Hunter

Chapter Four - Meeting My Parents

What I saw was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. She was no older than the age of sixteen, but she was jaw dropping. Her hair was the colour of freshly extracted honey that was left out on a windowsill to soak in the sun. She was tall and carried herself with the grace of a queen. Her blue eyes were sparkling and as clear as the body of water that lay to her left. She knelt down by the side of the stream in what looked like a small town on the East Coast, watching tadpoles zipping around in the water. She was so engrossed she didn't notice a boy, of about the same age, walked up to her.

"Hi, Asteria," he beamed. Her beautiful blue eyes widened when she saw who spoke. With a flip of her blonde hair, she shouted happily.

"Hudor!" Jumping up, she squeezed him, both of them almost toppling over. "When did you get back from your trip?"

The widest smile spread across Hudor's face and melted off just as quickly. Hudor was taller than Asteria, with hair the colour of mahogany. His green eyes sparkled like a rare jade mined from the deepest oceans. His sun-kissed skin gave the appearance of a carefree persona. Anyone who knew him, however, would know that that was far from the truth. He looked at Asteria for a short second before dropping his eyes.

"I just returned. I uh, also met my Celestial, sort of." The colour drained from Asteria's face, leaving her pale, almost as if she was about to pass out.

"But--"

"I know, I know. He came to me in my dreams and told me that he has something important he needs to discuss with both of us. Your Celestial was there too. He told me to convince you to come with me and lead us to the willow tree up on the hill tonight."

Asteria's eyes widened as she listened to his story in disbelief.

"Hue, it's not possible. Even if it was, why would they?"

"I don't know why, but they need us Az. I can feel it. Just promise that you'll meet me at the theatre tonight."

"I," she hesitated, "I promise. I hope you know what you're doing."

"Trust me, and come prepared, you never know what the gods are up to."

* Ω *

Later that night, Asteria snuck out and met Hudor, honoring her promise.

"I'm here, now what?"

"Let's get to the hill before anyone notices that we're missing."

They nodded in agreement and moved off to where the town met the woods. When they got to the base of the hill, Asteria pulled them both down, rolling behind a bush. There, in front of them, stood two automatons that let steam out of every nook and cranny. They watched in awe, hidden behind a bush embedded with thorns.

"Az, we can take them, they're just robots, and they can have a weak spot anywhere," he whispered with his voice faltering.

"Hue, are we even looking at the same thing? Those are steam breathing robot monsters, and you expect us to take them on?" He focused intently on the robots and then snapped his fingers.

"I got it! If you looked closely, after every ten seconds, there's a three-second interval where they stop blowing steam out of their everywhere's. If we have good timing we can use that pause to attack."

"You really think we can do this can't you?" Asteria closed her eyes and pressed a finger to her lightning bolt necklace. "Okay, you take ugly over there and I'll take uglier."