Twilight of a Hybrid, стр. 52
“That’s the point, Valverno,” said Sora. “I need to make sure who my leader is and who he is fighting for. I need to be sure I am fighting you. I don’t want to be fighting for someone else. You are the son the Ruler of Gods, making you Prince of the Gods. You outrank all kings, queens, princes, princesses, emperors, rulers, and all royal titles there are. You outrank all the royalty in this world combined; therefore you are the true ruler of every acre of land and sea.”
“Alright, since you’re here, you’re going have to make do with evolved beings.”
Sora looked passed Valverno’s wings and looked at the three creatures behind him. “Teaming with these… young people. A human? A Siren? And a Griffin? Isn’t that just enchanting? My brother and I are surrounded by evolved primitives.”
“Just who are you calling primitives?” snarled Flarefur. The Griffin felt insulted of the word “primitives”, for it was a word used for animals and creatures that thrive but don’t have human intelligence. Next to him, Marina and Geraldus had annoyed faces of the word itself.
Valverno walked to Geraldus, Marina, and Flarefur. “Back in the day, ten thousand years ago the creatures of today were something else. Humans were shorter and lived in caves. Griffins were smaller than today, about the size of an eagle. And Sirens were also small, small as fish, but they looked like human babies swimming around in the sea.
“Ten thousand years have evolved all the creatures from that time today’s standards. All living beings today had evolved from some point they couldn’t count high as a rock or take their first steps on land ten thousand years ago. During that timeframe, you all evolved from the lowest intelligent creatures to the most dominant species of today.”
The three then stood down the hostility. “Out of curiosity,” said Geraldus, “What was the dominate species ten thousand years ago.”
“They were called Elves,” said Sora. “There were also Sorcerers, Witches, Warlocks, and small, ugly warriors called Goblins, which grew into Hobgoblins.
“Basically they all like you: human but more distinctive appearances than humans of today. The species were all mixed, sharing lands with other species like todays: humans sharing your land with these Griffins, Sirens, and Dragons.
“But unlike today, everyone was a magic user, including the mother Valverno and I have been born. But all of those species are long gone: they died when Pangaea was destroyed.”
“How about we share the stories of evolution later and focus on finding my leg fragment before we get distracted by another obstacle?” asked Valverno. He walked to the tunnel passed Sora. “You said this was the way?”
“Yes,” said Sora.
Valverno gazed at Geraldus, Marina, and Flarefur before walking into the dark tunnel and being followed by his younger, half-sister. Then the brother and sister were followed the Siren, the Griffin, and the human as they descended into the dark tunnel, with the torches fading and Valverno creating more with his hands to light the way.
UNDERGROUND
The group descended deep into the dark tunnel. They walked downward like walking on a hill falling under a narrow angle. There would be stairs merging with long hallways before they were more stairs again. The dark tunnel had many turns and sharp, narrow edges to cut through. Valverno used his claws to dig away to make more room to maneuver. He scratched through the hard rock if it was liquidly claw. With his digging skills, the group walked through the enlarged tunnel.
The tunnel was dark and dankly. The air was thin and hardly breathable, so the group had to walk slower. The group was clearly walking in a straight line than drifting downward like an alleyway than a stairway.
Ahead of them, Valverno and Sora led the way. Valverno told her of his adventures to the Northern Region. He talked about how he faced lots of creatures and a Dragon with five heads. He told her everything there was to know of these adventures that happened in the past half a year.
Then she told him how she awakened from a hibernation. “It was all so sudden. It felt only yesterday we performed the ritual to make us go into hibernation. Then, after the interruption during your ritual, I had little choice but to conceal myself into a crystalized hibernation.
“However, the crystal I concealed myself in had been taken away by the intruders and hid it someplace else. It wasn’t until this princess you mentioned died, and the power of the White Knight of Charity was converted back to me.
“So I was able to break free from my back-then prison and reawaken as the White Knight of Charity. I was glad to have been able to find you during the six month winter. I am still shocked you married a fish.”
Valverno looked at Marina and back at Sora. “Ten thousand years ago Sirens were fish creatures, but today they have evolved into humanlike creatures. It was just like the Dragons of how they evolved from lizards a hundred thousand years ago. That is another main reason why I need to relive a new life than to fight Lusìvar: to learn the aspects of love. Ten thousand years ago, I never understood what love was or how it felt. Now I do understand what it is.”
“I’m glad you manage to find something to fight for, and maybe worth dying for,” said Sora.
As the brother and sister walked and talked ahead, Marina kept her distance from them and walked with Geraldus and Flarefur. Marina was still feeling jealous to see another girl being close to her husband, even if claiming to be his half-sister. She was the first girl to marry the male hybrid, and she didn’t want Valverno to be having the idea of his attention drawn only to Sora.
Marina spent six months with him during the cold, harsh winter in a nice sized cottage house. That was when she had his full attention and when no other