Chapter 26: I meet my idol hero
[David's Pov]
We got off the train in nowhere.
Literally, there was nothing around the station apart from a saggy old wooden signpost that read: "WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO. 1.2 miles", and the arrow pointed upwards into a mountain. The booth for security guards looked like it abandoned since the 1800s.
The conductor gave us a look of either sympathy or bewilderment before setting off on the rails again. The last thing I saw before the train left the station was the flaming red hair of the girl in front of us.
"Please tell me you have a backup plan." I pleaded.
Thankfully, Zoë nodded. I tried my best to ignore the fact that she also appeared to be reconsidering her choices.
"As I said, I don't like traveling inside vehicles. Any hunter would do better in the wilderness."
"But I'm not a hunter." I protested.
Zoë ignored me. She kicked off a mound of snow off her boot and started to trudge up the mountain.
"Come. I'd like to see what 'Cloudcroft' has to offer for us."
[Line break]
I was used to hiking in the snow.
Westover Hall was built right in front of the mountain (to prevent the kids from running away), and they'd send groups of children into the cold mountains with nothing but an old-fashioned oil lamp to 'get friendly with nature' and 'retrieve a peaceful mindset'.
I'm surprised no one got murdered in the woods.
But the walk was none enjoyable nonetheless. Maybe it had to do with the fact that we didn't have a proper meal since…we left camp—gods, I miss the dining pavilion already. And it was only a day or two prior!
The snow was layered too thick; up to the point where if I didn't watch where I was putting my foot down, I'll be waist-deep in snow. The first time that happened I let out a yelp in surprise. Zoë giggled slightly before helping me up.
By the way, she was the only positive point of this experience: Zoë.
Now that we were closer to the wilds than ever, her spirit seemed to be lifted considerably. Her steps, which didn't dig into the snow pile at all, were light as a feather as she skipped along the woods. She'd occasionally reach out to brush her finger past a low-hanging branch, making small powders of snowfall. Small forest critters even sprinted beside her for a few seconds, and they'd scamper away as soon as they noticed a grumpy teen-child following behind.
Still, it was nice to see a cheerful Zoë. As jarring as it may be.
"You look delighted."
Zoë tip-toed over a set of boulders as I struggled to make way through a pile of snow-covered leaves. She tilted from side to side, tempting to fall over any second, but she always managed to retain her balance at the very last moment.
She touched down on the snow again like a ballerina and offered me a hand.
"Of course I am. I've spent more time in the wilds than anywhere else. It's like a home to me…"
Her voice trailed off as if a disturbing thought came to mind. She flinched when I took her hand, and unintentionally (I hope) threw it aside, effetely sending me face-first into the snow.
"Oh my, Are thou alright?" Zoë's panicked voice asked overhead.
"I'm fine," I grumbled into the snow. Though I could've lived well without knowing what snow-covered leaves tasted like.
We finally arrived on the outskirts of a little ski town nestled in the mountains. The old sign that said "WELCOME TO CLOUDCROFT, NEW MEXICO" was propped on the sideway of the entrance. Beneath it was a hastily made new sign that read "DANGER! WILD BOAR ATTACKS!" with a small boar drawn next to it.
Boar attacks, huh? We used to have so many of those at Westover Hall. I remember facing a one-eyed one that was maybe 30ft tall once. Somehow I didn't end up dying from that experience; wonder if that had to do something with my godly parentage.
The roofs of the cabins were heaped with snow, and dirty mounds of it were piled up on the sides of the streets. Tall pine trees loomed over the valley, casting pitch-black shadows, though the morning was sunny.
Even with my lion-skin coat, I was freezing by the time we stopped in the middle of town. You could pretty much see everything from there: a school, a bunch of tourist stores and cafes, some ski cabins, and a grocery store.
"They have Starbucks. That's good." Zoë pointed towards one of the cabins. In front of it stood a pole with a familiar mermaid was drawn at the top. I wasn't too thrilled to see one up here.
"The last time we went there, a tofu turtle attacked us." I reminded her.
Zoë wrinkled her nose in response. "It's called Tophuchĕlys. And I'd doubt any of the enemies would suspect that we'd be here of all places. Besides, coffee is good."
"That, I cannot argue."
Not the coffees, by the way. I don't like bitter foods because I have taste buds. If you will try Pepsi like a normal person.
We decided to split up. Zoë was going to get some food with the last of our changes, while I check out the grocery store for information. I wasn't sure what I should be looking for, but Zoë took off to Starbucks before I could ask.
Inside the store, I found out a few valuable things about Cloudcroft: there wasn't enough snow for skiing yet (which explained the vastly empty town), there was no easy way in or out of town unless you had your own car,
"And we sell this." The clerk handed me a rubber snake.
I bought one for a dollar. What can you say? A man's got to take care of their reptiles.
There was also a small stand where pamphlets about the town. I picked one up out of mild curiosity, but it was mostly about skiing, cafés, or winery, which I couldn't give any less care in the world about.
"Nothing much to see there, eh?" The clerk chuckled to himself, "The boar attack scared off most of the customers; people say it's the curse of Cadmus all over again."
My ears pricked up.
"What?"
The clerk waved his meaty hand in a carefree manner.
"You know the story about Cadmus? That ol' Greek myth?"
"I'm familiar." More than you'd think, I thought to myself.
"Well, there was supposedly a minor cult that worshiped him and his wife as a god thousands of years ago."
"Really?"
I nearly jumped off my seat, and the clerk chuckled again.
"Now, now, it's nothing too special. No one bothered to go there and clean up the place ever since the boar attack. The place is already combusted to the ground; it's not much of a tourist attraction, so why bother?"
"I'd like to check it out anyway."
The clerk was amused at my sudden spike in interest, but he kindly told me the way up the mountain. He also handed me a small firecracker.
"For safety protocols. Wild animals aren't friendly with loud noises or fire."
I thanked the clerk, then headed straight to Starbucks to find Zoë.
The Starbucks here was nothing like the one from before; it was designed to resemble a small cozy cabin, they even had an actual hearth instead of any central heating system. There were only a handful of seats, with Zoë being the only occupant out of them.
When I told her the story, her initial response was…less enthusiastic than mine.
"It sounds like a trap." She said, sitting cross-legged while sipping her espresso.
I made the mistake of ordering the same one, just out of curiosity, and instantly regretted it after taking a sip. Seriously, why do people want to drink something that bitter?
Zoë gave me a small smirk as I set the cup far away from me as possible.
"What is this 'curse of Cadmus' the clerk said?"
"Well, after Cadmus saved Zeus, he was continuing his search for his sister—"
Zoë raised her eyebrow. "He was on a search for his sister? Why?"
"Oh, Zeus kidnapped her because she was attractive"
Zoë rolled her eyes. I noticed that the coffee she was drinking was much deeper in shade compared to her eyes.
"I should've figured as such. So, did he find his sister?"
"Her name was Europe, and no, he didn't. He consorted the Oracle of Delphi, and she told him to give up on his search and follow a cow with a half-moon on her flank, and build a town where the cow lie down to rest.
He did find the cow, and after some days of tracking it lay down. There, Cadmus sent his men to collect water to prepare for a sacrifice for the gods. But no one came back. When he was left alone, Cadmus decided to go look for them.
He found out that his men had been murdered by the Ismenios dragon. So he killed it as revenge, and planted the teeth under the ground that grew into fully armored soldiers."
"The Spartoi," Zoë muttered. She fiddled with the cup in her hand.
For a moment, the air seemed to settle down between us. We were getting to a very touchy subject—Luna was the one being chased by the Spartoi. A small part of myself wondered if they stopped their pursuit, or they might be rummaging around the shed right now as we spoke.
"…Anyway, the Ismenios dragon was a sacred animal/son of Ares. So Ares cursed him so that his offspring, nor his cities shall ever have a peaceful end."
Zoë didn't say anything. Her eyes were staring out the window as if she was waiting for the Spartoi to burst through from the earth at this very moment.
Then I remembered something else; we had mentioned the Ismenios dragon before. When we were getting chased by a helicopter. Zoë mentioned in a passerby line that Actaeon met a horrible fate because he was a descendant of Cadmus.
"You knew this story already, didn't you?" I asked.
Zoë gave me a look, but as hard as they were, it didn't feel cold. A bit exasperated, maybe?
"Thy voice gets higher when thou talk about something you like." She said in a near whisper. Her lips formed a small, crescent smile. "I find it amusing."
And without further elaboration, she stood up, announcing that we'd better check the shrine out after all, and left the store while I was frozen in my seat like an idiot.
As I just watched Zoë walking in the snow, a white dove perched on the windowsill. It dipped its beak in the espresso, then suddenly fluttered down on my shoulder and nipped my earlobe.
"Gah!"
I jumped up to my feet, and the dove fluttered away.
[Line Break]
I don't know why, but I was much less cold when we hiked up our second mountain of the day. The image of the café kept lingering in my mind—well, to be precise, the image of Zoë sitting across the same table with a shot of the worst liquid I've ever drank.
It was the most peculiar feeling I've ever…well, felt. The closest description I can provide is, it was as if a sudden fever caught up, but without the unpleasantness.
My head was spinning slightly, my face felt hot, especially the earlobe where that bird nipped on. The logical guess would've been bird flu, but I've never heard of it taking effect this fast.
And also, I started to notice some things I never used to. Such as how Zoë's braided hair bounced slightly at her every hop, how she would huff ever so slightly after each skip, and the slightest scent of fresh fruit—and by that, I mean fresh fruit—like the unripe ones.
You might think: "But David, that doesn't sound like a pleasant smell at all!"
Well, I have nothing to tell you mate; Zoë smelled great.
As soon as I reached that creepy thought, I dove my head straight into a pile of snow on the ground. I heard the shuffling sounds of Zoë's feet stop abruptly through the snow pile.
"What are thou doing?"
I pulled myself back up from the ground and shook off the snow from my hair. Some of them trickled back
"I, uh, just needed to cool off."
"…I see."
And then she came closer—I mean way closer; close enough to feel her breath brush against my skin—and picked off a snowflake off my hair. Which didn't do well for my heart rate at all.
"Try not to do that a second time."
"Ok." My voice cracked at the 'k', making Zoë raise her eyebrow.
She looked around the tree and locked her eyes upon a bird perched on a branch. It was the white dove from earlier.
"Why did that thing follow me?"
"Thou've seen it before beforehand?"
I nodded, and Zoë grimaced with her jaw clenched. Before I could ask what the fuss was about, she notched an arrow on her bow in a swift movement and sent it flying.
It pierced the dove in the middle, and without anything such as a screech, the bird fell onto the snow. But when we got there, a shockingly scarlet rose was peeking over the snow with the dove nowhere to be seen alive or dead.
Suddenly a cold breeze of air swept over my face. I shook my head a few times; it felt like I had just woken up from a dream.
"Was that dove a monster?"
Zoë let a low growl escape through her throat.
"No. It was something much worse."
She crushed the rose under her feet. Red petals fluttered onto the snow, and Zoë stomped on them too. After every single petal was buried beneath the snow, she said that we should move before something else got involved.
I felt a little guilty because…Rose, but after that segment was over I felt much more comfortable in the head, so I guess it worked out in the end. On the other hand, Zoë seemed to be eyeing me a bit too much over her shoulder, almost to the point where she ran into a low-hanging branch.
She was also furious for some reason; I can't tell if it was directed at me or herself or something else, but I was sure she was.
Huh, that's odd. I'm usually not good at figuring out how other people felt unless it's thrown on my face.
Either way, we made it to the shrine…or the leftovers of it.
The shrine itself must have been small from the beginning. The site of the shrine was barely larger than the Starbucks below, and the only structure standing whole was the altar in the middle. The altar was a small made of greyish marble, the sides decorated with what I'd have to assume dragons, except it was nearly wiped out.
It was not breathtaking in any way. Forget weeks, this shrine was abandoned for decades; maybe centuries.
"We should clean up the place," I said.
Zoë shook her head, albeit with a pitying expression.
"Old shrines are an easy place for spirits to hold grudge upon. I've run through several monuments dedicated to nymphs that went out of care. Those were…not pretty."
She shivered slightly, recalling her experiences.
I looked around the ruin. Despite the tarnished columns, weathered engravings, and collapsed statues, the place didn't feel haunted. On the contrary, whilst looking around the place, I could feel my heartbeat getting elevated. It filled me with strength—not the kind that I'd need to break boulders or defeat a monster. Something more…morally centered than raw power.
"Cadmus was an honorable hero. I believe him."
"David—"
"You don't have to help me."
I search for a tool that would help me clean up, but nothing came into view. All I found was a broom stuck in a combusted brazier with 3 quarters of the handle burned away.
Then, an idea came to my mind. I took off the lion coat jacket, and it turned back into a long, furry lion coat. I spread it out to its full capacity and started to scrub off the grim off the altar.
"What are thou doing?" Zoë exclaimed out loud, which took me by surprise.
"It's better than a handkerchief, isn't it?"
I didn't have a handkerchief, to begin with, but you get the idea.
Zoë stared at me in bewilderment, her mouth opening to say something only to close a second later. After a few minutes, she started to aid in the cleaning.
To be honest, there was not much to do. Mostly in the sense that there was nothing left to clean in the first place.
Also, Zoë was surprisingly good at tidying up. When I was about done wiping the grim off the altar, Zoë had removed all the debris, dusted off the snow piles, and lit a small bonfire in the brazier using the firecracker I had.
"When did you take that?"
"Thou dropped it during thy cleaning."
Zoë said half-heartedly. She was staring into the small fire with a solemn expression as if the fire was showing some vision or something.
I was considering telling her a terrible joke about seeing a firefighter inside of the flames when a sudden voice spoke from behind my back.
"Oh, this is a pleasant surprise."
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Zoë whirled around, her bow in hand, but she caught herself before actually letting it loose.
The old couple we'd met on the train smiled at us.
"How nice of you to clean my shrine." The old man said.
It's cannon here; Aphrodite can spread love through bird flu.
Watch out for COVID everyone!
