Jormungandr POV
I regret agreeing to the Elf's request.
It's just a quick trip, Jormungandr.
You won't have to fight, Jormungandr.
It'll be like a vacation, Jormungandr.
Why did I think I needed a vacation? I was in a good spot! Sure, I was getting annoyed a lot because some Asgardians wanted to meet the great World Serpent for themselves. But it was a far cry from being hated and hunted in the past.
There used to always be one fool who wanted to prove themselves by slaying the World Serpent. So simply wanted to meet me was….a nice change.
And now I'm cold, I'm bruised, and I'm being chased!
And I was used as a club!
The other Dragons are never going to let me forget this. I could have hidden it, but Ddraig has such a big mouth, he'll tell everyone.
"Is he going to be alright!?"
"Calm down, his life isn't in danger."
I moved quickly through this damn cold place, putting a lot of distance between us and whatever it was behind us.
Even I didn't want to deal with what was coming.
I did glance up on my head to see Ddraig's host passed out.
He seemed fine after the strange girl dropped the damn moon on a copy of the Great Welsh.
How!?
Why!?
Who uses the moon as a weapon!
Thankfully, it wasn't real in a sense. Things flickered back to reality, and I was no Magician, but even I could tell that it was all sorts of wrong. Like we were in a different world for a moment there. I thought I was going to die, but it seems like the weird girl could keep us out of harms away while everything exploded spectacularly.
And the fact that the moon, beyond being used as a bludgeoning tool, felt scary.
"What's wrong with him then?" She asked.
"He's hurt, obviously. His arms are a mess, some broken bones, ribs look bad. Some internal bleeding, bruising, cuts etc. But his life is far from danger. It just looks like all his stamina suddenly drained completely along with other energies in his body and he simply collapsed from the rebound." The God explained.
"Can you help him?" She looked worried.
"I'm a God of Medicine, not healing. I'm accelerating his natural healing abilities already with my Divine Power, but there's a limit of what I can do without tools or supplies. Even with my domain of Mercy, I can alleviate his symptoms slightly, but that's about it."
"Do you have anything!?"
"I didn't think I would need to, considering the Youkai were thoroughly stocked. But someone decided to teleport me into the middle of this place far away from the medical supplies." I could feel his glare.
"…..sorry." She looked down.
"Actions have consequences, lass." I glanced up and saw his expression soften slightly.
"I'll take the blame too; I shouldn't have let her talk me into this." The floating toy agreed. "The Old Man is going to be pissed."
"Hmph."
"But why not use Wilhelm's stuff, I doubt he'd mind, especially if it's used to help him." The talking toy asked.
"I know he had a storage space filled with stuff, but I'm far from a God of Magic, I can't exactly break into it."
"Haah….and I can't use very much magic without a proper Magus to wield me." The toy replied.
"Oh, inside that space he has? I can get inside." The strange girl raised her hand. "What do you need?"
Folen perked up. "Do you see any red potions? Actually, just grab anything that looks like it could be medicine."
She reached forward and her hand disappeared from view as the space rippled around her, then suddenly hundreds of things fell onto my head around them.
"….well okay then." Folen blinked. "I didn't expect this much."
"Do you need more, he as a lot more stuff in there." She reached inside and pulled out…
"Is that a Troll's head?" Folen furrowed his brow.
She shrugged. "It smells weird." She threw it back inside. "Oh, what's this?"
A bright light shined out.
"Odin's beard, don't suddenly take something like that out!"
"That's the True Longinus." I informed them. "Please don't play with that on my head." Even I felt danger from that weapon."
"Oh, that's weird. There's something inside of it, like a presence….." She held it up to her ear. "Hi, I'm Arcueid Brunestud."
The Spear seemed to vibrate in her hand.
"Okay, sorry." She put it back away and took something else out. "Why does he have a bunch of girl's underwear in there?" She held up a very skimpy piece of fabric. "And why is it so small?"
"Ask your Grandfather later." The Toy wand seemed to skillfully avoid that question.
It was obvious she was….child-like. I barely needed to interact with her much to be able to understand that.
"This is enough, stop messing with the Brat's stuff." Folen slapped her hand before he started uncorking various things onto his hands and pressing them to Ddraig's host.
The girl atleast went quiet as she pulled up her legs next to him and watched.
"Old Man, you're really impressive." The Wand spoke.
Steam was literally rising off the body of Ddraig's host.
"I was the best doctor in the Nine Realms before I became a god. Now, I can cheat." He said proudly. "You said that you can use some magic, can you analyze this stuff? I don't recognize half of it."
"Analyze? I can do a basic scan, what do you need?"
"I need something to replenish his stamina, there's too much for me to go through individually to find what I need. I'd rather not take too long to get him back up on his feet."
"This red fruit here. And that big Green Potion, that's good stuff." It floated to a strange looking fruit and a potion laying next to it. "Oh, and this….is it wine? Yeah, give him a sip of this wine, that should help."
He uncorked the wine and took a whiff. "That's impressive." He poured a few drops into the mouth of the young host. "Hmm, this fruit." Folen's eyes glowed. "What in the Hell? This is almost pure life force." He barely even took pause before breaking it up into small pieces and pushing it down the boy's throat, coaxing him to swallow.
I suddenly stopped as I looked into the distance.
"Did you all feel that?" I asked.
The Strange girl scrunched her brow. "Something just came into the world, and it's being rejected."
"….what does that mean?" Folen asked.
"Something that shouldn't exist. It's facing rejection." She said cryptically again. "A True Daemon?"
"Arc, are you sure?" The Wand flew up into her face.
"No, it's weird. It feels kind of similar, but it's different. Like the First, an artificial Daemon? It's going to appear, someone is going to give it a name and bind it to the world."
"Right, we should leave." The Wand said with some urgency.
"I have no idea what she's talking about, but I still think that's a great idea. Jormungandr, the brat said the bright light – something about a lighthouse?" Folen pointed far into the distance where a bright light reached the sky, even through the blizzard around us, it was visible.
"With pleasure." I moved as fast as I could towards it.
It wasn't that far away, but there was something scary behind us and I wanted to get away as far as I could.
I didn't have as good a danger sense as Yu-Long, but there's a reason I survived so long! I'm the only Dragon King that's never experienced death once even if it was a close shave by Surtr!
As we got closer, I realized how big the thing was.
I couldn't even see the light that ended, it pierced the blizzard completely, and the source of it was a large golden building that didn't look like it belonged in this place.
"Oh, a human!" The strange girl pat the top of my head excitedly, jumping down as we all turned to look at where she was talking.
There was a human, sitting on a chair, no snow around him in the slightest. In fact, the temperature around here was much warmer.
He was old for a human, white hair, frail body, I didn't sense any danger from him. Truthfully, I could probably kill him by just released my aura in his presence.
"Hey Old Man, why are you in this place? Humans shouldn't be here." She got really close to him.
The old human was whittling away on a piece of wood, barely even paying us any attention.
He slowly stopped, his movements displaying his old age. "I got lost once upon a time." Though, he took glances at Ddraig's Host atop my head.
"That's not good." The Strange girl frowned. "Hey Mister Snake, let's take him home. Humans shouldn't be here."
I was surprised she even cared. She was clearly not human, and I wouldn't care about some random human.
"I'm afraid I don't have a home anymore, young miss." The old human stood up, his body wobbling from the strain. He looked far behind us as if his gaze could pierce the snowstorm. "But you all should leave."
"Why don't you have a home anymore?" She ignored what he said, squatting down with the tone that a child asks an adult with. "There are still plenty of humans outside."
It was very strange.
To see a being with such power, yet such naivety and innocence.
"Home is where the heart is young miss. My heart died with my sister." He offered a sad smile under his long beard.
"What happened to your sister?" She asked once more with the grace of a child ignoring social etiquette.
"She was taken." He said with clear venom in his tone. "I devoted my life to revenge, chasing after the bastards responsible until I ended here." His fists clenched until he let out a sigh. "What am I saying? This old man is rambling in his old age." He looked at her. "Maybe it's because you have that same look of hers. I don't remember much; she had shining gold hair just like yours and such a kind and innocent smile. Sometimes when my mind returns, I think I can almost remember exactly how she used to look."
He reached out and lightly pat the strange girl's head.
"You shouldn't stay here and listen to me ramble." He held up a shaking hand towards Ddraig's host. "That one was kind before, you don't need to pay a crossing fee. Take him and enter the ocean. Something is happening and it's getting closer."
We all turned to look, and I could feel the vibrations in the ground.
Something large and powerful was coming.
Even with my eyesight, I could only see its outline in the shadows of the snowstorm.
Along with two glowing eyes. Wait, there were more, many – many more.
Maybe if I was full strength….but I'm not really in a good spot to fight anything overly strong right now.
I wasn't the first to react, it was the strange girl.
She grabbed the old man rather gently just before something shot through the blizzard and part of the weird structure was destroyed.
"Jormungandr, get us out of here!" Folen finally shouted.
The Strange girl and the old man were on my head, I jumped into the beam of light and felt the world twist around us.
@***@
Wilhelm POV
I felt salty air hit my face and pushed myself up realizing I was laying on my back. The splashing of waves was clear to my ears even as I nearly fell over from the sudden movement.
I felt groggy, like I had just been on a month-long bender.
"You're finally up."
I looked towards the source and saw Folen sitting there. "What's going on?" I looked around and we were surrounded by the ocean. "What happened, I was fine and then everything just went blank…?"
"You tell me, you suddenly fainted and startled everyone."
I put both hands on my head and let my jumbled brain settle down to think it through.
"Ah, I forcibly used more power from the Bow than what I should have. Not a physical backlash, but it significantly drained my stamina and what-not. In addition to practically having my Aura shattered and the beating I took, my body just collapsed once everything was over." I summarized after thinking it through.
Right, I made the mental note before to be careful with using Nidavellir and the Bow. I only recently theorized the completed form of it rather than just a rough outline. Using it to battle for the first time, it was very powerful, surprisingly so.
Unfortunately, my Helheim spell didn't perform as well as expected. Not that it wasn't what I had hoped, but that the opponent was just a poor choice. Oh, it certainly helped, it definitely accelerated the count down for the fake Ddraig, but a drawn-out fight was doomed to fail from the start.
The fact that it could just Boost ignoring its own damage was much deadlier than anticipated.
Well, I should have taken more caution regardless.
Opponents that ignore their own wellbeing seem to be the worst kind.
Besides that, the Bow certainly needs to be handled with more caution as well. I don't regret what I did, but having more knowledge on the consequences will be beneficial for the future.
I shouldn't be surprised that it knocked me on my ass like it did.
It's the primary weapon of a God in the same breath as Meridia. The fact that I could draw out more power from it than normal is already a feat worth praising.
Shit, I couldn't even pull the bowstring all the way back and my arms were destroyed in the process.
Speaking of…
"Did you heal me?" I looked at Folen.
"I did." He nodded. "Luckily, you gave me Medicine as a domain. I had to use stuff from your storage –" He pointed at my ring. " – but I can amplify healing objects and medicines with my new divine Power."
I was obviously still not fully recovered, but I was far from debilitated. Especially my arms, they were back to working condition, and while my chest still hurt from a few cracked ribs and what-not, It wasn't nearly as bad as it should have been without something impressive to heal me like Avalon.
Fascinating, I wonder what the scope of that entails? Would he be able to affect something like Avalon. Not directly, it's beyond reproach as a physical object, but in application…
Thoughts for later.
"Last thing I remember, Arcueid dropped the moon on fake Ddraig and I was about to explain everything and ask questions and here I am."
Arcueid dropped the Crimson Moon on fake Ddraig.
She dropped the fucking moon.
Thank Big G in my spear that she had the sense to not let us get caught up in everything. And the fact that it happened inside a Reality Marble means the world still exists afterwards as everything returns to 'normal'.
That's going to give me shivers for a long time.
"Folen, how did you end up with my cousin." I finally asked.
"Why don't you ask those two." He pointed to Arc and…
Was that Captain Hook!?
I was about to ask about that, but priorities!
Because Ruby was floating next to her, and she noticed my gaze because she immediately hid behind Arc.
"Ruby." I said very sternly. "Would you like to explain why you and Arc are here?"
"I'm not here!"
"Ruby, I can deactivate you with a verbal command." I reminded her.
"It wasn't my fault!"
"I highly doubt it." I rolled my eyes. This had her mischief all over it.
"It was me." Arcueid spoke up. "I forced her. I wanted to come and visit…."
I looked at Arcueid then at Ruby before letting out a sigh. I could believe that as well, Arcueid isn't one to think things through.
A simple though like, I wanted to visit could easily turn into this because she's very singularly focused when she gets a thought in her head.
And she's one of the few people that could actually 'force' Ruby.
"Captain." I greeted the Old man who was sitting at the edge of Jormungandr, which we were apparently riding as he swam through the sea.
He didn't answer me, nor even turn around but I knew he heard me.
"Why is he with us…?" I pointed at him, then looked at the others.
"I took him!" Arcueid smiled.
I rubbed the bridge of my nose.
Right, this has turned into a clusterfuck.
I am thankful for the assist back there, however. I don't believe I would have died, but Arc did save me ample effort when she dropped the damn moon on fake Ddraig.
I felt a tremor, as it seems Jormungandr hit something, I looked over the side as he slithered up to a sand bar and stop, nearly flopping over.
Quickly, I was about to grab Captain Hook before he could fall, but Arcueid beat me to it and helped him onto the sand bar.
Odd.
"I can't go anymore, I'm too tired." The Snake let out groan.
"….how long had you been swimming?" I asked.
The World Serpent looked at me and for some reason I felt a lot of pity. "Hours."
"You've had it hard."
"She used me as a club." He whined. "I, the majestic World Serpent, was used as a club to bludgeon people."
I looked at Arc and she looked away, pretending not to be guilty.
"None of the other Dragons are ever going to let me live this down."
"That's….not true." I tried to reassure him.
[No, he's right.] Ddraig chimed in. [Next opportunity I get, I'm going to tell everyone.]
"Ddraig actually thinks you were pretty cool back there." I forced a smile.
"That's a lie, the Great Welsh is a dick, everyone knows it."
[Not untrue.] Ddraig didn't deny.
"No, seriously, Ddraig really thinks you did good."
"…..really?" The World Serpent asked.
"Yup."
"He used to call me a dumb snake. He would taunt me, asking me why I was a Dragon King when I wasn't even a 'real' Dragon."
[He is a dumb snake.]
Dammit Ddraig.
[But I take back what I said about him not being a real Dragon. It was ballsy of him to attack Surtr like he did, I'm honestly impressed.]
"Ddraig says he recognizes you as a real dragon. He said, only a real and powerful dragon would dare to stand up to the Fire Giant King. Only a real dragon would rebel against destiny and fight against preordained fate. Ddraig said he greatly respects you for what you did." I told him.
[That's not at all what I said.]
However, Jormungandr seemed to regain some life in his eyes. "Great Welsh said something like that?"
[I did not.]
"He most certainly did. I back up my words with my pride as the Red Dragon Emperor." I gave him a thumbs up.
Ddraig, let him have this. He looks like he's been having a really bad past few days…
And we do kind of owe him for what happened back in Asgard.
Jormungandr smiled, as best as a snake could. "But I'm still too tired to move. I can't even bring out 30% of my full strength like I am right now because everything is going into healing my previous injuries. My stamina is pathetic too."
Well, fuck.
I could vaguely sense Sir Wiggles, and he was far away.
I took out the map I took off killing those goblins awhile ago that pointed to the island, and it was blank. It was easy to guess we were too far out of range from the established magics.
"Hey Folen, you didn't happen to see any Youkai after we entered the ocean, did you? Nurarihyon and some others should have been on my ship." I'm sure they're fine, but how much damage is the question.
"There was no one waiting when we came over." He shook his head.
Well, this is a shitty spot we've ended up in. I need to meet back up with the others, but now I have to babysit Arcueid.
And our ride is too tired.
"Did you say 'Youkai', lad?" Captain Hook turned to me.
"…I did?"
"I had a few of them come over from the side you did." He spoke calmy. "'Bout an army or two crossed over."
Did Yasaka and them catch up? That means they're already marching or rather sailing for the main territory of the Winter Court.
Nurarihyon must have met back up with them.
"Well, we either have to wait for a ship to pass by and commandeer, or for Jormungandr to recover." Speaking of, I realized I had something that could probably help. "Hey big snake, try eating a couple of these."
I toss two of the Red Fruits onto its tongue and he didn't even bother to say anything as they were pulled into his mouth.
It was as if he gained a burst of stamina and 'stood up'.
"Oh, that's nice." He hissed out.
"Consider it a thanks. How much swimming do you think you can do?"
"I'm going to need a few hundred of those if you want me to swim all the way back from where we came." He replied.
Right, no point then.
Should I just use my Magic and risk it? I didn't trust my calculations in this place where time and space could change on a whim.
"If you need a ship, I may have a solution." Captain hook raised his hand, looking my way. "It depends if he can swim just a little bit further."
"…..how far?" Jormungandr looked at him skeptically, and Captain hook gave a big grin.
"Hate." Jormungandr spit out. "I hate all of you. None of you are good people and I will never help any of you ever again." Jormungandr whined as he swam for another two hours per Captain Hook's instructions.
"Ddraig say's he admires you're – "
"Do you think I'm an idiot?" Jormungandr hissed, eyes tilting up towards me as I stood on his head.
"I was hoping."
Jormungandr grumbled. "I am owed a debt."
I relented. "I swear on my name, I recognize a debt owed." For this and the nonsense that Arcueid put him through. I wasn't playing around with this one, I made a promise, and if he called in my debt, I would answer without hesitation.
"Hmph, if Ddraig's host owes me a debt, it barely makes this whole trip worth it."
"We're almost there. It should be that cave cove up ahead if I remember." Captain Hook stood there with the wind whipping his hair back and didn't even stumble as he pointed forward on Jormungandr's head.
The World Serpent continued to grumble, but he shot forward.
He entered the cave, it was rather large, enough to accommodate his size.
Though he paused. "There's something here."
The waters inside the cave trembled as something large burst out ready to attack.
"Tick-Tock!" Captain Hook blurted out, causing the monster to stop abruptly and Jormungandr who was nearly ready to bite into it stopped as well.
There was a massive crocodile sitting there.
It was very intelligent by the look in its eyes, seemingly recognizing Captain hook immediately.
"My old friend." He had a few tears in his eyes. "You're still protecting this place after all these years…."
Not far away, I could see it. On the stone ground of the cave there was a ship, it had some decay to it, but it was mostly intact.
And specifically, there was a pirate's flag hanging down. The hook on it was a dead giveaway.
Captain Hook nearly jumped down before Arcueid gave him a hand and he almost stumbled as his feet touched the ground.
The massive crocodile that could probably eat the ship in a couple bites, looked towards him and rumbled like cat, purring as the old man put a hand on its snout.
I vaguely recall a crocodile in the story, it swallowed an alarm clock, which is how it had its name. In some iterations the crocodile is Captain Hook's archnemesis, in others, it's his companion.
It's obvious which is real in this case.
We all got off of Jormungandr as he finally shrunk down and coiled around Folen's neck in exhaustion.
We really did owe him a bit here.
It seemed like Captain Hook stood up straighter.
"Don't worry about Tick-Tock, he's a friend to the crew!" Captain Hook laughed. "Without him…..without him, the ship would have been stolen long ago. He's been here, protecting it faithfully for so long. A man with a turban sold him to me a long time ago! He claimed that Tick-Tock here was descended from….from something, I don't remember. From that place with pyramids, the name escapes me, he said something from there."
…..I do know of a certain mythological Crocodile from Egyptian Myths.
"It's in surprisingly good condition." I admired the boat since the big and most likely Divine-Descended crocodile made no motion of hostility.
Of course, the Jolly Roger is second to none!" He seemed excited, a far cry from the past few times I've seen him. "She will serve you well." He sighed. "Take good care of her."
He was handing his ship over without a second thought.
"I'm afraid that there's one problem."
"Something wrong with the ship?" Captain hook looked concerned.
"You see, I'm already a Captain. It would be the height of presumptuousness to assume the role of Captain on another man's ship."
"Ah?" He blinked.
"Not to mention, I know nothing of these waters. We need someone experienced, Captain." I took out a bottle of my Peach Wine and one of the Red Fruits.
Both of these were exceedingly rare materials, that I would hesitate to give out, but in this instance, I felt it was appropriate.
He seemed confused, as if he was operating on instinct, he took the jar of wine and popped it open, downing a big gulp.
His eyes widened and he grabbed the fruit, eating it very quickly.
His white hair didn't disappear, but perhaps he was standing a few inches taller, and his eyes were a bit less glossy.
"Tick-Tock. Do you remember what I told you? We have one last adventure. The only adventure we have left." He smiled. "For one last time, let's let these bastards fear the name of Captain Hook."
He looked around.
"Lad, you know your way around a ship. I need you to patch any holes."
"On it, captain." I nodded, taking my shirt off because this was going to be some dirty work.
"Little Lady, how is your sowing hand? The Sails need a touch up."
"I can do that….I think." Arcueid sounded excited, like it was a fun new thing for her.
"You, the elf." He pointed at Folen with eyes narrowed.
"Not a Fae." He made sure to say bluntly.
"Then you are welcome on my ship. How's your aim?"
"I don't miss." Folen snorted.
"Check the cannons, make sure they're primed."
Folen smiled lightly and flicked his hand up in the image of a salute.
It was as if he returned to the prime of his youth despite an elderly body and white hair. His hook ran through his mustache with a wide grin adorning his face.
"In an hour, I want the Jolly Roger ready to set sail!"
@***@
Non-Canon Omake: The Little Spider Part 4
Arachne traveled for several hours on the back of Mr. Blueberry.
If any humans saw her, they would have probably seen a young girl riding a bike or a horse, but Arachne was having a fun time.
Getting Mr. Blueberry for her already made this trip worth it. She even considered just heading home and bringing Mr. Blueberry with her, but since she was already here, she figured she'd set out to do what she came here originally for.
The trip perhaps would have been a bit quicker if they had taken major roads and such, but she didn't want to be bothered with traffic and humans.
While she was by no means like her Aunt Rin and disdained modern technology, she preferred the wilderness and tranquility that came away from civilization.
To an extent.
She was happy in Youkai Kyoto where things were much less noisy and invasive compared to the human world, while also having all the modern conveniences.
She enjoyed camping, hiking, or otherwise exploring remote locations and had no problem 'roughing it' for her goals.
But on the flip side, she would get onery if she couldn't take a warm shower after a week. Nor if she couldn't take breaks to laze about and just watch mindless television for awhile.
She had a few shows she desperately waited for each week.
That being said, this trip had taken its toll on Mr. Blueberry.
She noticed that he had slowed down a lot to the point where he found the shade of a tree near a small stream and laid.
"Are you tired, Mr. Blueberry?" She quickly got off less she make him uncomfortable and sat down next to him, moving his head to his lap as she rubbed his head. "It's okay, a take care of you now, you can rest."
"Moo~"
She was by no means upset by this 'break', in fact, she was proud of her Mr. Blueberry!
Giving it some thought, it was probably much harder for him to 'swim' on land like he had been doing for so long compared to being in the water.
It only further confirmed her original belief that he was the best pet.
Arachne looked up at the sun, estimating that it was about mid afternoon.
"Do ya want something ta eat, Mr. Blueberry?" She took out a handful of cookies. "….can you eat cookies? If not, a got some other stuff."
Barely the words left her mouth before Mr. Blueberry's mouth opened wide and snatched them out of her hand, munching on them happily.
She wasn't upset, simply smiled and continued to give him rubs on the head.
She took some more snacks out of her storage bracelet and nibbled on them while sharing with Mr. Blueberry until a bit longer passed and he eventually fell asleep on her lap.
Arachne didn't want to wake him up and decided that a small nap wasn't bad. She laid her head on his side and quickly fell asleep.
With a yawn, Arachne opened her eyes. The sun had moved a bit in the sky, and she realized it would be getting dark soon.
Mr. Blueberry woke up by her movements, looking a lot better as he wiggled free and swam around in a circle happily.
He began to nudged her expectantly.
"Are you hungry again?" She furrowed her brow. She did have more food, but most of that was admittedly….snacks. What 'real' food she did have, well, she liked to treat it as emergency provisions.
She gave it a thought and came to a decision. "It seems like ya can eat anything. We're close to the city, we can find something good to eat there. Whateva ya want, you can choose." She reassured him.
"Moo!"
She happily hopped back on Mr. Blueberry and set off again.
And she was right, mostly because she could smell the stench of the cities' pollution, but it didn't take long for them to reach the city limits.
Funnily enough, Mr. Blueberry didn't seem to mind the smell, or the crowds, or the noise. She questioned if he had been to human cities often, because he maneuvered around the crowds with his large body fairly easily and with obvious experience.
She didn't direct him, Mr. Blueberry looked like he was looking for something. Every so often, he would seemingly sniff the air – surprising that a fish creature could do so, but she didn't care to contradict – and he would then turn another direction and keep moving.
That was until they stopped out of a random restaurant that smelled good even to Arachne's less sensitive nose.
However, she had a feeling that this wasn't the reason he stopped here due to who walked out just as they arrived.
An Old man with one eye covered stood there, having just stepped outside. Half a sandwich was in his mouth, and he was mid bite as he stopped and stared at Arachne and Mr. Blueberry.
Slowly, he began to chew without any other sounds as the two sides stared at one another in silence.
"Moo~" Mr. Blueberry broke the silence, happily looking at the old man.
The Old Man looked at Mr. Blueberry strangely then at Arachne. "Greek?"
"Ya."
"Parent?"
"Some idiot."
"That doesn't narrow it down." He snorted. "But I could already guess."
He took a bite of his sandwich, his one eye looking at her closely. After a couple more bites, he tossed it to Mr. Blueberry who without hesitation opened his mouth and swallowed it down, letting out a happy noise.
Arachne blinked, looking at her pet as apparently they knew each other.
"You know what you got there?" He pointed at Mr. Blueberry.
"Mah pet." Arachne said. "His name is Mr. Blueberry."
The Old Man blinked once. "…..okay."
"Moo!"
Arachne nodded as Mr. Blueberry agreed.
"Do you know him?" Arachne asked.
"He comes to our part of the world every now and then. My son is fond of him and likes to challenge him to swim races." The Old Man shrugged. "Why do you have mastery of Runes?" His eye narrowed.
"Mom taught me." She said proudly.
"…..Your Greek Parent?" He asked in confusion because he could guess who the girl's 'mother' was.
"No, me mum! Not my Mother." Arachne said the latter with a more clinical detachment. As if it were just a statement of fact rather than any emotional ties.
The Old Man understood her now. "Her name?" He was curious because not many people inscribed the Old Runes onto their children's souls in an inheritance ritual.
"Scáthach." Arache proudly said once again.
The Old Man opened his mouth once then closed it. He decided to take out the second half of the sandwich from the container he was holding and take a bite of it, very slowly. "Not human. Who's your other parent?"
"Da's name is Wilhelm."
The Old Man ran through every figure he knew with that name and was coming up short. He was confused because he knew for certain that she had no human in her, which was strange for Greek Demigods. It was something he didn't even recognize at first glance, which was especially strange for him.
"Da is the son of Lucifer." She added, guessing what he wanted.
Once more, the Old Man opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out.
"….are you going to camp?" The Old Man was familiar with what the Greeks got up to.
"Ya."
"Alright, have fun." He chose to turn and walk away.
"Bye, Uncle Odin." She waved goodbye to him.
The God Odin nearly stumbled at being so bluntly called out, but he quickly made his presence scarce. He didn't know why she called him Uncle, he didn't know why she seemingly had his Blessing. He didn't know why he felt a familiar tug of his trusted Spear from her.
But he was a God of Wisdom, thus he made the wise decision to not get involved with this trainwreck and just watch from the side as the Greeks have to deal with it.
Though Arachne made the mental note to go visit Asgard at some point.
Her and Mr. Blueberry went off on their merry way.
@***@
It had gotten dark as Arachne looked up at the sky.
And it had started raining, a storm had descended, but she knew that it was unnatural. It didn't seem to be focused on her, so she didn't put much thought into it.
They weren't far away, she thought. She had a vague idea of where they were going and there was something strange further ahead, like a large Bounded Field.
She had cast a small spell to keep the rain off herself, and Mr. Blueberry seemed happy to have the extra water falling down.
However, something got her attention that diverted her thoughts away from the camp.
A large and intentional bolt of Lightning dropped from the sky.
The Camp wasn't going anywhere, she wanted to go see what was going on. Maybe she could find a good fight?
"Mr. Blueberry, let's go see what's happening." She lightly pat his head.
"Moo…" Mr. Blueberry looked hesitant.
"Don't worry, Mr. Blueberry, a said a would protect ya. A promise that no one will hurt ya." She reassured him.
She would literally kill anyone who attempted to harm him.
She came upon a strange scene.
A minotaur?
She recognized the monster immediately as it chased after a group of people. What looked like a mother, a son, and….a satyr?
She pursed her lips at the last one due to her previous encounter with a satyr.
But the mother broke off from the other two and tried to divert the attention of the monster away, however it managed to grab her.
Arachne felt a twinge in her heart and already decided to make a move.
However, she blinked as something else happened.
It was phased out of normal space, but someone reached out through the void to attempt to grab her.
Godly.
Her instincts told her that it wasn't a protective gesture and without a second thought, her spear was summoned and soared through the air.
On the other side, Hades, God of the Underworld, attempt to grab hold of the mortal woman.
He was sure that the son of hers was the one who stole something precious from him. The Monster currently grabbing her was originally sent by him to grab the boy, but taking his mom was good enough a bargaining tool to get back his precious treasure.
However, just as he was about to pull her to the Underworld to hold onto her as a hostage, a red light soared through the air right at him!
He pulled back for the briefest moments out of surprise and could clearly see a rather…peculiar spear nearly try and imaple him.
He traced it back to where it came from and saw a young….girl? A Demigod if he guessed correctly, but his eyes widened as she noted what was at her side.
Was that the Ophiotaurus!?
It was enough of a shock that the great god momentarily forgot himself and lost the opportunity to grab the mortal woman.
The Ancient Laws prohibit overt meddling in the affairs of mortals. Now that he had missed his chance, he couldn't justify acting twice to grab the same mortal under a watchful gaze.
With a furious scowl, he retreated back to the underworld.
The Minotaur, however, was completely oblivious as to what was happening, intending to squeeze the woman into a paste without a second thought as its main target was the delicious smelling Demigod boy it had been chasing.
But before he could flex his strength, like a rocket, a knee was smashed into its nose, sending the Minotaur up off its feet, its grip loosened, and it nearly did a flip before planting back onto the ground.
Arachne slid to a stop, catching the woman before she could hit the ground.
"W-what?" The older woman looked around confused.
"Are ya okay?" Arachne asked, impressed by the woman willing to sacrifice herself for the others.
Like her da, she had a soft spot for good parents.
"Y-yes?" The woman answered still confused.
"Mooo~" Mr. Blueberry swam up, nudging them both happily.
The woman just stood there as Arachne set her back on her feet, not sure what was going on all of the sudden. One moment, she thought she was going to die, the next, she was in the arms of a young girl with…..very pretty hair and eyes and now there was a fish with a bull's head nudging her playfully.
The Minotaur had recovered, filled with furry as it smelled the newcomer who had hurt it.
Another Demigod.
It felt like it would be eating well tonight.
Arachne didn't summon her spear back into her hand. She cracked her neck and held her hands up as the Minotaur stomped the ground menacingly before charging at them.
She didn't look back at the panicking woman, too focused on the monster with a growing feral grin on her face.
She ran at him at full speed and jumped up from her lower position, her elbow swung up under its jaw, nearly making the Minotaur's eyes roll back and stop its charge with a shockwave thundering through the surroundings.
Arachne followed up but gracefully landing back onto the ground and dropping low, swinging her leg out and swiping at its own legs, knocking it off balance.
A quick jab snuck at its kidney made saliva shoot out of the monster's mouth with a roar of pain.
It managed to recover, a testament to its fortitude as it tried to swing its fist at her haphazardly.
Arachne merely grinned as she danced around it and threw a palm at the side of its head and with quick speed, another palm at the opposite side of its head, dazing it as its brain became jumbled.
She released a flurry of punches into its abdomen, its tough hide indented with each blow.
She took her lessons in Pankration from her Uncle Achilles to heart. He always said, the primary goal was to take your opponent down through all means available. Obviously, it was a combat style meant for use without a weapon.
Bite your opponent's ear off if she could. Gouge their eyes out, Elbow them in the kidney, knee them in the face.
He was very explicit and even Aunt Atalanta agreed with his words!
Like her first attack on the Minotaur, she slammed her knee forward, but it wasn't his face this time.
The Minotaur let out a silent scream, clutching its groin and falling to the ground.
Thankfully, she didn't have to see the mess because the monster was wearing white underwear for some reason.
She decided it was wise not to question this.
Arachne raised her leg up and slammed it down on the back of the Minotaur's head, planting its face further into the dirt.
Lastly, she reached forward and grabbed the two horns of his and ripped them off.
She seemed to recall the legends that the Minotaur was originally killed with its own horns?
She quickly stabbed them into the Minotaur's head, pointy side down this time. The monster's suffering finally ended, and it turned to dust, leaving the two horns behind.
Arachne smiled at that; she knew that Monsters here turned to dust – for some reason. But she was happy that it left its horns! She couldn't wait to show her mom and da the prize she took from a legendary monster!
…even if it wasn't very strong.
She didn't need to mention that though.
She happily put them away as Mr. Blueberry mooed at her, swimming and nudging her in excitement.
"All done!" She brushed her hands clean with a smile as her Spear returned to her hand from where it had been thrown earlier.
The mortal woman stood there in shock, mouth open just staring at Arachne.
"Any more monsters ya need dead?" Arachne asked.
"…..no?"
"Aww." Arachne pouted, she barely even got started!
The woman had introduced herself to Arachne.
One, Sally Jackson.
A human woman who caught the attention of a God, a tale as literally old as humanity.
Arachne didn't care much about the backstory. But the boy from earlier was in fact her son, and the satyr was there to bring them to camp, so about what she expected when she first arrived.
They walked up over the hill where Arachne fought to see if they could find her son and the Satyr. She did tell them to run, presumedly to the camp, so it was a good chance they had already made it there.
After searching the nearby buildings, there was no sign of either, so Arachne just sand on an abandoned tractor nearby as Sally Jackson wandered around almost lost.
"He's probably gone already." She finally said, approaching Arachne again. "I suppose my job is…..done. I don't know if I would even be allowed to see him now."
Arachne blinked. "What crock of shite is that?"
"P-pardon?"
"If ya want to go see him, then we go see him. Yer his mum, of course you can see him." Arachne scoffed. "I'll take ya there."
Sally's eyes widened. "Are humans… allowed?" She whispered.
She didn't know much, but she didn't know that it was only a sanctuary for demigods from what her former lover said.
She was always under the assumption that she was basically giving her son up with the potential to never see him again. She didn't want that of course, but more than anything, she just wanted him to be safe.
It was a sacrifice she would willingly make in a heartbeat if it meant her son was safe from the kind of monster that…
Well, that this girl probably only a few years older than her son just beat the ever-loving crap out of.
Was that what her son was going to be able to do in a few years?
"Don't know." Arachne shrugged.
"You don't know?" She looked confused. "Didn't you come from there?"
"Nah, I was on my way there for the first time. Saw something happening, came to take a look." She said without much care. "A will take you there, no big deal."
Sally Jackson blinked because she was sure that this child was thoroughly trained…right?
Maybe she was just too ignorant about the happenings of what happened in the world.
Arachne didn't care about any of that nonsense though. She was his mom, and Arachne thought it stupid that a mom wasn't allowed to see her son, especially a very loving and sacrificial mom like Sally.
Therefore, she decided it was her goal to reunite them, at least for her to say goodbye and to make sure they both know the other is safe.
"Mr. Blueberry can carry both of us." She pat her pet's head and he mooed in agreement.
Sally Jackson looked at the now named Mr. Blueberry.
She didn't question it before but wasn't that a monster?
…or not.
She was finding out that she really didn't know much about anything. She decided not to ask one of the many questions she had. Like, why was his name Mr. Blueberry…?
She hesitantly mounted him similar to Arachne and found that it was actually somewhat pleasant as the strange creature started moving.
Sally had ridden horses before, and it was a lot smoother than that.
And she had thought she would have gotten wet as there seemed to be a bubble of water around the very noticeable fish monster, but she wasn't getting wet at all.
It didn't take long for them to reach the Bounded Field that Arachne discovered previously.
She put a hand on it when they got close and could make out some parameters of it. It seemed to allow Divinity and rejected anything else.
That made sense, to protect against both humans and monsters.
It was a nice barrier.
Oh well.
Her hand became enveloped with the Power of Destruction, and she rent a person-sized hole in the barrier.
Somewhat flippant in approach, but she was sure the barrier would mend itself rather quickly from what she discovered with just a cursory glance.
"Ma'am, this way." Arachne gestured.
Sally Jackson looked, she couldn't see the 'barrier' before, but now that it had been apparently torn open by some black flames the strange girl manifested, it was barely visible around the edges of the hole to her eyes.
She hesitantly stepped in to follow after the young girl who seemed to keep marching forward with a charismatic confidence.
The cow-fish thing was right next to her.
They didn't get in very far before rustling disturbed some of the foliage and a large figure jumped out with a haste.
"Who – Miss Jackson?"
"…Hello, Mr. Brunner." She greeted back.
Arachne just raised a discerning eyebrow as she inspected the centaur.
"….It's Chiron, actually." He coughed. "You don't seem surprised….clear sighted?"
"Yes." Sally answered pointedly.
He recalled the times he had interacted with her when playing the part of her son's teacher and hiding his true form as a Centaur.
"Ah….I should have known that. You did a good job of hiding it during the parent-teacher conferences…" Chiron then paused as if realizing the situation. "How did you get in here?"
"Um…"
"A let her in." Arachne said.
"And how did you let her in?" Chiron questioned.
"A opened a hole." Arache said nonchalantly.
Chiron's mouth gaped for a moment. "you…opened a hole?"
"Yes."
Chiron didn't know what to make of this girl. "Sally, what's…..can you explain what's going on? We just received Percy, and he passed out from exhaustion and Grover gave a summary of events, but they both seemed confident that you…died."
Sally looked at Arachne. "She saved me."
"A saw her with the monster, figured I would help." Arachne smiled. "The Minotaur wasn't very strong though."
Chiron blinked at her blunt words, filling in the blanks based on what he knew, but before he could question her next his eyes landed on the thing next to her.
"Is that the Ophiotaurus!?" He blurted out in shock.
"Moo~"
"His name is Mr. Blueberry." Arachne said firmly. "And don't you have any thoughts, I'll kill anyone who tries to hurt him." She warned.
Chiron was someone old, experienced. He had survived many ages, tutelage under the gods, and often was brought up to Olympus to meet the exalted figures.
And that being said, he was at this moment, bewildered and speechless.
Arachne though was happy!
Her uncle Achilles only had good things to say about his teacher. And even Aunt Atalanta and Aunt Medea only praised him as good, honorable, and skilled!
Chiron at this point realized with the apparent reveal of the Bane of Olympus that things were significantly beyond his pay grade.
Despite the many questions he had, he decided to let their esteemed Count Director handle things.
"Please…follow me then…I guess." He never had an uninvited Human enter the camp before, so there actually wasn't any real precedence on how to handle her.
Thankfully, they had more than enough room. And truthfully, he wasn't so cold hearted as to send her out, especially with her son thinking she's dead.
The lives of Demigods were tragic enough, at the very least, small acts of kindness were not beyond him.
Once they passed the tree line and the forestry area, it opened up to a large valley.
Arachne drank the sight in with her eyes. Despite it being dark with a storm looming overhead, her eyes could see it clearly.
They were standing at the precipice of a large cliff, and down below there were many buildings, obviously of Greek architecture from a glance. There was even a coliseum replica down there!
And at the side, was that a volcano?
She looked up and saw a Pegasus fly overhead.
"This way, the Camp Director is in the Big House. We'll give you a proper tour after meeting him."
Arachne nodded even if she wanted to immediately get to the fun bits, it was important to be polite in someone else's home.
The Big House he mentioned was the only house on this cliff, overlooking everything else.
A large, several story and old-looking house.
They walked right inside along with Mr. Blueberry to see a man sitting at a table, drinking a cup of coffee.
He stopped mid sip to look at us.
There was a beat of silence as he didn't speak.
Chiron cleared his throat. "Mr. D, this is….a new camper of ours." He gestured to Arachne, deducing she was a Demigod even if it wasn't said outwardly.
Not to mention, he recognized the color of her eyes, it was a rather dead giveaway 99.9% of the time.
"Why is there a human here?" Mr. D suddenly asked.
Arachne wasn't fooled by his 'normal' appearance. She knew a God when she saw one!
"….Her name is Sally Jackson, she's the mother of Percy whom I brought about an hour ago." Chiron explained.
The God didn't seem to really care, even if both Chiron and Sally swallowed nervously.
"You know the rules, they get a three-day pass, no more. I don't need pops breathing down my neck about showing any favoritism." He waved his hand flippantly. "If I see any humans here after three days, the lake is getting new dolphins."
Chiron didn't really get a word in to properly explain her presence, but wisely chose not to elaborate.
"Now." The god set down his mug with a strange gaze. He looked at Mr. Blueberry with a look of acknowledgement of its existence. He pointed at it as if he wanted to say something and then shook his head with a sigh. "And I'm already going to have a headache, and I don't even know your name yet, wonderful. I think this might be a new record." He was clearly referring to Arachne. He took his coffee up and took a sip of it.
"Mah name is Arachne Uathach Schweinorg." She introduced herself without reservation.
Mr. D – also known as the god Dionysus spit out his coffee as she said her name
Like Chiron, he wasn't stupid, he immediately noticed her eyes and the vast majority of demigods with that eye color belong to one specific goddess.
It took only a brief moment but the God of Madness started laughing.
@***@
A/N
If you want to read 10 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone
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We got 2 chapters ahead of the Arachne Omake, and one chapter ahead of the Cyclops snippet as well. Heading towards the next arc and a new world soon with the Fae War being over.