Chereads / The Mitigate / Chapter 12 - Chapter 12

Chapter 12 - Chapter 12

The woman stared at us with the darkest look I had ever seen. My brain couldn't even comprehend all the finesse that was going on here. I mean she showed up here, in nothing but that helmet with her hoo-ha in full view....and I wasn't exactly hating it. She had the most bad-bitch energy I had ever seen in someone----must be that bomb as fuck helmet. Man, Imma have to get me one of those.

"Hi. Eris." I gulped and actively avoided looking at her nipples. "Um. I don't...mean to be rude buutt....."

She looked at me but said nothing. I blinked and suddenly she was standing on the shore behind Asshole, gusts of wind blowing her hair every direction across her face---but she didn't move. Nor did she blink. Cautiously, I retraced my steps back towards the water, ignoring Asshole as I walked past him. 

Huh. Kinda weird that we weren't exactly getting that Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs weather over here....but whatever.

I cleared my throat. "Do you----" 

She took a step forward and her booby bounced in my peripheral vision. Uh....what was she doing? If felt like she was about to knock my ass out.

She vanished and suddenly appeared right in front of me again. I screamed and jumped back.

"Speak, human."

I blinked and stared down at her belly button. She was more than a head taller than me----meaning that my eye line was directly at her chest. Ok. Take a deep breath. It's ok, it's ok. I cleared my throat and shot my head up so fast it gave me whiplash, looking her directly in the eye. "Do you know how we....?"

How we got here? If our captors were on the island? Where was here? How we could get any weapons? I wasn't sure which one to ask.

She looked down at me, completely unfazed. "In exchange for a blood oath."

Asshol---I mean----Alexander, who was silent up until now, cleared his throat, "What will we pledge to, dear goddess?"

I blinked and turned to him. What....the actual fuck. I know this dude is not actually considering doing a blood oath with a random magical, nakedly woman. And to top it off, he said we. Huh, it's 'we' when it's convenient for now, isn't it?

She turned to look at him. I blinked, expecting her to smile, but she never did. "To ensure that Hellenia is victorious."

With that, the look in Alexander's eyes changed. Oh he liked that. I blinked sarcasticly. Well okay...good for Hellenia. But I haven't eaten since the day before yesterday. My blood sugar low and I might have kids in the distant future----you wouldn't take blood from a pregnant lady now would you? "Um. Will I be able to go home?"

Eris didn't glance away from Alexander as her lip slowly rose up into a sneered. Yeah, I kinda got the feeling she didn't like me, but damn. "When this war ends, you will. When we are victorious."

War? Heh. She was kidding, right? I'm not going to no war. Blood sugar, remember?

A small dagger suddenly appeared in her hand and she turned to me----to make sure I was looking, I guess-----and pushed her hair aside to reveal a brown, perky nipple....before slitting a line right into her booby. I winced as blood gushed onto the the sand, the moonlight making the blood have a mystical glint to it....or was it the fact that she was...a goddess? Maybe both.

She curled her hand and the liquid rose into the air, hovering in front of us.

I cleared my throat, the blood floating in the air making me a bit uneasy. "Okay. Do we have to cut exactly on the boob----?"

And then with one flick of her fingers, the blood flew right into my mouth before I could say anything else. I stood there for a moment, shocked, as the tangy metallic liquid stayed unmoving in the back of my throat. I could feel my gag reflex coming in as I tried to hold in my strong urge to heave.

Oh my god! I had blood in my mouth! I was gonna get AIDs I was gonna get Hepatitis B!

"Swallow, you heathen!"

I glanced at the woman and she stared me down. Almost as soon as she did that, the liquid began to burn. Wincing, I forced myself to let the thick, red substance to go down my throat----burning all the way to my stomach. I didn't know what she was going to do if I hadn't, she was probably going to magical me out of existance.

Eris appeared in front of me and gripped a hand over my throat. Cursing, I jolted as her fingers gave this fizzling feeling against my neck. "No man, nor beast shall best this----for she is my vessel."

I could barely focus on what she was saying as her fingers dug deeper into my throat---and the burning sensation grew worse. It felt like someone was slowly setting my neck on fire, or burning off my skin. Was she...was she trying to kill me?

I couldn't....I felt light-headed, I couldn't breathe!

"She shall bring terror to those who appose Hellenia!" She gripped my throat harder and turned to me. "A vessel. That is what you are. This is all you are. So shut it!"

Her words ecoed into the sky like the sound of a gunshot.

Shut it, shut it, shut it.....

I blinked as a brush of wind blew her hair into my face. I mean....it's not like I was going to say anything anyway. Damn, sis.

She almost smiled as she let go of my throat. I immediately bent over, heaving. "You now speak the native tongue."

Huh. Now that the oxygen was finally going to my brain, I never heard of a blood oath where you injest someones  body fluid----! Oh. Did this woman just choke me out and say I could speak another language??

Eris glanced at Alexander, the almost smile now gone. "I grant you what you always wanted....the ablility to see the truth. No friend or foe can escape you. You will unmask the lies of men."

Huh.

And nothing ceremonial happened when she said that. No blood swallowing, no titty slicing. No choking in agonizing pain as she burned the ABC's into you're fucking membrane! All he gets is a pat on the back and "here's the truth, little buddy"?! 

Fuck this dude!

Eris turned to glare at me and removed the helmet from off her head. She shoved it into my chest, nearly making me topple over. I gripped onto the edges as the feathers from the top of the headpiece tickled against my chin. Damn. She really hated me.

Alexander cleared his throat before I could say anything---not that I even wanted to, after she just choked me out. "And our passage home?"

Eris stared at him for a moment before raising her arm and curling her fingers to point behind her. My eyes widened as a slow wall of water rose-----at least twenty feet-----from the ocean behind her. The sky convulsed into a dark, angry cloud and a strong wind began pelting us with icy cold drops of rain. Eris raised a closed fist over her head and the wall of water arched towards us, drenching us with buckets of murky, blue-green liquid.

Um....so...we were going to swim home?

"If you survive this." She glanced at us both as a hint of amusement flashed through her eyes. "Remember you're quest."

And then she let the fist go.

The wave came crashing down, knocking me flat against the ground. Water filtered into my lungs and I felt myself trying to regurgitate it, but the water just kept coming in. It made my nose and throat burn like crazy, as I kept twisting in every direction through the water. I had no control over where the wave violently flung me. My chest was tightening up as my body struggled to find air.

But then my back landed on a hard area, as if the water had just tipped over and was like "bitch, you out". I turned to the side and water shot out my mouth and on to the marble floor. I felt dizzy and my mind was ringing. I caughed again and felt at my aching chest as I tried to sit up. I was laying in a shallow pool of water.

The helmet was lying by my head and when I turned it seemed to hiss a little.

What the fu.....

The ringing died down as a landfill of cries erupted all around me. None of them were using the same temp, but they were all simultaneous. I glanced down at the the water again. It was mixed with a slow, slithering trail of blood.

What the fuck!

I pushed myself up and glanced around me----bodies, bodies, twisted limb, face in water. Some of them were still alive, but they didn't look like they would be for long.

I was standing in a courtyard, and behind me was a tall building held up by two white pillars. On top of the pillars was a balcony. There was gallons of water rushing off of it and onto the courtyard underneath. But it looked to be a little too slanted though, like it might callapse and bring both the pillars down with it.

And there were people underneath it----some of them still alive. I caughed up some more water and stumbled over towards them.

"Hey! You gotta move!"

Most of them ignored me and continued to scream, the only silent ones being the dead.

"Hey!" I stepped forward and then stopped. If I took another step I would be under the balcony. "Hey! Come on, guys! Get up!"

Whimpering and weeping, a a figure slowly lifted her head from out the water near my feet. I couldn't tell what her face looked like cause it was caked with mud and blood, but by the bright blonde hair, I could tell it was the woman from before. The one that had screamed and dropped glass that was still painfully wedged inside the palm of my hand. Yeah. That one. I held out my other hand, asking for her to take it.

The balcony creaked over our heads and a large cracking sound echoed through out the courtyard. The screams became louder as the people behind the woman desperately tried to crawl away from the pillars.

"Come on!" I looked at the woman and  reached my hand out further. "You can trust me. I promise you can trust me."

She looked at me a moment before placing her hand in mine. Cursing, I pulled her up just as the balcony completely crumbled into itself and the screaming that came from underneath abruptly stopped. We just stared at it a moment as people continued to cry in the courtyard behind us.

That woman...Eris....did this.

A hand suddenly grabbed the woman's shoulder and I turned around. It was Alexander. I stared at him a moment, his thick, wavy ash-brown curls sticking to his forehead. He didn't say anything, and was holding the helmet.

I glanced at the woman again. She had wiped off most of the blood and dirt and her face was surprisingly untouched---except for a small cut on her chin.

Whoever this Eris Goddess was....we messed with the wrong one.