CHAPTER EIGHTY

Second Labor, Part 1

“I’ve never driven a bike before!” Sam screamed in protest. But, as the breeze buffeted his face, and with the cool winter air clearing away his doubts, his panic gave way to the excitement in his heart. “This is so freaking cool~~l!”

Focus, lame-brain, Chiron chided. Riding a bike's not easy even when you're not a noob... Wait, don't go too fast, idiot!

Sam eased up on the gas. “Sorry, I didn't notice!”

Chiron let out a deep sigh. Lesson number five, dumbass!

The thrill of the ride and the anticipation of the solo adventure before him had begun to lift Sam’s spirits considerably. Into the back of his mind went his worries over Thunder’s condition and his fears that Apex would find the fleece before they did. These highly troublesome thoughts didn’t matter—at least for now. What mattered now was the mission, which, ironically enough, Sam had originally been reluctant to go on.

Ahead of him was an expanse of rocky plains and tree clusters that stretched out toward a series of low peaks rising over the horizon. Superimposed over the upper right side of this panoramic view was a floating virtual map that gave Sam a bird’s-eye-view of the surrounding terrain.

The trail goes straight for a couple more miles, kid…straight into the St. Francois Mountain Range, Chiron reported.

The softly glowing hoof prints that appeared on his map were indeed taking Sam on a detour into the Northeastern region of the Ozarks which was the chunk of the mountain range that lay in Missouri. Sam knew this detour would delay his reunion with the Argo VII even more, but he would just have to trust his friends to handle whatever came their way while he was away.

“I just hope they don’t run into Apex before I get back,” he whispered.

Sam’s musings were interrupted by Chiron’s warning of a crater ahead of him, but with a quick twist of his wrist to the right and the motorbike was gliding safely around this crater that had formed in the wake of the hind’s rampage.

“Focus on the sweet ride…and on not on the kaiju deer I’ll be fighting soon,” he told himself.

Sam glanced underneath him and marveled at how smooth the ride had been so far despite the uneven terrain he was on. Perhaps the heavy-duty tires—which seemed more fit for an eighteen-wheeler than his motorbike—were the reason. But he suspected that the cool-looking bike—made completely of a rare carbon alloy similar to the Argo VII’s own body—was far more awesome than his noob biker mind could fathom.

“Wish I could have taken Thunder along for this countryside ride,” he said wistfully.

Enjoy the ride while you can, Chiron suggested. You won’t be able to take the bike up there with you.

Chiron’s words were proven right quickly enough after Sam arrived near the edge of a dense forest of oaks that inclined up toward higher ground. As this part of the Ozarks was mostly wilderness, Sam didn’t think he would find a road to ride on. And so he chose to park his bike by the mouth of a little-known trail up the mountain range that had been discovered by Triple-A’s map feature. Luckily, this trail ran parallel to the tracks of the great beast.

The first thing Sam did after he got off the motorbike was to inspect his [STATUS] to distribute the points he’d earned back in Philly. He added four points to Constitution, five to Dexterity, and the last point to Intelligence because the inexperienced hunter in him believed he’d need a bit more brainpower to follow a divine beast’s trail in the wilds.

STRENGTH: 60 DEXTERITY: 50 CONSTITUTION: 80 INTELLIGENCE: 33 WISDOM: 30 WILLPOWER: 30

“I wonder what will happen once my Con reaches a hundred,” he mused.

Why don’t you get it up there and find out, Chiron challenged.

Finally, Sam moved over to [POWERS] and discovered a nice little surprise waiting for him underneath the [SUPPORT] tree. A new line appeared below [Healing Hand (Δ)] that connected to a grayed-out ability Sam had never seen before; [Rejuvenation (ζ)].

“This the gift I got for beating the Trickster?” he asked.

POWER: Rejuvenation LEVEL: Zeta (ζ) DESCRIPTION: Apollo, God of the Sun and the Healing Arts, bequeaths to this hero the gift to rejuvenate their life force by absorbing the life force of other living things. EFFECT ONE: In exchange for a moderate amount of life force energy taken from outside one’s pool, the hero may replenish a portion of his life force equivalent to 20% of total HP.

“Whoa…I can steal life force now?” Sam raised an eyebrow at the notification. “That’s kind of edge-lordy…”

EFFECT TWO: At the zeta level, Rejuvenation can cure the following minor debilitating effects; Delta-level Poison, Temporary Blindness, Silence, Charmed, Mind-Control, and Temporary Paralysis. WARNING! Draining the life force of other humans is impossible without the supplementary ability [Vampiric Bite].

“Oh, so I can only take the life energy from my surroundings, huh.” Sam’s eyes glanced left and then right. “Good thing there are a lot of trees out here...”

ALERT! You have [1] point to allocate. Activate [Rejuvenation (ζ)]? YES/NO

Sam tapped on [YES] and then felt something click inside his brain much like a light switch flicking on. As if the power had been there all along inside of him and was just waiting to be remembered.

I told you, didn’t I? Chiron sounded pretty pleased. A new power is earned from the potential that already exists inside you.

“Yeah,” Sam glanced at the palm of his left hand. “I kind of understand that now...”

***

At first, following the Ceryneian Hind’s trail had been easy enough as its massive size forced the sacred beast to destroy more than a few oak trees that had been in its way while it traveled up the mountainside. However, as the trees began to give way to more rocky paths, the trail grew colder and colder because the hind’s steps had suddenly become too light to leave any imprints on the earth.

“How in Hades is something so big this light-footed after it wrecked the freeway an hour ago,” Sam complained.

It’s been trained to serve Artemis, and the Mistress of the Hunt won’t ride a steed that can’t go stealth while she hunted, Chiron explained.

Sam was convinced this hind’s stealth mode was at least beta level as such a large creature made no noise that he could differentiate from the other sounds of the mountain. Not that he had any special sense gifts to make detecting oddities easier. Unless you counted the strange game-like system embedded inside Sam’s mind.

Move toward that granite outcropping and we’ll send out another ping, Chiron instructed.

Sam pushed past a thick cluster of shrubs to reach the large outcropping of granite that sat in the middle of two diverging hiking trails.

“Which way?” he asked.

Give it a second, Chiron replied.

He heard a strange ringing blaze to life in his mind, and then a near-invisible vibration began spreading out in all directions from him. Seconds later, he heard several pings around him. Then the notifications arrived in the order of their proximity to Sam.

Quartz Ore Found! Magnetite Ore Found! Beast Tracks Found!

Blue dots appeared on Sam’s map, showing him where these discovered curiosities were located around him. The quartz ore was directly ahead of Sam, which he guessed meant it made up a chunk of the granite outcropping that separated the two paths. The magnetite ore was about eight meters northwest of the left path. While barely noticeable tracks that were left behind by some large animal appeared on the right path.

“Gotcha,” Sam grinned.

As he took the right path up the mountain, Sam passed by a broken tree branch he might not have noticed if he was all by himself. A few feet away, he found the barest hint of a hoof print that would have been invisible to most inexperienced hunters.

This is why I’m a city hero... Sam sighed. “What would I do without you, Triple-A?”

Die horribly and alone on the mountainside? Chiron guessed.

“Hilarious...” Sam grumbled.

Eventually, the mountain path’s steep incline dipped back onto flat ground, which was a kind of plateau between the mountain range’s peaks.

“Godsdamn…” Sam’s eyes narrowed as he took in the sight before him. “What happened here...?”

The ground had been upended in places, and the nearby trees had been torn apart at their trunks.

Looks like there was a battle here...pretty recently too, Chiron commented.

“Master, you don’t think…” Sam gulped.

His first thought was, Would Artemis hold him accountable if he discovered that the Ceryneian Hind was killed by something else? This was quickly followed by; What kind of monster could even slay a sacred beast out here?

It was the smell, however, that worried Sam the most. That overwhelming scent of rot and decay that he guessed hadn’t come from any of the animals that might live in these woods.

A roar, loud and primal, upended the silence of the forest.

Go, kid, Chiron urged.

As he pulled out his bow, Sam whispered a prayer to the gods above, hoping that whatever lay beyond the tree line wasn’t going to make his mission harder than it should be.

“But if it is going to be another tough fight…then whichever one of you gods helps me out will be my new favorite,” Sam promised.

Idiot…that kind of entreaty only works if you’ve got high fame points, Chiron chided.

Sam ran through the plateau, past more upturned earth and broken trees, and into a wide rocky clearing where he finally found his quarry—and it looked far different from the picture of Bambi that he had in his head.

The beast was standing upright. Its form changed into something that seemed almost human, but larger. Much, much larger. Like a grizzly bear but with a light gray pelt and silver moonglow antlers atop its bloated head. Antlers that were at this very moment gauging out a chunk of rotten flesh from the chest of the horror struggling underneath the hind’s thick feet.

“Oh, my gods!” Sam gasped.

The sight of a long-limbed horror covered in dark fur impaled in the moonglow antlers of the once sacred beast whose disturbingly wide mouth was frothing from unrepressed rage was a scene that would star in Sam’s nightmares later that night.

I guess we’re late to the party, Chiron commented.

Dark ichor dripped into the rocky ground beneath the thrashing horror, coating the earth in a foul blackness that reeked of decay. Its bone-white, skull-like face let out a weak cry that chilled Sam to the bone. Not out of fear, but out of deep regret that whoever this thing had been, they would die without being cleansed by a chosen of the gods.

“No…not on my watch!” Sam growled.

He notched an arrow to his bow and aimed it at the dying horror’s face.

Kid…if you steal the kill that hind’s going to come after you twice as hard, Chiron warned.

“I know…but I’ve got this,” Sam insisted.

Do you know what kind of horror it is you’re trying to save?

“Yeah”—Sam let his arrow fly—“it’s a wendigo…”