Solar Mage

Chapter 11: A Mythical Tale

I brace myself and take a deep breath.

"So... as I was saying, the executives of the church that worships you are corrupt and I need your help to cleanse it."

There\'s no need to tell her about the situation with my father.

She looks at me cluelessly.

"The last person to visit me, three hundred years ago, also mentioned something about a church before I kicked him out. What exactly is a church?"

What.

Pyro shows several emotions as I explain to her what a church is, her standing/the standing of gods in the world and what terrible things the church has done.

She makes a face of anger.

"How are those villains allowed to get away with doing such despicable acts? This is unacceptable, they must be punished for their crimes!"

"Can I take your response as you are accepting to help me?"

I smile with enthusiasm

"O-of course!"

She says while she turns away from me.

Yes! With this, my father will be saved!

Pyro jumps up out of nowhere and stands proud with confidence.

"Let\'s go right now!"

I quickly stood up with her with even more enthusiasm.

"Yes, let\'s go right now!

Her face turns red and I see a smile creep up onto her face before she turns away once again.

This time, she quickly turns her head back. Her face is no longer red or smiling but instead it expresses fear and doom.

"I\'m sorry but I don\'t think I will be able to go down to the mortal world with you; to assist you with cleansing this church of mine that I\'ve just learned of."

She begins to walk back to her throne.

"I want to go back to sleep."

I begin to run after her.

"Wait Pyro, please just tell me why-"

She doesn\'t stop so I grab her arm.

"Pyro-"

She immediately reacts to my touch.

"UNHAND ME"

She says in a thundering voice as her body envelops in flames, instantly setting my arm ablaze before a massive gust of wind hurls me backwards

I shriek in pain.

"AAARRRGGGHHH!"

Right before I lose consciousness I see Pyro running towards me.

Did she snap out of her trance?

Eventually, I woke up.

Ugh, how much time has passed?

When I open my eyes, I find myself laying down on Pyro\'s legs and I quickly move away from her as my face reddens. After I move away and make space between us, I see Pyro\'s face covered with tears.

"sniff I\'m sorry for burning you earlier sniff. You must hate me now right?"

Why does she apologize so much? Wait, my arm!

I take a look at my arm that was completely burnt the last time I saw it and realize that it had been completely healed, but now has the glowing shape of a blazing sun, the symbol of Pyro, on it.

"It did hurt a lot, but I don\'t hate you. I shouldn\'t have grabbed your divine arm without your permission. It was my fault. Please forgive me."

I bow down to her as I apologize.

"No no, it isn\'t your fault, this all happened because I couldn\'t control my emotions."

I look at her seriously.

"Can you tell me what caused you to be so afraid and act that way?"

Her face darkens.

"I\'m such a coward. This all started in the time that gods used to live with the mortals in the mortal realm. Do you know about it?"

"Yeah, the mythical era."

"I know not what you humans named that era as but let me tell you the tale of how the mythical era ended, as the only one from then to still be alive."

"I know why it ended."

She sighs and begins to say something but pauses before she pouts.

What is she suddenly mad about?

"You haven\'t told me your name yet!"

So, it wasn\'t for any grand reason.

"Oh, I see... My name is Arthur Ventrike.

Okay, Arthur, this is a serious topic, please refrain from making jokes."

"The gods used to live alongside humans during the Mythical Era up until the first and only 10th circle Transcendental Wizard, Magnus Arcanus went on a God killing spree until there was just one god left. Seeing the terrible negative effects of a godless world, the four Great Sages at the time finally decided to rebel against Acanus that led to the death of all the Great Sages and the disappearance of Arcanus. Am I correct?"

Pyro looks at me with amazement.

"Yeah, you\'re completely right, how do you know about all that?"

"I am the inheritor of Luke Wolkan\'s legacy."

"Who\'s that?"

She must have been sleeping and not paying attention to the mortal world this whole time.

"He was the only mage that reached the realm of Great Sage outside of the Mythical Era."

"Ah, come to think of it, I did feel the presence of a strong mage a little less than nine hundred years ago."

"Still, even if he discovered the events that led to the end of the Mythical Era, he would not know my perspective."

"I am a coward. When Arcanus killed the gods I stayed hidden and sat still because I believed that someone else would be able to take care of it."

"I watched as my family and friends were killed by that monster and eventually when he came for me, there was no one protecting me, because there was no one left."

"That\'s when I decided to run but I was not fast enough. Arcanus chased after me and when he reached me, I thought I would be killed like the rest of the gods, the Great Sages and Seraphis ambushed him. Even though the strongest humans that existed were on my side, I was unable to control my fear and ran away.

I retreated to the sun and hid there for a day. I managed to gather enough courage to come down from the sun and go back to the place where the battle occurred. But when I arrive all I can see is the horrifying aftermath of an intense battle. All that was left was the corpse of Grandmaster Seraphis, the bodies of neither the Great Sages nor Arcanus could be found."

She begins to sob and is barely able to speak.

"I\'m such a coward, I let my family, friends and even my saviors die a gruesome death. I wonder, if I had been there, would the outcome of the battle be different? We might have been able to win and put an end to that monster for good. But I wasn\'t there, and that didn\'t happen."

I looked upon her with eyes of empathy and sorrow.

When I lost my mother, I grieved for days, hiding in my room and not being able to face the truth that my mother had died. It must have been so hard for her, I can\'t even begin to comprehend the pain she felt on that day.

She wipes off her tears and becomes impatient.

"Well, as you can see, I still haven\'t recovered from the event that transpired that day and I\'m still afraid of going down to the mortal world. I\'ve just been running away from responsibilities and hiding like a coward in my dreamworld."

She begins to lose her sanity

"Why did everyone have to die? Why is that monster still alive-"

I pull her into my arms and hug her tightly.

"It\'s not your fault, there was nothing you could\'ve done and it\'s okay to be afraid."

She hesitates, but holds me tightly as she releases her pent up emotions she\'s held for hundreds of years and bawls her eyes out.

No matter what, I will make sure to kill that bastard and avenge everyone that he killed.