Chapter X

With a shudder I snapped awake, my senses in overdrive. Thunder was booming outside and lightning lit up the cave. Cold wind blew in, but I knew that was not the reason my hair was standing on end. Something was coming, moving out there, my gut told me that much and as a demigod you either learn to trust your instincts or you die.

Peering outside I saw something walking towards it. It was a distant, inhumanely tall figure, easily wide enough to be one of the smaller trees. I scowled at that, the last thing I wanted to face was another giant, even if this one wasn't made of bronze. He was hundreds of yards away still, but I could hear the wood on the ground and small trees cracking, even here.

I turned to Bianca next to me and tried to shake her awake to no avail.

"Bianca!" I called as loud as I dared, though still there was nothing.

Concerned I looked at her, she had collapsed right after shadow-traveling us here. The nectar helped combat the following exhaustion somewhat, but I could only give her so much, especially if she was just exhausted and not injured. It must have taken a lot out of her, which wasn't surprising, I didn't know just where we were exactly, but judging by the huge redwoods outside I had no doubts we were somewhere in California. That was around three-hundred-fifty miles at the shortest, an impressive feat to say the least.

Once again I attempted to wake her up, but without success again. I sighed and crouched down, I couldn't leave her here unconscious and alone, doubly so since something was prowling around out there. So I picked her up and rose again, lifting her to carry her deeper into the cave.

In an awkward moment and with a blush I realized I was carrying her in bridal style, not exactly appropriate, even more so with one of Artemis' Hunters. Thankfully no one was here to see it and her patron wasn't exactly capable of turning me into an animal right now. Unfortunately however, she chose just that moment to awake without warning.

"Theseus?" She asked tiredly. "Where are we? And why are you carrying me?"

"Oh, you are awake?" I said embarrassed and cleared my throat.

"I don't know for sure, you brought us here, California I think." I answered before turning to the unpleasant question. "As to why I am carrying you? I think something is outside, heading towards us. I tried to wake you, but you weren't all that responsive. I could not just leave you lying there so I decided to get you someplace safer before investigating."

"Oh, well, thanks I guess..." Bianca muttered softly. "You can let me down now."

"Right, of course," I said flustered as I set her down.

"So should we check that out?" She asked and I nodded, eager to distract.

"Yeah, stay behind me if you don't mind," I told her, cautioning as I pulled on my helmet. "me taking a hit is much better than you taking one, considering my armor and the rain."

I assumed she was rolling her eyes, though I couldn't see enough in the darkness to tell. I threw off my coat, there was no need for it in the rain and it would only be a hindrance with its weight and bulk and stepped outside into the night.

When the rain hit me, I felt strength course through me and my senses heightened. The darkness retreated and the outlines grew sharper, the sounds becoming more crisp and clear. I couldn't help but crack my knuckles and neck in anticipation. I would be lying if I claimed I didn't like the thrill of combat, it's what came naturally to me and what I was raised for.

"So what are we facing?" Bianca asked anxiously.

"Giant, I think." I said, pointing to the nearing shape. "Could be a massive Cyclops as well, but I'd hope for the first, usually far less intelligent."

"Aren't Cyclopes Giants?" She inquired.

"Yes," I conceded. "but most prefer to differentiate them for various reasons."

"Alright, so how do we kill it?"

"I'm still working on that. If we get closer I can perhaps identify him and build on that." I told her and she nodded.

"And if you can't?" Bianca asked and I thought for a moment.

"Most giants are similar," I said. "Big, strong and overconfident. But they can still be worn down, if we can't kill him outright, just send as many arrows as you can into him while I keep him busy. He'll drop eventually, at least if he doesn't crush us beforehand."

"Very encouraging." She commented dryly and I smirked as I started moving towards the giant.

"Thanks, now let's go send Goliath tumbling down, shall we."

As we got closer I doubted anyone could kill this giant with a mere sling, he was easily forty feet tall, easily one of the biggest monsters I had ever seen. Well on land that is, he was nothing compared to some of the Cetea in the Pacific. Some of those things were double the size of the biggest container ships, truly Leviathans, he would have been a mere snack for them.

Still he was huge, even for a giant, but I still couldn't tell who he was, which worried me all the more. Just as much did worry me the uprooted small Sequoia tree in his hand, one proper hit from that thing and no bone in my body would remain unbroken.

"Do you know who he is?" Bianca whispered and I shook my head.

"No," I replied. "Let's just wait for now."

That luxury was not granted to us as the giant stopped dead in his tracks and turned towards us. We cowered down behind the boulder we were watching him from, but I knew it was no use, if he heard that we had no hope of hiding for long.

"I can smell you, little demigods!" He proclaimed. "Come out so I can eat you. There is no hiding from mighty Tityos."

I swallowed hard as he said that and saw Bianca look towards me, clearly unsettled further by my worried expression. I couldn't blame her, my eyes must have betrayed my fear. Tityos was famous, or much rather infamous, one of the great three sinners, though he was much worse than Sisyphus or even Tantalos, at least in quantity. He was a lawless giant who terrorized the region of Phocis in Boeotia. He probably had killed and devoured hundreds of mortals, stolen, plundered and whatnot.

Not that he was punished for that, his punishment came for his hubris as so often. Artemis and Apollo had struck him down without respite when he tried to rape their mother, after that they ensured his eternal punishment by getting his liver eternally eaten by two vultures. Not a very creative punishment, but a deserved one. But clearly eternity was over by now, because he was standing here.

There was only one problem with that, it told me absolutely nothing about how dangerous he was. Two angry Olympians, especially such powerful ones, could easily vanquish any monster short of Typhon himself. I didn't want to test our luck in open battle, so I decided to improvise and go for deception.

"I'll go distract him, get ready." I whispered to Bianca and without waiting leapt over the boulder.

"As, so you do show yourself." He said with a grin, showing his crooked teeth. "I will kill you before eating you as thanks."

"Wait, Lord Tityos," I said, raising my hands. "I think you misunderstand, I'm here to talk on behalf of my Lord Kronos."

I had to try hard not to smirk at the blatant lie as the air grew cold at the name. Clearly Tityos was confused by my words as he stopped and thoughtfully scratched his shaggy beard.

"Why? I have already told the last of you no, I don't like the offer you have."

Fuck, I hadn't expected him to have already talked about this and doubly so not to be unaligned still. But the ruse still wasn't up, I just had to make it up as I went.

"Of course," I conceded. "which is why I was sent to ask for a counter offer. My lord knows for your great might and is willing to listen in his infinite patience."

He murmured angrily furrowed his brow. "I have already told you my offer, I don't care what Koios thinks, I want her!"

I assumed he was talking about Leto, which was the logical conclusion, Koios was her father after all and he had desired her before. Now normally I wasn't a fan of arranged marriage, but since I was just shit-talking I had no such concerns. But I couldn't just agree, that would just be suspicious.

"Lord Tityos, is there not an alternate offer you would consider?"

"I heard you managed to capture her daughter," He said, licking his lips, gods he was disgusting. "Perhaps I could consider an alternate resolution."

Hah, the gall of him, even if I was still working with the Titans those conditions were ludicrous, trading an Olympian goddess for the allegiance of some backwater giant she had killed herself? It was just a ridiculous idea and spoke of his arrogance. Not that it mattered, since the only thing he'd be getting was a free trip to Tartarus.

"Very well, I shall inform my master of your willingness to compromise and the offer." I said with a bow before telling him. "I also am carrying a gift for you."

"What? A gift?" He asked, surprised. "What is it?"

Reaching down into my pocket, I pretended to rummage through it before pretending to pull something out and holding my right hand out.

"I cannot see anything, it's so small, what is it?" He asked, annoyed.

"I apologize, perhaps you should have a look yourself." I told him and had to avoid grinning as he crouched down, leaning on his club.

He looked at my palm with scrutiny, his head close to it. While he was distracted I reached and pulled out my knife with my left hand, cautious not to draw his attention.

"Where is it? I still can't see anything!" He said, now properly angry and looked at me.

I chose just that moment to throw the knife with full force, hitting him from point-blank range, burying itself with a sickening squelch in his left eye.

"Aaaaagh!" He wailed in pain loud enough to shake the ground.

He clutched his eye with his free hand and rose up, blindly swinging his club. I rushed forward to avoid it, slipping through his legs. As I moved through, I struck towards the back of his knee, but only managed to cut a shallow cut into the thick skin, not daring to stay in one place for long.

Crying out again, he whirled around to strike me, but I had already rolled through underneath him dragging my sword along the calf as I got up. Perhaps I could wear him down like this, just letting him bleed out, from as many wounds as possible. As I came back up I noticed something else though, the scar tissue on his side, right where his liver would be.

I saw a silver arrow course above me, burying in the giant's shoulder and another one soon followed, though they both seemed to have little effect beyond making him madder than he already was.

"The liver! Target the liver!" I yelled to her across the field, as I circled around the giant.

The liver was a good spot to target either way, but with his history and the clear damage to it I had good hopes for it.

A first arrow hit, sinking deep into the flesh and he howled out, looking for her and quickly his hand came down covering the spot. But Bianca had moved out of sight again and he turned his focus back to me. I sidestepped a swing from the tree but then he kicked towards me.

His foot connected with my body and I was hurled back, crashing with my back against a massive tree. I groaned as I slid down. It wasn't a strong kick, at least for him, but I was still dazed and seriously hurt. Staggering I pushed myself back up as I felt my body heal itself from the rain.

In between blinks I saw him charging towards me and the club coming down above me. Somehow my instincts must have kicked it in, as the club crashed down beside me, shearing off the trees' bark as it slammed down. The only thing I could hear was my blood pumping in my ears and angrily pushed forward again, eager for retribution.

Leaping upwards I pushed off his knee and with the momentum thrust into his armpit. An ear-ringing cry came from his mouth as I pulled the blade out, twisting it brutally. I didn't see the hand that had covered his side coming though and in one swift motion he grabbed me, my sword falling from my hands, and lifted me up.

His grip was suffocating, I felt like I was about to burst as he squeezed. Then his grip loosened, I saw something silver burying itself in his side and grinned triumphantly as I managed to free my arms in his moment of distraction from the pain. I willed all the water in the air and on the ground I could up around his arm and with a roar clenched my fist bringing it together with full force.

A loud crunch could be heard as his wrist snapped, followed by the rest of his arm breaking and bending as the water bore down on it, crushing it like a tin can. His shattered arm slumped away and I tumbled down, rolling off in the snow and mud below. I was exhausted but the adrenaline and rain kept me going.

Tityos was stumbling back, bleeding from a good dozen arrow hits, cuts and stab wounds. As he caught himself and stared at me, his eyes were filled with primal hate and anger as he snarled and bounded towards me. He lashed out wildly, bringing his working arm down to crush me.

Somehow I weaved past his furious attacks, as if he couldn't hit me somehow and within the blink of an eye had grabbed my sword and was moving back towards him. Again that weightless feeling I had before in the fight against Talos had resurfaced, as I dashed and leapt I felt unstoppable. Impaling him in his back I thrust my sword into him, stabbing right into the liver and dragging the blade out through his side.

He buckled forward, crashing face first into the snow and I moved on, ramming my blade down into his spine, finishing him off finally. He started dissolving and soon I was standing ankle deep in a layer of golden dust that the rain was washing away.

Staggering forward I went to pick my knife up which was sitting in the dust. Only now did I notice the faint metallic taste of blood in my mouth. I pulled off my helmet and breathed in deeply, trying to steady myself as I stumbled around, thankfully Bianca moved under my shoulder stabilizing me.

"Are you alright?" She asked concerned before stating. "You did it again."

I had no idea what she was talking about, to be quite frankly, but was grateful for her help.

"I'm mostly fine," I said. "At least I think so, I just need some rest, the rain will hopefully do the rest."

"Are you sure?" Bianca asked doubtful.

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a moment, please." I said as I slowly walked to a nearby tree and leaned against it.

"Alright then..." She conceded, before looking at me skeptically. "You can't teleport can you?"

"Huh, no, of course not, why?" I asked, confused as I let the water soak me, my breathing lightning as the pain faded.

"Well, it sure looked like it." Bianca said and I raised a brow. "You did it before. when we fought Talos, you vanished into thin air and within the blink of an eye you had caught up with me."

"And you are saying I did it again just now?"

"Exactly, when you got smashed into that tree and were staggering around." She told me and I nodded. "I expected him to smash you into the ground then and there, but just before he hit you, you just disappeared and then stood a few feet to the left. Or just now when he charged you and you just came up behind him."

I thought about her words, cocking my head to the side as I remembered the fight. Admittedly those moments were strange, I assumed my body somehow had just taken over and got me through, but now that I thought about it I had to say it felt weird. Weightless was how I had felt, a fitting word, but it didn't quite encompass what it was like. Nothing seemed to be able to slow me or even phase me, it was as if Tityos' attacks had just went straight through me.

"Don't you know what I'm saying?" She asked exasperated, throwing her arms up.

"I do, but I can't really say much about it either. You say I just vanish without trace?"

"Well, pretty much," Bianca told me. "I couldn't really see it properly."

"Strange," I concluded. "I guess I'll have to figure it out."

Cold wind blew through the night and lightning cracked, lighting up the sky above us. Bianca shuddered and she pulled the hood of her parka further up.

"Perhaps we should get back to the cave?" I proposed and she nodded eagerly.

"Yes," She said with chattering teeth. "Please."

Within a few minutes of trekking through the rain and mud we had made our way back to the cave. As we entered I slumped as we left the rain, the constant stream of water had really helped cover up my exhaustion. Bianca, on the contrary, looked very relieved to be back in the dry again and out of the storm.

"So how are you feeling?" I asked concerned. "You didn't look too good an hour ago."

"I'm fine, just exhausted and cold," She said and patted her drenched clothes. "At least I got to take a shower."

"Oh, right," I said sheepishly. "Let me fix that."

With a small motion I pulled the water from her hair and clothes, drying her off in an instant.

"Thanks." Bianca said and I waved her off.

"Don't mention it," I waved it off with a smile. "If you hadn't come I might be checking into your father's domain right now and I don't even have any drachmas on me."

Her eyes widened as I said that and I realized what I had just said.

"You know?" She asked tentatively.

"You shadow traveled us here, that and the other clues allowed me to piece it together." I said and paused. "But you seem to know as well."

"While I was out, I spoke to him in a dream." She explained. "He didn't want me to talk about it... but since you know."

"Your father has good reason for caution," I stopped her. "If he wants you not to talk about it that's alright. It doesn't change a thing for me."

She nodded and I looked outside into the storm as a bone-chilling wind swept into the cave and I shuddered. It really was cold, especially without the water keeping me up and comfortable. Since the threat was vanquished for now I pulled my coat back on and closed it, before turning to Bianca.

"Stay in here, I'll try to get some firewood." I told her, eager to get back into the rain.

"You don't have to," Bianca argued stoically. "You can't start a fire in this weather anyways, it's far too wet."

"Now let that be my worry." I said and walked off into the forest, looking for suitable twigs and branches.

Within a few minutes I gathered enough small twigs and grass for a starter which I dumped in the cave. Soon after I returned with a couple larger logs and within another run had gathered a sufficient amount of fuel for the rest of the night. I reached out towards the wood and forced every bit of water I could from it. It was harder than with fabric since it sat deeper in it, but quickly a small ball of water had amassed, which I sent outside with a flick of the wrist.

"Right, I forgot you can just do that." She said begrudgingly and I nodded.

"There's only problem," I conceded as I set up a small pile of wood. "We don't have anything to create a spark."

She reached into her Hunter's bag and pulled out a zippo. I honestly hadn't remembered her convenient bag of survival supplies and wondered what else she could produce out of it and where the limit was. Did she actually pack all that or was it connected to some magical storage, did she carry all that weight with her.

"Forgot you are a girl scout." I teased her and she huffed.

"If you don't shut up I won't give you a sleeping bag." She told me and I made a zipping motion over my mouth.

"I'm serious." She insisted, clearly not serious.

"Alright, alright." I said, raising my hands, though I couldn't quite shake my smirk.

"So, how do you want to move forward from here on?" She asked as she lit the fire.

"Well, we clearly are in California," I said with a nod to the Redwoods outside. "So we probably are a decent distance ahead of Percy and the others."

Bianca nodded as she moved to take out two foam mattresses and sleeping bags, just like she had back in Arizona. She tossed a pair to me as she started setting up a bit away from the crackling fire.

"So we can afford to sleep the rest of the night and then," I stated and considered. "Well then we will have to figure out just where we are. Those are Sequoias, so eastern California I reckon, the rest will have to wait till morning, unless you want to march ten miles or more through that thunderstorm without rest?"

"Absolutely not." She said decisively.

Another burst of wind made the fire dance in front of us. I watched the flames flicker as the heat seeped through me and filled the cave, illuminating it with orange light. Hopefully the rising smoke wouldn't draw further attention, but it was well into the night and the fire was small enough to go unnoticed, especially in the storm.

"You don't happen to have a drachma for an Iris message, do you?" I asked her doubtfully.

She searched her pockets but shook her head.

"Thought so," I said with a sigh. "Perhaps it truly is better this way, at least we are quite lost."

"The prophecy," She said, realizing as well now. "it has been fulfilled."

"Hopefully that was it, because this place surely is not without rain."

"How do you think they are doing?" Bianca asked and I shifted uncomfortably.

"They probably think we are dead," I said and flinched as I thought of Percy. "Let's just hope they moved on and didn't waste time searching for us for too long."

"Thanks for back there by the way," I thanked her. "I'd be dead without you."

"No, I am sure you would have managed," She said, looking away. "if you hadn't brought me back to focus..."

"Nonsense," I told her with certain voice. "I'd have been crushed, you saved me, take some praise. You are almost as bad as Percy."

"Still, it would have been my fault in the first place," She said. "if I hadn't been so foolish..."

"What did I tell you about taking praise?" I asked her. "I won't claim what you did was particularly sensible, but it worked out in the end. We couldn't have avoided the prophecy anyways."

"You might be right," She said. "but still..."

"No reason in dwelling on it, at least you did it for a good reason." I stated. "You really love Nico, don't you?"

"Of course I do," She scoffed. "It's just tiring, you know? Being the big sister all the time, that's why I joined the Hunters."

"I get what you are saying, though I doubt I can quite understand. Percy can be annoying and irresponsible, but still we are twins, even if I feel older from time to time."

"I don't want to pry," She said and I gestured for her to continue. "How long have you known him now?"

"Half a year now, this summer was the first time I spoke to him." I said, thinking back. "But it feels so much longer to me most of the time. You've been taking care of Nico for how long now if you don't mind me asking in turn?"

She pursed her lips. "I don't really know, two years, three years, perhaps four. Ever since our mother died I think, but I can't really say."

"Right, your memory, I forgot." I apologized as I watched the storm outside. I wondered whether my father or Zeus was responsible for this one, either way it had been quite helpful.

Bianca rubbed her shoulders and yawned, slipping off her parka and crawling into the sleeping bag.

"Well, I'll try and catch some sleep." She told me and I hummed.

"Go ahead, I'll just stay awake a tad longer." I told her, staring into the fire. "Throw a bit more one the fire, make sure it burns through."

She didn't answer and I realized she was already asleep. I got up and dropped a few bigger logs into the fire. Then I set my sleeping gear down in a nearby corner and for a moment considered taking off my armor, my body could certainly use the time to relax. But it was not safe, we could be surprised by gods know who or what in the night.

Deciding to be on the safe side, I only pulled off my helmet, boots and greaves to ensure decent comfort. Using my backpack and coat as a headrest I settled down for for the night, my eyes slipping shut a second time and again I entered the realm of Hypnos.

Groaning my eyes opened as the first light now also shone into the cavern. I nestled myself deeper in my sleeping bag, savoring the warmth a bit longer, before mustering enough willpower to get up. Stretching and cracking my neck I rose and took a look around.

Bianca was still asleep, the fire had burned out, only a few glimmering embers remaining in the ash. Blinking the sleep away I decided to get some personal hygiene done as best as I could before she woke up as well and we continued on.

Pulling some remaining rain and dew water from the surrounding plants and cleaning it I greedily drank it down and quenched my thirst. I went on to use what spare hygiene supplies I had still packed before my sudden departure, doing what I could to maintain some standard of cleanliness.

Judging from the sun's stand and our expected latitude it was probably around nine in the morning, meaning we had a good seven hours of sleep, not a lot, but it to be good enough considering what was at stake. I heard something stirring behind me. Seemingly Bianca was finally waking, good, we had to carry on as soon as possible.

From what I could see from the mountain cave overlooking a vast valley we were in the middle of nowhere pretty much, hopefully we could find and "borrow" a car. Thalia was not here to argue with me, which meant I would do so if no other solution presented itself. But even finding a car would surely prove difficult here and we had quite the deadline, only a couple days left to save the world.

Soon the daughter of Hades sat down on the rocky outcrop I was sitting on, overlooking the forest.

"Morning." I greeted her.

"Morning Theseus," She returned the greeting. "So how are we continuing on?"

In the distance I could see a flow of water which cut a path through the forest and I pointed towards it.

"See that river?" I asked and she nodded. "We'll go there, hopefully some lamprey or salmon can tell me just where we are. Then we'll go west till we hit some infrastructure, get a car and drive on till we reach San Francisco or run out of gas."

"I could try shadow travelling again." She offered hesitantly.

"I mean no offense, but please don't Bianca," I told her shaking my head.. "I feel like we are quite lucky we ended up here and not in Bolivia or Canada. Also I don't want to deal with you dropping unconscious on me again."

"Alright then," She sighed. "so let's get going then."

I hummed in agreement and rose, threw my backpack over, redid the laces of my boots as I waited for her to get ready, which she quickly was and set out towards the stream.

After perhaps half an hour of walking we could hear the splashing of water and soon we were pleased by the sight of a clean stream, flowing through the mountainous valley. I saw Naiads moving in the distance, waving as I looked at them and I nodded in acknowledgement.

I was used to the truly terrible flirtations of the water spirits. They could be quite annoying, but at least I hadn't to worry about them accidentally drowning me, unlike some less fortunate half-bloods. Hopefully these ones would be more mature than the ones at Camp Half-Blood, though the latter had a plethora of naive demigods to play their games with which worsened their tendencies.

"Bianca, I'll go talk to them, I'll be back in a minute." I told her and waded into the river.

"Greetings my ladies," I said as I fully submerged in the water. "I hope I am not disturbing you."

"You are not, son of Poseidon." One of them greeted me.

"Fantastic, I wanted to ask whether you could tell me just where we are?"

"Our stream is one of many which flows into our father's river," Another one said before proudly announcing. "the great Middle Fork American River."

"Ah, a tributary of the American river if I am not mistaken?" I asked and the naiads moved back, clearly unhappy about something.

"Not quite," The first one said. "Before that he meets his treacherous brother the North Fork American River."

"He has joined the Titans?" I asked, surprised.

I hadn't expected nature spirits to ally with them, but it made a lot of sense. The Titans promised a new clean world, a world where nature would largely return to its state before humanity. Not to mention Oceanus being their father and he had chosen his side long ago now.

"It is hard to say," She stated. "he acts erratically, one day he is only neutral, the next he is actively clashing with our father at their meeting point, though it is becoming more and more of the latter."

"I understand, how far is till their meeting point and from there to Sacramento?"

"Only a few miles to the west they meet, from there on it is quite the trip south till Sacramento, a good forty miles, it'll take you half a day of walking at least."

"Is there perhaps an alternative?" I asked. "I am afraid we are on a rather time sensitive quest."

"We cannot tell you much, we don't see far enough beyond our river." The second one now spoke. "Beware the coming path son of the sea god, it is treacherous and our uncle will surely not let you pass uncontested."

"I thank you for the answers and warnings and I'll try to heed them, but I am afraid I must bid you goodbye for now." I said and kicked myself up, jumping out the river.

Bianca stood nearby, leaning against a tree, arms crossed, fingers drumming impatiently.

"So, did you learn anything useful?" She asked and I nodded.

"Yes, but I've got bad news as well."

"Go ahead, tell me."

"Well, the good news is, we are not terribly far from Sacramento, we can make it in a day or so. The bad news, we have to pass a potentially hostile and murderous Potamoi to get there."

I saw the questioning look on her face and remembered how new she was to this world. Honestly it was remarkable how well she had adapted already, though perhaps learning the divine world was real was less bad than getting ripped out of your time.

"A river god, probably working with the enemy." I explained and she nodded.

"So we'll try to avoid him?" She asked and I shook my head.

"No, we need to get to Sacramento as fast as possible, we don't have the time to take a detour. We'll have to pull through, come what may."

"Marching westward it is for now." She said and sighed.

"Yes, at least till we reach their meeting point, we'll just have to follow the river till then, it shouldn't take us too long."

"Let's hope so," Bianca said and looked westward. "we should continue."

We started walking over the gravel on the sides of the stream and soon along the river it flowed into It was quite nice honestly, if we weren't on such an important mission and hurrying so much it would have been a nice hike. Occasionally despite the winter and in light of the warm day even a few birds sang as we marched along the river and through the serene forest.

It didn't take long before the spot where the rivers flowed together could be seen. Something about the larger river this one flowed into seemed hostile, violent and far, far less friendly. Uncomfortably I eyed its grey waters, but nonetheless we started our descent towards it.

AN:

As to Theseus "teleportation", in case you are worried about how I'll balance it, don't worry it will never be anything like flashing or shadow travel, as a matter of fact it is not even teleportation but much rather a sort dashing I guess, but more of that soon, not that I plan on him mastering or even conciously using it any time soon.

It seems you, my dear readers, agreed with my judgement of the last chapter, going off the amount of positive feedback signs I have received, hopefully you like this one just as much.

As always thanks to everyone who followed, favorited and especially reviewed, I appreciate feedback in any shape or form!