Chapter 9
Taurus! Taurus!
O-O-O-O-O
"Okay! Okay, shit. Percy are you alright? Can you stand up?" Thalia fretted over her battered friend.
"Auuuuuggh…" Percy groaned. "Thalia… I feel like a giant freakin' bruise right now. It hurts to move." He made an effort to sit up but collapsed in pain once again. "You're gonna have to fight him, Thalia."
Thalia cringed. While she had a good deal of combat experience over Percy, as well as a handy trump card up her sleeve, watching her friend get swung around like a ragdoll didn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence in her.
"Right. Right. Okay, fighting the Minotaur. Got it." Thalia stood from where she knelt beside Percy and brandished her spear and shield once more. She shot one last glance back at Percy. "Just don't, like, bleed out internally while I'm fighting, okay?"
Percy groaned again.
" ▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅▅!" With a bellow, the Minotaur began to charge in the direction of the Demigods. Steeling her nerves, Thalia responded with a war cry of her own and rushed to meet her opponent.
"YAAAH!" With a cry, Thalia brandished Aegis before her, the accursed face of Medusa revealed in full to her enemy. Though maddened, the Minotaur was still cowed by the cursed shield, halting his charge in its tracks and flinching away from the Gorgon's face.
"Come on!" Thalia roared. "You scared, big guy!? HAAH!" The daughter of Zeus feinted her shield forward, forcing the beast to flinch back once more. Seizing the opening, she followed up with a fierce thrust of her spear towards the Minotaur's abdomen.
Snapped out of his fear just as the Demigod launched her attack, the Minotaur just barely reacted in time, grabbing the shaft of the weapon before it could run him through. He pulled at the spear, looking to disarm his opponent before countering with a vicious blow as he had with the sea-spawn, yet Thalia was prepared for such a maneuver. She brandished Aegis towards the Minotaur once more, forcing him to flinch back just as he pulled his arm back to strike.
"Let GO!" Thalia snarled as sparks began to explode off her body. Electricity crackled between the two as Thalia sent a massive electrical shock up her spear and into the Minotaur, throwing him backward.
The Minotaur tumbled into the snow, and Thalia took a moment to catch her breath and ready herself for the monster's return. She doubted that he would be put down long enough for her to press the advantage. Sure enough, the Minotaur rose as quickly as he fell, shaking the snow out of his mane and huffing out a cloud of vapor. Smoke curled off of his body, but otherwise, the hulking beast looked no worse for wear.
"Tch." Thalia cursed inwardly. That shock had enough power to kill a full-grown man, but obviously, that wouldn't cut it for such a powerful monster. If she wanted to put him down, she would need a lot more power…
Thalia glanced up at the sky. Few clouds drifted through the night, but it would suffice. With a thought, Thalia began to gather and grow the clouds above, slowly but surely accumulating more to cover the sky. If you weren't looking directly upward, you probably wouldn't notice a thing. But until she could gather enough, she would have to stall the Minotaur.
"Looking a bit worn out there, big guy." Thalia quipped as the Minotaur stomped towards her. "You up for round two?"
As if to answer her question, the Minotaur let out a thundering roar and charged. Thalia charged in turn, raising her shield to once more force the Minotaur back with its unsightly visage. But before she could fully raise her Aegis, the Minotaur's fist exploded forth like a missile, slamming into the shield and sending Thalia skidding back.
Thalia winced in pain as she shook the pain out of her shield arm. If she hadn't managed to brace herself in that last second, that blow would have knocked her flat on her back. Then she would have definitely received the Percy treatment.
The Minotaur was relentless, not halting for a second as he pressed the attack on the recovering Demigod. His arms tore through the air like catapult salvos, whipping up snow and wind as he swung them with fury. Thalia jumped and sidestepped out of the way of his wild attacks where she could, as the slightest glancing blow could yield devastating results, and blocking the attacks head-on ran a massive risk of knocking her prone.
"Shit!" Thalia spat, just barely sidestepping another blow. "Cut a girl a break, will ya?!"
The Minotaur only bellowed in response, his attacks increasing in speed and ferocity. Left and right, up and down, the assault continued relentlessly, forcing the daughter of Zeus back further and further as she desperately avoided the onslaught. But then -just there- the Demigod spotted the briefest window of opportunity. The Minotaur overextended himself as he threw a punch, causing him to stumble ever so slightly. It was a small window, but it was the best Thalia had gotten so far. Lashing her spear out like a lightning bolt, she pierced through the beast's body armor and tore a gash in his flank.
"UUuuURrRRrAAaaAaaaAAAgGGhhH!!!" The Minotaur unleashed a guttural howl more akin to a human scream than his previous roars. With a sweep of his arm, he batted Thalia away, unintentionally giving her the distance she wanted. Pulling his hand away from the wound, he saw it covered in his own blood. He began to see red and tremble in rage as he roared out again. "I'M… GONNA… EAT YOU!"
"I think you're supposed to lead with that, big guy." Thalia panted as she caught her breath. "After slamming each other around like we just did, having you eat me just doesn't sound appealing anymore. Though-" she raised her hand to the air, gesturing at the sky.
As if on cue, thunder rumbled. Following Thalia's gesture upwards, the Minotaur gazed upon the swirling storm clouds that had gathered during their duel, silent and unnoticed against the dark night sky- until the time came for them to show their power.
"-On the topic of eating, how do you take your steaks? Well done?"
In an instant, the Minotaur's hands bolted for the axes that lay at his sides. In the same instant, a spear of light split the air and sky, shooting directly for the beast of the Labyrinth. It was Thalia's divine heritage manifested, judgment from the Skyfather of Olympus. A flash of light illuminated the clearing on the cliffside, vaporizing snow and blinding even Thalia. Then, following the flash, a burst of sound ripped through the air and blew the Demigod backward.
The daughter of Zeus spat slush and mud out of her mouth as she peeled herself off the ground. It would have been simple to summon a lightning bolt and zap her foe, but she didn't want to take any chances with the Minotaur. Hence having to gather storm clouds to form the biggest, meanest, monster-barbecuing bolt of lightning she could muster. Not even something as monstrous as him could take a hit like that head-on and survive.
A groan from behind the Thalia reminded her of her incapacitated friend. "Thalia? What the hell was that?"
Thalia sighed in relief as she saw that Percy hadn't been harmed in the blast. "Don't worry. I think he's-"
A low growl reached Thalia's ears. So low it was almost a hum, nearly inaudible amongst the hissing of steam and smoke. Yet that minute sound sent a deathly chill through the half-blood's bones. Her mind screamed at her to not turn around to look at the plume of haze that obscured the crater formed by her lightning. It screamed at her that if she didn't look at it, if she pretended she didn't hear what she thought she heard, then it wouldn't be real. Fear and curiosity won over the pleas of her mind as she slowly, stiffly turned around to face the cloud. In the depths of that haze…
Was an eerie orange glow. The origin of that glow was an axe.
Though the axe was molten orange from taking the brunt of an unfathomable amount of energy, it was still intact. Held up by a muscular arm.
Though the arm's body armor had been blasted off, the skin seared, and the muscle blackened from holding the weapon that struck back against a lightning bolt, it still moved. Still attached to a body.
Though that body was smoking and wounded, half of its armor blown away to expose a torso patterned by electrical scars that spread across it like malevolent tree roots, it still breathed. It belonged to the Minotaur.
Though the Minotaur heaved each breath it took, the glow of the red eye that peaked out of the mask dimmer than it usually was, drained of all strength and wracked with burning pain that matched the flames of the abyss, he was still alive. He had survived.
"He parried my fucking lightning bolt…"
"What did you just say, Thalia?" Percy asked as he finally gathered the strength to sit up.
"I SAID HE PARRIED MY FUCKING LIGHTNING BOLT!"
The Minotaur held his arm up for a second longer before he let it fall limply to his side. He flexed his other arm, relatively undamaged, and tightened his grip on his axe. Gathering all of his strength, he took a step forward. It was a small and weak step, but to the Demigods who had watched him survive a divine lighting bolt, it felt as though that single step shook the world itself.
"P-Percy," Thalia muttered, her voice quivering slightly.
"Yeah Thalia?" he responded, his voice once again an octave higher.
"I-" She swallowed harshly. "I think we might actually die here."
Percy struggled to respond. "...Yeah. It-it was nice knowing you Thalia, for the few short months that it's been. You were like… the annoying older sister I never wanted."
Thalia's throat tightened as she teared up slightly. "It would have been nice to be an older sister again…"
"Oh my Gods. You're not going to die, you morons!" The unseen voice snapped the two Demigods out of their sorrowful farewell.
"GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" The Minotaur howled and collapsed to his knees. In front of Thalia and Percy, the form of Annabeth Chase revealed itself as she took off her invisibility cap. In her other hand, her knife dripped red with the Minotaur's blood.
"Annabeth!" Percy cried out in relief. "You came back!"
"Of course I did!" she snapped, her patience running dry. She rummaged through a small pouch and pulled out a few squares of ambrosia, cramming them into the two Demigods' mouths. "Didn't I tell you to run when things got too tough to handle?!"
Percy swallowed his ambrosia quickly. "In my defense, I hit my head really badly. Not Thalia though, she said she wanted to get pounded by the Minotaur or something, whatever that means." The daughter of Zeus glowered at him with an intensity that could boil oceans as she rapidly chewed her ambrosia to tell him off.
"Yes, I heard," Annabeth remarked dryly. "I've been watching for long enough to catch that little tidbit."
Thalia swallowed her ambrosia. "Wait, Annabeth, why did you even come back? Where are Grover and the kids? And where did you get this ambrosia?"
The daughter of Athena sighed. "Okay, you're not going to like this, but-"
"Hhrrrghh…" The growl drew the attention of the three Demigods away from their conversation and back to the Minotaur. Though severely burned on one side and bleeding heavily on the other, the bull-horned beast still forced himself to his feet and began trudging step-by-step towards the trio. "Not… yet… Not… Yet… NOT…! YET…!"
The three readied themselves for combat once more, renewed by ambrosia that restored their health.
"Seriously?!" Thalia cried. "After what I did to his arm, I didn't think he could get it up anymore. I know they say endurance is more important than size, but this is absurd!"
"Thalia."
"What?!"
Annabeth turned to her friend, a thoroughly unimpressed expression on her face. "Just stop, okay? That's gross."
Percy blinked. "What? What's gross?"
"Oh come on!" Thalia shot back at Annabeth. "Don't think I don't notice the looks you give to your little friend! I'm older than you, I'm allowed to do this!"
"I agree with the daughter of wisdom." A voice from the forest concurred. "'Tis indeed quite revolting."
Thalia's face twisted into an expression of disgust at her recognition of the voice. "Oh, you have got to be shitting me-"
A silver arrow sliced through the air past the Demigod trio, straight towards the Minotaur's neck. Despite his wounds he still reacted, striking the arrow out of the air with his unburnt arm. Another arrow shot towards him from the woods, and he cut it down too. And the third arrow. And the fourth. The fifth arrow lodged itself in his shoulder. The sixth arrow just barely bounced off his axe. The seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth struck his thigh, calf, another shoulder, abdomen, pectoral, and his mask.
"Aaah… aah… ah…" the pincushion of the Labyrinth collapsed to his knees once more, denied his victory not once, but twice.
From the forest, a troop of girls clad in silver parkas emerged wielding bows and arrows of silver. Among them, the confused and shuddering Grover and Di Angelo siblings.
"The Huntresses of Artemis." Thalia spat. "Excellent fucking timing." At her remark, some of the huntresses bristled, reaching for their quivers.
"Who are you?" Percy turned to Thalia. "Thalia, do you know them?"
"Indeed she does." One of the older-looking girls remarked coolly. "We have crossed paths several times before, and she seems to have made it her sworn mission in life to become the nemesis of the Hunters of Artemis."
"Shut your damn trap, Nightshade." Thalia snarled back. "You got your heads so far up your asses that you act like me not wanting to join your little girl scouts cult is a sin against Olympus."
"Enough." A red-headed girl of about thirteen stepped forward between the two hostile warriors. She radiated a powerful presence that forced even Thalia to step back and withhold any other remarks she may have wanted to make about the Hunters. The girl turned to the Hunters. "We came here to hunt a beast. And the beast still lives. Do not fall apart in your own petty quarrels while the prey persists."
Percy blinked. "What? But you already killed the-" He paused. "No way. No freakin' way." The son of Poseidon turned around to confirm the worst of his fears; although burnt to a crisp, stabbed, and filled with arrows, the Minotaur still lived.
It hurt. It hurt so much. Why? If life brought with it so much pain, why did he return to the world of the living? Why was he not content to remain in the burning abyss?
Because he still had unfinished business. A Demigod to slay. A debt to settle.
A debt of what?
Vengeance, obviously.
Vengeance for what? For killing him? Was there anything in the eternal maze he had considered worth living for? Did the hero not set him free from that prison?
But monsters and heroes cannot help each other. The hero acted for his own gain and the gain of others. Not for the gain of the Minotaur. He slew the Minotaur because he was simply a monster to be slain. And in turn, the monster must seek vengeance against the hero and his kin until the end of days. That is the nature of monsters. That is the nature of the Minotaur.
But that is not the nature of Asterios.
Then what is?
The nature of Asterios… is to play in the field. Or adventure through the caves. Or meet new people. Or try new things and see new places.
But Asterios has never done those things before.
But if Asterios has not found out what his nature is, then it must be one of those things, right?
That is incredibly illogical.
Monsters are not logical. Neither are men or gods. If all beings were logical there would not be people who could reshape the world with the wave of their hand, or birds with the heads of men, or rocks that walk on their own. It's alright to hope for illogical things.
Is it the nature of Asterios to wish he could grasp the stars with his hands?
...Among other things, yes. That too is the nature of Asterios. The starry one.
Then, if it is in his nature to touch the stars, he cannot die now, can he?
...No, he cannot.
If he cannot die now, then he wishes to live, is that correct?
The wish of Asterios is to live and find happiness.
The wish of the Minotaur is to survive and find closure.
Then, when the cloud waves break, seek your answer in the heavens.
The wish of Taurus is to endure and prosper.
"I don't want to die… I don't want to die… I want to live… I want to live…! I WANT TO LIVE!"
"The beast endures?!" Nightshade exclaimed.
"I'd expect no less from the spawn of the Cretan Bull. Hunters! Ready yourselves for a-"
"L-lady Artemis!" One of the Hunters cried, cutting the girl off. "The stars! They should not be shining so bright!"
Artemis' gaze snapped up towards the sky, where the storm clouds summoned by Thalia had begun to dissipate. Indeed, some stars in the night sky blazed with power, outshining their neighbors. It was not something she had seen since…
"The constellations!" The Goddess of the Hunt gasped. "He's drawing power… from Taurus?!"
" ▂▂▂▃▃▃▃▅▅▅▅▅!" The Bull of the Labyrinth raised both his arms upwards towards the heavens as if basking in the light of the stars. Then, with a mighty heave-
K-THOOM
-It felt as though the world was ending. The earth groaned out as he slammed his fist down to the ground. The terrain beneath the Hunters and Demigods shifted and buckled as the cliff they stood on crumbled beneath them, threatening to hurl them and several hundred tons of stone and soil to the bottom of the icy sea below.
"HUNTERS, PULL BACK!" Artemis roared to her subordinates. "Damn it all, how did he access such power? A beast locked away in a maze underground its entire life should not have such knowledge."
"LOOK OUT!" A Hunter cried to her compatriots. They dove out of the way as the monster barreled his way through their ranks, flinging the unlucky few into the air like ragdolls as he vanished into the dark forest.
"My lady!" A Hunter cried to the Goddess. "The beast flees!"
"Leave it!" Artemis ordered. "It knows it cannot fight us once the power of the stars runs dry. It will be long gone by the time our ranks reorganize themselves."
Behind the fleeing Hunters, the Demigods also found themselves scrambling over crumbling earth to escape a deadly plummet to the sea below. Though Grover and the Di Angelos were safe with the Hunters, the trio of Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth were not yet out of harm's way.
"C-crap!" Annabeth's footing slipped as the earth beneath her buckled, forcing her to pause and regain her balance.
"Annabeth!" Percy cried. "Come one, we have to go! Grab my hand!" He exclaimed, extending his arm out to his stranded friend.
"A-alright! Alright, I've got y-AGGGH!" The daughter of Athena cried out in pain as a blur slashed across her back. In the darkness, the silhouette of a scorpion's tail was barely visible. Percy's eyes widened in horror and rage.
"THORN!"
"Damn you, Perseus Jackson. It is because of you and that bumbling meathead's grudges that my original targets have been lost. My plans have come to ruin, and I am left with nothing; So at the very least, I will assure that your merry band does not escape tonight unscathed! Say farewell to your little friend Jackson! Whether as a new recruit against the Gods or fresh rations for Kronos' army, you will never see her as she is now again!"
"NO!" Percy screamed as he lunged for Annabeth and the Manticore, falling short as the two vanished into the night.
Percy scrambled to his feet to pursue them, only for someone to grab him roughly by his collar and drag him back towards the forest. It was one of the Hunters Nightshade, carrying Thalia in her other hand.
"Let go!" Percy snarled as he struggled against the older Hunter's grip. "Annabeth is-"
"Alive!" Nightshade snapped at him. "Thine friend is alive boy, but the same may not be said of thou, should thou foolishly choose to remain on that cliff! Were it up to me, I would have left thou and this lout Grace to meet thine doom in the sea, but lady Artemis requests an audience."
Despite her words, Percy continued to struggle helplessly against her grip. As he began to realize the futility of his struggles, he looked upwards to see the helicopter presumably carrying the Minotaur fly off into the distance.
Maybe Thalia was right. He does have a nemesis.
Cing Krimson's Qringe Korner: OOO-WEE! Sorry for the long wait guys, I had school. And depression. Lots of that. In fact, I still have both as I type this, I've just chosen this one moment to conveniently ignore both! I swear I won't take more than a month to write the next chapter. What have I got hidden behind my back? Nothing, I assure you. It's not like I'm crossing my fingers to negate the promise I just made and slip myself out of having to commit to a piece of work that I enjoy but am terrified of writing, haha no siree nope.