He at first heard only silence then awoke to see his grandmother standing over him.

"Excellent work Matheus- I'll be honest here I wasn't expecting you to get it that quickly," she said sheepishly.

"Gee thanks," was all he replied with.

"You're very welcome."

"Now What? I just take the next herb?" He asked her.

"Yes, but you must wait a moment, let your body heal and rest," she stated

Heal and rest? he felt fine!

Then he looked down at his arms and found that they were now covered in deep, purple bruises.

He wondered how he had gotten them, then he remembered all his tangling with the massive boar.

That was more or less probably the main reason behind them.

But at the same time, he noticed that the bruises were fading rapidly and within a couple of seconds, had faded entirely.

"The next will test your will...you may start when ready," said his grandmother.

Matheus nodded and shrugged, waiting a few more moments before turning around to the other two herbs and saying.

"Well..you only live once right?"

He then proceeded to pick up the second herb. It looked similar to that of a wing from a bird and had a light-yet green feathered texture to it.

Stuffing the herb in his mouth and chewing it, making a sour face as it was quite sour in the process, he swallowed it.

The effect was immediate and this time he had at least an idea of what to expect, as his eyelids became heavy and he found himself slipping into another vision-filled sleep.

This time he awoke in a field littered with stone pillars as tall as trees, a dull-grey colored sky stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction above him.

Standing, up onto his feet and stretching out his back he looked around wondering what kind of Guardian he was about to face this time.

Would it be a burrowing worm, or snake-like creature or, ...maybe those pillars had something to do with it?

If those pillars reached far into the sky like trees...maybe that hinted towards the guardian's identity.

However, his question was answered before he could ponder more, as he heard a sound that resembled a loud and broad exhale of breath.

His eyes shot up towards the sky, trying to locate the around and the maker of said sound.

Suddenly, Ravina spoke into his head.

"Beware, Matheus, this next test will be much more challenging than mine."

The boy jumped at the sudden speech and asked,"R-Ravina-"?"

"Yes I am Ravina," the boar replied even though he was nowhere to be seen.

"B-but....how can you speak to me? I defeated You?" He asked, still in shock.

"Yes, you may have defeated me but now that you have bonded to the first of the two blades, and since I am its guardian I am also bonded to you," he explained.

"So What? I basically got a god living in my mind now?" Matheus asked

"If you wanna put it that way, Yes," the boar replied with a chuckle.

"Fantastic.." Matheus deadpanned.

He then took a few steps forward as he asked Ravina, "So could you perhaps like...tell me what or rather WHO I'm fighting this time around?"

The boar of rage chuckled, "I don't have the need to do so..you will meet him shortly enough."

Matheus deadpanned "that's helpful..."

However, just as he finished talking, he heard another sound, sounding much like the previous sound he heard, only much closer and considerably louder.

"I assume it would be him making that noise?" Matheus asked as he tried to identify the cause of such a noise.

"Go and find out..he is quite ecstatic to meet you," was all the boar said before a screech sounded in the air.

A shadow passed over him blocking out what little sunlight was showing through the clouds as Matheus looked up quickly in shock.

And he most certainly identified what had made that noise.

Landing on a massive pillar that was bigger than the rest, dead center of what could be only described as a circular valley-hole even if you will, was easily the largest bird that Matheus had ever seen and probably will ever see.

A colossal Condor like creature had made its presence known as it planted it's two colossal talon-like feet onto the stone pillar as it's glowing red eyes filled to the brim with intelligence..but not necessarily evil.

Matheus was astounded by its sheer size, it's wing-span alone was wide enough to cover the entire valley which he figured was about five-hundred feet long, and stood at least eighty-feet tall casting a shadow that shot his vision into darkness. This..creaturehad blood-red feathers with black fur, a dead-grey-like skin, and a massive beak that seemed to resemble metal.

In awe, Ravina spoke into his mind,"Breathtaking size ain't it?...do not be afraid he will not directly harm you"

""Not directly?"" asked Matheus in reply

However, before he got a reply from the Boar the bird-like beast before him spoke in a strangely high-pitched voice for such a massive creature.

"So this is the chosen one eh?..all this waiting had made me impatient to no end!" and to Matheus's further surprise the creature never actually moved its mouth..like some form of speaking into his mind ability.

Ravina then spoke again, "Yes, Rapido, this is the chosen one..he passed my test-and now he must pass yours."

"This would be my..test of wills right?" asked Matheus to either one of the two.

"Yes human, I am Rapido the guardian of the bow of the triad of the amazon..some of your legends may call me the God of birds, the Titan of the sky,..you get the idea," replied Rapido

"He also is a chatterbox," mused Ravina

"Hey! it's not every day you get to meet the chosen one!" protested the bird.

Matheus sighed, "So my test is to listen to you two argue?"

A chuckle sounded from Ravina, "We are immortal defenders of the triad we can never die unless the triad is ever broken and destroyed..which alas..is nearly impossible-as the metal is a kind of metal unique and like no other-even Gods have trouble even scratching it," he said as Rapido continued on.

"It is known as Vinerium a metal initially forged by the endless to hold up their fortresses..but rarely-just so rarely they are gifted to Gods or mortals even in-return for favors and the like," the bird flapped it's wings slightly, even though it had made a gust of wind that briefly caused Matheus to stumble.

Matheus then asked, "what are you testing me on?"

The bird then fixed him with his massive eyes and stated.

"I am here to test your will..succeed and I will bond with you like Ravina here."

"..and how will you be testing me?" Asked the boy, suddenly growing nervous.

Matheus swore he saw the bird give the bird equivalent to a grin with its beak and then raised his wings and gave a large flap-result in that noise he had heard earlier.

But the main effect was the aftermath.

A gust of wind so strong came from the result of his wings they blew Matheus off his feet, skidding a few extra feet on his ground for good measure.

The bird then spoke up, "To beat me you must reach this pillar and climb it-all while I create those gusts over and over again..until you ever succumb to exhaustion or reach the pillar and climb it.."

Matheus deadpanned- that gust was the strongest he'd ever felt-even that storm roughly three years ago that uprooted trees failed to knock him over, so he had no clue how he was gonna complete this test.

The titan then said, "I'll only give you one hint..use the environment to your advantage"

He titled his head and scanned the area, a lot of rocks, a lot of flat ground..but little cover, but he felt an idea being created inside his mind subconsciously.

"This should be interesting to watch..as I cannot help you during these tests..maybe some useless feedback and conversation, however" Ravina stated.

"most helpful" replied Matheus deadpanning.

"Oh Ravina is very helpful," commented Rapido

Matheus sighed.

He then coughed, "the test.."

"right, right-on with it now Rapido!" said Ravina.

The Titan let out a loud-chip-like Caw and spread his wings, barely giving him time to react as the first, of what he figured to be many gusts, came and slammed into a force that was even greater than Ravina.

He flew back nearly smashing his back against a pointed stone as he managed to grab a foothold and slow himself down.

Rapido tilted his massive head. "Interesting, I expected you to splatter yourself not gonna lie, " he mused.

"That's encouraging," mused Matheus as he tilted himself forward and dashed as fast as he could towards the spire.

Unfortunately, Rapido had other plans as he simply let out another gale of wind, this one even stronger than the last and simply blew him back to his starting location.

A pillar crumbled, throwing up a large pile of dust and rubble, and the titan squawked.

"Remember..use the environment..and I'll be nice..trust in your will power..but no more hints," the titan cawed out.

"use the environment..." Matheus muttered to himself, he then proceeded to spot the pillar nearby that had just crumbled and ran to it-and to his surprise Rapido just watched him from afar, as he climbed onto the top of the pile of rubble.

Only to get blown down again-this time with a large pile of rubble alongside him as a couple of small rocks smashed into him, though it only caused minimal pain so it was simply shrugged off.

"dirty trick.." muttered Matheus.

Ravina chuckled, "He is known to play dirty"

He thought back to his subconscious idea and glanced at the rocks and his body acted seemingly of its own accord.

Grabbing a pair of rocks in both hand's he drew his arm back and as the bird tilted his head, threw the rocks with all his might.

Only for it to bounce off the bird's beak, not even causing the bird to flinch.

"..what exactly was your plan there?" asked Ravina.

"...shut up" replied Matheus

"Keep trying..you'll get it eventually," said Rapido quietly.

He threw another rock, this one too merely bouncing off of the bird's body harmlessly.

The bird however did shift slightly and this did not go unnoticed by Matheus.

Narrowing his eyes he grabbed one of the large rocks and threw it-but not at Rapido, this time he threw it full force at the base.

Rapido and Ravina let out a surprised noise as the pillar became filled with cracks in the area of impact.

Matheus responded by throwing the largest rock he could lift and it just impacted against the pillar.

A large cluster of fissures and cracks spread throughout the pillar and right before the pillar crumbled, Rapido spread his wings and leaped into the sky, simply landing on an even larger pillar directly behind it roughly a hundred feet farther than he initially was.

"So..you literally used your environment..interesting," commented Rapido.

Matheus' only reply was a sigh.

"But alas..you only made it harder for yourself no,." stated the titan bird simply and spread his wings again.

Matheus jumped off the pile of rocks and ran as fast as he could.

"You know how it ended up last time you did this right!?" asked Ravina in his head.

But before Matheus could reply another gust slammed into him and nearly staggered him.

"I sense a fire within you, Matheus..it is good to have a fire for something..but you are arrogant and do not listen-you are in several ways foolish and impulsive..but you do have potential," stated Rapido.

These words angered Matheus greatly. If he was foolish why was he the chosen one then?

Taking a step backward he managed to steady himself and this time he had properly braced himself as the gust of wind smashed into him.

To his credit, he actually managed to take a gust to the face-and remain standing.

"excellent," was all Rapido said before sending more gusts of wind.

Each gust of wind smashed into him with a force equal-if not greater to Ravina.

He wondered if Ravina was actually helping him-then again wouldn't that technically be called cheating?

He staggered, but took another step forward, pushing himself against the wind that took his breath away every-time they slammed into him.

And with every gust of wind came another step.

So inch by inch-foot by foot, he slowly reached closer and closer to the pillar.

"Not this time Matheus!" screeched Rapido and sent the most powerful gust of wind he has yet to send forth.

This wind shattered several of the smaller pillars around the valley in an instant.

Matheus felt his willpower strengthening, getting stronger and against the wind, making the wind have less and less power to it.

And as the bird opened up his wings to create one last gust, Matheus grasped a larger rock and summoned the last of his arm strength to throw it for one last throw.

He was almost to the pillar so he had a clear shot of his underbelly-he remembered that when flapping birds had a habit of showing their bellies when about to flap their wings to take to the skies-or in this case, blow an overly strong gust of wind.

The rock streaked upwards at a very high speed and while Matheus knew that it would do nothing to Rapido, injury wise-that wasn't his intention.

The large rock smashed into the bird's chest, taking him by surprise, but not even harming him in the slightest but causing enough of a distraction, that the massive bird lost his balance and nearly fell off the pillar.

Matheus didn't waste a second as he ran forward and grasped the pillar with both hands.

Ravina said in his mind, "Now climb, climb child!"

Not wasting a breath Matheus began to climb, finding the rocks surprisingly easy to scale despite their smooth shape.

and within the next thirty seconds, Matheus expected to be at the top.

Rapido, suddenly stomped down on the pillar making it shake and Matheus lost his grip with one hand.

With a bit of effort, he managed to place his hand back onto the pillar and resume climbing.

He could see the top clearly now as the titan of the sky looked down at him and began to raise his clawed foot again-most likely to stomp.

Pushing greatly with both his arms he launched himself upwards just as the bird slammed his foot into the ground and thanks to him being in the air at the exact moment of impact, he wasn't affected by the tremendous amount of force hitting the pillar.

For a brief moment, he thought he wasn't gonna hit the rock as he started to fall back down as he moved his body in midair, slamming down onto the rock hard.

He laid there panting as his adrenaline now started to wore off and Rapido suddenly went still and calm.

He looked down at Matheus and spoke kindly, "Excellent work, you now have the will to accomplish what will need to be done...I look forward to working with you human in the future."

And then all Matheus saw was the bird slowly becoming sparkling particles of matter, and the faint outline of a massive crossbow glowing green and covered in intricate details before it too vanished.

And then his vision started to do nothing but fade into black.