A Trial of Gods

Apollo was taken out of his silence by a knock. It was Sera. "What's up?" He asked, pulling out a seat for her. 

"I noticed you were strengthening your body earlier. How is it going?"

"It's going good. I had never really considered my body so I am trying to catch up." He paused. "Is that all you've come to ask?"

Sera was obviously annoyed at the shallow answer. Apollo continued to look at her with a questioning face.

Sera felt the curiosity eating away at her. To her there was a feeling of connection to Apollo that she had never experienced before. It made her angry at the mysteriousness that surrounded him. 

"Why don't you trust me? I've revealed all my secrets to you! You know about my past and you were the first person I've ever shown my abilities to. I even saved you! I gave you a place to stay! Food, resources, trainin…" Sera burst out all her feelings at one time. It was obvious she was dodging the true reason she wanted Apollo to include her: She felt things towards him she never felt for anyone else.

Ghost just this once.

"No! Absolutely not! How can you trust her?"

It's not about trust. In order for there to be trust there must first be vulnerability. If I block everyone out I'll be at this alone. Do you think I will stand a chance against anything in the future if I'm alone?

"..."

Can't you feel it? Even with the meager understanding I have about the soul, I can kind of feel what she does. She truly trusts me.

"If you do this you are putting everything on your shoulders onto hers too. I can tell you care for her but don't you think it's unfair to make her go through that? Not to mention if there is any chance she will tell her father about anything you say then it would all be in vain." Ghost argued.

Ghost. You have been alone before. I don't want to do this alone. As for the future–If there truly is hardship too tough for her I will just become strong enough for the both of us.

"...at least it may motivate you more. I won't stop you, I just want you to understand: you can never go back. You must take the consequences to the chest when there eventually is some and they may be deadly."

All the more reason to become stronger. Apollo said. The same gentle and kind smile he gave her returned. Sera saw the smile and blushed. She tried to ignore it and kept ranting. In due time Sera stopped talking. She was struck by the way Apollo was looking at her.

"Would you stop! I'm trying to tell you how I feel and you just keep looking at me like that…" Sera broke eye contact. She felt like dying. The boiled up feelings inside had finally burst and yet she couldn't even be mad. At least not when he looked at her like that. She finally turned away, trying her best to escape the situation.

"I'm not from Earth." Apollo finally spoke. Sera quickly turned around. "My adoptive parents own a farm on the outskirts of Vector city. They found me in a ship that contained technology this world couldn't possibly think of. They took me in and I grew up there fairly normally." Sera was more attentive than ever before. As if the most encapsulating story was being told. She leaned towards Apollo with her hands on his legs as if to not miss anything. "I went through school being made fun of as I could never break through. Many kids were finally becoming gatecrashers in front of my eyes yet I could never myself. I became obsessed. By 16 I was fighting in an arena in an attempt to break through, through battle. I could very easily defeat level 1's but it never led to any progress. I even challenged level 2's but I suffered more than any gain was worth…" He went on to explain his entire story including the secrets behind his power and his family. 

***

Sera had taken a while to digest the story Apollo had told her. She had joined him on his bed while he told his story. She felt the need to lay down. 

"So when I found you you had just fought your adoptive dad in order to prove you could walk the path your real parents had laid out for you?"

Apollo nodded, appearing down. "I really do miss them. It's only been about 2 months but I've never been this far away from them for this long."

"Why haven't you gone to visit them? Vector city is only a couple days' ride from Fei City." Sera asked, seeing the sadness Apollo felt.

"It's because of the fight. In that time I started to feel hatred towards them whereas all I got from them even while fighting was love. I need to prove to myself my decision was right before I can finally apologize. It's just the feeling of leaving them with my hatred makes me hope they don't think I hate them." They sat in silence for a while as if to process.

Sera was silently laying on his bed. Her breath was steadying and she began to fall asleep. Before she did however words escaped her mouth: "Thank you. If it were me I would just want you to return to me. You are more important than the argument."

It was finally Apollo's turn to be surprised. "After I do right by you and regain the prestige of the Feinn family I will return to my family." His surprised expression was replaced by determination. He tucked the now sleeping Sera in and returned to his practice.

***

The trip to the Vex Capital would take 2 days. With the size of the ship it was quite impressive to reach the speeds it could. They were currently traveling a little faster than a conventional airplane. 

Sera slept the entire first night in Apollo's bed. At that time He had been quietly training his body.

I've completed 100 cycles. My body should be around mid level 7. Each Time he would increase the level of power he used he would use only a single type. As of now he could only really handle the use of a single element at level 7. This is really slowing down. It took the entire night just to reach the next level. I need to increase my pain tolerance. With his current ability, his body could fight evenly with a level 7 but if he were to use more than a single element at the same time he would be hurting himself.

"This is something you must get before the tournament. As of now if you were to use your full strength you would be hurting yourself more than the person you're fighting." Ghost said. Hearing Ghost Apollo prepared to unleash all abilities at once. He braced for the pain. 

Apollo sank deep into his training. The pain flushed his entire body, driving his focus to only himself. With his level of immersion he didn't notice that a golden light started to manifest at his back. Slowly the shape of an Eye with golden streaked electrons orbiting it materialized. Ghost floated over to Sera. Ghost's perception was very different from Apollo's. Ghost's perception was incredibly honed; he was a manifestation of Apollo's soul power. Ghost's senses pierced through what was known as reality into a realm known only to those who attained a masterful level of the soul could perceive. He inspected Sera's soul.

At first Her soul seemed normal. The soul takes the same form as the person as the flesh is the vessel in which the soul is held. The soul is the sense of self, the consciousness, the personality, the understanding; the soul is everything that makes up a person outside of their physical appearance. That is why the appearance of a small ball of ephemeral lightning surprised Ghost. Each time a part of Sera's soul glowed as if there was a growth in her soul's abilities, that ball of lightning would strike, attempting to neutralize the progress. Ghost continued to observe. Every once in a while the glow of the soul would win the contest and would continue to enhance her soul. However the majority of them were struck down, amounting to nothing but the destruction of a piece of her soul. He continued his observation for almost an hour.

It appeared to be a constant war. With a good understanding of the situation in her soul, Ghost condensed soul power from Apollo who quickly woke up. 

"Ghost what the hell are you doing?" He yelled, almost waking Sera.

"Shhhhh!" Ghost quickly quieted him. "Just relax and continue to supply me with your soul power." Apollo observed Ghost. He could feel the repercussions of consuming soul power. He felt a strong desire to sleep.

Ghost finally attacked. An absolutely crushing soul force swept through Sera. Anything recognized by that attack as Sera's soul was left alone, however, when it reached the small ball of lightning it unleashed its full power. The mighty gold energy and Soul Lightning entered a one sided battle. The Soul Lightning struggled to fend off the attack. It quickly was overpowered and destroyed. Ghost withdrew the remaining energy and returned it to Apollo who started to look more lively.

"I had to use an attack I knew could win so I had to draw a lot of energy. The curse of the Feinn family is no more than an infection of the soul. The infection has been weakened over time and her soul was slowly gaining momentum against it. All I did now was accelerate what she would have done herself in a matter of time." 

"So what will happen now?" 

"She will progress very fast. It's as if her soul's max capacity has continued to expand but was being continuously delayed by the infection. I estimate that she would have been around the 1st or 2nd level of the Nature Realm."

Apollo couldn't hide his surprise. "So if she is allowed to heal she will break through to that realm?"

"Well it might take a little longer than the time it takes for her soul to heal, but she will have the understanding of Myth Energy that a Nature Realm Gatecrasher would."

"So all she has to do is workout her core until then and she will continuously break through."

"Mm" Ghost nodded. 

"Ghost–could you do this to everyone in the Feinn Family?" he asked seriously.

"I could. You, however, do not have the soul power to support that. You have very strong soul power just not a lot of it." 

Apollo paused, thinking about his own abilities."At what level can I start practicing the soul?"

"You'll find out when you make it there." Ghost decided to keep Apollo focused. He was nowhere near the correct level.