and search for a new home because of the power of the royals. When fighting the energy is so great nearby areas are permanently damaged and lives are lost.

The real problem is Cynthia has yet to fight a royal bout making the cycle never ending. They don't know who is the strongest because Cynthia has yet to show them what she can do and other children keep trying to one-up each other.

With knowledge in mind, Nekro walks out the door with the two following suit. Now Nekro knows how to accomplish his goal. He now taking one step forward to that goal.

xxx

Sora now snapping back conscious from his brutal defeat. His body somewhat healed enough for him to gain conscious.

Ether can heal the body but needs time given the wound. Sora's body was completely messed up so he needed a day or longer.

His loss against Claire was just plain defeat.

But he was smiling, smiling like a big idiot he hated losing but he could not stop himself from smiling. Deep down he was happy. As a memory comes flooding back.

"Sora what is the most important thing in life" A memory of a conversation with him and his master flows back in into his mind.

"Skill and admiration"

"No, you idiot... That is so obvious It is drive and goal"

"What?"

"Drive, purpose, a goal. If you have this you can reach anything."

"How?"

"If you have no goal you nothing to strive for and such hit a plateau"

"No, you can train and push yourself then you can get stronger"

"True but what is the reason you push yourself"

"It is to... Ahhhhh"

"See you need a goal, a drive, something to push yourself beyond to become greater. If you don't have a drive you can't tear off the chains that limit your body and mind"

He was mad but also happy that his goal was still very far away, he has a lot more work to do and it is not going to be easy. He has a goal and a drive and Claire only reinforced it.

The day ends with two becoming more powerful then they could of imagine. But three who had taken their first real steps to a goal they would die for.

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Chapter 12 end

Authors Note

Sorry for the bad chapter I had to cram this into 1000 or slightly more words chapter. This chapter was probably the worst but was needed to set up things for the future.