Chapter XXII
The smell of cold coffee mixed with the damp air of the Underworld, and I silently wept. Not that I blamed Bianca for preferring to use mortal food, the only source of blood down here were us and those cows, neither were satisfying options.
Still, it was disheartening, the last thing I wanted to die of down here was thirst or starvation. Getting devoured by some monster would at least be somewhat heroic, this however would simply be embarrassing.
But I didn't complain, Bianca was clearly carrying a far greater burden from how uncomfortable she looked. From what I had gathered from her previous statements, necromancy wasn't exactly her forte. But she seemed incredibly anxious, I was seriously concerned. So I stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You'll be fine, Bi." I told her, trying to sound as encouraging as possible.
She turned to me, her breathing was unsteady and her dark eyes flickered around, looking panicked. Something wasn't right, that much was clear, and anyone could see it. She took a deep breath and turned back towards the pastry-and coffee-filled pit before us.
"Yeah, you are right..." She said, no less anxious. "I'm sure it'll go alright this time..."
"No, wait," I stopped her at those words. "what do you mean by this time?"
"Nothing, I said it'd be alright, haven't I, Theseus?" Bianca suddenly snapped, brushing my hand away, before looking away and muttering. "sorry, I- I'll tell you later, alright?"
Now I wanted to discuss this here and now even more. Bianca was not the type to get angry that fast and much less to snap at people. For her to do so quickly, clearly this was putting a lot of pressure on her and that worried me. But despite myself I sighed and let Bianca continue, stepping back.
My hairs stood up and a chill went down my spine as Bianca started chanting, barely more than a whisper at first. But even when she got louder I could only understand fragments, it was ancient Greek, but a truly archaic dialect, foreign even to me. The air turned cold and the shades of Asphodel that before wandered around aimlessly now all intently turned to us.
Eleanor looked no more comfortable than me as they started approaching and I saw her place a hand on the pommel of her sword. I was not sure how much good Celestial Bronze would do against the dead, but I shared the sentiment and started anxiously twisting my bracelet as well.
Bianca started repeating Tiresias' name under her breath, calling him. The shades, thankfully, kept a certain distance, though seemingly begrudgingly so, they were clearly drawn to the sacrifice, but something was holding them back.
Though I wasn't sure if the shades here even had a will left, because from what I had seen and heard, most in Asphodel were pretty much mindless, their draw to the food was probably purely instinctual.
Finally though a shade came forth through the crowds, it was clear he was different from the others. He wore long robes and had a bushy white beard. He walked with a cane and approached us, though he seemed reluctant to do so. His eyes were covered by a blindfold and yet I felt like he was watching me.
"Heroes," Tiresias said, distastefully. "it has been so long since my death, yet you won't stop pestering me. Have you not already bothered me enough before my death, brought me enough pain?"
"If we bother you so much," I said, stepping forward. "why don't you just give us what we want and get this over with?"
"Hah, I shall do no such thing," Tiresias said mockingly. "I will take from the offering as I must, and then I shall fade again, you cannot stop me, you cannot force me to talk!"
He knelt down to drink and was about to when Bianca intervened, quickly kicking him away, making him retreat in shock. Usually I was not the greatest supporter of kicking old blind men, but Tiresias appeared rather uncooperative and already starting to get on my nerves by now.
"You will drink," Bianca said, annoyed. "but first you shall give us what we want..."
"A daughter of Hades?" The clairvoyant prophet, ironically, seemed surprised, before regaining his composure. "It does not matter, you cannot force me to talk either."
"Are you sure about that?" Bianca asked and let a hand go to her hip, pulling one of her knives and Tiresias seemed well aware of that, despite his lack of vision.
"Stygian Iron?" He asked, utterly unimpressed. "Do you think that will make a difference, girl? Go ahead, have it take my soul, you won't get your answers that way either."
"It will cause you immeasurable agony as long as you are trapped in it. Are you sure you want that?" Bianca asked, unusually cold. "Don't make this harder on you than it has to be."
"Do you think that will be any worse than wandering these fields for all eternity?" Tiresias asked, his voice tired. "Sentient, yet powerless, unable to escape or end it? My gift was nothing but a curse in disguise..."
Admittedly I felt some pity at what he said, truly it sounded horrifying, far worse than the Fields of Punishment in a way. But it wasn't unusual for Athena to deliver over-the-top punishment, Medusa instantly came to mind, as did Ajax the Great, not that he had done anything but get in conflict with her protegee Odysseus.
"You are where you are for good reason, I trust the judges." Bianca told him exasperated and pulled him back up. "Now speak! Where is the cattle that was stolen from my father?"
Those words were different, inlaid with power, even I felt compelled to answer, not that I could give a proper one. Tiresias, however, seemed utterly helpless, his mouth opening as he spoke begrudgingly.
"Find the owls, the birds will be your answer." He said, his voice strained, as if he was fighting against it.
"What do you mean by that?" Bianca asked, scowling. "Tell me!"
This time there was no feeling of power from her, no authority beyond her own.
"Do you think that'll work again?" Tiresias asked, frustrated. "You caught me off-guard, I'll admit that, but it won't work again."
"Tell me!" Bianca tried again, more forcefully.
"I do not think so," Tiresias said. "now let me go, your control over me is slipping anyways."
By the looks of it, he was telling the truth, the shade grew weaker and more transparent by the second and looked as if it was about to fade away from her hands. Frustrated, Bianca dropped him and he crawled towards the offering.
She turned to us and I noticed that she was shaking slightly, beads of sweat on her forehead. But she didn't look exhausted, more panicked than anything. There definitely was something wrong, and I had no intention of just letting it go, we would talk, even if not here.
As the hungry shade slurped behind us we huddled together.
"Great," Bianca said, annoyed. "we are not one step further."
"Tiresias doesn't make mistakes," I said firmly. "he might speak in riddles, but he is always right."
"So?" She asked. "That won't help us one bit if we don't know what he means. There are no birds down here."
"What about your father's gardener?" I proposed. "He was turned into an owl, wasn't he?"
"Askalaphos?" Bianca asked thoughtfully. "I don't think it's him... it is a possibility though, but I am not even sure if he hasn't faded yet."
"Say what about those screeching noises?" Eleanor asked. "That sounds an awful lot like birds, not all too musically talented birds, but still."
I raised a brow, I really couldn't hear anything but the whispering dead around. What was she talking about?
"Are you talking about the Strixes?" Bianca asked, just as confused. "There are only a few of them, back in the Fields of Punishment, but you can't possibly be hearing them."
"Of course I heard them back there," Eleanor said, rolling her eyes. "but I hear them here as well."
"Even if, they are monsters, not birds..." Bianca said, though then her eyes lit up. "although you might be onto something after all."
"Really?" Eleanor asked, cocking her head. "although now that I think about it, they do sound somewhat like owls."
"And that's exactly what mortals mistook them for when they appeared in the world above." Bianca said with a nod. "But not just that, they crave blood more than anything, and blood is a scarce thing down here-"
"Which means if they are somewhere they don't usually belong, there probably is blood," I continued for her. "and our culprit needs them for their blood if Menoites is right, a lot of it."
"So we'll find him there." Eleanor concluded and Bianca nodded.
"I mean, I still can't hear them though," Bianca pointed out and I hummed in agreement.
"Well, I suppose I've got the fine ears of a musician," Eleanor said, smirking. "just follow me."
As much as I had doubted her at first, she clearly was right. It took quite a while of walking but eventually we started faintly hearing the screeching as well.
I hadn't paid much attention to it when we passed the Fields of Punishment, just another terrible sound coming from there, drowning in the cacophony. But now it was all too noticeable and rather bone chilling, yet we picked up speed, now running straight in its direction.
The only thing that allowed me to keep some sort of track of how far we actually moved in the Fields of Asphodel was the River Acheron, though I would have preferred if it wasn't there. Had it been relatively harmless at the entrance, by now it truly was the river of pain, uncountable voices cried out from it in misery and pain.
Its color had changed from a neutral gray to a dark-bluish black, tainted by the corrupted, damned souls in it. Thankfully we steered away from it, with not even Bianca eager to get near it, and the faint, unintelligible images in my mind started fading again.
But one unpleasant sensation was replaced with another as the smell hit me. I tried breathing through the mouth and covering my nose, but it was of little use. The smell of rot was far too strong and it only got worse, it smelled like a mix of sewage and corpses and dead plants, sickly sweet and incredibly disgusting.
"Ughh, what is that?" Eleanor asked, sounding like she was about to throw up.
"The marshes," Bianca answered unhappily. "Where the rivers of the underworld descend to before they fall into Tartarus, I don't like where we are going."
"I thought the marshes were at the center of Tartarus?" I asked hurriedly, trying to avoid breathing in as best as I could.
"Different marshes," Bianca said quickly. "These here form the border, but the rivers don't merge here."
Not eager to speak further I simply nodded and shut up. While the smell got worse the closer we got, I also got used to it, somewhat. Don't get me wrong, it was still really bad, but I didn't feel like throwing up anymore. Of course it didn't take long for us to arrive at the next horrifying sight.
Because we came to a halt, rather forcibly so as the Fields of Asphodel ended abruptly, dropping off steeply for a good few hundred feet. At its bottom a massive, damn near endless swamp started, a sickly green literal hellscape through which the black waters of the Acheron flowed, creating shallow ponds where it flooded the sunken in ground.
"So where now?" Eleanor asked as we looked out. "I can't see them anywhere and we can hardly keep on walking from here on."
Again the screech sounded, this time from below us. We all looked down and saw a small plateau not far off to the side, it seemed like the outcrop of a cave entrance. Bird-like beings circled above, occasionally giving off an ear-ringing, painful screeching sound. They were gray, roughly the size of eagles and admittedly somewhat looked like owls, even without the mist disguising them.
"You are right, because we are climbing from here on." I stated bluntly and she looked at me, perplexed.
"Oh, yeah great idea," She said, shaking her head. "if you want to extend your stay here to eternity, be my guest."
"He is right," Bianca insisted, begrudgingly. "I don't think there is another way down there, as much as I dislike it."
"That climb is at least three hundred feet," Eleanor said uneasily.
"We'll be fine," I insisted, trying to sound confident.
"Oh, sure, you'll be fine," Eleanor told me. "But not everyone can just anchor themselves to the earth to avoid falling."
"I am well aware," I said and smirked.
I swung my backpack off and set it on the ground, reaching into it. Unlike the last quest I actually had enough time for packing this time, which means I had brought the most essential piece of equipment for any sensible adventurer, rope. I pulled forth a coiled nylon climbing rope, and turned to them with a grin, sure it wasn't exactly heroic material, but it did the job quite well.
"May I present our solution," I declared and turned to them, Eleanor groaned.
"So we will have to trust that you manage to hold on?" She asked and I nodded.
"Only if you fall," I told her, grinning. "you can go without it if you prefer."
As it unsurprisingly turned out, Eleanor preferred having some sort of insurance to avoid death when push came to shove. Thankfully the stony edge was rather rough and had plenty of holes and cave-ins for footing. The black stone seemed almost volcanic and the smell of sulfur coming from below supported that assumption.
We made decent headway for the first two hundred feet or so, because despite her concerns Eleanor was not a bad climber, nor was Bianca despite her lesser experience. I guessed Atalanta's training involved a lot more than just archery, which was to be expected.
Though when the last third started, so did the trouble. The strixes spotted us and clearly were hungry for our blood now, by the evil look in their pitch black eyes. Screeching they approached us at a rapid pace, I braced myself for the incoming pecking and clawing.
"You sure that you can hold us?" Bianca asked.
"Of course," I insisted with a scoff.
"Good," Bianca said and I felt the weight I held increase as the rope tensed.
I looked down and saw that Bianca had entirely let go of the cliff-face, turning around bow in hand. Once more I wondered if there perhaps was still something left of Artemis' blessing as she shot the first arrow, nailing one of the strixes in its wide open, screeching beak. It exploded into golden dust, which, sadly, did little to harm the morale of the other two as they kept flying towards us.
Bianca shot another and it burst into dust as well, leaving another one flying towards us on a steady course. I had little interest in getting kamikazed into by the last of the bird monster, and we were running out of distance between us at a dangerous pace, but there was little I could do except hope and pray that Bianca shot him down before that.
I watched in terror as Bianca missed a shot aimed at the last one and was suddenly very thankful for the fact I had put my helmet on, wearing it tipped up on my head for comfort instead of looped at my belt as usual. Quickly letting go with one hand, I pulled it down as I braced myself for its assault.
"Just keep climbing!" I called down to the others, as it crashed into me, its claws scratching against my helmet.
"Give me a moment," Bianca called back, though I didn't answer as I tried to shake off the bird.
This was not exactly one of my most patient moments, considering the worrying sounds coming from my assailant. It was only a minute of time before that literal birdbrain figured out that my neck was a far easier target. But I had little choice but to wait for whatever Bianca wanted to do as I couldn't keep climbing with her below.
"Lean a little back, and stop shaking will you?" Bianca told me I begrudgingly did as she asked, though I had a bad feeling about it.
I leaned back and felt the Strix intensify its efforts again as I stopped trying to get it off. When it suddenly ceased its assault with a pain-filled screech as I heard and felt something metallic ricochet off my helmet. Then, a Stygian Iron arrow embedded itself in the wall just above me.
"Did you just shoot me?" I asked, more amused than bothered.
"Yes," Bianca told me just as unbothered. "now be quiet and keep climbing."
She grasped onto the cliff-face again and we continued our descent downwards, thankfully without any further interruptions. But as we approached I actually became a bit thankful for the pungent smell of the swamp because it had hid another smell quite well, that of blood. It wasn't disgusting, nor was I unused to it, but it was still shocking, there probably had been dozens of animals killed there over the last few weeks.
Finally we reached the rocky outcrop and set down on it. Hurriedly we entered the cave, we had probably caused enough of a ruckus on the way down to alert whoever was down there. Hopefully we would still catch him before he could flee, or at least he would have to leave behind what he stole.
But as it turns out, there was no need for such a hurry at all. There was a man leaning against the cave wall, wearing a punchable, yet charming mischievous grin, that I knew all too well, it was the same one Luke had. From the way Eleanor narrowed her eyes and reached for her sword I knew she shared that thought.
Obviously it wasn't Luke, but he still looked too similar to him for my tastes. The light blonde hair and roguish blue eyes could easily have been those of my least favorite son of Hermes. He looked a couple years older than Luke, perhaps in his late twenties and the mid length beard he wore showed it. And I noticed something else, he seemed strangely... alive for a shade, clearly Menoites' theory was right.
Clearly he was our thief, and that was not just because I took him for a child of Hermes, the fact we caught him red-handed was more than sufficient. And I did not mean that as an idiom, his hands were literally covered in red blood and so was the bottom of the brown cloak he wore. This was not surprising, considering the entire floor of the cave was covered in blood stains, with blood pooling wherever it could. There was only one problem, there was not a single cow in sight.
"Our thief, I take." Bianca said and notched an arrow.
"Now hold up a moment, that's a real bad idea." The thief said, raising his hands. "Why don't we have a word first, eh?"
"Fine," Bianca said, not relaxing one bit. "but one wrong move and you're-"
"Dead?" The man asked, smirking. "I know how a holdup works, but I think that threat is a bit empty seeing my current state, so why don't you listen to me for a moment."
"Go ahead then, talk." I said impatiently.
"Why, thank you," He said with a nod. "first I have to congratulate you for finding me, but more importantly, how did you do it? I checked the hoofs, they were unmarked, so you can't have done it as Sysiphos did-"
"I know who you are," Eleanor suddenly declared. "Oddyseus' Grandfather, Autolykos, son of Hermes."
"Odysseus?" The man scratched his beard. "Why yes, I suppose I am, named him that even. But I don't know how you people remember him before me? I mean what did he do in comparison? I am the greatest thief of all time!"
"You don't know what Odyseus did?" Bianca asked, disbelieving. "How?"
"I last saw the boy when he was eighteen years or so," Autolycos said and shrugged. "There isn't much time to stay informed in the Fields of Punishment."
"Too bad," Bianca told him dryly. "because that's where you are going back to."
"I don't think so," He told us with a grin. "because you want those cows, don't you? And unless I give them to you, you are not getting them."
"I am sure my father's servants can change your mind." Bianca said firmly and stepped towards him.
"Ah, I knew you looked like him," He said, annoyed. "and you probably are right, but I have endured millennia in there, how long will it take for me to break? Two, maybe three centuries? It doesn't matter, your father won't be getting those cows back anytime soon, you'll be dead of old age before that happens."
"So why all of this?" Eleanor asked. "Do you want to propose something to us or so?"
"I already told you, I want to know how you found me," He said and looked at me. "so tell me."
My lips quirked, admittedly I found him rather charming. I decided I liked him better than Luke, sure he seemed rather ruthless, but at least he wasn't such a revenge-obsessed maniac, not that the blood helped his image in that regard.
Though this didn't change the fact that I wanted to see both where they belonged, namely in the Fields of Punishment. Still I decided to humor him for now, hopefully it would lead somewhere useful.
"Fine, I'll tell you," I said and jutted my head to the blood. "in short, you are standing in the answer, the blood led us here, or rather the monsters it attracted."
"Ah, the strixes," He said thoughtfully. "I didn't think anyone would actually notice them, at least out here."
"Oh, we wouldn't have either, but let's just say a little birdie told us." I told him, grinning.
"I have to admit, I am a bit impressed," Autolykos told me. "care to tell me who you are? You know who my father is after all, so who is yours?"
As charming as he was, that was not something I was quite willing to tell him, after all he didn't seem eager to come with us without a fight. And to quote Sun Tzu, those who knew themselves and the enemy did not have to fear a hundred battles. So, I had no intention of letting him know who I was, or rather, who my father was.
"Why don't you guess?" I asked him, smirking.
Another important lesson since I already was on the Art of War, all warfare is based on deception. If I could get him to take the bait and believe someone other than Poseidon was my father, I could trick him into expecting something entirely different from me, hopefully gaining an advantage over him.
"Alright, I'll play your game, take off your helmet," He told me and I obliged.
I pulled off my helmet and let him take a proper look, which he did, mustering me quite intently.
"Hmmm, black curly hair, tan skin, blue eyes..." He mused.
"I'll give you a tip, I've got a brother named Perseus," I told him after a short moment of him pondering.
Admittedly, it was a blatant abuse of my brother's actual name, but that made it all the funnier for me and I had to do my darndest not to grin at it. It was not a lie, merely a couple of twisted words, but even if he asked me to swear an oath on that out of paranoia, I could easily do so, which made it all the better.
"Why do you have to spoil all the fun?" He asked, annoyed. "I then take you are a son of Zeus… especially considering how many there are of you, but what's with the sea monsters on your armor?"
I simply grinned at him and he shook his head. Surely Zeus would take great offense if I actually agreed with him and claimed to be his son and as soon as I left the Underworld I'd be struck by lightning. But what control did I have over what this fool assumed to be the case, that's right, none.
"Well, I thank you for entertaining me for a moment, boy, but our time is coming to an end." He told us, quickly made pace towards the exit of the cave.
An arrow embedded itself into the wall in front of him, making him scramble to a stop.
"I think not," Bianca said firmly. "You two have chatted quite enough, just come with me and give us back the cattle."
"Are you deaf?" He asked mockingly. "Even if you get me, you aren't getting those cows."
The two stared at each other and his hands went to a sword at his side. Meanwhile my mind was racing, trying to think of anything useful I knew about him that I could use to stop or delay him.
He was of no use to us dead, or whatever happened to shades after they were destroyed. We needed him and we needed those cows, but how to convince him... A seemingly useless piece of information popped into my mind, but I couldn't help but fixate on it.
"You taught Heracles wrestling!" I exclaimed and he looked at me funny.
"I did, but I do not see how this is related to the topic?" Autolykos asked, not able to hide his pride at that.
"Well, if he learned wrestling from you, that means you must be an outstanding wrestler, right?" I asked, playing at the hubris he had displayed earlier, as a plan started to form.
"Of course, boy," He said with a scoff. "I am the best I know to have ever lived, not even he managed to beat me when I taught him."
"Then fight me," I challenged him.
"Why should I?" He asked and I smirked.
"If you win, I promise we will stop bothering you, leave and never tell anyone about the fact we found you." I told him, sounding as arrogant as I could.
"And if I lose?" Autolykos asked, which was the logical consequence.
"Then you will surrender yourself to Hades and you will return his cattle," I said, before adding. "however or wherever you hid them."
Bianca gave me an incredulous look, clearly she was not happy about what I was doing. Of course I cared about her opinion, and understood that she didn't want to disappoint her father, much less lie to him, but I had a plan.
"So a wrestling match?" He asked, and I knew he had taken the bait by the way he looked at me. "That'll be your end, boy."
"Maybe," I said, smirking. "but you accept?
"Of course," He said, cracking his knuckles. "what are your rules?"
"The usual pankration rules, everything goes with a few exceptions," I said, choosing my words carefully. "No gouging out eyes and no biting, and no weapons of course. Fighting goes till one of us yields, gets knocked out, or dies if it comes to that."
"That's it?" He asked, smirking. "I accept."
"Good," I said, nodding. "We shall swear on those conditions on the Styx and when we both are ready, begin."
He did as I asked without much complaint and as he did so, Eleanor turned to me. Her eyes were filled with skepticism and even seemed to glow lightly, a faint radiant golden color. I didn't have time to question that though as she started to speak in a quick and hushed voice.
"You are aware he is hiding something and what it is, right?" She asked and I raised a brow. "He is known for his crafty oaths, if I am not mistaken. Do not think you are the one tricking him here."
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused, I was tricking him as any dictionary would tell you.
"Did you not know?" She asked, confused. "He's a shapeshifter, I seriously hope you remembered that before you made such lofty challenges."
I did not. Nor did I have time to think about it as Autolykos finished his oaths, thunder boomed overhead and he looked at me expectantly. I took a deep breath and swore to what conditions I had laid out as well.
Even if he was trying to trick me, so was I. He did not know about who I was and neither what I could do and I did not plan on fighting fair, not that I ever did.
We stood on opposite sides of the outcrop, behind me the cliff dropped off, a good two hundred feet remained till the swamps started. The whispering voices of the Acheron could faintly be heard from below, but I tried not to focus on them too much.
Instead I focused on the man opposing me, he threw his cloak to the side, revealing quite the muscular stature, not to mention he was a good head or more taller than me.
But I didn't worry about the physical, my dad was the guy that casually threw islands around in some myths after all. He looked quite strong, sure, but I was far more worried if I could match his speed.
He looked at me and crossed his arms, as he gazed upon my armor, I hadn't done anything but take my helmet and backpack off and put them to the side.
"You sure you wanna wear that armor?" He asked, confused. "That'll sure slow you down."
"Is there a problem?" I asked and he shook his head.
"Not at all, it's within the rules after all," Autolykos said, shaking his head. "if you want to play like that."
Usually he was right, armor and clothing would be more of a disadvantage, it slowed me down and made me easier to grapple. But I didn't worry, the protection and weight it added were great enough of a benefit. Together with my powers I was certain I could simply force him to yield in a grapple by brute force.
He was fast, even more so than I had expected. He crossed the thirty feet between us in the blink of an eye, throwing a punch towards my side. I didn't dodge, aiming to just take the strike and catch him in a grapple while doing so.
I was semi-successful, with a light groan I took the strike as he hit me right in the armpit with a hard punch. But I managed to move forward and grab his arm as he pulled back. I was about to pull him to me and slam him into the ground, when suddenly I felt him disappear from my grip again. Surprised, I watched as a small lizard dropped to the ground and started to skitter away.
Clearly Eleanor was right about him being a shapeshifter.
Frustrated, I moved towards him again and attempted to grab him again, when suddenly he grew in size. A long python shot forward, grappling around my arm and crawling up towards my neck. I reached out and grabbed the snake's own neck, forcing it away from me.
Autolykos hissed at me as I squeezed down on the snake's body, he recoiled in pain and I slammed myself into a wall with the arm he was holding on to taking the brunt of it. I pulled the dazed snake from my arm and threw him to the ground. I approached him as I rubbed my arm, hopefully I had broken his spine and not one of my bones.
One thing I had to give him, he was resilient. Seemingly utterly unbothered he shifted into the shape of a cat, landing gracefully, before the feline scattered off again. When he had gained a sufficient distance, he turned around again, shifting his shape to that of a lion.
Mentally I groaned, I was getting a déjà vu, again, I had already done lion-wrestling on my last quest after all. But he left me little choice as he came charging at me again.
This went on for a few minutes and it didn't take long till I started to get tired, don't get me wrong, he was clearly getting worn out as well, but clearly he was used to this style of fighting.
With his constant hit-and-run tactics it became clear that my defensive approach wasn't going to work. I would have to take him down in one big play, a decisive battle, not that this really ever worked in history, not for Hannibal, not for Napoleon nor for the Japanese navy.
I braced myself for his next attack as he retreated again, shifting from the shape of a bull, back to a man. He stalked towards me, like a wolf approaching wounded prey, which was fitting, considering he had just been one forty seconds ago.
"Regretting your choice yet?" Autolykos mocked. "Why don't you yield already, it would be a shame to have to kill you..."
"Can't say I feel the same about you," I responded and took a step back as well as a deep breath.
My new plan was, frankly, suicidal. I had moved to the outer edge of the outcrop, a few steps behind me was nothing but that accursed swamp and the rushing Acheron below. And that was exactly what I was betting on, as mad as it perhaps sounded.
Autolykos sprinted towards me and started to change form again. He grew larger, the largest he had been so far. Covered in thick brown fur, a massive bear rose before me, standing on his hind legs before smashing down on me.
I brought my arms up to meet him, stopping his mighty paws as we struggled once more. He was far too heavy and far too strong for me to keep doing this for much longer than a few seconds. I stepped back even further, now mere inches away from falling off the cliff.
But then, I started to push against him, managing to force him back slightly again. With a violent shout I brought my foot down as I stepped forward and the ground shook. I unleashed more of my power into it, turning the tremor into an earthquake. Autolykos realized what was happening, but it was too late as cracks began to spread all below us and all over the cliff.
His form started to shift back to that of a man, but I was already used to his tricks by now. I adjusted my grip and kept holding him in place and gave one last, final surge of power. The Underworld shook and the cliff broke into pieces below us, sending us tumbling towards the bluish-black roaring river below.
When he, a couple tons of rock and me smashed into the river the first thing I noticed was, unsurprisingly, the pain. It felt like my body was being torn apart, melting and freezing all at once. Searing pain burned all throughout my body, I was not surprised this was the punishment for murderers, it sucked.
But then came the images, dozens of them. I saw visions of all those I had left behind, demigods I had trained, my mentors at Oceanus' court and many more, former allies and comrades. In my mind I watched as I killed, no murdered them, nothing just about it as I butchered them, just a pawn of the gods now. Was this my future?
Traitor, One of the voices whispered in my head. their blood will be on your hands! Murderer!
I wanted to protest. I was no traitor, I owed them nothing, they had made their choice and I had made mine. But still the river was taking its toll on my will.
My grip on Autolycus loosened, but the shade made no attempts to free himself. His pain seemed even worse than mine, he screamed like a madman, and his whole body seemed to be dissolving, the life and color draining out of it. But I felt no sense of triumph at that, I couldn't help but think that was just more suffering I caused.
Accept the pain, Another voice whispered. Just let the river take you...
It was incredibly enticing at that moment, my grip loosened further. I was about to let go of the shade when I felt my feet hit the riverbed. Suddenly I stood firm against the roaring current, and my mind calmed as if it was anchored as well against the roaring current and corruption of the river.
No, it didn't matter how tainted and powerful it was, the Acheron was still a river. I was in charge here and I was in charge of my mind. I shook myself and once more tightened my grip on the screaming and flickering shade.
With what power I had left I forced the river to part around us and panting dragged us out, before dropping onto one of the few dry spots in the swamp. My hands were barely holding on to him at this point, he was barely still physical and hardly more solid than the air around us.
"Yield!" I told him and he struggled in my grip, trying to free himself.
With a groan I rose again and started moving back towards the river, dragging the struggling ghost behind. I lifted him up and let him dangle above the black floods, staring at him as he shook.
"I yield," He whimpered, his once proud voice reduced to barely more than a wailing whisper as I kept holding him above it. "please, just get me away from it."
I didn't have it left in me to feel any satisfaction at my success and simply threw him back on dry land and against the lone black poplar tree that stood there. I looked up, scanning the cliff-face and saw Bianca and Eleanor standing on the rest of the outcrop. From the looks the two gave me I already knew I would never hear the end of that...
AN: So, a bit of a long one, but we are done sidequesting. Maybe there will be an update next week, it's unlikely though since I am busy, but I shall update the week after that if I do not next week.
As always I thank you for reading and would of course be especially grateful for any follow or favorite or especially a review.
P.S. I just noticed Strixes actually appear in TOA, and work a bit differently there. Oh well, just as a side note for clarifaction, no curses here.