Helios shot toward the creature with his hammer held high, despite how it seemed he was not going to fight the creature because the female was going to be killed by it or anything of the sort, he wasn’t that heroic; no, the reason was far simpler, The creature before him, this vile abomination of darkness made him feel fear and he associated that feeling to that of weakness.

Something deep within him abhorred the thought of being weak, it caused him to want to demolish whatever caused him to feel fearful and right now the cause of his fear was before him, silently taunting him with its menacing stare.

Cold anger coursed through his veins as he twisted his body mid-air and lightly kicked the unconscious body of the woman out of the way before bringing his hammer down heavily.

The hammer passed through the aberration’s body and landed on the ground with a loud bang. The area which had been hit caved slightly and pieces of dirt and grass shot up into the air and collided against Helios’ skin.

Undeterred by his inability to hit the creature, Helios brought his hammer back up and tossed his hand to the side before bringing it back in a horizontal swing. Like the last time, the hammer passed through the creature’s body but luckily he did not put all his strength into the swing so he quickly pulled his hand back and leapt backward.

The creature remained fixed in place as it continued to silently stare at him with its emotionless eyes, Helios scoffed and tossed his hammer into the air with his right hand before catching it with his left; a small grin crawled onto his face.

“You just gonna float there all day?” He asked the shadowy creature to which replied with a low hissing that caused Helios to smile “Bring it on then smoky” he taunted. The hissing increased and darkness began to congregate around the creature and condensing on its form causing it to become more defined; a vague humanoid shape could be made out if one looked closely enough.

The creature moved, dashing towards Helios on all fours. The sound of muffled footsteps entered Helios’ sensitive ears as it advanced toward him. Helios winced as a familiar pain assaulted his mind but unlike the other times, it wasn’t mind numbing to the point of wanting to scream; just a pang and it was gone the next minute.

Helios leapt back as the shadowy being got closer, he inhaled deeply causing his chest to rise slowly. He held his breath until the creature got within range before expelling the air from his lungs; a torrent of wind assaulted the creature, causing it to stop in its tracks and the trees behind it to bend.

The creature was being pushed back; it screeched and hissed as it clawed and swiped at the air in front of it as if the attacks would reach Helios. A brief pause where Helios had to inhale again allowed the creature to catch its breath, metaphorically speaking, before it was assaulted again by the whipping winds.

Its feet slid back inch by inch, feet by feet until it could no longer keep itself centred. The shadows making up the creature’s body was being stripped piece by piece as the winds lashed at it. A hiss escaped the creature as its deep red eyes glared hatefully at Helios, the hiss turned into a long and loud screech as more and more mist was stripped from its form before it completely dispersed into the air and drifted off in the wind.

The winds died down slowly as Helios stopped exhaling and scanned the forest; his vision was no longer bathed in a blue tinge, it had receded during the battle which gave him back his previous spectrum of colours.

Helios’ arms fell at his sides as he exhaled carefully, now thoroughly conscious of his apparent super breath. His moment of relaxation was broken by a groan coming from Mariah; a light hop brought him closer to her as he slowly strode forward before crouching beside her.

Mariah’s eyes squeezed together tightly before fluttering open, a look of confusion spread across her face as her eyes remained locked onto a blade of grass swaying in the wind before realization hit her.

She struggled to sit up, seemingly unaware of Helios’s presence, he didn’t seem to mind however as he just continued to observe her. Mariah managed to sit up with some difficulty; her eyes were closed as she inhaled through clenched teeth.

“Having trouble there, princess?” Helios asked with a grin, Mariah’s eyes opened in shock at the sound of his voice. She stared at Helios confusedly for a second before his face finally registered in her memory “You still alive, old man?” she asked with a grimace as she clutched her side “Aren’t I breathing, young corpse?” he replied.

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Mariah looked down at herself and chuckled before wincing in pain, she did indeed look like a corpse what with her pale skin and cuts that littered her body, she sighed before attempting to stand up, for some reason her body was hurting more than she remembered.

Her legs wobbled as she struggled to stay standing, her chest rose and fell with each breath she took. A determined glint appeared in her eyes as she took a tentative step forward only to fall face first in the dirt, Helios looked on with an amused grin as she pushed herself back up with shaking arms.

“Need help, princess?” he asked with a playful grin spread across his face, Mariah turned her head to look at him and frowned when she saw his expression “No…thank you” she said through gritted teeth, Helios shrugged and rested his head on his hand as he watched her struggle to get up.

“This is just sad” he said with a sigh as Mariah fell for what seemed like the millionth time, he got to his feet and twisted his body from side to side causing a series of pops to resound from his body.

With a thought, he willed his hammer to revert into the form of a necklace and fastened it around his neck “See ya around, kid” he said as he gave a two finger wave to Mariah and began walking away into the forest.

“W-wait” he heard a quiet voice from behind him, barely above a whisper. He paused and replied without turning around “Yes?” he asked in an even tone, Mariah bit her lip in hesitation but replied as soon as she saw Helios prepare to leave “I….I need your help” she managed to say.

Helios turned to face her ‘Well that much is obvious’ “I’m listening” he crossed his arms across his chest as his body rose slightly and began floating in place; a soft breeze caused his long coat and hair to rustle slightly.

Mariah inhaled shakily before she began speaking “I........need your help. There’s a town not too far from here, it’s owned by a bastard of a Lord who abuses the people by working them to the bone daily and takes away their food, leaving them with the bare minimum to survive……” she stopped speaking as her body began to tremble “He…….my father’s too old to work anymore........lord Centix said he had to be paid in some way......my father didn’t have a choice but to-” tears fell from her eyes as she lowered her head to the floor.

A moment of silence fell upon the two before Helios spoke “I expect fair compensation for the task” he stated plainly, his face and voice devoid of emotion.

Mariah looked up with a tearful smile on her face; she wiped her tears away with the back of her hands and shakily stood up. Helios hovered over to her and held out a hand; Mariah gratefully accepted it with a smile which quickly turned into a surprised yelp when he pulled her against his chest before they ascended into the air and above the treetops.

They continued to ascend before coming to a stop when they were able to see far into the distance; Mariah’s body was shaking as the cold wind whipped against her skin causing her to press her body closer to Helios’.

“Which direction is your town?” He asked in a level tone, drawing Mariah’s attention, she gazed upward and saw him looking down at her which caused her to blush in embarrassment.

She cleared her throat and looked around, her hand raised as she pointed to the south “Over there” she said shakily, Helios nodded “Hold on tight” he instructed before taking off in the direction Mariah pointed all the while she screamed in his arms.

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Mariah got accustomed to flying after several minutes, meaning she stopped screaming but she refused to look down, it was almost as if it was physically impossible for her. A sly smirk lay on Helios’ lips; he found her actions amusing for someone who displayed so much bravado.

She had some skill in the spear she could boast about but not enough to be arrogant, then again who was he to judge? The only reason he had such confidence was because of his strength, take that away and what would he have left? Laser vision, apparent X-ray vision and incredible lung power, ok so maybe he could brag .

Helios didn’t let that get to his head though, without the knowledge on how to apply his gifts properly, they would be useless. He shook those thoughts from his mind, right now he had a job to do and it looked like it was about to begin.

He descended gradually as the town came into sight, landing on the road leading to the town gates, opting to walk the rest of the way.

Mariah quickly leapt out of his arms and collapsed to the floor, her eyes were wide and were glued to the ground while she whispered “I’m never doing that again” over and over again.

Were she not aware of how dirty the road was she would be kissing it repeatedly. Helios began walking toward the gate; leaving Mariah to weep in joy by her lonesome. It wasn’t until Helios walked a few steps away did she notice he had already gone ahead.

She limped after him as fast as she could; when she finally caught up to him she asked “How do you plan to get in?” Helios answered without looking at her “By asking” he replied followed by a shrug “Manners maketh man” he added.

Mariah felt her brain short-circuit at Helios’ unexpected answer, she stopped walking as her eye twitched “What the hell do you mean ‘By Asking’?!?! It doesn’t work like that!” she shouted loudly and grimaced as she felt a pang of pain in her rib.

“Who knows? Maybe it’ll work” Helios carried on walking, unperturbed by Mariah’s protests “I know, that’s who!! And it won’t work!” she yelled and grimaced, she was about to protest again but was halted as Helios turned to face her with an easy-going smile on his face “Just relax, It’ll work out” he assured her with a laugh before continuing his trek to the gate with his hands behind his back.

Mariah sighed and hobbled after him ‘Looks like I’ll be seeing you in the afterlife, Mom’ she wailed internally as she followed Helios while a series of scenarios of how this could go wrong played out in her head.