The Oracle's Quest

Nightmare pt. 2

Scrip. Scrip. Sriiiiiiiiiip.

I could hear the sound of scales sliding across rock. The sound was like metal on metal, and it made shivers rack my spine and my teeth grit. I couldn't see anything, and my other senses were enhanced. Underneath the sound of the scales, I could hear muffled breathing that wasn't mine. I tried to look around, but every direction was just pitch black.

I got frustrated after a few minutes, and I groaned. Why me?

The sound of the scales suddenly ceased. I could hear now a slight wet slip slip slip every couple of seconds.

"Finally, my guessst hasss decccided to awaken," a voice hissed. "I have sssomething to show you".

Finally, my vision cleared and I was standing in the entrance to a cave. On the other side was a--bus seat?

I was standing inside a bus. Definitely weird.

It was empty, so I stepped forward, but Python's tail lashed out and stung my arm.

"Ow, god, it's just a dream dude. It's not like I can run away, I don't even know where I am."

"Yesss, that isss obviousss, but at leassst you can feel pain." Python hissed with a glint in his blood-red eyes. His long body barely fit in the bus, so he slithered out of the open doors and I followed.

The bus was parked in a truckstop. There was a clean cut patch of forest next to the gas station that had a couple trails leading further in and then circling back around. Python took the middle trail, which I noticed had faint smoke curling up from the trees.

The path looked pretty long, but time seemed to speed up so that we were only trekking for five seconds. We emerged from the path into a clearing where a chariot of gold and rubies lay crashed in the opposite corner. Python slithered to the center of the meadow where a rock was. Beside it were three-

"Snake holes," Python said. "Apollo has hidden the children from Zeus's rath. But he cannot hide from mine."

Instantly, the lower half of my body evaporated into a black mist. If I were solid, I would've tripped, but Instead every time I leaned, the mist would follow and my body would move that way. It was kind of like riding a segway I had stolen from the mall one time.

Python had shrunk to the size of a regular snake, but still looked vicious. He hissed and we both were sucked down into one of the snake holes. I was totally creeped out by Pyhton's powers. And was THE Apollo actually hiding from him? And how could I even feel things if this was a dream?

The fall down the hole abruptly stopped and the upper half of my body that was still solid slammed into the ground. I cried out and leaned upwards so that I could get up. I was in a large cavern alongside the mini Python, and I realised that the cavern was not big, and that I was just small.

Near the middle of the cavern were three other snakes. I glided toward them, and so did Python. I was pretty sure that we couldn't touch them, and they didn't even know we were there. As I got closer, I could hear the snakes talking-ok, definitely a dream.

The biggest one was saying something, "And so then, since i'm so awesome, I decided to help the guy- with NO BRIBE obviously, because i'm kind and generous. I told him were to find Asclepius, and in return for my services he built me this," the snake gestured with it's tail to an instrument lying beside on the ground.

It was nothing I have ever seen before. It sort of resembled a ukelele, but it was bronze and had wires and connectors everywhere. "Its called the Valdezinator." Said Apollo.

One of the snakes made a snort-like noise, "What kind of name is that?"

"Yeah," said the other snake. "Seriously, who named tha-"

And the snake went up in green smoke.

"What the HADES?" shouted Apollo,"Where is MY SON!"

"Oh, do not fear, Apollo, ressst asssured, your ssson isss in terrible handsss, and he isss very unsssafe." hissed Python.

"Ahh!" Apollo screamed. "I mean HA! Python, my oldest enemy, what have you done with my boy?"

Python just disentegrated beside me, and a few seconds later, so did I.