𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒 | privation; a state in which things that are essential for human well-being are scarce or lacking.
Esmerelda had suffered through some pretty awful summer vacations before like that one time she was nearly sacrificed to a world-end...
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▬▬▬ CHAPTER TEN ▬▬▬
ONCE ETHAN WAS CERTAIN ESMERELDA and Nico were gone, he did the smartest thing anyone in his position would do: he ran.
No seriously. He noped right out of there. At the broken state he was in, he doubted he could even fend off a fluffy sheep, so running away was his best option of survival.
He still ran the other way of course. He didn't want to lead Ephialtes, Otis, and the Nemean Lion towards Esmerelda and Nico (that would've been counterproductive to his first plan).
"Argh! He's running away! Get him!" He heard Ephialtes order.
He had their attention at least, but other than that he had no idea what else to do. He just kept sprinting along the edge of the River Cocytus. Behind him, the Nemean Lion was roaring. It sounded dangerously close to him, so he pumped his legs faster and hoped the thing wouldn't jump.
And then he saw it. To his left was the jagged black mountain range. Some were short—about the same height as a regular giant—while others were thousands of feet tall. Even better were the amount of bushes and trees that were scattered all over the range. A perfect place to hide.
He craned his neck. The giants were gaining on him, but the Nemean Lion was a lot closer.
He whipped it in the eye, making it flinch back in pain and skid to a stop. He used that chance to dart to the side where the mountain range was. He lashed his whip upwards to the closest tree above him and immediately kicked off the ground.
The whip was able to control it's length so when it decreased, he was zipping into the air like some protagonist in a secret agent movie. He had to cover his head and face with his other arm once he made it to the tree, little branches and leaves striking him. When he was done, he landed on a branch, and hid himself behind the tree.
Except... it wasn't actually a tree. The second his back made contact with the trunk, he immediately felt by a sharp sensation of pain trickling over his back.
What is this...?! He wondered, trying to push himself away but the angle he was standing at, he was stuck leaning against it. He turned his head around to stare at the trunk. Instead of seeing regular tree bark, he saw a prickly onyx black surface.
There were thorns attached to the tree. They were everywhere actually, some as small as micro needles. They must have been laced with poison too, because he could feel his back burning from where the thorns were digging into.
Of course. Of fucking course there wouldn't be normal trees around here. Just like there wouldn't be normal beaches, normal air, or normal water.
He bit the inside of his lip, trying to ignore the stinging pain and focus on the sounds he was hearing. Down below, he could hear the lion snarling to itself, and the twin giants' grumbling along with it. Their voices were pretty far away and muffled, but it was good enough for him to hear it.
