The Whispers Of Fate

Chapter 7

I did a lot of thinking about how to get out. I figured out that Amelia would bring me in the opposite direction of the castle if we were to escape because there's no way she would bring me close to the exit of the underworld where demons would be waiting to trap us. Unless she was purposely trying to get us killed, which I doubted for obvious reasons. So I began walking West from where the cave was towards where I thought the exit of the underworld would be. I had returned to the cave because I knew I'd have the best chance to navigate my way out from there. The entire time I walked there was tons of hills, ravines, and streams of lava. Every few minutes I'd have to figure out a way around lava or a ravine or something like that. It was getting old fast as I'd have to walk an extra mile to so to get where I wanted to. A spark of hope formed inside me when I could finally make out the castle in the distance. If I got to the castle, I'd have the best chance at finding my way out but it meant I'd be near the demons that would be looking for me. My hope soon faded as I didn't realize how far away the castle was until I climbed on top of a hill to see. The castle must've been at least four miles away, which was a huge punch in the gut because in every direction there was an obstacle which I'd have to navigate around. In front of me was more hills and to my right was a large ravine with no way of crossing. The ravine was easily twice the size of the ravine at the camp. I wasn't going backwards obviously as that was a dumb idea. To my left was a large lava stream that'd I have to get a running start to jump across. I wasn't trying to do something so extreme and ridiculous again since I climbed up out of the cave. So I decided to just keep going over the rugged hills as it was the best option for me right now. Climbing up and over hills repeatedly was starting to get to me as I was honestly exhausted but there was no time to rest, it was too risky since I was alone, so I pushed on. Exhaustion, hunger, and thirst was getting to me as everything was aching. My arms were hurting due to carrying the great-sword, it was easily triple the weight of my sword I had left at camp. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something moving and I looked up, something overhead was flying towards me fast. I had nowhere to hide so I just hopped off the hill and waited at the bottom of the hill. I weakly got my sword ready, I didn't realize until now but my arms were trembling. I must've looked like a crippled puppy at this point due how bad of shape I was in. The thing came into view and I recognized it was Amelia. I didn't lower my sword though as she could've come back to finish me off. She landed on top of the hill and her wings folded in while her tail swayed behind her. She looked at me a little shocked and clearly upset, "Crosby..." She tried getting closer to me but I kept my sword up and pointed at her. She stopped in her tracks, "Look, I'm really sorry I lost it on you earlier."
This was the most effortless apology I'd ever heard, "You nearly killed me and left me for dead."
She tried walking closer again but I backed up more. I wasn't letting her get in striking range, regardless if she wanted to apologize. She looked clearly flustered and about to cry, "Crosby... please... you need my help and you know that!" I looked her then at my sword, this may have been considered a bad idea but I lowered my sword. She ran up to me and pulled my into a hug, clearly crying, "I'm really sorry." She drew back from the hug but held my upper arms as I held onto my sword which was laying against the ground now, "Please, let me help you." She smiled weakly trying to stop herself from crying anymore.
I looked behind her at her tail then back up at her, "Fine." She let go of me and turned away for a second. I tried to see what she was doing but she constantly turned to make sure I couldn't, "What're you trying to hide?"
She was mumbling something to herself for a few seconds before she turned around with a metal bottle in her hands, "Crosby, I need you to drink this." She handed me the bottle and it was ice cold. I unscrewed the metal cap and tried to see what was inside, "Just drink it, it's milk." I didn't believe her for a second so I poured a little out onto the ground to make sure and it seemed to be normal milk. She wasn't happy when I did though as she snagged the bottle from me, "Stop wasting it, you idiot! If you're thinking I did anything to it, I didn't." She held out the bottle again and I took it.
    I honestly didn't believe her for a single second but this was a second chance. I drank it and strangely, it tasted like sweet candy and not like milk at all. I stopped and began to suspect she had done something to it. My suspicions were confirmed as she went super red looking away from me. I put the cover on and put it in my pocket and hoisted up my sword, "What the hell did you do to it?"
     She looked at me, "I just added my own little touch to it that's all. It won't harm you or make anything abnormal I swear." She crossed her heart with her fingers to show she was serious, but she was still red.
I shrugged it off, just taking her gift me to me and trying not to think about it, "Thank you."
She smiled gently still red, "You're welcome my love." When I began to lift the sword up I noticed something. Suddenly strange symbols had formed down the middle of the blade and they were glowing black. This was completely new to me as it didn't do this before. She stopped blushing and looked a little concerned all the sudden as she looked at the blade, "Where'd you find that C-Crosby?"
This was also new as she hadn't ever stuttered before around me. I'd left her speechless before but not stuttering. I looked down at the blade and turned facing away pointing to the rib cage in the distance with the blade, strangely the glow faded a little when I moved the blade away from her, "Over there when I had to fight a dragon by myself." When I turned back to face her, she had her hands up against her mouth clearly nervous and scared. The blade glowed brighter when I moved it towards her, she backed up away from me, "C-Crosby... put that sword d-down. That sword was used to slay g-gods... it's cursed..."
I looked down at the great sword which was glowing less now that she was farther away from me, "How is it cursed?"
She looked down at the sword then me, "It was used by the previous son of the lord of darkness to slay many gods. He almost killed Hades with it before your father had to intervene and stop him." I remembered what happened with the previous son of darkness at camp, and now this to add on top of that. So now I knew the previous son was a serial killer and also a god slayer, delightful.
She continued, "The sword was used to contain his evil by your father. It's said to corrupts it's user. The last hero to use it was a son of Zeus before he was killed down here with it by the ribs where you found it..."
I looked at the blade, the symbols etched into the blade faintly glowing black, "Unless you can provide me with a better weapon, I'm keeping it. I already killed a dragon with it."
She didn't try to argue with me, "Fine. Just take this." Out of nowhere she tossed me a sheathe with a shoulder strap. It changed size and shape in my hands and accommodated itself to the sword. I put sheathed the great sword and slung the sheathe over my shoulder, walking over to her, "How do you know so much about what happened with it?"
      She didn't look at me when she answered, "My mother was killed using that blade...."
     I didn't know what to say other than one thing, "I'm sorry. I wouldn't of asked if I knew that."
     She looked up at the sword on my back then to me, "Just know that it glows when it's near monsters... like me. And souls make the blade sharper and more deadly." Without giving me time to respond or anything, she grabbed my hand gently interlocking her hand with mine, "Let's get going. I can tell you more as we go." We started walking together towards the way out of the underworld.