When Waverly lifted her face again, she was in a village. She groaned in frustration, attempting to push herself up. Lord Adunar stood glaring down at her with a scowl.

"They always send the lazy ones." He snarled.

"Where are we?" She asked weakly. Her arms hurt as if she had lifted Lord Asherah's palace over her head for an hour.

"Your fourth Trial." He answered dryly then pointed toward a hilltop. "Look over there."

Waverly stood up giddily and Adunaf moved back to prevent her from making contact with him. She squinted her blurry eyes at whatever he pointed at.

"What is that?"

"The Sacred Pool of The Muses of Vanita."

Waverly nodded indifferently. She knew who Vanita was. She was the goddess of beauty and self obsession. The goddess was the vainest deity Waverly had ever learned about and this made her hope she would not be meeting her anytime soon. Waverly blinked the blur out of her eyes to get a much better look at the hilltop. She could hear the gentle splash of waves even from the distance.

"What must i do?" Waverly asked. She knew the deity wanted to get straight to the point - and so did she.

"The Muses of Vanita used to dwell in the Sacred Pool, but for over a hundred years, they have been trapped inside a cave under the sea by a certain unnamed curse. Find them, free them and lead them back to the Pool."

Waverly gulped nervously. "Why do i have the feeling that i will not survive this Trial?"

Adunar gave a knowing chuckle. "Because you will not. No hero or mortal before you has passed this Trial. I will be lenient enough to warn you of this one thing though."

"What?" Waverly glared at the hilltop. On top of it, a large body of water gleamed under the night sky. Waverly knew better than to admire it. The prettiest things sometimes turned out to be the deadliest.

"The Muses obey none other than Vanita herself." Adunar revealed then disappeared.

Waverly exhaled. The god's warning was pretty useless and she hated that she had even listened to him speak it. The village was quiet, so quiet that she had the feeling it was empty. She wondered where all the people had gone.

After readjusting Karya on her belt, she began her tiresome walk toward the hill, recounting all that she knew about the Muses for any information that might be of help.

"Sisters to the thirty Syrens." She recited, letting out an occasional huff of tired breaths in between every sentence. "Companions of Vanita. Created from the Righteous Notes of Harper, the goddess of music. Flippers for legs, magic eyes, alluring. . . but dangerous. Annoying voices, eat fish, h-hate sunlight, love poems, terrible singers. . . talk in rhymes."

By the time she was done recounting, she was already halfway to the top of the hill. From that height, she thought the village looked like it could fit into her hand.

It was that small.

Huts, thatched houses, ancient blacksmith chambers, ruined markets, shrines and broken structures lined every part of the small landscape. Waverly guessed quickly that it was the famous town called Colony of Blacksmiths. A village nestled in the strait of Dakriton. It was shielded by the ocean on both sides which was the main reason why the Muses had decided to have it for their home.

The air at the top of the hill was unnaturally cold. The Pool was only a few walks away from where Waverly stood and she realized that it looked much deeper up close, like the vent on top of a volcano but shallower. Waverly could not understand why night had fallen here although she had heard once that the hours of day varied in different parts of the world just as much as the seasons did.

The moon shone brightly and reflected into the water, giving it a beautiful blue glow. The starlight also made the water look so tempting that Waverly felt almost compelled to swim. This was because some strange magic hung about the air and she could tell.

She walked past the rim of the Pool where she could clearly see iridescent mollusk shells displayed on either sides of it. It was almost like rainbows lived inside the water. Waverly frowned because she had not noticed this at the first glance. It seemed like the water was beautifying itself to look more appealing. Waverly shook her head and blinked the enchantment out of her eyes.

She walked to the other end of the hill where the rest of it dropped into a magnificent dark blue ocean. The waters rippled from the light wind and sprayed white foamy waves against the foot of the hill. Waverly's eyes moved to a different part of the hill where a large dent in the rock curved downward into the water. She knew this was the Muses cave. For something thought cursed, she felt it was quite easy to find which clearly meant it was even more dangerous.

The cold was intense now and Waverly knew jumping in the ocean while she already shivered was a bad idea but she needed to pass this Trial - even though no one else ever had. She silently wished herself good luck and jumped. The plunge was silent and the cold almost knocked Waverly unconscious but she calmed herself.

Inside the icy water, she felt her skin tingle like it was spreading open. She had suddenly become aware of everything. Her nerves skyrocketed. It was like someone had opened up a cage filled with deadly monsters. She twisted and turned in the water, half expecting an attack from any corner but the water seemed just as abandoned as the town above. The dent she had seen was up ahead, wide open like a yawning mouth willing to drink in the endless ocean water.

Waverly swam toward it.

As she swam further into the cave, she noticed that the water began to get very shallow. Her feet soon found solid ground and her head surfaced. The water dropped until it was just as high as her waist. Waverly shivered as she advanced. The blueness of the water illuminated the cave in a strange way but this light casted no shadows. Water dripped from the cave roof and the sound was the only thing Waverly could hear.

The shallow part of the water became a short flight of steps. Waverly climbed it and came out of the water. The rest of the cave spread out before her. It was nothing interesting to look at; thousands of mollusk shells, broken items and gold plates covered the place - from the walls to the ground. Waverly felt glad that she had her boots on. She reached for her short sword but something deep in her mind convinced her to leave it.

The cave stretched on and on until it spilled into a wide opening. The warm air was the first thing that hit Waverly's face. The night sky was visible here. The opening was round and it went a frustrating number of feet down. Another flight of steps led to a pool at the very bottom but as Waverly climbed down it, she realized that the pool was actually just a smaller part of the ocean. The rest of the water was hidden by a long brick wall that seemed to concave into the rest of the hill structure. Waverly peeped under a small opening in the wall that led to the ocean. The water rippled there, as if someone or something had just swam out.

In the middle of the opening was a wide platform where a lovely fruitless tree grew. Along its sturdy branches, several friezes hung depicting bold pictures of events that Waverly assumed were all in the past. She squirmed uncomfortably at the sight of them. One picture was of a goddess with lovely red hair seated at the foot of the ocean surrounded by pretty dolphin-like women. Another picture depicted sailing ships crashing into spires of rocks that jutted out from the ocean, on each spire sat a Syren - beautiful fish women. They had their arms spread out toward the men and the men also had their arms spread out. Waverly knew this was a picture of Syrens enchanting men with their magnificent singing voices to draw them to their tragic deaths. Other pictures showed the same place Waverly stood in but with past heroes who had tried to free the Muses. Some pictures held funny scenarios, some held more deathly scenarios, others held important scenarios in history like the birth of the first Outcasts, mountain spirits inhabiting the Great Mountains called Sfera in Ezkaliepton, the birth of minor gods and goddesses and the transcension of special mortals to godhood. This made Waverly think sadly of Brijjet. She stared hard at the image. It showed a young handsome man kneeling before the sun, an aura of beautiful light glowed around him. His image rippled and Waverly saw him transform into a person more heavenly.

For a brief second, Waverly imagined that this man was Brijjet leaving the earth - his rebellious and independent ways, his uniquity, stubbornness, influence and everything else that made him outstanding as a mortal - to become one of the gods. The image became so lifelike before her eyes that the man on the frieze seemed to stand up.

Waverly gasped and took a startled step back. Her heel scraped against the edge of the dais as she almost lost her balance.

Something suddenly leaped from the water below with a bloodcurdling shriek and tried to grab Waverly's unlucky foot. She screamed and fell on her behind, scuttling away from the edge.

The creature fell back in the water as quickly as it had emerged and so Waverly could not get a good look at it. Her heart thumped and pounded in her chest. The cold she had been feeling seemed to return all at once, her palms became sweaty and her knees shivered. She stood up slowly. The pain from cultivating a field the same size as her hometown still weighed heavy on her body as an annoying yet dull ache. This made it very difficult for Waverly to carry herself whenever she walked. She feared how she could manage a fight against a creature with such speed in her current state. It would rip her to pieces before she could blink.

She pulled Calaire off her wrist and it stretched into a sword. She preferred it as a sword now. She was suddenly more content and comfortable fighting with a sword than a half moon. The latter simply screamed out the fact that she was a child of the moon goddess. Waverly did not admit it but she secretly did not like this. Her mother's identity always preceded hers. She respected it but she had subconsciously begun to struggle with building her own identity.

She inched toward the edge again and peered into the blue. It shimmered as a result of the moonlight but she saw nothing beyond the surface. Waverly took a breath and stepped back. She needed to think strategically. Her Trial was to free the Muses and get them back all the way to the pool at the top of the hill. The environment did not look to be any sort of prison and if what had tried to grab her from the water was a Muse then Waverly pitied those who had attempted this trial including herself. She doubted they had even lived long enough to see what attacked.

She looked around for any kind of clue to aid her but the place was only colorful and quiet save for mild waves slapping against the wall. Waverly ran over the information she had recited on her way up the hill. The Muses were created by Harper, the music goddess but they were attendants of Vanita. She thought further. Despite being creatures of music, they hated to sing and they even had terrible voices according to the stories. The shriek Waverly had heard was already proof enough.

"Poetry!" Waverly whispered as an idea finally clicked. She might not have a way to defeat the Muses or subdue them but at least, she had a way to keep them from killing her before she even got the chance to speak.

She shrunk her sword to a wrist band again then cleared her throat silently. She had learned many songs and poems from HalfHyde during her lessons and had also seen enough performances from Outcasts and Gypsies in the local market to know how to rhyme quite decently. She knew now why others had failed to pass this Trial. They had probably tried to fight the Muses and take them by force whereas they simply had to speak a language the creatures understood.

Waverly began to rhyme about the ocean. She talked about its beauty, the numerous secrets it held, the vastness and power it possessed, the magnificent creatures that dwelled in it, the manner in which it connected every part of the world. She rhymed of the ocean's destructive abilities and how dangerous it was. She rhymed of its enchantment and the power of the Syrens that roamed in it.

As she spoke softly, several human heads began to surface silently from the water. Waverly tried to count but she quickly realized that doing so would distract her. The Muses popped out of the water until there was no space left.

"Behold! A Human speaks near the tree which is our threshold." One squeaked. Her voice was raspy and her black hair was so long, it stuck to her skin all the way past her navel. She swam forward. Her limbs were unnaturally long like flippers.

"Is it one to kill? If it is then i will." Another added. She bared her strangely perfect teeth but Waverly feared they bit harder than they looked.

"Refrain from such, sister. The Human speaks in the way of no other." Another said. She sounded more enamored than the rest of them.

"I say we tear her apart. The flesh you can share but mine is the heart." One added hungrily.

"Tis been long since we heard a rhyming song. Leave the Human to finish, we feast on her only if her words are foolish." One said. She seemed like their leader because as soon as she spoke, everyone else quietened.

Waverly was sure there were more than sixty of them but they were so small that they looked like fishes in a bowl. They had small beautiful faces, like that of babies. They also had various colors of hair but a lot of them were dark haired. They swam even closer to hear Waverly's rhyme. She noticed that their eyes were sprinkles of dark colors, like a bowl of oil covered in pieces of crayon. It was so mesmerizing that Waverly fought to avoid direct eye contact with them.

Waverly looked at the frieze and realized that she was reflecting the image of Vanita being surrounded by the Muses. Vanita was talking to them in rhymes. Syrens sang while Muses rhymed. Waverly rhymed slower, praising Vanita, Harper, Cret and every other Entonian goddess she could remember.

She rhymed and began to climb up the steps. The Muses squealed sadly and suddenly leaped from the water onto the dias. As soon as their dolphin halves touched dry ground, they grew legs. It happened so fast that Waverly completely missed it. They scurried on their toes and followed her, their naked and petite bodies glowing like rainbows, illuminating the walls as they passed.

"The rhyming Human, away she goes. Wherever poetry may be, so must our flipping souls." The leader squealed, hurrying up the steps.

Waverly led them on, rhyming and giggling with enthusiasm. They followed her closely, tiptoeing and giggling as well. She went back to the shallow water and stepped in it.

A horrible thought immediately struck her. The Muses were calm only because she was speaking. The minute she stopped, they would attack. Waverly stood at the shallow end of the water, rhyming endlessly. The words seemed to flow out of her without effort. It was almost as though she was born for this particular purpose. The Muses cocooned her so tightly that she started to feel their slippery skin against hers. They felt like fish oil.

She racked her brain for a way to leave the cave without swimming. Another thought struck her. She changed the course of her words and began to eulogize the strength of the Muses. She praised their immeasurable prowess and their accomplishments especially how they had dug up the Sacred Pool all by themselves.

Waverly's praise hit the brain quickly. She walked to a wall at the corner of the cave and rhymed of its weakness and how the Muses could break it down with one blow. The creatures obliged immediately. They attacked the wall and dug deep into it with their bare hands, shrieking in a way that suggested they were unhappy with the wall. Waverly kept praising them until they had dug an entire tunnel into the hill.

Waverly led them out and toward their Pool.

At the sight of the water, the Muses lost interest in her. They plunged into the depths and surfaced, splashing one another with the colorful water. Their own skins seemed to add even more color to the pool.

"We give thanks to the mortal who has brought us restoration. I come hither so i can learn of your identification." The leader said in a placating tone .

She climbed out of the pool and instantly grew legs. Her body glowed like oiled rainbows. Her skin was so smooth and mesmerizing that Waverly forced herself to gaze into the creature's eyes. Focusing on the Muse's eye was not a better option because even that was captivating.

"I am Mila-Ann. What is your name, young woman?" She asked.

Waverly swallowed. She did not realize how dry her mouth had become from talking so much and for so long. "I am Waverly."

The Muse smiled. Her teeth resembled oyster shells but it oddly did nothing to deter her beauty. "You are a child of the moon. Thrust into a world of chaos much too soon. Your great deeds today will today and forever by my kind be honored. The words you have spoken of grace and praises to us and our mistress, in stone will they be emblazoned."

"I am happy i was able to help. I hope you have found peace now."

"We have and so have the rest of the men who live here. You have the gift of artful guile in your tongue. Use it well because one day a victory must be sung. Your journey will continue but fear not, young woman and do not despair." The Muse said.

Just then, Adunar appeared next to Waverly. When he saw the Muses, he looked at her with a slight hint of confused amazement. The colors from the water bubbled and rose from the pool then washed over the town. Mila curtsied in deference to the god and gave Waverly one last smile before plunging back into the pool to join her sisters.

Waverly let out an exhausted breath. "Trial number five?"

Adunar raised an eyebrow. "Will you not stay and watch the final result of your great achievement?"

Waverly gazed at the town below. She understood now that the absence of the Muses, matron and minor deities of the town, was the reason behind the empty land. She sighed, feeling thankful that she had brought them restoration. She turned to Desi.

"I would but this is not the achievement i came for. I do not have it yet."

He nodded and waved his hand. The small village melted into another one, but this village seemed as large as Lake Borough. It was abundant in trees and streams. Adunar had brought them to the top of a rise that overlooked most of the town. It was daytime here. Waverly felt a strange familiarity wash over her like she had seen the place before even though she had only been to four towns other than Lake Borough.

"Yes. Bremeton is your home country and so it would feel familiar. This is RenderMore."

Waverly looked around. She had never heard such a name before. "Why is it so quiet?"

Adunar pointed. He seemed very very good at that.

Up ahead, a large mountain loomed over the beautiful abode. It looked like a giant barrier that prevented the sunrise from touching the town.

"A giant lives there. He has been terrorizing RenderMore for more than eighty years."

"Why have the gods done nothing about it?" Waverly found herself asking. It was unfair to her that people should live in fear like that when the gods had the power to save them with just a flick of their finger. The townsfolk were obviously quiet because the giant probably feasted on their children and their men and their women and their cattle. Waverly felt anger bubble in her stomach.

Adunar glanced sideways. "The giant is a mountain spirit. He will not be easily defeated. You must find a way."

Waverly frowned at the god. "Of course i must. I do have a nagging feeling that you make up these Trials as you go along."

He shrugged, which was a strange thing to see, and flames fell off of him like raindrops. "I do, in fact. I am only indirectly making you a liberator. The better part of going through my Trials is that along the way, should you survive, you establish yourself a hero."

"That is not what i want." Waverly defended.

"Maybe not, but you get it nonetheless. Do not be surprised when you return home - if you do at all - to find that your name is sung amongst men even for centuries after your own demise."

Waverly blinked. She did not want to think what it would be like if she were to return to Bremeton a hero or even go down in history as one too. She was Zanaan, yes, but that did not automatically mean she had to live like one.

"Defeat the giant and i will meet you on this rise. If you are killed. . . well, that is none of my business." Adunar instructed, and then, as usual, he disappeared.

Waverly fingered her bracelets. She silently hoped she would be able to finish the Trials before it was too late. She needed to get Judson to Enton and if her timing was correct, they still had about four days left. Waverly prayed much time had not passed since she left Brijjet and Judson in the In Between realm. She also prayed that they were safe and that the barrier she put around them would not collapse.

"Time to fight a bloody giant." She muttered and began her climb down the rise.

The Honor of Light|
Book 02