Chapter 40

Arya quickly healed up all three boys and Ezekiel patted her on the head and hugged her.

Granite's left arm was fixed. Ezekiel's cut over his right eye was gone. 

"I saw you fight off those wolves. You did amazing, Ar-Ar."

Granite gave Arya a thumbs up and Assyrian gave her big smile.

Ezekiel laid against a tree as Arya healed him up. She finished and Ezekiel jumped up onto his feet and started to move about.

"Finally, it feels like I'm back to my old self again. Great job, Ar-ar. Thank you so much!!"

Arya just nodded before yawning.

She slumped over and was asleep before she even hit the ground. Except Ezekiel's fast reflexes prevented her from face-planting onto the ground.

He princess-carried her over to a small sleeping/camping area that Granite already set up in a small grass patch on the side of the road.

Granite managed to salvage some sleeping bags and some food from the wreckage of the carriage.

Ezekiel carried her over to an empty sleeping andtucked her in.

Arya was fast asleep and she seemed to be having good dreams.

Granite nodded in respect to Ezekiel but his eyes were alert and scanning the treeline and darkness surrounding them, looking for any monsters or beasts lurking out there.

"She did enough for today. Killing off all those wolves and healing all four of us."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Freya felt envy and a sense of inferiority rise up in her as she thought about what she did today compared to Arya: All she did was run away and did nothing while fighting was going on.

She felt useless and a burden.

Assyrian yawned and got up, stretching his arms behind his back, lightning sparking off from his hands.

"I'm taking the first watch, guys."

….

Three days passed like this as they slowly made their way across the forest, battling monsters and fending off ambushes.

Night came and it was a small mercy that it was a warm night and not a cold one as they couldn't light up a fire in fear of attracting unwanted attention.

They all took turns taking three hour shifts to keep a look out for monsters.

So far, there have been three surprise attacks and one false alarm with a baby bunny.

Arya's eyes scanned the treelines and her sheathed knife was tied to her wrist with a strip of cloth. It dangled down and swayed gently back and forth like a pendulum from disuse.

Ezekiel's twin swords were clutched in her hands.

Ezekiel managed to grab a pair of swords from who-knows-where but she didn't ask him about it as she didn't have her own with her right now.

An owl hooted somewhere in the distance from Arya's left.

That was a sight to behold as animals such as rabbits and bears become more and more scarce these days and the bones and half-eaten bodies of said animals that the small group encountered told them all they needed to know about that strange phenomena.

Freya knew she was weak.

All she could do was run away as the monsters invaded the palace and started a ruthless slaughter. It wasn't just zombies this time but globlins, trolls, demon-wolves, strange creatures with many heads and sharp teeth. All sorts of powerful and merciless beasts.

It was all Freya could do to keep Arya safe as the others fended off the monsters long enough to allow them to run to a carriage and escape from the war zone the royal palace had become.

Arya had not awakened for four hours and she seemed like she was in some sort of trance.

Freya balled up her fist and looked at Arya with a mix of respect and envy. Her emerald eyes gleaning and flashing like real emeralds in the bright moonlight and her waves of brown hair looked silky and shiny like strips of brown silk. She was beautiful without even trying and Freya had to wonder who her mother was. Obviously it was known to all that her father was the late King Cullen but her mother was unknown. Arya clearly got her looks from whoever her mother was as the late king was more well known for his strength and power than good looks.

Arya looked like she won over Ezekiel and Assyrian already. No surprise there as Arya was someone who was worthy of respect and affection.

Arya, the princess who came out of nowhere and who boasted two abilities.

Arya, who was so strong and powerful that she would be a formidable opponent if she ever started to covet the throne for herself.

Some flowers sprouted from where she sat, their bright yellow petals a stark contrast to the gloomy and dark forest and her own mood.

Pathetic, she thought, that all I can do is make flowers grow and bloom and make plants grow. That's nothing compared to fire or ice or even Arya's telekinesis and swordsmanship. Even Demtrius's invisibility would be more useful right now. At least he can sneak up on someone without them noticing.

Mother and Demetrius. She could only hope that they were still okay and still alive. 

The yellow flowers wilted and died in seconds and Freya decided to take her anger out on the grass and small wildflowers around her. The grass turned from dark green to a ugly shade of brown and dry as straw. The flowers turned brown and wilted from her anger.

Arya finished up her patrol and walked over to Freya. She sat down next to her and crossed her legs. She played with her knife and stared at its bloodstained blade from where she pulled it out from the dead wolf's eye. Arya sighed and she ripped off a piece of her shirt to wipe her blade clean.

"Qut taking it out on those poor flowers, you bitch. You should be blaming yourself for not putting in the effort to train and improve. You got lazy with your training and once people started to point out your bad attitude towards training, you quit for real."

Freya looked like Arya slapped her but in her heart, she knew that she couldn't refute what Arya said because it was all true.

"Freya, sweetheart, why did you walk out in the middle of training?"

"MOTHER!! He told me I needed to work harder and that I don't put in any effort at all. I'm trying my best!!"

"Freya. From what I heard from your instructor, it seems like you are lazy and slack off, refusing to take their advice and refusing to doing the training exercises-"

Yep, she was an asshole back then. She played around and didn't bother to train, prefering to not listen to the instructors point out her mistakes and flaws.

It was too late now.

Maybe she should have just sucked it up and listened to her instructors, who was only trying to help her get stronger, not make her feel bad about herself.

Arya smiled. It felt like the air was getting warmer around Freya when Arya smiled. 

"Elijah and Catalina were really strict with me. They never hesitate to point out what I did wrong or criticize me. "You didn't move your feet enough", "You hold back too much", "Don't punch like that, punch like this", stuff like that. That's what a teacher is supposed to do: pick you apart, remove all the bad parts about you before putting you back together so that you are a much better version of yourself. That's my learning experience."

Freya had a question to ask.

"What about me? You told me when we first met that you thought my power was cool."

They didn't dare start a fire in fear of attracting monsters to them but it was thankfully very warm tonight so they at least didn't need to worry about freezing to death.

Assyrian, Ezekiel and Granite were asleep with Arya and Freya taking the first lookout shift.

Well, not really. Arya was supposed to be on guard duty but Freya, wanting to feel useful for once, offered to join her.

Arya welcomed her company and the chance to bond with her.

Arya thought about that day and she just smiled a little. All her thinking and visions in her head started to come to life and Arya didn't know where to start.

"I'm imagining what you could do with plant powers. I experimented with my own powers to push it to the limit. To see what I can do and how my power can be used in other ways that most people don't think it can be used. You could say that I got bored and I'm a bit of a rebel. Watch this. See that rock over there?"

Arya pointed her finger at a rock the size of her fist. The entire road was littered with rocks like that.

Freya nodded, eyes focused on the rock Arya selected.

Arya channeled her power in the air and she manipulated the rock to float up into the air where it was suspended in mid-air a few feet from the ground.

Arya's eyes glowed a pale green and her power was humming and pulsing in her veins.

She raised her right fist and balled it up.

The rock shook and trembled for a bit before it exploded, shattering into tiny pebbles that rained down back to the ground.

"That's one of the things I can do with my telekinesis. I can destroy things and crush them up just like I did to that rock without laying a hand on them. I don't have superstrength but I manipulated my telekinesis in order to achieve some form of super strength"

Freya was amazed and astonished. Arya's creative and innovative way to utilize her ability in various ways was something she didn't have. She never thought to think outside the box to find out what her powers could do beyond the surface level.

She whipped around, eyes bright and shining. Envy was gone now-she couldn't envy Arya for being powerful when she herself never put in the effort to get stronger-and replaced with admiration and wonder. She wanted to learn from Arya.

Curiosity also got the best of her.

"What else can you do?"

Arya's face cracked open into a big grin.

"Well, I'll need your help for that. Can you pick up a rock-any size would work as long as it's not too tiny-and then back a good few feet away from me?"

Freya did as she was told. She picked up a rock about the size of an egg and distanced herself from Arya until they were about 6 feet away from each other.

"Throw the rock at me. Don't hold back."

What?

Was she crazy?, Freya thought.

Arya sighed.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just throw it."

Freya hesitated but Arya's eyes locked in with hers and her gaze was firm and unwavering.

Freya threw the rock, chucking it directly at Arya's head.

The rock stopped inches from her face in mid-air.

Arya's eyes locked in on the rock and it went from floating in the air to dropping to the ground.

"Amazing."

"Thanks, Freya, but let's focus on you now. Are you ready to hear about what I have to say?"

"YES!!"

…

Arya watched as Freya practiced manipulating the tree she picked. It was a good sturdy oak tree about 8 feet tall that was starting to shed its leaves because winter was coming.

"Freya, I think your ability goes far beyond just making plants grow and flowers bloom. What if you were able to control and manipulate plants? Couldn't you turn them into weapons?"

"What? I never thought about that? Controlling plants….that would be awesome."

"You can turn a tree into a shield, get grass to wrap itself around your opponent's feet and trap them, and use vines, deadly plants and toxic flowers as your weapons. No…what if you could create flowers and plants from nothing but thin air? That would be OP!!"

Freya pressed a hand against the trunk of the tree and felt the lifeforce of the tree pulse in beat to her own heartbeat. She took a deep breath and channeled her power into the tree.

Arya told her to make the tree branches move and act like giant clubs that were strong enough to destroy and kill someone.

Freya's power entered the tree and tried to picture what "tree branch clubs" would look like.

The tree braces started to shake and move violently. Their branches creaked and groaned as they moved and shifted to Freya's command. They seem to grow bigger and thicker in response to Freya's power. The tree grew taller and stronger-looking with a thicker trunk. One large branch in particular reared up and cracked itself like a whip across the ground.

The loud bang and explosion of dust that followed suit startled both Freya and Arya.

The tree branch whip had left a gash in the ground that was a few feet deep. The ground was very flattened and destroyed and Arya bet that any animal or person who might have been caught in the crossfire of the tree whip, crushed underneath the branch, would have been crushed to death.

Freya looked at the gash and then looked at the tree.

A feeling of victory and euphoria rushed through Freya at what she did.

"Is this what power feels like?...Arya, you're amazing and a genius at ability manipulation and utilization."

Arya sm,riked.

"Brace yourself, Freya, because this is only the beginning."

…

The Demon King looked up at the bright moon.

"Beautiful moon tonight. My mood is great. My army is winning and we have the upper hand. But I can't be happy since she's back now."

How could he forget that human princess who managed to defeat him by imprisoning him and his warriors inside a pocket dimension…no, an entirely brand new world she created to serve as their prison?

She had died like the human she was, sacrificing her life so that her people could live.

But 250 years later, here she was again. He could sense her presence, faint but there.

No, reincarnation was a myth, something even the most powerful demon or person in the world could not achieve. Once you die, your soul gets sent to the afterlife and you spend the rest of eternity as a soul.

So how could she be here, walking the earth once again?

Was it possible she was reborn and reincarnated to defeat him once again?

No, reincarnation was risky and there was no guarantee that the soul would be able to survive the rebirth process and have their mind and sanity left intact.

Most attempts to reincarnate souls ended in failure with the soul being able to be reborn or being reincarnated but at the price of their sanity and humanity.

He banished that idea from his head as he prepared to address his army and launch another attack.

The truth was the Demon King was this close to discovering Arya's secret identity.

She was the reincarnation of Princess Perpsephone. But she had no memories of her past life-at least not yet.