Chronicles of Myth Volume One: Twisted Daydreams

Scene Twenty-one

I felt the ground rumble, as I saw the Minotaur rush me with a mace; once within arm’s reach I bashed his face with my shield and veered him to the left, I got under him; as stabbed him through the gut my sword blazed to life searing his insides, I pierced through his back and cut his spine in half. He leaned over me; blood dripped out of his mouth and onto my shoulder, “It’s been while since I fought someone, so forgive me if I’m a little rusty”; he dropped his mace, clang; the spiked head implanted itself into the ground, “I’m Connor Deus, nice to meet you”. “Elaine Alighieri”; I pulled out my sword and stepped back, letting him fall on his cooked intestines. He stood up and stuffed himself, the wound closed and I heard a deep sigh; I put away my sword and shield; placing them on the ground, I protective fingerless gloves on my hands. “You’re no Perseus”. He laughed putting up his fists, I held my arms in front of me with open palms; I collected myself and stepped out of the way to dodge his fist, I punched him in the stomach and pounded away at his torso leaving burn marks on his fur; Conner swatted me away with a swing of his arm, I braced my arms in front to block a heavy fist; “That’s better”, I leapt up and was intercepted by his uppercut, he slammed me into the ground and I rolled out of the way to dodge a stomp, I kicked his calf and leapt up for a tornado kick to his head; both of my feet connected, I spun in the air and went for the axe kick. Connor blocked my foot and grabbed me by the ankle, I was smashed into the dirt face first; once, twice. Grabbing me by arms and legs he broke my back on his knee, I was tossed into the air and grabbed again this my back breaking mine against his. Locked in a bear hug, Connor threw his upper body into a suplex; as my head hit the ground I felt my brain slush around from the impact. With a hammer throw I flew across the arena and smashed into a wall, as my wounds healed I stood up and saw Connor trying to gore me; he charged down and I planted my feet, I grabbed his horns and twisted his head driving him into the ground; I placed my feet on his neck, broke off his horns and stabbed them through his back, he howled in pain; I pulled out the makeshift daggers and drove them back into his skull piercing through his eyes, Connor scrambled up screaming like a madman; I grabbed onto the stubs of his horns as bucked around on all fours, “Yip kay a motherfucker”! I flipped over his head and smashed my knee into face; I landed on the ground first, pulling his head down I smashed my knee into his lower jaw; I swung him around and lifted him up, I spiraled upward in a jet of flame and punched his sternum; I wrapped my arms his waist, spinning in the air we locked ourselves in a piledriver. Five feet away from the ground I threw him down face first and dropped on his back like a missile; on contact, I let an explosion roar out of my feet; the flames focused downward and with a large blast I incinerated him into ash; the ashes faded away in streams of energy, it reformed behind me; I saw a man in a business suit; I saw him tilt his fedora and lift up his glasses, he held a spas-12 with a narrow choke and aimed it at the back of my head; “Checkmate”. I turned and rolled out of the way to dodge the pellets; I snapped my fingers looking at the ground in front of him, the oxygen combusted and I sent him flying back; he aimed again sitting up and took a potshot scrambling to his feet, I drew my Tinderbox and aimed it at his head; I pulled the trigger and burst of seven rounds hit him in the chest, he returned two quick shots and I had my knees blown out. Connor walked up to me, he dropped the bulletproof vest and placed the barrel square to my face. “It’s just business”. He squeezed the trigger and I heard a click, “You’re lucky I’m a medic… normally I keep the extra round chambered, but today’s special”. Connor picked up legs and walked back over to me, he laid me on my back and attached my legs back to my body; “There we go, good as new”. I sat up and he smiled at me, “Don’t take what you have for granted”, he leaned forward and helped me up; I lifted his right arm; Connor looked at me raising his eyebrow, “It’s your win, take it”. “You don’t have to do this”, “A dragon never swallows her pride, I’m just being grateful”. Connor nodded his head, and we looked at the score board: we’re tied 2 to 2. I was hugged by Ashton in the waiting room, and was greeted by happy faces; Thane patted me on the back, he pulled out his sniper rifle and locked in the barrel; “Wish me luck”. He walked out the lobby; I saw a cup of half-drunk black coffee on the table next to an open bible, I picked up the book and saw Revelation 21:4. “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”, “The demented psycho is just a front”; I looked at Ragnarok in surprise, “I’d never would have guess”; “Neither did any of us; as each of us goes out to fight he prays for a safe return”. Astoria told me, “I knew he wasn’t all evil”. Draco wiped a tear from his face, his skin turned to ash grey; “We did horrible things before, he was just smart enough to atone for sins before I did; my only hope in despair, he was my guardian angel, and I was his”. “The fallen saint”. Nolan spoke up, “He’s turned a new leaf, as I have I when we joined you”. I sat next to Draco and placed my hand on his face, he smiled at me; I embraced him; “We don’t judge anyone for what they may have done… we judge people by who they are”. I said to Draco, “For many of us… this is the closest thing we get to a second chance, a new life… I don’t care about what evil your hands have done; you’re a different person now, so choose better and walk toward it”. “Thank you”. I scooted over a few seats and leaned back in the loveseat with Ashton, a yawn escaped my mouth and slowly drifted off into sleep; I laid down on his lap, so soft… so warm; this is my family, how odd fate can be… I never felt I belonged anywhere, always stigmatized for what I was, but now I feel whole for the first time in my life, I can say that I’m happy; all felt right.

“So this is what it means to be loved, for once I found a home”. I said to myself, “For once I don’t feel like a monster… I feel accepted”. I smiled at thought of my new family. I stepped out in the arena and faced a woman dressed in a cloak red as blood; she looked at me with a pleasant smile… underneath her hood I saw in her deep scarlet eyes, a longing for home now realized by her comrades.  “You and I are alike”. She said, she drew a dusty red circle around her with her foot; she unsheathed a ritual knife and looked to the sky; her mouth opened and she screamed like a banshee, as she stabbed herself in the gut. The circle lit up and from her body flowed unholy energy; looking at me with black eyes full of malice, she moved in a flash of red and started slicing away. “Slice, Slice, Slice”! She screamed, I stepped back from each swing; I grabbed my sniper by the tripod and swung it into the side of her head, I leaned forward and blew out a jet of black fire; she writhed and laughed at her agony, if it was possible the pain I gave her, made her attack quicker and with even more ferocity than before; I rolled out the way and aimed my rifle steadying it on my arm; I took a shot and the round pierced through her skull, for a moment it all fell quiet as her head tilted back from the impact; she moved her knife to her head and dug out the bullet, the wound seethed with red as it closed. “Tsk, tsk… You’re a naughty little shit aren’t you”? She teleported in front of me and disemboweled me, as she got behind me, she held me up and stabbed my back; “Now you’re full of holes”. She laughed like a maniac, “Compared to me what are you”? I asked as I had my organs sliced to ribbons inside me, “Shouldn’t you be more focused on not dying” she answered back, “Seal release level one”. I grabbed her wrist and snapped it in my hand, I turned and looked at the marvel in her eyes; “All life has started from nothing, so what gives it meaning”? “For me, I live to see the world suffer for its sins”.  “You live for agony, the pain you’ve wrought is equal to what was inflicted on you”. “You’re special”. I tossed her into the wall behind me, and manifested Quetzalcoatl; “You thrive on pain, so let’s see tough you are”! I formed six wings of red lightning on my back, I rushed forward and was flung backward by a hand made from blood, “I am Nicole the Reaver, and you are dead meat”. I flexed the wings in front of me, they were cut in half by her hand and I saw her face, white with rage; the red in her eyes was gone, all that was left was a primal instinct to kill. Two longs shot out of her back and she pummeled me into the ground, “DIE”! Nicole stabbed through my gut and pulled out my intestines, she jumped up and swung me around, I was tossed to the ground and I looked up, “Seal release level nine”. Resorting to my trump card already, man I’m rusty”. Now one of two things will happen, one I could erase everything that ever was. Or two I could combine all of my energy into last ditch shot. Please God let it be the latter. I stood up and stared into the sky, I reached for my back and drew a sword, I hadn’t used in over fifty odd years; I pointed the gleaming blade skyward and focused all of my strength into the tip of the sword, the sky turned black and red shot of out the sky like angry tears; “I pray forgiveness, have mercy on my soul”. I slashed down my blade on Nicole’s shoulder as she was about to pierce my heart, I brought to her knees and we were both struck by a bolt red lightning; the arena was engulfed in noxious smoke, when it cleared; I found that the ground was scorched to into brimstone, and a hand was sticking out of my chest; Nicole had won, “I’m reckless not suicidal”. She smiled and laid me on my back, “You’re good… but you could’ve killed me any time back there, why didn’t you”? I coughed out black blood, “I’m not that kind of person anymore; I hate spilling needless blood; I hate taking needless life”. She jammed my heart back in my chest and sealed the wound, she sat next to me “You are strong… might I ask what your name is”. “Thane Ripley”. “Nicole Grace”. She answered back, I looked at the scoreboard, 2 to 3; damn, the games master appeared as a wisp of green spirits; “Matches shall continue tomorrow, this marks the end of first day”! Nicole leaned in and kissed me on the lips, she ran away laughing back to her side of the arena, I stood up and saw a woman dressed in red, she walked out from her waiting room; “All contestants, congratulations on your battles thus far; meet us in the lower hall for a night feasting and celebrations”!  “We’ll see you then”. Nicole said to me as she ran back into her gate, as she turned to wave, this time I saw something more humane and beautiful in her eyes: admiration, no it was love.  

I walked back into the waiting room; as a frame of reference it was a high ceiling circular room with checkerboard tiling, and decorated with modern minimalist furniture; I took a seat on the recliner getting a bottle of vodka; I drained half of the bottle and set it on the table besides the chair. “Definitely not what I had in mind for a first date”.