Ava

15 - Hybrids and the Demon God

 “Thank goodness you’re all back.” Alvis happily declared as soon as he saw the trio walking back to the cabin. 

He was about to embrace Ava too when his dress shirt was swiftly pulled away by Black. 

“What happened?” Alvis asked after scratching his neck awkwardly. 

“Peace Keepers.” Black answered right away before his eyes darted on the bleeding deer and some birds on the side of the cabin. 

“You hunted all of this?” Ava asked with excitement as she also noticed it. 

“We did.” Casix replied shyly and placed his hand over Alvis’ shoulder and the latter also blushed.

“Will you shut whatever you both are thinking? I can read it. It’s annoying.” Black suddenly blurted out which made the two guys turn redder than earlier. 

“Huh? Why? What were they-“ Ava started to ask when she was cut off by the centaur. 

“I better start cooking. We don’t want our guest waiting.” Casix interrupted and started creating fire with the flint stones that he took from the caves before. 

“Guest?” Alvis asked curiously. “What guest?” 

“Allow me to introduce myself, human. My name is Juno.” A voice said as the small beast appeared from the shadows of a nearby tree.

Alvis eyes widened as he saw the creature, both in shock and amazement. “Whoa. What kind of creature is that?”

“Juno is a Feline Fowl, a special and rare kind of hybrid.” Casix answered while doing his job. “Juno is a mixture of a cat and eagle.”

Wanting to learn more, Alvis went and sat beside the centaur right away. These past few days, the centaur had started to warm up with him and vice versa, the human also started becoming comfortable with his presence. Ava on the other hand placed the pail of water on the side where they store it. Black still insisted to make her carry them no matter how much the centaur volunteered to do it instead. And speaking of Black, he just sat on the far end, at a tree trunk, listening closely.

“How did you do that to the Peace Keepers, Juno?” Ava asked curiously. She’s been meaning to ask that question for a while now. 

“A part of my abilities allows me to do so.” Juno replied.

“Feline Fowls have the power to control their viewers.” Casix then began to explain. “Once they start singing a haunting song, everyone who’s about 10 to 20 feet away from it would froze in their track and would be forced to listen. When the song ends, Feline Fowls would asked once question that your supposed to answer correctly.” 

Remembering the earlier incident, she recalled how Juno asked about the saviors of the new continent. Good thing she answered correctly.

“And if they answered wrong?” Alvis asked. 

“Then they’d freeze for a day and half just to admire my beauty.” Juno replied and grinned. “And I can do whatever I want with them.”

“Whoa. That is amazing.” Alvis blurted out.

“Thank you, human.” Juno answered and bowed gracefully.

 “Please, call me Alvis.” He then said and smiled at the creature. He really looked stoked while looking at it. “Wait, don’t Feline Fowls shift too so you can look like humans?”

“Feline Fowls don’t shift. We’re not considered shapeshifters.” Juno answered truthfully and flew on the edge of the cabin’s roof. “I’m a hybrid. Only purebreds are shapeshifters.”

“Oh.” Ava and Alvis reacted at the same time.

“Sorry. I didn’t know.” Alvis said afterwards. Then he turned to Casix. “But why can he shift and become human?”

“Centaurs are not hybrids, Alvis.” Casix replied. “Many thought we were because we appear to be half-horse and half-human. But they were wrong. Those assumptions are absolutely ridiculous. We were created as is. No mating of human and horses. Just as is.” 

“Oh, sorry.” Alvis said and the centaur nodded, knowing that he didn’t mean to offend him. 

“He’s correct.” Juno seconded. “Hybrids are those produced by combining two completely different species together. Just like me, the griffins, fauns, sirens, and many others.” 

“Wow. I feel so dumb for asking.” Alvis voiced out.

“No worries, Alvis. I know that humans in this age don’t know much about us ‘magical creatures’ especially after the purge.” Juno commented, then its eyes moved to Ava. “But I didn’t expect a Zmeu to be ignorant of that knowledge when you are a hybrid yourself.”

Ava blushed profusely but she cannot blame the creature for assuming she knew much about herself. “Sorry, I grew up as an orphan and wasn’t expose much to magical creatures.”

I grew up mostly in hiding. Ava wanted to add sadly but she opted not to and just managed to give the creature a smile. 

“Orphans are children whose parents are dead, my lady. I can tell that you’re not an orphan.” Juno stated factly. 

“How can you tell? Do you mean to say that my parents are alive? I grew up without my parents. They were never present for as long as I can remember. That means they can also be dead, right? Because if they’re not, then why didn’t they find me? So now, doesn’t that make me an orphan too?” Ava blurted out, carried away by her emotions. 

But then, isn’t why I am here anyway? She thought. 

Because I think that I will be able to find my mother by finding the fountain of life? 

Am I really an orphan?

Or I just wish that I was?

Because it’s easier to think that I grew up alone for the reason that my parents are dead than finding out sooner or later that I was simply abandoned?

Tears started to well in Ava’s eyes but she managed to control herself. 

“You are hurting, my lady. Meditation helps to sort out your feelings. Only then will you have inner peace.” Juno commented calmly despite her outburst.

“You must learn how to properly meditate.” Black declared. “Becoming a good fighter is not all about physical strength. It’s also about becoming mentally strong. Once you clear your mind and find inner peace then it will be easier for your body to be in sync with your mind and emotions and will. Only then can you become a good fighter.”

“So how do I do that?” Ava asked. 

“You must learn to unlearn everything. Empty everything that occupies you. Only then can you start learning from me.” Black answered, then he slowly moved towards her, leveling his face in front of her. “First you must learn how to listen.”

“I’m listening.” Ava commented. 

“Listening is not done by talking. We don’t use our mouth and tongue to listen, woman.” Black said before flicking his fingers on her forehead. 

“Ouch!” Ava yelped and glared at him. 

“Listening is not done by glaring. We don’t use our eyes to listen.” He added and flicked his fingers on her forehead once more.

“Hey!” She complained.

“Failed.” Black then said and sighed. Snapping his fingers, two wooden pails appeared in behind Ava. “Go to the spring and fetch some clean water.” 

“But I just did yesterday.” Ava protested.

“Go now.” Black said before turning his back and walking away. Then he glanced at her. “By the way, we use our ears to listen, woman. Remember that.”

Ava’s eyes darted to Black who appeared to be not interested with their conversation.

He was right all along.

She realized that maybe her inner mayhems are affecting her overall that even a creature she just met could tell.

“You said you heard voices.” Juno then declared and Ava nodded. “That was because you’re becoming mentally weak. Thus, the shard of the Demon God had a way to start to penetrate your mind.”

 “The shard?” Ava blurted out and the feline fowl nodded.

“Like I said, that black material is a shard of the Demon God.” Juno replied.

“Now I get it.” Ava then said. “That’s why she kept yelling ‘All Hail the Demon God’. That woman who ruined the northern borders.”

“What about the Demon God? What Demon God?” Black suddenly asked which made everyone turn to him. “What shard? And what does it have to do with the voices she’s hearing?” 

“I guess you all are not aware of shards and the Demon God’s story?” Juno asked and its eyes darted at the centaur who appeared to know something. “Of course, as one of the wisest creatures, centaurs would know about the Demon God.”

“You do?” Alvis asked and Casix nodded.

“It was the story of the very first creature who came to this continent. Hundreds of thousands of years ago when it happened. As time passed by, more and more kind of creatures came into the continent too. Until such time when there came a division between them, half wanted the light and half wanted the darkness. And so these creatures who likes the light earnestly prayed to the heavens and it was granted. They were given the sun to light up half of the day and half remained in darkness and was called night for the remaining who likes the dark. These creatures who loved the darkness were then called ‘demons’ by the creatures of light and they called the very first creature who came into this continent as ‘The Demon God’ who remained the strongest and most powerful being there is. More time passed by when the creatures of light wanted everlasting peace and calm contrary to the chaos that the demons are doing and so they started what they called a ‘conversion’. They convinced the demons to do it and finally make them creatures of light.” Casix said as everyone listened attentively. “This angered the Demon God and war broke out. The creatures of light then combined their forces to defeat the Demon God. Until such time when a human king, Théoden, was given a power to defeat the enemy. So then, the Demon God was defeated and killed. He was dismembered, his body cut into pieces.”

“That was a brutal story.” Alvis commented.

“It is.” Juno seconded. “I’ve heard through my years of travelling that there were fragments of black material that was gathered from where the Demon God was cut into pieces. These were then called the shards of the Demon God because whoever it possesses would eventually become a follower of darkness, someone who would continue to spread darkness and finish what the Demon God hadn’t done.”

“To kill them all.” Ava then added and Juno nodded. “That’s what the shard was asking me to do.”

“That’s right.” Juno agreed.

“Then does that mean I’m already possessed? Does that mean that the Demon God can now use me because I have started hearing his voice?” Ava asked right away.

“For that I’m not sure, my lady.” Juno replied honestly.

“But what if I am? What if the Demon God use me to-“ Ava blurted out anxiously as she started pacing back and forth.

A pair of strong hand in her shoulders immediately made her stopped in her track. 

“No. You will not be.” Black interrupted, looking at her intently with his very solemn dark eyes. “No Demon God can ever use you, okay?”

A sense of calm spread through Ava as soon as she met his black eyes. She doesn’t understand but at that moment, she believed him. 

“Okay.” Ava nodded.

***