Something woke her up. It was still dark out.

So why was she awake?

Company.

She heard a mouse squeak and then squeak some more. Selene squinted into the darkness, trying to find the little mouse in the dark shapes that surrounded the ashy remains of the fire. There were half eaten fruits everywhere and there was notably more of them than when they went to sleep. And one of the dark shapes was the minotaur. The monster was currently holding onto the startled Hermes, dangling him upside down by the tail.

Bad company.

Without thinking, Selene grabbed whatever was closest to her (which happened to be one of the half-eaten apricots) and she threw it at the monster with all her might. It was aimed well and so nobody except the minotaur was surprised when it smacked his snout. It surprised him so much in fact that he growled and threw whatever he had in his hand (which happened to be Hermes).

Hermes screamed as the ground got closer and closer to him. With some luck, Selene caught the god right before he could splatter on the ground. ''Which way?'' She barked at the still startled Hermes. He shook in her hands and Selene could feel his tiny heartbeat. ''Hermes- the palace gate-! Where-''

She could feel the air grow heavy around her and Selene instinctively bolted forward. Something distinctly sharp and ax-shaped buried itself into the ground behind her.

''Cut through the fences- Left-!'' Hermes finally responded, woken from his stressed trance when the minotaur raised his ax again.

''Left-'' Selene breathed out and quickly jumped right.

It turned out to be the right choice. Another piece of the puzzle revealed itself - the minotaur understood human language because as Hermes said the words, he immediately buried his fist into where Selene would have been had she listened to the command initially.

'Now we go left.’ Selene's thoughts flashed and she jumped across the cobblestone with bundled up Hermes in her hand.

''Why didn't you keep watch!?'' Hermes shrieked.

''Excuse me!? Why didn't you!?'' Selene shrieked back. ''How about a: ‘thank you for saving me from the minotaur's clutches or at least some navigation?''

''Right-''

''Well yeah I know I'm ri-''

Hermes, whose eyes had gone big like porcelain dishes, practically let out banshee levels of screech: ''No turn right-''

Selene did so, then continued running. It was difficult to see in the darkness, but her mind told her that as long as she ran away from the general noises of destruction, stomping and anger, she'd be fine.

They passed narrow passages, squeezed themselves through where the minotaur couldn't...well couldn't before he smashed the narrow passageways to pieces. Though, it gave them some much needed time. Selene's lungs were killing her.

‘Just get to the palace and we'll be fine.’

‘’I had a-’’ She wheezed and coughed until she could speak, then turned another corner, running into one of the houses. Risky, but the walls provided some cover and no she definitely didn’t just corner them. ‘’I had a dream.’’

‘’No- you’re not telling me your last wish before you die.’’ Hermes hissed, shaking in her hands. ‘’Whatever it was it can wait until we’re done with this monster chasing us.’’

The far-end wall of the dwelling caved in on itself as the rubble gave up under the minotaur’s bare fists.

Selene heeded the obvious sign to keep going. ‘’Are we going the right way?’’

Hermes panicked. ‘’I- I don’t know- I hope!’’

There were wooden stairs that went up to the second or maybe third floor.

No time to think. She headed up as multiple stairs gave up under her weight and even more screamed as Selene set her weight on them.

‘’Okay a change of topological view will help-’’ The mouse responded, crawling to her head and already looking around and through the door-sized windows on the upper floor.

The banging downstairs got closer and Selene stole a quick glance downstairs just in time to see the minotaur emerge from the shadows and be illuminated by the faint moonlight that fell upon the half-broken stairs. Stairs that shouldn’t hold a minotaur. Stairs that wouldn’t hold a minotaur.

He ran. Then he fell.

Stairs that didn’t hold the minotaur.

Selene turned back to the task at hand. The task being they were stuck up here and it wouldn’t be long until the man-mouse-eater climbed up to them somehow. Hermes was currently frantically running around on the roof and looking around on the balcony and when Selene ran out to join him, she realized something terrible.

One - she could see the palace with its single lit room from here… possibly a fire from the survivors.

Two - the only way to get from this balcony to the palace was to parkour across the roofs.

And three - Selene had never attempted that before.

She paced along the edge, trying to gather up a plan that didn’t involve any jumping and moving along unstable old rooftops that could fall on her at any point. Falling into rubble and breaking her bones was a pretty bad death as well. Oh screw it- so was getting caught by a mad minotaur. ‘’I’ll have to jump.’’

Hermes had been muttering something on the edge, looking between the trampling of the minotaur around the stairs and the gaping nothingness between this building and the next.

‘’And now would be a great time for a god to shine-’’ Selene muttered.

‘’I know!’’ Hermes responded, racking his brain for anything he could do. He looked at Selene, who had been staring at the hole left by the stairs. Only there wasn’t just a hole there now. There was now the blade of the giant ax driven into the weakened material. It was climbing up.

There had to be something he could do…

‘’...Mortal-’’ Hermes barked at her. ‘’Hold me-’’

She did so, backing up to the edge of the building. She turned to the edge. It was really high. Really high and really unstable - about as unstable as Selene felt right now.

‘’Do you believe I’m a god?’’ Hermes asked.

‘’Why are you asking that now-’’

‘’DO YOU?’’

The noise of the ax and the minotaur getting up could be heard, but Selene did her best to focus on Hermes. ‘’I- yes sure!’’

‘’You have to be serious otherwise we will fall.’’

‘’Okay! I’m serious - I believe you.’’

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Hermes looked at her with a determined mouse look, then bundled up in her arms, bracing for what was to come. ‘’Then jump.’’

And Selene jumped.

⁓Ψ⁓

And Selene landed on the roof. The creaking beneath her feet was loud, but miraculously the rotten wood held her.

''Trust me- trust me- trust-'' Hermes repeated over and over like a broken record.

''We did it...''

''No- no focus. I only have power as long as you trust me so run along-''

Selene nodded. Okay. She didn't believe a word he said, but for now the roof held her-

The roof creaked.

The roof creaked and behind them they heard the minotaur leap after them effortlessly.

At that moment, Selene became the most religious person on the entire island.

She sprinted across the roof. The only thing in her mind was that Hermes was not lying to her. The voice in the dream was right, but now was not the time. She ran on, branches of the nearby trees hitting her in the face, but the roof held her and for a moment she felt that she was light as a feather that just glided through the air and didn't care if the roof under it held or not. The feather believed that the air would sustain it on its journey through the air. And so she believed too.

She was holding a god who was praying to himself. He prayed because he had just put his faith in a human who had been a staunch pragmatic agnostic all her life.

Said agnostic was in awe.''How are you doing this-?''

Hermes broke his concentration for a moment. ''We REALLY don't have time for this.''

''No but...I thought you were imaginary and now I'm jumping on rooftops like a rabbit-''

''Behind us is a minotaur that eats rabbits like you for breakfast so JUMP-''

Selene jumped to the next roof.

Meanwhile, the minotaur behind them jumped off the roof that barely supported his weight. By some miracle (which Selene currently attributed to him having a predatory sense of smell and hearing) he continued to chase them, and even seemed to be trying to cut them off from the straight path to the palace at times. Selene had to zigzag and jump around, but she still only had a minimal lead.

Luckily, the palace really wasn't far, and thanks to their shortcut along the rooftops and balconies, they got to the square sooner than if they had walked as Hermes had originally suggested. And of course the fact that they were running for their lives also helped. Selene spotted the last houses in front of the palace. Nowhere did she see any that would get over the wall. Well, there was a gate that led inside in front of them. A closed gate.

''I'm jumping down.'' Selene whispered with her last breath and rode down the sloped roof. She landed on the ground, which now felt almost sticky - Hermes looked exhausted in her hands. That was it for feather lightness.

Selene wanted to thank him, but the minotaur was definitely on their tail now. They didn't have time.

With the last of her strength, she ran to the gate and threw herself into it with all her might. The gate didn't move an inch.

Hermes seemed to catch a second breath as he jumped out of her arms and ran around the wall. ''We'll figure something out - don't worry. Something will...''

''Can you lighten that gate somehow-!?'' Selene blurted out after another hit to the gate.

"I know that I am a god of many things, but I can't open any gates!"

"You're a god of thieves, how come you can't open gates!?"

''You're not going there to steal so it wouldn't work anyway...'' Hermes paced the parameter again and then saw a solution.

The solution was a crack in the wood - as if only a piece had been chipped off the door. A piece just big enough for a mouse to squeeze through.

Hermes climbed in.

Selene only saw his tail disappear inside the opening ''Wait- don't leave me here-''

Hermes didn't answer.

Selene leaned against the door again. ''Hermes-? Open them from the inside-''

Silence from the other side.

''It's not possible...'' It came from the other side, almost so quietly that if Selene hadn't been listening with bated breath, she would have missed the mouse rustle.

And then Selene heard the minotaur run into the square.

''Hermes please...''

A...solemn tone found its way to Hermes's voice.

''It's nothing personal, mortal.'' He whispered. Then his voice was no more. He was gone. Gone behind the gates and over the wall and-

What.

''What...?'' Selene echoed the thought with ever increasing dread burying deep in her stomach, her thoughts put into utter disarray by the last words he spoke. She expected the mouse to appear again, to say 'ha- got you good! I actually managed to open the gate from inside!' but the gate stayed firmly shut as she could hear the muffled, angered growls getting closer to her with each second.

''Not again. Please...Hermes- come back-'' She pressed against the door, banging on it, throwing her whole body weight just to get it to open at least a smidgen. At least enough for her to squeeze through, but she knew that wouldn't work, no matter how much she wanted to believe in her battered body. Her brain knew her body would have trouble even if she was in perfect condition. It wasn't, in fact she was trembling with strain with each push, even if her entire system was running on adrenaline. No, that wasn't all that was keeping her standing. It was a joint effort. Through the pure adrenaline and dread she felt another emotion press at it and it was hot and boiling against the icy-cold fear. Anger. The purest and most righteous of angers that someone that's been wronged by the system, betrayed by who she thought to be her ally and left alone and without purpose felt. The emotions that bubbled beneath the surface since she was tied up, thrown on a boat and subsequently thrown off the boat, washed up on shore, fell down the stairs, starved and hurt and all she asked for in return was to be kept safe-

It was a mistake to trust a god. False or true he may have been.

She knew she had no chance of out-anything-ing the monster. For one- her mind and body were spent... But that left a third part that still had a say in what she could do. Her soul. She closed her eyes for a second, letting that anger through, not to pass, but to fill her soul. She channeled all of it into a single point, condensing it into a tiny ball of a crumpled piece of paper. And then she opened her eyes and ran at the minotaur.

One second was an incredibly long time when you knew death was near.

The minotaur did not expect the fight response. This human didn't fight! It was always flight or freeze! He was supposed to be the one stalking and drawing near! Even now, he was running towards the human. With the added strangeness that said human opponent was doing the same. There was a burning ember in the human's eyes. A kind of determination that no sane, peaceful creature could have. And the human didn't have a weapon. Yet she was charging nonetheless. Whatever was currently happening was a gross inversion of all known rules there were to this game. The minotaur had to take some time to compute this. He wavered for a moment, and then the human jumped. With the precision of a trained soldier he raised his ax to protect himself and to halt the human's terribly stupid mistake with a bloody slice.

He realized too late that the human wasn't lunging for his face.

Selene threw herself to the ground and drifted between the minotaur's legs with a gross screeching hiss of skin dragging across stone. It took the minotaur too long to realize and in that time, she had enough seconds to gallop a few times, stumbling from all fours back to her regularly used two appendages.

''You cannot be serious-'' The minotaur muttered audibly, as he watched Selene gaining back her distance and cackling like a mad-woman.

Said cackling (definitely not) mad-woman briefly stopped in her tracks, looking the minotaur up and down before resuming her sprint. “You know what somehow you speaking didn't come off as a surprise.”

''ARGH-'' The minotaur said, calmly. Equally calmly, he began running after her.

Yes! The plan worked! Selene cheered mentally.

How in the Tartarus did that plan work-? Selene's brain yelled.

Why did the plan involve peeling the skin off our palms-!? Selene's body yelled louder.

I suppose counting our spontaneous decisions as a plan is viable. Selene's soul said, realizing that this is as far as her five second improvised plan went. Then all of Selene's thoughts went quiet in a silent realization:

WHAT NOW?

She focused on running instead. As her feet touched the ground pain shot up all the way up to her thighs. She was panting and it was not just her feet burning now, but so was her tongue. Plan. Plan. She needed one and she needed it shipped to her now.

Despite everything happening too fast, she attempted to slow down the time again. Rhythmic thud of her footsteps with a melody of irregular breaths filled her ears. Good. Focus on that. Now it was thinking time.

Lose him in the streets? Low probability of success. Too low actually - with that snout he'd be able to sniff her out faster than she could say 'not-fair'.

If moving on the x and z axis wouldn't work… that left the up and down one.

Okay, she couldn't climb up a tree. That idea was immediately scratched off her theoretical list. The minotaur could probably pull a tree out like it was any common weed.

What did she do last time the minotaur guy was about to deduct life points from her?

Well, for one, she fell down a goddamn set of stairs.

And then lost herself for an unspecified set of days between one and three, without food and water and-

… And why didn't the minotaur follow her last time?

A hypothesis crystallized in her mind. Or at the very least a theory she could put to the test. There was an entrance to the lower labyrinth nearby. She remembered walking by it clearly, grimacing with each hazy memory. So Selene made a mental map of her current position and the stairs and took a sharp turn towards them.

The minotaur's steps were once again getting louder the more she tried to strain her body in the final push towards the hopefully safe burrow.

Don't get distracted.

No distractions.

The last steps toward the stairs were more akin to leaps as she ran three stairs at once.

Three stairs, then three stairs and then she ducked as the ax swooshed above her head.

She jumped and-

The bottom of the stairs greeted her by attempting to break her ribs again. Ignoring that sharp pain and the general ungracefulness of her parkour abilities, she was down at the bottom.

The minotaur roared, madness and anger enveloping the exit from the labyrinth. ''You.''

Selene didn't answer, holding her breath and retreating two steps into the shadows. There was that feeling of her heart about to jump out of her chest, this time both because of the dread and the heavy cardio she just had to endure. Her breaths came through in short choked gasps that were far from regular inhales and exhales.

But the monster didn't jump at her, descending nearly two stairs and stopping with its tail swishing. His ink black fur was standing on end and the minotaur was prowling like an angry lion. ''I can wait here all night, I hope you're aware.''

Selene knew...but she was betting on something. The monster had its eye on them the whole evening. Selene now realized that, because how else was she to explain the dread that fell over her and the rustling which came from something larger than a simple lizard?

'And yet the minotaur waited 'till I had finished what he perceived as me cooking food. He waited till we fell asleep…Perhaps if I didn’t wake up he would have left. Chances were the minotaur would go to a fast, guaranteed meal before he'd wait here for days for me to come out.'

At least that was her hypothesis.

Then there were voices in the night.

Not hers or the minotaurs. Voices that sounded human and voices that carried the light of fire, which now illuminated the minotaur with its yellow light. The voices grew in intensity. Possibly because they spotted the beast. The beast turned its head towards the noisy light and growled with disdain. A lit torch flew past his head. He growled again, taking one look at the woman at the bottom of the stairs. And then he was gone too.

The voices walked past the stairs. Selene saw their armed silhouettes. They looked about as close to bandits as bandits could look and they carried torches and materials. Then there was one which was yelling the loudest and he had hair and skin that shimmered like gold in the fire. He was also covered in gold and that shimmered too. ‘’Go back to the shadows you beast!’’ The man said and a few of the others joined in with their own chants.

Selene considered running up the stairs and towards the group but…no. She shouldn’t. She knew better than to approach a mob of angry people. She stayed in the darkness, waiting for the voices to pass by.

And they too passed.

Selene stayed hidden for a while longer, but soon she carefully crawled out, retrieving one of the torches that was smoldering on the ground. Luckily nothing caught fire yet. She tore off more of her tunic and tied it around the wood with care. As the fire illuminated the night she brought it forth to illuminate the stairs she just climbed.

And then she almost let go of the torch.

There was a half-decomposed skeleton leaning on the wall.