I was ready for anything that was thrown at me.
"Nico..."I whimpered, hands trembling. Heart beating like a drum. My dark eyes glassy, showing no weakness. I wasn't going to give in to the tears today. It would not happen.
I jumped to my feet, beginning to exit the park. The sky was a dark blue, a few stars lighting the sky with their small, but bright glow. It was early..not even sunrise yet. I took long determined strides as I walked, though not having the slightest clue as of where I was going. But hey, like in cheesy movies and books, they say,"Follow your heart." I don't know if it's just me, but...I find it slightly hard to tell what my heart wants me to do. Yeah, it's probably just me. Maybe I should follow that slogan from that shoe brand.."Just do it." Yeah. I think that one's easier.
I turned a corner, entering a street. But as I headed down the walk, I had this unnerving feeling that somebody-no;something, was about to attack me. On instinct, my hand flew to my dagger, and my eyes darted around, scanning the area. Calculating escape paths I could take. My ADHD kicked in, well, my battle reflexes, and I was on edge. Shoulders tensed, hand gripping the hilt of my dagger, and jaw set in a determined motion. I was ready for anything that was thrown at me.
And five seconds later..I saw myself staring at a hydra with nine snarling heads, bounding toward me, the diamond-shaped heads scaly, along with every other part of its body. The nine mouths lined with jagged razor-sharp teeth. The footed-claws pounding on the ground. Hunger behind all eighteen eyes.
And what did I do? I screamed. A loud, ear-splitting, guttural, scream. Finding its way up my throat and projecting through the silence. Hey, don't say I'm a baby or coward. That thing is HUGE. And very scary, if you ask me. Oh, you weren't asking me...but too bad. And it has nine. freaking. heads. Got a nice, realistic, visual picture of a hydra in your mind now? Good. Now imagine it bounding toward you..ready to feed on your flesh. You've got it.
Yes, I've battled a hydra before. Yes, I had a blowtorch with me to set the heads on fire. Yes, it's the only way to kill a hydra. Yes, the mainstream decapitation doesn't work on these monsters. Take this advice to heart. Trust me, you don't wanna learn the hard way, like I did.
Anyways, I don't have a handy dandy blowtorch with me today. Not even a measly box of matches. Lucky me.
Back to the story...
Right when I could have been squished, I jumped out of the way, rolling into a somersault to break my fall. Wielding my dagger, thousands of plans whirled in my mind. Just run. Find a source of fire. Stab it in the eye then run(Like I could even reach up to the eye..)Bur frankly, admit it, all of those plans sucked.
So, I ran.
One advantage I had was I didn't have thousands of pounds of body to lug around. So I could run faster than this monster. But my luck stopped there. I had a mere dagger to fight off an enormous hydra. Excellent.
But...I did have my..abilities. And my demigod powers were the only thing I could rely on for this case. So, a few dozen little skeletons wouldn't cause a scratch on the scaly monster. And chucking some rocks at it using my geokinesis wouldn't do much but distract it. But..what about sending it to..Tartarus? Was I powerful enough to open a chasm that led to basically the deepest part of Hell? I had no choice..I had to try this.
Watching as the hydra eventually caught up with me, my mind formed a hazy plan. But millions of things could go wrong..whoops. Too late now. It neared me, and I waited for it to get even closer.
At last, it was near enough. I focused on the ground, prying m hands apart, causing the earth to split slowwly. And the hydra didn't seem to notice, and then when it finally did. It was simply too late to stop. The hydra lost its balance. Then toppled..down into the chasm of darkness.
Swallowing, I patted my dagger for reassurance, but it was gone.
I must have dropped it while running. And I slowly looked towards the pit, and there it was. Sitting at the very edge. The blade of the Stygian Iron dagger pointing out into the pit, the hilt sitting evenly on the ground. I darted forward, dropping to my knees. But the ground was moving slowly together already, and I could feel myself lose my balance.
And fall. Right into the darkness.
