Chapter 20

Athena moved deeper into the cavern, where an underground river winded down, into the black abyss, of a long forgotten tunnel. She moved to an area on the small river where there was a make shift dock, and turned towards Anom, after tying the Audumla cow to a nearby post.

“You will need to drink as much as you can from the primordial cow for as long as you can. Ymir drank from all four rivers and was reborn into the king of all the gods. You have great potential, but you are too young and do not know how to use your power yet. You do not even realize your own strength. This will show us how far you can truly go."

"Once you finish drinking from the primordial cow we will summon Charon and have him bring you to the old world of the Olympians where you will be transported through the portal to other side. You must use your wits, and the items we have given you to find the Amalthean goat, and discover any other means of growing stronger. Fortunately we do not have to worry about the Audumla cow. Once you drink from her, she will dissolve back into the universe, until she regains the strength to take form."

Walking up to the mesmerizing cow, he knelt down on one knee, and grabbed ahold of her udders. Directing the overflowing river into him, as he began to drank deeply. It was the oddest and most satisfying feeling he had ever experienced. It felt hot, and cold, at the same time. It was like drinking magma, while eating ice. It felt like he was drinking lightning, and biting on metal.

However, it was not painful, but felt like what he would imagine a snake unhinging its jaws and stretching its entire body so it could swallow a meal that was too big for it, would be like. He new that he would have no second chances, so he grabbed ahold of the second, and third rivers, and began to drink from them as well.

The intense feelings exploded inside of him, and he felt like he was going to burst. Through his determination he grabbed ahold of the last river, and began drinking heavily from all four. He could see the excitement, and surprise, on Athena and Arges, as he rapidly devoured all the liquid coming into him from the four rivers.

"More! I must have more! I cannot stop here! Thinking back to his mother and father, home, tribe, Lady, Frostfire, and the rest of his tribe and their kin, he knew that he could not give up this opportunity, without using every fiber of his being to fight for it.

He always knew that he might have to face the new gods one day, as the last born titan, but he had always hoped that it would have happened when he was already grown, and with his full power. Regardless of the situation, he have been given a great chance for my strength to grow. Only the first Nordic father god was afforded this opportunity, so he must make this count.

The Audumla cow began to ramp up the pressure as the rivers were soon transformed into gysers. The whole scenario was bizarre, as despite the massive streams being far larger than his whole body, they were being drawn into his mouth with unnatural accuracy, and without a drop spilt. Not a single drop of spilt milk could be found anywhere.

Shocked, Athena excitedly spoke. "It has been over a half an hour since Anom has begun to drink from the Audumla cow. This was more than even Ymir drank. Should we stop him? Is it possible to drink too much and perish?"

The primordial cow took him on a rollercoaster of madness. It began with the sensations of the body. Feeling like he had been frozen, and then immediately feeling like he was dying from fever, and then it grew worse, and actually burned him with fire. Every second drinking, turned into days inside of the mad god, and every second he continued to drink, the madness intensified. He was burnt to death, resurrected, and then frozen.

A mixture of real, and false pain twisted his mind into a mass of quivering agony. Watching his fingers fall off their bones until he collapsed, and then awakening, completely healed, and forced to be ready for the next challenge, was excruciatingly torturous. He felt like he was dying from starvation, being driven to madness from his suffering, he began to devour his own hands, feeling some slight reprieve from the gnawing emptiness, of his stomach.

However, it was at this moment that he sat with bloody stumps for hands and nothing but utter madness abounding, that he heard a voice reaching into his mind. “Are you truly empty?” Hearing the words in his madness he thought to himself, "of course I’m empty! I’m starving! I have nothing in me!"

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"What do you want from me voice? I have nothing. “No, you are not empty, but abandoned. I will give you my strength because I can see your heart. Despite those who have caused this suffering to you I know you will not trade venom with venom. Do not let your past struggles destroy you and everyone you care for now.”

Without warning a massive shockwave threw Athena and Arges far away from him and the primordial god. My eyes re-focused onto the scene in front of him where he could see the primordial cow dissolving into the fabric of space as he fell to the ground. Feeling intense energy and pain in his body. He could feel every cell of his body madly drinking from the massive reservoir of cosmic energy that he had just obtained. Allowing his body to grow like mad.

He was growing so fast that he could literally see his legs growing in real time. However, once he noticed the growth from his body, he also began to feel like he was just dipped into a vat of boiling oil and deep-fried. Screaming out in pain, Athena finally realized what happened, and jumped up from the ground, running to the river and tossing in the golden coin. Plunk.

The area was immediately encased inside a zone of pure silence and unrelenting cold. Mist enveloped the silent, cold area, alongside the river, and throughout the cave. Suddenly, a single bell was heard, ringing farther up the river. Slowly, the bell became clearer, and more pronounced, as its solemn song continued, towards its destination.

Moments later a clear ringing could be heard, followed by the arrival of a lantern, hung on the bow of a dilapidated long ship, being steered by a man wearing a black hooded robe, and using a large stick to push the boat through the river. The man steered forward until he was at the dock, where he stopped and looked at them.

Nervously, Athena spoke. "Charon, please take this titan to the old world and when he needs it return him here once more. Quickly running to my position Athena grabs my shoulder while I am laying down and begins to use her insane strength to drag my massive body to the ship." Charon replied, whispering with a deep gravely voice. "I cannot do that. I can only take him to the old world, and even that is because of our past."

Anxiously, Athena asked. "What do you mean? That should be more than enough to take him there and back multiple times!" Taking a deep wheezing breath, Charon replied. "True, it would if it were normal times. But, you forgot about Zeus. I will take him to the old world, but he will have to find his own way back. Zeus is already on his way, so if you want to make this deal I suggest you do it now." Impatiently, Athena responded. "Damn, Already?! Fine! Take him, just hurry!"

Anom did not recall how he made it onto the longboat, as by that time he was doing his utmost to simply not thrash in pain. However, he remembered that, as soon as he was aboard the boat, Athena attached her pouch to him, saying something he could not understand, from the insane amount of pain he was in. Then, Charon began to move.

The small boat was a conundrum to itself. It appeared only 25 or 30 feet long and 7 or 8 feet wide at its widest. However, once he came aboard, he fit perfectly on the main deck, like an optical illusion. He was also surprised that a boat this beat up, and ancient, could still hold his weight, and not sink. That went doubly for the thin man pushing the boat, with his big stick. Nothing made sense here as just by Charon’s pushing it appeared to thrust the longboat forward, at unbelievable speeds.

Going in and out of my consciousness he was able to witness the strangeness of the ship he was aboard. It began with the ships scenery changing from a pitch black dark caverns, and changed into massive swamps, as far as he could see. Trying to take a closer look at the swamp, he began to notice that the swamp was not unoccupied.

Slightly beneath the surface of the swamps were dead things. He could see birds, pigs, horses, alligators, and even fish simply floated without moving or attempting to breathe with their gills. They laid on their sides pale and still. Animals were not the only ones who seemed to enter these swamps as he soon found a huge group of humans, floating just under the surface as well. Watching their pale solidified bodies floating noiselessly throughout the swamps was eerie. Feeling a nudge on his back he looked back to see Charon poking him with his oar. “Do not look at the face of death, lest you wish to join them sooner than you thought”

Dragging his pain addled body back to the center of the boat he heeded Charon’s advice, and begun to try and meditate to get his mind off of my massive amount of pain. His body felt like it was going haywire, making him so hot that he would sweat until he was completely drenched and then switch, where now he was so cold that he would do anything to jump into a fire.

His sensitivity was cranked up to 100, and he could feel his armor touching his skin. It felt like he was being skinned alive. He could feel his body growing, and the pain from his bones breaking, and stretching, was almost unbearable.

His body was spending so much energy to grow that he was steaming, and only getting hotter.Bad luck often comes in pairs though, as while he was trying to stave off his pain for the second time, Charon spoke to him. “This might get a little hairy for a while. Zeus is catching up. I suggest you hold on. "S-#t!! S?@t! S*~t! This is bad." Anom thought, as he panicked.