Hunter: The Reckoning

Chapter 3

Sitting down was a mistake, mostly because I wasn't sure I wanted or could even get back up. The cave wasn't exactly the safest place to stop thanks to the constant movements from the team of giants stomping around. It was like never-ending earthquakes in this realm, but we were hidden from view and I needed a break. My hips ached as much as my thighs, and every joint in my legs felt like they were about ninety years old.

Cain passed me a bottle of water, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to drown myself in it or drink it, so I splashed it on my face before gulping it down. Turns out, hot as hell, was actually a thing.

"I should have let Gaia kill me. At least I'd left behind a pretty corpse." I groaned, leaning against the rocks behind me as more sand fell from the roof. "Now they're going to think I'm just another of the creatures down here."

Because I was so damp with sweat, and now the water, I had become a magnet for dirt. My hair was tossed in some kind of messy bun on top of my head, and I had on the bare minimum of clothing I could manage. Despite wearing black workout clothes, I could see the powdery brown marks from the sand and the lighter smears of dust from the limestone we'd just passed.

"You're still pretty to me." Cain winked, sitting beside me as he touched my leg. "Where does it hurt the most?"

"My hips." He did what he could to ease my aches, but a year in a hot tub sounded like a much better alternative. "Thank you."

"We don't have too far to go now and what are you doing?" He went to take my new book and frowned as he saw the cover. "Mythology for Dummies."

"I need a quick catch-up on what we're walking into. You literally admitted back there, you know very little other than what you already told me. Maybe some of this Greek stuff could be useful." I shrug. "Couldn't hurt right?"

"I guess not, but that's the text you choose?"

"That's all I could think of. Got a better idea?" Cain closed his eyes and held out his hands but when nothing happened after a minute or so, I went back to reading and left him wondering why he couldn't summon anything. "Good luck with that."

Since I drank so much water, I felt even more bloated and also nauseous. The carrots and dip I decided to snack on had no flavour and didn't stay fresh for very long. This was hell, luxuries like crispy vegetables weren't a thing here apparently - something Cain decides to tell me after I give up on it.

"Okay, so, Tartarus is this big scary monster right and he is like brother-husband to Gaia as they all were formed from the same source. So what, she just left him here with the kids to do whatever she does? No wonder they only have one eye." I keep reading. "Oh, they're not their kids. They're the assholes kids." I paused my reading. "Maybe we can use that?"

"Uranus banished them here, and they're not related. Wherever or whatever they were before taking these forms were separate entities."

"That's what they want you to think because, ew incest."

"You know you can't believe everything you read." He reminded me.

"True. Apollo is meant to be of the arts or some crap and he has no theatrical or musical talent to save his life." I close my book.

"Anyway, so Tartarus and Asshole both have had a fling with Gaia at some point. What if we use that, try and like, make a deal with Tartarus to let us out." I suggest.

"Playing Dr. Phil to a bunch of firsts, the ultimate primordial beings, isn't a plan."

"Kinda is, especially if they're as petty as the book says and also, look at our crew. They are the biggest, most egotistical, drama and power-filled diva's around. Where do you think that all came from?" I went back to my book. "The Titans, your elders, were banished here. Cronus was here. Zeus just summoned him up like he was at a Mcdonald's ordering some fries when I first crossed realms. I really want fries."