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As soon as dawn breaks, I get up, eager to try out my new bicycle. It only now occurs to me that all of yesterday was peaceful, meaning something is kicking my getting-killed can a few miles down the road. In any case, I have to get all the way across the country in one month, so it's time to get going. Mentally recounting my travel time, today should be May 21, which is only Day 3 of the quest. Already, I have lost count of the number of monsters I've had to fight. If this is a normal occurrence, I truly wonder how Percy managed to pull off his first quest in ten days.

I look into my Duat storage space to find a nice precooked meal: steak and eggs from IHOP. Growing up in the South, I always preferred Waffle House, but considering what a tight spot I'm in, I probably shouldn't complain. I take another bottle of the Ribena to pair with my nicely prepared meal.

As I eat, I think about the events that have come to pass. In the last three months, I went from a guy with some weird hobbies to a "hero." I'm supposedly part of some great conspiracy that passes for a "prophecy." I have met all of the Olympian gods and even arm-wrestled one. What has the world come to? Why me, of all people? A hero's fate is tragic, isn't it? What did I ever do to deserve this?

After enough mental sulking, I go out to find water to clean the plate. Sadie didn't leave me any cleaning equipment nor reuse the magical spotless plates she gave me before. I guess they probably weren't anything special in the first place, so I'll have to remember to read that book of spells more often.

After a solid thirty minutes of searching, I find a fairly swift-moving stream. The water has cut deep into the ground, exposing a smooth layer of bedrock underneath. I quickly dip my hand into it. Sure enough, it's cold and quite clean, meaning it's probably safe for drinking as is. The creek is also in a fairly secluded part of the forest, which is probably why no one else has found it. There's no plastic bottles nor anything else that suggests recreational activity has taken place here before.

I soak the plate into the water and scrub it as well as I can. The grease doesn't wash off because I have no detergent, but I try to scrub it as well as I can. I dry the plate and put it back into my pack.

Suddenly, a bush starts rustling on the other bank of the stream. It rustles very gently, but it is very audible. I step back and look over my shoulder to see if anything else is rustling. Eerily, after looking in all directions, the only patch of rustling is that bush. Realizing the threat, I will my combat gloves into bow and arrow form. I nock my usual trifecta of Gold, Silver, and Bronze, and wait for the thing to appear.

The bush stops rustling. It becomes as still as any other bush. Still not letting my guard down, I scan my surroundings. Perhaps this monster is invisible, so I look into the Duat as well. Sure enough, there's some kind of monster, but its presence is distorted. A shadowy figure lurks about without definite form or placement, as though it's a phantom. This is really unusual. Having fought three or four Egyptian monsters at a time constantly in a ten-mile stretch, I thought I had mastered seeing where these monsters are, yet this one eludes me.

Taking my eyes out of the Duat, I again screen my surroundings. Then, the same bush before begins violently rustling like a palm tree during a hurricane. Oddly enough, only that bush is affected. Now thinking the plant may be the monster, I ready myself to shoot.

Then, a sudden swipe from behind me knocks me onto my stomach. I quickly crawl towards the creek and stand up to see what has struck me.

The creature is none I have ever seen before. It's body is striped and orange, and its stature is absolutely gigantic. The head is that of some kind of bird of prey, but I can't if it's an owl or falcon. Its front limbs are somewhere between a talon and a velociraptor claw. A grotesque pair of wings extend from its back. Its tail is long, much too long for even a big cat like a tiger, and scaly like some kind of reptile. Now that I think about it, the body is that of a tiger. However, something is off about this tiger-creature. A tiger is normally quite long and powerful. This, despite its size, seems small and lean. Its body seems more built for speed than power, like that of a cheetah. No, not a cheetah, a lion.

Cautiously, I approach the creature. I conjure up a spear and shield instead of a projectile weapon. Something about this tells me I can't hope to shoot the thing down. Once I am mere feet from the monster, it suddenly turns around. Then, the tail stands up and shoots a stream of liquid at me. I quickly take a step back and hide behind the shield. The liquid is foul-smelling and green. After the stream stops, I lower my shield and take a good look at the tail.

That's not a tail. A pair of skin-flaps flank either side of a ghastly looking snake. It resembles a cobra, but the snake's head is not quite that. The snake does not have a forked tongue; instead, a long retractable frog tongue snaps in and out catching invisible flies from between two long, ghastly white snake fangs.

I charge at the creature, which quickly turns around and charge towards me too. The bird-head suddenly unleashes the loudest falcon call I have ever heard, followed by a massive rainbow-colored burst. I raise my shield to block it, then feel my arm get burned like from a fire. I hop off to the side and come at it from a different angle. Amazingly, the fire-breathing seems to have it paralyzed. I take a hard stab at the creature's exposed side. To my horror and astonishment, it bounces off harmlessly like it's wearing a breastplate. I reflexively pull back, then turn and somersault behind a bush.

Something really isn't adding up. The creature seems like an oversized hieracosphinx with wings and a snake for a tail. However, its fire-breathing head and snake for a tail resembles the Chimera, a distinctly Greek creature. No, it can't be. The only logical conclusion I can think of is that this is a hybrid of some kind. It has features that aren't quite Greek or Egyptian. My Roman spear can't hurt it.

While I still have cover, I try another tactic. I whip out my wand from my backpack. I conjure up the image of a spear in my head, then try to project it into position. The hologram floats in the right spot, ready for strike. If this fails, I only have one shot before I have to leave cover. With all the power I can conjure up, I scream the spell at the top of my lungs:

"Ha-wi!"

The spear suddenly gains a material form and stabs down hard at the hybrid.

My heart sinks into my bowels. The spear harmlessly bounces off the creature like my Roman spear did moments before. However, the trick did confuse the creature. The tail and head of both turned to see what struck and only saw each other. The two heads then start snapping at one another. Seeing my golden opportunity, I hop out of the bush and run towards the bank of the creek. In case the thing regains focus, I can try an old-fashioned Spanish bullfighter trick.

I once again conjure up the bow and arrow. I put the bow on my back and take out my wand. Holding the arrows and the wand in the same hand, I once again cast a ha-wi. The enchanted arrows suddenly take on a bright green glow. Then, the hieroglyph for ha-wi appears in the air. It shrinks down and disappears over the arrowheads of each arrow. When it all fades, the arrows all bear the hieroglyph. I once again nock the arrows.

Taking very careful aim, I point the bow and arrow at the monster, which is still happily arguing with itself. I prepare myself to release. Just as I was about to, I overextend the string, snapping it with a loud twang. The monster then instantly recover itself, and both heads look at me. Then, the figure charges at me.

I dissolve and re-conjure the bow a few times to no avail. The talons and legs are pounding mercilessly at me. With no other options, hold my arrows like daggers and brace myself for impact. I can feel the monster approaching with the momentum of two or three cars.

Three, two, one, I think.

I take a massive leap upward. The beak of the monster passed within mere millimeters of my right leg. I flip my body around midair to land on the back of the creature stomach-first. The creature suddenly realizes it's about to charge into a creek and jumps backwards with all the momentum it had while charging. Falling at it from right angle, I stab the arrows in my left hand hard into the side of the animal.

The three arrows penetrate the exposed skin with a sickening crunch. Then, the creature starts thrashing. The force of its seizing throws me backwards like a rag-doll. As I fly backward, I feel a sharp pain in my left calf, followed by the foul scent from before. I eventually land into a prickly bush.

The creature suddenly lets out a deep howl between that of a falcon and tiger. The hieroglyph from before suddenly appears. When it fades into the creature, it explodes into a flurry of gold dust.

I climb out of the bush and examine my injuries. The shock of defeating it had numbed the pain, but suddenly, my whole body feels like its on fire. I jolt forwards and start running for the creek. My left calf feels as though a surgeon had implanted barbed wire into the muscle. Without any thought, I hop into the creek. The coldness helps numb the pain a bit. I pull out a few splinters from my neck and clean the leg wound as best as I could. After climbing out of the creek, I reach into my Duat safe, unlock the nectar and ambrosia stash, and pop out a square of ambrosia and a vial of nectar. I eat the ambrosia, which today tastes like either the strawberries from Camp Half-Blood or a hot Sichuan-style hot pot. As I chew, I realize two really weird things. First, I am still dry as a bone. I pat down all of my clothes and not a bit of me is wet. Second, the wounds on my neck have already healed. The arm and the calf are still quite nasty, but my formerly splintered neck is free of any pain.

I swallow the ambrosia, and instantly my strength comes back. My burn is a bit better, but my leg is still in rough shape. Remembering I also carry lots of vials of healing potions, I decide to mix one into my nectar. I drink the mixture. The taste is quite nice: the lemony flavor of the potion mixes into the Camp strawberries coming from the nectar, making for a refreshing strawberry lemonade. I feel my burn completely heal, but my leg is still a bit painful.

Curious to see what happened with the water, I hop back into the creek. I then notice something else: the water seem to give me strength. I feel the wound in my leg completely close up. When I climb out, I am still dry as a bone. Not thinking too much about this, I head back to the old hideout to prepare for a long day of biking.