Tag: greek mythology

The Witch and The Beast

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Philea coughs, trips, and lands harshly in the dirt of the road. She pulls herself up a branch of a nearby tree and stumbles forward. Her destination lies down the road, the light of torches just barely visible from where she falters.

“Thebes…” she barely groans out, before a heavy and oppressive weight pins her to the tree. A massive lion’s paw pressing on her throat and ribs, threatening her last breath.

A woman’s head inches closer to Philea’s face. Her long black hair frames Philea’s face as she stretches open a long, toothy grin. The head was the size of Philea’s torso, and the mouth was mostly canines and fangs.

A heavy breath escapes the creature’s lungs, smelling of sickly sweet rot and copper. “What speaks with one voice, walks on four legs…are you…are you paying attention?” The creature lets up the pressure of her lion’s paw. Even if the woman escapes from the beast’s grasp, she still could have pounced on her, ripped from nape to flank…but the Sphinx was curious.

“Woman…why do you burn so much? Your skin feels like fire upon my paws. Your eyes are glassing over…”

Philea’s fear gives way to a bloody cough upon the Sphinx’s paw and then she passes out. Instinctively the beast catches her, more gently than she knew she could be.

“In a way…I guess that is an answer of sorts.” The Sphinx goes to bite the neck of the unconscious woman in front of her and drag her back to the cave, but then she remembers that mortals don’t have that soft patch of excess skin to grab onto. So instead she wrapped the stranger in her front right paw and walked on three legs toward her cave.

(more…)

Xandros

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Xandros smells the scent of salt and brine wafting through the stone passage, as he and his fellow soldiers work their way deeper into the temple.

To his left, Theron drops his torch. “Fuck.” 

Xandros notices the young boy’s hands shaking as sweat drips down the back of his neck. Same age as Xandros’ sister. Sending dregs to handle this monster.

Xandros picks up Theron’s torch and hands it back to him. “Get your shit together. Your brothers are depending on you. Act like it.”

The band of soldiers makes its way from the thin passage into a grand hall filled with statuary. Each recess in the wall has its own heroic figure, but through the middle of the floor are dozens of scared, running effigies. 

Otus, who trained with Xandros when they both first joined, says, “I…I know this man.” He reaches to touch the face of one of the figures. “He was my neighbor…”

“Shape up, soldier. We do not have the luxury of distractions.”

Xandros continues to lead them deeper into the hall, weaving past the statues. The sounds of leather sandals slapping stone, of metal hitting metal, echo throughout the wide walls.

Except…the footsteps sound too quiet. Xandros notices that he should be hearing 5 pairs of footsteps, but one is missing.

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A Night To Forget

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Narrow rays of light rested on Paul’s face, waking him from a deep sleep. He sat up and faced the window trying to get a read on the time of day, and then turned to the hotel’s alarm clock. Someone had unplugged it. Paul failed to repress his smile.

Paul felt a hand grasp his arm and try to pull him back to facing the bed. Under the covers rested a slightly chubby man with alabaster skin who was still trying to pull him down although Paul had turned away. 

Theon spoke. “Go back to bed. It’s much too early.”

Paul retorted, “How could you possibly know? The clock has been mysteriously disconnected from the wall. Do you have any idea of who would do such a thing?” Playfulness danced across his words as he stared into Theon’s bright green eyes. 

“The clock was still plugged in when I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.”

“It was, was it? Was it still plugged in when you got back in?” Paul’s smile turned into a smug smirk as he cornered Theon in his not-quite-lies.

Theon stared at Paul’s deep brown eyes and then his dark curly hair, basking in his light like a serpent might bask in the sun. And after a moment he spoke, “You should stay in bed longer. There are things I still want to try.”

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