The cave was cold. The cave was silent barring the irregular echoes of water droplets hitting the surface. Eugenia was blind, but even she could sense the encroaching darkness. It was thick, almost physical. She felt her consciousness fading in and out.
Loneliness had grasped her heart and she started to lose the will to resist the darkness altogether. Freezing and weak as she was, there was not much strength left in her limbs. She forced herself to move the wet clothes over her body for cover, but it only made her even colder.
Her ears were straining to listen for any hint of Medusa’s return. For anybody’s movement really. But the air was still. Nothing living, nor dead seemed to move on the surface. She was cut off from the world completely. If she put her blessing to the absolute edge she might have heard the distant noise of fighting, but she lacked even that energy.
“Please…” She whispered out of breath. Nobody would reply.
There was only the darkness.
It embraced her.
Covered her mouth with one hand…
“Mggh!” Her scream was suppressed as the presence that she could not hear even with her enhanced senses silenced her and took her under its silky coat.
----------------------------------------
Medusa kept moving towards the water filled hole, the entrance to the cave that she had left the priestess in.
Her body was covered in small cuts and she even had a dagger sticking out of her side. The snake hair hissed in concern, but the Gorgon was moving forward dauntlessly. The expedition had delayed her for long enough. In her hurry she had slackened her defense, trying to rush through the crowd, but they fervently attacked her from every direction. They would not stop until she crushed the last of their fighting will and finished off the most brutal of warriors. Even the man named Markos had sunk his teeth into her tail until the bitter end.
What was it all for? Why would they throw themselves at the Gorgon like mad dogs? Their sense of pride? Their desire for revenge? Pointless distractions all of them…
Medusa’s eyes were burning with determination. Even as she was delayed for precious seconds, she had still made it to the entrance swiftly enough. Those agonizingly long seconds paid dearly in blood and lives had not been enough to-
A shadow dragged itself out of the icy water. Its silhouette was nearly undefined as the clouds in the sky covered the pale moon. Complete darkness was covering the island. At its center, somehow even less visible, the shadowy figure that had killed Athena’s owl was crawling unto the rocks. Even the Gorgon’s eyes, which had impeccable night vision, could barely make them out. The only thing they saw was the glaring white of a familiar cloth.
The shadow had taken hold of Eugenia.
“Let her go or face your demise.” Medusa said quietly. Her whisper appeared booming and loud in this silent night.
The hooded figure did not respond. It rose to its spindly feet and walked across the ravine. Telling by its steps it was headed for the beach to the south where the ships were anchored and the main camp had been set up.
“Warnings are lost on you humans!” She shouted and pressed forward with her reformed legs.
Her claws sliced through the shade, but to her surprise she had barely managed to graze the fluttering coat. The sneaky kidnapper had evaded her by a hair’s breadth and then kicked off the rocks to cover several dozen arm lengths at once. They were rushing off, only picking up their pace.
Medusa’s mind was set ablaze with an unrelenting heat. This was a familiar emotion, something she could not stop even at her most controlled.
Pure wrath.
She would not allow herself to be humiliated! The girl was right in front of her eyes and yet this cocky lapdog believed themselves to be superior to her, to be able to steal her away just like that?
She grabbed a dozen fist sized pebbles and kept jumping across the ravine, then started throwing them at speed that far surpassed that of any sling. The escapee was stopped in their dash as the pebbles tore holes into the ground in front of them. They kept evading direct hits, but had to spin around to keep Eugenia out of the line of fire.
So they needed her alive.
If they had wanted her dead, then the Gorgon would have been too late. The priestess would already have been ended inside that dark cave. Medusa felt a sting of guilt inside her chest. This was her fault. She should not have left her behind.
And that guilt was turned into more powerful tosses and stronger kicks that propelled her forward. The shade was encumbered by the weight and form of the girl under its arm, but the Gorgon was free to move as she pleased. She slid in front of the hooded kidnapper and then rammed her fist into their chest. With a death defying move, they seemed to crush their own spine to move out of the way. The next moment they were smacked against the ground by the follow up tail attack.
As the figure was rammed into the earth, the priestess fell out of their arm. Medusa threw her arm forward to catch her, but was surprised by a black dagger that was stabbed into her gut. She lowered her gaze in shock and saw the black coat swerve around and leave the small crater left by her hit.
That was impossible… her tail had hit them with a force that no human could survive…
The dagger barely stopped her movements for long, but that one heartbeat was enough for the shade to grab Eugenia again and throw her. Those dainty arms had managed to pick up a young woman and throw her a huge distance somehow.
“No, stop!” Medusa tried to rush after her, for the impact would hurt the frail girl dearly, but the shade lashed out at her again.
In the distance the girl seemed to hit a slope, but just as she disappeared from their vision, she was held up by three armed men. They looked upon the two fighting creatures and then hastily retreated with the priestess on their shoulders.
They had taken Eugenia out of her reach.
The wrath that had incinerated her reason was now extinguished. It made way to emptiness, a vacuum of emotions. They were all sucked into a core of darkness similar to the creature in front of her. As the vacuum imploded on itself and released everything at once, her eyes became sharp like a snake’s and her fangs long as a man’s index finger.
The hooded person retreated as its contract was fulfilled, but the Gorgon did not let it escape.
The night was not a blanket, but a cloth that suffocated all it touched. This creature was not human, that much she could tell. It was an unknown element, but even more so it was responsible for her loss. At this one moment, the being in front of her was responsible for all her grief.
She hated losing. She hated failure. She hated being outsmarted.
She hated being alone…
“I will end your existence, right here, right now.” She said emotionlessly and glared the mysterious being down.
It had the shape of a human and avoided damage; therefore it must have been similar in some way. Its reflexes were beyond even the Gorgon’s, but there was one weakness that all mortal beings shared. The weakness to her cursed eyes.
She stabbed her sharpened claws forward, but missed the shade by a finger’s length. They were on the defensive as a flurry of swipes kept them dancing around. The tail as a third angle of attack had caught them off-guard before, but now they were able to predict it as well. With light jumps it managed to keep bringing distance between them, but to its unfortunate surprise the Gorgon was getting faster.
“Haah!” She managed to slice through the dark fringed coat this time. Her blows got more accurate, deadlier. With each attack and offense she forced the shade farther away from the camp until they reached the western cliff, cutting off all paths of retreat. “No more dancing around.” She said with a dark smile.
The hooded figure stopped its retreat. Without a word the aura around it changed. A cornered thug would fight tooth and nail to survive. The dagger that had been curved back until now flipped forward. They were finally ready to fight for their life.
The stance, the way it moved and acted, Medusa could garner that this one was an ‘assassin’. A hired killer who would eliminate targets swiftly in the cover of the night. They could sneak so silently that even the priestess could not hear it coming; their blade seemed to strike before it even moved. A tool of death, but not of confrontation. Their constitution was super-human, but their aura was still not of one fit for combat. In a direct conflict with a monster they did not stand a chance.
If she rid herself of this enemy right now there would be no more surprises left to interfere with her revenge.
----------------------------------------
At the main camp, inside the biggest tent, two men were having a leisurely conversation, unbefitting of the horrific events occurring on the island.
“This wine is marvelous, Pelagios.” Typhos said after one sip. “I shall remember this flavor as the best I have tasted yet.” Then he set down his cup, clearly unwilling to finish it.
“It’s not somethin’ you will find in Attica, milord.” The captain said with a rough laugh.
“Only the healthiest grapes can create a flavor so strong, but there have to be some foul ones mixed in to give it the right bitterness.” The young scholar said with a long suffering sigh.
“Is that how it works?” Clearly the old sailor did not have the experience to hold conversation on elevated topics such as wine production.
“Excuse my rambling.” He smirked mildly. “What of the fruit I asked your men to store away?”
“They’ve already broken in the barrel. Seems they’re as spotless as ya said.” He rubbed his hands nervously. The barrel was brought inside the tent just as they spoke. “Havin’ a cravin’ for grapes, sir?”
“No, not at all. I rarely eat sour things.” He shook his head. “But it will make for a good present alongside the others.”
“Hrm, you really think that the lass’ll come to us?” The old captain asked while scratching his scruff. He tended to forget his manners when he drifted off into thought.
“I have sent out my trump card, so this will be the crucial turning point.” Typhos admitted openly, very unlike him. “If they succeeded, we will now be left without supervision.” A loud crunch followed his words as he cracked some nuts from a bowl. “Dear me, they are more brittle than I thought.” He muttered.
“That thing… it frightens me.” Pelagios said uncomfortably.
“The Shade of Athens is our greatest asset, dear Captain. Even your services are only second to it this fine night.” The scholar stepped towards the entrance of the tent and pulled the fabric aside. The beach appeared black without the moonlight reflecting from the sand and ocean. The perfect conditions had been thrown into their laps.
“‘pologies sir, but this old sailor’s not good at keepin’ it in… Just what is that thing? ‘Tis unholy for sure!” He lowered his balding head as he expected to be scolded.
But Typhos only smiled into the fresh breeze. “Do you fear death, Pelagios?” He suddenly asked playfully.
“Not directly. I ain’t goin’ to Elysium, but the Underworld’s got a spot for me next to my family.” He said seriously.
“I am certain there is. The only people who truly fear death are those who have something in this life that they cannot abandon.” He agreed. “Except for one other case. People who fear Thanatos.”
Just mentioning the name of the god of death was noticeably cooling the air around them.
“I gotta agree. Not lookin’ forward to meeting that one either.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Thanatos is cruel and merciless, that much is known. But I am not afraid of him.”
“That’s impressive.” Pelagios seemed to be genuinely admiring Typhos’ courage.
“Do not misunderstand me. I do not fear him, but that is in fact because I pity him.”
“Pity?!” Those words should never be spoken in the same sentence with the shaggy-bearded specter’s name. Even children knew so.
“You seem expectedly unconvinced. There is more to any of the gods than the common man might know, believe me. Thanatos is the god of death, son of Nyx, the night and Erebos, darkness itself. His siblings are all dedicated to the suffering of living things, with the exception of the kind Hypnos. A family line and occupation so terrifying, evil and foreign would make anyone despise him on principle.”
“But he takes pleasure in cutting the souls of men!”
“I cannot attest to it or deny so.” Typhos admitted. “But were you aware that his inheritance keeps him from touching the light?”
“The light?”
“Indeed. Even during the brightest of days and next to the most shining of fires, Thanatos may never leave the darkness. He is clad in shadows and chained in dark. The gods do not allow him to touch Mount Olympus and humans bar their doors from him with fear. Helios’ sun does not touch him even if he stands right in front of it, so he has never felt warmth.” Typhos closed the entrance again and sat down on his wooden chair.
“I didn’t ken…” Pelagios swallowed his shame.
“That treatment grew resentment as plants do on fertile soil. The specter that all fear equally is a creation of those who rejected him. His spite has outgrown even the greatest of exaggerations that existed before. Thanatos despises humans and gods alike, much like the Gorgon.” He played with one of his rings, the one that had a skull carved into it.
“They’ll meet once your plan’s finished, won’t they? They might get along just fine then! Hahaha.” The captain tried to make a light-hearted quip to regain his composure.
“Would they? I have my doubts.” He shrugged. “I have gone off on a slight tangent. You asked me what the Shade of Athens truly is, did you not?” He returned Pelagios’ gaze evenly. “Knowing the Shade requires understanding Thanatos. There is a tale that has been almost forgotten even in the owl cage.”
He referred to Athens by its colloquial name for the first time, which made Pelagios blink a few times. To the captain, hearing Typhos speak like a commoner was unexpected.
“There once was a noble man so courageous and able in a fight that he challenged all the greatest warriors in the land. He was famous for accepting any challenge no matter the time or his own physical state. Some tried to exploit this by challenging him many consecutive times, but he was victorious each time. He slipped along the edge of death more times than any man in history. He told his wife once that he saw a pair of red eyes whenever he neared that unfathomable line. He felt the black sword come closer to his heart each time he avoided an inevitable death.”
Pelagios leaned forward as he listened to the tale. There was nothing a sailor loved more than a good yarn, so he hung on the scholar’s lips.
“Thanatos was aware of him. Each time he slipped through his greedy grasp, the specter became more furious. Yet that noble fighter was not satisfied yet. He challenged even the centaurs and a harpy, some claim. He despised war however, so he never went to battle for anyone’s ideals or dominion. This earned him the wrath of many generals who ended up sending assassins after him and even dueled him as well when those failed. They all lost resoundingly.”
“But why’s it that nobody knows of this legendary man? I’d have heard of him if he was that impressive, surely!” Pelagios couldn’t help but protest.
“The only people who remember him are his descendants. A cruel punishment.” Typhos said seriously. “The noble man had survived up to old age. He had three sons and one daughter, it seemed his legacy would live on, so he was satisfied. The only fight he could not win was the one against his failing body and that filled him with pride. Yet when his time had come, he finally met the red eyes that had gazed at him for over five decades. Thanatos had come to reap his soul from his body.” Typhos closed his eyes. “In his hubris he challenged the specter for his soul.”
“He fought a god!?”
“Those who witnessed it said that it was a battle for the ages. This old and weary warrior was facing the personification of death and measured up by skill alone!” He raised his hands and opened his eyes. “Naturally his stamina ran out. No human could ever last long against death itself. But as a final insult to the reaper, he cut off a part of his cloak.” He made a cutting motion and dropped a piece of cloth that had been wrapped around the food on the chest. “As I told you, Thanatos is a being of darkness, unfit for the light. His cloak is made of pure night, a present from his mother. Now this piece of night was severed and touched the ground of Athens.”
“W-What happened to the noble?”
“He lost the battle and as punishment for humiliating Thanatos by exposing his mother’s only gift to the light of the sun, his soul was stored inside that severed piece of the cloak. He had no place in the Underworld and would never see the light of day again, just like Thanatos himself. The moment he had been sealed away, his existence vanished from the world, except to his descendants who had to live with the knowledge that their progenitor would suffer for eternity.”
“It’s th’ fate of those who challenge the gods.” Pelagios was saddened, but accepted the outcome as just.
“I must agree. Challenging them is entirely the wrong way to go about it.” He nodded. “Let’s end this little tale. Disgusted by the embodiment of his failure, Thanatos cast the severed piece of his cloak aside and left it to rot in the shade of the city. There it lay dormant for unspeakable time. The shady sins of the citizens seeped into the cloak and fed it with purpose. Eventually the soul that was trapped inside was corrupted and reformed as a shadow penetrating the night. From the gutter of civilization and the piece of divine punishment rose… the Shade of Athens.” He finished his story and gulped down some water.
The captain did the same and wiped his cold sweat. He looked outside the tent and suddenly felt afraid of every shadowy corner.
“How’d ya tame somethin’ so cursed?” He asked with true fear.
“I promised to sever the ties of the cloak and the soul that plagues it.” Typhos said casually.
“How?!”
“Hm. It required most of my resources, but I did find the cult of Thanatos deeply hidden in the cesspit of filthy foreign caves. They required many sacrifices to craft a dagger that could cut the cloak. And the final ingredient.” He smiled excitedly. “Is the blood of a divine being.”
Pelagios took a step back as his eyes widened. He suddenly felt trapped inside the tent.
“Do not fear, my dear Pelagios. There is no need for that expression. I do not plan to betray the gods. I could not hope to win.” He raised his hands placatory and smiled innocently. “Divine blood runs in many beings that are far from the Olympians.”
“You’re playin’ with forces too great, milord.” He was afraid, glancing about for a way to escape.
“Calm yourself.” Typhos suddenly put his hands on Pelagios’ cheeks and forced him to return his stare. “The sacrifice is the one we came here to slay. The Gorgon has divine blood running through her.”
“T-Truly?” He was held in place, but it seemed that he finally found respite after hearing that.
“I tell no lies.” He assured him and let go. “You see now, the Shade has every reason to obey my command. Only I have the means to end its putrid existence. Once our objective is secured, all debts will be paid.”
Death was a price to pay and a prize to obtain, depending on the perspective of the individual.
----------------------------------------
The shade crossed the Gorgon’s back with its dagger and dealt another wound to her. It was swift, accurate and deadly.
“What manner of apparition are you?” She staggered for a moment, making some distance between them. Her body was covered in shallow cuts, a testament to her opponent’s skill. It fought not just like an assassin, but also like a duelist, predicting her moves and countering them mercilessly.
The shadow never responded. She started to doubt it could even speak.
“It matters not. Your trickery proves futile and I am starting to see through your stance.” She wiped blood from her cheek and then clutched her fists. Scales had already covered most of her arms and chest. Many of the cuts were mended by the new snake like skin.
It was time to use her full strength.
She slithered around the shade and punched its side, but it dodged agilely. Just in that moment the Gorgon flipped over it using her tail and rammed her elbow into its neck. The shade was hit, but rolled over the cracking rocks and threw its dagger at the Gorgon. She deflected it with her claws, but was then hit by a kick to the stomach. This was the first time the shade had used something other than its blade.
Darkness covered her waist and then pulled her down. The hooded figure slid around her and then rammed her head into the ground, standing atop Medusa. She used her tail to impale it from behind. The tip was accelerated and hard enough to penetrate a solid wall, so it put a deep hole into the cloaked creature.
“Got you!” She turned on her back and slammed the shade into the edge of the cliff next to her. Just as she was triumphantly raising her claw, she suddenly felt the shadows below her open up. One hundred small spikes of shadow impaled her body. They were too weak to reach her organs, but it still showered her in pain.
The tail was pulled out of the shade’s body and then it seemed to vanish. As long as the night was covering it, it seemed to be invincible. Darkness itself fueled it!
Spears of shadow escaped every crevice around Medusa and were aiming to impale her. The cloaked creature was getting serious.
Without a second thought the Gorgon grew wings and flew high into the air. The ground was the creature’s domain, as every shadow and crack served as a point of attack. To escape that she had to make distance vertically.
Stab.
A dagger penetrated her right wing. It had been thrown with the strength of a fully drawn bow. Six more followed.
Her wings skewered, the Gorgon sailed down rapidly. She grimaced as she was falling straight for the prepared creature’s arcing dagger. It was aimed at her throat.
“Foolish.” She said with a stoic expression. Despite the dozens of holes her wings suddenly flapped once more and pushed her behind the shade. She managed to dodge its slicing attack and then dragged it down by the hood.
She dragged the shade through the ground for several seconds and then tore the hood off entirely. In the same heartbeat she grabbed its forehead and forced it to stare into her glowing snake eyes. It would be petrified in an instant!
What she gazed upon shook even her soul.
Nothingness. No eyes, no face, no skin, no bone… Only a silhouette of darkness. An amorphous gathering of night and curses. It had no eyes to be petrified.
The clouds broke open ever so slightly and let a single ray of moonlight shine unto the featureless head.
“KREEEEEE!” Without a mouth it suddenly released an abyssal shriek so bone shattering that the Gorgon’s hand started to let go on instinct. Immediately the shade scurried away and sank into the shadows of the cliff.
It was in pain. Medusa looked up at the small opening in the clouds and realized it. Light was its weakness. If she hadn’t exposed it so openly, Artemis’ pale light would certainly not have been enough, but right now she had made the thing retreat.
The moonlight faded again and let darkness return.
Fwish
The dagger missed the Gorgon’s back, because she had felt it coming. An assassin would use any chance to off their target when they were distracted.
Her claws clashed with the dagger several times per heartbeat and let sparks fly across the air. The shade had pulled down its seemingly magically fixed hood and returned to being almost indistinguishable from a human.
The cliff below them cracked and Medusa willfully leaned into it. They burst down the cliff side and fell into the icy ocean waters. This place was even darker than the night itself. The shade had the advantage - or so it would have seemed. The Gorgon was at her strongest inside the water as well.
She propelled herself around the water currents and then slashed the cloaked creature that could not hide in the ever swirling shadows around it. It spun in place and cut open the water around it so fast that it left a small air pocket, but the water returned right away.
Neither of them had to breathe, but only one of them could move freely.
The red of blood mixed with the apathetic waters as the Gorgon’s wounds burst open from receiving a flurry of stabs. She simply pushed through them and dragged the shade alongside her in the depth of the ocean. Then when she had reached the place she sought out, she threw the shadowy figure through the ocean’s surface and straight onto land. With extended wings she followed right behind.
The shade did not attack her the moment she appeared outside. The reason for that was…
“T-The Gorgon is heeeeere!” The surprised and terrified mercenaries turned back towards the unexpected attack from the ocean and let the horns sound.
Lying between the bustling camp was a cloaked shade, unmoving. It was surrounded by dozens of torches and candles. Light penetrated the dozens of holes inside the cloak that it had sustained through battle.
“Foul beast! You dare surprise attack us from behi-” Medusa smashed the shouting man against a barrel and knocked him out instantly. She simply kept walking towards the shade. With one quick glance she petrified six of the mercenaries before they could even raise their weapons. The rest ran off while screaming cowardly.
“The light of fire seems to paralyze you as well.” Medusa spoke triumphantly.
The shade moved its arms swiftly and cut down six torches at once, but then was grabbed by the ‘face’ and rammed into the tent next to it. The thing collapsed and then was torn apart by the Gorgon’s claws.
“If you were to touch the flame directly, whatever would happen?” She asked sweetly, took the torch next to her and rammed it into the hood of the shadow beast!
“KREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” The shriek of pain was exhilarating.
To the Gorgon’s surprise the creature did not die from the light exposure. It didn’t catch on fire like a human would either. Its cloak was still wet from the ocean so it didn’t get burned.
“Resilient.” She muttered and then tore off more and more of the cloak with her own hands. The darkness was exposed to the torch light and seemed to become blurry as tears.
Only a silhouette at the corner of perception itself, it stood before the Gorgon. The pain that it must have felt was not betrayed by its movements, even the screams had stopped. Had it fainted?
“Urgh!” Medusa looked upon her chest and saw a long dagger extending from it.
Where there was light, there was also shadow.
The torches had left a long shadow of the serpent like woman and this was the opening the shade needed. Pronounced shadows were stronger than the blanket of night, huh?
There were two versions of the creature now. The unmoving shape in front of her and the one extending from her shadow.
“Then so it shall be.” She said with iron determination and grabbed the dagger in her chest. Without care for her wounds she moved forward, dragging the shadow behind her. As she pulled the dagger forward, the one holding it was pulled through her chest as well. The shadowy hand was stuck inside her.
They advanced towards the main body of the shade, the one who could not move. Its fingers twitched slightly. It tried to pull the hand of its projection back, but the wound inside the Gorgon’s back was closing around it. The shadow was trapped inside the hole it made itself.
“This dagger is unusual. It can penetrate my scales and the wounds made by it heal only slowly.” She said as she moved towards the paralyzed shape. “It must have been cursed by a vengeful spirit. So much loathing inside one weapon.” She gave the shade an angry smile. “It thirsts for my blood, as if trying to drain it. The curse to seek divinity, is it?”
The shade released its projection.
The dagger fell out of Medusa’s chest, but she had already grabbed it.
“I will end your suffering, creature of darkness.”
The blood covered dagger penetrated the shade’s heart. A low glow created an eye-shaped imprint on it and then the shade dissolved, leaving only an ancient tattered piece of a cloak.
The Gorgon thought it to be quite ironic that she was ending another’s curse with the might of her own.
Then she toppled forward and stayed on the ground. Her chest wound was so deep that it would take a while to regenerate, especially as it was dealt by that cursed dagger. She could not even move. If the humans decided to return now she would be unable to defend herself.
She struggled to keep her mind. There was no time. They had… her…
----------------------------------------
The tent was opened and two serious men pushed a girl inside.
“Welcome back, Eugenia.” Typhos said happily.
The scholar met the priestess’ milky eyes with delight. The fated meeting was nigh. And the Gorgon was powerless to stop it.