FANTASY | CONTEMPORARY FANTASY | FICTION | YOUNG ADULT | SERIES
Titan’s Daughter | Chapter 6
He just wanted to get away for a few moments and be with his thoughts. The constant chatter and boasting from these demigods were wearing on him. The noise, their forced swagger — it was all too much, and the voice of the Unduns Guider’s constant caution in the back of his mind didn’t help. “Even the cutest thing in this realm will kill you.”
He had been walking for about 5 minutes, leaving behind the muffled laughter and endless banter. He paused, glancing back in the direction he came from. The laughter and chatter were gone. The quiet was a relief. He could almost forget he was in some strange and otherworldly place.
The quiet, with only the wind brushing against the leaves, should’ve been soothing. But instead, his mind was still processing how different he was. He and his brother weren’t like these halflings — these demigods — who filled the camp with their laughter. Hell, they weren’t even quarter-lings. But for some reason, the abilities of a demigod, or at least some aspect of them, had manifested.
Any kind of normal life was now out of the question, not that he never quite fitted into his own life, and now in this new world, he is not quite fitting into either, though Theseus, his younger brother, seemed more comfortable here.
He pondered the ancient tales and myths. Stories of heroes and gods seemed like just that — stories. But now, they had become his reality. He wished he could turn off the power inside him and go back to his regular life. But whether he liked it or not, he was now part of a world that stretched beyond mere mortals.
The youthful look was still not enough for him to think his grandfather was anything other than a full human, and besides, gods and monsters were a thing of myth. He wouldn’t have believed him anyway. One thing is for sure, though, the air is cleaner here than under the soot-filled skies of LA.
Jason took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the crisp, clean air, and exhaled his thoughts away. A small whimper caught his attention. He crept closer to the noise, and as he drew closer to where it came from — between the tall bushes, hiding under a fallen tree — he saw several of them, with grayish-brown furs, trembling. The closest thing he could compare them to were wolf cubs.
From behind, an unwelcome voice interrupted Jason. “Yow, LA!” Jason glanced back at the square-jawed kid. His smile seemed to take up his entire face. His name was Zethos.
“Didn’t think I’d see wolves here,” Zethos said, walking up beside Jason, his tone filled with the typical cockiness.
“They’re not wolves,” Jason corrected, his eyes still fixed on the five whimpering little creatures.
Zethos chuckled. “Well, whatever they are, let’s put the poor bastards outta their miseries, eh?” he said, spitting out the words like gum that had lost its flavor. He unsheathed his dagger.
“Remember what they said, LA?” he began, the nickname dripping with mockery, “It’s the cute ones that’ll get you.” He continued, pointing the dagger lazily at the pups.
“Gotta get them before they get you, man.”
Jason already knew it was just something that the Unduns say to keep the unordained mindful of their surroundings. But either Zethos was too dumb to figure that out or he was simply looking for an excuse to kill something. Zethos motioned towards the pup. Before Jason could think, he grabbed Zethos’s dagger-wielding arm, fingers clamped tight.
Zethos looked at Jason’s hand wrapped around his wrist, a smirk twisting on his lips. He turned his gaze back to the small creatures.
“You know, LA, I don’t really know what your ability is; I guess now’s as good a time as any to find out.”
With his free hand, Zethos snapped his fingers, and a flame sparked into being at the tip of his index finger. Slowly, he raised his hand towards the pups.
“Hey, step away from those cubs!” Firm hands spun Jason and Zethos around by the shoulders, forcing Jason to release his grip on Zethos’s wrist. It was, Aithe, one of their Undun Guiders. She couldn’t be more than eighteen, always barking orders to the other three Unduns.
Undun Guiders offer protection to travelers, kings, or noblemen, but mostly train and help prepare unordained demigods heading to the hall of registry. They will not accept compensation until the job is done.
Somewhere in the United Kingdom, she said she was from. Jason can’t remember, and he doesn’t have an ear for accents. But still, he wondered, “Why would anyone willingly return to this place?”
Jason disliked her, kind of like a sister he never asked for kind of way. She was harder on him and Theseus during their crash course training at the Profylaki.
Suddenly it dawned on him: she was a fire-maker. According to his grandfather, there were only a handful of gods who passed down that fiery talent, and that meant… could she possibly be his grand-aunt?
He tried to spot the sigil on her armor, the mark of the god who ordained her, but it seemed to have been melted clean off. So, apart from asking her who her father was, he had no way of telling if they were really related or not.
“We need to get away from these things now!” she barked.
“What’s the big deal, man?” Zethos said as he shrugged her hand away from his shoulder. Zethos was the son of Hephaestus, god of the forge, just like Jason’s grandfather. All of these family ties were so absurd that Jason fought to stifle his laughter.
“We all know that little speech about cute things killing us was just to keep us on our toes, man,” said Zethos.
“They’re just pups; what the hell could they do to us?”
“I’m not worried about the cubs,” Aithe said. She looked around nervously as if every word she said was now a secret.
“I’m more worried about their parents.”
She looked him dead in the eyes and said, “There are few things in this universe that can kill even a god, and you just found one.” She paused for a moment, hoping that what she just said would reach the rational part of Zethos’s brain that he seemed to hardly use.
“There’s nothing those teeth can’t slice through.”
“Let’s just hope when the adult Lailaps hounds return and smell our scent lingering at their den, they don’t view us as a threat!” She pushed them forward. “Now move; get back to the camp!”
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