by James Hunter
And there was still one combat ability in the Path of Miracles I hadn’t accessed: Wrath. This was my chance to see what it could do. Again, this was a win/win. I could deal out substantial damage from a distance and keep my people—as well as my own ass—intact.
I put all ten points into Fortune, upping that attribute to twenty-seven. Bam.
My overall battle stats improved. Not by much, but every little bit helped.
If I would’ve poured it all into Strength, it would’ve allowed me to dish out another twenty-three points of Attack Damage, but that didn’t really seem all that much, not after I hacked through circlet boy with a couple thousand points.
I took my lone Ability Point and dropped it in Wrath.
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I THOUGHT ABOUT WHAT I could do with the chariot. I could blind my opponents with the sheer brightness of my sweet new ride. Then, when they finally got their sight back, they’d want to come after me. That’s when I’d used Wrath. In a sense, it was a lot like a Medusa power, but instead of stone, they’d take damage. I wondered how it would manifest itself. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to find out. Then I wondered if a secret enemy in my midst would be hurt. I couldn’t say for sure without trying it out, but I had a strong suspicion that they would be. I’d have to see how Persephone reacted once I used it.
Eventually, Myrina returned with my Battle Wardens and my Elementalists. Bambi tagged along, smiling and blushing in turns as she looked at me. Doris and Ianthe saluted—their bearing a bit more formal than the last time we’d spoken—and I saluted right back. Sophia appeared along with Persephone, who took her position at the front. The goddess had lost her normally bubbly demeanor, instead adopting the steely pose of a warrior ready to charge an enemy line.
The plan was solid. I’d go first in the chariot with Loxo clinging onto the back, and Asteria would skitter along the wall with us in spider form. Sophia would teleport here and there, staying close in case we needed her. We were the tip of the spear, ready to clear the way if anything big and nasty popped up in our way. Phoebe would follow shortly behind us in her mech, mopping up any trouble we somehow managed to miss.
Then Persephone would weave us a bridge of vines and roots and leaves, allowing for Myrina and the rest of the Wardens—the foot contingent—to follow. Sabra would bring up the rear, ready to patch up any of the plants that needed some emergency TLC. Well behind the main foot force would be Otrere, slowly carving a path through the waters Moses-style, allowing for the vehicles and our Beastiamancers to pass through unhindered. The clockwork piranhas were beyond vicious, true, but they couldn’t kill what they couldn’t touch.
It was a risky plan, but it was our only chance, and we were ready to take it.
With a single, shadowy horse clopping through the air on hooves of fire, Loxo and I entered the labyrinth with Phoebe behind us. Since Phoebe’s mech was made of bronze, the piranhas ignored the spidery legs swishing through the waters. Asteria scuttled across the ceiling, upside down, easily keeping pace with my slick new chariot. She was silent, and she didn’t message me. I worried about her, but there was nothing I could do for her at the moment.
The labyrinth was a gloomy place of long shadows and unsettling dark waters, but thanks to both the circlet and the Helios Chariot, we had plenty of light by which to navigate. Following the lines of Persephone’s old plant path was easy, and at every juncture I paused for a long beat, checking for the lines of old roots that the spring goddess had worked into the bricks. We wound deeper and deeper into the maze without a hitch, and aside from the piranhas, there didn’t seem to be any overt resistance.
Persephone lurked not far behind Phoebe, weaving plants from the walls and braiding the various lines into a leafy rope bridge that spanned the entire hallway. Myrina and other Battle Wardens clung to the goddess like a shadow, picking their way across the vines with supernatural speed and grace. Which was good, because the clockwork piranhas in the waters were hungry, tearing through the vines almost as quickly as my ’Zons could traverse them. The sheer number of the creatures loitering in the waters of the Submerged Labyrinth was dizzying. I thought there were millions of them. Could there be billions? It seemed so.
Or maybe they just kept up with us, trying to stop us from solving the maze and finding their creator. Assuming he was actually alive, of course.
Hold up, Phoebe sent. I’ve been spooling out the thread, just in case, and I just crossed a section. We might be fine, or we might be doubling back. Or your new girlfriend might be trying to get us lost. Then Otrere will run out of Exousía and all those Amazons and their cuddly animals will be chum. And if Persephone loses her green thumb, we’ll lose most of our army.
I turned around. “Persephone, is this the right way?”
She didn’t answer. Her face had grown skeletal, dripping with sweat, her rapidly thinning hair hanging down like diseased moss from a scalp pink with infected wounds. It was a vision of the hag I’d seen in the Mirror of True Reflection. This hag version of Persephone tried to speak but couldn’t. She stammered, white frothing from her lips, eyes rolling wildly. And then she simply toppled from the bridge, flopping into the water as her arms and legs spasmed like mad. The living walkway held behind her, but the piranhas leapt up, sawing through roots and vines with their razor-sharp bronze teeth ...
Myrina’s eyes flared wide as a section of vine bridge gave out beneath her and she fell into the river below.
The water around them boiled with clockwork piranhas, chewing, chewing, chewing.
It would be a miracle if the goddess and my Battle Warden survived.
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Minos Omega
WITHOUT A MOMENT’S pause, I snatched up my Sower’s Glass shield and stopped time. It was a once-per-day ability, which meant I wasn’t going to be able to use it in the fight against Necro Earl, but that didn’t matter, not really. Not if it meant saving Myrina. Besides, the Crystal Scythe allowed me two doses of Time Orb daily—an effect which let me create a time distortion, slowing all nearby enemies by 90% for thirty seconds—and I still had one round left, so I could always dick with my archenemy that way if push came to shove. And I had no doubt that push would come to shove.
Just to be safe, I activated Defender and leapt into the water, sinking through the mass of flesh-eating fish like a lead weight. Their bronze bodies clicked and clanged harmlessly off my metal skin.
I hit the bottom, some ten feet down, with a muffled thud. The water was crystal clear, but because of the murky gloom of the labyrinth, it was still tricky to see. Thankfully, the circlet on my head spread golden radiance through the water in an arc, making an impossible job merely difficult. I turned, water sloshing around me, as I searched for my downed Battle Warden. There. Floating in the current, limbs splayed out. I crouched low and sprang straight up, my powerful legs propelling me toward Myrina like a rocket. She was frozen along with the rest of the world, which gave me a moment to study her face as I flew toward her.
It was a mask of pain and anger.
The little saw-toothed monsters had swarmed her in force, tearing into her arms, legs, and stomach. Even after only a handful of seconds in the water, a crimson halo surrounded her.
I hit her hard, wrapping my arms around her center, and the momentum of my jump carried us to the surface. The moment my head broke the waterline, I hurled her straight up with mythic strength—aiming for the plant bridge suspended above the water.
Or, at least, that’s what I tried to do.
The minute she left my arms, she simply stopped, hanging awkwardly in the air, suspended in time once more. Blood congealed from hundreds of vicious wounds. I’d have to heal her quick or she’d bleed out. But I could deal with that in a moment—I still had one more person to save. I went splashing back into the water, sinking once more thanks to the weight of my metal skin. On the way down, I brushed several piranhas off Persephone. Back on the bottom, I shot upward again. This time, I put everythi
ng I had into the attempt. Snatching up Persephone, we exploded out of the water and hit Myrina, the three of us rolling onto the platform of vines.
The action must’ve constituted an attack, which broke the Sower’s Glass spell. All three of us bowled over Doris and Ianthe. We went sprawling across the vines and flowers—branches cracked and braids of foliage snapped under the sudden weight. As I was now an eight-foot-tall metal juggernaut, the plants weren’t going to hold me for long.
Quickly, I shut off Defender before I fell back into water, which was now boiling over with the deadly steampunk monsters. A fish jumped up, somehow clearing the path of foliage, and latched onto my hand. I flung it off with a contemptuous grunt. Persistent little buggers. Spinning, I used the Healing Touch miracle on Myrina and Persephone.
The magic closed Myrina’s wounds in an instant, flesh and muscle knitting itself together at a preternatural rate. She’d live. But our goddess? She remained a withered crone. Yes, her wrinkly flesh was whole again; she wasn’t bleeding—or even injured as far as I could tell—but she was weak. So incredibly weak. The latticework of plant life creaked and groaned as the vines and branches supporting us browned, dying slowly, leaves fluttering down into the churning waters below. More fish, encouraged by the fact that we were basically sitting ducks, leapt up to take bites out of the support vines anchoring us to the walls.
“Keep them off the vines!” I barked.
My Battle Wardens flung themselves into action, using swords and spears to keep the piranhas from gnawing through our makeshift bridge.
I took Persephone in my arms. “Come on, P. Talk to me. What the hell is going on here?”
She croaked out words, but I couldn’t understand them. Myrina had turned away and was using her sword to bash away a particularly large piranha intent of wriggling across the surface of the impromptu bridge. Even with all the Amazons working together, the lattice was sagging, growing ever smaller, threatening to break apart and drop us all into the deadly waters. I could slow time using the Crystal Scythe, but I really didn’t want to use my last Time Orb.
While Calla, our Fire-Witch, couldn’t do much, we had Aella with us. Mystical winds swept down from her fingers to blow piranhas off the vines. She was careful to only hit the fish and not the lattice. The fish couldn’t withstand the force of the gale-force blasts that roared from her fingers. However, there were just too many of the damn things. The entire vine-crafted structure lurched, dropping a foot, then two.
Phoebe moved over to me in her mech. I noticed that Loxo was clinging to the machine. Why the hell isn’t she in the chariot? I thought frantically, scanning the hectic battlefield until I spotted the gaudy gold vehicle descending into the drink. Idiot! Without my god powers to fuel the freaking thing, the fire stallion had vanished, and the vehicle had gone inert.
The sounds of iron swords striking bronze echoed through the tunnels. Loxo had to yell over the din. “Thanks for abandoning me, War God! You are lucky I am fast!”
Phoebe didn’t even bother with words. Jacob, I think I know what’s bothering our goddess here. It’s those pomegranate seeds. Legend has it that the seeds she ate while in the Underworld sapped her strength—preventing her from using the full force of her powers. Unless she goes back to the Underworld. In the old stories, she needs to constantly go back to the Underworld to recharge. That’s how Hades got her to stick around long-term. But if she’s been gone from the Underworld for too long, then chances are she’s running low on goddess mojo.
Yep. That sounds about right, I replied. And with the added stress of creating the bridge, the strain must’ve been too much. Any ideas about how to fix her before we all die horrific deaths?
Phoebe’s eyes went wide, and her shoulders went up. Don’t put that evil on me, Ricky Bobby. I fix things, not people.
Despite the terrible life-or-death scenario, I couldn’t help but offer her a small smile—I loved me some Talladega Nights.
The smile slipped as the piranhas continued their voracious assault on our tenuous walkway. Shit, I needed to think of something fast or we were all screwed. My mind whirled, the cogs in my skull turning a thousand miles a second, nervous sweat running down my face in rivulets. Wait a minute! God mojo. I wasn’t sure that her power operated the same way as mine, but there was a chance it did. And if she used Divine Essence to fuel her miracles, I might just be able to help her out after all. From a leather pouch at my belt, I pulled out a flask filled with a potion Sabra had made for me.
A concoction of emergency Divine Essence. Plus, Phoebe and Sabra had worked together to come up with the technology that powered the Necklace of Asclepius. And that too ran on stored Divine Essence—Essence I could tap into in a shitty situation.
I popped the bone cork on the Essence potion and pressed the flask to Persephone’s lips. She immediately grabbed it and downed the whole thing in one long pull. In an instant, her hair grew fuller, thicker, transforming into a mane of midnight against her creamy skin, porcelain-pale and flawless once more. Her lips were suddenly plump, her dark eyes shining with life and vitality. She filled out in my arms, skeletal frame giving way to healthy muscle, withered breasts expanding as I watched.
All around us, the beleaguered bridge grew new vines—flowers bloomed, their petals unfurling, new branches forced their roots into the walls, and verdant green leaves exploded to life.
She smiled up at me. “Thank you, War God. It seems I needed that very much. I’ve been fighting the power of the seeds for days now. Finally got to me. But I feel much better.”
I frowned. “How much farther?”
“Not much. Less than an hour. I can keep us out of the water for at least that long.” She stood, checked her sheaths, and was visibly relieved to see she hadn’t dropped her mother’s sickles. “And, yes, I did double back at one point, so that explains Phoebe’s thread. However, that means we are near the center of the maze.”
“Any new insight about what we might find there?” I asked, hoping the surge of new Divine Essence might’ve dislodged some memory.
“That ... Well, that I simply do not know.” Her forehead creased, her eyes going slightly out of focus. “I do not recall a battle. But I do remember fear, such fear in me, at the abominations that Daedalus had brought to life.”
But when did that happen? Recently?
Those were questions I just didn’t have time to answer.
Phoebe had managed to fish the chariot up out of the depths and drew it over with one of her bronze mech legs. Better move, Jacob. These fish are pissed something fierce, dude. Time to get the hell outta Dodge.
She wasn’t wrong. I stepped onto the gold platform, bringing the chariot to life with my very presence, and ignited the blazing horse again.
With a shout and the flick of golden reins, we were off. I led from the front, ready to clear the way—Loxo riding shotgun with me once more—while my Amazons hauled ass behind us, running full speed as the newly refreshed Persephone paved the way with a literal bed of roses. At a “T” intersection we went hard left, then shortly hooked right, following the trail of old roots the spring goddess had left behind during her initial escape. We never found ourselves at a dead end, and with a maze that big, there surely would be a ton of blind alleys and tricky turns.
After a rapid series of switchbacks, the hallway snaked left, and we suddenly found ourselves in a straightaway, maybe a quarter mile long. Persephone’s plants had been there, but the clockwork piranhas in the water had eaten them all. However, once Asteria saw the line, she took off, running across the tunnel walls as fast as her spidery legs would carry her. Something about how she moved made me think she was panicked.
I accessed the Helios Chariot in my gaming display and added three more horses. “Hold on, Loxo, we’re going to catch up with Asteria.”
The four conjured stallions snorted, flames erupting from their nostrils as they shook out blazing manes, then they took off at a full gallop. Loxo and I nearly went flying right out the back,
but we managed to hang on. It was a damned close thing, though. We streaked down the hallway—the chariot’s wheels tattooing trails of fire in the air—until we drew even with Asteria. Which, naturally, is when the tunnel branched. She went right, disappearing around the bend. I yanked on the reins and pulled us into the turn, but I was still getting used to the dynamics of the chariot. We went careening straight into the wall.
Thankfully, the indestructible moniker actually meant something.
Apollo had built his ride to take a licking and keep on ticking.
Dead ahead, we saw the steps that led up and out of the water. Holy shit, we’d made it. Well, almost made it. Unfortunately, several schools of the fishy, clockwork abominations lingered at the base of the steps. Asteria leapt off the wall, shifted into a big blue wolf, and went tearing up out of the stairwell faster than my eyes could follow. Apparently, she was highly motivated to get away from the sunken depths and their hidden horrors.
Loxo and I followed without a hitch.
We raced out of the labyrinth and onto a cobblestone road under a star-studded sky. A full moon—maybe a little too big to be real—hung low in the night air, casting silvered light across the landscape. In front of us, on a hill, was a rambling, haphazard city of walls, buildings, ramparts, and castles with a central domed structure perched at the top. The structure crowning the city wasn’t square or rectangular, like most of the temples we’d seen, but was round and ornate, with a spire jutting straight up like an accusatory finger. It was also at least a mile above us.
Okay, enormous city on a massive hill. Check. Big ol’ circular temple at the top, beneath a night sky ... without a single constellation I recognized. Check. This place definitely wasn’t on Earth—at least not any version of Earth I knew.
Concerned, I searched the horizon. Except, even that was jacked up. There was no horizon. Just walls. Well, sort of. We were inside an enormous dome—like the inside of an egg—but instead of normal walls, there were more labyrinth passageways, all running perpendicular to the ground. Shit. I could pick out the corridors, passageways, and dead-ends of the maze surrounding us on every side. And, oddest of all, those passages were also submerged in water. The glinting of stars above was actually just the light of the moon shimmering on the surface of the impossible waters suspended all around us.
