-Chapter Eight-
"So, he's afflicted by the cold." She started explaining. Yorath raised an eyebrow.
"No shit." He retorted
"No, but like, there's a reason he's as sick as he is." She started to explain.
"The snowstorm outside. It's not normal. It gets worse as the days go by." She explained with a sigh. Yorath again raised an eyebrow.
"I still have no idea how this relates to us," Yorath admitted.
"I mean someone's causing the constant aggressive snowstorms. It isn't a normal snowstorm. Not naturally caused. Which in turn means its effects aren't that of a normal storm." She tried explaining. Yorath motioned his fingers, urging her to continue.
"So can we cure him?" Yorath asked, looking at Percy's unconscious body.
"Well yes, but..." She stopped midway through her sentence.
"Ah I see, there's a catch."
"Well not a catch, but we need to go out into the storm again and find this particular item." She explained. Yorath once again gave a sigh of disappointment.
"Of course it's another particular item." He said rubbing his temples in frustration.
"Another object I need to find," Yorath said cursing silently.
"So what's the task?"
"Well, you need to find an icy flower north of this village." She listed. He gave off a slight sigh and urged her to continue.
"This flower has healing properties that removes all afflictions the storm causes." She added.
"Why don't your people use this flower to remove the storm's effects on themselves?" Yorath asked.
"Well, we used to." She answered.
"Used to?" Yorath asked.
"That was until monsters started guarding the flowers." She explained. Yorath sighed again for or what seemed like the hundredth time.
"What would monsters want to do with this flower?"
"Remember when I said that the storm was caused by a person?" She asked. Yorath nodded, his mind slowly connecting the dots.
"Let me guess, the person sent the monsters to guard it?" Yorath asked. She looked at him with wide eyes and nodded.
"How'd you guess?" She asked.
"You could say I have got a fair share of experience in this type of stuff," Yorath stated with a tired voice.
"You look young, how'd you even get the experience?" She asked incredulously. Yorath shook his head.
"Don't mind that."
"Anyways, north of the village right?" Yorath asked standing up.
"Wait, you're not planning on taking them on yourself right?" She asked.
"Maybe, maybe not."
"Please take care of my brother whilst I'm gone. He's the only family I have right now." Yorath pleaded. If Percy were to die, he'd be trapped there forever. He wouldn't see his father, he would be trapped in an unknown place in an unknown time with absolutely no way to get back to his timeline. He was a son of Chronos, the literal offspring of time. But time travel is a fickle thing. Even the primordial of time himself doesn't dare try time travel.
The risks are just too great. To time travel you had to either be a lunatic, or you had no other choice but to time travel. Guess which part of the spectrum the two brothers fall in.
Yorath exited the building, the immediate cold hitting him like a truck. If not for the thick coat that was draped over his shoulders, he would've immediately gone back inside from the sheer cold. He steeled his nerves and walked in the direction of north. He didn't pay the villagers any mind, not really caring about how they thought of him. Some may have hated him, some may have been confused, but he couldn't care less. All he was thinking right now was how to save his brother.
He walked forward, the snowstorm raging around him, the absolutely cold wind was enough to make any person without any warmth curl up and die. He was lucky he had the thick fur coat, or else even his natural affinity to the cold because of being a demi-primordial wouldn't be enough. He wasn't invincible, just more durable than the average human. He wasn't immortal too, only half immortal.
He had to hurry, they only had a few more days until Percy would eventually succumb to the Time Strain. Even if Yorath did get the flower he needed if it was too late. All of it was for nothing. Percy was basically on a doomsday clock on top of a doomsday clock. With the addition of the Time Strain and the storm's effects, he was getting hit by death's door on every angle. And Yorath was determined to lock the door and never let it open.
---
Yorath strained his eyes, spotting silhouettes of flowers in the distance, and quite a number of them too. He scanned the area, almost instantly going into combat mode. his senses going active. He perked his ears and strained his eyes, looking for any signs of monsters. His breath was slow, his steps were calculated as he inched closer to the flowers in the distance.
"Where are you, you little bitch." He whispered underneath his breath, trying to find any signs of monsters. He stopped dead in his tracks, seeing a nonhuman footprint on the snow.
"That isn't good." He muttered, straining his ears, trying to pick up any sounds nearby. All he heard was the violent snowstorm that was raging beside him. It was not one of the top sounds that he'd like to hear he had to admit.
Immediately after, a large roar that scared Yorath shitless echoed throughout the snowy plains. That sound was not on his top sounds of all time. It was really low on the list he had to admit. Yorath sighed and readied his yoyo.
He turned around and immediately dodged as a monster came barreling towards him. He shook his head, the sudden movement dazing him a bit.
He propped himself up and readied his yoyo, staring at the monster in front of him. Ready for another round.
The monster itself was a towering behemoth of fur, filled with power and strength. Yorath immediately recognized what it was. He cursed loudly and looked at the monster. It was a mammoth.
"Are you fucking-" he said angrily.
"I thought you were vegan?!" Yorath said incredulously. The mammoth simply charged at Yorath again, its sharp tusks barely missing Yorath. The son of Chronos looked at the mammoth with a glare. He examined the beast with a cautious eye, trying to find any weak points. The mammoth readied itself and charged again, barreling towards Yorath at frightening speeds.
He readied his yoyo and threw it at the mammoth, the yoyo wrapped around one of its tusks as it charged at Yorath with an intent to kill. He jumped out of the way and yanked at his yoyo string, the sudden pull tipping the mammoth off balance and causing it to come crashing down onto the snow. Yorath approached the mammoth and twirled his yoyo, the weapon of choice glowing in a faint green, ready to deliver the final blow.
Yorath brought down his yoyo, the yoyo itself glowing with a faint but deadly glow. It was like a battery ready to explode with energy. The yoyo collided with the mammoth, the area around them exploding with temporal energy. Snow blew off from the mini-explosion, causing the ground to rumble for a bit.
Yorath held his breath, looking at the mammoth lying on the ground, its body unmoving.
The mammoth in the span of what seemed like a second suddenly stood up, a fiery glow in its eyes. Yorath widened his eyes and gulped, a look of confusion and shock evident in his features.
"What the-" he didn't have time to finish his sentence as he jumped, barely avoiding the mammoth. His brain was trying to formulate answers for questions that were not supposed to be answered.
The mammoth changed physically all in the span of a few seconds. All around his body, growths of ice formed out of nowhere. Its tusks albeit was still dangerous before was now glowing a bright blue. He could feel the sudden power spike in the air, courtesy of his powers.
"I liked you better when you were extinct," Yorath screamed as he jumped out of the way, the mammoth narrowly avoiding Yorath again. He cursed again for what seemed like the hundredth time, for a sixteen to seventeen-year-old, he had a sailor's mouth. He looked at the monster, the mammoth looking at Yorath with a deadly look, intent on making this battle his last.
"What's your weak spot, big guy." He whispered to no one in particular, as he examined the monster who was about to go in for another charge. Yorath was figuratively slapped in the face when the mammoth stomped its feet, shards of ice erupting from the ground, ready to pierce anyone unlucky enough to be in the radius of the attack. Yorath was in said radius.
He widened his eyes and snapped his fingers out of reflex. Those reflexes seemed to be effective as time seemed to slow down.
He instantly jumped away from the shards, time reverting back to normal. He winced a little, feeling a cut on his cheek from the spikes. That was too close for comfort. The mammoth roared again, about to charge at Yorath. He didn't even know how the bastard could roar. As far as he was concerned the beast was just an ancient elephant, how in the ever living hell could it roar. There were more questions than answers, unfortunately, he didn't have the luxury of finding out as the monster charged at the unprepared Yorath.
He cursed and used his power again, the mammoth's charge turning from a fast attack to the pace of a snail. If it was under the normal circumstances, he would've charged his yoyo for another attack whilst time was slowed and be done with it. However, the mammoth proved to be much tougher than anticipated. Even his yoyo could deal nothing to the monster but be a minor nuisance.
As he rolled out of the way, he caught a small glimmer in the mammoth's back. It was barely noticeable, but just enough that it caught Yorath's attention. He plummeted to the snowy ground as the mammoth charged at what it thought was Yorath. It looked around in what seemed to be confusion, unable to piece together what just happened. It immediately locked eyes with Yorath and abandoned all thinking and was immediately blood lusted for the son of Chronos. Yorath stared at the beast, pondering what the small glimmer was.
The mammoth prepared its signature charge and dashed towards Yorath at rather frightening speeds. He immediately readied his yoyo and threw it forward, the yoyo wrapping around the mammoth's ankle. He shifted his body weight and pulled with all of his might. Now if it weren't for him being a son of a primordial, he would've been absolutely rag-dolled by the mammoth.
The mammoth succumbed to the force of Yorath's pull and fell onto the ground, squirming from the sudden misbalance. Yorath readied his yoyo and twirled it around again, temporal energy gathering in his weapon, as the area around him lit up with a faint green light. The mammoth roared and instantly tried to get up.
Yorath focused on the small glint on the mammoth's back and let his yoyo loose. The area around them immediately exploded with energy. Yorath himself was blasted off his feet and onto the cold ground.
"Goddamn, that hurts." Yorath groaned, shaking his head from the dizziness. He stood up slowly, looking around to try and find where the mammoth went. He trained his eyes on what seemed to be the dead carcass of the mammoth.
"Please tell me you're dead." He said as he approached the mammoth cautiously.
He knelt beside it and examined it. His guard was still up, he wouldn't want it to suddenly wake up out of nowhere and start attacking him like last time. Out of the corner of his eye, he could've sworn he saw a small glint on the snow. He turned to the glimmer, a look of confusion on his face.
A crystal that glowed a faint blue was beside the mammoth as if tempting Yorath to look at it. If it was, consider Yorath tempted.
To the ordinary person, it didn't seem like it held any importance. However, Yorath thought differently. He grabbed the crystal and examined it, a small idea forming in his mind. He grabbed held the crystal in his hand and inched closer to the mammoth. Almost immediately the mammoth jolted awake. He jumped away in surprise, backing away from the monster. The mammoth who seemed so alive a few seconds ago went limp again, showing no signs of life once the crystal was no longer in its relatively close vicinity.
"So that's why." He pieced it together as he shoved the crystal in his pocket. He didn't know what the crystal was or what embedded it into the mammoth's skin, but it was definitely not natural. He had to pry the village girl for answers. He straightened his fur coat and looked in front of him, seeing a bunch of flowers. He walked forward and kneeled beside the flowers, carefully picking a handful of them.
The flowers themselves were a light blue, small shards of ice formed on the petals of the flower. Yorath had to admit, the flowers were quite beautiful.
He grabbed a few dozen flowers and called it a day. It might've been quite a lot, but you never know. If there were some to spare, the townsfolk could get some use out of it at least. He shoved the flowers onto his other pocket, careful not to put the flowers and the crystal together.
He didn't know what it would do if he placed the flower and the crystal in a relatively close distance, for all he knew it could've done nothing, but at the same time, it might cause a winter Hiroshima.
He straightened his fur coat and breathed a sigh of relief. That was the hard part done. Now he had to hope that he wasn't too late. He stretched his limbs and went for a light jog, heading back to the village at a relatively quick pace.
---
After what seemed like forever, Yorath finally saw the village in the distance. After a few minutes of alternating light jogs and running, he was finally back.
He jogged to the village and braced himself to absolute get stared at by the village folk. What surprised him was no one was in sight, not a singular one. He could feel a slight panic build up in his chest. He automatically assumed the worst and dashed to the house where Percy was.
He barged into the house, letting all the cold wind inside. Hoping beyond all hope that everything was okay. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Percy was alright. Well, as alright as he could be. He assumed that something might have happened whilst he was gone. That was not something that would've been pleasing.
"Did you get the flowers?" The woman asked. Yorath almost fell back in shock, he forgot she was there. She was sitting next to a table, looking at Yorath with a raised eyebrow.
"Goddamn, you scared me." He stated with wide eyes. She waved her hand dismissively.
"The flowers, did you get them?" She asked. He nodded and grabbed the flowers from his pocket. He laid all the flowers down onto the table, looking at her with a raised eyebrow. She almost choked when she saw the amount.
"How did you even get that much-" she said gobsmacked. He waved his hand dismissively. "Now what?"
She nodded, a look of concentration on her face. "Give me a sec."
She grabbed a couple of flowers and removed a couple of petals. For each petal removed, the room seemed to grow colder and colder. Not by much, but it was there. She grabbed the petals and crushed them in her palm. She closed her eyes as a faint blue light illuminated the room. She walked towards Percy and dropped the ground petals onto his forehead. The petals immediately disappeared the moment it touched his forehead.
Nothing changed, Percy was still asleep. Yorath was getting worried as nothing seemed to change. Percy's skin slowly started to revert back to its normal colour. No longer was his skin deathly pale, it was back to its normal tan.
---
Percy woke up with a start, sitting upright as he looked around the room in confusion. His breath was ragged and course. He felt like shit. His head was throbbing, and he didn't know why. He rubbed his forehead as he looked around the room. He didn't know where he was, nor what point in time he was in. His mind slowly started to piece some stuff together. Percy passed out, and he didn't know where the hell he was. He started to freak out until he spotted Yorath beside him.
"What the hell happened?" Percy asked groggily, not really paying attention to his surroundings.
"For starters, you almost died." Yorath recounted. Percy scoffed.
"Nothing new there." He said rolling his eyes. Yorath chuckled and gave Percy one big hug. Percy returned the favor and hugged his brother back.
"How long was I out?" Percy asked. Yorath shrugged.
"A few hours give or take." He answered. Only now did he notice the other person in the room. He turned to the woman, not knowing who she was and why she was here.
"Oh right, so basically the storm hit you so bad that you passed out from the sheer cold. You would've died, actually, we both would've died if not for her." Yorath explained. Percy gave an uneasy nod.
"Thank you I guess," Percy said as he tried standing up.
"Woah, take it easy. You were this close to death a minute ago." Yorath said trying to convince Percy to rest. He shook his head and stretched his limbs.
"Don't worry I'm fine." He said, as his head throbbed in disagreement. Although everybody part was screaming at him to take a nap, he gave it the middle finger and ignored their cries. His senses though seemed to be going overdrive. He had a look of thought on his face as he looked around with a curious look.
"Is it me or-" Percy started but was cut off by Yorath.
"Not just you," Yorath said. confirming Percy's suspicions. Meanwhile, the woman was looking at the two brothers like they were crazy.
"What's the situation?" Percy asked.
"Magic storm, more lethal than normal. Some person conjured it up and so far, it shows no signs of stopping." Yorath said as he turned to the woman who was looking at the two with wide eyes. It was as if they read each other's minds.
"Ah." Percy mused as he looked at the woman.
"Which direction?" He asked, the woman looked at him incredulously.
"Excuse me?" She asked dumbfounded.
"Which direction is the person that made the storm?" He asked.
"Around northwest of here, but why would you even ask that?" She questioned with wide eyes.
"Oh, nothing," Percy said dismissively as he turned towards Yorath.
"Are we paying it a visit?" Yorath asked. Percy gave a smirk.
"Of course we are."He said dejectedly, giving a small sigh. He grabbed the small crystal shared from his pocket and turned to the woman.
"Do you have any idea what this is?" Yorath asked. The woman almost choked for a second time when she saw the crystal.
"How did you even-" she said, shaking her head in disbelief. Percy stretched and went to the door. He opened it and was immediately greeted with the cold wind.
"Where are you going?" Yorath asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Just taking a walk," Percy said with a slight cough.
"Are you alright?" Yorath added with concern.
"Peachy," Percy replied and walked out, shutting the door behind him. Yorath and the woman shared a look.
"You guys seem close." The woman stated.
"Worthy assessment."
---
Percy could finally have some peace of mind. He needed some alone time to gather all of his thoughts. He sighed as he looked around, if it weren't for the cold, he would've considered this quite calming. He walked through the snow, his boots making small but audible noises as he stepped on the stone pavement.
He looked at his watch out of habit, cursing underneath his breath.
He couldn't help but think of the words that Yorath said.
"Are you alright?"
It echoed throughout his mind as he pulled his sleeve up with shaking hands.
"Peachy."
He cursed once again, the green veins that once covered his hand spread across his whole forearm.
Word Count
3860
Words
A/N
I'll stop being a bother and let you be on your merry way. Also feedback?