He lost his heart. Shattered, torn apart by those who he loved... Those who he thought loved him. He gave up all hope of ever finding it again. Yet he did, but he would have never thought that he would have to go tens of thousands of years to the pa...
After stabilizing my cultivation level and learning more about this place, I retraced my steps until the intersection soon came within my sight. It was seconds later that I was walking down the other path, sensing the very faint and lingering presence of my butterfly guide, which had led Lì and the rest toward the object they wanted.
"Who are these companions, master??? Are they also other friends from the future?", asked Mael as he settled himself comfortably on my shoulder, careful not to clutch too tightly with his claws, his long blue tail swishing back and forth, noiselessly, in front of my chest.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
(A/N: How Mael sits on Percy's shoulder)
"Not from the future... I met them recently and am only really close to one of them." I responded as a warm grin spread across my face (don't know why) as I thought about a flustered Lì. "I enjoy teasing him and annoying the mind out of his friend. Apparently, he's from the enemy empire... Is that a problem for you? Would befriending someone from the enemy country who could be out to destroy this country cause any problems for you?"
"Not at all, master... Your allies are my allies and your enemies are mine. Also, this domain is not connected to your empire; as long as the required conditions are met, the same domain can open anywhere else."
"That's good because there is a small possibility that I could destroy this empire and I wouldn't want to force you to do something you weren't willing to."
After a few minutes of walking, I finally reached another huge door and from beyond, I could sense the presence of the object that I had been tracking. The thing that surprised me was that there were more than thirty people in there, excluding Lì, Bai Ze, and Bai Zou.
Just as I was about to touch the door, it pushed open, and I walked in to see people standing in a huge circle, all of whom held some weapon or another. I squeezed my way to the front to see Lì and the other two standing in front of a huge black stone pillar with their own weapons drawn. From what I could tell, they were trying to keep the others away from the pillar.
"HUBBY!", I exclaimed, catching their attention, and rushed towards them. "I thought I'd never find you!", I faked out a frightened voice as I flung myself at him again. Luckily, all the other thirty men were too surprised to react, giving me more than enough time to reach them.
Although I would have loved for him to give me one of his usual reactions, Lì wasted no time in pulling me towards him (much to my surprise), causing me to hit his chest, and pointing his sword protectively towards the others. Seeing his protective reaction, my heart skipped a beat.
What was that? I must just have been overcome with excitement or shock... Thinking that it was most probably adrenaline, I let it slip out of my mind. "What happened while I was away?", I asked softly, suddenly overly conscious that my face was smashed against his chest.
It was worried-looking Bai Ze who gave me the answer: "Well, we followed your butterfly here and stopped in front of that door, which opened soon after the butterfly slipped through the crack and we came in and saw the pillar, and the object, the rock on top of the pillar..."
Bai Zou had his twin swords drawn, ready to launch at anyone who so much as dared to take a step towards us. "We tried to pry it from the pillar but were unsuccessful, which was also when these people just appeared out of nowhere and since then we've been in a staring match, waiting for someone to make the first move."
It was then that I took a closer look at the pillar. It was magnificently carved out of obsidian and at the top, where it curled inward, sat an oval rock exuding Hades' aura. "Could you hold them off so that I can take a closer look?", I asked taking in the item with curiosity. Lì glanced at me before pushing me behind him, towards the pillar, "Try to be fast... We'll hold them off for as long as we can.", he responded gravely. I could see why he was worried, there were only two of them (Bai Ze was completely useless in this area) against thirty- not good odds for them, especially when their powers are restricted...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Mael, if things escalate, I want you to help them, so be prepared.", I whispered in a serious inaudible voice. I walked up to the pillar and controlled the waters to give me a boost up to the item, once there, I willed the waters to hold my weight mid-air as I stretched out my hand to touch the item...
It was just as I ran my hands across its smooth surface that I realized what it was, it wasn't a rock or stone... It was an egg, black with blue specks all over it, formed from the auras of Poseidon and Hades. "What is this???", I enquired to Mael, as I held on to it with both hands and gave a tug...
"It's a special beast egg, master..."
"So like it will hatch into a bird with Hades' power??", I let out a grunt as I increased my strength trying to pull out the egg from the pillar, without crushing it. The damn thing wouldn't budge!!!! It was as though the pillar was magnetic and attracting the egg to it. I willed the power of the sea to course through my palms and tried again only for the egg to move slightly and stop...
"It doesn't work that way, Master... Since it is formed from both the powers of Lord Poseidon and Lord Hades, only if you use both powers simultaneously, can you remove it from the pillar...", I nodded and followed his instruction, willing the power of the sea into my right palm and that of the underworld into my left, after which I again pulled...
"And it doesn't necessarily have to be a bird, master. Beasts are formed by two methods, one is procreation where an existing beast gives birth to another, and the other is artificial formation, where the godly aura combines to form an egg from which any animal will hatch out... It could range from a bird to a cat or an insect or even a bear cub...", he continued to which I absentmindedly nodded as the egg slowly loosened from the pull of the pillar, and with one final tug, it came off, the force I used almost caused me to fall...
The egg which had originally been huge enough that it needed both hands to hold, started to shrink until it was small enough to fit into my palm. It was then that I noticed some blood on the shell of the egg that seemed to seep into it, I must have cut myself at some point, somehow, but I shrugged it off and slipped the egg into my space, using the bag as the cover before jumping back down beside Lì with a smug look on my face.
I was just about to ask Lì for a compliment when I felt a rush of wind, and before I could comprehend what had happened, I saw a man appear in front of the crowd, holding my bag...
(A/N: A beast egg (something I came up with) is basically the qi which gathers to form an oval-shaped protective layer (similar to an egg) within which the beast forms and 'hatches', i.e. the protective layer of qi sort of bursts, leaving behind the baby beast. Whichever qi/ godly aura makes up the layer will determine which beast it will be. It's not an actual egg, just takes the shape of one.)
