“THEY WHAT!?” Melody screamed. She was now back in her giant form, furious, wrath flashing in and out. It was the following morning, and they were all having breakfast before performing the purification ritual.

  Lyuten tried to calm her great-great-granddaughter. “Melody, my dear, please calm down.”

  “How can I NOT be angry!? How could the gods be so irresponsible!?” Melody yelled once more.

  She had just found out the truth of her reincarnation. Violet was the one who asked about something Melody had forgotten about.

  The truth of her reincarnation was that the god of souls and reincarnation, Maloras, was in the divine realm for a meeting, leaving Kodela, the god of trials, in charge since most of his responsibilities ran independently. Kodela was the one who received the request for Melody’s reincarnation, but he didn’t read every detail of her paperwork. He read that she wanted to be big and strong with immunity to abnormal conditions. The only being that came to mind was either a dragon or a giant.

  Melody thought she had gotten over her reincarnation, but it was apparent that she wasn’t.

  Both Annabelle and Violet were also angry, calling for a chance to punch the god. Of course, Annabelle’s worried parents tried to calm them so that they would not blaspheme against a god.

  Lyuten sighed. “Okay… I can’t let you punch them. I’ll do that myself later. But I can let you speak with them.”

  She raised a hand, creating a magic orb. “Hello, Kodela, can you hear me?”

  At first, there was nothing but silence, but then there was a loud smack, a cry of pain, and the voice of an angry man who sounded like an old nobleman who was furious.

  “Stop being a damn coward and finally answer for your sin!”

  “I-I’m sorry!” A younger-sounding voice cried.

  “Not to me, you fool! To the human soul, you wronged so badly!”

  The two continued to bicker while Lyuten apologized to the group before her. “I am sorry. Kodela is a somewhat younger god among us, and we elder gods try to look after him. The angry gentleman is Maloras.”

  “Face the image, now!” Maloras ordered.

  “Um… I’m sorry.” A sniffling, Kodela said.

  “For what?” Maloras pressed.

  “I’m sorry I lazily reincarnated you as a giant instead of a human. I’m sorry I did not consult my elders before performing the reincarnation. I’m sorry, Nova, that I did a poor job…” Kodela stated sadly.

  It was then that Melody heard an old but familiar sing-song voice. “I am glad things are going well for you, Mallory.”

  “Nova!?” Melody cried in surprise.

  Nova chuckled. “Yes, though I am merely just a part of this call. I am still watching over my world.”

  Melody beamed and waved her hands in the air. “Thank you, Nova, for sending my friends and brother here!”

  Nova laughed. “I only did as they wished. I heard you met with your friends, but your brother also?”

  Melody laughed. “It turns out he became the prince of the empire!”

  “WHAT!?” Both of Annabelle’s parents exclaimed. “Anna! You left that bit out!”

  “Sorry!” Annabelle cheerily replied.

  The family began to discuss the details quietly among themselves.

  “Sounds like things are going well,” Nova stated.

  Lyuten sighed. “I wish it were so, Nova, but a pawn of Tartarus has appeared here. We are working toward destroying or sealing it.”

  “Have you called for help?” Nova worriedly asked.

  “We have, but we are unsure if they heard our call,” Lyuten stated.

  “Who is this help?” Melody asked.

  “We spoke of him before.” Gyyanrel chuckled.

  Melody thought for a moment. “Oh! The God Slayer!”

  Violet paled at the name. “You mean… Lord Tulsen?”

  “No one is better than he is at killing Gods of Tartarus,” Lyuten answered.

  “Or just gods in general,” Kodela muttered, only to be smacked.

  “Do you not know not to speak ill of Lord Tulsen!? Are you trying to bring his ire upon us?!” Maloras asked before smacking Kodela again.

  “Calm down, Maloras!” A new, feminine voice called. “You are being too cautious about Lord Tulsen.”

  “Oh, Ryten, you just returned?” Maloras asked. “Where is Dyluran?”

  “Resting. He has done as much as he could to reinforce the barrier around the world. There is not much more we can do. Hmm? Oh! My great-great-grandniece! Hi, Melody!” The cheerful sounding goddess called.

  “Nice to meet you, Auntie Ryten.” Melody happily answered.

  “By. The. Omni… Auntie Ryten!? I love it!” The goddess sounded ecstatic.

  “Now, she’s dancing…” Kodela commented before he screamed in terror as a sizzling sound could be heard.

  “What was that, I-Screwed-Up-Your-Grandniece’s-Reincarnation-Because-I-Am-A-Trash-God?” An annoyed-sounding Ryten asked.

  “I’m sorry…” Kodela squeaked.

  “You nearly lost your family jewels there,” Maloras commented.

  Violet was cracking up while a snickering Annabelle tapped her friend’s shoulder to calm her.

  “WHAT?!” Gyyanrel yelled in a panic.

  They all turned to him, concerned.

  “What is it?” Violet asked.

  Melody paled as the message through nature reached her. “Rul escaped the ravine.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Amongst a battlefield littered with dead dragons and forest spirits, a small group of five injured dragons worked with a group of forest spirits to heal their most grievous wounds.

  “Evvena…” A large ruby dragon looked down at a smaller ruby dragon. “You need to go.”

  “No, Father! I will stay and fight!” Evvena roared.

  The big ruby dragon sighed. “We need someone to inform the Empress that a Titan has been born.” He turned to check on the other group, which was working to delay the titan until reinforcements came. He wasn’t sure how long it would be before reinforcements arrived, but they needed to keep it in place. The titan’s mad laughter could be heard, mocking those attacking it.

  “Can’t we all go?!” Evvena begged.

  “We will swap with the current group soon. The forest spirits should know about this already, but someone needs to inform the empress. That is you and the other younglings.” The ruby dragon stated.

  Evvena looked at the other young dragons who were brought along to learn about pawns of Tartarus. None of them expected the pawn to evolve into a titan. The others, like Evvena, were trying to act brave, but all of them were terrified of the titan after seeing it kill their kind.

  “Go, Evvena. Take the other younglings.” The ruby dragon stood now that his worst wounds were healed. “We will keep this titan here as long as possible. Fly as quickly as you can. The more forces we have to fight this thing, the better. GO!” He roared.

  Evvena roared in frustration and took flight, leading the other young dragons away.

  An emerald dragon batted the ruby with a wing. “Softy.”

  The ruby dragon laughed. “How could a father not want to protect their young? I am sure you are also happy we sent your son away.”

  The emerald dragon smiled. “True. So, shall we battle to our end?”

  The ruby dragon loudly laughed. “Our end!? No! To the future of our world!”

  The other dragons roared in unison, and they took to the air to fight to keep the titan in place.

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Melody, Violet, and Annabelle stood at equally apart points of a magic circle. All three seemed distracted as they instilled their power into the spell.

  Gyyanrel sighed. “Concentrate on the spell, please.”

  “Should we really be focusing on this? Rul has become a titan.” Melody asked.

  Gyyanrel nodded. “We must cleanse this area of the dark power of the last pawn of Tartarus, or Kraul shall enter our world shortly. This will buy us precious time.”

  “Can we just pour all our power in and cut down on the time?” Annabelle asked.

  Violet jumped in to answer. “No can do. When it comes to rituals like this, you have to build it steadily, or else it will either collapse or explode.”

  “Do not worry, you three. This will help everyone. If we allow this power to continue to fester, Kraul will descend, and it will be the end of our world,” Gyyanrel assured them.

  “Giant of the forest…” A soothing, elderly woman’s voice called out to Melody.

  “Huh?” Melody looked around and reached out through nature but felt nothing.

  “What is it?” Gyyanrel asked.

  “I-.” Melody started, but the voice called out to her once more.

  “…with the name of beautiful songs… you must not face Oppal yet…”

  “Oppal? Who is Oppal?” Melody asked.

  Violet and Annabelle looked at their friend in confusion. Gyyanrel closed his eyes for a moment before opening them once more. “Someone is communicating to her through spirits. Let me try to strengthen the connection.”

  The connection to the one calling Melody became apparent with a small effort.

  “Ah, thank you kindly for the assistance. I do not normally reach out this far.” The elderly-sounding woman laughed.

  “Who are you?” Melody asked.

  “I am Mother Koda,” Koda answered.

  “WHAT?! You’re the bear who was friends with my mother!?” Melody exclaimed.

  Mother Koda chuckled. “Yes. When I died, I became a powerful spirit that wandered the world before I chose to be reborn as a Mountain Giant. I am the elder of the clan that Oppal came from.”

  “Who is Oppal?” Melody asked again.

  “Oppal is the one who has become a pawn of Tartarus.” Mother Koda answered.

  “So, Rul was reborn amongst your clan?” Gyyanrel asked.

  “No. This Rul took control of Oppal. We thought he had died due to an accident, lost to us, but then one day, he returned… different. I sensed a deep darkness from him and tried to investigate what it was, but before I could, he killed some of his kin, leading to his escape.” Mother Koda explained.

  “Then, why are you telling me not to fight him?” Melody asked.

  “I did not say you couldn’t. I only said you should battle him yet. Once you are done with your cleansing ritual, come to my mountain. You have the blessing of nature. I shall give you the blessing of spirits.” Mother Koda answered.

  “Then I shall give you the blessing of the skies!” A mighty roar echoed above them.

  Gyyanrel chuckled, and with a wave of his hand, various branches moved, allowing entry to a slender white dragon.

  She flew within and quickly transformed into a horned human woman. “Thank you.” She thanked Gyyanrel.

  “Of course, my old friend. Ladies, allow me to introduce the empress of the winged dragons, Alure.” Gyyanrel introduced her.

  “So, these blessings will help?” Melody asked.

  “You are the only one who can handle the burden of all of them,” Alure answered. “It will make you powerful, hopefully powerful enough to defeat the Titan.”

  “Do you know what is happening out there?” Melody asked.

  “Focus on your ritual first, then we will talk,” Alure stated.

  Melody groaned at how much longer they would need to continue the ritual.

  A few hours passed, and the magic circle glowed brightly.

  “Alright! You are done!” Gyyanrel called out.

  Melody, Annabelle, and Violet collapsed to their knees, exhausted.

  “This looks amazing!” Alure commented, excited to see what was to come.

  Gyyanrel teleported them to a location among his branches, where they could see the entire city. “Watch from here.”

  Melody shivered as she felt the power of the ritual begins to expand from the World Tree. The power of the ritual caused the tree’s leaves to glow and shimmer. Small motes of light floated off like pollen, making their way all about. The power spread through Gyyanrel’s roots, invigorating the ground.

  Violet and Annabelle were frozen in amazement at seeing the cleansing ritual in action.

  Melody looked down below, seeing all of the beast-kin kneeling in prayer toward the World Tree. “Papa Gyy, is your goal to become a god and join Nana Lyuten?”

  Gyyanrel chuckled. “You are not that far behind me, you know.”

  “Well, yeah, I am a demi-god.” Melody sheepishly replied.

  “I think you would be a wonderful goddess!” Annebelle cheerily said.

  “What do you mean, Anna? She is the Crimson Goddess.” Violet snickered.

  “Don’t make me.” Melody joked.

  The three shared a laugh.

  “I apologize for dampening the mood, but we should move forward,” Alure stated.

  “Right, how are things with the battle?” Melody asked.

  “I have a scale clone there, keeping me up to date. My brethren are doing their best, taking turns to keep him in place…” Alure went quiet.

  “What are the losses?” Melody hated having to ask.

  “We are losing. Because of the thing’s regeneration, it doesn’t tire nor stay wounded. This is worse than the last titan. We have changed to hit-and-run tactics to keep it in one area. I came to you to hope to empower you enough to kill it.”

  “Even with all three blessings, I am not sure if it will be enough to kill this pawn of Tartarus.” Mother Koda stated.

  “Yes, so I shall give my blessing of the skies, and I will fly you to Mother Koda,” Alure stated.

  “Then to the battle?” Melody asked.

  Alure nodded.

  “All of my children are heading to the battlefield. They shall buy us time.” Gyyanrel stated.

  Hearing of this pained Melody. How many were going to die during this time?

  Alure floated up before Melody and booped her nose. “There. You now have the blessing of the heavens.”

  “What?” Melody was dumbfounded. “That’s it?”

  Alure scoffed. “What? Were you expecting a parade? We have things to do.”

  Melody laughed while standing. “Alright, let’s go!”

  “With my blessing, you should be able to fly in the air now.” Alure flew into the sky and changed to her large dragon form.

  Melody looked down at her friends. “I’ll see you two later.”

  “You’ll see us at the battle!” Violet stated.

  “Yeah!” Annabelle cheered.

  Giggling, Melody used her new ability, ‘Fly,’ to float into the air.

  “Cheater!” Violet jokingly called.

  “Since she uses a bow, stealth, and can now fly, wouldn’t that make her a stealth bomber?” Annabelle added to the joke.

  “My arrows aren’t explosive!” Melody called back.

  “They can be now!” Gyyanrel stated. “The upgrade I made would make it so!”

  Melody sat on Alure’s back, stunned. “How much of a cheater am I going to be?”

  “Hopefully, one strong enough to kill a Titan,” Alure stated as she took off toward the north.