Chapter 18

The next day the ship stopped and landed on solid ground; the king’s ship had finished a journey in a day that would take a normal one a few days to finish.

Ibaeran stood before the ship’s steel doors next to the king and his guards, waiting eagerly for the doors to open up.

She was finally there, after so many battle she had reached her goal and now the only thing that stood against her was a steel door that was about to be opened.

The king could sense the eager in Ibaeran’s heart, along with her doubt and fear that she might not be worthy of the steel wings of the Su Baera.

The king found it strange that Ibaeran still doubted herself after everything she had been, fighting against not only the strongest warriors in the nations but also an Uha Tamunaran, she had done something no other warrior before her could do, she faced an Uha Tamunaran in battle and defeated him.

The king though surprised that Ibaeran still doubted herself after accomplishing so much also saw the doubt and fear she had in heart as an opportunity, thinking he could easily exploit and control her through her fear and doubt because he needed her to accomplish his plans but if what the monster said about her last time was true if she was to go against him possessing the power of Su Baera he feared that he wouldn’t be able to defeat her like he did the former Su Baera.

“Open the door” the king commanded.

The guards then opened the ship’s doors.

With a bright light Ibaeran eyes widen but not with wonder instead with horror.

Before Ibaeran stood a dry and barren waste land, sand and dust covered the everything, the only thing Ibaeran could see that was sand or dust were bones some of them looking human and others resembling like strange human like abomination as most of the had a third eye socket in the skull, horns on the head with most of the even having spikes that sprouted out of their bodies, then those that remained had features to bizarre and strange to describe, like a mix of man and monster.

“Incredible isn’t it” said the king with a smile on his face.

Ibaeran said nothing as she was too horrified by what she saw to speak.

“This place was where I and my army fought the former Su Baera for the very last time. He put up quite a fight, defeating wave after wave of Uha Tamunaran solider, he was one man but despite that fact he had the strength of a thousand. It seemed like no one could match in power but then he met an Uha Tamunaran that possessed power so immense that not even the Su Baera could match him” said the king as he touched his eyes patch, remembering how he lost his other eyes.

A blast of the raw power and energy that flowed out of the Su Baera’s hand’s as they fought destroyed the king’s eye completely, leaving behind a gaping hole in the place where his eye was meant to be.

“I might have lost an eye that day but the Su Baera lost his life,” said the king.

Ibaeran’s eyes widen with fear upon hearing what the king said, now realizing that king was the one that ended the life of the former Su Baera.

“Come, girl, I’ll lead the way,” said the king.

The king and his guards lead Ibaeran through the waste land until they reached a cave that stood behind a mist of sand and dust created by the wind as it blew about.

Ibaeran recognized the cave from Bafuro’s story about how he was brought there to claim the wings of the Su Baera.

Upon reaching the cave Ibaeran froze up, losing all feeling in her legs with her heart racing and beating so hard that she felt like it was about to burst right out of her chest.

The king sensing Ibaeran was nervous went to her and said, “Control yourself child, I have waited far too long for this day for it to be spoiled by you and your nervous heart”.

Ibaeran, upon hearing what the king said calmed down as she had more fear for him than nervousness over finally reaches the cave where the wings of the Su Baera laid.

“Are you okay now?” asked the king as he sensed that she had claimed down.

Ibaeran nodded her head.

“Good, now come” said the king as he led the way in to cave.

As they ventured in deeper in to the cave Ibaeran could sense fear coming from the Uha Tamunaran guards as they murmured among themselves in a fearful tone, the king though seemed claim, not showing a single ounce of fear in him.

Ibaeran then began to wonder if it was even possible for the king to feel fear as she only knew him to be a source of fear but never the one to feel it.

The deeper they journeyed into the cave the darker it got and soon every single ounce of light was gone and all Ibaeran could see was nothing but patch black darkness.

Then a ball of light formed from the king’s arm illuminating the cave and allowing Ibaeran to see.

Ibaeran was amazed to see the king create light out of his hand even though she knew it was just a small fraction of his true power it was still incredible for her to see the king use his power even though it was a small amount of it.

The king continued to lead the way until they saw a light far greater than the one processed by the king’s arm from afar.

They followed the light in to a tunnel.

Soon they reached the end of the tunnel and then Ibaeran gasped upon seeing what lied at the very end of the tunnel.

Floating underneath a large hole at the top of the cave was none other than the wings of power that once belonged to the form Su Baera and below the wings where piles of bones and remains of those were not worthy of being the Su Baera.

“Go on girl, claim the wings and become the next Su Baera,” said king.

Ibaeran just looked at the wings as an unexplainable feeling took over her entire body, the feeling felt like a strange force pulling her towards the wings, almost as though it was calling out to her to come and claim it.

Slowly Ibaeran moved her feet and took the first step, as she did so she remembered everything she did to reach this point, all her training, battles she had to fight, the people she met along the way and those she lost, she remembered everything as she took that first step.

Ibaeran then took another step and another and another, moving closer and closer to wings still unable to believe how far she had come, from girl who doubted everything especially herself to warrior, she had come so far and couldn’t help but feel proud of herself and even though a small part of herself still doubted if she was worthy of being the Su Baera a larger part was at peace knowing she had come as far as she did.

Ibaeran soon reached the wings and now all eyes were on her as king and his guards watched her from afar as she was about to reach for the wings.

Ibaeran stretched out her hand and reached of the wings, and the very moment her hand made contact with the wings she felt and overwhelming wave of power flow through her entire body.

The mark on her neck then began to glow and then a bright light emerged from the wings and Ibaeran was engulfed by the light.

The light slowly died down.

Then Ibaeran opened her eyes and saw that she was no longer in the cave with the king and his guards nowhere to be seen.

Ibaeran had now found herself in what she could only described as a white void.

“Hello Ibaeran, you are finally here. I’ve been wait patiently for you to come” said voice from behind her.

“I can’t be” said Ibaeran upon hearing the voice, recognizing who it was but refusing to believe it until she slowly turned around and saw none other than the Su Ingi standing before her.

“You?” said Ibaeran shocked to see the Su Ingi.

“I glad to see you have finally made it this far, we have much to discuss, Su Baera,” said the Su Ingi.

Ibaeran then turned to her back and then gasped upon seeing a power of steel wings attacked to her back.

“It…it can be” said Ibaeran.

“But it is,” said the Su Ingi.

“But that means, I’m the Su Baera” said Ibaeran with a smile and a shocked look on her face.