The Goddess's Hero

The Transformation

Skye's POV

Sweat soaked my skin. Breathing was laborious. My muscles begged for the end, challenging my will to go on. My will won. I ran to my left in the obsidian night. A small white feather flew down to my right and I whipped around lifting my sword to block the attacker. Josephine scowled in response and put all her strength into the attack. I was lucky I didn't fall to my knees. I forced my legs and arms to stay up. Sweat fell in my eyes, burning them. I blinked it away and Josephine's presence vanished once again. In her place were a thousand lances pointed in my direction. Simultaneously, they lunged. I didn't have time to chant the shield spell; instead my mana flowed through me instantly understanding what I needed. Each lance tried to break through my shield, but I made it more and more durable. Finally, the onslaught ended and the lances disappeared. A white feather fluttered behind me and I spun around quickly once again without releasing my shield. Josephine pounded on it and I smirked through my trembling limbs. 

"You won't get through, Goddess!" I promised. She raised an eyebrow at me and then peach light aura surrounded her body. For some reason, I wasn't afraid. I trusted in myself as her peach light rotated around my shield. I knew from Jasper that her peach light only made things invisible so when my shield disappeared, I trusted what I felt in my gut. My soul was still out there and it was strong. My sweaty hands tightened their grip on my sword. I then held a stance in order to fool her. 

It worked. 

She laughed and jumped above me thinking that I had lowered my shield. I smirked as she came down hard and was pushed back a few yards. I lowered my shield then powered up my sword with wind slashes. I didn't have time to think about it before I quickly commanded the earth around Josephine to trap her. She burst through and I let my wind swords fly. They came easily to me now and didn't feel like they were draining my mana. In fact, my shield hadn't felt like it was draining my mana either. She blocked them but in the mean time, I grabbed my bow and arrow on my back and silently pulled the string back. I let the arrow fly as soon as Josephine barreled through my wind magic. She didn't have a good reaction time and my arrow burrowed itself between her eyes. She fell backwards onto her butt. I let my guard down with a smile on my face as she ripped the arrow from her head and peach blood ran down her face. 

"Not cool, Josie. Not cool." Jasper laughed as Josephine spluttered and vehemently replied, 

"Well, at least I've done my job!" 

Light returned to the Underworld as Jacqueline floated down from above. 

"Oh really? You think he's ready?"

Josephine stood up and gripped my shoulder. "Are you ready?" Her eyes held a serious tone and I reacted. 

"Yes, sir." Pain snapped my head to the side. "Did you just slap me?" I asked incredulously. 

"I am not a man!" She fumed before turning towards her sister. "You heard him, Jacqui. He's ready." 

"But this is Nero---"

"And I'm Josephine, Goddess of Love and Power! I have the strength that Nero gave to me. I have trained this mortal to the best of my ability. He has proven his readiness." 

I reached over and grabbed Jacqueline's hand. Her lilac eyes met mine and my heart pounded.  

"It's been two months since I completed all of the Trials, Jaq. Even if I wasn't ready, I have no more time to waste. I must become a Demigod and stop Nero." She saw the seriousness in my eyes and her shoulders slumped. 

"I just don't want to see you get hurt." A single tear fell from her eye. I wiped it away. 

"Of course I'll get hurt, Jaq. But you give me life." My heart continued to pound but my voice remained strong. "I trust you, Jacqueline." 

Her eyes hardened in motivation. "You can count on me." 

Josephine, Jasper, Jacqueline and I gathered around each other. 

"For Comwen." We raised our fists in the air. "For Amber." We brought them back down. "For each other." We  gripped each others wrists to make a square and held on tight. After a moment, Jacqueline took a deep breath, opened the portal to the Isle of The Blessed and we marched slowly in. 

Before I could march in, Jasper pulled me to the side. All humor was gone. 

"Skye," He paused searching for the right words. I remained silent. "You aren't allowed your weapon when you are in the Pool of The Blessed." There was an ache in his throat. I rested my hand on his shoulder. 

"I'm going to be okay. I trust you guys. But what will happen with you? Nero knows that I have the Healing Fire in my blade." I felt stupid for not thinking about this earlier. Jasper's eyes hardened. 

"It doesn't matter what happens to me. What he did to Amber is unforgivable. I will see him fall and it will be today and I will be there to watch you do it." 

"What if I fail?" I whispered. 

"Skye, you are the son of Demigod Royalty. You have immense power at your disposal that Nero is unaware of. You won't fail." His words gave me courage and I unbuckled my sheath and handed it to him. He took it with grace and buckled it to himself. "I'll be there." He promised. I nodded. 

"Let's go." 

The Isle of The Blessed was as beautiful as the entrance to the Underworld. We followed a path of carnelias which then entered into the green blue pool. Nero, Nyle, and Nikolai were already there. They stood at the edge of the pool seemingly awaiting my arrival. Josephine, Jacqueline, and Jasper also surrounded the pool. 

"Enter." Nero's command was silky and obeying it made me want to vomit. 

Slowly, I walked into the pool until I was in the very middle. The water came up to my chest. Mud floated around my body as I had moved into the pool, now hiding my lower half. I looked up to see the deities were in a perfect circle around the pool. Each had a glowing aura. Nero's was light green, Nik's was dark green. Nyle was light blue, Josephine was peach pink color. Jasper hid my sword and with it, the Healing Fire. He used it to surround himself with an orange aura. Nero said nothing about it. Jacqui's aura was teal. 

I watched as they held hands and their colors zipped together until each deity had a colorful halo around their head. They all took a breath at the same time and released each other's hands. Their colorful halos shone white. I put a hand over my eyes in order to block the blinding light.  Tendrils of light floated toward me from each deity. 

"AGHH!" I screamed as light crawled over my body. Burning sensations traveled through my whole body as the light took over my senses. It continued to burn and I thrashed within the pool. "STOP, STop, stop." I began crying as they continued their onslaught of my body. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. I wanted this fire to end. The pool itself was my enemy as what appeared to be seaweed tangled itself around my ankles, leaving no room to maneuver. 

I don't know how long my body was electrocuted, but I never passed out. I wasn't allowed to. The light burned through my mortality the way it burns through the ozone of Comwen. It created new life. It opened up more power within my entire being. After the light flickered and faded, the shocking sensations twitched my body around the pool for what felt like forever. I then commanded my body to stop moving. It stopped immediately and I breathed in water, fire, air, and life. I sucked it all in.

The foliage in and around the Pool of The Blessed withered and died as I breathed in. 

"Watch out!" Came at me from every angle but one. Jasper threw my sword and I caught it without opening my eyes. I felt the sharp wind of a powerful weapon coming toward me faster than lightning, but slower than my senses. I opened my eyes to see who I had blocked. 

Nero's enraged face gave me an incredibly sick satisfaction. I jumped out of the pool. 

I didn't wait before clashing my sword with his.

                                                                                              End of Book 1