Hunter: Gods & Monsters

Chapter 37

It had to be something from a daydream, and not actually real. There was no way such beautiful items could all exist so perfectly while waiting to be claimed. The temptation was unlike anything I'd experienced before. I wanted to touch every single thing I saw; it was better than a new season designer shoe sale where everything was only available in your size and half price.

It was better than, well, a lot of things.

"So, see anything you like?" Apollo asked, clearly enjoying this as much as I was.

"Oh, maybe just one or two things." I shrug, trying to act casual while the giant smile I had in place was making my face ache. "How do you choose?"

"Some say they choose you. Take a couple, test them out back." The gnome following me chuckled. "All are spelled. They will not cause any harm to you or your opponent. Abilities are all blocked as well."

"What?" I hesitate.

"Relax. It's fine." Apollo assures me, yet the sparkle of rubies against the golden hilt of katana beside him grabs my attention.

"I'm telling Mum to come here when she asks what I want for Christmas." I pick it up, admiring the detail for a second, before going for another and another.

"If I knew how happy this made you, we would have come here last time you came to this world." Apollo smiles as I follow him out the back.

"Probably best you didn't though." I shrug.

The space isn't big, smaller than the gym at the Academy and I line up my new possible companions. There are a few target boards lined up on one wall, and some over stuffed dummies gathered in one corner. Feeling for my powers, they're still there, but nothing happens as I call a dagger into my hand. Picking them up one by one, I don't bother with the training equipment around the space. All of it looked like it was one hit away from falling apart anyway. I do a few warm up moves, swinging the blades at imaginary foes, but nothing about this seems to be helping me find a new companion.

"Why don't you try something else, swords are so last millennia." Apollo muses, looking at the line up as he sits on the bench.

"Like what?"

"Archery runs in your family as it does mine." He suggests a bow similar to Artemis.

"No. I feel that's a little too on trend for me, plus then you need the arrows and it's suddenly like a whole thing and I just can't be bothered with that." I shrug. "Plus I like to stab things when I'm angry."

Cain had made a good point. I was down a sword, and replacing Sobek-Ra's blade, the God Killer's sword, with one purely of my own made sense. Despite feeling myself again, I missed the stupid thing. It was just there for me to call upon, or was sitting on the bed, or in the corner of the room. That sword, connection or not, had become a part of me. I needed a new one, or at least a new something to fill the void left behind.

"Daggers are always good. They've always been my preferred choice." Two appear in his hands, and he does a little performance of stabbing the air with them, before turning back to me and eyeing up the sword in my hands. "Size doesn't always matter."

"Does it though?" I smirk. "Wanna test that theory?"

"Bring it, Bunny."

We start to spar, testing each other and the new weapons cautiously before I hit his arm, and sure enough, it's more like being hit with rubber than the deadly blade it was intended to be. Now that's been confirmed, it ends up being less friendly and more fueled with an intent to win. It was harder than I remembered now our powers were on hold. If you get knocked down, you have to get yourself back up. There was no shielding, teleporting or cheap shots of the magical kind possible. It was almost like training together, back in the old days when my biggest fear was my father's wrath, and the biggest risk I took was stealing his car for a joyride or stirring up werewolves.