XX: Crocottas

Had it not been Keller's sturdy grip on the back of my shirt, I'd been dead by the time I reached the alley. As I touched the hand it disappeared, letting me get a glimpse to what laid behind the fog, I saw what was definitely not my brother, stretching its jaw widely enough to swallow an entire man. 

It had a body of a lion, the face of a hyena, and its teeth were not teeth, but a bony ridge, like the blade of a saw. Its tongue was long, dark, and it seemed like it was rotten from the inside. It saw the terror in my eyes as it was spotted, letting out a blood-chilling humanlike laugh.

But as Gasper pulled me back to him, its laugh turned furious, inpatient, angered, slowly morphing into a begrudging roar. My scream was more than enough to signal Gasper that we needed to run. 

Its tongue sprang out before it lunged at us. The rotten smell disoriented me, the black saliva filling my brain with momentaneous fear. I avoided it, but it wrapped around Keller's arm, before he was able to shake it off and sprint.

"YOU DUMB FUC KING BITCH! DID I NOT TELL YOU TO NOT GO TO IT?" he yelled, as he grabbed my arm and dragged me in surprisingly fast paces. "STUPID SLUT, I'M NOT DYING AGAIN BECAUSE OF YOU. I'm not dying again, I'm not dying again."

I had nothing to say, as he wasn't particularly wrong. We fled from the daemon, but its laughs indicated it wasn't so far as we wished it was. In fact, it got closer to us with each passing moment. It didn't matter though, as even though Keller didn't cease insulting my ingenuity, he never let go of me and simply kept on running, even when we both realized I slowed him down.

Once again doom followed us, almost stepping on our heels, but this time he hadn't left after locking me in a room with all of it. Even though my knees burnt, even though Gasper winced each time the ground kissed his right ankle, our fear of losing a fight weighed more than our fatigue. We both knew we'd ought to stop and face it, but neither of us wanted to kill anything with the voice of those we'd already lost once.

All that running proved useless, as we realized we were running straight into another alley with no exit. But when I stopped, turning and waiting for the beast to catch up and readying my sword, I noticed that Gasper instead tried to stack boxes to climb up the wall. I stared at him, as it'd never been typical of him to run, when he knew it would not work.

"What are you fucking doing, for Olympus' sake? We're two and there's one daemon. We can kill it." I called out, in a sort of loud whisper, so the beast might not hear us. "Hey! Stop stacking boxes and get your shit together!"

I guess I expected an insult or something calculated from him, an explanation, but when he spoke I heard only horror. "She will abandon me again. We must run."

"What are you talking about? Get down here, you shitbag." I growled, hauling him down from the fabric of his jacket. "Hey!"

His eyes were wide open, his lip quivered, and his breath was rushed. Gods knew why he was panicking like that. I slapped him, grabbing the collar of his shirt with my other hand. 

"I need your stupid fucking magic, Keller. Get yourself together, if you ace one spell we don't need to even get hurt." I urged, but it did not ease the growing terror in his chest, about to spill from his mouth, eyes, ears. "You can fucking do this, Keller, stop panicking."

He snarled, trying to push me away, but I felt how his touch was even shaky. 

"She'll abandon me again. Vince died just for shit like this. We need to run." he muttered senselessly, fumbling on his voice. "Nakamura, we need to-"

"Shut up. Get your shit fucking together." I interrupted, slapping him again. In the depth, I heard gallops toward us. It was about to find us. It was nearing us once more. "Gasper, you-"

"DON'T YOU GET IT? I'M NOT DYING AGAIN." he shouted, and this time it was hopeless, urgent, desperate, somewhat pathetic. "SHE'LL ABANDON ME AGAIN! WE HAVE TO RUN. WE'RE BUGS! WE'RE MORTALS!"

I looked to the side, and now I could see the shade and the wind turning against us, spreading our scent to the monster. My pulse sped like Hermes. 

"I don't fucking get it, Keller. What the fuck are you on about?" I yelled back, pushing him away from me and drawing my sword. 

"MY SPELLS, THEY FALTER. THEY'RE FALTERING NOW LIKE THEY FALTERED WHEN I FOUGHT TORRINGTON. WE RUN. THAT'S WHAT WE DO. THAT'S WHAT WE DO, NAKAMURA. WE'RE MORTALS."

I had no time to respond to him, as I spotted the monster not far from us. It laughed still, tauntingly slithering its tongue like a snake. But soon I noticed its legs and feet were not padded like felines, but hooves of a stag, that bent provocatively, about to pounce at us.

"E-Erica, help me!" spoke the voice of my brother, from the daemon.

It was a Crocotta. Ethiopian Hyenas, copying the voice of men to bait its prey. Ethan's voice. Once it reached its food, its tongue released pheromones that destabilized the mortal's psyche. Gasper's terror. Its tail could conjure illusions, tempting one to near it. The mortal's hand.

I readied my sword, looking at Gasper for support, but he showed only fear, still trying to get to the other side of the wall. He shook, trembling anxiously as he clung onto the lie that he'd somehow increase his chances of survival if he clung on to the smooth surface of walls he'd never be able to scale.

But somehow, I was less steady than him. I looked at my hands to see my sword quivering. But my hands did not shiver. I analyzed the blade, and stared in terror as I noticed the cracks throughout the ricasso deepening, and the crackling sound of metal started not long afterwards. 

The sword was breaking, as it had when it killed my brother. 

The blade fell apart, each piece of metal falling to the ground one by one, burying themselves under layers of dust and soil. I could barely let out a sound, agony scratching my chest like a distressed cat as I tried to conjure up a way to defend myself now. How would I, when my weapon was in shards on the floor? 

Instinctively, my hands fled to my belt, where usually my knives rested, but they were at the room still. I had nothing. Still I heard the noise of the cloven paws of the crocotta scratching against the ground. I could not afford to fall to my knees and grieve the only thing left of my brother. Survival was at stake.

So as it pounced, I scrammed to try to reach the metal bar that Gasper had dropped on the ground, but the beast was quicker, spreading its jaws to maul at my neck. With a cry, I had no other option but to stop its teeth with nothing but my hands. I held my strength against the raw instinct to hunt, holding apart the mandible, as Hercules had to the Nemean Lion.

But I could not hold it. My eyes scanned the alley, and besides an useless and frightened Gasper, I noticed shards of a broken beer bottle. The bottleneck had to be somewhere, but if I searched I'd have to let go. It knew of it, gloating already in its empty eyes.

So I let go, feeling sharp pain close down on my arm as I grabbed something right on the ground besides me with my other. Crouching quickly, I threw the beast down and heard it let out a whine. As soon as it let go of my arm, I kicked it away and buried the sharpened glass at its head.

It rolled away from me, and snarled at me like a rabid dog. I noticed how the sharp edge of the bottle only drew thin lines of blood to trickle down its skull. My hands fucking bled more just by holding open its weird ass fangs.

Infuriated, I grabbed Keller's weapon with a snort. Useless piece of shit, crammed up against a corner, shaking and crying like a child. Knowing he wouldn't help me slay the lion, I simply shouted a command:

"Fix my fucking sword. Now. I'll need it." 

He kept stuttering like a schizophrenic, until I threw a shard at him that remained in my hand, repeating my order. He looked at me, then at the monster speeding at me, gulped, then nodded and started to stutter, but in Ancient Greek, which was significantly better.

"Alright. Come at me then, cunt." I said, holding the bar like a baseball bat and swinging it at it as it reached me. But without his enchantments, it was only mortal iron, bent upon contact. "Fuck."

So, avoiding its hideous mouth, I crouched and embraced its trunk, wrapping my arms around its stomach like I was about to lug it around. I threw it against a wall, but before it fell, it was still able to plant a donkey's kick on my chest, drawing all the oxygen from my lungs and leaving me breathless. I gasped, using the wall to my right to support myself as I tried to regain composure.

"FUCK! STAY AWAY FROM ME!" I heard, just as I lifted my chin again, I saw Gasper panicking again, backed against a wall and the daemon. "HELP! SOMEONE HELP!"

"Go back to fixing my fucking sword." I growled, as I threw myself at the Crocotta and grabbed it by its ears. I sunk my nails into the soft fur until I found flesh.

It barked in pain, an unsettling sound, and jumped to get me off. Soon it'd backed against a wall opposite to Keller, crushing me there. Elbowing it uselessly, I desperately looked at Keller, who kept stuttering whenever he was near to bringing my sword back together.

"Toss me a shard!" I urged, and he threw a big one that met my bleeding palm midair. Just as my hand wrapped around it, I realized it wasn't a shard but the dagger Kronos had offered me. Why he had it was a good question, one that I asked as I brought it to the lion's back repeatedly. "How do you have my fucking dagger?!"

Instead of responding, he cussed at me in Greek, spite in his pupils. I smirked, hoping it perhaps meant he was slowly coming to himself again. But just as I stabbed once more, a shuffle made me drop the knife. Before it could turn, I kicked it away from me, and grabbed the bent iron stake once more. It was now in the shape of some deformed "L".

So I hit it with it once and again, as I checked the progress with my sword, which honestly wasn't amazing. 

Every few strikes, the weapon I was using would find its way out of my hands, and the beast would land marks on my skin. It didn't seem to tire, whereas I started to run out of energy, my movements sloppier with every push against the dusty ground or the uncomfortable walls. The frequency with which its covetous jaws tasted my flesh increased worryingly, and I knew if Gasper didn't fix my damned sword I'd eventually find my neck bloodied in a Crocotta's sturdy grip.

Bite marks all across my body, I limped away from the beast, which shook its neck like a dog as it got back up effortlessly. I didn't have the celestial bronze or godly alloy to actually inflict damage upon it, and so I could only keep on waltzing with the hyena until one of us dropped dead of exhaustion. 

It recognized my tired hopelessness, smiling widely and twisting its reptilian tongue. I tried to think of something else, but there was nothing. I could not outrun it. I would not be able to kill it with force alone. I didn't know how to trick it. I barely had a blade.

I had never ever wanted to die between the teeth of a daemon. Gods knew it was a painful and slow death, tainted with agony and defeat. One of the least dignified deaths for a soldier, to be torn apart by a singular beast was, seemingly, how I would find my end. And all because I didn't listen to Gasper fucking Keller.

Inhaling sharper, I crouched to grab my knife once more. However just as I was about to plant the tip of the dagger on the Crocotta's skull, it turned, kicking the weapon off my hand. Before I knew it, the animal had me pinned against the ground, unable to sit up or move. In panic, my hands desperately searched the ground, trying to make a grab for anything that would make some sort of improvised barrier. Anything to keep its teeth away from my face.

As the beast snapped its jaws at me, my left hand clutched around something thin and rubbery, that seemed to be stuck somewhere. I pulled on it, recognizing it to be some sort of rope. Groaning, I pulled on it hard remembering how Gasper had nearly killed me earlier that day. Taking the wire in my hands, I quickly wrapped it around a momentarily confused Crocotta's neck, before twisting and tightening.

It flailed and writhed, squirming violently in my arms. Although my elbows and shoulders burnt sore, I didn't let go, or leave space for its survival. I closed my eyes, shouting as I choked the animal steadily. Soon, its squirms got slower and less forceful. It quickly lost strength, and hope grew in between my ribs. Survival didn't seem so unrealistic anymore, at least not while I held my salvation under a rubber wire.

So I tightened and tightened, as I kept an eye on its teeth. Its pupil rolled up, and I could see the white of its eye peeking through and signaling its soon to be death. But before I could sigh in relief, I heard another set of hooves, sprinting towards me. Rapidly, surely, another crocotta leapt onto me, its jaws mauling the air inches before my cheek.

I was forced to let go of the first to use my hands to push away the active one's flinching mouth. My brain was emptied of thoughts: instinct took up all its space. Tears randomly spilling from my eyes, I tried to fend for myself as the other crocotta got up slowly, spitefully snarling at me before jumping at me as well.

When one sank its bony ridge onto my shoulder, I screamed so loud it might've reached Tartarus. But no matter how hard I tried, there was no way I would keep them both at bay. My dagger was likely under sand somewhere and I didn't have space to reach it. In despair, I only shouted.

"Gasper! Gasper, do something!"

I couldn't see him, but I heard no response and felt no change. I was alone in this. Barely having air to be able to fill my lungs, I cried and kept pushing two starved heads away from my own. I kicked and punched and slapped and scratched, but it wasn't nearly enough to save myself.

Weeps escaped from my mouth helplessly, and never before had I felt so alone. I could not wish on my brother coming out to save me, or Kronos stepping in with his almighty authority. I was alone this time. Not even the sword Ethan had left me was worth anything anymore. It miserably scattered across the ground.

I was so scared it controlled my actions, so scared it scratched my lungs and snatched my beating hard. So, so, so, scared.

"HELP ME! GASPER, HELP." I pleaded, desperate tears sinking through my pride. "PLEASE."

I couldn't even find the dagger Kronos had given me. I couldn't even fend for myself. I was going to die now. I was going to Tartarus now.

I gagged on the rotten stench of decaying flesh, livelier than it'd ever been, and saw myself walking through a field of corpses, some fresh, some mere carcasses. 

There was no way paved for me, and so I stepped on heads, necks, backs, dishonoring lives I'd murdered. Some faces I recognised, but most were people that had no true impact on me. People I'd killed just because. 

And I didn't really understand why I walked forward, it just came as second nature. I didn't realize what I was walking into until it was too late. Chains erupted from the bloodied soil, clasping themselves around my wrists and burning my skin.

The images of Gasper's suffering I'd seen at Connor's house flashed through my eyes, panic making my heartbeat stutter. Each strike more painful than the last, chained to burning stones in the barren soils of the Underworld. 

In the distance, a figure rose and started walking to me. I recognized his silhouette, almost crying in joy as my brother neared me. But he said not a word, cold, dry steps seeming somehow motionless. Once he was close enough for me to see him clearly, he stopped. His eyepatch was missing, and flesh dangled on his face. 

I wanted to shout out his name, ask for help, but something in me beckoned me not to. So he just stared at me, indifferent.

What other fate could possibly await me? They would laugh as I cried, alone as I'd always been. My brother blamed me, I knew it. That's why his sword broke, refusing to defend me when I needed it most. Why would it defend me when I failed to defend its own master?

I had been the one to betray my lover, the one to end my brother. I had done nothing right in my life, and now I was faced with its end. 

And within the Crocotta's laughs, the blurry frame of my tears still let me see the animal's jaws closing around my neck. Its teeth went through my skin, bosoming with arterial red blood that had flowed in me for many years.

My vision went black as I heard blurred pops, starting to fade into the ambience noise.

I fell back, drowning in the soft meadows of Asphodel.