Chapter 16

The beast blinked a couple times, it's eyes focused on my and Wylo. It seemed to be slowly realizing the situation. I stood still, partially to not trigger the beast, and partially out of fear.

And you can't blame me, this monster looked like a cross between a demonic horse and an evil doberman. Not to mention it was the size of a school bus and it had three massive horns that were over half my body length.

I decided to make the first move by slightly moving my scythe.

I never regretted something so fast.

In the literal blink of an eye the beast was up on its feet at lungeing towards me.

My body moved on instinct, faster than I thought. I rolled to the side, the horses mouth narrowly missing me. And thankfully so, because instead of normal horse teeth, it's mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth.

As soon as I got back up I looked over to check if Wylo was safe. I saw that the monster had a couple of white feathers in his mouth, which made my heart jump, but behind it I saw Wylo looking unharmed besides a little blood on her wing.

Despite the blood she looked at the beast with a dead set stare, ready to strike but waiting for the right opening.

I was trying to think of a way to get to Wylo but the monster quickly forced me to pay attention to it.

At speeds that seemed impossible for such a large monster, the beast rushed towards me once again with its pointed teeth bared.

I decided I wouldn't get anywhere with just running so I raised my scythe and held my ground.

As soon as the beast got close enough, I took a step forward and slashed my scythe upward with all my power, which was a lot more than I intended, a side effect of the underworld.

My scythe cut straight through the beasts jaw, knocking out a couple of its teeth and causing blood to flow like a river from it's mouth.

The beast reared back in pain only to be pounced on and clawed by Wylo. It whipped it's head around to get rid of it's attacker, but Wylo was already out of striking distance, but ready to pounce again.

Once the beast realized this wasn't going to be an easy battle, it moved back and got into a defensive position. The monster circled around me and Wylo, waiting for one of our guards to slack. I made sure to keep my scythe up, deterring the beast from attacking while looking for an opening myself.

I noticed things about the beast that I didn't have time to see before. The creature seemed to have bones on the outside of its body that looked like a type of armor. I saw that the biggest opening besides the face was on the bottom of its belly. I didn't think it would be possible to hit that spot without major luck.

And I thought I received it when the beast flicked its head towards Wylo. I pounced on the opportunity with my scythe ready but I quickly realized my mistake.

The monster was apparently smarter than I thought because immediately the monster whipped its head back to me and prepared to rip into me.

I hadn't been expecting the fake-out, leaving me open to be ripped in two.

I was preparing for the worst when Wylo rammed into the creature with full force.

Despite the size different the two creatures flew a considerable distance. In a second the monster was up on its feet and attacking Wylo.

"No!" I yelled. I rushed forward and stabbed my scythe into the beast. The blade hardly pierced the creatures armor but I still managed to get it off Wylo.

I immediately checked up on Wylo, completely ignoring the monster behind me. And I wasn't met with a pretty sight.

Wylo was bleeding,heavily. And her stomach...there was a a part of it that looked liked it had been completely ripped off.

My vision went blurry from rage, it was getting hard to focus by the minute. But before I had time to think, my thoughts were interrupted by the roar of the beast behind me.

I turned around to see the monster charging at me full speed. Without a second thought I switched my weapon into a spear. The monster attempted to bite me but I was already gone.

I slide under it's attack and pierced the monsters belly with a light jab. The monster reared back in pain, but I wasn't done with it.

I effortlessly switched back to my scythe and advanced on the beast. I swiftly swiped my scythe across the monsters front two legs, causing it to stumble forward.

I flipped my scythe and hit the beast's head with the flat of my blade. Despite the fact that I had partially immobilized it, the monster wasn't done yet.

With all the power it had left, the monster jerked it's head forward, attempting to pierce my heart with its horns. I narrowly jumped back, but I couldn't avoid them completely.

Only a couple inches below my heart, I started bleeding profusely. But this wasn't a normal wound, because only a few seconds after getting attacked my entire left arm was already feeling numb.

I attempted to raise my scythe but my left hand wasn't cooperating with me. Before I could figure out why, the beast somehow got up on all fours.

Somehow, even with its injuries, the beast was up and ready to attack. I switched back into my sword and prepared myself.

I knew I couldn't use a spear or a scythe without my left hand, so I got in my best protective stance and prepared myself for the worst.

I rose my sword and tried myself to deter the beast in front of me. But the truth was, I was slowly losing feeling on the left side of my body.

Apparently the beast noticed my weakness and it quickly jumped to the left side of my body.

I barely managed to adjust myself, probably saving myself from a bloody death. The beast continued to move to my left, but I made sure to match its movements every time.

I knew I couldn't keep this up forever before I was completely paralyzed, but I couldn't find any openings. I decided to risk it all and lunged forward with a jab straight for the monsters head.

The monster quickly swerved his head and met my sword with its right horn, something I didn't think was possible.

But I was even more surprised when the monster pushed back and forced my sword out of my hand.

My sword flew a good three feet before landing at the base of a tree. I quickly reached my arm out to summon it back to my hand but my body started to seethe with pain.

It seemed to be another side effect of the damned monsters horn. Seeing me defenseless, the monster slowly made its way over to me. It was toying with me now.

I tried to think of something but my mind was just filled anger. I refused to believe that I had come all this way just to die to some guard dog.

It was then that a weird sensation came over my body, the same one that came to me when I went through Deimos challenge the second time.

I raised my hand towards the beast, my eyes dead-set. Immediately the air around us began to be filled with white fog.

"I command you, beast!" I yelled. "Return to the hole you crawled out from!"

Immediately misty harpoons sprouted from the ground piercing the beast, one by one. The chains had no problem passing through the monsters previously impenetrable armor.

But they were definitely solid, despite there ghostly appearance, proven by the fact that the beast was squirting out blood from the exit point of each harpoon.

The beast cried out in pain as it was penetrated by at least a dozen harpoon tips.

"Now,begone!" I commanded.

Immediately chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around the monsters feet and torso.

As if from a horror movie, the monster was dragged down into the ground, screaming out in pain.

I didn't understand how the beast was being dragged down when we were already in the underworld, but I knew I didn't wanna find out where it was going.

But it didn't take long for the ground to start swallowing the monster.

And not a moment later, the chains were completely gone, along with any traces of the monster.

I stood still for a moment, catching my breath and trying to comprehend what had just happened.

After a moment of just standing still, I finally made my way over to my sword, and picked it up.

My left side was still aching and my arm was numb, but the had pain stopped spreading, probably because the monster was dealt with.

I turned my sword back into a ring, and braved myself. I knew what was coming up.

I turned around to where I had first entered the clearing, and saw Wylo's bloodied body laying there, motion less.

I had hope that she was just passed out, but in the back of my head I knew the reality.

I slowly made my way to the once beautiful creature laying on the ground in front of me.

Once I got close enough I realized just how bad the monster had messed her up.

In the middle of Wylo's belly, there was a chunk of flesh and organs missing where her stomach should of been.

I got down on my knees and held Wylo's limp body in my hands. I tucked my head in her feathery neck, and slowly started to cry.

I cried until my cries turned into sobs. I didn't care if I was supposed to be some cold hearted son of Thanatos. I had been broken down mentally this whole quest, just to suffer a such a devastating defeat right before the end.

And the one companion I had, monster or not, had just lost...no, given her life for some stupid quest!

My grief slowly turned into anger. Anger toward the gods for putting me through this quest for their stupid reasons. Angry because the one who had helped me as much as they could had died for those stupid reasons.

I was slowly descending into madness when I heard something come from below me.

I gently laid Wylo down and looked around for where the noise came from. It was then when I heard a little chirp coming from...Wylo. I continued to look around because there was no way it came from Wylo, her mouth hadn't moved.

I continued to hear the noise till it raised it back to Wylo's stomach. I looked at Wylo's bloodied feathers and lifted them up. And sure enough, there was the source of the noise.

Laying in a dry pool of blood, there was laying a small hippogriff, chirping away with its little voice.

The hippogriff itself was small enough for me to cup it in both my hand. It reminded me of a new born puppy, it's eyes hadn't even opened yet.

I realized how dangerous it probably was for a small animal to be in blood and quickly picked it up.

I had never held a eagle or a horse for that matter but a hippogriff felt exactly how I thought it would feel like.

I assumed this little guy was Wylo's child, but I couldn't have guessed that based on looks. This little hypogryff was a pretty golden eagle in the front and a brown stallion in the back.

If the little guy made it to adulthood I had no doubt it would be just as majestic as his mother.

When. When he made it to adult hood. I decided to honor Wylo to the best of my ability, I had to make sure her child made it a i be even older than her.

As if responding to my decision, Wylo's body began to fade into silver dust, a lot more pretty than normal monster remains.

I stood still for a moment, hippogriff in hand. I was torn in two. Part of me deviated over the loss of Wylo but the other part happy that her legacy would live on.

But all of me knew I had to continue, for Wylo's sake.

I thought over my situation and was debating on what to do with this little guy. It was then that I noticed a satchel on the floor.

I picked it up and remembered what Deimos had given me. I opened up the front pocket and gently placed the little hippogriff in the front pocket.

I made sure not to place it in the same pocket as the whistle, in fear of burning it alive. But I decided that the heat emanating from the whistle would be enough to keep the little guy worm

And I guess I was right because the guy immediately stopped chirping, and quickly fell asleep.

Once the little guy was safe and sound I gently put on the satchel.

My arm was still numb and my body ached, but it didn't matter, because I knew for a fact that in the cave in front of me was the god I came to confront, locked away and ready for me.