Rise of the Peerless God of War

Chapter 15

The three-day journey to Sakura Valley nearly killed them twice.

First was the pack of shadow wolves that came out of nowhere on the second night, their eyes glowing red as they circled the camp. Draven had barely managed to wake the others before the attack began.

Shadow wolves. Great. Because regular wolves weren't dangerous enough.

"Stay together!" he'd shouted, drawing his sword as the first wolf lunged at Jin.

The fight was brutal and fast. Lyra's wind magic had scattered the pack initially, but they kept coming back, smarter and more coordinated than normal animals should be.

These aren't normal wolves. There's something wrong with them.

It was Sera's shadow magic that finally drove them off, confusing their senses until they couldn't tell friend from foe. But not before one of them had nearly taken Jin's arm off.

Too close. Way too close.

The second near-death experience came on the third morning when they encountered an earth drake defending its territory. The thing was the size of a small building, with claws that could shred steel and breath that turned stone to lava.

Earth drakes. In the wild. Because apparently this journey wasn't dangerous enough already.

They'd only escaped because Jin had managed to create a rockslide that blocked the drake's path, giving them time to run like hell.

Note to self: avoid earth drake territories in the future.

By the time they reached the valley's edge, they were exhausted, battered, and starting to wonder if this expedition had been a terrible idea.

Of course it's a terrible idea. All the best adventures are terrible ideas.

"There," Draven said, pointing ahead as they crested a ridge. "Sakura Valley."

The sight that greeted them took their breath away.

The valley spread out below them like something from a dream. Thousands of sakura trees filled the space between towering cliff walls, their pink blossoms creating a carpet of color that stretched for miles. The air was thick with the scent of flowers and something else—something that made the hair on the back of Draven's neck stand up.

Magic. Old magic. The kind that's been here so long it's soaked into the very stones.

"It's beautiful," Lyra breathed, her wind magic stirring the air around them.

Beautiful and dangerous. The academy heroes' memories are already stirring, warning me about what lies beneath all that beauty.

"Grandfather used to tell me about the great battle here," Draven said, drawing on the absorbed memories of Captain Marcus Hale. "He said War God Tianlong fought celestial invaders in this very valley."

Not exactly a lie. The memories are from someone who was actually here during the battle.

Just not my grandfather.

"Celestial invaders?" Jin asked, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Like... beings from another world?"

Beings from another dimension. Creatures of pure energy and malice who wanted to devour our reality.

The kind of enemy that requires War Gods to stop.

"That's what the stories say," Draven replied. "Tianlong made his final stand right here, using techniques that were lost after his death."

Techniques that I'm here to reclaim. Power that I need to understand.

Knowledge that might be the only thing standing between our world and another invasion.

"Your grandfather knew a lot about history," Sera observed, her silver eyes studying the valley below.

He knew a lot about everything. Because he carried the memories of heroes, just like I do.

Because the Echo Heart has been passed down through our family for generations.

"He was a military man," Draven said. "He believed in understanding the battles that came before."

True enough. Even if the battles he understood were fought by people whose memories he absorbed.

They made their way down into the valley, following a path that seemed to shimmer in and out of existence. The closer they got to the sakura trees, the more Draven could feel the wrongness in the air.

This place isn't just beautiful. It's alive. And it's watching us.

The first sign of trouble came when they reached the valley floor. A sakura tree about fifty feet away suddenly erupted in a storm of razor-sharp petals, the pink blossoms cutting through the air like tiny knives.

Warning shot. The trees are testing us.

"Everyone down!" Draven shouted, diving behind a boulder as the petals whistled overhead.

"What the hell was that?" Jin gasped, his earth magic automatically creating a barrier around them.

That was the valley's way of saying hello.

"The trees," Draven said, drawing on Master Elena Brightwater's memories of this place. "They're not normal. They're guardians, left here to protect the battlefield."

Guardians that will kill anyone who doesn't belong here.

Anyone who isn't worthy of the power hidden in this valley.

Another tree joined the first, its branches moving with obvious intelligence as it launched its own petal storm. Then another. Then a dozen more.

They're coordinating. Working together. This isn't random—it's tactical.

"How do we get through?" Lyra asked, her wind magic deflecting the worst of the petal attacks.

By proving we belong here. By showing the valley that we understand what it means to sacrifice everything for others.

By being worthy.

"Carefully," Draven said, using his sword to deflect a particularly vicious cluster of petals. "And together. The trees are testing us, seeing if we're grave robbers or heroes."

Testing to see if we deserve to walk the same ground where legends died.

They moved deeper into the valley, and with each step, the evidence of ancient battle became clearer. Rusted weapons were embedded in tree trunks, their metal still glowing faintly with residual magic. Scorch marks from three-hundred-year-old spells were burned into the ground, and the air itself shimmered with lingering enchantments.

This is where it happened. This is where War God Tianlong made his stand against impossible odds.

This is where he died saving the world.

"Look at this," Jin said, kneeling beside a memorial stone half-hidden by flowering vines. "It's a marker. 'Here fell Captain Sarah Moonwhisper, who died protecting the evacuation route.'"

Captain Sarah Moonwhisper. I remember her from the academy heroes' memories. Wind mage, like Lyra. Died buying time for civilians to escape.

Just one of hundreds who gave everything in this valley.

"There are more," Sera said, pointing to other stones scattered throughout the area. "Dozens of them. Maybe hundreds."

All heroes. All people who understood that some things are worth dying for.

All people whose memories I now carry.

They pressed on, following paths that existed only in Draven's inherited memories. The sakura trees continued their attacks, but there was a pattern to them now—testing their teamwork, their willingness to protect each other, their understanding of sacrifice.

Each test is harder than the last. Each challenge requires more cooperation.

The valley is teaching us. Preparing us for what lies ahead.

At the valley's heart, they found the crater where War God Tianlong had made his final stand. It was a perfect circle fifty feet across, the ground fused into glass by forces that defied comprehension. And at its center...

Celestial weapon fragments. Pieces of the invaders' arms and armor, still glowing with otherworldly energy.

Still dangerous after three centuries.

"This is it," Draven said, his voice barely above a whisper. "This is where it happened. Where Tianlong sealed the dimensional breach."

Where he gave everything to save a world that most people didn't even know was in danger.

Where he became a legend.

"I can feel it," Lyra said, her wind magic responding to the residual energies in the air. "The power. It's like... like the air itself remembers."

The air does remember. This place is saturated with the echoes of sacrifice.

With the final moments of heroes.

With the kind of power I need to claim.

That's when they felt it—a presence awakening in the valley around them. Not hostile, exactly, but ancient and powerful beyond imagining.

The guardian spirits. The echoes of everyone who died here.

They know we're here. They know what we seek.

And they're deciding whether we're worthy of it.

"We're not alone," Sera said, her shadow magic detecting movement that had nothing to do with the living world.

No. We're definitely not alone.

We're surrounded by the spirits of legends.

And they're about to test us in ways that could kill us.

Or make us worthy of the power we seek.

The valley held its breath, waiting to see what they would do next.

What we'll do next is prove ourselves. Prove that we understand what it means to be heroes.

Prove that we're worthy of War God Tianlong's legacy.

Or die trying.

Because that's what heroes do.

They face the impossible odds and keep fighting anyway.

The real test was about to begin.