Hunter, Kyle, and Marina left the chapel feeling a little uneasy. Things seemed to be going well in Punxsutawney, but when Lily, Odessa, and Philippa showed up things turned to chaos. “So, where do we go, now?” Kyle said with a shrug. He turned around to face Marina and Hunter.
“You’re the quest leader. You tell us.” Marina said with a chuckle. Kyle opened his mouth to speak, but there was a low growl. Hunter raised an eyebrow when Kyle looked above them. The growl grew louder and turned into a roar. Hunter turned around to see an enormous lion roaring down at them. It leapt from the roof and landed in the middle of the road. It slowly approached, ready to pounce and razor sharp steel teeth growling. Hunter heard a whinny and remembered the pegasi.
“Guys! Pegasi!” He said quickly as he turned around and mounted up. He took off into the sky and the lion gave chase. They flew high enough that the lion couldn’t reach them, but high enough that they kept its attention.
“Hunter, shoot it!” Kyle said frantically. Hunter drew his bow and drew a normal arrow. He turned on Ulysses’ back and fired down at the lion. It flew straight and hit the lion’s back, but it didn’t leave a scratch.
“It’s the Nemean Lion! Don’t shoot it!” Marina said, looking at him like he was stupid. Hunter shrugged.
“Why didn’t you tell me that?!” He shouted, suddenly their pegasi all stopped. Hunter looked forward and saw a familiar face that made his heart drop. “Philippa.”
“Hello, again.” She said with a smile. “Off you go.” She waved her hand and Hunter, Kyle, and Marina flew off their pegasi and down into a swimming pool. People around them scattered as they quickly climbed out. Hunter drew his bow as he listened for the sound of the Nemean lion approaching. He heard something, but it was different from the thumps of the lion’s paws. It sounded like…hooves. Suddenly, several satyrs burst into the pool area with glowing red eyes and makeshift weapons raised. Hunter cursed under his breath as he blocked an attack.
“I can’t kill a satyr! Especially, when they can’t control themselves.” Marina said as she blocked a muffler swung by one of the crazed satyrs.
“Is anyone else curious why there are so many satyrs in Vegas?!” Kyle said as he knocked a pipe out of a satyr’s hand. “Oh, right. It’s Vegas.” Hunter heard a loud roar followed by a lot of bleating from the satyrs. They froze in place and stopped attacking.
“Why did they stop attacking?!” Hunter looked up to see Odessa frantically flying between the satyrs. Why weren’t they attacking? Hunter thought. Maybe fear overrides the frenzy?
“Who are you?!” Hunter said as he drew his bow and took aim with a regular arrow. Lily looked down at him.
“Hunter, hello.” She said with a head tilt. “You haven’t figured it out, yet? We are the Maniae. I am Insanity.”
“I am Madness.” Odessa said as she appeared next to her.
“And I am Frenzy.” Philippa said calmly. Hunter’s heart sank. “You haven’t heard of us? Hmm…tsk tsk tsk.”
“You obviously didn’t understand what the consequences of killing the goddess of Chaos.” Odessa said, shaking her head.
“As much as she caused chaos-“
“She was in charge of controlling it.”
“You killed her.”
“We got out.” They vanished, but the spine-tingling sound of their laughter hung in the air. Hunter turned back to the satyrs who were all unconscious. He was unsure as to what had happened, but he wasn’t going to complain. He was reminded again by the situation at hand when he heard another loud roar. He looked up to see the lion charging through a line of beach chairs. Hunter fired an arrow at the lion, but it missed and grazed the side of the lion’s mouth. Hunter saw the water behind him and got an idea.
“Guys, we need to get on the other side of the lion.” Hunter said quietly before dodging the charging lion. He ran to the other side and changed to boxing glove arrows. The lion turned and charged before Hunter could get the shot off. He cursed under his breath and dodged out of the way. Kyle and Marina gave a few slashes which harmlessly glanced off the side of the beast. Hunter found the angle and fired. The boxing glove arrow hit the lion square in the face. It snarled at them before charging again. Hunter waited for his moment with a new boxing glove arrow at the ready. He dodged around the lion and fired. The boxing glove hit it in the side causing it to topple into the water. It sank like a stone in a flurry of splashing. He heard it land with a loud clunk. The splashing continued for a few moments before it looked like the lion started coughing. Thick black dust came pouring up to the surface with every hack from the lion. Hunter looked down into the water and after a moment the lion was gone, in a thick sludge of monster dust and poolwater.
“Sick.” Kyle said poking the sludge with the end of his scythe.
“Shouldn’t we get the pelt?” Marina said with a shrug. Kyle and Hunter looked at her oddly. “The pelt. Hercules skinned it and wore it as armor. It’s basically impervious.” Hunter looked down into the water and something at the bottom caught the sunlight. It wasn’t big enough to be the golden pelt of the lion, but it was still there. Hunter dismissed his bow and dove in. He swam through the sludge and down to the bottom. He grabbed it blindly and hauled it back up. He sat on the edge of the pool and rubbed the water out of his eyes. He looked down and in his hand was a large lion claw. It was shiny silver and about the length of Hunter’s forearm. He held it out and before his eyes it transformed into a curved knife. Hunter held it out and took a few practice swings. It was perfect.
“Looks like we didn’t get the pelt, but I’m totally okay with that.” He said with a chuckle as he practiced with his new blade again. “I’d like to keep it, unless someone else would like it.” He held it up and really hoped that no one else wanted it. “Fine. It’s mine. My precious.” He said with a smile. He stood up from the water and tucked it into his belt. “Shall we?”