Chapter 17
I stood still for a moment, preparing myself mentally for the challenge ahead.
I knew I had to retrieve the stone of souls from a god who was locked up. It didn't make much sense but I had to do it.
I didn't know what to expect, if Orcus was free then he would have been long gone, and if he was already in chains, why would he hand over the stone.
It didn't matter, whatever I needed to do for my mother, I would.
With my satchel right around my body, I made my way towards the cave. I had my sword tightly gripped in my right hand, prepared for anything.
The cave itself was pitch black, making it impossible to see into it. For all I knew, it could be a bottomless pit. But I still forged on.
I slowly made my way through the darkness, feeling my way along the wall. After a moment of walking I finally found a hint of light.
I started to walk faster, but I made sure to stay careful. I made my way around what seemed like a corner and was met with a bright light.
I found myself in a corridor, still in a cave, filled with torches on both walls. I couldn't make out any details, but I could tell there was a room at he end of the corridor.
As I made my way down the corridor, I noticed strange markings on the wall. I slowed down to try and find out what they said but the markings were...strange, to say the least.
Some of them depicted weird pictures and others strange symbols. But for some reason, I could kind of read the symbols.
It wasn't easy, but not much harder than English, and after a moment of deciphering I came up with a few words.
"Oath, claim, prison and guard." That's all I could come up with. But I did also notice that one of the markings slightly resembled the monster I had just fought.
My mind was trying to figure out what everything meant when I realized I was coming close to the end of the tunnel.
I raised my sword as best as I could without my left hand and prepared for the worst.
As I made my way into the room, I noticed how big it actually was. "The cave wasn't this big on the outside" I thought to myself.
But the size was the least of my worries. The cavern was interestingly set up. Not only was it way brighter then the rest of the cave, but there were much less natural formations. It was like someone had cleared out the cave.
But the cave was far from empty. All along the side walls were chains, like the ones from medieval dungeons.
Some of them were empty, and some..well it was safe to say that whoever was locked up didn't meet a fortunate fate.
But there was also something else that stood out in the room. In the middle of the room were two large raised stone slabs adjacent to each other.
Laying on the stone slabs were long chains with cuffs on the end in each corner. I could only guess what they were used for.
But in between the stone slabs was a pedestal that looked something like altar. I didn't know what an altar was doing in a prison, but I didn't really want to find out.
But of course, the real center piece of the room was the being behind the pedestal, chained to the wall, hanging three feet above the ground.
Orcus.
I stood still for a long moment, staring at the god in front of me. He was unlike any other thing I had seen before. Based of his appearance alone, he looked much more like a monster. But there was no doubt about it, based on his presence alone I could tell this was a god.
The aura he gave off was unlike Ares or his children. It didn't fill me with anger or fear, rather, I was just repulsed.
Maybe it was because of his relationship with my dad, but being in the same room as him made me uncomfortable.
His looks definitely contributed to that too.
There was no single thing to compare him too, it was like he was an amalgamation of several things.
But if I had to compare him to something, his body shape mostly resembled a bipedal pig.
But he had other features. His legs were furry and hooves just like grovers, but a lot dirtier and way thicker.
His head too, looked like a demonic ram. His horns curved and went out for at least 2 feet.
In all honesty it was hard to tell if this thing could think a coherent thought.
But the beast really did look formidable, with the battle armor covering his body and the massive wings on his back.
The wings. They were the most prominent thing about him.
They were large and bat-like. They reminded of what I think dragons wings would look like if I saw one.I would've been terrified by them if it wasn't for the holes and dirt covering them.
I guess that's to be expected if this thing was trapped here since the beginning of the gods reign. But still, it was kinda sad.
But I had no sympathy for this monster whatsoever. This thing was the source of half my problems.
I took off my satchel and gently placed it down. I gripped my sword and made my way over to the chained god.
Sleeping or not, I wasn't going to hesitate to end this monsters life.
I carefully made my way to the prisoner, wary but determined. And rightfully so, because as soon as I took a step the monster immediately snapped its eyes open.
It was then that I noticed the massive double sided battle axe laying below the god. The thing had to be at least twice my size.
Actually, I had just realized that Orcus himself was big enough to fill up my entire living room back home.
I stood still, and for a moment I doubted wether or not the chains in him would hold.
But I needed to finish what I came here to do.
I didn't come here to kill the god, though I wouldn't mind doing that. I was here to retrieve the stone from him and make it out alive, for my mom.
"Orcus!" I yelled out. "I have come for the stone of souls, give it to me, now!" I demanded.
I kept my guard up the entire time, wether he was chained or not, I had no doubt he was still dangerous.
The god didn't make any movements for a moment, making me wonder wether he was awake.
But not a second later, the gods eyes started to glow. No, not glow, they completely turned white.
A booming laugh started to ring around the cavern, shaking the walls.
I quickly raised my sword and prepared to charge the god, but his mouth hadn't moved.
"Who's there!" I yelled out.
There was silence for moment.
But a second later the air in front of Orcus started to shimmer.
I prepared myself, confused on who this would be.
And as soon as the being fully appeared...I was just as clueless.
In front of me stood a tall muscular man.
He wore a red suit and black tie that somehow made him look like the strangest thing in the room.
But that wasn't the only thing that stood out about the man.
The man had on a large animal skull on his head that looked like a cross between a deer and a goat.
But the thing that set me off about it was the eye sockets. Instead of being empty they were filled with a green light, almost as if it was alive.
As for the man himself, I couldn't make out anything about his face because the skull covered most of it. I could tell, though, that he had on a sleek smile.
In all, he looked pretty weird, with the suit and skull combo.
"Who are you?" I asked, guard still up.
"What do you mean, I'm the one you came for, am I not?" He asked.
"What are you talking about." I replied.
He sighed a bit before answering.
"I am Orcus. God of broken oaths, brutality, and death. He said.
I was a little taken aback by his response.
"Quit playing games!" I said. "Orcus is right behind you."
"I suppose it's too much for a demigod like you to understand." He said. "But I am Orcus's conscious. His mind, if you will." He said.
"H-How is that possible?" I asked confused. "How can you be free while your body is locked up."
"That's the thing, demigod. This IS my body. The beast behind me is my other half's body. And the skull on my head contains the mind of my other half." He explained. As he finished the skull blew out smoke from its "nose".
"As for how I am free, well I didn't spend all my imprisonment doing nothing." He said with a smile.
I didn't completely understand, but it didn't matter to me. I knew what I needed to do.
"So if you really are Orcus, tell me where the stone of souls is." I said.
"Hahaha. You really don't know, huh. Well I suppose your as ignorant as the gods you follow." He said amusedly.
"What are you talking about." I demanded. I was tired of gods curving my question. "Just get straight to the point."
"Patience, demigod." He said.
Orcus then walked over to where his other body was chained. He bent down and picked up the massive battle axe laying on the ground, with relative ease.
I immediately tensed up.
"A bit too big to handle, don't you think!" He said, casually inspecting the weapon.
"Ahh, I know." The man snapped his finger and immediately the weapon started to shrink.
The weapon continued to shrink until it was only around 5 feet long. It had also lost on of its blades, turning it into a single sided axe. Nonetheless, it was still menacing.
"Much better." He said. The gods suit then started to morph as well. Soon the man was standing with furry leather armor covering his legs and arms. With the pelt and skull combo, he reminded me of the savage Vikings from myths. The ones who murdered hundreds.
His chest were covered with tattoos that looked like they were burnt into his skin. They reminded me of the marking covering the walls in the corridor.
"Now, little demigod, if you truly wish to find the stone of souls, simply look within."
As he said that he lunged forward at me with incredible speeds.
I barely had time to think, but my instincts made me raise my sword at the last second. Thankfully so, because if I didn't then my head would probably be rolling on the floor.
The man stood there for a moment, his axe locked with my sword. I was about to push the god back when he shot his hand out, through my chest.
I looked down at the mans hand that was inside my chest, horrified. I turned my head back up to be met with the terrifying stare of the animal skulls glowing green eyes.
I was about to scream out when I noticed that, despite the fact that a gods hand was inside my body, I felt no pain.
Before I could react the god jumped back, seemingly with something is his hand. I couldn't tell completely because as soon as Orcus backed off, I immediately felt sapped of energy.
I quickly recovered but I had lost that energizing feeling I had when I first entered the underworld.
"Wh-what...what did you do." I asked, out of breath.
But Orcus was focused on something else. Whatever he had in his hand, which apparently came from me, seemed much more interesting to him.
"Finally..." he breathed. "After so long I finally have it." He said.
"What exactly do you have?" I asked, annoyed he was ignoring me.
"Foolish demigod." He said.
"Don't you see, I have finally attained the Stone of Souls!"
I know this is short, calm down! But technically you got two chapters today so shut up! Lol. but for real, I dont want to stretch a chapter too long, plus it was an easy cliffhanger lol. But trust me you wont get a 2000 word chapter for a while now, mew chapter tomorrow.
also go check out my updated profie :3
-Orphic ßñæI/\ę