Prologue--Part One
Written by @LordZeus
Ray Patel
I mulled it over for a second before declaring, "No."
Ethan Nakamura visibly gritted his teeth from the back of his skeletal horse and scowled down at me. "This is the Minotaur's orders, based on enemy intel. He's senior captain of this invasion force and you know it, son of Hecate. Now, bring your forces to his aid!"
They were surrounded by several hundred monsters of various kinds, as well as the odd turncoat half-blood who like myself were in black armor. I could tell they were watching this confrontation uneasily, unsure who would come out on top.
I needed to make my authority clear.
I glared up at him, making the best use of my intentionally unsettling gaze before responding, "Don't forget, Nakamura, that my position comes from Lord Kronos himself. He trusted me above all others to lead this strike team through the Lincoln tunnel. I am prepared to do so."
I only needed to briefly read his mind to determine the clear winner. I could tell even with just a quick scan that he didn't really want to be there. Even with the differing status, he knew who was stronger between me and the Minotaur. And I did kind of terrify him, not that I blamed him for it. I was not just a mind reader after all, but the most powerful magic user of the century.
I took some minor pleasure in watching Ethan swallow uncomfortably and seeing a bead of sweat roll down his forehead.
He opened his mouth again, but before he could say anything, I channeled my power into my voice and said, "Leave," with as much force as I could muster.
Immediately, everyone around me reacted. The monsters around us all took an instinctive step back, even though they weren't the target. Ethan, meanwhile gulped as his horse whinnied and wheeled around before galloping off.
He didn't look too inclined to stop it.
Giving a wry smile of satisfaction, I turned to my troops. I said in a matter-of-fact way, "First section, with me. All others, wait for my signal. If anyone advances into the tunnel before that, I will kill you."
I snapped the dark coin off the cord around my neck and flipped it in the air. The moment I caught it, a katana and wakizashi of stygian iron appeared out of thin air, one in each hand.
I strode into the tunnel a few feet before realizing I wasn't being followed. I turned and looked at the myriad forces behind me with a mild glare, and the six empousai of the first section quickly stepped up behind me, bowing their heads in a pleasing deferential manner.
Mollified by their obedience, I decided killing any of them as a punishment for insubordination would reduce our ability to succeed. I guess I'll deal with them later, I thought before continuing into the Lincoln tunnel.
****
Three of the empousai led the way into the tunnel, as per my directive. The others stayed behind me.
The tunnel was dingy, the dark shapes of wires of some kind lined the walls. I could hear the faint squeaking of mice somewhere nearby. I didn't even want to consider the constant smell of ammonia.
What was worse was that the visibility was poor, with nothing but a few flickering tube lights to guide us as we advanced slowly.
Suddenly, I heard screeching and turned around to see three vines seemingly connected to the walls each grab a hissing empousa from behind me and yank them into the distance.
I tensed, turning around me watching for enemies. None were visible. The other empousai glanced around too, brandishing their fangs.
Then, one of them tensed and seemingly imploded into a pile of yellow dust as a short blonde hunter seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Clad in a robe of leaves, she brandished two shining knives and grinned at her enemies.
I hung back, watching her as the other two empousai rushed at her at once, before freezing and turning to dust themselves as arrows appeared in their heads. Two more hunters appeared behind the first, and they all turned to me.
Confident that all the hunters in my immediate vicinity were visible, I grinned at the knife and arrows flying towards me as I activated my guardian tendrils.
Immediately, a circle of bright glowing purple magic appeared around my feet, and eight ten-foot-long tentacle-like tendrils of pure purple magic emerged from it. Three of the four on the front side quickly moved to intercept the projectiles, slapping them to the ground.
I clenched the hilts of my swords, and began chanting in ancient greek. the blades began to glow purple. This was a gamble, but by scanning the minds of the Hunters in front of me I felt it would pay off.
The three Hunters shifted around me warily. Even without reading their minds, I could tell I had disconcerted them.
They were clearly a detachment from the main force, sent to take care of what had been thought to be no more than scouts. They felt their assumption validated by how easily six of the seven enemies had been dispatched.
But even without magical senses, they knew I was not a weak opponent.
So, they chose the cautious option. Two of them hung back, firing arrows at me while the short blonde one with a pixie cut charged at me with her knives.
I didn't even need to break my focus. Which was a good thing, because I would've had to start again if I had.
The arrows were easily knocked out of the air by two of my tendrils, and the melee Hunter had her hands full with two others.
At one point, a vine came at me from behind, but two of my tendrils were able to cut it to pieces.
I was getting closer. The chance of success just rose to 97% I thought with a certain smugness, as I continued to chant. The blades were almost too bright to look at now, and a thin current of magic had sprung up connecting them. So close…
The Hunters of course had also sensed that something was coming. Their wild instincts told them that they needed to do something now. I could tell they were a team, and had long worked together, so didn't even need to confer before choosing a strategy. Most opponents would have trouble with them.
The blonde Hunter charged straight at me before taking a big leap. She knocked away the first tentacle coming at her, then used another to bounce off of, leaping over me and landing somewhere in the dim light behind me.
I didn't have the time to look as the two other Hunters drew knives and pressed forward, requiring the full attention of my tendrils.
Less than ten seconds later, I took a step to the side as the blonde Hunter stabbed through the air where I had just been standing.
I slammed the hilt of one of my blades into her forehead, and she dropped like a rock. One of the others gave a yelp of surprise. I could easily sense that now, they were afraid.
Not a bad strategy…I mulled. If I hadn't been able to read minds, I knew I'd have been in trouble. They had read my behavior in battle well, and correctly guessed my tendrils couldn't block attacks I couldn't sense.
But, if they attack like that one at a time I can read their minds well enough to avoid it. If they all tried to do something similar at the same time, however, or if there were of them...I might've actually been in trouble. I thought.
I wouldn't have been able to scan the minds and adapt to the attack strategies of more than one person attempting an invisible attack at the same time.
However, it was too late for any of that. The end had come for the Hunters. I compressed my magic at the midpoint between my blades, all the magic I had stored up for two weeks, every single iota that I had had.
I had practiced this before and knew the chances of failure were infinitesimal at this point – but I couldn't help considering for a brief moment that it might not be enough. That my power would fail me and leave me unable to do anything...just like that time.
For just one instant, my head was crowded with painful memories, horrific images of people I cared about dying and myself unable to stop them. But then, my better senses regained control, and I repressed those memories, shoving them deep inside of me like I had hundreds of times. I will never be in that place again. I said to myself.
I focused again, compressing all that magic to rip a large hole in this plane, connecting the aether and the mortal plane for just long enough to bring something big in.
What appeared to be a weirdly fat cat the size of an elephant, made of purple flames with glowing white-hot eyes appeared in front of me. Its mouth looked almost drawn on like a comic, also of white-hot flames.
I grinned. The two hunters stared at it with horror. Even with their limited senses, they could tell it was a being of unimaginable power.
They quickly fired arrows at it, but those were consumed as the being seemed to turn into pure fire, growing in an instant till its formless body filled the entire tunnel. It screeched with glee and shot forward.
The Hunters didn't have the time to feel pain before they were consumed by the flames. It laughed raucously as it leapt forward, setting on fire everything if touched.
****
Less than a minute later, the beast returned, shrunk to the size of a cat and nuzzled me. I knew then the job was done.
Deep down, something didn't feel right about that, as I thought of all the hunters whose burnt corpses I would see as I went forward, not to mention the satyrs, animals and nymphs who were with them.
I had just displayed greater power than ever before, yet something was missing. Olivia's face flashed through my mind for a moment for some reason, but I quickly dismissed that thought.
Well, I maybe I'll find it when Kronos comes to power. Shouldn't be long now. I thought.
I then realized that the unconscious blonde hunter was still limp on the ground near my feet. I looked at her for a few seconds before something came over me
I'm not sure if it was sympathy, pity or something to do with that missing thing inside of me. But, I used a tendril to lift her unconscious body and put it against the wall. Then I tossed some powder from my pocket onto her, and her form shuddered for a second, as it if was glitching like in a video game, and disappeared.
I made her temporarily invisible, and kept her safe. I didn't understand myself, and clearly neither did Ara, the flame beast who looked at me in what seemed to be a questioning manner.
I just scratched its head and it seemed to be fine though. I dismissed it, and it disappeared with a spark.
At that point, I heard the tromping of hundreds of differently sized feet and I turned to see my entire battalion approaching, drawn my signal of the bright magical flames, visible even from the tunnel entrance
They kept their heads bowed as they approached, looking around with awe at the magical flames that were spotted around in various places, occasionally glancing at me with a mix of fear and respect.
Just the way I liked it. Wordlessly, I turned around and led them forward. We strode passed the dead and dying defenders of the Lincoln tunnel, occasionally stopping to put some person or animal out of its misery. The bodies were usually scorched beyond recognition.
Even the still living's features were disfigured. At one point, I had to stop and slit the throat of a wolf whose entire body had been rendered furless and covered in critical burns. I could only tell it had been a wolf from reading its mind.
I started to question my presence there by the end of it, but then the exit came into view and I was able to finally see the defenseless manhattan. My soldiers saw the same and began roaring, slamming blades on shields and cheering in triumph.
I raised my katana and put on a grin, shoving my negativity away. There is no place for regret in the pursuit of power I determined. I felt I was finally on the cusp of everything I ever wanted.
I yelled, "Forward!" I quickened my pace as we exited in the tunnel. I took some small pleasure in the fact that my prediction was correct as my forces poured into Manhattan, heading straight for the Empire State building.
Victory is certain...or, at least 99.98% certain I thought before refocusing, my smile fading, as I stared at the Empire State building. I couldn't wait to see it fall.
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