Chapter 59 - Beast By Design

Percy's POV

"Sooo, my lil' buddy is exploring a whole other world without me now? I remember when you wouldn't even leave my side back at the pack house" Thomas laughs, pulling me from Adam's grasp and into his own.

"You should know to ask when you borrow someone's property" Adam smugly comments

"I was here first, get in line" They both proceed to growl at each other like senseless children

"I think you both should be asking the 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺, what the 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘺 prefers" I try to fight my way out of Thomas' grasp but as usual, I'm unable to even nudge him. "You people need to stop bulking up like gorillas..." I breathe out in annoyance

"Hell yeah they do!" Yasmine rips me from his near choke hold of my head

"YOU'RE NO BETTER!" I scream at her attempt of nearly decapitating me from Thomas

"Hurry it up, we're not too far from the pack but that doesn't give us time to play around" Aeon calls out

"Can you chill out for just a moment!? We've been separated for so long, I understand your people are gone but ours are still here!" Adam shouts back out at him, the previous sounds of our feet pattering across the floor as we walked. Now silent as we observe the two.

Adam stuttering a bit once Aeon's eyes lock onto him "Hmm" he hums out, clearly distraught with the comment but continuing on as if it was never said

"Hey-" Adam tries to gain his attention back but he ignores him, "Hey!" He runs ahead of us to catch up with him, reaching out his arm to touch him but a strike of thunder between the two causes Adam to drop on the floor

"You want to kill my mate! Why wouldn't I be happy with your presence!?" He uncovers his face from his arm after being briefly blinded from the strike

"Adam it's-"

"It's not okay, I'm tired of walking around egg shells whenever I'm with him!"

"That doesn't give you the right to say something like that!" Yasmine yells at him, defending Aeon to his surprise

"As I said. Wasting our time. Let's go" Aeon calmly states, continuing to walk while Adam lifts himself up

"Our time..." I speak, questioning his chosen words...he isn't referring to it as my time anymore. "He has faith Adam, far more than when we first met. You didn't see him in the Underworld, his protectiveness over me and Athena. He isn't what you see him for" I try to explain to him

"Well until I see some of that myself, all I can see is a child eating beast..." He continues walking just behind Aeon with a deep frown plastered on his face

"Are we really defending the beast who's killed generations of you...? Over your own mate?" Yasmine asks once we gain a little distance between the two

"This time, I guess we are." Tensing my fist at the thought of picking someone else over Adam. But morally it felt like the right thing in the moment and I won't fault myself over that. I stare down at my wrist, the stoned bracelet clearly at its limit I feel my stomach sink in realisation once again. The uneasy sense that we won't make it, or rather 𝘐 won't make it.

-

"We have to go through...that!?" Yasmine erratically jumps at the sight of a tunnel carved through a mountain

"You scared?" Thomas smirks at her

"FUCK NO! LET'S GO!" She screams, running through the entrance and fading into the dark. Her echoed voice the only evidence that she's very much alive.

"I feel like...I've been here before" Aeon follows her

"So we're the only ones who don't want to run into the cave of possible death?" Thomas cries out

"No, just you. Let's go Adam!" I skip ahead of them, laughing once I look back to see both of them with their jaws dropped open in shock.

An eerie sense of silence falling on me, the deeper I get the more echoed my footsteps become. My sensitive ears ringing at the repeated taps across the floor that copy my own. 𝘛𝘢𝘱, 𝘵𝘢𝘱.

I slow my pace, looking back and not even being able to see the light from the entrance that I came from. 𝘛𝘢𝘱, 𝘵𝘢𝘱 it repeats once again.

Slowing even further I stare in bewilderment...I'm lost. In the dark. Our abnormal eyes that are built for the very night, now shunned for uselessness as they themselves welcome the darkness. 𝘛𝘢𝘱, 𝘵𝘢𝘱.

I stand still to take a moment in, "Breathe Percy...you didn't turn a single time, just keep going forward" I whimper to myself subtly. 𝘛𝘢𝘱, 𝘵𝘢𝘱. I hear it again, my only problem with it this time is that...I'm not the one walking.

"𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺", The echo repeats.

𝘛𝘢𝘱, 𝘵𝘢𝘱

"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵"

𝘛𝘢𝘱, 𝘵𝘢𝘱

"𝘉𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺" The echo seeming more like a voice of it's own

"You can stop now" I call out in annoyance

"𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘯𝘰𝘸" It repeats, "𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘯𝘰𝘸".

My heartbeat increasing as the darkness sinks in, closing my eyes or having them open. I can't see anything, are my eyes even open?

A chilling creep being sent through my spine as the words whisper against my neck like a cold breath..."𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱"

"Yeah nope" I blitz through the cave, uncaring at the sounds of my feet. Becoming alarmed once a giant source of flame shoots down the straight line, ducking and barely avoiding it I continue running. Another, another and one more. "CAN YOU STOP-" I cry as I hit against a hard surface...a wall? 'I did not just hit a wall, I'm stuck now. I hit a wall. I DIDN'T TURN!' I scream within the bounds of my own head to not hear those echoes again.

'You did in fact, not hit a wall' It pings back to me, I reach an arm out to examine the talking surface.

'And now you're groping me' It pings once again.

Turning it's figure to face me based off the sounds, I look up to see two eyes staring at me. Gold and Violet. "You're not about to tell me you can see perfectly fine" I cry to the gleaming eyed Aeon.

"While normally I would be able to with these eyes yes, it is not needed here. Thanks to your friend" He tilts his hand down, showing off a flame that's rubbed off from his fur. Flicking it off and pointing towards Yasmine's devilish face, two flames in either hand now showing the culprit from the earlier "attacks".

"I thought you guys needed some light! You're welcome!" She smiles widely, throwing one more past us which lights up the path we came down.

"YASMINE I KNOW THAT'S YOU!" An angered Thomas storms through, stomping in sync with Yasmine's giggles while trying to kick off the flames from this clothes.

"We all went down the same way...right?" Adam asks, appearing more confused than needed

"We did, I think?"

"Then how come Percy turned?" He stares as if trying to look through me

"What do you mean?"

"I used my gift to see you, you weren't aligned with the rest of us. And now suddenly you are?"

"What?"

"Everyone shhhh!" Yasmine hushes us, "Do you hear that?" She creeps further into the cave, keeping one hand lit and guiding us with the other while we follow her in silence.

-

"There was once a Hero, his armour dark as night but his heart as bright as light. His form was one of grace, a sense of death that keeps one in his wake. He was great, he was kind, he was man's beast." A young female voice speaks out lout

"Where is he!?" A child's voice responds to her

"Nobody knows but doesn't something bug you, Arthur?"

"Nooope!"

"A Hero to races but beast by design...does that sound right to you?"

"Nooope!"

"I need to start bringing someone with more brain cells don't I?"

"Nooope!"

"Bad wording from me, I'm bringing someone with more brain cells next time!"

"Nooope!"

"Arthur I worry for you sometimes" She sighs, placing something down that conks against stone. "Who's there!?" She picks it back up, staring at the tunnel that we're grouped in. The flames of her torch causing the shadows on the floor to dance in their own pattern.

"Hi, it's just us!" Yasmine goes out despite Adam trying to hold her back to remain hidden

"What are you doing in this tomb?"

"Tomb? One this big?"

"Observe." She throws up a lamp that hits a giant nest of wood, light revealing a statue of a man holding a sword. Accompanied by what seems to be a poor perception of a...wolf?

"Isn't that..." Yasmine goes onto to ponder, stopping to look back at Aeon but he isn't there anymore. "Um, anyone know where the feet thumping giant scampered off to?" She asks between us, but we're just as lost as her. Shrugging once we briefly help look but ultimately giving up.

"Is something wrong?" She calls out to us

"No, nothing. But we heard you talking about something, was that this person?" Adam curiously wants her to continue

"Ah yes! People with brains" She cheers before whispering the last part, "My name is Nimue, I come here to acknowledge this statue here. The secrets that it clearly holds is what interests me, let me read this out to you" She turns to blow off the dust from what looks like a marble engraved text.

"He broke the bounds of nature and committed a sin against the gods but we forgive him, as he freed us from them. Here lies, Oracion" She turns back to us, still smiling and showing off her pearl white teeth.

"But why a tomb?" - Thomas

"I mean what else is a tomb used for? He's dead"

"No...he's not" Thomas reveals to her, making us all grab his mouth in response but admittingly too late. A deep grumble sounding through the cave as if it's sighing in annoyance.

"What do you mean he's not dead!? How do you know this!? Did you know him!?" How could you possibly of known him!?" She bombards us with questions, making us all stutter with explanations like fish gasping for air.

"Nimmmmm I want to leave" The small boy next to her tugs on her clothes, saved by clueless the child.

"Fine, this is my brother by the way. His name is Arthur, do you care to come back with us? We have a village just on the outside of the cave" She happily welcomes us

"Yeah sure! We were jus-" Adam nudges me in the ribs, silencing me effectively as much as it hurt

"We'll be happy to accept that, thank you. We'll let you lead the way" Adam finishes the reply for me, rubbing my body after the immediate guilt swarms his body from harming me.

"Where are all your torches by the way? Don't tell me you didn't come through here without them!?" She ponders, making us all take a visible gulp

"You ask a lot of questions don't you?" Yasmine changes the subject

"I like knowledge, don't hate me for it!" She ignores her own questions, spinning after a salute then continuing off as we follow her

-

"You know it's said...that once our Hero disappeared, a beast returned almost as if in replacement of him. The people fought their hardest against him, hurling and swinging anything they could find. Each and every time he returned his posture was bigger...stronger. A gleaming eye of gold...and on that night a gleaming eye of violet." She looks down a little bit as if regretting her words

"That night?" Thomas questions

"That night...he killed them all, the village burnt to ashes and bodies left scattered like ornaments. But what I didn't understand...why return?" She strokes her little brother's head, encouraging him to speed up as he matches her pace with her. The cave once again making the same grumbling sound like it's responding to her.

Her words making us fall silent, we know the answers and the pieces that can help her. But we can't say it. "Well anyway! Here we are!" She skips the remaining steps out of the cave, pointing at the village and smiling again, "Stay as long as you like...once we get there" Her innocent laughter juxtaposing the previous topic she was just talking about.

As we leave the cave I turn my head to peer once more into the cave, his eyes staring back at me. 'I'll follow you all, don't worry'. He signals into my head, and by the looks of it all of us as we all turn to him.

"Something wrong?" Nimue tilts her head in confusion

"Not at all, let's get going" Yasmine cheers on, speeding up to catch up to her and giving a small smile