Kora.

I started coughing, it wasn't normal coughs, but coughs that felt like a knife piercing your stomach.

As each second passed it got worse, it didn't take too long for Summer to notice either, and even with her by my side, her healing wasn't fast enough to help in this situation.

"Hey- are you okay-?"She asked in an anxious tone, my breathing got heavy, but my breath still stayed cold.

"We have to get out of here.."I spoke with all of the energy i had left, i could feel the presence of one of his 'guards' coming my way.

And it seems like she found her new target. Summer, still a bit confused, nodded to my words as she helped carry me by arm, but it didn't help that there were two injured individuals running away from a highly dangerous ice Goddess.

Doesn't help at all.

As a few minutes passed by, the ice spread from the tip of my fingers, to my whole palm, she was getting closer.

Taking control of the situation, I forced myself to pull Summer to my direction, soon enough we got to an empty alleyway with no or a couple of people.

By the time I had managed to do this, sweat prittled down my neck, breathing got even more difficult for me, it was as if I was having a slow and painful death.

"Summer.. Ha.. we can't face her."I explained to the confused girl at the same time, i was having a difficult time forming words, "Face her?.."She mumbled under her breath.

Despite not getting what I mean, I knew that she was aware of how dangerous the situation was, we were being hunted down by a Goddess.

"Hold on.. I think I have something only you can use.."Summer responded with an unfazed tone, as she pulled out something from her pocket.

It was a relic, but an unusually very small one, actually it is a relic which happens to be a pair of two rings, one of the rings having a skull on it and another some devil face.

"I found this when I was on one of my quests.. She said only a son of Hades could wield the power in it.''Summer hesitated to tell me, it was as if she didn't believe the words herself.

"I couldn't use the rings myself.. So take it."The blonde haired girl held out her hand with the rings.

I nodded and quickly took the rings, putting the skull on my index finger. I felt nourished and the ice on my body had disappeared, i put the other in the pocket of my jeans.

My breathing pattern went back to normal, it all felt odd, but before I could ask anymore questions something appeared, or should I say someone.

"Found you."A voice that sounds as cold as it feels spoken, she had blue eyes rimmed with long white eyelashes, as well as snow white colored bangs, and chin length hair.

She wore this kind of dress, made totally out of snow and ice covering only her chest, arm, hips, legs.

There she was, the Goddess who had once introduced me to what I call now 'Aero.

Just from her aura, I could feel her overbearing presence, a powerful being who is close to becoming more than a minor Goddess, too close for comfort.

"Run."Summer said with a loud and clear voice, she pulled me by my wrist and we ran away, but I knew that the dead end was close.

Too close, that she was already there, blocking our paths, the Goddess stood with a dangerous gaze.

A smirk appeared on the Goddess, right away I knew a way to trick her, "Oh.. damn it.. Its a dead end."I said so nonchalantly but clear enough for the Goddess to hear.

The smirk on the Goddess grew larger, "That's right. You're in the hands of Kora now."She grinned proudfully, the weakness of this Goddess was her intellect and pride.

Summer looked over at me confused but decided to play along, "Oh no.. i'm out of energy.."Summer whined pitifully.

Somehow, the grin on Kora could get larger, "Yes Yes! Now bow before your executor!"Kora exclaimed as if she was the one who we owe our lives to.

Before we did what she told us, we looked at eachother with an off putting gaze of 'Are we really doing this?' but eventually we gave in, and put our knees on the ground to bow down to the Goddess.

A loud laughter came from Kora, she was clearly enjoying our 'submissive' and 'desperate' behavior right now.

"Pst- Summer hold out your hand."I whispered just low enough so Kora couldn't hear, Summer agreed to my words and held out her hand discreetly.

Just when summer did I intertwined our fingers and we teleported, disappearing out of Kora's sight.

--

Despite Kora being a powerful and skilled Goddess, she was quite stupid in a sense of pride, but can i blame her? I would've done the same, although Aero would be a little angry in failing to catch me the first time.

I folded my fingers and opened them again, repeating the action, I could feel my mana coming back to me, but how? Just from one small relic.

I looked over to Summer who just didn't understand what happened. I realized this whole time, Summer was just following what I said, but had no idea what she was actually doing.

"Where are we again?.."Summer asked dumbfoundingly, "It's New Jersey, the home of the modern labyrinth you were talking about..My teleporting powers work better when I have more mana and in a better condition."I explained to the girl.

The blonde-haired girl nodded, "But.. how did you know where it was?.."She asked with a confused tone, "Let's just say that I know a person who lives around here."I mumbled quietly as I entered the door in front of me.

Despite it looking like a normal Mexican restaurant on the outside, the 'restaurant' was actually a blacksmith's workshop.

"Wow.."

"You're defenseless. You should get a weapon from proper blacksmith's who can make actual relics."I told the girl in a bit of a blunt manner.

But, Summer just looked around astonished, bothering the other blacksmiths a bit too, the room was full of swords, iron, relics, and cyclops.

Don't get me wrong, cyclops are the best blacksmith species, they were infamous for it actually, a cyclops of bigger size then the others came up to me.

Summer a bit frightened but also astonished at the same time. Well, she was more frightened then she was astonished, she hid behind me.

Despite the creepy atmosphere the cyclops had given off, "Kylar! another relic you're buying?"The bigger cyclops asked, they were outgoing and usually kind, or at least the blacksmith shop owner.

"Kylar.."Summer spoke softly, as if she was wondering who that was, "Yeah, do you have any relics for Summer? A friend."I said with a cheery tone.

His one big eye locked onto the girl behind me, "Ah.. Yes, I think I got one just for her!"He said as he led us to another room.

This time, the room was only filled with relics, one of every kind, one that boosts your strength, another that makes you invisible when worn, and even a pill relic that makes you go to sleep-

Oh wait, I don't think that's a relic.

The cyclop opened the case, it revealed a necklace, a beautiful necklace rimmed with gold and a sunflower in the middle.

"This necklace was made recently, it's more of a two person necklace, where one person has to transfer mana to the necklace for the other person to be able to use it and the mana of course."The cyclop explained as he displayed the necklace in his hand.

Perfect, Summer didn't have any mana anyway, despite having some golden pupils sometimes, she had no mana or any presence at all.

"Thank you Mr.Smith."I said simply with a kind and uncommon smile, I could feel Summer staring at me as if I had become a whole different person.

The cyclop handed me the necklace, as I handed him some gold coins back, hovering my hand over the necklace, I focused on manifesting some of my mana in the necklace.

Once I was done I put it on Summer myself, "woah.. I do feel better."Summer admitted, even an unconscious smile appeared on her face.

"Appreciate to serve you again Kylar."A big smile was on the cyclop, we had quite the history together, well he did raise me when my mother died.

That could explain why I act kinder to the cyclop than anyone else, well besides one person.

Once we got out of the blacksmith, my whole atmorsphere changed that Summer had immediently noticed.

"He's important to you im guessing?"Summer said knowing how two faced i can be soemtimes, or at last for how long i've known her.

I nodded as i looked over to the relic she wore,"Summer, take care of that, it's the only way you can defend yourself."I elaborated more to Summer who pouted a bit.

"I can defend myself."Summer had claimed as i looked at her with a sign of disapporval, "Oh really? Then what did you do to contribute when Kora had us in a corner?"

Summer stayed silent but still kept the pout, "Alright fine fine.. Let's just get this over with."I replied as i looked at the sun which was already setting.

It's already been a day.