28 The Trial Of The First Ring IV : Princess Martha

I've never had an reason to use Sky in a fight before, or to be more exact I've never had an opportunity. The only thing I could say was that apart from being flashy, her skill had a kick I didn't expect.

I only shot one arrow, but said arrow threw me on my back, and flew into the air as a beam of silver light, then it split into multiple large beams of light, and fell like rain on the unfortunate person who had put a chain on my battle beast, and stupidly offended her.

It was like watching a scene from a horror movie, rather than fall on a widespread area, the beams fell specifically on his body, drilling multiple holes, until all that was left was a perforated heap of flesh and bones. It was horrifying, but I felt as if I had dislocated my wrist just from shooting that arrow.

"Why did you do that!" The prince yelled at me in shock and anger.

It was then that it crossed my mind, my actions could have profound consequences, and based on how I answer, it would decide my fate. Though to be honest I don't think that the Patmosians could do anything to me. I had an inkling suspicion that the identity of a chosen could not be taken lightly, especially by the Patmosians.

"He hurt her!" I answered simply.

"and how would you know that!, we didn't see anything of the sort!" The prince said, making a rather valid point.

Sky had turned back into her normal form, and was glaring hard at the prince as she hid behind my legs. Then I felt her trunk reach up behind my waist, but I did not pay attention as I answered the prince.

"She told me so herself. We're bonded, so we can communicate with each other, and I don't think a battle beast would lie just for the fun of it. Normally I have no reason to kill him, when I saw the chain I got angry, so I took his hand. But when she told me he was hurt, there was no room for negotiation. I never allow harm befall my loved ones, and whoever does hurt them, pays for it ten times over."

My answer was not enough to placate the prince, but since he was keeping silent about it, I knew there was nothing he could do about it. Besides, I just showed the power of a battle beast. It might not be much, but I could see a lot of interests were peaked. It's not everyday you see a living, breathing biological weapon.

CRUNCH!

I wanted to ignore that sound as it came from behind me, instead choosing to focus ahead. But when the sound got progressively louder, and it seemed like everyone else was focused on the direction the sound was coming from, I turned, and almost screamed my head off.

"What the hell are you doing!"

CRUNCH!

She didn't reply, heck I was sure she was doing this to annoy me on purpose. My elven bow, my precious bow with an amazing passive skill, was being eaten! By Sky no less. Not to delve into the intricacies of how she could digest the bow, or break a material dubbed iron wood into pieces with such ease it was as if she was eaten apples or potatoes, but why was she eating it.

The answer came almost immediately with the mental bond between us serving as our link of communication. She was angry, jealous! That I've actually been using another bow since we separated. To be honest I was so stunned that I didn't even know what to say to that.

[Sky's hidden skill devour has been activated. Level has been increased from 0 to 15.the passive skill Wind Mark has been assimilated for all weapon forms. Sky has grown a little.]

It was a shocking turn of events, and I watched as Sky grew from being the size of a tiny puppy to the size of a full grown Rottweiler. Of course as an elephant she was bigger and more than a bit rounder, then she turned into the bow form, and floated until she was hanging from the back of my waist, like my previous bow.

[Arnetine Sky Elephant (Night Bow Form)/ Grade: Earth/ Hidden Grade: Legendary/ Level: 15]

[+75% power to all arrow attacks, +90% at night/+55% accuracy during all shooting activities, +65% at night.]

[Special skill(I): Meteor Shower: Shoot energy arrows in a radius of 30×30 meters for 200% of your total damage value. Cost 150 MP per shot,cool down 80 seconds.

Special Skill(II): Wind Mark: Every subsequent attack made would increase in speed by 10% for a maximum of 10 stacks]

It's hard to remain angry when sudden misfortune turns out into good luck like this. Hopefully she doesn't destroy any other weapon I might have to use. But the idea of her being able to increase her level by devouring other weapons seemed very in line with some RPG games I used to play from way back.

Since there's not much info about battle beasts, and the few that are known are practically kept under lock and key. It was normal that I was a little caught of guard by Sky's ability to eat weapons and assimilate their skills. Or it could just be that I'm immensely relived that I didn't lose the wind mark skill.

"If you're done disrespecting me chosen Aaren, my daughter here would lead you to your new villa. I believe your debts with the people Patmos is now settle right?"

"Yes it is." I answered simply.

I've insulted this people, beaten and even killed one of the national heroes. Called them out in front of thousands and done everything possible to spite them. And in the end I got ten million gold and a villa for my troubles.

I think they've paid enough for all of their mistakes, I mean it's not much, and I'm sure I could wring out more from them, but discretion is adviced. I wouldn't want to make them too angry until they completely disregard whatever rule is keeping the king from screaming "off with his head!" it's about time I went low key, stay under the radar, at least for a while.

I followed the girl who was with the prince, apparently this was the princess. I have to say she was cute? Or pretty. She seemed to be about the same age as her brother, and while she was really nice to look at, her type was the cute and pretty girl next door I'm so nice vibe.

I'm more of a beautiful, sexy, sultry and hot don't mess with me vibe. But I had to admit, she had a really great future behind her(if you know what I mean.) She was quiet for the most part, leading me through winding wooden halls and patrolling guards until we were finally alone in an elevator.

"Do you hate my people?" she suddenly asked out of the blue.

"That remains to be seen, hate is a word I don't use lightly. Because if I did hate your people, we would be having a very different conversation in this elevator. After all, you're a young princess stuck in an enclosed space with a murderous man; what do you think might happen?"

She had been looking sideways at me, but she quickly turned her face forward as her green cheeks turned a deep shade of red. She was blushing, and it was damn cute too. It crossed my mind that this princess might be an innocent flower, or was a really good actor.

COUGH!

"I hope you win the trials." She suddenly said to me.

I was surprised by her admission, so I turned to face her fully, leaned my back against the wall of the elevator, raised an eyebrow and crossed my hands over each other.

"And why would you want that. I'm pretty sure your father and brother wants nothing more than to take my head of my shoulders. Why would you be any different?" I asked her with a serious tone.

"Because you're sponsored by the tree of revelations. It's never happened before! The tree sometimes gives gifts special classes and skills to talented Patmosians or visitors who are acknowledged by it. Qitar is one of such people, receiving not just a class or skills, but also a racial upgrade. It was expected that the tree would favor her with a sponsorship, but you had already been sponsored right from your first fight!

The tree has never done something like this before. And of all the chosen, you're the only one to receive a memory disk, and what looks like a complete makeover from the tree. It's as if the tree is blatantly saying that it wants you to be the next king of the city of prophets; Zebedee. And my father and brother are threatened by it.

My family has ruled the Island of Patmos ever since the idea of a monarchy was invented. And that's a time that only the historians or the tree itself knows. But we're only regents until the true king arrives, and I believe it's you."

Flowery words, it could work on any other random idiot, but not me. This chosen one crap is the same thing I have to deal with in the real world. And if there's one thing the real world has taught me, it's that there's always a catch to being the chosen one. And little miss princess here, is not as scheming as she thinks she is.

"Right? But that doesn't answer my question princess. Whether or not I'm going to be king of this city of prophets, wherever the heck it is, that remains to be seen. It's much to early to make assumptions, but what I want to know is why are you telling me this, and what would you gain going behind your father and brother's back. There has to be a risk somewhere for you if I do become king, so what's with the you're the chosen one I believe in you crap."

Was I too harsh? I'm not really sure. When I scheme: hardly anyone ever catches me, but I realize the best way to throw a schemer of their game, is to be as blunt and as truthful as possible. Expose their lies and watch with amusement as they try to cover it up. Or maybe that's just the kind of guy I am.

"I...I'm to marry whoever becomes the new king. It's a law an ancestor of mine put in place to preserve our power, and it was largely supported by the entire population back then. Every generation of rulers, are engineered to have two children and two children only. A son and a daughter.

And that's a failsafe in case either a woman or a man win the trials. The trials are held once every generation, and while we've ceased to care about the prophecy and what it entailed, only focusing on the trials for the huge amount of money and resources it would bring from the betting pool, the tradition of engineering the birth of a prince and princess has not stopped.

And then you came along, from outside the barrier, chased by Sortovat; a demon left behind from an old dimensional war. Part dragon part elf, and even human. But as if surviving Sortovat isn't enough, you were protected by the tree, it actually spoke just so it could save you! No one has ever heard it's voice before, not until that night. And then you have a battle beast.

That's not the weapon of a king, it's the weapon of an emperor. And in all the milky way galaxy, there are 19 planets, 45 space colonies, 6 pocket dimensions and 320 space stations. 13 of the 19 planets alone fall under the rule of the only 10 emperors in existence. And each of those emperors, own a battle beast.

That's why all eyes are on you. Short of going to the frontier and colonizing uncharted planets and dimensions, the fastest way for you to become a ruler, is to win the trial and become a king. That elephant of yours is like a seal of power and proof that you're destined for great things.And I need a man like that by my side.....if I'm going to change the lives and the way the Island of Patmos is currently being ruled."

DING!

The elevator opened up, and she led me forward through another hall. This hall wasn't too long, and we came to it's end just under 30 seconds. There was a huge double door in front of us, and it slid aside to let us out into what I could only call a boulevard In the sky...…or on the branches of a tree.

Giant multicolored leaves hung above me, and sunlight peaked through the immensely huge and thick branches that were sinewed and intertwined between each other. The branches gather together to make a sort of bleacher like formation, and on each of those formations, massive and beautiful looking villas were built.

The edge of the branches had docks of sorts, and all manner of sky ships, space shuttles, hover bikes etc. were docked there. Past the docks, a metal bridge stretched onto a huge platform, that was spread across the entire length of the boulevard, and had a multiple buildings, with some of them having holographic mean advertisement on their body.

Residence and a place of relaxation over it. There were layers to this place, and I'm sure the people living down at the roots were worse off than those leaving up within and on the branches of the tree.

The princess who's name still hasn't been given to me at this point, turned right, flagged down what could only be a sky taxi of some sort, gave an address and went in, waiting for me to join her. I did, and the taxi moved up, going higher on the bleachers and towards the north west corner. This place was bigger than I thought it was, and the huge platform that seemed to hold another city, stretched in a spiral around the branches of the tree.Moving upwards and having more and more buildings tailored for different things.

"The top of the branches has a city of it's own, a city that belongs solely to the rich, and as for the root, I think you can guess about their situation yourself." The princess suddenly said to me as we moved up.

"What's your name?" I suddenly asked her.

She looked startled for a moment before she answered.

"Martha."

I raised an eyebrow, that was a little normal than I expected, maybe too normal. But there was no problem with that, Martha is a nice name.

I can't say I'm not sympathetic about the plight of the poor or the less privileged. Though how much? for a race that imprisoned me immediately after they found me, I couldn't say there was a lot. But princess Martha here was so generic and cliché it's giving me a headache.

It's the same old story that has been told overtime through various forms of media and stories. The sweet princess who wants to save her people from ruining themselves, and the heroic knight in shining armor that conveniently appears to lend his help...…hogwash!

But I had a very different game to play here. I did promise Zephyr that I would bring kingdoms down, so that when the elemental dragons are free, the world or worlds would be at their feet without the need to burn them all to the ground in their war for revenge.

I could start with the Island of Patmos, and cute little princess Martha is going to help me. She thinks she knows how to scheme and plot all in the name of good. Well then princess let me introduce myself.

"You can call me Aaren. It's a pleasure to meet you princess Martha."