The Goddess's Hero

Pitting the Truth

Skye's POV

That sick smile on Nero's face made me want to vomit. What have I just done? I wasn't given more time to wonder. A clanking sound drummed through the area and I turned towards the sound. A large brown bear ambled in the Pit with purpose. It held its head high and kept eye contact with me. I swallowed my fear down as the bear ambled over to me. I gripped the hilt of my sword and offered a silent plea to Jacqueline.

Please keep me alive.

I felt my shoulders tense and breathed deeply. It was better to fight relaxed. I took my usual stance and lifted my blade toward the creature. Sweat beaded down my temple and I forced my hands to stop shaking. It's just a bear.

I knew that wasn't the case though. That eagle wasn't just an eagle. The bear stopped in its tracks and stared at my weapon. Everything in my gut was telling me to put it away. I felt Nero's unwavering gaze upon me.

This was part of his trial. I had to kill this creature and whatever else came after it. Nero wasn't going to make this easy. I breathed in deeply again and brought my attention to the bear in front of me.

Just get it over with.

I sprang toward the bear and swung my sword towards it. The bear roared and brought itself up to two legs. It swatted at me and I ducked. I stabbed the bear in its knee and it came back down. I jumped backwards before it fell on top of me.

The bear landed on the sand and I stared as the sand under its paws began to harden into rock. The animal rose with the hill it created and I put my sword away. It wanted the high ground and could control earth. I took off my bow and noticed I had only picked up a couple of arrows earlier. I had to make every shot count.

Suddenly I felt a zip in the air. I ducked just in time. A large boulder zoomed towards my head from behind me. Oh. The bear had distracted me from his real threat. I tsked in annoyance. I should have seen that coming.

I jumped up and ran around the bear all the while dodging boulder after boulder. Sweat drenched my shirt as the pounding sun climbed higher into the sky. Finally, the bear stopped throwing boulders. He began raising his hill again and I immediately looked around.

A giant golem was rising from the sand. Oh no. I turned to face it as it pulled up a sword from the earth. My bow will do nothing against rock clay. I put it over my shoulder again and took my sword out. The rainbow glow turned white as I created wind swords to destroy the beast. They cut through him, but they didn't stop him from swinging his eight foot tall sword down right on top of me.

I fell to my knees as I blocked the blow. My arms shook with the ache of defending against the golem. He pushed down harder. I couldn't let this stop me. I pushed against the golem with all my strength and surprising myself stood up. I created another wind sword that cut the golems weapon clean in half. The golems head looked at me. I assumed anyway. He didn't have eyes.

Suddenly the golem broke down. The rock clay turned back into sand and I swerved to see that my wind sword had hit the bear in the face. I swiftly took my bow and arrow and shot the bear with my second to last arrow. It buried itself in the bears paw and the bear roared again.

I picked up the sword I had dropped and ran to the bear. I had to finish him. No matter how terrible this felt. I pushed through my aching and climbed up the hill. The hill began to transform at my feet. I slipped as sand became my foothold.

Two can play at that game.

I chanted the magic within my head and small rocks formed as handholds and footholds, allowing me access to the top of the hill.