Chapter 86: SCYLLA
"I'll be back"
BOOM!
Arion blasted through the broken wall with a happy neigh and with enough speed to match an F-22 Raptor. The large island of Aeaea passed by in barely a fraction of a second as the Divine horse enjoyed the gold equivalent of a sugar rush.
"You really did want to stretch your muscles", Athos chuckled as the greenish waters flashed past.
Sailing through the sea of monsters was akin to willingly laying below a guillotine. It was a death sentence, especially if you were a demigod. The absurd amount of mist alone would've been dangerous enough, but the multiplicity of sea monsters that were hungering for demigod flesh had made it a cemetery for half-bloods.
You could get crushed by the Clashing rocks, eaten by Scylla, swallowed by Charybdis, wash up on Aeaea and get dined on by Polyphemus or his man-eating sheep. Ending up in a random monster's stomach was likely too but such problems were but superficial for the duo who were currently cutting through the sea with no visible discomfort. Arion alone would be enough to keep most problems away, but Athos' presence practically made most sane monsters scurry away from their vicinity.
"We're close", Athos murmured, spotting a few dark splotches in the distance. They would be nearing the second entrance to the sea of monsters within a few seconds.
NEIGH!
Suddenly, with a loud whinny, Arion stopped in his tracks almost throwing Athos into the dark depths below. Stopping so suddenly after going faster than sound itself would've killed any other mortal but he was fine, albeit a little disgruntled. He looked at Arion in equal part surprise and disbelief. Was the Divine horse afraid?
"You don't want to get closer?", he said, patting Arion's forehead. The horse could not have been scared of Charybdis. That was impossible. After all, the monster was basically one giant whirlpool.
"Is it Scylla?"
Arion nodded, nervously pawing the water.
Athos' eyes widened. Could Greek mythology's fastest horse really not outrun Scylla? Legends did say that Scylla was so fast that sailors would just disappear from the decks of their ships, but such stories were told from the perspective of a mortal. To him, a speeding bullet would be slow, not to mention Arion.
NEIGH!
"Easy now. I won't force you", Athos calmed down the horse, climbing off it and using his limited aerokinesis to levitate himself above the water. "I'll do it myself but you're still taking me to Hecate right?"
Arion vigorously nodded his head before nuzzling him as an apology.
"Yeah yeah, I love you too. You better come back. I have a lot more gold, you know. Here...", Athos brought out three more gold bars and the horse practically jumped on him in excitement. Arion opened his mouth wider than what would be physically possible and chomped down on the three bars before turning around and disappearing into the distance with a sonic boom.
"He's a miser's nightmare", Athos murmured as he watched Arion disappear into the horizon. He sighed and turned around facing the dark splotches in the distance. Those seemingly insignificant stains were famous monsters that even the gods feared. Well, most gods, not the Olympians of course.
There were a few myths that claimed that his father had bested Scylla but he had never mentioned that in his stories. Smaller myths weren't all that reliable as even Circe's involvement in Scylla's transformation was but a guess on his part. There was another retelling of the story where Amphitrite, Poseidon's wife, poisoned Scylla due to jealousy and another where Phorcys brought Scylla back to life using flaming torches. It was rare, but Myths could differ from reality.
"You managed to scare the fastest horse in Greek existence. You must be formidable", Athos said, a faint glint of excitement flashing past his eyes.
BOOM!
"I hope you do not disappoint"
***
The air screamed as he shot forward while his helmet covered his face. The dark splotches ahead of him came into focus. To the north, a huge mass of rock rose out of the sea - an island with cliffs at least a hundred feet tall. About half a mile south of that, the other patch of darkness was a storm brewing. The sky and sea boiled together in a roaring mass.
He didn't hesitate, choosing to fly toward the cliff where Scylla was. Ships that wished to enter the sea of monsters had to pass through the monsters or the Clashing rocks. They could not sail around the entrances as they would merely appear in their path again. On one side, they would get sucked into the gigantic maws of Charybdis and on the other, Scylla would pick sailors off their boats.
A death trap.
"There's no way a demigod could survive that", Athos said, looking at what could only be described as an underwater blackhole. Thousands of gallons of seawater disappeared into a pitch-black hole that stretched out for kilometres. He could spot teeth the size of large ships sticking out in a gigantic circle in the distance. It took a decent chunk of his concentration to oppose the suction force of the monster, and he was almost touching the cliffs!
Speaking of the cliffs, they stretched out toward the grey sky for around a hundred and fifty feet, their rugged, black surface akin to shiny obsidian. He couldn't sense any living thing other than Charybdis but that was about to change soon.
Just as he was about to fly up the precipice, he heard a faint rumble and the cliff trembled ever so slightly.
"What the f-
"RAAAWWRR!!!"
It happened so fast that it might as well have been a beam of light than a monster. A column of reptilian flesh descended down the cliff. He could barely make out its face - just a flash of teeth and scales and before he knew it, he was lodged between its rancid, yellow teeth that pressed down on his armour with enough force to turn a car into metal scrap.
His training with his father immediately kicked in, as his arms moved mechanically, his claws extending and sinking deep into the pink gums of the monster. Purplish-red blood gushed out in swathes.
"GRAAAA!!!"
His world swirled once more as he was thrown with incredible force. He was airborne for but a second before he smashed into hard rock, his body tunnelling through stone, forming a deep hole.
"Jeez, her breath stinks", he grunted and got to his feet. He was still in the man-made hole and was surrounded by similar black rocks. After getting thrown through it, he could safely say that they were not obsidian. Obsidian might as well have been whipped cream compared to these rocks.
"She is fast. Too fast", he muttered and shot out of the hole, looking around him to regain his bearings. He was mostly surrounded by familiar black rock but there were a few patches of grass and trees. He could spot the cliff in the distance along with a fairly large cave that seemed to be the entrance to a large hill. He was thrown onto the island by Scylla after he stabbed into her gums. After all that, he doubted she was happy.
"RAAWWWR!!!"
A deep, thunderous growl burst out of the cave and for the first time, he finally got a tiny glimpse of the infamous monster. A long, enormous neck emerged from the cave. It's vaguely draconian head scraping the rocky ceiling. The neck alone had to be around two hundred feet while its girth was equivalent to two bullet trains stacked on top of each other.
It seemed to be split into two but that was an illusion caused by the colour of its scales. The top jaw had sickly green scales while the bottom was coloured blood-red. Its yellow teeth were matched with its huge lemon pupils while the two slits that were its nostrils exhaled green gas.
It stared at him with hate, only anger and pain visible behind its beastly eyes that were once beautiful. What was once alluring enough to induce jealousy in goddesses, now reduced to something vile and monstrous. Jealousy could corrupt even the most saint-like of hearts.
Every ounce of Scylla's neck radiated strength and power and this was but one head of the mighty beast.
'Just what was in the poison that Circe fed Scylla?'
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