Chapter 13
Screeching and groaning filled the air. A nearly piteous sound of wrenching and tearing, things being bent out of shape in unnatural ways. But Minato watched impassively at the scene outside as the cacophony of noises reached his ears.
Because, of course, the sounds were being created by nothing other than metal.
The second floor lounge was a perfect spot to watch the rise of Tartarus from Gekkokaun. Watch as the metal supports bent with pained moans and uncomfortable creaks, transforming pristine white hallways into awkward hunks of building materials, and painting the monstrous design blood red as its walls cried crimson. Spiral stairs jutted out over misplaced walls, fences meshed with doors, and desks stuck to blackboards in the mismatched arrangement of the building.
By now, Minato was more than used to the general sensations of the labyrinth stretching itself up to seemingly touch the moon, so he simply sat and watched from the sofa laying against the window. One armrest supported his head, while the other supported his broken leg, and his other leg hung idly off the couch's side as he relaxed in the eerie green of the Dark Hour.
"Quite a sight, isn't it?"
Maybe he'd relaxed too much. Minato nearly jumped out of his skin at the remark, reflexively flinching at the comment and causing pain to shoot up his left leg. Damn Dark Hour adjustment!
One eye still shut in pain, the blue-haired boy slowly turned his head to see the newcomer approach. The all-too-familiar man's hands were stowed away in the pockets of his tan suit pants, pushing up the sides of his matching tan sports coat as he walked forwards, eyes still glued to the window.
"It's beautiful, really," he continued, heedless of the boy's reaction, "in an bizarre sort of way, certainly, but… just look at the way the green light from the magnified moon embraces everything. And how the blood contrasts so perfectly with the green, like some macabre painting. It's just… Gorgeous."
Minato almost raised an eyebrow. Not even a hint of a pun there, so he was deadly serious.
Meanwhile, Ikutsuki didn't further acknowledge the boy's presence as he gazed out at the fully raised labyrinth, drinking it all in. And, in all honesty, that was more than alright with the blue-haired boy, since he had no idea how to deal with the insane punner anyways.
How do you deal with someone who's clearly out of their mind? It's all too easy to hate people, as the boy knew from first and secondhand experience, but even disregarding those feelings' effects on Erebus, what do you do if that person isn't in a right state of mind? Minato couldn't say that he didn't want to turn the man's face into a crater, but now that he knew that the brunet was far from mentally stable… well, it really put a damper on his ability to hate the scientist. Even though he was a backstabbing, murderous asshole, he also needed some serious help, help that the Kirijo Group either denied him or claimed he didn't need. Probably both, actually.
It was learning about Ikutsuki's background before Kirijo that really made Minato think about his hatred towards the man. Perhaps a year ago (or around 100-200, depending on time-loops), he still would have had enmity bubbling under the surface (or erupting to the top) at the memory of the murderer, but now he'd seen what his friends (family, he corrected himself) had done after his death. Self-loathing, terror, and nausea barely scratched the surface of the miserable tangle of emotions he'd felt watching his friends turn on each other for a decision that was his, and watching them try to decide what to do with his past and their future. And if one death had gotten them to that point… How would anyone feel after watching the deaths of hundreds of people whom they had personally known?
So, Minato settled for uncomfortably watching the older man peer at the object of his "salvation" and tune out the rest of the world. After another several seconds, he shook himself out of his admiration and shot the boy an apologetic smile.
(Although saying that Ikutsuki "shot" anything was… well, y' know.)
"Sorry," the scientist added to his lip quirk, "I suppose that just proves how odd I am, doesn't it?" He chuckled to himself, taking off his glasses and absently wiping them off on his shirt's sleeve. "Ah, well. Hopefully you already knew that, at this point."
Minato nodded half-heartedly at the half-question, contributing a minute "Hm" to the conversation.
The silence continued into awkward territory. It stretched on for a while, to the chagrin of neither, until the scientist had a sudden thought. "Say, Minato-kun," he said, turning to the boy, "Why are you here? I thought you would go to Tartarus with the others."
To be honest… Minato had thought that, too. When S.E.E.S. decided last night that they would do their first Tartarus run tonight (or, more accurately, when Hamuko made them decide), he had planned on showing up to help, if only as moral support. But when he'd clacked his way to the front of the dorm, all he'd gotten were raised eyebrows, and after quietly explaining his idea, a vehement refusal by Hamuko. "Mina," she'd said, with her hands on Minato's shoulders, "It's really sweet of you, but it's kinda pointless for you to be there. You should just relax at the dorm until we get back, ok?"
Even now, he had to resist a huff at the memory. The only reason he hadn't pushed further was because he knew nothing was really going to happen this night, so there wasn't a good reason to convince his bullheaded sister that he really should come along. But, of course, his sister had taken it as a victory for her, and he could just feel the smugness radiate off her as she had turned away.
Dragging himself back to the present, he replied to the man with an indistinct shrug. "Hamu convinced me otherwise. I'll just find something to do here."
Ikutsuki simply nodded and continued looking out the window. But, another thought crossed his convoluted mind. "Aha, I know just the thing!" He snapped his fingers while his face lit up. "You still don't have anything to do, right?" Minato cautiously shook his head, and Ikutsuki grinned. "Fantastic! Then could you go upstairs and look at the computers in the control room for me? I'm afraid its wiring has gone… haywire."
Minato let the pun pass by harmlessly. This is… slightly unexpected, he mused. I didn't think Ikutsuki would be so quick to trust me with a responsibility like that. He spared a sidelong glance for the chairman. On the other hand, he's probably only given me access to that set of videos…
The blue-haired boy repressed a smile at the recollection. He'd actually saved each of the clips onto a thumb drive, but after his death, it was Junpei of all people who'd found them. And that was a blessing in disguise. Something had possessed the capped boy to check the drive before showing everyone else, to both his and the Great Seal's later relief, and after gawking through each video with increasingly raised eyebrows, he swiped it and shoved it in his pocket.
Sure, maybe Junpei was good friends with nearly all of the people shown in the videos, but… some things just weren't meant for the general public.
"That's fine with me," Minato said out loud.
"Fantastic!" the man said. "I'll be sure to give you the proper access codes and etcetera ASAP! Oh, where did I put that…" He started mumbling to himself as he dug through his pockets for his pocket pen and pad. "Sorry, I must have put them downstairs. I'll be back in a moment!"
Ikutsuki pranced downstairs, much too happy to notice Minato slightly roll his eyes with a smile. Two-timing Judas he might be, but that didn't mean Ikutsuki wasn't entertaining… in his own way.
He turned back to the window when the scientist left. Of course, he'd never miss the chance to re-watch some of those videos again, but the real reason he'd agreed to help "fix" the computer system upstairs was quite different.
Because while Ikutsuki might only give him access to viewing Yukari in a maid outfit… that didn't mean that's all he'd find.
There were varying reactions to the up-close-and-personal viewing of Tartarus rising. The seniors watched impassively at the structure arose from the carcass of their school. Yukari and Junpei swallowed as the monstrosity towered above them, their bodies stiffening in shock. And Hamuko-
"That… was AWESOME!"
Yukari looked incredulously at the girl, while Junpei scratched the back of his head at the outburst, glancing at the girl's wide eyes and hands on her hips with bemusement. "Somethin' tells me you like horror movies, dontcha, Hamu-tan?"
"Yup! How'd ya know?"
"Lucky guess," he muttered.
It was then that the seniors decided to move up. "Alright, you three. It's time to focus now," Mitsuru ordered as she strode to the front of the group, arms crossed primly in front of her. Hamuko and Junpei immediately snapped to attention when the Kirijo heir turned to face them, while Yukari did so in a more… lackluster fashion as Akihiko fell into line beside her. "This tower here is Tartarus," the redhead continued, "just like we described last night. Tonight, we'll begin our first expedition into the building's heart, starting on floor one."
She unfolded her arms. "Each expedition will have two groups. You four," she pointed to the line up, "will be part of the operations group. That group is tasked with exploring the tower itself, and fighting the shadows within." Mitsuru spared a faintly exasperated glance at Junpei and Akihiko, who's faces lit up when she brought up fighting, before moving on. "The other group is the base group. That operation is tasked with informing the rest of S.E.E.S. about shadow intel, as well as keeping track of map data. That group will consist of whoever is left at the tower's base, which, today, is me." Here she gestured to herself with one hand. "Any questions?"
Yukari looked tense, Junpei bounced on his heels, Akihiko tightened his gloves, and Hamuko still stood readily at attention, but no one raised their hands. "Good. Then, seeing as he has the most experience, I'm going to assign operational command to Akihiko. If anything happens to base camp, you all need to listen to Akihiko's directives. Understood?"
Junpei grinned at this. "Any problems with Akihiko-Senpai as leader? Puh-lease, couldn't ask for a better leader! Uh, aside from you, Mitsuru-Senpai."
Yukari rolled her eyes as Junpei shoved his foot firmly in his mouth, but nodded her approval.
Hamuko gave another verbal affirmation. "You got it, Senpai."
Mitsuru took a second or two longer to look at the aubrurn-haired girl, who looked unusually solemn with her normally present smile wiped off her face, but soon looked to her new field leader. "Alright, then. Akihiko, come over here for a briefing. The rest of you, head into the Tartarus lobby and prepare for combat."
The three newest members of the team moved off at that last phrase, with a certain member looking ready to split his face from grinning at the last phrase. The redhead looked at that with a slightly raised eyebrow. She'd have to discuss that with him at some point, since she got enough of that from…
"What's up?"
…This one. She glanced at the boxer as he shook himself out, cracking all of his joints in what sounded like a rheumatologist's nightmare. What probably was a rheumatologist's nightmare.
"…Akihiko," she started, trying to organize her thoughts in the best way to get across to her gung-ho teammate, "Seeing as you're the field leader now, you'll be leading the others through Tartarus."
The grey-haired boy scrunched his eyebrows. "Yeah?"
"So you're not going to be on your own now, and you're going to need to be very careful. You know what's proper conduct on a mission, and you need to follow that for once. Understood?"
"I don't always deviate from protocol, Mitsuru…" the boxer grumbled, but he relented under the redhead's continued look (And the knowledge that he did occasionally deviate). "Alright, you got it. Anything else?"
"No. Just… stay safe, Akihiko. And make sure they stay safe, too."
Akihiko chanced a cocky smirk. "We'll be alright, Mitsuru. Just trust me, ok?"
Mitsuru gave a very small nod as the boxer turned away to meet up with the rest of the group for final preparations. She then turned and faced her nearby motorcycle, listing further toward the kickstand than normal with its extra load of Kirijo Group screens, hard drives, and radio connectors, loaded into brown panniers securely strapped onto the cycle.
She wheeled her beloved steed into the Tartarus lobby after the newly appointed field leader, and passed by the other three members adjusting various weapons and strapping on S.E.E.S. armbands. After she reached her desired position, she kicked open the stand and pulled out a small, foldable stool from one pannier. She unclipped the other one, which flipped open to reveal a keyboard on the bottom and a green screen on top, KIRIJO GROUP emblazoned onto it. A quick peck on ENTER gave way to the monitor's login screen, and several keystrokes later, several words appeared on screen, flashing:
[ACCESSING KIRIJO DATABASES…]
As the computer loaded, the Kirijo heir looked up again at her Kohai and Akihiko. They now stood in a small circle just beneath the main staircase, chatting about something or other. But Mitsuru's gaze was once again drawn towards the chattier member of their group. Usually chattier, as Hamuko's face was drawn into an abnormally serious expression. That was curious… and worrying, to be honest. From what Mitsuru knew about the girl, she always seemed more expressive than anyone else, not even showing much seriousness when informed that the day did, in fact, contain more than 24 hours. So if her face was showing no emotion now…
The cheeping of her computer snatched her attention back, and Mitsuru pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. That was an issue she'd bring up later, if- when (she firmly corrected) the shorter Arisato twin got back. Right now, Mitsuru had to focus. [SHADOW DATABASE ONLINE] the computer informed her in spartan text, and with that information, she could initiate the mission.
The redhead drew her evoker, and pulled the trigger after placing it on her temple. Penthesilea swirled into existence, and immediately floated down cross-legged behind Mitsuru, sheathing her weapons and splaying her gauntleted fingers across the Kirijo heir's head. The girl closed her eyes and blew out a breath as she felt Penthesilea connect her mind to four others like a road, though less highway and more two-lane.
"Can you all hear me?" Mitsuru hid a smile as she saw, in her mind's eye, all of the four jump as her voice bypassed their ears and went directly through their minds. She probably could have said that quieter, but… well.
"I need you all to pay attention again. As soon as you head up these steps, there's the possibility of a shadow attack, so I need you all to get in formation before entering the first floor."
Akihiko wasn't exactly used to telepathic orders, but he certainly was more accustomed to them than the others, so he was the first to reply. "You got it, Mitsuru," he confirmed. "Alright, guys. I'll take point, and the rest of you fan out behind me, got it? I'll cover our front, a couple of you guys can take the sides, and the last one can be back. Sound good?"
The boxer got various confirmations from the rest of the group. As soon as they made their formation, Mitsuru gave the all clear, and they trekked up the steps, and into the darkness.
Akihiko was ecstatic. He grinned as he (unnecessarily) tightened his gloves, and his eyes darted over the green-tinted walls, strange tiled floors, and (most noticeably) the black smear on the wall, slowly running down the wall as the echoing scream of the shadow faded through the hallways.
He glanced back at his Kohai, who were in various states. Yukari was situated in the very back of the group, one arrow already notched in her bow as her eyes swept from side to side across the hallway, her body stiff but jumpy. That was the position she'd been in nearly the entire time, firing off arrows from the back whenever she had a clear shot. Her quiver was nearly empty, and her evoker was still snuggly tucked in its holster, no dirt from her fingers marking its silver tint.
Junpei had taken a different approach, and was panting from exertion, as he should be: he'd been at the front of nearly every shadow encounter, right up there with Akihiko, swinging his sword and batting about a .25 average (.3 if you count the times he almost hit one of the S.E.E.S. members).
Well… everyone had to start somewhere, Akihiko supposed.
The odd one was Hamuko. He still didn't know the cheery girl too well, but he knew enough to understand that her current, too-serious behavior was... off. And he didn't know much about wielding a nagitana, but he knew enough to understand that you weren't supposed to hold it like that, with both hands very close together, like she was stirring a pot with a ladle rather than fighting demons. What was she doing? Akihiko and Mitsuru had assumed that people were going to choose a weapon that they felt relatively comfortable with, instead of something new, but the girl quite clearly didn't know the proper way to hold the tall weapon.
Then again… he couldn't argue with the results.
Regardless of how awkward her position seemed, that girl was a shadow menace. She didn't wipe them out with pure strength like Junpei or himself, but instead went in for weak points with calculated efficiency, and danced back with an easy grace before they countered. He almost whistled the first time he saw her in action. And he did whistle the first time he saw her brutal combo. The poor victim shadow was already missing chunks and limbs, splattering gunk behind it as it tried to escape, when the auburn haired-girl cornered it. In three strikes it was over: first, a diagonal slice down to lop off the remaining limb, then a kick that sent it flying to the wall, leaving black stains on the girl's shoes, before a loud crack as the girl slammed the butt of her lance through the shadow's wailing maw, silencing it.
And honestly, who has the stones to do something like that and then just walk off like it was no big deal?
The present suddenly rang Akihiko, as the girl in his thoughts called out a low warning as the black smudge of a shadow rounded the corner. Literally rounded the corner, too: not on the ground, but sliding slowly forward on the wall.
The senior's smile (slightly crazed, he had to admit) returned, and he quickly waved Hamuko and Junpei to the walls, before gesturing Yukari forward and pointing at the shadow slinking its way towards them.
The archer fully drew her bow back and pointed it at the dark circle, taking several deep breaths. On the last one, she let the arrow fly at the start of her exhale, but immediately clicked her tongue. The missile flew off, but only grazed the shadow on the wall… however, it was enough to throw the monster off balance. It squealed as it fell, hitting the ground and splitting into three smaller splotches, shooting off into equidistant positions, before hands appeared out of the murky darkness. Clawing to the surface, they reached out on either side of the blot, pulling upwards and dragging the rest of the shadow out of the second dimension as light blue masks rolled upwards from their bottom, frowning at the team as they readied their weapons.
"Careful!" Mitsuru's voice apparated in their minds, "These don't appear to be very tough enemies, but three of them can easily overwhelm you if you're not properly positioned. Make sure you surround them!"
Advice in mind, Akihiko moved first. The shadow was still collecting its wits when its face had an intimate moment with Akihiko's heel, cracking the mask and sending the now-thoroughly bewildered shadow reeling. Junpei was up at bat next, sprinting by the boxer as he swung low. He barely missed Akihiko, but caught the shadow's body with the tip of his broadsword, catapulting the monster to the other side of the room where it splattered against the wall with a wince-inducing squelch.
Meanwhile, the girls had engaged another of the shadow trio. Hamuko advanced, skirting to the side to keep the shadow within their impromptu perimeter as Yukari loosed another arrow. This time, her aim was truer than Junpei could ever hope to be on a true/false quiz, and the shadow was hit with a solid inch of steel through an eyehole of its mask. It rocketed back a few feet, but not enough to distance itself from the auburn-haired girl's range. She swung from an awkward position, but her lance picked up momentum after the tip reached its peak of travel. The poor shadow stood no chance as the sharp tip embedded itself in the shadow's main body, roughly smashing it into the ground.
By now, the last shadow had recovered, and mewled in outrage at seeing its companions turn into disastrous attempts at repainting the walls and floor. Wriggling its little body, it stretched its arms outwards and towards Akihiko. A small jet of flame erupted from behind it, soaring above the shadow's head for a moment to coalesce into a small ball, before the summoned agi abruptly accelerated. It careened into Akihiko's chest, and the boxer stumbled back with a gasp, clothes burnt or singed around the impact point, with burnt, red skin screaming for attention in the center.
The demon watched with some kind of smug satisfaction, but that was shattered with the same sound as a broken window. It turned just in time to see another fireball approaching much too quickly for comfort, taking up its entire field of view before hitting it square in the mask.
Hamuko shoved away her smoking evoker as Orpheus lowered her harp and the shadow shrieked in pain, its flammable body now engulfed in flames eagerly lapping up more and more of the shadow.
"I've got new intel!" Mitsuru's voice rang out. "The enemy is a Cowardly Maya; they're weak to fire. Arisato, you've knocked it down!"
At that news, Akihiko smirked through his pain. "Come on, guys, let's wreck it!"
Junpei smirked back, and Yukari and Hamuko nodded firmly. Then, they charged, and the shadow stood no chance. What was left of the shadow was torn through by the sharp edges of three weapons, and one well-timed kick. And when they all sheathed their weapons, the only remains of the shadow were the dark gore covering the members of S.E.E.S. and another echoing scream fading through the halls.
As the adrenaline quickly left his system, Akihiko winced and leaned against a wall. Reaching up to gingerly touch his burn with one hand, he automatically went for his evoker with the other. One quick summon of Polydeuces later, and the familiar cooling breeze of a dia rippled through his body as his burn melted off him, new skin replacing dead at an exponential rate.
"Good job," Mitsuru telepathed. "It doesn't appear that any of you are particularly injured anymore, so I'm going to suggest that the expedition continues. Oh, but-"
The transmission cut off. Akihiko blinked and exchanged confused glances with the person closest to him, Hamuko. She just shrugged. "Well, Senpai said to listen to you if something happened to base camp. So what're your orders, captain?"
There was the girl that he'd heard about from Mitsuru. But, no time to think about that now. "Well," he mused, "I know shadows can't appear in the Tartarus lobby. So I think it was probably Ikutsuki calling her; her cycle works as her cell in the Dark Hour."
"So… you think it's alright to keep exploring? Like up these steps?"
Akihiko blinked. "You found the steps? Already?"
"Yeah. They're right here, around the corner."
The boxer's smile was beautific. "Alright, let's do it! Same positions as before, let's get a move on!"
S.E.E.S. rounded the bend and climbed the steps, with their field leader leading the charge. The steps led upwards, into the darkness before reappearing in the light. But when Akihiko appeared on the next floor, something was… wrong.
His eyes widened as he looked around, and he aptly summarized the situation. "Oh… shit!"
"Good job," Mitsuru reported, hunched over the computer in the Pannier, entering new information in the Kirijo database gathered from Penthesilea's limited scanning abilities. "It doesn't appear that any of you are particularly injured anymore, so I'm going to suggest that the expedition continues." Something clicked in her mind, and she remembered to forbid them from using the steps. "Oh, but-"
A sudden crackling noise broke her concentration and connection. She winced at the loud interruption, and Penthesilea dispersed into the wind. Mitsuru glanced up at the spot where her persona had been, then turned to her cycle with no small annoyance and connected the line. "It had better be an emergency," she said, her words easily below zero degrees.
But it wasn't Ikutsuki who picked up the phone. "Ah," a familiar voice said, "Looks like I… hit the wrong button."
It took a few seconds for Mitsuru to place the voice as the injured Arisato's, because she'd never heard him so… flustered? "Arsiato…" she nearly growled, "What on earth are you doing with the computer in the control room?"
"Ikutsuki-san told me there was a problem with it, so I was tasked to fix it. I didn't mean to connect our lines like that. Sorry."
Well. He seemed to regain his composure at a rapid rate. "It's fine," she said, barely managing to withhold her huff, "But I'd better get back to them."
"Of course. Good luck."
Mitsuru blinked. It's not like he said anything particularly big, but it was probably the first thing Minato had said to her that wasn't totally factual or just obtuse.
He had apparently noticed this as well, as he quickly disconnected without waiting for a reply. The redhead stared at the cycle for another second, before just shaking her head and summoning her persona once again.
The Kirijo Heir closed her eyes as she felt the familiar pressure of Penthesilea's hands on her head, then focused on the presences of the operational team. But now, they were feeling mostly… panicked?
Panicked?! Mitsuru's eyes snapped open, and she tried to connect with each of them. From Yukari and Junpei, all she got were distraught words that made no sense ("Where - no – shadow! – leader – everyone?!"). No clear response from them. Akihiko was too busy focused on fighting ("Zio! - Dia! –dodge, dodge - holy-!") to communicate clearly. Finally, Mitsuru tried the last member.
"Arisato! Arisato, please focus, please-"
"Ah, Senpai? I was wondering what happened to you," Hamuko's voice clearly rang out, seeming not particularly worried about the situation. "Sorry, wait a sec – Agi! – You were saying?"
"Arisato, are you in combat?" Mitsuru demanded. "What is happening?!"
"Yeah, I am," she replied calmly to the first question, and called out a mental 'Bash!' before continuing.
"As for the second part… it seems that we've been scattered throughout the floor. Oh, mind scanning this shadow for me?"
AN: No, 'telepathed' is certainly not a real word. But hey, you knew what I meant, right?
Also: a Pannier is a carrying device that you attach to bicycles and/or motorcycles. If you look at Mitsuru's cycle in-game, it's the two things draped over the cycle, above the rear tire.
Shout-outs to: Sieses Detkrah, KoriTheIceAngel, DDReaper, spiway, Guilt of Swords, Law77, Rileyjo7, ZeldaistheAwesomness, Mastersparx, MHplayer749, Fetch's Revolution, SolarGunman, and Matterglob for following; Hitsumaru100, KoriTheIceAngel, CrimsonDemon666, Law77, Hollow King Naruto, Typhon285, KennHyrulian, and Matterglob for faving; and Yoshikunitsu, Pulsar Raider, Gu3st, Magatsulza, Doom Marine 54, Guest, and Granten for reviewing!
[In response to Gu3st: Yeah, I'm happy about it too! :D And sweet, hope you liked this chapter's edition. Thanks for reviewing!]
[In response to Guest: Yeah, me too. As nice as it is to see some conflict between 'em sometimes… I dunno, I just feel like it's much more enjoyable when they actually, y' know, like each other. And I definitely have some more changes planned, hope you liked the ones in this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!]
Another thing: double kudos this week to Doom Marine 54. Once for giving me the idea of Minato snooping around for evidence against Ikutsuki, and again for reminding me that last chapter probably needed a disclaimer, which I'll put below:
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT CONDONE EIICHIRO'S ADVICE FROM LAST CHAPTER! That would be, of course, hiding your emotions, and that's not usually a good thing to do.
Last but not least… guess what's back, baby?!
MYTH CORNER!
This week: Icarus!
Icarus was the son of the famed inventor Daedalus, most famous for creating the Labyinth that housed the Minotaur on Crete. After creating the maze, the Cretan King Minos imprisoned both Daedalus and Icarus on the Island, in order to prevent the knowledge of the Labyrinth (and possibly King Minos' shame about the Minotaur, although that's a story for another time) from escaping. They sat there for a long time, with Daedalus just sorta tinkering with various inventions of his, before he decided that it was high time that he escape with his child. In order to do so, he crafted a pair of wings for both himself and Icarus, created from bird feathers pasted with wax onto a wooden frame. It was a good plan, but there was a catch (as always): In order to properly fly with them, you couldn't go too low (and accidentally wash the wax off in the lake) or too high (and have the wax melt off).
Daedalus finished his project, attaches the wings to himself and Icarus, and they go flying away from their cell. However, while Daedalus clearly remembers his own instructions, Icarus is too ecstatic about flying to give them any real thought. He keeps flapping his "wings," going higher and higher… until his wax melts off, his feathers fall away, into the breeze, and he plummets to his death going splat on the lake.
There are a few interpretations of this myth, but the most widespread is that it is a tale that warns against hubris: unnecessarily high or unwarranted pride. The ancient Greek world was dominated by a very strict social hierarchy, the most generalized (and myth-a-lized) being: animals, then humans, then demigods, then gods. Thinking too highly of yourself was thus a grave sin, and the gods would surely punish you if they thought you were "soaring too high," or thinking too highly of yourself. After all, you were a mere mortal: you deserve no respect for thinking anything else of yourself.
Of course, it's also important to note that while Icarus died of soaring "too high," he also could have died by soaring "too low." This is most likely referring to "baser instincts" in the story's metaphorical sense, those actions that are normally done by beings lower than humans on the hierarchy: AKA, animals. The ancient Greeks didn't want people to go around proclaiming that they were better than the gods, for sure, but it was just as important that you act like a human, for gods' sake, not an animal! There are several stories in Greek mythology where humans are turned into animals, and it is almost always as a punishment (it was a favorite punishment of Artemis, goddess of the hunt). And even when it's not a punishment, it's rarely a good thing (like in Io's story).
So, if there's any 'take away' from Icarus's story… it's to be human, and nothing else.
I just finished writing the Icarus myth corner when I realized… we never covered Io, did we? So get ready everyone, next update, we'll cover Io… and that is one messed up myth.
That's all the content I have for you this time! One quick thing that I'd like to announce is that I'm going to start putting a 'status report' on my profile, something that shows you what I'm writing, and how many pages I've done. I know from experience how frustrating it can be waiting on an author, and especially an author who doesn't update on a regular basis (like me!). So, even if I'm gone for another month, at least you'll know what my lazy ass is up to!
Phew… Now that's actually all I've got. Thanks for reading everyone, and I'll see you next update!