RIDDLE

Athos hopped out the circular door and was met with the now-familiar scene of the arena. Most of the stands were reduced to rubble and a few craters littered the ground. He had made quite a mess of the place, but some...no, most of the blame went to Gaea, that earthen bitch.

He traced his invisible fingers along the intricate edges of his Oni mask that was in its 'Full, blue' mode. It looked menacing with its black tusks and sharp horns, although he was the only one who could appreciate its masterful workmanship. It was invisible after all. He'd acquired the mask when the soul-devouring spell of the mad Oni failed and backfired. He'd have died if his soul wasn't tainted by Khaos, or in other words, wasn't Khaos-kin.

He'd changed much more of the story than he had previously imagined. His presence had stirred Gaea, the Earth, who was supposed to wake eight years from now, and her involvement could drastically change the outcome of the Titan War as Kronos had come inestimably close to overthrowing the Gods. And Gaea's existence could probably tip the scales in the Titans' favour.

All this because he was fucking 'tainted' by the greek equivalent of the origin of everything, something he still didn't understand.

Just how and why did Khaos find him? If it were just a matter of luck, it would be rather convenient indeed. A convenience that saved his life, but may have just placed a target on his back since the first of the Protogeni, the one closest to Khaos, had come knocking at his door and who knew how many more ancient entities he'd roused.

Khaos-kin...

Why him of all people? He was a relatively normal demigod who'd done nothing out of the ordinary other than suplex a primordial.....Fine, that last one was a bit much, but frankly, none of the demigods truly fit the definition of 'normal'. The only thing that could be considered abnormal about him in this world where the line between mythology and reality was blurred, was the fact that he had transmigrated.

Transmigration, in essence, was the movement of one soul from one body to another. Did his soul have to pass through the void that was Khaos to reach his new body? Khaos was the origin of everything after all, and it resided below Tartarus. That would explain his 'taint', his soul's violent reaction to being consumed and probably even his ability to wield Stygian Iron without any visible repercussions.

It sounded far-fetched, but that was the best theory he could come up with at the moment. For all he knew, his soul being tampered with could just be the result of a mere bout of boredom. Just another day for the endless abyss.

He sighed and shook his head. It'd be best if he stopped worrying, for worry lead to doubt and doubt lead to fear. His journey wouldn't have been easy in the first place and this new development would just make the impossible more...impossible.

He pulled out Bob, the bronze medal, and pressed the depression in the middle. Eight long legs sprung out and its silver eyes blinked into existence once again. With a happy chirp and a cheery flip, the mechanical spider jumped out of his hand and landed on the ground, quickly scuttling toward the large hole in the cavern wall that its energy beam had previously created. Athos followed swiftly, his footsteps now making noticeably less noise.

***

The labyrinth was fucking with him. He was sure of it.

It'd been a full week since he'd left Anteas' arena and Bob showed no sign of stopping, scuttling forward without a care in the world. He needed far less sleep than the average mortal but he couldn't do without it, thus, he resorted to grabbing onto Bob from time to time to catch some shut-eye.

So much for reaching Poland with one step. If anything, it felt as though the labyrinth was stretching a step into a mile.

Eventually, the same boring tunnel opened up into a large room littered with numerous skeletons and bodies in varying levels of decay. The smell was awful, not Nereus-level awful, but dreadful enough to make a grown man wish to locomote his organs to the floor. Bob stopped and climbed into his pockets turning back into a disc, implying some dangerous entity was around. Sure enough, on the opposite side of the room, on a glittery dias, sat a relatively well-known monster with a body of a lion and a face of a woman. A blue ribbon badge was pinned to her furry chest that read: THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

The Sphinx. Annoyance incarnate. He wanted no part of her riddles.

The monster's human nose suddenly twitched and a glaring light shone right into Athos' face. Once his eyes adjusted he found a confused Sphinx looking around the corpse-ridden room. All that trouble for the Oni mask, yet it could not hide a demigod's scent. How frustrating. He was glad it had other features else he may have just popped a vein in his head. It seemed that Lamia's curse was not easy to overcome, even for an Oni.

"Who's there!", she snarled with a thick British accent, but there was no answer. Athos was currently invisible and he would keep it that way, but the moment he started to inch toward the exit near the dias, the Sphinx pawed the ground and two sets of bars slammed down on both ends of the room, cutting off any visible path.

The Sphinx sniffed some more and yelled, "I know you're in here demigod! Being invisible won't help you! Get ready to play.....ANSWER THAT RIDDLE!"

A loud drumroll played from the ceiling and spotlights burst to life, reflecting off the dias.

Athos almost snorted at the childish display. The monster was lying through her teeth. She could smell him, yes, but could not pinpoint exactly where he was. She wasn't even looking at him in the first place! It seemed that his mask was not absolutely useless.

"Rejoice demigod! for you have a chance to win incredible prizes!", the monster continued blithering, her eyes glinting with suppressed excitement. Perhaps riddles really did turn her on.

A writing pad materialized in front of her along with a pair of reading glasses. She somehow managed to get the spectacles to rest on her face without opposable thumbs while the pad remained floating.

"Now, the first of twenty! What...is the name of the main character in Attac-

"Just shut up!", Athos grunted, summoning Leviathan and hurling it toward the Sphinx. He had a God to meet and places to be, not time to waste.

The monster's eyes widened at the large Stygian Iron axe that was barrelling toward her. She tried to move away but Leviathan was too quick. It blasted through her chest and lodged itself in the wall behind her. She screeched in pain while golden dust poured out of the gaping hole in her thorax. The disco lights flickered off and the annoying drumroll stopped playing.

He ignored the wailing monster and walked up to the exit, gripping the bars, and with a little force, ripped them clean off, throwing them to the side.

"Cheater!!!", the Sphinx behind him cursed but he paid no heed to her ramblings, continuing into the dark tunnel while taking out Bob once again.

Just when would he find the Blacksmith God?

***

A few hours later.

A faint pinging sound resounded in the tunnel as Bob banged his little head against a metal door. It was oval, slightly rusted and had a wheel instead of a doorknob.

Athos walked up to it and found a big brass sign hanging on the very top, with the greek symbol 'Eta' inscribed in the middle.

"Fucking finally!", he whispered. That favour was long overdue.