Mariel: The Goddess of War

It was almost a year of Mariel first year in school, Her's studies were excellent, and she got the highest score which was 1st place in Room 1-2 and was close to Frederick's score which was 1st place in Room 1-1 as well.

As for the afternoon activities, Mariel was interested in art and drawing pictures of landscapes or doing different kinds of objects, including diligently practicing fire magic, wind magic, and water magic to become more powerful.

After the events of that day, Frederick and Mariel became good friends. They were always discussing and consulting together. Nevertheless, they were also often practice in magic battles together and the skills of them were quite close. They often took turns losing and taking turns winning. They also like to be the center who's connecting the relationships between Room 1 and Room 2, causing the boys and girls to start talking more openly. They quickly became a group of close friends together.

One day, Deric, Claudia, and Mariel left the house early in the day. They drove a car to the capital city. Deric and Claudia had an important meeting with a group of Leadership people. Mariel followed her parents because Deric was worried about being left alone to watch over the house. They went shopping for various supplies while waiting for the meeting time. 

Another relaxing time was going into shops because Mariel seemed to have met many different people and saw many things. In the end, Mariel didn't buy much and instead just bought 2-3 additional magic books to read in her spare time after training.

While walking past the stationery store, Deric and Claudia stopped walking and stood to talk about the missing items that needed to be purchased. Mariel turned to look behind her and noticed that in a dark corner which was near the store on the opposite side where the old man had previously been seen, the same old man appeared, standing, and staring at them with smile.

The old man covered his face under a long, shabby robe. He had a better body, not as gaunt as before but what made Mariel feel a little startled was that there was a smile from that old man's mouth. It made she wonder what the old man was really thinking.

"What are you looking at? Mariel" Claudia asked curiously when she saw Mariel staring at the other side for a while.

Mariel turned around and was about to say but she felt a strange sense of foreboding, so she turned to look at the same spot again and found that the old man had disappeared.

"It was nothing, Mom." Mariel replied.

"Then let's prepare to go to the main auditorium. It's almost time. As for Mariel, you'll wait in the small guest room inside there." Deric hurriedly told everyone to get ready and went to the main auditorium where was not too far from the market.

They walked together and arrived at the main auditorium in the center of the capital city where it looked like a large oval-shaped building. The city's emblem, shaped like a sun, was clearly visible in the center of the building.

"Stop! Do not enter! Do you have any meeting here?" The guard in front of the main gate ordered them to stop and immediately chanted magic from their scepters to prepare for inspection.

"I, Deric De Stella, and family had a big meeting with the leaders of this city and others at 10 o'clock." Deric said.

The guard checked the pattern he had received. When it was true as Deric said, he immediately stopped casting spells and bowed once.

"Everything was correct. Please came inside." the guard said as he tapped the floor with his scepter once, causing the main door to slowly open, allowing them to walk through inside the building.

When they entered, it was quite crowded with many people. Each person, both men and women, dressed very dignifiedly, looked like famous sorcerers, and appeared to have a high level of skills.

"Oh Deric, Claudia, we haven't seen each other in many years. The meeting is approaching, let's hurry and go together." The vice president greeted the three of them, he was rather middle-aged, tall, bearded, wearing a shiny silver warrior outfit all over with a sword and shield.

"Mariel. Greet to Vice President Lapaz. He was his father's senior when they went on missions together in the past.

"Best Regards, Vice President Lapaz." Mariel bowed in respect.

"Hello, Mariel. Is she your daughter? She's cute." Lapaz greeted Mariel as well.

"Yes, she is. Can I have Mariel wait in the waiting room inside?" Deric asked.

"Sure! Just wait in the first room, in the far right-hand corner. As for us, let's prepare to enter the main meeting room." Lapaz said, pointing to the innermost room where there were several smaller rooms to accommodate visitors from all over.

They all arrived in the room and there was a table, chairs, sofa, and drinks were included in the bathroom inside too.

"Wait for mom and dad here, Mariel. The meeting wasn't long, about 2 hours, and then we'd go home when we were done." Deric said.

"Ok, dad." Mariel replied, placing the various purchases on the table, then Deric and Claudia left the room. Mariel took out a magic book and read it while waiting.

At the main meeting room, there were approximately 100 people. Kehal's village had sent Deric and Claudia as representatives because he was on a mission in another city. So, he was unable to come here. The other people were from other villages and were surrounding the capital city too.

The president was named Lagos, who was the brother of Vice President Lapaz. He was the president of this capital city; He was the most skilled sorcerer in this city, and he started to welcome everyone.

"Welcome everyone! Thank you for the honor of coming to the general meeting today. We would report and listen to the latest situation of each village which Including guidelines for dealing with the demon armies in the future." Lagos said at the start of the meeting.

The meeting began with a report on the results in several villages. Each of them stood up and spoke about what was happening in their own village. Then they slowly got up and continued speaking, one by one.

At the waiting room, Mariel has already read half the book. The atmosphere in the room suddenly becomes strangely gloomy and it looks uncomfortable at all.

"The atmosphere is awkward and it's strange." Mariel said, standing up and placing the magic book on the sofa.

"Who? Where are you? Show yourself!" Mariel said, looking around the room, but there was only herself.

"Ready for the test? Mariel." A mysterious voice said from within a corner of the room while was felt goosebumps and frightening.

"A Test? I felt strange." Mariel began to feel dizzy, and her body looked like she was about to collapse immediately.

"No! … Help…me." Mariel said and immediately fainted on the floor next to the sofa.

 Her own soul slowly sank into the darkness. Deeper and deeper until...

*Wink*

Mariel suddenly stood in front of the entrance to a large maze. In front of it is a large old stone wall, more than 5 meters high, with an entrance that, when she investigated it, it had more than 5 different paths to walk through.

"This place was like a maze." Mariel said curiously.

"The maze test begins! It is something that will indicate your knowledge, wisdom, and judgment. Use your senses and get through it. I'll be waiting at the exit, lol." the mysterious voice said, laughing out loud.

Mariel was confused. After a while, she slowly walked in front of the entrance of the maze, where there were 5 ways with many different tests waiting for her.

"Let's go the first way first." Mariel said, walking towards the left side.

As she kept walking in there, she heard strange noises coming from all directions. Suddenly, countless swarms of black bats appeared from the cracks in the maze wall. A group of black bats rushed towards Mariel, preparing to attack her.

"Did that all you got? Fire magic in all directions!" Mariel cast her fire magic power. Then, she released fire magic from her hands, all the bats were burned to the ground.

Mariel walked in a little deeper and found that it was a dead end.

"This was a dead end. Then I could go back to the entrance as usual." Mariel turned around and walked back to the entrance of the maze again.

When she went to the second way, she found that it was a trap. There were collapsed floors in many places. When she stepped on the first one lightly, she found that a deep pit immediately appeared in front of her.

"Oh dear. Lucky that I just stepped on it first. If I walked across it, I would really fall into it." Mariel said, feeling relieved.

Then she considered the remaining 3 intersections in her mind. It might be the last, the 5th one, that she went to this way.

So, Mariel decided not to walk into intersections 3 and 4, then she walked straight to intersection 5.

She found that this was the right way because there were no traps or obstacles of any kind. Then she appeared in a small room.

In front of it was a path that continued like a small stone bridge, but there was a big obstacle blocking it. Fire was spewing out from left and right without stopping. If she walked past it, she would be burned until her whole body became dust.

"What should I do?" Mariel said as she began to observe the surroundings of the room. She found a medium-sized stone tub in the right-hand corner of the room with water inside. It looked like ice crystals with cold vapor continuously flowing out. On the shelf next to the water stand, there were countless old and new gold cups.

But to the far left of the corner of the room was a stone door. With letters engraved on the side of the wall: "The door goes through to the next testing side."

Mariel looked at the door once and then back at the water of the stone tub. She was thinking carefully about the two options in front of her.

"If I went through the door, it's too easy and it might also be a trap. Let's try the second one." Mariel turned away from the stone door and walked towards a water stone tub that looked like ice crystals mixed with it. Then she looked at the various gold cups on the shelves next to her and found that there were letters written on them as well.

"Each cup is different. some cups for you, some cups are harmful, some are poisonous, consider them carefully." Mariel read the message on the stone wall.

Mariel considered it for a moment and then picked up an old gold cup. After dusting off the dust, scoop up a glass full of water mixed with ice crystals.

"There is no need to bring a lot of fancy, beautiful cups or flashy colors. Just an old cup that will be ok.," Mariel said, immediately drinking water from the water platform and walking towards the stone bridge in front of which flames were shooting out from left and right alternating non-stop.

Mariel's body began to change. It started to feel cold and ice crystals appeared around her body.

Mariel then without delay rushed through the flames without thinking about her life. Her body, which was as cold as ice, was continuously burned by fire, but she could still bear it until they reached the end of the bridge, the coldness within them completely dissipated. Finally, she Immediately returned to normal again.

Mariel opened the stone door in front and came in to see a spider. There were so many rats in the room. When they saw Mariel, they jumped in and attacked her immediately.

"That won't work." Mariel used fire, wind, and water magic to defeat the spiders and rats, causing them all to retreat.

Mariel had used up quite a bit of Qi and slowly adjusted her magic power to its place until it was partially restored and walked through the maze again which has both dead ends and roads that cannot be continued.

Mariel took some time until she walked past the stone bridge and reached its destination, which was a large white energy stone platform with a warp core ready to return to where it had come from.

As she walked across to the shore, she found a dead skeleton lying in front of us along with the remains of torn clothes left around including many gold treasures. Various gems and rings were in the treasure box next to it.

"Heal...me…please…" A loud voice came from the skeleton that gave her goosebumps.

Mariel walked closer, kneeling and she used healing magic to heal the skeleton. The skeleton suddenly floated up and glowed white, illuminating the entire area.

Mariel closed her eyes because of the bright light but when the light faded, it was found that the skeleton had changed into the body of an old man in a long robe that they had met before.

"Excellent! For passing my test all the way to the last level. I admired you for using your intelligence very well. Especially the Flame of Death Stone Bridge, where people would normally choose a left door to walk through the gate. If you pass through, you will encounter a large cow-demon with a giant hammer that was ready to slaughter that person, but you chose to use a more difficult method; Including the fact that you have a kind heart, even the old skeletons used healing magic to heal it." the old man admired.

"Thank you." Mariel replied.

"In return, why don't you take one of these treasures back?" The old man pointed to many treasures that were scattered in the area.

Mariel looked at the treasure and shook her head in denied.

"I don't need these treasures. Just going back to my parents that enough for me." Mariel said.

The old man stared at Mariel as if he was looking into her heart. Then, using both hands, he slowly moved the head covering to the back.

In front of Mariel was an old man with a long white beard, long, shaggy white hair but his eyes sparkled like a high-level wizard with enormous power.

"When you were attacked by Dekiran and almost died. It was me who took control of your body to fight with Dekiran. The old necklace I gave you was something that connects your body and mind to me, allowing me to use my power to heal you and fight for you as well." The old man answered what had been lingering in Mariel's heart all along.

"But now my father had the necklace." Mariel said.

"I know, but don't be afraid. One day it will come back to you again." the old man said.

"Then why can't my father detect any magic power in this necklace?" Mariel asked curiously.

"Because I have more magic power than him, concealing the power hidden within those things is easy for me, lol." the old man replied.

"Ok. And…. What is your name?" Mariel asked.

"My name is Apophis, the god of all serpents." the old man replied.

"Nice to meet you, Apophis." Mariel bowed once.

"Same here. Now you quickly pass through this white space, then it will take your soul back to your body. If there is a chance, we will meet again." Apophis said.

"See you later, Apophis." Mariel said goodbye and walked closer to the white energy stone platform and was immediately sucked into it.

"See you later. You'll be my first student, Mariel. Lol!" Apophis laughed happily.

*Wink....

Mariel slowly opened her eyes and found that Deric, Claudia and the others were watching her with worried expressions on their faces.

"Mariel! You finally awake. Is something wrong with you? You were unconscious for an hour." Claudia said.

"So, did I have been unconscious for an hour?" Mariel asked curiously.

"After our meeting ended, it was close to noon. When we entered the room, we found you lying unconscious next to the sofa. So, we came in and shook your body and called your name for a long time. We were even considering taking you to the infirmary." Deric said.

"But you are ok now. That's fine." Vice President Lapaz said.

"The weather might be a little hot. Let's go home, Mariel." Claudia said.

"Yes, Mom." Mariel said.

Deric and Claudia helped Mariel to stand up and now she was back to normal as before.

Then they packed up their belongings, said goodbye to everyone and walked out of the capital city to get into the car and prepare to go home.

Everyone else left the room and only Lagos remains. The president was standing around the room looking at something but didn't find anything unusual and he closed the door.

 In the area where Mariel had fainted earlier. Gradually, a large black snake emblem slowly appeared and then it slowly disappeared.