Journey to the hollow forest pt.3

There was no time to react, yet one second passed then two seconds, then three. Lyran opened her eyes and released her tension as her jaw hit the floor. An impossible sight, the giant bird that had come swooping down on them was now unmoving, suspended in mid-air.

"I stopped it with telekinesis, someone make a move!"

Sadako shouted, her voice echoed over the whole valley.

Lyran took the initiative and rolled off of her back jumping up all the while swinging her scythe. With one clean motion the birds head came right off and dropped down which nearly crushed Angel in the process.

"Hey come on!!"

He protested, though after Sadako flung the decapitated bird's body off to the side all in all he was just happy to be alive.

Even when surrounded by so many strong warriors the danger is still real, he let his guard down and almost paid for it with his life. He made a note to think about this as a lesson to learn from.

"What happened? Y'all were supposed to be the ones saving our bacon from things we couldn't see not the other way around."

Evan complained jokingly with a half-smile on his face.

"Yeahh..my bad."

Angel rubbed the aching knot on his head when suddenly he was interrupted by the sound of a girl screaming.

"AAAHHHHHGGGHH!!!"

"CERA?! WHATS WRONG?"

Evan immediately ran to check on her, she was covering her eyes as if trying to shake something from her mind.

Images raced through her head, pictures overlaying one another faster and faster to become a moving scene.

Stone columns, the sea, ships rocking over the waves lined up by the thousands all packed to the edges with men. Swords clashing, blood spraying over a battlefield of a war from long ago. A loud rolling thunder followed by unspeakably fierce lightning that pierced through the skies.

"Hey, snap out of it are you okay? Cera?"

"My na…."

"Huh? What was that?"

"I said…my name is NOT CERA! I AM ZEUS!"

Electricity surrounded her and struck the ground in every direction. If it wasn't for Sadako's quick thinking as she pulled Evan back from harm's way, he would've been badly wounded just then.

"I don't understand…your name IS Cera! You're my big sister Cera Shadows remember?"

He shouted at her though everyone present was confused. But her ragged breathing calmed down, her eyes opened wide with realization.

"This…I never thought I'd see this happen again…"

Damien was in awe at the sight.

"What? Do you know what's happening to her? Tell me."

"Well, I've only seen this phenomenon once before. But, yes it must be. So it's like that then? Hm, very interesting."

Damien started muttering to himself halfway through which pissed Evan off. He jumped up and ran to grab the vampire lord by the neck but he was swiftly slammed to the ground by the hands of Rellik before he even got close.

Rellik was blown away by Sadako's power which led to a brief moment of chaos. Just before all hell broke loose Damien signaled a stand down order to the 5 vampire generals.

"You want us to stand down? B-but sir, he tried to attack you! We all saw it…I knew these humans couldn't be trusted…"

Rellik was biting her own lip trying to contain her rage.

"I said stand down, that was an order. Don't make me say it again Rellik. Besides, it's my fault for escalating the confusion. To all of you, I apologize. I'll explain all that I know about the human girl's condition now."

Cera was currently on her hands and knees, clearly she was exhausted from whatever had just happened to her. This would be especially difficult to deal with, her teleportation ability is a key factor in the mission they're currently carrying out after all.

If they had to walk from the Hollow Forest to the kingdom of Flames it would take months. By then the rest of the vampires would be wiped out, it would all come down to a fight to the death between Jesshira and Goliath. That was an outcome they had to avoid at all costs.

"That girl over there, Cera. She must be another candidate. She's part of a lineage of vessels that carry the power of the gods. Along with their powers, these vessels also inherit the memories of the god that resides within them. Sometimes, those memories will leave the candidate in a state of confusion as you've just seen. That's because the person is becoming possessed by another identity, they have to find their way back to their former selves. Once this process is completed and the vessel has received all of the gods memories, they are then considered to be the full reincarnation of that god. By the sound of it, that girl has just begun this process. When she finds her way back, she will be the reincarnation of Zeus. Honestly, the timing couldn't be worse though."

A mixed array of emotions ranging from surprise to worry showed on everyone's faces as they looked over at Cera who had collapsed to the snowy ground.