Name: Darrius Chimera.
Age: 26.
Family: Unknown.
Favorite Food: Fried Chicken.
Favorite Drink: Bacchus’s Brew
Hobbies: Barbeque, sand sculpting, and skateboarding.
Mythos: The Basilisk.
Abilities: Enhanced reptilian physique, night vision, sharp claws that allow the avatar to climb walls, fangs, a tail, and a petrifying gaze that turns anyone who looks at the avatar to stone.
Tay could recall more, but that wouldn’t be necessary. In the void that made up her vision, a single outline lunged toward her.
“What’s next?” Tay asked.
As Darrius’s claws struck out toward Tay his outline separated into two. A translucent visage of Darrius emerged from his real body and struck out with its claws.
However, they passed straight through Tay. This visage was a premonition of Darrius’ attack created by Tay’s mythos.
Now aware of the attack’s trajectory, Tay ducked down as Darrius’ claw swung overhead. Tay counterattacked with a powerful jab straight to Darrius’ chest.
Darrius winced but didn’t back off. His other claw struck down upon Tay, but before it could make contact, she rolled between his legs, and out of the way.
A benefit of using her mythos to track Darrius was that Tay was always aware of his location and actions.
Darrius made a blind attack, whipping his tail behind him around chest height. Having foreseen this attack, Tay had chosen to stay low after rolling through Darrius’ legs.
Tay kicked the back of Darrius’ left knee. As he stumbled to one knee, Darrius’s neck was left exposed.
Tay got up and raised her elbow to reveal a metal elbow guard. She buried her elbow into the back of Darrius’ neck.
The sound of the impact was dull. Tay jumped upward as Darrius’ tail whipped back to him, nearly snagging Tay’s ankle.
The scale’s around Darrius’ skin seemed to be acting as a sort of armor. Tay would need something stronger than her fists to cause significant damage.
Currently, she had four metal pads that could deflect Darrius’ attacks: two on her elbows, and two on her legs. A strike with Tay’s elbow wasn’t enough; all that was left to try was a powerful attack with her legs.
Tay dashed forward toward Darrius. As she entered the range of Darrius’ tail, she purposely slowed down to bait out a tail attack from Darrius. Her plan worked, and Darrius struck out with his tail.
As Darrius’ tail streaked toward her, Tay dropped to the ground. Her metal knee pads allowed her to slide along the rough, rocky floor of the tunnel, and just below Darrius’ tail.
Tay gripped Darrius’ tail as it passed overhead, causing her to come to a stop. She quickly stood to her feet, as Darius tried to recall his tail.
A tug of war over Darrius’ tail ensued. Tay slowly pulled herself along his tail closer, and closer, all the while maintaining a firm grip. Eventually, once Tay was just a step away from entering striking distance of Darrius, she let go of the tail.
The sudden release of tension caused Darrius to stumble for just a split second. At that moment, Tay rushed forward, grabbed the back of his head, and pulled Darrius inward as she drove her knee into his stomach.
All the air immediately left Darrius’ lungs. He tried to strike Tay with his tail as it came back to him, but Tay sensed it and dodged out of the way.
As she pulled back, Tay wondered what Darrius would do next. She tried to use her mythos to get the answer, but it didn’t work; she didn’t have the information needed to answer her question.
How was that possible?
Tay panicked. Darrius would likely go to remove her scarf since without it he could petrify her with his gaze. To prevent that from happening, Tay outstretched her right arm to stop Darrius from getting close.
However, Darrius didn’t go for her blindfold, instead grasping her outstretched arm. This was fine, Tay thought. She could take a singular strike and then pull away.
Strangely, Darrius sunk his fangs into Tay rather than striking with his claws--which would have caused much more damage. Tay gritted her teeth and powered through the pain to kick Darrius in the abdomen pushing him away.
As Tay stepped back, she tried to raise her guard, but her right arm didn’t raise. She couldn’t feel it at all.
Before the infiltration mission, Tay had read up on each known mythos within the Chimera family. When looking into the Basilisk it was mentioned that in some stories it had a paralyzing poison rather than a petrifying gaze.
However, since a paralyzing poison wasn’t an ability Darrius was listed as having, combined with the fact that he already had a petrifying gaze, Tay had assumed he didn’t have any poison. That’s why when she used her mythos to predict Darrius’ next attack it couldn’t foresee him using poison.
Tay questioned how she could have expected this. Suddenly, images flashed through her mind of the statues she had seen in the tunnel. While some of the statues looked scared, others were entirely emotionless.
Somebody being petrified wouldn’t express indifference to their petrification. That was unless they couldn’t express any emotion at all on account of being paralyzed.
However, that meant Darrius didn’t kill the people he paralyzed, only petrified them. Tay knew that once Darrius’ mythos was suppressed by the effects of Seph’s mythos his petrification would be undone. Therefore, if she simply let herself succumb to this paralysis she would survive.
Right?
“Yes,” a voice whispered into Tay’s mind.
Then that was that. Tay closed her eyes and relaxed her body to let herself succumb to the poison. It was the only way to survive.
After all, how was she supposed to win now?
As she asked that question, unsure if it was her mythos answering her question, or her falling unconscious from exhaustion, Tay recalled a memory of hers.
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The Anagrams had just taken down the avatars of the coven.
Ada and Lou had rushed downward into the basement of the apartment complex where the avatars of the coven were located, after hearing a scream. Tay insisted they wait for backup, but the two rushed in any way, and she was forced to follow.
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Although they ended up defeating the avatars of the coven, Tay was furious at her teammates.
“We could’ve died!” Tay yelled. “I get you wanna play hero, and rush into save people, but news flash, if we die, then nobody gets saved.”
“But it worked out,” Lou said.
“And what if it didn’t!” Tay exclaimed. “If you both would just give me time to think, I’d be able to come up with a plan that would save everybody, and not get us killed. Is it so hard to wait just a few seconds? It’s not that long.”
Tay felt a hand placed on her shoulder. She turned around to see Varrick right behind her.
“If a few seconds isn’t long, then could you spare it?” Varrick asked.
“Of course,” Tay said.
The two of them stepped away, and the rest of the raid team was brought over to take care of the aftermath left behind by the Anagrams.
Varrick went to speak, but Tay cut him off.
“I know you’re going to tell me not to get mad at Ada and Lou because we’re meant to be a team,” Tay said.
“Oh no, yell at them when they’re wrong please, you’d be saving me the trouble of doing it myself,” Varrick replied. “The issue is that they weren’t wrong.”
“They rushed in without thinking and nearly got us all killed,” Tay informed Varrick. “Can’t see what’s right about that.”
“Well, why is that so wrong?” Varrick asked.
“Because neither of them thought about how dangerous the scenario was,” Tay replied.
“Really?” Varrick asked. “Let’s ask them.”
“Ada, Lou” Varrick called out, “did you think you could win?”
“No way,” Lou answered.
“Nope,” Ada said.
“Then why did you run in?!” Tay asked, angry and confused.
“Cause’ it sounded like somebody needed help,” Ada replied.
Lou shrugged. “Heard a scream, and the rest was instinct.”
“And you risked our lives for that?” Tay questioned.
“Of course they did,” Varrick said. “The alternative was risking the life of the woman you had heard scream, gambling she would live till help arrived. Emmanuel managed to get to her just in time thanks to your team’s decisive action.”
“But if we die, we can’t save anybody,” Tay remarked.
“And if you wait till everyone is dead, then who are you going to save?” Varrick asked.
Tay didn’t respond.
Varrick looked Tay in the eyes. “Listen, I’m not saying don’t think at all. Your head’s your weapon, so use it. But you can’t get caught up searching for something that you’re not gonna find. There is no guaranteed to-work solution.
If you spend your time thinking, you’ll increase your odds of success, sure, and that way you’ll live. Maybe you’ll even save some people. But if you spend time looking for a 100% correct answer that doesn’t exist, just so you don’t have to risk your own life, while people are in danger, then you’re gambling with their lives.”
“And if I rush in, then I’m gambling with mine,” Tay responded.
“Yes,” Varrick said. “However, we don’t have the right to gamble with the lives of the people we’re meant to protect. The only lives you have the right to risk are your own, and those of the people who trust you with theirs.
Do you know the difference between being brave and being reckless?”
“If you die because you were brave, they give you a medal,” Tay said.
“Well depending on the situation you might get one for being reckless too,” Varrick replied. “No, the difference is that when you’re reckless you’re unaware. You rush headfirst into danger because you don’t recognize that it’s dangerous.
Bravery is rushing into danger, knowing full well how dangerous it is. It’s looking danger in the eyes, and laughing at it.
Thing is, you grasp the danger of the situation better than anyone else. That makes it harder for you to move toward it. I understand. However, if you can step forward with full knowledge of the danger ahead of you, that makes you braver than the rest of us.
Tonight, Ada and Lou were brave, while you got dragged along for the ride.
What are you gonna do when they aren’t there to drag you along? Are you gonna risk other people’s lives to save yourself? Or are you gonna take a risk, and be brave?”
Tay tried to respond, but Varrick hushed her. “Don’t answer with words now. Answer with actions later.”
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Tay questioned, what she was doing. How could she possibly be giving up at a time like this? If she let Darrius go now, he could cause trouble for the rest of the infiltration team, or worse, start attacking people topside.
The words of Varrick and Quinn echoed in her head. “If any citizen is to die tonight, let it be after you.”
Tay had found her resolve. Now it was time to find a way to win.
She needed some way to negate the paralysis affecting her body; otherwise, she would be rendered immobile before she could finish Darrius off. Additionally, she needed the firepower to damage Darrius quickly through his scales.
It was time to take a risk.
“Hey, Darrius!” Tay called out.
Darrius stopped in his tracks and turned around to see Tay without her scarf covering her eyes. He smiled and started running toward Tay.
Immediately, Tay’s arm began to turn to stone. Still, she stood paralyzed.
“Come on, come on,” Tay muttered to herself, as Darrius got closer, and closer. “What’s he gonna do?”
Darrius leaped toward Tay. However, just as he came down upon her, Tay ducked down and launched an uppercut with her petrified arm. The strike managed to crack Darrius’ sternum, and he tumbled to the ground.
Tay had realized that the paralyzing poison in her system would logically only work on organic material. Therefore, if she could turn her arm--where the poison had been injected--to stone she could potentially prevent it from spreading to the rest of her body. Moreover, by turning her fists to stone, it gave Tay’s strikes an additional boost, enough to punch through Darrius’ defenses.
She reckoned since Darrius had kept the poison aspect of his mythos secret, it was likely less trained than his petrifying gaze. As a result, the parts of her body with the poison in them should turn to stone faster than the poison could spread.
Luckily, her gambit seemed to have paid off.
Tay rushed forward before Darrius could regain his footing. Darrius struck out with his tail, but Tay knew the attack was coming before Darrius even thought to launch it.
She jumped upward and kicked Darrius across his jaw to rattle him. As she landed, she cocked her other arm back, which had also begun turning to stone, and slammed it into Darrius’ liver.
Darrius tried to fight back, but Tay foresaw anything he did.
What’s his next attack? Where do I dodge? Where is he weak?
These questions came to her through instinct, and her mythos answered each one.
Her onslaught of stone managed to back Darrius against a wall. He tried to scramble up it, but Tay grabbed hold of his tail and dragged him back down.
Darrius lunged out with a claw. Tay tried to dodge but felt locked in place. Her legs had begun petrifying.
Tay blocked Darrius’ claw with her elbow. As Darrius’ claw scraped bits of stone off of Tay’s arm, she felt no pain. She couldn’t tell if it was because her arm was stone or because of the adrenaline in her system.
She didn’t even know how she could even move her arms, and honestly, Tay didn’t care about the answer to any of these questions. Right now, she was focused on knocking Darrius out cold.
Nothing Darrius did could stop Tay. She was one step ahead because she could see three steps ahead.
A flurry of stone fists bombarded Darrius. The force of each strike caused the stone on Tay’s arms to crack, and fall off. Still, she persisted.
Eventually, Tay didn’t see Darrius’ visage that depicted his actions in the near future. Fearing another unexpected attack, Tay threw her guard up, but to her surprise, nothing came.
She looked down and noticed that Darrius had fallen to the ground unconscious. Tay was so fixated on Darrius that she didn’t notice the visage of his future self had fallen as well.
Before exhaustion could take over, Tay used her pair of underworld cuffs to restrain Darrius. Slowly, the petrification afflicting her body began to fade.
Looking around the cavern, none of the other stone statues were returning to their normal selves. It seemed since they were petrified for longer, it would take longer for the petrification to be undone.
A sharp pain shot through Tay’s system as cracks in her skin resulted in immediate bleeding. However, Tay couldn’t collapse yet; she needed to check the vault Darrius was guarding for Draumur.
Marching down the rest of the tunnel, Tay arrived at the vault, and there were no signs of Draumur. Fortunately, there were medical supplies.
After patching herself up, Tay retrieved the unconscious Darrius and hauled him back to Charon to rendezvous with the rest of the infiltration team.
That made two possible locations for Draumur checked, leaving three more to go.