In Pursuit of Kronos' Scythe (Completed)

III - Tale of the Child Eater - Part I

Princess Tharalea

Tharalea opened her eyes. She was lying on a cavern floor, facing hundreds of hanging stalactites that were pointing to her. Shocked, she sprang up from the floor, grasping her head.

"Where am I?" It took her a good five minutes of — constantly tapping her head with her palms and mumbling to herself — to be able to recall what had happened to her. The scene when the trolls had almost shot her replayed in her mind. Why would Hekate send me to a realm that didn't welcome me? She shuddered. Summer Solstice? Kronos' Scythe? Are these all but a joke?

Worried, Tharalea turned sideward. Calyssa was still in her lynx form, and she was crouching across a half-naked boy. He was sitting in between an enormous silver creature and a broken porcelain bowl that somehow managed to contain some water, which was possibly the product formed when the stalactites melted. The creature had the shape of a dog but wings of a condor. She had never seen such a breed in Yurithea. Its dented surface made Tharalea believe that it was injured, but still, it didn't seem like it was a living thing. It looked like it was constructed by metal.

A moan broke out, and her gaze landed on the boy. Who is he? He looks familiar. I've seen him at... Ahh, him, the boy by the river... He was tilting his head sideward, trying to get something out of his shoulder. His shirt was a crumpled pile of redness. He looked as if he had just had breakfast with Hades, an appalling experience which would result in his positive energy being sucked by the God of the Underworld. Wait, was she in the Underworld too?

"Am-- Am I dead?" Tharalea asked the boy. "Where is this place? Are you a ghost?"

The boy cast him an annoyed look. "It'll drive me crazy, and I'll consider the option to be a ghost if you keep asking." He tried to sound sarcastic but his weak voice failed him.

Tharalea pinched her arm and was glad to feel the nicking pain. She believed that she wouldn't be able to feel pain if she was dead. The sun rays pierced into the cave, singeing a dry leaf. She believed that she wouldn't be able to find the sun in the Underworld. 

"Let me help you." Happily, she rounded the dog creature and walked towards the boy. 

The boy looked at her with big grey eyes — the appreciative look when a caged animal was being rescued. Nodding, he passed the scissors to Tharalea. The princess gulped down her bile and accepted it with trembling hands. She almost regretted her offer, but if she didn't help the boy, he might die of the poison of... the cylindrical item which he called bullet.

Squatting before him, she squinted her eyes as she concentrated. 

The boy had cut up his skin, so Tharalea didn't have to do the scary work. Still, searching for a bullet in a sea of blood wasn't easy, and she wouldn't just grope within the flesh. His flesh wasn't dough. As she stirred closer to him, and her fingers touched his skin, he winced. The colour of his cheeks could be compared to his blood. Tharalea hiccupped. She could feel the heat rushing through her veins. This was the first time she was so close to a guy. Well, of course, her father and the guards didn't count. The boy opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. The scent of burning pine wood released from his breath. 

So warm... Tharalea hiccupped again. Now she understood why her mother always reprimanded her when she did that. She realized that she sounded stupid and coughed lightly to try to ease the awkwardness. How could she feel so lost? A feeling that she had never felt before.

"Are you okay?" asked the boy. His eyes glistened with tears. "I can do it myself—"

"Can you see your own face?" Tharalea snapped. The boy shook his head, perplexed, and Tharalea continued, "Then you won't be able to see your own shoulder."