Vessels

Chapter 11: Souls

Unfortunately, our luck runs out. Rhea realises this, too, and her sprint turns into a jog. Nico takes the longest to process this, because he continues heading towards the wall that none of us can get over, even if we climb on each other's backs to try and reach the top.

"Nicholas..." Rhea's voice is soft, but her brother hears her clearly. He slows down, and when he eventually stops moving, he doesn't look back at us. Instead, Nico falls to his knees and hangs his head low.

"We're trapped," I whisper.

Looking behind me, I see what was appearing out of the holes that showed up next to all of us; more pillars. One carries a sword, another carries a bow and multiple arrows placed in a quiver, and the last one carries a mace; its spikes longer and sharper than I've ever seen before.

When I looked to the first pillars we all saw, I gawk at what has appeared on top of the centre one. It's a circular item with what seems to be spikes at four points of it, and the transparent, glass-like material is thick. It can only be Hades' Clutch.

The other two pillars are empty, and I assume someone must have taken the clutches from there a while ago. There should be three in every hidden location.

Walking closer to it, I can't help but feel it shouldn't be this easy to get it. It seems strange to just walk up to and go. Although, courtesy of the walls, we don't really have anywhere we can go to.

I look at Nico and Rhea, waiting to get their approval before walking any closer to the clutch. When they both nod, I decide to just do it. It shouldn't matter if it's easy to take. Maybe the hard part is getting out of here.

I take a deep breath before advancing forward, and although I walk towards the clutch, my mind is stuck on the objects that appeared. Nothing makes sense.

When I look to the side of me, I see Nico and Rhea have made their way towards the weapons. Rhea stops at the spear, and Nico stops at the bow and arrows. They seem just as confused as I am, but I guess we can figure that out later. Right now, I just need to take Hades' Clutch.

Having a better look at it, I can tell it isn't made out of glass. However, I'm not sure what this material is.

I outstretch my hands slowly, as if I'm waiting to trip some secret alarm and cause soldiers to come after us. However, when my hand comes in contact with the clutch, no alarm is tripped.

I try to yank the object off of the pillar, but it won't budge. It's like it's stuck, but there is no way I'm leaving this place without it just because I'm too weak to pull it out.

"Can someone help?"

My eyebrows furrow when I squint at something green slither towards Rhea. Seeing as I am not a fan of snakes, I have to stop myself from screaming.

Rhea follows my eyes but she looks more confused than anything.

"What is it, Amora?" She starts wiggling when the snake slithers up her leg.

"A snake, Rhea!"

"Agh! Get it off!" Rhea shakes and hits every inch of her body she can reach. However, the snake is extremely fast, and it ends up on her chest by the time Nico and I are running towards her.

Suddenly, the snake's body grows and just when I think it's about to swallow Rhea hole, she throws it off of her and jumps back before making her way towards her brother.

However, when the snake lands, it's appearance changes again, and I watch in shock as four legs hit the ground and an orange, wolf-like creature growls at Rhea and Nico.

"What is that?" Rhea whispers, and I realise just what's happening.

"The wolf?"

"The--" Rhea widens her eyes, and they start to tear up. "The what?"