A Hero's Blessing

New Nostalgia

Percy travelled via Pegasus through the city, following the van containing the questers, eventually landing discreetly amongst a series of large buildings. In his spiritual form, Herakles watched casually as his cousin spied on the group while cloaked in invisibility, with them eventually entering one of the larger buildings.

He frowned as Percy began to follow another man instead of the group. Before he could start following after him he felt another presence come within range, his eyes widened in recognition as a memory came to mind in a surge of nostalgia.

"Here kid," He rumbled gently, smiling softly as the beggar kid of Cleonae cautiously reached out and grabbed the coin. "I heard that there was a dangerous animal causing trouble around here, but nobody seems to want to talk about it. Do you know anything about it?"

He changed direction, heading towards the new presence. His cousin was using invisibility, so as long as he didn't do anything stupid he would remain safe. This other creature though...

There was no way, even in this new reality, that this creature would come to the city voluntarily, not without considerable destruction following its wake.

It was hunting something. And barring a huge coincidence, there were only a few targets it would be going after.

And he hadn't believed in coincidences even when he was alive.

"You're going to try and kill it?" The boy exclaimed, both shock and fear in his eye, "B-but you can't! The priests said that it must be punishment from the gods for our sins, and that so long as we give a sacrifice every month it would leave us alone!"

"Punishment from the gods?" The large man murmured as he chuckled lightly, "While that does sound like something they'd do, I happen to have it on some authority that that isn't true."

He moved quickly in spirit form through the area. Though this area was filled with buildings, it appeared that the cold kept most people away.

Good. No witnesses meant he could let loose. This would mark his first fight in this reality, and it would allow him to properly gauge the general strength of the enemies he'd be fighting compared to his own.

Fitting, as this fight marked the first true fight of his legend.

"The sacrifices are chosen by lottery, and the next one has already been picked," the boy stated with resignation and slight determination, "I... I can't do much, but if my death can save my siblings, then, well... What else can I do?" He tried to smile, "At least the priests say that they'll take care of my younger brother and sister."

Silence was his only response as Herakles blinked in shock, followed soon by fury.

It didn't take long for him to find it. It wasn't trying to hide, and its legend and his were forever tied together.

He rounded the corner to see a lion the size of a small truck stalk into the loading bay of one of the buildings, seemingly intent on it's hunt. Gold fur gleamed dully in the dim light, and despite it's large size it walked lightly on its feet.

Grinning in anticipation, he materialized himself and took a step forward, the sound causing the lion to turn his way.

Had anybody been watching they would have sworn they had been mistaken. The Nemean Lion was truly a frightening beast, taken down by only a few heroes throughout history and was responsible for the deaths of countless more.

Yet as the Lion saw the Greek, one could see the monstrous feline flinch.

"This is something that I have to do." He rumbled with barely suppressed fury, "But I promise you, I will be back before they do any more... Sacrifices." He spat.