Blood roared in her ears. Her body screamed for her to stop. She was exhausted and her chest begged for air.
"Keep running, Cal. We're almost there. Don't stop." Ash said.
She looked down at his legs, covered in dark hair. His shoes were long gone, revealing large black hooves. His shirt was gone as well, ripped and torn and bloodied by the creatures on their tails. His black hair was wet with sweat and clung to his scalp, and the great horns spiraling out of his head. He pushed onward, forced her to run faster through the forest. She wasn't sure where they were going, she no longer cared, she just hoped they reached wherever that was as soon as possible.
Then she stumbled, and hit the ground hard. Her shoulder was slammed against a rock and she cried out in pain.
"Calista!" She heard Ash call out to her, but her eyes were focused on the winged woman flying towards her. Her body shifted, molting the human skin and clothes to reveal gray skin that pulsed. Calista nearly threw up right then and there.
"Finally, sisters!" The creature cried, her several companions joining her to hover around her. "We have found the Chosen of War." They laughed gleefully and began to close in. Thankfully, they didn't get a chance to do anything before a massive creature appeared out of nowhere to attack them. It swung its giant tail and crushed many of them in a single hit.
Ash suddenly grabbed Calista and yanked her to her feet. She cried out in pain. "I'm so sorry Cal, but we have to move."
"What's going on, Ash? I don't understand. What the hell is that thing?!"
"An ophiotaurus. It's part bull, part serpent. Once it kills them, it's coming for us, now let's go!"
Calista took off behind him, but not without glancing back at the raging ophiotaurus. The tail was still going. She could see it was large and as thick as a tree's trunk, with the upper body of a bull, complete with massive hooves to stomp the gray winged ladies into the ground. Then it turned its head and looked at them.
"Get down." Ash pushed her beneath the roots of a tree and scrambled under after her. "Be very quiet and very still. Maybe he won't see-"
Before the words had even left his mouth, there was a blinding flash of light that illuminated the dark forest. The ophiotaurus even had to turn its back. The light lasted for only a few seconds, before shrinking into the ground. And that is where Calista saw them. A pair of bracelets, still gleaming brightly.
Without warning, she launched herself out from under the tree and pelted for the bracelets. The ophiotaurus tore towards her, but she hardly felt the ground shaking as it drew near. Something inside her told that she was not going to die tonight, the beast was. And she would kill it.
She snatched the bracelets and managed to dive to the side as the ophiotaurus skidded past.
"You must relax." She heard a female voice say. "Calm yourself. Do not expend energy on breathing. Focus!"
Calista struggled to obey the instructions. She took deep breaths and quickly put on the bracelets. They snapped to her wrists and expanded to become more like golden bands and touched her knuckles. Claws sprouted from the knuckles and she flexed her hands. They were about half a foot long and shone as bright as silver.
"Do not wait." This female voice was different than the other, sounding much more soft but no less authoritative. "Move!"
She obeyed just as the tail of the ophiotaurus crashed into the spot she'd been standing in moments before. She struck the tail and the claws ripped through the serpentine flesh with ease. The beast roared and turned to face her, but she didn't wait, she ran forward and leaped onto the back of the tail, using the fin on it's back as well as the claws to ascend the monster.
"Kill it." This voice was the voice of a man, deep and powerful. "Kill it, and pick your prize."
She groaned as she pulled herself forward up the back of the writhing monster until she reached the place where the scales of its tail met the fur of his upper body and stabbed downward. The monster screamed in pain. She took the opportunity to run up its back and stabbed it in the back of the head. The monster convulsed and she was thrown, hitting the ground from a deadly height, and the world went dark.
The usual disclaimers...blah blah.
Summary: Calista is a half-blood, not only that, but she is the Chosen of War, a person chosen by the war gods to lead the armies of the Olympians against a great threat powerful enough to destroy the world. The weight of the world rests on the edge of her blade. But which side will she choose? This is the tale of the mightiest hero that any world has ever seen. Read and Review!
