"Stop right there!"
"Huh?"
"You're a monster aren't you! Don't come any closer! I swear I have a weapon!" The kid had a hoarse voice and the tremble in his tone was evident. He hid behind the fountain, looking at him with fear. His eyes kept darting to his chest plate and sword.
"Um, I think you've misunderstood." Nathan said in a gentle tone. He did not know how the kid had ended up here, but he seemed scared and anxious. He must have faced plenty of dangers in the Labyrinth; surviving here was no easy thing. Never mind the monsters, the lack of food and water and the constant darkness and groaning walls would drive anyone insane.
"I'm not a monster. I'm a human. Like you." He said. His eyes kept darting to the left side where the shadow still lurked in the darkness. The shadow was small, but it was quick. It could be a monster, or it could be something else. But it had led him here. That meant that it at least was friendly to the boy. Perhaps it wanted to find help for him and Nathan ended up stumbling across it?
"Liar!" The kid looked just about ready to cry now. His breath hitched and his shoulders began trembling. "You... you have a sword! And you're scary! You have blood all over you!"
Judging from how the kid's voice was cracking, speaking seemed to be a difficult, almost painful activity for him; but he still screamed at the top of his lungs, hoping to in some way, intimidate Nathan. Nathan who was on the receiving end of his shouts found himself checking his body.
Ah... I guess blood and a sword will scare children. He found himself becoming a bit speechless.
"Hey, I know what this looks like, but there's a lot of strange monsters out there right?" He said to the kid. The shadow in the corner had yet to move. The boy nodded fearfully. "Then you know why I need the sword. I took care of the monsters while getting here. No need to worry. You can trust me."
Nathan kneeled down, motioning the kid to come forward.
"I'm Nathan. What's your name?"
The boy looked unsure and after briefly glancing at the shadow hidden in the dark, he spoke.
"Reuben Lopez..."
"Alright Reuben. I know it's been difficult for you." Nathan continued. "But I'm not here to hurt you. I'm just like you. I fell into this place by mistake. I know the way to get out of here."
The more Nathan spoke, the more Reuben's eyes began to show a glimmer of hope behind them. Tears began to pool in his eyes and he was sniffing constantly by now.
"Those monsters... they attacked you right?"
Reuben nodded.
"They won't do so anymore. Did they say anything while attacking you?"
"They... sniff! they said I was a sniff! demigod..." Nathan nodded at his words, even more sure that he had to take the boy out of here. He would not survive in the labyrinth. If he was the child of some minor god, then he had practically no abilities at his arsenal aside from being physically stronger. And being physically stronger does not do anything against monsters.
"Alright, Reuben. You're very brave to have survived until now. How did you arrive in this room? You opened the door?"
"No, it was open when I came... and then it slammed shut and I couldn't leave..."
"How long have you been in here?" Nathan asked.
"I don't know... sniff! I think it's been 2 months..."
2 months in here?! Nathan screamed out in surprise. His eyes widened and then shot to the shadow still lurking in the darkness. He was beginning to see a vague shape now. It was as big as his head and bipedal.
"You've been in here for 2 months?" He asked again, just to be sure. After all, it was entirely possible for someone to misjudge the time they had spent in a place when they had no sunlight and no watch to tell the time.
"I counted the nights... sniff! The moon came up 57 times since I became trapped here... I was hungry. Freddy brought me some food from the outside but never a lot. He gets lost easily in the maze... sniff!" At this point, the boy was coming towards him slowly. When he reached Nathan, he sank into his arms and began to cry atop his chest.
"I was drinking the water from the fountain... sniff! I was... I'm so hungry! Waa! Please... don't leave me here... waa... I won't run away... I don't wanna be here... waaa..." Nathan stroked his head with one hand while the other looked towards the figure in the shadows.
"Reuben..." He said, his eyes still tailing it, "Can I meet this... Freddy?"
As his words landed, the shadow finally moved.
Nathan's jaw tightened as it stepped into his range of night vision.
It stood on two legs, but it could also go on all fours. The creature's entire body was covered head to toe with golden brown fur and a fluffy tail hung behind it. Its beady black eyes reflected Nathan back and its hands were held close to its chest. One of its ears seemed to have been partially cut off and its fluffy tail glowed in violet with strange runes, leaving behind a trail like a comet.
It was...
"Its a squirrel." Nathan said in a deadpan voice. Reuben continued to cry into his chest plate, uncaring of the hard plating, and the squirrel stood facing him on its hind legs. Of all the things he had expected... it was never a squirrel. He felt a strange irritation rise in his chest as he continued to look at it; but it wasn't directed at the squirrel itself.
He felt... kind of disappointed. Like he'd been robbed of some shocking reveal.
But then, the truly shocking thing echoed in his mind. Monster Lore did its work, and the squirrel's information arrived into his mind.
And well... it wasn't just any squirrel.
It was a squirrel that descended from another super powered squirrel with immeasurable speed. It was a Spawn of Ratatoskr.
In Norse mythology, Ratatoskr is a squirrel who runs up and down the world tree Yggdrasil to carry messages between the eagles perched atop it and the serpent Níðhöggr who dwells beneath one of the three roots of the tree.
Well, calling them messages was a stretch, really. The squirrel was in one word, a menace.
It constantly ran up and down Yggdrasil, which contained the entire Norse Pantheon with all its cosmology of multiple worlds, mind you, just to carry insults between the eagle and the serpent. Evidently, it was a big fan of drama.
By the time Ragnarok arrives, both the parties engaged in this battle of insults sponsored by this squirrel get so enraged that they literally rip through the World Tree - again, which contains the entire Norse Pantheon - just to have a go at each other. Spoiler, it does not end well for the tree and neither of the two parties involved.
Ratatoskr though, just wanders off afterwards.
Nathan stared wide eyed at the squirrel, wondering what to say. Again, he felt a small flame of irritation ignite in his chest, and once again, it wasn't directed at the squirrel. In fact, Nathan felt he could not bring himself to even think of hurting the squirrel.
I guess I know why that is happening now.
Suddenly, the squirrel squeaked.
And strangely enough, Nathan understood every word.
'You can stop staring now. I know I'm awesome.' It said. Although the squeak itself was a single word and very... squirrel-esque in sound, the translation had a thick southern accent with a childish tone to it.
"Uhh..." Nathan was even more confused now. This was a hall with a lightning symbol on it. There was an unknown demigod inside and then there was a spawn of Ratatoskr, a squirrel from Norse Mythology and it apparently spoke in southern tongue.
The squirrel squeaked again. 'The boy is special. I found him when he fell. I was pretty sure he was going to die the first few times, but I took a liking to him and brought him here. Well, really, we were trying to escape when we hit a dead end. But the moonlight gives him something to look forward to other than the darkness and death in here. Besides, there's some water here. Its still water, but the boy seems healthy enough no?'
All that information was conveyed in a single squeak. Nathan had nothing else to say aside from it really lived up to its father's reputation of carrying... 'messages.'
"Reuben." he nudged the boy who separated from him with puffy eyes. He wiped his tears and said with a smile. "There's no need to cry now. I'll get you out of here."
Reuben's eyes lit up, "Really!?"
"Yes, really."
"Freddy, we're going outside!"
"...yeah, Freddy can you too."
The squirrel squeaked. 'The Full name is Freddinshmunch 'Berry' Blazerious, thank you, but either Freddy or Blaze would be fine.'
"Right." Nathan nodded deciding to ignore the squirrel for now.
Turning his attention to Reuben again, he said with a serious expression, "I want you to tell me everything. How did you fall in here?"
...
...
A/N: Alright everyone, the 250 PS chapter is cooking but you people need to calm tf down. I'm changing the next goal from 500 to 650.
Anyways, hope you're enjoying the fic until now. I'll try to keep up the consistency as it is very enjoyable to get to play around with multiple mythologies and stuff. And I'm finding myself enjoying writing the fight sequences as well.