Chapter 10

The next day, I decided to enter the Forest of Misery. Yeah, I know. The name was pretty corny, but it was dangerous. At least that was what I heard about it from the villagers. I ventured for three days inside the forest, but I saw no sign of passing through it. Just how large was this forest?

On the fourth day inside the forest, I heard leaves rustling. I quickly unsheathed my sword and pointed it at the sound, and to my surprise, it was a small bird. It was orange and looked like a phoenix. When it saw me, it came closer and pecked at my arm. I knew I couldn't trust it, but it was so cute. It even chirped at me. "Hey there, little one!" I said. If this was a phoenix, I had to make friends with it.

The bird nodded at me as though it understood me. I decided to give it a name because why not?

"Your name could be Calypso!" I said. The bird nodded at me again. I guess it liked the name. Calypso chirped again and started going East.

"Do you want me to follow you?" I asked. Calypso nodded and started flying faster. I ran as quickly as possible, but I still couldn't keep up, so I asked Calypso to fly a little slower, and he did. I followed him for at least half a day, hoping it would be worth it. When he finally stopped, my heart fell. He led me to a tree… A literal tree! Oh, how I wanted to choke this bird right now. Unfortunately, Phoenixes can't die. Calypso went up to the tree and pecked on it, probably signaling me to chop it. I had nothing to lose, so I used my sword to chop the tree, and what the heck? I found a knife inside the tree. It had a black handle, a sharp grey part, and some red lines on the blade. I picked it up, and it started shooting yellow energy out of it, probably some kind of inheritance or a ritual. I didn't know if this was good or bad, but I decided to take the knife with me, as it could be used to cut meat or something.

"Now, we should get out of this forest." Someone said. I was shocked and realized that the one who spoke was Calypso.

"W-wait. How can you speak?" I asked hesitantly. Was this related to the knife?

"The Knife you just got was one of the Fifteen Divine Weapons, called Asi. It is also connected to my life. Whoever owns the knife is my master, and I can freely communicate with them." Calypso said.

"Okay, that's a lot to take in… What are the Fifteen Divine Weapons?" I asked. Gramps had never told me about them. Maybe even he didn't know?

"The Fifteen Divine Weapons are the strongest weapons in existence, made by beings even higher than the Transcendents. Some originate in the Human Realm, some in the Demon Realm, and some in the Transcendent Realm. Whenever the owner of the weapon dies, it is randomly scattered inside the Realm it originated in." Calypso explained.

"Hmmm, can Transcendents die too?" I asked. "You know, they're considered immortal and all."

"Well, definitely, Transcendents can also die. Their cultivation level allows them to live forever, but they can still die from unnatural causes, such as murder or starvation." Calypso explained again.

"So basically, I just obtained one of the strongest weapons in history, and I'm now the master of an Immortal Mythical Beast?" I asked.

"Yeah." Calypso said. I was stoked. I was now strong enough to take down Azazel easily!

"No, even though Asi and I are strong, it is nowhere near enough power to defeat one of the Transcendents. Plus, you don't even know how to wield this power." Calypso said.

"Wait, can you read my thoughts? I didn't even say that!" I asked, clearly surprised. I would need to watch what I think from now on.

"Yep, I can read the thoughts of master," Calypso said smugly. "Well, enough talking, let's get out of this forest now, or master will lose his mind."

"What?" I asked. What did he mean by me losing my mind?

"The mist in this forest is capable of making an ordinary human go crazy, I don't know how you survived for four whole days, but you won't last much longer," Calypso explained.

"As you say," I said.