The Legend of Perseus: The Labors

Ch. 8

Ch. 8

If anyone asks, he fell when he was running through the forest. Tripped over a rock and fell right into a puddle. The puddle was small though, only big enough to cover his thighs and that's why there was a wet patch on his tunic from his thighs to his knees.

Yep, that was the story and no one could question it.

The thought was pretty irrelevant anyway. The only one who saw it was the enormous creature looming over him, deciding whether he wanted to take his time and eat him in pieces or just inhale him in one demigod sized bite.

Perseus wished he was brave. A real hero would have faced his imminent death with courage, staring his adversary in the eyes until the very end.

Maybe even throw in a memorable quote like, perhaps I am bested but my brethren shall hunt you to the ends of the earth to avenge me!

No, never mind. That was stupid. But if he had more time, he totally could have come up with something awesome to say.

But he doubted the Nemean Lion would let him call a quick timeout to think of something better to say.

Heroes always had awesome quotes in stories.

But those were in stories. In real life, when the moment came, Perseus opened his mouth and bravely screamed like a girl.

Though maybe not the most courageous course of action, his high pitched screech did make the monster step back, probably wondering if he was getting ready to eat a tasty demigoddess who just looked like a boy.

Perseus' instincts took over after that and he made a daring dash as fast as he could in the opposite direction of the monster.

For a moment, he thought he was going to escape. Another miraculous escape for the son of Poseidon!

The moment was fleeting.

About ten yards into his dash for freedom, a huge paw came out of nowhere and hit him in the side so hard he was knocked into the air and landed horizontally on the earth, the air ripped from his lungs as he crashed onto his side and rolled a few feet before coming to a stop in a muddy patch of grass.

At least the mud would cover up the water from the puddle earlier.

He tried to crawl towards the forest but a padded paw nearly as big as him pinned his legs to the ground and kept him there. He tried to turn around and face his attacker but that paw was seriously heavy and kept him face down in the mud.

Perseus exhaled tiredly and finally accepted his fate. Maybe death wouldn't be that bad.

Hey, he almost made it to ten. If what Heracles had told him about demigods was true,then that wasn't bad.