Second Saga

Okay, there was no way I could wait to write this chapter!  I have been waiting so long to put this chapter in and I absolutely hope you guys love it as much as I did!

Here you go

Until next time Ciao Cubs!

Although Hydra had pa.s.sed out from mental fatigue and satisfaction, the amount of time that pa.s.sed by was only a few minutes. All he needed was to close his eyes for a slight rest, nothing more and nothing less.  When he did finally open his eyes he noticed that his wound was already gone and that Pan was sleeping in the ark of his neck and shoulder.  It was a cute site and Hydra even wanted to stay there only to let Pan sleep a little longer. However as the elves and his own companions were anxiously waiting for him to succeed in his mission.

Therefore Hydra raised his weary body and as he was getting up Pan too awoke and lazily stretched its body, patiently waiting for his master to pick him up to continue their journey.  Hydra responding to Pan, picked him up and lovingly scratched behind his ear, who in turn turned his head in the direction of Hydra’s hand crying as if being tickled.

“Aro!  Arooo!  Aro!”

Seeing this Hydra couldn’t help but chuckle quietly to himself, after enjoying his brief moment with Pan he ran upwards to the new branches that appeared.  These were the dark green that the elite elves were eating and thus one could imagine that only the best of the elves were able to overcome themselves!  It was a small number and anyone could realize see that the second trial was not something amateurs could overcome.

As such Hydra continued to climb and after some time he finally reached to the next level where he was greeted with another orange window!

-Ding!

Just as the message window closed Hydra finally noticed that there was not tree in the middle and instead on the other side was a large opening that went straight into the outer edges of the tree with a slight incline!

“I imagine this must be the last trial!”

With no need to worry about clicking start Hydra put Pan down, who could climb this incline himself, and walked into the slope.  However the moment he did, the gravity within the pathway suddenly increased!

“What?!”

Although the gravity was not substantial it was still enough to give Hydra a fright as he nearly lost balance!  This was the same case for Pan and although a little slower in reacting, as Pan was on all fours it was naturally easier to overcome the sudden increase of gravity!

“This might be the hardest one yet…”

Hydra’s frowned as he realized that he had probably not even climbed a dent in the entire height of the tree and now he was to reach the top under this sudden gravity pressure?  It would be extremely difficult and even Hydra knew that! However what Hydra didn’t realize was that the gravity was at least twice as great than it originally was!  Although the long pathway would be still incredibly difficult it wasn’t nearly as hard as it was now!

However what choice did Hydra have other than to climb the slope, even if one step at a time?  Now Hydra truly realized it was a battle of his will and not one of endurance!  Even with the most incredible endurance one would not be able to overcome this trial by simply walking it!  Only through a determination that rose above all others by miles would one be able to climb to the top!

Within a few minutes Hydra reached inside the tree that the light from outside no longer was visible, however instead the moment it turned pitch black, a new source of light appeared within the darkness.  Hydra looked towards these new dazzling blue lights and realized that they were leaves!  These leaves were lighting up the pathway and Hydra had no idea how they worked!  He was not smart enough to explain it in reality and even more so in the game he had no idea how it would work.  However because it was a virtual reality Hydra was able to just simply able to enjoy the beauty of the leaves for their brilliance as they lit up the endless dark path in front of him.

“Phew!  I’m. So.  Tired.”

Hydra at this moment was breathing heavily, and the sweat from his forehead dripping down his body and his clothing was soaked!  He had already been climbing the pathway for an hour and instead of it getting easier the gravity only increased!   As such even Pan was having an incredible hard time with each light tap of its feet that were seemingly many times heavier than normal.  The two different footsteps were the only sounds that could be heard other than the heavy breathing from Hydra and Pan.

It was then that Hydra noticed that the pathway reached an exit as the light from within the made it impossible to see the surroundings!  As Hydra walked out the area, he eyes were momentarily blinded as they quickly adjusted to the new source of lgiht Hydra noticed that the gravity was gone and what was in front of him was a single pathway that extended to a new pathway with another slight incline!

However beside the pathway, although on the sides was an incredible dropped that Hydra took one look and immediately decided it was better not to stare any longer, looked at the branches that extended outwards to the path!  Although they leaves were similar in shape, instead of being a shade of green these leaves were yellow!

Hydra looked at the leaves for a short moment and then sat down.  Right now he couldn’t be bothered by the leaves and although it meant that he successfully pa.s.sed a part of the climb, it by no means meant that he completed the trial!  As such he could only patiently wait till he recovered some of his stamina!  As he clearly knew that this area was the deciding point where people could continue or descend back down, as he remembered the colour of Taye’s leaf-armour he muttered to himself.

“So there is at least one more colour until the top.  Red could be the last one!  I sure hope so this gravity is definitely starting to become tiring!”

With a few mutters, Hydra recovered enough energy to continue walking, with him Pan followed as he entered the pathway to continue climbing.

——————-

“….I might fail…”

A few hours later Hydra came to the next junction point and instead of being the red colour leaf he was hoping for it was instead an orange coloured leaf!  However at this point Hydra definitely knew it was the next pathway was the last however it was at this moment that a message popped up!

Ding

Satiety has reached critical limits!  As such all stats have been reduced by 50%!

“Well it’s a good thing this happened now!”

With that Hydra pulled out the bread, that in front of him looked like a  luscious meal, it was as if he hadn’t eaten in months.  Hydra wasn’t sure if it was the effects of the game that caused this delusion or that he was simply too hungry to care, however he swallowed the bread whole and then heard a whimper beside him.  He looked at Pan who was sniffing with enthusiasm, as the bread was not something super tasty, usually Pan wouldn’t care for it however now it was too tired to care and because of that it wanted to eat something to restore its strength as well!

Seeing this Hydra smiled and brought out another piece of bread as he broke it in half and gave one of the pieces to Pan.  As bread was an item specifically for restoring satiety levels one didn’t require a lot to have their satiety restored it was another reason users and richer people didn’t eat it often as it filled you up after a single piece!

However just as Hydra was about to put away the half piece of bread he dropped it!  Although he didn’t worry at first, the bread bounced and made its way to the edge of the pathway, and before Hydra could grab it, it fell!

“Uh-oh.  Well, oh well.”

Hydra shrugged, and didn’t let it bother him.  Although he knew the fearsome power of bread how could it possible effect that [White Winged Tree]?  With that mindset Hydra with a full bar of statiey left to climb again with Pan.

A few minutes into the climb, a window appeared before him.  It was similar to a window he had seen a long time ago.  In fact, because so much has happened he nearly forgot about the colour of the window entirely!  But the moment the colour was show, Hydra uncontrollably started to sweat.  This was what the message said.

“Oh Fu-”

————————-

“….Mother”

“Oh sweetie, can you not calm down and wait for him patiently?”

“No ofcourse not!  Let us see him please!”

“Fine fine, does everyone else wish to see as well?”

After Irina, pleaded to her mother, Laxiss turned to the bread followers and asked their opinion.  After seeing the nods of all the followers she lifted her hand and waved it about.  There were no runes nor a single phase spoke, but at the same time at the base of the three small roots could be seen.  They were numerous enough for each person to take a single root, and after noticing everyone’s confusion Laxiss patiently explained.

“Rest the root on your hand, although it will attach to you, it will allow you to see trials being completed by Hydra.  Although you are impatient I imagine Hydra has already completed the first two.  So you will see the most difficult of the three tests, the [Trial Of Will].  Also because the parasite only acts when it feels its life is being threatened!”

As everyone put the root on their palms which sunk in a picture ran across their minds and this is what they saw!

———–

As Hydra was currently severely worried, to the point where he wanted to curl up in a little ball and forget about everything, he looked forward to see a calamity rush towards him!  The calamity was a huge amount of branches and roots rushing down the slope fast enough to destroy anything in its path!  Thus the moment he truly saw the avalanche Hydra looked and Pan.  Pan in turn looked at Hydra.  In that single moment between human and animal, master and pet, a lot of complicated emotions and words were transmitted.  However neither of them knew who broke eye contact first and bolted in the opposite direction of the incoming disaster!

“Oh my bread G.o.d! Oh my bread G.o.d, run faster Pan! RUN!”

“Aroooo! Arooooooo! Arooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

As if to repeat the same words Hydra had just spoken he too cried out for its own life!  It was then that Hydra suddenly remembered a story he was taught from his foster parents as a child!

“Oh right!  I heard you when avalanches happen you need to use swim motions to higher your chances of survival!”

It was a great idea, and Hydra knew that it was the only hope of survival, however as the idea came up with a smile, at the same time Hydra realized the most important factor!  He couldn’t swim!

“I don’t care it’s my only hope!  [Sloppy Swimming]!”

Hydra felt it was hopeless however he still managed to try withe the most exaggerated swimming motions attempted to swim as he ran.  It was a ridiculous sight and after seeing this  Pan too while hoping was also swimming in the air while waiting for the avalanche to bombard them!  Although there was gravity in the face of their lives it meant nothing as they attempted to save themselves.  As Hydra made one look back at the oncoming avalanche, a high-pitched squeal and cry of a small animal was heard.

“Noooooooooooooooooooooo!”

“Arooooooooooooooooooooo!”

———————-

“Suddenly, I no longer have the urge to watch him.”

As Irina said that she removed the root imbedded into her palm.  Like her every single person removed the root from their palms and it was then that Valeria spoke up.

“Oh my!  What was I just doing?  I totally forgot what just happened!  What about you guys!?”

“Yes!”

“I don’t know what happened!”

“Seem we were doing something but it wasn’t important!”

Seeing this the Elves were flabbergasted!  They Bread followers were converted so thoroughly that they were able to forget any memory that made their one true Lord Hydra look bad!  On the other hand Lixiss only smiled so deeply as she continued to watch as she muttered to herself while giggling.

“Hydra… You truly are the best!”