Perseus the Hunter

Chapter 12

The camp was sombre, everyone was either nursing wounds or crying over the dead. They had all stayed at the makeshift camp for the moment, just in case there was a stray monster or scout. 

They had formed a small search party to look for the survivors. If there were any which was highly unlikely. Kynigós decided to stay behind and help those that he could, making his way through the cots and healing the major wounds. His energy was starting to deplete and he knew he couldn't keep going much longer. There were still so many wounded so he kept on going. The two goddesses were sat at the edge of the camp unable to help in any way other than to keep the fire alight and tell stories to those sat near them. Keeping morale up. 

Kynigós placed his hand over a young camper's leg. Her face scrunched up in pain as he reset and healed her knee. The sickening pop almost made him gag but he managed to keep a straight face. Her eyes met his and relief flooded through them, she thanked him and rubbed her knee with her hand, in shock that the pain was over so quickly. 

He stood up from her cot and black rimmed the edge of his vision, he went completely light headed and stumbled over his feet before meeting the floor quickly. He barely managed to get his hands out in time to catch his fall. He hadn't realised how much all of the healing had taken out of him. He was starting to feel the effects more and more after drinking that potion, he knew he shouldn't have done it. Sure he was technically a primordial now but he still had the body and stamina he had when he was human. That potion he took was given to him from a certain goddess in Tartarus, it enabled him to access his full energy in that moment but it had a catch, as does everything. It causes long term effects, slowly ebbing at his stamina and energy which meant he would get tired more quickly than he used to. His power itself was stunted if only slightly. The potion edged away at his life string fraying the edges, eating away at the immortality that he had recently acquired. He didn't realise quite how much until that moment. 

He blacked out for a few seconds. Which was enough time for the fates to show him his string. It pulsed golden but only slightly and there were a few frays making it thinner and thinner. He really didn't have much left. His life thread was hanging on by a thread. Ironic. 

He sighed as the world around him came back into view. The two goddesses were wearing their usual robes once again while helping him to his feet. 

"Come on," Hestia was wearing red, it suited her, matched her auburn hair and made her green eyes pop. Aphrodite was in all white, absolutely pristine, standing out not just in beauty. It looked like she had just gotten ready in the morning, not just taken part in a massacre. He shook his head at her inwardly rolling his eyes.

"Hey! I felt that!" she had a small smile on her face but her bright blue eyes betrayed her, they flashed with worry and a little bit of fear. Hestia chuckled beside him, she herself rolling her eyes. 

"What is going on? Are you okay? What happened? Why did you feint?" The questions fired at him, he just stood there not really knowing what to tell them. 

'I just got lightheaded, I'm fine.' His lie was smooth, no hesitation, no reason to doubt. But with everything that the goddesses had just learnt about their guardian they had their reasons to be skeptical. They helped him sit by one of the large campfires that had been set up on the edge of the little makeshift camp. His eyes skimmed over the survivors. Hardly any had made it out. There was a significant loss in numbers. His heart pulled when he remembered the little boy that died with the hunter. His face flashed before his eyes, he closed them tight and looked down. 

Even though he was now made of metal and had powers beyond belief, he wasn't able to stop this, to prevent this loss. He had to find a way to make sure that this would never be able to happen again. Especially now he didn't have that much longer left.