Forgotten prophecy

Chapter 55

He wasn't sure how long that the River Acheron pulled him along. He wasn't even sure if he was being pulled along truth be told. The souls of others who were doomed to the river constantly swirled around them, their screams deafening from their close proximity. The feeling of being nothing more than a spirit in a river of the spirits of murderers was unsettling in the most extreme sense of the word. Though they were in eternal damnation, Ryker could clearly feel that none of the murderers around him regretted their actions in the slightest. That distinction between him and them was the only thing that gave Ryker solace and let him hang onto his sanity, though only just.

Give up. Those around him crooned, their non-corporeal hands reaching at him from all sides. You belong here, you belong with us. Give up.

Those constant taunts and commands for Ryker to give up his own individuality to the river was what finally gave him the strength and presence of mind to escape the river. It wasn't easy. Breaking the surface of the river alone was borderline impossible. The water pushed against him at least as hard as he pushed against it, and every time that he was about to break free the souls of the damned would drag him back deep into the river and he would have to start the process again. But, stubborn as he was, Ryker kept trying.

His arm was what broke the surface first. The moment that his limb touched the rancid air of the Underworld the rest of his body was jolted as though a surge of electricity had passed through him. His head broke the surface next, though this was far easier now. Then his other arm. With a large amount of difficulty Ryker paddled over to the edge of the river, fighting off the hands of the damned as they fought to keep one of their own amongst them. But in the end Ryker would not be denied. He grabbed a ridged stone on the river's side and hauled himself out of the water, kicking out to detach the last of the damned souls from where they had latched onto him. He staggered several steps forward until he was well and truly free of the river when he fell forward onto his hands and knees and struggled to catch his breath. His skin tingled and burned with the memory of the pain it had been subjected to, but it already had begun to fade away.

"What have we here?" A hissing voice asked airily. Ryker could not bring his head up to look at what had spoken, but he heard the sound of leathery wings flapping in front of him until they stopped directly in front of him. Two birdlike feet ending in wicked talons came into his field of view and Ryker felt hot breath on the nape of his neck. "Someone escaped the River Acheron did they? Oh, the judges will not be happy about that. No they won't. I shoulds tell them and get a reward, yes I should. But what is the escapee's name?"

Ryker didn't bother answering. Even if he had been able to, he wouldn't have. He just focused on getting his breath back and quieting his shaking limbs. He felt something peck at the back of his neck and he scowled and winced simultaneously. "It doesn't want to answer." The bird-thing chirped, annoyed. "But it needs to talk so that I can tell the judges so that they will reward me for it."

Before Ryker's time in the River Acheron he would have killed the bird-creature without a second thought and zero hesitation. But after seeing and feeling the bloodlust and joy that murderers and their ilk felt while committing their atrocities, he found that he at least wanted to give this creature the chance to save itself. "You.... Need... to go away." Ryker warned. He managed to raise his head and fix the creature with a glare. It was an ugly beast, but that was common. It had bat-like wings, a very wickedly pointed beak, and its chest was covered in mottled red scales like that of a dragon. A long rat-like tail that was twice as long as the creature itself was. The thing was not very big however, no larger than a good sized chicken.

"No, I need to go tell the judges yes I do." The bird began to spread its wings as though to fly away. It then made its fatal mistake, it turned its back on Ryker as it began to fly away. The demigod grabbed the chicken-thing by the tail and dragged it backward with one arm. The chicken squawked out, "Let me go now dead demigod!"