Monsters are real and Catia Delos lives to fight them.
After her father's tragic death when she was a child, Catia was sent away by her stepmother to the Guardians, a race of demigods who live to fight the monsters that threaten the world. To Catia...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Her heart raced in her chest as she ran through the forest, the fallen leaves and sticks crunching under her feet. Low-hanging branches whipped across her face, leaving a stinging pain behind. Despite her years of training, her breath puffed from her lungs in short gasps.
As she came into a clearing, she stopped suddenly, skidding to a stop on the forest debris. She took a moment to take in her surroundings. The clearing wasn't big, but it was more space than between the closely packed trees surrounding her.
"Heat signature 800 meters to your left and closing fast. Caution is advised." The cool, robotic voice of GAIA, Catia's artificial intelligence, spoke into the silence.
In one smooth motion, Catia flicked the silver ring off her finger and caught the bow as it expanded in her hands. With her enhanced hearing, the sounds of heavy footsteps crashed through the underbrush to Catia's right. But for now, it was still a little way away.
"Gods," Catia muttered under her breath. She needed to act fast, give herself more time. She pulled a knife from its sheath and sliced her palm, waiting for a few drops to coat the leaves on the pile of leaves at her feet. Monsters were always attracted to the scent of fresh blood.
Her hand stung, but she could already feel the wound starting to stitch itself back together. Even so, she couldn't risk leaving the wound open.
Using the knife, she sliced off a chunk of her shirt and wrapped it around the palm of her hand. The pain heightened briefly as she tied it off. After slipping the knife back into its sheath, she headed for the nearest tree, scaling until she rested on a low-hanging branch. It was just high enough that she had a good view of the small clearing below her.
Catia balanced the bow in her hands and casually sighted the ground. The tree wasn't the best of positions, but with that beast nearing with every second that passed, she wasn't taking any chances. The high ground and the blood she'd spilled on the ground would give her a few seconds advantage over the beast that tracked her through the woods.
"Distance?" Catia asked GAIA as she steadied her breathing. Her heart still pounded from the run and the effort to climb the tree. Under the haphazard bandaging, her wound pulsated with pain. But there wasn't anything she could do about it now.
"300."
With another deep breath, Catia pulled back the string on her bow. The arrow, made of pure aether, gleamed bright in the shade of the forest. She held her position, the arrow of light aimed towards the direction GAIA found the heat signature of the hellhound that was tracking her. She took a deep breath and steadied her grip.
"100."
For a moment, the world was utterly silent. Then, there was a sound of wild, pulsing footsteps as they rushed across the forest floor, snapping branches and leaves under massively large feet.
Catia waited, her breathing steady and even, her fingers brushing against the smooth, silver metal of her bow. Her back was pressed into the trunk of a tree, her feet carefully balanced on one of the larger branches. She didn't dare to move in case she would lose her balance and fall to the forest floor below.
