Ichor

Family Issues

Ichor walks across the desolate landscape slowly and her eyes are narrowed at the ground. The other monsters avoid her, which does a little to help her foul mood. At the time it had seemed smart to let Pavo go and then return home for answers. Now she was just berating herself. It was a mistake and a falure to complete her mission. Ichor wonders if her father would send her back out after Pavo or if soe other mosnter would be ordered to take care of her blunder.

Ichor continues waking until she comes to a dark, deep pit. She stands on the edge and stares down at where the cut up pieces of her father lay. A smoky fog swirls around the area, distorting Ichor's vision. She opens her mouth to speak, but Kronos beats her to it.

"You have gone against me my child. You have not followed my order." A voice hisses in Ichor's ear and she frowns at the anger in it's tone. He had the right to be mad, but it wasn't a big deal. The other creatures mess up all the time, Ichor had in her short existence done better than the lot of them together. She had expected one failure to be easily forgiven or brushed aside.

"I admit father, I did not do as you requested. However-"

"THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR YOUR TRAITOROUS BEHAVIOR!" The voice shouts though her mind and Ichor falls to her knees, cradling her head with her hands. Her skull feels like it's splitting in two and there's a ringing in her ears from her father's scream.

"I'm sorry!" She tries to say, but she can't get her mouth to move. She feels clawed hands grab her arms and start to drag her away from the pit. Ichor kicks out as she gets pulled and tries to twist around to see what monster is starting a fight with her. The claws scratch across her arms and dig into her as she is being dragged and Ichor finds that she can't throw off the thing's grip. "No excuses. You have wronged and you will be punished."

Ichor's green eyes widen at her father's words and her struggle increases as more monsters swarm around her. Why was Kronos doing this to her? Yes, she didn't follow orders.... But this was the first time that it had happened, Ichor was just expecting an explanation. Not for her father to order all of the monsters upon her. This was wrong. Ichor finally manages to catch the monster's knee with her foot and she leaps away as it snarls.

Ichor draws her weapons, but they shrink to butter knives in her hands. "Foolish girl, I gave you those. You think I would let you use them against me and mine?"

Ichor's mouth drops open in surprise. Since when had she been excluded from her father's ranks? Since when where her blades not there for her in a fight? What was going on?

 Then she feels excruciating pain as a monster shoves it's claws into her back, breaking skin and tearing through flesh. Ichor struggles and fights, but she goes down. She goes down in a bloody, pain-filled haze.

"Is this who you are, father? Is this what you are like?" Ichor demands as she dies. The only answer she gets is her father's laughter. Kronos is not forgiving.

***

Pavo's elbows rest on the window sill and his eyes are narrowed in thought. His mind mulls over the girl that had attacked him earlier that day and he sighs. It had taken him hours to climb down the mountain to fetch his sword and hours more to explain to his parents what had taken him so long.

In the end Pavo had said that he had gotten lost, which his parents hadn't believed for a second. Pavo had grown up here and knew the land better then anyone but it wasn't as if he could tell anyone about Ichor.

That would mean his father finding out that Pavo isn't his son and his mother worrying endlessly. Besides, he was positive they had never heard of this... monster?