Chapter 24: Smash

“She’s here,” Mykos announced. “Only a few miles now, and we’ll have her.” He looked over his shoulder at Synto. They grew closer to Mykarkos by the second.

“Excellent,” he said. “You’ve done well to bring us here. She won’t get away this time.” He smiled, and Mykos lit up. Green veins stood out against his neck, and his eyes glowed, even in the day.

Ever since he’d consumed Orobaal’s Divinity, he had the Mystery of Yearning, and while it didn’t let him read minds or feelings, every shift in his son’s wants crashed into him as soon as Mykos had them. In some ways, it felt like reliving a tiny sliver of youth and the hunger it entailed. It wasn’t entirely terrible.

Mykos’s desire shifted, and Synto felt the inquiry before his son asked it. “What’s our next move after you get her Divinity?”

“First, we focus on getting there. Once the bitch is dead and I’m a Demigod, we’ll eat like kings and talk about the future while beautiful women attend to us.” Synto didn’t need his newest Mystery to know Mykos liked the sound of that. “Help me get us into port.”

“Of course, father.”

Like most capable men, Synto could sail a ship, but even their fairly small cutter worked best when operated by a team. Luckily for them, they needed two people minimum, and Mykos wasn’t useless. After some basic instruction, he pulled his weight.

It took another two hours to pull into port, and Mykos confirmed she was on the island, only a mile away. The day was beautiful and sunny, with a wonderful breeze, and hunger consumed Synto. With their prey so near, and although confident that Adriana and Davos would be likely to stay put, they headed in that direction.

“Someone’s going to say something,” said Mykos as they disembarked. He wore an oversized cloak, pulled tight around him, and he walked with a hunch.

“This is a decent sized city,” Synto scoffed. “No one’s going to give half a shit about some random jackass in a cloak. They’ll know you want your privacy and leave you alone. Unless they want to sell you something, but that’s what I’m here for. Now stick close and stay quiet. I’ll handle things.”

Myko shot him a disgruntled look, but he obeyed. Synto paid the outrageous twenty haemar docking fee, and then they were in the city, facing an unexpected problem. With hundreds of people in the nearby vicinity came hundreds of different desires, creeping in at the edge of his senses.

It wasn’t a sight or a sound, or anything physical. Much like his sense of opportunity and vulnerability, it was knowledge popping into his head, impulses, and his own desire to exploit them. It wasn’t overwhelming…yet. Not like the cacophony coming from every direction. Some days, Synto wished something other than his hearing got enhanced.

“Fresh fish, get the catch of the day, the tastiest fish in Mykarkos!”

Synto’s stomach growled, but they had fish for half their meals last week. He kept moving, and Mykos jogged to keep up, head still down.

“She’s close now,” Mykos said loud enough to be heard over the dull roar of people all around them. “Less than a mile, to the west.”

Cities were a mixed bag, but Synto preferred them. Sure, they were dirty, loud, and overcrowded, but where else did one find such opportunity? Mykarkos was a wonder at that. One massive street wound around the center of the ground level, surrounded by buildings on all sides. The poor lived there, often right on the ocean itself and were at the mercy of the elements.

A place like this, it was rarely the rich areas that mattered to Synto. They played at having control, and they had their rivalries and their games, but the real movers were closer to sea level, and usually in the places no decent people would be seen. As they got closer to Adriana, they went into a familiar neighborhood and stopped outside of Apollo’s place.

“This is it,” said Mykos. He peeked out from under his dull brown cloak. “How are we going to do this? Should we wait outside and follow her, or storm the place, or…?”

Synto thought about it. “Storm the place, but not yet. If she’s in here, she’ll be there a while. And she’ll probably have Davos with her.”

“He’s nothing,” said Mykos. “He’s only useful for scouting and his boat. There’s no way he’ll be able to take either of us. Not with how powerful we’ve become.”

“Don’t be a fool,” Synto scoffed. “He got the better of us last time.”

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“They didn’t win! They ran away.” Mykos’ disgust was palpable, and his desire for revenge spiked.

“And we were trying to kill them. Which means that they won that round, boy. So we’ll storm the place, but only after you create some help, or at least a distraction. Understood?”

Mykos hesitated, but nodded.

“Good. But first, there’s something more pressing…”

Ten minutes later, they had pita bread, stuffed with lamb, garlic, and onions, and a bottle of wine to split. Synto led them to an alley off the main street, where there were only a couple of kids throwing a leather ball back and forth and an old beggar who flinched when he made eye contact. Perfect.

They sat against the back of a building, under an awning. With the sun no longer beating down on them, the perpetual ocean breeze had Synto sigh with pleasure before he took a bite of his pita and savored it.

Mykos wasn’t as sure, but he did as he was told and they ate in silence while watching the kids play with the ball. One time, the older of the two boys missed and the ball went rolling over to the two. The younger kid came toward them, but stopped short.

Synto picked up the ball and hurled it as hard as he could the other direction. It sailed over the children’s heads and bounced along the alleyway. He chuckled as two dirty looks were sent his way, but it got them moving. They continued on, leaving them with only the beggar.

“Which Bestia do you think you’ll use?” Synto asked as he took another bite.

“I don’t know,” Mykos admitted. “I don’t know what’s in them when I touch them. I just know whether or not they’d be right for what I’m going for. You should’ve let me make another monster after the first one died.”

“Maybe, but no time like the present.” Synto opened the bag of Bestia he’d taken from the ship and set it in front of them. The small orbs gleamed in the sun, and Mykos stopped his eating to stare at them. He picked up a gray orb and held it up.

“What kind of monster should we make? What are we looking for?” Mykos picked up another orb and rolled them both around in his hands.

“Give me a minute.”

His Mystery didn’t do much for planning something ahead of time, but Synto was good enough at that on his own. They were in the middle of a decent but not huge city, full of fairly fragile homes. Adriana was at Apollo’s place, and the greedy bastard would keep her there for a bit. But that meant Apollo’s bodyguards as well, and whoever else was there who might fight back.

“We need something big,” said Synto. “As big as a house, if you can make it. I want something durable and obvious, something that will shrug off whatever blows come its way. Can you do that?”

Mykos eyed the Bestia and shuddered. Although Synto couldn’t see his son’s face, the boy’s need for approval told him everything he needed to know. A second later, he replaced both orbs of Bestia and tried the feel of each one until he found one he liked. Three, then five more joined it after a couple of minutes of feeling them out.

Synto didn’t say anything, trusting the Divinity to do the work for them. It may have been chance and foolishness that led to the boy consuming the Acolyte of the Maw’s power, but now it was theirs to exploit.

“I think I have it,” he said a few minutes later. “But…If it’s going to be big, then what about the city’s guards and mercenaries?”

“It’s going to be a smash and grab,” Synto replied. He finished off the last of his pita and washed it down with a big gulp of wine. “You make the creature, send it after her. And in the chaos, we take her Divinity and run away before anyone has a chance to stop us. From the moment we attack, we’ll have maybe fifteen minutes before someone shows up. The stronger your creature, the better chance we have. Are you sure you’re ready?”

Mykos nodded. Synto motioned for him to get on with it, and the boy did so. Six orbs of Bestia waited in his lap. With a trembling hand, he popped the gray orb into his mouth. Like last time, he didn’t ascend the way others would. Instead, he popped another one in and shuddered. A third one and the boy gagged.

“Is something wrong?” Synto asked. “Did I ask too much of you?”

His son winced and shook his head vehemently. “No, no. I’m okay. It’s…weird. I don’t know how to describe how it feels, but it’s like being too full, and wanting to puke. Even right now, I want to push it out…” Mykos swallowed hard.

“Then hurry with the other three, and let our beastie out!” Synto snapped.

He jumped to it and swallowed the other three, back to back to back. Once the last one was down, his entire body convulsed. Synto took a couple steps back, and then a few more when Mykos’ stomach bulged obscenely. He didn’t have time to shed the cloak before the creature tore through his flesh and clothes and hit the ground with a wet plop.

It was a slimy gray and green lump at first, the size of a dog. It swiftly grew to the size of a horse, unfolding and stretching, and it wasn’t done yet. Alarmed, Synto dashed ahead. He scooped up Mykos and put more distance as the creature rose to ten, fifteen, twenty feet tall, and nearly again as long. Huge, curved tusks jutted out seven feet. Between them was a long, snakelike appendage with a spiked ball at the end. It stood on four huge hooves, and had the same glowing green eyes Mykos now possessed.

“Well,” Synto wetted his lips. “That’ll definitely do the trick. You still alive?”

Mykos groaned and nodded. His body had already begun to knit back together. The gaping hole in his stomach sealed, without any blood being spilled.

“Good.” He set Mykos down on unsteady legs. The behemoth the boy summoned was too big for the alleyway. At full size, it scraped up against the buildings on either side of it. “Tell it to go after Adriana. And then get ready to fight, because this will not go unnoticed for too long.”

Synto’s heart picked up the pace. He didn’t get nervous, exactly, but the excitement of closing in on his prey was sweeter than any wine he’d ever drink. With a dark laugh, he said, “Have it break everything in our path. So big, so loud, so destructive that no one will notice us.”

“Not even him?” Mykos pointed at the beggar, who cowered on the ground.

Synto pulled his cudgel out. “Not even him. Get moving.”