Legends of Olympus (On Hold)

Rock Climbing

"It will take another day for us to reach his groin," paliwanag niya. "And why is a goddess like you acting like you have never seen a male's nether region before?"

Napakurap-kurap ako at nagpatuloy nalang sa pag-akyat.

At pagkaraan ng ilang sandali, bigla akong natawa.

"They're going to make fun of us, aren't they?" sabi ko sa kanya. "Pleasure and Discord hanging out inside Tartarus' belly button."

"In fact..." Small stones and dust rolled off my arm. "I think Khione's going to laugh at me and turn a whole year into winter because of her unending breath."

"Di pa naman 'yon humihinga kapag tumatawa..." dagdag ko pa.

"Don't talk to me in that cursed language," she warned.

Nagtaka ako. "What cursed language?"

"The one you just used to say that the goddess of snow does not breathe when she laughs."

I chuckled. "You hate them that much?"

"My boyfriend and his friends speak it," pagbibigay-alam ko sa kanya. "It is a very beautiful language that I have learned to love."

"Who was your boyfriend again?" usisa niya.

"Ash," pagmamalaki ko. "Son of the light and the bearer."

"And what's he doing while his lover is in Tartarus?"

"Probably figuring out how to save me," I confidently answered. "Or maybe on his way."

"But we can't talk more about him," tugon ko. "Because then I'd cry and we'd fall off from this tunnel."

• • •

Inilabas ko ang aking kamay mula sa butas sa lupa at kumaway-kaway para ramdamin ang espasyo sa itaas.

"See? I told you we've arrived in an opening," sabi ko kay Eris.

"I thought we skipped it," aniya. "It took us longer time."

I lifted myself up, enough for my head to pop up from the hole.

"See anything?" tanong niya.

Luminga-linga ako. "Just a small cave."

"A carving on the wall?"

Inilibot ko na naman ang paningin ko sa madilim na kweba. Saka ako napatigil nang makita ang malalaking letra na nakaukit sa batong pader nito.

'τρία'

Pinaningkitan ko ito. "Tría?"  bulong ko at pagkatapos ay yumuko kay Eris na nasa ilalim pa rin ng mga paa ko. "It says three!"

"Then we're in the third cave of the navel," she informed. "It's safe to come out."

Nagkasalubong ang aking kilay. "What do you mean it's safe to come out?"

"If you saw an x then that would have meant it's infested," sabi niya. "There are smaller caves that contain snakes and scorpions, and bats."

Napasimangot ako. "You could've said that before I stuck out my head."

I climbed out of the hole and then reached an arm to Eris who just glanced at my hand before getting up on her own.

"So there are three safe caves in the god's navel?" tanong ko nang mapatayo na siya.

Binigyan niya ako ng isang mansanas mula sa basket niya. "Here," sinenyasan niya akong tanggapin ito. "You need to eat before we climb up again."

"No." Binigyan ko ito ng nandidiring tingin. "It doesn't taste good."

"Would you like me to fry you crickets, then?" 

Agad kong kinuha ang prutas mula sa kamay niya.

"What are the apples for, anyway?" Tinignan ko ang mansanas sa kamay ko.

"Those are blood apples from the labyrinth's orchard," pagbibigay-alam niya. "I'm gathering them to bake an apple pie."

"An apple pie?" I gave her a doubtful look. "That tastes like blood?"

"This isn't the Underworld, pleasure," paalala niya sa'kin. "This is Tartarus."

"Is this what I'm going to eat from now on?" nag-aalangan kong tanong. "Tartarus food?"

She sighed. "There's food that gets thrown from the realms above," sabi niya. "Those might suit your taste."

Walang pa ring ipinagbago sa suot kong ekspresyon.

"You're asking me to eat waste?" nandidiri kong tanong, ulit.

I continued to give her a disgusted look while she stared at me, already bored and definitely exhausted.

"If you really want to eat your kind of food that much, then we're gonna have to go to Nyx's temple in the mountains," she suggested. "And grab as much as offerings that appear there."

"Mountains?" Napailing ako. "Is that Tartarus' abs or something?"

"He doesn't have abs," sabi niya. "But the god has a lot of skin warts, though. Lot of hills on his skin."

"Then what's the mountains?"

Kumunot ang kanyang noo. "Very tall and sharper skin warts?"

"Huh." Unti-unti akong napalihis ng tingin mula kay Eris. "Mountains..."

Bigla akong may naalala kaya mabilis din akong napaharap ulit sa kanya.

"Are we going to pass by his-"

"No," seryoso niyang sambit. "No nether regions."