I made my way slowly down the tree, branch by branch, my muscles protesting every movement. When I finally reached the ground, I circled the whip around my waist like a belt, the bronze warm against my hip even through my torn jacket.
My hand went automatically to my chin as I tried to process our situation.
"Think, Julius, think, where are we?" I muttered, my gaze falling back to the trees surrounding me. The oriental plane trees stood like... well trees, blocking out any stars from being seen, their wide boles and distinctive bark confirming my earlier assessment.
Not that botanical knowledge was going to get me off this island, but at least I wasn't completely clueless about my surroundings.
"Ok, first we're gonna need water, food comes next," I said aloud, partly to organize my thoughts and partly hoping Richter would chime in with something useful. The silence from that corner of my mind was deafening. "The best thing would be if there was a river here, but I'm guessing this island is around 20 to 30 kilometers across, given that I could see one edge from my height but not the other. That means it has an area of around 400 to 600 square kilometers, if this was a perfect square, not that it should be, but it's a good enough guess for planning purposes."
I started walking in what I hoped was a logical search pattern, trying to cover ground efficiently while not getting completely turned around. The forest floor was surprisingly clear of undergrowth, which made travel easier but also meant less chance of finding edible plants or small game.
"Rivers are unlikely to form on such an island. Damn it," I continued my monologue, stepping over a fallen branch. "Then again, the Isle of Wight has a lesser area and it has a few rivers, so better to hope for the best while planning for the worst case scenario."
The problem wasn't just water, though that was the most immediate concern. I had maybe three days before dehydration became a serious problem, less if I kept exerting myself like this. Food could wait longer, the human body could survive weeks without it, though I'd be pretty miserable by then. Shelter was another issue entirely. The weather seemed mild enough for now, thankfully it was March and since I was in a similar timezone to the east of the US, yeah I wouldn't be freezing to death any time soon, but I had no idea what other creatures might be wandering around this place.
I mean it was an island the firstborn empousa had sent me too, I wasn't expecting it to be normal.
I looked down at everything I had on me, boots that were holding up surprisingly well despite the abuse they'd taken tonight, socks that were already beginning to smell from the sweat, a shirt that was surprisingly fine all things considered, pants that were slightly torn, a jacket that was barely hanging together, and the Vampire Killer.
Nothing to filter any salt water with, but good enough to filter freshwater if any river I did find was dirty.
"I really, really hope there's a river on this god-forsaken island," I muttered, pushing through a cluster of low-hanging branches. "Otherwise I'll be in trouble. Big trouble."
The forest around me was eerily quiet. No bird calls, no rustling of small animals in the underbrush, no buzzing of insects. It was the kind of unnatural silence that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
I'd been walking for maybe twenty minutes when I started to notice changes in the terrain. The ground was sloping gently downward, and the soil beneath my feet was becoming softer, more yielding. Good signs for finding water. I picked up my pace, hoping my instincts were right.
'Richter,' I called out mentally, 'you still sulking in there?'
Nothing. Not even the mental equivalent of a grunt.
'Look, I get that losing to that empousa was a blow to your ego, but we've got bigger problems right now. Like not dying of dehydration on a mysterious island that may or may not be crawling with monsters, which is your strong point, so say something.'
Still nothing. Richter had gone into full withdrawal mode, which was both annoying and concerning. I relied on his combat instincts more than I liked to admit. Without him, I was just a scrawny teenager with a magic whip I barely knew how to use.
Then I heard it.
A distinct sound that made me smile wide despite everything that had happened in the last few hours.
The sound of running water.
I ran in a full sprint toward the sound, jumping over fallen logs and vaulting over anything that stood in my way. Branches whipped at my face but I didn't care.
The trees thinned out ahead of me, and suddenly I was standing on the bank of a genuine river. It wasn't huge, maybe fifteen feet across and a few feet deep, but it was clear and fast-moving and the most beautiful thing I'd seen in my entire life, even more than Euxodia or Artemis or anything else.
I knelt in front of it reverently. The water was so clear I could see smooth stones on the bottom, worn round by countless years of current, a good sign for me. I placed my hand inside, and it was wonderfully, perfectly cold.
"Looks like our luck has gotten a turnaround," I said aloud.
Even if the water had bacteria or parasites or whatever, I didn't care anymore. Dying of dysentery was a future problem. I was thirsty. My hands formed a cup and I scooped up the water, drinking deeply.
It was incredible. Cold and clean and the best fucking thing I had ever tasted. I drank, then drank a bit more, then splashed some on my face and the back of my neck. The cold shock felt amazing against my sweaty skin.
I was just leaning down for another drink when I noticed something wrong.
Fog was beginning to rise from the ground around me.
It started slowly, just wisps of vapor curling up from the earth near the riverbank. At first, I thought it might be natural, temperature differences between the water and air, maybe. But then it started spreading, and spreading fast.
I looked around, my good mood evaporating instantly. The fog wasn't behaving like normal fog.
The mist reached my ankles, then my knees, rising steadily. I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on edge, every instinct I had screaming that I needed to get away from here, right now.
"What the-
BAM!
Something slammed into me from the side, sending me sprawling across the rocky riverbank. My head cracked against a stone, stars exploding across my vision.
When my eyes focused, I found myself staring into someone else's gaze.
Red eyes, for a moment making me think it was Eudoxia. But no, these eyes weren't glowing, thankfully, and the face they belonged to was younger.
Her hair was also red, a deep crimson that looked almost like dried blood. A massive curved blade, that looked like a...tooth, yeah a tooth, was strapped across her back.
When her eyes landed on me, they widened in what looked like surprise. Then she looked behind us, and I followed her gaze.
My blood turned to ice.
A massive pile of flesh and scale was emerging from the fog behind us. Dark green and armored, with not one but nine heads, each with its own pair of yellow eyes that glowed like lanterns in the mist.
The heads were diamond-shaped, reptilian, with rows of razor-sharp teeth that gleamed wetly. But the worst part was the green fog spilling from all nine mouths, though thankfully the fog seemed to be destroyed the moment it touched the mist.
A hydra.
A fucking hydra.
'Richter!' I screamed mentally. 'Any way you can take that thing on?'
Still nothing from the mental peanut gallery.
"Run, man!!" the girl yelled, scrambling to her feet, incredibly fast.
I didn't need to be told twice. I got myself up from the ground and took off running behind her, my legs finding speed I normally never used myself, Richter did the fighting after all.
'Richter,' I tried again as we crashed through the underbrush. 'I get it, you lost to the empousa, but say something. Anything!'
'I don't know,' he finally answered, his mental voice subdued. 'Maybe.'
'Maybe?' I asked back, risking a glance over my shoulder. The hydra was barreling toward us like a freight train made of teeth and fury, uprooting trees as its massive body crashed through them. Its necks were extending toward us, moving with a serpentine grace that was both beautiful and terrifying.
' 'Maybe isn't good enough! I'm not risking this body for a maybe.' I yelled into our mentalscape.
I ran alongside the girl, matching her pace. We were fast, faster than we had any right to be but the hydra was gaining on us. Each of its strides covered more ground than we could manage in several steps.
"We need to get one hundred feet away from the thing before the mist rolls back in," she said, breathing heavily but not sounding nearly as winded as I felt. "Unless you fancy fighting a hydra in its own poisonous fog."
We ran through the forest, dodging between trees and leaping over obstacles. Behind us, the sound of splintering wood and angry roars echoed through the night as the hydra demolished everything in its path.
"You got a plan?" I asked, my lungs burning from the effort of maintaining this pace.
"Not a one," she said, laughing, a crazy grin on her face.
Fuck.
"I do have this, though," she said, bringing her arm up, the trees around us suddenly grew vines and they lashed out at the Hydra behind, they wrapped around it's necks, and legs, but-
SNAP
They did nothing. Because why would they.
"Thought so," she added a crazed smile on her face as she brought a glass battle with red liquid sloshing around from somewhere, I honestly didn't know, because she didn't have a backpack or anything.
She uncorked it and took a big gulp without slowing down.
"Ah, refreshing," she said with a satisfied sigh.
She was drinking wine?! NOW!??!!
"Are you serious?" I panted.
Wait... Wine.... Alcohol.
I looked down at the Vampire Killer around my waist, my mind suddenly racing. Bronze could create sparks when struck against the right materials. Alcohol was flammable.
"Is that wine?" I asked, breathing hard as we tried to keep our distance from the hydra. I had to make sure.
"Yeah," she said, taking another swig like we were at a casual picnic instead of fleeing for our lives.
"Hand it over," I said quickly, my plan forming.
She clutched the bottle to her chest protectively. "Why? You just wanna drink it, don't you? Find your own wine, buddy."
One of the hydra's heads, the one leading the pack, suddenly lashed out. I threw myself to the side as its massive skull slammed into the ground where I'd been standing, its fangs sinking deep into the earth. Green fog poured from its mouth, gathering in a noxious cloud around the impact site.
That's when I noticed something important, the green fog wasn't dissipating like it was doing before when it clashed against the mist. The mist was starting to dissipate, we hadn't even got fifty feet away from the dammed monster.
"Just hand me the goddamned bottle!" I yelled, putting every ounce of authority I could muster into my voice.
Her gaze went blank for just a moment, and then she actually handed it over.
Yes! Whatever that was, it worked. Finally I got through crazy!
I grabbed the pointed tip of the Vampire Killer from my waist with my free hand. The end was shaped like a bronze dagger, sharp enough to cut.
Without slowing down, I used it to slice a strip of fabric from my jacket, which was already ruined, stuffing the cloth into the neck of the bottle. Some of the wine spilled out, but that was fine, I needed some liquid on the outside anyway.
I scraped the bronze tip against the glass rim of the bottle, hoping for sparks. A screeching sound echoed out, but no fire.
Damn.
I scraped it again. Nothing.
Again. The hydra was getting closer, its multiple heads, slamming to the ground
Again. One of the heads snapped at the girl, missing her by inches.
Again. I could feel the heat from the monster's breath on my back.
Again. My hands were starting to shake from adrenaline and exhaustion.
Aga-
A small spark caught onto the fabric.
YES!
I didn't hesitate. I threw the bottle behind us, watching it tumble end over end through the air. The mist had rolled back past our knees now, and the green fog from the hydra was only inches from our heels.
The improvised molotov cocktail hit the ground and shattered, spreading burning wine across the forest floor. The flame caught the alcohol, and in a chemical reaction I hadn't expected, it also ignited the hydra's poisonous fog.
The explosion was magnificent.
BAM!
The shockwave picked both the girl and me up like we were dolls, sending us flying through the air. I slammed into a tree trunk hard enough to knock the wind out of me, then bounced off and hit the ground in a tangle of limbs. The girl crashed into a different tree a few feet away, but she was already rolling back to her feet by the time I managed to sit up.
We both turned to look at my handiwork.
The hydra was completely engulfed in flames, all nine heads thrashing and screaming in what I could only assume was considerable pain.
The fire had spread to the surrounding trees and grass, creating a wall of flame between us and the monster. The beast began to retreat, running somewhere in pain. It dawned on me, it was going back to the river.
Thank the gods that green fog hadn't reached us when it ignited. The mist continued to rise and then clear out completely, leaving us in blessed, normal air.
I was just starting to catch my breath when something slammed into me again.
BAM!
I fell backward, and the girl was suddenly on top of me, her short crimson hair falling around her face and those red eyes bright with excitement. Her smile was wide and slightly unhinged.
"That was amazing!" she shouted, her face inches from mine. "It went poof, and bam, and kaboom! And you even used charmspeak on me! You're crazy! I like you!"
Only one thought ran through my mind as I stared up at her wild grin.
Me crazy?! You're the crazy one!!
A/N: Who is this crazy new addition to the story, could it be Julius sister, cousin, daughter, mother, or all of the above? This is still greek myth so I'm sure one of those fits.
Also may I repeat Julius is one smart cookie, and if any of you are wondering, what would have happened if Richter actually piloted the body to fight the hydra, he probably could have killed it lol, he's that good of a fighter, of course that's only if he's sure of himself which he isn't right now, cause he experienced his first defeat, something Julius knows a lot about, so he isn't as bummed about it as Richter.
Next time on dragon ball, oh wait, wrong verse.
Either way thx for reading. Power stones, comments and reviews especially are appreciated.
Author out.