The distance from Rome to Vesuvius was about 150 miles. Perseus had theorized that, at a good pace, he could get there in just under two months. Hopefully, the automatons wouldn't have wrecked everything in there by then.
His plan quickly went sideways when he caught onto a string of pillages occurring throughout the region. Village after village, he was only moments too late... until now. Quite like Rome months prior, the village was on fire. However, this time, it wasn't the citizens who had started it. It was German barbarians. Perseus arrived on the scene, sword already in his hand. He still had no armor, however.
The first German he ran into was looting a house. A well-placed blow to the back of the head send him out of commission, but his startled yelp alerted the others to his presence. Perseus swore. That would make things a little bit more difficult, and he had no idea the fighting capabilities of these brutes. His second and third opponents appeared in the entrance to the house. The destroyer grinned.
He rushed forward, thrusting his sword into the hip of one barbarian, shoving it further in with the palm of his hand. He made sure to not make the thrust lethal. He found his blade only reacted when a soul was extinguished. The red was now a bit further down along the blade due to the death of the criminal in Jerusalem, as well as a few other unsavories that he had found in the past year.
Perseus brought his left elbow around his back to knock it into the head of the other German, who had been preparing to strike. He was knocked over his comrade, and fell onto the ground. Perseus made a quick swipe to sever his right leg, ensuring he wouldn't be joining the fight any time soon. The other barbarian was still keeled over, trying to stem the blood flow from his open wound. Perseus delivered a swift blow with the hilt of his sword.
He rushed out of the building to find a small gathering of Germans in the main square of the village. There were at least six of them. The German who was barking orders at the others seemed to finally notice him as he barked out some sentences in the German language. "Es ist ein kleiner Junge! Geh! Geh!" Three of the Germans ran towards Perseus, who quickly dispatched them. He moved steadily toward the leader, who remained unmoved.
The two other enemies came at him, and he ducked under one's blow and sent it travelling into the other's chest before delivering a brutal uppercut to his jaw. He stalked towards the leader, who grinned darkly and took out his own weapon... a Roman Hasta. A mercenary, then? Perhaps unsatisfied with not being paid, he had gathered a group and started to terrorize villages, instead.
Perseus advanced. Riptide came from the right, but the German quickly blocked it. The solidity of his defense was... admirable. Perseus' blow only moved him about half a foot backwards. The barbarian counterattacked. He tried to sweep Perseus' legs out from under him, but the Greek jumped. Predicting this, however, the mercenary took advantage of his helpless state and punched him with his left arm. Perseus shot backwards, hitting his shoulder on a well, breaking away some of the stone. Perseus grit his teeth as he struggled to his feet. He was pretty sure that the punch had broken at least a rib, if not two.
He wished, not for the first time, that he knew who his father was so he knew what powers he had. Or, at the very least, another weapon with a longer range. The German's weapon was multiple feet longer than Anaklusmos. Again, he dashed, ducking under the barbarian's guard. He slashed at both legs, but the man elicited barely more than a grunt. The spear swung around and hit Perseus in the side, making him momentarily lose feeling in his left arm.
Perseus dropped between the other man's legs, slashing again at one of them, this time causing a deeper cut. The German howled in pain and anger, wildly swinging around, trying to hit Perseus. "Doof, doof, doof!" He yelled, agony lacing through his words. Perseus grinned. Victory was close. He finished his slide and grabbed onto a loose piece of stone from the well earlier, chucking it at the German. He blocked it, causing it to explode into fine powder, blinding the man.
Perseus rushed in slicing off the lower half of the man's right arm, going straight through the joint to hit the least resistance. He paused for a second - he had never thought about that before. That development was new. That second, however, allowed the German, fueled by rage, to grab Perseus' arm and swing him around, making Perseus, for a moment, glad that he couldn't feel his left arm currently. All of the sudden, the brute froze. Then, he slumped to the ground. His grip released, Perseus fell to the ground, quickly getting up, warily eyeing the newcomer.
A teenage girl stood there, a slightly haunted look on her face. Her gray eyes were wide as she held the hilt of the blade piercing the dead barbarian's spinal cord. Perseus turned his sword back into a hairpin to show that he meant no harm. The girl looked at him, blood splattered in her hair, face, and on her clothes. Perseus didn't have to be Prometheus to realize that not all of the blood had come from this moment.
She stuttered, withdrawing the blade shakily from the man's neck, pointing it at Perseus, although the weight was almost too great for her, the tip dipping heavily towards the ground. "D-don't come... come closer!" She screamed in horror. Perseus realized that he was probably covered in the blood of his past eight enemies, as well as his own, and didn't look the most inviting. "I-I killed him! I'll k-kill... kill you too!" Perseus held out his hands in a placating gesture.
"I'm not here to hurt you. I promise. I came here to stop him," he explained. The girl barely moved, the only indication she heard him being a shiver. Suddenly she broke into sobs and dropped the sword, falling to her knees on the ground. Perseus, putting two and two together, realized that the rest of the blood on her might've been from her family's murder.
"Hey, shh shh shh," he spoke comfortingly. 'Lady Hestia, some help here, please?' He asked his patron. A warm glow surrounded the two, helping calm the girl down slightly. Perseus also felt his arm and ribs heal, something he hadn't thought about before.
'Of course, my hero. I also fixed you up, as well. Somehow, I'm not surprised you forgot about your own injuries already.' Hestia spoke to him, ending the sentence off with a slight giggle. The girl in front of him stopped sniffling, wiping her tears on her sleeve, some of the blood on her face coming off as well.
"You fought well," Perseus told her. He wasn't exactly sure how to calm down a girl who had just seen her family get murdered, and then killed another human being. Hades, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to! The girl looked at him, sniffling again. "Thank you... for helping me out at the end, there."
The girl's eyes widened and brightened, a ghost of a smile appearing on her face, before it slipped away just as quickly. "Yes..." She whispered. Her voice was hoarse, possibly from crying.
"What's your name?" Perseus asked. "I could use somebody like you on my adventure," He hadn't meant to say that, but it felt... right. Almost like it was fated to occur.
The girl stared up at him, before finally saying, "Alexandria... My name is Alexandria..."
A slightly longer chapter this week! Sorry for the late updates, last night I was working on Magic and Marvel, although that's not really a good excuse. Sorry 'bout that. So, yes, Perseus is on his way to Vesuvius! He has gained a travelling companion, although I must warn you... Don't get too attached to her lol.
Til next week,
- PJO Fan Power
Final content word count: 1,342 words.
Finished: 11:16 PM, 3/8/2020.
