Memories of Dust and Gold

Do Gods Have Pity?

Synopsis: "Even after his death, Python causes great despair. And the gods do nothing to stop him." (written pre-TON)

I fell on my knees, finally inhaling air that wasn't contamined with Python's venomous breath. I was extremely tired, and I felt pain radiate from my head throughout my whole body, but I was somehow satisfied. We did it. The emperors were defeated - Nero was defeated by Meg, of course, and I was really proud of her for that; she finally overcame her fear.
The demigods of both camps were working together to rebuild what was destroyed in the battles. We freed the Oracle of Delphi. My punishment was over.

Was it?

Something wasn't right, I sensed it. My mortal memory may have been flawed, but I remembered every little detail of my fight with Python - it gave me nightmares for centuries. He was a monster, obviously, and like all monsters after being defeated - and by that I mean: after hundreds of arrows had hit him - he disintegrated, leaving behind only a pile of dust and a couple of disgusting green scales that I decided to burn right after. This time was different: Python, in his sixty meters of pure evil, layed on the ground of the cave, silent and still. I couldn't see his face, but he seemed to be dead to me.

Then why didn't he disintegrate?

I saw Meg run around the cave, curious to get to know every corner of it, jumping up and down to see things that were situated higher up and that her gaze did not reach. In fact, it was a place of great beauty: despite being covered, the cave was somehow illuminated by the strange silvery glow that came from the fountain that flowed nearby - a little waterfall that came out the dark stones of the walls. From some cracks on the ground, once source of the steams that I always found really unhealthy but which, still, gave me the chance to get in touch with my priestesses, grew plants and delicate flowers. Over time, many stalagmites and stalactites began to stretch from the ground and from the ceiling.

Pan would have liked this place, as it is now. Well, without the corpse of the giant snake, of course.

As my lips stretched in a tired smile, Meg approached me. — This sure is a cool place for a giant evil noodle.

I stared at her for a long second.

— Okay Meg, wait, wait. We just defeated something that overcomes any enemy we ever fought against in speed, power and intellect, a giant monster that is mostly deadly and that would have given us a really horrible and painful death if we didn't kill him first, — I said, emphasizing the concept with big hand movements. — and you call him noodle.

She scratched her nose. — Exactly.

I sighed.

We sat in a corner, covered in blood and wounds, trying to regain strenght and discussing on how we would return home. Of course, the first thing to do was to try and see if the communications were functional again and to give the good news to everyone. Somehow, I found a dracma in the pockets of my now ripped jeans. A small hole in the ceiling - so this cave wasn't completely covered! - let a ray of light pass through a cloud of waterdrops formed by the waterfall, and that guaranteed a perfect rainbow for the high-resolution video chats. I just hoped that Iris wasn't busy with some kind of social protest.

I heard a weak wheeze coming from somewhere in the cave, but I thought that it was just the water flowing, or some definitely not funny joke that my mind decided to play on me. Even so, I couldn't get off me that feeling of unease, a pressure on my chest that I felt from the first moment I made eye contact with Python.

I came close to the water, the tail of the dragon-snake behind my back, trying not to groan for sitting down too fast. I started this adventure with broken ribs; the Fates, I supposed, decided that I had to end it in the same way. Just as I was about to throw the dracma into the rainbow, Meg shouted behind me: — APOLLO, LOOK OUT!