Estevan, Athena, Cody, Sabrina and Ryu all walked tall as they took their final steps to the entrance of the centaur city, Eldimore. They stopped a few feet in front of the centaurs that stood in front of the rock that hid the cave to Eldimore. Athena unfolded the golden fleece, after which the other three grabbed a hold and held it out in front of them. Dumb struck looks came across the centaurs' faces.

"We've got a special delivery for one, Lord Telvak, king of the centaurs," said Estevan who had a proud look on his face to match the other four's.

"Yes, sir," said one of the centaurs. They started to move the rock, but then they stopped to look at the four warriors with respect and admiration. After the centaurs moved the rock, the caravan made their way into the cave.

"Would you like an escort?" asked one of the centaur guards.

"That wont be necessary. Not this time," Estevan responded.

The centaur nodded as he said, "Very well."

The caravan proceeded into the cave. Afterwords, they crossed the bridge and came up to the dragon guard. The chained up fire breathing reptile-like beast looked down at the caravan and hissed in hunger. Sabrina leaned over towards Estevan and whispered, "Hey, Estevan, I know we're not scared of the Cyclopes anymore. But are we still afraid of this guard dog?"

"I don't know," Estevan responded.

"Hey, guys, I got this," said Cody while giving his friends a confident look.

Then he slowly started tip toeing towards the chain wheel. But this also meant Cody had to get a little closer to the dragon that was now eying him with hungry eyes. Then the dragon let out a few hisses before letting out a few small blasts of flames at Cody, making him move faster to the wall the chain wheel was hidden behind. Cody wasted no time in spinning the wheel until the side of the dragon's head was right up against the wall. Cody went up to the rest of the group and hurried them along.

"Come on, guys. Let's book it. Don't even look at the thing. Let's just get going. Come on."

Despite Cody's words, everyone, including Cody himself stared cautiously at the dragon, who stared right back in a very intimidating gaze. Once they were past the dragon, they all lightly jogged the rest of the way to Eldimore. Although Cody stopped and turned back to turn the second wheel and loosen the dragon's chain. After that, the dragon let out a few angry hisses before slowly dropping onto its belly and laying its head down to sleep.

"Guys?" said Ryu.

Everyone looked at him. He had a prideful smile on his face.

"We... We did it. I mean...we actually did it," said Ryu.

Everyone returned his smile.

"We certainly did, Ryu. We did it together. We couldn't have done it any other way than with each other. I was really proud to stand by your guys' side in combat," said Estevan.

"And we were happy to have you lead us, Estevan. Without your guidance and natural leadership skills, we probably wouldn't have gotten through it as well as we did," said Cody.

"True dat," said Sabrina.

Estevan looked around at his friends' reassuring smiles. Athena walked up and kissed him. After that, he put his arm around her and said, "Thank so much you guys. You say I'm a great leader, but in all honesty, I'd be lost without you all."

Everyone joined in a group hug. After that, they finished their walk to Eldimore. They were shocked to see the whole town looked almost as good as new and they also noticed that the fowl smell in the air was completely gone.

"It looks like they decided their work wasn't finished," said Ryu.

"I guess, man. Damn! This place looks great," said Cody.

"Not only does it look good, it smells pretty damn good too. And thank the maker! Now I don't have to stuff cloths in my nostrils anymore," said Athena.

That got a little laugh out of the group. They walked the streets of Eldimore holding the golden fleece high in the air. Those who saw them holding the fleece stopped and started cheering and applauding. As a crowd formed around the returning heroes, Luther broke through the crowd and ran up to the caravan.

"Friends, you got it! You got the golden fleece! That is remarkable, simply outstanding! This is one of the greatest days in the history of Eldimore!" Luther cheered gleefully.

Estevan walked up and placed his hand on Luther's shoulder.

"Thank you me friend. My team and I are happy to have brought such joy to you all."

They looked around at the crowd.

"I suggest we talk somewhere we can actually hear each other," said Athena.

"I second that notion. the inn is too far away. I'll take you all to my house," said Luther.

The group broke through the crowd and walked down to Luther's home. It was small, but it looked like it could sustain Luther and his father fine. Luther opened the door and led his friends inside.

"Wow, you and your dad live here?" asked Ryu.

"My dad believes in living within your means and to him that meant building a house big enough for a small family like ours," said Luther.

"Your dad built this house?" asked Cody.

"Me and him together, yes," said Luther.

"Well in that case. You guys have a pretty nice place," said Sabrina.

"Thank you. Most centaurs don't get it. Us living so small that is," said Luther.

"Don't pay no attention to those centaurs," said Estevan.

Just then Gunther and Hector walked in.

"Father, Gunther, look what our friends have brought back!" Luther yelled excitedly.

The two male centaurs looked at the golden fleece in amazement. They ran up and ran their hands up and down the fleece.

"You... you did it. You actually did it. You conquered the Cyclopes and their forces to retrieve our most valuable relics. This is truly a moment in time that shall be talked about again and again for... Zeus knows how long," said Hector.

"This is magnificent. Simply outstanding. You all should feel proud and if you don't now, you will once you turn this over to Telvak. Might we hurry down to his palace and show him your triumph?" said Gunther.

"Oh, hold on for a little bit, Gunther. We just went to Tartarus and back. I just want to sit down and relax my feet for a little bit," said Ryu as he sat down on a big wooden chair.

"I don't believe it, there's big ass chair here, but there weren't any at Telvak's table? It's almost like we're the victims of bad writing," said Ryu.

"Well at that time, his chairs were getting repaired," said Hector.

"Repaired? What happened?" asked Sabrina.

"They were used as weapons in a drunken brawl," said Gunther.

"You should know, you were part of it," said Hector, to which they shared a laugh.

"I hate to break this up. But Hector is right. We should really get going to Telvak's palace so we can give him the fleece and then tomorrow, we'll be going home," said Estevan.

"Oh man," groaned Ryu.

"Hey, hey, hey, none of that. You're twenty years old. So get the hell up, act like it and quit your bitching."

That got a small chuckle out of everyone. Ryu lightly smacked Cody who was the closes and said, "Shut up."

"I'm with Estevan on this one," said Sabrina.

"As am I," said Athena.

Ryu finally gave up.

"Okay, let's march off to see the wonderful wizard of Eldimore."

The group walked out the door where they were greeted by a crowd. As the group walked to the palace, the crowd followed them. They walked up to the palace doors, which were opened promptly by the guards when they saw the golden fleece. They walked through the palace halls and up to the throne room doors. The guards had the same reaction that the guards at the palace doors had, opening them at the sight of the fleece. They walked up to Telvak's throne. Estevan took a step forward and dropped down to one knee.

"Oh great and mighty lord of the centaurs. We have come before you to after three days of torturous missions, we have acquired the last of your treasure and now bring it before you."

Estevan signaled and Athena and Sabrina held up the golden fleece. Telvak stood up from his throne and walked down the set of steps that lifted his throne above the rest of the ground. He walked past Estevan and grabbed onto a part of the fleece. Sabrina and Athena let go of the fleece and let Telvak hold it.

"Thank you very much," Telvak said to the girls as he gazed at the golden fleece.

He then lifted it for all to see, which got a loud cheer from the centaurs.

"Today is a glorious day to be commemorated. We shall celebrate tonight!"

And celebrate they did as the group moved into a gigantic dinning hall where centaurs ate, drank, played music and some of the more drunk ones even ended up dancing. Great amounts of food were placed on the main table where Telvak sat with the caravan. Telvak had a big smile on his face as he held his cup.

"Isn't this great my friends?! You have brought a lot of hope to those who had lost it a long time ago. I'd like to thank you all very much," said Telvak.

"While we appreciate this party of yours. If you really want to thank us, you'll deliver that ship your promised us when we agreed to these quests," said Cody.

"Oh of course, I shall gratefully supply you a ship. Tomorrow Luther will lead you to the beach side cave where we hide our ships and then you can be on your way," said Telvak.

"We all thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the ship and everything you've done for us since we met several days ago," said Estevan.

"It will be great to get back home. I'll be able to try and get my son back," said Cody.

"I will be able to see all my family and friends again, at long last," said Sabrina.

"I'm gonna leave the fishing business and go back to school and learn to be a doctor," said Ryu.

"I'll just be happy to finally be home and it'll be even better with Athena there at my side to hold and love," said Estevan.

"Yeah about that, Estevan..." Athena started to say.

But Estevan looked deep into her eyes as he said, "I am so lucky to have found you. You've made my life so much better in the sort amount of time I've known you. I love you, Athena and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Athena looked away from Estevan's sure and hopeful eyes so that he could not see the uncertainty in her's. But then she looked back and faked a smile.

"It'll indeed be great to go home. We'll miss you guys but you must understand we have lives back where we came from," said Cody.

"Indeed I do understand. It is my pleasure to play as big a part as I am in sending you back to where you came from," said Telvak.

"Yeah and then I wont have to put up with hearing about, or looking at you anymore," said Komoto bitterly.

"Hey, I'm curious. What is that Komoto guy's problem?" Sabrina asked Hector.

"He thinks he is better then everybody else because at one point he was considered among our people to be the greatest warrior in the world," said Hector.

"Well he's also one of the biggest assholes in the world too," said Athena.

This got a big response from Estevan, Ryu, Cody and Sabrina, who all let out loud laughs.

"Did I say that right, Cody?" Athena asked.

"You did just fine, Athena. Just fine," Cody responded in between laughs.

Estevan wrapped his arm around Athena and kissed her on the cheek.

"Oh, Athena I love you so much. It's gonna be great building our life together," said Estevan.

"Yeah...sure. Of course, Estevan my love."

Athena hid her doubtful face from everyone as she thought about whether a future with Estevan in a world different from her's was a realistic possibility. A single tear escaped her eye. But she quickly wiped it away.

"But seriously, if Komoto is so great, why didn't he go after the treasures himself?" said Ryu.

"Who knows?" said Cody.

They ate and talked a long while before everyone grew tired and started returning home. Hector, Gunther and Luther walked the caravan back to the inn.

"Well, this is the last time we'll take this walk to the inn. Then we go to our rooms, sleep for the night, wake tomorrow and walk to the beach and hop on a ship and sail it home," said Cody.

"We are very happy for you," said Luther.

Hector put his arm around his son's shoulder and says, "We all are. Thank once again for returning some of our most valuable artifacts."

"You are most welcome. And thank you for everything you have done for us. I only wish we could do more, like find some female centaurs to help rebuild your race," said Estevan.

"Yes...it is true. Our race may die, but the hope you've installed in us may just make us go on a little longer than what we would have," said Gunther.

The centaurs and the caravan looked at each other a little longer before Estevan says, "Well goodnight, friends."

Then the caravan give respectful bows, as do the centaurs.

"Goodnight. Thank you one and all. May your journey home tomorrow be blessed by The Gods," said Hector.

The caravan all walked silently into the inn and towards their rooms. Before going in, everyone stared at each other.

"Goodnight, everyone. I'll see you in the morning when we meet our destiny," said Athena.

"Like she said. Goodnight everyone," said Estevan.

"Goodnight," the other three said in unison.

Then they all went into their rooms and settled in for the night.

MEANWHILE:

The Scylla swam through the underwater caverns hidden under the island as blood flowed out of her open wounds. Those blasts from Godzilla really opened her up, allowing this great amount of blood loss. The Scylla felt her eyes getting heavier, as well as the hold life had on her slipping away. She had lost too much blood. Death was inevitable. But it would not be by blood loss. Her flowing life liquid had attracted a bigger and even more terrifying creature into the caverns. The Scylla didn't even notice until it was too late. The other monster dug its claws into The Scylla's neck and kidneys before biting into its head and ripping a chunk of flesh and bone. The Scylla had just met its death and became food for...The Kraken.


You know how I had them standing at the table in chapter 19? I did that because for some dumb reason, I thought centaurs couldn't sit down. I knew they could lay down, but for some reason I thought they couldn't sit. I even had to google pictures of centaurs sitting. Isn't that sad? I claim I know more about Greek Mythology the most, yet don't even know whether one of its mythical creatures can sit, or not? Then again, I also named one of my main characters Athena without realizing that is the name of the Greek Goddess of love. Just because it's the mythology I know the most about, doesn't mean I'm super knowledgeable about it. But anyways, that was Chapter 28. Not super long like my last few chapters, or even that interesting. But again, I warned before this was just a filler chapter. I couldn't think of anything to make this chapter run to meet the 4000-plus words chapters I usually prefer. But I hope you take comfort in knowing that the last 3 chapters will be action packed. Yep, 3 more chapters and this story will be finished. Please leave a review after reading. BTW today (May 15th) is my BIRTHDAY!