Designed Destiny

2. #neverseenthiscoming

"No! That was all vegan upholstery!" He exclaimed, then stumbled and staggered for shelter in the pavilion, inevitably losing balance and crashing to the vibrating opal floor.

Flowering trees uprooted and collapsed into the forsythia maze, tearing the hedges down and left gruesome injuries streaked across the lawn. Next the entire ground ripped open like flesh under a massive, invisible sword. Black smoke wove up from beneath the trembling soil and filled the bright sky, blocking out the sun. 

Everything suddenly ceased to move, and an eerie silence ensued. 

Persephon was panting from the excitement, his head spinning with confusion as he struggled to process what had just transpired. He shrieked a heartbeat later as a hulking mass rose out of the crater in the garden - it was Cerberus. Persephon screamed and frantically started hurling fallen liquor bottles at the hideous, three-headed wolf creature.

The beast was completely furless; his ebon fettle flesh was emblazoned with precious minerals and metals that steadily twisted and turned in ever changing patterns across his muscles like breathing tattoos. Polychromatic scales wove around his empty eye-sockets, creating a permanent furrowed brow, before snaking down the backs of his necks and spine to form his long, parasitic tail. A hissing, fire-spitting dragon head was mounted at the tip of the monster's tail, lashing aggressively. Smoke wafted from Cerberus' parted jaws and an eerie red light glowing within his fang-infested mouths made his already petrifying appearance that much more grotesque. The dragon head on Cerberus' tail slowly rose to be nestled between his three heads. "Thisssss one will do!" The head hissed, eyes locking on Persephon.

Cerberus' middle head gave a booming bark and then the beast lunged forward.

Persephon scrambled up to his feet and took off running for the house, screaming all the while. He managed to look over his shoulder in time to see the hellhound trample through the pavilion and tear through the havoc-ridden backyard in pursuit. "Leave me alone!" He suddenly tripped on an uprooted piece of earth and crashed to the ground shaking under Cerberus' strides. Persephon just managed to get up when the hellhound leaped over him, sailing right into the glass-paneled side of the mansion. The collision sounded like thunder, glass and debris flew like rain. Persephon barely had enough time to cover his face before the debris blew into him. He lost his balance and fell to the ground again, frantically sitting up just as the beastly guardian of the Underworld loomed above him.

Two of the heads bowed down so their empty eye-sockets glared at him from both sides, then the middle head parted its jaws; smoke slithered through the air like serpents and wrapped around its victim.

"Ehhh," Persephon made a face of disgust as he clawed at the sticky bands of smoke.

Cerberus lifted his heads and marched over the demigod. Persephon held his breath until the monster passed but just before he could breathe again, the dragon tail lashed out and sunk its jaws in his shoulder. He cried out in pain as blood flew up from his wound and wildly clawed at the dragon head while being dragged across the upheaved ground. "Noooo!" he screamed as Cerberus leaped down the fissure in the ground, dragging Persephon after him in a tunnel comprised of compacted dirt and stark white bones. He kept screaming and thrashing, his pain forgotten as horror overwhelmed him with the realization that he was not only being kidnapped, but also descending the layers of the universe well on the way to the Underworld. According to Demeter the only accessible way to Hades was by the tunnels his demonic dog dug. Cerberus had the powers to dig through the very fabric and physics of a planet to return home, much like how the powers of the goddess Iris could transport gods anywhere within her reach with the rainbow mist.

"This is a mistake!" He caterwauled as the sunlight above disappeared. He was then lost in utter darkness, he couldn't even see the bones of death lining the tunnel anymore, could only feel them jostling his body as he was dragged over them. "When my mother finds out about this...she'll...she'll come un-fucking glued! And she's a goddess with a short fuse, you crazy bitch!" He managed to snap. The eyes on the dragon tail were glaring at him and abruptly removed its vile jaws from his shoulder. He yelped with pain and pressed both hands to his bleeding wound.