Chapter 3

Over the course of the next month, I have set up a makeshift home at Medusa's Cavern. Her place was littered with gold and treasures, and tomes and books of knowledge were thrown around like some trash. I had slowly collected them and made them into piles. I have also gathered all the belongings of the statues accross the islands. Medusa has become my lover. As my lover, she was the one who shared my bed, but we were not close enough to be called lovers. I have learnt a lot. It turns out that she can indeed control whom to turn into stone statues. The hair of hers, which were replaced by snakes, did not have independent consciousness. Instead they functioned as a sort of extension of her own mind.

I have decided, that before leaving this island, I will be training myself. The old Adoneous was a fool and I knew, plunging head first into battles would yield few results. I have decided, that the first thing I will do is train my physique and my weapon arts. As a son of Ares, I held partial dominion over weapons and war was where I thrived. Yet, right now, war was inefficient. So, I needed to be satisfied by training.

The most efficient weapon was the sword. As I started using it, I could feel the changes withing me. A strange power from within me was nourishing my body and mind. I could feel the changes in my way of wielding the sword, slowly I could discern the easiest and most efficient ways to slaughter my foes, to count the changes in my atmosphere.

"Adoneous, how long will you train for?"

I looked towards the entrance of the cavern. There stood Medusa, waiting for me.

"I will come soon, you go ahead."

As she went inside, I clutched at my heart. What was this feeling, this thought to protect, to keep her happy? I gazed towards the sky. The sun was setting across the horizon.

I have decided, that instead of training, I will be meditating today. Although during training, my emotions are all under control, I know that my emotions are volatile. Truly, it seemed my father has only given me more and more troubles. It was something to be thankful for, that meditation was something I had previously practiced a lot. Soon, I lost sensations of my outer surroundings. I could feel the blankness of my thoughts, my raging emotions, and...a small ball. It was a fourth of the size of a tennis ball, and glowed a translucent white. What was it? Just as I touched it, I was brought back to the real world. I was sweating. However that was not the only thing. The ball, whatever it was made of, I could sense it in the air. It was in traces, very less in amount, but it certainly was there. Well, it seemed like there was something more to be achieved.