70 Forgotten Beast Gods (1/2)
”I DON'T think it's working,” Tilly said in frustration. ”I can't produce fire.”
She did what Kiho told her to do. But even though she found the hole in her heart thanks to Winter, she still couldn't produce fire within her body. The only thing she could do was what she was already capable of: making her body temperature hot.
[Well, it feels like my body is hotter than usual. But my goal is to produce fire.]
”Tilly, don't be too impatient,” Kiho slightly scolded her. ”The fact that you found the hole at your first try was already a huge feat. I found mine after a week of training.”
”But our baby helped me find it,” she said with a pout. ”Plus, you were a child then. You were still better than I am.”
”Honey, don't underestimate yourself,” he said patiently. ”A small progress is still progress. Great things don't happen overnight.”
She wanted to be powerful as soon as possible so her slow progress irritated her. But Kiho was right. Just because she awakened as a Fire Mage didn't mean that she would wake up powerful. It was kind of similar to working out.
[You'll get hurt if you start exercising without warm up.]
”You're right, hon,” she said while nodding. ”Great things take time.”
He nodded, then he caressed her face with the back of his hand.
But all of a sudden, he hissed as if he was hurt. Then, he pulled away his hand from her face as if he was burnt. He looked at her with a shocked look on his face.
Also,
”Tilly, your body is unnaturally hotter than usual,” her husband said in surprise. ”I think if it weren't for my Mana, you would have burnt me to ashes.”
She laughed it off. ”Don't exaggerate hon.”
Maybe Kiho only said that to uplift her spirits.
She picked up the face towel next to her and was shocked by what happened next: the face towel suddenly lit up with red flame. In just a few seconds, it completely turned into ashes.
[OMG!]
”Tilly, I think it worked,” Kiho said in amazement while looking at the ashes of the towel that she just touched. Then, he looked at her face. ”Your power is incredible.”
Tilly gulped, then she looked at her hands. ”I'm a little scared of my power, Kiho.”
***
”KIHO is the Black Serpent itself?” Captain Sherwood asked in disbelief. ”How did that happen, Your Majesty?”
”Right now, the Four Ancient Beasts are seen only as the emperor's weapon,” Aku said. ”But the truth is, the Four Ancient Beasts are gods. Before the Moonchester Empire was built, the kingdom where the empire started was called a different name. The ruler of that land was King Aleo who had two sons: Auro and Kalel Moonchester.”
”I know that King Auro Moonchester was the first emperor of the Moonchester Empire,” the captain said in confusion. ”But it wasn't written in any history book that the first emperor had a sibling.”
”King Aleo hid Kalel's existence because the first son was special.”
”Kalel Moonchester was the first born?” he asked in surprise. ”Then, he should have been the heir apparent.”
”Like I said, King Aleo hid Kalel's existence,” he told the captain. ”Kalel was the reincarnation of the Black Serpent.”
”Reincarnation?”
”The Four Beasts all used to be humans,” he revealed that shocked Captain Sherwood. ”The most powerful humans in the world, I suppose. They were too powerful that their fellow humans started to hunt them down. Because of that, the Four Beasts decided to ascend to heavens. They had to sacrifice their human forms though. Before they were allowed to enter the gates of heavens, the gods made them choose what kind of forms they wished to take. The one who could control the fire chose the phoenix. The master of the wind chose the blue dragon. The strongest man on earth chose the golden tiger. And finally, the one who could control both water and ice, he chose the black serpent at first. But just when he reached the heavens, he changed his mind. He gave up his chance to be a god and chose to be reborn as human instead.”
”What a stupid choice,” Captain Sherwood commented. ”Why would he give up on the chance to be a god and choose to be reborn as a human instead?”
”Apparently, the black serpent loved the human clan too much. He wanted to use his power to protect humans,” Aku explained while shaking his head. He agreed with the captain: the black serpent was a fool for wasting the chance to be a god. ”Anyway, the black serpent was reincarnated as Kalel Moonchester. Even though he was still human, he still possessed his ability from his past life. But not only was he born with the ability to control ice and water. Every time he would use his Mana, the scales of the Black Serpent would appear all over his body. Because of his strange ability, the king locked him up in the castle.”
The captain smirked. ”See? The humans he loved so much treated him badly just because he was different.”
”I know, right?” he agreed with a soft laugh. ”Anyway, unlike the king, Auro Moonchester was actually kind. He secretly freed Kalel and gave him enough money to survive on his own. But before they went separate ways, Kalel gave Auro a bracelet that would apparently summon him and the Beast Gods.”
”The ”Beast Gods?””
”Yes, the Ancients Beasts were used to be called ”Beast Gods,”” he explained. ”When Kalel was born, the Beast Gods descended the earth as well. They chose special humans that they would lend their strength to. To give you an example, the Red Phoenix chose the Supreme Fire Mage as its Priestess. And so, the Red Phoenix had become the Fire Mage Clan's Guardian.”
”That was definitely not in the history books,” Captain Sherwood commented in an amused voice. ”My family prides itself as the empire's ”history keeper.” But the story you're telling me isn't kept in our books, Your Majesty.”
”Of course not. The story I'm telling you is something only the emperors know,” he said, then he gave him a menacing smile. ”And I'm telling you all of this because I know that I can easily kill you once you open your mouth.”
”I won't do that, Your Majesty,” the captain promised her. ”As a Sherwood, my only interest is to discover the truth behind the Ancient Beasts, especially the one about the Black Serpent because my family doesn't know much about it. And as you know, the Sherwoods are curious people. We would die if our curiosity wasn't satisfied.”
He knew that Captain Sherwood wasn't lying.
To be honest, the Sherwoods that he had met so far were all bookworms. Only Noel Sherwood entered the knighthood and even became a captain. But now, he realized that he only became a captain to dig deeper in the history of the empire– specifically, the history of the Ancient Beasts.
[The Sherwoods aren't called ”History Bookkeeper” for nothing. They will do anything just to satisfy their excessive hunger for knowledge.]