The Legend of Perseus: The Gigantomachy

Ch. 3

Ch. 3

A plan?

In retrospect, a plan would have been nice.

But plans are for people who have time to sit and think about a problem. A chance to look at it from several angles and choose the best course of action.

Perseus... Well, he wasn't really a plan kind of guy.

It's not that he wasn't smart. In fact, for his age, he thought he was pretty sharp, mostly thanks to the life experiences he'd been forced to endure since being gifted with the knowledge of his partial divinity.

But one of the many joys of being a half god meant he had the pleasure of risking his life to help the so-called ultra powerful Olympians. Well, sometimes to help... Other times, in fact most of the time, he was pretty sure it was for their amusement. But this time, this time he got the joyous privilege of running straight towards a forty foot immortal giant for the sake of a goddess he was pretty sure would blast him to dust if she thought no one would notice.

Right?! What an honor!

He had to push his sarcastic monologue out of his mind because he was running out of space between him and his likely cause of death.

With no plan coming to mind, he went with what Heracles had taught him to do in impossible situations.

He pulled an arrow from his quiver and fired it straight at the giant's head.

In Heracles' defense, it usually had a pretty decent success rate.

Sadly, his arrow wasn't much more than a bee sting to the hulking form of Alcyoneus. The first hit one of his weird jewel moles and bounced off harmlessly. He didn't even seem to notice.

Perseus' eyes narrowed as he thought about bee stings.

He stopped running and pulled another arrow. He took aim this time, waiting as the giant shuffled around still trying to squash the surprisingly nimble Heracles.

"Wait for it..." Perseus whispered to himself. Dionysus had stopped beside him and looked unsure if the younger boy was talking to him.

Suddenly Perseus loosed the arrow.

"ARGGGHHHHHHH!" Alcyoneus roared as the arrow hit about a third of the way down his ear canal.

The giant dropped his staff and brought both hands to his left ear as he howled in pain and tried to pluck the painful arrow out. He didn't manage to get it out but seemed to get over the painful annoyance enough to turn,his eyes landing on Perseus who stood grinning with his bow still in hand. When the giant's eyes found him, his smile vanished and his moment of triumph was ruined by the realization he was about to die.

"BOY!" Alcyoneus bellowed. "YOU'RE DEATH WILL BE EXTRA SLOOOOOAHHHHHHHHH!

He nearly doubled over as his hand went up to his right ear. Perseus looked and found Heracles, bruised and battered from nearly being crushed dozens of times, grinning with pride at him as he clearly approved of the tactic.

"I WILL DESTROY YOU MORTALS!" Alcyoneus screamed. He ran straight at Perseus and Dionysus, his huge strides closing the distance in seconds as they both darted in opposite directions. Alcyoneus went after Perseus, clearly still a little miffed about the first arrow in the ear. Though his strides were enormous and he could cover distance much quicker, Perseus had agility the giant couldn't couldn't come close to matching. His small and muscular frame was built for speed and he knew it. He was yards away each time a huge dragon foot would stomp down on the earth trying to crush him.