Chapter 18: Seeker

After three days at sea, Synto was ready to admit that he missed the utility Davos brought. Without the man’s Gusts, they were at the mercy of nature, and it had not been especially kind to them the past day. The wind died at midday, and their efforts to row had ended with them not losing any ground, but not progressing either. Now that the sun was halfway down the horizon, they’d finally found land.

“Be ready to steady it as I pull the ship up on land,” he said to Mykos. The boy had been remarkably quiet over the past couple days. Not that he minded, of course. The one upside to being at sea was the time to think, scheme, and plot.

“Yes sir,” Mykos mumbled. Good enough.

The surf brought them in closer, then back out again. Synto hopped overboard and used his enhanced strength to guide and pull the boat ashore. The strain was a pleasant ache in his muscles, a sign that he’d grown stronger. It wasn’t the first time he’d been at the third level of ascension, but it was so much sweeter upon regaining what he’d lost.

The cold water made his clothes cling to him, but he didn’t mind. Before too long they’d build up a fire, eat something, and then do some drills. It would be like a little holiday for them to rest before they resumed the hunt. That reminded him.

“How far away is she?” Synto asked, as he had dozens of times over the past few days.

Mykos hopped off the boat. He pointed off to the west. “About two days sailing that way. She hasn’t really moved for a couple of days. Think now might be the time to catch up?”

“No,” he said after a moment’s thought. “My gut tells me that she’ll be moving again soon. We will too. Collect some driftwood for a fire, I’ll get us something to eat.”

The island was exactly what Synto had been waiting for. Palm trees loomed overhead, and the beach led up to a vibrant forest where there was sure to be some game. He brought with him a spear and some javelins. His club was an excellent weapon against other people, but sadly, bad for hunting.

His enhanced hearing alerted him to the teeming life all around him. Birds nested up in the trees and would likely be easy prey, but unsatisfying. Wildcats stalked, pondering him as prey as he did the same. Synto would defend himself, but he had no reason to kill one of his peers. Snuffles and snorting caught his attention. He smiled.

Even with the cacophony of sounds surrounding him, he picked out the sound of his target easily. In fact, the extra sound helped shape the forest, giving him a mental map of where everything was in relation to himself and his prey. Synto got out his spear and moved low and slow.

He saw the pig long before it noticed him. It had to have been a couple hundred pounds of good meat, just waiting to be collected. It also had wickedly curved tusks and a grumpy demeanor. It wasn’t going to run from him, it would put up a fight. Perfect!

Synto shifted the spear to his other hand and pulled out a javelin. He hurled it and watched with satisfaction as it sank into the pig’s flank. It squealed in pain and anger and whirled around, looking for whatever dared strike it. He moved out into the open and whistled. The pig looked at him, huffing and snorting. It stamped the ground and dug its hooves into the dirt, gearing up. A second later it charged him down, and his new power kicked in.

He couldn’t do it on command, or when nothing was going on, but it seemed as long as he was aware of danger, the Warrior’s Reflexes would activate and he’d dodge or counterattack. It didn’t make him any faster than anyone else, but he felt more in control of his motions and how to make the most out of every second. So when the pig came in, Synto moved to the right, twisting and using his right leg to pivot and thrust the spear into its leg, right next to the javelin.

His prey squealed in pain and swung its head around to slash him, but he’d already pulled back. It moved with a limp now, and hesitated. It turned to move away, but Synto threw another javelin, this time hitting the creature’s ear and piercing through. That changed its mind and it charged him, slower this time.

Synto got out of the way and slapped its ass as it passed. The game continued, and he lured it back to the beach. Five minutes of dancing around and he was completely fine, but the pig huffed and puffed. It bled from several small wounds and ran out of fight. He finally took pity on it and thrust his spear through the neck.

It was heavy, but he could drag it along the ground without a problem. This would make for an excellent feast tonight, and then they could spend some time to salt the meat for later. They had all the treasure they wanted, and now they’d have good food to take along. It was almost not worth it to go after Adriana, with as good as they had it.

When he arrived back at the shore, Mykos hadn’t come back yet. Synto dropped the boar next to the boat. The sun was all the way down now, and they would need the campfire just to see and keep away the beasts, let alone eat.

“Where the hell is that boy?” Synto muttered. His gut twisted, and he followed his hunch. He hopped back on the boat and went through the chest where all the Bestia and the one piece of Divinity they’d scored were. All the Bestia was there, but the Maw’s Divinity was not.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Synto looked up in time to see a dark flash off in the distance. “That idiot,” he groaned before he took off running.

Mykos’ scream told him where to go, and he dashed in and out of the trees and over rocks, over to his stupid, suicidal son, who lay on the ground in a clearing. To his credit, there was a pile of brush and branches for their fire nearby.

“What the hell did you do?” Synto asked as he kneeled.

Mykos’ eyes fluttered open. They had always been a vibrant green, but now they almost glowed. Veins crawled up his neck, hints of green among the tanned brown. No one would mistake him as anything other than cursed in some way.

“Seventeen percent Divinity now,” he said, licking his lips. He sat up and looked around with an intensity Synto didn’t trust.

“What the hell were you thinking? We were going to sell that!” He smacked Mykos in the back of the head.

The boy recoiled, then glared daggers with those unnatural, glowing eyes. “I thought that it was too good to sell. Why shouldn’t we have it? It was worth twelve percent Divinity on its own!”

Synto crossed his arms over his chest. “Fantastic. You now have twelve percent of your Godhood tainted by the titan who turned on the other Gods. You have the power of an abomination inside you, and if anyone knows that you have Maw Divinity, they will probably kill you.” He sighed. “What ability did you get?”

Mykos opened his mouth, then paused. “I don’t…It’s blurry. I know it. I can feel it! But I can’t…I know what I need to do.” He ran towards camp.

Synto ground his teeth together and picked up the firewood. When he arrived back at camp, Mykos sat cross-legged in the sand, with the Bestia in his lap. He went through each one, picking it up and rolling it around in his hand before moving on to the next. Synto let the firewood clatter to the ground and sat facing him.

“If you plan on eating those, you better have a damned good way of repaying me,” he said.

Mykos shot him a dirty look. “You want the bitch dead?” he asked.

Synto nodded.

“Then you might have to give some of this up. I think…I know that’s what my ability needs. I need…aha!” Mykos held up an orb with a jagged blue pattern moving jerkily. He looked to Synto, silently asking for approval.

“You’ve already gone down a foolish path,” he said. “Might as well see it through. But I promise you, boy, if you turn into a monster, I will put you down myself.”

“Fine,” Mykos muttered. He popped the Bestia in his mouth, but unlike the times he’d ingested Divinity, there was no flash or light. It went straight in his mouth and disappeared. The visible veins in his neck stood out even darker, and his skin paled. Nothing else happened.

“That’s it?” Synto demanded. “You didn’t even change or gain anything, you just look worse. Like you’re sick and about one bad night away from dying. Tell me you didn’t weaken yourself and remove your worth to me.”

“I think…Yes. I need more.” Without asking, Mykos took two more orbs and consumed them, one after the other. Now something happened. A sickly green glow came from him, and his body convulsed.

Synto jerked away. He put some distance between them and watched as Mykos twitched and clutched his stomach. He pulled his shirt up, and his stomach bulged grotesquely. Things shifted around inside, and he buried his fingers into his flesh and ripped himself open. The monster fell onto the sand, covered in goop. Mykos joined it a second later, shivering violently.

The creature grew by the second, and wicked clawed hands cut through the fleshy sac containing it. Great gossamer wings unfurled, four of them, and flapped faster than the eye could see. It had a long, yellow, snakelike body with a stinger on the tail, and a narrow snout that opened sideways, filled with razor-sharp teeth. All in all it was fifteen feet long, four feet across, and powerful. It spotted Synto and clacked its teeth together.

“Oh fuck,” he whispered, realizing none of his weapons were on him. The monster’s body angled forward, and then it flew at him like it was pouncing from the air. The world slowed once more, but the stinger swept forward at a speed that worried him. Synto threw himself to the side and time sped back up as he rolled.

He immediately scrambled up and kept moving as the flying beast tried to hunt him down. His only option was the treeline, where it wouldn’t be able to follow. Synto put on a burst of speed and made it with seconds to spare.

His victory was cut short by the creature, the dragonwasp twisting and proving him wrong as it entered in. It caught up with him a second later, with nowhere to go. He twisted around and saw the big jaws come down and seize him by the throat. He hit the ground next with its weight crushing him, and its stinger pressed against his stomach, just barely not breaking the skin.

Synto swallowed hard and held still. A few seconds later, Mykos came up behind it. His eyes glowed malevolently. “How about now, father? Do you see my worth now?”

The dragonwasp tightened its grip, and he gasped for air. Just as he feared his son would kill him and take his Divinity, the creature released him. Mykos helped him to his feet, and the two stared at one another with their hands clasped, sizing the other up.

“Think of how versatile this could be. We could shake down villages with my monsters and then collect a prize for driving it off. Every monster we kill has a chance to enrich our armies.”

“Armies?” Synto was caught off guard.

Mykos grinned. “We’re going to be Gods, right? We’ll need our worshipers, our workers, and our armies. We’ll rule over them all.”

The sight of his son revolted Synto, to be honest. Power was power, but they’d need to hide this. At least until they were powerful enough to deal with anyone sent their way. The more powerful one got, the more likely you were to attract the attention of the already existing Gods. But both he and his son were well on their way to becoming Demigods.

“I think that I’ve underestimated you,” said Synto. “You’re craftier and more ambitious than I thought. What do you plan to do with this creature?”

Mykos pointed back where they had come from. The dragonwasp flew up into the air, and then zoomed away. Within seconds it was out of sight. “It’s going to go after Adriana for us. If it kills her, it’ll bring back whatever Divinity she drops. If it dies, maybe it’ll weaken her. Either way, it’ll buy us time to get her.”

There were times when Synto didn’t need his power to tell him to act. This was one where his interests and goals matched perfectly, and he could give Mykos the one thing he knew the boy wanted.

“Son,” said Synto, putting his hand on Mykos’ shoulder, “good job. You’re going to eat well tonight. You’ve earned it.”