Perseus the Hunter

Chapter 10

Hestia stepped out of her cabin to see Kynigós sat outside. She was shocked to see him acting so calm within the camp. He stood from his chair and placed a hand on her shoulder. 

'I think it's time you knew.' 

"What?" Hestia's face scrunched up in confusion and hope, maybe she would find out what had happened to her once joking, happy guardian. 

He engulfed the both of them in flames, appearing on a cliff. The view was spectacular, trees and waterfalls, animals and mythical beasts all in harmony. It was absolutely gorgeous, it was a haven. Aphrodite appeared in a flurry of flames which drew Hestia's gaze back to them. Allowing her to see the white expanse behind them. 

She had absolutely no idea where she was, which way was north and after a few seconds she started to panic as she could no longer feel her connection to the mortals and the hearth. 

"Where are we? Why can't I feel the hearth, the home? My domain?!" She started to hyperventilate. Aphrodite walked over to her to calm her, feeling the distancing from her domain also. 

"Kynigós. Where are we?" She looked toward their guardian, hoping for an explanation. 

He was staring at the peace and tranquility of the view, completely ignoring their panic. He sat on the side of the cliff, swinging his legs over the side. He pulled down his oversized hood, feeling the small breeze on his neck and head. Revealing his shoulder-length locks. His black hair cascaded around his chiseled features, keeping the cloth mask over his nose and mouth. 

He breathed deeply. 'The Void.'

The voice echoed in their heads, it was so deep and comforting that they forgot all about their panic and calmed immediately. They sat either side of him. 

"The void?" The words started to make sense in their heads, setting off their anxiety again. 

"This can't be the void... it's... it's supposed to be all dark and gloomy and a prison." Aphrodite looked to the animals and forest in wonder. 

'Welcome to the Void, my half home.' The goddesses looked to the man, waiting for an explanation. 

'About five years ago, I was captured and held hostage in Tartarus, they had used void chains to inhibit my abilities and keep me secure. By they, I mean Tartarus himself, along with the giants and Gaia, Kronos was also there, he took part in most of the torture. I was brutally abused everyday for about sixty years, only a month had passed up on the surface. And thanks to Kronos it took even longer than normal. My nerves slowly became severed and never healed, so I no longer feel much pain.

After they seemed to have had their fun, they were starting to get bored and so they started to mess with my DNA. To this day I don't know how they did it, but they changed my skeleton to adamantine, it was a slow process. Because of the new substance my body tried to kill itself over and over again, altering my muscle structure and reflexes. I was left in this turmoil for what seemed like an eternity. I lost count of the decades I was down there. 

Eventually, it seemed like they had remembered I existed and decided to end my life. To which they succeeded, I was then sent here. To the void. I spent a few decades here learning how to control my new body and powers, eventually learning how to control the Void itself.'

To demonstrate he grew a beautiful white rose out the palm of his hand. The two goddesses were crying so hard they gave up with trying to wipe the tears from their faces. They were both heartbroken. He had kept all of this from them for years, all of this pain he lived with. 

'I was then visited by the fates, to make things even more interesting. They told me that it wasn't time for me to rest yet, that I had more to do back on earth. That I still had to protect you and the mortals. They all blessed me with life and took me back to earth. Because of their "breath of life" I am now a full immortal. Well... Primordial.' 

He paused, awaiting their response. Knowing that they both were going to be angry. He made himself intangible so that they wouldn't hurt themselves. He was correct as they both went to slap him. 

"Why didn't you tell us this?!" Aphrodite shouted. 

"You weren't gone for much longer than three months. This all happened then? You told me you went to a training camp!" Hestia cried. 

"You died?" They were still taking in all of the information. He nodded his head. The movement revealed part of his face. Hestia could see the beginning of a scar by his right eye. 

"How?" He sighed, and slowly took down the mask that covered his lower face and neck. He pulled at the material revealing two long jagged scars. One from his right eye that crossed over his lips and trailed off of his jaw. The other was a horizontal line that started halfway down his neck and stretched all the way from one ear to the other. It was still pink at the edges and the middle was raised in a white line. 

They took in his appearance, pity and pain evident in their eyes. Aphrodite suddenly gasped. 

"That's why you don't speak anymore. It's not because of a vow of silence is it?" He shook his head. Hestia finally got the idea and gasped herself. 

"They decapitated you! Slicing through your vocal chords!" Hestia flew her arms around his neck, sobbing into his shoulder, she would never hear his actual voice again. Aphrodite cried into her hands. 

Kynigós comforted his sisters in their grief. Patiently waiting for them to pull themselves back together. 

"So... you're a primordial now?" 

'Of sorts.' 

"How do you mean?" 

'I have the official title and am immortal, however I hold no domain or ties, meaning I do not abide by the laws of the gods.' 

"Wow." 

"Your blood. It's not gold." 

'No.'  He pulled out a knife and pressed it into his hand. Red blood pooled around the knife in his palm. 'It's a glamour.'  Slowly the blood started to shift in colour, turning from red to a misty blue. 'I haven't tried it, but the fates told me that my blood can be toxic to others.' 

He removed the knife from his hand, allowing the wound to close. The blood slowly sunk back in through the opening and his skin closed up, leaving a feint blue line on his palm. 

"So, let me get this right. You're over thousands of years old, you have a metal skeleton, you're now an immortal primordial, your blood is basically poison and you were decapitated and killed. Anything I missed out?"

'Tortured for over three thousand years, but yes.' 

They each took a hand of Kynigós, after he put his mask and hood back up. Allowing their guardian to travel them back to earth.