Colder Than Stone

Chapter Two

Medusa's eyes opened to an unfamiliar place, a place which was mostly dark yet with her new eyesight, she was more than able to adjust to see what needed to be seen.

After weeks of roaming around and being confined within the confusing underground labyrinth that had one meager, albeit massive hole in the earth to the north above them which was the only place she was ever able to feel the suns rays on her or view the stars that glittered in the night sky.

Many a time Medusa would dream about escaping through it, but she knew it was impossible, especially given how high up it was. She knew she could never and would never dare attempt it, that and she had no clue where she was and what may lie on the other side of the ground running free.

In the labyrinth she had to be especially wary of venturing too close to many of its walls as the jagged edges or the thorned vines creeping over the walls and growing wild could easily slice at her arms or rip at her tail. She had learned that lesson on her first day there, she hadn't been mindful when navigating through the dark pathways and her tail hit the corner of the wall instantly slicing it open a considerable amount, to Medusas awe, the tail began healing almost instantly but the pain was excruciating and after the life-changing day she had survived, she could no longer hold her emotions back, she fell to the ground crying for her mother. The image of her as a statue, staring back plagued Medusa.

She felt a heavy lump in her throat as if it were clogged up by the pain she felt and her heart... her heart seemed as if it were being torn to tiny shreds, her tears wetting the cold, hard ground and her hands swelling as she pounded at it.

Medusa's loud sobs soon grew louder and began to echo back through the labyrinth, drawing the attention of a beast that dwelled in the dark. It lurked in the shadows, its claws scraping against the ground. The sound of a roar startled Medusa, causing her to slip on her tail and fall onto her back with a loud thud when she had stood up to find where the noise was first coming from when it hadn't been so distinct.

It can't get any worse than this, maybe It would be a mercy if this creature were to kill me...

Medusa wiped at her watery eyes so she could better see. The snakes turned aggressive atop her head and hissed at the creature causing the beast to fall back into the shadows.

It's scared...

Medusa now completely attentive and sobered up, slid up cautiously and moved toward it, holding out her hand. The creature nudged one of its heads out allowing her to pet it, soon enough the creature became more comfortable coming out fully and alarming her. The creature wasn't dissimilar to her. It was a creature with three heads and a lion's body, the lion had had a thick mane covering its face, from the mane to the side, the head of a goat emerged, and a snake took the place of its tail. She had remembered the legends of a creature like this.

"I remember stories of you," she said aloud. "most of them scary though." A frown appeared; the creature looked at her sadly. "It's okay, they probably tell scary stories about me now, but we know better, huh? '' she smiled and petted the goat and lion who both responded in their own way.
"I know the perfect name for you, Chimera, Chimera the Chimera, Suits you perfectly.'' Medusa beamed, her fangs popping out.
Overtime Chimera became her only friend, he would bring rats to her which she would cook over a fire made by stones and the chimera would gobble as is, every now and then the snakes atop her head would steal a few bites from her whilst she ate.

A few weeks went by like this, until one day when Medusa decided to follow Chimera. They ventured further away from the place she had become accustomed to calling home than ever before. That's where she stumbled upon a cyclops named Brontos. He had been banished for years whilst his brothers hadn't been so fortunate and had been executed by the gods, Aries to be exact, for not abiding by his orders.

They had become good friends and he taught her all he had learned about surviving down there. He also showed her that towards the west was an opening in the ground where he would more often then naught find fish to eat. He also showed her the spring that he had found. It was just past the skylight in the ceiling, an area that Medusa had decided not to go because of how dark, daunting and unfamiliar it looked to her from afar. The cyclops had with him magical fruits that would never go off, His brothers had given them to him shortly before they perished and that's when Medusa came up with an idea. Together they split the fruit that he'd saved for years and ate it, much to his dismay, and with the seeds from within, they planted trees under the dome beneath the sun's rays in the north of the labyrinth.

After a couple of months of feeding it spring water it sprouted, after two years it began bearing tasty fruits, Apples, Litchi, currants, and mangos. To Medusa, this was the end of having to live of mice. Brontos and her eventually used the pelts of the rats and leaves to create makeshift beds and that's how they lived for years, in each other's company. A small happiness found amongst misery, but that was before she had met him.

Brontos told her of the stories of the gods, he too hated them just as much as she did and she finally learned the name of the place she was confined to; Erimos, created by the gods so that whatever was trapped within wouldn't be able to escape and after a while Medusa became content with who she had become, she preferred staying with the monsters that had hearts compared to the gods and humans who didn't.

She faintly still remembered the screams in the crowd, the muttering of how she'd killed her own mother before she had disappeared. Over time those emotional wounds healed although not as fast as her physical wounds, they slowly tore at her heart lesser and lesser the memory becoming just a sliver. Her mothers face, a blur.