Chapter 2: Hunter
Adriana had seen a few ascensions in her time, and each one made her desperately want to experience it. When Mykos consumed the green light, he went dark for a second, before the same light shone out of his eyes and mouth. His back arched and body spasmed and a scream ripped through him. Then, all at once, the green light collapsed back in on him and he stood up taller than before.
There was no special glow or sign that he was different, after the ascension. Just the swagger of someone who became something more than human. Mykos blinked, looking around as if seeing the world for the first time. When he caught Adriana’s gaze, he smirked, silently taunting her with a motion of his hands.
Adriana struggled against her leader again, but Synto had enough and all but threw her to the ground. The bastard knew exactly where to push to trip her up and make her take her time getting back to her feet. Davos helped catch her, but he held on tight, knowing how likely she was to jump back in.
“What did you end up getting?” Synto asked, not paying Adriana any further mind.
When Mykos spoke again, there was a rawness to his voice, and it had more substance. It wasn’t deeper or louder, it was just…more. “Three percent Divinity. Not bad.” When claiming conquered Divinity, some was always lost. Chances were the Huntress had reached the first level of ascension before they killed her.
“What ability did you get? Will it help us hunt the warrior?” Synto pressed.
“I…It’s hard to say,” said Mykos, surprised at that. The abilities granted by Divinity were strange in how they manifested, some obvious to their users and others hidden for a while until brought to the surface. “I feel different. Like I’m looking for something and I can’t find it.”
Synto co*cked his head to the side, sharp eyes flashing with intuition. “Think of someone close to you. Someone far away.”
That did the trick. Mykos’ eyes unfocused and a wide smile spread across his face. “She’s…Far. Many days to the northeast. Three days swimming, then twenty days walking, or just over a week with good winds if we sailed.”
“The Mystery of Seeking,” Synto said.
“That was my power!” Adriana growled, drawing her sword. Davos groaned, knowing how this was going to play out. It was his own fault for turning on her, the bastard. “You had no right to give it to him. I have seniority, I had a better claim!”
Synto’s eyes glittered dangerously. He nodded at her weapon. “You sure you want to draw your blade on me, Adriana?”
His hand went on the club at his side. It wasn’t an impressive or well made weapon, but with his Mystery of Vulnerability and the first ascension strengthening him, it didn’t need to be. “You think this fight will go well for you? Three on one?”
Adriana looked around. Mykos pulled his own twin daggers, his preferred weapons. And of course there was Davos, supposedly her friend, who had a hand on his own sword but hadn’t drawn it yet. “Look, I don’t think it was meant as a direct insult, was it Synto?” Davos’ smooth, easygoing voice even now sounded like he was ready to laugh it all off.
“I don’t need to explain myself to you,” said Synto with a light sneer, “but in this case it was my Mystery. It told me to give it to Mykos. And as I trust my power more than I trust an uppity orphan with a death wish, I followed it. Think. This means you’ll get the Warmaster’s Divinity. You’ll likely get something more powerful, and then you’ll have a proper role in this gang. Either attack or put your weapon away.”
Every word he said just served to piss her off worse. She hated how condescending and dismissive was. More than that, Adriana hated how often he was right or had good reasons for his decisions. He was just a bastard about making plans and changing them at a moment’s notice.
“Why don’t you two loot the body and I’ll have a talk with Adriana?” Davos released the hilt of his sword and put his hand on Adriana’s, pushing it down. “Smooth things over for you.”
“See, that’s why I like you, Davos,” said Synto. “You’re reasonable. Talk some sense into your friend. Maybe remind her who’s in charge here. If she wants to gain any real power and not end up dead, she’ll fall in line.”
Mykos said nothing. He just mockingly bowed his head and turned his attention to the corpse of the Huntress at his feet, checking her for coins, weapons, and anything else. Adriana glared daggers at him until Davos put his arm around her shoulder and led her away down the road a ways.
He went until there was no chance of even Synto’s advanced senses hearing them. Davos launched into it immediately. “Are you out of your Godsdamned mind?”
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“Me? They’re screwing me over!” Adriana jabbed a finger in their direction. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t be pissed, Davos. And what the hell is wrong with you, taking their side?”
Davos tugged at his hair in frustration, groaning as he paced restlessly. The sun beat down even hotter on them now that it was in the later afternoon and well on its way to night. The chill would set in soon after dark, piercing and relentless. Maybe she could blame her bad mood on the weather.
“If they’re determined to work against you, there’s no telling what they’re willing to do to you to get you to cooperate or get out of the way,” Davos said patiently. “People like you are expendable, kid. Everyone and their brother wants a bit of Divinity to survive in the world. Most don’t get it and die trying. Play it safe, Adriana. Play it safe and you’ll get this power.”
His words made sense, and little by little the heat vented out her ears and left her relatively clear headed. “You don’t get it,” she said. “You’ve had your Divinity for years now, right? It’s part of you and how you live. You’re safe because of it.”
Davos snorted and stopped moving. He mopped sweat from his brow, streaking a bit of dust across his skin. “Mine is hardly impressive. I’m Light of Foot and can Gust. I’m not a great warrior, I’m not especially clever or powerful. I’m just fast and I know how to keep my head down until the time is right. I won’t let you get passed up for power again. I promise.” He crossed his fingers over his chest.
Adriana looked back in the direction of Synto and Mykos. They looked excited, and pulled out what looked like parchment from the pack around the Huntress’ shoulders.
“Fine,” she said. “But if they betray me again, we’re killing them and taking their Divinity and you’re helping me.”
“I absolutely do not want to do that,” said Davos, clapping his hands together. “But if it makes you feel better, sure. Will you play nice with the other kids now?”
“For now.”
They walked back over to the site of their battle, where Mykos held the parchment in his hands. Synto looked pleased enough to have temporarily forgotten their little standoff. The lanky, long-haired mercenary motioned for them to get closer.
“There’s a letter from our warrior prey to his Huntress friend. What it says doesn’t matter so much as what it means for us. Mykos can use this to track the warrior. How far away is he, Mykos?”
The teenager pointed off in the distance, roughly the way they had been going. It was up a mountain path, between two peaks overlooking the ocean. If Mykos could find him up in the forest or mountains, then…maybe all hope wasn’t lost.
“Lead the way, then,” said Adriana, inclining her head almost respectfully.
The way ended up being several miles through barely tamed wilderness. There was the path, sure, but plenty of trees grew over the trail and overgrown brush clawed at their clothes as they squeezed by. The sun beat down on them all, and they took a quick break for jerky and water. It was a chance to catch their breath two hours in, before continuing up to the peaks, where Mykos swore the warrior waited for them on the other side of the mountain.
They were almost at the top when Synto held up a hand and halted their progress. He motioned for quiet and tilted his head in that direction. “There’s fighting,” he said, eyes narrowing. “How far away are we now?”
“Just over a mile,” said Mykos, pointing again with a faraway look on his face. “Below us, so in the basin, I think.
“Is someone else after my Divinity?” Adriana demanded.
Synto waved her off. “It’s bigger than that. Much, much bigger. Get moving but be ready to fight or flee at a moment’s notice. Something isn’t right here.”
When they continued, Adriana knew they weren’t actually going any slower than before, but it felt like they tiptoed closer, knowing a fight awaited them on the other side of the peak. The sun went down just as they made it, and the rest of them heard the fighting too.
By unspoken agreement they all ran the rest of the way up, Davos immediately putting a huge gap between him and the others as his fleet feet covered more ground. He crested the top and stayed there. Even Adriana could hear his gasp from that far. She put on a burst of speed and pushed past Mykos and caught up to her friend.
Down in the basin, not too far from them, there was a fight, alright. It wasn’t just between men and monsters, demiGods and heroes. There, a hundred feet tall and radiating power and majesty, two Greater Gods warred. One of them had gold and red hair, tanned skin, and wore brilliant gilded armor over a pure white tunic. He wielded a great blazing blade the size of a warship. It was Hessius, the God of the sun.
And standing just in front of him was the Goddess everyone feared most. One of the original Gods, the titans. She was a gigantic pale woman with flowing black hair made of shadows covering her nude form. Her deep red eyes and lips glowed in the gloom, her only source of color. She seemed to have no arms or legs, and the darkness she carried with her everywhere hid whatever body she had left. Neryssa, the Maw of Chaos.
All throughout the valley were hundreds of figures. Heroes and Demigods, mercenaries and grunts, all of them fighting against a writhing mass of monsters. For wherever the Maw of Chaos went, she birthed monster after murderous monster and unleashed them on the land. Horrible creatures made of gnashing teeth and waving tentacles, creatures with multiple heads, and abominations of the dead stitched together.
Synto and Mykos joined them there and watched the carnage. Hessius swung his flaming sword down into what should’ve been the center of the Maw’s mass, but she writhed and jerked violently and was suddenly somewhere else. In her place was a great black spider with too many legs. Pointed mandibles wrapped around the blade and pushed the sun God back.
“What do we do now?” Davos asked, jaw dropped at the spectacle in front of them.
“There’s going to be a lot of dead bodies,” said Synto, smiling down at the scene. “I see some powerful people, and some terrible monsters. When all is said and done, we can clean up.”
“And what about the warrior?” Adriana asked sharply.
Synto’s smile grew. “I think there might be a hundred warriors down there. Maybe even enough to satisfy a greedy child like you.”
