Protogenos

Chapter 13: Blasphemy

Chapter 13

Blasphemy

Fwwwwwuph! Fwwwuph! Hhhst fwwwuph!

Zoë's breath came in fast, sharp gasps, each inhale and exhale hitched as if summoning the onset of a violent downpour. The air felt thick, and a high-pitched ringing filled her ears, muting the world around her to a distant hum. Her hands trembled as she scrambled backward, her eyes wide and unblinking, fixed on the bronze blade that remained mercilessly impaled through Perseus's back.

"Perseus," she whispered, the name barely escaping her lips, more a breath than a word. Her mind struggled to piece together the scene unfolding before her to make sense of the brutal reality that seemed more like a nightmarish illusion.

Perseus's body suddenly slumped forward, his strength abandoning him, his form limp and seemingly lifeless. As his body hit the rough, dirt ground with a heavy thud, the sound brutally snapped Zoë back to reality, her hearing sharply returning as the echo of his fall reverberated through the chilling silence.

Questions raced through her mind, each one colliding with another in a chaotic whirlwind of fear and confusion. But before she could grasp any semblance of understanding, a series of chilling giggles cut through the tension, drawing her horrified gaze.

Hesitantly, her obsidian black eyes flicked toward where the human travelers had stood just moments ago. There they were, but not as they had been. Their mouths were stretched into grotesque grins, the kind of smile that twisted their features into something uncanny and otherworldly. As Zoë watched, their eyes slowly transitioned from almond brown to a glowing, dirt gold, the eerie light emanating from within hinting at their true nature.

The transformation was horrific. The once cream-colored skin of the travelers drained to a sickly gray, wispy smoke breaking from their pores as if their very essence was evaporating into the air. It reminded Zoë of the ghouls her sister Erytheia had once described in stories meant to terrify her during the long nights back in the Garden. The smoke swirled around them, thickening into a haze that painted them as beings pulled from the depths of a haunted tale.

"The Allmother will gift us with her holy treasures for this deed," one of the monsters, clad in the guise of a knight, spoke with a glee that chilled Zoë to her core.

Another voice chimed in, equally elated, as if they were reveling in some dark festival. "Praise the Archon!" it cried out, the words echoing like a sinister chant around the clearing.

"Eidolons," Zoë whispered, the word falling from her lips like a curse.

Her breath caught in her throat as the reality of the situation crashed over her like a wave.  Fragments of stories raced in her mind that she had heard about these spirits of possession—creatures that preyed on the weak-minded, usurping their will and consuming their essence.

She wasn't ready to face such monsters, not yet. Despite her regular training and the countless sparring sessions with Perseus under the moon's watchful eye, she had never truly managed to land a decisive blow on him. How could she expect to combat these ghastly beings?

Her gaze snapped back to the fallen primordial, whose body lay unnaturally still against the rough turf. The pool of glowing gold ichor that seeped from his wound painted a stark, terrifying picture. It was then that Anysia—or whatever the eidolon's true name was—hissed a command to the others.

"Seize the heretic," she ordered sharply, her voice slicing through the tense air.

Zoë felt a helpless spectator as three of the monsters began to advance towards her. They were intent on claiming Perseus, the one being who had offered her nothing but kindness and protection in her most vulnerable times. The realization that she might lose him now when she needed him most ignited a spark of desperation within her.